Scum: 3.5 Stars

My amplifier has broken down.  This nightmare scenario means all I can do at home now is sit and stare at the walls.  Life as I know it, is over, so in many ways it’s a bit like being assimilated by the Borg, without the good parts.  Films like “The Terminator” and “War Games” paint a frightening vision of the future, where computers and machines control and ultimately try to eliminate humans.  I’d like to think this sort of thing is just entertainment, but sadly I know better.  When I switched on my laptop at work today many of the keys failed to function, despite my abuse of the keyboard in an attempt to get it to type them; (who would have though the letter Z was so important)?  The mouse was quite dead too (and I can’t pin the latter on Penny either).  It now needs fixing.  No one is going to tell me that this is just a coincidence.  The amplifier and the laptop are clearly communicating with a level of sophistication that us stupid humans cannot even begin to comprehend.  My amplifier and laptop are just the start; tomorrow it’s probably going to be nuclear missiles and stuff.  Great, that’s going to really mess up my weekend of wall watching.  How depressing.

1979  -  Certificate: 18  -  United Kingdom

On a similar(ish) theme, this is a powerful and depressing film about life in a borstal.  It was made in 1977 as a drama for the BBC, which then promptly banned it before actually showing it (duh), so it was eventually remade as a film in 1979, (which incidentally was the best year ever for music).  It offers a peek at how genuinely crappy Britain was in the late 70s; (a bit like now, but without mobile phones, big TVs or climate change).  Thank goodness for punk!  Anyway, it’s got loads of ‘proper’ violence in it; none of that woosy American stuff with guns and knives, just metal pipes, fists and pool balls in socks etc.  It’s also got genuinely harrowing scenes of suicide and male rape, as well as some dreadful racism too.  However, none of this feels glamourised or put in just to liven things up.  It’s quality stuff, but ultimately just reflects the futility of life.  Deep.  I’ve always felt I was a bit of a philosopher on the quiet.

Recommended for people that want to see high quality drama.  It’s an ideal training video for London’s street gangs too, now the police have confiscated all their guns and stuff.

No cats and no decapitations.

Top badass moment?  It has to be the riot in the food hall.  Pointless, stupid and ultimately achieving nothing (except a beating).  However, taking back a feeling of controlling your own destiny, however fleeting, is badass.

Scum at IMDB