This is a film about being a teenager in Wales during the 1980's, so how someone like me can possibly relate to this I can't imagine:
The protagonist, Oliver Tate, falls in love with pyromaniac, while simultaneously trying to save his parents marriage. It's all a bit surreal and I don't remember that much swearing, but Tate's monologue sounds familiar. Plus it's got quotes like:
"Her lips tasted of milk, Polo mints and Dunhill International"
I can't see everyone liking it, but I do. And it did feel a bit like that.
Tuesday 27 December 2011
Boxing Day - Green Lantern and The Station Agent
First up is The Green Lantern:
This is a DC character, one I vaguely remember, but wasn't that impressed by at the time. Here it's been done very well, although the plot, and the villain along with it, aren't particularly brilliant. Plus DC don't have Marvel's Avengers as a movie franchise to tie all the different heroes together, or Stan Lee to do his Hitchcock thing in every movie. Shame really because the DC heroes were always more iconic than Marvel. All in all, not a bad pizza movie.
Second is The Station Agent:
This was on a few weeks ago, which I missed and, based on Mr. Glitz's recommendation, rented on DVD to see what it was like. It's a drama-without-drama, or melodrama, and not really a comedy, but is nice viewing. Dinklage is quite good, and the supporting cast is good quality. Worth a watch.
This is a DC character, one I vaguely remember, but wasn't that impressed by at the time. Here it's been done very well, although the plot, and the villain along with it, aren't particularly brilliant. Plus DC don't have Marvel's Avengers as a movie franchise to tie all the different heroes together, or Stan Lee to do his Hitchcock thing in every movie. Shame really because the DC heroes were always more iconic than Marvel. All in all, not a bad pizza movie.
Second is The Station Agent:
This was on a few weeks ago, which I missed and, based on Mr. Glitz's recommendation, rented on DVD to see what it was like. It's a drama-without-drama, or melodrama, and not really a comedy, but is nice viewing. Dinklage is quite good, and the supporting cast is good quality. Worth a watch.
Sunday 25 December 2011
Thursday 22 December 2011
Why We Fight
This film concerns the effect of the military industry on American Foreign and Domestic policy.
Having been part of this for nearly ten years, half of that in the cold war, it has a certain resonance. I've always felt that we were becoming more militarised as a society, more de-sensitised to increasingly imperialistic foreign adventures.
The singing, though, is teeth-grindingly awful.
Having been part of this for nearly ten years, half of that in the cold war, it has a certain resonance. I've always felt that we were becoming more militarised as a society, more de-sensitised to increasingly imperialistic foreign adventures.
The singing, though, is teeth-grindingly awful.
Sunday 18 December 2011
Streaming LoveFilm
I'm currently watching The Ghost, via my subscription to LoveFilm.
I'm streaming it, not through the laptop, but on the TV through the new digital box I bought last weekend. It does have a tendency to drop the connection occationally (the box has wi-fi), so it's not ideal, but not bad.
As for the movie, well, it was okay. The acting was top notch but you could see the plot coming a mile away. Le Carre this isn't.
I'm streaming it, not through the laptop, but on the TV through the new digital box I bought last weekend. It does have a tendency to drop the connection occationally (the box has wi-fi), so it's not ideal, but not bad.
As for the movie, well, it was okay. The acting was top notch but you could see the plot coming a mile away. Le Carre this isn't.
Monday 12 December 2011
The (Second) Long Weekend - Movies, RPGs and Luck
The second long weekend started, as the other, with movies. I finished watching Pandorum:
Not bad, but I've never been over-enamoured of horror/sci-fi. Whether it's just natural squeamishness or my rather Utopian view of the future, I don't know. I think Mr. Glitz might like it as a good pizza movie, but it wasn't to my taste. Dennis Quaid was in it, though, so it wasn't a bad movie and he is better than Nicolas Cage.
Next up was Inside Job:
Not a heist movie in the precise meaning of the word, but no bank robber ever got away with billions like these guys have. Thanks to this movie, I now know what CDSs and CDOs are and why the executives at Goldman Sachs are being asked awkward questions by the U.S. Congress (but not by the British Parliament it seems. Funny, that).
