In Rome last year, I remember seeing a large advertisement for the film adaptation of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code hanging on the netted cover of an in-renovation church. There had obviously been a hoo-har with the boys in da Vatican as the whole see through netted poster was reversed, a bit like a cross being hung upside down I thought. Anyway, Da Vinci and the last supper are Milan related.
The film got some mixed reviews in the Summer of 2006. I can empathise with the critics. It's not that is it such a bad film, but just so formulaic to be boring. And my goodness it is dark. I think I only saw about 30 minutes of the film, the rest of the time I just saw some facially related artifacts on my LCD screen. Maybe in the cinema things would have been different.
The darkness affects the whole film, and not in a good way. There probably is some acting going on somewhere but I just couldn't detect it.
Tom Hanks looks puffy and barely wears any expression. Audrey Tautou's face is likewise immobile, in addition to the low light, her hair half covers her face. And she looks nothing like Amelie Poulin in this film, which must have been a big disappointment to many viewers of the film worldwide.
One big problem I have with this story is the naming of the characters, it just sticks out so badly as being false. Robert Langdon, that's Lang-Don. It seems to want to mean something, maybe an echo of Langley to tell us he is good at solving mysteries. Sophie Niveau - Sophie was a dead giveaway before one of the shock revelations, Niveau tells us she is on a higher plane. Daftest of them all is the Sir Ian McKellen character, Sir Edmund Teabag or something... silly.
Oh dear, Juergen Prochnow again playing the devious German (well Swiss German probably.) I was just waiting for him to enjoy some more thumb-cutting.
The film chronicles 24 hours in the life of these characters. Where were the toilet breaks? How can you develop character depth like that, just a brief meeting of strangers. And how did they get into england without customs and immigration? Answer, they just drove past the armed police with the 'fugitives' hidden under a blanket on the back seat - please give me Nancy Drew.
What with all the switches in characters from one side to the other, the impenetrable stuff about Rosicrucians, Sion, whatever. I could not follow this film, I just peered into mostly darkness for 2 and a half hours.
Tuesday, 17 April 2007
Thursday, 12 April 2007
Friday, 6 January 2006
Women in Love
It was a review of this film in the excellent DVD Times that fired me to read the book and hence discover the other works of D. H. Lawrence. And also to buy this DVD. I would recommend reading this review, it is hard to think of writing a better one.
As the author of the article says, the ideas from the book came tearing off the page and ripped into my soul and cosy notions of sex and love. I cannot imagine how this book must have read in the late 1910s – even today the ideas seem shocking and revolutionary against our current solomnent consumerist malaise. I was reminded of the fierce passions of youth, the search for absolute truth and freedom in love. Sex seems to get disconnected from love in our modern society. Really, sex is used for advertising, as a measure of one’s integrity, as a leisure activity. People search for love but have sex whilst waiting for love to come along. And when love does come along, what does the sex become, what remains of sex? Sometimes the absolution of giving yourself to someone, mind and body, is lost I think. This function is not there anymore, the sex has been used up in other energies. A voice from the early 20th Century reminds me of this fact - the idea to love passionately and in doing so remove oneselves from the restraints of the physical world.
So much for my current concerns, what about the movie. As I said, read the DVD Times review. For my part, one major element missed from this review is the look of Alan Bates – so very hirsute, yet evidently the look is designed to mirror the look of D. H. Lawrence himself, as the character if Rupert Birkin is undoubtedly modeled on the author.
Also, I would put in a word of support for Jenny Linden’s portrayal of Ursula Brangwen – yes she is up against three heavyweight actors, and she does not give the appropriate depth to the Ursula character, but I felt she was as much a delight to watch as Glenda Jackson, if for different reasons. Can you describe Oliver Reed as a heavyweight actor? The Gerald Crich character is undoubtedly meant to be a foil for the passion of Rupert Birkin, and Reed’s cold glare is effective in this case. He is also utterly convincing when he is working on the coal face as the owner’s son, as well as being torn between the love for his father and disdain for his father’s outdated philanthropic ideas. Still it’s hard to see how the chemistry works between Gerald and Ursula. Given a movie’s time limitations, that’s maybe understandable – the book takes things far slower naturally.
And here is an argument against making novels into movies. There are always horrendous compromises with time and plot condensing. Novels make far better TV series where the plot and characters have time to breathe, as with Brideshead Revisited. In the Guardian review of Brokeback Mountain, the reviewer makes the case that a short story can improve and gain wings when adapted to a movie. Too much gets lost adapting a novel to 100 minutes.
