In the last year I’ve become a big fan of comedy in Britain, especially one group of actors and writers who act in a very Mr. Show/Upright Citizens Brigade way of appearing in each other’s projects. I’ll try to take a look at all these different programs over the next few weeks, beginning with Snuff Box.
Snuff Box is my favorite of this new breed of BBC comedy because it features two of my favorite actors: Matt Berry (you’ve probably seen him as Julian Sanchez in Darkplace) and American transplant Rich Fulcher. Berry plays a hangman and Fulcher his assistant. The majority of the series takes place in gentlemen’s club where Berry and Fulcher seek to undermine each other while sipping scotch. These segments are intertwined with many nonsensical sketches that, unlike a lot of American comedy, don’t lampoon anything specific but are just generally subversive.
The sketches usually involve some recurring themes. Early on in the series, it’s revealed that Rich Fulcher is the love child of Mama Cass and receives a hefty royalty check from her estate as a result. The crafty and jealous Berry goes about finding ways to steal the check away. Berry also has an obsession with stealing away any woman that shows an interest in Fulcher. Some of the funniest scenes come when Berry is trying to woo a woman who he later learns already has a significant other, as seen below:
Music is a big part of the series with Berry being the composer behind all of it. Berry’s interest in music seems to outweigh his interest in acting. He’s released two albums and been the composer on half a dozen BBC series. Each episode of Snuff box ends with Berry remixing his theme song to mimic the styles of various pop singers, including The Mamas and The Papas and Phil Collins. The hilarious Mamas and Papas theme can be seen below:
If you’re a fan of very dark humor, Snuff Box would be right up your alley. Be warned that this is much darker and explicit than anything shown on American television. If you aren’t shocked by some of the material in this series you have to have something seriously wrong with you.
So like, most everyone else I loved The Dark Knight. I found it to be, not only the best Batman film to date, but probably the most mature and serious of the comic book based films that have come out. So of course I, like most everyone else is speculating about who the next villain could be and what the next plot could focus on. Director Christopher Nolan has established a very distinct Bat-verse where certain villains just won't fit. So who looks to be a possibility for the next film in the series?
Catwoman/Black Mask
Catwoman would be the B-Plot, introducing a new romantic interest for Batman, playing up the fact that he is further disappearing into the made up persona. While Rachel loved Bruce, Catwoman loves only Batman. She also challenges his ideals because he sees her as the only possible mate for him in the life he's chosen yet she's a theif. The main villain would be crimeboss Black Mask, an extension of the dementia Gotham is suffering from. While the Joker worked for the mob, Black Mask leads the mob and finally shows how the absurd and insane have taken over the city. Catwoman would sit on the line between hero and villain throughout the movie, being a jewel thief but aiding Batman in taking down the mob at the end. The tragic twist would be that she would tell Batman she can’t be redeemed and leave him alone once again. It would be another sort of dark statement about the path Bruce has chosen.
The Riddler
My personal favorite. This one could be played as the polar opposite of The Joker. The Riddler is all about discovering the structures and patterns behind even the most random-seeming events. The character also has a tremendous ego, seeing himself above everyone else, especially Batman. Think Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind but evil. This film would focus a lot on complex puzzles and Batman racing against time to decipher them. The Riddler would be an almost extreme version of Batman. Batman believes in a system of law and order but the Riddler subtracts any value for life in that equation. He’s be all the negative aspects of objectivism and its focus on the intellectually superior having more value than those who are less.
The Penguin/Deadshot
The Penguin could simply go by his real name, Oswald Cobblepot or Chester Cobblepot or even Chester Oswald if they want to mix things up, doesn’t matter. This rendition would most closely match the current comic book portrayal, not the umbrella gimmicks and bird obsession but rather a very ruthless and cunning crimeboss. Out of frustration with Batman’s crusade to disrupt the rackets, Oswald turns to Floyd Lawton/Deadshot, the second best assassin in the world. The film could be an incredibly tense face off as Batman would never know when Deadshot would strike and the villain could figure out that Bruce Wayne is behind that mask. This would put Alfred in the line of fire.
Talia/Bane
The daughter of Ra’s Al Ghul arrives in Gotham for revenge and faces off with Batman. Her second in command is the brutish Bane. The twist would be that Talia was working to recover Ra’s body so that it could be revived via the Lazarus Pits, yes a little “out there” for Nolan’s take but I think it could work.
Hugo Strange
Might be the most workable for the direction Nolan has created. Strange is a psychologist who is hired by the Gotham Police to figure how to predict the movements and behavior of Batman and as a result figures out he is Bruce Wayne. Strange is physically small and lacks all the physicality of Batman but shares a similar but skewed view on dealing with crime. He develops the idea that he must kill Bruce Wayne and then become Batman himself. This would be a twisted version of the Batman/Harvey Dent relationship, that was a passing of the torch that was encourage while Strange would be snatching the torch away by force.
