12 posts tagged “movies”

Children of Men [2007]

So I watched this quite superb film last night. Children Of Men came out last year and is directed by Alfonso Cuaron, one of the latest crop of superb Mexican film directors, who also include Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro Inarritu.

In case you're interested, he also directed Y Tu Mama Tambien and Harry Potter and The Prisoner Of Azkhaban.

Anyway, Children Of Men is a dystopian vision of the future, set in an apocalyptic London 2027. Because of the "development" of society, all women have been infertile since 2009, and humanity has less than 100 years to extinction. Add to that a society in rebellion, with countless illegal immigrants seeking sanctuary in the last remaining country with a government and you have a pretty bleak view of the world.

The film stars Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine, in one of his best roles for many a moon. Owen, as Theo Faron, must find sanctuary for Kee, an African refugee who, miracle of miracles, just happens to be pregnant.

All this sounds unremittingly gloomy and a recipe for a not very fun night in, but the cinematography, strength of the acting, screenplay and direction make it a truly compelling movie. Helpfully it clocks in a little over 90 minutes, which is never a bad thing and, although it is violent, loud and full of swearing, the movie is always intensely believable and a delight to watch.

Sure, you should watch Dirty Dancing or Bridget Jones' Diary, if you want something fun and lively, but Children Of Men is a movie that deserves a viewing. It'll stay with you for a while.

Potc3_ms_001-310x310

I haven't seen the new movie and, to be honest, I have no real lust to go and do so.

My view, quite simply, is how can a five-minute theme-park ride have been stretched out to span three movies?

However, I'm not the person who hates this movie franchise the most. That would have to be Mark Kermode, the inestimable film critic, who does a weekly slot and podcast for Simon Mayo's BBC Radio Five Live show.

Last week he delivered his verdict on the new Johnny Depp vehicle and I have to say it was one of the funniest things I've heard in ages.

Don't believe me? Listen to the evidence for yourself. He really gets into his stride at about 10 minutes in, I think.

Want to subscribe to the podcast (and I guarantee you won't be disappointed)?

This was the conversation that made me realise that I am officially no longer part of today's youth:

Me: "Do you want to watch or record Big Brother?"
C: "Nah, not bothered either way"
Me: "Me neither... that means I can record that programme on BBC4 instead"

BBC4? The art-y channel? What is my world coming to?

I used to consider myself well-versed in anything that was popular culture. Ten, even five years ago, if you'd ask me what was hot in music, film or TV, I'd have been able to reel off a list of artists, directors or programmes as long as your arm, half of which you might not even have heard of. OK, I admit I've never been one to go clubbing every weekend, but I used to enjoy going to the cinema two, maybe three times a week. I could spend all day in front of umpteen TV shows and could spot a rising star at fifteen paces.

Lately, though, I've started to tire of being at the "cutting edge" of everything. My daughters are infinitely more important to me and, although I still watch TV, I use the wonders of SkyPlus to programme my viewing, so I basically watch a couple of hours of what I want to watch and not what schedulers dictate to me.

I listen to the music I want to listen to and haven't been to the cinema since November and that was with my eldest daughter to see The Wild as part of Saturday morning Kid's club at Brixton Ritzy. As for a gig? I saw PJ Harvey about two years ago - wow!

The proliferation of TV channels, countless film and music releases every week mean that it's no longer possible to be omniscient. I'm not going to stop being interested and will still amass a mountain of useless information, but, as a general rule, I concede defeat. I am no longer part of zeitgeist, merely a zeitguest.

It should be a sad day, but strangely, I feel as if a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

I'm a bit of an entertainment junkie - I love music (in almost all forms), TV in all its shapes and forms, cinema and books (of most genres).

I do my best to see try and experience as much as I can, but, with the best will in the world it's impossible to keep up with everything.

So inevitably even though I cherry pick, I miss some stuff. Most of the time, I think "ah, whatever," but sometimes I kick myself and know that the moment is gone and I'll never get round to catching up. Here are some examples:

- The Sopranos: I'm well aware that it's possibly the greatest TV show ever, but somehow I managed to miss the first couple of series and it was too later. Bada-bing!

- Bob Dylan: sure I know Subterranean... and Blowing In The Wind, but I never knew anyone who was into him enough to make me want to check him out further. I know I can listen to stuff whenever I want, but somehow it doesn't seem worth it.

- 24: Schmack Jack - just missed the first series and didn't care enough to get the box-set.

