A local quiz for local people Twenty years ago, a strange little sketch show called The League of Gentlemen debuted on BBC2. It was an adaptation of a cult radio show, written by and starring Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, and Reece Shearsmith (with the fourth writer, Jeremy Dyson, rarely appearing on-screen). It broke the sketch show formula by, instead […]

7 years ago

The genius behind Four Lions, The Day Day and Brass Eye returns to familiar territory A new Chris Morris project is an event. The satirist and director has been the man behind some of the most savage and controversial British comedy of the last thirty years  – from the news media skewering of The Day Today (and giving the world […]

7 years ago

“I wanted it to remind people how soul-destroying that time was for people like me” Gurinder Chadha is one of the UK’s most successful filmmakers living today. Her feature debut Bhaji on the Beach received critical acclaim for capturing a British-Asian experience onscreen on its first release in 1993, but it was 2002’s Bend It Like Beckham that made […]

7 years ago

Trained ants build a tiny igloo, then drown when the ice is melted by an unattended Bunsen burner. A disembodied scientist’s hand gets increasingly covered in burns as it repeatedly tries to retrieve an egg from boiled water. We are informed that ghosts cannot whistle Welcome to the world of Look Around You, the cult […]

7 years ago

A show so dangerous that powers that be refused to let it be shown Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace is the definition of a cult hit. The 2004 Channel 4 comedy purported to be a ‘lost’ 1980s horror show, suppressed by the television establishment for being too radical and extreme for broadcast. Written by and starring pompous […]

7 years ago

Do you know your Donnie Brasco from your Goodfellas? Controversial opinion here, but both Al Pacino and Robert De Niro are pretty decent actors. For five decades now, the duo have starred in some of the defining American movies of their era, and featured in countless iconic movie moments. And yes, in recent years, both […]

7 years ago

Trish Stratus returned to WWE Smackdown on Tuesday, accepting Charlotte Flair’s challenge to a match at SummerSlam It is a tried-and-tested trope. A mostly-retired legend comes back to (probably) lose to a star on the rise, to give them the rub and put them over a force to be reckoned with. WWE do it all […]

7 years ago

Needs more Vin Diesel speeches about family, tbqh Who’d have imagined that a little pre-9/11 Point Break rip-off about street racers stealing DVD player would become the biggest original movie franchise of our times? The Fast & The Furious has already given us seven sequels (with another on the way), and now we have the […]

7 years ago

“I’m going to make you sound like a bit of a jerk” Dating is hard. If only you had someone wise to give you advice – someone like Stifler’s Mom from the American Pie movies, maybe? I recently got to sit down with Jennifer Coolidge, the great comedian who played Stifler’s Mom in all four of the American […]

7 years ago

Finally, it looks like Robert De Niro is going to be in a good film again! Robert De Niro. Al Pacino. Two of the greatest cinematic titans of our era. The former, the undeniable force that gave us undisputed modern classics like Little Fockers, Dirty Grandpa, What Just Happened, and of course, the voice of a CGI fish […]

7 years ago

“All you can do is pray for a quick death… which you ain’t going to get” Quentin Tarantino makes good movies. He also makes long movies. Movies that go off down wandering detours, or stop for extended monologues, or even the odd anime short film. There are those who think he’s got too self-indulgent, or needs a studio to reign […]

7 years ago

Happy 150th edition of the quiz! Yes, it is another arbitrary anniversary of the JOE Pub Quiz. And we have decided to mark it by doing absolutely nothing special. Well, regular quizmaster Rich Cooper is on holiday so I am handling quiz-duties, but since no-one ever reads this bit, you probably won’t even notice. This […]

7 years ago

Being a former head of state can be very lucrative indeed After a drawn-out and predictable Conservative Party leadership race, Theresa May is officially no longer our prime minister. And while Boris Johnson gets busy governing the country, May can start planning out her life after Downing Street. Of course, she may choose to spend […]

7 years ago

The late actor will forever be known for his incredible performance in Blade Runner – but he improved every film he appeared in The great Dutch actor Rutger Hauer, who has died aged 75, didn’t always appear in the highest quality of film. Of course, there are plenty of beloved movies in his filmography: Batman Begins, Sin City, […]

7 years ago

Packaging matters To paraphrase Bob Marley, the sun is shining, the weather is sweet, and it makes you want to grab a cold carbonated flavoured non-alcoholic beverage with either sugar or sweeteners. However, not all portions of fizzy drinks are created equal. Coke, Pepsi, or whatever you are drinking, can come in a can, a […]

7 years ago

From visionistical director, Taika Waititi New Zealand comedy auteur Taika Waititi first came to international attention with delightful and wonderful comedies set in his homeland like What We Do In The Shadows and Hunt For The Wilderpeople. Then, he was given a big Marvel movie and somehow managed to turn the previously-meh Thor franchise into a day-glo rock opera masterpiece. Next […]

