And Now For Something (Absolutely Anything)

At 11.35pm on Thursday the 26th of January 2012 (A.D.), I read that Monty Python were reforming to do another film. Like millions of other Python fans, I wet myself.

For anyone who is unfamiliar with Monty Python, they are a comedy group from the’ 60s and ’70s, the majority (bar Palin and Jones who met at Oxford) hail from Cambridge University’s infamous Footlights Dramatics Club; their influences vary from Spike Milligan to Peter Cook, and they specialise in surreal humour pronounced by bizarre animatation courtesy of the legend Terry Gilliam. Their films have been banned in certain states of America, caused outrage in religious campaigners and succeeded in being so unlike any other style of comedy that they unintentionally coined the term ‘Pythonesque’, that is now in the Oxford English Dictionary, described as “Deoniting or resembling the absurdist or surrealist humour or style of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, a British Television series (1969-74)”.

What ‘Pythonesque’ describes is why I, and I’m sure many others, are so excited by the news. There was nothing like them then and there has been nothing like them since. We want them to stay the same, exactly as different to everything else as they always were – just a bit older and with one of the members, Graham Chapman, sadly now deceased (which apparently hasn’t stopped him from starring in a film of his own).

In keeping with their three previous films, Absolutely Anything is directed by Terry Jones. It’s plot revolves around a group of aliens, who grant an unwitting Englishman absolute power and watch the havoc he wreacks.

‘Alright ..’ I thought. ‘This could be good, as long as it doesn’t have any CGI’.

The film will be part live action and part CGI.

It’s different.

Though Gilliam hasn’t been mentioned in regards to the animation side of the project, Producer Chris Chesser promises “Pythonesque, Gilliamesque effects”.

“-Esque” could be the thing to watch out for here.

In Absolutely Anything the Python members will be donating their voices to slightly characterised aliens and Robin Williams has been confirmed as a dog, potentially a jack russel and also possibly a character named ‘The Frenchman’.

So far, so odd, so good.

The details as to how this all came about (after a 16 year absence) remain sketchy “I just like having friends around” Jones quips truthfully, but he also promises that “It’s turned in to a very funny film!” And when quizzed as to whether it has any subliminal messages in regards to the current British Government or the upcoming US presidential elections Jones reinforced the point “I hope not. But maybe, I just wanted to make a funny film”.

Good for you Jones, I like your style.

And so, it is here that I lay down my prejudice against CGI, I smother the whispers of doubt in my mind and I await with breath that is baited; trusting these dons of comedy to do a bloody funny job; because when have they ever done anything else?

Oh,  and that’s not really a question. It’s one of them rhetorical thingies.

This was written by Jade Fitton. You can read more of her words by visiting her handsome blog: http://thisisfitton.wordpress.com/

SOPA

If you’re unaware about SOPA, and what it means for the internet, this helpfully simple video from Fight For the Future should illuminate the situation for you.

PROTECT-IP is a bill that has been introduced in the Senate and the House and is moving quickly through Congress. It gives the government and corporations the ability to censor the net, in the name of protecting “creativity”. The law would let the government or corporations censor entire sites– they just have to convince a judge that the site is “dedicated to copyright infringement.”

Gorilla Film Magazine has this insightful little nugget of wisdom to add to the debate: Fuck SOPA.

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace

Adam Curtis’s documentaries have always been as much about fables and mythology as left-wing politics and philosophy. Curtis is a storyteller at heart, and as complex and insightful as All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace is, the most intriguing part of the series is how it’s presented as an epic narrative.

The documentary tells the story of how computers were built to liberate us from our heavily controlled drone-like lives. Weaving through recent history like the expert storyteller that he is, Curtis introduces us to influential (but ultimately misguided) characters like Ayn Rand and Bill Clinton, who each contribute to the point of the fable: that the computers that were built to free us, will ultimately distort and simplify the world around us, trapping us in a system of control ruled by meaningless numbers and statistics. The story takes us around the world, introducing us to new characters and killing them off, presenting us with short (un)controlled experiments and demonstrating how the masses can be treated as numbers, and how the individual can be perceived as a machine.

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace is the story of mankind’s self destruction, told with a visual flare, brilliant editing and an inspired soundtrack. It feels like a myth, like fiction, or else a future account of the failings of humanity, as if a baby robot had said “tell me about those silly humans again daddy”.

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace aired in May 2011, but if you missed it you can watch the series online by clicking on this link.
Adam Curtis is a documentary film maker, whose work includes The Power of Nightmares, The Century of the Self, The Mayfair Set, Pandora’s Box, The Trap and The Living Dead.

Check out more of Adam Curtis’s films on his blog: http://adamcurtisfilms.blogspot.com/

Treasure Island

There have been over fifty film and television adaptations of Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson’s coming-of-age tale of Caribbean seas, morally ambiguous pirates and buried gold.

