The Legend of Tarzan (2016)

When it comes to David Yates, a former resident of my hometown of St Helens, I am only familiar with his TV work. I cannot imagine anything worse than sitting through something from the pen of JK Rowling so I've avoided all of his previous cinematic efforts, until now. Because who doesn't like a bit of Tarzan right?

As befits a story that is now 107 years old and has been told on film well over 50 times, Yates' The Legend of Tarzan is good old fashioned fun starring Alexander Skarsgård as Tarzan and Margot Robbie as Jane. It's not perfect by any means, but it's thankfully never really boring. It's just a good little watch. My main issue with it is its over reliance on CGI but then, given that that's the way of all films nowadays, you can't really point the finger of blame at this alone.

The Legend of Tarzan is a film that wants to appeal to all possible admirers of Borroughs' literary creation. There's the traditionalist, historically accurate side here that is reminiscent of Hugh Hudson's 1984 epic Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, rolling the story back to the late 1800s in order to engage with the colonial evils of King Leopold of Belgium, and then there's the popcorn blockbuster elements that play to those who perhaps prefer their Tarzan to be a bit more Johnny Weissmuller. In the main The Legend of Tarzan straddles these camps rather well, by weaving Tarzan's origin story through the adventure. The storyline of Jane's kidnapping is classic Borroughs, whilst the inclusion of genuine historical figures like George Washington Williams (played by Samuel L. Jackson, on likable form) and Léon Rom (played by Christoph Waltz, as the film's main antagonist) lends the film some authenticity and gravitas. 

Incorporating Williams in the story helps to negate the 'white saviour' stereotype that often dogs these stories but equally, the decision to give the hero a black sidekick is also fraught with problems and somewhat poorly serves the memory of a great man. In reality, George Washington Williams was a fascinating figure who, at one time or another, was a soldier, a baptist minister, a historian, a lawyer and an activist. Born a free man in Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania in 1849, he enlisted with the Union Army to fight during the American Civil War when he was just fourteen. When the war ended, he joined General Espinosa's Republican Army in Mexico in the fight to overthrow Emperor Maximilian, rising to the rank of lieutenant. Upon his return to America in 1867, he enlisted in the 10th Infantry and saw action in the Indian territory. Receiving an honourable discharge after being invalided out a year later, Williams began studying at Boston's Newton Theological Institution, becoming the first first African American to graduate from there in 1874. After concluding his studies, Williams was ordained a Baptist minister but went on to study law in Ohio under Alfonso Taft, father of President Taft. The first African American to be elected to the Ohio state legislature, Williams served a term there before becoming a delegate to the World's Conference of Foreign Missions at London in 1888. The subsequent year he was granted an audience with King Leopold of Belgium and, with support from US President Benjamin Harrison, was invited to travel the Belgium-owned Congo Free State. Appalled by what he saw there, Williams penned an open letter in 1890 condemning Leopold and the Belgian authorities for their harsh treatment of the native Congolese workforce. A year later, Williams died in Blackpool, England from tuberculosis and pleurisy. In 1975, a tombstone was placed at his grave by an American historian and local supporters, commemorating Williams as an 'Afro-American historian'. It still stands there to this day.

George Washington Williams' grave in Blackpool

Unfortunately, none of this fascinating, varied and principled life ever really comes to light in The Legend of Tarzan. Sure, there's a moment about halfway in where, over a bit of male-bonding around the campfire, Samuel L. Jackson is forced to vocalise a painfully obvious Wiki info dump to acknowledge his character's backstory, but that's about it. Instead, screenwriters Craig Brewer and Adam Cozad choose to build the entire character of Williams around an in-depth knowledge of firearms - which means that every single time he comes across a gun of any kind, Jackson has to appreciatively murmur just what that gun actually is, and that gets very tedious, very quickly.

Léon Rom was a prominent member of the Congo Free State's administration in the late 19th century. Said to be the inspiration for Joseph Conrad's Kurtz in his 1899 novella, Heart of Darkness (later loosely adapted by Francis Ford Coppola for Apocalypse Now), Rom was born into poverty in Belgium in 1859. Like Williams, he became a soldier at an early age, enlisting with the Belgian Army at sixteen. After leaving service he began work in a customs office, leaving for the Congo in 1886 to work in the State's administration. Ambitious and talented, Rom secured several rapid promotions to become district commissioner of Matadi, before transferring to the Force Publique with the rank of captain. There, he saw action in the Congo Arab War of 1892-'94 and was personally praised for his negotiation of the surrender of the Arab stronghold. Leaving the colonial military, Rom served as an official for the Compagnie du Kasai in central Congo and became notorious for his brutal methods, including using severed heads of 21 Congolose to decorate the flower beds of his Stanley Falls residence and keeping a gallows permanently in place there. He died in 1924, still in office.

