PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Early Man 2018

Early Man 2018 Story by Mark Burton and Nick Park, screenplay by Mark Burton and James Higginson, directed by Nick Park.

An Aardman Animation project about cavemen and soccer. I got the Blu-ray cheap somewhere, that was a couple of years or so ago. Today I picked it out of the pile of unwatched discs and took a look. There were some jokes and plenty of physical action but the story was way uninteresting. I kind of liked the cavemen but didn't much care for the soccer. Pretty standard underdog sports team stuff. Not my cup of tea but I still gave it a 6, it does look nice, it has a decent message. Sadly for Aardman the film didn't do very good at the box office, barely making $54 mil on a $50 mil budget.

Nearly A Nasty Accident 1961

Nearly A Nasty Accident 1961 Based on the play Touch Wood by David Carr and David Stringer, screenplay by Jack Davies and Hugh Woodhouse, directed by Don Chaffey. Don would go onto direct films for Disney, One Million Years BC, and episodes of The Prisoner, Man In A Suitcase, The Avengers and Secret Agent.

Kenneth Conner is in the Air Force and they aren't happy about it. Kenneth is a one man wrecking crew. Everything he touches breaks and the collateral damage to the AF is over £5 mills. Kenneth played a similar character in some of his other movies but this character is really destructive. On a trip to another post Kenneth destroys some stuff and meets Shirley Eaton. Eventually things have a bit of a happy ending, despite the roof caving in on them. It's a comedy, no one was hurt.

Oddly, I watched another British movie tonight that ends with a roof caving in, And The Same To You. That bit of a coincidence happens frequently on Friday Night Movies night.

There's some good jokes but over all it's pretty average. I couldn't believe the AF couldn't have gotten rid of him sooner than they did. There's a good cast: Jimmy Edwards, Eric Barker, Jon Pertwee, Ronnie Stevens, Richard Wattis, Peter Jones, Terry Scott, Jack Watling and Jack Douglas. I did enjoy the movie and would watch it again sometime. There's a copy on YouTube that you can watch, link above.

And The Same Too You 1960

And The Same Too You 1960 Based on the play The Chigwell Chicken by A P Dearsley, screenplay by John Paddy Carstairs with additional material by John Junkin and Terry Nation, directed by George Pollock.

A reverend is assigned to a new church and his first assignment is to check up on a tenant who hasn't been paying the rent on the church hall. Leo Franklyn plays the reverend and William Hartnell plays the tenant. William is a boxing promoter and he's running his business out of the church hall, he's not successful or he'd be able to pay the rent.

He convinces the reverend that they can make some money from the fights and some of that money can help fix the church roof. Leo's nephew Dickie, played by Brian Rix, gets roped into sparing with William's best boxer. Of course Dickie knocks out the boxer, next thing he's got a fight. Sid James plays a fight promoter who William convinces to supply a fighter for Dickie. Vera Day is William's assistant and Dickie's romantic interest.

There's plenty of shenanigans and goofy business. I enjoyed it and thought it's about average. You can see a copy on YouTube, not the best quality but watchable.

1 & 6 Zeros Series 1

1 & 6 Zeros Series 1 Dara Ó Briain hosts a game show in this big room. He's far away from the contestants. Six episodes aired in March and April of this year.

Dara asks the three contestants 7 questions and at the end they could win up to £1,000,000. Not that they do. There are a lot of hoops to jump through and every hoop fail is a quick reduction in the prize money. There's a long time between questions and way too much discussion about the question. It wasn't very interesting to watch, despite the show manufacturing all sorts of fake tension, I was only watching it to see Dara interact with the contestants. He does a good job with that sort of thing when he's doing his stand up show. I much prefer Dara on Mock the Week with some funny people backing him up. I wonder if it will be renewed. It's got to be cheap to produce since they hardly gave any prize money away.

Hypothetical Series 4

Hypothetical Series 4 Created by Josh Widdicombe, Tom Craine and Matthew Crosby. Written by Tom Craine and Matthew Crosby. Presented by Josh Widdicombe and James Acaster. Eight episodes are currently airing in the UK.

Each episode has 2 pairs of guests making stuff up for points. Josh poses some hypothetical questions and James passes out the points. Each round has a different different theme, the last round is always big hat or small hat. There's usually plenty of clowning around and an occasional improve skit.

The 4th series has some of Britain's top comedians, along with Victoria Coren Mitchell and Richard Osman. Some of my favs: Richard Ayoade, Maisie Adam, Dara O Briain, Bill Bailey, Jo Brand, Darren Harriot, Jon Richardson, Ross Noble and Angela Barnes. It's a bit chaotic, there's some swearing and plenty of noise. Gags are plentiful and usually make me laugh. I do like the Acaster brand of humor. Josh is more observational type of humor, James is more story driven, he appears in most of the skits. I had a nice time watching them.

How To Watch TV 2003

How To Watch TV 2003 Charlie Brooker explains how to watch TV.

Speaking to the choir here, Charlie. You can see it on YouTube, link above.

How TV Ruined Your Life Series 1

How TV Ruined Your Life Series 1 Created by Charlie Brooker, written by Charlie Brooker, Jason Hazeley, Daniel Maier, Joel Morris and Dan Swimer, directed by Al Campbell and Christian Watt.

A six episode series that aired in 2011. It comes after Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe, You Have Been Watching and Charlie Brooker's Newswipe. Black Mirror started airing the same year as How TV Ruined Your Life.

