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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
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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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Post by Marwood on Oct 3, 2023 20:44:10 GMT
Cheers, I’ve booked for Danny and the Deep Blue Sea the night before I go back so I won’t be crying myself to sleep on the flight home if I miss out on this.
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Post by Marwood on Oct 3, 2023 18:53:54 GMT
I’m staying in NYC this Christmas (although in the Lower East Side so nowhere near Broadway) and having seen Stop Making Sense last week (I’ve seen the filmed version of American Utopia but Covid put an end to actually going and seeing it), I’m extremely tempted to go and see this, the prices are reasonable compared to the other productions in the area, but I’m undecided on do I go before or after Christmas (I’ll probably go for standing/dancing if I do go, I’m not ready to keel over just yet)
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Post by Marwood on Oct 2, 2023 19:01:46 GMT
I don’t know if it’s a good arbiter of taste but it seems to be generally getting good reviews on Broadway World, I’ve gone for one of the cheap(er) seats at the side but apparently there’s a bit where you need to be sitting central to properly see it and appreciate it but with the money I saved not getting one of those seats, I’ll have a nice dinner somewhere in downtown Manhattan and not get too tearful about what I missed (I’m sure there will be spoilers galore online about what I missed, if anything)
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Post by Marwood on Oct 2, 2023 13:20:30 GMT
I’ve been a BFI member since 2012: every year they’ve told me in advance they will be taking payment of the renewal of the membership fee and a new card has arrived before the expiry date, but this year the date on the card shows it expired at the end of August but no new card has arrived, I’ve mentioned this to a couple of members of staff at BFI Southbank and they had no idea why new cards hadn’t been sent out (I’ve still had members discounts in the shop and the bar but it’s shoddy all the same) Thanks, I'll print out the email and hope I can get the discounts and whatnot with that for the time being. My new membership card finally arrived this morning, so maybe they’re making an effort to send them out following the opening of festival bookings: unfortunately, due to the train strikes on Wednesday it looks like I won’t be able to attend the screening of You Can Call Me Bill.
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Post by Marwood on Sept 29, 2023 22:16:27 GMT
Saw a screening of the remastered Stop Making Sense upstairs at the Prince Charles Cinema earlier tonight: it’s been at least 20 years since I last saw it (probably on VHS) but the quality of the sound and picture are now top notch.
As anyone who has sat upstairs at the PCC and seen a film can attest, it is cosy to say the least up there and tonight’s crowd was boisterous to say the least, plenty of people clapping and shouting at the end of each song like it was an actual concert: five or six people decided to go down the front and dance in front of the screen when Once In A Lifetime was playing (very poorly), unfortunately one gentleman had been over imbibing and tripped up trying to shake his ass and was lucky not to split his head open (making me think how does one go out of their way to get so drunk at something starting at quarter past six?), which caused the others to return sheepishly to their seats (I had refrained from applauding a film where no one even remotely connected to the film was anywhere the cinema but I had someone sat next to me who gave me a filthy look when I sat down with a beverage and sat there like he was at a funeral so I joined in the party spirit after an hour or so)
Not sure I’d say it’s the best concert film ever made but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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Post by Marwood on Sept 28, 2023 13:24:56 GMT
I only got to see him twice on stage, in Eh Joe and All That Fall, and the roles he played in them showed that the issues that caused his retirement were evident then but he was still good in both of them, I’m just sad I didn’t get to see him at his peak.
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Post by Marwood on Sept 26, 2023 14:36:04 GMT
Maybe I’ll regret it but my days of booking things well over a year in advance are over: I’ll look at availability next summer and take it from there.
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Post by Marwood on Sept 26, 2023 12:41:34 GMT
I forgot tickets had gone on sale but still managed to get a ticket right at the back of the stalls for Martin Scorceses screen talk: probably the biggest name film director I will have seen in person , I’m over the moon.
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Post by Marwood on Sept 25, 2023 13:02:07 GMT
The BFI have announced that Martin Scorcese, Greta Gerwig and Emerald Fennell will be at the festival this year, so it might not quite the wasteland (celebrity wise) that people had been expecting.
