"Babe: Pig in the City" (大象传媒1 1510) Sequels are funny things at the best of times, but George ("Mad Max") Miller's follow up to the cutesy charm of 1995's "Babe" is a travesty of the original that's either terrifying or hilarious depending how old you are. Ditching everything that made Babe into a whimsical success, Miller takes the talking piglet into the city. No sooner do Mrs Hoggett and Babe arrive than they're busted for drugs at the airport and end up in a skid row hotel full of animals of dubious virtue. Dark and moody, this turns the daydream of "Babe" into a sick and evil nightmare of apocalyptic proportions. What were they thinking?
"The Alamo" (大象传媒2 1820) Better set the video to long-play for this one as John Wayne saddles up as director-star-producer on this bloated 192 minute epic. As you'd expect from the Duke, things are given a right-wing spin as the good ol' boys of Texas do their best to fight off a superior force of nasty Mexicans. Wayne plays Davey Crockett with his usual aplomb and there's good support from Richard Widmark and Laurence Harvey. Still, you can't help wishing Wayne had spent a little bit more time on his behind-the-camera responsibilities. At least the climactic battle is worth waiting for - though you might want to fast forward through the slow bits.
"Some Like It Hot" (ITV1 0015)
Recently voted the best comedy ever made, Billy Wilder's cross-dressing farce is an absolute delight. As the only witnesses to the St Valentine's Day Massacre, band members Jack Lemmon and Tony Curits grab some dresses and go into hiding with an all-girl group. There they fall under the spell of Marilyn Monroe's sexy ukulele player Sugar Kane while trying to keep out of reach of the gun-toting gangsters on their trail. Lemmon and Curtis make surprisingly convincing female impersonators, Marilyn is as beautifully vacuous as ever and the closing line - "Nobody's perfect" - is a zinger. But the real comedy treat is Curtis' flawless Cary Grant impersonation.
Full review
