July 2011 Archives

Review by Roz Laws

THE first appearance of Chris Evans in this movie is more reminiscent of the pale, ginger British DJ than his namesake, the handsome Hollywood star.

The wonder of clever CGI means Chris's face is superimposed on the body of a weedy and sickly man, Steve Rogers.

It's 1943 and he is desperate to enlist in the US Army to fight Hitler.

His asthma alone means he's continually turned down, until he meets scientist Dr Erskine who's willing to give 'the little guy' a chance.

He enrols him in a new programme, run by Colonel Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) to build "a new breed of super soldier to personally escort Adolf Hitler to the gates of hell".

Rogers may be a seven stone weakling, but he is bright, resourceful and gutsy.

So he's chosen to be injected with Erskine's serum which gives him super strength, a beefed up body and about a foot in height.

They brand him as Captain America, 'the star spangled man with a plan', and send him off on a promotional tour with dancing girls to raise funds for the war effort.

But all he wants to do is fight, so he heads off on a daring mission.

That's what convinces Phillips he could be put to better use, especially with Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) gaining power and turning into a very ugly-looking Red Skull.

He's a Nazi in charge of a 'deep science' division called Hydra, who plans to break away from Hitler and take over the world.

With the help of scientist Toby Jones, he's harnessed the energy supplied by a mysterious stolen artefact. But heroic Captain America has right and might on his side, as well as a nifty shield and a hand-picked squad of men sporting comedy moustaches.

Plus he's helped by Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), a sharp-shooting, hard-punching agent who manages to fight without smudging her red lipstick.

Despite its name, Captain America owes much of its success to Britain.

It was partly filmed here, in Shepperton Studios and on location in Manchester, Liverpool, Wales and Scotland. And many of the cast are British, like double-crossing Richard Armitage, kissable Natalie Dormer and Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark, father of Iron Man Tony.

Perhaps it's a little too long and didn't totally grip me all the way through, but it's definitely worth a look. It combines good action, cool gadgets and smart dialogue. There are some amusing lines, mainly delivered in his trademark, drily witty style by Tommy Lee Jones.

It ends a little abruptly, but then this is just the start of Captain America's screen adventures.

If you wait through all the credits - although it's hardly worth it - you'll see a sneak peek of his return next May, along with his Marvel colleagues Iron Man, Thor and the Hulk, in The Avengers.

In the meantime, just enjoy Evans's moment in the spotlight because this captain really is rather fantastic.

Image via Wikipedia

WE'RE loving sci-fi show Falling Skies here at Anorak Central.

The Spielberg post-invasion thriller on FX is heating up nicely as former ER medic Noah Wyle and his refugee rabble take the war to the alien enemy.

We're four episodes in, and this week at last sees a real chance of rescuing the children from their enslavement.

But Anorak City can reveal that there's a real game-changer coming up.

Episode 8, entitled What Lies Beneath, exposes a sickening secret and introduces a whole new aspect to the plot.

It comes as the dissection of a dead Skitter reveals the real link between the aliens and the captured kids ...

COP show Starsky & Hutch had a third wheel (and fourth, fifth and six come to that). Not Huggy Bear, the hip informant who was always ready with a tip off but never seemed to fear retribution from his shady sources.

No, it was the car. The iconic Gran Torino that was disdainfully dubbed the striped tomato by Paul Michael Glaser, who played its owner Dave Starsky but in reality had no love for the car, claiming he told his co-star David Soul he was going to do everything in his power to destroy it.

The nickname was incorporated into the series in a scornful comment by Ken 'Hutch' Hutchinson.

Not the stealthiest of vehicles, they often relied on Hutch's nondescript and much abused tan Ford Galaxie for undercover work. When Soul first took delivery of his car he decided it didn't look sufficiently beat up so he and Glaser started pounding it with a sledgehammer and a crowbar.

The series ran for four years from '75 to '79. It was set in the fictional Bay City in California though neither cop was from the state. Starsky was a streetwise army veteran from Brooklyn while Hutch hailed from Minnesota.

It started out as a movie of the week with Richard Ward as Captain Dobey, before Bernie Hamilton made it his own. Producer Aaron Spelling had actually recruited Soul after seeing him playing another cop, and vigilante killer, in the Clint Eastwood film Magnum Force.

The selling point of the series was the close relationship between the pair. Both essentially single, they were each other's emotional support as well as professional partners. It was bromance with a badge.

At the time their closeness was criticised as appearing gay. In what could be viewed as a defiant response, the writers often 'had the tecs donning fey disguises to go undercover.

The cardigan-wearing Starsky (a style so popular knitting patterns were produced at the time showing people how to make it) was the more fun-loving and child-like while Hutch was the more intellectual of the two. Hutch also favoured a leather jacket, with shoulder-wide lapels, which might have had an influence on the wardrobe choice John Simm's Sam Tyler in the '70s flashback fantasy Life on Mars.

