My Amazing Large New Year Amaze-o-fest Film of the Year Type Post

At the risk of sounding like a complete nerd...urgh, how to put this?  I watch a lot of films.  Like the big geek I am, I enjoy making lists of my favourite things of the year.  A couple of years ago, I realised how hard it was to  make such a list without getting inspiration from loads of critics' "best of" lists, but then my lists ended up not being very me.  So I found a Five Year Diary in John Lewis and now that tracks what films I see in a year.  Not so geeky?  I also have a spreadsheet that I type it all into.  That keeps track of films, scores, directors, works out how many I'll end up seeing in the year based on how many I've already seen, makes graphs of how good years are.  Yeah.  I'm a badass.

So this post is the climax of a year of cinema-going.  Wow.  What an achievement.  Some quick facts.  I saw 202 films this year and went to the cinema 49 times.  Why am I even admitting to this?  My most watched director was Woody Allen (8 films?! I suppose it's because they're all an hour and half and entertaining).  20 films I saw posted a perfect 10.  I saw three films three times (Role Models, Adventureland, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters).  Films I didn't see that will no doubt annoy me with their absence when I finally get round to them include Drive, Tyrannosaur, We Need to Talk About Kevin, the Fighter (blu-ray is sitting on my desk as we speak) and The Skin I Live In.  As this is all relative, beyond the bottom 2, I'd recommend most of these films.  Anyway, let's get this over with.  I think a sentence each for 50-15 will suffice?

51) The Wicker Tree (Robin Hardy) - Oh, what a mess.  A train wreck on Repo Chick levels.  If this movie is lucky, people will end up loving its unintentional humour.
50) Anonymous (Roland Emmerich) - The sole highlight was the hilarious assassination attempt sequence where one man could read the assassin's intent completely by his bizarro stare.
49) Green Lantern (Martin Campbell) - If only this was a Hector Hammond film. Peter Sarsgaard picks this film up and launches it out of the ball park.
48) My Week With Marilyn (Simon Curtis) - So Me & Orson Welles was ignored on release and people went bat-shit over this confused and poorly constructed twaddle?  Life never ceases to amaze me.
47) Mother's Day (Darren Lynn Bousman) - I was so surprised by how good the opening 45 minutes were.  I was so surprised by the comic book violence in the last 15, especially after the dull torture porn section.
46) The Awakening (Nick Murphy) - Sigh.  Dominic West and Rebecca Hall.  Why doesn't this film work? Very nice shot of a train early on.
45) Your Highness (David Gordon Green) - Possibly the least funny and most horrific opening 10 minutes I saw all year.  It could never recover full after that, but it makes a good effort (almost like the Canadian WJ team against Russia).
44) The Thing (Matthijs van Heijningen Jr) - There were two moments where I found myself impressed with this rather unimaginative prequel/reboot: face rubbing and the ending.
43) The Green Hornet (Michel Gondry) - I am convinced that Seth Rogen cannot succeed as a leading man.  That being said, I am convinced that he could be paired with a pane of glass and critics would rave about their chemistry.  Jay Chou and Waltz equally try very hard, but the films ultimately feels flat and uninspired.
42) X-Men: First Class (Matthew Vaughn) - Next time, more Fassbender hunting Nazis please?  Bacon rocks equally well.  Finally convinced me that January Jones is perfect as an emotionally stunted housewife in Mad Men because she is an emotionally stunted actress in Hollywood.
41) Last Screening (Laurent Achard) - First entry of my BFI LFF films.  A nice little French giallo.  Not that scary, not that polished, but very tense and atmospheric.
40) Last Night (Massy Tadjedin) - Oh, the troubled lives of the upper classes.  Very heavy handed, but Keira Knightley impresses in what seems to be the latest arc of her career (the respectable period).
39) Kill List (Ben Wheatley) - I wish that I could shout "THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES!" over and over again at this film, but the first half is incredible.  I haven't seen an ending retroactively make me dislike a film this much since David Fincher's the Game.
38) Paul (Greg Mottola) - Completely worth it for Kristen Wiig's cussing alone.  Really shows that Messrs Pegg and Frost compromised all to happily on their script.
37) The King's Speech (Tom Hooper) - I seem to be alone in thinking that Geoffrey Rush deserved the Oscar over Firth.  I wish old Colin had won for A Single Man.
36) Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (Guy Ritchie) - Very much more of the same but now with added Jared Harris who definitely distracts from the fact that this film is far less surprising and interesting in its plot machinations than the first.
35) Thor (Kenneth Branagh) - I love Dutch angles and Kat Dennings.  It's a very silly superhero romp, but it was nice seeing a comic book movie villain with a bit of ambiguity.
34) The Deep Blue Sea (Terence Davies) - Homewrecker! Some nice moments, but the very confused editing kills the opening thirty minutes.
33) Texas Killing Fields (Ami Canaan Mann) - Succeeds very well when it allows the actors to do their job and play off each other.  Shame the plot is intent on driving them all apart.
32) The Rum Diary (Bruce Robinson) - I really think that Johnny Depp is way too close to the source material to have made this film work.  Some great moments, but strangely characterless.
31) Melancholia (Lars Von Trier) - First half is mostly fantastic with a couple of bum notes, second half is taut but ultimately pointless, which I guess is the point.  Paradox!
30) Karen Cries on the Bus (Gabriel Rojas Vera) - A lovely little film about a woman trying to find worth outside of her marriage.  Very much a slight art house film, but surprisingly warm and intelligent for a debut.
29) Cedar Rapids (Miguel Arteta) - Ahh, morality in insurance.  Something I see often.  I wish I did a mean Omar from the Wire, which reminds me I still need to buy that Wire boxset.  Slight but fun with a good heart.
28) Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Tomas Alfredson) - I really need to see this again.  Despite all the praise, I just couldn't get invested in this film.  The great performances go without saying, but unfortunately it all feels very meaningless.
27) A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (Todd Strauss-Schulson) - This almost made me feel festive, which is quite the boast as the only film to do that is Batman Returns.
26) Julie's Eyes (Guillem Morales) - It's definitely not hitting the lofty heights of the Orphanage, but the Hitchcockian supernatural thriller definitely succeeds.  An nice little gem for those who hunt it down.
25) Wuthering Heights (Andrea Arnold) - The younger actors impress, but this adaptation suffers from the fact that Wuthering Heights is three books in one and would need a three hour running time.
24) True Grit (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen) - Coens do the West.  Treading ground would be overly cruel, but this is definitely harbours a great deal of their traditional whimsy.
23) The Screen Illusion (Mathiew Amalric) - Incredibly similar to the Hamlet adaptation staring Ethan Hawke but surprisingly effective.
22) The Adjustment Bureau (George Nolfi) - Men in hats!
21) Captain America: The First Avenger (Joe Johnston) - My fetish for all things Art Deco continues!  Definitely the most successful family adventure film of the year.
20) Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance) - Stunning performances from the two leads, but unfortunately the decision to turn Gosling's character into a monster damages the impact of this film.  Still completely worthwhile.
19) Another Earth (Mike Cahill) - The more successful of the sudden appearance of other planet films.
18) Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky) - So Mr Aronofsky finally got to make his full-on homage to Perfect Blue.  Awkwardly caught between serious psychological profile and daft horror fun.  I wonder more if he is going to close out a loose trilogy of films about dedication and if so, what with?
17) Bridesmaids (Paul Feig) - One of the few broad American comedies I enjoy!  Wiig and Maya Rudolph are a delight and finally proof that Chris O'Dowd is funny when he's not gurning for laughs.
16) 127 Hours (Danny Boyle) - One day Franco will force peace and undying love onto the world, but for now, we'll just have to make do with humdingers like this performance.

15) 13 Assassins (Takeshi Miike)
So now onto the upper crust.  As you can tell from above, I enjoy reading my own thoughts on films, so here come more words and sentences on that subject.  Takeshi Miike is a very odd film maker.  If you have a passing interest in world cinema, you'll probably already know about his prolific output.  Sometimes I think this is the only reason he is famous because, Lord knows, it really affects his films.  Out of the six directorial efforts of his that I've seen, two thirds of them definitely suffer from a rushed ending.  Connecting the dots, I assume that in editing, he is already so excited by his next film that he loses interest in his current one.  Yes, I assume him to be like a six year old distracted by something shiny.  13 Assassins doesn't fit that mould at all.  Not only does this feel more like a complete film that his other work, but his incredibly frantic energy seems conspicuously absent also.  Fortunately this doesn't hurt.  The film is a remake of a 1963 film of the same title and it seems that Miike has been influenced by that more staid and slow paced era of cinema.  Thankfully, not all of his personality has been removed by this altered style.  His love of gore and his dark humour are still there by the bucket load, especially in the last act.  As a testament to how entertaining this film is, when I went to see it a couple of weeks after it opened, it was still playing to a full house with some customers commenting on how this was the second or third time they'd seen it.  Try and hunt it down as I doubt you'd ever see Miike direct with such confidence without having to resort to the excessively odd.


