March 2011 Archives

Sexy True Blood star Lara Pulver is to get her teeth into Spooks.

Lara, who plays Sookie Stackhouse's fairy godmother Claudine Crane in the bayou vampire series, will take over as the new head of the covert spy team.

She'll be replacing Sophia Myles, who played Beth Bailey, when the tenth run of the MI5 thriller from the Beeb hits screens in the Autumn.

Lara's character, we're told, will be "ambitious, hungry and determined to make her mark" - something she perfected as the treacherous Isabella in BBC1's Robin Hood.

But rest assured that good ol' Harry Pearce will still be the puppetmaster, even though secrets from his past threaten his role as MI5 chief.

And there are more exciting additions to the cast! Read on ...

Slapstick that didn't tickle!

Duck Soup is a Marx brothers film that tells the story of Rufus T Firefly who becomes president of bankrupt Freedonia, a state that declares war on their neighbours. The neighbouring state employ a couple of bumbling spies and chaos ensues.

Cover of Duck Soup

The above is the basic storyline, however this film goes off on so many tangents it's hard to keep track of it! I'm not a massive fan of slapstick humour so although I appreciated the quick wit and repartee of Groucho as the president, the physical humour I found quite tiresome.

To some Marx brothers fans I'm sure that will be almost blasphemous but I just don't see the fascination with the other 2 brothers. Groucho is funny, not side splitting but funny enough to watch him in a whole movie on his own. The others with their slapping, falling over and general clowning don't do anything for me.

There is a great scene where Groucho performs in front of a mirror which is clever and did make me laugh but apart from that I was left let down. I'm sure this is just a personal preference and if you like the slapstick of the Farrelly Brothers or other modern films then this may be for you.

IMDB Fact: The movie's line "You know, you haven't stopped talking since I came here? You must have been vaccinated with a phonograph needle." was voted as the #43 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.

This new shot of Adrianne Palicki is a little more encouraging than the god-awful promo shot from a couple of weeks ago.

It's taken from the filming of the new Wonder Woman TV pilot and shows they've tweaked the costume a bit. They're still keeping the 70s disco lycra though.

And it's great!

A new poster for Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows, Part 2, has been released showing Harry Potter and Voldemort head-to-head.

It's not hard to see where they got their inspiration though...

Image by mrrobertwade (wadey) via Flickr

The fifth series of US ad agency drama Mad Men has been delayed after stalled contract talks it has been revealed.

It will now not hit TV screens before March 2012.

In a statement, cable network AMC said the delay was "due to ongoing, key non-cast negotiations" with creator and executive producer Matt Weiner.

Cover of Oliver!

FORMER child star Mark Lester, who played Oliver in the hit movie, has paid tribute to legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor.

Oesteopath Mark, who lives in Cheltenham, Gloucester, met the Hollywood star through his close pal Michael Jackson at two of the singer's concerts.

Liz, who starred in films including Cleopatra and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, died this week from heart failure.

Speaking at the Memorabilia show at the NEC yesterday, Mark revealed: "When I met her in New York, she was such a sweet woman and incredibly softly spoken. She was very quiet but she was a great actress and it's a huge loss to the industry. It wasn't a shock that she died as she was very frail.

"Not like Michael, which took us by complete surprise. He was so young."

Lester spent the day signing autographs alongside Ron Moody, who played Fagin in Oliver.

French new wave!

The 400 Blows is a film about a creative Parisian schoolboy who struggles with his attention in class and falls into a life of petty crime. The film follows his running away from home and trying to fend for himself on the tough streets of Paris.

This gritty French film shows an alternative side to the 'movie' Paris we always see. Shot in black and white we really get to see what the struggles of Parisian families as apposed to the usual, Eifel Tower/café culture capital we are so used to.

Cover via Amazon

The main character Antoine Doinel's story will be well known to the ASBO generation of today, although Antoine's tale is beautifully told through the director's vision. The bleak streets of Paris, the bad relationship between the child and his parents and the friendship of a partner in crime. But it's the connection the boy makes with the audience, you actually are willing him to do well in the end, that makes this film.

A really good watch and if you like foreign films and have missed this one then I'd definitely recommend it. It's a classic French movie but I'm sure it will resonate with movie watchers the world over.

IMDB Fact: The title of the film comes from the French idiom "faire les quatre cents coups", meaning "to raise hell".

Monkeying around in space!

Planet of the Apes is the story of a group of astronauts led by Taylor (Charlton Heston) sent out from Earth to find a new planet. The spaceship they travel in allows them to sleep while time races by 2,000 years into the future. They crash-land on a planet that they find is inhabited by super apes that run the planet while the humans are treated as animals.

The title of this one really sums up the story, there are no shocks there, but this sci-fi movie isn't your standard 1970s B movie standard. The story alone is great and the sets; stone built caves apparently influenced by architect Gaudi's work, really give this film a quality.

This movie could quite easily fall into the trap of being a real trashy TV movie but I think it's in the make-up that it becomes credible. Apparently a huge amount of the budget was spent on the ape outfits and it was money well spent. The creatures are so life-like I'm sure even today's make up artists would struggle to achieve what they did.

The upside down world of the planet poses a few theological questions too without it getting in the way of the action. Another family movie that thoroughly entertains and if you've watched the recent remake I'd definitely recommend visiting the original!

IMDB Fact: During breaks in filming, actors made up as different ape species tended to hang out together, gorillas with gorillas, orang-utans with orang-utans, chimps with chimps. It wasn't required, it just naturally happened.

The (former) boy wizard is a singin'/dancin' fool in his US musical debut, How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Though his singing was best described as "serviceable" the critics thought that audiences would be won over by the fact he is "so darn adorable".

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