lespike Reviews

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992–2014)

Normally well worth a watch...

[18 January 2004]

Obviously being in the UK I might not see this show in the same light as it's seen in the US, but I discovered the show in April-ish 2003 when it started broadcasting on the little known UK channel Ftn (also broadcasts on CNBC Europe, although only a couple of episodes a week)...

Soon grew to love the show's topical humour (we've normally heard of the particular subject in the UK) as we don't really have a show that broadcasts on the same level for the whole year. The guests are also obviously well known to us, so pretty much the whole programme makes sense and is always worth a watch!

Only when it comes to the musical performances do I get a little stuck as not all the bands have much (or if any) UK exposure.

Stu

Buster (1988)

Great little movie

[13 January 2004]

Just tracked Buster on DVD (for £4 - bargain, or so I thought, more of that later) and gave it a watch today, to be delighted all over again from the last time I saw it, which must have been a few years ago!

The film manages to capture the essence of the 60s, and delivers it over to the audience, in a style which I thought was very convincing. Don't listen to your friends when they kick up a fuss about seeing this film because it's got Phil Collins in, ignore it, he can act and does very well in the movie. A mention should also be given to the ever dependable Julie Walters, who yet again gives a solid performance.

While on the subject of Julie Walters, I really like the opening scenes in Acapulco (with nice music from Four Tops behind the flying shots over Mexico) as it shows you in an instant that the character of Julie Walters is never going to fit into her environment, as she can be seen wearing dreary colours, a head scalf, thick coat etc and has nothing to match the elegance of the country and it's people. Although Julie Walters can be seen to fit into her forced situation as the scenes in Mexico progress (shown nicely in her choice of clothing I think) you can see she is never really comfortable with it, and her departure back to England was always going to happen.

The film also seems to be accurate to the story of the 63 Great Train Robbery, except for two point, the driver of the train (Jack Mills?) wasn't shown to be as serious hurt as he was by the gang, and Buster also slaps his wife in the Mexico market scene, something the real life Buster has been quoted as saying he would never do, or never did such a thing.

Still don't let this (or the funny (not haha) ending) overshadow your opinion on the movie, truly is a goodun.

Oh and there is a DVD release doing the rounds at the moment, that really is not worth it, as it presents the film in a badly transferred 14:9 image within a 4:3 frame which just looks dull and awful. Go for the proper DVD release in it's glorious 1.85:1 aspect ratio.

Brassed Off (1996)

A stunner from Film Four

[9/10 · 14 December 2003]

Having not seen this film for a good few years I found it in my video collection this afternoon and decided I'd give it a watch. Being about 14/15 on first viewing I remember the film being certainly a watchable one, but I wasn't prepared for the amount of emotion packed into the film that can only really be seen by one with a degree from the University of Life.

Pete Postlethwaite (Danny), always a dependable actor, proves his mighty worth in this film, perfectly portraying a man with only thing left in his life to keep him going, who then starts to discover this one thing will soon be pulled away from under his feet.

Along with Stephen Tompkinson (Phil) they show a huge amount of on screen chemistry, and genuine concern between the two for each others plights. This is also mirrored in the on screen relationship between Ewan McGregor (Andy) and Tara Fitzgerald (Gloria), which again is remarkable, and worthy of comment.

The film is also backed up in strong performances from a staple of good British actors, including Stephen Moore (McKenzie), Sue Johnston (Vera) and Jim Carter (Harry).

One thing also worth mentioning in this review is some of the Cinematography, which perfectly compliments the film, and at all the right places. Shots of some particular note are the Colliery shot in Concerto D'Aranjuez (preceeding the Union meeting, showing the Colliery backlit at Night) and the shot framing the Band as they arrive back in Grimley from the Band Semi-Finals - the almost backlit qualities of the shot, framed against the sky is simply breathtaking and beautiful.

In short, well worth seeing.

Whatever happened to Film Four eh? Used to make some right gooduns.

Stu (Please note I'm keeping well away from any of the political messages of the film in this review!)

Metropolis (1927)

A well done vision of the future at a time when the future was incredibly bleak

[10/10 · 17 November 2003]

Metropolis. Ah a film which has possibly the highest amount of different versions avaiable through the years. Not only did they manage to lose half of the footage from the original cut (Thanks to US distributers), a good dozen copies have been released on various VHS and DVD releases, with only one of them actually being any good (the 1984 release by Giorgio Moroder) despite the ultra 80s soundtrack, colour tinting etc.

I think you need to see several versions of the movie to see all the various 'discovered' parts which every new version of the film seems to include in order to see the 'whole' movie (whats left of it), anyway, however you see it - it's basically a story about a group of workers revolting against the cream of the society, the rich, who built a new huge city and banished the workers to the undergroud, to work back breaking shifts in order to keep the creme de la creme's lifestyle going.

A startingly well thought out movie when you take into consideration it's based 100 years from the year the movie was made (2027, as in when the movie is based, not when it was made! :), and I think Fritz Lang must have been a man of some considerable vision, who was quite frankly well ahead of his time, and situation (Germany, mid 20s, Hitler etc).

Also see Queen's Radio Ga Ga vision to see Metropolis in another (yes, another!) light!

Stu

Intolerable Cruelty (2003)

Obviously called Intolerable Cruelty for a Reason!

[28 October 2003]

Well this film truly was Intolerable Cruelty for the audience... I don't think I've ever seen a film which has shown at least some possible hope - after all a film which contains a good cast (in the shape of Thorton, Clooney and Zeta-Jones) and a reasonable pair of directors (although they aren't of a huge pedigree) you'd think it would be very hard for it to be such a flop.

The film lost all respect from me in the opening 5 minutes, or to be more precise, as soon as the pool guy opened his mouth in pretty much the first scene. What a terrible character!

The storyline chopped around all over the place, and didn't display nearly as much continuity as I would have liked. The film also managed to lose a star when, in the initial scene between Clooney and Zeta-Jones, the water glass continously changed levels between each camera angle. Does no-one look for these things anymore?!

The film could have wrapped itself up about 15mins earlier, but it seemed to be doing it's best to drag out the damn obvious - that Zeta Jones and Clooney would get it on! Mind you, it was worth hanging around to see the only gag that was funny - Wheezy Joe shooting himself in the neck, after being pepper sprayed!

I've never yet walked out of a film, although this one pretty much pushed it! Not much point seeing as they've already got your money!

A definite 3/10 - and it's not just me as a bloke saying this! My girlie companion hated it too...