So an Oscar for Glenda Jackson. This seems improbable somehow, as does the Academy actually watching this picture. I imagine there was not a great deal of competition in 1970. Jackson did wonderful work in Ken Russell’s pictures there is no doubt, and the dance she makes in front of the herd of bulls is very affecting. But an Oscar?
I love Ken Russell – his humor, his integration of music, all the things I learnt from his composer-films. Also I love his naughty side, the desire to upset stuffy England. This film is well known for its male nude wrestling scene, which it has to be said now looks pretty unerotic. Also Jackson’s Oscar was the first for an actor with a nude scene. How quaint these ‘firsts’ seem now to me.
The cinematography works very well. The blackness of coal dust covered Yorkshire (not the Nottinghamshire of the book.) The colour of the two women contrasting on the black. The clarity of the sequences at the Matterhorn is wonderful. Once scene really stunned me – the mis en scene while Gudrun dances near the late, the horizontal lines of the earth and the lower branches of the trees really made my eyes open wide.
Referring back to the DVD Times review, at the end it’s a very good film, but fails to really capture the feeling and complexity of one of the key works of 20th Century English literature.
As the author of the article says, the ideas from the book came tearing off the page and ripped into my soul and cosy notions of sex and love. I cannot imagine how this book must have read in the late 1910s – even today the ideas seem shocking and revolutionary against our current solomnent consumerist malaise. I was reminded of the fierce passions of youth, the search for absolute truth and freedom in love. Sex seems to get disconnected from love in our modern society. Really, sex is used for advertising, as a measure of one’s integrity, as a leisure activity. People search for love but have sex whilst waiting for love to come along. And when love does come along, what does the sex become, what remains of sex? Sometimes the absolution of giving yourself to someone, mind and body, is lost I think. This function is not there anymore, the sex has been used up in other energies. A voice from the early 20th Century reminds me of this fact - the idea to love passionately and in doing so remove oneselves from the restraints of the physical world.
So much for my current concerns, what about the movie. As I said, read the DVD Times review. For my part, one major element missed from this review is the look of Alan Bates – so very hirsute, yet evidently the look is designed to mirror the look of D. H. Lawrence himself, as the character if Rupert Birkin is undoubtedly modeled on the author.
Also, I would put in a word of support for Jenny Linden’s portrayal of Ursula Brangwen – yes she is up against three heavyweight actors, and she does not give the appropriate depth to the Ursula character, but I felt she was as much a delight to watch as Glenda Jackson, if for different reasons. Can you describe Oliver Reed as a heavyweight actor? The Gerald Crich character is undoubtedly meant to be a foil for the passion of Rupert Birkin, and Reed’s cold glare is effective in this case. He is also utterly convincing when he is working on the coal face as the owner’s son, as well as being torn between the love for his father and disdain for his father’s outdated philanthropic ideas. Still it’s hard to see how the chemistry works between Gerald and Ursula. Given a movie’s time limitations, that’s maybe understandable – the book takes things far slower naturally.
And here is an argument against making novels into movies. There are always horrendous compromises with time and plot condensing. Novels make far better TV series where the plot and characters have time to breathe, as with Brideshead Revisited. In the Guardian review of Brokeback Mountain, the reviewer makes the case that a short story can improve and gain wings when adapted to a movie. Too much gets lost adapting a novel to 100 minutes.
So an Oscar for Glenda Jackson. This seems improbable somehow, as does the Academy actually watching this picture. I imagine there was not a great deal of competition in 1970. Jackson did wonderful work in Ken Russell’s pictures there is no doubt, and the dance she makes in front of the herd of bulls is very affecting. But an Oscar?
I love Ken Russell – his humor, his integration of music, all the things I learnt from his composer-films. Also I love his naughty side, the desire to upset stuffy England. This film is well known for its male nude wrestling scene, which it has to be said now looks pretty unerotic. Also Jackson’s Oscar was the first for an actor with a nude scene. How quaint these ‘firsts’ seem now to me.
The cinematography works very well. The blackness of coal dust covered Yorkshire (not the Nottinghamshire of the book.) The colour of the two women contrasting on the black. The clarity of the sequences at the Matterhorn is wonderful. Once scene really stunned me – the mis en scene while Gudrun dances near the late, the horizontal lines of the earth and the lower branches of the trees really made my eyes open wide.
Referring back to the DVD Times review, at the end it’s a very good film, but fails to really capture the feeling and complexity of one of the key works of 20th Century English literature.
