Nobody & Mr Benn

This week’s show sees us discussing The Razzies, the annual award ceremony dedicated to celebrating the very worst that Hollywood has to offer. Publicist John J.B. Wilson held a reverse Oscars party at his house in 1981 in which Stanley Kubrick and Brian De Palma were nominated for Worst Director, Shelley Duvall was proposed for Worst Actress and FRIDAY THE 13TH was on the shortlist for Worst Picture which neatly sums up just how credible the awards have been since their inception. Harmless fun some may say, while others might declare the whole concept to be lazy, mean spirited and critically irrelevant, with a bought for membership who are subject to serious lapses in judgement, guilty of a nasty piling in type mentality and completely devoid of any understanding of what constitutes cinema or art. We'll discuss the award shows apparent antipathy towards Sylvester Stallone, the brave souls who turned up in person to collect their prizes and some undeserving recipients as we discuss the Top 5 Razzie Award Nominees or Winners. NOBODY is director Ilya Naishuller's action thriller variation on the classic former killer who is brought out of retirement to deal with a personal threat type plot, sharing much in common both conceptually and aesthetically with JOHN WICK, a fact compounded by the involvement of that movies screenwriter Derek Kolstad and co-director David Leitch. The film's greatest achievement is making the star of this dark and violent tale the comedy writer/ character actor Bob Odenkirk who trained for 2 years to be believable as the brutal and efficient former 'auditor' Hutch Mansell, who becomes involved with Russian gangsters when his daughter’s kitty bracelet is stolen. With incredible and painful looking stunts, inventive fight choreography, a good sense of humour and a playful use of jazz and pop songs as ironic commentary this was of course a hit with all the Bad Dads though it never directly addresses the obvious criticism that could be made about it, namely that a movie about a man whose masculinity is in crisis and that rediscovers his joie de vivre through brutal violence is a bit of a disturbing theme. Poised for a sequel we probably don't need (but I would almost certainly watch), the main question is which celebrities should be toughened up and given their own action-genre classics...how about Larry David, Meryl Streep or Graham Norton? I would watch any one of those movies. MR BENN was an animated children’s show which first aired on British television in 1971. He lived at Number 52 Festive Road and could nearly always be found dressed in a black suit, white shirt, black tie, and smart bowler hat, evoking proper British respectability to one and all. I say nearly always because Mr Benn's daily constitutional took him near a fancy-dress shop where, as if by magic, a shopkeeper appears offering him the chance to try on a costume and go on a fantastical adventure. Dan selected episode 2 "The Hunter" for us to watch and we were all delighted to see the subject tackled with a surprising amount of compassion for a show more than 50 years old.We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. Try us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad DadsYou can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out!We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at [email protected] or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads