Doctor Who : MANNEQUIN MANIA DVD REVIEW.

Last month brought us the end of the third doctors era in the form of Planet of the Spiders while this month brings us a box set containing his very first story. This box could have been called – regenerations 2.5 as it not only holds a DVD we already own but deals with two 70’S reboots for our beloved show.

The first story – Spearhead from Space – is the benchmark in post regeneration stories. The parallels with the Eighth Doctor Movie and the Eleventh Hour are plane as the nose on the Doctors new face. While we are engrossed in learning about the latest Doctor some sneaky aliens have invaded the Home Counties and had the audacity to place an order for some plastic dolls. (Obviously with evil intent.) Our Hero most come to terms with a new self and a new place stuck on earth while defeating a squelchy box full of Clingfilm and hair gel. Oh and not to forget , introducing us to a new companion.

Due to industrial action the entire story was shot on film giving it a quality and uniformity not seen again for many years. And as such it has a cinematic look and feel which the story so richly deserves. The basic plot of an invasion which UNIT must stop will be echoed and re worked for the next four years but we see it here in its purest form. The Brig on top form, practical and lacking the humour that came through later.

The second story – Terror of the Autons – marks the arrival of the, so called, Doctors Moriarty, The Master. Played here by the magnificent Rodger Delagado. As well as seeing the arrival of the lovely Jo Grant. (Played by Katie Manning)

Unlike the first story this was shot in a more traditional way making an increasing use of CSO (and then lost to the bbc) We now have a superb repair job from an NTSC copy. Viewed side by side its clear to see that the third doctors time could have looked so much better. Though we should be grateful we can see them at all.

In both of these stories the ‘Monster’ is secondary to the establishment of new characters and it is a testament to the superb writing that this is never overly apparent. The Autons are an idea ‘any monster’ with simple costumes that wouldn’t stretch any budget.

As always it is the extras that give these stories added value and this box set does not let you down.

An original commentary with actors Caroline John and the late Nicholas Courtney are augmented with a new commentary by the producer Derrick Sherwin and Script a making of called Down To Earth and a superb documentary called Regenerations dealing with the change in both production crew/cast and the changes from black and white to colour production. All of these come with the usual suspects in the form of Photo Gallery, Coming Soon (Earth Stories) and Radio Times Listings.

Terror of the Autons extras has a single commentary by Katy Manning and Nicolas Courtney and Producer Barry Letts, its making of Documentary (Life On Earth) takes a different tack from usual by looking beyond the basic facts and looking at the larger picture, this is secondary to the wonderful short – The Doctor’s Moriarty. A Featurette looking at the Master, as played by Delgado. A short feature – Plastic Fantastic rounds this disc off with a look at the Autons and the use of the ‘new’ wonder material Plastic.

You would be forgiven for thinking that you have been tricked into buying Spearhead for a second time in order to buy Terror and if you feel that way Id consider hanging on until it is reduced – but given that you’ll probably be paying less for this double pack than you did for the original release of Spearhead in sure you can justify it to yourself.

Over all this is a superb box set. Worthy of

There’s a rich tradition in horror films of cars, puppets and machinery coming to life, so the idea of a psycho tyre with telepathic powers is fundamentally no more ridiculous than a sentient 1958 Plymouth Fury (Christine), ventriloquist’s doll (Dead Silence) or computer (Demon Seed). However, Rubber is a ridiculous film but often in the best possible sense, positing as it does a day in the life of a tyre called Robert, a day in which he mashes some heads, meets a girl and falls in love.

Rubber is not particularly substantial, either in running time or in content, merely offering the vision of a film maker who wanted to see what would happen if a tyre woke up one day, became self aware, and possessed the ability to make bunnies explode. But that idea alone, especially in the early parts of the film, frequently proves rather beguiling. It’s a strangely touching experience to watch Robert awake and gradually discover his powers and as he rolls unsteadily through a dusty, sunlit landscape, there’s a joyful sense of exploration as he begins to find his…erm…feet and get a sense of what he’s capable of.

