London Still Rocks!

So, this evening's film was King Richard , which I hadn't seen - Will Smith plays Richard Williams , the driven father of Venus and Serena , the tennis champions. So - yes, he's driven: to the extent that we have no idea why he does some of the things he does. Having said that, neither does his long-suffering wife , nor do his star daughters. It's unfortunately a film with little payback - you spend the whole (155 min) film being annoyed at him, as he ignores the advice of the professionals: and while, by the end, people are saying how great Venus is (we're not seeing Serena's abilities yet), when she finally gets to play a proper match - she loses. And that's the end of the film. We have to content ourselves with screens explaining how wonderful the girls' subsequent achievements were! OK, we see how, laudably, he kept his daughters away from drugs and street violence, how he made sure they focused on what was important, didn't miss school or chur...

The late-night film fest continues - tonight, it was a horror film: Hillwalkers . I'd never heard of it, but I'll always give a horror film a shot - and it didn't clash with anything else. It's Irish, as it turns out - a group of obvious city slickers go hillwalking, in the fog, somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Somewhere called "Glenkill", for goodness' sake. Ugh, too obvious. The prologue shows someone in evening dress (?!) trying to escape, across the moor, from someone wearing a mask and carrying a gun, clearly intending no good. When the story proper starts, we see our protagonists leave their car and head off across what looks like the same moor. Soon, one of them has an accident and they have to look for help - unfortunately, the constant rain has rendered their return route too boggy, and the alternative route they find turns out to be through a forest on private property. With barbed wire, and signs with animal skulls attached, warning that ...

Wow, tv is improving - tonight they had Borat Subsequent Moviefilm ! Being a sequel, which I hadn't seen, to the original Borat , which I had. So, well, that was a must-see then! I suppose there's no need to add a disclaimer about all the things that might offend viewers - can anyone be unaware of the inflammatory actions of Sacha Baron Cohen , who plays the title character? Umm, apparently, given all the people that seem to be fooled in this sequel. For the record, the film includes, or mentions, in no particular order: arranged marriage, child marriage, cosmetic surgery, menstruation, antisemitism, sexism, pornography, sexually explicit language, masturbation, Democrat -bashing, general scoffing at Kazakhstan  (where, of course, Borat is supposed to be from), and the pro-life movement. Real-life personalities appearing, or mentioned, include Trump , Rudy Giuliani , and, in a cute note near the end of the film, Kevin Spacey . Ah, where do I start? Sadly, I missed the bit (but ...

Well, it's taken this long to find another film on tv that I wanted to watch! Even at that, I only saw half of Papillon (Butterfly) (1973) - an excellent Bruce Springsteen concert on another channel cut into it - but I think I saw enough to make a reasonable judgement. And by the way, the concert was worth it - I recognised not a single number until the cover versions in the encores, but he's always fantastic live. So, Papillon is based on the life story of a Frenchman in the 30s, nicknamed "papillon" (butterfly) because of the butterfly tattooed on his chest, who is imprisoned in a prison in French Guiana for a crime he is adamant he didn't commit. Now, it's based on his book, which apparently doesn't tally with the official account - it's thought he drew inspiration for his repeated escape attempts from other prisoners' tales. But, as they say, why let the truth get in the way of a good story.. anyway, he's played by Steve McQueen , and...

Today seems to be the start of the holiday as far as TV is concerned - all week, it's been serious programming: but today saw the first carol service, and the schedule even fuller with films than it had been all week. Including, finally, two that I actually hadn't seen and wanted to watch! At lunchtime was Torn Curtain , made in 1966 and starring Paul Newman as a double agent, with Julie Andrews as his fiancee. I knew nothing else about it, but with nothing much else on the other channels, I thought I'd give it a try. So, the basic story is that he pretends to defect to East Germany to grab a scientific formula to bring back to the West - I missed the beginning, but what seems to hinder him is when she shows up, apparently having followed him over to find out what on earth is going on! Frankly, she looks quite incongruous, and I did wonder on occasion what her function in the film was - although, I have to say, she was unexpectedly calm about everything, waiting for him ...

Now in Ireland for Christmas and yay, there was a film on I could see!  Queer , with  Daniel Craig , also featuring  Jason Schwartzman , and directed by  Luca Guadagnino , is showing in the  Omniplex  - I booked to see it today. Based on the  novella  by  William S. Burroughs , it looked really interesting. They're tipping Daniel Craig for the   Oscar   for it. And I could do some required shopping. Wow. Limerick with light traffic. Of course, it was a work day - just because I'm off doesn't mean everyone is! and the schools aren't off yet, as I could see passing my old primary school , where they were obviously out for their lunch break. So gee, I arrived at the cinema 15 minutes early! I was a little worried about the traffic into the shopping centre it's located in, but it didn't take long at all to get parked - what a welcome change from coming here at a weekend. I had time to grab some chocolate , and still made the film befor...

Yesterday - the Christmas social with Ivan, James, and Martin, who couldn't make it on the 30th! Unfortunately,  The Approach Tavern , which has become our regular in the area , couldn't accommodate us indoors in the evening, so I booked  The Bethnal Green Tavern .. I got an email confirming our table until 8pm. Ivan stepped up and booked   The Florist Arms , nearby, for later.. You know, it's only half an hour by bus from me. Except for delays, of course - and so it was that I was a bit late. Happily, the ever-reliable James made it dead on time, to secure the booking. As I walked the last bit, I was a bit confused - I couldn't see a sign for it anywhere! Turned out they're currently lacking a sign - thank goodness for Google Maps , which indicated exactly where it was. Anyway, James sent a photo of where he was sitting - which was just as well, as he has a new hat, and was sitting with his back to me, and I really wasn't sure it was him..! It's a simple i...

Yesterday, I headed with  London Social Detours  to a talk on " Painting the Christmas Story " - a history of paintings of the nativity - at the  Wallace Collection . Which got me up a lot earlier than I otherwise would, uhh.. and, well, I could have taken buses, but frankly, I'd have had to be up earlier.. sleep being a priority, I took the Tube . Which actually made more sense, as we were meeting at a Tube station ! I even took a bus to London Bridge to catch the Tube, figuring it'd be faster than walking. But what with waiting for the bus, and waiting for the Tube.. I realised I'd be a little late. Happily, our organiser had provided her phone number, and reception was OK in London Bridge station, so I could let her know - and when I arrived, the group was stood outside, waiting for a few more people. It was a short enough walk to the Wallace Collection - which, on top of its regular treasures, was beautifully decorated for Christmas! The talk was in the lect...

Tonight, storyteller  Nell Phoenix  - who has a newsletter I've signed up to - advertised a  night of storytelling at Torriano Avenue ! Right, that was me sorted.. except the work I said I'd get done on this, my last day of work before the holidays, didn't get finished. So I stayed a little later than I otherwise would've - but when I saw that the person who had asked me to let her know how far I'd got before I left had logged off without chasing me, I decided to head off, do it later. It's waiting for me when I finish the blog.. uhh.. This turned out to be far enough away that I needed the Tube . I could have walked to London Bridge - but when I saw that a bus going that way was due, I took that instead. Not actually sure that it wouldn't have been faster to walk.. anyway, I'd had a look at where to eat, and the winner was Nando's Kentish Town . T here's a direct line to Camden Town  - again, pleasantly uncrowded, and Google Maps was good eno...