Film: Marching Powder

I have a sociable week planned - this evening, I headed to Cineworld Leicester Square with Movie Roadhouse London, to see Marching Powder, with Danny Dyer. It's a comedy about a middle-aged man refusing to act his age, getting arrested for possession of cocaine, starting fights - and all the while attempting to rekindle his relationship with his long-suffering wife. Its rating isn't great, but I have to say, the trailer looked a right laugh - made more of an impression on me than anything else showing at the moment, certainly! And the Meetup general listings said there were no group events today, imagine - they go from bad to worse! Naturally, I booked to eat in Bella Italia beforehand - was looking forward to their garlic chicken schnitzel!

I left a little later than I should have - I just had so much to catch up on, after being away! So I just missed the bus I should have got - decided on Tube instead. Queueing for the Jubilee Line, I began to regret my decision - announcements warned of delays on the line owing to an earlier "customer incident". It's always a crowded line - but I began to despair when no more than one person could squeeze on the first to arrive. Mercifully, a lot more passengers got off the second, and I was on my way. The Northern Line I had to change to was, of course, practically empty, and I made the restaurant under a minute late. To be greeted with smiles from the staff. The wine wasn't as good as some I had in Switzerland - but the garlic chicken schnitzel was unparalleled during my holiday. Yum.

By the time I made it to the cinema, the organiser was already there - and the others weren't far behind me. We reorganised the furniture to seat everyone, and chatted busily until showtime - there were six of us. We were slightly delayed going in, what with one ordering large quantities of food - but hey, we actually had the place to ourselves! As the organiser remarked, he really should start charging the cinema commission..!

Not everyone is going to enjoy this. It's littered with bad language, violence, drug use.. our main character glories in all of the above, and has a crew of friends that support him in it. A lot of football-related violence, a lot of bad decisions. The Sun apparently counted, and found "229 rude words, including 159 F-bombs and 45 C-words". But.. Danny Dyer comes across as a puppy-dog-eyed, hapless overgrown toddler, all the best of intentions, but almost incapable of resisting the standard path of drugs, drink and violence whenever the occasion presents itself. I don't watch Eastenders, but apparently it's a departure from his role in that.. but fits more with previous roles.

I thought he had marvellous screen presence - and I found the whole thing enjoyable. But yeah, you do have to hold your nose at everything they get up to. There are some fun jibes at "woke" culture, at the entitlement of the young - but the confrontations don't go anywhere, except for providing another excuse for a fight. Not a classic work then - but a fun way to spend a couple of hours. Oh, and his real-life son does actually play his son in this..

It was great to see people again. Tomorrow, back with that group and their sister group, The Hideout, for their Spring Equinox Social! At the BFI Riverfront Bar upstairs, as usual. And I'll eat in The Archduke beforehand. And despite the expense, it'll seem so cheap after Switzerland..

On Thursday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats for Son of a Bitch at Southwark Playhouse. As usual, I'm availing of their excellent-value Pay As You Go offer, £75 for five productions, no time limit..

Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend. St. Patrick's Day is on Monday, as it happens, and is a bank holiday over there - so I'm taking that day off as well while I'm at it, and will fly back a day later. For the weekend, films are provisionally looking like Mickey 17 for Saturday, a SciFi comedy about a guy who's sent to do dangerous jobs, and keeps getting killed and replicated - problems arise when two of the replicants meet each other, which isn't supposed to happen: and Last Breath for Sunday, starring Woody Harrelson in the true story of the rescue of a deep-sea diver. Both showing in the Omniplex. However, these plans could be changed depending on the rating of Black Bag, a thriller about a happily married couple of spies, Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender, whose cosy relationship is threatened when their boss, Pierce Brosnan, suspects her of treason, and asks her husband to investigate.. also stars Naomie Harris. Watch this space..