Plots with a View Movie title as on the non US release

In a small town in Wales, Betty (Brenda Blethyn) is married to philandering town councillor Hugh Rhys-Jones (Robert Pugh) and has to care for his obnoxious and demanding mother. When the latter chokes to death on a bowl of breakfast bran, she comes into contact with local funeral director Boris Plotz (Alfred Molina) who has cherished a secret passion for her since childhood. In the meantime, rival funeral director, eccentric American Frank Featherbed (Walken) and his Igor like assistant (Lee Evans) seek to drum up business with cut-rate novelty funerals. Boris and Betty develop an elaborate plot to run away together which involves faking Betty’s death. Much mayhem ensues in the realization of this scheme and Rhys-Jones and his mistress (Naomi Watts) finally get their comeuppance and Featherbed’s dreams of empire are realized.

Plots with a view – Hollywood Reporter

The Bottom Line. By Duane Byrge.

Both warm and bilious, this scrumptiously daffy comedy is a deliciously dark, frothy amusement.

Funerals have a way of bringing people together, and in this  balmy case, it’s romance. A dr, comedy backdropped by the crazed competition between to Welsh funeral homes, this Miramax film might be aptly titled “Four Funerals and a Wedding”. The variation on that hit’s title augurs where “Plots with a View” is headed at the box office, ascending to the beneficent word-of-mouth heights.

As one of the competing funeral directors, Christopher Walken’s performance is the most peculiar hilarity since Liberace played a casket salesman in “The Loved One”, Evelyn Waugh’s acidic take-off on Los Angeles and pet cemeteries. Walken wil surely walk off with awards-season accolades for his screwy interpretation.

Both warm and billious, “Plots” centers on a second romance as funeral director Boris Plotz (Alfred Molina) somberly prepares the funeral for the aunt of a well-heeled local woman, Betty (Brenda Blethyn). Boris gives it his most reverential treatment, particularly since way back when he had a yen for Betty but was too awkward to ever ask her for a dance.

The issue has been gnawing at Boris for nearly 30 years and, together with the fact that he alway fancied being a dancer rather than going into the family funeral business, he finally declares his love.

Boris and Betty plot to run away together, only for their plan to be subsumed by Boris’ business pressures. A new rival funeral director, Frank Featherbed (Christopher Walken), has has decided that traditional funerals are too stodgy, and he is determined to add some pep to the staid undertaking business by staging innovative “theme funerals”. In essence, imagine that Robert Evans has decided at one time to produce funerals instead of movies.

Blending Boris and Betty’s blossoming romance with the tribulations of funeral home maketing techniques, screenwriter Frederick Ponzlov has concocted a deliciously dark and frothy amusement. He laces the over-the-top funeral productions smartly within the romantic story line _ Frank serves up a “Star Trek” style sendoff for an otherwise forgetable local dowager, etc. The story line is both warm and daffy, and director Nick Hurran mixes it with the right portions of perfume and acid.

The performances are, err, dead right. Blethyn is winningly sympathetic as a woman who didnt marry foir love, while Molina’s performance smartly embodies a repressed man’s inner romantic notions. With his poofed hair, vanity shades and Hollywood style swagger, Walken is marvelous as the P.T. Barnum like funeral director.

Technical contributions are perfectly shaded, from the darkest of comedic blacks to the most inspiring of romantic whites.

Bright eyed and self-confident, down to its short skirts and tousled leisurewear, “Virtual Sexuality” ia a Brit chick-flick with attitude. Aimed at a microscopic slice of the local population (female, mid-teens), and likely to make anyone beyond that feel more than their years, pic about a lovelorn girl’s disastrous attempt to create the man of her dreams does what it sets out to do quite well and then gets off the screen. Theatrical chances look likewise brief, with a sexy life on ancillary.

Movie is a brave attempt to create ultra-niche youth product off the current upswing in UK production, reversing the usual Euro attitude of making a movie whether there’s an audience or not. Results so far are promising but not breakthrough: Opening July 2, against heavy competition from fine weather and Wimbledon tennis, pic raked in $400,000 of 199 screens in its first weekend, solid enough for a modest, no-name item but below expectations.

Justine (Laura Fraser) is a 17 year old Notting Hill virgin who’s ready to get shagged. Bemoaning the absence of bar codes on men, which would make the whole matching process easier, she enlists the advice of her knowledgeable black “soulsister,” Fran (Marcelle Duprey), and nerdy friend Chas (Luke de Lacey), in her attempt to charm school stud Alex (Kieran O’Brien).

When Alex bails to spend time with the appropriatly named blond siren Hoover (Natasha Bell), Justine ends up at a virtual-reality computer exhibition with Chas. Lured by its inventors into a makeover machine called Narcissus, Justine has so much fun creating her ideal self onscreen that, on a whim, she starts creating her ideal man.

