Clockwork Mice (1995)

 

 This 1995 film is something of curio. It sits somewhere in between the naturalness of Kes and the theatricality of Dead Poets Society and both of those films’ influence is present. The natural kid’s acting and dialogue is a bit like Ken Loach’s style yet the rich musical soundtrack and use of dramatic shots accompanied by the repeated theme played on dulcimer is more Peter Weir. That’s not to say the film has no value of its own; indeed, in subject matter it ploughs its own furrow set in a rural special needs school where a new teacher, Steve Drake, at first struggles to get to grips with the chaotic atmosphere.

 

Top of the Pops 24 May 1990

 Words: Chris Arnsby

 Anthea Turner: “Hallo! And welcome to Top of the Pops on BBC1! Also listeners on Radio 1! FM stereo! Not forgetting the people in the south of England who are tuning in for the very first time! On 98.2! We're starting [indecipherable]! The B-52s at number twenty!”

 [20] THE B-52s: Roam. Kudos to Dave Chapman, Video Effects, and Ben Fuller, Vision Mixer. One of them (or both it could be a team effort) perfectly times the spinning wipes between shots on the twanging guitar bit* of the song. It makes for a great transition from the opening choral bit into the body of the song. And it's nice to see it repeated a couple of other times.

Doctor Who - Wish World review

 

Arriving amidst a barrage of negative news stories which have now spread from online griping to traditional media `Wish World` could be the penultimate episode of this iteration of Doctor Who. In various order the show will be cancelled, Disney will not fund any more, Ncuti Gatwa has left / been sacked/ is too woke and the show could be on hiatus for a year / three years/ indefinitely. Some or none of this may be true. Which is kind of an appropriate backdrop for this episode.

 

Mission Impossible- The Final Reckoning review

 

Warning- this film contains wild peril! Yes, it’s Tom Cruise back for the eighth- and apparently final- impossible mission. Prepare for incredulity to be generated as Tom engages in a series of ludicrously risky quests to avoid the world ending. It is three hours of tense seat edge scenarios which of course any ordinary person would not be able to complete. Such ingredients combine to create a relentless rollercoaster which only stops for breath so it can tell us what the jiggins is going on.

 

 

Doctor Who- The Interstellar Song Contest review

 

To be honest, I had been expecting this episode to be the season’s dud but it just goes to show that you can never predict what Doctor Who might do. From a spectacular opening through what is at times a surprisingly serious story yet one that also has its frivolous moments, `The Interstellar Song Contest`  is like one of those unfavoured  Eurovision entries that ends up winning the whole thing.

 

Spoilers past this point

 

Andor Season 2 Episodes 10 -12 review

 Some Star Wars aficionados may not care for the careful pace, contemporary allusions or darker elements of Andor; just looking at those who complained about the lengthy sequence of Mon Mothma dancing is enough to tell you that. Maybe the series is too subtle for those who like Star Wars to literally be about battles with only the basic character templates that the films had. Andor is a work of art, a crafted, thoughtful achievement whose appeal will surely last a long, long time. These final three episode shunt the story right up to just before Rogue One and show the variety and the class the series has. 

Spoilers after the break

Eurovision 2025 notes + observations

 

Popera triumphs again!!

Some thoughts on the show in general and notes made while watching about each song. Last year’s winner was the first time my favourite song in the Final actually won though with Nemo singing opera while spinning on top of a metal dias and referencing ammonites how could it not win? Plus they hitch hiked to the event!! It sort of makes up for `Cha Cha Cha` not winning in 2023 which as we all know it should have done. So maybe I’m getting better at predicting these. The overall standard this year is higher than average and I genuinely could not even hazard a guess as to who would win though i had my faves. 

Top of the Pops 10th & 17th May 1990

 Words: Chris Arnsby

10/05/1990 

 Gary Davies: “Hello. Good evening. I hope you're having a great Thursday evening. You're going to enjoy tonight's programme, in the studio we have Beats International, Mantronix featuring Wondress, we've got Adamski, Michael Bolton, and we start off with the highest new entry at number five. Better The Devil You Know, over there it's Kylie.”

