HUSH

UK, 2009, 91 minutes, Colour.
William Ash, Christine Bottomley, Andreas Wisniewski, Clare Keelan, Stuart Mc Quarrie, Robbie Gee, Peter Wyatt, Sheila Reid.
Directed by Mark Tonderai.

An overnighter. And an overnight that starts quite ordinarily (even in the UK rain on the M1) but turns into a nightmare.

Actually, the first twenty minutes are not all that promising as writer-director, Mark Tonderai, wants to establish his characters. He, Zakes (Will Ash), is quite irritating to his girlfriend, Beth (Christine Bottomley), as well as to the audience. A would-be writer, he doesn't write but travels the countryside to put posters in display cases in shopping centres. He is not too good on commitment and not too sensitive to Beth's feelings. Not that she is not irritating too. She is something of a whiner. So far, so not so good.

When Zakes catches a glimpse of a woman in a cage in the back of a lorry that passes them, it all seems to get out of hand. They follow, ring the police, try to get the numberplate and Zakes veers between heroic pursuit and thinking he has done his duty by calling the police. Disgruntled Beth thinks he should do more.

When they stop at one of those shopping centres built over the motorway, the film improves, although Zakes' behaviour becomes a mixture of the impulsive, the dumb (and dumberer) and the heroic. Beth disappears.

What follows is the nightmare part as Zakes pursues the truck presuming that Beth has been abducted. This leads him along the motorway, off the motorway, rescuing an escapee from the truck, enlisting the help of an elderly couple on a remote farm and finally a confrontation with the driver which builds up some tension and ends with one of the most literally crushing blows on screen. A pity that some people rushed out before the post-script during the credits which ties up a loose end from the shopping centre.

So, by the middle and, definitely by the end, a much better terror tale than we first thought.

1.The horror tradition of the road film? In the UK? The American models? The particularly English tone?

2.The action overnight, the night and darkness? The car, the road, the rain? Trucks and cars? Audiences identifying with the driving? The service stations, the motorway shops? The abandoned quarry? The farmhouse? The eerie atmosphere? The contrast with the light interiors of the shopping centre? The musical score?

3.The credibility of the plot: the cantankerous couple, the driving, the glimpse of the woman in the truck, the different reactions? The pursuit of the truck? The arguments, the phone calls, the security guards? The twist with the death of one of the security guards? The woman escaping from the truck? The encounter of the hero with the girl, on the farm, the husband and wife being killed, going to the quarry? Finding the girlfriend, the heroics in confronting the villain? The literally crushing blow at the end? The postscript of a year later and the sinister policeman repeating the trafficking driving?

4.Audience reaction to the couple, their back-story of Zakes wanting to be a writer, his inability to finish things, difficulties of commitment, slighting his girlfriend, the lack of memory with the photos? Their arguments? Beth, her relationship with Zakes, the friendship with Leo, the night with him? His texting her? Her phoning her friend, wanting to break the news to Zakes? Her reaction to the crisis? Her anger with Zakes?

5.The glimpse of the woman in the truck? The inability to get the numberplate? The phoning the police? The photograph – and later recognising it as a hand? The phone calls? Going to the shopping centre, Beth and the argument, her disappearance? His search for her, in the ladies’ toilet and the security guards taking him, brutal treatment, throwing him out? His explanation of his job, putting up posters in the various centres?

6.The security guards, Chimponda and his testing the implement for the posters? Believing Zakes, talking with Thorpe? Looking at the video surveillance material? Thorpe going, returning, suddenly killing Chimponda? The visual brutality? His phoning the truck driver?

7.Zakes, his stealing the car after the louts had squirted beer on him and deflated his tyres? The police in pursuit? The police assumption that he had killed the security guard? His being taken by the policemen, handcuffs, urging him on the truth, the policemen searching the trucks and being killed?

8.Zakes, his escape, getting the car again? Pursuing the truck, the tensions with the car, petrol? The sudden appearance of the girl, his rescuing her? Their going to the farm? Wanting to make a phone call? Treating his wounds?

9.The girl, talking about her plight? The cutting of the phone wires, the farmer’s wife seeing this, wanting to warn Zakes? The death of the husband and wife? Zakes and his fight with the girl? His escape?

10.The driver, his hood, sinister? The background of trafficking in women? Zakes and the abandoned lot? With the dog? The light sensors? Going on, the driver blaming the dog? His having a shower, Zakes getting into the house, getting an implement? Discovering the other women? Discovering Beth? The pursuit, his climbing on the truck, the blood? His misleading the driver, putting the mobile phone in his truck, Zakes going into the forklift, dropping the load on the driver?

11.The reconciliation with Beth, the freeing of the other women?

12.Zakes’s character, weak, his discovering some strength in his mission to free Beth?

13.The aftermath, his book, the success in writing, about trafficking?

14.The irony of the postscript with the security guard now driving the truck for trafficking?

15.The use of terror genres and conventions? Effectively? The issue of trafficking and the reality in the United Kingdom?

TOWER OF EVIL

UK, 1972, 89 minutes, Colour.
Bryant Haliday, Jill Haworth, Anna Palk, William Lucas, Anthony Valentine, Jack Watson, Mark Edwards, Derek Fowlds, John Hamill, Gary Hamilton, Dennis Price, George Coulouris, Robin Askwith.
Directed by Jim O’ Connolly.

Tower of Evil (The Horror of Snape Island in the US) is a piece of exploitation trash. However, it is of interest for film buffs and those interested in the development of genres.

