Picturenose

That’ll learn ‘em…

It would be a mistake to attempt to categorize Ole Bornedal’s Vikaren as ‘horror’. It’s certainly a fantasy film, and a very good one at that. I would venture that it is probably the first real family horror film. The kids have a handle on what’s going down from very early on, and the adults – none-too surprisingly - don’t believe them…

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Prepare to meet your maker…

Reality’s not what it used to be - ‘meta’ reality, namely the displacement of characters/director/author/viewers in cinematic narrative, has been done before - John Carpenter’s In The Mouth Of Madness (1995) played the game for scares, with its central character slowly realizing that he is the doomed hero in a Lovecraftian nightmare that is being written by someone else, and then there was Philippe de Broca’s Le Magnifique (1973) starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jacqueline Bisset, which played the concept squarely (and succesfully) for laughs.

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Fools gold

Another one that I’ve been meaning to immortalize on Picturenose for some time - no word of a lie, this is among the funniest films ever made and its hilarity is in large part due to the fact that it is in French, rather than in spite of it. Not interested? Allow me to convince you otherwise…

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Shoe sighs

This was a big hit in the US, apparently: nice to know that appreciation of contrived and lifeless ‘dramedy’ is alive and well.

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A comedy with balls

It would be fair to say that if you are not a fan of slapstick and/or crude gags, then Dodgeball is not for you. There is, however, a certain something that sets it apart from the usual summer ‘comedy’ dross that’s punted out while Hollywood is busy making good films for Winter. That ’something’ is that it’s genuinely funny. Not only are the gags a bit more snappy than you might expect, but the cast seem to be having a lot of fun making it.

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Picturenose would take this opportunity to pay tribute to Hélène Noël, late of Brussels - a good friend of Colin’s and the love of James’s life, who was taken from us way too soon, at the age of 42, on 16 June 2008. Hélène was a woman of much love and many gifts and talents, not least of which was her ability to light up a room with her smile. A frequent contributor to key Brussels mags, she also loved film (and Ireland), as the following review, previously published on UP Front Brussels, shows. Thank you for your attention.

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Store men
In an effort to be absolutely bang up-to-date here on Picturenose, I thought it would be a good idea to review a movie I managed to miss for a good 14 years. I don’t think it necessarily matters, though. You could see it for the first time tomorrow and it would be certain to entertain you in some way. While certain topics are hardly current (the quite delicious discussion of The Return of the Jedi (1983) for example), the dialogue really is the selling point for this ultra-low budget affair, which cost only around $54,000 to produce.

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So long, Doctor Jones…

You’re all expecting a rave, aren’t you? Shades of ‘your reviewer arrived flushed and breathless, gentle reader, after thrilling once more to the exploits of Indiana Jones in the latest action-packed installment, and couldn’t wait to share his joy with world’. Sorry, but think again, and prepare yourself for a rude awakening. The magic is over, and all we’re left with, in chapter four, is an historical artefact of bygone glories.

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The same procedure…?

I was chatting with a German friend over lunch, and the subject of the Germans’ love of English comedy came up. This in turn led to a discussion of the phenomenon that is Dinner for One. It’s essentially a recording of an 18-minute music hall sketch, performed in English by an English actor and actress. Never heard of it? If you’re a Brit, I’m not surprised - to the best of my knowledge it has never been shown on UK television. The odd thing about it is that it is amazingly popular in countries such as Germany, Denmark, Austria and Sweden. It is always shown in the original English, and rarely (if ever) dubbed or subtitled. Every New Year’s Eve in these countries and others, the sketch is broadcast - often several times over the evening so everyone gets a chance to see it. It is as much a part of the German New Year as vomiting in a shop doorway is to the English.

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The best of British
This is getting silly. Revisiting this film on St George’s Day was a curious inversion of time and space. Wait a minute here…the English/British aren’t supposed to be that good at anything any more, declinism fuelled by lack in the NHS and public services, the Millennium Dome, the scandalous Olympic overspend. It is thus perhaps perverse (or maybe salutary) to stand up and shout for two plasticine models as the vessels of greatness, but Wallace & Gromit refuse to be anything but standfasts for standards in 21st-century UK.

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