By Austin Lynch
This week we welcome back a few people who have been away recently. Not that any of you missed them, of course, but there has been something of an absence of late by certain individuals.
Firstly, we would like to welcome back James Bond, Ian Fleming's super-spy who this week returns in the eagerly awaited 'Casino Royale'.
Donning the tuxedo and drinking the 'shaken not stirred' vodka martini's this time around is British actor Daniel Craig with 'Casino Royale' being his first outing as the British secret agent otherwise known as '007'. Craig becomes the sixth actor to play the world's most famous spy and this latest film is a reworking of Fleming's first Bond novel.
'Casino Royale' opens this Thursday (16th November) and will be reviewed in this column next week.
The second person who we say 'hello' to this week is Sacha Baron's Cohen's creation of 'Borat' in his self-titled movie.
It's been a few years since Cohen's first introduced the Kazakhstan TV reporter to us through his very off-beat Channel 4 'Da Ali G Show' and now Borat has a big screen outing all to himself without even a trace of 'Ali G' anywhere in the house.
Cohen has obviously decided that his Borat character is more marketable to a global audience than Ali G, and judging by the reaction this film is getting he is spot-on with this assumption.
The things that made the TV Borat funny included his accent and very dodgy English, the way he looks and dresses (grey suit, grey tie, curly hair and huge OTT moustache) and the naive way he acts including the questions he puts to unsuspecting members of the public.
And, although this doesn't instantly sound like much of a blueprint for a movie this is exactly what Sacha Baron Cohen has done with 'Borat', and it works.
'Borat' is a film for the 'yoof' of today, and if you aren't easily offended, enjoy some crude, silly and often very juvenile observations and humour and especially if you enjoyed 'Da Ali G Show' then you are going to love this movie.
During the film Borat travels to America, and specifically to New York, to learn all about American culture. But once he gets there he decides he wants to see a bit more and heads off in search of Los Angeles and the loveliness of a certain Ms Pamela Anderson.
'Borat' is essentially a road movie in which our hero travels across America talking to a wide variety of people on his travels.
Cohen obviously discovered at an early stage that what makes the funniest scenes, and what garners the best reactions, is having Borat talking to real people who, for the most part, seem to believe Borat is really a TV journalist from Kazakhtstan.
Borat is on a journey of discovery in America and some of what he learns is disturbing to say the least. Of course, you have to realise that Borat is sexist, anti-Semitic and for some reason has a terrible fear of gypsies.
While Cohen's Ali-G character could possibly be seen as limited with his few catchphrases, his would-be rapper appearance and him forever asking people 'Is it because I is black' there are somehow many more possibilities with the Borat character and there are, quite literally, many more miles in how far Cohen can take his bumbling TV presenter come journalist.
'Borat' is something of a treat in that instead of creating many smile inducing moments this film creates real laughs and, if you find yourself prone to this brand of humour you will be laughing the whole way through this one.
Small screen characters don't always have big-screen potential but the combination of Cohen's creation and some very insightful questions coupled with knowing who to ask these questions to and how to deal with the responses - however bizarre - make 'Borat' a quite unique cinematic event.
Definitely fun, if you like that sort of thing.
And don't forget Bond is Back on 16th November.
