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Post by Marwood on Oct 29, 2023 17:51:56 GMT
James at Shepherds Bush Empire tomorrow, Daniel Kitsons Maybe A Ghost Story at Wilton’s Music Hall on Tuesday/Halloween and Frank Skinner at the Lyric on Thursday. That will probably do for the week.
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Post by Marwood on Oct 28, 2023 21:16:12 GMT
One film yesterday and two today, all at the BFI
Yesterday:
Run Lola Run must be best part of 25 years since I last saw it and to be honest, time hasn’t been kind to it, the use of music makes it seem like Tom Tykwer had watched Trainspotting far too many times and I didn’t think Franka Potente was that great a leading lady (what happened to her career?) Would probably be another 25 years before I give it another go. 6/10
Today:
The Thief of Bagdad: a precursor to the BFIs Powell & Pressburger season, I think I was probably in junior school the last time I saw it and while it might seem a bit clunky to people raised on similarly themed films from the 60s onwards, I thought it had a nice charm, with great performances from Sabu, Conrad Veidt and Rex Ingram in particular (at crying shame that the first two died so young) made it an enjoyable way to spend 100 minutes. 8/10
Donnie Darko: also 20 years or so since I saw this in a cinema and while it’s not as profound as it would like to think it is, a star making turn from Jake Gylenhaal with a solid supporting cast (I didn’t realise Seth Rogen is in it), along with a top notch soundtrack (although I’m not too keen on that cover of Mad World at the end makes it superior to the potboilers Hollywood studios released round the same time like The Butterfly Effect. 7/10
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Post by Marwood on Oct 23, 2023 9:24:06 GMT
Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell at the Coach and Horses on Sunday.
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New York
Oct 22, 2023 22:13:41 GMT
via mobile
Post by Marwood on Oct 22, 2023 22:13:41 GMT
I’m spending Christmas in New York but spending it in the Lower East Side for a change so a fair distance from the big venues in the vicinity of Broadway:I’m seeing So Here We Are the day after I arrive and Aubrey Plaza in Danny and the Deep Blue Sea at the Lucille Lortel Theatre the night before I come back but I will keep an eye out for an extra show that won’t break the bank (I am not spending a small fortune staying for NYE too) so might just make do with a visit to somewhere like the Comedy Cellar. I’ve added Appropriate at the Hayes Theater starring Elle Fanning, Sarah Paulson and Corey Stoll to my visit on Boxing Day: that is going to be it theatre wise.
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Post by Marwood on Oct 20, 2023 21:57:24 GMT
When I checked out and got a cab from The Mirage and asked about the planned work, I was told they’re not expecting any ‘major work’ to be carried out before 2027 so I think Love might run for a long time yet.
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Post by Marwood on Oct 20, 2023 18:47:58 GMT
The volcano (which is currently switched off for the upcoming Grand Prix) isn’t that big: you couldn’t build a ‘huge’ anything on the area it takes up, and why would you build one hotel directly in front of another?
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Post by Marwood on Oct 20, 2023 4:29:18 GMT
I haven’t seen any previous Cirque du Soleil shows so can’t compare them but I saw Love tonight and was impressed (I’ve been staying at The Mirage and as it will be demolished next year I don’t know what future this show has): I’m not the biggest fan of the Beatles (my dad used to love them but I’ve always preferred the Stones but I don’t think the same sort of show could be made from their singles) and there’s not really much of a logical flow to proceedings apart from ending with All You Need Is Love but I don’t think you need to be a master detective to work out it’s going to end with that by seeing the title : I don’t know if I’d want to see it again but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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Post by Marwood on Oct 19, 2023 6:55:17 GMT
As I am currently in Las Vegas, I had no intention of sitting up until 2 in the morning to see how much tickets are and what the availability was but I still managed to get a seat in row E of the stalls for £75 on the first Saturday evening - not an amazing seat according to Theatremonkey but I didn’t want to pay a fortune: hopefully not too long to find out who is in it.
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Post by Marwood on Oct 18, 2023 13:50:30 GMT
U2 at Sphere in Las Vegas tonight.
