Surely they jest

Apparently, fans are not keen on the idea of Simon Pegg appearing in the latest Star Trek film as the character of Scotty because of his background as a comedy actor. There's a certain irony in that because anyone who has ever heard a real Scottish person speak would say that James Doohan's accent was pure comedy.

Tackling zombies with a pair of Val's knickers

Call me picky, but when I see a glaring error in a film it rather spoils the whole thing for me, and this is the case with the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead.

I admit I'm not a fan of zombie films at the best of times, but this one was going along nicely until, for some reason, the writers decided to leave poor, old Andy trapped in the gun shop. I say decided, because that whole sequence was completely unnecessary. As any child who has ever watched Blue Peter knows, Andy could easily have been rescued by the simple implementation of a bosun's chair which could have been constructed using material found around the shopping centre.There would then have been no need for anyone to leave the building. Admittedly, this would have made the film somewhat shorter and less exciting but infinitely more realistic - if you can use that word to describe a piece in which the dead come back to life and attack the living.

I wonder if that is why very few zombie films are made in the UK. Maybe, having spent our childhoods absorbing this kind of knowledge, we would find it only too easy to tackle hordes of brain eating corpses.

Oh, and if you happen to be a zombie, or know any who are feeling a bit lonely, try Zombie Harmony, the free online dating site for the shuffling dead.

A case of creative casting methinks

Jonathan Rhys Meyer (above) appears as Henry VIII in The Tudors. However, as we all know, Henry VIII didn't look like that . . .

Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

. . . he looked like this

Anthony Worrall Thompson

Courtesy of Wikipedia

So, wouldn't the chap above have been a better choice?

And while we are on the subject of creative casting,

The handsome fellow above is Henry Cavell who plays the Duke of Suffolk

Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

This is the real Duke of Suffolk, who looks like the overweight (and sympathetically painted) brother of this chap -

Still, I suppose it wouldn't be half as much fun with realistic people LOL

Updated to add: If you find the whole idea of historical lookee-likees as fascinating as I do, head over here.

A remake of Papillon - is it a good idea?

I've been meaning to post about this for a while, still better late than never.

A Spanish production company plan to remake the 1973 film Papillon which starred Steve McQueen as a man wrongly imprisoned for murder. The original, an adaptation of the allegedly autobiographical novel by Henri Charrière, is viewed by many as a classic, mostly because of the wonderful rapport between McQueen and his co-star Dustin Hoffman.

Having read the book and seen the original film, I'm not sure if a remake is necessary. It would be good for the story to be brought to a new audience because, true or not, it is an amazing adventure. However, I'm not sure that it would be possible to find anyone who could fill the shoes of either McQueen or Hoffman. And, of course, any actor who does step up is bound to find himself being compared, possibly unfavourably. Having said that, I think if anyone could do justice to the role of Charriere it could be George Clooney, but I don't have a clue who could play Dega.

You can read more about the Papillon remake here and here. And if you have any thoughts you would like to share, why not leave a note in the comments.

As a child I was very stupid and only did things if actors told me to.

For some reason, the British Medical Council object to the depiction of Geoff Goldblum and Will Smith smoking cigars in Independence Day, yet say nothing about the scene where an elderly man (Judd Hirsch) encourages his son (Goldblum) to drive above the speed limit. Do they not realise that is probably directly responsible for the rise in joy riding?!

And what about Jeff Pullman's portrayal of the American president as a tough, macho man with not much between the ears? I think we all know where that led.

Suggestion from my playlist

The Levellers are (in my opinion) one of the most underrated of British bands. Not sure why, but possibly because they had such an overt political message that they weren't deemed appropriate for mainstream radio in the past. Despite this, they have a loyal following and are still going strong 17 years after the release of One Way (see video above).

The band currently have a new album out, Letters from the Underground. I've heard a few tracks and really liked them, particularly A Life Less Ordinary which was offered as a free download and has become a regular on my playlist. Their music has matured, but still has that certain edge and individuality that marked them out from the hoards of folk/rock bands of the early 90s.

You can find out more about Letters from the Underground and listen to some of the tracks you might have missed over at The Levellers official website.

Really scraping the bottom of the trench

When I first heard about the BBC series Bonekickers I was quite enthralled. I love history and archaeology, I love drama and mystery so, what could be better than those subjects combined? Well, a lot of things actually. Headaches, boring train journeys, a visit from those chaps who sell religion door to door to name a few examples. It truly is that bad.

I really tried to like it, but it just wasn't possible. Quite frankly I find the whole thing ridiculous. The characters are flat and two dimensional, the story lines are predictable and overtly PC. I won't even go into the horribly simplistic approach to the technical bits.

Naturally, I hope there won't be a second series. However, I'm miffed at the missed opportunity, Gnomeflickers had the potential to be an interesting and exciting drama which would have had a captive audience if the viewing figures for factual history programmes are anything to go by. Instead we got something which should have been buried under 20 feet of 'natural'.

The Tudors - Series 2

The second series of The Tudors started on BBC 2 last Friday. For the initiated, the series is a dramatisation of the lives of the Tudor ruling dynasty, focussing on Henry VIII. It has come in for some criticism for being silly and inaccurate (this is true), but it's good fun - think an intellectual soap opera -  and well worth a look if you are a fan of historical drama.

Series 2 starts with Henry being made head of the Church of England and about to marry Anne Boleyn. You can catch the first episode on BBC iPlayer for the next few days.

Just wondering . . .

. . . if James Bond is a secret agent working for the Secret Service, how come everybody knows who he is?

Watch films online

Channel 4's On Demand service gives you the chance to catch up with any favourite programmes you might have missed for 30 days after the initial broadcast. There is also a section devoted to films, including Films to See Before You Die (you can see the widget for that in the right sidebar). I'm not sure if this service works outside the UK though (maybe someone could have a try and let me know).

To use 4oD, you will need Internet Explorer* and you will also have to download a small programme, which is used to stream the material. Otherwise, it's all pretty simple and completely free. At the moment films on offer include Natural Born Killers and Once Upon a Time in America.

* I was surprised to see that, I would have thought Channel 4 would have been a bit more accomodating to users of others browsers.