When the power supply in the exhibition hall short-circuits and Narcissus blows up, a blond male hunk, Jake (Rupert Penry-Jones), steps out of the ruinsin Justines clothes, claiming to be her. Several reverse “switch” jokes later, the original Justine turns up, fancies her dream creation (not knowing that his personality is hers) but is still obsessed with losing her cherry to Alex. Meanwhile, Hoover zeroes in on Jake, who is then kidnapped by the Narcissus inventors for scientific tests.

Considering the amount of sexual confusion going on here, pic manages to keep an admirably buoyant, uncomplicated tone, settling for  the final message that Justine created an “ego extension” rather than a real, perfect guy. Beneath its mildly risque trappings and som forthright sex talk, “Virtual Sexuality” is solidly ’90s conservative, with an old fashioned message.

Though she looks a tad old for a teen, and way too attractive fo rthe part, 23 year old Fraser, notable in a string of supporting roles from “Small Faces” to “Cousin Bette”, brings a real glow to the screen and performs with confidence.  Duprey is also good as her sassy best pal, and both help to balance the physical antics of Penry-Jones as the virtual Jake.

Film’s weakness is that the physical gags play much better than the verbal ones. Nick Fisher’s script, based on the far less structured novel by Cloe Rayban, is smart but not actually very funny. Still, the slick production, well edited by John Richards, largely manages to disguise or make capital out of its budget limitations, inhabits a far more real Notting Hill than the current fairy-tale pic named after the area and never remotely pretends to be anything other than what it is: a throwaway Brit pop-comic with a 90 minute shelf life.

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WASHINGTON POST: “A vigorous sprint across a macho minefield… a surprisingly stylish and addictive new counterterrorism series…. really a study in successfully crossing a minefield of testosterone clichés, barely avoiding a “MacGyver” here and a Vin Diesel there and Guy Ritchie project over there. As the action moves to Mumbai, something about the show just clicks: It’s serious without being hammy. It’s violence without overkill. It’s hawkish without becoming jingoistic. The writing is almost entirely expository, but the acting (really, it’s the British accents) tends to gloss over that shortcoming. And it’s on Skinemax, which means the sex scenes are sweaty, ravenous and yet studiously soft-core.

LA TIMES: Cinemax’s new special ops drama shoots high with plenty of action and thrills and a simmering bromance that’s fun to watch. The continuation of a British show “Strike Back” revolves around one of those elite bands of superheroes who can hack into any security system, outshoot any paramilitary mercenary, out-talk any rogue cell member and take down a phalanx of machine gun-toting terrorists while only armed with the hotel bath towel that had previously been wrapped around their middle. The body count is high, the action relentless and all the Section 20 members shout “copy that” into their ear phones so often a viewer will be excused from wondering when Chloe is going to parachute in and offer a much needed tutorial on how to track a paneled van through really bad traffic. But it’s more methadone than madness; where “24″ was the archetypal tale of the lone gunslinger operating within the grim realities of newly revamped military protocol (i.e., torture), “Strike Back” is, at its heart, a buddy movie, a simmering life-or-death bromance between its two male leads.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE: a stylish, addictive action thriller that fills a definite void in the macho spy drama genre. I just wish the 10-part series didn’t take Cinemax’s joke name—Skinemax—so much to heart. But I’ll get to that. As we approach the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, “Strike Back” brings back that desire to kick some terrorist butt—or at least it offers an escape from downer headlines. There isn’t anything too deeply intellectual here because the action moves the plot. And “Strike Back” has action to spare. And while some plot devices are familiar—hotel hostage-taking was done a couple times on the superior “MI-5”—but “Strike Back” avoids action clichés just enough to avoid being a ridiculous Steven Seagal movie. The actors ground the show as well, adding emotional heft to what could be caricatures. This being Skinemax, the creators of the show throw a whole lot of nudity and sex at viewers. I can’t believe I’m complaining about it, but the nudity here is often gratuitous to the point of being laughable. When we first meet Scott, we see his butt before his face… think we get the point that Scott’s a womanizer by the way he hits on every woman he meets; we don’t need to see a month’s worth of breasts and butt cheeks in every episode. Jack Bauer never even went to the bathroom, let alone slept around. All that unnecessary sex distracts from the important stuff, like watching these testosterone titans take down the terrorists.