Director Quentin Dupieux delivers some stunning cinematography in the first half hour as well as utilising some subtle but effective remote control chicanery to bring the tyre to life (Robert’s opening scene evoking childhood memories of Bambi. I kid you not). So having set the scene, the moment when Robert joyously rolls across the desert to the tune of “Just Don’t Want to Be Lonely” by The Main Ingredient is moving, funny and absurd all at once. And after he sets off in pursuit of Sheila (Roxane Mesquida), a young woman he spots driving past him at the roadside, we see him in a variety of situations (watching TV in a motel room, taking a shower, looking at himself in a mirror) that are imbued with no small degree of charm. It may sound bizarre but it works and the movie is at its most engaging when we’re following the adventures of the tyre.

However, it is in those scenes when the action moves away from Robert that the film often falls flat, despite the high levels of absurdity being maintained. Rubber nails its colours to the mast from the off as a police car is seen driving along a road strewn with chairs. Taking care to twist and turn in order to hit each one, the car then pulls up and a Police Lieutenant (Stephen Spinella) climbs out of the boot, proceeding to give a lecture to camera about how things happen in movies for ‘no reason’. Although you may take issue with his thoughts on JFK, it is then revealed that he is actually addressing a group of spectators stood behind the camera who are there to observe the events of the movie unfolding through their binoculars. And so they witness the birth of Robert and his subsequent actions, all the while providing a running commentary on the story as it unfolds.

The problem with such moments is that they often feel too experimental, as though the script was being written on the hoof and ideas were occurring moments before they were filmed, and the result is that the film then feels laboured and uninspired. Dupeiux’s assault on the fourth wall includes some amusing ideas, such as a man being told to stop filming a bootleg copy of Robert’s exploits and a police chief who knows that all the other characters are just actors in the movie despite their reluctance to believe him. But the script is neither inventive or amusing enough to build on these ideas and so struggles to sustain them, and you feel that Dupeiux isn’t nearly as interested in these people as he is in the tyre. As a result neither are you.

Overall though Rubber is a diverting and original film, a B movie premise executed with art house sensibilities. Some have seen it as an attack on a specific film genre and its audience but instead it could be seen as belonging to a long absurdist tradition in which Depeiux seems content to have some fun. Although it is neither the laugh out loud comedy nor the rabble rousing crowd pleaser that you might expect, the technical artistry on display, combined with a charismatic lead, delivers a film that just about manages to avoid outstaying its welcome.

Extras: Not much to write home about. Just four interviews with Director and cast (one of which see Depeiux being interviewed by a blow up doll), some very brief special effects test footage and a trailer.

It’s worth stating at the outset that Monsters is not a Monster movie, despite what some of the marketing blurb on the DVD packaging would have you believe. Instead, Gareth Edwards’ extraordinary debut is far less popcorn and far more rewarding than just another creature feature. For at its core Monsters is a love story, a journey of discovery and a thoughtful examination of human nature. So it’s unfortunate that quotes selling it as ‘action packed’ may disappoint those expecting to see something akin to Godzilla crossed with Aliens. In terms of thrills it does have its moments but they’re not the point of this movie, as instead it focuses on the relationship of two people forming a bond in extraordinary circumstances while attempting to find their way home.

Monsters is set in a world where extra terrestrials have spread throughout Northern Mexico after a NASA space probe containing alien life forms landed there 6 years earlier. Consequently the whole of this area is quarantined, with a huge wall constructed along the American border to keep the creatures out. Into this scenario steps Andrew (Scoot McNairy), a photojournalist who is asked to escort the daughter of his employer home to the US from Central America. Of course the journey won’t turn out to be an easy one and a series of events occur that mean Andrew and Samantha (Whitney Able) are forced to journey home the hard way.