Friday, 21 October 2005
Kingmaker – Wars of the Roses - Round One, October 20, 2005
Our first attempt at Kingmaker, Todd vs Ben. A partial account from my point of view.
After drawing the Chancellor card, Ben starts by setting sail for Wales. Todd makes a move on London and after a brief siege makes the early running by capturing the reigning monarch, King Henry VI. Plague wipes out the Yorkist heir George, Duke of Clarence in his Welsh fortified town of Cardigan. Undeterred by this outbreak, Ben’s faction takes the other Welsh-residing Yorkist Edward, Earl of March, by laying siege to the fortified town of Harlech.
Meanwhile Todd makes a move on Margaret of Anjou by successfully entering Coventry. The king and his feisty Queen touchingly will now reside together for the rest of the game. Unfortunately one of Todd’s nobles is killed in a siege leaving him with a conspicuously depleted faction.
However Ben’s faction grows in popularity as an array of nobles from all corners of the island rally support around the Yorkist line, resentful of the mediocre rule of the Lancastrian King Henry VI.
Using his enlarged army, Ben’s faction lays siege on York and captures Richard, Duke of York. Rushing extra bishops and reuniting Richard with his younger brother Edward, celebrations are held for the coronation of the Yorkist Richard III – England has two kings! God save the kings!
Now the race is on to capture and execute the opposing monarchs.
Todd’s faction capture and execute Edward, Prince of Wales in a bold manoeuvre (I forget how this happened in fact …) Sensing danger, The Lancastrian King and his Queen are shipped to Calais. Todd’s dwindling faction currently has not the manpower to enter Calais and simultaneously hunt for the newly crowned Yorkist King. He will need to regroup.
Ben’s faction however remains strong, and using his three ships plus some new recruits sends half his faction to sea, heading south. Meanwhile King Richard III is taken for a northern sojourn in Alnwick Castle, guest of Percy, Earl of Northumberland. Meanwhile the Yorkist heir, Edward, is spirited across Northern England to the safety of Harlech Castle.
Ben’s faction’s fleet closes in on Calais. Bad weather delays the siege, then a large storm sends the fleet to the safety of Rye harbour, while Todd’s nobles are diverted to deal with local matters. A visiting dignitary from Europe is left fuming in Malden as no-one can agree which King is to meet and greet him.
Finally the weather clears, and Calais is taken by Ben’s fleet. King Henry VI and Queen Margaret are both executed swiftly, together to the end.
Hail King Richard III, sole and rightful King of England! Ben’s faction’s nobles receive great rewards from the grateful hunchbacked monarch. Bonfires burn bright in Northumberland. Tomorrow, the King heads for London – but tonight we celebrate with boar and mead!
After drawing the Chancellor card, Ben starts by setting sail for Wales. Todd makes a move on London and after a brief siege makes the early running by capturing the reigning monarch, King Henry VI. Plague wipes out the Yorkist heir George, Duke of Clarence in his Welsh fortified town of Cardigan. Undeterred by this outbreak, Ben’s faction takes the other Welsh-residing Yorkist Edward, Earl of March, by laying siege to the fortified town of Harlech.
Meanwhile Todd makes a move on Margaret of Anjou by successfully entering Coventry. The king and his feisty Queen touchingly will now reside together for the rest of the game. Unfortunately one of Todd’s nobles is killed in a siege leaving him with a conspicuously depleted faction.
However Ben’s faction grows in popularity as an array of nobles from all corners of the island rally support around the Yorkist line, resentful of the mediocre rule of the Lancastrian King Henry VI.
Using his enlarged army, Ben’s faction lays siege on York and captures Richard, Duke of York. Rushing extra bishops and reuniting Richard with his younger brother Edward, celebrations are held for the coronation of the Yorkist Richard III – England has two kings! God save the kings!
Now the race is on to capture and execute the opposing monarchs.
Todd’s faction capture and execute Edward, Prince of Wales in a bold manoeuvre (I forget how this happened in fact …) Sensing danger, The Lancastrian King and his Queen are shipped to Calais. Todd’s dwindling faction currently has not the manpower to enter Calais and simultaneously hunt for the newly crowned Yorkist King. He will need to regroup.
Ben’s faction however remains strong, and using his three ships plus some new recruits sends half his faction to sea, heading south. Meanwhile King Richard III is taken for a northern sojourn in Alnwick Castle, guest of Percy, Earl of Northumberland. Meanwhile the Yorkist heir, Edward, is spirited across Northern England to the safety of Harlech Castle.