Charlie comments on the effect of TV on our lives. The themes of the episodes are in the titles: Fear, The Lifecycle, Aspiration, Love, Progress and Knowledge. Each episode takes a bit of a look at the theme with plenty of commentary from Charlie. I enjoy his snide attitude and cynical outlook on life. I get a good number of laughs from each episode. You can find out if you like the show by clicking on the link above.

Argumental S1-4

Argumental S1-4 Created by Ricky Kelehar, directed by Ian Lorimer and Geraldine Dowd. The series ran from January 2009 to December 2011.

A British panel show that was hosted by John Sergeant in Series 1-3, Marcus Brigstocke and Rufus Hound were team captains for Series 1-3.

Sean Lock is host of series 4, Robert Webb and Seann Walsh were team captains for Series 4.

The team captains are joined by another comedians. John Sergeant proposes arguments that pits the two teams against each other. The audience then votes for the team that had the best argument.

I'd seen many of these before but I recently got hold of a full run and watched the lot. I liked some parts of the better than others. The main arguments were usually pretty entertaining. The topics were things like, The Royal Family serve no purpose. The bit where the panelist has to keep changing sides in the argument was hit or miss for gags. Occasionally it's really funny, sometimes it misses for me. I'm still glad to have seen the series. I would watch it again sometime.You can find some random episodes on YouTube.

The Other One Series 1 & 2

The Other One Series 1 & 2 Created by Holly Walsh, written by Holly Walsh and Pippa Brown, directed by Holly Walsh. There was a pilot in 2017, series 1 aired June 2020 and Series 2 aired May 2022.

Left to right that's Siobhan Finneran, Lauren Socha, Ellie White and Rebecca Front on the DVD cover. Siobhan plays Marilyn, Lauren is Catherine "Cat" Walcott, Marilyn is Cat's mother. Ellie is Catherine "Cathy" Walcott and Rebecca plays her mother Tess Walcott.

You might think it's odd that the two younger women have the same name. It's odder when they find out that each family shares the same father. He'd been living with Tess with Marilyn as his mistress for the last 30 years. Daddy drops dead on his birthday, Tess and Cathy find out the other family exists at his funeral. The series premise is based on a true story about a man who had two families, he named his kids the same to keep himself slipping up in his lies.

The two families in the TV show couldn't be different but somehow they bond. They lead hectic lives with much personal drama and occasional blood letting. Cathy has a fiance who's in trouble for sending dick picks to a woman at his work, yet she's still willing to marry him. Mind you, Cathy is no catch herself. She's high strung and over thinks everything. Tess is angry there was another woman in her hubby's life. Marilyn is agoraphobic and rarely leaves the house. Cat has more street wisdom than book learning. A host of other people complicate their lives, some of them wind up punished for their contact. Best to stay away from people sometimes.

None of the characters are particularly likeable, I wouldn't want to spend time with them, watching them on TV is AOK. They all seem to make the worst decisions, some have humorous connotations, some less so. Unlikable characters having a punishingly horrible time is a common theme in British sitcoms, Man Down, Ideal and Newark, Newark are ones that I've watched of late. I've seen the first two before and enjoyed them all over again. Man Down and Ideal are in my top 10 favorite sitcoms.

Despite their inability to deal with their complicated lives the Walcott's manage to get a little peace out of the chaos. Over the series the two families bond because of their situation and even become supportive of each other. It's all balanced with a great sense of humor and good batch of gags, sometimes I was laughing so hard tears were coming out of my eyes. Well worth seeing for those so inclined. I know I'll want to watch it again sometime.

The Wrong Door Series 1

The Wrong Door Series 1 Written and directed by Ben Wheatley.

A six episode British sketch comedy show from 2008 that features a lot of CGI. All sorts of people pop up in the sketches:

Brian Blessed, Gina Bellman, Matt Berry, MyAnna Buring, Lucy Cudden, Michael Fenton Stevens, Neil Fox, Simon Greenall, Laurence Hobbs, Rasmus Hardiker, Pippa Haywood, Humphrey Ker, Burt Kwouk, Alex MacQueen, David Reed, Michael Smiley, Thom Tuck, Lorna Watson and Lloyd Woolf. I know Brian, Bert and Matt but most of them I don't recall seeing before.

The Wikipedia lists the episodes and themes for each.

Each episode in the series has a different narrative strand running through it.

Episode 1: The World's Most Annoying Creature. In an attempt to create the perfect soldier, a bio-weapons lab creates the World's Most Annoying Creature, which promptly escapes. First shown 28 August 2008.

Episode 2: Njarnia. Edmund and Lucy wander through the back of their self-assembly wardrobe and find themselves in the magical, but slightly rubbish, world of Njarnia (a parody of Ikea/Narnia). First shown 4 September 2008.

Episode 3: The Smutty Aliens. A woman is abducted by aliens with rude names and a pjallic spaceship. First shown 11 September 2008.

Episode 4: The Train Pirates. A group of ordinary commuters are transformed into pirates, led by Captain Goiter (Brian Blessed). First shown 18 September 2008.

Episode 5: The Wizard of Office. Dorothy is transported to an office in Oswestry after a storm, in a twist on The Wizard Of Oz. Also the London Underground is infested with Pac-Man and a restaurant has a problem with its Death by Chocolate. First shown 25 September 2008.

Episode 6: Bondo. The secret clown agent Bondo tries to take down a ninja plot to destroy the Train Pirates and Xotang needs a holiday. First shown on 2 October 2008.

I found the sketches to be a mixed bag, some I found really funny, others not so much. There's a certain amount of toilet humor, some of it works better than other bits, the pooing spider superhero was a low point. That's not a web! I might have bought the DVD but it seems to be out of stock on Amazon UK. It's from 2008 and I doubt they are going to make anymore.