Mad? I was bloody furious!

Just watched the first episode of Mad Men. Heidi didn't like it, neither did I until the final 10-15 minutes, where I saw a little bit of complexity appearing. It's not like I am asking for the world! I think the misogyny might put me of, but I will try another episode. Then again, I never got into The Sopranos so perhaps the screenwriter doesn't appeal to me. 5/10

Ah-ha! The third secret!

So I am back. No reason for being away, just nowt to report.
This week I have mostly been watching The Third Secret. A little film from 1964 (two years before I was born) about mental illness. Kimberly Lindbergs from Cinebeats put me onto this. I'm not sure where she found it, but her nose is highly tuned for off-target sixties cinema.
Well, I am very surprised not to have come across this before, as it is London based, with UK actors, but the BBC seem to have shunned it as far as I can see. Then again, Charles Crichton always seems to get a bit of a hard deal from the establishment.


Back to the film. A crazy American journo is lead to believe that the death of his analyst was not suicide. We are lead on a merry path of claim and counter-claim to try and find the supposed killer. All this leads to a wacky last 20 minutes of plot explaining fun.

The B&W cinematography is excellent, with many a jaunty angle creating a feeling of un-ease. The score add to the hairs on the neck standing up. The over-acting by Stephen Boyd is stellar, but just about fits in. The rest is pretty much standard sixties British fare, but overall the film is well worth searching out. I got my DVD from the US.
I am usually pretty good at spotting the killer, but this kept me guessing till very near the end.

To watch out for: when discussing what the third secret is, you can see that the two leads mouth "the fourth secret". Later, when discussing the psychiatrists patients, you can see the leads say sixth, when the soundtrack says "fifth".

What does it all mean?

About 7/10 in all probability

Suzie-Q, this one is definitely for you. I'll stick it on the post if you want it

Not for long....

You know when Gil said he would not be in Varanasi for long? I think he was misleading us. With his super-supplicating wonky beams, I think he is part of a plot to take over the western world.

Either that, or I have been watching too much Jimmy Bond.

No Mrs Dolan, I expect you to reply!

I got your rsponse, but could't reply to you direct.
Start your own blog, then we would be able to expnad our minds with your vast TV knowledge.
I feel an amateur against your mighty fact-store.

Do It!
as Ben Stiller said.

Sugar-coated Chosen survivors

Well, what a week it has been. Or not. I finally got to see the end of Zombie's Halloween and realised that perhaps the doubters had been correct. I previously saw only up until the hillbilly warders decide to show Michael what "Proper" sex is like. I guess that was the good half. The second half played out like a keystone cops version of one of my favourite movies. The only redeeming feature (and it pains me to say this, cos I really don't like the git) is Malcolm McDowell's Dr Loomis. If it was not for him, the second half would be totally forgettable, but he gives us a character we can at least grab hold of.
As for the swimming pool finale. Oh vey, as my Jewish girlfriend of old would say. Or it was shite as my Dad might have said (if he was ever of a mind to comment on a film).
Anyhow, on to Sugar. I think it was pretty good. Trouble is, I never went to film school and I watched it mostly in a window of my PC whilst doing other stuff during my lunchbreak. Some of the stuff on iMDB seems a bit harsh (but it is iMDB!), the student project angle is rammed down our throats, which makes me wonder if it is other film students giving it a hard time.
I liked it. The discombobulation of the main protagonist was pretty well handled I thought. I may be naive, but her visions just seemed like her spirit seeing what er own body had been through. Simple, but I am a scientist, so stick that up your singularity.

As for Chosen Survivors what can I say?

As a child of the seventies (even though I feel a child of the eighties), the movie slotted right in with the Oh My God, we are rogered line of guff. Lots of the familiar faces, lots of the familiar lines. The only McGuffin was the whole vampire bat scenario. What the bezonkers was going on there? The supposed fact that the whole world had been blown up seemed like a fair-enough plot to base a short TV movie on. The has-it-really-happened-and-if-we-open-the-hatch-are-we-doomed plot seemed like a good idea.
Unfortunately, the bloody bats turn up.
Now I know I am a physicist rather than a medic, but I reckon a dozen bat bites would not finish you off. The potential is there for them being crazed, radiation mutated bats, but they just seem to be the normal type.