The Help

Originally published on Regent Times March 2012

An aspiring author, during the civil rights movement of the 1960′s, decides to write a book from the perspective of the African-American maids. An account of their daily struggles serving the white families they work for.
Written for the screen and directed by Tate Taylor, a childhood friend of the author, Kathryn Stockett, The Help is the tale of middle class revulsion of their African-American maids.
Skeeter Phelan, played by Emma Stone, is a young lady growing up in such a family. An aspiring writer, she takes a cleaning advice column in the local paper and sets out to enlist the help of her friend’s housekeeper Aibileen Clark. Whilst doing this it transpires that the treatment of the help is atrocious and Skeeter soon wants to write a novel about such conditions from the women’s point of view. Whilst not happy about letting a white girl assist them in their struggle she soon gains the confidence of the ladies and sets about telling their tale.
The treatment of the help continues and Skeeter soon finds she is a lonely voice in trying to make changes.

Outside toilets so the help don’t touch the porcelain palaces of the rich families they serve is just one example of the awful way the help is viewed. None more so than by local leader of the women’s community Hilly Holbrook, played by the terrific Bryce Dallas Howard. Her portrayal of the evil racist Stepford wife is uncomfortable to watch, but the role is bravely played.
It seems astonishing that nearly 50 years on from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, we are still using the word “brave” to describe any work dealing with racial hatred, and some parts of the film you will struggle to comprehend.
Allison Janney from the superb West Wing plays Skeeter’s mother Charlotte Phelan, and whilst suffering cancer becomes so confused by her own views on race. She wants to fit in with the other high-powered families in the town but knows the way she hires and fires these ladies is wrong. The entire cast is engaging and you feel the plight of the help, you sympathise with Skeeter and the journey she has undertaken, and grow to hate the families that treat them this way.
“I inherited my maid in my mothers will” is the line that really shocked me the most. An example that slavery was still amongst us.
Parts of the book have been missed out due to having the time constraint of two hours in length for the film, but none of the salient points or character portrayals are effected in any way.
The Help is available from DreamWorks on DVD now and is a must watch movie and future Oscar winner for sure.

Moneyball

Moneyball

 

A story of theOaklandA’s General Manager Billy Beane’s successful attempt to put together a baseball club on the smallest budget in the Major League’s.

 

Brad Pitt is an actor I have always admired. One of those actors that it when you think about his career it is virtually impossible to think of a poor performance by him. Nominated for the Oscar’s four times, including the excellent Twelve Monkeys, Brad is back on Oscar nomination high class level again as Billy Beane. A one time poor player that then became a scout has led Billy to be the General Manager of theOaklandA’s. After being informed by the franchise owner that he has only $32 million and is losing the 3 best players he has, drastic times call for drastic measures.

He recruits Peter Brand a university whiz kid to come up with computer generated analysis of players that they no one else wants.

This leads to an ongoing battle with field manager Art Howe over selection and going on to lose the first 15 games. One conversation in the film where Billy asks Art to drop the first choice first baseman for one of the unknown players. Art’s response was “Pena isn’t only the best first baseman at the club, he’s the only first baseman at the club” this shows the lack of faith everyone at the A’s had in Billy’s vision. They go on to set a Major League record 20 games unbeaten before losing in the playoffs. Billy is offered $12 million a year by the Boston Red Sox to come to them and break the curse of the Bambino but he turns it down to stay at the A’s. The curse of the Bambino for those who don’t know, is the Red Sox didn’t win the world series after selling Babe “the bambino” Ruth to the New York Yankee’s in 1919 until eventually breaking the hoodoo in 2004.

 

Brad Pitts performance is top class, but the casting throughout is just short of genius. Jonah Hill, best known for teen comedies, is well deserving of his Oscar nomination, and really shows his talent as an actor and is no way overshadowed by Brad Pitt. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is at his best again as Art Howe and the writing by Aaron Sorkin is yet again phenomenal.

Remember? Remember what?

Remember? Remember what?

