Film

Well. What have I been up to lately?

Last weekend was relaxing in a sense... Off up to visit my Dad before he goes off to New Zealand (at the end of the month). A nice lunch courtesy of Sue, and I was off down to visit my Mum. For a good dinner... On Sunday it was back home. And out for dinner! The Gurkha, very hot but still good. Fortunately, as it turns out, I could still remember how to cook after a weekend 'eating out'...

Sunday's dinner was in honour of dearg's birthday; beforehand we saw Serenity. Fun movie (continuing the cancelled TV-series Firefly), ties some loose ends of the series together in a way that actually creates a convincing movie plot. I wasn't entirely convinced about the ending, but generally the film exceeded expectations and was good easy-watching fun with all the requisite explosions and ass-kicking.

In other entertainment news, on Sunday night I finished Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (and now that I link it, currently cheap on Amazon). I was rather impressed by this book, a real kick up the arse for the fantasy genre (not that it will notice). An alternate 1800s England with magic, it's a modern fairy-tale with decent characterisation and setting. Susanna Clarke creates a great period feel, from the faux-historical narrative to the antiquated spellings of a few key words, but mostly through a well-considered use of language, such that it is a pleasure to read sentence by sentence.

If it wasn't over a thousand pages long, I wouldn't have cared whether there was a plot at all.

Okay, just came back from The Descent. In a nutshell, bunch of girls go potholing, horror ensues. Classic setting for a horror movie (and it helped seeing it at a small screen at the Cameo), and by the writer/director of Dog Soldiers, Neil Marshall, so if you like horror it's worth watching.

I don't want to give too much away... The film is both subtle and oh-so-unsubtle, but when it comes down to it it's a decent atmospheric horror flick. I'd watch it again.

Apparently The Cave is coming out next month, seemingly the alternate big-budget cave-diving alternative. Presumably tamer and generally standard Hollywood fare, although I may well see it anyway. I'm guessing that if I see it, I'll say watch The Descent instead.

Happy spelunking.

Just seen War of the Worlds at the local cinema (note to self: avoid screen 2). As you might expect I'm not about to say it's the best film ever, but I'd certainly rate it as worth watching. Always going to be quibbles about a 'blockbuster' movie, particularly one made from a good book, which has been filmed before. And in this case made into a radio series which I must endevour to see at some point. Anyway, I'm glad that I went to see it.

Hopefully going to see The Descent next week.

Huh, they're evacuating Birmingham city centre. Hopefully just a jumpy reaction to run of the mill bogus information. The London attacks turned out to have been pretty bad. Here's one story. Gah. Incidentally, ID cards would not have helped, but we should have them anyway, and get ready to have our civil liberties curtailed.

For some reason a guy has just jumped the Great Wall of China on a skateboard. People are crazy.

Update: On the craziness theme, Woman who framed child is jailed.

Alien Vs Predator

Watched Alien Vs Predator the other night. Was about as good as one expects. It could have been a much better film if it wasn't constrained to the 1.5-hour attention span, as there didn't seem to be quite enough to make me care about the characters. Generally rushed, but still sufficiently entertaining for a rental.

Lanark

I finished reading Lanark (Alasdair Gray) last night. It was... different. Certainly glad it was recommended to me, although I can't help but feel I need some time to feel the impact of the book. Wonderfully weird and gloomy.

Man is the pie that bakes and eats itself, and the recipe is separation.

A Widow for One Year

The night before last I finished reading A Widow for One Year, by John Irving. Reading in parallel, since I took that one on the train, see. I really do like Irving's stuff; I wasn't so sure after reading A Prayer for Owen Meany that I'd want to read much more of his stuff. Not that I didn't like the book, but I didn't know if his writing varied much. Now I want more! I suppose I enjoy it because it's fairly easy reading (hard to put down), and yet there is a well-constructed story which works as a whole.

Weird film. With bunny girl! Is good.

Oh.

I'm still reading A Suitable Boy, but I haven't felt up to reading for very long since before the weekend, so I've just (yesterday) finished off Man of Everest, an old Reprint Society hardback I'd picked up from a charity bookshop. It's Tenzing Norgay's autobiography, transcribed by James Ramsey Ullman. Of course these days books are ghostwritten without such acknowledgement, and their supposed authors are quite probably not illiterate.

Anyway, didn't realise that it was on his seventh attempt that Tenzing succeeded in climbing Everest. Amazing. Glad I picked this book up...

Hopefully going to see Kontroll tonight.

People around watching films last night, scary films on account of Halloween.

Watched Gremlins (with Adam), Dark City (interesting), Prince of Darkness (bit dull and generic, maybe I was tired), Dog Soldiers (seen before, good).

Been thinking of writing technical/research related things in another log. We'll see.

Saw My Summer of Love (Guardian review) at the Cameo last night.

