Thursday, April 05, 2007
It's Thursday evening and I am about to write about things that I went to see last Saturday and Sunday. This is not organised. I'm not too sure where the week went to.
Saturday evening we went to see Mark Little in the one man play "Defending The Caveman" at the Alexander Theatre.
It's a comedy lecture about the differences between the sexes, and about how those differences cause men (and women, hah!) all sorts of problems. Nothing really all that radical in the play (basically men and women are different species and will never understand each other), but it was still really, really funny. Packed theatre as well, which was good to see.
Lorraine and I have Mark Little onstage twice before. The first time was years ago at the Midlands Art Centre when he was doing stand up comedy. The second time was when he played Leigh Bowery in the touring version of the Boy George musical "Taboo" at the Birmingham Hippodrome. Totally different productions, but both times he was excellent.
If all you know him for is as Joe Mangel in "Neighbours", or as the guy who replaced Chris Evans on "The Big Breakfast", don't be put off. Mark Little is a brilliant and effortless stage performer. Very enthusiastic, very energetic, very funny. He is a brilliant ad libber and "Defending The Caveman" allowed plenty of opportunity for that.
As of today's date the tour still has 6 dates to go. Well worth a trip to the theatre. A good night out.
On Sunday I went to see "The Good German".
I was going to say that "The Good German" is very much a curio for the director Steven Soderbergh, but to say that would have been utter nonsense because his entire career has been varied, unpredictable and contrary. And mostly good.
"The Good German" is a WWII thriller/melodrama with a twist in that it is shot in nearly exactly the same style as a film made in the 1940's. (I say nearly exactly, because the sex, violence and language would definitely have been nixed by the movie guardians at the time.) So, you get beautiful black and white photography, an overblown strings and horn soundtrack, typical, almost clunky stock footage of the Berlin of the time, back projection when characters are travelling in cars, etc.
... And it looks absolutely wonderful. A real triumph of the cinematographer's art. It really looks like a movie transported from the 1940's. It was a stroke of genius casting George Clooney and Cate Blanchett because Clooney looks like a 40's matinee idol and Blanchett looks like a 40's femme fatale. Strong performances by them both, as well as Tobey Maguire who is truly sneaky and loathsome (think Robert Walker in "Strangers On A Train").
But... "The Good German" is not an engaging film. Boring? No, maybe that's not the right word, but it didn't grab me. Maybe it was because, except for the Barman, there was not one sympathetic character in the entire movie. Blanchett's character is so cold, so distant, so aloof, that I couldn't get a handle on why Clooney's character was so obsessed with her. If there had been hints of warmth under that exterior I would have felt differently.
After several weeks I have finally finished "The Dark Tower V: Wolves Of The Calla" by Stephen King.
I have mixed feelings about it. Some of it is so brilliant that it burns like the sun. Other bits, well, go on a bit. The one thing you can never accuse Stephen King recently of is brevity. I did feel as though a shorter book might have been more effective. Good yarn, though. I will probably start "The Dark Tower VI: Song Of Susannah" in a couple of months.
Next up, "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser. I've been wanting to read it for ages. I heard recently that the Richard Linklater movie adaptation is out in this country next month, so it's the right time to start it.
Mark has left me some questions to answer. Difficult questions, truth be told. I need to consider my answers.
"Shallow Grave" is on in 30 minutes or so. I haven't watched that in years. A nice bit of Danny Boyle to set me up for "Sunshine" tomorrow.
Have a nice Easter, people.
Saturday evening we went to see Mark Little in the one man play "Defending The Caveman" at the Alexander Theatre.
It's a comedy lecture about the differences between the sexes, and about how those differences cause men (and women, hah!) all sorts of problems. Nothing really all that radical in the play (basically men and women are different species and will never understand each other), but it was still really, really funny. Packed theatre as well, which was good to see.
Lorraine and I have Mark Little onstage twice before. The first time was years ago at the Midlands Art Centre when he was doing stand up comedy. The second time was when he played Leigh Bowery in the touring version of the Boy George musical "Taboo" at the Birmingham Hippodrome. Totally different productions, but both times he was excellent.
