PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

The Cottage 2008

The Cottage is a 2008 British crime comedy with rather dark roots. It's written and directed by Paul Andrew Williams. I haven't seen any of the other 3 or 4 movies he's directed nor the third series of Broadchurch.

That's Reece Shearsmith, Jennifer Ellison and Andy Serkis above. Andy and Reece are brothers who have kidnapped Jennifer. They take her to a remote cottage to wait for the ransom to be paid. Jennifer's dad is a big time criminal and he somehow knows that Jennifer's brother is in on the scheme so he sends napkins instead of money. Oh, he also sent a couple of homicidal Chinese guys to kill the kidnappers. Trouble is, there's a farmer in the way. He's even more of a homicidal maniac than the Chinese guys are. What a predicament, huh.

It's a great looking movie, with an entertaining script. It's got a great cast and Doug Bradley makes a nice cameo. The poster tells us it's hilariously gory and that's a fact. Of course, it's definitely going to appeal to those with a bit of a sick sense of humor. Needless to say I got a few laughs and would be glad to add this to my collection. I'd want to see it again someday.

An Evening With Jimmy Carr 6-19-17

Jimmy Carr gets interviewed by Dave Tang for the China Exchange Prudential Series. It's one of the oddest interviews that I've seen in a while. You can see a whole bunch of them here.

Dara Ó Briain: School of Hard Sums Series 1-3

A YouTube poster called Cherzo uploaded the whole three series of Dara Ó Briain: School of Hard Sums. It was a Dave program about maths, hosted by Dara O'Briain with Oxford Math Guy Marcus Du Sautoy. It aired between 2012 and 2014 and each of the three series had 8 episodes. The first series the shows were about 29 minutes, they were 36 minutes in the second, and in the third series the time jumped to 45 mins. It's based on a Japanese game show called Comaneci University Mathematics.

Each episode has Dara competing with a guest in solving three math problems. There are single guests on the first series episodes and series 2 and 3 have 2 guests per episode. Guests are comedians: David O'Doherty, Alex Horne, Jason Byrne, Andi Osho, Simon Evans, Andrew Maxwell, Mark Watson, Marcus Brigstocke, Josh Widdicombe, Susan Calman, Miles Jupp, Josie Long, Richard Herring, Tim Key, Kevin Bridges, Peter Serafinowicz, Lee Mack, Jon Richardson, Sally Phillips and Stephen K Amos. Some are on only once and others several times.

The show also has some math students from a college. They don't get to say much of anything. Mostly they get the answer right. It's a mix of maths and comedy. I like Dara and would watch him in pretty much anything. He likes science stuff, he does Astronomy programs with Brian Cox and he's always entertaining on Mock The Week.

New Tricks Series 12

The 12th series of New Tricks is the last of the series. There are ten episodes and they aired August to October 2015. I enjoyed the previous series so much that I went out and bought the DVDs. Series 1-5 and 6-10 have been packaged in reasonably priced collections.  Oddly the Series 1-5 collection is 92 bucks and the series 6-10 collection is only 64 bucks. The lower price is about what I paid for each. I'm also waiting for the Series 11 & 12 sets to fall in price a bit before I buy them. Now that I've seen them I can wait a bit before I need to see them again. on the whole the series is highly enjoyable and it has proved popular in many countries.

The 12th series starts with the same lineup as the end of Series 11. That's the lineup in the photo above: Nicholas Lyndhurst, Dennis Waterman, Tamzin Outhwaite and Denis Lawson. In the first two part episode, Last Man Standing, Gerry Standing's old boss, Detective Chief Inspector, turns up dead under the basement of a house having a bit of a reno. The dead guy disappeared mysteriously 30 years ago. Everyone thought he had run off for being a dirty cop. Murder evidence starts piling up, much of it pointing to Gerry as the killer, and the gang has to work hard to keep him from being arrested. The mess gets worse when the investigation pulls in a big time crime boss. When Gerry's family gets threatened, the big guy gets taken down, but only after Gerry gets blown up. Dennis Waterman played Gerry, he'd planned to leave the show after the last series, you can read about why here, but the producers talked him into staying for a two parter that has Gerry's swan song. It was a nice send off, and don't worry, Gerry's OK. I have two more Dennis Waterman TV series to watch, The Sweeney and Minder. I'd seen The Sweeney when it was new and really enjoyed it. Minder is new to me.