The first two series were surprisingly gritty, to the extent that Glaser reportedly asked for the violence to be toned down by the third.

The scriptwriters were not above making the characters suffer, as they got shot (Starsky), poisoned (Starsky and Hutch), pinned under a car and left for dead (Hutch). Both had girlfriends (Starsky) and an estranged wife (Hutch) killed.

In one episode, The Fix, Hutch gets forcibly hooked on heroin by one criminal. This was deemed so controversial by the BBC that they actually left it out of the series run. It was eventually broadcast by Channel Four in 1999 as part of a Starsky & Hutch night.

Starsky & Hutch was praised for being one of the first primetime shows to show black characters in a positive light.

Even though Huggy (Antonia Fargas) operated on the fringes of the law, he was regarded as honest and trustworthy by the detectives. Captain Dobey held a position of authority as their immediate boss.

The show ended after four series. Paul Michael Glaser, who actually directed the last episode in which he is the victim of a hitman, although he survives, had wanted to quit for some time.

He pursued acting and directing. He also devoted himself to raising awareness about AIDS after his first wife, Elizabeth, and daughter, Airel, died when Elizabeth contracted HIV from a blood transfusion then passed it on through breast-feeding.

Soul, who had gained notoriety as a masked singer in the 60s, returned to music, scoring no 1 hits with Don't Give Up On Us and Silver Lady. Still acting, he is now a British citizen.

Both of them gamely overcame their reservations about having their work mocked by Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson in the 2004 film Starsky & Hutch by accepting cameo roles.

Image by spillingvelvet via Flickr

IT'S official. Doctor Who will not try to save Adolf Hitler's life when the series returns this summer.

A teaser clip has sparked outrage because of a scene in which the Nazi tyrant thanks the Doctor for saving his life.

But all is not as it seems, according to series producer Steven Moffat.

The episode in question, titled Let's Kill Hitler, finds the Doctor going head to head with the dictator in the heart of World War 2 Germany.

"We can unequivocally say we're against Hitler," says Moffat. "The worst thing you can do to that awful man is take the mickey out of him on Doctor Who. Don't worry, we're not going to save Hitler."

Moffat adds that he's in favour of continuing to stretch the boundaries of the show and surprise the audience. "The only way you can keep the show alive is to make changes," he explains.

Footage of the dumped pilot of the reimagining of Wonder Woman has finally found its way onto the net.

And... it's no way near as bad as it could have been. It's not good... but there are some positives.

Despite some unflattering early shots, Adrianne Palicki makes for a good heroine and the action scenes have some imagination.

You can find the whole thing - complete with an evil Liz Hurly - on YouTube if you search for it...

Andy by the way, did you know that a little while ago the makers of Smallville made a pilot of Aquaman?

Fans of the Superman show are sure to recognise the main lead.

Cast: Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Melanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic

PLOT: Based on true events surrounding the father of writer/director Mike Mills, Hal (Plummer) declares, at the age of 75 and six months after the death of his wife, that he is gay. He says he has always known it, throughout 44 years of marriage, but only now can he be honest about his sexuality. Now he fully embraces the gay scene and finds himself a younger lover in Andy (ER star Visnjic).

As if this wasn't enough for his son Oliver (McGregor) to get his head around, Hal then discovers he is dying of cancer. The film actually starts with Oliver clearing out Hal's house after his death and flits backwards and forwards in time in a rather distracting way.

Oliver's grief is alleviated when he meets gorgeous French actress Anna (Laurent), but he has a history of walking away from relationships. Can he be influenced by his father's enduring quest for love?

GOOD POINTS: Performances, especially from 81-year-old Plummer and a fantastic Jack Russell dog, are good.

BAD POINTS: It's a frustrating watch because it could have been so much better. A series of slow and mostly inconsequential scenes don't hang together well or make us as emotionally involved as we could be. And it's never good when the actors are upstaged by a dog, who I missed when he wasn't on screen and whose fate I cared more about than the people involved.

SHOULD I SEE IT? Yes, if you're a fan of quirky dramas, any of the cast and Jack Russells. But don't expect it to be a wholly satisfying experience.

Cast: Jason Bateman, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis

PLOT: Bateman, Day and Sudeikis play three friends who each have a boss from hell. Spacey is a really mean 'antichrist', Aniston is a potty-mouthed nymphomaniac who sexually assaults her patients and her assistant, and an almost unrecognisable Farrell is a cocaine-addicted sleazebag who wants to fire 'the fatty and the cripple'.

Sounding off over a drink about how they'd like to kill their bosses somehow moves from the hypothetical to reality. Before they know it, they're tracking down shady Jamie Foxx in a bar who agrees to be their 'murder consultant'.

He suggests they adopt the Hitchcock Strangers on a Train approach of doing away with each others' victims. But they are so cack-handed and hopeless that a series of farces follow.

