Film: The Fall Guy

I'm back in Ireland for the weekend. Film was The Fall Guy - an action adventure rom-com with Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt - how could you lose? Showing in Limerick Omniplex, but not at the most convenient time, so I booked with the Odeon instead - a better time, and half the price!

Arrived in good time, given that I didn't have to go via the city centre. The cinema was deserted - but to be fair, it was a warm and sunny Saturday afternoon. I grabbed an overpriced snack, and in I went - there were a few of us in the audience, although not nearly enough to fill the screen.

Well, the stars are as watchable as ever. But the romantic element of the film is really played for laughs - I just didn't get the feeling they were taking it too seriously. This is more an homage to stuntmen - I wonder whether they were basing it on the TV series of years ago, starring Lee Majors. In fact, the writer of that series, the late Glen A. Larson, is credited as a co-writer of this film. And, as you would expect, the stunts are amazing (one of which Ryan did himself, but not most). In fact, the "cannon roll" - rolling a car - actually set a world record for its number of rolls!

The director is, himself, a former stuntman - and with Ryan playing a stuntman, they wanted him to have the most authentic lingo possible, so what you hear him say in the film, as well as the "thumbs-up" gesture, is completely genuine. Yep, the stunts are spectacular - and a thriller is woven into the story, so not all the stunts are related to the film they're making. All very entertaining, though.

Tomorrow, back in London, back with Up in the Cheap Seats for Cutting the Tightrope: The Divorce of Politics from Art at the Arcola - a timely topic, with funding being cut all over. It's a collection of short plays about the question of whether artists should be political.

On Tuesday.. ooh, looking forward to this one: I'm back with CT, who have cheap tickets for an exhibition called The Art of Banksy! Runs till 8pm, entry any time. Mind you, I see Wowcher now has even cheaper tickets, grr..

On Wednesday, The London Movie Club has their May social - back in the BFI Riverfront Bar again.

And on Thursday, with CT again - and back with the Backyard Comedy Club! About time..

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