THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

Have You Got It Yet? The Story Of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd

John Lydon, A.K.A. Rotten, never said it better than he did on his audition for The Pistols. Rocking up wearing a Pink Floyd t-shirt with the words ‘I Hate’ scrawled above it. I have no time for The Floyd. None. I loathe them. Overblown, pretentious, ‘real’ musicians. I fucking hate them. So fair to say that I approached this documentary with a bucket load of preconceptions. And guess what! I was right.

I’m assuming that every sentient being knows who Barrett was. But just in case. He was the original frontman of Pink Floyd. Wrote all their early singles, before overdosing on LSD and going mad. The mythologising of him as some sort of prophet really gets on my nerves. He was an arse hole, a self indulgent wanker. There’s nothing clever about drugs. Nothing. Everyone I’ve ever known who’s taken them have been a massive nuisance, and watching this reinforced my lifelong belief in this ethos.

It was the usual talking heads music doc’. Interviewed all his ex-girlfriends, all nice upper middle class attractive older women, surviving ex-bandmates, celebrity fans, and assorted hangers on. It’s nothing you haven't seen a million times before. There must be another way of doing this sort of thing other than plonking a camera in front of an interviewee and getting them to reminisce. But perhaps not.

There was nothing in this that I didn't know already. He was a fucking nusance who took too many drugs. Went mental. Returned to his childhood home in Cambridge, and lived the rest of his life as a recluse.

The end.

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For those that like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like.

Mad Max

The original 1979 version starring a then unknown Mel Gibson.

I have no idea how many times I’ve watched this. Absolutely no idea whatsoever. But it must be in excess of 50, easily. Probably nearer 100.

It’s a good film this, really good. Made on an almost nonexistent budget, and as mentioned above, starring Mel Gibson as the eponymous anti-hero, and an equally unknown cast. Gibson isn’t particularly good if we’re being honest. More than a tad wooden, but the rest of the cast more than make up for him. Steve Bisley as Max’s partner Goose almost steals the whole thing, and he would’ve done if it weren’t for Hugh Keays-Byrne as The Toecutter, the leader of the biker gang. He looks perfect, immaculate. And as scary as shit to boot. More than a passing nod to Geoff Parry as the uber-cool Bubba Zanetti, and Tim Burns as Johnny The Boy.

We all know the premise of this, so there’s little point in going over the plot, but if you haven’t seen it, then do yourself a favor and watch perhaps one of the greatest scenes in movie history. Which is of course the biker gang arriving in the town. Revving their bikes, then the utter silence as they turn them off in unison. It's a great scene.

All in all, this is the best of the franchise. Most will pick the second movie, but most are wrong, if only for the utterly wonderful Toecutter.

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For those that like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like.