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Awix (3310 KP) rated The Scarfolk Annual 197* in Books

Mar 8, 2020

The Scarfolk Annual 197*

Richard Littler | 2019 | Horror, Humor & Comedy

9.0

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

Deeply twisted parody/satire manages to be unpleasantly disturbing and consistently funny throughout. You kind of have to be familiar with the conceit of Scarfolk - a 'lost' town in the north of England, trapped in the 1970s and run as a brutally right-wing totalitarian dystopia - to get the joke here, but the recreation of the sort of useless filler that made up the bulk of children's annuals in the 1970s is brilliantly done. The inventiveness and attention to detail is consistently impressive, and most of the jokes connect - there's a combination of silliness, savage political satire, and League of Gentlemen style macabreness that certainly won't be to all tastes. Gets the balance between horror and humour just about right; very funny, but also undeniably disturbing.

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) in Movies

Aug 2, 2019 (Updated Aug 2, 2019)

Head-bangingly silly action movie, but knowingly so; Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham squabble, drive very quickly and crossly, and crack heads all over the world while trying to stop Idris Elba from getting his hands on an apocalyptic McGuffin. Tip-top action choreography and a knowing sense of its own ridiculousness keep proceedings very engaging.

The subtext and character bits are perhaps a bit too perfunctory for the film to really fly, and there's a laborious comic relief turn from Kevin Hart which feels rather crow-barred in, but this ticks all the action and buddy movie boxes in lavish style. Features a cameo from Helen Mirren and Idris Elba being head-butted in slow motion, so surely there's something for everyone here.