About Time – It’s Richard Curtis and Bill Nighy reunited

Richard Curtis and Bill Nighy are reunited again in new rom-com About Time. And how can that not be a good thing? Add to that the talented Domhnall Gleeson and I think we finally have another rom-com worth seeing. And the Independent and The Telegraph not slaughtering the film, I think we have something to look forward too.

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What to do in London

Bill, Bill and Priscill
First an update from the moving front:

I had planned to meet quite a lot of people tonight who wanted to have a look at the two rooms available in my current flat, but I fear that the planned tube strike from 7pm tonight might mess things up a bit. Just when I started to worry about that, my Italian landlord called, he is currently in the UK and said he was in no hurry at all to get the rooms filled. So I guess that means I will stop looking and he can sort it out himself. Which is good news – no more effort required from me then, me thinks.

My IKEA sofa bed has been sold and will be picked up on the 28th of June.

I sent 2 letters of recommendation to my new landlord for my approval (should not be a problem at all according to Angus)
I have ordered moving boxes and will start packing soon.
I need:
to find a reliable man with a van who can move the boxes to the new place on the 1st of July.
to sort out a Royal Mail auto mail redirection for my post
to quit all bills and send a change of address to a long list of companies

Moving date still set for the 1st of July which is 22 days from now. It can’t go fast enough for me.

This weekend I had my good friend over and we have been enjoying London. Here are some things that we can highly recommend:

  • Last Chance Harvey with Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. Decent chick flick rom (and a bit of com) and recommended. Out now.
  • Yeah it is still on, so we couldn’t help ourselves.
  • We visited the Camden Stables (market). I had been to Camden before but I never made it to the stables section and we liked it. They also have a very nice area where you can sit down with your coffee and get something to eat from one of the many food stalls around. We opted for a pancake with nutella/banana. Not bad we can tell you!
  • We saw Priscilla Queen of the Desert – the musical And can be short about this: go see it! It was fantastic, great music, fantastic cast and an evening full of fun. An absolute joy to watch.
  • On Sunday we went to see immensely mad, crazy, hilariously funny Bill Bailey in the Riverside Studios. He did two tryouts in London before going on tour in the rest of the UK and I laughed my socks off. He is so funny. Catch him if he comes to a place near you.
  • We also enjoyed the view from Parliament Hill (Hampstead Heath), had a coffee in the cafe with the most incapable staff on Leicester Square (All Bar One – please don’t go there they are totally rubbish), had lunch while having a nice view over the Thames in Greenwich, and checked where Lord Sandwich hung out in the National Maritime Museum (free entry).

We had a great weekend! And you?

What have you seen?

Entertainment weekly has published a list with 100 new classic movies, and it did not take long before that was turned into a meme. I could not not do this one, especially because there are so many movies I have seen on this list. So here we go, the bold ones I have seen. And feel free to copy!

1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
2. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03)
3. Titanic (1997)
4. Blue Velvet (1986)
5. Toy Story (1995)
6. Saving Private Ryan (1998 ) (Have seen bits of it, but find it too hard to watch)
7. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
8. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
9. Die Hard (1988 )
10. Moulin Rouge (2001)

90 More to go! »

Three to watch: The Waiting Room, Caramel and Gone Baby Gone

Caramel
Something as unusual as a Lebanese Rom-com. IMDB quotes it as a oriental “Sex in the City”. I wouldn’t go that far, but the 4 women who work in the hairdresser, which is the centre of the film, are as different as the SATC women, and their problems are universal. It’s a great film, it is very sweet and lovely, and there are 2 wonderful old ladies in it, and one of them, the woman called Lily, will for sure, steal your heart.
[rating:4.5/5]

It’s a very small film, but should it come to a cinema near you – go see it.

The Waiting Room
This warm hearted British rom is also not a blockbuster, but if you believe in love at first sight then you should go and see it. And if you don’t, you might after watching it. Also here lovely performances from older actors (some of the film is situated in a care home). Go see this one too.
[rating:4/5]

Gone Baby Gone
The story of this film does have some resemblance with the Madeleine McCann case which is why the release of this film got postponed for a year, and finally now it has arrived in the UK. This is one of the best films I have seen this year. I already liked Casey Affleck in the Jesse James film but in this one he has established himself as one of the most interesting American actors around. And let his brother Ben stay behind the camera, he did a great job directing this one, and to be honest, his acting skills at not something to write home about.
[rating:5/5]

Rain from my brain

Piccadilly Circus in the rain

I am struck by a severe (blog) writers block (and wondering who is interested in reading all this crap shit stuff anyway), so a couple of notes and then I am off.