NEW YORK POST: Not for the faint of heart, the weak of stomach or the connoisseur of art, Cinemax’s original series, “Strike Back,” is, however, perfect for several people I know: the love interest and his friends. A few weekends back, these guys, armed with my screeners, secluded themselves indoors and watched four straight hours of “Strike Back,” coming up only long enough to grab more food and yell, “They’re really kicking ass down there!” Clearly, they weren’t fighting off terrorists in the basement with nachos, but they were so worked up, it almost seemed like it. Nothing new here…But that doesn’t mean the series doesn’t work. It’s no “MI-5,” but since Cinemax went to the Brits to make the show, it’s as good as you will get from secret agent/terrorist-hunter shows. Because it’s Brit-produced, don’t expect your favorites to last long, as the British have no problem killing off even the biggest, most-beloved characters. Good action, good characters and, besides, it’s the only show in the history of TV where the term, “f-cking pr-ck” is code

NY DAILY NEWS: unapologetic, fist-pumping, nonstop action thriller with compelling good guys and loathsome bad guys…needs to be your appointment television for the next 10 weeks.”Strike Back” fills the void (action popcorn flicks) beautifully, with the added bonus of two reassuringly smart and occasionally flawed good guys.
HUFFINGTON POST: Think of it as a British take on “24″–but with more sex and violence.

INDIE WIRE: This juiced-up second series feels younger, less conflicted, more kung-fu acrobatic. So fast-paced it makes 24 look sluggish, and with a brighter, livelier tone that embraces both multi-cultural inclusiveness and macho backslapping….first rate pulp TV, with enough unexpected heart and authenticity to guarantee that its thrills are never cheap. A counter-terrorism action series, it probably isn’t grim or one-sided enough to be adopted by ideologues of any stripe, and it isn’t in the superhero business. Loud and fast and brightly colored, with sudden up-against-the-wall sex scenes that keep the volume turned up to eleven between the fire fights,

As the hire companies started to take over the supply of gear, I used both Media Composer and Lightworks, depending on how many systems were required. The more work stations that were needed, the more likely it was that Avid offered the best platform. Band of Brothers had the maximum at that time of 13 Avids linked together. In straight forward editing though, i.e. low VFX requirements, the Lightworks was unbeatable to me.

If more manipulation of the picture was required, then grab the Avid. My last time on Lightworks was in the USA in 2003/4 on Little Black Book. It was a multi system but the networking was quite a problem. That’s when I converted to Mac and eventually became a full time Media Composer user during the edit of Its a Boy Girl Thing, while in Toronto, Canada.

Soon, the new kid on the block was Final Cut Pro. FCP became a viable way to finish a film, not just offline it. I used it on one feature shot on film and one on HD Cam. Caught in the Act, which was directed by the BAFTA winner Matt Lipsey. This HDCam project was off-lined on my Mac Pro’s and then conformed into them at full resolution. We did a full audience test screening at Theatre 7 in Pinewood with 200 people and me sitting at the back driving it all off FCP via a Kona card. It looked and sounded as good, if not better, than the film test versions I did for Little Black Book in L.A. And at a fraction of the cost. Once the picture was locked, we did a file transfer to a Baselight grading system at Molinare, in London. Progressing to a full D.I. and Film Out to 35mm neg for release prints. Every frame of the images on my local cinema screen had gone through my Mac. Very impressive.

Now, I have several copies of MC5, Adobe CS5 and a couple of FCP’s. I run all three on my MacPro or MacBook Pro. £60k can be replaced by an investment of only £4k, stunning value.

So, what do I think of all the options. Well, just like in so many walks of life, I try and use the right tool for each situation. It’s difficult to specify exactly which system and when, so I mix and match as I feel it necessary. All have features that are good, save time and help creativity. However, I’m quite sure that the last few years of development have been so spectacular due to the competition between platforms. I fear that may slow in the future as Apple appear to be killing off FCP for professionals.

But, for me at least, the bedrock of all my decision making in the cutting room comes straight from all I learned using good old fashion film. I can’t quite say why this is, but organisation and focusing on the material are two of the central reasons. I know it would be painful to cut again on a Steenbeck with only two audio tracks and no ability to manipulate the picture as you go. But as a tool that allowed you to play with storytelling, film was way ahead of its time.

John

But Britain isn’t an easy place for a foreigner to break through and nobody takes his efforts seriously. He has to scrape an illegal living in ‘Arab’ London as a waiter and Arabic voiceover artist; his student visa is about to expire; and he is caught up in a highly unsatisfactory relationship with married Vivienne, a French woman who moreor less pays him to have sex. On the same day his visa extension is refused, a strange old blind woman accosts him on the bus and he has a fight with his landlord and is thrown out of his lodgings.

His friend Ahmed, a streetwise hustler, thinks Ali’s dreams are a waste of time. In his view, Ali should scrape together £3000 and buy an indefinite visa by entering into a fake “white” marriage with a British woman, supplied by Ahmed, if he wants to stay. With little money, a student visa and no home, Ali sees no alternative.