When an audience watches the film, it may be surprised that it was made as early as 1972. There is a fair amount of nudity, innuendo. There is also more than a touch of gore. However, it is a move away from the Hammer films with their Gothic style to a more blunt presentation of horror, in such films as The Curse of the Crimson Altar and other derivatives.

The plot has some possibilities: men sail to a deserted island and find dead bodies, an expedition returns looking for relics and treasure of the god Ba’al. However, they are picked off by an invisible person, possibly a monster. This plot inevitably generates some suspense.

However, the film is quite an odd mixture of aspects of British film-making. Dennis Price and Anthony Valentine make guest appearances but seem to have very little connection with the main thrust of the film. There are four American students (including Robin Askwith, star of The Confessions of …. series) as an American! There is also the presence of good English actors like Jack Watson and George Coulouris (who appeared in Citizen Kane) as well as standard actors for horror films Bryant Haliday and Jill Haworth. Derek Fowlds, in his young days, also makes an appearance (later to be in Yes Minister, Yes Prime Minister and three hundred and twenty-seven episodes of Heartbeat). Some of the performers are very poor actors including some of the young people as the Americans and Gary Hamilton (who had no career on screen or television) introduced as Brom.

The settings are fairly basic. The special effects also very basic, although veteran cinematographer Desmond Dickinson was the director of photography here. The film was directed by Jim O’ Connolly who had made The Valley of Gwangi as well as Crooks and Coronets and was to make Mistress Pamela.

The film anticipates Friday the 13th and its genre by eight years. However, there are some similarities, especially with a group of young Americans going to a remote place, interested in drugs and sex, and being killed off. This was to become a staple of the horror films of the 1980s.

However, this film is an odd and cheap and nasty exercise in British horror from the 70s.

The only discussion would concern the development of the horror genre, the remote island and victims being picked off, the search for ancient treasure, the hidden monster, the relationships. There is no question that much of the acting is very poor and awkward. Which means then that some audiences will find it quite risible. Others will be interested in the way that it uses conventions. Others will think it is so bad as to be good.

THE GREAT DEBATERS

US, 2007, 126 minutes, Colour.
Denzel Washington, Nate Parker, Jurnee Smollett, Denzel Whitaker, Jermaine Williams, Forest Whitaker, Gina Ravera, John Heard, Kimberley Elise.
Directed by Denzel Washington.

Like the first film directed by Denzel Washington, Antwone Fisher, another film well worth seeing for its social consciousness, The Great Debaters had very limited release outside the United States. Admittedly, the subjects and treatment are particularly American, African American, but both films offer themes and treatment that make their characters and stories more universal as well.

Americans may know this story of Wiley College, Texas, in 1935, and its successful debating team, undefeated for several years, as well as the stories of their trainer and the debaters who all went on to significant roles in the Civil Rights campaigns. If one does not know this, it comes as pleasing information at the end of the film.

Some criticism of the film came from those who thought it should be harder hitting, a tough, challenging film on oppression and rights. However, the writer, Robert Eisele, and director and star, Denzel Washington, have opted for storytelling that reaches a wider audience, a more popular audience, which will absorb the message but will not experience too much of the rage (though that is certainly there in the film). Oprah Winfrey is one of the producers and the film is geared to her enormous television audience.

That said, there are some very strong themes of the oppression, the humiliation and the violence by white Americans towards the black Americans. The film might not generate rage but it does provoke indignation and a feeling that this is not right and rights and human dignity are all important.

The Great Debaters presents a cross-section of African Americans in Texas of the 1930s, the poor sharecroppers, the emerging student body that was going to college, the educated and better-off professionals who teach at college, who are lawyers and people of influence.

Denzel Washington plays Melvin Tolson, teacher at Wiley who trains the debaters. It is a genial role for Wahsington who is able to be charming, articulate, intelligent and, unbeknownst to others in the town, an activist for unions for the sharecroppers. The principal members of this team, which went on to victory, are Henry Lowe (Nate Parker), a loner who has a wild side but is a voracious reader with a memory for quotations, Samantha Booke (Jurnee Smollett) whose ambition it is to be a lawyer, and 14 year old James Farmer Jr (Denzel Whitaker), a genially tubby young man, excellent as a researcher and then speaker whose father (Forest Whitaker) teaches theology at Wiley.

We see their training, their debating, their progress and the extending of their debates from Texas, to Oklahoma and, eventually, to Harvard. This is not without personal cost, friendships and clashes. And, in the background, the hostile whites, the sheriff and the Texas Rangers and the threat of protest and riots. There are also grim images of a lynching.

The film is well acted, beautifully shot, with stimulating dialogue (especially in the lessons, the discussions and the statements and rebuttals in the debates about key issues, including civil disobedience).

A pity that it has not been seen more widely.

1.A memoir of a period, American civil rights movement, individuals and achievement?

2.A Denzel Washington project, as director and as star, his reputation, his causes? Production by Oprah Winfrey?

3.The option for an accessible story with characters and with bite rather than a rugged, challenging drama? Its effect for the wider audience?

4.1935, Texas? The traditions, whites and blacks, the slave era? Freedom? Wiley College and staff? Theology, debating? Relative wealth, comfortable homes and status? The poor sharecroppers and the need for a union? The movement? The glimpses of people in the woods, drinking and dancing, flirting? A cross-section of African Americans in Texas 1935?

