THE FOOT FIST WAY

US, 2006, 82 minutes, Colour.
Danny R. Mc Bride, Ben Best, Mary Jane Bostic, Collette Wolfe.
Directed by Jody Hill.

The foot fist way is Tae Kwon Do.

This is not exactly an unmissable film. It features Danny R. Mc Bride and could have served as an audition and a calling card to roles that he accepted soon after, especially some Judd Appatow (Drillbit Taylor, Pineapple Express) and some Ben Stiller films (The Heartbreak Kid, Tropic Thunder). He is proving himself quite an adept comedian.

He is also adept here, but this is a low-budget film, brief in running-time and not as funny, perhaps, as it intended to be. The trouble is that Mc Bride plays the obnoxious central character, Fred Simmons, so well that he does not seem to be funny but, rather, someone to avoid. He is the self-important (well, he had been a winning champion in 1991) director of a suburban Tae Kwon Do centre, catering for school children, some lonely middle aged clients and some oldies. He can train them well but it is all formal and pompous. He is not the most discreet of characters when he blurts out what he thinks and what he thinks ought to happen. He is married to an over-tanned, statuesque beauty – and we wonder how they ever got married and how they stayed together (though the plot soon shows us that the marriage is collapsible).

There are a lot of shenanigans with his two assistants, one a fat Latino boy whom he puts down, the other a gawky bullied teenager whose low self-esteem he is continually reinforcing. When a school friend turns up, a really strange and creepy type, played by the director and co-writer, they go to a convention and meet their hero, a martial arts movie star. Humiliation, fisticuffs, betrayal all follow! It all culminates in the tests for a higher belt where the right people defeat the wrong people. Whether Fred Simmons could be happy every after is not clear. He may have learned a few lessons, but he really is thick, self-inflated and obtuse.

1.A comedy vehicle for Danny R. Mc Bride? Successful? A calling card for his later films?

2.The North Carolina setting, the background of the writer-director? The town, the centre for tae kwondo? Homes? Diners? An authentic feel for the town? The range of people from the town? The musical score?

3.The title, taekwondo? The principles, each principle being a heading for the chapters of the film?

4.The focus on Fred Simmons, his age, his background, being a champion? His framed documents? His work in the town? With the kids, with Henry, with Julio? The other members of the group? Children, old ladies, middle-aged men? The demonstrations for the public, wanting to get more clients? His school, conducting the lessons? Rick and his brutality? Making him do push-ups? The chance to meet Chuck ‘The Truck’ Wallace, taking the boys to the championship, his wanting Wallace to come to the tests, going to the party? Mike Mc Allister coming to the group, his strange look, way of speaking? His accompanying them to the festival? Wallace and his confrontation with Fred, the fight? His coming to the testing, the testing and Julio having to take over? Fred and his finding his wife with Wallace, after the photos at her first job and his accusations and her leaving? His relationship with his wife, taken for granted, going to the diner for the special? His being beaten up, waking up on the highway, running to the test? The achievement with the test? Henry coming out of himself? Julio running the test successfully? His future?

5.Fred’s character, pompous, self-absorbed, lacking a sense of humour, unable to see the absurd side of himself? Intent on taekwondo and his own powers? Taking his wife for granted, the visit of the friends, his blunt way of speaking and being offensive? His friendship with Mike Mc Allister and Mike being an oddball? The humiliation of Henry and trying to train him? Julio and his eating, his threats? Denise and the interview, his coming on to her, her reaction to him? His going to the festival, the encounter with Wallace, admiration, the party, his suspicions, the fight? His discovery of Wallace with his wife? The dent to his awareness? His being able to learn from his experiences – or not?

6.Suzy, her makeup, tan, way of the world? The possibility of her having married Fred? The meals out? Her day? The photocopies and her lie? (Fred and his taking out his vengeance on the alleged son of the boss – and the mother saying that her husband was dead?) Suzy and her leaving, the phone calls, Fred’s absurd phone calls and ticking her off? Her relationship with Wallace?

7.Denise, normal, enrolling, Fred’s interview, the workouts, his calling her in after Suzy left, his advances and her reaction?

8.Mike Mc Allister, school friend, oddball, his manner, look? His skills? Accompanying Fred and the boys?

9.Henry, gawky, bullied at school, awkward, picked on by Rick? Picked on by Fred? His taking him to see Wallace? The test and the final confrontation with Rick and his winning? Rick, dumb, brutal?

10.Julio, fat, the assistant, the threats from Fred, yet relying on him, his skill in running the tests?

11.The world of tae kwon do? The various instructors? The testing?

12.How well did the film stand as a portrait of a self-absorbed man? His limitations? As comedy? As a background to the world of tai kwondo?

BITTER MOON

France/UK, 1992, 139 minutes, Colour.
Peter Coyote, Emmanuelle Seigner, Hugh Grant, Kristin Scott Thomas, Victor Banerjee, Sophie Patel, Stockard Channing.
Directed by Roman Polanski.

Bitter Moon is adapted from a novel whose French title indicates Poison Moon, the opposite of a honey moon.

Roman Polanski and his frequent collaborator, Gerard Brach, along with John Brownjohn, have adapted the novel into an effective psychodrama. While the framework is a voyage on a liner to Istanbul, the bulk of the film is shown in flashback.