The real Rom

It's hardly a stretch for Waltz, but he makes a perfect, skin-crawling villain here as he holds Jane hostage in an attempt to lure Tarzan to his doom at the hands of Djimon Hounsou's vengeful tribal leader, Chief Mbonga. You could argue that, just like Williams, the real person here is barely glimpsed. In Rom's case I imagine that this is because his horrific and violent colonial attitudes would not be tenable for a 12A rated film. Nevertheless even watered down, he's still a very hissable and effective villain and, if I have one complaint, it's that the 12A rating ensures that we are robbed the real satisfaction of his ultimate demise. After 100 minutes of his oleaginous evil, the audience needed to see him receive his just desserts in graphic fashion. I appreciate why this of course is a 12A; Tarzan appeals to children and adults but probably does very little for teens and twentysomethings, but I long for the days of Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark and the like when things could be just that little bit more graphic for kids.

I mentioned Hounsou there and he is essentially the secondary villain, albeit one with an ultimately sympathetic motivation. Unfortunately the screenplay fails to capitalise upon this, ensuring that his climactic confrontation with Tarzan feels like our hero has just reached a boss level on a sandbox game that this CGI-heavy spectacle sometimes resembles. Thankfully Hounsou is a skillful actor who invests great tragedy and nobility in his all-to-brief scenes, but this character and his impact on the narrative would have been much better served by some more screen time and by flagging his motivation up a good deal earlier in the story. If they had done that, then they would have also allowed some extra dimensions to the character of Tarzan too. A real shame and a missed opportunity.

Brewer and Cozad's screenplay also fails to deliver the sense of threat in the alleged 20,000-strong Belgian militia who remain unseen and moored offshore in a flotilla of obvious CGI ships, whilst some of the dialogue is clunky and too modern. I was also left to wonder just why it is that almost every Belgian speaks with a noticeable English accent, barring Waltz of course, who speaks with his Austrian accent. It struck me straight away with an all too briefly seen Ben Chaplin ("cup of tea, Mart") in the film's opening sequence, but it continues with Simon Russell Beale too. A lot of quality British thespians are glimpsed here, but I get the sense that a lot of their actual work ended up on the cutting room floor. For example, Miles Jupp can just about be identified in one scene set at Greystoke, whilst Genevieve O'Reilly gasps a little in flashback as Tarzan's mother, Lady Agatha, before carking it. Jim Broadbent also delivers a panto-aristo cameo as Gladstone that's effectively blink and you'll miss it.

As for my fellow St Helener Yates, I'm surprised that he's renowned for helming big budget family entertainment because his handling of action sequences isn't the best at all. The CGI is problematic of course, but surely a better hand on the tiller could cover up some of this? Equally I never felt convinced by the rendering of the animals here, to that end, this film is not on a par with the likes of the recent Planet of the Apes movies. Where was Andy Serkis when you needed him? Or maybe just a bigger budget and better CGI artists?

The Legacy (1978)

"... I personally quite like to believe that neither Katherine Ross or Sam Elliott were acting here; that the luxuriously hirsute Elliott really had followed his beautiful sleek-haired wife to the UK on a whim and that the sceptical, scornful and disgruntled behaviour he subsequently displays is actually down to the fact that he’d rather be back home making a western or something instead. And OK, I know that’s not feasible because the couple actually met and fell in love during this very shoot but hey, let me watch the movie how I want to watch it yeah?..."

Read my full review at The Geek Show

RIP David Hedison

Another recent loss in the entertainment world is the death of American actor David Hedison on the 18th July at the age of 92.

Hedison is perhaps best known for playing Felix Leiter in two James Bond movies; the first being Live and Let Die opposite a debut-making Roger Moore in 1973, before returning to the role sixteen years later opposite Timothy Dalton in 1989's Licence to Kill. Until Jeffrey Wright, who played the role in the Daniel Craig films Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace (and is set to star in the currently untitled Bond 25), Hedison was the only actor to play the role more than once.

Away from the Bond films, Hedison also starred with his good friend Roger Moore in the films North Sea Hijack and The Naked Face, as well as an episode of The Saint. He also starred in the 1958 movie The Fly and starred as Captain Lee Crane in the popular 1960s TV series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea which I remember was a regular Sunday afternoon fixture on Channel 4 during my childhood.

RIP

RIP Jeremy Kemp

At least once or twice a year for the last few years I've found myself going 'I wonder what happened to Jeremy Kemp?' Well, sadly I learnt today that he has passed away at the age of 84. 

