Brexit: The Movie

If you’re not aware, Britain is holding a referendum on 23^rd June regarding their EU membership. The two sides are Remain, who favour staying in the EU, basing their argument around a strong economy and Leave (or ‘Brexit’ = ‘British Exit’) basing their argument around, erm, sovereignty I think. It’s hard to tell when Leave’s two official campaign leaders (Boris Johnson and Michael Gove) seem more interested in taking the jobs of the two Remain leaders (David Cameron and George Osborne) after the referendum.

Anyway the Leave campaign, or Brexiters, regard Brexit: The Movie as their Jewel in the Crown. Their Ace in the Pack. The thing that destroys all other arguments. ‘Go watch Brexit: The Movie’ they say. Does it really stand up though?

Brexit: The Movie is written and directed by Martin Durkin, whose previous credits include NASA: The Unexplained Files, Ancient X-Files and The Great Global Warming Swindle. Oh, and a documentary on UKIP leader Nigel Farage. Well, I’m assured the next 65 minutes will be impartial and entirely fact based.

Opening hyperbole out of the way, the first stop for Durkin is Brussels and the multitude of EU buildings. There are 90 EU offices across Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg. The European Civil Service (a blanket term for all agencies under the European Commission) employs roughly 30, 000 people. I appreciate that these extravagant buildings can appear wasteful but if you take into account the UK’s own Civil Service employs over 400, 000 people and suddenly this doesn’t seem so much.

The main thrust here though is to explain how the EU works (or doesn’t, depending on your viewpoint). Which Durkin does. In part. He explains that Laws are proposed by the EU Commission and then voted on by the European Parliament. He doesn’t explain they then need to be voted on by the European Council of Ministers, made up of elected government officials from across Europe, before they become law. He doesn’t explain exactly how the Commission comes to make their proposal to begin with. Nigel Farage does appear to bemoan that MEP’s are not able to raise their own questions in the European Parliament and actually, it’s hard to concede he might not have a point here.

When he’s talking about the Commission though, that’s when Durkin’s conspiracy theory past can’t help but go into the overdrive. The shadowy, sinister organisation all run by the big businesses. The EU invests in farmers, science and the arts to buy its support, the bastards. They’re all paid off by the lobbyists, something that absolutely, never ever happens in the UK.

Martin Durkin questions the integrity of people in the EU but I think it’s worth looking at some of his contributors:

·         David Davis, MP – Opposes equality and Climate Change denier. It’s strange seeing him bemoan the unelected status of 28 strong EU Commission when he has voted against any reform of Britain’s own 800 strong unelected chamber, the House of Lords. And indeed, he was Conservative Party whip when they voted to sign the Maastricht Treaty in 1992

·         Peter Lilley, MP – if you’re in the Conservative party and the leader describes you as ‘the bastard’ of the party, there’s something very wrong

·         Kelvin MacKenzie – as a former editor of The Sun newspaper, there is a lot of shit that sticks to MacKenzie but he will forever be most connected with the Hillsborough Disaster and ‘The Truth’ headline that he has NEVER apologised for

·         Nigel Farage – well, I’ll just leave that to Stewart Lee…

Many of the others aren’t much better. Irrelevant you may say but I say if you’re going to question someone else’s integrity, be sure your own house is in order first.

Next is the emotive segment of the film, when we are shown how the EU has destroyed the British fishing industry with its quotas. This is all very sad but like much in the film, is a gross over-simplification ignoring why the Common Fisheries Policy was originally introduced. Basically the problem is ecological brought by decades of over-fishing and declining fish stocks and a Brexit won’t help those fishermen.

Then we have a history of Britain and the EU which can be summed up with: all regulation bad. It talks about the German ‘Economic Miracle’ brought about when it scrapped many of its regulations post-World War 2. Again, this is over-simplifying ignoring the vast amounts of international aid as a strong West Germany was considered vital in Cold War era Europe. It takes a turn for the weird when it gets to the formation of the Common Market and the EEC. The music suddenly turns all sinister when Durkin says the architect of the EEC was French. Why is that a problem? Well, he’s French isn’t he? Those dastardly French! I'm not even being obtuse about it, Durkin just says he's French and leaves it at that.

