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Jam
Comedy Michael Jordan, Wayne Knight, Billy West, Dee Bradley Baker, Theresa Randle, Danny DeVito, Manner Washington, Bob Bergen, Eric Gordon, Penny Bae Bridges Joe Pytka
With "Jam", the TV follow-up to his Radio 1 series "Blue Jam", Chris Morris focuses more on unease more than the satire of "Brass Eye". Indeed, it's a moot point whether "Jam" can actually be categorised as comedy at all. Each sketch is steeped in a heavy brine of dark, ambient music (including Bark Psychosis, David Sylvian and Brian Eno), grainy imagery, fast-cut editing and slo-motion. Its mirthless, Kafka-esque scenarios feel like an attempt to morph into some new species of post-comedy that is more like the stuff of nightmares. The credits, in which Morris stalks the moving camera, uttering Lear-esque words of foreboding immediately announce that this "sketch show" is a galaxy apart from "The Two Ronnies".
The appalled look on actor Kevin Eldon's face in the opening sketch of the series, as a young couple invite him to endure being buggered by a mutual acquaintance ("I need a break"), sets the tone. Rape, chemotherapy, wanton urination--as a naked "Robert Kilroy-Silk" goes insane in a sketch full of detestation for the oleaginous TV presenter--and recurring sketches involving callously authoritarian NHS doctors, all go to make up these annals of the bizarre and perverse.
Ultimately, "Jam" doesn't quite work, not on TV anyway. The repetition of the same, small cast over and over, broken up too briefly by Morris' own appearances (as a "country gentleman" living outside his house, for instance), coupled with the gruelling treatment of the sketch material makes for a psyche-probing, jaw-dropping experience--but in parts also a nullifying and strangely predictable one. Morris's "failures" are far more interesting than most people's successes. --"David Stubbs"

James - Fresh As A Daisy - The Videos
Music DVDs
This DVD collection is a must for any James fan - a visual record of their many videos - not to mnetion hairstyles! It also features clips from TV appearances including a very early one on the Old Grey Whistle test, and a fantastic set on Later with Jools Holland for the release of Millionaires! Top!

James - Getting Away With It...Live
Concerts James Dick Carruthers
"Getting Away With It … Live" is an electric souvenir of James' last ever live performance (before their new 2002 line-up), recorded in their home city of Manchester. The energy which bounces between the exuberant audience and the band crackles from start to finish. Tim Booth's bad language, particularly during the infamous technical breakdown at the start of "Out to Get You" just adds to the explosive atmosphere of the gig. The footage of these problems luckily remains in the final cut, exposing a more human side to the band, and highlighting James' long-term forte as a live band through their impromptu rendition of "Johnny Yen". Despite special appearances by former band members Andy Diagram and Larry Gott, Booth steals the show through his unique vocal talent and his trademark dancing style (when he gyrates round the stage like a possessed pipe cleaner). Featuring a sensible mix of old and new tunes, the concert concludes with an encore of break-through tracks "Come Home" and "Sit Down".
On the DVD: "Getting Away With It … Live" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, and the sharp visual footage further enhance the excellent live show. Through the use of random transitions (short excerpts from the documentary), the DVD is fun and informative to navigate through, and the two bonus documentaries provide further added value. Discussion on the making of selected songs can be accessed at various points during the concert when the band's trademark flower logo appears in the top right-hand corner of the screen. As well as the promotional videos for three of their biggest hits from the 1990s ("Laid", "Say Something" and "She's a Star"); there's also a hidden section where the band discuss their nicknames. --"John Galilee"

James Bond - Casino Royale
Action & Adventure Claudio Santamaria, Isaach De Bankole, Jeffrey Wright, Mads Mikkelsen, Giancarlo Giannini, Judi Dench, Jesper Christensen, Daniel Craig, Ivana Milicevic, Eva Green, Simon Abkarian
The most successful invigoration of a cinematic franchise since "Batman Begins", "Casino Royale" offers a new Bond identity. Based on the Ian Fleming novel that introduced Agent 007 into a Cold War world, "Casino Royale" is the most brutal and viscerally exciting James Bond film since Sean Connery left Her Majesty's Secret Service. Meet the new Bond; not the same as the old Bond. Daniel Craig gives a galvanizing performance as the freshly minted double-0 agent. Suave, yes, but also a "blunt instrument", reckless, and possessed with an ego that compromises his judgment during his first mission to root out the mastermind behind an operation that funds international terrorists. In classic Bond film tradition, his global itinerary takes him to far-flung locales, including Uganda, Madagascar, the Bahamas (that's more like it), and Montenegro, where he is pitted against his nemesis in a poker game, with hundreds of millions in the pot. The stakes get even higher when Bond lets down his "armour" and falls in love with Vesper (Eva Green), the ravishing banker's representative fronting him the money.
For longtime fans of the franchise, "Casino Royale" offers some retro kicks. Bond wins his iconic Aston-Martin at the gaming table, and when a bartender asks if he wants his martini "shaken or stirred," he disdainfully replies, "Do I look like I give a damn?" There's no Moneypenny or "Q," but Dame Judi Dench is back as the exasperated M, who one senses, admires Bond's "bloody cheek." A Bond film is only as good as its villain, and Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre, who weeps blood, is a sinister dandy. From its punishing violence and virtuoso action sequences to its ill-fated romance, "Casino Royale" is a Bond film that, in the words of one character, makes you feel it, particularly during an excruciating torture sequence. Double-0s, Bond observes early on, "have a short life expectancy." But with Craig, there is new life in the old franchise yet, as well as genuine anticipation for the next one when, at last, the signature James Bond theme kicks in following the best last line ever in any Bond film. To quote Goldie Hawn in "Private Benjamin", now I know what I've been faking all these years. "--Donald Liebenson"

