Mark Thomson

This is such a classic cult movie. For anyone that loves the blues, or a huge car chase, this is a great movie. The loose plot threads wind through a collection of great songs, and cameos by blues music greats such as Cab Calloway, John Lee Hooker, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles.

The humor is very dry at times, but I find that quite appealing. It's never goofy slapstick stuff, some funny stuff just sort of happens, or the brothers do something which comes off funny. There's some great quotes, and running gags such as the Illinois Nazi's, the cops with broken watches, the Good'ole'Boys are hilarious.

The picture on the DVD is the best I've ever seen it. They must have spent some time restoring the image given the age of the film. I think I have the collector's edition of the movie as it has some small cuts restored in it such as Ellwood storing the car in the overhead trains generator room. I was quite surprised when I first watched the DVD as I've only ever seen the censored version on TV, and I didn't know that it had some swearing in it. Even so it's quite mild by today's standards. The audio is excellent, and the songs really rock along well through the sound system.

The extras are pretty good, some documentary material with excellent stories about the making of the movie, and it's stars. John Belushi sounds like quite a character, and it's a shame that the booze and drugs got him, he'd doubtless have been quite a well known comedian if he'd survived.

Definitely pick up this movie and give it a look. It's a favorite of mine, and now the next generation are learning to love the blues. My kids already enjoy watching it, and my son really likes the soundtrack.

Plot Synopsis:

Jake Blues is released from Joliet State Prison and picked up by his brother Elwood in an old police car. They go to visit the Penguin, a nun that administers the orphanage where they were raised by her and Curtis, an old black blues man that lives in the basement. They find out that the orphanage is due to be sold because the church will not pay the back taxes owed on the property.

Curtis sends Jake and Elwood to see Reverend Cleophus (James Brown) at the Triple Rock Church for some 'churching up'. Jake doesn't want to go, but while there has an epiphany from God - reform their blues band to raise the money to save the orphanage.

Elwood doesn't know where all the members of the band are, but he'll try to find them. On the way home they're stopped by the police for a traffic violation, and Elwood makes a run for it. They lead the police on a chase across town and through a local shopping mall causing chaos and mayhem. After evading the police they return to Elwoods room at the transients motel.

The next morning the pursuing cops from the previous night and Jake's parole officer arrive at the hotel to arrest the boys. As they knock on Elwood's door, a mysterious lady outside blows up the building. The brothers dust themselves off and head out to look for the band.

They track down the first few members working as a lounge act and recruit them back into the band. That leads them to their trumpet player at a snooty restaurant where they cause trouble until he's 'persuaded' to rejoin. They track down the last members at a soul food cafe. Elwood makes enemies of the Illinois Nazi Party who are now looking for them. Finally reunited with the band, they stop by Ray's Music Exchange to get some instruments.

Jake has to get them a gig, and fakes his way into a venue by pretending to be a country'n'western band. After they are found out, they make a run for it, with cops on their tail, the mysterious woman trying to kill them, and Bob and the Good Ole Boys in hot pursuit.

The band give Jake one more chance to make good, so he calls in a favor from an old agent who gets them a big gig in a concert hall up north. Curtis and the children help to spread the word, while Jake and Elwood drive around advertising the concert. Elwood runs out of gas on the way to the concert, and they're both stranded at the station until the tanker arrives.

Arriving at the concert, they sneak in past the hordes of police that are waiting, and the angry Good Ole Boys, where they perform before making their escape. On their way back to the car, the mysterious lady tries to kill them again. It turns out to be Jake's fiance who is trying to kill him because he didn't turn up for their wedding. Jake couldn't make it because he'd been put in jail. He lies to her, and they make their escape with all the police in pursuit. The Good Ole Boys give chase but wind up in the local lake.

The police pursue the boys back to Chicago, where the Nazi's catch up and give chase. The brothers elude them and make it to the assessors office to pay the taxes. By this point, the army, swat team, national guard, helicopters, tanks, firemen, and police have all been called in to catch them. They pay the taxes for the orphanage and are promptly arrested. At the end, the whole band are in jail together, but at least the children's home is saved.

