Films of the week (w/c28/11/09)

Well it's been a while since I reviewed any films or indeed anything. I will be watching Highlander 2:Renegade Cut in the next few days. To all those who remember the abomination that was Highlander 2 at the cinema it is supposed to be the film we should have seen. I am currently watching Series 2 of the Highlander TV series.

I have recently finished reading Stuart Maconie's Cider With Roadies. If you are interested in music history it is interesting. It is not as good as Pies & Prejudice but is much better than Adventures on the High Teas. That just didn't click for me.

So on with the films on Saturday there are 3 films each of which if they didn't have the competition would be film of the day. The Adventures of Robin Hood is Hollywood does English legend ye olde englishe waye. It is a fantastic romp and Basil Rathbone, Erroll Flynn and Claude Rains simply chew up the screen. Overlapping this gem is The Empire Strikes Back. This is by a considerable distance the best of the original three Star Wars films and by definition, therefore, the best of the six. It is dark and the Vadar and Yoda characters are fantastic. Late night on Virgin 1 is No Way Out. Gene Hackman acts Kevin Costner off the screen in what is one of Costner's best films. It is simply well written, well acted and a pacy thriller.

On Sunday yet again there are a clutch of interesting offerings. Channel 5 offers Firefox. Based on the Craig Thomas novel of the same name it is actually quite a good adaptation of the book. Unfortunately it was panned by just about everybody as one of Clint Eastwood's worst films. The dodgy Russian accents offered by pretty much the entire membership of Equity are a delight to behold. It is good fun if not a great movie. It is followed by The Green Mile. This is based on the Stephen King story. It is the director Frank Darabont's second King prison flick after The Shawshank Redemption. Coincidentally the stage play of that film is in trouble with a number of reviewers for putting a review of the film over it's theatrical offering which was not so praiseworthy apparently. I am not a big Tom Hanks fan but this is one of his better films. Other offerings are Sahara (Film 4) which is a very good action adventure offering. Lastly there is Enemy at the Gates. This isn't rated too highly in Radio Times but I think it is actually a very entertaining movie if at variance with actual history.

On Tuesday the undoubted film of the day is Flags of Our Fathers (Film 4) This is one of Clint Eastwood's 2 war films and is actually probably the slightly weaker of the two in my humble opinion. Nevertheless it is still a better film than most you will see. It tells the Iwo Jima tale from the American point of view. The outstanding performance in this film comes from Adam Beach who can also be seen in another fantastic film, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee. The other film on Tuesday is The Blues Brothers. There isn't a plot as such it is merely a series of set pieces to showcase the fantastic music which is what the film is all about.

Wednesday brings the second of the Clint Eastwood war films, Letters From Iwo Jima. I think this is the best of the two. Ken Watanabe is truly magnificent but is there a film where he isn't, perhaps Batman Begins. Also on Wednesday there is First Blood. This is the first and, by some considerable distance, the best of the Rambo films. Stallone is excellent, despite evidence to the contrary (Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot), he can act given the right material (Rocky, Copland, Judge Dredd). The tension is ratcheted up in this film. Brian Dennehy is a fantastic foil and watch out for David Caruso of CSI Miami. If only the rest of the franchise could have been a patch on this one they would all be classics.

On Thursday there is one underrated offering and one guilty pleasure. The underrated offering is Black Widow. It is not normally one of my type of films and I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to see it. However, I ended up watching it one evening and was impressed with the offering. The guilty pleasure is Rat Race. It is by the Airplane team which means one of two things usually. A film will be either very very funny (Airplane, Naked Gun, Police Squad) or it will be very dodgy (Kentucky Fried Movie, Top Secret). There are gags in this film that you laugh at but your not sure why or even if you should be laughing but you can't help it.

We end the week with two films on Friday night. The first of these, The Jackal, shouldn't work and some still feel that it is heresy that it was ever made, but it is a great film that whilst showing a nod to its illustrious predecessor doesn't feel constrained by it. It takes what worked in the original but changes it slightly. Bruce Willis is absolutely fantastic as the title character, Sidney Poitier is fantastic as the FBI agent. The one thing that spoils this film is Richard Gere and the frankly ludicrous plot involving an ex-Basque terrorist. The second film is Downfall. This is about the last days in Hitler's bunker in Berlin. It is a film which was universally lauded particularly Bruno Ganz who portrays the German dictator. I found it a bit turgid and long winded for my taste. It might well be very good but I found it hard going.

Enjoy yourselves more to come in the next few days.

Evidence

Over the last couple of weeks I have come across people who apparently seem to have ignored what evidence actually is. The first offender was a member of Friends of the Earth who uses the governmental interpretation of the word. The debate was with this green type and a farmer and it was about whether or not GM foods are a good thing or not. The governmental interpretation of evidence is that there is only evidence if it has come through research and scientific investigation. Whilst this is to an extent true, it ignores the fact that anecdotal evidence is still evidence and this green advocate was dismissing the farmer's own experiences and knowledge because they didn't fit her argument.

An academic once criticised part of one of my best presentations because some information came from personal knowledge and experience rather than from the groves of academe.

Almost the next day there was a debate about the Kelly Report into MPs expenses when it was leaked that allowances would be lost and spouses not allowed to be employed. The MP's complaint was that Kelly had clearly not listened to the evidence he had given because he had reached a different conclusion to the one he wanted, Politicians are forever doing this. The current furore over scientific advisers is also part of this. The evidence would seem to support the scientist's conclusions it is just that what he said was ludicrous but accurate.

I don't mind people using evidence to support their argument, it is what I have trained to do for 4 years, what I do object to is people denying that contrary evidence exists or stating that unless evidence is gathered from a scientific research program it is invalid. Evidence simply is. You may vary the weight you give to different types of evidence but evidence is evidence and to deny this simple fact is irritating and pointless.