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Blackball
The stuffy old English past time of lawn bowls is about to get a serious wake up call. Cliff Starkey is everything your typical bowls player is not. He is young, loud, he likes a drink and he has no respect for rules or tradition, but he was born with a supreme natural talent for playing bowls. Cliff upsets more than a few people on the road to selection for the England team but the game receives attention and support like never before.
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£13.59
at choicesdirect.com
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ICON HOME ENTERTAINMENT Blackball [2003]
<I>Blackball</I> marks the feature debut of Paul Kaye, who spins a somewhat more likeable variation on his arrogant <I>Perfect World</I> TV persona in this underdog-triumphs-over-adversi ty comedy. Set, like <I>Fawlty Towers</I>, in the holiday resort of Torquay, and echoing the small-town seaside pettiness of Tony Hancock's <I>The Punch and Judy Man</I> (1963), <I>Blackball</I> is as bitterly class conscious as either, with Kaye as a working-class, potentially world-champion bowler with an enormous chip on his shoulder. Written by Tim Firth (the man also responsible for 2003's <I>Calendar Girls</I>), the film seems unsure what it wants to be, aiming potshots at the corrupting influence of big money TV deals and commercial tie-ins on traditional values, while simultaneously trampling on those very values by celebrating the repugnant antics of Kaye's MTV-generation angry young sportsman. <p> Director Mel Smith eventually swamps any satiric intent under a full slate of feel-good comedy clichés, though he does win fine performances from James Cromwell and Bernard Cribbins as Kaye's proud nemesis and kindly uncle respectively. While parts of the script involving their back stories seems to have been left on the cutting room floor, the restrained dignity these two elder statesmen bring to their roles speaks volumes about changes in attitudes between the generations. Consistently amusing, though too predictable to be hilarious, <I>Blackball</I> features strong support from Vince Vaughn, Johnny Vegas, Imelda Staunton and Alice Evans. Stephen Warbeck's score really elevates proceedings once the product-placed rock soundtrack stands aside. <I>--Gary S Dalkin</I>
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£13.99
at Amazon.co.uk
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BLACKBALL
15 author: ; publisher: WARN
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£15.99
at countrybookshop.co.uk
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BLACKBALL OST
author: SOUNDTRACK; publisher: UNIV
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£14.99
at countrybookshop.co.uk
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BLACKBALL
15 author: ; publisher: WARN
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Availability: refer to store website
Shipping: refer to store website
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£12.99
at countrybookshop.co.uk
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