When I took this picture 2 days ago (without having an umbrella at hand but not minding the rain) I focussed on the reflections on the pavement, I am annoyed now that I did manage to cut off the top of the umbrella on the left.

Some words about the Oscars:

I was very pleased to see Marion Cotillard winning the Oscar for best actress. La Vie En Rose was one of the best films I have seen in 2007 and she is to blame for that. Fantastic performance.

I was also pleased to see Juno win best Screen Play. Appreciating films like Juno with an Oscar is encouraging, Juno has been made on a low budget, and it proves that it can be done: making a great film on a low budget. Have you seen it yet?

I don’t share the hype about No Country and have not seen There Will Be Blood (not in the mood for a film like that).

Some short film reviews:

  • The Bucket List, even though a bit too Hollywoody in some places is wonderfully uplifting, despite the fate of it’s two main men. Jack Nicholson is funny. And, as you know, I love actors who can act with their eyebrow. Jack is a master.
  • I thought Jumper was crap. Hayden Christensen doesn’t have any on screen charisma, and the story was so bad I left the cinema before it was finished. Only high point in this film is Jamie Bell.
  • Be Kind Rewind. I so looked forward to this one, the trailer looked great, Jack Black is spot on for the role, and I love Mos Def. And I loved, loved, loved Michael Gondry’s The Science of Sleep. Be Kind Rewind has a great premise, and the parts where they “swede” existing films is great, but the story was messy and unfortunately I have to say that overall I didn’t like it very much.

March is going to be a train travel month. With film shoots (for work that is) planned in places like Oliver Lucas’ Shropshire (I strangely look forward to that, even though the man is a made up character in a play!) , Exeter (a visit to England’s beautiful Devon and close to south Coast at last) and Edinburgh (mmm yeah talk Scottish to me). I will try to plan the shoots in a way so I can stay over for the weekend and see bits of the country. Not the least because I desperately need a holiday as my head is on the edge of exploding.
More about this soon.

The Good Night – a rom dep and D.I.R.L: 6

Movie Maniac

OK, The Good Night

Lorenzo (owner of the now closed THE Cafe) already told me about this movie a year ago, they had shot a short sequence in his cafe. That was reason enough for me to see it. Bonus was that both Martin Freeman and Simon Pegg are in it too. Two of the funniest actors in Britain in one film. Surely that would guarantee a funny rom-com.

Surely I can be wrong about things sometimes, as this is the first Rom-Dep I have ever seen. I have never been this depressed watching a wannabe rom-com, it wasn’t funny at all and I haven’t seen any real romance either. What a crap script. What a crap movie!

And then I wonder – how the hell did it get made? Who puts money in crap like that? And than you read that it is written and directed by Jake Paltrow, which is indeed the brother of, and Gwenneth was in this film too. And I thought – shit – I wish I knew someone famous, because then I would be making my film next year.

So fully depressed I left Screen 6, and walked directly into Screen 5 where I injected myself with instant feel-goodness. Yep, find your pen and mark it up – Dan in Real Life – viewing number 6 was a fact.

I have just heard a first version of our 60 seconds film soundtrack and wow, it sounds quite cool. It needs a bit of adjusting but it is going to be a great thing to have a soundtrack tailor made for our short short.

I am in the middle of a screen writing class weekend. My script hasn’t been analyzed yet (will be tomorrow) but during the 30 minutes we had to stand outside because of a fire alarm, my tutor told me that it has moved a million miles (in the right direction) from my first version. Just hearing that is enough to keep me going with this script. That and the fact that I truly love my story.

Have a great weekend too.

Once (8.5/10) – review

Once

If you think that music is not that powerful a medium think again. I saw Once tonight, at last.

Of course I am a tragic romantic to begin with, I had no real idea what the story was about, but I already cried during the second song. There is so much beautiful beautiful music in this film, the story is nearly secondary to it. It’s about meeting someone at the right time on your path through life.

Hear and see Falling Slowly on youtube, buy some tickets for you and your (boy/girl/whatever) friend and watch the film in the cinema, the music alone will make you enjoy the film.

What I also find interesting about this film is that it has been shot in 17 days for a budget of about £75.000. That is impressive. Yes there is shaky camera work. And yes the acting is not always as sharp as we are used to. Nevertheless, I think it’s a great little film worth seeing.

Something that really amazed me while watching this film was the fact that the woman sitting in front of me was filming the film with her handheld video camera. This film is part of the Raindance Film Festival and I don’t know how stupid she thought they were in the cinema, but she got stopped filming during the film. And there was a rather large welcoming comittee waiting for her at the end of the film. How stupid can you be?