Ben’s faction’s fleet closes in on Calais. Bad weather delays the siege, then a large storm sends the fleet to the safety of Rye harbour, while Todd’s nobles are diverted to deal with local matters. A visiting dignitary from Europe is left fuming in Malden as no-one can agree which King is to meet and greet him.
Finally the weather clears, and Calais is taken by Ben’s fleet. King Henry VI and Queen Margaret are both executed swiftly, together to the end.
Hail King Richard III, sole and rightful King of England! Ben’s faction’s nobles receive great rewards from the grateful hunchbacked monarch. Bonfires burn bright in Northumberland. Tomorrow, the King heads for London – but tonight we celebrate with boar and mead!
Monday, 18 April 2005
Freud and Lawrence
Bad Timing
Nic Roeg had a remarkable run of films in the late 70s – early 80s. Don't Look Now, The Man Who Fell to Earth, and this film, Bad Timing. These three films make a cinematic feast, and I would be happy to be stranded on a desert island with just these three discs.
There is a kind of frenzied madness in this film, set in the world of psychological research in Vienna. At one point a portrait of Freud looks down as the main protagonists and it is hard to see his stare as approval or not as he watches what he has unleashed.
I have always had a high regard for Teresa Russell as an actor – this is surely her finest film.Her character is an untamed sexual beast set on destroying the cosy sanity of Art Garfunkel's psychologist. Art Garfunkel plays very well here too, certainly a match for Harvey Keitel's priest like Austrian cop. I remember being astonished by all three leads when i saw this film in the late 80s, especially Keitel – this was the first time i remember noticing him.
The other great star of the film is Vienna – disturbing flashbacks to other films such as The Nightporter, and of course The Third Man (there is even some zither music just for fun in Bad Timing.)
Here is a great article from the Guardian 20 years on from the film's release.
I love this film – one of my all time favourites.
Priest of Love
Also on a theme of an historical figure unleashing sexual forces upon an unwilling party, Priest of Love, from more or less the same year as Bad Timing. Follows the life of D. H. Lawrence from the eve of the First World War to his early death from TB in 1930.
Another very good cast – Sir Ian McKellern in an early cinematic role, playing another historical figure with homosexual tendencies – although this is very muted in this film, just towelling down a friend after skinny dipping in Cornwall. These days this aspect of the film would no doubt be fashionably well documented.
Jane Suzman is glorious as Lawrence's German wife, passionate and devoted. The more minor parts are well filled by Ava Gardiner and Penelope Keith – always a joy to watch Pen Keith, and this is one of her few big screen roles.. (big screen? The DVD was on 4:3 format..??)
The film follows the life of Lawrence using the locations he actually lived in – we have Cornwall, New Mexico, Amalfi coast, Tuscany.. The music is also appropriately romantic at times. Ken Russell's influence is very plain to see, and in fact why wasn't he hired to direct it.
D.H. Lawrence is currently one of my favourite authors – his books still have a lot to say about human sexuality – it is surprising how little we understand what has been released by Freud, Lady Chatterly's Lover, the permissive society, sexual liberation. It seems to me at this point in time we live the benefits of un-repressed sexuality without really knowing what it means and how it is placed in the fabric of our short lives.
Nic Roeg had a remarkable run of films in the late 70s – early 80s. Don't Look Now, The Man Who Fell to Earth, and this film, Bad Timing. These three films make a cinematic feast, and I would be happy to be stranded on a desert island with just these three discs.
There is a kind of frenzied madness in this film, set in the world of psychological research in Vienna. At one point a portrait of Freud looks down as the main protagonists and it is hard to see his stare as approval or not as he watches what he has unleashed.
I have always had a high regard for Teresa Russell as an actor – this is surely her finest film.Her character is an untamed sexual beast set on destroying the cosy sanity of Art Garfunkel's psychologist. Art Garfunkel plays very well here too, certainly a match for Harvey Keitel's priest like Austrian cop. I remember being astonished by all three leads when i saw this film in the late 80s, especially Keitel – this was the first time i remember noticing him.
The other great star of the film is Vienna – disturbing flashbacks to other films such as The Nightporter, and of course The Third Man (there is even some zither music just for fun in Bad Timing.)
Here is a great article from the Guardian 20 years on from the film's release.
I love this film – one of my all time favourites.
Priest of Love
Also on a theme of an historical figure unleashing sexual forces upon an unwilling party, Priest of Love, from more or less the same year as Bad Timing. Follows the life of D. H. Lawrence from the eve of the First World War to his early death from TB in 1930.
