Film Archive (71)

© Words –Richard Williamson/ ZANI Media

Gore Verbinski and Jerry Bruckheimer's Lone Ranger is a lot better movie than the media line and box office receipts so far might suggest.  The filmmakers succeed here, and bring home the silver if not the gold, by proving their  respects to  the entire Western film tradition through strong story-telling, solid performance, glorious visuals and technical excellence.  It's a different kind of classic with a lot for eyes willing see what it offers and heads ready to have fun.

© Words Gia Marie Barbera

Mickey Tobin (Eddie Webber) is on his lunch break reading an article in the local newspaper which triggers a reaction of anger and frustration with regards to how his local borough is being run by the powers that be.

When at home later that evening, he finds himself in front of his laptop researching the practicality of starting up a local political party and comes to the conclusion that it would be difficult but do-able. “The People’s Advocate Party” is born. He explains his epiphany to his long-time friend and full time gambler Terry (Geoff Bell) and his long suffering apprentice Peter Hole AKA  P-Hole (Aidan J David). Together they embark on a life changing journey of political adventure driven by Mickey who solely believes he has had a vocational epiphany and with it a chance to make a difference for the everyday folk in the local constituency.

© Words William Goodchild
Shame on all you studios for passing and congratulations to smarter backers HBO, who picked this up. As if we didn’t need further evidence that we’re in a golden age of television, this lends even more dazzle to that credo. Here in the UK - where it has been granted a cinema release - Behind the Candelabra has been doing very respectable business. Possessing a lot of elements that Oscar so loves, it could also have basked in some awards glory. Like Tarantino, biopics are probably this reviewer’s least favourite genre but this particular one is a real riot. One thing it isn’t, as more than one Hollywood exec remarked, is “too gay”. You might equally argue that this look at Liberace is not gay enough.

© Words William Goodchild

If someone made this up you probably wouldn’t buy it. Director Ben Affleck brings this stranger-than-fiction tale into vivid and very exciting life.

The year is 1979, the setting Iran. Amidst turmoil and revolution, the US embassy in Tehran is invaded. Hostages are taken but some of the diplomats manage to flee. Six such escapees find shelter in the Canadian embassy and the CIA hatches a plot to get them out. Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) and his supervisor Jack O’Donnell (Bryan Cranston)

© Words - CP Lee

In 1993 a man called Cliff Twemlow passed away. When he died at the age of 55 a whole mini-film industry died with him. But Cliff didn’t only just make films, he wrote the plots, scored the music for them and starred in them too. Oh, and he wrote paperback pulp novels as well. And before he made his own movies he wrote a couple of thousand tunes that were recorded and put out by DeWolfe Music. And he was a night club bouncer.