Movies

David Lean, Mike Leigh, Terry Gilliam, Stephen Frears , Terrance Davies, Ken Loach, Danny Boyle

Nevermind the Horrocks

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By Johnny Foreigner

I’ve been a fan of Jane Horrocks since first seeing her in Mike Leigh’s wonderful Life Is Sweet in 1990. She played the chain-smoking, bulimic daughter Nicola, constantly spitting insults (“Racist!” “Capitalist!”) yet so fragile and in need of love.

Never Mind the Horrocks (not so clever pun on the Sex Pistols album Never Mind the Bollocks) was a  TV Special featuring the Horrocks as comedian, first broadcast in England on September 1996 . The special also starred a pre Doc Martin, Martin Clunes.

This clip starts with Horrocks as the 1950s-era children’s tv show host “Watch With Nanny” (easily annoyed by puppets yet capable of singing the “Marching Song” for eternity.) Then there’s Horrocks as a modern day “Good Morning USA” host, only slightly more obnoxious than Kathy Lee Gifford. Finally, there’s Horrocks brilliantly playing a pig-tailed teenager phoning her boyfriend on her stairway (“Darren! Get off the phone, I’m on the phone!”)

Horrocks is probably best known as the character “Bubble” in Absolutely Fabulous. She was nominated for a Golden Globe for her work in the semi-autobigraphical “Little Voice” where she  gave amazing singing impressions of Judy Garland, Shirley Bassey, Marilyn Monroe, and others.

She also performed on London stage as Sally Bowles in the 1994 revival of Cabaret. She won a National Society of Film Critics Awards awarded her Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Life Is Sweet.

Steve Coogan’s Caroline Aherne tribute

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Last night’s comedy telethon Stand Up to Cancer was full of touching and heartbreaking clips of real people who’ve struggled with or lost loved ones to the disease, but one moment stood out as particularly poignant.

During the broadcast actor and comedian Steve Coogan paid tribute to Caroline Aherne, the creator and star of series including The Mrs Merton Show and The Royle Family (with co-writer Craig Cash) and narrator of Gogglebox, who died of lung cancer aged 52 just three months ago.
“30 years ago, when I started out in comedy, I met a girl who worked as a secretary for the BBC,” Coogan said in the tribute. “She was sassy, sexy, earthy, kind, smart, sometimes daft.
“She mercilessly took the piss and she made me and our small gang of Manchester friends laugh until they cried. Her name was Caroline Aherne.”

READ FULL STORY at Source: Stand Up to Cancer: Watch Steve Coogan’s Caroline Aherne tribute

Caroline Aherne in character as Mrs. Merton with Martin Clunes 1997

Film director Bruce Robinson brands audience ‘a load of UKIP cunts’ during talk 

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‘It was unbelievable,’ reports a visitor to the arts festival, which is held at the Cornish estate of the late 10th Earl of St Germans, a louche friend of Prince Charles.’Robinson was clearly drunk and his talk was such a shambles that members of the audience started booing.’

This led him to respond with a foul-mouthed rant which included calling the audience ‘a load of Ukip cunts’.’

This caused uproar, even though most of the audience were probably down from London themselves.

Source: Film director Bruce Robinson brands audience ‘a load of UKIP c***s’ during talk | Daily Mail Online

Liverpool bartender to represent UK in Beefeater global final

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He won the UK final in early October with his cocktail On Holiday By Mistake (pictured), impressing the judges with what they described as “a masterclass in creating the perfect gin serve”.He was deemed to have best echoed this year’s theme of iconic London cinema with his recipe using Beefeater 24 and inspired by the film, Withnail and I.

The scene where Withnail orders “two large gins, two pints of cider” was used by Joe as inspiration for a twist on a Corpse Reviver #2, using cider syrup and cider vinegar as well as a pineau des Charentes and absinthe. It takes its name from another line spoken by Withnail.

READ MOR AT Source: Bar news | Liverpool bartender to represent UK in Beefeater global final