After the first two parter DCI Sasha Miller, played by Tamzin Outhwaite, is in the hospital from being wounded. To take over as temp head of the Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad (UCOS) they bring in Larry Lamb as retired DCI Ted Case. That's Larry on the left above, with Denis, Tamzin and Nickolas. I don't remember Larry from any of the TV shows that I've seen but I enjoyed him here. The crew goes out on one crime after another until the last two parter which breaks everything up. Police mismanagement and collusion lead to trouble for UCOS. DCI Miller's boss is a manipulative woman who wants to fund another squad with the money from UCOS. She manipulates the events but luckily it backfires on her and she looses her job. In typical police fashion, she's moved to a higher position within the hierarchy. Tamzin decides to take a different job and the three guys each go their own way. It was a nice ending and I'll be sad they aren't doing anymore. Still it was a nice run and there are plenty of episodes to watch again.

 

Qualmpeddler 2013

Qualmpeddler is Bill Bailey's 2012-2013 stand up show. It was recorded at the Hammersmith Apollo and released on DVD in 2013. Oddly it's Bill's last show DVD even though he's had two different tours since then. It's the same for Jimmy Carr, his latest show was released through Netflix streaming, but no DVD so far. Other comedian's have had DVDs in the same time. Who knows what it means.

Qualmpeddler is the usual mix of comedy and music but something didn't work for me. Bill starts with some political blather that wasn't that funny. Then he gets back into what I liked, chattering about the things in his life and playing some musical silliness. I thought he needed more music, I like when he plays around with music. Glad I have it but I know I won't want to watch it as much as Bill's other DVDs.

Agatha Raisin Series 1

The first season of Agatha Raisin was sitting on the shelf at the library and it looked like I might like it. Turns out I did.

Ashley Jensen plays Agatha Raisin in this Sky TV adaptation of MC Beaton's novels. The pilot for the series was a 94 minute TV movie based on Agatha Raisin And The Quiche Of Death. That aired December 26 2014 and the 8 episode series started airing last June 2016. I've never read any of the books and suspect I won't have the time to read them at this point. There are 27 so far. That's a lot.

In the pilot Agatha retires from her high power job running a PR agency London. She buys a house in a little village called Carsley, in the Cotswolds. I didn't know anything about the Cotswolds until earlier yesterday when I saw part of a British TV series called Escape To The Country on buying houses in that part of the country. They are expensive but Agatha must be quite well off to be able to retire in her 40s and buy a house there. That's the main street in the village above and Agatha's cottage below.

Agatha tries to fit into the village but she's not quite that sort. She enters the local baking contest but cheats with a store bought quiche. She looses and gives the judge her quiche. He dies from something poisonous in the pie. She has to solve the crime to prove she's innocent. I thought the pilot was really fun and I laughed a few times. I was particularly happy to see Katy Wix as Agatha's cleaner Gemma. She becomes Agatha's friend and co-sleuth. I think she should be in more scenes. I'm a fan of Katy's from her appearances on Not Going Out.

In the episodes Agatha settles into the village and somehow or another each episode there's a dead person to keep her busy. There's a nice mix of comedy, murder, and scenery.

The Cotswolds is a very picturesque place. It all adds up to a nice combination that made me watch the whole series in two days. I would have watched them all Saturday but I started too late.

Ideal Series 7

I was sad to see the last series of Ideal roll past my eyes. Graham Duff once again pens some really entertaining episodes of Moz's life as a low level ash and hash dealer in Salford. That's a city right next to Manchester and part of The Greater Manchester area.

There are only 6 episodes in the last series of the show. Everyone who was alive at the end of series 6 returns.

Moz is mooning over Jenny, he wants her back. Moz starts the series trying to win her back but her new job as a Community Police woman complicates things. That, and her still shaggin' PC. Colin spends a lot of time at Moz's place since Carmel dumped him. Moz's lack of cash has him asking for loans back. That doesn't go so well, there's little money among his friends, unless they need some weed. Trouble is, Nicki is also dealing next door. There's a price war that doesn't make for nicely nicely.

Nicki's sister Jess shows up unexpected like, and moves in. Psycho Paul is stabbed by members of The Red Mist and he winds up in Moz's bed. It's never dull at Moz's place. Brian and Carmel open a brothel in the apartment across the hall from Moz. Ex-builder Jake is a regular customer. He's been titled The Perfect Ginger but that comes with a price. He's to be sacrificed by The Red Mist.

Psycho Paul recovers quite well and soon he's back in the biz, selling hash for Nicki. Jess has an affair with Cartoon Head, who's still living with Judith and their baby Plastic Head. Nicki has taken to shagging Xavier, who's half her age.

Moz and Tilly have a bit of a relationship but it ends with a ginger snap. There are just some things that a woman can't take.

The Red Mist, headed by Rula Lenska as the Red King, is taking over the local gangs. The Red Mist has been beheading people and stuffing candy bars down their throats. As Psycho Paul said, Crunchies are abrasive when they crumble.

