Pynchon

I suppose that it is time to get back to mundane things. Lorraine said that all I care about is going to the cinema. I don't know what the problem is. I always ask her what she wants to do. I always suggest the cinema, but I am open for any good idea. She just doesn't want to do anything with me. I'll even go to see that "Pirates" crap with her, if she wants.

I never did write about "Pretty Persuasion", did I? I can remedy that now.



I thought that "Pretty Persuasion" was really good. I enjoyed it tremendously. Brilliant performance by Evan Rachel Wood, who is definitely a name for the future. (If you are interested, check out "Thirteen". She was great in that. I also heard that she was great in "Down In The Valley", but I think that I probably missed that film at the cinema, now.) She has a close up at the end, when all of the acting is with her eyes, when (I think) she realises everything she has done, how far she has degraded herself and for what. Brilliant.) What I would say, though, is that although it is a razor sharp and incisive satire, it's hard to escape the feeling that it had all been done before. I don't have the right choice of words, but "Pretty Persuasion" was like a sexed up mix of "Mean Girls", "Election" and even "To Die For". ("Pretty Persuasion" would have made a great porno, if you are into that kind of thing.) Good film. I would recommend it.

Yesterday I saw "District B13".



Remember those BBC adverts a few years ago where you had a guy waking up, leaving his bedroom via the window, jumping slowly from rooftop to rooftop, accompanied by some cool jazz? You do? Well, imagine that, done at speed, being shot at and attacked, accompanied by a rock/hip hop soundtrack. That was "District B13".

There were two Asian teenagers in the toilet after the film, having a wee (as you do). One said to the other.

"That was bogus, man!"

"Yeah, an it was French, init!"

Ah, God bless you kids and your crazy, hip slang! I think the one was saying that "District B13" was good and the other one was saying that it was surprising, as it was a French film.

Actually, "District B13" is mostly really good. "District B13" has some absolutely adrenalised action sequences and the most incredible physical stunts and they look like they were done for real. Totally gobsmacking (think "Ong-Bak") and frankly "District B13" gives any action film released this year by any of the major studios a run for their money. Criticisms? There is a clumsy and simplistic moral message to the movie (basically, scum have rights too), but it can be forgiven as it is no worse than your average Jackie Chan movie.

And yes, it is French. With subtitles. There was no French dialogue in the trailer that I saw. A cunning plot to lure in your average chav. There were a few distressed teenagers in the audience of the showing that I attended, but everybody stayed to watch the film. Culture. Chav's like it, given the chance.

Today I saw "Superman Returns".



Oh, dear... I thought that it was rubbish.

No, that is a knee jerk reaction. I thought that Brandon Routh and Kate Bosworth were fine. I thought that Kevin Spacey was better than fine. I thought that the shuttle disaster set piece was fantastic, exciting and thrilling. I thought that the film looked great and that the special effects were top notch.

But... "Superman Returns" is boring. It is slow, and even though the filmmakers labour the point about the Superman/Lois Lane backstory (when what we really want is more Lex Luthor doing bad things or Superman doing... er... super things), it is an emotional vacuum. I honestly didn't give a damn about what happened to anybody or anything in the film. Such a shame. I was really looking forward to "Superman Returns".

Oh, well. Roll on "Stormbreaker" . (Out next week, guys!)

I'm writing really badly at the moment. I know it. Go and read something else. I have things on my mind.