Peter Coyote portrays Oscar, a would-be Ernest Hemingway, with an inheritance, trying to write novels in Paris. After some years, he has become somewhat bitter. A chance encounter with a young woman on a bus who has no ticket, becomes an infatuation. Emmanuelle Seigner (Polanski’s wife) portrays this young woman, a dancer who has jobs as a waitress, who is grateful to the writer, becomes infatuated with him, participates in a whole lot of sexual activity. However, the writer tires of her but she becomes possessive. He exercises power and control and finally ousts her after an abortion.

Oscar, the writer, is telling the story on board to a young Englishman, played in his typical fashion by Hugh Grant. Kristin Scott Thomas, also in her later familiar style, portrays his wife. The Englishman becomes fascinated with the story, fascinated with the young woman who is on board. The writer is manipulating the Englishman into a relationship with his wife. However, in listening to the story, he finds that the wife has been cruel, incapacitates the writer who is confined to a wheelchair. There are some surprises before the ending, especially in terms of the relationship between the wife and the English woman and a violent ending of the film.

Polanski had explored some of this kind of material in his early films of the 1960s, especially Cul de Sac and Repulsion. This film could be compared with Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut which appeared seven years later – both films with themes of intense sexual relationships, sensuality, domination and control, exercise of power.

Polanski has made a number of classic films including Rosemary’s Baby, Macbeth, Chinatown. He continued making films right into the 21st century, winning an Oscar as best director for The Pianist in 2002.

1.This film among those of Roman Polanski? Psychosexual drama? The display of sexuality and sensuality? Insight into psychology and relationships?

2.The framework of the voyage, Nigel and Fiona and their seven-year anniversary, going to India, seeking some kind of silence and renewal in India? Finding Mimi sick? Leading to Oscar and the psychological games? The flashbacks, Oscar’s character, Mimi, their world, their relationships, Nigel caught up in the story, returning to listen? The culmination with Mimi and Fiona? The deaths? The fatalistic ending?

3.The fatalistic, even nihilistic ending for Oscar and Mimi? The confrontation and challenge for Nigel and Fiona?

4.The boat, the cabins, the dining room, social life, the clubs?

5.Paris, as a character, the range of locations, apartments, streets, clubs?

6.The range of songs, the popular songs of the period?

7.The Indian, his daughter, his comments about India and noise and silence? Fiona telling the stories to his daughter? Their being glimpsed at the end - a symbolic picture of innocence? Hope?

8.Nigel and Fiona, the audience identifying with them, especially with Nigel listening to Oscar, wanting to listen or not? His British reticence? His being fascinated, yet repelled? Curiosity, seduced, disillusioned? The end, Fiona and her flirting on the voyage, the dance with Mimi, the sexual encounter, Oscar’s reaction to it? Nigel’s shock? The ending with Nigel and Fiona together?

9.Mimi’s story, her being ill on the boat, Nigel and Fiona rescuing her, her dancing to the music of ‘Fever’, talking with Nigel, considering him boring and unfunny? Their meetings, his listening to the story, his encounters with her, the cabins, the kiss, the new year? Fiona? Her death?

10.Mimi in the flashbacks, not having the ticket, working as a waitress, the story of learning to dance, living in New York, her falling in love with Oscar, the meal, going home with him, the sex, the commitment? The collage and range of the sex games, the effect on Oscar, on her? Oscar wanting to be master? The passing of time, Oscar walking out at the dance, Mimi’s desperation, on her knees pleading, Oscar ousting her? Her return, pleading? Her pregnancy, the abortion? On the plane, Oscar abandoning her? Her illness, her later return, confronting Oscar in the hospital, causing his permanent injuries? Her taking care of him, imprisoning him, isolating him, not allowing him to have phone calls? The reverse of roles?

11.Oscar and his narration, the purple prose for a would-be novelist? The US literary type, refuge in Paris, his apartment and the photos of Hemingway etc? His having money, the manuscript of three novels? His meeting with his agent, her urging him to come back to America - and Mimi mocking her? The ticket incident, seeing Mimi, obsessed, the collage, finding her, the dinner, talk, sex, the range of sexual behaviour, dominance, his tiring of it, his hurting Mimi, ousting her, insulting her, power and control, the abortion, abandoning her on the plane? His sexual libertine behaviour? The women? In the car, the accident, in hospital, Mimi and her destroying his mobility, his becoming a victim, controlled? The wheelchair? On the boat? Why choosing Nigel to tell the story? The need to tell? Taunting him, the free American taunting the buttoned-up British? His killing Mimi, killing himself?

12.Fiona and the Latin dancer?

13.Mimi, the dancer in the apartment, sexual encounter, her taunts?

14.Issues of identity, power, violence, sensuality, sexual control? Confrontation?

JOE SOMEBODY

US, 2001, 98 minutes, Colour.
Tim Allen, Julie Bowen, Kelly Lynch, Greg Germann, Hayden Panettiere, Patrick Warburton, James Belushi.
Directed by John Pasquin.

Joe Somebody is a family-friendly film about a worker who was taken for granted in his company for ten years (an expert in video production and design). Divorced from his wife (Kelly Lynch), he is devoted to his daughter (a young Hayden Panettiere). He is humiliated by the workplace bully (Patrick Warburton) who takes his parking spot and then punches him in front of his daughter. He decides to do something about it, gets some training from a failed martial arts movie star (James Belushi, very funny in the role) and suddenly wins the approval of most of the people who had ignored him. Greg Germann is one of the bosses responsible for morale. He is attracted to Meg Harper, the counsellor, who is sympathetic to Joe Somebody.

