Skint111

Documentary about John Lennon's final decade, which he largely spent in New York.

Released theatrically in a 2h 20m version, and then given an extra hour for an alternate version on streaming and Blu-ray (the version viewed here) this is the antithesis of the recent One To One Lennon documentary, which had no talking heads: this has virtually nothing but - mostly older men who lengthily ramble on (the worst of which is the TV producer who was in hospital the night Lennon was taken there); there is a little archive footage too.

While there's no doubting the sincerity of the project, it's not stirring viewing, despite a few scoops, the main one being about the ex-Beatle's planned 1981 international tour, because it's unambitious and plain in its presentation, with not a chord of Lennon's music of course.

It assumes the viewer knows the story already so, for example, we aren't even told about Sean being born in 1975. It's nice to see the likes of Ray Connolly, Andy Peebles and Bob Harris but, in the end, there are just too many people, as a Paul McCartney song title had it.

An office party in London gets frisky.

Even if you go in with very low expectations, this is complete crud; it doesn't even work on its own terms as a sex farce because, at least until near the end, there's virtually no sex: mostly it's just office workers chatting to each other (the dialogue ain't good either) in David Grant's own office that he used to shoot this 'film' in over a weekend.

Lake looks puffy and does next to nothing, future Coronation Street star Briggs is noticeable, there's a camp chap who raises the odd smile and the ladies look nice but it's hardly a compensation.

Half an hour of hardcore footage was added for foreign markets, the lucky lot. Here in Blighty, it's impossible to imagine that the Soho cinema patrons were glad they'd paid for this.

I suppose it has some sort of minor cultural value, with its scenes of contemporary London and its scenes of social interaction between the office types. Track it down on the net if you wish (it's tricky, but it can be found), but don't expect much.

Documentary in which political commentator Matt Walsh investigates race politics in the USA.

In turns hilarious and terrifying, this Daily Wire film gets under the skin of a deeply polarised modern America in which race activists monetise and amplify division, with predictably awful consequences (it makes things worse, not better).

Highlights include the interview with supremo race grifter Robin DiAngelo (who ends up giving a few dollars to the black man sitting near her), the wheelchair-bound uncle who is paraded in front of a class for telling an off-colour joke, the jaw-dropping meal where white women get told off by Saira Rao and Regina Jackson, and the DEI class where Walsh goes against the grain.

Walsh displays the skill and tenacity of Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat or Bruno at their peak, and the film - ignored by liberal media establishment outlets - is an important one, a clever and well-judged doc that you can't stop watching despite many agonising moments; the post credits scene is priceless too.