Tag: comedy
The last night of Hobson’s Choice
Most people remember John Savident as Coronation Street’s recently deceased butcher Fred Elliott.
Fred was a self-made man, a local personality, a mainstay at the Rotary Club. A character on the cusp of extinction in today’s Britain: part of the local Con club scene, part of the furniture along with the photos of once successful football …
The Darjeeling Limited
Director: Wes Anderson
United States, 2007
Anderson’s films are often about families or groups of individuals who form strong bonds. What’s becoming increasingly clear after seeing Darjeeling is that the director’s troupe of actors is imitating his art: almost all of the cast here seem to have appeared in multiple Anderson movies.
And Darjeeling is hardly the black …
Making a song and dance about it
Brief Encounter, The West Yorkshire Playhouse
Noël Coward’s play Still Life (1936) formed the basis of the wonderfully restrained (or rather dry, depending on your sympathies) 1945 film Brief Encounter.
The film tells the story of Laura Jesson, a terribly middle-class, well-to-do sort of housewife who takes the train at Milford Junction to do a few chores. …
Kika
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Spain, 1993
Déjà vu abounds in Kika, a brief return to the sort of hair-brained frivolity that characterised Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown. Parallels might also be drawn with Almodóvar’s ¡átame! (Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!) (1990), another film in which the director treats a sexual attack on a woman …
Shaun of the Dead
Director: Edgar Wright
United Kingdom, 2004
Perhaps it’s because British comedies are more enjoyable on the small screen – when you can have a curry and a few tins of lager and not concentrate too much on their frequent flaws – that I got on with Shaun of the Dead much better than its successor Hot Fuzz.
Working …
The Paper
Director: Ron Howard
United States, 1994
As a screenwriter David Koepp has been around. He’s written some terrific scripts and some not so terrific. His work on The Paper, alongside brother Stephen, manages to reach both extremes.
Suddenly put in charge while chasing a big story, workaholic newspaper editor Michael Keaton is forced to choose between the job …
Send Me No Flowers
Director: Norman Jewison
United States, 1964
Like Sidney Lumet, Jewison’s career is still going strong today, four decades after his feature debut and the studio star vehicle Send Me No Flowers isn’t the sort of movie with which you’d associate him.
On paper, it looks hammy: a hypochondriac overhears his doctor discussing a terminal diagnosis and believes it …
Blame it on the Bellboy
Director: Mark Herman
United Kingdom, 1992
The inoffensive – often romantic – British comedy is the plat du jour of Mark Herman. His oeuvre is small potatoes compared to the smorgasbord of Working Title produced, Richard Curtis penned transatlantic exports, but Herman’s movies are memorable because they’re typically more earthbound, hearty and wholesome.
I seem to remember this …
Beverly Hills Cop
Director: Martin Brest
United States, 1984
The Cold War was loosening up, Reaganomics was ramping up and America was booming: 1984 was a big year for big movies and Beverly Hills Cop was one of the biggest.
Hardened maverick cop Axel Foley leaves behind the bleak streets of Detroit to hunt down his old friend’s killer in exotic …
MASH
Director: Robert Altman
United States, 1970
Altman proved with MASH that a messy film could still be a successful one. Production was problematic, 80% of the dialogue was improvised and analogies to the situation in Vietnam were considered highly unfavourable by the studio.
From the hubris of organic filmmaking that later became Altman’s trademark emerged a funny, humanistic …
Elsewhere on MikePadgett.com …
Katrina was here
In August 2005, New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina. Over 1,500 people lost their lives and over 700 are still missing today. Rough estimates suggest that damage to the states of Louisiana …
- Originally published: 18 Jan 2008 in North America
SIaS! at the Southwark Rooms
J, J’s sister and fella and I all went down last Saturday to The Southwark Rooms to see the 6 Feet Underground DJs at their second Suck It and See! night. It was …
- Originally published: 21 Sep 2005 in Concerts
Heijn Accord signed
Following the example of other chains, Albert Heijn decided long ago that shoppers should make use of sturdier bags that could be used over and over again. It’s a green approach but it …
- Originally published: 18 Dec 2006 in Personalia
La Gloria para El Mejor
Such was the headline at the El Pais website this morning. There can be little doubt that Spain was consistently the best team on the field in Euro 2008, playing their entertaining brand …
- Originally published: 30 Jun 2008 in Editorial
Is this me?
People born under the year of the Goat/Sheep tend to take on the role of the “good Samaritan”. The Sheep is the most feminine sign of all of the Chinese animals. Usually …
- Originally published: 2 Dec 2005 in Editorial
Who is that guy?
Hello you. I'm Mike Padgett and I work in the technology sector as an Information Designer.
I also enjoy travel, concerts, films and walking.
I'm based in Brussels, Belgium. My current favourite Belgian beer is St Feuillien Brune.