The Mouse That Roared is a 1959 British satirical comedy film on a Ban The Bomb theme, based on Leonard Wibberley's novel The Mouse That Roared (1955).[4] It stars Peter Sellers in three roles: Duchess Gloriana XII; Count Rupert Mountjoy, the Prime Minister; and Tully Bascomb, the military leader; and co-stars Jean Seberg. The film was directed by Jack Arnold, and the screenplay was written by Roger MacDougall and Stanley Mann.

William Hartnell appears as Will Buckley, an ex-British Sergeant, reminiscient of his role in The Way Ahead.  He plays the Major-Domo to the Duchess and keeps the Parliament running, as well as the rag-tag Army of the Duchy.  The Duchy is facing a financial crisis, its main export, Pinot Grand Fenwick wine is on the rocks because of a cheap American imitator.  So the Count hatches a plan, to declare war on the United States and reap the benefits of being losing and being occupied.  So, in league with the heredictory leader of the loyal opposition, Benter, played by Leo Mckern, he orders that Tully Bascomb to organise an expedition.   Tully is reluctant but agrees and they depart by ship from Marseilles. En route to New York they encounter the Queen Elizabeth which has just left the port.  They bombard it with arrows, after they warn them that the port is closed for an Air Raid drill.  They ignore the warning and continue on their way.  They arrive to find the harbour, the entire city, deserted.  The population is presently sheltering below ground in shelters.  Unable to find anyone to surrender to, they make their way to a city Arsenal but get lost, find instead the Academy of Advanced Physics where Professor Kolkanz and his daughter are working on the Q-Bomb.  They decide to take the Professor and his bomb back to the Duchy.   After various shenanigans the United States decides to surrender to them in order to get the Q-Bomb back.  Mountjoy has resigned as has Benter, leaving Tully as the Prime Minister.  He negotiates a treaty where the wine is paramount and the Q-Bomb shall remain in Grand Fenwick, guarded by the minor powers.  All in all a great satire on Cold War politiks and great power relationships.  Well worth watching, only British know how to do great satire like this.  9 out of 10.   

Brian Ross wrote on Dec 19^th, 2023 at 7:36pm:



Sandy Stone at the movies.
A nice night of entertainment.

Paul is a 2011 comic science fiction road film[4] directed by Greg Mottola from a screenplay by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Starring Pegg and Frost, with the voice and motion capture of Seth Rogen as the titular character, the film follows two science fiction geeks who come across an alien. Together, they help the alien escape from the Secret Service agents who are pursuing him so that he can return to his home planet. The film is a parody of other science-fiction films, especially those of Steven Spielberg, as well as of science fiction fandom in general.

The movie starts with a visit to the San Diego Comic Con where the two heros meet their hero, Adam Shadowchild an authour who is bored doing the rounds.  They then leave and go on their road trip, visiting all the  famous sites from SF and UFO visits.  They visit the A'le'inn where they encounter the barmaid, Pat Stevens and two redneck customers, Gus and Jake.  Fleeing them, they smash their pickup truck with their RV.  They next visit the "Black Mailbox" which is now white and see in the distance a car with it's headlights on.  Fearing Gus and Jake they take off to be passed by an ordinary car, which then crashes.  They stop their RV and investigate only to find the car empty.  They hear a voice which tells them to leave the area.  Then Paul, the titular alien appears from the bushes.  Clive pisses himself and faints.  Paul convinces Graeme to help him and they load Clive into the RV.  They then proceed along the road to an RV Park called The Pearly Gates run by fundamentalist Christians, Moses and his daughter, Ruth.  Ruth sees Paul dancing outside the RV and confronts them the next morning when Paul comes out of the loo.  Fed up with her Fundamentalist claptrap he touches her forehead and transfers all his knowledge to her brain.   She faints and when she comes to is unsure of her position in life but gradually accepts Paul's knowledge as truth.   She is convinced to stay with them in the meantime

They need to recover Clive's passport from the RV Office and Paul uses his ability to disappear to recover it.  While he's doing that, he reveals himself to Moses, Ruth's father.  He chases after the apparition with a shotgun.  Paul makes it into the RV as it leaves the Park.  Government agents appear, chasing Paul.  They bug the Park's phone and give chase to the RV.  When Ruth makes contact with father she is relayed to the Agents.  They trace her call from the Bar where she made it.  When they leaving the Bar they again encounter Gus and Jake and a fight ensues.  Ruth also encounters her father who is chasing her.  They  get away and leave all the other protagonists fighting behind them.  They again smash Gus and Jake's pickup truck.  The Police arrive clear up the mess.  Gus and Jake are cowering in an Ambulance where the Government Agents show them a handdrawn picture of Paul.  They cower away.  This confirms that they have seen Paul.  The Agents again give chase.

They end up at Tara Walton's, the girl sixty years earlier who rescued Paul from his crashed spaceship.  He landed on her dog, named Paul.  The Agents catch up with there and one, in the process of shooting them blows the house up.  Their next stop is Devils Tower National Monument, where they await the ship that will rescue Paul.  However, the "Big Guy" arrives by helicopter, played by Sigourney Weaver.  Lorenzo Zoil reveals himself to be Paul's friend and kills Agent Haggard and a fist fight ensues between the Big Guy and the others.  Graeme get's shot by Moses and the Big Guy is knocked out by Tara.  Paul does his repair on Graeme and saves him from dying.  Just as the Big Guy waked up and threatens all the others, she is crushed by the spaceshp's landing leg.  The final scenes are of Paul saying good bye and taking Tara with him into the spaceship.  The actual final scenes are two years later at San Diego Comic Con where Clive and Graeme are being feted for their comic, named, "Paul".  Ruth is their seated next to Pat Stevens who propositions her.  Ruth is a little nonplussed by this but refuses her.  Overall an excellent movie, well worth watching.  9 out of 10.   

Brian Ross wrote on Dec 30^th, 2023 at 6:34pm:


Ah yes, I remember that movie.

It's available for free on SBS:

Comedy, Film, Romantic Comedy
1h 50m
2006
English
Expires in 2 months

greggerypeccary wrote on Dec 30^th, 2023 at 7:01pm:


Watched half of it, not that impressed. Guess watch the other half tomorrow night.

This one falls into the category of "Movies, recently avoided"....

Barbie... in a couple of year's time there will be articles out titled "What Happened To Ryan Gosling?" ... it appears his studio bosses made him an offer - "Either your signature is on the contract, or your brains are!"

Vic wrote on Dec 13^th, 2023 at 3:16pm:


I found it pretty disappointing too.

I'd give it a "meh" out of 5.