Nicki wants to fight back by giving TRM Moz. Her plan has mixed feelings from the rest of the gang but they have no other ideas. They don't get too far with that plan. PC talks Moz into letting him set up Nicki for a drug's bust. PC figures when the bust is going on he'll collect as much of her stock as he can and Nicki will be safe from The Red Mist in jail.

The series ends with a cliff hanger, Cartoon Head gets shot by Judith for cheating on her with Jesse. It's only a shoulder wound so I figured he'd be back on his feet if there was an 8th series to go to.

As I said, I was sad to see it end. I've had a laugh, let me tell you, and I'd put this show in my top ten sitcoms. There are only 53 episodes but each of them is well written, well acted and completely compelling. I'll miss Moz and Colin and Brian and their pals. At least I can enjoy them all over again sometime.

There was talk of a film back in 2011 but it never got made. That's too bad. The DVD box set of the whole series has a Bonus Disc with about 3 hours of out takes, deleted scenes, extended material and interviews. My favorite short bit was Brian's advice on having an active love life.

Bill Bailey - Part Troll 2004

Part Troll premiered at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and then moved to the West End of London. It was very popular, shows sold out, more were added, then show went on the road through the UK, the US, Australia and New Zealand. Bill mixes music and comedy and gets the audience laughing. I laughed right along as I was amused by his ramblings. I now have almost all of Bill's stand up DVDs and look forward to watching them again. I have Quampedler on order and it should arrive soon.

Bill Bailey - Cosmic Jam 1995

Bill Bailey had a bit more hair back in 1995. Cosmic Jam was Bill's first solo tour. He had appeared in double acts with Toby Longworth, Martin Stubbs, and Sean Lock. The Cosmic Jam show was recorded at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London and a 1 hour version called Bill Bailey Live was broadcast on Channel 4 in 1997. The live show on this DVD is 94 mins and it's the first time that Bill mixed his musical interests with his comedy. He rambles about the stage chatting whimsically about any odd subject that comes up. He'll switch back and forth between the keyboards and a couple of guitars. I got several laughs and I was glad to have picked it up. It was only a few pounds from the UK and there was the added bonus of a longer version of Bill's Bewilderness show. That has a long bit about Stephen Hawking that wasn't in the previous Bewilderness DVD. I had that previous DVD but was glad to have the longer version of the show.

Friday Night Movies 639

Wishmaster is a 1997 horror film about a naughty djinn. I had thought I'd seen it before but my Watched Movie List say no. It's directed by Robert Kurtzman and produced by Wes Craven. Wes everyone knows from the movies he's done and Robert is perhaps better known as an effects guy. He started KNB with Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero back in 1988 and left the company in 2002. He makeup credits on 103 films, special effects credits on 51 films and he's directed 5 films, including Wishmaster. I've seen The Rage and The Demolitionist but not Deadly Impact or Buried Alive.

That Robert Englund and Andrew Divoff, Robert plays an art collector interested in religious relics and Andrew is a djinn in human form. Djinns in the movie aren't the fairy tale genies of yore. If a human wishes something, the djinn has to grant the wish. Unfortunately for the human, the wish doesn't have to be delivered in a beneficial way. Death, in many forms, is heaped upon the unsuspecting victim.

Tammy Lauren is the gal that holds the key to putting the genie back in the bottle. That a metaphorical bottle, it's really a jewel in a statue that holds the beast at bay. She yells constantly but she's got enough brains to trick the djinn. At least until the sequel comes out. There were 3 sequels after the first movie.

The movie is fun, in a gory tricky demony kind of way, and the deaths are gooey, bloody and nasty. The movie has a nice sense of humor and we laughed a good bit. There are lots of interesting guests in the movie, several really fun cameos, and some of the characters are named after horror writers. I thought it was well worth seeing and today I ordered the Blu-ray set of the four movies. I'll want to see these movie again someday. I'll take a chance on the rest.

A Fantastic Fear of Everything is a 2012 movie with Simon Pegg. It's a wacky comedy with Simon as a writer who's driven himself crazy researching Victorian Serial killers. It's the first feature film for co-directors Crispian Mills and Chris Hopewell. Crispian wrote the screenplay.

Simon has turned paranoid, he believes a serial killer is out there, waiting to murder him. He's taken to carrying a big kitchen knife around with him. At one point he can't get his hand to release it. He's got an opportunity to talk to a producer and his trying to get some clean underpants leads to him being caught by a serial killer.

Parts of Simon's deep rooted problem is his abandonment as a child. It happened in the very same laundromat that he brought his y-fronts to tonight. Simon's trip to the laundry turns out to be a benefit in several ways. He gets over his fear and finds a lady friend. For such possible dark bleak subject matter the movie is a good bit of fun. I'd recommend it, it made me laugh, a fair bit. You might like it.