Apropos of nothing, the talking heads then reveal this is actually a debate of class, the political elite vs the proletariat. If only I’d known sooner, I had no idea Brexit was a gateway to a socialist utopia!

There’s an entertaining segment about EU Regulations and how they affect your life, showing how many regulations cover items in your everyday life. Its slightly misleading as if you were to add up each individual item you’d get a total of 12,368 (note: I did not actually count these up) but actually you’d find a lot of the products share the same regulations. It also ignores why these regulations exist. If I want to put cyanide in my toothpaste, that’s my decision. Back off Brussels!

Then we come to what my mind would call the most distasteful part of the film. Italian’s are stereotyped as lazy, pasta eaters; Asian’s as quirky geeks and the French as beret wearing onion-eaters. Durkin uses a scenario of a European umbrella maker complaining about a new Asian model coming on to the market. He says the EU protect them with tariffs on the Asian company’s goods (which is actually in line with World Trade Organisation rules) and quotas on the number imported (what? Protecting a country’s own industry? How dare they).

Gerald Mason of sugar manufacturer Tate & Lyle Ltd claims EU competition rules and trade barriers have seen a decline in their profits and rise in prices and bemoaning imports from other manufacturers into the UK market. Which jars with claims elsewhere in the film that competition is a good thing to have. But ah, they say, this is not competition, this is ‘protectionism’. However, EU competition laws were introduced to prevent any one company having a monopoly in the market place. A free-market economy requires competition so a certain amount of balancing is required.

Incidentally, contributor David Davis is a former director of Tate & Lyle. I’m sure that’s just coincidence but for full disclosure it should be known.

Next up, our man Martin takes a trip to Zurich to see how Switzerland do outside of the EU. They have access to the European Single Market but are not members of the EU. And it’s hard to deny the Swiss are doing very well. They are one of the most prosperous countries in the world, with one of the highest standards of living and lowest rate of unemployment. However, the Swiss model has recently fallen out of favour with many Leave campaigners as to have access to the Single Market, they have to pay into the EU budget, follow its regulations and have free movement of people.

Actually free movement brings up something I have to give the film credit for: not once does it bring up migration, the lowest common denominator of politics. So I applaud it for at least attempting to take the high road.

The final section is trade and even the film seems confused by this, not sure whether having a trade deal is a good thing or not. There are claims the EU economy is shrinking (not true) and of how prosperous we will be outside. However, and this has always been the criticism of the Leave campaign, there is no evidence to support any of the claims they make. Many respected institutions on the other hand have produced reports that say we will be worse off.

Ending hyperbole telling this is our chance ‘to take back control’, whatever that means.

If you are a Leaver annoyed by what I’ve said, be aware I’m trying to add balance because Martin Durkin gives none in his film. There is no talking head in his film arguing the other side of the case. Even Michael Moore at least gives his subjects the opportunity to give their side in his films. They rarely take it but at least it’s offered.

If you are a Remainer, I am aware there are many who could have put the case far better than I and I don’t doubt there are many things I have missed.

If you don’t know which way to vote, don’t just listen to what I say and don’t watch Brexit: The Movie. Do your own independent research and reach your own decision.

I know which side I am on and Brexit: The Movie has not swayed me.

IMDB Bottom 100: Number 11 - The Hottie and The Nottie

Number 11: The Hottie and the Nottie (2008)

Oh Paris, Paris, Paris. Here we are again. When I wrote about Final Justice (number 22), I declared Joe Don Baker the King of bad movies. Well, every King must have his Queen and Miss Hilton fits the bill perfectly.

She released a music album once too. And if there was a list of 100 worst albums, it would be on there. Probably. I haven’t listened to it. I’m not a masochist. I think. Well, this is the third Paris Hilton film I’ve watched. Because I thought watching all the worst films in the world would be fun.

To be honest, I was trying to avoid concentrating on The Hottie and the Nottie because I looked at the synopsis and was less than enthralled. Plus The Dark Knight was on TV at the same time I was watching, so I might be confused about what happened.