Its very strange this life, I seem to have gone through it in a blur, like it hasn’t really happened or I wasn’t a part of it. Don t get me wrong I know who I am, my family are, where I live and work but apart from a few favourite TVs moments have no clear memories. I cannot remember any social or emotional interactions with anyone over the last 20 odd years and those memories I do recall only involve myself.

Now lets be honest from the get go I have spent up until about 18 months ago either inebriated or under the influence of either street or prescription narcotics, that said I was a sober child and still Doctor Who and that’s about it.

Then BANG!! one day a random event occurs, it could be a smell, or a familiar place, or an email from an old acquaintance, and that’s it the floodgates open and you almost drown in decades of memories rushing in at uncontrollable speeds.
I say uncontrollable because that’s the way my head works, I cant stop the thoughts. Sometimes i’m very lucky and they are positive memories of a place or person that made me happy, a memory of summers past and faces of joy, BUT the flip side to that particular coin is that I also get the regret, the damaged souls, the heartbreak and unrequited love.

I guess what I am asking is should we treasure our memories? Or should we box them up never to see the light of day again? I know I am looking forward to my future but is that because I cannot remember my past?

Who knows? But if you have them do what feels right for you, me? I am going to rent a large storage container in my sub concious to box them all up!! I am better off not knowing.

Thanks for thinking.

Steve

Time for this and time for that??

Time for this and time for that??

Time. What a great thing. Many people seem too float through there lives with plenty of it spare, how envious am I?? you see I dont have any,even if I dont sleep there does not seem to be enough hours in the day to accomplish anything. I have a personal life that needs work as everyones does as we know without work and effort these things dont work and I really really want this one too!! I have a job that takes anywhere between 50 and 80 hours of my week, a son who craves a fathers attention, and friends who hassle and hassle for the maybe 1 spare minute you have in a week.

Prioritise I hear you cry? How? I ask in return. If I dont go to work bills dont get paid, houses get taken, debtors get quite cross, if I dont work on my personal life the most amazing person doesnt get the love she so richly deserves and I dont get the happiness and love in return, if I dont see friends how can I expect them to be there when I need one?

Now its okay to sit here and wish I had a tardis, but lets face it I dont. So you think its okay I have understanding friends, their patient and will wait for that spare minute, you think? Oh il pay that bill next week, they wont take my house of me will they?

So now a decision has to be made…. well folks here it is…. personal life and family, then work, then everyone else and sorry to those of you I wont be seeing anymore, we had a blast im sure, but without patience while I have so much going on I really dont have the time for you.

steve

Aaron Sorkin wrote my life

Television! The evil box in the corner of our rooms that we all pretend is just there for entertainment. It’s not there to rule or govern our lives at all, yet we rota our weekly coming and goings around our favourite shows. Myself personally, I have loved every minute of television, from the childish humour of Captain Pugwash ( think Seamen Staines and Master Bates ) to the anger brought into my life derived of the glossy magazine driven oxymoron that is reality T.V. Many years ago I ran a nightclub and on regular occasions I locked 10 people in a lonely building away from the outside world, I didn’t need to call it Big Brother and will guarantee we had more fun and as Endemol released the figures for the final run of Big Brother, we had a bigger audience!! I am bugged by soap operas or serial dramas as some dimwitted studio exec has decided they must be called, do we not have enough trials and tribulations in our lives? obviously not as millions tune in to listen to bad actors, with very bad accents ( Eastenders,that is not what a Londoner sounds like!! do some research you morons ) moan for 30 mins at least 4 times a week! also I can’t speak for you the viewer but how many times has your friend shot you, stole your baby, or dropped a pram on you?

Then we get to my favourite subject surrounding television and that is good writing. It is a very rare beast and much maligned by the major channels with their Z list celeb dancing shows, but get yourself to the smaller networks and its like finding gold at the end of a rainbow. There is a few writers out their that in my rollercoaster emotional existence, have the knack of dialling into my psyche at just the right time, with the right sentiment, or the right character or plotline. I have to have good character writing, my mind needs it!! the someone to care for, to root for, to understand me while I follow there daily lives wrapped up in my own. Step forward Danny Tripp and Matt Alby from Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Josh Lyman in the West Wing, Patrick Jane in the Mentalist, all emotionally broken characters seeking happiness and refuge in everyday people and events, much like myself as i seek a way to live with my illness and better myself for my friends and loved ones. These are in turn incredible performances from Bradley Whitford, Matthew Perry ( I know the “friends” guy can act, who knew??!! ) and Simon Baker, these roles jump off the screen at me and remove my pain, whilst the undisputable penmanship of ( the soon to be oscar winning ) Aaron Sorkin, and the humourous suspense of Bruno Heller get me through my day and understand my moods and what will calm me.

