Opening on a ponder: were weekends designed to race by? I'm going to list what I achieved this weekend and you can tell me if it sounds like I've lost some time somewhere. Saturday and Sunday combine for 48 hours, Friday night adds 7 on top of that - should I have got more done in 55 hours?
Friday night was a bit of a write off. Myself, my housemates, Jonny Hatfull (ex-Birmingham based writer), Fletch (friend of Jonny's) and Nick (the Shadow, Le Shad - a colleague) may have visited the Maple Leaf. This may have involved a fair few Sleemans. This may have contributed to a large bill. This may also be the cause of my distinct lack of memory of Friday night and my severe headache the next morning. Unfortunately, this headache prevented me from getting my haircut. I finally awoke around 9:30, got ready and headed out to Soho to meet Mr Hatfull. From there we watched the new Greg Araki film Kaboom, visited his brother's art show and then headed back to mine (with Fletch now in tow) for NHL 2010, bacon sandwiches and a bit of telly watching. Woke up at 8:30 Sunday morning, studied until 11am (so much study in fact that I let a whole pot of coffee get cold - lame!), then it was getting ready and out again for another cinema trip (Bridesmaids this time). Home again for an hour of revision, then BBQ! Frisbee! The celebrity game! Does that sound like 55 hours worth of activity or have I been short changed somewhere?
So, let’s get down to brass tacks, two cinema trips this weekend – one a lot more hungover than the other, but both very positive experiences. Just for reference, although I know about Greg Araki’s career, I have only seen Mysterious Skin previously. Still, no prior information would have been needed – Kaboom is the most fun I’ve had in a cinema all year. If you’ve heard the critical hyperbole (“David Lynch meets 90210” rings a bell), there’s definitely some truth in this, especially Wild at Heart-era Lynch. However, unlike a Lynch film, most of which I could type about for hours, this is completely vacuous – not that this is a problem! The fun here is completely in subversion, cinema techniques and a gleefully dark and absurdist sense of humour. [Future blog post idea: a person I used to know was of the opinion that there should never be nudity in films, that it was always unnecessary. Debating that could be fun – I probably should stress here that Kaboom is incredibly rife with nudity].
Just to emphasis, I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard, frequently or as joyously in a film for a long time, and Kaboom is far from being a conventional comedy – which brings us to Bridesmaids. My name is Ben Sheppard and I don’t like Judd Apatow films. Ooh, that felt good. Ok, that might not be strictly true – there are three films with Judd Apatow’s name attached that I can say that I love – Walk Hard, Pineapple Express and now Bridesmaids (strangely too, I have a soft spot for Drillbit Taylor). On the whole though, I find his films irritating, juvenile (not that this is a problem when done well) and scarily conservative in their message (some time to the point of offense). The key problem, however, is similar to my issues with Family Guy. Films under the Apatow banner mug for laughs far too much. Please stop trying to draw all the attention to something you find funny! If it’s funny, I’ll notice it and I’ll laugh. I do not need signposts with flashing lights reading “Joke here! Laugh at Seth Rogen’s silly voice”. I am very very very very happy to say that Bridesmaids doesn’t fall into the usual trappings.
The main reason Bridesmaids succeeds is Kirsten Wiig – in both performance and writing. Although Wiig’s Annie is in a bit of a mess as a person, the joke never feels like it is at her expense, and it is in fact our sympathy of her character that really makes this film resonate. The rest of the supporting cast are solid – Chris O’Dowd particularly impressing me (I would say the same about Jon Hamm, had I not gone in expecting him to be that good). The vulgarity is left pretty much to one scene that does feel a tad tacked on and generally out of place with the tone of the rest of the feature. On the whole, entertaining and recommend worthy. It’s not all roses however, Matt Lucas and Rebel Wilson are particularly unimpressive. Again, it’s a complete question of tone – all their jokes are far too on the nose in a very annoying manner (Matt Lucas: “Maybe you should have a sign on your door saying ‘please don’t come in here, read my diary and try on my clothes’).
So after all, you’d have thought I’d be all out of opinions for this post - not so! I have opinions about something other than films as well! I have opinions about art! Modern art! New modern art by up-and-coming artists! I’ve dug out my camera so I’ll take some pictures of the program later and maybe add some pics to the “Other Musings” section. Some stunning stuff there (Nicholas Hatfull – Jonny’s brother sold some of his art! For much of the money! It was worth any penny!) There were a couple of very awesome visual displays. One room was complete with retro 50s US surf music and grainy super 8 footage. No need to say, that was completely my favourite.
The weather here in London is ridiculous. Too hot! Too hotttttttt! Which leads me nicely to a nice catchy song on a sunny day (http://tinyurl.com/2hbwmp). Twee twee. Thundery showers forecast for tonight, thank god! Couldn’t take another sleepless night, plus I’ve been going through shirts like I don’t know what. Last night wasn’t too terrible, so the house paid host to a BBQ. Nom nom, white spirit fuelled charcoal crisp meat.
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Other Musings
NHL Draft. Larsson!!!!! Larrrrrrsssssssssssson! Now, if only we could re-sign Parise, trade Rolston and invent a time machine to bring Brodeur from 2002 to now.
Shadow of a Doubt was incredible, ending a bit iffy. Do love myself a bit of Joseph Cotton. Teresa Wright was rather delightful as well. Next up? Probably Torn Curtain.
Jogging around the park is postponed until this ridiculous heat is over.
We’re having an audition on Wednesday for a new housemate; this one might be one of those lady things I keep hearing about.
Pictures in the next post okay? I can’t be bothered moving from the sofa right now.
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