The first half of the film is set well outside the quarantined area and although the pace may be too slow for some, it does afford an opportunity to get to know the two protagonists. Travelling with them by rail, road and foot, Edwards employs a slow build, semi documentary style that allows the characters to develop as credible, realistic individuals. Dialogue often has an ad-libbed feel to it and both McNairy and Able give engagingly natural performances throughout. It’s also an approach that allows the world around them to grow and take shape, as we pick up information from the locals they meet and from news reports playing on TV sets in the background (much of it focusing on air strikes and paranoia concerning an enemy that remains largely unseen).

As the film progresses and plans go awry, the two of them have to bribe their way into the infected zone. It is here that Edwards creates a quietly brooding atmosphere of tension and suspense,  eventually culminating in one of the film’s few set pieces; a night time attack on the small convoy of which Andrew and Samantha are a part. It’s a sequence that suggests the director has learnt from the best, possessing as it does a dash of the style and impact of the T-Rex attack in Spielberg’s Jurassic Park. Also, the visual effects, though used sparingly, ably illustrate that this is a man who knows how to get the most out of every penny of a reportedly minuscule budget.

But it is in the scenes following that Edwards really begins to weave his spell, as it becomes apparent that Monsters doesn’t intend to follow the path dictated by the night time attack, instead taking us on a less obvious journey.  The plaintive, haunting tone Edwards creates (enhanced by the score of Jon Hopkins) recalls moments in Apocalypse Now and Aguirre, Wrath of God, when the eerie jungle stillness whispers uneasy prophecies of an uncertain future. And as we listen to Andrew and Samantha musing on their lives and what tomorrow may have in store, we realise that these characters have never looked more at home. It’s a wonderfully seductive sequence and the sight of the huge wall on the US border suddenly represents something that neither they nor the audience are particularly keen to reach.

Meanings and motivation are not spelt out in Monsters, the explanation for events often merely suggested. Are the creatures provoked? Are the air strikes pointless? Where is home and what does home mean? Because of this ambiguity it’s the sort of  film you may end up loving the more you think about it. However, what is clear is that Andrew and Samantha are on the edge of huge events  and that big things are happening elsewhere. But in the end what concerns us is the phone call Andrew makes home to his son and the dread Samantha feels about going home. In Monsters, these are the things that matter, not a war being fought elsewhere. This makes the impact of the war all the more profound, as the film’s closing scenes deliver moments of heartbreaking poignancy. And if you give this remarkable film the attention it truly deserves then these moments become devastating.

Extras: Some fascinating insights into Edwards’ approach to film making, courtesy of several substantial behind the scenes features, along with an informative commentary that really makes you doff your cap to the man’s ingenuity and passion. His excellent short film Factory Farmed and the Monsters trailer complete the package.

Back in the late 1960s,  Dr.Who’s sci-fi Saturday night supremacy on British TV was regularly challenged by the glossier, faster-paced fantasy adventure series created by Irwin Allen, the so-called ‘master of disaster’. Allen’s  high concept science-fiction  shows like Lost in Space and The Time Tunnel seductively offered bigger and better thrills than the Doctor and co running around a quarry in Southern England chased by boxes with flashing lights on top.

The resilience and feistiness of Dr Who’s format meant that the old boy in the Police Box won out in the end but Allen’s big budget shows gave him a good run for his money for a while. Perhaps the best of Allen’s shows was the one which received the shabbiest treatment from the ITV network, screening intermittently across some regions and never airing at all in others.  Land of the Giants was an enormous hit for Channel 4 back in the early 1990s when the complete run was screened on Sunday mornings and now the first season arrives – at last – on DVD in the UK.  Unlike many of Allen’s other shows – Lost in Space and Voyage To the Bottom of the Sea (the first season of which has also just been released on DVD) – Land of the Giants still stands up remarkably well in the cold light of the 21st century CGI day because its visuals remain surprisingly impressive for their age and the show is just bursting with colour, invention and a real sense of adventure.