It was nice to see a less mainstream film for a change, I'd like to do that more often. I enjoyed it; well acted, good soundtrack and the camerawork was marvelous at times (but distracting at a couple of points). The purposefully shaky variety, with a rather dreamlike effect. Anyway, I can't review, so read the above.

A classical theme again... Last night, I finally watched Bram Stoker's Dracula. At last. Fun. Currently, I am reading 2001: A Space Odyssey (still only seen the first two thirds of the film).

I guess I need a third item. Well, I bought Fermat's Last Theorem today. The book not the theorem, haha. Not quite as classic, is it.

So, I wonder what should be top of the list of classic books and films to read and watch. Metropolis is sitting waiting to be watched, but apart from that...

P.S. eating one's pasta on one's knee in the living room feels a damn sight more civilised with the CD of Beethoven's piano sonatas on in the background

Yesterday, I read to the end of The Dice Man (interesting, enjoyable), and read/watched both ends (and the middles!) of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (classic), Dirty Pretty Things (great film) and X-Men II (fun).

I really would recommend Dirty Pretty Things. Sort of gritty thing with Audrey Tautou, I thought it was really well done.

Watched Six Degrees of Seperation instead of going to bed. Surprisingly good film (crap ending). Stayed up discussing stuff and then reading the Guardian. Feeling almost literary; I should write something (but not show it to anybody).

Please excuse the silence.

What happened? Well, after waiting in Edinburgh for a mail-order package, I zipped off to mum's for Christmas. Well, I say zipped, I seem to get all the late trains these days. That aside, I offed there for xmas with the family, fairly busy table for xmas dinner this year, even the garden table got in on the action.

Nice seeing people, relaxing a bit and not thinking about things. Note to self: get hold of Metropolis (1927) some time, although it's unfortunately not as cheap as the marvelous unrelated Metropolis (2001) (Anime). Read some more of my current novel (on book two of A Scots Quair), which I think I'll continue tonight, even though the mucker's lost its bookmark.

A bit after xmas, it was back to Edinburgh, where Liz+Adam and then Andrew were coming. Good to see them again, we had a fairly laid-back time, including staying in for Hogmanay watching movies. Which was just as well given the cancellation. Apart from the less relaxing shopping we didn't do anything too strenuous, apart from the enjoyable walk up Arthur's Seat with Andrew and Adam. After getting to the top and back, Adam (4) was still eager to go visit the lake and watch the birds, though by that time the day and clouds were drawing in. I look forward to some more walking with both of them.

Just starting to get back into uni. On this front, my paper for Trends in Functional Programming was accepted (yay!), so I should be making a couple of changes to that and returning it in the next couple of days. Lots of other things to be doing, many things to be reading about, and soon some taught courses to attend (though not overly many). Algorithmic game theory looks interesting, as well as some of the courses which will run later in the term. Enough to be busy with...

I'm sure I missed 1,000,001 things there, so I'll be seeing you soon.

Oh, how could I forget!?

I liked Return of the King. Yes, there are bits I don't like or would change, but overall I'm surprised LotR has been filmed as well as it has. However many things annoy me, I can imagine it being much, much worse. I mean remember the animation.

Will watch again sometime. Wonder how long the three extended versions will come to?

I like films which screw with the progression of time. No, wait, there are quite a few great films which use a non-linear storytelling technique, from the straightforward but effective time-reversal of Mememto, and the various mixed-up forms of Tarantino, to the (more straightforward?) revisit-scene-from-different-perspectives thing. It's also easy to overuse this stuff, and to be honest watching the beginning of Rules of Attraction I thought this was going to happen there, but this was far from the case. Enjoyable, some nice cinematography, didn't over-rely on a particular technique. I wonder how good the book is.

Hmm, sort of wandered a bit there. Anyway, back to some categorical semantics, then hopefully dinner and more Sunset Song later tonight.

Started reading A Scots Quair last night. Having read Sunset Song (the first book of the trilogy) at school I keep noticing particular paragraphs that I must have memorised to quote, or used in some essay. Even so, I am emjoying reading it again, and I'm glad I didn't just dive into the 2nd book. The language used is really very pretty, the scots as used there strikes me as very poetic in contrast to the usual harsh English tongue, in the way that flowery old English writing does, or indeed the peculiar American style of The Catcher in the Rye and similarly artful works.

Perhaps it's just a question of the unusual being elevated to some special status through no virtue of its own, but I do think some of the great dialect writers really knew how to weave their magic.

I was tempted away from my book by Martin and a visit to the Casino; having rewatched the excellent Casino earlier (Martin just bought the DVD) I found it difficult to resist (although we hoped there would be no hand-or-money dilemmas). After a can of Coke in Nickel Edwards, I went with the guys to the casino, and indulged myself with a cup of coffee and ham sandwich, before proceeding to break even at the blackjack table.

