What do the Orwell Bridge & Robocop have in common ?

Trials and tribulations can be just around the corner.  On Wednesday afternoon, the not so unexpected happened, the Orwell Bridge was closed because of high winds – and yes indeed safety is a concern to take seriously, but with a little thought and some planning the ‘total grind to a halt carnage’ that resulted could be limited.

And yes, another route around or bypassing the river route would be ideal – and we may get that in a 10 – 20 year time frame, but an easy win has to be, and already championed, is to stop tall vehicles from the crossing in high winds and operate a policy of ‘stacking’ as they do in bad weather at the seaports or for industrial action and let us, the minions and the majority of local commuters in ‘standard vehicle attire’ travel.  Moreover, why not go just mad and with a leap of faith install automated control barriers on all junctions either side of the river so instead of waiting for the ‘man in a van’ to put out and take away the cones, let the arteries that control this part of the world be opened or closed swiftly.

Poor show to those in charge of our local authorities on high wages & big budgets.

So… when I finally reached the cinema having missed my original booked time to see Robocop, I sought sanctuary. An uplift in spirits followed in Ask, comforted with a carafe of Chianti.  We had re-booked for the later show.  And… then a ‘slough of despond’ followed. Robocop is a deeply dismal film, a re-make of the successfully original, by Paul Verhoeven – who directed  a canon of worthy films including Total Recall and big box office hit Basic Instinct.

Despite the hard hitting talents of Michael Keaton as Raymond Sellars head of OmniCorp, Gary Oldman as the scientist Dr Dennett Norton, Samuel L Jackson as Pat Novak, TV presenter & Jennifer Ehle as Liz Kline head of OmniCorp legal affairs (far from Jane Austen here) the film is dreadfully flawed and deadly dull – thank god I avoided seeing this production in Imax mode !

I can find very little of merit except a singular 2 minute section featuring the instrumental piece Hocus Pocus, (by Dutch rock band Focus)  which punctured the tedium. I rated the film a high scoring 2.

Master Fawkes, out for a late nighter, and a lover of computer games, aptly described the experience as “too much violence Daddy” I reposted marks out of ten? – in a flash of complete certainty “1” was his reply.

So, what do the Orwell Bridge & Robocop have in common – a deeply dismal experience and best avoided… if you can.

Posted by: Fawkes