So it starts with the Joker robbing a bank and escaping in a school bus. The hero of our film Nate (Joel David Moore) is dumped by his girlfriend, who attempts to run him over. This is the escape pod scene from Star Wars. If you aren’t familiar with what I mean, this is a reference to a five second scene at the start of Star Wars that is actually the most pivotal moment in the whole of the original trilogy. R2D2 and C-3PO escape an Imperial attack in an escape pod but the gunners on the Star Destroyer choose not to blow it up as ‘there are no life signs on board’. Had they blown it up there would be no Luke, no Obi Wan, no Yoda and the Empire takes over the Galaxy. Obviously, Hottie and Nottie isn’t on that scale but if Nate’s ex-girlfriend had succeeded this film would have been a lot shorter.

This is a sign to Nate that he has to track down a girl called Christabel he once fancied when he was eight. Makes sense. Batman catches Scarecrow in a car park but also has to save some vigilantes in hockey pads.

Nate meets up with his old friend Arno, played by The Greg Wilson. Yes, The Greg Wilson! Star of, umm…and, err…The Greg Wilson (this is what he’s credited as). Arno it turns out has been stalking the girl Nate is after and has a record of her movements. Yet somehow he’s clearly supposed to be a fun, lovable character. The Joker then does a cool trick with a pencil.

Nate finds the girl he’s been after at the beach. In no time at all and without much prompting, Christabel (Paris Hilton) reveals she won’t date anyone until her hideous looking best friend June (Christine Lakin) is dating someone as well. Shakespeare could have written the script. If he’d been a bit simple.

Nate enacts pays someone to date June but it doesn’t go well. Christine Lakin is a very attractive woman but they’ve gone all out to make her as ugly as possible here. Moles on the face, bad skin, bad teeth, greasy hair, obscene body hair. It's basically zombie make-up.

Paris Joker is caught after a cool car chase across Gotham and Commissioner Gordon had faked his death all along!

Nate’s plan is complicated with the arrival of Johann, the former marine, Harvard graduate, dentist, sometimes model who can play guitar and has a singing voice like a tenor. He makes out he’s trying to help June by fixing her teeth and generally beautifying her with various treatments but it’s all a convoluted plan to get to Christabel. Two guys with the same goal but differing methods. Yeah, Shakespeare for simpletons. On a side note, I can’t look at the name Christabel without being reminded of the episode of Family Guy when the Griffins move to New York and Chris becomes an artist called, obviously enough, Christabel.

Joker Hilton escapes jail and sets an explosion killing Maggie Gyllenhall and transforming Harvey Dent into Two-Face.

The whole story is basically about seeing someone’s inner beauty, as Nate comes to realise he loves June and not Christabel. A message slightly undermined by the fact Nate only realises his attraction when June becomes more attractive. Shallow Hal done it better. And when you’re getting beaten out by Jack Black, you are in big trouble.

Paris Joker Hilton blows up a hospital and then tries to get people on boats to blow each other up.

Despite being the big star of the film, Paris Hilton’s character actually spends a lot of time on the side-lines. Her chief role being stand around, look attractive which is just about within her range of capabilities. It’s when she opens her mouth it all goes wrong. There is one scene where she has to act drunk but I’m pretty sure not much acting was required for that part. It's the vanity that annoys me though. The films she is in, the only objective seems to be for Paris Hilton to tell the world how beautiful she is and in a film supposedly based on inner beauty, there is a touch of irony to that.

The Hottie and the Nottie is not the film the world deserves but it’s not the film it needs either.

IMDB Bottom 100: Number 12 - Going Overboard

Number 12: Going Overboard (1989)

A true story: sitting in a cinema, I saw a trailer for an upcoming movie about video game characters coming to life and destroying the world. ‘Oh, that looks like it could be fun’ I thought to myself but then I saw the film’s star. ‘Oh, Adam Sandler. I’ll give it a miss then.’

That film was Pixels and by all accounts, I made the right choice.

I’ve said before, a bad movie can have enough going for it that it can become enjoyable. A bad comedy is always just bad. A bad Adam Sandler comedy though is an instrument of torture.

I appreciate comedy can be subjective and I know Sandler has his fans. If his brand of juvenile frat-boy humour is what you like, that’s fine. Bear this in mind about Going Overboard though, Adam Sandler removed this from his filmography on his official website. The guy who made Little Nicky doesn’t want his fans to know this film exists.

