It’s very fashionable to defend internet piracy. Technically, by posting some of the stuff I do, I suppose I’m doing it too. Whereas SOPA (That’s the Stop Online Piracy Act) seems draconian, there is another issue which is dismissed to one side, but which Bill Maher raises very legitimately here. Isn’t it stealing? I’m no angel myself, I have watched movies and TV stuff online that were posted illegally, but nearly always after attempting and failing to purchase them legally. I spend a lot of money with Amazon and iTunes buying stuff, and you know why? Because this stuff costs money to produce professionally, and people have to get paid for their efforts, and the funny thing about the vast majority of the “everything should be free” advocates is that they don’t do their jobs for free. That’s why I have started posting Amazon links to any commercial stuff I post, to at least give people an opportunity to buy things legitimately, and yes, for me to earn a few euro to pay for the blog.
I said this to someone recently, and they said that iTunes were “ripping people off”. At 99c a track? Seriously? Since when did wanting access to the fruit of other’s labours for free become a human right? Funnily enough, do you ever notice how the great majority of the “everything should be free” crowd rarely ever produce anything creative, like a song or a movie?
I’m not surprised that Jean Dujardin, the lead in “The Artist”, is getting so many plaudits. I first saw him years ago in ”OSS 117:Cairo, nest of spies”, a French comedy based on the James Bond, Matt Helm, Man from UNCLE style movies of the 1960s. It follows the adventures of the Austin Powers/Clouseausque French secret agent Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, codename OSS 117, France’s best agent, in uncovering a plot in Cairo in 1959. Jean Dujardin, who plays the agent, is very funny as the shockingly smarmy, thick agent who is completely clueless about the changing world (In talking with a Muslim contact, he tells her that he can’t see this “Islam thing” lasting very long). Some of the set pieces of the movie are very good, in particular a scene where he, a German, Russian and Belgian agent all face off quoting meaningless faux-philosophical sayings at each other. The movie looks great, and the soundtrack is right on the nose. Keep an eye out for a running joke about French President Rene Coty (the forgotten one before De Gaulle).
Another example of how there are some really excellent movies out there not getting the credit they deserve because they are not English language based. I only stumbled across this movie by accident in a DVD shop in Perth, Australia. There’s already been a sequel.
The BBC have shown great savvy by releasing season two of “Sherlock” on DVD literally one week after the season’s dramatic final episode and its “How did he do it?” ending. This is currently my favourite show on TV, not just because of the superb performances by all the cast (Martin Freeman in particular, playing that difficult straightman Ernie Wise role to Benedict Cumberbatch’s Ernie in a touching yet exasperated manner. Andrew Scott’s Jim Moriarty is also great fun too). Not only because of the genuinely “Oh, that’s cool!” moments in the plot, or the humour (Sherlock’s rant about the deerstalker cap is very funny) but because it is very obvious that Moffatt and Gatiss who created the show, are true blue fans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation and have managed to recraft without molestation.
From Robert Redford’s 1972 “The Candidate”. What’s interesting is that Crocker Jarman, played by the wonderfully lizardy Don Porter (who was best known as a sitcom actor) is supposed to be the baddy, yet by today’s standards sounds like quite a moderate conservative. I love his honest answer about oil drilling.
Some years ago, one of those Top 100 poll shows was asked to determine the number one sitcom. The top spot, to anyone with an interest in television comedy, would be fought out between, most assumed, Fawlty Towers, the short running but cult classic, and Seinfeld, the single most commercially successful (at least in the US) television sitcom of all time.
Yet, when the poll of critics was examined, both shows were beaten by Frasier. Outrageous, surely? Frasier, a spin off from the hugely successful 1980s hit Cheers, was a good show, but best sitcom of all time? Really?
I was one of the doubters. I had watched and enjoyed Frasier on and off, but greatest sitcom?
Yet when I listened to the critics reasons, they were very clear in their reasons. The show ran for 11 seasons, and during that time maintained a consistent quality over that period of time, but that’s not just it. What made Frasier a great show was the ensemble cast, and the fact that those 11 years allowed each actor to create a rounded and entertaining and endearing character. I was still doubtful, so I bought season one on DVD when I saw it going cheap.
Did I change my opinion of the show? Well, put it this way: I went on to buy the other 10 seasons. In short, if my house was burnt down, it would be the first box set I’d replace. If there’s one sitcom you’re going to order from Amazon, this is the one. Pure comedy gold.
The clip below is from an episode where Frasier is asked to record a short jingle for his radio psychiatrist show. He goes at it with gusto.
“The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer” is a curious one, although worth a look. A black comedy about the political rise of the mysterious Michael Rimmer (Played by Peter Cook), it’s not laugh out loud funny, but pretty far-sighted for its time (1970) about the way politics was going.
