A blog post about Hank Marvin

I've just been listening to Hank Martin's new album, "Without a Word". For context, I've always liked The Shadows, but haven't especially sought out Hank's solo work.

My attention was drawn by his cover of the Doctor Who theme. Kudos for that - it's a great attention-grabbing gimmick which has surely boosted sales. He does a pretty good job too - easily better than two of the official versions.

The rest of the album...well, I'm just not sure I see the point.

For the uninitiated, Hank's MO is guitar instrumental cover versions of established hits. Once, the appeal was very much rooted in Easy Listening but these days presumably it's more like that Kim Wilde covers album: a sort of ghoulish curiosity.

But Kim did covers of Suede and The Cure and Buzzcocks. It's hard to imagine anyone getting terribly excited about finding out what Hank Marvin's version of "Moon River" will be like. In 2017, do we need an instrumental of "Michelle" or "Are You Lonesome Tonight"? And can it ever be appropriate for him to appropriate "America" from West Side Story?

Who wouldn't love to hear Hank do his take on songs from the last two decades? Hank does "Five Colours in her Hair". Hank does "Rude". Hank does "I Kissed a Girl". I nearly got excited when I saw "Cry Me a River" on the track listing but no, of course it's not the Justin Timberlake song.

The most inspired moment here is a mashup between the Peter Gunn theme and Baby Elephant Walk, but really you're best off sticking to his Ron Grainer tribute. You can see him playing it on YouTube and he looks like he's having a great time. I can't detect similar enthusiasm in his "Alfie" video.

My top 21 Tom Cruise films

An apparently unusual opinion which I hold is that Tom Cruise is one of the finest film stars of the past 30 years. Barely a foot wrong in all that time - who else comes close to that? In the list below, check out how often he chooses to work with fantastic talent.

Top 21 Tom Cruise films

21 Valkyrie - TC plays a Nazi and works with Bryan Singer

20 Eyes Wide Shut - it doesn't quite work but he gets to be in the last Stanley Kubrick film. Ballsy script too - Cruise doesn't play safe.

19 Far and Away - well, I liked it. Future Oscar winner Ron Howard directs.

18 Top Gun - the film that made his career with high octane super-director Tony Scott in charge.

17 The Firm - before Grisham became a genre then a cliche, Cruise nailed it. This time, Sydney Pollack is in charge.

16 Jerry Maguire - looked like an annoying romcom with a silly catchphrase, but while you're watching it, it works.

15 Legend - hard to believe Cruise did this now but Ridley Scott makes this a memorable fantasy romp.

14 Interview with the Vampire - seen as a brave choice at the time and I'm not 100% convinced by it, but it's a memorable film and something of a turning point for TC.

13 12 11 10 Mission Impossible franchise - of all his films, this is his only franchise and he chose it well. Incredible to think he'll have spent 20 years playing Ethan Hunt and can still cut the mustard as an action hero. Oh, and look at his chosen directors: De Palma, Woo, Abrams...Bird.

9 The Color of Money - Genius plan: get Paul Newman to revive a 25 year old character, put Cruise opposite him and let everyone make their own connection. Scorsese directs!

8 Magnolia - Those who hadn't been paying attention thought this marked Cruise diversifying. Admittedly, his character here is unusually unlikable. 

7 War of the Worlds - Spielberg and Cruise, what an unstoppable combination. Neither brings the very best out of each other, but this is about as good as HG Wells could reasonably expect from modern Hollywood.

6 Rain Man - In hindsight, Dustin Hoffman's Raymond is a little embarrassing, full of tics and caricatures which still serve to pigeonhole autism for some people, so at this remove we can appreciate Cruise's performance all the more. This saw him properly trouble the Academy for the first time.

5 Vanilla Sky - probably you haven't seen it or disliked it. I really liked it and him in it. He spotted a great foreign language film and saw a perfect opportunity once again to subvert his pretty boy rep. Although even better was :

4 Tropic Thunder - proving that Cruise should do more comedies. Unrecognisably facially and performatively, his supporting role steals the whole film even from Oscar nominated Robert Downey Jr.