The film is a star vehicle for Tim Allen who had worked with the director John Pasquin in many episodes of Home Improvements as well as in the films The Santa Clause and Jungle to Jungle.

The film seems to be leading in the direction of slugging it out for some kind of conflict resolution – but, at the end, Joe stands up for himself without landing a blow and this is appreciated from his opponent. A nice anti-violence moral.

1.An entertaining comedy? Dramatic touches?

2.The setting: the company, offices, parking spaces? School? Homes? Audiences identifying with the setting? Musical score?

3.The title, Joe Scheffer and people not remembering his name? His wanting to be somebody? His being downtrodden for ten years, in the company, at home? His self-assertion, his wanting to impress Natalie? His ways of going about becoming somebody, the martial arts training? The popularity? The love of Meg? His final decision – non-violence?

4.Tim Allen as Joe, the marriage breaking up, visiting Callie and her boyfriend? His love for Natalie, taking her to school? His work, skills, being passed over for promotion? Jeremy and his antagonism? Meg and her concern, her helping her put up the notice, his awkwardness with the staples? His attraction towards her, tongue-tied? Natalie at the company, children’s day, Mark taking his parking space, the confrontation, the punch-up? The reaction of the authorities? His staying away from work, humiliated, concerned about Natalie? Meg and her visit? His eventually coming back, people talking about him confronting Mark, everybody feting him, playing squash, meals, drinks? The popularity and his being somebody? His going to the martial arts training? Chuck and his background, style, the work together? The discussions? His being influenced by Chuck’s own career? The build-up to the confrontation, Meg’s attitude, Natalie and her watching? His confronting Mark, his walking away? The crowd surprised? Natalie and Meg happy? Mark’s apology? His becoming somebody?

5.Natalie, her love for her father, their being together, the outings? Her wariness about her mother and her boyfriend? The drama and theatre background? Witnessing her father’s humiliation? Discussions with him, not wanting him to fight, her happiness at seeing the final result?

6.Meg, in the office, the counsellor, friendly with Joe? Her relationship with Jeremy, Jeremy and his self-centredness? Imposing himself on Meg? Her love for Joe, supporting him, meeting Natalie? The final confrontation, a final happiness? Jeremy and the put-down, and his having to change his tone?

7.Mark, the bully, taking the parking space, big, confronting Joe? The final confrontation and his apology?

8.Chuck, his career in films, his becoming sick of it? Setting up the school? His own personal life? Friendship with Joe, the training, the hits and the moves? His watching the confrontation, his being pleased at Joe’s decision?

9.A pleasant comedy – family-friendly?

STARSKY AND HUTCH

US, 2004, 105 minutes, Colour.
Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughan, Juliette Lewis.
Directed by Todd Fields.

Expecting another boom boom police thriller homage to the 1970s and the icons of TV land, I was surprised that the action takes a back seat (well, not entirely) to the more comic aspects of the characters and partnership of Starsky and Hutch. Some TV channels screened the original 1975 pilot at the time the new film was released and it is surprising (at least after the pilot; the stars were able to go on and develop their characters and style over four seasons) how comparatively straightforward Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul were. It is pleasing to see them turn up in a good cameo in the new film.

What we have is an Odd Couple buddy movie, Starsky obsessive, Hutch anything but. The uptightness that Ben Stiller has shown when under siege in recent comedies contrasts with the easygoing nonchalance of Owen Wilson that we have seen in Shanghai Noon, Shanghai Knights and I Spy. They make an entertaining comic couple and are given plenty of lines and situations to highlight these qualities (best of all the drop the dead pony sequence).

Vince Vaughan is the mastermind villain who is not nearly so smart as he thinks and Juliette Lewis is his girlfriend.

It's all a concoction and another example of the trend of TV series remakes, but it works well and entertainingly in its own right.

1. The popularity of the series in the 70s? A revival and remake? The police buddy genre, the investigation of the criminals, Starsky's car and its style, the good cop-bad cop routines?

2. 2004 and the remake, the update, the emphasis on comedy and irony, the stars and their previous films, screen persona? Buddies - and the sexual subtexts? The guest spot for David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser? The range of songs - "Don't Give Up on Me, Baby" (and David Soul as a singer)?

3. The Los Angeles settings, gloss and style? Starsky and his being prim, a touch obsessive, his apartment, his pride in his car? The contrast with Hutchinson, the robbing of the banks, his apartment and its not being tidy, his relationships? The introduction to each? The good cop and the bad cop? Going by the book - and interpreting the book broadly? Their chief, his exasperation? Their bickering in front of him, the comments about Starsky's permanent wave and hair and touching it? Their being put together as partners?

4. Vince Vaughan as the criminal chief, on the yacht, his style, the parody of the criminal? Kitty as his assistant? Doing his hair and manicuring him? His henchmen, the issue of drugs, his ruthlessness and killing one of his henchmen? His meetings with Starsky and Hutch, smooth manner? Kevin as his assistant, his using him? The celebration of the Bar Mitzvah at his home, Starsky and Hutch coming as clowns? The gift of the pony, its being understood in an ambiguous way, Starsky and his shooting - and the pony dropping dead? His contact with the criminal in jail, getting the pony, misinterpreted as a drug deal? The arrest, his anger, authorities releasing him? The build-up to the dinner, his speech, the guests, the raffle, the drugs hidden in the cars? His being exposed, his escape, the boat-chase? Kitty, her relationship with him, her looking after the funds, on the boat at the end? Kevin and his doing the office work? His wife, his neglect of her?