14) Source Code (Duncan Jones)
It is currently a very exciting time for low-to-mid budget science fiction.  Sure, everyone can point at Inception as a current high water point of the genre at large, but truth be told, the more interesting work is being done by a trio of less famous directors (Duncan Jones, Shane Carruth and, soon to join them, Rian Johnson).  Shane Carruth's strikingly obtuse and original Primer is definitely the most individual of the completed works of this group, but the most accomplished was Moon, a rightly hyped film directed by Duncan Jones.  What really struck with this film was how it captured the wonderfully sparse and paranoid atmosphere of science fiction films from the 1970s but without being a mere pastiche (as many have argued that the current released the Artist is).  So, I was a big fan of Moon and looked forward to this greatly.  Whereas it could be argued that it doesn't as accomplished a work as Moon, it shows Duncan Jones to be an incredibly versatile filmmaker.  Sure, this film is another science fiction piece and yes, it still feels rather like the 1970s, but I could not imagine two more wildly different films under such a tight scope.  Whereas Moon felt like a Ridley Scott/Stanley Kubrick collaboration with more warmth (but still sparse on the dialogue), this is a heady mix of Hitchcock, Groundhog Day and the Towering Inferno.  Jones excels visually here (the opening tracking shots are stunning), but shows great ability in directing his cast (with the exception of Jeffrey Wright who comes across far too villainous).  What I have loved most about his work is that both his films contain elements that, in less capable hands, could appear as gimmicky twists, but he uses them as an intelligent way to develop the story in a completely unforeseen manner.  If his statements regarding his next film (allegedly his last science fiction piece) are true, then make sure you mark down the release date in your calendar.  It is incredibly rare to see a director so developed at this point in his career.


13) Cold Weather (Aaron Katz)
So Sherlock Holmes was dropped into two films this year.  First there was Guy Ritchie's sequel to his bizarrely successful action romp (see #36), but closer to the preconception of most people's idea of our favourite deerstalker-wearing detective was this little gem.  Considering how many reviews lead with the joy of the Holmes-esque sleuthing, it is a little surprising how long this film takes to get to that aspect of the plot.  Unfortunately, the promise of intrigue and mystery definitely makes the first half of the film feel a bit restless.  Thankfully though, this really is a film that inhabits its very own world and draws you in part due to the fantastic characterisations present.  This is a deceptively interesting film and once it had settled into its own pace, I was hooked.

12) Hugo (Martin Scorsese)
I wish I could put this higher.  Let's make no bones about this, I loved this movie.  In fact, I was so emotionally engaged with it that I sobbed on more than a few occasions during its 128 minute running time.  So why isn't it higher?  Because other things exist in this film other than Ben Kingsley.  He is absolutely perfect and there is an awful lot to love in his performance alone.  Unfortunately, the more melodramatic lines in the script fall flat, especially when uttered by the younger members of the cast.  Also the "adventure" section of the plot is neither as interesting, involving or passionate as the moments where Scorsese focuses on sharing his love of cinema.  Like a dreamy mix between Cinema Paradiso and the Adventures of Baron Munchausen, the film still delights when tapping into the joys of creativity and imagination.


11) Submarine (Richard Ayoade)
Being a big fan of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, I was excited when I first spied Ayoade's name on a huge-mangous poster on the tube.  Although the styling is very different, there is great similarity conceptually between these two projects in that Ayoade has established himself as a master of visual pastiche. Whereas his work on the aforementioned television series was firmly rooted in low budget 80s television and Stephen King adaptations, this is a very offbeat and British take on Truffaut.  In a year where we've seen some incredible performances from younger actors, the central pairing of Craig Roberts and Yasmin Paige as the offbeat, somewhat destructive couple in this coming-of-age tale tops my list.  In fact, the entire ensemble is supremely talented.

10) Silver Bullets (Joe Swanberg)
Unlike most people, I don't have a huge issue with mumblecore.  Strangely though, despite my love of Andrew Bujalski, I've never really specifically sought out any film in this terribly defined genre.  So this was the first film I've seen from the extremely prolific Joe Swanberg and, although there are definitely issues with this film, I don't think people give him enough credit for just how interesting and well-thought out his films can be.  The plot revolves around Joe Swanberg, Kate Lyn Sheil and horror director Ti West playing versions of themselves.  Joe plays a pretentious low-budget director, Ti plays an up-and-coming horror director, Kate plays an actress dating Joe but caught imbetween them both artistically and romantically.  People may not like his work, but Joe Swanberg is an incredibly brave and self-aware director.  I think few people could tackle their own issues and anxieties on-screen without having to doll up the people and situations involved in metaphor and other forms of layering.  Though the unprofessional sheen may test some viewers' patience, I feel more compelled and excited by the approach Swanberg takes to movie making.  Hell, I find it down right inspirational how much he can achieve with so little equipment.   (On an extra note, this film possesses a fantastic soundtrack and poster).


9) Moneyball (Bennett Miller)
As I've stated before on this blog, I don't understand baseball very well.  Fortunately however, an understanding of the game isn't needed to become invested in the drama of watching a group of people try and take on the status quo with far more limited means.  This isn't the most complex or thought provoking film I saw this year by any stretch, but it is very well put together work.  The writing is snappy and intelligent, the acting incredibly sharp (even if Brad Pitt is well on his way to becoming Robert Redford) and the whole thing is held together by Miller's taut directing.


8) Senna (Asif Kapadia)
Ayrton Senna is an incredibly polarising figure.  He certainly changed Formula One motor racing both through what he achieved as a driver and the consequences of his death, and it can be argued that some of which was not necessarily for the better.  This however, is not to detract on how awe-inspiring a human being he was and Asif Kapadia cuts straight to the heart of this.  Similar to many other recent successful sports documentaries, the liberal editing certainly presents only a half truth, but this doesn't change how humorous, fantastic and emotional a narrative the viewer is taken through.  For a F1 fan, there's a whole bucket load of race footage and rare behind-the-scene views of the politics of the paddock to geek out about, but much like Moneyball above, this is not a film that requires an intimate knowledge of the sport.  This is simply a story about a man wanted to be recognised as the greatest at what he did and the challenges he faced both on and off the track.  I don't think there's a more excruciating moment in film this year that the onboard footage at Imola.  Kapadia is incredibly brave to let that footage play out.


7) Take Shelter (Jeff Nicols)
This film is so complex and well developed that I'm sure that my terribly strung together words can't do it justice.  All I will endeavour to say is that there is a mere handful of characters that I care more deeply for than the family at the centre of the storm in this film.  The characters are so incredibly well fleshed out and a lot of that is due to the incredible performances of Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain.  The ending is a tad polarising, but I was fortunate to hear an interpretation of it that really connected with me.

6) 50/50 (Jonathan Levine)
Delicious cappuccinos.  I make no bones about it, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is one of my favourite actors and has been ever since Mysterious Skin.  On the other hand, however, Seth Rogen is definitely someone I have a love/hate relationship with.  That's not to say I don't find him funny, because that wouldn't be true.  Hell, most of the quotes I share with friends are his from Pineapple Express. Hell again, if I had a friend that acted like Seth Rogen, I'd probably hang out with him all the time, but for some reason I end up not loving the films that he features heavily.  Mystery.  Fortunately, I don't think I saw a funnier film than this all year and I can say that Seth Rogen is a big part of that. Also extra bonus points go to this film for using The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack.  I pretty much cry when I hear that song on its own, so imagine how emotional I got when it appeared in this film!

5) Kaboom (Gregg Araki)
I don't think I have smiled so hard and for so long in a film than I did for this film.  Funny, riotous, exciting.  Don't go expecting a revelatory message, but do if you want to see a film maker going completely full pelt.

4) The Future (Miranda July)
I was very fortunately to watch this with the film maker in attendance for a Q&A session to follow the film.  I hadn't seen Miranda July's other film and I was walking into this one with very limited knowledge about it.  I had seen the trailer almost by accident a couple of days prior to the screening.  The trailer concerned me.  The trailer look awful.  I'm so glad that I didn't let that scare me off this film, because it is a wonderfully funny and moving portrait of the hurt that people can inflict when they're scared.  I've heard people say that you only really know what you're like when you're put in a vulnerable position.  Usually, they're talking about situations of great stress.  Whether that's in a war or when you lose a loved one, it doesn't matter, but people seem to ignore the seemingly innocuous moments that can redefine who you are as a person.  The entire chain of events depicted in this film is set off when a couple decide to adopt a stray and injured cat.  This decision ends up completely shattering their life.  I really need to see Ms July's other film because if it is even half as imaginative and inventive as this film, I'm sure I'd love it.  This film definitely contains one of my favourite depictions of heartbreak in any piece of art.

3) Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen)
I really don't understand how anyone wasn't charmed by this film.  I was lucky enough to see it twice and the audience reacted very differently both times (seems like people in Cumbria didn't find Hemingway's manner of speech very funny, but people did think it was acceptable to act like a living Cliff notes for their friends who weren't aware of the Fitzgeralds or Man Ray).  My reaction didn't change, I was completely enthralled throughout.  I am definitely guilty of believing that if I had lived in another age, all my problems would disappear (hell, if I had it my way, life would look like the Stark Expo in Captain America).  The film definitely says it right; it's a minor insight, but that doesn't mean it isn't a worthwhile one.  I had a very similar idea for a script (though mine involved the Berlin film scene of the 30s), but I can't be too angry with Mr Allen as this is definitely one of his better works in the last decade.  I think what really makes it work is that, although some of his other films lately have been more adventurous in terms of plotting and characters, this never feels like it is retreading old ground despite it's more familiar Allen-isms.

