by Roger Swardson

Bad Grandpa

Laughter is the best medicine and they don’t come much better than the 2013 film Bad Grandpa. Johnny Knoxville was always a star of MTV’s Jackass, but his much-loved character Irving Zisman got his own film in Bad Grandpa and the rest, as they say, is history. One of the scenes epitomises the hilarity of Knoxville, as Irving plays a bingo game, engaging in conversation with other players and pushing people’s buttons. This culminated in Irving drinking the bingo marker fluid in side-splitting fashion. Of course, with lockdown taking over, more people have had to hunt online for their beloved bingo slots with the real bingo halls – where Irving travelled to – having to close.

Contagion

One which will really raise the heartbeat of many viewers is that of Contagion. Despite being released way back in 2011, Steven Soderbergh’s epic became a big hit in March this year with its showing on Netflix. It’s a work of fiction, but it is incredibly life-like with its harrowing detail of social distancing, plus, it is rather comparable to the current pandemic the world is experiencing, even if the virus in Contagion is far more lethal.

Shaun of the Dead

A brilliant hit comedy, but again rather chilling with its comparison of the current pandemic. Shaun of the Dead stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as the main characters as Pegg gets disturbed by a country-wide apocalypse. In doing so, Pegg has to protect himself and those he loves, rather like the situation today.

Snatch

The follow-up to Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch is an extremely gripping and intense film that follows illegal boxing promoter Turkish (Jason Statham). Statham convinces a gangster to offer bets on Mickey – a bare-knuckle boxer who is also Brad Pitt. When Mickey fails to throw his fight as planned, tense and dramatic events follow between the gangsters and gypsies. A must watch.

The Shawshank Redemption

One of the greatest films of all time, The Shawshank Redemption stars Tim Robbins as banker Andy Dufresne who is sentenced to life in Shawshank State Penitentiary for the murders of his wife and her lover, though he claims he is innocent. Over two decades, Robbins befriends Morgan Freeman who plays contraband smuggler Ellis “Red” Redding and becomes key in a money-laundering operation. What a way to pass the lockdown time.