Carry On Sergeant (1958)

The very first Carry On film which centres around Bob Monkhouse as Charlie Sage who is called up into the army on his wedding day. He is called into the same base as William Hartnell (Sgt Grimshawe) who is about to retire and has the unenviable task of trying to train a winning platoon. Over the course of their 10 week training, there are various ways that the writers have managed to install humour. At just under an hour and a half, this movie manages to pack a lot of jokes and funny scenes in such a short time.

Kenneth Connor's character is quite funny as the hypochondriac Horace Strong. His constant worrying that something is wrong is a nice running joke which is played well by Connor. Kenneth Williams is instantly on form in this as the snobbish and highly intelligent James Bailey. Hattie Jacques’ character is marginal at the beginning but does comes into her own towards the end when she gets revenge on Strong. Despite being the focal point of the movie, I must say that I wasn’t so bothered by the character of Sage and instead found myself being more entertained by the other characters.

It does have a slightly implausable ending when on the final day all the recruits decide to pull together so that Grimshawe can win with his final platoon. To be honest it is something that can be forgiven as by this point there was a lot of good stuff that had gone by. I did like the bit at the end where Hartnell is looking at the present given to him from the boys and has a subtle sense of pride at what has happened. As the first of the Carry On films, its quite an impressive if understated debut. I think that the Carry On films are better in the Black and White ones as there seemed to be a more desire to make jokes as opposed to just smutty jokes which is what the later films became. Carry On Sergeant has some of the finest names in British comedy and tv and its those names and faces that help keep you entertained until the next joke comes along which being a Carry On film doesn’t take long.

Rating - 7/10

 

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

It’s fair to say that you wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of Clint Eastwood when he is angry and that’s exactly what happens in this film. The film is one that apparently has political themes running through it but to be honest I never really saw them myself because I was just so mesmerised by Eastwood and every time he was the screen I just enjoyed the film and when he wasn’t I just found myself wishing he were. Eastwood as an actor is impressive and most actors would love to have the canon of work that he has but what makes Eastwood stand out above everyone else is that he is a superb director and this film is no different. The story sees Josey Wales who’s wife and child are killed decides to seek revenge and joins the confederate cause.
 
As angry Eastwood films goes it’s up there. Having recently tried to the A Fistfull of Dollars and giving up it was a nice feeling to return to an Eastwood film where they didn’t have to dub (badly) over everyone except Eastwood. The plot was good, it was beautifully directed with some stunning location work and the whole film felt good. But whilst the story may seem to be about one man seeking revenge it must be said that the film has much more going for it. Things don’t seem to be happening because of Wales’ involvement, that there is always a sense that Wales would be happiest with his wife and child at home, not trapesing around the American countryside. 
 
The plot is relatively simple and straight forward yet it works tremendously well with the film being livened up by several humouros characters. The first being Chief Dan George who has been obviously had some turmoil in his life yet is still willing to be helpful. He has this underlying comedy tone that works wonders in this film. Another funny character was Grandma Sarah who comes across as very odd but again I found her comedic tone very good.
 
Eastwood has a great eye for style and gives us some lovely scenes and as always with an Eastwood film what we get is a sense that he has a firm handle on the whole film but my only real issue is that at 135 minutes it could have done with a few minor trims and it could lose about 20 minutes but apart from that what we get is a very good film that has a nice plot, nice direction and some strong characters that I liked and enjoyed when they were on camera. As Eastwood films go its one that I would say is in the middle of his collection, not rubbish but certainly not one of his classics.
 
Rating: 7/10

100 Ghost Street: The Return of Richard Speck (2012)

Another of the found footage films, this reminds me of Grave Encounters which had a similar set up. However the difference is quite clear as this isnt as good as G.E which has become the standard that these sort of films should be aiming for which is surprising because when I first saw Grave Encounters I didn’t think that I would using the film to rate others in this way. The main difference is that the whole film is littered with really dumb people. Not dumb as in they think that 2+2=5 but dumb in that they are without any interest or any reason for caring about them. Also in Grave Encounters, there was something about the hospital that made the film seem creepy whereas in this film it manages to make even the most scary seem quite boring and every single person that gets killed one by one doesn’t really bother me.

The film has as I have come to expect there are a range of people that I either don’t care about or find annoying. There was the obligatory sexual moment. It wasn’t a particularly pleasant moment as we learnt the ghost would hide under his bed whilst someone was raped on his bed. The scene where you can see the bed springs go up was a tad bit unncersary because it seemed like a desperate attempt to try and stoke some interest but by this point I was just wishing the end would come and sadly it took too long to come around.

When the end did come it was actually quite good. The one remaining person seems like she has escaped she meets a nasty end and the usual ending to these films where no one at the start of the film sees the ending. To be honest its not the worst film I’ve seen of this genre but after seeing so many they start to look a bit the same and this is at least the third film I have seen set in a hospital and it’s the least entertaining.

 

Ted (2012)

Ted is created by Seth MacFarlane who is the genius behind Family Guy, American Dad and The Cleveland Show. This is the story of a guy called Johnny who has a bear that can talk any 27 years later has turned into a foul mouth, pot taking bear.

This film was either going to be terrible or fantastic and thankfully it’s the latter. I think that a film should have at least 10 laughs and Ted achieved this within the first 10 minutes. If you like the humour in Family Guy and those shows then you will like this film because it is very Family Guy in terms of how its laid out. I thought that Mark Wahlberg was very funny and Mila Kunis was very good but wasn’t really there for the comedic stuff but she wasn’t just there for eye candy. She served a purpose. However it was Seth MacFarlane who was the best as the voice of Ted.

There are too many funny moments that I could mention but I liked in particular the mocking of JACK AND JILL and the last SUPERMAN movie. Ted is a funny film that will probably need several viewings to catch all the jokes. It’s a great film and one of the funniest films that I have seen for a long time. There are jokes, there is a plot and as the trailers were playing before and I saw a Keith Lemon trailer my heart sank. Dear Mr Lemon, watch Ted and if you want to do a comedy then this is how you do it.

The Expendables (2010)

What happens when you put together several genuine tough men and stick them in a movie? Well what you get is a very amusing and tongue in check action movie. With a combined age of 339 years old (Average of 48), this group of genuine hard men spend the entire movie killing the baddies in various ways. The movie is about a bunch of mercernaries who basically…. Oh what does it matter, all that does matter is that it’s a lot of fun that is stupid but knows its stupid and revels in this fact. There are various moments when you think “this is stupid”. Such a moment is when Stallone cuts some blokes hand and head off with a knife. Know my brain knows this isn’t plausible but it simply doesn’t mind. The age thing was quite amusing to me. When this film was made Statham and Crews were the youngest at 42 and Stallone is the oldest at 64. The sight of Stallone trying to catch a plane and just about getting to it is another of those silly moments.

For me the funniest moment was when Schwarzenegger leaves his cameo appearance and Stallone quips that he wants to be president. It’s something that I found amusing for no clear reason. This is clearly a movie that doesn’t rely on too much plot dialogue. However what it lacks for in a credible plot it more than makes up for in action and that’s all that matters. Number 2 should be just as much fun.