Red-Barracuda

From the opening scenes of this one it was made abundantly clear that this is no ordinary sport, as we watch brutal fights in which guys get their heads well and truly pummelled, with blood everywhere! Welcome to the world of mixed martial arts fighting, a sport I hadn't even heard of before a very kind fellow IMDb user sent me a copy of this doc. The film is a behind-the-scenes look at the sport but primarily follows champion fighter Mark Kerr as he prepares for a tournament, suffers a near fatal overdose of painkillers and endures relationship problems. Its a film which injects some vulnerability into a sport which for most must be purely about brute force and violence. The story arc isn't necessarily the most dramatic, its more like a slice-of-life but its a pretty interesting subject none-the-less.

This fun documentary works mainly as a bit of nostalgia for people of a certain age (me!). It focuses on the Children's Department of the BBC and how it produced a disproportionate number of well-remembered and interesting programmes between the mid 60's to the mid 80's. The narrative suggests that the advent of ITV kickstarted this, with the BBC being forced to up their game to compete and ended with the introduction of the satellite stations, when the corporation could no longer compete financially. Whatever the case, in the years in question, the BBC certainly did put out a good amount of memorable telly, both internal productions and more odd-ball foreign imports, such as The Magic Roundabout and The Singing Ringing Tree. The historical context is definitely interesting but at the end of the day, this doc really works best as a concise reminder of many shows we experienced in our infancy and there is sure to be one or two that jog dormant memories. All-in-all, a quality slice of TV history.

A conman and his young accomplice - who may or may not be father and daughter - travel around the mid-west during the Great Depression, trying out various illicit money-making schemes.

This Peter Bogdanovich movie is a product of the New Hollywood era. Like his earlier effort, The Last Picture Show, this one shares the specific black and white period drama presentation. Its in effect a road movie, where the characters are the driving force. Ryan O'Neal illustrates his screen charisma here and he has - perhaps unsurprisingly - great chemistry with Tatum O'Neal, who is his actual daughter after all! The latter puts in one of the great child acting performances out there, with a fair amount of depth and humour. Madeline Kahn pitches up memorably too in the role of Ryan's overbearing female suitor. The acting is all very good and the period detail and monochrome cinematography an ideal accompaniment. And even if it feels like the story sags a bit somewhere in the middle, its still an all-round good movie and certainly shows just how reliable Bogdanovich was as a director up to this point in his career.