A Day Out in Northfields
I decided to go to the Shadow Warriors Role Playing Game club meeting in West London, which is the only one I know of that play on a Sunday. It took quite a while to get there from BasVegas, well over two hours, and I forgot my dice (the height of embarrassment: I had to borrow two D10's and a D6! Me!). We played a D&D type game of the GM's devising called UnBound (link is to a PDF). The people were very pleasant, mostly blokes with two women, one an American, who crocheted a lot, which seems to be in vogue. It was an entertaining few hours, if a little slow at times: six players is about the limit.
Luck
A new TV series has started in the States which seems to be a cut above the norm:
I won £75 at a dog track a few years ago, so I've got a bit of interest in this, plus it has Nick Nolte in it who is always worth the money. I look forward to it over here soon.
Not bad, but I've never been over-enamoured of horror/sci-fi. Whether it's just natural squeamishness or my rather Utopian view of the future, I don't know. I think Mr. Glitz might like it as a good pizza movie, but it wasn't to my taste. Dennis Quaid was in it, though, so it wasn't a bad movie and he is better than Nicolas Cage.
Next up was Inside Job:
Not a heist movie in the precise meaning of the word, but no bank robber ever got away with billions like these guys have. Thanks to this movie, I now know what CDSs and CDOs are and why the executives at Goldman Sachs are being asked awkward questions by the U.S. Congress (but not by the British Parliament it seems. Funny, that).
A Day Out in Northfields
I decided to go to the Shadow Warriors Role Playing Game club meeting in West London, which is the only one I know of that play on a Sunday. It took quite a while to get there from BasVegas, well over two hours, and I forgot my dice (the height of embarrassment: I had to borrow two D10's and a D6! Me!). We played a D&D type game of the GM's devising called UnBound (link is to a PDF). The people were very pleasant, mostly blokes with two women, one an American, who crocheted a lot, which seems to be in vogue. It was an entertaining few hours, if a little slow at times: six players is about the limit.
Luck
A new TV series has started in the States which seems to be a cut above the norm:
I won £75 at a dog track a few years ago, so I've got a bit of interest in this, plus it has Nick Nolte in it who is always worth the money. I look forward to it over here soon.
Saturday 10 December 2011
White Winter
The first frosts of Winter have arrived here at Chez Lemon and this has put me in mind of one of my favourite songs at the moment:
Saturday 3 December 2011
Adventures in Android Programming
Someone I know recently bought themselves an Android phone. This reminded me that I managed to get an early Beta of the AppInventor from Google which allows you to program the phones using a really easy user interface, so I decided to build them a simple app (they have a cat, so the app plays a purring sound or meowing sound when they click on the picture).
The AppInventor is web based but involves using a Java WebApp and an emulator, which you have to download. The designer is relatively straightforward, but it's the blocks editor which is the great bit for the programmer. Look at this:
It even clicks when you place the components. How cool is that. It's like Lego for programmers, not that most programmers don't already have Lego.
The AppInventor is web based but involves using a Java WebApp and an emulator, which you have to download. The designer is relatively straightforward, but it's the blocks editor which is the great bit for the programmer. Look at this:
It even clicks when you place the components. How cool is that. It's like Lego for programmers, not that most programmers don't already have Lego.
Friday 2 December 2011
Clash of the Titans!
Except that the Titans weren't in it. It was Greek Gods (and heroes) and not Titans, see.
When I was a kid I was given a book written by Roger Lancelyn Green, "Tales of the Greek Heroes" (still in print). It was full of stories about Hercules, Jason and The Argonaughts, Theseus and the Minotaur. Clash of the Titans is about Perseus, Andromeda, the Kraken and the Gorgon, Medusa:
It's a pretty good pizza movie, although the acting isn't brilliant, but, although it's not as much fun as Ray Harryhausen's work, it is true to the spirit of the greek legends. No fighting skeletons, though:
When I was a kid I was given a book written by Roger Lancelyn Green, "Tales of the Greek Heroes" (still in print). It was full of stories about Hercules, Jason and The Argonaughts, Theseus and the Minotaur. Clash of the Titans is about Perseus, Andromeda, the Kraken and the Gorgon, Medusa:
It's a pretty good pizza movie, although the acting isn't brilliant, but, although it's not as much fun as Ray Harryhausen's work, it is true to the spirit of the greek legends. No fighting skeletons, though:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)