5. Starsky and Hutch and their personalities, their interaction, comedy routines, verbal humour? The contrast between the slow going by the book and Hutch's intuitions, and his being close to the truth? Their detective work, the clues, the information about the drugs, their contacts, the interview with the criminal boss? The contact with the girls, the cheerleaders - and the locker-room sequence? Starsky and his self-importance, reporting Hutch? Hutch upset about the complaints? Their going their separate ways? Joining together at the dinner, the dangers, the pursuit, saving the day?

6. The Bar Mitzvah sequence, the humour, the clowns and their performance, the bewilderment of the people, the pony and its death? The banquet, the disguise, Starsky and his risk of being exposed again? The showdown? The car pursuit, his crashing the car? Getting the new one? The guest spot for David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser and the humour about this updating and remake?

7. The nostalgia for this kind of television program? The irony, the innuendo, the sub-texts about police and buddy movies?

SEVEN WAVES AWAY/ABANDON SHIP

UK, 1957, 100 minutes, Black and white.
Tyrone Power, Mai Zetterling, Lloyd Nolan, Stephen Boyd, Moira Lister, James Hayter, Marie Lohr, Finlay Currie, John Stratton, Victor Maddern, Eddie Byrne, Gordon Jackson.
Directed by Richard Sale.

Seven Waves Away is similar to Hitchcock’s Lifeboat. A luxury liner sinks and a young man finds himself in charge of a lifeboat full of survivors – however, the lifeboat will not contain all the survivors in the rough seas and some have to be sacrificed.

The film is grim, gets audiences to identify with the passengers in the situation, the desire to stay alive, the issues of self-sacrifice for others.

Tyrone Power is the officer and Mai Zetterling is the nurse. There is a strong cast of British character actors as well as Stephen Boyd in an early role.

The film was directed by Richard Sale, novelist and screenwriter who made a number of films in the 1950s, light films including A Ticket to Tomahawk, Half Angel, Gentlemen Marry Brunettes. The film was remade in 1975 for American television, a much shorter version with Martin Sheen in the Tyrone Power role and a strong supporting cast of American actors who made their mark mainly in television films. This film was adapted by Douglas Day Stewart (who achieved some fame in the 1980s with his screenplay for The Blue Lagoon and, especially, An Officer and a Gentleman) and was directed by Lee H. Katzin, a prolific director of television movies during the 1970s.

1. How interesting a film, how serious, entertainment? Its overall impact, message?

2. The indication of the title? An alternative title was 'Abandon Ship'. The atmosphere of the sea, the ship, disaster, survival and decisions?

3. The use of black and white photography, the moods and atmosphere of the sea? The contrast between the ship, the lifeboat? The musical score far the atmosphere of the disaster?

4. Audience response to disasters and accidents? Identifying with the situation, with the survivors, particular types in the lifeboat?

5. The theme of survival and man's wanting to live desperately? The people in the lifeboat, the people hanging on? The significance of life? The overwhelming fear? Motivations, greed, selfishness?

6. How interesting was the cross-section of people, the varying types, good and bad, selfish and selfless? Crew and passengers, men and women?

7. Were the survivors types or were they dramatised characters? Did they represent issues and values? Did they typify various responses to dangers and fears?

8. Tyrone Power as the hero? How heroic was he by temperament and character? His role on the ship, in the lifeboat? As a person, doing his duty? The questions of conscience, emotions? The difficulty of his decisions? The
criteria for people who were to die? His motives? The effect of these decisions on himself, on the various people? How well did the film offer pros and cons for his decision? Did some people have to die?

9. The presentation of the people? The situation of the dog and the indication of what was to follow? Those who stayed? Those who had to go, those who decided to go? The bonds of fear?

10. The significance of Julie and her support of Holmes? Her place on the lifeboat?

11. The character of Mc Kinley and the clash with Holmes? A legitimate point of view? Fear? Orders and duty?

12. The significance of Kelly, his words of advice, the impact of his death?

13. How important was the dialogue, the interaction of the characters revealing themselves and their attitudes, especially Edith with her background, her sarcastic way of speaking? Her spurning of her lover? Her rising to the occasion?

14. Other minor characters and the way they were presented? The playwright, elderly couple?

15. The impact of the rescue ship arriving? The survivors? Holmes changing from hero to villain and the fickle aspects of human nature in the survivors turning against him?

16. The purpose of making the film? Entertainment? A serious story? Insight into human nature and themes of conscience?

SPECIAL SECTION

France, 1975, 118 minutes, Colour.
Michael Lonsdale, Ivo Garrani, Heinz Bennent, Pierre Dux, Michelle Galabru, Claude Pieplu, Jean Champion, Yves Robert, Bruno Cremer, uncredited cameos by Costa -Gavras and Yves Montand.
Directed by Costa -Gavras.

Special Section is another of Costa -Gavras’s political films. He made a great impact and won the Oscar in 1969 for his story of the Greek generals, Z. He followed it up with a film about the Iron Curtain, The Confession, with Yves Montand as well as making State of Siege about Latin America – a theme he was to take up in his American film, Missing, with Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek.