It was Sandler’s first starring role to be fair to so we probably shouldn’t really expect much from him, which is just as well as he delivers nothing. One of the first things Sandler does is break the fourth wall to tell us this is a ‘no budget movie’, you soon find it’s a ‘no laugh movie’ too (if you’re interested to know, IMDB lists the budget for this film as $200,000 which is not a lot in movie terms but a fair-size budget for an independent feature).

Adam Sandler is a waiter on a cruise ship with dreams of being a stand-up comedian but he’s not very good. He’s not good by the end of the film either but what would you expect.

One of the first things I noticed was the credits saying they were ‘introducing’ actor Burt Young. I remember seeing Burt Young in a highly successful film franchise that started 13 years earlier, the first film even won a Best Film Oscar (he was Paulie in the Rocky films). Couldn’t have been him though as he was only being introduced here.

They’re on a cruise ship travelling to undisclosed location with some beauty Queen contestants so cue lots of beautiful ladies in bikini’s, though to the films credit it doesn’t particularly dwell on it apart from one scene where Sandler is wobbling while delivering drinks. I think the joke is he has an erection and is trying to hide it or alternatively, he could just be clumsy.

It’s bad joke after bad joke. I’m being generous describing them as jokes, they’re just sentences. Bad sentence after bad sentence. Actually, it’s not even fair to call them sentences as they lack the coherency, so it’s bad syntax after bad syntax.

I look at the clock and realise I’ve been watching 20 minutes. It feels like hours and this film is 97 minutes long. 97, it’s too long. 5 minutes is too long.

Some other stuff happens with a dickhead ship comedian, talking heads from the beauty contestants for some reason, terrorists turn up but tragically don’t throw Adam Sandler into the sea.

Going Overboard is not a film you watch, rather it is one you endure. My recommendation, like with any Adam Sandler past, present or indeed future, is avoid. Sandler is obviously very youthful here but lacking any charm or charisma, so to be fair to the man he has improved a little over the years. He's not helped any by poor directing and a script that promises a joke but lacks build up or punchline.

Still, at least there’s no Kevin James.

IMDB Bottom 100: Number 13 - Disaster Movie

Number 13: Disaster Movie (2008)

It’s crap.

Oh you want some more? Let me put it like this:

The Avengers. Kim Kardashian. Cloverfield. WWE. Wanted. Jessica Simpson. Indiana Jones. Hannah Montana. High School Musical. Gladiators. MTV. Justin Timberlake. Alvin and the Chipmunks. Amy Winehouse. Batman. Juno. X Factor. Step Up. Kung Fu Panda. Sex and the City.

A pretty random list of popular culture with nothing intrinsically funny about any of them but all things that exist. Which is all Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer think it takes to make a comedy movie.

IMDB Bottom 100: Number 14 - Manos the Hands of Fate

Number 14: Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)

This film has picked up a fair following over the years and has a reputation for being ‘The Worst Film Ever Made’ (though there are obviously other contenders). Here is the story behind the ‘Cult of Manos’:

Back in 1988, a man named Joel Hodgson created a show called Mystery Science Theater 3000 (commonly referred to as MST3K) which aired on Public Access TV in Minnieapolis. The premise is an average Joe(l) is shot into space by a mad scientist and forced to watch bad movies. He’ll try to keep his sanity with the help of his robot friends by watching the movies and making jokes over the top of them, with various little skits in between.

It was a success, eventually picked up by Comedy Central and later the Sci-Fi channel. There were cast changes over the years (most notably Joel being replaced by Mike Nelson) but the show ran for 11 seasons and there were 197 episodes plus a spin-off movie (which was basically just another episode) in total. So popular was the show, producers and directors were actually sending them their films to make fun of, reasoning it was the best way their work would be seen.

One such film they ‘riffed’ over was Manos: The Hands of Fate. It became notorious for the writers and producers of the show, as to make each episode they had to watch the films multiple times and Manos was one of the hardest ones they had to get through.

The story doesn’t end there though as Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett, writers and actors on MST3K would go on to form rifftrax.com, where the premise is much the same. However, the added bonus is you can buy audio files to play over mainstream movies. For example, you can watch the Twilight movies whilst listening to their riffing (definitely the preferred option) on the film.