5.White attitudes, the influence of President Roosevelt? The traditions of the south? The pig farmers and their hostility? Calling people ‘boy’, humiliating the blacks? Segregation and the consequences? Whites-only seats…? The sheriff and his attitude, the Texas Rangers and their hostility? Change? With the debating team? Oklahoma and the segregated debate? Harvard and the integrated debate?

6.The information at the end of the film about the characters and their achievement? Audiences knowing this or not – the different effect?

7.The opening and the contrasts with the black way of life in Texas? James Farmer and his speech at the college, rousing, the applause, his son admiring his father? Forest Whitaker as James Farmer? The contrast with the night in the woods, the drinking, the music, dancing, exuberance, Henry and his flirting, the husband fighting him, Tolson and his rescuing him? Samantha arriving in the bus, watching this from the bus window? Her arrival, the segregation – and the seats for whites only? The set-up for this portrait of African Americans and civil rights?

8.Denzel Washington as Melvin Tolson, his personality, strong, his love of language, skills with language, debate? His classes, the auditions? His repartee, quotations? His rescuing Henry in the night? Talking clearly with him? Wanting him to audition? James Farmer Jr and his hopes? Hamilton Burgess and his skills? Samantha and her wanting to be a lawyer and hoping debating would prepare her? Tolson and the classes, the training, the team on the shore and his sitting in the boat, the volume for voice? Research, arguments? The first debate and using Tolson’s arguments? Henry’s reaction?

9.The various debates in the film, the local debates, the competition season, Oklahoma, Harvard? The speeches, the arguments, the rebuttal, themes and the occasion for ideas on education, civil disobedience? Intellectual arguments, emotions, stories, quotations? The civil rights issue and quotes from Thoreau, from World War Two, civil rights and lynching? Unjust laws and protest?

10.Tolson and his dressing down to go to the sharecroppers’ meeting, the movement for a union? Blacks and whites together? The raid, the sheriff? Tolson and his escape, saving James? His reputation, communist or not? And Hamilton Burgess withdrawing from the debating team because of his father being anticommunist? James and his running with Tolson, Tolson’s help, the secrecy, James unable to tell his father and mother the truth? Tolson’s arrest, in jail, Farmer and the lawyer coming, the discussion with the sheriff, the issue of threats, the Texas Rangers, riots, persuasion and Farmer achieving the release on bail of Tolson?

11.Junior, the incident in the car, hitting the pig, the little boys watching, the Farmers demanding twenty-five dollars, humiliating Farmer, calling him ‘boy’, making him pick up the pig?

12.Tolson and the season, his friendship with each of the debaters, his helping their development and characters? His politics? His wife, the party at home, the bail issue and not going to Harvard? His watching the debate at the end? His reputation as a poet?

13.James Jr and his age, his father, admiration for him, his father’s skills? His own debating abilities? His infatuation with Samantha? Imagining dancing with her at the dance? The reality? Henry and the dancing, the drink of punch? Discovering Henry’s relationship with Samantha? His being upset? Not speaking in the debates and his being upset, his skill in research? His outburst, getting the opportunity? His failure in the debate? Off-screen? His father, discussions, admiring him after the humiliation with the pig? The experience of watching the lynching? His opportunity in Harvard, the bed, the room, the servant, the five dollars per diem? The big arguments amongst the team? Henry and his flirtation, drinking? The arguments and the challenge? His performance in Harvard, success, the lynch story?

14.Henry, a loner, with his grandparents, at home in the woods, his taking Samantha to the woods, to his home? The sexual encounter? His ability to read, quote? His admiration for Tolson yet challenging him? Samantha and the dance, the debates, arguments, winning? The lynch experience and the reaction? His flirting with the girl, drinking, Samantha’s reaction? His writing to Harvard, the reply, the invitation? Going to Harvard, Samantha’s return, his being the captain instead of Tolson, the disputes about the argument, his drinking, fighting with James? Success – and the later information that he became a minister?

15.Samantha, her arrival, wanting to be in the debating team, her transfer, the audition, the arguments about Roosevelt and quotations? Henry explaining the quotation value to her? The dance, with Junior, with Henry? Hard work, speaking in the debate? The encounter with Henry, her reaction to his being with the girl? Walking out, her return? The lynching? In Harvard and success?

16.Hamilton Burgess, his skills, withdrawal from the team after the meal at Tolson’s, the issue of politics and communism?

17.Tolson and his wife, his keeping secret his political work, the letters to the universities, in favour, after the defeat, the withdrawal? After his arrest? His not being able to go to Harvard, his later coming?

18.The Farmer family, the father as patriarchal, the children, the wife and her role, teaching theology, discussing quotes with Junior, his sternness, the humiliation with the pig, the protest at the sheriff’s, the confrontation of the sheriff, listening to the debate on the radio, the family joyful?

19.The lynching, driving into it, lost on the road, the mob turning on them, hiding, backing down in the car, escaping?

20.The importance of radio, the debate being broadcast all over America, the range of listeners and its effect?

21.The importance of this incident for the 1930s, yet thirty years before the march on Washington and legislation on civil rights? The information about Samantha and her legal abilities, James Jr and his founding societies for civil rights, Henry and his becoming a religious minister?

22.A sense of achievement, dignity, regrets about the past, the film’s contribution to civil rights awareness in the 21st century?

A BUNCH OF AMATEURS

UK, 2008, 96 minutes, Colour.
Burt Reynolds, Samantha Bond, Charles Durning, Derek Jacobi, Imelda Staunton.
Directed by Andy Cadif.