Back to music, Anton Corbijn’s Control (rave reviews all over here in the UK) is lined up for this weekend as well and thanks to Bill reading his autobiography: I am now pushed into an Eric Clapton revival too. This weekend will be filled with 2 songs. The above mentioned Falling Slowly and Eric Clapton’s If I could change the world.

I would be the sunlight in your universe
You would think my love was really something good
Baby if I could
Change the world

Oh baby, if I could.

Here’s to looking at you kid

Humphrey Bogart / Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca

I saw Casablanca 65 years after it came out, that’s pretty amazing in itself, and I liked it. It is impressive to see what they accomplished in a time where CGI and special effects were science fiction, and where films were shot in black and white. But here is proof of what a great script can do.

He is not the coolest actor on the planet (we all know who that is) but boy is Bogey cool in this one. He has the looks of a true classic film star. The same goes for Ingrid Bergman, with whom I share the first name but unfortunately not much more than that. I sometimes like to think that I am named after her, but I know that is not true either, as I am named after a bloody apple! How unsexy is that.
Anyway Casablanca is worth seeing, and it was great to see it on the big screen, so many years after.

While we are at film, I also saw Michael Clayton. There is a lot of hype around this film, but it lived up to it this time. George Clooney (still too beautiful and that is not in a I-fancy-him kind of way, because I do not) is absolutely fantastic as Michael Clayton, and Tom Wilkinson (wouldn’t mind drinking a cup of tea with him though) is always a delight. Just before you think that this is just another lawyer-action-thriller, well it is a bit deeper than that. Really worth seeing if you ask me. (8.5/10)

News from the lets-do-something-ridiculous-for-a-change front:

I wrote a letter to someone I truly admire (no he is not an actor). If I get an answer I might share it with you. Or not. Let’s see what comes out of it.

And I am busy with several things:

  • planning and developing the short short
  • I am doing a small job for a company who wants some drawings of The Girl from the postcards. So the Girl now has a sister wearing a red dress.
  • I have to send in my 30 pages on Friday, and while I do have 30 pages which I think is some sort of accomplishment, I need to do some editing before I send them off to super Sam.

I guess this means I am quite busy.

How are you doing out there? Have you seen any movies I should see lately?

The Bore Ultimatum

What is going on? Why do both the Times and the Guardian rate this (hopefully) last film in the trilogy that well? I was utterly bored! I gave it a fair chance, but I admit, having read nearly all Ludlum books, that these three were not among my favourite ones. Neither is the film.

What’s the film about? It’s about Matt Damon running around being chased by baddies. That’s about it, and that for about 2 hours long.

What annoys me the most about the whole Bourne franchise is Matt Damon himself. Here is what he has to say about Bond, James, Bond:

“Bond is an imperialist and a misogynist who kills people and laughs about it and drinks Martinis and cracks jokes.” By contrast, he added, “Bourne is a serial monogamist whose girlfriend is dead and he does nothing but think about her … he doesn’t have the support of gadgets and feels guilty about what he’s done.” (Guardian). Here is more on Bond vs. Bourne.

I only have one thing to say: it was probably a desperate attempt from Matt Damon. I mean who can compete with Daniel Craig in a Bond movie that has a lot more character development than the Bore Ultimatum, and Casino Royale was also a hell of a lot more interesting to watch. Not to say that Daniel Craig has more charisma in his left small toe nail than Matt Damon as a whole, Matt Damon has no charisma at all on screen. Sorry for the rant. The Bourne Ultimatum (6/10)

I am currently preparing for a 4 hour train trip to Carlisle somewhere in a more northern part of the UK. My iPod is charged, my silksounding Bill books are waiting for a re-read, and it is also stuffed with music that is going to make my train journey great. My script is in my bag as well, you never know when inspiration strikes you.

We are going to shoot some film on a depot where they transport nuclear waste. That will light up my day. It might light up me as well. In several ways. Not that my day needed lighting up more, it was turned into a very bright one already very very early in the morning. I haven’t slept much because of it, and maybe I will tell you why at some point. Or not. It all depends. On if dire chance and fateful cockup will have it.

Trains and movies and writing

Brief Encounter
Oh, the agony of saying goodbye …

I wish I could write about adventurous stuff I have done today but I haven’t done any! I spent the whole day finishing off my applications. I am going to apply for 2 different schools (betting on 2 horses seems clever). It’s amazing how much paperwork it actually is, apart from all the other stuff you have to deliver (film review, film script, story outline for the film you want to write etc.) I have reread everything several times now, have done a triple spell check and I am going to post it tomorrow. I will personally deliver the one that needs to be in latest on Tuesday, as I don’t want to have my future depending on Royal Mail not delivering on time.
Those days off are taking more energy than a normal day at the office!

So all I can come up with for today is two films with trains in it.
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