Random news

I write this a pretty long way away from home. I'm staying at a friend's. They've left their copy of Kill Bill on the mantlepiece, so it's the first thing I see when I walk through the door or come downstairs, which is pretty cruel considering I'm really really missing my boxed set. Hey, I get sensitive over my dvd collection. On the other hand, they also have L.A. Confidential the novel, which I am ploughing through pretty successfully. I had problems with the last Ellroy I tackled - luckily, he's using paragraphs in this one, and as I already know vaguely who everybody is and more or less what's going on, it makes better sense. I am enjoying it, but it's not really my sort of thing - the hard style means if you skim read even a little, you lose the whole plot within a paragraph or two.

So how's things been? Pretty good. The car has a built in tv, which we used while waiting for the ferry - we caught Murder with Mirrors, a Miss Marple flick that would have been entirely irredeemably bad if not for Tim Roth turning up a few minutes in as Edgar, who had "murderer" written all over him. He had last billing in the opening credits as well, which is always indicative of having a special role. I want to see the rest purely to check my suspicions.

Two nights ago we went to the cinema to see The History Boys.

Well, no. We passed the NFT, and noticed that the bfi festival was on. GREAT! Unfortunately, we couldn't find anything to watch. We missed Dr Strangelove by half an hour, and Stranger than Fiction, and Nightmare before Christmas and all the workshops with cool Hollywood people. So we were going to see Invisible Waves - described as: "A sous-chef in Macau is ordered to kill his boss's wife. But things soon go awry in this absurdist anti-thriller with grunge-noir settings and lots of black humour." Unfortunately, my companion balked at the picture when we looked up the cinema - she doesn't like vicious films, more's the pity. Not that I mind about missing Invisible Waves, mind you. I mean pity as per rant-at-the-bottom-here. It's a lonely, lonely life loving something you know your friends couldn't entirely appreciate.

So we searched the other cinemas - even more disappointingly, we'd missed a Brazil/Tideland marathon by a day, which hurt. So eventually we settled for the History Boys, which was just great, though all the more alarming because it had been recommended to me by my English teacher...the script was very good (of course, as it had been based on a play), with some nice performances - especially the chap who played Irwin and the boys themselves, who interact exactly like schoolboys actually do. Aside from the bit where one admits to having a crush on another boy basically to the rest of the class. That seemed somewhat unlikely. They also work an awful lot harder than I ever have, which seems somewhat alarming. The soundtrack was nice though - I wanted to cheer when Blue Monday kicked in. The chap at the door warned us it was only a small screen, but compared to our local cinema it was total luxury. I also enjoyed the pre-film advert starring Gary Oldman, who in traditional chameleonic style, looked absolutely nothing like himself.

I've also finally seen Un Chien Andalou - it was playing in the surrealist section of the Tate modern. Weird, and also uncomfortable seeing that children and people of a sensitive disposition were allowed to wander arbitarily in and out without so much as a haven't-you-heard-about-the-eyeball? There was a slight gasp of horror from the audience and many ushered themselves out after that. I somehow feel perhaps I should have warned them, but oh well.

Last night we watched Rock and Roll at the theatre, notable in a movie-sense for involving Rufus Sewell who was very good. The major major difference between on stage and on screen is that in the theatre, you have to keep reacting, can't stop acting when the camera cuts away. It's the final test of talent. Stars rise up through the theatre desperate to get into film; once they've made a name for themselves, they always return to prove they can really carry a performance. And he was very good. We went backstage beforehand (no, we didn't see any stars but we did get to explore the set behind the curtain and look at the props) and then went up into the royal box. The box has an adjoining area with a private loo, seating area, tv, cd, coffee machine and wine which actually gets filled up at the interval. As if two minors could consume that much on their own. *cough cough* Unfortunately, the author of the play decided to turn up at last minute with some 15 of his friends so we had to take a different box with a better view. We still got to hang around the royal bog during the interval though, which eliminated queueing entirely.

The play itself was incredible - I did quite a lot of mini-crying. Tom Stoppard, it turns out, is a massive Pink Floyd fan. The R+G soundtrack features a titchy bit of Echoes, and the theme tune is Seamus from Meddle. If that's not clues enough, then this play is a three hour requiem for the tragically departed Syd Barrett. That's who the tears were for really. Only a proper Floyd fan would write such a wonderful wonderful speech about (for) him, and then know to follow it up with a rendition of Wish You Were Here. The various scenes are broken up with musical interludes - many of them Floyd. I tell you, that is exactly the volume those tracks are meant to be played at. Welcome To The Machine has never sounded so good.

It finished at midnight, and so this morning I'm very very exausted. We perused the dvd collection, because we couldn't face anything energetic. Passed over Get Carter, Blood Simple, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the Godfather, the Big Lebowski, both Kill Bills - Christ, it reads like a list of my top-twenty-want-to-sees - on the ground that my friend, as already stated, does not like bloody movies.

The things I do, eh?

With my unfailing sense for what other people might enjoy, I found Amelie instead, and it was a wonderful way to pass a morning. I'm currently suffering from warm fuzzy feelings of goodwill and harmony - it's pure unadulterated loveliness, although it felt kinda long.

Anyway, that's all the filmy news. Of course, I have done other things other than think about film and miss my dvds.

OK, not many....


(PS - insisted I would not ring my family until I'd checked the tv times; after that, insisted I would not be returning home unless they recorded From Dusk til Dawn for me...)