CITY FLICKERS..

 I noticed an interesting banner on a website today.. unlike my usual targeted approach to the web I clicked and meandered as the subject matter proved too tempting..

It may well be for you too (so I've retained the link through on the image).

A listing of films all set in one city.. now there's an idea.  I must say I've not seen many of the older Paris based films on the list and it made me want to find them (I was also sad to see that District 13 wasn't there but then again it was a love based theme too and that film is anything but a love film!)..

So to kick off this sometime random and untimed series on my Blog.. let's have London.  After all, you don't have to think too hard to come up with a long list of films based in and on the theme London?

My list would proceed as follows:

McVicar (1980) - OK, not all the movie is in London but the parts that don't involve jail
largely are. I love all the stuff in this movie, from the gunshot scene to the running out
of a suburban house from the arms of the rozzers.. great gritty 70s imagery (released in '80
but filmed a year earlier I think?) and with a soundtrack to die for. FREE ME!!!

Poor Cow (1967) - This is a great film on so many different levels.
It's an early Ken Loach so you know you're going to get the gritty again. It follows
an ordinary life of a woman caught up in drudge. Just the type of film I enjoy - and now
I sound a complete pessimist depressive! - just when you think it can't get worse for the main
character it goes from bad to badder.. Was Ken Loach taking the p*ss when he called her
Joy? Fantastic. Oh, and there's a Daimler Dart in scene for around 4 seconds when Joy
crosses a well-heeled part of London. I can spot one a mile off!

Layer Cake (2004) - Daniel Craig just before he got a head bigger than Jupiter and got
really really boring (did you see the Jonathan Ross interview??).  Great film, moody
scenes of London as the main character does his last few deals in cold calculated
focused businesman type of way. Great ending to a film that is a million miles away
from anything Hollywood could make.  Is this the only film ever made that we don't get
to know the main characters name in? Not once is it mentioned, or even on the credits????

South West 9 (2001) - one of those music-fuelled films that mash up a whole load of
characters in a single days events set in London's SW9 district (Stockwell/Angell Town). Great post-industrial locations found in the film include the Orphanage for Fatherless Girls (a famous Victorian institution near Coldharbour Lane), Electric Avenue (yes the same one as in the Eddie Grant song) and they use StockwellChurch (I think?) really
well for a rave scene towards the end.. just brilliant and very unknown/unappreciated
little brother to films like Human Traffic.. The main female character Amelia Curtis
never made much of a film career after this, but is often to be spotted in things
like Holby City!

Sorted (2000) - Another little known film with an impressive part played by Tim Curry
as a weirdo nightclub owner / drug kingpin. The main character finds himself in London
from Scunthorpe of all places! Brilliant music soundtrack and some really great sound
and special effects as he winds his way through London's underground club culture
in a whodunnit mystery for the rave generation.. Jason Donovan as a gay dj
character is unmissable!

(remember this is work in progress - I'll slowly complete this as my memory brings back films - don't wait up!).
  
 

NO MORE..

I am not going to say any more about swine flu on my blog for now. The whole episode / pandemic is just getting too much exposure. The BBC led their news site this morning with the main WHO story plus eight more pages that you could dig into and freak yourself out about. Enough. Let's just have the news, I don't want a "Pandemic in Pictures" or "Mapping The Pandemic" site, nor do I want fancy graphics that show me the various levels of the WHO Pandemic Rating System.

Enough.

My only comment will come, appropriately, in 28 Days from the first announcement of the cross-border problem at Level 5 (April 23). So, til 21 May. Zip. Nothing. Nada.

On another note, I enjoyed plotting my day on the blog yesterday. It didn't really surprise me. My days are pretty similar from one to the next at the moment. Polko's world of work has been busy busy busy for ten years but is now suffering like everyone else's (outside of the public sector where Polko says, "busy does not really apply"). Even then, those in the public sector are now beginning to worry about some of their positions. As we should all be aware, it's just not possible to pay that kind of public sector wage bill each month when the government have just given away billions to the banking sector and the private sector isn't exactly generating large tax revenues. There is now talk of final salary pension schemes being 'amended', 'revised', cut and/or suspended for some in the public sector. Welcome to the real world people! Just when you thought it was safe to stay in public sector waters..


Whilst googling for the Jaws Poster (lovingly re-interpreted by Mrs Polko - thank you!) I came across an interesting concept on someone else's blog (Spectacular Attractions - film in all its forms). Basically, take three screen grabs of a film from 10, 40 and 70 minute points and analyse the essence of the film from just those three. Nicholas Rombes, a University of Detroit Mercy prof, called this idea "freedom through constraint" in his book A Cultural Dictionary of Punk. I like the idea and will try it out. Watch out some time soon for the first.

Now I have those expenses hanging over from yesterday to sort out. And maybe one or two skirmishes in Azerbaijan on Call of Duty 4. Today will be more freedom than constraint methinks?