You know the score. We’re way in the future (1983!) and sub-orbital liner Spindrift (crew of three, four passengers – imagine those tiny profit margins!) passes through a scary twirly spacewarp and finds itself on an Earth-like world populated by giants forty times larger than Man and our heroes. Led by square jawed space pilot Steve Burton (Gary Conway) they are soon attacked by over-sized cats, insects and, of course, the lumbering giants themselves. The first episode of the series is probably the best of the bunch; Allen famously lavished his pilot episodes with generous budgets before skimping on the regular episodes and here the opening instalment The Crash is full of incident and spectacle, with giant props and clever optical effects which give the story a palpable sense of scale. Interestingly, the giants in the first episode are depicted as slow, lumbering, monosyllabic and quite threatening; as the series progressed the giants became much more talkative and their society very clearly just like Earth’s but quite a bit bigger.

Being a show from the 1960s, don’t expect much in the way of character development and look elsewhere if it’s a complicated story arc you’re after. Across these day-glo, vaguely psychedelic 26 episodes you’ll see the “Little People” (as they’re dubbed by their giant enemies) tormented by a sadistic young girl in a miniature town, captured by gypsies and, eventually and inevitably, helping downtrodden giants who have been framed for murder or trapped in drains. Whilst some of the stories are mundane and undersell the concept, the show never looks anything less than gloriously vibrant and, fortunately, never falls into the trap which scuppered the promising Lost in Space by playing for broad, childish comedy. Land of the Giants is great fun and endlessly entertaining. It’s actually rather refreshing to be reminded of simpler science-fiction days when just telling an exciting and spectacular story was enough. The DVD set imports the extras from the lavish limited edition set released in the USA a few years back, consisting of interview snippets, the unaired pilot and some footage of Irwin Allen in action.

The wheels came right off the Harry Potter franchise last year with the horribly adolescent Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (or, as I prefer to call it, ‘Harry Potter: My Mate Fancies You’), a film obsessed with teenage crushes and clumsy fumbling, only finding a focus and some sense of drama with the dramatic death of Dumbledore in the last half-hour. Deathly Hallows Part One is an odd one, too, but in a much better way.

This is a film concerned with scene-setting, moving the characters into position ready for the final battle in the soon-come final half of the final book. Deathly Hallows, a couple of zingy set pieces aside, is short on action and big on proper character moments as Harry and his chums, mercifully freed from the confines and cloisters of Hogwarts, find themselves on the run and on the back foot, hiding out in the wilds and waiting for the inevitable.

Despite its exhausting running time, Deathly Hallows is a much more engrossing and absorbing film than any in the series since the monster-fest of Chamber of Secrets. There’s a real sense of impending doom, a feeling that Harry’s story is ending and that events and circumstances are spiralling out of control towards a catastrophic conclusion. Harry and co flee Hogwarts and regroup at Harry’s adopted family home – but even the Dursleys are heading for the hills. A breakneck broomstick flight across London – far more thrilling on screen than in JK Rowling’s flat, unexciting prose –  sees even more fatalities from the regular cast as Voldemort’s Death Eaters swoop in for the kill. Harry, Hermione and Ron (the three young stars have never been better), after a refreshing adventure on the streets of London, disappear into the countryside and wonder what to do next. For a very long time. Friendships and loyalties are tested to breaking point as the trio try to find the Horcruxes, symbols and embodiments of Voldemort’s terrible power – whatever it is.

I often wonder if Rowling realised she was going to take her characters into such dark places when she gave them names like Weasley, Snape and Dumbledore; never more than in Deathly Hallows do the film’s juvenile roots sit uncomfortably with the undoubtedly  bleaker narrative as it races towards the finish line. Some of the old niggles about the story remain; if Voldemort is so all-powerful, why is it taking him so long to wipe Harry off the face of the Earth? And if Harry’s such a powerful wizard, how come he still hasn’t beaten Voldemort? We could do with a bit more variety in the magic too. Harry and his friends spend all their time throwing firebolts around with their wands but surely it’s time for something different? Come on, H, would it kill you to do a few card  tricks or pull the odd rabbit out a hat? You could even saw Hermione in half. Whizzy lightning’s all well and good but it’s not much fun at parties.