Kemp shot to fame in the 1962 as part of the original cast in the BBC TV series Z Cars. As PC Bob Steele, Kemp enhanced the gritty tone of the drama by depicting a policeman who has engaged in some domestic abuse himself; in the first episode, his wife Janey (Dorothy White) sports a black eye as a result of an argument from the night before. Fearing typecasting, Kemp left the show a year later and immediately established himself as a film actor, securing an above-title billing in the 1965 war movie Operation Crossbow. The following year saw him reunite with his Crossbow co-star George Peppard in another war movie, The Blue Max.

With his craggy features, strong profile and tall stature, Kemp was routinely cast in military and aristocratic roles but I always feel it was a shame and quite strange considering a strong run in the '60s and, to a lesser extent, the '70s, that he never really broke out to headline more movies. Other credits included a memorable villain in the Sherlock Holmes film The Seven Per Cent Solution, Prisoner of Zenda, The Games, Dr Terror's House of Horrors, A Bridge Too Far, Top Secret! The Winds of War, The Block House and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance in Four Weddings and a Funeral (his dialogue scenes were edited out sadly).

Born near Chesterfield, Kemp did his national service and ended up as a lieutenant with the Black Watch before studying acting at the Central School of Speech an Drama. He divided his time between the UK and the US with his partner, Christopher Harter.

RIP. 

Out On Blue Six: Jarvis Cocker

Another suitable song now that clown is in Number 10

End Transmission

RIP Rutger Hauer

Absolutely heartbroken that we have lost the great Rutger Hauer at the age of 75.

I loved Rutger Hauer. He made some cracking movies in Blade Runner, The Hitcher, Flesh & Blood, Ladyhawke, Soldier of Orange, The Osterman Weekend and Blind Fury, but he also made a lot of rubbish. One thing that was constant in both the good and the bad was his sheer magnetic screen presence. The Netherlands born actor was the definition of mercurial, he seemed an absolute charmer, who never took things too seriously.  After all, what other performer would appear in a big budget Hollywood film like Batman Begins and provide a voice over for Lurpak butter at the same time? Who else would surprisingly turn up in a Dave sitcom entitled Porters, basing his entire character on Jurgen Klopp? Only Rutger Hauer. Bless him.

It's been a crappy day today with the coronation of that clown at Number 10, but hearing this news has made it even crappier.

RIP

Out On Blue Six: The Boo Radleys

In 1995 and 1996, I was at school, reading Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird for GCSE English. Now, over twenty years later, I've just finished reading it again.

After finishing reading it at school, I always said I'd read it again sometime at my own leisure, I'm surprised it has taken me so long though. Equally, I'm surprised how so much of it has lodged in my brain. It all felt so fresh, like I'd read it relatively recently, rather than twenty four or twenty three years ago. And Lee's novel still has so much to say to me too; when Atticus Finch, upon hearing from Scout that there are some in the town calling him a 'n*gger-lover', remarks that "It's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn't hurt you" I thought of the times that I've been called a communist by people who are more politically aligned to the likes of Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and Donald Trump, or my brothers and sisters who are fraudulently accused of being anti-semitic for daring to criticise Israel's actions towards Palestine. And when, Atticus tells his children "As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day or your life, but let me tell you something and don't forget it - whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash. There's nothing more sickening to me than a low-grade white man who'll take advantage of a Negro's ignorance" I once again feel that these are words for our times. Times of the Windrush scandal, Trump and even, as I witnessed today on local news, a black man saying he'd vote for Boris Johnson because 'he looks like fun' 

Reading To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time as a teenager back in the mid 90s was the best time to do so though I feel, because as the story developed right there in the classroom, outside there was a soundtrack seemingly made to accompany our reading, in the shape of the big summer song of '95, Wake Up Boo! by The Boo Radleys. And it's that which I am sharing today...

End Transmission

Last Flag Flying (2017)

Last Flag Flying is a 2017 film adaptation of a 2005 novel by Darryl Ponicsan, a sequel to his earlier work, The Last Detail (filmed by Hal Ashby in 1973 and starring Jack Nicholson) set some thirty years later.

In director Richard Linklater's hands however, Last Flag Flying is more of a spiritual rather than direct sequel to Ashby's film. The characters portrayed by Bryan Cranston, Laurence Fishburne and Steve Carell are simply variations of the roles previously played by Jack Nicholson, Otis Young and Randy Quaid, as evinced by Linklater's decision to change both their names and their backstory. Instead of sailors tasked with escorting their younger comrade to the brig, the characters are former US marines who served together in Vietnam where Carell took the fall for an incident they are deeply ashamed of. Given that the road trip of The Last Detail is no longer part of their story, Linklater's film echoes its narrative by having a grieving Carell call on his old pals (Cranston's now a barkeep and as insubordinate and salty as ever, whilst Fishburne has renounced his rowdy past and become a preacher) in his hour of need; his young son, who followed in their footsteps, has been killed in Iraq and the men take it upon themselves to escort his body back home to a privately arranged funeral. It's a pleasant, understated echo, affording not only an elegiac reunion for the principal characters but also an affectionate homage and worthy successor to Ashby's movie. 