Another very good cast – Sir Ian McKellern in an early cinematic role, playing another historical figure with homosexual tendencies – although this is very muted in this film, just towelling down a friend after skinny dipping in Cornwall. These days this aspect of the film would no doubt be fashionably well documented.
Jane Suzman is glorious as Lawrence's German wife, passionate and devoted. The more minor parts are well filled by Ava Gardiner and Penelope Keith – always a joy to watch Pen Keith, and this is one of her few big screen roles.. (big screen? The DVD was on 4:3 format..??)
The film follows the life of Lawrence using the locations he actually lived in – we have Cornwall, New Mexico, Amalfi coast, Tuscany.. The music is also appropriately romantic at times. Ken Russell's influence is very plain to see, and in fact why wasn't he hired to direct it.
D.H. Lawrence is currently one of my favourite authors – his books still have a lot to say about human sexuality – it is surprising how little we understand what has been released by Freud, Lady Chatterly's Lover, the permissive society, sexual liberation. It seems to me at this point in time we live the benefits of un-repressed sexuality without really knowing what it means and how it is placed in the fabric of our short lives.
Monday, 20 September 2004
I'm going to miss Chris Patten
"Is the world today safer than before the overthrow of the appalling Saddam?" Patten asked in the European parliament last week. "Is global terrorism in retreat? Are we closer to building bridges between Islam and the west? Is the world's only super-power more widely respected? Have the citizens in our democracies been treated in a way that will encourage them to give governments the benefit of the doubt next time they are told that force needs to be used pre-emptively to deal with an imminent threat? I simply pose the questions. The answers are well known."
Monday, 13 September 2004
Gladiator
"What we do in life echoes in eternity." Unfortunately probably not for this slightly underwhelming film. Why did it win so many Oscars? Why did Russell Crowe win an Oscar for this when he has done much better work?
I want to talk about something that bugs me with modern films. Maybe I am the only one who notices this? The fight scenes were completely spoiled by the editing and the camera work. Everything was done in close up, each shot took only a couple of frames and they seemed to shoot everything on digital camera, which means that there is no blur in each frame. This gives an extremely disjointed effect overall and for me completely destroys any flow or grace to the fight scenes. There is no impression of choreography or strategy to the fight scenes. It completely destroyed any excitement I have for the fight scenes. Nothing works or connects with this style of editing and shooting. Doesn't anyone else see this?
The special effects were pretty cheesy too in this film. It comes back to the same old gripe I always have. Previously good model work works even if you know it's a model, but so far this has never been the case for CGI effects. In fact the only place it works is in an entirely CGI film such as Shrek, where there is no mix of live and CGI action. Ancient Rome was unconvincing to me.
I like Russell Crowe a lot, especially his early work in Australia – you only have to watch two films (Romper Stomper and The Sum of Us) to understand his range, skill and humanity. But this was just a low key performance. Where the film did score full marks was the use of the three wonderful, now sadly no longer with us, great British (well, of the British Isles) actors – Richard Harris, Oliver Reed and David Hemmings. All sadly missed.
The narrative was terribly linear and doesn't stand up to the great epics of the 50s and 60s. This film was not the promised renaissance of the genre.
I want to talk about something that bugs me with modern films. Maybe I am the only one who notices this? The fight scenes were completely spoiled by the editing and the camera work. Everything was done in close up, each shot took only a couple of frames and they seemed to shoot everything on digital camera, which means that there is no blur in each frame. This gives an extremely disjointed effect overall and for me completely destroys any flow or grace to the fight scenes. There is no impression of choreography or strategy to the fight scenes. It completely destroyed any excitement I have for the fight scenes. Nothing works or connects with this style of editing and shooting. Doesn't anyone else see this?
The special effects were pretty cheesy too in this film. It comes back to the same old gripe I always have. Previously good model work works even if you know it's a model, but so far this has never been the case for CGI effects. In fact the only place it works is in an entirely CGI film such as Shrek, where there is no mix of live and CGI action. Ancient Rome was unconvincing to me.
I like Russell Crowe a lot, especially his early work in Australia – you only have to watch two films (Romper Stomper and The Sum of Us) to understand his range, skill and humanity. But this was just a low key performance. Where the film did score full marks was the use of the three wonderful, now sadly no longer with us, great British (well, of the British Isles) actors – Richard Harris, Oliver Reed and David Hemmings. All sadly missed.
The narrative was terribly linear and doesn't stand up to the great epics of the 50s and 60s. This film was not the promised renaissance of the genre.