2) Rabbit Hole (John Cameron Mitchell)
I don't think I have the words in me to do this film justice.  John Cameron Mitchell really surprised me with this film.  I had previously only seen Shortbus, which I found to be interesting but problematic and I've never got round to seeing Hedwig and the Angry Inch.  Given the content of those two films, a small character piece based around a couple trying to navigate their relationship after the death of a young child comes somewhat out of left field, but he shows to be an extremely capable and mature director.  Unlike Blue Valentine, another film about a troubled relationship, this film excels in not making a villain of either party and is all the better for it.  A truly simultaneously upsetting and heart-warming film.

1) Never Let Me Go (Mark Romanek)
Mortality is something that we all have to face.  True, it is rare for the younger to spend their time pontificating and worrying about the other side, but I certainly know that my thoughts will drift there, at least at a shallow depth, from time to time.  Fortunately, we don't have strict expiration dates, so we don't have to concern ourselves with the pressure of our limited time.  How much life we have in front of us is a complete mystery, so the time spent worrying is mostly a waste of time unless it is inspiring you to take better care of yourself or to use the time you have in a more satisfying manner.  On the whole, providing we are lucky enough to be healthy, we all take our time, not necessarily for granted, but at a lax pace.  We don't run to reach our goals, we allow the path to develop naturally.  Our passions and personalities develop through trial and error.  Our loves and lives are a wonderfully ill-defined adventure that ends up defining us.  We don't sit and think at age 12, I may only have 14 years left, best get a move on if I'm to achieve all I want...

...but, what if that wasn't the case?

My friend's other selves and other musings

This last weekend, I went with a dear friend to see Another Earth.  Now this next sentence may be shocking, but please stick with it.  Part of the plot involves the discovery of another Earth.  Now that bombshell has dropped, let me add some more detail.  This Earth-2 is identical to ours including the people.  So on these two Earths, there are two of me, two of you and two of everyone else.  This is a big deal in the film, causing a lot of pontification from people and philosophers alike (yes, philosophers aren't people).  This wasn't a big deal for my friend however, as he told me over a post cinema coffee and cake.  He's practically surrounded by other versions of himself.

Now, when he told me this over coffee, I was just as confused as you no doubt are.  Well, that's not entirely true.  At first I was thinking "wow, my friend is a closet egotist, I didn't realise he was so vain."  Before I could follow on from his bizarre remark, he very kind prefaced his next barrage with "I don't mean that in a vain, I see myself everywhere kind of way...".  Gee, silly me, what other way to take it?

So, my friend (let's call him C Eigeman to protect his identity - no, wait, too easy to guess, Chris E) enlightened me to his odd circumstances.  Let's paint the scene somewhat; Chris E is fairly easy going guy, which is what makes the insanity that follows seem a tad displaced.  He's okay looking, nothing spectacular, but very friendly, good to be around.  I think he works for a graphical design company but in an admin capacity.  I'm not sure, I really don't know him that well.  We met at party of a mutual friend and he likes films too, so I see him once, maybe twice a month for a cinema trip.

I relax my raised eyebrow and allow him to expand upon his opening statement.  I'm anticipating some nonsense about fashion adverts styling his style and how he wore plaid shirts before anyone else could have possibly heard of them.  So yeah, I'm anticipating the worst.  I take a long and bold sip of coffee as he opens his mouth.

"So, my reflection has a life of its own."

I put my coffee cup back on its saucer.  It's a large cup and, I'm not going to lie, I can admit I'm a bit out of shape, so I struggle to keep the coffee from spilling while I place the cup down.  "Sorry?"

"My reflection, like in a mirror, not me.  Looks like me y'know, but the dude has his own life to deal with."

"Nope, you've lost me."

So I sat there and had Chris explain things to me.  Turns out that he's face is strangely asymmetrical.  It just happens that when reflect, he looks like a young Adonis.  Chris first noticed the discrepency between his own and his reflections fortunes when he was around seven years of age.  His school had a competition for Chinese New Year.  Kids had to dress up in either traditional costume or as their sign of the Chinese zodiac.    Chris came home with a sticker for 3rd place, his reflection came back with a trophy for first.

It was pretty cool for a while.  Basically Chris had an extra friend when he was washing his hands or cleaning his teeth.  Things got a bit darker when he went to university (I'm going to say Leeds, but I was only half listening to details - I was eating a really fucking good cake at the time).  He remembered going through a pretty rough break up in his first year, so he went out to get completely smashed with friends, go clubbing, go flirting, "spread some oats" as he put it.  Anyway, not a successful night on Chris' part.  What made it worse was that Chris had a presentation to give at a seminar the next day.  He went to the bathroom to shave.  This proved difficult as his mirror was filled with all kinds of flesh and pieces of anatomy that would be blurred out if they were on television at that time of day.

"Jesus Christ man," Chris said to himself, "I'm trying to shave here!"

"I'm not stopping you," the other Chris replied, snorting coke off some privileged lady's back.

"Hopefully, those girls weren't missing their reflections," I commented, feeling very happy with myself at pointing out this bizarre inconsistency.

"Hey, you joke but I've had times when my reflection has disappeared for weeks on end.  I'm stuck in my shitty job, my supermodel reflection is jetting off to LA and back.  I've already come to terms with the fact that one day my reflection will pass out and choke on his own vomit.  It's fucked up."

"Yeah, I really feel for you."  Yikes, sometimes my sarcasm even surprises myself.  "Anyway, you said you were surrounded.  I hardly feel you talking to your own reflection justifies 'surrounded'."

"You remember where we met Ben?"

"Yeah, so much so I remembered to mention it early in this blog post."

"You remember seeing me drinking?"

I rewound my brain.  I certainly remember seeing myself drink a lot.  I remember speaking to Chris.  Nope, no idea.

"No?  Did I?" Hestitancy was the best I could offer.

"No you didn't.  Do you want to know why that is?"

"Not especially, but I'm sure you'll tell me anyway," I snapped back.

"Well, something happens when I drink, beyond just getting drunk.  I kind of change into someone else."

I could relate.  I am somewhat of a messy drunk.

Chris continued.  "I might physically turn into Rutherford Hayes..."

"Who?"

"What are you, uneducated?  The 19th President of the United States."

Well that's completely novel, I thought to myself.  "And what's that like?"

"It's a mixed bag really Ben.  At first he was really excited and besotted by new technology, so I ended up doing and seeing things I wouldn't have done otherwise.  Problem is I don't remember it.  As time has gone on, he's become more and more jaded about technology and modern life.  There is one thing he loves doing though.  He loves watching Jeff Goldblum movies on demand.  I stayed at a Holiday Inn once.  I don't know how he managed to watch five of them in an evening, but I had to pay it at the front desk the next day.  I couldn't look the receptionist in the eyes."

And this is the story of my friend Chris E (actually, I think I prefer C Eigeman after all).

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Other musings

I don't know Chris Eigeman, but after watching him for the better part of an hour and a half today in Metropolitan today, I thought I had to get a reference in.  I am in love with that film.  I need to see me more Whit Stillman.

In other exciting film news, I had a strange double bill of the Thing remake remake and Encounters at the End of the World, which made for lots of looking at snow.  One is much superior to the other.  I'll leave you to guess which.

I actually did see Another Earth with another human being and that was the lovely Ms Ella Hashemi (who can be found here http://apprentice42.wordpress.com/ ).  I thought I'd kindly remove her from the story as see is definitely not as mad as the fictional Chris.

I'm playing chess over the phone with a friend.  Five moves in.

This time next week, I'll be going to bed in preparation for my last day at work before Christmas.

This time tomorrow, I'll have made my return to the cocktail bar from a few posts ago.  A friend reliably informs me that the bar is actually a refurbished toilet.  The things one learns eh?

Now to bed!  I am so close to finishing my Woody Allen book!  Then I'll be moving on to either Hemingway or the Complete Book of Chess Strategy.  I have to work out a way to beat my friend at some point.  (I think he is up a career 3-0 on me).

My Dirty Iron and other musings

Being the cool cat that I am, on Monday night, I had a date with my iron.  I'm not going to lie, I have a dirty iron.  It's filthy.  It's just one of the many curses I have left over from an old relationship.  This relationship didn't run a smooth course and the ending was similarly tumultuous.  The last time I saw the lady in question, she was packaging and taking her things from our shared apartment in Manchester.  She packed in silence, which was fine by me.  Her packing was just as messy as how she lived.  After a tense 45 minutes, she picked up the last box and headed to the door.  That's when it happened.  She turned sharply (and most fetchingly, I must say), rested her box on her hip and opened her mouth.  Out it came; a torrent of insults, profanity and most importantly curses.  One of the more imaginative ones she came out with was stuck between a descriptive fiction of what I should do when she left and then a direct comparison of me and her new lover.