This is a film about France during World War Two. It focuses on political issues of right and left, sympathises with the Germans. And the Free French. It is a portrayal of the Vichy government, the officials, the judges, the military.

Costa -Gavras and his regular writer Jorge Semprun are not sympathetic to the Vichy government and its fascist principles. To this extent, the film is a vivid portrayal of the characters and the period as well as an indictment. The film shows a group of defendants in court – the victims of a particular special section which was set up to rout out subversion in the Resistance, amongst communists, amongst journalists.

1. The focus of the title and its significance, its impact? Expectation from the title?

2. The work of the director Costa -Gavras: Z, The Confession, State of Siege? Audience expectation of its insight and critique of oppressive political systems? The work of his writer Semprun? How political was the film? The critique of the past, the critique of fascism in general, the critique of the present? Impact on a French audience, memories? Non -French audience?

3. How well did the film recreate the atmosphere of France during the war? How necessary was an authentic atmosphere? The quality of the colour photography, acts and locations and costumes of the time? The use of contemporary music? Music to highlight the atmosphere? Audience involvement because of memories of the war, guilt memories about the war?

4. How clear were the political issues of Right and Left, Germans and French? The Vichy government, the Free French? How important was it that the film took stances? How could the stance of the director be described in political terms? The humanity of the critique of the Vichy government? Human issues, issues of justice?

5. How accurately did the film present the Vichy government? The people of France and their acceptance of the government? Petain? The French and their relationship with the Nazis? The hope for a compromise with the Nazis? The honesty of Petain, of the Vichy government? The potential for corruption and collaboration? Political and humane dilemmas? The speeches offered, the Minister of the Interior, the judiciary? How easy to all were the issues at the time? Now?

6. The importance of the Soviet -Nazi rift? French fear of Communists? Sabotage? The Communists embodying the Left, the Vichy government the Right and the inevitable clash? The visualizing of this?

7. Resistance, war reprisals and the issues of justice and humanity? The visualizing of the attacks on the Germans? Reprisals for the French?

8. Response to the establishment of the Section and its charter? The people involved and their credibility? Qualifications, attitudes? The arguments for the establishing of the Section, the reasons for refusal for involvement? The legalism involved, the political implications? The episodes in the film an examples of what happened? The irony that the Section remained in power throughout the tenure of government?

9. How sympathetic the director to the defendants? Biased in their favour? The importance of visualizing them in the court, in prison? Ordinary people, resistance, communists, journalists? How were they found? Disgust at the lottery for victims? The handling of the flashback sequences and their appropriate placing within the trial? The glimpses of the past - were they adequate to sketch in the characters? To explain what they were doing in court? The mixing of the guilty and the innocent? The importance of the presence of Sampaix? What did he represent? The focus of attention on him?

10. Much of the film was devoted to speeches and to argumentation. The dramatic impact? The placing of these speeches and their cogency? The effect on the French, within the court? Audience response to them?

11. The contrast of the various attitudes of the men, in prison, in the court?

12. The significance of the abandonment of the trial, the executions? The importance of the aftermath and events being more important in their consequences?

13. The importance of the fact that this government and Section wore established in a world at war, where people were taking sides, where ideologies were battling? Where justice and injustice was not clear? Where ambition in present, stupidity, corruption? Moral scruples?

14. The film's comment on the machinery of government, of the fascist power of the State, the place of individuals? The significance of the final comment? Did the film try to alter audience attitudes? Ask questions? How successful was it in the raising of social consciousness?

SOUR GRAPES

US, 1998, 92 minutes, Colour.
Steven Weber, Craig Bierko, Viola Harris, Karen Sillas, Robyn Peterman.
Directed by Larry David.

Sour Grapes is a surprisingly watchable comedy. Its premise is that two cousins have been great friends, go to Atlantic City with their partners and one of them wins the jackpot. However, he had used coins given to him by his cousin. This sets up a tension between them with dire consequences. When one decides to play a very serious prank on the other, all kinds of dire things happen.

Steven Weber is very good as the rather uptight surgeon. Craig Bierko is particularly good as his loudmouthed exuberant cousin. Bierko wins the jackpot. Weber starts the deadly pranks.

The film shows the relationships of the two men with their girlfriends and their being alienated by the feud. Viola Harris is the doctor’s secretary.

As the film develops, it is quite amusing even in its presentation of rather black comic themes. There is also an irony with a vagrant man becoming involved, trying to frighten Bierko’s mother to death because he fears she couldn’t survive without him after his cousin tells him his illness is terminal. The vagrant invites all his friends into the mother’s house and they create mayhem – which actually does kill her. The money situation is resolved rather quickly – with both losing out.

Director Larry David was the co-creator of Seinfeld and wrote for the Gary Shandling Show.

1.Impact as a comedy? Situations, characters, the dialogue and the wit, the plot twists?

2.New York City, the workplaces, Atlantic City, the casinos?

3.The title, the credits image? Evan Maxwell and his sour grapes?

4.The prologue, the death, the affectionate mother, the boys growing up, cousins? Evan, his surgery, his patients, his assistant? Richie and his work? His life, his apartment, his possessive mother?

5.Evan at work, the assistant and her work, the patient who had a crush on her, turning him down? Evan’s relationship with Joan? Visiting his ex-wife and her husband, his love for his daughter?