Friday, 10 September 2004
Book of Job / Talking of Pelham
The Italian Job
The archetypal cheesy cheeky cockney crime caper. I have to say finally that this film is a bit disappointing. The best section by far is the opening titles. As Matt Munro croons away at Quincy Jones' and Don Black's peerlessly cool “On days like these,” we see Rossano Brazzi (a peerlessly cool name), cigarette hanging louchely from his lips, expensive sunglasses against the glare of the snow, handling his Lamborghini through the Italian Alps. This has to be the best, coolest title sequence from the 60s, or maybe ever.
It all goes a bit downhill after this. There are some nice touches – Benny Hill's line, “if only people could be more like flowers,” is as touching as it is bizarre. Noel Coward has a wonderful jawline, shown to best effect when he is unexpectedly confronted by Michael Caine in the prison toilets. Marvellous. Caine's character shagging multiple girls at the same time is a nod to the permissive 60s, but all is left behind with London.
Special mention should go to Douglas Slocombe, the English DP who also did all the Indiana Jones films.
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
Nice tense early 70s hijack thriller with Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw as the two opposing protagonists. Notable for its sense of realism. The New York subway is shown in realistic decline. One of the odd things I find about this movie, viewd from our early 21st Century age, is the general incomprehension by all except the hi-jackers that the subway car has in fact been hi-jacked. These days everyone would automatically and immediately assume that it was terrorists.
The demise of Robert Shaw's character is very chilling, eliciting a “Jesus” from this viewer – immediately followed by a “Christ” by Walter Matthau!
The archetypal cheesy cheeky cockney crime caper. I have to say finally that this film is a bit disappointing. The best section by far is the opening titles. As Matt Munro croons away at Quincy Jones' and Don Black's peerlessly cool “On days like these,” we see Rossano Brazzi (a peerlessly cool name), cigarette hanging louchely from his lips, expensive sunglasses against the glare of the snow, handling his Lamborghini through the Italian Alps. This has to be the best, coolest title sequence from the 60s, or maybe ever.
It all goes a bit downhill after this. There are some nice touches – Benny Hill's line, “if only people could be more like flowers,” is as touching as it is bizarre. Noel Coward has a wonderful jawline, shown to best effect when he is unexpectedly confronted by Michael Caine in the prison toilets. Marvellous. Caine's character shagging multiple girls at the same time is a nod to the permissive 60s, but all is left behind with London.
Special mention should go to Douglas Slocombe, the English DP who also did all the Indiana Jones films.
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
Nice tense early 70s hijack thriller with Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw as the two opposing protagonists. Notable for its sense of realism. The New York subway is shown in realistic decline. One of the odd things I find about this movie, viewd from our early 21st Century age, is the general incomprehension by all except the hi-jackers that the subway car has in fact been hi-jacked. These days everyone would automatically and immediately assume that it was terrorists.
The demise of Robert Shaw's character is very chilling, eliciting a “Jesus” from this viewer – immediately followed by a “Christ” by Walter Matthau!
Thursday, 2 September 2004
Monday, 30 August 2004
In Vitra Veritas
Sigh! Such lovely furniture:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,1291613,00.html
http://www.vitra.com/
But is my pun on Vitra better than the Observer's La Dolce Vitra? Answers on the back of a 500 Euro note please...
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,1291613,00.html
http://www.vitra.com/
But is my pun on Vitra better than the Observer's La Dolce Vitra? Answers on the back of a 500 Euro note please...
Monday, 23 August 2004
Den Haag
Weekend in The Hague - found this very interesting 1920s Art Deco department store:
http://www.architectuur.org/kramer01.php
http://www.goldengate.net/~mross/Reunion2003/Den%20Haag/175-7582_img.jpg
Took some photos with my cameraphone so I'll post these when I get a chance - there are not many pictures of this building on the web..
http://www.architectuur.org/kramer01.php
http://www.goldengate.net/~mross/Reunion2003/Den%20Haag/175-7582_img.jpg
Took some photos with my cameraphone so I'll post these when I get a chance - there are not many pictures of this building on the web..
Thursday, 19 August 2004
Feeling a Little Behind
Oh dear! The rot starts already. Since the last review I have watched two films:
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
The Italian Job
And I almost saw Padre Padrone, but baulked at the last minute due to mood, and not wanting to fall asleep watching an Italian film with French sub-titles, also not wanting to see a film where a boy gets relentlessly beaten.
So there, no reviews.
