Really liked Elena Anaya's creepy German scientist in this and loved the way it was a semi-shoutout to her character to Almodóvar's 'The Skin I Live In'. This is 'Yoda's theme playing in ET'-level pop cultural referencing for Euro-ponces like me.

Especially the 'Entourage' one.

I saw the original in my home town of Newcastle when it came out - this was a torturous five months after its US release, which was the fashion at that at the time. I'd already read the novel and read a ton of background stuff so it couldn't help be a little bit disappointing. You can't argue with that opening…

'But James, I need you.'
'So does England.'
Sheer class!

I'd forgotten about Barry Adamson's 'Moss Side Story'. I remember reading reviews of it at the time, but never got around to hearing it. I'm rectifying this now. What I'm saying is: nice tipoff.

'Boredom' by the Buzzcocks - no fancy fucking about. Love the end of 'Boys Keep Swinging' too, it sounds like Adrian Belew is trying to strangle his guitar to death but it keeps fighting back.

Has anyone mentioned the literally nauseating 'Come and See' yet? Masterpiece and all, but fucking hell!

First time I saw Chien Andalou was at university. I knew the eye bit was coming and expressed my anxiety to a classmate. He mildly took the piss out of me about it, but when it actually happened, he started slowly collapsing sideways making this weird rasping noise. I thought he was joking; he wasn't.

There should never be a 'next Robbie Williams'. The first one was horrible enough.

I've been listening to it this morning. I like the 70s-style slow-paced songs very much, but the raunchy rocky ones are awful IMO.

That one scene with Bale and Wright together is great though.

I really love the post-fight scene after Jen Yu has trashed the hotel/café and her extravagantly-named opponents are lined up looking sheepish and offering excuses.

I hadn't read your comment before I posted, but agree absolutely.

I think it helped that it came out not too long after 'The Phantom Menace' and it had the epic sweep, adventure and romance lacking in Lucas's film. I had similar feeling when I saw 'The Good, The Bad, The Weird' after 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of LaBeouf's Swinging Monkeys'

I love that way that song gives really elaborate descriptions of where she might be from before the 'WELL SHE ISN'T!'. Life-enhacingly silly.

'Crush' by Jennifer Paige often lodges itself in my brain.
On the adapting movie / theme tunes with new words, I did 'Despicable Me' to Can's 'Vitamin C' and that stuck.

They could do it in the lingerie department for that Father Ted / Marvel crossover we've all been clamouring for. Dermot Morgan could be Cushingated.

She has, what we call in the UK, a Mackem accent as she's from Sunderland, which is very similar to the Geordie one, but with slightly more rounded vowels. She has a very US intonation though, to muddy matters a little.

Full disclosure: it's from 'Withnail and I'

Licky Kickette and I have come on holiday by mistake! We arrived in NYC from London yesterday and we're currently holed up in our Brooklyn hotel. On the plus side, US Netflix have newer episodes of Portlandia than the UK version, so there's that.