7 years ago

“I remember getting excited seeing a brown person on a game show” Hitting BBC iPlayer this week is Muzlamic, a new sketch show billed as “exploring life from the perspective of two Muslim comedians, or rather, two comedians who happen to be Muslim”. Muzlamic stars social media comic Ali Shahalom (better known as Ali Official) and […]

7 years ago

Of course, Endgame was not the end After its truly epic finale, and genuinely moving farewell to several beloved characters, Avengers: Endgame felt like a natural endpoint to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. More 20 movies and ten years since the beginning, it was the perfect summation and conclusion to Marvel’s audacious shared universe experiment. Of […]

7 years ago

“It doesn’t feel like I should be drinking that” Strong Zero is a Japanese 9% ABV, low-cost cocktail in can that is an institution in the country, and is becoming a cult favourite in the West. So we brought a few back from a recent trip to Tokyo to see what the fuss is all […]

7 years ago

The trailer for the movie adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit musical Cats is out, and it is utter nightmare fuel A strange mixture of drama school sass and terrifying furry fan-fiction, it features a cast of A-listers including Taylor Swift, Idris Elba and James Corden, not only singing and dancing, but also turned into […]

7 years ago

Several years ago, we paid less than a tenner a month for every streaming show worth watching. Soon, subscribing to a handful of services could cost more than a premium satellite or cable subscription Genericism is the term for when a brand name so defines a product that we use it interchangeably with the name […]

7 years ago

This week, it was announced that a new special episode of cult 1990s Nickelodeon animation Rocko’s Modern Life would be coming to Netflix in August Rocko’s Modern Life is far from the only cartoon of the 1990s to be getting a nostalgia-baiting new take at the moment. In 2017 Nickelodeon aired the TV film Hey […]

7 years ago

When you are a teenager, you are allowed to have awful taste You can listen to terrible music, and wear ridiculous clothes, it is all part of dealing with hormones and figuring out who you are. And this also extends to films. There are certain movies that absolutely blow your mind when you are young, […]

7 years ago

*Spoilers follow for Avengers: Endgame, FYI* After 11 years, 23 movies, several TV shows and the GDP of a mid-sized nation in box office revenue, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is essentially now part of the cultural furniture. The sprawling, ultra-dense continuity that was previously just the domain of comics nerds is now understood by the […]

7 years ago

“Not a doctor” Real talk: one of the worst things Netflix does is automatically play the next episode. In the algorithm’s obsessive mission to keep us watching, the end credits are ripped away – and with it, a vital part of the televisual experience. After a great episode, you need to take a second and […]

7 years ago

“This is the one thing we didn’t want to happen” We live in an era where basically everything is available, instantly, online. Any TV show you randomly remember as a child, any movie, any pop hit – even if it isn’t legally available, someone will have put it on YouTube, or DailyMotion, or some Russian […]

7 years ago

Thursday brought the unexpected news that Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff have been named as Executive Directors of Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live respectively WWE is in a slump right now. Last week’s Stomping Grounds pay-per-view was marred by poor ticket sales and the crowd chanting CM Punk throughout the main event. The booking has been […]

7 years ago

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Far From Home hits UK cinemas on 2 July, and JOE got Tom Holland to play Guess The Marvel Character Holland, who plays Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the smash-hit Marvel superhero movies, was put through his paces by co-stars Zendaya (Michelle “MJ” Jones) and Jacob Batalon (Ned), with some predictably hilarious results. Zendaya and Jacob […]

7 years ago

The eternal question Which is the best? Messi or Ronaldo? Marvel or DC? Coke or Pepsi? Pokemon or Digimon? Of course, the answer is Pokemon. Pokemon was always better. Digimon was the budget, Aldi-Pokemon, that was based on a lame virtual pets – as opposed to one of the most beloved Game Boy games of […]

7 years ago

The film will premiere on Netflix Both Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul have shared a cryptic image, which we *think* is a tease for the upcoming Breaking Bad movie. Look, we should say straight up, we have no idea if it is actually for the Breaking Bad film. All we know is that Bryan Cranston and Aaron […]

7 years ago

Holland has spoken about what would happen in the scene, which was cut from the film’s script JOE spoke to Spidey himself, Tom Holland, and his Spider-Man: Far From Home co-stars Zendaya and Jacob Batalon, ahead of the film’s release next week. Far From Home is actually the second Spider-Man film to be released in the […]

7 years ago

Let him bow out gracefully In 2017, at the main event of Wrestlemania 33, The Undertaker lost to Roman Reigns. To end the show, he left his coat, gloves, and hat in the ring, stripping away attire of the Undertaker character, and revealing Mark Calaway, the man underneath. The match was slow and sloppy, and […]

7 years ago

The outside world is pretty scary right now – let’s just play Crash Team Racing instead Millennials are widely predicted to be the first generation to have things worse than their parents, and many will never own their own home. Climate change is spiralling out of control and our leaders are doing nothing about it. The UK […]

