They also answer that age-old question “who’d win a fight between a middle-aged ex-athlete with a few months of kendo training and a ninja who’s just lost an arm and leg”?

Black Knight. Martin Lawrence is lovely but man, this film is so very, very bad. It was on late at night last week and we sat in fascination, wondering if it could get any worse (it did). You know those times when you’re too tired to even get up and go to bed? That’s about the only time you’ll be content to watch this. If time travel comedy appeals to you, why not try the hugely superior French film, Les Visiteurs?

On the other hand, 36 by Olivier Marchal is one of the best films I’ve seen in years. Even subtitle-phobic himself was hooked and *gasp* said that if it were on tape he’d rewind and watch it a second time right there and then. A first! It is violent in parts and the ending is a little too neat (can’t say more without giving the plot away) but still, highly recommended.

If you have access to Sky movies in the UK, it’s repeated on Tuesday 9 January at 12:35am – 2:30am on Sky Cinema 1 and on Wednesday 10 January at 3:50am – 5:45am on Sky Cinema 2.

p.s. It seems that a Hollywood remake is on the way with George Clooney and Robert De Niro.

Right, I’m off to put my Miss Bossy-Boots hat on to give wardrobe advice to a friend who’s looking to meet someone special and who thinks that “dressing up” means ironing an old shirt…

Kinky Boots is a lovely story, a little contrived in parts but well worth watching for a good script and excellent performances. In Her Shoes was quite a surprise – Cameron Diaz especially. But one up for the wrinklies – the best parts of the film are definitely those that take place in the residential home. Both films highly recommended for chill out time.

But it’s to the wireless I turn for hours of entertainment and there’s a huge amount of good programmes coming up this Christmas – so many that I’ll have to write a separate entry but in the meantime you might like the opportunity to listen again to We’ll Keep a Comic in the Hillside, a two parter in which “Welsh comedy writer Stephen Carver asks if there is such a thing as a distinctively Welsh sense of humour”. Part 1 is on at 23:30 GMT (about 40 minutes from the time stamp of this post), part 2 at the same time tomorrow night and both will be available for seven days on the Listen Again page.

The Afternoon Plays this week have also looked interesting so I’m saving them up for a bumper listen on Saturday while cleaning and packing to head home to Wales. Tuesday’s in particular – Martha My Dear by Annie McCartney – looks like good fun:

Martha has always been an agony aunt for her wayward friends, but the publication of a steamy bestseller casts doubt on dear Martha’s confidentiality.

I’m avoiding writing about the events this week, partly because I try and avoid four letter words used in anger (here at least) and a certain funeral parlour deserves a whole string of ‘em so I’m keeping it zipped to ponder. But dammit, the vultures!

I finally got to see Dear Frankie last night:

Nine year-old Frankie and his single mum Lizzie have been on the move ever since Frankie can remember, most recently arriving in a seaside Scottish town. Wanting to protect her deaf son from the truth that they’ve run away from his father, Lizzie has invented a story that he is away at sea on the HMS Accra. Every few weeks, Lizzie writes to Frankie a make-believe letter from his father, telling of his adventures in exotic lands.

As Frankie tracks the ship’s progress around the globe, he discovers that it is due to dock in his hometown. With the real HMS Accra arriving in only a fortnight, Lizzie must choose between telling Frankie the truth or finding the perfect stranger to play Frankie’s father for just one day.

A cracking story, wonderful acting and a first class script. I’m on a mission now to try and see screenwriter Andrea Gibb’s other films.

Tellybox and wireless archives

There’s much excitement over the BBC has opening up its fully searchable experimental programme catalogue – “details of 946,614 BBC radio & TV programmes, dating back 75 years”. There’s a great introduction to the site by Tom Loosemore but best of all, Murky Murdoch is well pissed off about it.

First task: what was on television the day I was born? Harold Wilson (then Prime Minister), a documentary about Japan and another heartbreaking episode of Steptoe and Son.

I love that you can search for your favourite programmes – how about Nice Town? I’m thinking of starting a campaign to get the beeb (or anyone!) to broadcast it again.

Oh and the Woman’s Hour dramatisation of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca with Harriet Walter and Michael Rosen. I still get goosebumps thinking about it.

There’s plenty to explore but first thought is that the radio icon could be improved – I spent the first 10 minutes thinking it was a clapperboard therefore a movie icon. Or maybe I should go find my spectacles.

And if you had the chance to be a continuity announcer for the day, how would you introduce your favourite/most hated progammes?

Photo © Copyright Wellspring Media

If you have a subscription to Sky Cinema 1 (UK), you might like to settle down at 10 pm for a cracking good thriller, Feux Rouges (Red Lights). Carole Bouquet and especially Jean-Pierre Darroussin are excellent but it’s uncomfortable viewing. I spent most of the film with one of those “I know something bad’s going to happen but I don’t know what” feelings in the pit of my stomach.

From the IMDB review:

Based on a novel by that prolific 20th Century master of the psychological thriller, Georges Simenon (peerless in the art of representing bourgeois male pathology), Cedric Kahn has fashioned a handsome and compelling movie which credibly portrays the many different shades of its lead character’s rage and paranoia while maintaining steady levels of increasing suspense, even beyond the violent crescendo which occurs roughly two thirds of the way through. The mood changes somewhat as the shaken Antoine emerges from his nocturnal adventure into a new dawn, but further uncertainties and revelations keep the viewer gripped until the credits.

[tags]French, movie, Feux, Rouges[/tags]

8 Ways Brokeback Mountain has Changed the World

Looks like a great film. And the soundtrack is wonderful. When’s it coming to these shores then?

Sunshine is a new film from Danny Boyle and Alex Garland. And Gia is blogging from the set. Fascinating stuff.

J.uliette Lewis has just arrived. Is she on medication? Is Stephen Fry working her with his foot?

Quotes of the night – first from the fabulous Mr Fry:

I’d like to thank members of the audience for coming tonight [camera pans the audience]. There’s Cate Blanchett, on many people’s A lists. And there’s Clive Owen, who is on many people’s To Do lists.

And from David Heyman on receiving the award for most popular British film (Harry Potter and something or other, voted for by the public):

I’d like to thank Peter Jackson for taking a year off.

Heh.