Videogum » Mackenzie Crook

Operation Watch This: Spine Chillers

Gabe — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:22:42 +0000

Spine Chillers was a short-lived BBC show that aired in 2003. But in England they don’t call them “shows” they call them “lorries.” Anyway, this lorry is a mystery. It doesn’t have an entry on wikipedia (i.e. it doesn’t exist), and the information on IMDB is piecemeal. There are a couple of short clips dispersed throughout the internet, and from what I can gather, each episode told a stand-alone story with its own cast and is regularly billed as a “comedy drama” whatever that means. In any case, no one seems to know exactly what Spine Chillers is or was because it’s somehow the only thing that has slipped through the internet’s fingers.

But we do know one thing for certain. One episode of Spine Chillers, “Goths,” about a pair of goths who are house hunting, stars Mackenzie Crook, better known as Gareth from The Office (UK), is hilarious, and is available in its entirety after the jump. Hooray, we win.

City Of Ember: Fritz Lang’s Metropolis 2.0 For The Whole Family

Gabe — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:35:57 +0000

City of Ember trailer, you guys:

Finally, a City of Lost Children for actual children. I think it is high time that young people be instilled with a deep, unrelenting fear of a dank Apocalyptic underworld future. Just kidding, I don’t care about young people one way or the other. But with the exception of what appears to be the requisite kids-movie-unconventional-waterslide scene, this looks great. What is with that? Will we ever evolve as a culture to the point where our children do not need an unconventional waterslide scene in every movie to enjoy it? I blame the parents.

Finally, England’s Answer To Dead Man On Campus

Gabe — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:57:16 +0000

Oh, here’s a trailer:

(via Film Drunk via BWE)

After Gareth Keenan, Mackenzie Crook has a Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket to my heart for life, and HELLO GEMMA ARTERTON. Nice. I wouldn’t kick her out of bed for explaining to me what the fuck Quantum of Solace is supposed to mean. Also, it’s refreshing to see a “rediscovering the meaning of life” comedy that doesn’t involve the mentally handicapped ushering jaded businessmen back to their childhood wonder. Then again, it might be a little too Waking Ned Devine and not enough Hamlet 2. Perhaps if Steve Coogan would just supply the actors and production crew with a bunch of heroin, we might really have something here. Seriously, though, Steve Coogan, enough with the heroin already.