There really is some assured playing from the central trio here. Cranston's character may now be Sal Nealon rather than 'Badass' Buddusky, but the spirit of that earlier character is very much alive in both the writing and performance. It's plausibly played by Cranston, in fact I'd argue it's a good deal more plausibly played than a 2003-era Jack Nicholson might have played it. It's also very easy to believe that Fishburne as Mueller has picked up where Young's Mulhall left off, and it's always a joy to see Fishburne anyway. Carell impresses once again in a role that is leaning more towards straight drama than the comedy he was initially known for. As Doc, he naturally elicits the audience's sympathy with a performance that handles not only the heartbreak at the death of his son, but also the pain and anguish of learning just how his son died and of no longer being able to comprehend or accept the value of such a sacrifice. He also really sells the notion of him once revering and looking up to Cranston and Fishburne; there's a really cute scene onboard a train for example, where the little gleam in Carell's eye as he watches his co-stars bicker and banter really does convey that and the notion of being content to be back with his pals. It also helps that this scene is delivered in a manner which makes me suspect that some ad-libbing was at play.

There's a lot of crap being spouted in some reviews by critics that Last Flag Flying is a conservative movie. I really don't know what they're talking about as the criticism of American foreign policy and its human cost is so clear throughout the movie that I fail to see how they didn't spot it for themselves. Unfortunately, given the current gung-ho political climate in the US, I just think that any film that explores the notions of patriotism and service from the point of view of middle-aged veterans is going to be dismissed as conservative. Perhaps the worst offender (quele surprise) is The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw who argues that this film does not possess the 'radical fire' of Ashby's film. Well that's just bollocks frankly; The Last Detail was, as I expressed in my review, a pessimistic film about servicemen bucking rather than smashing the system. It was a film with an insubordinate rather than radical character, so Bradshaw's reading of it is a poor one that ought to negate anything he has to say about this - especially as he goes on to confuse the quietly contemplative atmosphere as 'bland and sugary'.

Last Flag Flying may not be as good as The Last Detail, but it's good enough in its own right. The Christmastime backdrop is an underplayed cherry on the cake too.

Out On Blue Six: Fun Boy Three

With Boris Johnson entering Number 10 this week and an announcement of his cabinet in the offing, this seems like an apt song to play...

End Transmission

Save Us From Boris Johnson

Oh dear.

Well I guess it was inevitable. But here we indeed are. The Tories have voted for an Eton educated, elitist, racist, homophobic, lying and cheating bully boy of a no deal backing millionaire to lead their party and be our new Prime Minister. In effect, they have just signed the suicide note for this country. 

But Boris Johnson is not, and never will be, the true Prime Minister of this country. Backed by a tiny minority and without a mandate, he is an unelected clown. We have the democratic right to demand a general election to finally get the Tories out of office once and for all and we must do so now before it is too late. October 31st is just around the corner after all. So please, sign this petition to demand a GE and share it with as many people as you can.

Out On Blue Six: Sleeper

It was fifty years ago today that Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon and made history. So what better song to play to commemorate the anniversary than this track from Sleeper's second studio album The It Girl from 1996; Good Luck Mr Gorsky...

Why?

Well, the Britpoppers' song is based on a risque urban myth concerning some words of well wishes Armstrong allegedly said for an old neighbour during the moon landing, which began doing the rounds in the early days of the internet in 1995. The story (or more truthfully, joke) has it that as a child Armstrong was playing baseball in his yard when he overheard his neighbours, the Gorskys arguing. 'A blow job?' Mrs Gorsky exclaimed to her randy husband, Mr Gorsky. 'I'll give you a blow job when the kid next door walks on the moon!' 

End Transmission

Out On Blue Six: George Harrison

Broke the cardinal rule of Ye Cracke on Monday, and played something from one of Liverpool's greatest sons - about Liverpool's greatest sons. Here's what we spun on the jukey...

Ye Cracke is Liverpool's best kept secret. A traditional pub that was once the local of then art student, John Lennon. Because of its connotations, it's often frowned upon to be a regular and spin something by The Beatles (they get enough of it with the tourists after all!) but this prime slice of '80s Harrison went by unremarked.

