Monday, March 26, 2007

In which I discover another reason to like the Russell Brand Show

Looking through Russell Brand photos on Flickr yesterday and I realise that Trevor Lock, who is sometimes on the radio with him, is the very same Trevor who used to help wheel the Golden Grahams trolley in on This Morning With Richard Not Judy and, among various other things, be regularly mocked by Stuart Lee for having a face the wrong size for his head ("There's this band you might like... they're called the Small Faces").

This makes me happy.

Anything I can associate with This Morning With Richard Not Judy makes me happy, really. Because TMWRNJ was a fabulous program. Shambolic, barmy, occasionally brilliant, sometimes a bit crap, but always very funny. I was about 17 when it was on and to me it all seemed delightfully subversive. I mean, the Fist of Fun blokes? Doing a live Sunday morning show? What sublime insanity was this? I was constantly amazed at the stuff they got away with and part of the fun was that they seemed pretty amazed by it too. It was a very gleeful program. Sometimes, I kind of miss it.

[ mood | happy ]

Labels: lee and herring, nostalgia, of utter inconsequence, russell brand, tv

Liz wittered on at 11:03 PM | 0 comments | #

Friday, March 23, 2007

Basic Instinct 2

Sex 'n' death in London as Sharon Stone reprises the role of Catherine Tramell.

Basic Instinct 2 (Uncut Version) [2006] I'd have been happy to give this one a miss except that Mark Kermode - a critic whose opinions I always find worth listening to, even if he does hate Pirates of the Caribbean - gave it a positive review. Reasoning that it definitely had an edge over the first film, as far as I was concerned, simply by not having Michael Douglas (who I find creepy and horrible even in relatively fluffy fare like Romancing the Stone) in it and that frankly, any film that kills off Stan Collymore in its opening scene couldn't be all bad, I added it to my rental queue.

Well, it turns out that I would much rather look at David Morrissey and his nicely defined stomach muscles than Michael Douglas, so it was certainly not a difficult film in that respect. Sharon Stone clearly has a whale of a time playing Tramell as she slinks about fellating cigarettes and being all ambiguous and icily clever. I do think she's an interesting character; she comes close to veering into the misogynistic archetype of the seductive, manipulative, evil woman, but ultimately escapes it because her ambiguity means the film never judges her. We never find out whether it's her committing the murders and she doesn't receive any sort of "comeuppance". Well, there's a bit where she's nearly drowned in her jacuzzi, and she gets called some vile names, but basically she comes out of that none the worse for wear.

David Morrissey's pleasantly sculpted midriff

London looks gorgeous in this film, constructed entirely out of metal, sheets of glass and cool, classic stone, it's all sleek office buildings and elegant squares and even the seedy, neon-lit urban decay of the Soho backstreets seems chic in its grubbiness.

Basically this is the sort of film you expect to catch on BBC1 on a Saturday at some ungodly hour of the night, except with a really glossy finish, and Charlotte Rampling being classy. Ultimately silly but pretty enjoyable nonetheless.

[ mood | sleepy ]

Labels: films, london, mark kermode is always right

Liz wittered on at 11:23 PM | 0 comments | #

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Bloody Pirates!

Well, the trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean 3 is up.

Whuh?

I'd like to offer some sort of insightful commentary here but I'm currently too busy making a high-pitched squealing noise not unlike that of a kettle mid-boil.

It's sad really, the depths of fangirlishness this trilogy reduces me to. I am putty in its gunpowdery, barnacle-encrusted hands and I completely want to be Elizabeth Swann when I grow up.

Damn you, Bruckheimer! Can't you just let me have my dignity?

[ mood | bouncy ]

Labels: films, links, potc, squee, trailer

Liz wittered on at 9:47 PM | 0 comments | #

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Aargh! Dilemma!

Do I start collecting the new Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 comic or do I save my money and wait for the trade paperback, even though that'll be ages away yet?

At the moment, logic and reason seem to be winning out over fannish id and I'm leaning towards saving my money. It's been nearly four years since BtVS finished - I've waited this long for official new Joss Whedon-penned canon, I think I can hang on a bit longer.

BtVS Season 8 #1

Labels: buffy, comics, decisions decisions

Liz wittered on at 8:18 PM | 0 comments | #

Sunday, March 04, 2007

In which I am dense

So I'm waiting at a bus stop in Notting Hill Gate and two women come up and start asking me something in broken English. I think they may have been Spanish; there were a lot of "th" and "hch" sounds. Anyway, the only words I can make out are "Notting Hill" and "door" and "film".

Well, I tend to panic when english-speaking strangers talk to me let alone ones who are struggling to make themselves understood, thus my brain isn't inclined to work too well in such situations, so the only thing I can think is that they're trying to find the local cinema. I say I'm sorry but I don't know, and they thank me and go on their way.

It's not until I'm getting on a bus a few minutes later that I realise they were trying to find Hugh Grant's front door from the film Notting Hill (not that I knew where that was anyway).

God I'm slow sometimes.

For future reference, it seems the main Notting Hill locations were along Westbourne Park Road, near where it crosses Portobello Road. Although, apparently, the actual front door that appears in the film is no longer there. So, sorry possibly-spanish tourist women! I hope you found it in the end and are not still wandering around the back streets of west london, hopelessly lost in the rain.

[ mood | Silly ]