Films: Barbie & Talk to Me

(What a combination!) On Thursday, it was looking like film - what was coming up was a documentary, again in the Curzon Bloomsbury, called Iraq's Invisible Beauty. Squaring the Circle, which is higher rated, wasn't on that day. Well, until just recently, Barbie came higher-rated than what I'd planned to see! Again, the trailer looked excellent - stars Margot Robbie, with Ryan Gosling as Ken. Will Ferrell is the CEO of Mattel, which makes Barbie, and Helen Mirren narrates. Lots and lots of pink. Showing in - you guessed it - Curzon Bloomsbury - at lots of times, which should have worked well with my removal to my new flat that day. I made an executive decision to see that one. If it had to wait until evening - well, it was also on in the Barbican, which is closer to my new place.

My removal was booked with Any Van, and I paid a little extra to ensure they didn't come in the morning - I specified 12 to 6pm. The day before, as promised, they sent me a text with a more specific, two-hour window within that timeframe. Well and good, I managed to get some more packing - and dumping of rubbish - done before that slot. Now, you might guess what happened next - no sign of them within the slot. So I contacted head office to find out what was going on - I was starving, but afraid to go and get food in case they came in the meantime. They replied to say the movers would be with me just before 6. Which gave me just time to run to the shop and grab some chocolate.

The movers were in touch to say they'd be a bit late, stuck in traffic. Understandable - I waited outside for them, finishing the chocolate in the meantime. When they came, they had a strange story - had to tell me a few times, to be honest, I had such trouble getting my head around it. So - they were supposed to deliver to someone else first, and they'd like to do that before they delivered to me. He estimated that'd happen between 9 and 10pm. Huh? At first I thought he meant he was leaving again, and would be back between 9 and 10. Nope - he was going to load up my stuff, drive it all over town while he did this other delivery, and get it back to me between 9 and 10. S**t, and I'd booked for the 8.50 showing of Barbie in the Curzon Bloomsbury. Ah well.

So, they came straight up and packed up all my stuff - decided I had much more than specified on the inventory I'd filled out. (To be honest, I have no idea exactly how much I had - and it wasn't itemised for me before I had to agree to the payment.) However, reading their revised inventory afterwards, I definitely didn't have all the stuff listed on it.. £97 extra, they charged me. Well, despite the delay before they'd get back to me, it was still going to take me a while to get myself to the other place - all I had time for was a sandwich at Pret.

I had a long night waiting for them - sure enough, no sign of them by 10. I had the driver's number, so texted him, since the main office was now closed. It was 20 minutes before he got back to me to say yes, he was on his way. Got to me just before 11pm, unloaded by about 11.30. Broke my mirror in the process, had some story about dropping me round a new one during the week. Also, I now notice, seem to have broken the back of my standing fan - I don't think it will affect the operation, but I notice no mention was made of that.

Now, they worked hard - and I guess what happened was when I contacted head office, they made them collect my things before delivering the goods for the person from whom they'd just collected. Honestly, I'd have preferred if they just finished with her first! but I suppose they weren't given that option. So, the main fault here lies with head office - firstly, in giving me collection (and delivery!) timeslots that were a complete work of fiction: secondly, in overworking their removal team. That man told me - because I asked - that he'd been working since 5am - it was now 11.30pm, and he had to be back on at 6am on Friday. No wonder he dropped my mirror! Overworking staff, sending them all over town - completely irresponsible costcutting. I'll never go with that company again.

Of course, the upshot was that I didn't get to see Barbie that day. Advantage of unemployment - I went to see it on Friday before my flight. Mind you, I went to Curzon Bloomsbury because that was the closest listed on the cinema page - they didn't mention to me that I could alternatively have gone to Curzon Aldgate, which also had early showings, and is closer to where I'm now living! Never mind, I did have to go back to my old place anyway - I hadn't brought my laptop with me the night before, nor left my keys.

At the cinema, they didn't have the chocolate honeycomb bites, so my breakfast on Friday was literally a glass of wine. And at lunchtime on a weekday, I walked into an empty screen - a couple of others did join after a bit.

As the trailer says - "If you hate Barbie, this movie is for you!" They ain't lying. I thought this was so clever - every single cliché about Barbie is picked apart. (Oh, there are lots of Barbies, just like real life - one is actually played by Dua Lipa. Not that I'd have noticed. And each has her own, individual Ken. But we spend most of our time focused on Margot Robbie ("Stereotypical Barbie") and her Ken, Ryan Gosling.)

Anyway, Barbie notices that something is wrong when she starts to have thoughts of death. And then her feet go flat!! (That's a thing with Barbie, after all - she always stands on tiptoe, so she can wear heels.) And she falls off the roof of her Dreamhouse! (She can normally float off and into her car - like you never bother to walk Barbie down the steps, you just pick her up and put her in her car.) And she has cellulite! (which she has to have explained to her.) Anyway, she goes to see Weird Barbie - this is the one where you've cut off her hair and drawn all over her face. Anyway, Weird Barbie says this is something to do with whoever's playing with Barbie, who's going to have to go to the Real World to fix it..