If anyone had told Burt Reynolds when he first appeared on television in 1959 that in half a century's time, he would be starring in a British comedy as an actor portraying King Lear, that 'anyone' would have had an enormous gift of prophecy. However, numerous films and television shows later, here is Burt doing precisely that.

Down on his luck, his career and the affection of his daughter and being panned by audiences as too old to be a screen action hero (of a nice series called ironically Ultimate Finality), he wants to fire his agent (a very old-looking Charles Durning, 86 in February 2009). The agent persuades him that a Shakespearian turn in Stratford would be just the thing to revive him. He doesn't mention that this Stratford is Stratford St John in Suffolk, an amateur group trying to save its theatre.

Reynolds has always been able to send himself up – and he does it here with knobs on. His manner is that of the spoilt Hollywood star who expects attention and luxury, which is not exactly available in Stratford St Johns. He boards with Imelda Staunton at a B & B, rehearses in a barn and looks down on all the locals who are eager to play Shakespeare. Things go from very bad to very worse and, though you know things will work out at the end, you are wondering for a long time just how they could.

This is quietly amusing British humour, the putting on a play English-village style.

Actually, the screenwriters also make the plot something of a parallel with King Lear itself. Burt is the grumpy Hollywood king who has been wayward with his career and lost his daughter. The villagers have quite a lot of lines straight out of the play to illustrate what is going on. And when Burt is finally driven away, he has a storm scene on a heath. While Burt is never going to be Olivier or anyone of that calibre, he has some good scenes which he puts heart and soul into as an American star having a go at playing King Lear. With Derek Jacobi in support, sending up his own orotund performances, there is some poking fun all round. It is up to Samantha Bond as the director to try to keep things on an even keel.

Brits putting on amateur theatricals has been a popular movie theme. There were Margaret Rutherford and Robert Morley in Curtain Up in the 1950s. In recent decades there have been Jeremy Irons and Anthony Hopkins in A Chorus of Disapproval, 1988, and in the mid-90s, Kenneth Branagh, Joan Collins and cast in In a Bleak Midwinter. Here is another pleasant addition to the list.

1.A pleasing UK comedy, traditional comedy, the English village, the theatre? The contrast with the United States, both admiration and critique?

2.The contrast between Stratford, Suffolk, the town and the countryside, the village life, the homes, the bed-and-breakfasts, the cowshed for the theatre? The American offices, Los Angeles, ballyhoo and hype?

3.Burt Reynolds as the fading star, his past, his series of action films, their failure, his needs, Burt Reynolds sending up himself? And Charles Durning?

4.Jefferson Steele as the star, watching the action show, the sequels, the audience criticising, his listening, the dent in his self-image? His clashes with his daughter? His reliance on his agent? Spoilt, his expectations? The prospect of a play in the United Kingdom, thinking it was Stratford-on-Avon? Believing his agent? His agent, secretary, the empty office space, doing a con job on Steele?

5.Steele and his flight, his manner on the plane, arrival, luggage, Dorothy as his driver, below his expectations? The bed-and-breakfast and his reaction to the room, throwing his weight around, his food demands? Unpleasant, with the locals? Their reaction?

6.The local theatre and its needs, to make some money to survive? Stratford? An American name, the press conferences, the hopes? The familiar story of British amateur theatricals?

7.The troupe: Dorothy, as the manager, her resourcefulness, coping, able to deal with people’s moods? Settling Steele in? The rehearsals? Exasperation, firing Steele? Mary, infatuated with Steele, running the bed-and-breakfast, fussing, buying the things he wanted, his disdain? Nigel, the pompous British actor – and Derek Jacobi sending up his image? Verity and her mother? Her illness?

8.The sponsor, the beer, his being puffed up, proud of his product, not being aware of culture, the meetings in the restaurant, discussions? His wife, her flair, trainer and massage, the compromising photo with Steele?

9.Steele’s inability to act, remember his lines, everyone’s exasperation, his being late, wanting a fuss made of him, the clashes with Nigel? Dorothy’s idea of getting him a trailer, transforming the mobile library?

10.Steele and his anger, being fired, drinking, the accident? Rescued by Dorothy? His planning the scheme – to capitalise on the tabloids and their love for scandals? The bogus scandals? The money for the theatre? The satire on British media?

11.Nigel, the confrontation, his huff, his being to blame for the fiasco?

12.Opening night, King Lear, Steele and his acting, Burt Reynolds’ ability with the Shakespearean lines? Verity’s collapse? His daughter, the TV news, flying to England, her arrival, stepping in, the success?

13.A very British comedy?

DUDLEY DO-RIGHT

US, 1999, Brendan Fraser, Sarah Jessica Parker, Alfred Molina, Eric Idle, Robert Prosky, Alex Rocco.
Directed by Hugh Wilson.

Dudley Do- Right is a very (very) undemanding entertainment. It is based on television characters created by Jay Ward, who worked with such other characters as Rocky and Bullwinkle as well as George of the Jungle.

The film is a cartoon brought into live action – which sometimes works because of the skill of the performers. At other times, it seems exaggerated and rather silly.

However, Brendan Fraser puts heart and soul into his performance. He had done the same with the film version of George of the Jungle. Sarah Jessica Parker is also good as his long-lost love. Alfred Molina is straight out of 19th century melodrama as the villain, Snidely Whiplash. Eric Idle has a genial role as a prospector.