I do love this one. It's eerie piano, at once ominously discordant and yet hauntingly, peculiarly comfortingly familiar; playing to Harrison's sense of nostalgia and fun as he recalls - almost unbelievingly - the days 'when we was fab'. Of course, such days were often brought to mind by Harrison at the point in the decade. As head of Handmade Films, he flew out to the set of the infamous Sean Penn and Madonna flop Shanghai Surprise when it was revealed that the two stars were constantly at odds with the press. It is said that Harrison listened patiently to Penn's grievances before remarking that he had a bit of experience with press intrusion himself when he was in a band! Modesty or tongue-in-cheek, sly humour? Who knows...it isn't recorded whether the vain, egotist Penn even knew what he was on about either!

End Transmission

50 Times Jeremy Corbyn Has Supported Jewish Causes

There's a lot of chat these days about the Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn being anti-semitic. Indeed, some of his staunchest critics like Silly Rachel Riley feel it perfectly acceptable to point the finger of anti-semitism at Corbyn on twitter. The less than impartial BBC's Panorama recently presented a highly distorted programme about the issue and today these allegations culminated in Theresa May, at her final PMQs, calling on him to apologise for anti-semitism. 

But here's 50 pieces of evidence that prove Corbyn hasn't got an anti-semitic bone in his body.

They've thrown so much mud at Corbyn since he became Labour leader that eventually some of it was bound to stick in the public's mind. Anti-semitism is that mud, but it's just as incorrect as all the rest.

Across 110th Street (1972)

A mainstream Blaxploitation picture, Across 110th Street was reviled by critics at the time for its graphic violence and bleak, uncompromising stance. Viewed today, it's a minor masterpiece of '70s pulp cinema; not only satisfying the expectations of the crime genre, but providing salient, searing social commentary too.

It's perhaps easy to see why some contemporary critics baulked at Across 110th Street. Film is often viewed by some as a means of escapism, whereas Barry Shear's film is firmly rooted in the sobering, unflinching reality of the worst aspects of American society, principally the racial divide. Set in New York, the titular address serves as an intersection between Harlem and Central Park - a geographical and social division based on race and class. By 1972, that division was like an open wound. New York's economy was bust and Harlem suffered the worst of such an economic downturn. Middle class residents who could afford to relocate did so, leaving the neighbourhood empty and derelict. Some 24% of the population in Harlem lived on welfare, whilst an estimated 60% of its economy came from the illegal numbers racket of organised crime. Drugs, an escape from the harsh reality of life, were rife. Harlem was a place of little opportunity for its majority black population and, when racial tensions, ran deep this powder keg environment exploded. Riots hit the city in 1964 when an off-duty white police officer murdered a black teenager. Just three years later, in the stifling hot summer of 1967, the US endured major rioting from black communities understandably angry at police brutality and rising poverty and naturally, Harlem again exploded. A year later, in grief-stricken retaliation for the assassination of Martin Luther King, Harlem's business and storefronts were ablaze. It is this reality that Across 110th Street depicts, most memorably in its even handed portrayal of the moral grey areas its cast of characters occupy. 

This isn't your standard cops (good) and robbers (bad) tale, instead it is a character study that helps to reflect the corruption and problems endemic in society. Jim Harris (a sympathetic performance from Paul Benjamin), the murdering crook the police and mob are seeking, memorably and poignantly relates to his girlfriend how, as a black 40 something man with no formal education, a criminal record and a disability, he sees no option other than crime to survive. Compare this admission to the reveal that Anthony Quinn's thirty-three-year police veteran, Capt. Martelli, routinely takes bribes from Harlem's black godfather Doc Johnson (gravel-voiced Richard Ward) in order to supplement the meagre income the city pays him for his service. 

The central, uneasy alliance between the dinosaur Martelli and Yaphet Kotto's liberal, disciplined Lt. Pope is one that has often been compared to the relationship between Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger in In The Heat of the Night. Whilst the 1967 is arguably a much better film, I feel the dynamic here is more interesting. For a start it doesn't play on the fish out of water aspect that that film and its countless imitators in the genre depicted. Here, Pope and Martelli operate the same streets, but their viewpoints are wildly different. Pope is angered by Martelli's casual racism and brutal interrogation methods, arguing that such antics "went out with prohibition". It's a telling comment, as Martelli first trod the beat  when prohibition was a recent memory. Quinn's performance is imbued with the jaded, jaundiced eye of a man who has sifted through the sewers for thirty-odd years. He's seen many changes but to him it is, almost literally, the same shit but a different day. His 'crime' isn't necessarily taking bribes, it's the simple fact that in all his long service he's done nothing to improve the situation - a fact he's perhaps slowly coming to realise now at the age of fifty-five and with retirement banging on the door. When he angrily launches himself at Doc Johnson, the mobster accurately comments that he is a man longing to die; not simply because he can't bear the prospect of retirement but perhaps for some retribution for his role in propping up a corrupt, broken system. 