GOOD POINTS: It's a decent cast and an OK premise - most of us can relate to bad managers - but it doesn't build on these plus points. I quite liked a weird cameo from Ioan Gruffudd, while Jennifer Aniston nearly naked under a white coat and talking dirty might be some people's fantasy.

BAD POINTS: Yes, it's filthy, but it's also painfully unfunny. Films like The Hangover and Bridesmaids have done big business at the box office so now everyone is jumping on the rude bandwagon. But they had witty lines and likeable characters and understood that a script needs more than the constant repetition of different names for genitals. The supposed good guys in Horrible Bosses are such idiots that I wanted to kill them as well as the villains by the end of the film.

So much of it is completely unrealistic, from Spacey being trigger happy and Sudeikis supposedly being some kind of chick-magnet to Aniston knocking all her patients out - haven't they heard of local anaesthetic?

SHOULD I SEE IT? No. It really is that horrible.

BY ROZ LAWS

HUGELY successful animation studios Pixar make one major error at the start of this sequel.

They show us a short film starring the Toy Story characters trying to give Ken and Barbie a romantic Hawaiian holiday, while still in Bonnie's bedroom.

It's a brilliant little film, during which I laughed more times than throughout the whole of Cars 2.

Seeing these wonderful characters again made the contrast with the much more bland and underdeveloped ones from Cars all the greater.

I actually enjoyed Cars 2 slightly more than the original, and fans of the first film won't be disappointed.

It's just not the best movie that Pixar - celebrating its 25th anniversary - and director John Lasseter can produce.

One advantage of Cars 2 is that it has a meatier storyline and opens up the action away from sleepy Radiator Springs, taking us to the bright lights and picturesque locations of Tokyo, Paris, the Italian Riviera and London.

That's because red sportscar Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) signs up to take part in the first-ever World Grand Prix, organised by entrepreneur Sir Miles Axlerod (Eddie Izzard) to promote his new alternative fuel.

Meanwhile, a group of Mafia-like villains, controlled by a mysterious Mr Big, hatch a plot to discredit the new fuel.

On their tail is British agent Finn McMissile (a Bond-style Aston Martin voiced by Michael Caine) and his sidekick Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer).

McMissile is packed with gadgets and brings some exciting pace to the film.

But the Brits mistake rusting tow truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) for an American spy and he is inadvertently mixed up in all the chases and explosions.

The voice cast includes John Turturro as Italian racecar Francesco and Vanessa Redgrave as the Queen (who's a car, of course).

Jason Isaacs is supposed to be there too, but I didn't hear him, or Lewis Hamilton as one of the racing cars.

As always, a world populated entirely by motors and living machines is superbly realised.

The 3D animation is pretty good, though I reckon kids will be just as happy with the 2D version.

It's good to have such a strong English involvement in the movie, even down to a little homage to British Leyland.

But the story's morals - about the importance of friendship and being yourself - are laid on a bit thick.

And the two main problems from the first film remain.

At 112 minutes, it's a minute longer than Cars and 20 minutes too long, so little ones may start to fidget.

And, while there are a few chuckles, I didn't properly laugh out loud once.

The script is fairly entertaining but not clever or witty enough.

Still, that won't put off the diehard Cars fans who will be revving up to speed down to their local cinema for this release.

WIN family tickets to see Cars 2 at Birmingham's Cineworld Broad Street!

We have two family tickets up for grabs, each valid for two adults and two children or one adult and three children.

They're valid for any showing, subject to availability, to make it a real school summer holiday treat!

For news and showtimes, or to book tickets, call 0871 200 2000 or visit website www.cineworld.co.uk

Here's how YOU could be a Cars 2 winner with the Sunday Mercury and Cineworld Broad Street!

Simply tell us the name of the makers of Cars 2. It it (a) Pixel, (b) Pixar or (c) Pixie?

* By PHONE: Call 0901 154 2628 and follow the instructions.

* By TEXT: Text SM2 followed by a space and your answer, your name, address and postcode to 84080.

* By E-MAIL: E-mail your entry to smentry@mrn.co.uk using the word CARS2 as your subject line. Please include your address and a daytime phone number.

Sunday Mercury and Trinity Mirror group companies may contact you by e-mail, phone or letter with details of goods and services you may be interested in. You will not be charged for these messages.

The competition opens at 6am today and closes at noon on Thursday July 21, 2011. Open to UK residents aged 18/over only.

BT landline calls cost 51p each. Calls from other networks may be higher. Texts cost 50p each plus standard network rate. Please ask billpayer's permission before entering. E-mail entries are free but only one entry per e-mail address allowed.

Standard Trinity Mirror rules apply - see www.trinitymirror-midlands.co.uk/rules. Service Provider: Telecom Express Ltd, Tel: 0870 487 4870.