I was overjoyed when the announcement came out that Doctor Who would be making a return to TV. As a long time fan of Who (my favorite doctor is Tom Baker), I was dismayed when the show was originally taken off, and always looked forward when visiting Oz to watching reruns of it on their TV stations. It's been far too long since it was on here, unfortunately though the new episodes were only available on this stupid piddly little Prime station we have here. Most of the frickin country can't receive it, otherwise you have to have a SKY decoder. Arrrrrgh! I've had to wait for the DVD's to come out, which have been wonderful.

The first episode comes with the usual amount of exposition and setup baggage that weighs down firsts of any series. It's not a bad episode, but I think it's probably more enjoyable for people who aren't familiar with the series. I just wanted them to get on with it since I'm already clued up on the Doctor. Still it was fantastic the first time the Doctor appears, and the Tardis tucked away between the buildings was great. I almost missed it the first time.

I really like the redesign of the Tardis, and the production values on this new series are fantastic. Every week is like a mini movie, with no more wobbly sets or props made out of detergent bottles. Rose is quite likeable in an everyman/woman kind of way, and I'm sure for those people that find her stunning that's an attraction. Christopher Ecceleston was a better choice than expected, running the whole gamut of emotions, unpredictable, wild, with a dash of jaded innocence. You can almost see hints of the other Doctors personalities running through his performance.

The Autons were an interesting choice for an opening villain, a nice way to connect to previous continuity, although animated shop window mannequins is probably a bit light-weight by today's standards. Other scarier classic villains are back in subsequent episodes, so that's something to look forward too.

If your a fan of Doctor Who, or just into sci-fi in general, this is definitely a series worth watching. I hope it does well and continues to stay on as long as it did in the first run. My children are already hopelessly addicted to the series, new Who-philes in the making.

Plot Synopsis:

Rose Tyler is a common London girl living on a council housing estate with her single-parent mother. She gets up, goes to work at the department store, has lunch with her boyfriend Mickey and returns to work. Nothing particularly exciting happens, until she is asked to drop off some items to the store manager in the basement. While stumbling around looking for him, she is attacked by plastic mannequins in storage. The Doctor rescues her, and after helping her escape from the building, promptly blows up the department store. Rose fails to notice the blue police box sandwiched between two buildings as she makes her way home.

The next morning, not much point getting up since she doesn't have a job to go to. The Doctor turns up at the Tyler's flat looking for more Autons, and is attacked by the plastic mannequin arm that Rose bought home the previous night. After subduing the arm, Rose's curiosity is peaked, and the Doctor gives her some cryptic information before vanishing in his blue box.

Rose starts to investigate the Doctor on the Internet, and finds the contact information for Clive, a conspiracy theorist who has been tracking the Doctor over the years. Rose meets with Clive and he shows her photos of the Doctor from different time periods, and he warns her that where the Doctor goes death follows. Meanwhile, outside Mickey has been attacked and eaten by a plastic rubbish cart. When Rose returns a plasticized replica of Mickey is waiting for her. They go for a pizza at a restaurant, and Mickey starts harassing Rose for information about the Doctor's wereabouts. The Doctor arrives again to rescue Rose, and Mickey goes on a rampage. The Doctor severs Mickey's head, and escapes back to the police box. Rose follows but can't quite believe her eyes - the innocent blue box contains a huge spaceship on the inside.

The Doctor explains about the Tardis, and uses plastic Mickey's head to guide the Tardis to the location of the Nestene Consciousness controlling the plastic Autons. They arrive near the Millenium Wheel, and the Doctor realises the Nestene is using the wheel as a huge transmitter dish to animate and control the plastic Autons. As the Doctor heads towards a final confrontation with the Nestene, it realises that the Doctor could destroy it, and sets all the plastic Autons on a rampage of destruction through London. The Doctor is restrained by the Autons, leaving Rose and Mickey to dump the vial of anti-plastic that the Doctor bought into the vat containing the Nestene, destroying it.

After the Nestene is destroyed, the Doctor returns Rose and Mickey to the council estates. He offers Rose the opportunity to travel with him, which she initially refuses, until he points out that he can also travel in time. Rose abandons Mickey and leaves with the Doctor.