On the Beat

I really liked the latest James Bond movie, Skyfall. I thought it was intelligent, modern, and at the same time retro. I loved the references to previous Bonds movies - the car, Moneypenny. I thought Daniel Craig was great, Judy Dench really earned her pay, and Javier Bardem made an excellent, scary villain. And so on.

But...

( Here be ***spoilers***. If you want to keep your suspension of disbelief, don't read this. )

Just last week, I was telling a friend how much I liked Brazil, Tery Gilliam’s dystopian movie which features Robert de Niro in a cameo as a terrorist plumber (contains spoilers). It is one of my favourite films – full of splendid ideas and an amazing vision.

I have just heard that Terry Gilliam has been awarded a BAFTA fellowship, in recognition to his contribution to film.

One of my favourite scenes from a Terry Gilliam movie – actually, any movie - is the Grand Central dance scene from the Fisher King – it is just so magical.


(Edit: I thought this video was silent - but actually somehow I had managed to unplug my speakers...!)

According to Filmstalker, Eliza Dushku is producing a biographical film about the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe with her brother Nate Dushku taking the lead role.

Which sounds rather interesting.

New Year itself was spent in the big house; there were fifteen people around the table (they had 35 for Christmas – it really is the big house!).

My contribution was peeling the potatoes and carrots, which I did with my godson whilst watching what was billed “Jim Henson’s Jack & the Beanstalk”. I thought this would involve muppets and assorted things, and so I was disappointed. Also, it was very, very long – so I don’t know why I watched it to the end…

We later watched the DVD of Prince Caspian which I had couriered from Edinburgh; I thought it was much better – an awful lot better – than the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, so I was disappointed to see they won’t be making any more of the series. (Still, it wasn’t as good as my memories of reading the books thirty five years ago.)

To feed the fifteen, they roasted chicken and duck, and lots of potatoes, parsnips, cabbage, carrots and a variety of stuffings. (All of which tasted excellent, and made a wonderful base for bread sauce, which is what big meals like this are all about. Much better than stuffing!) I excelled myself by being the only person who wanted seconds… And wine, too; there was a lot of wine. The kids worked out how to take out the stoppers from party poppers and put things inside, thereby making a small handheld cannon; the wall was spattered with cranberry sauce.

We toasted the bells with champagne and flaming raisins (soaked in rum or brandy and set alight; a little dangerous, but rather nice).

It wasn’t too late a night – it was so cold that no one chose to go first footing in the village (and, let’s face it, I would probably have avoided that anyway!).

But it was a good way to start the New Year.

I’ve recently seen two movies which were about New York – more or less.
( The Dark Knight )

( Man On Wire )

I read mixed reviews about this film; I am surprised. I had been looking forward to it, and it had a lot going for it – an excellent cast, good performances, a good story, a great prequel – but it was relentlessly bad. The worst film I have seen in a long, long time.

( Spoilers. Though it would be hard to spoil such a spoilt thing. But then, if you were going to see it, you’d probably have seen it by now! )

You may have seen this ad; I saw it a couple of weeks ago in the cinema, and loved it, and it was on during the rugby world cup on British tv on Saturday.

But fiendish_cat and frankie_ecap haven't seen it.



This story in the Independent describes how it was made.

Myself, I really love the whale.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a film I had been in when I was five (and that's a mighty long time ago!).

My brother, who read that post, found a couple of pictures of the film and emailed them to me; since I barely featured in them, I wasn't going to post them, but I searched the web myself just now and I found these...

Now, I am sure those of you that have met me in real life will recognise me. I have hardly changed. Although my hair looks a little different...

The other day I was talking to a friend about my childhood, and I let out that I was almost a movie star. I actually meant to share this with you a while back, when chickenfeet2003 mentioned that all his in-laws could be found on IMDB. Thing is, I can’t be found there; unless you know where to look.

( I could have been Phil Collins! )