Seb Hunter - How To Be A Better Person

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Atlantic Books


The basic upshot of Seb Hunter's latest project was to spend two years volunteering for various organisations in his local area in an effort to better himself as a person, or rather to answer the question "does volunteering make you a better person?"

The resultant book is essentially a diary of these two years, detailing the various jobs and tasks he undertook, the people he worked with, and people he helped, with short conclusions from time to time on whether or not each job really did make him feel like a better person.

Hunter's semi-autobiographical humourist approach is consistently easy to read and his tone is always warm and friendly. He describes infuriating situations not with venom and malice but in the manner of an old friend reminiscing the ridiculous, or a dinner party guest relating a story for comedic effect. It's easy to relate if not to his exact situations, then to the people he encountered as many of them are either the kinds of people we've all encountered (embittered Oxfam shop worker Gladys in particular), or can imagine from Hunter's descriptions, and would probably see ourselves behaving in the same ways he did towards them.

Some of the entries are clearly chosen more for their comedy merits than their contribution to his story, but at no point do you get the feeling he's undertaken this whole charade simply to produce a funny book, even if that is in fact what he did, to offer a cynical view. He never lets go of the serious aspect to his adventures in favour of a cheap laugh, adding a level of sincerity that a lot of humour writing lacks.

While writing this book it's clear many afterthoughts struck Hunter, which he dispenses via footnotes so as not to disrupt the sense of "now" in the main narrative, which works well and in actual fact there's almost as much humour in these short asides as there is in the text. The thought of these might seem irritating on the surface, and when one or two of the footnotes take up half a page to themselves, they can be, but most of them are single, sharp sentences that often show more of Hunter's cynical side than the paragraphs they're attached to.

'How To Be A Better Person' is not hilarious. Instances of laughing out loud are likely to be rare, if they occur at all, but it is amusing more or less all the way through, and while it probably isn't going to inspire many people to spend a Summer behind the counter at Oxfam, it may provide some food for thought on the whole volunteering thing and what good the various avenues of volunteering actually do for people in need.

“ easy to relate ”

PUBLICATION DETAILS
First Hardback Publication Date: N/A
First Paperback Publication Date: April 1, 2009
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Pages: 304
Language(s): English

DVD: George Carlin - It's Bad For Ya

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Anchor Bay Home Entertainment

Directed by Rocco Urbisci
Written by George Carlin
Starring George Carlin

A year behind the US with this release, this is George Carlin's final HBO comedy special before his death at the age of 71 in 2008; his 14th HBO special in total, which is currently the record for a comedian. And, remarkably, it's only the second of his stand-up DVDs to get a commercial release in the UK, the other one being 'Complaints And Grievances' from 2001 (not released until 2003). 2005's 'Life Is Worth Losing' will finally be released in February 2010.

On his final tour Carlin delivered a typically vitriolic tirade tackling topics like death, children, old age and parents, and the original show was nominated for an Emmy. After release the CD equivalent won a Grammy for Best Comedy Album. How much his death contributed to this would probably be a valid question, but compared to most comedians' output, this is amongst the best. Against the formidable measuring stick of Carlin's own output however, it isn't his best.

Easily the funniest section is his closing rant about rights, where every one of his observations is on the nail when some of his previous ones in this show, like some of the ones about children, aren't. In some instances he is intentionally making silly arguments (like saying babies are ugly because their heads are too big), but some are just a little off the mark.

Other particularly funny segments are his observations on boring conversations, professional parents, swearing on the bible, and "the self-esteem movement", mostly concluded by the phrase which gave the show its name "It's all bulls**t folks and it's bad for ya."

If you're a Carlin fan, get this. We have precious little of his material available in this country and this is a good example of his work. The filming, sound and picture quality is of course first class as you'd expect for a show recorded as recently as March 2008, and George was still as sharp as ever, even at 70.

Hopefully this, February's release, and the two forthcoming books, will at some point be followed up by the 'All My Stuff' box set, which contains all 12 HBO specials from 1977's 'George Carlin At USC' through to 'Life Is Worth Losing' (the 1997 special was a kind of "best of" and isn't included).

