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maagoo
Reviews
Confessions from a Holiday Camp (1977)
The situation it's filmed in is funnier than the script.
To be fair there are funny moments, namely that we watch this in the knowledge that Sid is Cherie Blair's Dad and that Askwith and Co would have frozen their parts off as it was filmed in the winter (a fact that Askwith acknowledges in the voice over).
It's like some surreal time frame now, everyone smokes fags, Askwith is unintentionally racist with "Blackbird" (their listing's not mine!) but still has time for some interracial bonding later, proving that lust conquers all. Probably quite risqué back then.
Also it's weird to watch this and realise none of the ladies are surgically enhanced! Thats quite refreshing and earn's it a an extra point.
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Not given enough credit
I recently saw this again. It still hasn't lost it's charm or power. I first saw it when I was eleven and, as you can imagine, it certainly left an impression.
There are many men currently in there late thirties who will always have a soft spot for Jenny Agutter shall we say.
There are 3 standout moments.
1.The dream sequences that David undergoes whilst in hospital. In particular The Nazi grotesques are very powerful and Landis does a marvellous thing where David see's his family butchered and his own throat cut whilst the Muppets are on TV. A weird contrast and unsettling as, as a child, for me the Muppets were very popular and a safe image. Couple that with Agutter being repeatedly stabbed by one leaping from David's hospital room window is visually shocking and totally unexpected.
2.The werewolf transformation is excellent and a credit to the special effects all done without the benefit of CGI. This brings a marvellous "organic" feel.
3. Finally the interchanges between David, Jack and the other victims is sublime. We are given some pretty gory moments throughout and this seems to maintain our sanity but lifts the film well above the simple horror format.
One last point Landis deserves some real credit for bring the bleakness and Britishness of the piece to the screen that many foreign directors struggle with.
Star Trek (2009)
Shut it Trekkies
Well well well. I see it didn't take long for the Bat'leth's to come out for this! This is Sci Fi my friends with the emphasis on fiction.
JJ Abrams has taken the franchise and giving it a total shot in the arm. Nero's appearance has changed everything only if you subscribe to the linear time flow view. Now you can have the original Trek and these bright new things and a new future.
These are early Federation ships, not the space hotels of NextGen or Voyager. You rarely saw the Engine room in the Original TV series but when you did it was portrayed as cavernous and industrial. Not an office with a big glowing tube of anti-matter as in NextGen. Check out Star Trek 1 (with Vger if you recall) for a similar view of Engineering.
This is a great film, Trekkies and non-Trekkies should embrace this film. Great performances by the entire cast, you are left in now doubt that these are the original crew members but the actors still put enough of a spin on the characters to make them "new".
Don't listen to the Trekkie whinges it's an entertaining romp and I for one am looking forward to many sequels.