Wednesday 22 July 2015

The Glorious Monster - Interview With Martin Collins.









Hi Martin and thanks for taking the time to do the interview for Jonny’s Cult Films, Could you tell our readers a little bit about This Glorious Monster?

Martin - This Glorious Monster is made up of myself (Martin Collins), Alex Finch, Daniel Hoffmann-Gill and Adam Loxley. Alex and I write, then myself, Dan and Adam all come together on-screen to make up TGM. We do live stuff but love making things such as Potwash Pete with our regular Director and collaborator, Stephen Pipe. Our idea has always been to create a diverse universe of oddball characters based very much in the real world. These are the people you’d really meet and then want to tell your friends about down the pub.

Jonny - Be great to meet you guys down the pub but not sure I'd have a pint of what Pete drinks!

The big beard of Daniel Hoffman-Gill fits the character of Potwash Pete perfectly and it’s a great beard! During the running time Gary also grows a beard, Was this make up or did you delay filming in order for the stubble to catch up with Daniels?

Martin - Ah yes. Dan has been growing that epic face-furniture for a while now. He and his beard are about to be playing some great characters in the likes of Doctor Who and the next Alice in Wonderland film. It was perfect for the character of Pete as well. Also, if we’d asked him to shave, he would have killed us.

We shot Potwash Pete in reverse order so Adam’s scenes with him fully bearded were done first and then he’d take a bit off each time to show the progression of him becoming more gnarled and messy, just like his new mentor, Pete.

Jonny -  Shot in reverse? Brilliant idea, But then again death threats over shaving for the sake of your art I think I would have done it that way.

POTWASH PETE.





Daniel says the word “Duck” in Potwash Pete, Where are you guys from? Coming from Nottingham myself it does sound like a very midlands accent, Me Duck.

Martin -YES! Dan and I are both NOTTS! NG3 in fact. We actually met in London through a director mate who said we’d get along. Apparently Dan thought I was a bit of a plonker at first. But I know he’s joking, Right? Right? Oh..

Jonny - No duck, He obviously doesn't get us northerners!



My first experience of The Glorious Monster was the fantastic Potwash Pete, It reminded me a lot in tone to great British TV/Films such as The League of Gentlemen and even the dark humour of Ben Wheatleys Sightseers, Would you say that these influenced you guys at all?

Martin - We are massive fans of both those. We always get a lot of comparisons to League. Three guys doing all the roles, dark humour etc. People of course like to put you in a box which is fair enough. I’d say the major difference between ourselves and League is that our stuff isn’t as influenced by horror. We try to make it about real events that could actually happen. The driving instructor sketch for example is based on a true story. The HR ladies are a type that we’re all very familiar with. We’re now trying to explore a little more pathos and heart, as we hope Potwash Pete demonstrates. We want people to ultimately fall a little in love with our characters if we can.

Jonny - Great point, It still has its dark/sad undertones and anyone who works can understand the HR sketch, We used to call ours "The Grim Reaper" because when she appeared someone was in trouble! Glad I didn't book any driving lessons with him!

DRIVING INSTRUCTOR




You play Carol in Potwash Pete whose idea was it for you to be the one to dress as a woman or is it something you always wanted to do? (Ha, sorry!!)

Martin - I really hate dressing up as a lady! Really I do. So much faff! Lipstick is so sticky! Tights are a nightmare on your leg hairs and bra’s are the devils work. It’s also disturbing when friends tell you “I probably would”.

Jonny - Actually, Now you mention it, Carol was kind of.......Next question!



I did love the soundtrack to Potwash Pete, It reminded me immediately of Yann Tiersen who did the brilliant Amalie soundtrack, who did the soundtrack to Potwash Pete?

Martin - Our music was and usually is done by Pete Weitz along with TGM writer Alex Finch. They are both musical whizz kids and they did a cracking job. Amelie was a big reference. We wanted the place to have some romance about it even though we are taking the audience in to a dingy potwash room. The story is all about love, ambition and the art of the potwash after all.


