It is fitting that when Sky launched their new channel Sky Atlantic on Tuesday, the show that headlined the evening was set in Atlantic City. Boardwalk Empire, depicting the vast social changes in 1920s America hit the small screen this week and did so with all the pomp and flair of an illicit prohibition era party.
Beyond its genius writing, clever jokes and unique characters, The Simpsons has another trait that makes it stand out among other sitcoms – it’s pop culture references. I grew up on The Simpsons, which also means when I watched the show as a child, I missed every third or fourth clever joke. It was only in later life that I’d pick up on what the writers were referring to.
This posed a bit of a problem. For while the cult references are fun for those that get them the downside is there are several classic films that have been slightly, if not entirely spoiled for me by Simpsons episodes.
Damn you Groening!
Here’s a few. Obviously, Beware Spoliers!
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
As soon as I was introduced to Chief Bromden in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest I thought he seemed vaguely familiar. Then when Jack Nicholson’s character tried to lift the water fountain my suspicions were confirmed. I had seen the Chief in ‘The Old Man and the ‘C’ Student’ where Bart takes over the retirement home. In the parody scene Chief Bromden throws a water cooler through the window to gain access both in and out of a room. Once I made the connection I knew that the Chief would ultimately use the water cooler to escape from the hospital. ENDING RUINED!
——–THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS———
Last night I did an almost unprecedented thing. Midway through the fourth and final part of a programme that I was looking forward to since its inception and ridiculously emotionally involved with from the first episode on, I switched off the TV and walked away. I simply couldn’t handle watching it. That programme was Shane Meadows This Is England ’86.
Thankfully this morning I summoned up the courage to continue and finished off what was quite possibly the greatest UK television programme of a generation.
Over the years, Hollywood has ransacked the television archives for inspiration, with varying degrees of success. From the awful (I Spy, Wild Wild West, Dukes of Hazzard etc) to the distinctly average (Get Smart, Land of the Lost, Miami Vice etc). Very few have managed to really pull off a reimagining that pleases cinemagoers without alientating the die hard fans. Then last year, a TV mogul came and raised the bar. J.J Abram’s Star Trek reboot was, as you’d expect, hotly anticipated and as such most expected it to fail.
I was stunned by what proved to be a sleak, contemporary thrill ride. Sadly A-team does not continue this asscendancy.
The Wire has been given a lot of press attention and critical acclaim. And rightly so. It’s ridiculously great storytelling, impeccably put together and as addictive as heron. But it’s also had a rather adverse effect on the world of film. It’s not The Wire‘s fault but over the past few years certain films (Pride and Glory, American Gangster) have tried to ape the maginificent show, and also many of it’s network’s (HBO) product. The most obvious example of this, Brooklyn’s Finest is in cinemas now.
The biggest reason why Cinema can’t be HBO, at almost almost 60 hours, almost 3853 minutes, The Wire has literally days to tell it’s complete story. Brooklyn’s Finest has a little over two hours. But it doesn’t stop deluded film-makers trying.
Carey Mulligan at last nights BAFTA’s not only took home the Best Female award but also wowed audiences with her innovative choice of gown. For me she was the best dressed of the evening in her beautiful Vionnet floral monochrome gown and this I would say is her best appearance on the red carpet in this current award season where she has always looked good but last night this dress made her look like the winning actress that she is:
The 14th of March is the tentative date for the start of the new miniseries ‘The Pacific’, a HBO production that will air on Sky Movies in the UK (advert free). The Pacific sees Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks providing us with another look at events in WWII, this time from the view of the battle being fought with Japan.
After the success of Band of Brothers (which is by far one of my favourite television series of all time) The Pacific has been highly anticipated since the first trailer was released last summer and early reports suggest that it will not disappoint.
The $128 million price tag for the series indicates that they will not be holding back on the fight sequences and special effects. Though this is not a show that will be brilliant for spectacle alone, if the story telling is anything like that of Band of Brothers it will be the smaller moments between the characters that will make this TV event special, that this journey that these young men are on is one worth telling beyond the explosions and gun fights.
A familiar face in the trailer is Joseph Mazzello who you probably recognise from another Spielberg hit Jurassic Park in which he played Tim. Looking over his IMDb page his work in film and TV since that childhood role has consisted with bit parts so hopefully this lead role will help reinvigorate his career. Other faces you might also recognise are James Badge Dale who was Chase in 24 and also starred in The Departed and Aussie actress Isabella Lucas who was in Transformers 2 and most recently Daybreakers. Hopefully this means that there will be some female involvement in this series that goes beyond the HBO required boob count.
A little while ago a story came out of Hollywood that an A-list actor and director was pulled over by the LAPD so heavily intoxicated that he’d have killed any small child that jumped out in front of his big, moving car.
The celebrity, who shall remain nameless, then proceeded to verbally insult the police with mysogynistic and anti-semitic remarks. But as Mel Gibson’s latest film, The Edge Of Darkness explains, conspiracies are everywhere. So that story that I just told you was probably all made up. Like the holocaust, hey Mel, Hey? Hey?!
Like an erstwhile Dr. Sam Beckett, Mel Gibson is trying to put right what once went wrong by standing in front of the camera (for the first time since his arrest) and playing such a thoroughly likeable chap, that you can’t help but root for him. For chrissakes his daughter’s been murdered! Therefore Mel must be a nice guy and couldn’t have possibly said stuff that would have made Hitler blush. Well, that’s the theory.
There aren’t many people that would want George Lucas to have any more cash, and even fewer that would want him to earn it on the back of ‘The Phantom Menace’, but Hollywood owes the guy at least a pint or two for making the notion of the prequel such a draw. Because from Bond to this week’s ‘Wolverine’, cinema-goers are lapping up the idea of where their favourite franchise characters originated. ‘Star Trek’ (11) takes this idea to warp factor 9. (Bad Pun Number 1).
Kicking off with an incredibly tense and surprisingly emotional pre-credits sequence, the 11th Trek film then jumps from world to world encompassing Iowa and Vulcan and transporting (Bad Pun Number 2) between several time zones from Baby Kirk to Teenage Spock to where the heart of this movie lies, Young Adult Spock (Zachary Quinto) and Kirk (Chris Pine). The former fighting his eternal battle with Bjork’s idiom that there is definitely, definitely, definitely no logic to human behaviour and the latter drinking heavily, bar-fighting and trying to lay Uhura. Apart from the last part it’s clear this is a new, ’00s Trek. (more…)
I rarely use the word genius to describe anything or anyone (save myself) usually because anyone you label a genius will usually get offended that you’ve placed them on too high a pedestal and that the ‘genius’ label is something that they can never live up to or justify (save myself). But Armando Iannucci is a genius.
He works as producer, writer and/or director on projects that include ‘The Day Today’, ‘I’m Alan Partridge’, ‘Genius’ (funny that), the little seen but still wonderful ‘The Armando Iannucci Show’ and the reason we’re here today, ‘The Thick of It’. Or more accurately ‘In The Loop’ the biggifying of the BBC4 political satire. (more…)