One film available through their website is Manos: The Hands of Fate, with all new jokes and quips. But wait, there’s more! In 2012, they done a Rifftrax: Live! Event. Simulcast in theatres all over the States, they performed a live performance of their Manos riff.

All this adds to the reputation M:THF has garnered for being one of the worst films ever. Without that exposure, probably no one would have seen it. Is the reputation deserved? Absolutely.

Written, produced, directed and ‘starring’ Harold P Warren, Manos is another low-budget horror film that gets it wrong on every level.

The acting ranges from more wooden than a tree to ridiculous overacting. Poor editing means lines of dialogue get repeated, which is doubly bad because the script is terrible to start with. Consider this line from main character, Mike (Harold Warren himself):

‘We’ll go hide in the desert. Someone is sure to find us.’

You know why it’s called a desert don’t you? The clue is in the name.

The story is a couple are driving, somewhere, with their young daughter but they get car trouble and stop off at an old house. Here they meet a man named Torgo, and after establishing they won’t be able to go anywhere that night they agree to stay the night in the house.

Now Torgo is a creepy looking guy with inflated knees (hunchbacks are so cliché) with a staff that has a hand at the top and has spasms that making it look like he’s masturbating. He is constantly referring to ‘The Master’ and how ‘he won’t like you staying here.’ Would you stay in a place like that with a weird guy like Torgo? At least he has his own slightly comical theme music.

‘The Master’ as it turns out is, well I don’t know what he is really. He sleeps through the day like a vampire but he never drinks any blood. He has a robe with handprints on it but it looks more like he’s wearing two beach towels. He has six wives who stand still all the day, which is the best acting you will see here. The Master wakes them up and instantly regrets as they all start chatting amongst themselves while he can’t get a word in him.

Turns out they are all worshippers of Manos, some evil God thing, and are debating whether they should kill the family. Then a Royal Rumble breaks out amongst the women, which is what I imagine happens whenever any group of 3 or more women get together. Well it does in films. This goes on for ages and resolves absolutely nothing.

The rest of the film revolves around the family’s attempt to escape the cult. There is an entirely pointless scene with two cops who hear two gun shots. They move five feet from their car, wave their flashlight (which looks more like a miniature dildo) and that’s enough for them. They get in their car and drive away. Thanks. For. That.

The ending is obvious to anyone but it takes so long to get there with awful jazz music in the background. A chore does not begin to describe it.

The Manos story doesn’t end there though. Thanks to a kickstarter campaign from actress Jackey Neyman (who plays Debbie in Manos), a sequel is scheduled to be released in November 2016, just in time for the 50^th anniversary.

IMDB Bottom 100: Number 15 - Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2

Number 15: Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 (2004)

Wow, what an incredible movie.

When I looked at its IMDB page I was shocked when I saw it hadn’t won any Oscars. This film was released in theatres on 27^th August 2004 but the Best Film award at the 2005 awards was given to Million Dollar Baby. And Baby Geniuses 2 wasn’t even nominated. What a disgrace, the Academy should be ashamed. Million Dollar Baby indeed with its coherent story, focus on characterisation and good acting.

I just hope Clint Eastwood done the decent thing and handed back all his awards, he knows he doesn't deserve them.

But seriously, this film sucks. Everything about it is wrong, just look at the title it's the wrong way round. Conventional film titling is you put the franchise name before the subtitle, so it should be called Baby Geniuses 2: Superbabies. If they can't even get that right, what hope for the rest of it?

I am just grateful this is the only one in the series I have to watch, there are actually 5 Baby Genius films but all with different casts of babies in them. Because babies are unreliable as actors with their habit of getting older all the time. It is a problem in this film as well as sometimes the babies are noticeably bigger in some scenes than in others.

The whole thinking behind these films though is crass in its simplicity. I can imagine the production meeting:

Big Producer Man: So, any ideas?

Assistant #1: Well, our research shows people are quite fond of babies.

Big Producer Man: Really? Whatever for? They just cry, shit and piss a lot.

Assistant #1: People think they’re cute.

Assistant #2: And Rugrats was very successful for Nickelodeon.