Aaron Sorkin truly wrote my life and I live it through the controls in my hand and the magical box in the corner.

Thanks for watching.

Steve

The Re – Boot Saga continues

The Re-Boot saga continues.

 

We are very lucky in the world of all things geek. We have never had it so good. Television is full of fantastic shows, new projects are queuing up for airtime, the world of film has gone completely geek obsessed and never in the history of all that is big screen related have the worlds of Sci-Fi and comic book been so richly coveted.

This year alone we have “The Dark Knight rises”, “The Amazing Spiderman” and the long awaited “The Avengers” to name but three. Marvel as a studio have pumped a small oil bearing countries gross profit into the Avengers series and at one point the films were being released at such a rate that I thought the laser in my DVD player was going to start a union and strike. All incredible movies, superb casting, excellent directing especially from Jon Favreau and Mr Shakespeare himself the wonderful Kenneth Branagh. Who would have thought that after watching Thor it was made by a director who normally speaks in a language I could never get my head around.

Doctor Who is gearing up for its 50th anniversary next year, the Americans are taking risk after risk on new writers for there Sci-Fi and horror genres and we as the fans are the winners.

Then the problem starts, when is so much to much? all through the 80s we pretty much had nothing movie wise except Superman, then in the 90s Batman was brought back from the cold and the cheesiness of the Adam West days was removed. Then the Re-Boots started. I think after the mess Joel Schumacher had left the Batman legacy in that a new take was needed. Christopher Nolan has done a fantastic job. Batman Begins was a new slant on the series, a new more angry, obsessed Bruce Wayne. The Dark Knight in my opinion is one of the greatest comic book films ever made and the posthumous Oscar awarded to Heath Ledger was well deserved. The one time teeny girl fantasy figure created an arch nemesis that warranted a film that long. He made the character his own and I cant see anyone else ever wanting to take the mantle of “The Joker” on ever again. But then news drifts in that David S. Goyer, himself an accomplished writer in this genre with the batman series and all things Blade related, is starting to pen a Batman Re-Boot before Chris Nolan’s trilogy has even been finished. The Dark Knight rises is not even on our screens until later in the year and already a Re-Boot is planned?

Superman needs a remake, the attempt a few years earlier was poor to say the least and leaves me wondering why Warner Bros didn’t leave it in the capable fan boy hands of Kevin Smith (yes Silent Bob!!).Spider man was ok, enjoyable and had been a few years in the waiting but now there’s another one coming, this time With Andrew Garfield taking a different spin (see what I did there?) on the story.

The Watchmen could soon have 7 yes count them 7 prequels, Sin city has 2 more films in it yet and so it goes on.

Whilst as a fan I am of course not poo pooing all of this investment and effort to keep a sometime unloved genre going, but you have to ask yourself, if this carries on will peoples interest wane? will we end up back in the doldrums just praying for Christopher Reeve to pull his tights on one last time?

I sincerely hope not and for the next few years am going to be proudly enjoying being a geek but all the time one hand will be behind my back and the fingers will be crossed.

Grimm

When told about the upcoming start of “Grimm” on Watch, I was incredibly excited. Created by David Greenwalt I was hoping to gain the same enjoyment I got from one of his other shows, and my guilty pleasure, Angel.

From the very start I was not disappointed. A young red riding hood, jogging in the woods listening to Sweet Dreams by the Eurythmics, Is suddenly taken from our screens with such speed and force, I found myself sitting up in my chair thinking to myself “here we go then”.