The film was written and directed by Hugh Wilson who made one of the Police Academy films early in his directing career but made a number of interesting films including Rustlers’ Rhapsody, Blast from the Past, Guarding Tess and, especially, First Wives’ Club.

A film for younger audiences – and for the very tolerant young at heart.

1.An entertaining comedy? The audience for this kind of film: children, adults, television fans?

2.The film as an adaptation of a comic strip, from two-dimensional drawings to three-dimensional characters, the effect? Yet the two-dimensional characters and their ways of thinking and acting?

3.The equivalent of the cartoons: the broad strokes, the caricature, the situations, the exaggeration, bright colours, action, less motivation?

4.The use of the voice-over, the explanation, the 3-D, the quips from the narrator, the spoof?

5.Canada, the countryside, life in the mountains, the life of the Mounties, travelling, the landscapes, the musical score?

6.Dudley Do-Right? and his name, upright but dumb? Straightforward, naïve? Seeing him as a boy? His relationship with Snidely and Nell? His ambitions, nice, the kiss – and his hopes in life? To be a Mountie?

7.Dudley as a child, the encounters with his friends? His growing up, becoming a Mountie, the pratfalls, on the job, very literal, belief about the vampires, the townspeople? Nell and her return and his joy? Snidely and his re-emergence?

8.Nell as nice, her ambition to see the world, her return, love for Dudley? Her experience? Her encounters with Snidely? The dance routine – and the style of the film musicals? Singing the ‘Indian Love Call’? Sitting for her portrait? The tree sculpture? The show, her support, the clash? The happy ending and her support of Dudley?

9.Snidely, dressed in black, moustachioed, as a child, his ambitions, his henchmen and their stupidity, the big squad, the robberies, the decision about buying up the property, the gold, putting it in the river, the false gold rush, the building up of the town, prosperity, his taking charge of the town, the townspeople and their reaction? His dialogue, the dastardly style, continually putting down Dudley? Courting Nell?

10.Dudley and Nell’s father, his being sacked, his meeting the prospector, their talk, discovering that Snidely was a villain, the train, the derring-do? Confrontation – by Dudley performing like a villain?

11.The prospector and the mine, the real gold, its effect, friendship with Dudley, the train, his advice about finding himself, the upright man, going on the television show, the return, the award?

12.Snidely’s army, in black, the forces, the fights?

13.The Indian chief, the various Indians, friendship with Dudley, the performances in the shows? Their siding with Dudley against Snidely?

14.The townspeople, the need for change?

15.Snidely, his defeat, Dudley and his winning Nell? The prospector and his blessing? The Indians – and all’s well that ends well?

FRED CLAUS

US, 2007, 116 minutes, Colour.
Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, Kevin Spacey, John Michael Higgins, Miranda Richardson, Rachel Weisz, Kathy Bates, Trevor Peacock, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridge, Elizabeth Banks.
Directed by David Dobkin.

If you’re crochety, especially about cheerful films set at Christmas, then you will probably imitate Ebenezer Scrooge and mutter, ‘Bah humbug’ – and be advised to watch something else.

On the other hand, if you are a Christmas movie junkie and, if you enjoyed Elf, then go ahead and indulge.

Apparently, her eight year old asked writer-producer, Jessie Nelson, whether Santa had any brothers or sisters. That sparked an idea… what if there were sibling rivalry between Nicholas and his older brother, Fred? And Fred Claus is what happens when writers have these kinds of ideas.

Kathy Bates is Mrs Claus who dotes on her younger big fat baby, Nicholas. Mr Claus will be a nice surprise for Vicar of Dibley fans because he is Trevor Peacock (who does not get the opportunity to say, ‘No, no, no, no, no… yes’!). When the children grow up after an edgy childhood with Nicholas so nice and generous, Fred storms away to modern Chicago where he is something of a con man, even with his fiancée, Rachel Weisz. Vince Vaughn enjoys himself as Fred. Paul Giamatti is a fine Nicholas, with Miranda Richardson as his wife.

Fred gets himself into financial trouble and gets in touch with Nicholas for a loan, but has to go to the North Pole to work to earn the money. Things are more than a bit iffy at the North Pole with all the orders to fill and the elves flat out at the assembly lines. What is worse, a time-efficiency expert is inspecting in order to shut the North Pole down and outsource the production of presents. He is played by Kevin Spacey with the appropriate air of supercilious disdain.

When Fred and Nicholas have a snow fight, Santa’s back is put out, the expert closes production and…, well, you will just have to see what happens. Will it spoil the film to say that the ending is not sad?!

This is a different angle on Christmas stories and is undemandingly pleasant. (For film buffs, there is a marvelous segment where Fred goes to a meeting of Siblings Anonymous and has to listen to the woes of the real Frank Stallone bemoaning the pressure of Rocky, its sequels and Rambo, of Roger Clinton having to deal with his brother the president and Stephen Baldwin trying to deal with rage and projecting his antagonisms towards Alec on to the members of the group. One hopes that Sylvester, Bill and Alec enjoy the spoof as much as we do.)

1.An entertaining Christmas film? For the family, adults, children? US market?

2.The re-creation of the North Pole, the city, the factory, the ordinary aspects, difference? Picturesque? The contrast with contemporary Chicago and its ordinariness, streets and apartments, restaurants?

3.The musical score, the use of Christmas songs?

4.The background of St Nicholas as Santa Claus, secularising the story, the Claus family, Nick as a secular saint?