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Post by Marwood on Oct 17, 2023 19:21:36 GMT
Saw Postcard From Earth at Sphere in Las Vegas yesterday:the images are outstanding - the first five minutes or so are IMAX sized but then the camera zooms in on Earth and keeps going until it fills the whole screen (the biggest on the planet) but there is no storyline, basically it’s 50 minutes of babble about what lives on this planet and what we’ve done the world. David Attenborough has been doing the same thing much better for the last 60 years or so and on a far smaller budget. The two ‘actors’ don’t get any lines and gormlessly grin like they’re auditioning for a chewing gum advert: if Sphere bankrolls any future films to be out on here they need to find someone who will at least try to use a storyline that utilises the visual specs of the venue (I liked Pi, Requiem For A Dream and Black Swan but I’m not sure Darren Aronofsky was a great choice for director)
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Post by Marwood on Oct 15, 2023 23:25:05 GMT
I flew to Las Vegas on Friday, and watched two films on the flight: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off which I’m sure I don’t have to go into any details about, but the other one was Paint starring Owen Wilson: I’d never heard of it before and it was only seeing the picture they used to advertise it that piqued my interest (Wilson with a giant perm smoking a pipe 🤣) it’s had terrible reviews and I doubt it will get a cinema release here as it’s just so…odd: Wilson plays a painter on a local tv station who seems more than a little bit to have been inspired by Bob Ross and faces a mid life crisis when he gets competition from another painter of crap pictures (to put it kindly). Lots of it doesn’t really work but it seemed so uninterested in being box office friendly and it is likeable enough so I’ll give it 7 out of 10
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Post by Marwood on Oct 14, 2023 23:44:10 GMT
I’d want to see who is going to be in it before committing to this: I’m sure the tickets won’t be cheap.
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Post by Marwood on Oct 14, 2023 23:42:25 GMT
Penn and Teller in Las Vegas tonight.
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Post by Marwood on Oct 14, 2023 23:41:25 GMT
Katy Perry at Resorts World Theatre in Las Vegas tonight. Enjoy, I'm so jealous! Would love to see that show! My experience will continue to be via YouTube! -- Tues 10th - Sunset Boulevard Thurs 12th - Phil Wang Sat 14th - Dawn French I've never had 3 in one week in a long time! It was so, so good: the Vegas run finally ends in a few weeks time and she did mention touring it but I don’t think there is anywhere in the UK suitable to put it on: the O2 and Wembley Arena are too big and cavernous but all of the theatres (in London anyway) are too small to put on this sort of show, but there was more imagination put into this than any other concert I’ve seen in recent years: just about any show would be livened up no end by the appearance of a frog in a bikini 😄
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Post by Marwood on Oct 13, 2023 8:50:07 GMT
Katy Perry at Resorts World Theatre in Las Vegas tonight.
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Post by Marwood on Oct 12, 2023 18:56:34 GMT
Reading that article, it sounds like they are auditioning rather than having any big names already signed up: I love the film, it’s one of my favourites, if not THE favourite (it’s where I got my forum name and avatar from) but I’ll see who is in it and if it has plans for London before looking to book (I think I’ve been to Birmingham maybe twice in the space of fifty years)
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Post by Marwood on Oct 11, 2023 21:23:29 GMT
Taking a couple of pictures to remember you were there: fine, I took a couple myself that weren’t of a quality that I think is good enough to share on social media, there was one clown who spent pretty much the whole event just taking pictures and filming bits, I wonder if he was even taking in what was being said. For those that are interested, I saw on Edgar Wrights Instagram today that you can see the Scorcese q&a through his bio, BFI have said you can see it on their YouTube as well.
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Post by Marwood on Oct 11, 2023 20:45:20 GMT
Saw this tonight sitting in front row of the upper circle: my mood wasn’t helped by the p**** sitting next to me who kept fluttering a bit of paper in his face and complaining to his partner about the heat (no one else was doing the same) before it started and going ‘arrr’ and telling them exactly what a busy day they had (repeatedly) and I saw online the warning that real cigarettes would be used and after Andrew Scott lit up in the first few seconds , I could vaguely smell cigarettes at a couple of points , but within seconds someone sitting behind me commenced with coughing throughout at least the first f***ing hour of the show, why they couldn’t just have gone out and got a drink before they got thrown down to the stalls, God only knows but good heavens this was the most self indulgent thing I’ve seen in years: a variety of (mostly Irish) accents from Andrew Scott doesn’t count as a masterclass and it just seemed to go on forever (I looked at my watch after20 minutes and could tell it would be a long night), it had more goodbyes than the end of The Return Of The King and I don’t feel there was a need for a lot things in this (the singing! the piano! the vodka drinking! 🙈): I have never been more grateful I didn’t fork out for top price tickets 🤣
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Post by Marwood on Oct 11, 2023 16:56:26 GMT
Even that screenshot screams Poundland dvd 🤣
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Post by Marwood on Oct 10, 2023 15:50:39 GMT
I had forgotten the tickets went on sale today until lunchtime, and by then there were no cheap seats left on the dates I looked at, there seemed to be some variation between the top prices on certain days, and I had to pick my own seat because otherwise it just threw random crap at me but I bit the bullet and have git a second row seat for midweek in January (I’m going more for Serkis than Harrelson, I saw Harrelson in On An Average Day with Kyle McLachlan about 20 years (which was ok but not staggering from what I can remember))
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Post by Marwood on Oct 8, 2023 16:30:29 GMT
Yeah, it’s been very warm yesterday and today (don’t go overboard with skimpy shorts like some people have been doing though)
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Post by Marwood on Oct 8, 2023 10:10:10 GMT
Taking a couple of pictures to remember you were there: fine, I took a couple myself that weren’t of a quality that I think is good enough to share on social media, there was one clown who spent pretty much the whole event just taking pictures and filming bits, I wonder if he was even taking in what was being said.