"And may your iron be filthy!"

And so it was.  I've got to say it was quite a shock the next time I used it.  It was a Sunday and I was sprucing up a shirt for work the next day.  As is usually the case after a break up, I had stuck Swingers into the DVD player.  All was normal.  I was chuckling at all the right points, getting through the shirts a bit quicker than usual, but nothing abnormal.  Then it happened.  There's a point in the film about 20-25 minutes in where Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau meet these two ladies in a bar.  They are two very pretty ladies, one of them is dressed like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.  So, I'm standing there, ironing, and then I hear it.

"Nice cans toots!"

At first I was too busy ironing to really acknowledge anything.  To be fair, I was on a roll.  One and a half shirts done in 20 minutes?  Unheard of.  In the zone.

"Oh what a world, what a world.  I'd like to show her my horse of a different colour, if you catch my drift."

I think that one got my attention just because of how baffling it was.  Really?  A horse of a different colour as a dick substitute?  So yeah, I was a bit concerned.  I put the iron to one side and went to investigate the house.  As soon as I left the room, another comment was made.  No Wizard of Oz puns this time, just utterances of things being stuck in places with a few f'bombs dropped for good measure.  I turned sharply, I stared down the iron, which remained silent.  I sighed.  Obviously the stresses of life had got to me.  I turned to head towards the couch.

"Yeah, keep walking pussy."

And it was at this point that I realised that my iron was filthy.

This was a shocking and troubling revelation.  What would the neighbours think?  I was having a dinner party on Saturday with friends from the gallery, what would they think?  Sure, it was kitschsy and they would love that, but I was trying to make my name with gorgeous landscapes, not pop art.  I did the only thing I could.  I threw it out of the window into a conveniently placed bin.

After a couple of weeks, the crumpled shirts were starting to pile up.  I popped to the store, came back home with a new iron (and a couple of fuses, plug adapters, balsa wood, a small zebra and four hot dogs, but I digress).  All was well at least for the first two shirts, then the insults started.

"Hey choirboy, what the fuck do you call that?"

"Way to wreck a shirt retard.  I wouldn't dress my cat in that!"

Damn, it got annoying.  I tried everything short of washing its mouth out with soap (yeah, irons don't have mouths, but I did scrub its sole pretty hard).  I eventually learnt to deal with it.  He's a good friend to watch shitty movies and sports with and when I moved abroad a couple of years ago, it was nice to have at least one constant with me.  Hell, there are worse curses I could have.  I knew a guy from Buffalo, real nice guy, worked with him on a couple of jobs.  He was cursed.  He hiccuped (and loudly too I might add) anytime anyone in his vicinity said "blackberry".  Wasn't too bad a few years ago, but man, is it making his life hell in the office these days.

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Other musings

Yes, I didn't have anything interesting to talk about, so I made up stuff.  Happy?  You drove me to it!  Like I know anything about ironing!

Last month was the most popular month for hits.  We've all done very well this month.  Let's keep up the effort and there may be bonuses discussed at the end of December.

Christmas Party tonight.  I will be in a tux.  This makes me happy.

The Fabio Memorial Cup, a movie marathon and other musings

A lot of people don't know this, but I used to race cars.  Mostly small time, local events involving banged up Ladas and banged up trees.  I never made it to the show, but I did get close once.  The year was 1972, I remember it vaguely.  I was in the library, enjoying a pint of vermouth (as was the fashion of the time).  I was reading The Joys of Sex and was partaking in the joys of making eyes at the librarian.  She was making eyes back, but they weren't nearly as friendly as mine.  It was as I was feeling a bit dejected that a man in overalls and a crash helmet ran in, followed by four more in overalls.  The first man took off his helmet, threw it at the other men and then dove into the non-fiction crime section.  I looked concerned, but the librarian had it covered.  She pulled her shotgun from under the desk and unloaded it into the ceiling.  Everyone froze, except the chased man who scurried up the shelves and out through a clerestory window.

"See here old fruits, what on earth do you think is going on here?!"  Christ, her tone was as sharp and authoritarian as her eyes.  I was smitten.

The group surrounding the crime non-fiction shelf looked sheepish.  All it took was a suggestive motion of the librarian's chin and one of them stood forward.  Not of his own accord of course, who'd want to face that fury?  No, he was pushed by his three colleagues.

He explained that the man who escaped through the window was the soon to be great Juan Alessandro Galilei. I'd heard of him.  He was a driver with great potential.  Just a bit gutless apparently.  Turns out that the American brute Dan Galloway was listed to race in the Fabio Memorial Cup race.  Old Dan was a man with no potential, but he did have the habit of using his car as a battering ram and Juan had made some choice words about Dan's old lady.  So now they were down on racing driver.  I may have coolly and collectedly modestly mentioned my experience, or I may have jumped up on the table and shouted "Me! Me! I race real good!  I make the people go behind me!".  Yeah, choose your own adventure folks.

Next think I know, I'm slammed down into some pointy looking open wheel car.  The expectation was gigantic.  The whole garage of mechanics gave me a pep talk simultaneously.  It was deafening.  I made my way to the grid.  I was right next to Dan Galloway.  I was wearing Juan's helmet.  Suddenly I questioned why I volunteered for this.  I looked to my right.  Dan made a cut throat sign.  I gulped.  The lights were beginning to change.  Dan had his steering wheel locked left.  I did the only thing that made sense.  When the lights came on, I stuck the car into reverse.  Dan went straight into another driver.  Red flags.  Race cancelled.  A personal success I feel.

The mechanics weren't too sore about it.  They let me keep the car, which came in handy 39 years later when I decided to see 5 films in one weekend.  Time was of the essence, so those top speeds came in handy.  I managed to see them all and here's how they lined up (in chronological order):

1) 50/50 - Seth Rogen and Joe Gordon-Levitt in Jonathan Levine's "based on true events" cancer comedy.  This is a damn solid movie.  I'm not going to lie, it's a bit close to home, but fortunately all the tears in this film were incredibly well earned - none felt exploitative (well, except the use of Liars' The Other Side of Mt Heart Attack - one of my favourite melancholic songs ever).  Mr Gordon-Levitt is always a god send and it was nice to see Seth Rogen in a well judged side kick role again (versatility isn't his strong point, but he's on form here).  In fact, it's hard to say anything bad at all about the casting.  In addition, Will Reiser's script is the right parts hilarious and sombre.

2) My Week With Marilyn - Wow, what a wreck.  Beyond the costumes, everything disappoints, even Michelle Williams (though she is the highlight of the film).  It is completely beyond me why anyone is speaking about this film when Me & Orson Welles was criminally ignored.  Eddie Redmayne plays a character who, in an opening narration, tells us that he loves film and really wants to work in cinema and production.  He then proceeds to get a job (oh, isn't it nice to be rich and have connections) and every action he commits after this can only lead to the conclusion that he doesn't love film at all.  He comes across as a fickle and completely infuriating person, which isn't a problem, except that the film carries on presenting him as a naive and sensitive human being.  He is neither, he's just an idiot.

3) Moneyball - I've been looking forward to this so long!  It didn't disappoint.  Well, I say that.  It didn't hit it out of the park (get it? It's baseball innit!) but I was so impressed.  A very well constructed movie (nice use of both real footage and ultra stylised slow-mo).  I appreciate the approach of the film in regards the acting and how it mimics the subject matter (Jonah Hill being serious?  Scott Hatteberg on first?).  What was odd was that this is the first time since 13 Assassins that I was sitting in a near full cinema.  Baseball film?  In the UK?  Full house?  Definitely kept the crowd entertained though.

4) Take Shelter - God damn, I fell in love with that family unit.  I didn't want anything bad to happen to them.  In fact, so much so that I'll believe Filmspotting's tad reaching interpretation of the ending, just because it makes things more nice for them.  The trio of Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain (wow, it's been like a whole two weeks since we saw her, where have you been?) and Tova Stewart (the little girl) are incredible, and fortunately so, as they are the movie.  Such an incredibly tense and claustrophobic story.

5) The Deep Blue Sea - Nice way to finish this marathon, a fun bit of melodrama.  I was a tad worried at the start (the editing was suspect during the first twenty minutes), but it picked up and was quite enjoyable for the rest.  Some entertaining lines, some not so great lines.  Some good outfits, some not so good music cues.  After seeing this and Flare Path earlier in the year, I'm definitely enticed to find out more about Terence Rattigan.

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Other Musings:

I'm currently eating Milk Duds with a nice hot coffee.  This combo is okay in my book.

Christmas party on Friday.  I really need to remember to iron my shirt.  I'm quite excited, if only for the fact that my tux makes me look like I should be on set for the Artist, being silent and tap dancing.

http://hw.libsyn.com/p/4/2/a/42a2e01cfd3cb3a9/fs368_bonus.mp3?sid=c1dba473f227fd81d9e9d6c228a6220b&l_sid=17938&l_eid&l_mid=2744370&expiration=1322433067&hwt=60d90b5633db77a08747a8e4fb0dbe8b - is the link for that Filmspotting Take Shelter ending opinion.  Definite spoilers.


I'm not even filmed out yet.  Tomorrow has some Berlin Alexanderplatz and Road to Perdition lined up.


