Picturenose

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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Wholly terrifying

In terms of that cold heart-thump, the scare that’s so sought after by strange people such as myself but so rarely found, David Fincher’s Se7en (1995) is probably as good as it got during the past decade or so, at least in the US, while Fabrice du Welz’s Belgian horror show, Calvaire (2004) kept up the European end.

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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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Don’t pass this Buck
I have to put up my hand and make a confession. You’re not going to get a concise, objective review of this film because I absolutely love it. If you don’t want to read about how much fun it is, go and read one of our other reviews instead - they’re all good stuff but none is as biased as this is going to be.

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A policeman’s lot is quite a gruesome one
Another slab of in-your-face comic genius from Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and many of the usual suspects from Spaced.

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Copper-bottomed comedy
Messrs Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright are fast becoming the benchmark for what it means to be funny – comic actor and writer Pegg first paired up with writer/director Wright for the sensational Spaced sit-com, and they have subsequently worked together on the marvellous ‘not with a bang but a belly-laugh’ zombie pastiche, Shaun of the Dead (2004).

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