“ a typically vitriolic tirade ”

Special Features: Too Hip for the Room* Carlin on December 17, 2007: Selections from the Archive of American Television s 3-hour interview with George Carlin /
Carlin on The Jackie Gleason Show - January 25, 1969

TECHNICAL DETAILS
DVD Release Date: October 26, 2009
Studio: HBO
Feature Running Time: 69 mins
Certificate: 15
Language(s): English
Subtitles: None
Other Format(s): Blu-Ray / CD

DVD: Mark Steel - Viva La Revolution

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Brian Productions

Directed by Cal Barton
Written by Mark Steel
Starring Mark Steel

Recorded at the Black Heath Halls on his 'Viva La Revolution' tour, comedian Mark Steel's first live DVD, based on his book of the same name, focuses predominantly on the French Revolution, a period of time Mark believes is one of the most significant in World history.

So his aim was to guide the audience through the main events of the revolution, picking up on the humour of the things the main participants said and did at the time while being historically accurate at the same time. In reality he relates all of the main events to England. Not in the historic sense, just parallels that can be drawn with the way people behaved then, and society now, mostly by making jokes about working class English people (his mock accents are very good) trying the same thing.

So in actual fact most of the jokes ended up being about things like British public transport, posh people, racism and teenagers, and mostly not about the French Revolution at all. Mark has two of the things which make the funniest comedians as appealing as they are. A working class background and intelligence. This means that during these tangents his social observations are astute and very funny. And like some of his peers he carries a certain amount of well-directed anger towards certain subjects and factions of society which makes his mini-rages all the more funny.

His approach was probably the best he could have taken. Let's be honest, if he'd spent two hours purely talking about the French Revolution, most audiences would likely have lost interest pretty quickly. By spinning off into short spells of UK-derision he keeps people interested and amused long enough to fit everything to his historical reminiscence.

On the extras front there is another 13 minutes of outakes from the show (generally where his tangents got too far away from the subject at hand), a half-hour chat with Jeremy Hardy on a park bench (fairly amusing, but really just two comics sharing annecdotes) and extracts from the Mark Steel Lectures series, in which there's very little humour, more a historical documentary.

Whether or not this show is quite what it claims on the tin, or as sharp as his writing can be, it is still a very funny (and at two hours, good value) show and Mark's delivery is the right mix of low and high brow to appeal to everyone.

“ social observations are astute and very funny ”

Special Features: Two Men On A Bench (with Jeremy Hardy) / Viva La Revolution Outakes / Extracts From The Lectures

TECHNICAL DETAILS
DVD Release Date: September 29, 2009
Studio: Brian Productions
Feature Running Time: 112 mins
Special Features Running Time: 58 mins
Certificate: 15
Language(s): English
Subtitles: None
Other Format(s): None

DVD: My Name Is Bruce

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Anchor Bay Home Entertainment

Directed by Bruce Campbell
Written by Mark Verheiden
Starring Bruce Campbell, Ted Raimi, Grace Thorsen, Taylor Sharpe, Ellen Sandweiss, Dan Hicks, Ben L. McCain, James J. Peck

Bruce Campbell has made a career out of being Bruce Campbell. So it's only fair he makes a film about himself. Although it may perhaps be considered an egotistical move on one hand, Bruce spends near enough the entire film mocking himself, his career path, and his movies.

The general storyline of 'My Name Is Bruce' revolves around a small town named Gold Lick which befalls the wrath of the Chinese God of War following the reckless behaviour of a group of teenagers. A much used, and here intentionally mimicked, horror B-movie device. One of the teenagers is an avid fan of Bruce Campbell and his movies, and convinces the town that Campbell can be their only saviour, kidnapping him to be such.

What this movie is essentially aiming at is a tongue-in-cheek take-off of not just Campbell's own movies, but action/horror movies in general, with intentionally-ham-fisted performances, less-than-serious dialogue and a script for Campbell that only Campbell could write. But it's not for Bruce's fans only, although being one does help.

Indeed if approached with the expectation that anything low-budget or corny is meant to be that way, the performances of most involved can be recognised and the good turns that they are. Campbell is obviously perfect playing his movie self, and has written a script to match the general behaviour of the characters he's known for, while Ted Raimi (acting brother of Sam Raimi, director of the 'Evil Dead' trilogy, Campbell's most notable films) appears in three ridiculous but highly amusing roles as Campbell's agent, Wing the aging Chinaman and the handyman responsible for adjusting the population count on Gold Lick's town sign.

The movie plays out mostly as viewers would expect, with Campbell filling the majority of his scenes with over-confident one-liners and the monster involved picking off several bit-part characters and extras until the final showdown. There's a small amount of faux-moral here and there, but it's mostly a well-executed exercise in self-derision for the purposes of humour.

