Category Archives: Moving Image

Movies,Tv,Video

The War Game

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When i was fifteen,i saw Threads on the tv,a stark and brutal look at the prelude and aftermath of a nuclear attack on the UK.It scared me senseless at the time,and is still a powerful,if somewhat depressing piece of work.
However,Threads owes a massive debt in style and substance to The War Game.Written by Peter Watkins,in his trademark docu-drama style,The War Game is even now still pretty hard hitting and was banned from the Beeb until the eighties.Primarily it would seem because it showed how unprepared the goverment was for such an attack,and in particular for two scenes where armed police execute looters and shoot hopeless medical cases.Both events that Watkins quite rightly said would be realistic and therefore refused point blank to edit out.As a result The War Game was banned by the BBC and Watkins took his considerable talents abroad and hasn’t made a film in the UK since.It’s also worth pointing out that the Beeb retained the rights to the film,and although it has since been released both here and in America,Watkins has recieved no income at all from the film.
It’s a superb piece of work,and well worth a look,it was a notable influence on both Threads here,and perhaps less so on The Day After in the States.
I am endlessly fascinated by this sort of thing,and love browsing through Subterranea Britannica for buildings from that sort of era.You can find a detailed and very lengthy report on SubBrit on the civil defense plans for the UK,written at around the same time The War Game was filmed,it provides valuable background information.

The Screaming Blue Messiahs

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The Screaming Blue Messiahs were a sort of blues driven rock band with some punky influences and a love of Americana,formed in the early eighties they recorded a few brilliant albums and split.Despite major label releases,extensive touring,critical acclaim and the endorsement of no less than David Bowie,hardly anyone has ever heard of them.I can clearly remember Bowie being interviewed on the tv around the time of his Glass Spider tour saying he though The SBM’s were the best thing since sliced bread.
The most distinctive thing about them is the frontman,Bill Carter’s guitar style,he plays without a pick,but not like say,Mark Knoffler,Carter plays with such aggression that it wasnt uncommon to see his guitars with splatters of blood.Coupled with his bluesy ,feedback laden sound,backed by the solid wall of noise produced by bass player Chris Thompson and drummer Kenny Harris,The Messiahs were a fearsome live band,who always seemed on the verge of disentegrating into a brawl,they were almost dangerous.
Check out this superb live version of ‘Sweetwater Pools’,i have no idea how he gets some of those sounds out of that guitar,even when he bangs it accidently into the mike stand it sounds amazing…also,check out the two girls in front of the stage losing it!!

They still have a website ,where you can find details of their records,all their albums are great,but i would suggest Bikini Red is the place to start.

C.W.Stoneking-Thats Not Coming Out Of There-Part 2

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A mate sent me the link to C.W.Stoneking’s Myspaz site.Quality stuff i’m sure you will agree.
C.W’s music is a blend of Blues and old school Jazz,this guy sounds like he should have been playing Jazz clubs in New York before the war,the first war that is.With a frankly amazing horn section,and a voice of gravel,of which Tom Waits or Lemmy would be proud and the unmistakable sound of a National guitar,all adds up to a superb package.
Stoneking easily makes the ‘Thats Not Coming Out Of There’ list,check him out on Jools Holland’s Later programme

Thats Not Coming Out Of There-Part 1

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Ever hear a band before you see them and then are surprised by how they look?

Donkeys years ago i was rather into Ultrasound ,a band i heard way before i saw them.When i finally did see them on the tv,from Glastonbury i think if memory serves,the song starts and im thinking,’ok,where’s the guy that sings?’.Then up to the mic steps Tiny Wood and lets that voice do it’s thing,i was staggered to say the least.

Sadly some of their material was somewhat self indulgant,’Floodlit World’ and ‘Stay Young’ remain amongst my fave singles though

Check ’em out on Jools Holland,doing Stay Young

Lights Went Out-Alice Russell

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Im a big fan of Alice Russell ,but she is someone i only discovered fairly recently.Proud as ever to be late to the party,here is a superb quality live version of ‘Lights Went Out’

I love her voice,superb control and what a dynamic range!!,the way she soars from a whisper to a shout in the same breath is amazing
I first heard her on a Morcheeba album,All Back To Mine,an intruiging series where various artists compile a cd’s worth of tracks you might expect to hear after spending a night on the tiles with them
You can buy what i think is her best album here…Under The Munka Moon

Hellboy Again

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Well,we went to see it last week,just been too busy to write anything.

It’s pretty damn good,and well worth the effort of seeing on a big screen.Perlman is superb,and i was surprised at how good that guy from the dismally crap Eighties band ,Bros was.Obviously i use the term ‘band’ in the loosest possible sense and by ‘dismally’ i mean downright awful with a deep and abiding hatred at the very thought of his being.The chance of a successful transition from popstar to credible actor is not a good one,given past efforts.Having said that,under 18 inches of makeup,he is almost unrecognisable.He must have trained bloody hard for the role,so you gotta give him that.Same for Perlman,can’t be that easy dodging around film sets under a good few pounds of prosthetics and makeup at his age.

The creatures are little short of awesome,i think i read somewhere there were less than half a dozen creatures in the first Hellboy film,in this one there are loads,each quite distinctive and some really spectacular and original.Everything is just so much more scaled up compared to the first film.Although i still think the first one is the better movie.

Infernal Internal Jukebox Part 1

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There are certain songs i get stuck in my head,sometimes for days at a time,some repeat time and time again.
Men Without Hats one hit wonder Safety Dance is one such tune.Nothing i do can shift them until they are replaced with another

I have often thought that this tune is somehow a precursor to Dance/Rave culture,partly because of the lyrical content,but also because of the video..an idealised view of a bucolic England….Crusties must watch this and think it looks like Crusty Heaven.

A small footnote for trivia fans…if the video was better quality you might recognise Mike Edmonds,who played Og in Time Bandits.

Hellboy II:The Golden Army

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Ron Perlman as Hellboy

Ron Perlman as Hellboy

I am so going to see this on the big screen,can’t wait.

I want to see this for many reasons,

1:It’s Hellboy II!

2:It’s Hellboy II

3:Its got Ron Perlman in it,the man is a superb actor.

4 :Its a Guillermo del Toro film,the man is a genius.

Does four reasons count as ‘many’?…it does in my book,even if there are only three.
If your a stranger to either Del Toro or Perlman,you should have a look at some of their films..Perlman is one of my favourite actors,he’s brilliant in the much maligned Alien Resurrection and in the dreamlike City Of Lost Children directed by Jean Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro.
Del Toro directed the equally dreamlike and multi-layered Pan’s Labyrinth,the first Hellboy movie and Blade II.
If you visit the Official Site,there’s trailers to watch,downloads etc etc

The Watchmen Trailer Is Here..

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..And i don’t quite know what to think of it.Hollywood book/game movie tie ins are notoriously bad.
Have a look at it here
Some of the look of the book would seem to be spot on,but there isn’t quite enough footage to tell for sure.Hopefully they haven’t turned it into a run of the mill action movie.Although on Hollywood’s past efforts we may well be disappointed.