West Wing Special

A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Director: Thomas Schlamme. Cast: Elisabeth Moss, Allison Janney, Janel Moloney, Bradley Whitford, Rob Lowe, Martin Sheen, Emily Procter, Dulé Hill, Richard Schiff, Melissa Fitzgerald.

Watching this a stage version of an old episode of the West Wing (“Hartsfield’s Landing” – Season 3, Episode 14) all about the importance of voting in free and fair elections has suddenly brought me back several years to a time when Donal Trump was just the name of that rich prick who appeared in “Home alone 2”.

It has not been easy to re-watch the “West Wing” for the past 4 years, but this reunion with pretty much the whole cast back (minus the John Spencer, who sadly died during season 6, but which including even some those tiny recurring minor characters), has reminded me exactly why I love this series so much (it is possibly one of my favourite TV series ever).

Not because it’s a perfect show (it’s not: it can be pedantic, showy, cheesy, a bit too “America is great”), but it’s impossible not to fall in love with every character, those rousing speeches, those press conferences, all those walk-and-talk moments and every time President Barlet put on his jacket.. and I could go on for hours.

This re-imagined special episode was not only timely, but beautifully realised.

I loved everything about it. The stage direction, the live cover of the title music, the behind-the-scenes footage showing the cast laughing together, wearing masks and elbowing each other.

I almost had tears in my eyes.

I even liked those “cheesy” little interludes in between.

I think I’ve learnt more about politics from the west wing than anywhere else in the news (let alone in school, where I was probably asleep if ever that was taught), and I’m not just talking about the mechanics of it or the rules, but the true ideals of how politics should really work. 

It is a fantasy of course a sort of “romantic” and “idealised” White House but one in which I love to lose myself.

Screw everything else, I’m just going to watch it all again from start!

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan ()

Director: Jason Woliner. Cast: Sacha Baron Cohen, Maria Bakalova,

Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that the first Borat however offensive, crass and tasteless was also unique. An inventive and fearless “social experiment” that somehow said more about racism, sexism and bigotry than many mainstream movies out there. 14 years have now passed since that first film and the world has not only changed quite a bit, but the bar has been raised and raised and it’s not as easy to shock us as it used to be. We are much more used “stunts” like these. In fact Sacha Baron Cohen himself has already done quite a few of those in his recent TV series “Who is America?” and this latest “Borat” movie feels very much like an extended episode of that containing a bunch of more or less successful sketches.Borat 2 was clearly rushed to production so that it could be release just in time for the forthcoming US election. Some of that rush definitely shows. Not all the jokes work, not all of them hit the mark. And while of course there are some funny ideas here and there and the “Covid surprise ending” is quite inspired, it’s all much to diluted to be really punchy as it should be. I was desperate for a strong comedy tonight… sadly this, just about floats above the average.

On Amazon Prime.