Introduced then to Detective Nick Burkhardt and his partner Hank Griffin ( played by the well cast David Giuntoli and Russell Hornsby ) Police men from Portland, Oregon, tough men used to gruesome crime scenes, they find themselves confused by finding a boot print at a scene that could only have been an animal attack. Nick starts to glimpse people as they actually are, momentarily viewing the mythical evil faces hidden beneath. The show continues with Nick starting to realise he may have special powers. A visit from his dying Aunt leads to the revelation that Nick is the last in a elite line of  supernatural criminal profilers known as the Grimm’s.

Upon the abduction of a young girl wearing another red hood, Nick starts to believe that these may not be as simple a crimes as maybe they first appeared. Whilst hunting for the missing child, Nick inadvertently comes in contact with the reformed Big Bad Wolf that isMonroe. I loved the humour and honesty that Silas Weir Mitchell brings to the role ofMonroe, the reluctant font of knowledge that Nick relies upon as he try’s to understand his gift whilst still searching for the abductee.

An old fashioned sniff out through the woods byMonroeleads Nick to a house in the middle of nowhere and the postman, himself a psychotic Harrison Ford looking man. Eventually the criminal/monster is defeated and the girl is saved. Right at the end of the show you see that Nicks boss Captain Sean Renard ( Sasha Roiz ) is in league with the supernatural and that leaves you begging for episode two.

Modern takes on old classics are becoming the norm in television these days, but this is definatly one attempt that works.

From my childhood growing up inGermany, I remember the Grimm fairy tales, a collection of folklore the two brothers, both academics, had collected in the 1790′s and really enjoyed Terry Gilliam’s The Brothers Grimm. I hope the excitement and attention to detail ( all the terms and names are the actual ancient German ones ) continues through the first season. We caught a glimpse on the next episode of the take they will have for the Goldilocks and the three bears story and I really hope my favourite Grimm tales are included, three little men in the wood and the riddle. I certainly will be watching.

A Doctor Who?

A Doctor Who?

 

There are many debates happening on social network sites regarding Doctor Who. What are you hoping for from season 7? what do you think will happen during the 50th anniversary year? etc. etc. What nobody seems to discuss is who’s next?

 

Now before you all attack me for wishing Matt Smith would go, please hear me out? Matt has done an incredible job, he has really made the role his own and is second only to Colin Baker in my affections so I want Matt to stay in the part forever. However I am a realist that has gut instincts that I usually keep to myself.

 

So why am I bringing this subject up now I hear you cry? well a couple of reasons as it happens. First is my gut tells me that Matt will go either during the end of the next season, or during a huge, spectacular event during the 50th year. The second is my fine editor here at BadWilf make an innocent comment on his personal Twitter page regarding Daniel Radcliff’s suitability for the part after seeing his latest film, post Harry Potter, the excellent Hammer offering the woman in black.

 

This sent my overactive imagination spinning into overdrive. Now we all no Steven Moffat likes a surprise and to shock the fan base with his decision making. Let’s face it who really was expecting Matt Smith to be at the helm of the TARDIS when David Tennants tenure ended?

 

So Daniel Radcliffe I’m sure we can all agree is an accomplished actor that certainly wouldn’t be overawed by the legendary role, but that does seem too much of an obvious choice for the Moff to make. My hat would be in the ring obviously but I also believe that Mr. Moffat may also have some concerns on that, so Who becomes the Who?

 

Does anyone think the timing of Hugh Laurie’s departure from the excellent House show is just a coincidence? I personally would like to see a slightly older Doctor next ( Sorry Hugh!!) as since the movie Doctor’s 8, 9, 10, and 11 have all been under 50. Another plus in the Hugh Laurie column is the range of acting skills he has. Whether to be serious or zany for example has been proved over and over for many years now, and the ability to seem the smartest guy in the universe shouldn’t be to hard for him as to be fair he’s pretty damn smart.

 

So there we have it, my thoughts towards the future. Please don’t send your death threats to the guys here who allow me to write what I want, these are my views and my views alone. Followers of my musings know where you can go to debate me and I’m quite happy to tell you why your all wrong, and lets face it Steven Moffat is going to pull the shock of all shocks out of the bag when the times come and I’ll be wrong too.

