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Reviews
Lipstick on Your Collar (1993)
A completed Musical Trilogy
Let's get something straight; Dennis Potter is the greatest writer of television drama in the UK and his work will never be surpassed by anyone. Potter loved music and as with Pennies from Heaven and The Singing Detective, Lipstick on your collar is heavily marked by the imaginary use of songs of the era. This was the reason I was attracted to Potter in first place but his work is so much more. It explores identity in Britain (specifically in the 1950's) and how attitudes were changing from the old guard and the young peoples' desire to be free of the decorum and stuffiness of the British establishment who still thought they were still an important colonial power - hence his exploration of Suez.
It is more than a social history lesson, it follows the lives of 3 soldiers and the women they love but it shows their hidden sexual desires and their open ones. As usual the women in these situations wield positions of power over the weak men who dream of them in idyllic fashions and how they react and feel at home with "a bit of rough". It is a bizarre love triangle which grows to a pentagon and then some.
Some might classify it as sexist and objectification of women but that misses the point - so many men hold such views without being able to fulfill them and the frustration of the sexually inadequate or inexperienced is superbly contrasted with those who have "made it" on that front.
The music is wonderful, the acting is first class and the darker side of human nature is explored superbly.
Not all the women are shallow sex objects and Potter does emphasize the contrast between suitability of one boy for one girl and vice versa.
It is not his masterpiece but it is an enjoyable romp (if you pardon the pun).
A must have for any Potter fan.
Predators (2010)
Passable - Anytime
Let me say that I enjoyed large parts of this movie without loving it. Predators is a decent sequel to the original and as many posters point out, there are too many directly lifted concepts from the original movie: sword fight stand off, 7 guys and a girl in the jungle, another guy with Old Painless etc but it does work. You get the game reserve on an alien world, armed prisoners and ex-servicemen and women fighting to stay alive and the typical climax at the end so it delivers what you might expect in terms of events.
The biggest problem with any sequel to Predator is the creature's modus operandi has been established and it can not be as tense or scary again. Predator 2 was a good movie despite the detractors who probably wanted a Schwarzenegger return on a par with Ripley from Alien to Aliens but once we know:
A. What the creature really looks like B. What it does c. The Infra-red stuff
The concept is not as effective in the same way that the face- hugger/chest burst Alien idea loses its effectiveness the more times you see it.
The other problem with this movie is the characters. The acting is decent enough but it is not as memorable as the Arnie, Carl Weathers, Bill Duke stuff. It lacks style. Adrien Brody is wrong for this movie - he simply cannot carry an action role and no one will believe he is bad ass enough no matter how many guns he has or how many push ups he has done to get buff. Danny Trejo is good as are the lesser cast members but you don't care enough about them - all their back stories aren't explained that well but this is a minor complaint because basically they are all meant to be prey. Then we get the incredibly annoying Topher Grace. I'm sorry son but you are just Eric Forman in EVERYTHING you appear in. You ruined Spiderman 3 (although not single handedly) and you clearly have a good agent who gets you roles in movies you do not belong in. At least most of the cast of That 70's show had the good grace to go another way. SPOILER - When he turns nasty towards the end I just cringed. He can't be tough or even remotely evil, just weedy and annoying.
The movie does add some new things to the series - the 2 types of Predator like clans, the dogs they send to flush them out as well as honoring the ideas in the original - hunting in jungles, the trophies (spinal column and skull) but it feels a little contrived over all.
There are no classic one liners ad infinitum as in the original, there are fewer great set pieces and the final battle while decent is never going to be a patch on the "Do it NOW. Kill me" bit. There is less humor and the tension of the original is not there but you know what? It can't be. It is a sequel.
Treat this as a no brainer movie and you will enjoy it. Go in with demands and you'll feel let down.
I personally am somewhere in between.