Jan Švankmajer

Jan Švankmajer is a surrealist artist, most well-known from his animated films. He made several short films in his long carrier, and quite a few feature length ones. His work is definitely something that should be seen rather than described. He has interpreted many a famous literary work, including those of Poe, Goethe and Carroll, while he himself influenced such film makers as Tim Burton or Terry Gilliam. "Zamilované maso" (Meat Love, 1988) is a visual allegory of a love affair that comes to a fast and hopefully tasty conclusion... "Možnosti dialogu" (Dimensions of Dialogue, 1982) discovers the (dys)functions of various types of dialogue, including the exhausting, the passionate and the factual. It is difficult to choose out of so many shorts, so I will leave it at that for now...

Jan Svankmajer - Dimensions of dialogue von popefucker

Grace And Favour

"Grace And Favour" is a 12 episode long spin-off series of the long running sitcom "Are You Being Served?" from Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft. The original series told the everydays of the personnel of a department store and was very popular during its 13 year long runtime. In 1992, some of the original cast reunited to make Grace And Favour, in which the retired characters decide to run a country hotel after they realise that is the only way to access their pension fund. The first video contains the title sequence and some later scenes edited together. I especially like the character of Mrs Slocombe, played by Mollie Sugden, whose posh behaviour is sometimes so marvellously dropped should the proper situation arise... Two further scenes include one in the bedroom of this honourable lady and another one in which she is very much upset...

Enigma - Return to Innocence

Enigma is the musical project of Romanian born Michael Cretu which released its first album in 1990. It combines electronic music with Gregorian and Vedic chants. Return to Innocence is probably the most successful creation of the project from the year 1994. The music video was filmed in Spain, and it tells the life story of a man backwards, from his death until his birth, until his return to innocence. The song may as well be the first music file I downloaded from the internet and I still have it somewhere... It has a slow but powerful flow that never fails to carry me away...

Woody Allen's Die Hard

This is a MADtv parody of Woody Allen's style, and as some of it is based on Annie Hall, I thought it would make a nice follow up. If you are interested how Woody Allen would make a Die Hard movie then watch this flick. I love the scene with Arafat...

Annie Hall

The great thing about a Woody Allen movie is that it probes deep into life and yet it manages to remain light and easy with marvellous humour. "Annie Hall" (1977) is often considered Allen's best film, it excels in everything we love a Woody Allen movie for, from its vivid depiction of a relationship to its neurotic as well as romantic humour. Maybe Allen is the director to whom we can say that humour is romance with him, because it manages to mix the two together so that they strengthen rather than extinguish each other. Annie Hall is a stream-of-consciousness tale of a relationship, and how life is formed from these temporary building blocks that yet have such long term effects on the final construction. We jump from one memory to another, often the scenes are just connected by one minor detail that may often play a completely different role in the different contexts of subsequent scenes. Characters enter the thoughts and memories of their own and other characters, stay there and observe, and guide the viewers of the movie in the cavalcade of their personal world. All in all, we end up observing the lifespan of a relationship from different points of view, often breaking the fours wall while characters address viewers inviting them to join in. In many ways, Allen's work is Avant garde, as he extends reality to express himself, and does so in a very smooth and continuous manner. An example is a much quoted scene from the movie below; if I had to give a title to it, that would be "If life were only like this"...

Smith And Jones

After Not The Nine O'Clock News, two of the cast members, Mel Smith and Griffith Rhys Jones made their own sketch show, "Smith and Jones", closely following and extending the style of the successful predecessor. The show run in ten series between 1982 and 1998, and therefore it is extremely difficult to select. I have finally decided to include four of their many sketches. The Predictable Lighthouse Keepers is the first one, and I think no better summary than the title is possible for this one. Somehow this sketch reminds me of Ibsen, I am not sure why, but that was the first name that came to my mind when seeing it... Then a nice little sketch, Survival, about the circumstances of an aircraft accident. The next one shows you how far we can go to avenge ourselves over some "small" offence. And finally, you may participate in a frantic ceremony of a family dinner in Holy Satan... There are much more that I like and would like to include, but... let that be enough...

Steve Oedekerk

Steve Oedekerk is a comedy writer and director, among his most well known works is "Kung Pow" (2002), a parody of Chinese kung fu flicks. Above you will find the famous kung fu cow scene from that movie. The movie is a dubbing parody of a Jimmy Wang Yu film mixed with some extra footage to give it a plot of its own, and Oedekerk himself plays the main role. A sequel was announced but was never made. Oedekerk is perhaps most known after his thumb movies, one of which is "Thumb Wars: The Phantom Cuticle" (1999), which he also directed. In this parody of Star Wars, animated thumbs play the main role... See for yourself below.