On Five tonight at 8pm
Infamy! Infamy! They’ve all got it in for me!
Don’t worry, you’re not losing your mind. This is not a line from Hellboy, it’s Kenneth Williams’s famous line from Carry on Cleo which is on today at 3.50pm on ITV1. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve watched Amanda (Bad Girls, Corrie) Barrie’s Cleopatra getting Sid James’s Mark Antony all hot and bothered with her nude bathing in this naughty Carry On romp, but it never loses its appeal. For a Sunday’s couch potato viewing, this is totally my cup of tea (and crumpet), while I have to say that a movie described as a comic book sci-fi fantasy adventure (as Hellboy is) would not usually come close to grabbing my attention.
However, throw Guillermo del Toro into the mix and I’m interested. This film-maker is a genius. My first experience of his work was the 1992 vampire movie Cronos, a relatively low budget movie that nevertheless hints of a wonderfully imaginative vision. With his subsequent films, and subsequently higher budgets, del Toro has just got better and better. With Hellboy 2: The Golden Army coming out at UK cinemas on Wednesday, this movie tonight is a must-see. I hear from those in the know that the new movie is better than anything del Toro’s done to date, and if you’ve seen Pan’s Labyrinth then you’ll realize how exciting this prospect is.
By the way, there’s also a programme about Hellboy at 12.20 on Five, but I’ll be asleep then.
