Simon’s Cat

The latest in award-winning animator Simon Tofield‘s series.

‘Fly Guy’

A Critical Appraisal of Madness’s Videos

A Critical Appraisal of Madness’s Videos

The Kneale Tapes

“Not suitable for children, or those of you who may have a nervous disposition.”

The Kneale Tapes, a documentary about British science fiction screenwriter Nigel Kneale.

That calls for a Wilhelm Scream

Ben Burtt… heard the name? Well if you’ve ever watched a Star Wars film you’ve heard what he does.

Kiss Me Deadly

Light in the dark

A women running down an empty country road at night, her bare legs flashing in the moonlight from beneath her trench coat; one of the classic opening shots. And it is from what is considered to be one the classic film noirs with Ralph Meeker as Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer that has somehow previously escaped me.

The woman, Christina, escaped from a lunatic asylum, flags down Hammer who gives her a ride. Then his car is forced off the road by a couple of thugs. Afterwards semi-conscious Hammer hears Christina being tortured to death. Partly out of wanting revenge and partly just from his PI instincts that something big is behind her death he starts investing into the woman’s background.

Hot Fuzz

Call the cops

I remember when Spaced came out. Channel Four gave it a really bad promotion – not even hinting at all the science-fictional references in it – so I just expected some rubbish, twenty-something flat-sharing sitcom. So, after promoting from friends, I only finally caught up with it on DVD. And I ended up loving it of course, though it does vary a bit during the run. Then more recently Shaun Of The Dead came along. Whilst for the most part it worked, I had issues were the comedy and the horror (in particular the tragic stuff) did not really work together and it kind of unravels in the final minutes.

Now Hot Fuzz has arrived and it’s sort of perfect. It celebrates the essential naffness of the British policeman, at least cinematically. Something to do with the uniform and lack of guns, but the only UK cop films that have succeeded (and there’s very few of them full stop) are plain clothes efforts like The Sweeney. This time the plot works with comedy and the integration of the ‘US Cop Buddy Movie’ genre into a West Country small town is excellent. This is helped by the film-makers not being shy to include elements of other genres like Hammer horror and television crime dramas like Midsomer Murders. It also helps that they have managed to secure an utterly unprecedented number of quality actors for every single role, no mater how small. In Midsomer you know the most famous guest actor is the murderer, in Hot Fuzz everyone is famous.