As Pope, Yaphet Kotto is the opposite of Martelli, a college educated police officer who abhors the older cop's fist-flying, but that doesn't mean that he is above using his own physical presence to intimidate suspects or indeed anyone who attempts to block his path. From Harlem himself, he represents upward mobility and a new breed of police officer for whom class and race may not necessarily be a hindrance to getting on, though both he and the film understand that equality is not around the corner. What's interesting is how he interacts with the black community, it's the epitome of that old phrase about black police officers; 'too black for the police, too blue for the brothers'. Nevertheless there's a quiet, devastating determination in Kotto's performance to simply do the right thing that means such concerns are merely minor irritants for him.

The only character who offers no sympathy or redeeming features is Anthony Franciosa's racist charmless mobster Nick D'Salvio, and even then his character is far more multi-faceted and interesting than many other films would depict. D'Salvio, we learn, married into the mob family, a situation which turned his fortunes from mob lackey to gangster number one. With such power comes great expectations and D'Salvio knows deep down that he cannot fulfill them. It is this ineptness and self doubt that leads him to perform in the most disgusting, violent manner, perhaps because he believes that is what is expected of him. It's a great stomach churning, repulsive performance of a little, repugnant man who thinks he is a big man with wit and charm, and it's understandable that audiences feel no empathy for his fate.

Speaking of fates, anyone who has purchased the MGM DVD release here in the UK who hasn't seen the film before will receive an immediate spoiler thanks to the rear of the DVD showing a still image from the final scene of the movie! 

Across 110th Street is a gritty, sweaty expose of '70s American society and a solid marriage between the mainstream and the Blaxploitation film movement. It boasts some strong performances, specifically from Quinn and Kotto whose chalk and cheese partnership has been replicated through the years ever since. You can even see traces of it in the BBC series Life on Mars. And it goes without saying of course that it has a superb soundtrack from Bobby Womack.

Silent Sunday: Dylan and the Scallies

Coming Home (1978)

"...If I have one issue with Coming Home it is with Ashby’s use of soundtrack, and even then I feel divided. Foregoing score music for an incredibly spot on and enjoyable mix of artists from the mid to late ’60s (The Rolling Stones, Jefferson Airplane and Buffalo Springfield etc) is not unusual for a Vietnam war movie but, in Ashby’s decision to have such tracks appear under virtually every other scene, it can feel a little intrusive and somewhat like ‘Now That’s What I Call The Tet Offensive!’.  It’s a little bit of an overload really; within the first ten minutes we have heard The Stones’s Out of Time, followed by Bookends by Simon & Garfunkel, and then The Beatles’ Hey Jude. Later, there’s scarcely a minute that goes by between The Stones tracks Ruby Tuesday and Sympathy For the Devil, and unusually, Ashby often plays these songs in full, straddling several scenes. I love these songs (I’m a massive Stones fan for a start) but it does sometimes feel invasive and distracting – almost as if you’re trying to watch a movie whilst listening to an album at the same time..."

Read my full review at The Geek Show

Yesterday (2019)

Went to the cinema last week to see Yesterday. Bit mad to see Lily James eating a bag of crisps in Upper Crust, Lime Street station if I'm being honest, but it's good to see her using pub etiquette with crisps at least: remember kids, always split the bag for sharing.

To be fair, as Yesterday is a bit of a mad film, it's only right I guess to see James sat in a surprisingly busy Upper Crust - seriously no one really goes in there. Yesterday is a film that asks us to invest in a world where The Beatles, Oasis ("that figures"), Coca Cola, cigarettes and Harry Potter do not exist (I'd only be happy about the last one) but Ed Sheeran and James fucking Corden do. Hmm. It's also a world that would have you believe that a total goddess like Lily James could spend around a decade of her life fancying Himesh Patel and he'd be completely oblivious. Hmm, again. 

What would you do if you woke up to find that The Beatles were expunged from memory and you had some musical ability of your own? That's the question that Yesterday, the new film from director Danny Boyle and writer Richard Curtis, posits. It's an interesting premise of course: indeed you could argue it's not an original one either; the '90s BBC sitcom Goodnight Sweetheart saw Nicholas Lyndhurst stumble upon an alleyway that allowed him to travel back in time to WWII London (think Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris - actually why haven't Goodnight's Sweetheart's writers Marks and Gran sued anyone for stealing their ideas yet?)  whereupon, and among other things, he proceeds to pass songs by The Beatles off as his own. And that's exactly what Patel's struggling singer/songwriter Jack Malik does here, gaining worldwide acclaim and recognition as a result and dressing more and more like a late '60s Paul McCartney along the way.