Awesome jogging/exercise/mediation planned for tomorrow!

Pseudo-fiction, a comparison and other musings

Now, my memory might be hazy, but the rain that was threatening the evening as I arrived had definitely parted ways with the West End by the time I left.   I wasn't planning on sticking around either.  The night had definitely gone on too long.  I'm not sure when this realisation dawned on me.  Was it between the fourth and fifth innings of Manhattans?  Or perhaps when I was on the small stage singing 'Hotel California' with a gang of fetching transvestites.  Regardless, there definitely came a point when I could see four cocktails in front of my at the bar, which is odd because I usually order them by the pair.

I climbed up the stairs, emerging from the dank cocktail bar into the fresh London air.  It had gone one in the morning, and not being in complete control of my faculties, a brisk walk seemed on the cards.  That was until I came across a bike.  £1.00 of my money for an hours worth of time!  What great value it would have been had I not got lost.  The problem with all transports quicker than feet is that one can travel so far in completely the wrong direction.  As stated previously, my faculties were not currently in my possession, so it took an hour for me to be able to admit how unfamiliar my surroundings were.  It was true revelatory experience.  I felt like a better man.

All this led to one conclusion; I'd have to find the nearest telephone box and call my solicitor.  I was sure that at 2am, she would love to hear that I couldn't make our appointment at noon.  Shame too, she had a wit that exceeded her fine legs.  That's when it hit me, I found a safety net.  An incredibly fortuitous prostitute had put a map on her call-up card.  I found my way to the main road, ditched the bike and walked for 4 hours.  I put my keys into the door, tore my boots off and ran upstairs to start a blog post comparing my recent experiences watching the Rum Diary to my recent experiences watching Chico & Rita.

Both are films, both feature sharp suits and sharper tunes, however, one of them is a fair more successful film than the other.  Let's get rid of the suspense, the Rum Diary, although not disinteresting, is definitely the more dispassionate affair, which is odd considering the close relationship Johnny Depp had with Hunter S. Thompson.  It's a very polished and professional piece, but strangely distant.  There are fantastic performances throughout, but Mr Depp's Paul Kemp is always at an arm's distance and for no great reason. It's almost as if Mr Depp holds Hunter S. Thompson with such regard that his performance brings a stately disposition to his friend, but little of the wit and humour that was evident in his writings.

On the other hand, I can't say enough pleasant things about Chico & Rita.  A truly heart warming romance that, while possessing a few plot points that don't completely satisfy, is a completely breathtaking visual and audio experience.  As has been discussed previously on the blog, I am a complete sucker for most period pieces set between the 20s and 60s.  Hats man, people looked better in hats.  Anyway, I was completely drawn into the world presented by Javier Mariscal.  I would kill to have any of the frames of this movie on my wall.

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Other musings:

Not all of what I wrote above is true, but I certainly did have a time getting back from a cocktail bar on Tuesday night.  My legs and back have seized up so I will make sure to do some stretches before bed tonight.

I'm thinking about getting dental insurance.  I can't decide how this makes me feel.

I have an incredible weekend of film lined up this weekend.  50/50 on Friday and then My Week With Marilyn, Deep Blue Sea, Moneyball (finally!) and one that escapes my mind right now.  Butt-numb-athon 2011.  Take Shelter!  That's the last one!

I love the Twilight Zone and Rod Serling.  Still watching Season 3, just got through some gems including It's A Good Life.  Horrible sound effect in that one.

Oh my God, that's the funky stuff and other musings

Words cannot describe how tired I am right now.  This fact is a surprise to me, because I've no reasonable reason to be be this tired!  Such a reason does not exist right now!  Plus I've got very annoying tingly sensation under my left eye.  Yes, it would be fair to say right now that I'm feeling a bit cranky.

I've just worked for 3 hours on a follow up to the totally top secret, not at all guessable project I have going on with Mr Jonathan Hatfull (plug: http://jonathanwriting.blogspot.com/).  It may or may not involve creative writing of some sort.  It may or may not involve reviving an old project of mine.  Anyway, about 2 hours in, I had suitably dissected what I had about two years ago and then it hits me.  I don't think I have an imagination anymore.  Seriously, ask me to think of a shape, it'd be a circle.  Ask me to think of a colour, it'd be grey.  Ask me to think of a dinosaur, it'd be the one working on reception at my first job.

There are many things that I don't have a talent for, but why is it that film grabs me so much?  Oh Lord knows, this isn't therapy.  I'll soldier on regardless.  This post is a lot like my doodles though, aimless, no moral.

Exciting things on the horizon for me then: carry on with this writing, starting Berlin Alexanderplatz, sleeping. The rest of the evening will involve dishes and the cleaning of, a bit of light exercise, reading (Vanity Fair, because I'm classy) and sleeping.  Don't let me fool you into thinking I sleep lots, I would be able to write a much better blog post had I slept properly.

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Other Musings:

As I've been writing this, I've been eating dinner (fish, chips and beans). I've just realised that I've eaten most of my chips and beans and have left the fish completely untouched.  Fail.

Sid Crosby returns on Monday night.  I hope he's been taking this time to cultivate a true stunt man's moustache.

I've been rewatching the League of Gentlemen while I exercise recently.  Odd, I know.  I am so glad the laugh track was reduced between the first and second series.  That is one show that, although hilarious, really doesn't suit a laugh track.

The fun one can having being Batman and other musings

So what's new? Not much. Not much at all actually. Since the last time we spoke, I've visited Carlisle, Billinghurst and Manchester on three consecutive weekends. The first was with my brother and my mum. Sam, my bro, is up there on a placement from his medical school. This involved visited a number of small towns in the rain, walking a fair bit and a couple of cinema trips (Anonymous and Midnight in Paris (yes, again)). Middle weekend was spent with Messrs Hatfull and Langridge re-watching our old Europe Road Trip video footage and planning a new trip. The final weekend involved visiting Dr. Iain McGibbon in his new flat and enjoying the fine music of St. Vincent live and in person.

So those were the events. Superfluous to these, I've manage to lose my winter coat and gloves, leaving me with only a scarf to battle the elements. I have also picked up a computer monitor, so I think that would be described as a net win overall. Honestly, I always make comments like "oh, I'm going to write this...", but my productivity is rather lacking. I worry about this more now that I have an amazing home entertainment package hooked up in the corner of my room. In fact, it is so amazing, that I think it needs a name. I think I shall call it Lindros 3000. The 3000 is because it's cool. The Lindros is because, after prolonged playing time, headaches will ensue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Lindros). Actually, I feel bad about that. Sorry about the cheap shot Eric!

Oh well, that's enough fluff, let's get to something comment worthy. When I haven't been travelling or at work over the last three weeks, I've been playing Batman: Arkham City. My goodness, that's a very pretty game. Unfortunately, it hits an issue that I have with so many video games - plotting. Arkham Asylum was a rarity in so much as it provided a well thought out and, more importantly, satisfying narrative. This isn't to say that I don't like Arkham City (in fact, beyond my love of NHL 12, it's definitely my favourite game for a long time). I would highly recommend this game in a heartbeat, but my goodness, I wish that a video game would one day succeed in its aims for some form of cinematic denounment. Obviously Arkham City isn't alone here, GTA IV is definitely a big offender here as well. I worry about video games like these. By appropriating so much from cinematic language, are the games designers limiting their own work? I assume a lot of my issues are caught in the essence of an immesive game. If a character as avatar represents you, what happens when they act in a manner that you yourself would never do (I'm looking at you, L.A. Noire!)? 

Let's sum it up. I hold the belief that games appropriating cinematic language adds to the experience for the majority of the game, but fails when any sort of moral choice is presented or if the conclusion doesn't work:

Arkham City: I've not seen an ending so overwrought with angst since David Tennant left Doctor Who.
Dead Space 2: Fails as soon as Isaac opens his mouth.
GTA IV: After parodying a number of films and TV shows, asking for an emotional response to a rushed ending is asking way too much, especially given the suddenly morality of the so far immoral Niko Belak.
Heavy Rain: The biggest problem here is that the plot doesn't tie up, way too many loose ends. Considering this is a glorified animated movie, that's a big problem. Bitching soundtrack though.
L.A. Noire: To be fair to it, Pop Matters ran an incredible article about why the plotting work for them and from a intellectual level I can agree with what they're saying. Unfortunately, emotionally it did nothing for me. Is that a problem?
NHL 12: Winning the Stanley Cup never feels as good as I hoped.

 If there's one thing Arkham City really does well, it really makes me feel terrible about my figure and my lack of tree trunks for arms.

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Other musings

Paloma Faith v Miranda July was a very enjoyable twitter interview. More please!

Is everyone who writes in to Vanity Fair just pitching for their own articles? Certainly reads that way.

Single again, oorah.

The Holiday Inn in Kensington is rather pleasant. Nothing special, but pleasant.

That PopMatters article can be found here: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/145319-unplugging-the-player-from-the-protagonist

Cornerhouse in Manchester does one hell of a nice cocktail. If you go, order the Maple Manhattan and tell them Ben sent you there. When they look confused, just nod. Things will work out.