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
The Italian Job
And I almost saw Padre Padrone, but baulked at the last minute due to mood, and not wanting to fall asleep watching an Italian film with French sub-titles, also not wanting to see a film where a boy gets relentlessly beaten.
So there, no reviews.
Wednesday, 18 August 2004
Barroso on the USA
"There are magnificent things that exist in the US as well as some fairly horrific things," he declared in remarks which ensured he comfortably won the parliament's support. "I hate their arrogance, I hate their unilateralism."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,7369,1282148,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,7369,1282148,00.html
Tuesday, 10 August 2004
I Ran?
The next target?
Ted Rall seems to think so in this article, which does have a certain believability after Afghanistan and Iraq.
Next there's this comment in the Guardian about US exaggerations about the international community's response to Iran's Nuclear Power programme.
All of which reminds me of the Israeli astronaut killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia in February 2003 – as one of the pilots who bombed Iran's nuclear power plants in the 1980's, he was hailed as a hero on his death. No-one seemed fit to mention the illegal bombing of another state, or how Thatcher condemned the bombing. But of course we all know international rules can be broken if you're the bully on the block or one of their protectorates.
Ted Rall seems to think so in this article, which does have a certain believability after Afghanistan and Iraq.
Next there's this comment in the Guardian about US exaggerations about the international community's response to Iran's Nuclear Power programme.
All of which reminds me of the Israeli astronaut killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia in February 2003 – as one of the pilots who bombed Iran's nuclear power plants in the 1980's, he was hailed as a hero on his death. No-one seemed fit to mention the illegal bombing of another state, or how Thatcher condemned the bombing. But of course we all know international rules can be broken if you're the bully on the block or one of their protectorates.
Monday, 9 August 2004
Frenzy
Whilst not being one of Hitchcock's more famous films, it's actually a rather tense, nihilistic, explicit and nasty piece. It reminded me a lot of Michael Powell's Peeping Tom, if not really posing the serious questions about voyeurism raised by Powell's masterpiece.
The story is set and filmed in an early 1970s London almost unidentifiable with the modern day metropolis, apart from the major landmarks. The many scenes around Covent Garden reminded me of another Powell film, the early scenes of The Red Shoes. In fact Covent Garden of 1948 appears almost unchanged to the 1972 version. Twenty-four years on from 72 and the place would be unrecognisable. The restoration of the print is absolutely wonderful – it makes the 1972 London seem absolutely real.
This film marked a turn to the more explicit and violent for Hitchcock. The rape / murder scene is genuinely distressing to watch, and to film judging by the comments of Barry Foster, the actor involved. Female nudity is also shown several times. The 70s did seem to mark a watershed in terms of screen violence. The explicit horror here is certainly on a par with A Clockwork Orange, and more overt than Peeping Tom. The meals served up by the Police Inspector's wife are also horrific, if in a different way. I was reminded strongly of Eraserhead...
Another link to Peeping Tom is the wonderful Anna Massey. Here she plays a cheeky cockney lass in a very winning way. She does not look ten years older than her performance in the Michael Powell film. Jon Finch plays the unsympathetic hero very well - when he made this he was fresh from playing Polanski's Hamlet, and the character does indeed have a few Hamlet moments. Jean Marsh plays a wonderfully plain secretary. Billie Whitelaw is in her element as a distrusting, cold friend, wife of an ex-RAF colleague of the Finch character, played by the irreplaceable Clive Swift, also known as King Arthur's surrogate father in Excalibur, and of course long-suffering husband to “that Bucket woman.” (My goodness, just found out that BBC TV celebrity gardener Joe Swift is his son with Margaret Drabble.)
Francois Truffaut, after seeing this film, said it was a young director's film. Meaning that there was considerable experimentation going on with this movie.
Two scenes stick out for me. As Anna Massey's character storms out of the pub after quitting her job, she pauses, the screen is filled with her motionless face and all the street sounds are quietened for a few seconds. When the noise returns it is the smarmy grocery trader who asks her if she has a place to go. At this point you realise she is already dead. The second scene is in the promotional trailer for the film, with what must be an effigy of Hitch floating on his back in the Thames.
The story is set and filmed in an early 1970s London almost unidentifiable with the modern day metropolis, apart from the major landmarks. The many scenes around Covent Garden reminded me of another Powell film, the early scenes of The Red Shoes. In fact Covent Garden of 1948 appears almost unchanged to the 1972 version. Twenty-four years on from 72 and the place would be unrecognisable. The restoration of the print is absolutely wonderful – it makes the 1972 London seem absolutely real.