6.Richie, visiting his mother, her character, dialogue, Jewish mother? Roberta and his relationship?

7.Going to the casino, playing, Evan lending Richie the quarters, Richie hitting the jackpot, the celebration? Richie and his largesse, the gift of the thousand dollars? Going in the limousine? Evan’s reaction, Roberta’s reaction, the limo driver’s reaction, his hitching a ride, his mother supporting him?

8.Evan, in the hotel room with Joan, going to visit Richie, the sour grapes, his being insulted by the thousand dollars, his mood swings?

9.Each of them talking to their friends and relations? The mother, Roberta? Roberta moving out? Evan’s assistant and her supporting him? Evan at the bars, telling people the story?

10.The effect, Evan becoming stubborn, his decision about Richie, the x‑rays? Richie told he was to die? His concern about his mother, not being able to live without him? Evan’s gift of the tracksuit, his giving it to the vagrant, Evan’s anger? Giving the key to the vagrant, his trying to frighten Richie’s mother, running away from the house, the witnesses and the police interrogation, their pursuit of Richie? Evan telling him it was a joke? Richie telling Evan about his mother in hospital? Evan and the operation, his putting the x-rays in backwards, the failure?

11.Richie’s mother in hospital, his visits, her need for an operation, his plea to Evan, Evan charging him half the money? Her going home, finding the vagrants and dropping dead?

12.The funeral, Richie’s grief, Evan’s delayed presence? Seeing the vagrant in the car? The landlord and his evicting Richie?

13.Danny, his friendship with Joan, the television show, talking with her, the discussion with Evan, his need for an operation, the operation itself, the aftermath, his voice, the TV episodes, his being fired, bringing the gun and threatening Evan, the gun being empty? Evan throwing the suitcase, its going over the balcony, landing in the vagrant’s lap? His buying the car and the house?

14.Evan and the bill for the operation, the fight with Danny, losing the case, Richie having to pay the bills for the damage to the house, no money?

15.The landlord, the vagrants, the mess, the bill? The poetic justice at the end? The moral of the story?

COUNT THE HOURS

US, 1953, 75 minutes, Black and white.
Teresa Wright, Macdonald Carey, Dolores Moran, Adele Mara, John Craven, Jack Elam.
Directed by Don Siegel.

In the late 1940s and to the mid-1950s, later celebrated director, Don Siegel, directed a number of routine and genre films. This is one. However, in 1956 he directed Invasion of the Body Snatchers and moved up in status. This continued during the late 1960s and into the early 1970s with such films as Madigan, Coogan’s Bluff, The Beguiled, Dirty Harry. He made a number of films with Clint Eastwood.

This material is what would now be the episode of a television series. However, it was a program filler film and had a strong cast. It is stylishly photographed by John Alton.

An innocent man confesses to a murder to save harassment from his wife. He is only moments away from execution when the murder mystery is solved. Teresa Wright is the wife, John Craven the husband. Macdonald Carey gives a solid performance as the lawyer who defends him. Dolores Moran is his fiancée, Adele Mara is the slatternly girlfriend of the insane murderer, Jack Elam.

1.A B-budget film of the 1950s? The cast? The early work of Don Siegel?

2.The location, the town, the black and white photography? Atmospheric? The courtroom scenes? The musical score – and the theremin music for the killer?

3.The title, the reference to capital punishment, the execution? The stay of execution just in time?

4.The initial robbery and murder, the killer out of frame? The angles, creating an atmosphere? The deaths, the housekeeper and her running to the lawn? The arrival of the nephew? George and his not seeing the body on the lawn? Going into the house, the discovery of the robbery and murder? Suspicion immediately on George?

5.George, his background, itinerant worker? His relationship with his wife? Her pregnancy? His being an easy target? Lying about the gun, the decision to tell the truth, Ellen concealing the gun and holding it, throwing it in the lake? The consequences?

6.George, the interrogations? The harassing of Ellen? His deciding to confess to save her? The reporters, the newspapers? The district attorney? His asking Doug Madison to take the case?

7.Doug Madison, his reputation, his doing a favour for the attorney? Visiting George, the discussions, laying down his principles? Going to see Ellen, persuaded that she was telling the truth? Finding her searching for the gun in the lake? His conduct of the case, the overwhelming evidence, the nephew and his grandstanding and laughing on the stand? The reaction of the judge?

8.His paying the expert to find the gun, his failure? Driving in and out of town, spreading scandal about Ellen? His attack on Ellen and Doug rescuing her? His idea for the competition, the kids finding the gun, the ballistics, the rusting and inability to help with the prosecution? The close-up of the hat and the suggestion that Max Verne was there?

9.Time passing, the appeals? The doctor and his kindliness, taking Ellen on as housekeeper? The nephew wanting her out of the house? The brick through the store window and urging her to get out of town?

10.Doug, his relationship with Paula, her wealth? Her antipathy towards the case, sympathy towards Ellen? Doug and his commitment, her standing back, breaking the engagement?

11.Gracie, Verne’s girlfriend, Doug’s visiting her? His persuasiveness, her telling the story about Verne, the money, the dresses, the earrings? His later return, desperately trying to persuade her to say where Verne was? Her character, callous, not caring about George?

12.Verne, his confession, the arrest? In court, the psychiatrist’s testimony? His madness? His being freed, the confrontation with Gracie? The bartender, his comments about the time of Verne’s boasting about the deaths, the pursuit of Verne, his attack on Gracie, his arrest? The apology of the district attorney?

