William Shatner

Incubus

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KIa is held by Marc

OK, so, films in Esperanto starring William Shatner… Anybody? The answer is Incubus, a true oddity from 1966 made just before Shatner started work on Star Trek. It’s one of only two films made in the world’s most widely spoken “constructed auxiliary language” (made up, in other words) in the 1960s. The other being 1964’s Angoroj. Wikipedia says there are two more from the noughties – 2006’s Gerda malaperis! and 2007’s La Patro, which is only 40 minutes long and about which not much is known. Incubus is undoubtedly the most famous of all of them, partly because of Shatner, partly because it’s directed by Lesley Stevens, the producer of The Outer Limits, who … Read more

Miss Congeniality

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Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality

Call it nominative determinism but the Kirk Douglas-dimpled Sandra Bullock is often the most bullish person in the movies she’s in. This is presumably why somebody thought she’d be ideal playing a tough cop who makes an ugly-duckling transformation in order to go undercover at a beauty pageant. It’s completely unbelievable, of course – Bullock never for a second looks less than a Hollywood A list star, even when made up to look like a dog. But who wants believable when there’s fun to be had? And so we yield to Bullock’s brilliant comic interplay with Michael Caine, as her camp coach in feminine poise (see what I mean by unbelievable), and if … Read more