Cue lots of (real) people making fun of the girl who always wears pink. And the CEO of Mattel throwing a fit, because of the chaos that ensued when this happened before. Meantime, she discovers that the real world is unexpectedly different - women don't rule, like they do in Barbieland. Now, Ken has stowed away in her car - and gee, he has a very different experience, learning all about the patriarchy! which comes as a delight to him, because he always played second fiddle back in Barbieland.. so you'll never guess; he sneaks back first, and kind of starts a revolution. By the time Barbie gets back, well, he and the other Kens have taken over.. will Barbieland ever be the same..?

Apparently, Ryan Gosling agreed to do the role after seeing his daughter's Ken doll face down in the mud, beside a squished lemon. So he said he'd take the part, because Ken's story must be told..

The only real criticism I've heard of it is that, when the Kens take over, they just go OTT with toxic masculinity, fulfilling loads of stereotypes - nobody is then talking about cooperation between the Barbies and Kens, each just wants control over the other. Meanwhile, the film is staking its position as a bastion of women's lib, with the real person who plays with Margot Robbie's Barbie - America Ferrera - making an impassioned speech, near the end. It's a great speech..

Ah what the hey, just go enjoy the film. It's a great film. The attention to detail is incredible - Barbieland really does look like somebody just bought a ton of Barbie merchandise and made a town out of it..

Afterwards, I headed to GBK, but they were having one of their occasional kitchen breaks, and were only doing takeaways. Happily, of course, I had the choice of Nando's, just a few steps away - and wow, what a great meal. So much better than the King's Cross branch - my wine delivered promptly, and the garlic bread not even burnt! Even though it made me late for my train to the airport, well, I always leave some leeway anyway. Plus, as usual, my flight was delayed.

Then I was back to Ireland for the weekend again. I was too tired to blog that night. Film yesterday was Talk to Me - now, this is curious, because the trailer looked really familiar, but I never actually saw the film - fair enough, but does that mean it's a re-release? The release date is last year, so it'd have to be recent. Anyway, it involves a group of friends conjuring spirits by means of an embalmed hand. Produced by A24, the SFX were apparently done by a couple of brothers famous on YouTube! Showing at a decent time in Limerick Omniplex, which is handier for shopping. And ironically, The Hideout / London Movie Club were seeing the same film in London that day! Pity I couldn't join them.

As usual, I got held up at home - waiting for the washing machine to finish its cycle. Because my mother had got tired and gone to bed, and if you stop the cycle mid-run, you can't open the door, and when you restart the machine, it restarts the cycle from the beginning. Happily, it did finish just about in time for me to get to the cinema. I was delighted by the lack of traffic in the city centre - seems, however, they were all at the cinema, which was mobbed! I had to park right around the back, and was so glad when I went in that I didn't want any snacks - there was such a crowd at the concessions! (I guess Barbenheimer is really a thing!) The film had actually started when I went in (they really can't show any ads) - but only just, and as usual, I'd booked the seat right in from the entrance. So all you have to do is turn left and walk straight ahead until you bump into it. Just as well, because you'd wait a while for any lightly lit scenes in this, which is an extremely dark film.

Figuratively and literally. As you might expect from YouTube horror-makers, the horror in this is tight, it's intense. It's a simple formula - you light a candle (to open the door), grasp the hand, say "Talk to Me" and you see a spirit. Say "I let you in", and it possesses you. Better not do that on your own - you need others there to rip the hand from your grasp within 90 seconds, after which the spirits could be hard to get rid of - the candle is extinguished at the same time (closing the door). Ah, what could go wrong..?

Excellent production values, nerve-jangling effects, satisfying conclusion (if not quite a happy ending). Scariest thing I've seen in a while - no wonder it's unusually highly rated. Highly recommended for horror fans - I'm delighted I've seen it. Again, I found too much else to do to blog until now, though.

Coming back tonight, I travelled from Liverpool Street Station to the new flat for the first time - delighted to see that most of the buses cross Tower Bridge - so scenic.

Tomorrow, with no job, I signed up for A Summer's Day in Hyde Park, with Paul and Tim's Greater London Talks and Walks. But I looked tonight, and it's promised to rain, and frankly I couldn't really be bothered. Instead, I looked on TAC, and have booked a play called Playfight, at the Seven Dials Playhouse (used to be the Tristan Bates Theatre).

On Tuesday, back with TAC for a play called The Grain Store, set in Stalinist Russia, and showing in the Mack@Mountview - yay, for once, something closer to my new place!

On Wednesday, back at last with The Horror Book Club. It's been a while since they were doing anything I was interested in - but I can hardly miss this, a meeting about The Fog by James Herbert. He remains my favourite horror writer overall, and the best descriptive writer I've ever read - to the extent that he literally changed the way I look at the world. And would you believe it, the club has, apparently, never done anything by him! This is, actually, the book that got me back into horror after an absence of years, during which I was traumatised by my reading of another of his, The Rats.. So, well, I can't miss this, can I? And I've just come across a reading of The Fog by Christopher Lee.. listened to the first part already. As someone in the group pointed out, mind you, this version is censored..

And on Thursday, I've booked with CT to see Skin, a play showing at Brockley Jack Studio Theatre - specifically chosen because it was the closest cheap show to my new place.

I'm then back to Ireland again - yes, two weekends in a row - because I need to reschedule my weekends for what's coming up.. watch this space.