3 Minority Report - The first Spielberg team-up was a memorable future noir where Cruise does some great running. First and foremost, he's the most consistently good action star of the past 3 decades.

2 A Few Good Men - probably my favourite of his films, directed by Rob Reiner when he could do no wrong and starring Jack Nicholson at the height of his post-Batman fame and powers plus Demi Moore before she got too big for her talent. But without Cruise, it's nothing.

1 Born on the Fourth of July

http://youtu.be/QBpeQbVD1i4

Seriously. Oliver Stone. Vietnam. The film begins with clean-cut all-American perfectly-cast Cruise off to become a war hero, then sticks him in a wheelchair and makes him wrestle in the desert with Willem Dafoe. A powerful movie and a brave choice for Cruise a year after Cocktail and before Days of Thunder.

Now, here are the only films he's made which I've seen and disliked:

Risky Business (which isn't that bad really)

Cocktail

Days of Thunder

Collateral (which most people liked and sees him work with Michael Mann)

For the record, which of these should I see?

Edge of Tomorrow

Oblivion

Jack Reacher

Rock of Ages

Knight and Day

Lions for Lambs

Last Samurai

All the Right Moves

Losin' It

The Outsiders

Taps

Endless Love

Top 10 Robin Williams films

10. Death to Smoochy

The most overlooked of his concerted effort to make darker films around the turn of the millennium, it's also the messiest, but features Robin Williams battling against Edward Norton as a big pink rhino.

9. Jumanji

Possibly I was too old to watch this when it debuted in cinemas, but it's a superb live-action cartoon featuring plenty of CGI animals which I have no doubt have really dated by now. Williams is actually quite restrained at the centre of it all.

8. Insomnia

Al Pacino is the detective. Robin Williams is essentially in a supporting role as the murderer. No spoilers, it was the main point in the movie in the first place. Christopher Nolan directs. Set in a town with the sun doesn't set, it's a surprise that more people don't know about this given how massive Nolan is now.

7. Aladdin

The genie is obviously what makes this film a classic, whereas I've never felt anything else about it is really up there with the Disney greats. Jafar, Jafar, he's our man, if he can't do it - GREAT!

6. One Hour Photo

Creepy looking story featuring Robin Williams as an insignificant guy who works in a supermarket developing photos and crosses the line into being a stalker. Never quite escalates into a truly chilling horror, but manages a very unsettling tone.

5. Good Morning Vietnam 

I recall that what struck me when I first saw this movie was that the on air rants which sell the thing are every bit as good as you're expecting, but no one tells you about the other side of this movie, the bits which are much more normal for a Vietnam movie. Williams's character might seem wacky from the clips, but this is not a comedy.

4. Awakenings

In his career, Robin Williams went up against both Pacino and De Niro and acquitted himself well both times. A little pat and predictable, but a very effective medical drama nonetheless.

3. Good Will Hunting

I just re-watched the famous "it's not your fault" scene and it doesn't go on for anywhere near as long as I remembered. This is one of those films that the clips never quite serve, but Matt Damon and Robin Williams are both excellent in it.

2. The Fisher King

From the days when Terry Gilliam films were both completed and unmissable. In the wake of this week's tragedy, this is the one I really want to rewatch. Magical realism, romance and real tragedy combine in this story of a disgraced talk radio DJ played by Jeff Bridges and a manic homeless guy.

1. Dead Poets Society

Well, this isn't controversial. If you haven't seen this, it should go immediately onto your recommended viewing list. And I'm not just saying that because I'm an English teacher.

In the end, Robin Williams was simply much better than any of his films. There's not a flawless film in this list, although there are some pretty flawless performances. It's such a shame that he got mired into movies that nobody wanted to watch. I've never bothered spending any of my time on Fathers' Day or Bicentennial Man or Jakob the liar. Flubber means nothing to me. But I have seen him in some pure crap - Jack is the obvious example. He was obviously always outclassing the material.

Na nu na nu.