I read that you have a series optioned with Hat Trick productions, Congratulations!! Could you tell us a little more about it?

Martin -Well that’s a bit of a “we did have”. We were up for a BBC2 pilot last year. Hatrick were incredible and developed the show so much with us but, at the moment, that hasn’t gone any further. But these things are always on going. We’re now chatting to lots of people about TGM and other projects. We are piloting a little series about First Aiders with Radio Four at the moment, so who knows! We’ll just keep making things.

Jonny -  Well I personally see it as there loss, But great you have the Radio Four first Aiders. I do love Radio Four, Always download the podcasts for comedy of the week.


Apart from the series what future plans do This Glorious Monster have, Are you doing any live gigs soon?


We have lots of things bubbling at the moment. A few more short films, lots of new sketches and pilot scripts .We do lots live, and run our own night at The Comedy Pub in Leicester Square called Something Monstrous. We love having a huge list of things we want to do so watch this space. (Hate people who say watch this space).

Thanks Martin!





Follow The Glorious Monster on Facebook and check out all the hilarious videos on YouTube.





Monday 20 July 2015

'Adrift' powerful documentary about African migrants sailing to Europe for a better life - Out Now.


Adrift people of  lesser god tells of the plight from between 2005 and 2009 where 60,000 sub Saharan Africans made to the safety of Spain, Most went via the popular Spanish tourist destination of the canary islands, On top of those figures were a further 5,500 people rescued by red cross and N.G.O's from certain death in the Atlanic.

The documentary starts with a reporter, 39 people including two women and a 5 month old baby who have been at sea 24hrs, Leaving from Maurtitani in west Africa and if all goes well and to plan it will take them 5 days to reach what they see as the promise land.

The country that they are leaving is a Islamic republic that has undergone many failed coos and suffers extremist insurgents from neighbouring Algeria which the locals have still never forgiven the French  for leaving them to fend for themselves.

The whole trail from why the are originally leaving and where they want to go to what they see as a far better life is explored. It exposes the corruption of all local Police, Transporters and basically anyone with some power just exploit the weak whilst all the time being secretly. Exploited by every one from the Mafia to the Tailban life is not god and no lights are on at the end of the tunnel, so what would you do?



So far this year up until June 2015 there have been refugee and migrant arrivals across the Mediterranean  have reached above 100,000. With record daily numbers now arriving daily in Greece, The destination seems to have shifted quite considerably from Spain to the like of Greece and Italy. The current situation in Syria has made the situation a lot worse obviously. This year so far there have been over 1900 deaths which had double the figure of last year already.

In summing up Adrift is a fascinating documentary showing the true will power and determination of people with no other choices left in life but to take that one more final and possibly fatal  risk,
8/10
Jonny T.

ADRIFT:People of a lesser god is out now on DVD
Buy it on the link below



OFFICIAL TRAILER


   

Thursday 16 July 2015

LEGEND - Tom Hardy is Reggie and Ronnie Kray. Trailer released.


I like Tom Hardy, Seen him in Locke and Mad Max Fury road, Good films they were, Now he is playing both how should I put it? Notorious legendary gangsters Reg and Ronnie Kray, The thing is that a few years back I had two obsessions, The Krays and Andy Kaufmann. I really don't know what my head was playing at but it was interesting reading! Is Andy Kaufman still alive? Did the Kray twins really look after the East End and make it a really safe pace to live? The answer to both questions is probably no, The trailer for LEGEND looks great and shows a lot more of the later Kray story from what I can tell, Basically when them there American Mafia types came over and tried to start selling hard drugs and turn London into a Las Vegas, Obviously it all went tits up, Ah well, But for me its a period of time for the classic British stories and nothing more sums up the period of glitz and glamour, drugs, murder and pshycopaths than The Krays, Tom Hardy looks brilliant in it, Did I mention my Grandad used to work for the Krays? Ask me about that when you see me guvnor!
Enjoy the trailer,
Jonny T.