Campbell really doesn't make enough movies anymore, and several references to his generally good performances in otherwise bad productions are both true, and hint that Campbell truly recognises his place.

“ a well-executed exercise in self-derision ”

Special Features: Commentary with Bruce Campbell / Heart of Dorkness - The Making of 'My Name is Bruce' / Awkward Moments with Kif / Bruce on... / Kif's Corner – The Making of Real Fake Posters / 'Cavealien 2' Trailer / Beyond Inside the Cave: The Making of 'Cavealien 2' / Poster art gallery / Prop gallery / Photo gallery / The Hard Truth News From Hollywood – The REAL Bruce Campbell / Love Birds / Trailer / Easter Eggs

TECHNICAL DETAILS
Release Date: February 13, 2009
DVD Release Date: March 2, 2009
Studio: Dark Horse Entertainment
Feature Running Time: 81 mins
Special Features Running Time: 147 mins
Certificate: 15
Language(s): English
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Other Format(s): Blu-Ray

DVD: Triangle

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Manga Home Entertainment

Directed by Johnny To, Hark Tsui, Ringo Lam
Written by Sharon Chong, Kin-Yee Au, Tin-Shing Yip, Kenny Kan, Nai-Hoi Yau
Starring Simon Yam, Louis Koo, Honglei Sun, Kelly Lin, Ka Tung Lam

All of the hype surrounding 'Triangle' has nothing to do with the actual quality of the film or its storyline, but instead the coming together of three of Hong Kong's biggest and most respected action directors Ringo Lam, Johnny To and Hark Tsui, famously responsible for films like 'City On Fire', 'Election' and 'Once Upon A Time In China' respectively.

That kind of hype can often be an indicator that the movie itself isn't up to much, and in this case that was true. The idea was that each director would get 30 minutes of the 90-minute movie each, but the story itself was so disjointed anyway, that really had no effect at all, good or bad.

No aspect of the story moved with any real pace and the acting was, for the most part, the kind of ham-fisted overacting Hong Kong cinema is, sometimes unfairly, mocked for in the West. This is particular true of the segments where the main protagonists, a trio of friends who are trying to retrieve a buried treasure, are on the run from the various people after them; slapstick gags left, right and centre.

Given the reputation attached to the three big-name directors working on this movie, it was a disappointingly boring effort with very few saving graces. The basic story was weak, the acting poor and the pace inadequate. A shame, in a sense, because the three segments idea could have been a good one.

“ ham-fisted overacting ”

TECHNICAL DETAILS
Release Date: August 29, 2008
DVD Release Date: October 20, 2008
Studio: Media Asia Films
Feature Running Time: 95 mins
Certificate: 12
Language(s): Cantonese, English
Subtitles: English
Other Format(s): None

DVD: Tim Vine - So I Said To This Bloke

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Starz Home Entertainment

Directed by Steve Kemsley
Written by Tim Vine
Starring Tim Vine

Tim Vine's entire stand-up routine is one-liners and puns and he brings a completely new set of them to his second live DVD. It's literally non-stop puns, many fuelled by cheap props, split up by the occasional song. Unfortunately for Tim, despite having been in the game a lot longer, this kind of comedy is rather overshadowed by the strangely popular Jimmy Carr at the moment, but the capacity crowd at London's Bloomsbury Theatre for this recording does show that he still has a substantial following.

Vine's puns range from the genuinely sublime to the simply moronic (the "pen behind the ear" segment was both stupid and far too long). The major problem is the distribution between these two extremes is not even (or to use the correct terminology, 'normal'). He is admittedly better with the one-line jokes. Most of the ones that go on any longer than that end up being very disappointing; usually either blatantly obvious or simply weak.

But the main problem with his one-liners, aside from many of them just not being very good, is that they are completely unlinked. If he could have woven several of them together into a story of some kind this could have been and absolute riot. As it is this ends up being like watching someone read out Christmas cracker jokes for an hour. He actually makes several gags about the quality of his own show, which is a tell-tale sign that he knows where the problems are and is trying to pre-empt any criticism.

On top of all of this Vine makes the biggest mistake a comedian can make; he finds his own jokes far too funny, even to the point where he pauses for too long with a slightly goofy look on his face after some jokes to make sure everyone's laughing along with him.

On the extras, there are plenty of them, and none of them are funny. Well, that's not quite true, an outtake from the main show where Tim's dad Guy gets on stage to tell the first joke he told Tim as a child is quite good and should probably have been left in the show. The rest, particularly the over-long sketch featuring Tim slapsticking his way through several sports, are terrible.