Jan Svankmajer - The Complete Short Films
Classics Jan Svankmajer
OMG! I've been waiting years for this release. I've seen most of these films and they are utterly wonderful. But I've never seen (e.g.) The Castle of Otranto before, and I can't wait. Please do listen out for the music; for the most part the scores were composed by the brilliant Zdenek Liska, and the pairing of Svankmajer and Liska was one of the most forceful and effective in the annals of cinema.

This is an UNMISSABLE release and an incredible bargain.

Jan Svankmajer's Alice/Shorts
Animation Kristýna Kohoutová, Camilla Power Jan Svankmajer
This adaptation of Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" mixes animation and live action to create a dreamlike world, but don't let that fool you into thinking it's simply a kid's film. Young Alice (Kristyna Kohoutová, spoken by Camilla Power) watches a stuffed and mounted rabbit come to life in her playroom and follows it through a magical drawer into a strange world that resembles a 19th-century toy store come to life, with a few specimens from a natural history museum thrown in. Czech animator Jan Svankmajer retains the familiar story elements but tweaks them with bizarre imagery brought to herky-jerky life with his spasmodic style of stop-motion animation. The caterpillar becomes a sock puppet with dentures, while other crazy creatures materialise as creepy skull-headed beings that bleed sawdust. Throughout the tale Svankmajer returns to punctuating close-ups of Alice's lips telling the story, just to remind us that this is a tale told. In the best surrealist tradition Svankmajer uses familiar objects in unfamiliar ways, giving a fantasy quality to the banal (and the not so banal) while tipping the dream logic to the edge of nightmare. While the imagery remains more unsettling than genuinely disturbing, younger children will certainly be happier with Disney's brightly coloured animated classic "Alice in Wonderland". Older children and adults will better appreciate Svankmajer's sly visual wit and unusual animation style. --"Sean Axmaker"

Jane White Is Sick and Twisted
Comedy Kim Little, Wil Wheaton, Alley Mills, Richard Kline, Ted Shackelford, Dustin Diamond, Chris Hardwick, Colin Mochrie, Phil LaMarr, David L. Lander, Andrew Lauer, Eric Lutes, Mickey Jones, Maureen McCormick, Gary Owens David Michael Latt

Jerry Springer The Opera
Musical David Soul Stewart Lee
This is hillarious. The best musical ever made. It will make you laugh out loud all the way through.
Basically its just another Jerry springer show until Jerry is killed and sent to hell. Thus begining the ultimate battle between good and evil that will have you crying with laughter.
If you are not offended by extremely foul language then this is definaltely a film for you.

Jools Holland - 10 Years Later
Music DVDs Jools Holland, Bjrk, Blur, Verve, Nick Cave, R.E.M., Paul Weller, Morrissey, Radiohead, Oasis, Diana Krall, Mary J. Blige
Later...with Jools Holland
10 years is very impressive for a man who has no dress sense, no interviewing technique and a sense of humour so incomprehensible his jokes leave his guests shuffling with embarassment. Nevertheless, the BBC have given him nearly twenty series of Later..., a sort of 'Top of the Pops with pubes' as Robbie Williams describes it in his interview on disc one. This three DVD series rightly celebrates what has become a rich catalogue of live music.
Disc one, '10 years later...with Jools Holland' is a retrospective, selecting 30 memorable performances and mixing them up with the occasional comment from the man in question, who leans on his piano and says things like 'music is of course the universal language.' Jools has, obviously, always been about the music, and the thirty cuts here do offer something for everyone. The Verve's 'Bittersweet Symphony' with full orchestral accompaniment, a note perfect 'Glory Box' from Portishead, the majesty of Ladysmith Black Mambazo's 'The Star and the Wiseman'. If it were anyone else stepping about in their white shoes like a slow-motion haka it would be daft, but they look great. Psycho pixie Bjork licks her lips and sings 'The Hunter'. David Gray may wobble like a parcel shelf plastic dog, but he reminds us that he actually is quite good. Blur deliver possibly their best ever rendition of Parklife, Nick Cave's Bad Seeds gather round his piano and sip red wine while he muses about kittens in trees and women mayors in 'God is in the house'. The Blind Boys of Alabama sing 'run on', which will be familiar to fans of Moby's Play, and Jools justifies his job with an appearance with his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra.
You may raise an eyebrow at Norma Waterson's bluegrass or aging latino gentleman Ibrahim Ferrer, but when Baaba Maal follows Coldplay's predictably professional 'Yellow', it starkly highlights the poverty of our experience of music on television. For broadening our horizons and showcasing music we'd never otherwise hear, thank you Mr Holland, and here's to series 21.
5/5



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