Week three of the new FreakyTrigger podcast (in association with SOAS Radio), the Lost Property Office. This week my guest is Pamela Hutchinson of Silent London London’s premiere Silent Film website. Pam dived into the pile of lost property and dragged up an object, a book and a CD which whose scrawled cover lied to us significantly. In this weeks show we consider the plot to Home Alone 3: Lost In Birkenhead, Stuart Murdoch: International Jewel Thief, Maureen Lipman’s Travel Tips and are surprised by just how easy Gaelic is as a language. We unsurprisingly talk a little on silent film, and I fear I may accidentally insult Pam’s husband and mother. But not her second cousin, who we all agree is rather cool (as are her husband and mother) Ahem!
This weeks right-wing namecheck is a shout-out to SOAS Alumni Enoch Powell, who loved to holiday in France whilst penning inflammatory speeches no doubt.
As ever if you recognise any of the music, or own any of the items in this weeks Lost Property office and want to be reunited, feel free to drop us a line in the comments (click more for the comments). And general comments are always welcome, if you have lost anything let us know!
Welcome to week two of the new FreakyTrigger podcast (in association with SOAS Radio), the Lost Property Office. This week my guest is Sarah Clarke who did not get her hands too dirty in her rummage through the office, alighting on three items and a CD which belied its origin considerably. In this weeks show we talk about missing monkey T-Shirts (more people lose clothes than I would imagine), young persons phones, pencils, the difference between Central and East Asia, the word “Flip” gets said A LOT (but its not rude so that’s OK) and the state of world records in 1980 whilst Norris McWhirter (but not Ross) was still compiling the Guinness Book Of Records.
Apologies to listeners for
a) getting the manner of Ross McWhirter’s death wrong. He was, of course, shot by the IRA
b) Comparing the Guinness Book Of Records, no matter how obliquely, to Mein Kampf.
As ever if you recognise any of the music, or own any of the items in this weeks Lost Property office and want to be reunited, feel free to drop us a line in the comments (click more for the comments).
Welcome to the new FreakyTrigger podcast (in association with SOAS Radio), a whimsical trip through the lost and found of life. We’ve been thinking of various audio projects for a while since Lollards and Slug Of Time finished, and before anything grand turns up, here is this little flibbertygibbet of a weekly podcast. Your host Pete Baran (that’s me, talking about myself Alan Shearer like in the third person) drags his guests through the cavernous lost property office in SOAS where they discover surprising books, music and items whilst discussing things they have lost along the way.
In the first edition, Hazel Robinson and Magnus Anderson are the first brave guests, testing out the dumb questions, invading the privacy of lost items and finding out how much you can learn from someone from their make-up bag? Live music from Magnus, Young Adult Horror, the Politics of Space and Ballbuster! The photo shows the items discovered, and please use the comments if you recognise anything, if its your make-up bag or you recognise any of the music.
There is a reason why comedies always seem to come out strongly in a list like this. When a comedy succeeds, it can be as sublime as cinema get (academy take note). When a comedy is average it often feels like a let down, the moments between the laughs become almost tragic pauses. But when a comedy sets up a decent idea, is stuffed with good players and then suddenly goes off to squander its own idea and end up in a oddly misogynistic backwater, well that is a remarkable let down. And can a film that has Colin Farrell looking like this really be all bad. OK, there was the Jennifer Aniston factor but even including that the answer is yes – this film is horrible. more »
Yo ho ho and a bottle of dumb. My joint fourth worst films of last year are additions to franchises, which use boats, monsters and lack any real plot logic. Both films are adapted from books, one ridiculously loosely, the other relatively slavishly. But in both cases I left the cinema rubbing my head wondering why it was ever made. And then I looked at the box office results and it was more than clear why. The movie business love franchises, even faltering franchises, an box office is king. But empty special effects sequences tied together do not make a film, and be it a franchise extension or a relatively tedious point in a franchise wind down, ships and monsters aren’t enough for me. more »
Last year only one fiction film really engaged with the issues around Occupy Wall Street. Set in New York, the 99%, the disenfranchised took on a fictional banker to strike a blow for the little man, the trodden on, the people who did follow the rules. And what a banker – an obscene penthouse occupying, master of the universe with an hugely bad taste swimming pool, Steve McQueen’s car from Bullitt in his apartment and has the leering air of Hawkeye from M*A*S*H. Cos its Alan Alda. This recession revenge film plays with the class struggle by subtly giving us flawed middle management heroes – those who organise the revolution here are the squeezed middle, not even those at the bottom of the ladder. Except, well, Eddie Murphy phones in a lousy eighties performance and did I mention the whole thing is directed by Brett Ratner. more »
Batman. Bloke who dresses up as a bat. Mainly black and grey, occasional yellow accents on the suit. Superman, big bold blue red and yellow. Spider-Man, blue and red. Even Wonder Woman sticks with the red, white, blue and a bit of gold. I’m not sure if there is some sort of costume guidance when superheroes manifest their powers, but there is clearly some guidance that came out of last years crop of superhero films. Thor, whilst silly, stuck resolutely with the metallics and reds. Captain America, as you might imagine, rocked the red, white and blue. So what is it with Green? Why did the two green superheroes fail last year. more »