Seeing Midnight in Paris twice was incredibly enjoyable if only to see how different the two audiences reacted. In Cumbria, they didn't find Hemmingway funny at all. In fact the first audience was way better, if only for the fact they didn't have a walking Cliff Notes explaining all the jokes to her friend very loudly in the back row.

Other potential names for my speakers, monitor, PS3 combo; Hal Brooklyn, Stilton Joe, Freddy Quebec, Mr 2010, the Future, the American Dream. All would be good names for wrestlers.

Hoping that everyone at OWS is ok. Regardless of your political beliefs, we are all on the same page that police operations against its own citizens whilst a media blackout is in operation is a bit worrying?

I saw six films at the BFI London Film Festival and they didn't offer me a lousy t-shirt & other musings

Ok, this one is going to be a bit of a catch up post, much like last times.  I promise to start making more of an effort after this, please don't beat me up.

So, as I've probably mentioned in the last three consecutive posts, I've been seeing some films as part of the BFI London Film Festival.  If it's okay by you, I thought I'd just give them a bit of a shake-down and then be on my merry way.

Yes, this is last years poster, but it is sooooo much better than the concept this year.  Oh look, it's a magic red carpet all over London, except you'll only see it in real life for the big films at Leicester Square.  No red carpet for the Curzons or the Ritzy.  

Karen Cries on the Bus:  I saw this a year to the day that I saw my first film at the last London Film Festival.  I was a tad worried because last year, my opener wasn't very good and this film had hit most of the ticks to be a disaster.  No recognisable names involved, no buzz (good or bad), a tenuous link to an influential piece of literature.  I'm very pleased to report that this was a perfectly fine film; breezy and enjoyable.  The story revolves around the titular Karen who, after a lengthy marriage has robbed her of her youth, escapes her husband.  There's a passing reference to Ibsen's A Doll House, which leads us to believe that Karen is escaping an oppressive patriarchal homelife, but things are that clear cut.  That last statement isn't meant to suggest any form of intrigue, as plot wise, there's not a great deal going on.  Instead, I mean that Karen is no saint, though she can be caring and kindly.  Her ex-husband is definitely no monster, but is inattentive   This film does a great job of portraying people as people, it is well acted and the story quite engaging until the last 10 minutes.  I am very eager to see what the first time director Gabriel Rojas Vera does from here.  With the right material, he could emerge with a cross-over hit.

Last Screening: The first of the two French films that I viewed this year.  For some reason, I see a lot of French films as part of this festival.  I've totalled 4.5 (one was French Canadian) out of 10 over the two years.  This is probably ranking 3rd on that list, but there's still work to be done.  For a dark giallo-inspired work, there's a surprising amount of humour, but it seems lacking in most other regards.  The central performance is as sharp as a disaffected loner with few lines can be and there's certainly a fair few dark chuckles.  Recommended with a few drinks and friends who are well versed in horror.

The Future:  I think I've earned major "bro" points for life after getting tickets for this.  Like Last Screening, I went with my favourite font of film criticism, Jonny Hatfull.  He's a huge Miranda July fan.  Due to my lack of a BFI membership, we had to wait until the screening was open to regular people like us lot.  Thus, not many seats left.  In fact, our two seats were pretty much the last two together.  Now, you may think me odd, but I quite like sitting close to the screen.  I'm not adverse to sitting in the front row of a cinema, unless it's IMAX of course.  However, I know many people do have issues with such proximity, so I booked them expecting some sort of "oh, shame they're so close" comment.  Anyway, we found ourselves front row, direct centre at the West End Vue, Screen 5, mere feet away from Miranda July presenting a Q&A session on her wonderful new film The Future.  I haven't seen her previous effort Me and You and Everyone We Know, but I shall definitely be seeking it out now.

This film was such a pleasant surprise - gloriously shot, exquisite sound design and incredibly funny (if you like your humour extremely dead pan).  John Brior's score is suitably engaging and tinged with melancholy.  I must admit to finding this film strangely moving.  Despite the fact that I couldn't be further from the two main characters in motivations, goals and situations, it was incredibly relateable.  I'll probably dissect this one further later in the year, maybe around December time.  There may be lists involved.

The Screen Illusion:  I knew very little about this going in.  In fact, like a couple of these other films, my method of selection is adequately described by a conversation I overheard featuring a couple sat next to me:

'Why are we seeing this one again?'

'Because it was on at day and time we could go to.  Because it wasn't sold out.  Because it has Mathieu Amalric in it.'

Okay, now that last point is not true of any of the other films I saw.  In fact, it's not true of this one either.  He directed it as far as I can tell.  And it's very good in an Ethan Hawke Hamlet kind of way.  Although I didn't know it at the time, it is an update of L'Illusion Comique - a 17th Century play by Pierre Corneille.  Not being a French speaker, I did spend a while wondering why the subtitles were translated in such a flowery manner.  Soon I was noticing rhyming couplets fairly often and from then on it was easy to spot certain "this is an old play in modern times" conventions.  Still, a very entertaining way to spend a Sunday morning.  I must confess though, I did miss chunks of the film.  I've not been feeling too great and I've got a bit of a cough at the minute.  I was so conscious of bothering people, I was too busy biting down on my knuckles in an attempt to fight back the tickle in my throat.

Silver Bullets:  My first Joe Swanberg (hmm, maybe I could write children's books about directors that they really shouldn't be watching until early adulthood - my first Jodorowsky anyone?).  I really didn't think it would be as cohesive or as fun as that.  After a little video introduction (bless, he was so polite - I'm compelled to email him now), the film cracked on fairly sharply.  The plot involves an actress dating a small-time director of arty films.  She starts working on a more successful director's werewolf film.  Tensions rise.  Now, in another director's hands, I would have loved to see the romance of studio lots, location shooting, but in line with Joe Swanberg's aesthetics, everything is very lo-fi, including an entertaining sequence with Ti West (playing the horror director) and the story of his first movie and its props.  There are some very powerful moments in this, a couple of others are more confounding, but such is the nature of lower budget films.  They have to take more risks with cognitive narrative.

Footnotes:  Okay, I haven't seen this one yet.  I'll be watching it tomorrow night, but I really wanted to get this post out there.  I must admit to feeling a tad reflective and melancholic so I'm trying to be prolific.  Expect some pretentious short stories soon.

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Other Musings:

For those interested, my ranking of films I've seen at the BFI London Film Fest is as follows:
1) Heartbeats
2) The Future
3) Silver Bullets
4) Elisa K
5) The Screen Illusion
6) Karen Cries on the Bus
7) Love Like Poision
8) Last Screening
9) Special Treatment
And from this list you can deduce my ranking of French films.

Next week is looking incredibly hectic.  Thursday night, I'll be on a train heading back to the Wirral, then Friday lunch time, I'll be driving up with my Mum to Cumbria to visit my brother (he's on a medical placement there).  Sunday driving back down, Monday at home, Tuesday morning on a train back to London in time for work.  Then I'll have my Auntie, Uncle and lovely cousin Amelie (she's six years old and quite the madam) going on holiday in London and I'll go do some touristy things with them after work.  Definitely looking forward to it though!

The week after all the tourist stuff goes down, I'll be on a two day conference in a hotel in Kensington as part of my actuarial exams.  Expect me to be in the bar with a nice whisky at some point.

Other films I've caught up with recently: Midnight in Paris & Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.  The latter actual inspired me to buy a briefcase.  The former inspired me to call people old sport, hold certain truths in my writing, wish that I could be a surreal as Man Ray and generally sigh a lot.

With Halloween fast approaching and all this talk of River Phoenix's last film finally seeing the light of day, I feel compelled to post this song.  Ignore the bizarre fan nature of the video.

LOVEFiLM's Conspiracy to Make Me Like Baseball and Other Musings

Boy, exams are fun.

So, due to a nice coincidence, when I hadn't been studying over the last month, I've been watching sports movies.  Call it an unplanned sports marathon.  I have a similar story to Stephen Fry regarding sports.  I couldn't be far enough away from them as a teen, but as I've grown older (wiser?), I regret not taking an interest sooner.  To be fair to my younger self, I still maintain a lot of the blame has to go on the PE department at my high school.  On my first day there, all of the new kids had to jog around one of the school fields.  After fifteen minutes, the head of the department shouted out letters while we finished our laps.  I was assigned to Group D (the worst).  I was wearing glasses.  A friend of mine was assigned to Group A (the best).  He had asthma, but he was tall.

Since time has gone on, I've learnt to appreciate the fine art of ice hockey and motorsports, but I can watch most sports now with a semblance of knowledge.  However, there are two sports that baffle me; cricket and baseball.  They're pretty equivalent sports; balls get chucked, balls get hit, people in the stands get drunk and the whole thing lasts an eternity, but there's just something about them that has never inspired my imagination.  So, what does LOVEFiLM decide to do?  In a four film run of sports, it sends me two baseball films.  Ah well, at least I'll be clued up on it before I go see Moneyball (stupid November UK release date).