However, a series of relationships in different London ‘rooms to rent’ soon has a major impact on his whole life. First, he moves in temporarily with Vivienne’s friend Mark, a photographer. Initially he is highly suspicious of the photographer’s gay lifestyle, but when Mark rescues Ali from police custody a real friendship begins to develop. Ali also starts to understand that he has to get past his prejudices and accept his need for love if his writing is ever to reach another level.

Then Mark introduces Ali to Linda, one of his models. Linda agrees to marry Ali for less than one of Ahmed’s girls and offers him a place to stay until he can find the money. Linda is young, blonde, very sexy and a Marilyn Monroe impersonator. Ali promptly proceeds to fall in love with her, or so he thinks. For a time, they look as if they might have a future together. Ali gets his first film commission starring Linda, but they soon realise that the director intends to shoot the script as soft porn. Linda breaks down, revealing to Ali that she is already married, in desperate need of money herself and in no position to help him as she promised.

Understanding that she is being trapped by her own behaviour, Linda leaves London. Al is now without a room, money, love and any prospect of sorting out his visa problem.

Before she goes, Linda arranges for Ali to rent a room from her healer, who turns out to be none other than the blind lady Ali met on the bus. Miss Stevenson seems even more eccentric at close range. She is convinced that Ali is the reincarnation of her dead Egyptian lover from the 1930s returned to fulfil his obligations and marry her. Desperate now, and with his visa about to expire, Ali tells Ahmed to get him a fake wife and gives him all his money. Ahmed steals it and gets a fake British passport for himself.

At the end of his tether, Ali agrees to marry Miss Stevenson, deeply depressed by his own behaviour.

But as time passes he finds himself drawn more and more to Miss Stevenson. Instead of thinking of himself, he starts to help her selflessly and enjoys making her happy. He finds himself coming to love her and in spite of his youth and her age, there really is a meeting of souls. She also helps him understand that his Egyptian past has made him what he is, that he should not reject it and that he will only become a true writer by embracing the past as well as the present.

When Miss Stevenson dies, Ali is distraught. A little older and quite a bit wiser, he takes her advice and throws all his newfound emotions into his writing and has his first success. With an indefinite visa, a house of his own and a little lonely, he decides to let out a room to rent himself.

To his amazement and pleasure, the first tenant to walk through the door is a lovely young woman called Sarah, she is just like the photographs of the young Miss Stevenson….

Starring Said Taghmaoui, Juliette Lewis, Rupert Graves and Anna Masey.

On board “The Providence” an intriguing band of travellers are thrown together, including taciturn Norwegian sailor Gunnar (Elliot Cowan – Marchlands), the lithe and agile jewel-thief Rina (MaramaCorlett – The Devil’s Double), and haughty and aristocratic Nala (Estella Daniels – Thorne).  Completing the ship’s complement is the Cook (Junix Inocian– The 51st State), an odd-ball and eccentric character and the ship’s cerebral doctor Anwar (Dimitri Leonidas – Grange Hill).

Surviving a violent and magical storm, both SINBAD and his intriguing fellow ship-mates are forced to band together to face their inner demons, hopes, loves and fears. Our flawed hero embarks on an epic and emotional quest to rid himself of the curse and embrace his destiny. When mystical meets muscle anything can happen….

Leading the cast of this high-octane adventure as SINBAD is newcomer Elliot Knight, 20, who graduates from drama school this summer 2011.  Alongside Knight, will be a host of well-known faces, including LOST’s Naveen Andrews as Sinbad’s nemesis, Lord Akbari, who will stop at nothing to destroy the young hero. Also guest starring in the series are Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda) whoRazia, Queen of the Water-Thieves, and Timothy Spall (Secrets and Lies, Harry Potter) as Anicetus, The Old Man of the Sea.

John is currently in Dublin, editing the second block of SINBAD. Working once again, with directed by Brian Grant. Brian is a legendary ’80′s pop video director with over 200 videos to his name as well as directing drama’s including Doctor Who, Hex, As if and Clocking Off.

SINBAD is produced by Impossible Pictures for Sky.

John Richards is 2nd unit Director on episodes 5 and 6.

Strike Back at Sky

Strike Back at Cinemax

Strike Back Series 2 Episodes 5 and 6 Behind the Scenes Photos

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It’s A Boy Girl Thing was released on 26 December 2006 in the UK and has since then been released in some countries in cinemas, in others directly to DVD, and in others as a TV film. Most of the school scenes were shot at Western Technical-Commercial School in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

• It’s a Boy Girl Thing at the Internet Movie Database
• It’s A Boy Girl Thing (2006) at Rotten Tomatoes

It’s a Boy Girl Thing Gallery

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