Deathly Hallows Part One is a definite marking time instalment but if, like me, you’ve been a bit ambivalent about the whole Potter phenomenon, especially after a run of underwhelming movies, it finally looks as if the series is gearing up to deliver a genuinely powerful and affecting finale. Plenty of deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes goodies on the 2-disc DVD set (and for once DVD purchasers aren’t elbowed aside in favour of the Blu-Ray crowd who tend to get the lion’s share of extra material these days) but no commentary for those with the time and inclination to listen to such things.

   

How much enjoyment you’re liable to get out of The Green Hornet is likely to be directly linked to how much of former porker Seth Rogen you’re able to tolerate.  If you’re expecting some gritty, noirish costumed hero thriller with its origins in the pulp comic strips of the 1930s or even  something camp and colourful like the barely-remembered 1960s TV series, you’re going to be majorly disappointed. If you’re looking for a glorified “But, hey, dude…” slacker comedy with much prat-falling, slapstick and inappropriate levels of swearing, this one’s for you.

Rogen plays Brett Reid, louche playboy layabout son of a media mogul who inherits his father’s fortunes and his business.  He reluctantly teams up with Kato, one of his father’s employees, and, for various obscure reasons, they create the alter-ego of The Green Hornet to fight crime whilst simultaneously being vilified as public enemies. Sounds a bit dull? Well, it is a bit despite the inspired choice of Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) as director. But Gondry’s own sensibilities appear to be subsumed by Rogen’s because Rogen’s all over this like a rash. He co-wrote the screenplay, he’s the executive producer…this is his vision of The Green Hornet through and through, his vanity project where he portrays himself as the superhero but instead of having the wit and guile to create a character who’s actually dynamic and heroic, he’s resorted to his now rather tedious default setting of lazy layabout slob taken out of his comfort zone.

There’s superficial fun to be had here and some spectacular action to take your mind off how ill-judged the whole enterprise is. Fight fans will be frustrated by the slow-mo fisticuffs but there are stunts and explosions and gunfights aplenty to guarantee that while you might not particularly enjoy the film you’re unlikely to fall asleep while it’s on. Waltz as the vain crime boss is a vaguely interesting villain, Cameron Diaz seems to have phoned in her performance and the film only really shows any visual spark at the very end when the theme to the old TV series kicks in and we’re treated to a colourful and imaginative animated credits sequence. Superhero fans either adore the dark stuff (The Dark Knight) or detest the lightweight  (Fantastic Four); Green Hornet is so irreverent and throwaway it’s hardly worthy of proper consideration and it barely qualifies as a superhero movie at all. It’s a monumental misfire which doesn’t work as a comedy and rarely works as an action film. As far as I’m concerned The Green Hornet can just buzz off for good.

 

A few bits and pieces as extras on the DVD but the majority of the supplemental material can be found on the Blu-ray which looks in detail at the making of the film – what a shame no-one ever bothers to explain why it turned out the way it did.

This third big screen Narnia, bank-rolled by Fox after Disney bailed out when the second film in the series, Prince Caspian, underperformed, is big kid’s entertainment writ large. It’s accomplished stuff though, director Michael Apted turning in a veritable epic full of swashbuckling ripping yarns, a fire-breathing dragon and a raging sea serpent which is genuinely ugly and scary (for the young ones, you understand). But the film’s theatrical performance remained indifferent which seems to suggest that the only Narnia story the public are really interested in is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe because that’s the most famous one.

Apted’s no-nonsense film streamlines and tightens up the original CS Lewis text and in many ways I’m reminded of the old Ray Harryhausen movie Jason and the Argonauts as the great sailing ship the Dawn Treader sets off across Narnian waters, its crew and just-got-here human charges Lucy and Edmund Pevensie (the only two kids to properly return from the previous movies) and their obnoxious cousin Eustace (played by Will Coulter from Son of Rambow) off on a quest to find the long-lost Seven Lords of Narnia. On their way they encounter slave traders, one-legged Dufflepuds and the dreaded Green Mist.