To be fair, the selection of the films was quite well balanced.  There was a mixture of fiction and documentary, comedy and drama.  In order; Bull Durham, Slap Shot, the King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters and Eight Men Out.  Like I said, quite a good selection.  KoK is highly touted, Bull Durham was held on a very tall pedestal by a screenwriting book I own, Eight Men Out would be my first John Sayles and Slap Shot is about ice hockey - the greatest sport devised by mortal personage.  For the sheer sanity of anyone reading this, I'll quite these reviews brief.

Bull Durham:  Damn, that's a good opening line, but I don't think this is a great baseball movie.  That's not to say I don't rate it, but I never see why their only drive is the game.  You could replace baseball with nearly an art, craft or frivolity and this film would work just as well (hmm, the Wedding Planner meets Bull Durham - I think I need to call Fox).  Tim Robbins is pitch perfect (boom boom), Costner is...well...Costner, but he works well here.

Slap Shot:  This is quite an odd beast.  I've only ever heard about this film second hand; in news articles from hockey writers referencing a joke here and there when discussing current events.  From this I was expecting some silly farce in the vein of Airplane.  Sure, there's definitely a lot of humour in this film, but I feel that it plays out like an elegy to the working class aesthetics of that period.  Sure Paul Newman is very funny, but his far from being a "cool" character in this.  In fact, his inability to correctly place the anger caused by the loss of his livelihood (be it from financial collapse of the club, the evolution of the game or his wife) makes him incredibly pathetic in his impotency.  There's definitely a lot to love in this film (the chance to see a pre-Twin Peaks Michael Ontkean makes it well worth the rent) and I'd recommend it in a heartbeat.

King of Kong:  This is definitely the urgent of the four.  In fact, as soon as I finished watching it, I slapped it straight back into the DVD player and watched it all again.  It plays out very similar to another documentary I saw this year, Senna.  If you're at all familar with some of the "controversy" surrounding Senna, you'll instantly recognise the same issues with KoK, which hits on an interesting point.  How truthful should a documentary be?  Should it forgo honesty for an immersive narrative?  Either way, it's an incredibly well constructed film and I look forward to seeing what director Seth Gordon can do when he's finished with his "commercial comedy" phase.

Eight Men Out:  I can't believe I'd ever watch a film that made me nostalgic for a by-gone age of a sport I don't even like.  Maybe I'm just a sucker for rose-tinted history, but I thought this was a wonderful film.  This nearly had me excited about the World Series, nearly.  But I tell you what, unlike Bull Durham, the threat of never playing baseball again is very much more real in this film.  There's one shot especially that brings the thrill of the sport to life (you'd recognise it if you saw it, tracking shot around the diamond).

Maybe cricket just needs a good movie.

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Sorry this post is a bit disjointed, I think I need to get back into the swing of things a bit here.  Hopefully should be on top of posting once a week, maybe twice if I become incensed about something.

The BFI London Film Festival is on at the minute.  I'm five films out of six down right now, last one is on Tuesday.  Expect the next post to feature this heavily.

I received my first celebrity twitter follower t'other day - Sam Neill.  Maybe this is because I sent a pro-Event Horizon to my favourite film podcast.  He's quite big into his wine, I hope he doesn't find out that I often (read always) pick wine out by how cool the label looks.

I finally read the Great Gatsby.  Jeez, those last three chapters are sheer perfection.  Almost makes me too depressed to put pen to paper.

Yay!  New Jersey aren't doing as bad as last year!  I still think the playoffs are out of the question this year, but hopefully we'll be a better state next year.  Larsson is looking like a thorough-bred right now.

Excitement is picking up on the current project with Jonathan Hatfull (http://jonathanwriting.blogspot.com/).  Nothing of great interest to report yet, but it's all coming together rather nicely.

Evangelion 2.0, BFI LFF, Training Camp, Qualms with Revision and Other Musing

Another weekend spent studying.  Huzzah.  Don't worry, I shall spare you the exciting features of Moment Generating Functions of Probability Density Functions and talk about some of the other stuff I've been up to.

Let's start at a couple of hours ago.  After demolishing a solid 7 chapters of CT3 (and lightly tapping another 3), I decided to watch LOVEFiLM's latest offering, Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance.  I don't think I've documented this on the blog so far, but growing up the Neon Genesis Evangelion Saga was of huge importance to me.  Let me paint the scene, I was in Lower Sixth (so 16-17 years of age).  Hmm, how to put this kindly, I was an odd child.  So during primary school, I was a proper geek, hand up at every question, very eager and very much trying to be a teacher's pet.  Far from popular.  This changed when I got to high school.  I was still put in the "unpopular, smart kid" box in the first year, but then after that I started hanging round with some of the cooler, misfit kids.  Don't worry, my grades didn't dip, but I became more anonymous.  I disliked partaking in class, but I could fit in after-school study and some new found social status (including band practice!).  Fast forward a few years, I didn't need to worry about band practice and social life much any more, because my social circle pushed me out.  The band I was in kicked me and my brother out (without telling us).  The rest of our friends decided that hanging out with the rest of the band and me at the same time was not possible and thus I became persona non grata.  Also, my first girlfriend decided that this would be a good time to break up with me.  Context over, this was when I discovered Neon Genesis Evangelion.  This is the perfect time to discover Neon Genesis Evangelion, especially if you're studying English Literature and trying to force Freudian interpretations on every Tennyson poem you read, in a rather ham-fisted manner.

Assuming you know nothing about this TV show and its epic motion picture conclusion, let's get you up to speed.  Neon Genesis Evangelion was a Japanese anime TV show during the mid-nineties.  The plot breaks down as follows; it is the future!  Shinji Ikari is 14.  He arrives in Tokyo-3 having been called for by his estranged father Gendo Ikari (who rocks the Abe Lincoln beard).  Gendo is in charge of a Government organisation called Nerv who, get ready for it now, develop, prep and utilise giant mecha (called Evas) robots as Earth's last defence against a force of 'are they, aren't they aliens?' called Angels.  As well as having to deal with this threat, Shinji has to deal with this heavy burden that he has had reluctantly force upon him, which includes finding his place among the other 14 year old pilots and learning how to accept or reject the world around him. As far as I can tell, it had an instant audience due to its throwback, retro nature (giant robots fighting monsters was big in Japan in the eighties I'm told).  , but much akin to Watchmen in the comic book world, although there was a strongly featured central plot (monsters trying to destroy the world!), it really stood out by showing the internal struggles of the central characters and more over, how utterly fucked up they are.  Believe me, I mean it when I say fucked up.

You'd be fucked up too if you had to see this sort of stuff as part of your 9-5 job.

Anyway, it wasn't all blood and guts and phallic symbols, the show also did a great job of depicting the "teenage experience".  Unlike many shows set in high school, Neon Genesis accurate showed what it was like to be at that age and being unable to relate to the people around you, hell, being completely uninterested in relating to the people around you,.  Don't worry, there were still laughs and frolics on the way.  It was a good tale of growing up.  In many ways, what I feel toward this show is what I imagine a lot of people feel towards the Harry Potter series of films.  Beyond this, due to all the psychology/philosophical techno-babble was also a gateway for me in a great deal of other art (Nietzsche, Camus, etc), so it was quite the big deal for me at that age.   

A couple of years ago, Hideaki Anno decided to revisit his magnum opus and, something that George Lucas would appreciate, touch up his beloved series with the intention of making a few tweaks along the way.  The first film in this proposed teratology, Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone, was fairly tame.  Beyond a few visual tweaks, the plot stayed close to the original 6 episodes.  I enjoyed revisiting these characters that were integral to my teenage years, but despite the joy of seeing some of my favourite moments relived on a gloriously crisp Blu-Ray image, I had great reservations about this moving forward.  As you would imagine, a lot was cut out from the series, and what remained was still jam packed into the 98 minute running time.  What had been a show that interspersed brutal action with, sometimes, whole episodes of atmosphere and wandering around the wonderfully realised Tokyo-3 backdrop, had changed into a frantically edited, action fest.  In addition, some of the changes made resulted in very subtle changes that (in a similar manner to Zac Synder's Watchmen) betrayed the motivation of the characters.  Just to present an example of this; in the show, there is a scene between Shinji and a school bully.  The bully hits him because, during one of Shinji's battles with an Angel, his sister is injured.  However, his sister tells him off as, despite her injuries, without Shinji's intervention, she would have been killed.  The bully demands that Shinji punches him to even the score, but Shinji can't, highlighting both how passive and impotent he is a central protagonist, especially compared to the usual leads in mecha shows.  In the film, he has no such qualms.  He doesn't even pause to consider it.  I have no problems with a reimagining, but I was concerned that such subtle changes would falsify the ending if the remaining plot stayed true to the series.  Oh well, no worries of that.