5.Mr and Mrs Claus, their characters, their life, Mrs Claus and her love for her sons, Fred as the older, Nick as the younger, the difficult birth? Fred taken for granted? Nick as big, as the baby, saying ‘Ho ho’? The boys growing up? The clashes with Fred and Nick? The trouble, the bird and the tree, Nick saying he was sorry?

6.Fred and his running away, going to the contemporary Chicago, his life, distance from the Pole, as a conman, the loans, his inability to pay back, trying to borrow, gamble, the creditors, the deadlines? His relationship with Wanda? Her work, his forgetting her birthday, promising the outing, the Chinese restaurant, the Asian sports? His being a loser?

7.Fred and his gambling, aggressive, in jail, calling Wanda, calling Nick? The possibility of borrowing money, the deadline?

8.Willie and his being an elf, his meeting Fred with the sleigh, the ride, the arrival, meeting the family again, the elves, the room – and the tall Fred having to be in an elf room? His mother, the meal, the criticism, Nick and his always being nice, Nick’s wife Annette, her hard aspects? Fred and his anger?

9.Fred and his job, the good elf, trying to be nice, the letters, the stories, evoking his own memories, the background of the African American boy in Chicago and helping him, the orphanage? The teasing, the boast – and the boy wanting a gift from Santa Claus, secret from the others? His letter? Fred thinking everybody was nice – approving every request, the repercussions?

10.Willie and the work, everybody after work, Charlene and her being tall, name, the assembly line, the impossibility of the production? The elves, the speeches, the shutdown? The return to work?

11.Clyde Northcut and his visit, exasperation, time and efficiency? His wanting to close down the whole procedure?

12.Nick in himself, nice, fun, his relationship with his wife, the clashes because of his generosity, the fight with Fred, the injury and his not being able to deliver the presents?

13.Fred, his decision to go instead, with Willie, the map, the power, the chimneys, having to eat the food, drink the milk, the various families visited, the orphan boy, making everybody happy?

14.Clyde Northcut, his change of heart, his memories of his childhood, his beginning to fit into the whole North Pole life? All well at the North Pole – and everybody reconciled?

THE DETONATOR

US, 2006, 91 minutes, Colour.
Wesley Snipes, Sylvia Colloca, Tim Dutton, William Hope, Michael Brandon.
Directed by Po- Chih Leong.

The Detonator is a straight-to-DVD action thriller, filmed in Romania. This is a by-the-numbers action adventure – and a sign that Wesley Snipes’ career was in a downslide. Po- Chih Leong, English-born but working for many decades in Hong Kong before returning to Europe, has directed a number of effective films in the past, especially in Hong Kong but also the British films, Ping Pong and The Wisdom of Crocodiles. However, in later years he has directed this kind of action material, especially another film made in Romania, Out of Reach, a starring vehicle for Steven Seagal.

The film is complicated in its plotting, showing Wesley Snipes as an agent under cover, trying to unmask a gang which has chemical weapons. There is also a popular European link – ownership of football teams and scenes during the playing of a match.

There is a femme fatale, played by Sylvia Colloca, who takes her husband’s money, falls in love with Snipes as her protector, does a deal in betraying.

The film is not particularly interesting in itself, indicates the nature of Wesley Snipes’ career, shows the popular ingredients for the straight-to-DVD mentality in terms of agencies, intrigue, action.

RANSOM

US, 1996, 121 minutes, Colour.
Mel Gibson, Rene Russo, Brawley Nolte, Gary Sinese, Delroy Lindo, Lili Taylor, Liev Schreiber, Donny Wahlberg, Evan Handler, Nancy Ticotin, Paul Guilfoyle.
Directed by Ron Howard.

A well and slickly made, fairly predictable thriller with Mel Gibson playing an aviation tycoon whose son is abducted by a brutal group, led by Gary Sinise, who also abducts the show with his expertly sinister villain. Mel is used to running things himself (and has been involved in illegal union payoffs which complicate matters morally and emotionally) and confronts the kidnappers, defying the advice and methods of the FBI. The film builds up to a violent climax with a twist that was not predictable. Ron Howard directs and gives the characters a little more depth than usual. Mel Gibson as hero.

1.The work of Ron Howard? The variety of genres? His skill in directing this crime drama?

2.The New York settings, the wealthy apartments, the streets, the police precincts? The place where the boy was held? Authentic atmosphere? Credible? The atmospheric score?

3.The title, plain, issues, the victims, the perpetrators, the parents and the effect, the FBI and the police?

4.The introduction to Tom Mullen, the social, his relationship with his wife, love for his son? The television promotion? His building up the airline from scratch, the self-confidence? The challenge from the newspapers about paying off the unions? His answers? The reality, the man in prison? His paying off and admitting it to the FBI? His son’s admiration for his father? The outdoor sequence, the science competition, Sean and his playing with his machine? His mother and the judging? His father present and talking? Their losing sight of him? The anxiety, the microphone, calling him back?

5.The introduction to the kidnappers: to Maris and her working as a caterer in the Mullen household? The Barnes brothers and their role? Miles Roberts and his surly attitude? The revelation that Jimmy Shaker was the mastermind? The introduction to Shaker, as a policeman, doing his job? Coming into the house, his attitude towards his accomplices, the relationship with Maris?

6.The contact with Tom Mullen, via internet? The threats about the FBI and police? The reaction of Tom and Kate? Kate being distraught but strong? Tom being determined? The arrival of the FBI and their cover of fixing up the house, Agent Hawkins and his leadership? The discussions, the plans, the phone calls, listening in to the phone calls, tracing them? The work of the FBI?