Even for fans of this style of comedy, I don't really see how this can be considered a good example. So many of the jokes are simply not funny, and the composition of the act borders on amateurish. While Vine is a perfectly charismatic and likeable performer that just isn't enough to save what is otherwise a surprisingly disjointed show.

“ like watching someone read out Christmas cracker jokes ”

Special Features: 'Tim's Dad Tells A Joke' / 'Family Holiday On The Piano' / 'Paranamasiac' / 'Parade of Sport' / 'Jukebox Pop Video' / 'Flag Hippo In Love' / Deleted Scenes / Tim's Panto Snapshot / Tim Vine In Conversation

TECHNICAL DETAILS
DVD Release Date: October 27, 2008
Studio: Feel Anime Studios
Feature Running Time: 64 mins
Special Features Running Time: 56 mins
Certificate: PG
Language(s): English
Subtitles: English
Other Format(s): None

DVD: Everyone's Hero

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Starz Home Entertainment

Directed by Christopher Reeve, Dan St. Pierre, Colin Brady
Written by Robert Kurtz (screenplay), Jeff Hand (screenplay), Howard Jones (story)
Starring William H. Macy, Whoopi Goldberg, Jake T. Austin, Robin Williams, Rob Reiner, Brian Dennehy

The core subject matter of 'Everyone's Hero' somewhat precluded it from both recognition and popularity in the UK and Europe, meaning until now it was only available in the US, and only saw cinematic release there as well. That subject matter is baseball, a sport only played in North America and of very little interest elsewhere.

So, despite an all-star cast of internationally popular actors including William H. Macy, Whoopi Goldberg, Rob Reiner and an uncredited Robin Williams, plus fleeting appearances by Forrest Whittaker, Robert Wagner and Richard Kind, it has taken two years to finally see DVD release here. The film began life under the directorial eye of 'Superman' legend Christopher Reeve, who died of a heart attack in 2004, and it would be another two years before Colin Brady and Dan St. Pierre would complete the movie with Reeve's wife Dana, amongst others, serving as Executive Producer. Dana also died, from lung cancer, in 2006 and the movie is dedicated to both her and Christopher.

A CGi animation in the style of Gil Kenan's 'Monster House', released in the same year, 'Everyone's Hero' revolves around Yankee Irving, a New York Yankees fan who idolises star player George 'Babe' Ruth. Ahead of the World Series against Napoleon Cross' (Williams) Chicago, Ruth's famous bat Darlin' (Goldberg) is stolen by Chicago pitcher Lefty Maginnis (Macy) and Yankee sets off across America to get the bat back and return it to Ruth in time for the final, deciding game of the Series, with the help of Screwy (Reiner), a talking foul ball.

Definitely one for the kids, the idea of a talking ball and a talking bat is probably enough to put most adults off (it certainly strikes as an unexpected turn of silliness), and while there are a few well-timed one-liners, mostly from Reiner, the majority of the humour is centred around the mishaps which befall Macy's Maginnis (usually getting hit by things or falling over).

The animation is smooth, if a little cartoon-like and unrealistic, but since the movie is squarely aimed at children, that's not much of an issue, and the script is pretty stock children's adventure stuff, with a slightly predictable ending, but this is all from the point of view of an adult watching the movie with other adults and no target-audience-children. It has all of the necessary, if somewhat standard, elements of an enjoyable children's movie, so while it doesn't set itself apart from the rest of the field, it does fit in without causing offense.

And finally a small point of trivia: additional children's voices were provided by Tyler James Williams, now most famous for playing a young Chris Rock in 'Everybody Hates Chris'.

“ Definitely one for the kids ”

TECHNICAL DETAILS
Release Date: September 15, 2006 (USA)
DVD Release Date: August 4, 2008
Studio: Feel Anime Studios
Feature Running Time: 88 mins
Certificate: U
Language(s): English
Subtitles: English
Other Format(s): None

DVD: Strait-Jacket

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Manga Entertainment

Directed by Shinji Ushiro
Written by Ichirö Sakaki (novel)
Starring Steven Blum (English), Lara Jill Miller (English), Bridget Hoffman (English), Shinichiro Miki (Japanese), Kei Shindou (Japanese), Ai Maeda (Japanese), Crispin Freeman (English), Akira Sasanuma (Japanese)

Originally a three-episode series 'Strait Jacket' revolves around a society that has incorporated the use of magic into everyday life. The side-effect for those with the ability to use magic is that, through over-use, they turn from humans to demons, killing indiscriminantly. An agency to control the use of magic, and an elite force of "scorcerists", work to battle and destroy demons, while a terrorist group stages attacks by creating them.

