Starring: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor Writers: Kurt Wimmer. Director: Phillip Noyce Price: £19.99 (Amazon price: £9.99) Released: December 13th 2010
Jean-Luc Godard famously said that “All you need to make a movie is a gun and a girl”. Of course, he meant a guy carrying a gun and a girl for him to be with, but times have moved on and thankfully, these days it’s frequently the girls/women who have the guns – and maybe a guy to be with as well.
Now SALT sees CIA agent Angelina Jolie – one of the movies’ most proficient women/girls with guns – accused of being a Russian sleeper agent and having to go on the run (with a gun). So you might suspect it’s nothing more than that formula. However, while you might have low expectations from the trailer and SALT does frequently fall off the narrow line between silly and good into silly on many occasions, it is a lot more than just that formula – in essence, it’s The Bourne Identity but on US soil and with a female lead. That can’t be bad, can it?
Starring: Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith and Taraji P. Henson Writers: Christopher Murphey (screenplay), Robert Mark Kamen (story) Director: Harald Zwart Price: £24.99 (Amazon price: £15.93) Released: November 15th 2010
It’s competition time on the blog, as it’s your chance to win the remake of The Karate Kid starring Jackie Chan on Blu-Ray and DVD.
Starring: Christian Burgess, Patrick James Clarke, Ingrid Lacey, Michael Byrne, John Bennett Price: £29.99 Amazon price: £17.93 Network DVD price: £16.99 Released: June 7th 2010
“The Professionals remade by the producers of Inspector Morse. Excited yet?”
A year ago, that’s how I would have started this Lost Gem for Saracen, a 1989 show which never got repeated, released on DVD, uploaded to YouTube or made available to the public in any way since its first broadcast nearly 21 years ago*.
Saracen, launched on the back of a pilot movie the previous year called The Zero Option, centred around the operatives of Saracen Systems, a private security company that exclusively hires ex-special forces soldiers for its protection work around the world.
Starring British actor Christian Burgess and American actor Patrick James Clarke as the ex-SAS David Barber and the ex-Delta Tom Duffy (B&D – Bodie and Doyle anyone?), it was an action-packed but thoughtful show that looked at geopolitical issues, the morality of various industries (including the security and weapons businesses) and the armed forces.
And I remembered it as being a bit dull, honestly. It has great music by Barrington Pheloung (Inspector Morse) and I had it on VHS for a long time, but I ditched my copies in the mid 90s on the general grounds that it wasn’t all that.
But Network DVD are nice enough to be releasing all 13 episodes and the pilot movie on DVD on Monday and in a nice reversal of the usual “memory cheats” syndrome (that is, you remember something from when you were younger as being good but it turns out when you re-watch it that it’s rubbish), Saracen turns out to be actually a very good show indeed that my poor little 17-year-old brain couldn’t take. It takes a little time to find its feet and work out how to balance smartness and action, but it does manage it.
It also help that Ingrid Lacey from Drop the Dead Donkey is in it.
Here’s the introduction from the first four episodes that explains the set-up, together with a bit of action from the first episode. I’ve also added for nostalgia freaks a trailer with the series highlights that originally aired on ITV back in the day that I’ve been saving up for over a year – that’s how far in advance I prepare some of these things. Impressed much? Thought not.
Starring: Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci Writer/Director: Nora Ephron Price: £19.99 (Amazon price: £12.98) Released: March 8th 2010
Calling all foodies! Slight departure from the normal TMINE fare, I know, but I refuse to be confined to one little box – here’s your chance to win a copy of Julie & Julia, starring Meryl Streep as famous US TV chef (ah, see the TMINE link now?) and writer Julia Child and Amy Adams (you know, off Enchanted, Sunshine Cleaning et al) as a blogger who tries to make all the recipes in Childs’ magnum opus Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year.
In the US/UK: Sometime in 2010
Available from Amazon.co.uk on BluRay import
The Cylons were created by man. They evolved. They rebelled. They look and feel human. Some are programmed to think they are human. There are many copies. And they have a plan.
Unfortunately for them, it’s rubbish, and they can’t make up their minds about what to do. At least, that’s what Battlestar Galactica: The Plan appears to suggest. A final “milk it for all it’s worth” effort before it becomes impossible to get the actors in the same place, it’s more like a director’s commentary than a worthwhile addition to a TV classic’s range.
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor
