It’s that talented man Chris Morris talking about his latest film Four Lions. Enjoy!
Year: 2010
Dick Heads
Review: Chris Ryan’s Strike Back 1×1-1×2
In the UK: Wednesdays, 9pm, Sky 1/Sky 1 HD
It’s easy to forget that while Armando Iannucci and co urge the BBC to set up its own subscription-only version of HBO in the UK, one company is already in the fledgling steps of doing just that: BSkyB. Sky have one mission in life and that’s to sell subscriptions and Sky boxes – in particular HD Sky boxes and HD subscriptions (an extra £10 a month). After years of assuming that buying lots of US TV was the way to attract subscribers – to diminishing returns – the last few years has seen a change of strategy: a concerted effort to create home-grown, quality drama, usually based on Terry Pratchett books, in an attempt to get the viewing public to hand over the cash.
Chris Ryan’s Strike Back is the latest part of this strategy. Starring everyone’s favourite Dick Head, Richard Armitage – the actor on everyone’s speed dial when they need to cast an SAS soldier – Strike Back sees Armitage’s down-and-out MI6 security guard (and former SAS soldier) go back to Iraq to recover a kidnapped reporter, who might be in the hands of the Iraqis he fought in his last mission. His MI6 handler: the army intelligence officer who accompanied him back then (Andrew Lincoln).
And you know what? Despite being on Sky 1, it’s actually very good.
What have you been watching this week (w/e May 7)
A quick return of Tuesday’s late showing, but I’ve watched a few things since then:
- Channel 4’s Alternative Election Coverage: as this week’s QI also proved David Mitchell is obviously one of the smartest, if not the smartest and funniest men on TV at the moment, and is probably the inheritor of Steven Fry’s mantel. So what the hell was he doing on this? Charlie Brooker was great, of course, as was Mitchell, but Jimmy Carr filled time by making jokes about Gordon Brown’s eye and Lauren Laverne was just using up valuable oxygen the whole time. Oh dear.
- Chuck: I was expecting some Hart to Hart style fun, but this wasn’t it. A bit dull really, and Chuck’s now too much of a spy for my liking. On the other hand, Sarah’s actually getting a personality of her own and it’s good to see Ellie and Devon haven’t been forgotten, too.
- House: Blah bar the last minute.
- Lost: Shocking yet not shocking since who knows how much of this is going to stick, with the flashes sideways? Talking of which, they’re now the most interesting part of the show. But Smokey’s machinations were a joy to watch
- Outnumbered: Tried to watch it again. Still hated it – again. Clearly not the show for me, thanks to my loathing of every single member of the family, particularly the adults.
- Party Down: Still absolute rubbish. Why do people love it so? I say people. I mean 120,000 or so of you in the whole of the US.
- Watchdog: Ha ha ha ha ha. Where else can you see famous Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins going out to Afghanistan to investigate the terrible mobile phone networks for forcing members of the armed forces to pay their phone bills when they’ve been deployed at short notice on the front line and haven’t got a letter of proof from their commanding officers – and then finish the report with “and since that report was made, all the mobile phone companies have changed their policies on this”.
But what did you watch?
As always, no spoilers unless you’re going to use the <spoiler> </spoiler> tags, please. If you’ve reviewed something on your blog, you can put a link to it here rather than repeat yourself (although too many links and you might get killed by the spam filter).
Classic TV
Weird old title sequences: Children of the Stones (1977)
Back in the 70s, kids TV was full of the weird and wonderful. Whether it was on ITV or BBC1/BBC2 (youngsters: we only had three channels back then), you could come home from school, turn on the TV and pretty much be guaranteed some mentalist of a commissioner had ordered up 25 minutes of LSD-fuelled lunacy that seven PhD students couldn’t decipher the plot of but which was sure-fire certain to scar you for the rest of your life.
We could go through the list without too much trouble for quite some time and still not be complete: The Tomorrow People, Ace of Wands, King of the Castle, Timeslip, Sky, Catweazle, The Feathered Serpent, Escape into Night, The Jensen Code, Raven, Into the Labyrinth, Michael Bentine’s Potty Time, Pipkins, Robert’s Robots, The Owl Service.
See what I mean? And I haven’t even started, really.
One of the most complicated, clever, “scare the sh*t out the kids”, yet hard-to-fathom shows was the seven-part serial Children of the Stones. This followed the adventures of astrophysicist Adam Brake (Gareth Thomas of Blakes 7) and his son Matthew after they arrive in the small village of Milbury, which is built in the middle of a megalithic stone circle. There they meet village squire and noted astronomer Hendrick (Iain Cuthbertson) and possibly the most well behaved bunch of kids in the world, almost all of whom are doing quite well in quantum mechanics at the village school.
As you do.
Yes, there is something rotten in the heart of this village Eden, and it’s not just the quantum mechanics. There are mysterious deaths, Matthew seems to have a psychic link with a mysterious painting, there’s the mysterious stone circle that somehow seems to prevent them leaving the village, there’s the mysterious housekeeper, there’s the mysterious personality changes of anyone who goes to dinner with Hendrick. You get the idea. It’s all very mysterious.
Cue the mysterious, weird and soul-chilling title sequence, followed by the first ten minutes of the first episode.
Continue reading “Weird old title sequences: Children of the Stones (1977)”
Sitting Tennant
Friday’s Hung Sitting Tennnant (week 18, 2010)
To get you through this time of turmoil and political stalemate, please find attached an emergency supply of David Tennant pictures designed to keep you calm and carry on with what you were doing.
- Rullsenberg: 130
- Erin C: 110
- Sister Chastity, Toby: 100
- Rachel: 75
- Sabine: 60
- Karen: 35
- Dawn: 10
BTW, Krishna, after whispering the entire contents of the Bhagavad Gita in my ear before the final battle with the Kauravas, also mentioned that you shouldn’t forget Tuesday’s caption competition.
Got a picture of David Tennant sitting, lying down or in some indeterminate state in between? Then leave a link to it below or email me and if it’s judged suitable, it will appear in the “Sitting Tennant” gallery. Don’t forget to include your name in the filename so I don’t get mixed up about who sent it to me.
The best pic in the stash each week will appear on Monday and get ten points; the runners up will appear on Friday (one per person who sends one in) and get five points.
You can also enter the witty and amusing captions league table by commenting on Monday’s Sitting Tennant photo, the best caption getting 10 points, everyone who contributes getting five points.