If all you know him for is as Joe Mangel in "Neighbours", or as the guy who replaced Chris Evans on "The Big Breakfast", don't be put off. Mark Little is a brilliant and effortless stage performer. Very enthusiastic, very energetic, very funny. He is a brilliant ad libber and "Defending The Caveman" allowed plenty of opportunity for that.
As of today's date the tour still has 6 dates to go. Well worth a trip to the theatre. A good night out.
On Sunday I went to see "The Good German".
I was going to say that "The Good German" is very much a curio for the director Steven Soderbergh, but to say that would have been utter nonsense because his entire career has been varied, unpredictable and contrary. And mostly good.
"The Good German" is a WWII thriller/melodrama with a twist in that it is shot in nearly exactly the same style as a film made in the 1940's. (I say nearly exactly, because the sex, violence and language would definitely have been nixed by the movie guardians at the time.) So, you get beautiful black and white photography, an overblown strings and horn soundtrack, typical, almost clunky stock footage of the Berlin of the time, back projection when characters are travelling in cars, etc.
... And it looks absolutely wonderful. A real triumph of the cinematographer's art. It really looks like a movie transported from the 1940's. It was a stroke of genius casting George Clooney and Cate Blanchett because Clooney looks like a 40's matinee idol and Blanchett looks like a 40's femme fatale. Strong performances by them both, as well as Tobey Maguire who is truly sneaky and loathsome (think Robert Walker in "Strangers On A Train").
But... "The Good German" is not an engaging film. Boring? No, maybe that's not the right word, but it didn't grab me. Maybe it was because, except for the Barman, there was not one sympathetic character in the entire movie. Blanchett's character is so cold, so distant, so aloof, that I couldn't get a handle on why Clooney's character was so obsessed with her. If there had been hints of warmth under that exterior I would have felt differently.
After several weeks I have finally finished "The Dark Tower V: Wolves Of The Calla" by Stephen King.
I have mixed feelings about it. Some of it is so brilliant that it burns like the sun. Other bits, well, go on a bit. The one thing you can never accuse Stephen King recently of is brevity. I did feel as though a shorter book might have been more effective. Good yarn, though. I will probably start "The Dark Tower VI: Song Of Susannah" in a couple of months.
Next up, "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser. I've been wanting to read it for ages. I heard recently that the Richard Linklater movie adaptation is out in this country next month, so it's the right time to start it.
Mark has left me some questions to answer. Difficult questions, truth be told. I need to consider my answers.
"Shallow Grave" is on in 30 minutes or so. I haven't watched that in years. A nice bit of Danny Boyle to set me up for "Sunshine" tomorrow.
Have a nice Easter, people.
# posted by Pynchon @ 9:05 pm 
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It was disappointing to hear that "The Good German" was boring. I've been wanting to see the film as I really liked the book which I read a few years ago.
Having read most of "Fast Food Nation" until I had to return it (as it was overdue to the library), I can't imagine it being made into a film. It's been at our video rental store for a while now, but I haven't rented it. I really should do, as I liked "Supersize Me"... which prompted me to read Fast Food Nation to begin with.
Having read most of "Fast Food Nation" until I had to return it (as it was overdue to the library), I can't imagine it being made into a film. It's been at our video rental store for a while now, but I haven't rented it. I really should do, as I liked "Supersize Me"... which prompted me to read Fast Food Nation to begin with.
Well damn. I had been waiting to read your review on The Good German to see if I wanted to catch it or not. I am a bit torn now. I am a big fan of B&W movies but I prefer the movie to actually be good. Give me a good William Powell/Myrna Loy movie any day. Maybe I'll wait until Good German hits the video store.
No, no, no, ladies. You must take no notice of me whatsoever with regard to "The Good German". It's only my opinion and, frankly, that should count for nothing.
I noticed "Shallow Grave" has been on cable lately. I always liked that movie, although part of me was just lusting after their apartment (Ewan McGregor is just an added bonus.) My other favorite black comedy is "The Last Supper" with Cameron Diaz, Ron Eldard, and Courtney Vance. Great film to drink wine to...
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