Chimpomatic

Red Riding

(dir. Julian Jarrold)

Channel 4

Got a feeling this is going to be one of the TV highlights of the year. Taken from David Peace's quartet of cult novels, C4's trio of feature-length dramas covers life in Yorkshire during 1974, 1980 and 1983. It's a world infused with the dark spectre of the Yorkshire Ripper, a dark time in the UK's history when police corruption, a pervasive brutality and institutional misogyny all contributed to a background of paranoia while a serial killer ran loose.

It's an atmospheric, sophisticated work, beautifully shot, impeccably acted. Stories start in one, finish in another; loose ends abound, just like in real life. 

Andrew Garfield's a cocky young journo trying to convince his editor he's found a serial killer in the first film, 1974 - and then finding himself drawn into property magnate Sean Bean's dark world. The reliably great Paddy Considine plays a Manchester cop called in to investigate the Yorkshire force's casework in the second, 1980. David Morrissey returns in the third, 1984, to try and unravel the case. The excellent cast is filled out by Warren Clarke, Rebecca Hall, Gerard Kearns, Eddie Marsan, Maxine Peake and Peter Mullan - all working at the height of their game, with gruff take-no-prisoners dialogue like "this is Yorkshire - we do what we want around here" peppered through the terse script.

Peace also wrote The Damned United, which is getting a cinematic release as well Mar 27 - think he's going to be doing v well in 2009's end of year lists...

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21st Feb 2009 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

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Skins

Season Three

E4

When Skins first appeared on our radar, it looked like it was going to be another painful British attempt to do teen TV - like UK kids doing an amdram ad for American Apparel. But even though it's hyper-styled, and you'd be pretty lucky if your teen years were/are as action-packed and as witty as theirs, it soon became clear that this was easily the best teen drama we've had in years... since... um... Press Gang?! 

The secret seems to be in the production method. Having kids writing with seasoned writers seems to bring out the best of both: well-plotted and paced stories, without too much cringy made-up yoofspeak. The teen cast - Nicholas Hoult (Tony), Dev Patel (Anwar), April Pearson (Michelle), Mike Bailey (Sid), Hannah Murray (Cassie) and Mitch Hewer (Maxxie) - were all engaging, but also bolstered by the decision to cast a large part of the Brit acting/comedy population as their parents and teachers - Harry Enfield, Nina Wadia, Danny Dyer, Morwenna Banks, Peter Capaldi, Josie Lawrence, Kevin Eldon, Neil Morrissey, Arabella Weir, Mark Heap, Sarah Lancashire and Bill Bailey - not a bad lineup for any show. 

By shifting the focus from character to character every episode, it also built up a real sense of what it's like to be in school - sometimes you're at the centre of the action, sometimes on the margins looking in - a clever way of making it about everyone, not just the initially more obvious characters like Tony (although, by S2 they'd also found a way of subverting his alphateen personality). 

After the first two series took us through everything from exams, raves, anorexia, relationships, to losing your virginity and a parent, C4 came up with a pretty bold announcement: they were going to keep the third series set at the school after everyone had left for university, and start again with the next generation - effectively culling the entire cast (apart from Tony's little sister Effy, who cheekily moved into his room at the end of the last series). 

It takes about ten minutes for you to get over it. At first, it's quite annoying to watch three new skivers hanging out drinking and getting stoned before school - but then Harry Enfield shows up, there's a typically daft sequence involving some ketchup and a bike and the whole thing starts to roll again, with enough energy and wit to suggest that they might be able to keep this franchise rolling for years.

This term, they've got some twins (one nerdy, one full of herself - and actually played by real twins, not some Prince And The Pauper CGI trickery), a geeky magician, an over-cocky player who fancies himself almost as much as he fancies every other lucky, lucky lady in the class, a sk8tr boi, and a kid from Africa. Would be nice if they let some of the first generation show up from time-to-time - and it would be great to see Bill Bailey dancing with a dog again) - but on the strength of this opener, it seems like they've made the right call to stay in sixth form, and not head off to uni.

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6th Jan 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

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Best Of 2008

chimp71

another decent year of pop culture for me, feels like there's been lots of good stuff to get into this year...

TV

The Wire (FX) - season five bowed out in great form. Still the greatest.

Mad Men (BBC4) - convincing, slowburn drama, with fascinating take on early 60s life.

Breaking Bad (FX) Engrossing suburban drug-dealing tension.

Battlestar Galactica (Sky1) - trippy, political, enigmantic, moving sci-fi with some great space battles thrown in for good measure. Don't want it to end, but I do want to find out where they're going with it.

30 Rock (Five) - made even better by Tina Fey getting rid of Sarah Palin. 

Summer Heights High (BBC3) - don't want to be rude, but seriously, did you miss this? That's so random.

Criminal Justice (BBC1) - five nights of proper drama.

Film

Waltz With Bashir - brilliantly thoughtful animation, covering memory, loss and the intensity of war.

Man On Wire - beautifully simple doc about a tightrope walk between the Twin Towers. High tension line, indeed.

Gomorrah - brutal Italian mob chaos. 

In Search Of A Midnight Kiss - lo-fi indie romance

also enjoyed: The Dark Knight, Iron Man, In Bruges, No Country For Old Men

Albums

TV On The Radio - Dear Science an album that sounds like it could only have been made in 2008.

Black Mountain - In The Future retro maybe, but totally heavy and pretty essential

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes great debut.

Bon Iver - For Emma - as was this.

Santogold - Santogold (and Top Ranking, the Diplo-Dub) - and this!

also enjoyed: Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend, Grace Jones - Hurricane, Catfish Haven - Devastator

Gigs

Black Mountain - The Scala (great just after breakfast at Glastonbury too)

Jay-Z - Glastonbury a proper big moment. His cover of Wonderwall was deft, subtle and hilarious all at the same time.

Grace Jones - Royal Festival Hall disco from another dimension. Total legend.

Justice - Somerset House huge, gut-shaking digital rock, great to see in a classic setting.

Bjork - Hammersmith Apollo - still one of the best live acts around.

Also enjoyed: Matthew Herbert Big Band - Royal Festival Hall, Radiohead - Victoria Park

#Music
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18th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

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The Kevin Bishop Show

C4

Following on from his collection of spoof celeb bios Star Stories, Kevin Bishop returns with his own Friday night sketch show.

As you'd expect, it's still pretty sleb-based - Simon Cowell's brother Brian (complete with matching super high-waisted trousers) running the fourth largest convenience store in Rotherham; Jonathan Ross introducing "my special guest... Wicky Gervais!!"; Sienna Miller's elegant new parfum Publicity; a Daily Mail DVD giveaway with alternate outtakes for films like Bruce Forsyth in The Shining and Al Pacino in Superman etc.

It's shot like you're watching someone flipping though the Sky EPG for you, at an ADD speed that keeps it moving fast enough to not let the duffers get in the way of what's mostly a pretty decent Friday night LOLathon; for once it's a sketch show where you feel like they're struggling to get all the ideas crammed into half an hour, rather than pad them out to fit.

Bonus fact: Kevin Bishop was Jim Hawkins in Muppet Treasure Island

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21st Jul 2008 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

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