- Charles Dickens: I've acted in A Tale Of Two Cities, but just can't get through the oceans of minute description in his novels. I know that's what makes them great, but so be it

- Dirty Dancing: one for the girls and I've manged to get to the age of 35 without seeing it. Praise Be. I know most men think it's a shocking film, but most women love it, which makes me even happier not to have seen it.

Show us something plaid.

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid [1982]

I haven't seen this for years, but it really made me laugh. For those of you who haven't seen it, it's a true Steve Martin classic. Basically it's a B&W film noir detective comedy, with really famous movie scenes spliced in, as if they were part of the action.

This was the inspiration for the award-winning Holsten Pils ads starring Griff Rhys-Jones in the 80s. Great stuff

Video: What is your favorite children's movie?
Submitted by I-Luv-Eeyore.

The Princess Bride [1987] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Any other answer is "inconceivable"!

How do you decide which films to see? Do you go by the trailer? The director? The genre? The review?

I would surmise that a lot of people go by who's starring in the film, which is a tough thing to do. I mean, think about it - how many actors/actresses can you name, who have never been in a bad film? Even the most respected stars have got some real stinkers on their CV.

- Russell Crowe: For every Gladiator and LA Confidential, he does A Good Year or Virtuosity
- Denzel Washington: Oscar-winning performances in Glory and Training Day can't help erase the dire Preacher's Wife
- Helen Mirren: have you seen Caligula (although it wasn't all her fault)?
- Nicole Kidman: The Interpreter, Practical Magic
- Meryl Streep: Oscars, sure, but you won't be rushing to rent She Devil or Music Of The Heart is a thoroughly mawkish movie (Wes Craven's one attempt at non-horror!)

I've come up with a couple of people, though, who I think are pretty much infallible. If you see their name attached to a movie, it's a 99% certainty that it will be worth watching.
- Jeff Bridges: I've had a look through his list of credits and there's nothing there that I wouldn't watch, because he's so engaging
- Cate Blanchett: possibly one of the finest and most underrated actresses working today

Am sure there are more, and please let me know if you can think of anyone. Just nobody dare mention Tom "The Man With One Red Shoe" Hanks

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan [2006]

I finally watched Borat last night on DVD. OK, I'm way behind the curve here, but cut me some slack, because I have a young child.

I can understand why huge swathes of the population of both the UK and the US found it extremely funny, but it moved me not one jot. I chuckled once near the start when he released the chicken in the subway, but that aside, it made me wince.

This was a 90-odd-minute long movie with one joke - making people look stupid when confronted with someone who, apparently, has very different customs to their own.

Yes, I know he made people look stupid by getting them to say things that sounded racist, homophobic, un-PC, etc, but sometimes people say those things, because they think the person they're talking to wants to hear it.

People criticise Mr Bean for his inane, pathetic comedy, but on some levels, Borat is actually no different: It's reinforcing lazy stereotypes.

I know that Sacha Baron Cohen probably has some sort of political and satirical motivation in mind, especially given that he is Jewish himself, but it doesn't come across.

The only thing I could find to enjoy - the fact that he used proper Russian on all the newspaper headlines and dor many subtitles, although he was clearly not speaking in any form of Cyrillic language.

Hrumph, I'm off to watch South Park!

If I told most people what I'd been up to today, they'd think I had one of the coolest jobs in the world.

This afternoon/evening, I spent the best part of 5 hours in Leicester Square at the Spider-Man 3 premiere, interviewing the general madness of fans who had been queueing up for hours, plus the stars of the movie themselves, along with assorted other celebrities.

And yeah, I guess having a brief chat on camera (although thankfully you can only hear my croaky voice, rather than seeing me) with people such as Tobey Maguire, James Franco, Sam Raimi and Topher Grace is pretty cool, but god it's knackering.

Also, you end up effectively asking the same questions over and over again, because you're trying to get similar conversation strands, when it gets edited.

To be honest, the movie's stars are often the most boring - you can have far more fun with the other people there. Noel Fielding of Mighty Boosh fame was entertaining, while Alan Carr from The Friday Night Project had me in stitches, which I don't think is particularly professional, but I couldn't help it.

I'm not knocking what I get paid to do - hey I could be cleaning loos for a living, but sometimes, I can think of better ways of spending an evening (like with my daughter and girlfriend).

And speaking of my daughter, she has had a quite momentous day today. Firstly, she finally cut a new tooth. First top one and first for months. She's been unhappy for a few days, so hopefully this might make her feel a little better.

Secondly, we heard a new word from her - cheese! Brilliant. Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin's daughter Apple says "houmous", ours says "cheese". I know which one I'd go with!