What's really interesting about Yesterday is the fact that it's a collaboration between two men arguably responsible for two of the biggest and most distinctive British films of the 1990s; Richard Curtis of Four Weddings and a Funeral and Danny Boyle of Trainspotting. Back then it would have been impossible to imagine mixing those two styles or to even predict that those two would ever work together. But now, possibly at a time in their creative lives where they are less groundbreaking, more comfortable and sedate (ie they're middle-aged), it actually seems like a serviceable fit. As a fan of both men - but equally one who is aware of their individual flaws - I was pleased to see that Yesterday brings out only the best of their work. Curtis has lost some of the icky and troublesomely misogynistic aspects of his screenwriting (although you could argue that the whole central relationship is of course built on a lie), whilst Boyle tones down some of his more out there visual flourishes to let the story breathe; with only the odd Dutch angle and a case of captionitis surviving this restraint. His love of mirrors and/or reflections, a motif that appears in all his films, is nicely showcased during the introduction of Ed Sheeran -  his face obscured by the swirling glass of the Malik's front door until you realise that yes, that really is Ed Sheeran. Fair play to the man for agreeing to get on board with a script that pokes so much fun at him too. I especially liked the criticism Joel Fry's character (essentially Curtis dusting down the guileless Spike character from Notting Hill) makes to his face about his rapping; "Ginger rap? That's crap". And you know, it's a perfectly acceptable performance from the ginger one too. What I really liked about Yesterday though was the way in which it asked its audience to consider a world where you'd never heard a Beatles track. How would you react and what would you feel when you did? Arguably this is a sensation that only my parents generation can actually appreciate. 

For all its intriguing premise though, at the heart of Yesterday is the familiar story of a man enduring several highs and lows before realising that what he really needs in life - the love of a good woman - has been right under his nose the whole time. To that extent, the film really does just belong to Patel and James, and whilst there is good support from the likes of Kate McKinnon, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Meera Syal and a lovely, though all too brief, couple of appearances from the mighty Sarah Lancashire, these supporting roles are all rather underwritten and make little impact. Speaking of the cast, my advice is to go into this as blind as possible too, because there's also an uncredited cameo from someone towards the end that utterly melted me. 

Interesting and ironic tidbit; Justin Edwards who plays the Russian who, who along with Himesh Patel and Sarah Lancashire, is just one of the only three people in the world not to be affected by this international amnesia, is married to the comedian Lucy Porter who claims that Paul McCartney stole the melody of Mull of Kintyre from her father, passing it off as his own.

Also, I really like that poster.

Out On Blue Six: The Doobie Brothers

One of the highlights of TV recently (indeed perhaps this year) was Katie Puckrik's wonderful two-part BBC4 music documentary I Can Go For That: The Smooth World of Yacht Rock

Here's Puckrik on that prime slice of what has become known as Yacht Rock, What a Fool Believes "One hundred percent, bouncy-head yacht. It's got Michael McDonald, with his lovely, comforting furry vocals; it's got this bouncy, happy beat, this intro, and he's singing about being a fool. He's goofed up again and yet, he's yearning. What a Fool Believes"

It's the track with the definitive 'Doobie Bounce' which helped shape the whole genre of this music from 1979 onwards.

More music docs from Katie Puckrik please, BBC! She was clearly living her best life making this, and so were we watching it.

End Transmission

RIP Rip Torn

It's been a terrible day for the news of deaths in showbusiness, as it has also been revealed that Hollywood actor Rip Torn has died at the age of 88.

For my generation, Torn was perhaps best known for his roles as Zed in the first two Men in Black movies and for Emmy award winning turn as producer Artie in The Larry Sanders Show. But Torn's career stretched across seven decades and included not only an Oscar nomination in 1983 for the film Cross Creek but also cult acclaim for his role in Nic Roeg's 1976 film The Man Who Fell To Earth alongside David Bowie.

Born Elmore Rual Torn Jr in Texas, 1931 Torn moved to New York in the 1950s to study at the Actors Studio under Lee Strasberg. A prolific stage actor, Torn earned himself a Tony nomination in 1960 for the original production of the Tennesse Williams play Sweet Bird of Youth. He reprised his acclaimed role as Tom Finley Jr in the 1962 film version.Other film credits included Pork Chop Hill, A Face in the Crowd, the biblical epic King of Kings in which he played Judas, The Cincinnati Kid, Payday, Crazy Joe, Maidstone, Airplane II, The Beastmaster, Robocop 3, Disney's Hercules, Freddy Got Fingered and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. 