7 years ago

Writer Alex Garland is also on board Director Danny Boyle has let it slip that he and writer Alex Garland are at work on a second sequel to his zombie hit 28 Days Later. “Alex Garland and I have a wonderful idea for the third part,” Boyle told The Independent in an interview. “It’s properly good.” […]

7 years ago

John Wick Chapter 3 is wonderful for many reasons But one that stands out, in particular, is the casting of martial arts star and straight-to-video icon Mark Dacascos as the lead villain, and potentially giving him the comeback he deserves. Real-life karate and kung fu champion Dacascos was one of those ‘almost guys’ that Hollywood […]

7 years ago

Simon Brodkin first came to fame as a character comedian, starring as the eponymous lead character in BBC Three’s Lee Nelson’s Well Good Show More recently though, he has become better known for his various stunts and pranks. They started when, in character as Lee Nelson, Simon Brodkin ‘stole’ a copy of his own DVD from […]

7 years ago

Paddy McGuinness All Star Balls-Up takes place in a strange alternate history, where the likes of Phil Thompson, Mark Lawrenson and Graham Taylor are employed as cleaning staff in a mansion owned by the eponymous Top Gear host and Lancashire funnyman It’s best not to think about the logic. In one scene, McGuinness enters the […]

7 years ago

“Yeah, I did worry I was going to get shot” At the 2017 Conservative Party Conference, comedian Simon Brodkin made headlines after he managed to hand Theresa May a P45 during her speech. Now, after May has announced her for-real resignation, Brodkin tells JOE exactly how he pulled the audacious stunt off. Simon Brodkin first […]

7 years ago

Just tell us which one came first. So we’re returning to a quiz format we’ve done before. We thought it was fun, and we should give it another spin. It’s very simple: we’ll give you two things – they might be people, companies, movies, inventions, literally anything – and you have to pick the one […]

7 years ago

After several weeks of rumours, BT Sport confirmed on Thursday that from January next year they would be the home of WWE programming in the UK It is the end of an era for wrestling in the UK. WWE has been a staple of Sky broadcasting since the 1980s. It has been constant fixture of […]

7 years ago

RIP Tributes have flooded in for British independent wrestling star Adrian McCallum, known as Lionheart, who has died at the age of 36. Born in Coventry, Lionheart was best known for his work in Scotland’s Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW), where he was their World Heavyweight Champion at the time of his death. Lionheart was a […]

7 years ago

Everyone loves the idea of Men In Black – so how come the movies always end up being so forgettable? Continuing what was already a disappointing summer for the major studios, Men In Black: International looks set to crash and burn at the box office, taking just $28.5 million domestically in its opening weekend. Which is not […]

7 years ago

We give you a screengrab of Tim Robinson freaking out, you have to tell us what he is freaking out about Netflix’s I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson is pretty much the funniest show of 2019. SNL alumni Robinson has delivered us a perfectly-crafted bite-sized sketch show full of weirdness and awkwardness that has quickly become the […]

7 years ago

At this point, ‘Netflix take a slight-odd sounding premise and turn it into a really good show’ isn’t really news – but still, and we take a moment to appreciate how well GLOW turned out? Like, GLOW is a show based ‘Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling’, a short-lived 1980s women’s wrestling company that no one remembers, and stars Alison Brie […]

7 years ago

Movie remakes don’t have the best reputation For many, they are symptomatic of the current lack of originality and ideas in big budget filmmaking. Why risk doing something new when you can just rehash an existing IP with an in-built fanbase? Some estimates say there over a hundred remakes currently in the works, with new […]

7 years ago

She admits she has a few of her “own gripes” with the final season Now that the dust has settled, it seems like the consensus has generally agreed that the final season of Game of Thrones was amongst the show’s weaker moments. There have been plenty of noisy GoT nerds on the internet, but there have also been […]

7 years ago

It’s set to hit Disney+ next year The first image from the upcoming Monsters Inc spin-off show has hit the internet. Monsters At Work will follow on from the first movie and features original stars Billy Crystal and John Goodman returning as the voices of  Mike Wazowski and James P. “Sulley” Sullivan respectively – but the show will focus on […]

7 years ago

He definitely wants out, doesn’t he? Paul Pogba has suggested that he could be looking for a “new challenge” away from Old Trafford. “For me I have been for three years in Manchester and have been doing great,” the Manchester United midfielder told reporters in Tokyo on Sunday. “Some good moments and some bad moments, like […]

7 years ago

He does know it ends, right? Tyson Fury made short work of Tom Schwarz on Saturday night, beating the previously undefeated heavyweight in the second round of Fury’s first Las Vega fight. A thunderous right hand put Schwartz on the floor, and his corner threw in the towel just seconds later to give Fury the […]

7 years ago

A simple test for politics junkies For those of you who didn’t take AS Level Government & Politics: The House of Commons is made up of 650 members of parliament, each voted for by their local constituency. And as well as serving as ministers or on committees, or tweeting or going on Newsnight, those MPs are supposed […]

7 years ago