Eulogy of Eileen Halfpenny

Eulogy of Eileen Halfpenny

When I sat to write to this eulogy, hundreds of excellent memories came flooding back into my life that I had really forgotten over time. My Sister, Sarah reminded me of the fruitella tradition. We would each have a packet of fruitella’s every time we took the journey to Luton to seeNanand Granddad. I also have bizarre takes on wonderful memories. There was a time in my childhood whilst studying the second world war at school in Germany, that Nan and Granddad came to visit, and the whole family travelled to mohnesee dam, a day of the dambusters theme tune and a history lesson, but id forgotten all that and the memory of that visit that has stayed with me all this time is of Nanny making me a cup of tea and it was the first day I decided to never take sugar in my drink again. Another memory I have that has stayed with me all my life to the point where it is almost my living, is words.Nanloved to play scrabble, I loved to play with her and remember she always had a dictionary to hand to prove to me I was making words up,” no word has that many Q’s and Z’s” I remember her scolding me. But the love of words continued with me. All of those years ago, innocent word games with my Nan led to a love of writing that has never left and for that gift I will be eternally grateful.

Also the ability to keep her head whilst all around where losing there’s. I know in the recent past with nans illness its hard to remember, but she was as bright as a button. never let the stresses of everyday life get to her. That strength was immense, and is a life lesson I have continually tried my best to learn from. as her friends at Marks and Spencer remember, she never stopped smiling and carried on regardless of what was going wrong around her. That inner strength I still see today in my mother who has extraordinary abilities to get things done when the world is collapsing around her. certainly the 2 strongest woman I have ever had the privilege of being in the company of.

Nanwouldn’t wants us to be upset and mourn for her today, she would want us to celebrate the life she had. so when it comes to the tears, and the sadness I will end with a quote from myNan”don’t be daft “

Who Am I Part 1

Pearce Productions is the brainchild of Antoni Pearce, a family man who just loves to create all things entertaining. After a few knock backs from other companies for his scripts and animations, Antoni decided the only way to get his work out there was to create his own production company and I, certainly, am glad he did. Latest project to come from his studios in the past week is an animated Doctor Who series.

 

The series launched with Who Am I? Part 1. With a traditional style Doctor Who opening credits and logo, the action starts in 2012Glasgow, with a dazed and confused man suffering memory loss falling out of the TARDIS. whilst disputing whether to pay for coffee in a local shop, the man is befriended by a young lady who offers to pay for the drink. It transpires through there conversation that the man is suffering accident driven amnesia, but remembers he’s the Doctor and he must have regenerated. Aliens land and start shooting, looking for the Doctor. It turns out that aboard there ship in a prison cell is the 11th incarnation of the Doctor, so we have 2 Doctors sharing the same timeline, a mysterious alliance that need both Doctors and the fist part of episode 1 ends on a rooftop chase cliff-hanger.

 

There is both good and bad things to report about this show. I will start with the bad so I can end on the positive aspects. The animation comes across as very slow and I hope in the future Pearce Productions get supplied with the software and equipment needed to make more flowing animation. Whilst the acting is good, the voice of the wonderful Shelley Creswell is weak in volume compared to Co-Star Elliot Grainger. That said these are not faults with the idea, script or concept more technical issues that I am sure will Iron out over time. The story is very well written, a great believable Doctor Who storyline of humour, confusion, TARDIS’s and aliens out to get the Doctor. The script is humorous and flows well and the rapport between the actors comes across through there animated counterparts. The use of existing Doctor Who soundtrack and effects makes it easy to disappear into the world of the Timelords once again.

 

In conclusion, I am very much looking forward to episode 1 part 2 and if the level of story creation and script quality are maintained throughout the series then we really are in for a treat. Hopefully sound quality will improve but once you get used to it you get sucked into the story by your love of Doctor Who and your imagination.

 

So, Bravo Mr. Antoni Pearce and your passionate production firm. Very Impressed.

 

Who Am I Part 1 can be seen on the website http://www.pearceproductions.blogspot.co.uk

and you can subscribe to them on YouTube via Mr Pearce productions