Script review - "Young Adult" by Diablo Cody

Like Juno, Cody takes a very familiar, simple story - woman comes back to town to win back an ex - and handles it with freshness and verge. The look at small town life is more cynical and jaundiced here - her ex is happy, chubby, a father and bland, the locals have low horizons, there is a lot of smugness. And the lead is a mess - near alcoholic, bitchy, selfish, egotistical. It works, though, especially the stuff with her old chubby former school mate with a horrific injury (really horrific - he has trouble masturbating) and his sister. It's going to be interesting to see how the public take to this.

Script review - "Up in the Air"

Smart, stylish, sceptical, cynical, with a heart - Jason Reitman is proving himself the true heir to Billy Wilder. This is two films - the minor one of a business sacking people (really the George Clooney job could have been anything that involved travel, but it does have terrific thematic echoes), and the major one of Clooney's company learning to connect. Some of the bantering dialogue involving the Clooney and his love interest (e.g. sizes of miles, crashing the party) and protege/threat (e.g. talking about ideal match) is of Golden Years of Hollywood (the good stuff) quality. It has heart and point and only goes Hollywood in one bit - when Clooney runs away from the speech at the end. At least he doesn't quit his job.

Script review - "The Untouchables" by David Mamet

Mamet should do more action films - his dialogue and strength with men suit the genre and the TV show gave him a rich world to play with: Chicago, Depression, gangsters, Capone, Irish cops. Bold, flamboyant - I'm glad Mamet didn't direct it. The great speeches are all here, the characterisation of Malone and Capone is memorable on the page; there isn't much any writer could do with Ness but Mamet does the best he can. There's an action scene in a race track at the script which didn't make the final cut.

Movie review - "Hell Drivers" (1957) ***

Taut, highly enjoyable British B about truckers in the vein of They Drive By Night - it has an American energy and feel, perhaps due to co-writer and director Cy Endfield. It's perhaps been overpraised in recent years but is still fun. Stanley Baker became a confirmed leading man with his Bogie-type portrayal of a man just out of prison who gets a job as a truck driver. The company he works for seem interested in driving as fast as possible at incredibly fast speeds than delivering safely and is dominated by Patrick McGoohan. Baker is befriended by nice Italian Herbert Lom (once again playing an "ethnic" but this time he's actually sympathetic here - indeed, the most in the film) - Baker repays him by stealing his girlfriend, and then Lom drives a truck intended for Baker with dodgy brakes.

Some odd scripting decisions - having one scene where Baker goes home to see his mother and brother (David McCallum) but no other one (we never see them again); Baker realises the truck has been fixed but doesn't tell anyone; we don't find out about the fact McGoohan is ripping off the company unit the movie is almost over (maybe this wouldn't have mattered had Baker been investigating some sort of movie but it's just a realisation at the end - so the story doesn't really have narrative advice).

Sensational cast: in addition to Baker, McCallum, Lom and McGoohan there's also a young Sean Connery and Sid James, plus Peggy Cummins.

Radio review - Ford Theatre - Ep#35 - "Laura" (1948) ***12

This adaptation lacks star power but remains a gripping story, with it's beefy detective hero who falls in love with a murder victim then finds out she's alive; the beautiful, stylish Laura who is a sucker for the meataxe (the actor who plays Shelby here sounds more rugged which suits the writing); the brilliant, obsessed Waldo full of accurate observations but unable to control his impulses. You give the detective and Laura's marriage about six months, with a year of reunion sex and break ups.

Book review - "The Hammer Vault" by Marcus Hearn

Another typically excellent Hammer book from Hearn, with plenty of glossy photos and pictures, including of old call sheets, etc. This one gives key prominence to non horror films such as Yesterday's Enemy which is a nice change and I think puts things in more perspective - although it doesn't really deal heavily with the very early Hammers, which I understand. Most of the information will be familiar to the regular fan (including Hearn's opinions e.g. bagging The Terror of the Tongs) but this is still worth buying if you're into Hammer. Oh, it is quite large and hefty.

Radio review - TGA - "Alice Adams" (1948) **

Katherine Hepburn's performance in the 1935 film was full of ticks and breathlessness so it's appropriate in a way to find Judy Garland cast in this radio version. But after an erratic start she eventually calms down and does fine work. I still didn't like this - too awkward and painful, the family life is so devastatingly portrayed (frustrated, nagging mum and pathetic father). It keeps the unconvincing happy ending of the film and Anne Schoemaker as her social climbing (with reason - her husband is useless) mother. Thomas Mitchell plays dad. The dinner party scene is greatly reduced.