 [5] KYLIE MINOGUE: Better The Devil You Know. Top of the Pops is in a rut. There's nothing wrong with happy little pop songs to open the programme but this is the fourth in a row. And three of those four were produced by Stock, Aitken, and Waterman; Sinitta wasn't much to my surprise. I'd suggest that as recent Number One act, Beats International would be a better choice to open tonight's show, or Mantronix.

Doctor Who- The Story and the Engine review

 

It’s refreshing to see Doctor Who narratively venturing much more beyond England these days - even if it’s still filmed in the UK - and this story set in Nigeria finds writer Inua Ellams bringing a tale of friendship, stories, and ambition to life mostly inside a small barber’s shop. This incongruous setting becomes the heart of an intriguing and ultimately uplifting story about the value both of friendship and of fiction. That it comes in a week when thee have been news stories about us reading less seems apt though stories as this episode shows can be told just as effectively as they can be read.  The more Doctors and eras we run through the further away the classic series feels yet this episode seems to be able to bring it all together with a strong sense of both the new and the old. It does need to be watched twice- or at least with more attention than I clearly gave it on first viewing- because its deceptively light and has an antagonist whose performance is full of nuance.

 Spoilers past this point.

Andor Season 2 Episodes 4 -9 review

 

Ghorman is the focus of these six episodes set a further year on from the opening trio. Episode four `Ever Heard of Ghorman?` is a well-constructed narrative presenting multiple sides of the situation. So, we have Syril ensconced in a bureaucratic job but he’s really here to help stir up rebellion thus justifying later use of force. Back on Coruscant, Andor and Bix are living in a very dingy looking apartment but he is destined to be sent to Ghorman by the episode’s end by Luthen whose found out about the focus on the planet courtesy of the undercover supervisor Yung. Mon Mothma’s efforts to stop a bill that will give larger powers to the ISB is hampered by paranoia over Ghorman.

Top of the Pops 3 May 1990

 

Words: Chris Arnsby

Simon Mayo: “Welcome to the programme. A local election edition of the programme. Music to elect your councillor to. We'll start with a song that was a hit in 1969 for a band called Vanity Fair. They disappeared down the plug hole of rock and roll but they left behind an important song. Hitchin a Ride, it's a hit for Sinitta.”

 [26] SINITTA: Hitchin' A Ride. The legs of Simon Mayo get the programme off to a poor start. He's wearing white shorts that make his calves look spindly. An image not helped by Priscilla Hoadley, Vision Mixer. She makes the unwise choice to cut to Simon Mayo via a Quantel zoom in. It gives the impression Simon Mayo's knees are lunging for you.

Speaking of poor starts, here's Sinitta. I was going to say this seemed like a rerun of her last performance, but it turned out I was thinking of Sonia and Counting Every Minute, from 19/04/1990.

Doctor Who - Lucky Day review

 

Pete McTighe returns to the series after penning two stories for Chris Chibnall’s iteration and it’s not surprising that he’s tapping directly into wider contemporary concerns as he did in his previous stories. Whereas, especially with `Kerblam! ` there was some doubt in those as to the message (was he supporting the likes of Amazon or not?)  this episode leaves little doubt. As articulated through both sides of the argument this is an angry script even if it is initially seeming like a rom com. It pivots on a superb mid episode twist which is amongst the best the series has done- think `Utopia` here albeit in an earthbound context. Its also another quite meta episode- a character really does comment on how the special effects have improved.

Spoilers past this point

Thunderbolts* review

 

Thunderbolts* is a joy. Despite the subject matter touching on some serious issues it’s actually a lot of fun to watch with performances pitched just right and a healthy sense of perspective. Though it does broadly follow the Marvel template the film is also adept enough to find some different angles to tell that story making it feel fresh. Best of all Thunderbolts* manages to take the ever- lengthening lore to new places without getting too weighted down by that backstory finding enough new ground to suggest that there’s still legs in this big screen superhero lark yet.

 Spoilers past this point