Film: Send Help

I'm back in Ireland for the weekend- a good weekend not to be in London, with Valentine's Day in the middle.. signs of which were evident throughout my departure:

• The crowd of men clustered around the card stand in WH Smith
• The extra-large queue at the airport
• As I trudged to the plane, one of the shops was playing Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights..

Today, I went to Send Help, which has Rachel McAdams suffering under a horrible boss: until the private plane on which they're travelling to a meeting crashes, and the two of them are washed up on a desert island. He's injured, and spends a couple of days unconscious - by the time he comes to, she's in charge. Heh. Very much wish fulfilment, this..

Decided to see it in Ennis - with my friend who usually meets me unavailable, I took the opportunity to put on a wash this afternoon, then headed in in the evening. By 'eck, it's cold out there.. and wet. I went early, to eat in Supermac's beforehand - it's months since I was last there, and I adore their cheeseburger. And yes, it was as delicious as ever, the piping hot chips very welcome on such a day. A short walk to the cinema then, and I could go straight in to the screen - where the lights came on at some stage, and hadn't gone off when the trailers started. I had to go tell the lady on the concession stand, and they did go off after a couple of minutes.

Speaking of trailers, I was surprised they were all for horror films - until I remembered this was directed by Sam Raimi. Well, the film starts with Rachel McAdams fulfilling every stereotype of the antithesis of your average man's dream girl - her hair is scruffy and unstyled, her outfit is frumpy, her shoes are sensible, lace-up flats. She's due a promotion to VP - her work is exemplary, and the company president promised it to her. Except then he dies, and his son takes over. She's initially excited - they flirted at the Christmas party, he's gorgeous. But it doesn't take him five minutes to appoint his buddy to the job instead, and criticise her for - of all things - her smell, apparently something that's been reported to him by unnamed others. Way to undermine someone..

As a kind of sop, he invites her on the company trip to Bangkok for a business deal, via private jet (also so she can brief his buddy on all the stuff she knows that he doesn't, but which he needs for the new job). And now Sam Raimi shows his horror chops, with a really effective plane crash sequence (not one for the nervous fliers). Most on board are killed - she and the boss are washed up on the beach of a desert island. Now, as we learn in a quick trip around her apartment at the start of the film, she's actually uniquely prepared for such an eventuality - she's into the outdoors, has tons of books on surviving in the wild, and is a fan of the TV series Survivor, a reality series where people have to survive without their usual creature comforts. He's been injured and is unconscious - so by the time he wakes up, she's built a lean-to, constructed a campfire, and located sources of food and water.

He's a thoroughly unpleasant person, remains so throughout. She's immensely competent - but wait till you see the twists and turns that the story throws at them. Oh, and Sam Raimi has a couple more opportunities to show his horror chops - not for the squeamish. So, something of a horror film indeed - with a good dollop of comedy mixed in. Very good indeed! And yes, apparently it was partly shot on location in Phuket Province, which looks suitably gorgeous.

Back in London - and will I be glad to get back to warmer weather - two more nights of Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) beckon. On Monday, at Southwark Playhouse again, and again with their now-expired PAYG discount, for Beautiful Little Fool, the story of F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, as told by their daughter. 

And on Tuesday, we're going to Bird Grove, the story of George Eliot, in Hampstead Theatre.

On Wednesday, back to Winter's Night Wonder Tales, at The Palmerston. Tickets from Eventbrite.

On Thursday, a Meetup group called LGBTQ Culture Lovers is headed to a performance of Bruckner's 8th symphony by the Philharmonia at the Royal Festival Hall. Now, I don't want to go with them - I don't swing that way - but hey, nothing to stop me going on my own! Heading to The Archduke for food beforehand.

On Friday, heading with a friend to the Menier Chocolate Factory to see Fallen Angels, by Noel Coward.

Now, next Saturday is our ex-colleagues' monthly get-together. There was talk that it might clash, but now it looks as though it won't. Phew.

Then, four nights of Meetup. On the 22nd, I'm with The Hideout again at last, for Psycho Killer (stars Malcolm McDowell).. location and time TBA, but it'll be around Leicester Square for sure.

On the 23rd, when I saw UITCS were going to Dracula, well.. showing in the Noel Coward Theatre, by the time I came to book, "cheap" seats were in short supply. There was one left in the Balcony - £50, and predictably, no legroom. There was one left in the Grand Circle - decent seat. £85. I got that one. Eating beforehand in The Salisbury, nearby.

On the 24th, I'm trying out a new Meetup group; London Music Showcase - Gigs & Drinks specifically exists to promote the Piano Smithfield bar. So I'm trying out the gig there that night - cheap tickets on TAC. I'm eating in The Old Red Cow beforehand - gee, seems you know there's a place for you if they respond immediately to your booking enquiry; if you don't hear, it's a no.

And on the 25th, back with UITCS for I'm Sorry, Prime Minister in the Apollo Shaftesbury Avenue. Eating in Bella Italia Strand for that one.

On the 26th, going to see Dara O' Briain, yay! Booked ages ago - he's in the Hammersmith Apollo.

And I'm finishing off the month with two more Meetups - on the 27th, back with La Isla Flamenco Club, ole! Back in the gold Bar in the Colab Tower for a show called Identidades.

And on the 28th, back at last with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpies for his rescheduled Southwark: Seedy and Sublime walking tour.