A disagreement with Dennis Hopper led to Torn being replaced by Jack Nicholson in the film Easy Rider. In 1994, Hopper alleged on a chat show that Torn's dismissal came about when Torn had pulled a knife on him. Torn immediately filed a lawsuit, arguing that he was the victim and that it was actually Hopper who had pulled the knife on him. A judge ruled in Torn's favour and ordered Hopper to pay damages. Whatever the circumstances, Torn would often be the first to admit he was difficult and prone to 'irascibility' and this came to a head in 2010 when intoxicated and carrying a weapon, Torn broke into a bank in Connecticut. Pleading guilty to the charges, Torn was sentenced to a two and a half year suspended sentence and three years probation.

RIP.

RIP Michael Sleggs

Very sad to hear that This Country star Michael Sleggs has died at the age of thirty-three.

Cirencester born Sleggs starred in the hit BBC comedy series as the hapless and inoffensive Michael 'Slugs' Slugette, a role written specifically for him by its stars Daisy May and Charlie Cooper. In the show, Slugs had terminal cancer and had drawn up a bucket list that included playing Laser Quest. In real life, Sleggs had beaten cancer as a teenager, but suffered terribly with ill health, including a series of strokes, poor mobility and heart failure. It was this latter illness that has taken him so prematurely.

RIP

RIP Freddie Jones

One of my favourite character actors, a legend of British film and television, Freddie Jones has sadly died following a short illness at the age of 91.

As an actor Jones seemed to specifically corner the market in terrifying and disturbing a generation of youngsters in the 1970s and '80s through his appearances in the likes of Children of the Stones, Hammer films such as Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed and The Satanic Rites of Dracula, as well as guest roles in many examples of cult television. In later years, Jones became a cuddly, twinkly grandfather figure in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale, making his final appearance as Sandy Thomas in the show last year when, he claimed, he 'could do longer justify staying'.

Born in Stoke-on-Trent, Jones spent ten years of his life working as a laboratory assistant with a firm making ceramic products before turning his hobby in amateur dramatics into a successful career on stage and screen. A regular, favourite actor of David Lynch, Jones appeared in his films The Elephant Man, Dune and Wild at Heart. Other film credits included the Clint Eastwood movie Firefox, Young Sherlock Holmes, Firestarter, The Black Cauldron, Krull, House!, Comrades, Zulu Dawn, Accident, The Man Who Haunted Himself, Far From the Madding Crowd, and most recently opposite his son Freddie Jones in By Our Selves. Memorable TV credits included Pennies from Heaven, the Adrian Mole series and Mr Wroe's Virgins.

RIP

Out On Blue Six: Tiffany/Debbie Gibson

The BBC4 repeats of Top of the Pops are currently from February 1988, the era when two teenage titans of US pop came to the UK; Mall-hopping Tiffany with I Think We're Alone Now and her rival, Debbie Gibson with Shake Your Love

But with the battle lines drawn, which side did you find yourself on?

Ours was definitely a Tiffany household and, even at the tender age of eight, I knew she was, to use the American parlance, an absolute babe. Not as much as one of the boys in our class though, who would go on about her and how beautiful he thought she was all day long given the chance. Until one day he decreed her a dog. Stunned, we al waited until a smirk came across his lips "Dogs are part of nature, and all nature is beautiful" he concluded, fooling us all for the briefest of moments.

Of course, Kylie was just around the corner with I Should Be so Lucky for her  army of young ready-made British fans weaned on twice-daily helpings of Neighbours, along with Vanessa Paradis whose performance of Joe le Taxi on Top of the Pops continued to push us ever closer to the strange phenomena of puberty.

End Transmission

RIP Glyn Houston

The Rhondda born actor Glyn Houston has sadly passed away at the age of 93.

The younger brother of actor Donald Houston, Glyn served in WWII with the Royal Signal regiment and performed stand-up comedy to entertain the troops. Having got the performing bug, Houston made his first film appearance, albeit uncredited, as a barrow boy in the classic 1950 film The Blue Lamp. His most famous role is arguably that of the valet Bunter in the 1970s adaptations of Dorothy L Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries opposite Ian Carmichael. Other TV credits included two appearances in Doctor Who, Keep it in the Family, Some Mother's Do 'Ave 'Em, Doomwatch, Dixon of Dock Green, Minder, Shoestring, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Beasts, Robin's Nest, A Horseman Came Riding By, Softly Softly Task Force and Z Cars, whilst his film credits included The Cruel Sea, The One That Got Away, A Night To Remember, Private's Progress, Tiger Bay, Sink the Bismarck!, The Bulldog Breed, The Wind of Change, Flame in the Streets, A Stitch in Time, The Secret of Blood Island, and The Sea Wolves.

RIP.