The Christmas TV Strategy Guide 2022 #03

Well, you watched the rest right? In for a penny and all that. And this is a good ending to the trilogy, and a decent western whilst its at it. The story is a bit simpler than the time bending escapades of BTTFII but thats not always a bad thing, Lets all just try to ignore that weird kid at the end and enjoy the film, yeah?

The first film was probably a bit better than it had any right to be, and this sequel doesn’t quite recapture the same magic. But its still a fun family film with a decent cast running through a load of shenanigans in an entertaining way, and thats all you need at Christmas right?

Les Dawson is one of those comedians that can get lumped in with that group of pre-alternative 70s comedians; lots of jokes about mother in laws and boobs and that. But the man was a poet at heart, and his comedy was shot through with a world weary melancholy that could elevate a simple mother in law joke into something much more lyrical. So going back to his work is worth it as there’s sure to be some gems in there. And then after that you get a pure concentrated blast of 80s nostalgia; honestly, just look at some of those names on there! Spitting Image AND The Young Ones? Good Lord.

Clint and his best orange pal is back! Yay? Ish. Clint, never afraid to milk a franchise, is back for more knockabout fun and right turns that aren’t quite as funny as the first time but still funny. And then, right, look, late period Bruce isn’t great for reasons that we now know of but this film comes in just before that and is probably one of his last ‘proper’ films. Its not a great film by any stretch; Bruce should have eased into retirement picking and choosing roles like Gene Hackman did, rather than average genre fare like this and the direct to video films that would follow,

Time for a break! So lets have some of the Man in Black; its not quite the American Recordings period but Cash was always a great performer so both of these would be worth a watch.

Gary Oldman is giving it some good spy currently in the AppleTV series Slow Horses which is really good and well worth your time. But it isn’t like this is his first spy rodeo, as he was in this remake of one of the definitive Cold War spy stories. It feels a bit more condensed rather than the original TV version but it remains a great film held together by Oldman’s central performance as Smiley

Its nice to see that stuff from this film is coming back as for years it felt totally forgotten by the rest of the Marvel films; I always felt it was a bit unfairly maligned due to the issues with the production then Ed Norton being re-cast which meant that this film was kind of persona non grata. But now Tim Roth came back for the She Hulk series, another character will be back for the upcoming Captain America film which is nice to see. Hopefully next we’ll have the Hulk in his own film again which would be nice

Now I saw this in the cinema and I remember it being an absolute hoot; it was much much funnier than it had any right to be, had a great pace held together by a great cast. Has it held up over time? Who knows, give it a go and let me know. Or don’t, if its now a piece of trash

If you ever wanted to know where that Antonio Banderas meme of him sitting back from a computer all happy came from, then you’re welcome. This film is part of that rollercoaster period of 90s Stallone films; that fact that this was the same year as Judge Dredd should give you an idea of where exactly we are on said roller coaster. Its not as bad as the real dregs from Stallone’s canon but its no Demolition Man, I’ll tell you that for nothing