Full of the television comedy stars of its day (John Cleese, Arthur Lowe, Ronnie Corbett and the beautiful Valerie Leon, whom you’ll know when you see her) the plot is actually quite interesting as a satirical comment on British politics, with a very interesting conclusion and a final shot in the movie which is quite chilling.
It also boosts a simple but ingratiating theme music that’ll you’ll find yourself humming for hours. Pick it up if you see it going cheap.
We can get a bit snooty about what we watch. Sometimes television isn’t groundbreaking or thought provoking, but just plain entertaining. Burn Notice is one of those shows. Jeffrey Donovan, owner of the biggest s**t eating grin in current television, plays Michael Westen, a top special operative who has been “burned” by his superiors and exiled to Miami. Working alongside a psychotic ex-girlfriend and former IRA terrorist (They fortunately dropped her dodgy accent after the pilot episode) played by the ridiculously skinny Gabrielle Anwar, and backed up by cult favourite Bruce Campbell (You’ll know him when you see him), Westen tries to discover why he was burned, whilst making ends meet working as a security consultant or sorting out problems sent to him by his nagging mother (Cagney and Lacey’s Sharon Gless).
The show is great fun. It’s funny, has plenty of action, and is crammed with guest stars of the That’s-that-guy-from variety. Filmed on location in Miami (For once, Vancouver wouldn’t do) it’s also packed with great shots of the city and gratutitous boob and bum shots from the beaches. Miami Tourism must be delighted. I’m looking forward to season 3 already.
Executive Action is a Burt Lancaster movie from 1973 which tells a fictional account of how and why the assasination of President Kennedy was carried out.
Almost an American Day of The Jackal.
Using real footage from the era, the movie tells, in a cold, almost documentary style, how a group of ultra-rightwing industrialists initiates, debates and plans the murder.
Although lacking the charm of The Day of The Jackal, it does a very believable and workmanlike job of identifying how the assasination was carried out and then covered up with Lee Harvey Oswald as a prepared patsy.
It was actually quite ironic that Lancaster plays one of the chief conspirators given that he had been a life long liberal, even campaigning, at the end of his career, for Michael Dukakis in 1988.
Not yet released in English primarily for region 2, it is available on region 1, and worth a watch, especially for its curiously mournful soundtrack and the chilling “real power in America” opening montage. It has been posted on Youtube at various times.
Oliver Stone’s “W.”, ths story of George W. Bush’s life and time in the White House, is far more workmanlike than his other movies. It’s not as memorable as “JFK” or “Nixon”, but I suspect that is as much a product of the times it was made in as much as the movie itself, especially as it was released in 2008 when Bush was still president.
It was a controversial film at the time, although I personally found it to be nowhere near as anti-Bush as some either said or expected it to be. The central premise is not of Bush as an evil or stupid man, but as a plain man out of his depth who nevertheless, through sheer force of will, pulled himself out from under his father’s enormous shadow and becomes an incredibly successful politician.
Josh Brolin gets the Bush swagger down to a tee, although he doesn’t quite manage to pull off Bush’s awkwardness in interviews, playing him slightly dopier than is deserved. Having said that, he does manage to convey the struggle Bush has with communicating his vision, and there is one, whether one likes it or not. Thandie Newton plays Condi Rice as almost odd, and Toby Jones makes Karl Rove almost likable, but the two scene stealers for me were James Cromwell, as Bush senior, and Richard Dreyfuss who becomes Dick Cheney.
Finally, there’s a scene in the movie that fascinated me, because of its honesty. In the scene, Cheney outlines a grand plan where Iraq is just the beginning, to allow a staging post for an invasion of Iran, and US control of the world’s oil supply. He argues the point in a calm and rational way, pointing out that the world oil supply is dwindling, and their job is to secure it for the American people, and that Russia and China will be doing the same. It’s the sort of scene that will send far-left people nuts, but it was a rational analysis of the American interest.
I’m not surprised that Jean Dujardin, the lead in “The Artist”, is getting so many plaudits. I first saw him years ago in ”OSS 117:Cairo, nest of spies”, a French comedy based on the James Bond, Matt Helm, Man from UNCLE style movies of the 1960s. It follows the adventures of the Austin Powers/Clouseausque French secret agent Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, codename OSS 117, France’s best agent, in uncovering a plot in Cairo in 1959. Jean Dujardin, who plays the agent, is very funny as the shockingly smarmy, thick agent who is completely clueless about the changing world (In talking with a Muslim contact, he tells her that he can’t see this “Islam thing” lasting very long). Some of the set pieces of the movie are very good, in particular a scene where he, a German, Russian and Belgian agent all face off quoting meaningless faux-philosophical sayings at each other. The movie looks great, and the soundtrack is right on the nose. Keep an eye out for a running joke about French President Rene Coty (the forgotten one before De Gaulle).
We can get a bit snooty about what we watch. Sometimes television isn’t groundbreaking or thought provoking, but just plain entertaining. 
