The Watchers Film Show: Lockdown Special 1

We're not letting a minor inconvenience like the COVID-19 lockdown stop us from chatting about films!

In this first Watchers Film Show: Lockdown Special, we chat about how we're dealing with life under the new rules, and highlight some more of our Feelgood Films! You might be surprised by some of our choices...

Check out the video above!

We've also done some maintenance work on the Watchers Productions page, and our entire past archive of Watchers Film Shows (both video and audio) are available to watch there. So if you fancy seeing how Rhys, Tez, and Matt looked nearly ten- TEN!- years ago (and hearing our contemporary opinions of the films of the time), check them out!

Kenny Baker (1934-2016)

So 2016 continues its sadistic streak by taking some of the best-loved and respected culture personalities whilst allowing some absolute wastes of perfectly good internal organs to thrive.

Kenny Baker, who played R2-D2 in the Star Wars franchise, has sadly passed away at the age of 81 after a long illness.

The latest passing is, for many of us, a very sad one and a lot of people of our age (mid-to-late 30s) will feel as if a part of their childhood has gone.

Born in Birmingham, Baker- who stood at 3ft 8ins- was approached at the age of 16 to join a theatrical troupe which specialised in dwarves and midgets. He joined a circus, learned to ice skate, appeared in pantomime and formed a very successful comedy duo with fellow small person Jack Purvis called The Minitones.

When he was approached to appear in Star Wars, Baker initially turned the role down. He did accept after finding out Alec Guinness was going to appear in the film. Star Wars was Baker's first film role and he went on to play R2-D2 in six of the seven movies, acting as a consultant on The Force Awakens (with Jimmy Vee already confirmed as Baker's replacement for Episode VIII). In Return Of The Jedi, Baker also plays Paploo, the Ewok who steals an Imperial speeder bike.

Whilst Baker will forever be known as R2-D2, his own personal favourite screen role was as Fidgit in Terry Gilliam's 1981 comic fantasy romp Time Bandits. He was frequently cast in fantasy films, appearing in Flash Gordon (1980), Labyrinth (1986) and in an uncredited role in Willow (1988).

He also appeared in more serious films such as The Elephant Man (1980), Amadeus (1984) and Mona Lisa (1986).

He was a regular attendee at conventions and comic-cons around the world and was always very warm and enthusiastic when meeting fans.

Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.

David Bowie (1947-2016)

News of the death of David Bowie, who passed away earlier this week just two days after his 68th birthday, came as a huge shock - not least because, just last week, he released his twenty-fifth studio album Darkstar.

From the glorious glam rock genderbending of Ziggy Stardust, through the Berlin trilogy with Brian Eno, to his collaborations with Placebo, Queen and the Pet Shop Boys, Bowie continually reinvented himself and his musical style. Iconic songs such as 'Heroes', 'Changes', 'Starman', 'Space Oddity', 'Life On Mars' and 'Let's Dance' shifted the cultural landscape of the UK and his music has been used in such diverse projects as Moulin Rouge!, Sixteen Candles, Se7en, The Wedding Singer, Dogville, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou and The Kids Are All Right

Although Bowie had an illustrious music career, he also had an interesting and diverse film career. As this is a film blog, the focus of this tribute will primarily be his film work.

Bowie made his film debut as the eponymous character in Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976). As the humanoid alien Thomas Jerome Newton, who comes to Earth looking for water as his home planet is undergoing a severe drought, Bowie is an arresting presence as he negotiates the venality and greed of the world (despite later admitting that he was heavily abusing cocaine throughout the filming). On its initial release, the film met mixed reviews- with Roger Ebert calling it 'preposterous and posturing'-  but has since gone on to be considered a cult classic. Bowie won the Saturn Award for Best Actor for his performance.

In a re-released version of perennial Christmas favourite The Snowman, Bowie appears as the adult James who narrates his adventure with the snowman. He then went on to appear opposite Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon in Tony Scott's vampire fantasy romance The Hunger as the lover of Catherine Deneuve's character. He also gives an acclaimed performance as Major Jack Celliers in the World War II prisoner-of-war movie Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence.

He was offered, but declined, the role of Max Zorin in A View To A Kill (which instead went to Christopher Walken). He was considered for the role of Sharaz Jek in the Doctor Who story The Caves Of Androzani but the filming dates clashed with his Serious Moonlight tour. In 1986, Bowie appeared as Vendice Partners in Absolute Beginners, a musical drama about 1950s London (for which he also provided the title song, and sang 'That's Motivation' and 'Volare'). Whilst the film screened out of competition in the 1986 Cannes Film Festival, it was panned by the critics and was a box office flop (making less than a million dollars in the US and only making £1.8 million against a budget of over £8 million in the UK).

However, Bowie appeared in another film in 1986 that has gone on to be one of the most beloved movies of the 1980s: Labyrinth. His performance as Jareth the Goblin King will probably be the film role that Bowie is most remembered for (not least because of the impressive codpiece). He's a strangely sensual villain, charismatic yet sinister. He also recorded five songs for the film's soundtrack including the earwormy 'Magic Dance' and 'As The World Falls Down'. Yet, like many of the films Bowie was involved with, this too had mixed reviews on first release and lost money at the box office- thus being considered a commercial failure- but has since been re-evaluated and lauded as a cult movie. 

After Labyrinth, Bowie appeared as Pontius Pilate in Martin Scorsese's controversial The Last Temptation Of Christ and appeared in the film prequel Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me as Philip Jeffries. In 1996, he appeared as Andy Warhol in the biopic of American painter Jean-Michel Basquiat (Warhol acted as Basquiat's friend and mentor). He made a well-received cameo as himself in Zoolander and provided the voice of Maltazard the Wizard in the English-language version of Arthur And The Invisibles. He also appeared as Nikola Tesla in The Prestige.

There really is no other word to describe David Bowie than icon. A true cultural icon. The world is a darker place for his passing.

Tez
for The Watchers