The story had a lot of potential, but ends up being rather tiresome. Although only 85 minutes long the story doesn't move along at a rate you would expect something that short to have. For at least the first 40 minutes or so nothing much happens. A demon appears, main subject and rogue scorcerist Leiot (not Rayotte) Steinberg dispatches it in an unorthodox way, stepping on the toes of the legal scorcerists in the process, throws a couple of one-liners at lead female character Nerin Simmons, and disappears into the night with largely unexplained sidekick Kapelteta Fernandez. This happens three or four times before any advancement in the story is made.

And when the plot twists come they are contrived and feel very predictable. Without wishing to spoil the story for wouldbe viewers, there's a corrupt official, a guy wronged as a child who goes a little off the rails when he finds out the truth and a shady side to Steinberg's past etc. etc.

It is also somewhat disappointing that, after all these years of dubbing manga for the Western market, the English side of the studios are getting no better at English dubbing. Or scripts - in particular here the Nerin Simmons script, voiced by Bridget Hoffman, is awful. Alex Von David, previously responsible for English scripts on 'Mars Daybreak', 'Lucky Star' and 'Rozen Maiden', is to blame, although his scripting for other characters, particularly Leiot Steinberg (Steven Blum), is excellent.

There was potential here, and while not revolutionary, the animation was strong enough not to let it down. Unfortunately the under-developed story and contrived characters don't give it much chance at all.

“ ends up being rather tiresome ”

TECHNICAL DETAILS
Release Date: November 25, 2007 (Japan)
DVD Release Date: October 27, 2008
Studio: Feel Anime Studios
Feature Running Time: 80 mins
Certificate: 15
Language(s): English / Japanese
Subtitles: English
Other Format(s): None

DVD: Brooklyn Rules

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Icon Home Entertainment

Directed by Michael Corrente
Written by Terence Winter
Starring Alec Baldwin, Freddie Prinze Jr., Scott Caan, Mena Suvari, Jerry Ferrara

Although the initial feel of 'Brooklyn Rules' is a seemingly derivative teenager-caught-up-in-the-mob tale, the intended message is a much more wholesome one (without being too "rom-com" about it) with very little emphasis on graphic violence (only one truly violent scene, and nothing much is shown) and greater weight put on character definition and the bond of friendship.

Indeed 'Brooklyn Rules' is a story of childhood friends much more than it is a gangster movie, but with enough grit that it's not going to end up being Sunday afternoon TV fodder. What makes the movie so enjoyable is the flawless and often very funny constant banter between the trio of fast-talking friends at the heart of the story played by Freddie Prinze Jr. (who needn't have gone so heavy on the cliché Brooklyn accent), Scott Caan and the ever-so-Sean-Astin Jerry Ferrara. Mena Suvari doesn't have much to do but Alec Baldwin is near-perfect in his role as wise guy Caesar, doing an excellent job of making the viewer see the good side of his character.

The movie received some heavy criticism upon its cinematic release in the US for trying too hard to be like other famous mob movies. To be honest, a point was missed here. This movie isn't trying to be a mob movie. It's set in the classic New York mob era, and certainly the story has a lot of mob elements which drive it on, but these are just the background to the main story about the three friends. The causes of most of their problems, and the events in the film, could have been set against any backdrop where one of the trio starts to get involved in crime. This could have been set around a modern-day criminal gang in any major US city and it wouldn't have altered the movie in the slightest, aside from some of the period-specific dialogue and clothing etc.

'Brooklyn Rules' doesn't revolutionise anything. Very little about the movie is markedly different to what already exists, but the story is good, the acting is strong and the motif clear. If approached with an open mind viewers should find themselves caring enough about the characters to be suitably affected by some of the key events while watching, and although the ending feels ever-so-slightly rushed, it's a satisfying if untaxing viewing experience.

“ very funny constant banter ”

TECHNICAL DETAILS
Release Date: May 18, 2007 (USA)
DVD Release Date: August 11, 2008
Studio: Southpaw Entertainment
Feature Running Time: 95 mins
Certificate: 15
Language(s): English
Subtitles: None
Other Format(s): None