Monthly Archives: March 2009

Sit-rep (or, ‘In want of a better title’)

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The start of April — which I know is nine days away, before you think I’m barking — marks the end of the year’s first quarter in just about every way possible (meaning in months, weeks and days). Unfortunately, it looks unlikely that the same will be said for this year’s attempt at 100 films.

To be on target I should have seen 25 films by that point (obviously). Unfortunately, I have only reached 9. (There’s almost a nice bit of symmetry there, as it’s nine days away… except if I’d decided to post this a day earlier or a day later that would be nonexistent, so it’s utterly meaningless.) On top of that, many of those I have seen remain unreviewed, and the last review I posted was hardly of high quality. Or much quality at all, really. It’s been so long since I’ve seen some of these that the reviews will be completed merely from quick notes made at the time and fading memories. Hopefully they won’t be quite as weak as that Some Like It Hot one though…

Once again, I won’t bore you with the reasons and excuses for this shortfall — though there are many readily available should anyone, for reasons known only unto themselves, actually be interested. What is almost worthy of note, however, is that today is the first day of a five-week holiday for me (the perks of still being a lazy student, yes); and while I still have work to be getting on with (yes, us lazy students do still do that. Sometimes), I’m afforded more time to… well, catch up on TV. But then films.

And, from this weekend, I’ll have near-exclusive access to a pleasantly large television — much, much bigger than the one I’m usually lumbered with — for two whole weeks. There are certain never-seen DVDs that are screaming for the chance to be watched on it. Plus The Dark Knight as close to IMAX as I’m likely to get for a while. And a chance to re-evaluate Quantum of Solace now that it’s on DVD. But I digress…

A definite chance to catch up, that’s the point. Of course, as I’m already 14 films behind where I should be as of today (worked out with some fiendishly complex maths, that), the ‘catching up’ might be more ‘damage limitation’…

Some Like It Hot (1959)

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2009 #2a
Billy Wilder | 117 mins | DVD | U / PG-13

Some Like It HotDid you know that Some Like It Hot is a remake of a 1951 German film, Fanfaren der Liebe? I didn’t. Anyway…

The first (and last) time I saw Some Like It Hot was so long ago that, even when watching it again, there are whole swathes of the film I didn’t recall. How few clothes Marilyn Monroe wears, for one thing. I guess I was quite young first time. The only thing I did remember was enjoying it immensely; and, enjoying it again, didn’t want to skip the chance of handing it five stars in this pathetically brief review.

To be concise, it’s a very funny film even 50 years on. It rattles from situation to situation at an occasionally surprising pace, literally without a dull moment. Not that there’s anything wrong with slower old films, but its certainly spritely for its age.

And with it, a genuine classic. Never mind some — everyone should like it a lot.

5 out of 5

Sorry for the pun.

Watchmen 2: a couple of suggestions

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After finding Total Film’s humourous suggestions for a Watchmen sequel a little lacking in the funniness department, I thought I’d jot down a few myself. It doesn’t mean they’re actually any better, obviously, but it kept me amused for a few minutes.

Betcha can’t spot all the references…

The Watchmen Strike Back
In which the Watchmen form a rebel alliance to fight crime and try to repeal the Keene Act! Sounds depressingly plausible…

The Watchmen: Part II
Split between shocking events of the present day (which, for the viewer, is still the past) and flashbacks to the beginnings in an even-more-past New York. Oh, wait, that’s the first film…

Watchmen: The Superhero Who Shagged Me
The first one deconstructed the genre, the second spoofs it! Hey, it can’t be any worse than Superhero Movie… probably…

Watchmen Supremacy
Modern-day version that induces motion sickness.

2 Watch 2 Men
In which the least memorable lead from the first film goes on some redeeming mission for no reason other than more ‘cool’ action sequences. Stars Silk Spectre, but no one else.

Watchmen 2: Judgement Day
In which the bad guy turns out to be a good guy and an implausible nuclear explosion destroys a major US city. Oh, wait…

Watchmens
“Get away from her you bitch!”, screams Nite Owl as Ozymandias tries to steal his woman.

Watchmen to the Future Part II
Dr Manhattan takes everyone to the future, and then back into the events of the first film, and into the past, and things get mucked up, and the present starts getting erased, and then the future’s different too, and it barely makes sense but it’s still pretty good. And then it ends with them in the Wild West.

Watchmen Reloaded
In which things get even more convoluted and pretentious. Most likely option, then. No need to do the rubbish sex scene set to inappropriate music in the sequel this time though.

Watchmen: The Two Towers
I think leaving it at that is insensitive enough.

W2 (or, in the US ad campaign only, W2: Watchmen United)
Bigger, better, and even more focussed on The One Everyone Liked (i.e. Rorschach). Refuses to resolve his plot line, but then doesn’t do it in a third film (directed by Uwe Boll as Snyder goes on to relaunch V For Vendetta) because Watchmen Origins: Rorschach is scheduled for a couple of years later.

The Dark Nite Owl
Just had to get that one in there.