Thursday, February 01, 2007
I am having problems. I do not have any words in my head at all. Everything is coming out stilted and forced and pretentious. I am incoherent (oh, yes I am) and I cannot explain myself very well. I don't feel I can write anything intelligent about any of the movies I have seen recently. If that continues I may as well stop the blog straight away.
I promised a quick write up of "Venus" that I saw last Sunday. I will be brief.
I thought that "Venus" was very good. I enjoyed it a lot. It starts off as broad comedy (think Old Men Behaving Badly) and becomes something much deeper and richer as it progresses.
Peter O'Toole plays a version of himself that never became a famous and lauded actor. He's an old man, in ill health, scraping a living playing minor parts on TV. He banters with old friends Leslie Phillips (who is brilliant) and Richard Griffiths. O'Toole is lively, caustic and still interested in the opposite sex, even if they are not interested in him. He is alive!
Into his life comes a teenage girl, played by Jodie Whittaker. She is the Niece of the Leslie Phillips character. Withdrawn, childlike, selfish, coarse and (hey!) vile. O'Toole falls in lust with her and pursues her - slowly. He's an old man. She doesn't want to know, but they become friends.
Things happen...
I am not at all surprised that Peter O'Toole snagged an Oscar nomination for "Venus". He might even win. On the night it will all be down to the sentimental vote of the Academy. 8 nominations in 44 years and no win? I wouldn't bet against Peter O'Toole, even though he is up against Forrest Whitaker who has won a fair few of the Best Actor awards over the past couple of months.
I must say a word or two about Jodie Whittaker, who has hardly been mentioned in any of the reviews. She is good. She grows and changes and matures as the film goes on. By the end she is a different person. It's a really great performance.
How was that? Better write up than "The Fountain" ? Maybe it was.
Earlier this week I attended a staff conference and I picked up a 5 year service award. I had told Lorraine that I might go up onto the stage as if I had won the Brit award for Best Single (you know, acting the goat), but she said that The Company would love it if I made a song and dance about it, and so I backed down. I did satisfy myself by giving it some Derek Smalls (fist punching the air in triumph) when they were taking the photo. Lorraine scowled at me. I could see her from the stage.
I consider the award a badge of shame. A testament to my own lethargy, immobility, stagnation and lack of motivation over the last half decade. In the car, on the way back to the office, I tried to open the window and chuck the rotten thing out, but Lorraine wrestled it off me. She said that I was being, and I quote, "A fucking child". Ah, she does knows me.
I want to write a bit about the staff conference, but not now. Some of what went on was hilarious. Well, it was to me.
Next post. I promise.
I promised a quick write up of "Venus" that I saw last Sunday. I will be brief.
I thought that "Venus" was very good. I enjoyed it a lot. It starts off as broad comedy (think Old Men Behaving Badly) and becomes something much deeper and richer as it progresses.
Peter O'Toole plays a version of himself that never became a famous and lauded actor. He's an old man, in ill health, scraping a living playing minor parts on TV. He banters with old friends Leslie Phillips (who is brilliant) and Richard Griffiths. O'Toole is lively, caustic and still interested in the opposite sex, even if they are not interested in him. He is alive!
Into his life comes a teenage girl, played by Jodie Whittaker. She is the Niece of the Leslie Phillips character. Withdrawn, childlike, selfish, coarse and (hey!) vile. O'Toole falls in lust with her and pursues her - slowly. He's an old man. She doesn't want to know, but they become friends.
Things happen...
I am not at all surprised that Peter O'Toole snagged an Oscar nomination for "Venus". He might even win. On the night it will all be down to the sentimental vote of the Academy. 8 nominations in 44 years and no win? I wouldn't bet against Peter O'Toole, even though he is up against Forrest Whitaker who has won a fair few of the Best Actor awards over the past couple of months.
I must say a word or two about Jodie Whittaker, who has hardly been mentioned in any of the reviews. She is good. She grows and changes and matures as the film goes on. By the end she is a different person. It's a really great performance.
How was that? Better write up than "The Fountain" ? Maybe it was.
Earlier this week I attended a staff conference and I picked up a 5 year service award. I had told Lorraine that I might go up onto the stage as if I had won the Brit award for Best Single (you know, acting the goat), but she said that The Company would love it if I made a song and dance about it, and so I backed down. I did satisfy myself by giving it some Derek Smalls (fist punching the air in triumph) when they were taking the photo. Lorraine scowled at me. I could see her from the stage.
I consider the award a badge of shame. A testament to my own lethargy, immobility, stagnation and lack of motivation over the last half decade. In the car, on the way back to the office, I tried to open the window and chuck the rotten thing out, but Lorraine wrestled it off me. She said that I was being, and I quote, "A fucking child". Ah, she does knows me.
I want to write a bit about the staff conference, but not now. Some of what went on was hilarious. Well, it was to me.
Next post. I promise.
# posted by Pynchon @ 10:33 pm 
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