Steven Barron and Stewart Harcourt’s latest television miniseries attempts to keep things fresh and intense by deviating from the source material. Some of the changes are very significant; character’s personalities and motivations have shifted, particularly Squire Trelawney (Rupert Penry Jones), and the plot regularly takes unexpected turns. The hope is that Sky1′s Treasure Island remains true to the spirit and themes of the book while presenting an adventure that feels original. A Treasure Island that audiences have never seen before.

The good news is they succeeded.

‘Bombastic’ is not a word that Gorilla Film Magazine uses lightly, but in this case it’s appropriate. Sky1′s Treasure Island is a blockbuster, a fast, hard adventure with a cruel sense of humour and a sharp edge. Young Jim Hawkins (Toby Regbo) is now the only character untainted with some heinous personality quirk, Trelawney is a self righteous hypocrite,  Dr. Livesey (Daniel Mays) is a blubbering coward and Captain Smollett (Philip Glenister) is a total bastard. And those are the good guys.

If you’ve been living in a cave and are unfamiliar with the Treasure Island story, all you need to know is that poor Jim Hawkins comes into possession of a treasure map and is whisked away on an adventure to a Caribbean island. On the sea voyage, half the ship’s crew turn out to be a band of mutinous pirates who want the treasure for themselves.

The most intriguing part of the story, as ever, is the relationship between the pirate captain Long John Silver and Jim Hawkins. Eddie Izzard, who we’ve already congratulated on being the best person ever, shines as the infamous one legged Silver, a morally bankrupt but inevitably likable villain. Izzard steals the show of course, his performance is remarkable, and besides, who wouldn’t want him as a surrogate father?

To be fair, the whole cast is wonderful, all the actors deliver, and even Hawkins is likable, despite being the goody two-shoes of the group. It’s testament to Toby Regbo’s performance that, despite Izzard being the bad guy, we’re still rooting for the heroes. Elijah Wood also makes an appearance as the scene stealing Ben Gunn, and Donald Sutherland has immense fun playing the nasty captain Flint.

The power of Treasure Island’s story is such that despite Disney’s best efforts, their animated space-themed adaptation is still watchable. It’s a timeless tale of trust, loyalty and honour, and the  Sky1 adaptation takes this idea to the extreme. Even when Silver’s treachery is revealed to Hawkins, he is still torn between who to follow, the pirates or the gentleman, because as far as he’s concerned they’re all as bad as each other.

Treasure Island is a fun ride, a refreshingly gritty take on the story that feels almost like a gangster movie. In places it’s a little too stylish for it’s own good, and it’s frustrating when atmosphere is replaced with jump cuts and fast forwards. However the dramatic changes from the source material keep things fresh, and Eddie Izzard’s Long John Silver is mesmerizing. He is an intense character, clearly believing every lie that tumbles out of his mouth, manipulating and conniving with faux frivolity, but retaining a kind of dignity that is endearing. Treasure Island puts Pirates of the Caribbean to shame, it bounces along with nice pacing and exciting action, but it understands that it’s the performances and the characters that make this adaptation worth seeing.

Treasure Island is currently available on Sky1. The DVD will probably be out soon.

Great Expectations & Armando’s Tale of Charles Dickens

There are many things to applaud concerning the BBC’s latest adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, directed by Brian Kirk. The key factor is the atmosphere, which is unexpected and deliciously grim and stylish. The Scene where Magwitch wades through the cold, desaturated marshes is chilling, and Ray Winstone is- initially at least- genuinely terrifying in the role.
Indeed, the performances are spectacular all round, Gillian Anderson expertly captures the brittle fragility of Miss Havisham and Harry Lloyd charms as an absurdly nice Herbert Pocket. Cleverly, the star of the show is an unknown, the impossibly beautiful Douglas Booth, so that we can more easily believe in his rise from nobody to somebody over the course of the narrative. A clever, moody, beautifully shot adaptation that tells a simple, classic story with enough edge and darkness to keep things fresh.

Even more exciting than this three part miniseries is the hour long documentary on Charles Dickens himself, written and presented by Armando Iannucci. This should come as no particular surprise to fans of Iannucci, the genius behind most of the UKs best comedy series’s, considering he’s already made a similar film about John Milton and his epic poem Paradise Lost.

In Armando’s Tale of Charles Dickens, Iannucci dismisses the comfortable perception that Dickens is high brow and hyperbolic, insisting that his work is not only intelligent, dark and cutting edge, but also as funny now as it ever was. He’s right too, Dickens exposed the corruption and ineptitude in the establishment with biting satire that still rings true today. We are also treated to detailed dissections of Dickens’ writing, which appears simple and straightforward up until the point it suddenly blossoms into something profound, like someone folding paper and then unexpectedly producing a swan. There are moments of real poignancy, not least when Iannucci discusses Dickens’ night walking, and in particular his trip to the mental institution.
“Are not the sane and the insane equal at night” writes Dickens “as the sane lie a dreaming?” This quotation best sums up Charles Dickens as a writer, it is a deeply philosophical and thought provoking concept wrapped up in such a simple analogy. On the surface it sounds kind of ridiculous. And then you think about it.

You can watch Armando’s Tale of Dickens on BBC iplayer, where you can also still catch Great Expectations.