Evangelion 2.0 takes a very sharp turn into left field from the opening shot.  New character, new Eva, new battle.  In fact, there's very little recognisable from the series in this film beyond the characters and part of the soundtrack.  Unfortunately, much like the first film, there is an awful lot stuffed into the running time that hinders the quality of the movie.  There a very nice segments, but currently the plot isn't tying up.  It's not just that character's motivations have changed from the series, but more that their motivations don't make sense.  I was disappointed, especially with the amount of techno babble during the climax and generally with the dialogue.  There are so many lines that are just too obvious with their intentions.  Also, there are a couple of filmic tricks aped from the original concluding film, but it seemed to rely on emotional attachment stemming from familiarity with this and therefore had not earned the emotional payoff it was seeking.  There is also the matter of "fan-service".  The original series featured plenty of nudity, however, none of it was erotic in the slightest, due to intense psychological trauma each of the characters were face.  In contrast, this film features an absolute tonne of almost glamour model poses from its female leads.  In the years since the original series, the merchandise of Evangelion has definitely focused on the stereotypical pervy Japanese figurine sector, however, these sorts of shots have no place in this film and to me highlight how far the people involved have grown away from the source material.  I'm still eagerly anticipating the next instalment, especially considering how brave the film-makers were in their deviation from the series, but I'd probably give it a 2/5.  

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Other Musings:

Interesting side note, my trip to Japan was rather Evangelion orientated.  It is still insanely popular over there.  I managed to pick up a mug and chopstick as souvenirs, plus I won an exclusive "not for sale" pocket watch in a Sega arcade machine.

The BFI London Film Festival has annouced its line up!  So many films!  So little time!  While I would love to see Shame and 50/50, I have to come to terms with the fact that they will probably sell out before I can buy tickets.  No loss, they'll both have theatrical releases sooner rather than later.  I'm definitely going to try and check out a couple of the smaller films.  I saw a couple of gems (Heartbeats, Elisa K) and a couple of stinkers (Love Like Poison, Special Treatment), so I have high and low hopes for this year.

I was feeling a bit meh earlier, thus while I was studying I defaulted to my iPod playlist of my favourite depressing songs.  I got bored of studying, so I decided to work out instead.  I didn't change the soundtrack.  Pull ups to Nick Cave's 'Where Do We Go Now (But Nowhere)?' is quite surreal.

I am not that familiar with Steven Soderbergh, however, LOVEFiLM has recently sent me the Girlfriend Experience and the Informant! in a row.  My interest is piqued.  Both have been much better than Traffic.

Here's a link to my old band's myspace page.  I'm pretty sure the recordings were made post my leaving, but I definitely played a couple of these songs live countless times.  http://www.myspace.com/zephoria

I miss the days when Green Day sounded like Elvis Costello instead of Elton John.

Training camps for the NHL have started today!  My first chance to read tweets and see photos of Adam Larsson playing hockey with the big kids!  Whatever happens, I'm hoping it can't be as bad as the start of last season for my beloved Devils.  In other league news, I am loving seeing Jagr in orange.

Laura found a flat!  She should be moving to London in mid-October, which is around when my exams finish!  Perfect timing!

The Return, Japan, DIY and Other Musings!

Howdy there!  Fancy seeing you here after all this time!  I can only apologise profusely for the complete lack of any contact for over a month, but there are good and valid reasons!  Reason one!  As documented here, I went to Japan for two weeks.  Reason two!  After returning from Japan, I had one week to pack and sort my stuff in order to move house.  Reason three!  The new house only started broadcasting internet yesterday.  Forgive me?  Come on, you know you can't stay mad at me.  I bought you a gift.  See, now you definitely can't be mad.

Despite there being such a huge gap between posts, not too much of interest or analysis has happened lately.  Japan, as you could imagine, was absolutely awesome.  If you are friends with me on the Facebook, you'll have no doubt seen my completely unedited super rush of photos.  If not, there are far too many highlights for me to dump on here.  I'll try setting up a tumblr or something (or alternatively, just add me on fb? http://www.facebook.com/bensheppard88 - or is that too forward?).

It wasn't all wine and roses, beer and pizzas however.  One problem with the Japan trip was that, despite it being a two week holiday, I came back completely exhausted.  I think I'm too old now to travel to several cities in two weeks and spend most days walking for 12 hours.  As a motley crew, we visited Tokyo, Nara, Shikoku, Naoshima, Hiroshima and Kyoto.  I bought a Hiroshima Carps cap, because, you know, baseball's where it's at right now (see other musings).

Hiroshima, as you'd expect, was a complete highlight.  An incredibly depressing highlight, but definitely a very worthwhile one.  I really should document the experiences I had there, but currently, I'm quite sleepy, so that can wait for another day.  Another day, where I am less busy.

Why am I so busy?  Because we're in full on exam season.  Hooray, hooray.  My actuarial exams start in 17 days.  That's incredibly depressing.  Time for one to pull one's socks up and all that.  I have CT1 on 27th September and CT3 on 7th October.  Fortunately, the NHL season starts in the evening of the 7th, so that's a nice reward for myself.

And with that I bid you adieu.  Just a brief message to tell you I'm alive, and then I leave you.  I leave you like all the warmth and comfort of a bath that you've just weed in.

What gift?

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Other Musings:

The new house is rather pleasant, if a tad out of the way.  Quite expensive too.  And unfurnished.  Unfurnished isn't a bad thing though.  It allows me to utilise my sick DIY skills.  Look at what I created!

Oh, how my Grandad would be proud.

I've seen a few films lately (what a surprise!).  The only one I can remember though was Kill List.  Really clever and original use of editing.  The acting was also superb.  Shame about the plot.

After my exams have finished, I'm focusing on a film project, with my good friend Jonathan Hatfull (him of http://jonathanwriting.blogspot.com/ and http://fohnhouse.blogspot.com/ fame).  I'm not willing to pass on details yet, but expect something fantastic and cheap.

Keeping on films though, I've become part way obsessed with Moneyball and its trailer.  I want to see this movie so much, that I'm even downloading retro Baseball Manager games.  I don't even think I'll be able to get them to work.

From one sport to another; like many ice hockey fans, I've been bummed out recently.  The passing of three enforcers over the offseason has been upsetting to see, but nothing has roused my anger and sadness quite like the Yaroslavl plane crash.  I'd like to save my spite and vitriol until further details have come to light, but I am less than impressed with Russian aviation right now.

The Suburbs, Jenny Owen Youngs, Holding My Tongue, Potential Marathons and Other Musings.

My, it's been a long time, hasn't it?  Let's blow off the cobwebs and try and maintain some sense of regular updating before my Oriental excursions!  How's going out there?  Good?  Good.  Here are some photos!

This is Nate P. Barker.  It were his houseparty I went to t'other weekend.  This is him obviously practising his tabloid pose - give it time and he'll be on them!

Look!  It's me!  The author!  

This is Nate P. Barker at his houseparty!  I took my camera, but didn't want to be that dick with the camera at a party.  So it was promptly put away.

On the right is a French man named Pierrrrrre.  

Finally, this is Jonny Hatfull, King of the Spag Bol, Earl of Spooky Stories, Duchy of Cowering behind a Kronenbourg.  

Good God, today has been stressful!  We're (me and my housemates minus Rob plus Laura II) in the process of looking for somewhere to move in September, which is very stressful at the best of times.  On top of that, I'm working a lot, not only studying but also fiddling around with Access at work.  I am a novice at Access.  I hate that program.  Grrr.  Other stressful things that have happened.  So I had cake and red wine for tea instead...because I rock.  So, anyway, point is that I need to de-stress.  Thank goodness that I have a nice bottle of red wine, a DVD of Howl (fresh from LOVEFiLM) and Jenny Owen Youngs' record Transmitter Failure on my speakers.  That is such an incredible record.  I used to be able to write record reviews, now I just fawn over the ones I like.  I definitely really like this record.

A record that I don't like as much is The Suburbs by the Arcade Fire.  I have an odd history with the Arcade Fire (well, not that odd, just up and down).  Like most people, I discovered them around the time Funeral came out.  I heard them on Later......With Jools Holland, they played Neighbourhood #3.  I was completely hooked.  One of my best gigging experiences was going to see them on that tour.  Owen Pallett sold me a t-shirt!  Then Neon Bible came out.  Shitttttttt, that is a dull record.  One of my housemates tells me that the record really comes alive on headphones.  Lots of random noises.  That doesn't stop the songs from being incredibly boring however.  I started listening to the Suburbs at work (via Grooveshark.com - try it, it's incredible!), both halves were better than Neon Bible, but one half was fantastic.  It didn't sound like the Arcade Fire, it sounded like Wolf Parade.  It then got me thinking about writing an article about inspiration and where that ends and ripping off begins, especially given the context of the success that the Arcade Fire have enjoyed.  Then I found out that the half I liked wasn't the Arcade Fire at all, but some band called Wildfire.  They were much better.  Here is a song:

Now to work out how to hear more of them.

As we've already touched upon several times, I like my films.  So, I've drawn up several potential marathons (so far, mostly genre stuff), but I've got a starter introduction type one designed to show her some great (not necessarily classic or favourite) films that encourage discussion and what to lead on to.  In order:
Pulp Fiction
Star Wars: A New Hope
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
The Prestige
The Exorcist
Casablanca
Thoughts?

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Other Musings

Films watched recently - Wild Strawberries, The Haunting (original).  I think that's about it.  Been slacking some what lately.

Devils have a new coach.  What an intriguing decision!

I finally bought Portal 2 - my excuse was that it was less than half price (pre-owned £24).  Stephen Merchant doesn't annoy me as much as I thought he would.