Tuesday 14 July 2015

The Bastard Executioner - From the writer of Sons Of Anarchy





Hey Folks!
Recently finished filming The Bastard Executioner is the new series from the writer of Sons Of Anarchy Kurt Sutter. And not only that they have just release a trailer and it looks to be equally as violent as S.O.A. Set in the middle ages its a tale of betrayal and violence, Yes OK I know it sound just like S.O.A but that's not a band thing! Also starring his lady Gemma, no sorry I mean Katey Sagal.  A greatly written TV show with a ton of twists and violence, what is there not to like! Official site and trailer below, On a final note, If you have never seen S.O.A stop reading this and go watch it now!!!!! 
Enjoy!
Jonny T.


OFFICIAL SITE



TEASER TRAILER RELEASED




Saturday 11 July 2015

Ash VS The Evil Dead - Trailer arrives!


So its Saturday morning at 5.45 and I'm stood at my bus stop waiting to do a Saturday shift when I look at my stop and it says 15 minutes until my bus arrives, Tired and grumpy I put the interwebs on to see people going mad about the new trailer for up and coming TV show Ash VS The Evil Dead. Now it wasn't all that long ago when I re-watched them all, Love Evil Dead 1&2, Evil Dead 3 isn't for me and as for the remake, Saw it, Forgot It. But I do have to say that Ash VS The Evil Dead looks fucking great! It looks incredibly gory for a TV show and Bruce is on top form kicking out those one liners in true ASH stylee, So here you go even though you've probably already seen it!
Jonny T.




ASH VS EVIL DEAD TRAILER.

   



Friday 10 July 2015

STUNG - Reviewed By Jonny T.




I saw the poster for Stung and knew nothing about it, I had a little Google and it mentioned massive wasps invading a posh garden party and basically killing everyone, I’ll have a bit of that I thought, Surely 90 minutes of giant wasps after a long day will keep me awake and it sure did!
What can I say about Stung? Well, If you have ever seen a “B” monster movie or in this case a wasp one (sorry) you know what to expect and Stung delivers on all levels, The opening 15 minutes or so is a set up for a high end garden party that is an annual event but this year the party turns out to be a massive wasp massacre, I'm not going to go into loads of plot details or story lines because to be honest there isn't much, In saying that I don’t want that to sound in a bad way because it’s no way bad, It is a 90 minute fun time. I have seen pretty much all that is on offer in Stung before in many a monster movies but that didn't detract from the enjoyment from it any way at all, It has its fair share of gore and very predictable on a lot of levels. The CGI Is pretty solid apart from the last part of the film which looks a bit dodgy but then again its brilliant what the film makers have done with the budget.



Did I mention that Lance Henriksen is in it? Looking his age but still cool as fuck, He has some great lines and loves his vino! Does he die? Does he become the hero? Does he have a spectacular death? Well you’ll just have to find out for yourself, but it is worth it, He has some killer lines!
In summing up STUNG wears its classic horror influences proudly on its sleeve , Mostly I would say as an influence would be John Carpenters The Thing, So much so that I was waiting for someone to say the line “You've gotta be fucking kidding” at some point but it didn't go that far. It dips in a few places as to pan out the running time but it is what it is and I would say a lot of people will be talking about it soon, Well worth a watch folks,
7/10

Jonny T.




Wednesday 8 July 2015

Potwash Pete - Fantastic short film!




The other day on my boring bus journey home I was mindlessly flicking through Facebook when I came across a post from a group called Glorious Monster. The short film that was mentioned was called Potwash Pete, Now my journey home takes 2 buses and roughly around an hour, The second bus usually takes around 20 boring same old shitty sites minutes, Potwash Pete was said to run for 12 minutes, I turned on the 4g and pressed play, Loved It!
If you go to YouTube after viewing the fantastic Potwash Pete and check out some more of Glorious Monsters stuff. I particularly liked the pervy driving instructor, Very funny, The shorts are very British and reminded me a lot of greats like League of gentlemen and even the very dark humour of some of Ben Wheatleys work. I'll try and find out some more info on them and pull a few strings and hopefully may even get an interview,
10/10
Enjoy!
Jonny T.