7.Tom, getting the money ready, trying to put the kidnappers off? Their using the voice distortion on the phone? Tom and his going, the FBI willing to substitute? His following all the directions, going to the station, getting the key? Going to the rendezvous? Cubby Barnes and the background of his care for Sean, his soft-heartedness? The confrontation, his being shot? Clark and his reaction?

8.The first break in the mastermind plans, Cubby Barnes and his death, the FBI discovering Clark? The threats? Miles Roberts and his offhandedness? Maris and her severity, wanting to kill the boy? Shaker and his strategies?

9.The development of the plot, the searching out of the contacts? Tom and his presence, the beginning of the shootout? Shaker and his killing Maris, killing Clark and Miles? Pretending to be the agent who solved the problem, his own shoulder wound? Everybody hailing him?

10.Sean, recovered, the effect on him?

11.Shaker, his character, his resentments, against the wealthy, his attitude towards Tom as paying out to the unions and therefore paying out to him? His callousness? Yet his love for Maris? His being hailed, the media? His decision to leave the country, packing, getting the ticket? The decision to visit Tom, to get the cheque and the reward? Sean overhearing him, Sean’s fear, his father realising what had happened?

12.Going to the bank, the people welcoming him at the bank, the move away from the bank, the guns drawn, the fight, going through the glass window? Shaker and his being taken, pulling the gun from his leg-strap? Tom and his fighting?

13.The resolution of the problem? The work of the FBI? The various agents? Tom and his using his wits?

14.The background of Tom, his being the self-made businessman, his relationship with his wife, the visit to Jackie Brown in prison, Brown’s resentment? Tom believing that he could have been behind the kidnapping? The effect of the experience on Tom and his outlook?

15.The motivations of the kidnappers, their personalities, working together, resentment towards Shaker, attitude towards the boy, kindly and callous?

16.An effective kidnapping story? FBI investigation? Twists?

ST TRINIAN’S

UK, 2007, 95 minutes, Colour.
Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Lena Headey, Jodie Whittaker, Russell Brand, Stephen Fry, Gemma Arterton, Mischa Barton, Anna Chancellor, Celia Imrie, Toby Jones, Lucy Punch, Talulah Riley, Fenella Woolgar.
Directed by Oliver Parker and Barnaby Thompson.

Older reviewers often succumb to the temptation of living in the past, especially where old movies are concerned. The older film is the classic. The remake is beneath contempt. Often they have not seen the older movie for decades and might be surprised to discover how creaky in style it really is.

Audiences who have not seen the 1954 Belles of St Trinians or its rather raucous sequels may find this farce quite amusing. But for those who enjoyed the old film in its time, who can replace Alistair Sim with his characteristic doddering and fussing or even George Cole as Flash Harry? We found this film uproarious, especially as we enjoyed the cartoon books of Ronald Searle on which the film was based.

The credits for the 2007 version state that it is based on the original film and there is a debt of gratitude expressed to Ronald Searle. But, this crowd of monstrous girls at the hell school to end all schools are too 21st century knowing rather than the little school thugs of more simple times. That said, this St Trinians starts slowly, emphasis on the adults and then gradually moves to the girls and their scheme to steal Scarlett Johannson, well actually Vermeer’s The Girl with the Pearl Earrings from the National Gallery while Stephen Fry is comparing TV’s School Challenge.

This time the brother cad to the headmistress, Miss Fritton, is played by Rupert Everett – and, in the tradition, he plays Miss Fritton. He gives it his best but he does not have the befussed manner of Alistair Sim. Everett is rather calculating. Colin Firth does the minister for Education in his usual serious style and there are some Pride and Prejudice jokes as he comes out of the water as he did in the series – and Miss Fritton’s dog who keeps attacking him is Mr Darcy. The girls make a reference to him by name since he starred in The Girl with the Pearl Earrings. A number of other film and TV jokes as well. Russell Brand makes a fair fist of Flash Harry. Firth and Everett singing Love is in the Air over the final credits is nicely amusing.

Lots of farcical behaviour, noisy, silly – more, perhaps less, in the spirit of the original St Trinians. (And director Oliver Parker who made a creditable Othello and An Ideal Husband also made the execrable Importance of Being Earnest with Everett and Firth).

1.A remake of a classic? The origins in the film, Ronald Searle’s cartoons? Adapted for the 21st century? The blend of realism and farce? The girls and their 21st century knowing? The internet, sexual innuendo …?

2.How funny was the film: verbal, character drawing, situations, spoof?

3.The UK education system, the parody of schools, the rooms in the school, the rooms in the school, the girls, the uniforms, the hockey sticks as weapons, the sports fields? The contrast with London, Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery? The musical score?

4.Education, the girls, spoof, classes, sport, lack of discipline, brewing alcohol, sexual behaviour, the investigation by the Ministry of Education?

5.The cast, their comic style, Rupert Everett and his two characters? Colin Firth and his deadpan style? Lena Headey? Stephen Fry? Russell Brand? The humour of the final song with Firth and Everett?

6.The introduction with Annabelle, her father, his shady dealings, the phone calls, leaving his daughter there, not answering her calls, wanting to sell off St Trinian’s, willing to fence the art, deceived by Flash Harry?

7.Miss Fritton, Rupert Everett’s style, as headmistress over anarchy, her smooth style, the meeting with Geoffrey, ‘Love is a Many Splendoured Thing’? At the sports, the issue of selling St Trinian’s, helping to steal the painting, the final swing across the gallery, the seduction of Geoffrey?