Rebel that I am.

Well, I've recently got into watching lots of good movies. About a movie a day. On that note, I'm still waiting for Trilogy of the Dead to arrive, although for now I do have the Evil Dead trilogy (which was posted at the same time!), and have watched the first one. I've seen the third before, but now I'm watching them in order.

However, it's been a while since I've been reading regularly. I stopped buying books because the to-read shelf got full, and still failed to start reading. Well now I have. I finished off The Years of Rice and Salt the other day, and read the last 4/5 of From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey subsequently. Oh, I had read the start in a couple of coffee shops before, I don't make a habit of starting books partway through.

Now I've started A Prayer for Owen Meany. I'm really enjoying the style of writing, the way sentences are put together, and the unhurried pace.

I'm a happy bunny. Also, amused by this Amazon entry on a category theory book I've got from the library. Note to self: get the Barr book out too.

I never want to go into too much detail when I'm talking about new films, as somebody might want to see them, but you may want to not read ahead. Depending on who you are, I'd recommend you see Kill Bill. Not if you don't like violence, but probably if you like Tarantino and kung-fu movies.

I do have to say that the cinematography is, as one might expect, great. Non-linear storytelling is hardly a surprise, but I think it strikes a good balance. And the included anime scene is well judged.

I think the main failing is some of the swordplay, and for me that's forgivable. Roll on part 2.

Keeping the average at a decent movie a day, I seem to have watched 3 werewolf films in the last 3 days. Rented two DVD's I've been wanting to see which both happened to be werewolf flicks, watched one on Tuesday and one yesterday. Then there was one on TV yesterday.

Dog Soldiers

Werewolves! And Soldiers!

Well, flatmate has been suggesting I rent Dog Soldiers for quite some time, and given expectation I was not disappointed. Fairly well done movie in the standard "we're surrounded by nasty monsters" variety. Amusing characters, lots of humourous little moments while still being a serious movie.

I'd watch it again.

Ginger Snaps

Werewolves! And teenage girls!

Perhaps more of an "artistic" work. Fifteen year old nerdy girl, older sister. Lots of teenage girly problems. But with more blood, and slightly more dead people.

Good movie, I'd watch it again.

An American Werewolf in London

Werewolves! And local pubs for local people!

Slightly odd film. Lots of unacknowledged humour, with odd characters and talking corpses. Don't know if I'd watch it again; perhaps for the quirky humour.

Not feeling particularly insightful today.

Once Upon a Time in America

Saw this on Sunday. Good movie. Longer than I'd expected (about 3.5 hours), but it doesn't feel like a drag. Very good at building up tension in particular scenes. I'd like to watch it again some time. Although I also need to get around to watching the Godfather trilogy.

Requiem for a Dream

Slightly disturbing. Certainly a persuasive anti-drug movie, with several characters in the classic gradual decline. Well made, perfectly unsettling soundtrack, nice characterisation. The unsettling ending was nicely at odds with the definitive, conclusive, mostly happy endings of big movies I've seen recently.

As Martin remarked, feels rather like a Film Four movie. Also the sort of thing that it's perfect to find on at 2 in the morning (we didn't) and get into.

Interestingly Jennifer Connelly (the girl from Labyrinth) was in both movies. For some reason I didn't notice her in A Beautiful Mind, but then I am terrible with faces. Not sure if I'm getting worse...

Went to see The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen last night. A lot of fun, I enjoyed it. Although I'm told the comics are better, so now I want to read them...

Probably good that I saw the film first in any case.

Saw this last night.

It approximated my expectations.

Not in it for the plot or philosophy.

Some cool sequences.

To continue a theme. There are so many movies that I surprisingly haven't seen, so many classic films (and I don't just mean old ones) I should have watched.

I think I should try to do something about it.

The past two Sundays C4 showed Alien and Aliens, which I had never seen. I now have. I feel so much more complete, etc. They're showing Alien 3 on Thursday I think, which I naturally don't expect much from, but it's nice to see the bunch.

Is a bizarre movie.

It is outrageous, hilarious, disgusting, brilliant and terrible. I went between laughing at some choice lines, to laughing at unbelievable scenes. Did they just do that?

Tom Green's character is as stupid and flimsy as many I have hated, yet somehow he didn't piss me off much at all. The father is hilarious, and Freddie (Eddie Kaye Thomas) was perfect.

(imdb)

Saw on DVD last night.

Something resonated. It succeeded in making me very sympathetic to the main character, despite his dubious actions. Those he acts against are so terribly devoted to the unthinking unquestioning superficial moralities which sometimes seem so peculiarly American. They are indubitably more pervasive.

The frightening thing is that the school or guru are not caricatures. They could no doubt be found a thousand times over.

Plot-wise, I'm not entirely sure of the ending. To be pefectly honest I could do with watching it again.