This film marked a turn to the more explicit and violent for Hitchcock. The rape / murder scene is genuinely distressing to watch, and to film judging by the comments of Barry Foster, the actor involved. Female nudity is also shown several times. The 70s did seem to mark a watershed in terms of screen violence. The explicit horror here is certainly on a par with A Clockwork Orange, and more overt than Peeping Tom. The meals served up by the Police Inspector's wife are also horrific, if in a different way. I was reminded strongly of Eraserhead...
Another link to Peeping Tom is the wonderful Anna Massey. Here she plays a cheeky cockney lass in a very winning way. She does not look ten years older than her performance in the Michael Powell film. Jon Finch plays the unsympathetic hero very well - when he made this he was fresh from playing Polanski's Hamlet, and the character does indeed have a few Hamlet moments. Jean Marsh plays a wonderfully plain secretary. Billie Whitelaw is in her element as a distrusting, cold friend, wife of an ex-RAF colleague of the Finch character, played by the irreplaceable Clive Swift, also known as King Arthur's surrogate father in Excalibur, and of course long-suffering husband to “that Bucket woman.” (My goodness, just found out that BBC TV celebrity gardener Joe Swift is his son with Margaret Drabble.)
Francois Truffaut, after seeing this film, said it was a young director's film. Meaning that there was considerable experimentation going on with this movie.
Two scenes stick out for me. As Anna Massey's character storms out of the pub after quitting her job, she pauses, the screen is filled with her motionless face and all the street sounds are quietened for a few seconds. When the noise returns it is the smarmy grocery trader who asks her if she has a place to go. At this point you realise she is already dead. The second scene is in the promotional trailer for the film, with what must be an effigy of Hitch floating on his back in the Thames.
Embassy Court Brighton
Thursday, 5 August 2004
Puss Warmerer
A few nights ago I had a dream in which someone who was apparently my cousin said I was a real 'puss warmerer.' I woke up and wrote that down in my mobile phone's calendar note function, then went back to sleep. Imagine the bemusement when I found this the next day. What could it mean?
I've got in the habit of making rambling short entries in my blog today. Does it work or is it slightly irritating and irrelevant, to hear my wibble rants?
Took a breather from the desk a few minutes ago and walked on the office building's roof catwalk. The heat made my temples throb, literally.
If you wake up at four or five in the morning (in Northern Europe) there is a wonderful display of Venus – so bright against the morning gloaming (can gloaming exist in the morning?)
I've got in the habit of making rambling short entries in my blog today. Does it work or is it slightly irritating and irrelevant, to hear my wibble rants?
Took a breather from the desk a few minutes ago and walked on the office building's roof catwalk. The heat made my temples throb, literally.
If you wake up at four or five in the morning (in Northern Europe) there is a wonderful display of Venus – so bright against the morning gloaming (can gloaming exist in the morning?)
Bits of Michael Moore
Bits of the two Michael Moore films came swimming back through my memory yesterday.
F911 – Sadly funny that you can take four books of matches or two butane lighters on a plane still, but not nail clippers. Just so the tobacco industry can ensure that smokers can light up when they arrive at their destination.
F911 - Heard that Cuba played a bootleg version of F911 on TV this week...
BfC – I forgot to mention the sanest person in the film – Marilyn Manson. What he said about the news scaring the bejesus out of the viewer and then the commercials selling safety and security is so, so true.
I've given up on watching the BBC news as I find it so patronizing and stylized – they've shifted way over to the US model since I left the UK. I hate, hate, hate the two-hander 6 o'clock news, and Fiona Bruce emoting all over t'place. Thank goodness for the RTBF news – sober and old-fashioned. Give me Fabienne Vande Meersche and François
De Brigode any day.
F911 – Sadly funny that you can take four books of matches or two butane lighters on a plane still, but not nail clippers. Just so the tobacco industry can ensure that smokers can light up when they arrive at their destination.
F911 - Heard that Cuba played a bootleg version of F911 on TV this week...
BfC – I forgot to mention the sanest person in the film – Marilyn Manson. What he said about the news scaring the bejesus out of the viewer and then the commercials selling safety and security is so, so true.
I've given up on watching the BBC news as I find it so patronizing and stylized – they've shifted way over to the US model since I left the UK. I hate, hate, hate the two-hander 6 o'clock news, and Fiona Bruce emoting all over t'place. Thank goodness for the RTBF news – sober and old-fashioned. Give me Fabienne Vande Meersche and François
De Brigode any day.
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