13.George, the time passing, Ellen’s visits, her dependence on Doug? The seeming failure, the approach of the execution? The news, the happy reunion?

14.A satisfactory small-budget crime thriller, made with visual style?

EDEN LAKE

UK, 2008, 91 minutes, Colour.
Kelly Riley, Michael Fassbender, Jack O’ Connell, Thomas Turgoose.
Directed by James Watkins.

Eden Lake sounds very placid and, indeed, the lake is. It is just that the violent episodes at the lake are far from placid.
While this terror film (no supernatural suggestions for the terror, just plain brutality from young thugs) takes its audience into familiar territory: a young couple on a quiet weekend away being hounded for their lives, this is film is a cut (actually a lot of cuts) above many similar films. This is due to the performances of Kelly Reilly, who has to bear the brunt of most of the drama, and Michael Fassbender. While there is some gore which sensitive audiences may well find too much, there is an underlying theme of the ugliness of so much of British violence today.
In the context of the UK and its concern about knife crime and the seemingly indiscriminate killings in the streets, the film seems quite relevant. It does not analyse. It just tells its story and shows a group of six teenagers with insolent attitudes, taunting the couple, becoming angry, the leader letting loose and putting fierce peer pressure on the rest of the group to indulge his growing vindictive taste for violence. Particularly repellent is the young woman who films everything on her mobile phone.

At the end we see the parents who seem to be oblivious of the behaviour of their children - and actually reinforce their children’s antisocial actions by their own attitudes and behaviour.

A terror film so well done that it is quite disturbing and, ultimately, horrifying.

1.The impact of this kind of terror film? Social concern? The background of thuggery in the United Kingdom?

2.The title, images of the lake and the woods, placid? The ironies of the plot?

3.The city locations, the school and the streets, the motorways, the village, the pub and homes, the contrast with the lake, the woods, the paths, the plant and the fences, the pylons? Authentic? The score and the moods?

4.The effect of terror on the audience, identifying with the victims, their innocence, being taunted, irritated, angry, stupid actions? Becoming vindictive? Identifying with the thugs, their attitudes, the taunts, violence, amoral stances and perspective, immoral behaviour, events beyond being able to be taken back?

5.Stephen and Jenny, the young couple, her work as a teacher, his wealth, the car, driving, the countryside, chatting, his buying the engagement ring? The stops, the night? At the pub, the future? The crowds, the rabble style? The noise? Stephen and his irritation?

6.The chain of events, the louts, the cars, the music, the noise, verbal abuse? Stephen and his going into the house, the father coming home, his getting out the window, the father complaining about Jenny’s parking? His attitude towards his son? Giving the background to the families? The mother at the diner and her comment on the children?

7.The idyllic lake, Jenny and Michael in nature, relaxing, enjoying it? The kids coming to the beach, the reactions, the loud music, the noise, the confrontations? The background of seeing the timid Indian boy in the woods? Stephen and his growing anger, Jenny trying to be calm? Preparing for the night?

8.The portrait of the group, Brett as leader, the girl and her mobile phone, the range of ages, the attitudes, noise, taunts and insults? The confrontations? The violent action? The stealing of the bag, the car keys, the car? Careering in the car?

9.Stephen and his lessening of control? His behaviour, the car, the chase? The confrontations and the crash? His being taken, tied up? Tortured and cut? Brett urging the others to cut him? Their initial reluctance? The peer pressure and their fears? Stephen’s death?

10.Jenny, trying to get to the police, becoming lost, her search, passing the night, the phone and her trying to get the police? Her watching Stephen’s death?

11.Stephen, the ring, the cuts, the death? Jenny’s reaction?

12.Her running, hiding, following the pylons, her foot injury, hiding in the hut, underwater, in the mud? Her ordeal?

13.The Indian boy, his helping Jenny, leading her to the gang, her being tied up, the fire, the Indian boy dying? The horror of a young boy dying like this?

14.Jenny getting to the town, going to the house, asking for help?

15.The group, Brett as leader, his type, the pressure, the others, the young, their being forced, the deaths? The girl and the mobile phone, her being run over?

16.The end, in the house, Brett’s return, the father and his attitude, trapping Jenny? Wanting to cover everything up? Brett and his going upstairs, the final focus on his face? The fatalism of the plot and the ending?

TROPIC THUNDER

US, 2008, 107 minutes, Colour.
Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr, Tom Cruise, Matthew Mc Conaughey, Nick Nolte, Steve Coogan, Brandon T. Jackson, Jay Baruchel, Bill Hader. Cameos: Tobey Maguire, Jon Voight, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Alicia Silverstone.
Directed by Ben Stiller.

I was very taken by a colleague's way of dealing with the fact that so many broad American comedies these years are both funny as well as often exceedingly crass. He wrote that Tropic Thunder was appallingly funny. That is right.

This is a Ben Stiller film. He knows comedy and he knows how to be provocative through comedy. However, one of the difficulties with this film is that its production values seem to be far too big and expensive for the kind of film it is. With a top cast including Robert Downey Jr, Nick Nolte, Jack Black, Steve Coogan, Matthew McConnaughey? and Stiller himself and with an extraordinary performance by a fat and balding Tom Cruise as a monstrous Hollywood producer, it seems that the film should be funnier and better than it is (and more modest).