OK, this one is sort of a cheat, as with the exception of a festival screening, the following film was not released in UK cinemas in 2011. But it did go straight to DVD and waved at me on LoveFilm to be interested in it. I like Japanese films and have been disappointed in the decline in distribution of them of late, and whilst this was a remake, it was a remake of one of my favourite Japanese films, which was a really interesting anime. Not only that, it was a live action remake of a film which in animated form is funny, silly and really rather touching in places. Despite having a slightly mangled title, I saw this new version and thought, that’s a story which could actually work well in live action – why not give it a go. And then, when watching all two hours of the new version of it, I discovered why not. more »
Clare Foy is a terrific British actress who deserves great things as her career starts to stretch towards Hollywood – but you have to say she doesn’t look too happy here. Nicholas Cage is an Oscar winning actor. Ron Perlman is a great genre actor, who brings no end of war worn personality to his roles. Dominic Sena is a director who has probably never bettered his Rhythm Nation video for Janet Jackson, but has a list of action movies on his CV which aren’t the worst of the worst (OK Whiteout was pretty ropey, but I have a soft spot for Gone In Sixty Seconds). There is not enough here to say that this film would necessarily be bad. Or even tip its hand in the opening two minutes as to quite how bad it will be. more »
I like Owen Wilson, I really do. Its probably out of deference to liking his general charm that How Do You Know was pushed down to eleven, so I could be sure that whilst Owen Wilson has already turned up on this list twice, he doesn’t make the top ten. As far as it goes I like Albert Brooks too – Lost In America is one of my favourite films, James L. Brooks is alright- Broadcast News still holds up today (edit due to abject idiocy, see comments for details). Add to that a real appreciation of Reese Witherspoon and this film should not be in this list. The main problem is that the film posits a question, and so to answer said question Reese Witherspoon does pretty much this face all the way through the film. Its her characters “not sure” face.
With this cast, and James L.Books directing, number eleven promises an intelligent, revisit of romcom staples with an attractive, likeable cast. Does this plot description (thanks IMDB) look interesting?
“After being cut from the USA softball team and feeling a bit past her prime, Lisa finds herself evaluating her life and in the middle of a love triangle, as a corporate guy in crisis competes with her current, baseball-playing beau.”more »
Pete Baran: Half formed opinions on everything, three quarter formed opinions on film so that's my main topic of discussion. Started Pumpkin State and Pumpkin Pubs in 2000 which got incorporated in a Great News For All Our Readers style in 2004 into Freaky Trigger.
Week three of the new FreakyTrigger podcast (in association with SOAS Radio), the Lost Property Office. This week my guest is Pamela Hutchinson of Silent London London’s premiere Silent Film website. Pam dived into the pile of lost property and dragged up an object, a book and a CD which whose scrawled cover lied to us significantly. In this weeks show we consider the plot to Home Alone 3: Lost In Birkenhead, Stuart Murdoch: International Jewel Thief, Maureen Lipman’s Travel Tips and are surprised by just how easy Gaelic is as a language. We unsurprisingly talk a little on silent film, and I fear I may accidentally insult Pam’s husband and mother. But not her second cousin, who we all agree is rather cool (as are her husband and mother) Ahem!
Welcome to week two of the new FreakyTrigger podcast (in association with SOAS Radio), the Lost Property Office. This week my guest is Sarah Clarke who did not get her hands too dirty in her rummage through the office, alighting on three items and a CD which belied its origin considerably. In this weeks show we talk about missing monkey T-Shirts (more people lose clothes than I would imagine), young persons phones, pencils, the difference between Central and East Asia, the word “Flip” gets said A LOT (but its not rude so that’s OK) and the state of world records in 1980 whilst Norris McWhirter (but not Ross) was still compiling the Guinness Book Of Records. 
There is a reason why comedies always seem to come out strongly in a list like this. When a comedy succeeds, it can be as sublime as cinema get (academy take note). When a comedy is average it often feels like a let down, the moments between the laughs become almost tragic pauses. But when a comedy sets up a decent idea, is stuffed with good players and then suddenly goes off to squander its own idea and end up in a oddly misogynistic backwater, well that is a remarkable let down. And can a film that has Colin Farrell looking like this really be all bad. OK, there was the Jennifer Aniston factor but even including that the answer is yes – this film is horrible. 
Clare Foy is a terrific British actress who deserves great things as her career starts to stretch towards Hollywood – but you have to say she doesn’t look too happy here. Nicholas Cage is an Oscar winning actor. Ron Perlman is a great genre actor, who brings no end of war worn personality to his roles. Dominic Sena is a director who has probably never bettered his Rhythm Nation video for Janet Jackson, but has a list of action movies on his CV which aren’t the worst of the worst (OK Whiteout was pretty ropey, but I have a soft spot for Gone In Sixty Seconds). There is not enough here to say that this film would necessarily be bad. Or even tip its hand in the opening two minutes as to quite how bad it will be. 
I like Owen Wilson, I really do. Its probably out of deference to liking his general charm that How Do You Know was pushed down to eleven, so I could be sure that whilst Owen Wilson has already turned up on this list twice, he doesn’t make the top ten. As far as it goes I like 