8.Geoffrey, the Ministry of Education, his past experience in prisons, his staff, the headlines, his spin and PR experts? Targeting St Trinian’s? The visit, the infatuation with Miss Fritton, the memories of the past? His touring the building, listening in to the girls, the ants, loosening his trousers and their falling, his falling into the water, emerging like Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice? The challenge of the dog (Mr Darcy)? His daughter, the Cheltenham school, the press coming for the final visit, the girls having everything in order, his failure, kicking the dog, the headlines about the dead dog? The television show, his presence, seeing what was going on? The seduction by Miss Fritton? The photographers and his standing at the window?

9.Harry and his style, dumb, with the head girl, the brewing, the testing, the powerful liquor, selling things, posing as the gay art dealer, going to the exhibition, meeting Carnaby Fritton, selling the painting, deceiving him? The congratulations from the head girl?

10.Miss Dickinson, prim, at the school, fitting in, the school challenge program, encouraging the girls to win?

11.The various members of the staff, Matron, her drinking, the sports master, the turmoil in the staff room? Their watching the school challenge?

12.Annabelle, prim, skill at hockey, the sports mistress getting her in the team, her reaction to her father, his not taking her away, all the tricks played on her initially, her fitting into the school, disillusionment with her father, the visual makeover, participating in the plot?

13.The head girl, her style, her dominance of Harry, with the other girls, the plot?

14.The range of girls, young, the brewing, the sport, the brutality in the hockey game, filming things for YouTube?, their skills in surveillance, the plan for the robbery, its execution?

15.The plan, visiting the National Gallery, the preparations, the blasts, the sewers, the contact, the swing across the gallery, the rope, getting through the laser beams, taking the painting – and the solution and their finding the painting and getting the reward?

16.School challenge, Stephen Fry and his style, the range of opponents, the questions, the cheating, giving the boys a potion, the headphones, Miss Dickinson and her changing the girls’ attitudes? Their actually knowing what they were talking about – and winning?

17.The combination of farce and 21st century spoof?

RANGE OF MOTION

US, 2000, 100 minutes, Colour.
Rebecca De Mornay, Henry Czerny, Barclay Hope, Charlotte Arnold, Melanie Mayron, Kim Roberts.
Directed by Donald Wrye.

Range of Motion is an inspirational film. It focuses on a wife and mother, played with intensity by Rebecca De Mornay, whose husband (Barclay Hope) has an accident one morning during jogging and is in coma. The wife’s response is to be concerned, anguished, get him into care, visit him every day, protect her daughters from seeing their father until the daughters react, want to see him because they feel that he is dead.

Henry Czerny plays a man whose wife is in a similar state. Kim Roberts is the African American aide who seems offhand but helps as the man continues in coma over a year. Melanie Mayron is good as the best friend from next door whose husband is having an affair.

The film offers the arguments for the turning off of life support machines. It also shows the obsessiveness of the wife and her being so committed to her husband that she neglects her children. However, the film has a happy ending as the husband recovers consciousness after a year.

The film was directed by Donald Wrye, a director in television since 1966. His only film for cinemas was the skating film, Ice Castles.

1.A moving telemovie? Illness? Hope? Care?

2.The title, its reference to caring for a person in coma, keeping the limbs exercised? The importance of Lainey and her caring for Jay?

3.The setting, the ordinary American town, American home? Parents, two daughters? Next-door neighbour? The ordinariness of the situation? The tragedy with Jay falling and injuring himself? The consequences?

4.Audience empathy for the situation? For Jay in coma? For Lainey and her desperation? Wanting the best care? Her emotional reactions? Over-reacting? The two daughters and Lainey keeping them from seeing their father? Eventually seeing their father? Ordinary means for sustaining life, insurance issues, the institute and its care? Seemingly offhand? The staff and their experience?

5.Rebecca De Mornay as Lainey? Her character, love for her husband, her children? Running the house? Urging Jay to go for a run? Her blaming herself for the accident? Her reaction, desperation, emotion? In the hospital? Her transferring her husband because of insurance problems? Her reaction to the care, to the personnel? Her meeting Ted, the comparison of the cases? The friendship – and her reaction to the kiss in the car? Their formal meetings later? Going to his wife’s funeral? Her reaction to her children, not wanting them to see their father in coma? The children’s reaction, her decision to take them? The different reactions of the daughters? Her reliance on Alice? The good friend from next door, Alice’s care for her, looking after the children, good advice? Going out on the town for a night? Lainey and her relationship with Gloria, Gloria seeming offhanded, her care, her getting used to the visits?

6.Ted, his wife in coma, the effect on him, his visiting his wife, friendship with Lainey, the kiss, his reserve, his seeing someone, the temptation to turn off the life support, his wife’s death, the funeral, farewell to Lainey?

7.The two children, their age, Sarah and her sullenness, her reaction to her father in coma, thinking he was dead? Amy and her age, younger, less experienced, her love for her parents?

8.Alice, the kindly next-door neighbour, always helping? Her husband, the discovery that he was having an affair, her resignation to this?

9.The staff, Gloria, seemingly offhand, the nursing aide, the day-by-day care?

10.Audiences expecting Jay to come out of coma or not? The phone call, the joy? The seeming miracle? His recovering, bringing him home, at table with the children? A future?

11.The value of this kind of telemovie for the wide audience, emotional response, understanding of the situation?