This really is a children’s film through and through with absolutely no pretensions to being anything else. Our young heroes are swept back to Narnia at a time of great crisis, they have a few rollicking non-threatening adventures, they save the day and they’re home in time for tea.  Dawn Treader is as much about growing up and becoming responsible as it is about CS Lewis’s notorious religious allegories; here Lucy has to come to terms with being the ‘ugly duckling’ of the Pevensie family, constantly wanting to look like her prettier sister Susan whilst her brother Edmund has to rise to the challenge of living up to his elder brother Peter’s heroic reputation. Then there’s snobby cousin Eustace who resents being dragged, almost kicking and screaming, to Narnia but in the end he learns the value of tolerance and understanding just like everyone else. Awww…

Peppered with big impressive set pieces, stunning effects and a top-notch cast (including Simon Pegg taking over Eddie Izzard’s voice duties as Reepicheap the talking rat), Voyage of the Dawn Treader is perfect entertainment for little ‘uns not yet ready to the more intense Lord of The Rings movies and while it’s simple, fairly lightwight stuff, it’s a pretty harmless way of passing a couple of hours and it never outstays its welcome.

As usual the bulk of the added material is on the Blu-ray edition but the DVD release boasts a music video from X Factor has-been Joe McElderry. Wow.

Every golden age has to  end sometime and the Pertwee years were no exception. Planet of the Spiders (Released on DVD in the UK on 18th April 2011 and in the USA and Canada on 10th May 2011),  marks the passing of an iconic time in the shows history. With the Third Doctor had come many changes, new people behind the scenes, the arrival of colour, but it was with the man with the “old/young” face that the show was given even more mythical qualities.

Time stands still for no one and with the death of his friend Roger Delgado (who played The Master) and the departure of assistant Jo Grant the previous year. Jon looked around and saw that it was time to go. This six part story should have been a tribute to the entire era. I say should because, in these days of fast forward and CGI, it seemed slightly self indulgent.

The basic story concerns some (reasonably) mysterious goings-on at a retreat run by Tibetan monks (somewhere in Mummerset!)  and an equally mysterious blue crystal pilfered from  the blue planet Metebelis III. Oh and there are some evolved spiders thrown into the mix for good measure.

There are themes aplenty for the more cerebral Who-fan. More Buddhism than Kinda (albeit of the Zen variety) and coming to terms with your greatest fears. But other recurring themes from the third Doctor’s time are wheeled out like a pantomime walk down. Pertwees love  of gadgetry and vehicles is given full reign in episode two to such an extent that we are left with an eleven minute chase sequence that ends in a way that could have been finished much earlier.

Yes the accents are suspect at best and the Spiders are less than wonderful but Doctor Who is so much more than a simple collection of effects and tricks. Its got heart coming out of its ears. If you excuse  the mixed metaphor.

This is not  the story we should have had to finish the time of the Third Doctor, we could  have had the battle to the death between Third Doctor and the Master.  We had to suffice with a six part romp that will please any fan.

DVD Extras

The two disc set boasts the usual suspects from 2Entertain. With the recent passing of Nicholas Courtney and Barry Letts the commentary (also with Elisabeth Sladen and Richard Franklin), feels somehow as heart-warming as the story itself.

The Final Curtain, tells us of the last days of the Pertwee Era and the  making of The Planet of the Spiders , whilst John Kane Remembers Planet of the Spiders gives us a fascinating look at this Actor/Writer and his approach to his work. A wonderful short  Directing Who with Barry Letts does exactly what it says on the tin while Now & then the Locations of Planet of the Spiders gives us a short trip down memory lane (quite literally) The second disc also had an omnibus edit version of this story that rips  along at an alarming pace.

All in all its a nine out of ten as this is not the story we could have seen but maybe that’s all the better.

See I got through that whole review without mentioning Donna’s beetle on her back… damn.