Big Producer Man: We can exploit this. Let’s put babies on screen for 90minutes and make a film around it. And we’ll ‘borrow’ the idea of babies talking to each other. We got anything else?

Assistant #2: Well, Clint Eastwood has submitted us a script about an old boxing trainer who reluctantly takes a young woman under his wing.

Big Producer Man: Like that would ever be successful. No, brainless baby movies it is.

And that’s how it happened.

The ‘story’ here is something about a mind control pulse, a legendary child who protects the world’s children but is actually 70, babies get superpowers and the least emotional reunion between a mother and son ever captured on film.

To be honest, I was trying not to pay too much attention because I was scared my brain cells would melt if I did.

So yeah, it’s pretty bad.

IMDB Bottom 100: Number 16 - Humshakals

Number 16: Humshakals (2014)

Interesting thing about this one.

When I first downloaded The List this one was simply titled ‘Doublegangers’. I have to track these films down so I can watch them and a title like that will bring up some, interesting results. And not ones I particularly want on my search history.

Luckily, this isn’t a Premier League footballer’s favourite fetish movie but actually a more innocent Bollywood movie about lookalikes, which presumably should have been ‘Doppelgangers’ but was mistranslated to a more suggestive title.

I almost wish it was a porno as at least that would be easier to explain and this one makes my head spin just thinking about it.

Primarily set in London, there’s billionaire Ashok (Saif Ali Khan) aided by his best friend Kumar (Ritesh Deshmukh) who dreams of being a stand-up comedian. Unfortunately, he sucks. I think I’ve spotted one of his problems though, he’s telling jokes in Hindi to a mainly white, British audience. British people won't even learn French, no way will they learn an Indian language fluently to the point of understanding set-up and punchline.

He has a problem though in the form of his Uncle Kans who wants to take over the family business so creates a drug that makes Ashok and Kumar temporarily think they’re dogs. Just go with it. This gets them put in a mental hospital and allows Kans to take control of the business. If you’re hoping this plays out like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, you will be sorely disappointed.

This is where it gets complicated, two genuine loons are also in the hospital who look identical (well they should, they are the same actors) and are also called Ashok and Kumar. Thanks to a mix-up so obvious they might as well have put a massive sign saying ‘IDENTITY CONFUSION HAPPENS NOW’ as the loons are released with the real Ashok and Kumar staying in the hospital. In a sense, they done exactly that with a snippet of song saying that’s exactly what happens.

The loons are picked up and brought to the real Ashok’s mansion, which they think is all part of a popular reality show where ordinary people are allowed to live like millionaires for a week. Trust me, it makes sense in the film. Sort of.

The real Ashok and Kumar meanwhile are trying to deal with the hospital warden, who is really subtly portrayed as being a cruel, dictator figure. Not really, they put him in an SS uniform and he refers to Adolf Hitler as ‘Uncle’. Yes, he really does.

They do find out their Uncle Kans is responsible for their incarceration but more incredibly, there is a lookalike of their Uncle in the hospital too.

And this is where I tune out. Various schemes are planned up to regain control of the company, lots of identity confusion where it’s hard to keep tabs of who is the real one and who is the duplicate. A third set of duplicates are added (triplicates?) because two sets of each character wasn’t enough. There’s a Prince Charles lookalike. Except it’s the real Prince Charles. If he was a cockney.

It all works out in the end.

I’ve tried to condense this down to just the key plot points but there is so much going on here. I haven’t mentioned the trio of beautiful ladies who are the love interests of the film, the drug dealer responsible for loony Ashok and Kumar being put in the asylum to begin with, one of the lookalikes severe OCD issues. I haven’t mentioned any of the “hilarious” scenes the director Sajid Khan (whom from what I can tell has a reputation for being a bit of a hack) thought would sell the movie. The warden’s torture method of making inmates watch Himmatwala…hey, hey, hey, hey! No spoilers! That one’s for later.

The music videos are actually a welcome break in this film, they gave me a chance to sort out what was happening in the film in my head. Though one of the songs as far as I can tell was all about creating a personal ring tone. Deep stuff.

I need to stop now. My head hurts thinking about it all. So many questions of identity. I mean, am I really me?

I don’t know anymore.