There is a great deal of satire at the expense of Hollywood and its megalomania and the tantrums of stars which put production over-budget and overtime as well as the lengths some actors will go for performance.

The film opens with three funny trailers featuring the central characters: Scorcher VI, an action hero environmental epic with Stiller; a highly flatulent comedy with Jack Black aping Eddie Murphy and his disguises in The Nutty Professor films; the third is a medieval drama with two monks (Downey and Toby Maguire) infatuated with each other, Satan's Alley. Then there is the film that is being made, a war mission and rescue adventure with apologies to Apocalypse Now.

Stiller wants to be a star but is on the wane having appeared in a film, Simple Jack, where he is mentally impaired. These episodes and scenes from the film (with Stiller's wife, Christine Taylor) raised the hackles of US organisations who felt that the film demeaned the mentally impaired. They have a point – maybe more. The defence argument is that what is being satirised is the Hollywood portrayal (and Oscar wins) of autistic characters like Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man and Forest Gump.

Then there is Robert Downey Jr as an Oscar-winning Australian actor (Downey said that it was not a take-off of Russell Crowe – but it has to be!) who undergoes pigmentation change to play an African American soldier.

When the director and the effects supervisor put the actors out in the jungle and leave them to their own devices while using hidden cameras and explosives, the group is set upon by drug-dealing guerillas. Things slow down a bit. There are some jokes and funny situations but it has to build up to a rescue of Stiller who has been abducted and has been re-enacting this Simple Jack role because the film is the guerillas' only and favourite cassette.

There is the gross, the crass and the hilarious (but not as much as hoped for). Tom Cruise, channelling his settee-leaping energy into dance during the final credits, is worth watching, a high point of comic absurdity.

1.The success of the film as a comedy, spoof?

2.Big budget, big cast, stunts, effects, big score?

3.The comic style: the cast, the initial trailers, the satire on film-making, stars and their tantrums, producers, reality and acting, producers and agents and performance, crass jokes, language? The issue of the retarded?

4.The humour of the trailers, introducing the film and the mood, the characters? The spoof on the big action shows? On the Eddie Murphy-style comedies? On the dramas, religion and sexuality?

5.The reportage for TV programs, gossip programs, interviews with Tugg Speedman? The comments on Kirk Lazarus? The blunt questions to Tugg by Tyra Banks?

6.The film, the books and the information about the episode, survivors, the books written, published, the film with the book? Four Leaf and the script? His being on-set? Tough stances with the director? With Cody, the helicopter? His arms? The truth, never been in action? Captured, in the final siege, going into action with the explosion, heroism?

7.Les as the producer, Tom Cruise and his impersonation? His assistant and his toadying to the producer? Seeing him on the screen, getting the grip to punch Damien? His tantrums, the arguments, the budgets, exercising power, the agent and his appeal? His not wanting to rescue Tugg, the Oscar and his assistant and the banter, the final dance during the credits?

8.The initial action, the group, the rescue, Tugg and his trying to get tears, Kirk and his slobbering? Cutting the filming, the tantrums, issues of careers, the carry-on, the explosions and the cameras not rolling?

9.Damien and the spoof on the British? His not being able to control the stars, the explosion, Cody and the special effects? The confrontation with Les on-screen, his being punched, the discussions with Four Leaf and Four Leaf dominating him, the plan, Cody setting up the cameras in the jungle, on the helicopter, stranding the group, letting them act? His stepping on the mine and his death? The macabre scene with Tugg holding up his head?

10.The group, stranded, their arguments, the action and the drug dealers’ troops? Their trek? The special effects frightening the drug dealers? Tugg and the map, going the wrong way, going off on his own, being captured? Kirk, getting Kevin to read the map, going in the correct direction? Their interactions?

11.Tugg and his being wrong, his character, the interview, the scenes from Simple Jack? The discussions with Kirk about how to impersonate somebody with mental disability, the discussion of performances, film references? His stubbornness on the map? The fight with the panda, the panda’s head? His being captured, recognised, the young leader, his performance as Simple Jack, his being brainwashed, the adoptive son, his not wanting to leave, coming to his senses, the repetition of the opening scene, his tears, receiving the Oscar?

12.Kirk and the Australian background, accent, the imitation of Russell Crowe? The makeover to become an African American? His scene with Tobey Maguire in the trailer? His comment on what dude he was? With Tugg, the tears? The tantrums, the discussions about acting? His five Oscars? His leading the group, Kevin and the map, his impersonating the Chinese with the buffalo, his being exposed, his taking off his black makeup, the end, the heroics, presenting the Oscar?

13.Jeff Portnoy, the trailer, breaking wind, his drug-taking, the confrontation with the bat, his drugs being taken? His performance, being tied up, cold turkey? The buffalo, on the back, the impersonation, his being captured, his decision not to take the drugs? His participation in the escape?

14.The issue of African Americans, Robert Downey Jr’s impersonation, the interactions with Alpa Cino and the issues, the spoofs, Hollywood treatment of African Americans?

15.Kevin, people not knowing his name, the sensible person in the group, reading the map, exercising leadership?

16.The drug dealers, their troops, in the jungle, their love for Simple Jack, their only video, the re-enactment, the young leader and his performance? The members of the group, their being taken in by Kirk as the Chinese? The final battles?

17.The infiltration as in the book, the special effects, the escape?

18.Successful humour, spoof, reaching its targets?