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Post by Marwood on Oct 7, 2023 20:11:21 GMT
I only lasted half an hour of The Bikeriders, partly because I found Jodie Comers voice extremely aggravating, partly because what I saw had nothing to make me think I would give a monkeys about anything that would happen to any of the characters and also because I thought that with the late start, I wouldn’t get home before one in the morning if I stuck it out to the end, but I just thought the whole thing seemed cheap and shoddy.
The screen talk with Martin Scorcese today: I was sat three rows from the back and I tried to look at him from a distance rather than at the big screen but it was a shame about the number of people that spent the whole event just taking out of focus pictures from that far back (who did they think would want to see them?) but both him and Edgar Wright were on good form, I don’t know if I will get to see him in person again (in print he seems unsure himself if he will get to make another film) but I am so glad I finally got to see him in person.
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Post by Marwood on Oct 7, 2023 12:15:18 GMT
Vanya on Wednesday.
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Post by Marwood on Oct 5, 2023 21:13:07 GMT
At tonight’s London Film Festival screening of The Bikeriders at the Royal Festival Hall: Dexter Fletcher, Jamie Oliver (with Jools) and Richard Hammond (trying far too hard to look like mid 90s Al Pacino, the tool🤣): like a crap version of The Three Amigos.
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Post by Marwood on Oct 5, 2023 19:59:03 GMT
Cheers, got a bar stool for the early show on the first night (having drunk in the C&H before, I didn’t think the standard seats would be worth the extra money)
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Post by Marwood on Oct 5, 2023 19:20:39 GMT
David Fincher was at the screening of The Killer tonight (looking like Colonel Sanders, not sure what that look is about) but none of the actors were: I wasn’t that impressed with the film, it took 2 hours to basically go nowhere, not helped by a protagonist who we know nothing about that uses a long line of sitcom pseudonyms (Archibald Bunker, Felix Unger and Sam Malone, amongst others), constantly listens to The Smiths on an iPod and continually spouts inanities about empathy, preparation and the likes: not Fassbenders fault but it was hard to give a monkey about a character with next to no background who basically kills everyone he comes into contact with: I’ll be generous and give it 6 out of 10.
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New York
Oct 5, 2023 10:51:04 GMT
via mobile
Post by Marwood on Oct 5, 2023 10:51:04 GMT
I’m spending Christmas in New York but spending it in the Lower East Side for a change so a fair distance from the big venues in the vicinity of Broadway:I’m seeing So Here We Are the day after I arrive and Aubrey Plaza in Danny and the Deep Blue Sea at the Lucille Lortel Theatre the night before I come back but I will keep an eye out for an extra show that won’t break the bank (I am not spending a small fortune staying for NYE too) so might just make do with a visit to somewhere like the Comedy Cellar.
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Post by Marwood on Oct 3, 2023 21:21:00 GMT
Must admit, I saw this a few weeks ago, mainly because it was £15 for a front row seat but I didn’t find much to laugh about: never tempted to get up and walk out, probably because I was in the front row but there were no proper laughs and I was mystified at how he ended up playing a theatre this size.
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Post by Marwood on Oct 3, 2023 21:18:14 GMT
Saw Sexy Beast for the first time in twenty years or so yesterday at BFI Southbank: not sure why they felt the need to put up signs outside the screening with ‘Trigger Warning! Please note that these screenings contain scenes of strong violence’ on them (the screening was preceded by The Bull Mastiffs which was a diabolically bad load of old cobblers that put together the worst of Sleaford Mods and The Streets videos (a Daily Mail readers wet dream)): there’s not actually that much violence in the film, it was the weapons grade swearing (particularly from Sir Ben Kingsley) that should have carried the warning 😝
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