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Privilege, a review by dfmorgan

Privilege

Year: 1967
Director: Peter Watkins
Cast: Paul Jones, Jean Shrimpton, William Job
Overview: Steven Shorter, the biggest pop star of his day, is loved by millions, his endorsement influencing the actions of the masses. But, in reality, he is a puppet whose popularity is carefully managed by government-backed handlers keen to keep the country's youth under control. Starring Manfred Mann lead singer Paul Jones and iconic Sixties supermodel Jean Shrimpton, Privilege is remastered in High Definition and made available in the UK for the first time since its original cinema release.

Watched: 19th Feb. 2011
My Thoughts: A film I remember seeing in the '60s but not too much about. The lead role of Steven Shorter, a pop star adored by the masses, is played by Paul Jones who had been the voice and front man of the pop group Manfred Mann. The film is made as a pseudo-documentary set in the near future, then of the 1970s. Steven is heavily contolled by his management team who in turn are sponsored by various government departments who believe that contolling Steven Shorter allows them to control the teenage mass.

Parallels with this film can probably be drawn today with they way that media, in all forms but especially the populist press, seem to have the power to make or break people with relative ease.

My Rating:  



(From Dave's DVD/Blu-ray Reviews on February 20th, 2011)

Hot Fuzz, a review by Antares

Hot Fuzz (2007) 3.5/5Shaun of the Dead.

(From Antares' Short Summations on March 11th, 2014)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Jakes observes the new arrivals on the station to get ideas for his stories when his sight falls upon a very interesting woman who also notices him. Later she approaches him and somehow she can help him to write the best story of his life. But there's a price tag attached. Meanwhile Lwaxana comes to DS9 again - and she's pregnant. She's hiding from her husband who wants to take their son when he's born as it is custom in his culture.

My Opinion: The part about Jake was ok, I really liked to see Meg Foster again, she has so fascinating eyes. But what I really liked was Lwaxanas part. This was unfortunately the last appearance of both Majel Barrett-Roddenberry as well as Lwaxana Troi on any Star Trek series (except for her role as "Federation computer voice"). Once again Lwaxana managed to get Odo out of his brooding skin, they had much fun together. And I liked how Odo pledged his love to her in the fake wedding ceremony when it was clear that his pledge wasn't at all fake.

Synopsis: The klingon attacks on the Cardassian Union had devastating effects on its economy and the Federation agrees to deliver industry-size replicators to the Cardassians. But Cmdr. Eddington and Starfleet Security fears that the Maquis could intercept them and Sisko and his crew try to prevent that. But there's another problem: Captain Kasidy Yates, Sisko's girlfriend, may be a smuggler for the Maquis.

My Opinion: It was the ideal plot to get Sisko distracted, especially because it was true. And I must say, when I watched it for the first time, I was surprised that Eddington was the traitor. Until the revelation he behaved in this episode as he has always done since his introduction in the third season and thus his mask was perfect. But I am also glad that we are going to see Penny Johnson again, it's good to see that at least some officers can have a releationship beside their duty.

Synopsis: When the Defiant returns they find that the station has been attacked and one of the upper pylons has been destroyed. It was an attack by Jem'Hadar but they didn't bother to destroy the station because they were searching for some technical equipment. The Defiant pursuits them and encounters yet another Dominion vessel under the command of the Vorta Weyoun. The other Jem'Hadar have gone rogue and try to activate an iconian gateway. The iconian star empire was destroyed over 200,000 years ago. But they had a means of traveling across the galaxy without the use of spaceships. Such a gateway mustn't fall into the hands of renegade Jem'Hadar or every planet within the Federation would be in danger and even the Dominion could come crashing down. So Weyoun and Sisko forge an alliance to destroy the gateway.

My Opinion: This episode was good to show the contrast between the philosophy of Jem'Hadar warriors and Starfleet personnel. And of course I liked the introduction of Weyoun even though they killed him in the end and then had to find a way to bring him back in future episodes. Luckily other producers aren't as quick with killing people. Imagine Joss Whedon would have actually killed Spike on his first appearance in School Hard!
What bothered me a bit was that the writers outnumbered the heros by quite a number (10:1 was it?) and then neither showed that many enemies nor presented a solution how they did actually win against such a force. 2:1 or 3:1 would have been more realistic without compromising the plot.

Unfortunatley this episode was cut in Europe because the british BBFC demanded a cut when the Jem'Hadar First broke the neck of the Second as punishment because he disobeyed an order.

Synopsis: Bashir and Dax beam down on a planet where the entire population is infected by a disease that has been there for over two centuries. The Dominion engineered this virus as a punishment, it marks its victoms with lesions and it's always deadly when the Quickening comes. Bashir tries to help and to find a cure.

My Opinion: This episode was without any action or any fights in it and I thought it was a good change of pace. It's obviously very Bashir-centered but I really like his dedication, his unwillingness to give up even if the task seems impossible. But I also thought that it was a good decision that he didn't find a cure, just a vaccine for unborn children. It becomes unrealistic when doctor X in series Y goes to planet Z and always finds a cure where others have failed for ages. This way it was half a happy end and the perfect closing scene was that he still hasn't given up.

(From Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon on January 11th, 2009)