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Post by Marwood on Sept 21, 2023 21:38:53 GMT
I’ve been a BFI member since 2012: every year they’ve told me in advance they will be taking payment of the renewal of the membership fee and a new card has arrived before the expiry date, but this year the date on the card shows it expired at the end of August but no new card has arrived, I’ve mentioned this to a couple of members of staff at BFI Southbank and they had no idea why new cards hadn’t been sent out (I’ve still had members discounts in the shop and the bar but it’s shoddy all the same)
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Post by Marwood on Sept 21, 2023 12:42:21 GMT
New Order at the Ziggodome in Amsterdam on Saturday, and The Hives at Paradiso (also in Amsterdam) on Monday.
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Big Shark
Sept 20, 2023 21:04:43 GMT
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Post by Marwood on Sept 20, 2023 21:04:43 GMT
It’s not one of those dreadful, soulless films like Movie 43 or White Chicks where someone has tried to make an easy dollar thinking the general public will laugh at any old 💩, this is genuinely the most inept film I’ve ever seen (not that will convince you to see it though 😝) : he makes Ed Wood look good
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Post by Marwood on Sept 19, 2023 10:58:57 GMT
Saw a 50th anniversary screening of The Exorcist last night, introduced by Mark Kermode. In his opinion it is ‘the greatest film ever made’ and he claimed to have seen it over 100 times (although I noticed he didn’t stick around to watch it last night): this was maybe the fourth or fifth time I’ve seen it since the late 90s, it’s good (although maybe people expecting something like Halloween or Friday the 13th will be bored by it) but seeing it once every ten years or so is enough for me. I can’t understand anyone watching anything 100 times, life’s too short and there’s far too many other things to see.
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Post by Marwood on Sept 16, 2023 19:07:02 GMT
Jimmy Carr at the Fairfield Halls tonight
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Post by Marwood on Sept 15, 2023 21:17:51 GMT
Good additional casting. And subtracted casting, in that I hope Cameron Mackintosh will no longer make a cameo appearance - even on first and last night. Just watched the earlier version of the show on BBC iplayer and his early appearance.... CM could hardly make it more about himself if he stormed on and shouted "I want COLOURS OF MY LIFE", Julia McKenzie retorted "But Stephen didn't write that", and CM threw himself down on the stage wailing "I don't care! I want COLOURS OF MY LIFE anyway" before storming off shouting "Amateurs!" like Melvyn Hayes in "It Aint Half Hot Mum". Not enough love given to It Ain’t Half Hot Mum in these pages 🤣
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Big Shark
Sept 15, 2023 21:01:46 GMT
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Post by Marwood on Sept 15, 2023 21:01:46 GMT
So I saw this yesterday (it’s on at the Prince Charles Cinema for the next few days, along with more screenings of The Room, with Tommy Wiseau in attendance if you want to meet him): it’s been 20 years since The Room and seeing this, I’m thinking he has a fiendish master plan in place: how could someone take so long to make a film, only to end up with something so sh*tty it (kind of) makes The Room seem like Citizen Kane?
I don’t know where to start on this, whether it’s a cast of actors that are even worse than Tommy Wiseau, the worst CGI seen in a film since movies started using it, sound levels that dip between barely audible and deafeningly loud, editing that clips off the end of sentences, plotting where the shark appears, kills off people, disappears then characters go and have drinks and play beer pong, or the musical numbers (good Lord, Cowboys Don’t Cry deserves an Oscar nomination but it gets sung so many times it’s now locked in my brain): I could continue but that’s just a taster of this plethora of pap, I urge connoisseurs of crap to investigate if it’s playing near you.
Part of me thinks I’m going to burn in hell for telling Tommy that yes, I thought it was a good film when I went out to get some merch (it’s the kind of film you can walk out of a few times and not worry about what you’re missing) as he seems a good guy but this was off the scale diabolically bad (but still more enjoyable than a lot of major studios stuff)
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Post by Marwood on Sept 14, 2023 20:00:37 GMT
Saw Big Shark tonight at the Prince Charles Cinema, with Tommy Wiseau in attendance there for the first time since before Covid: I think it needs its own thread in an attempt to define its sh*teness, but everyone in the cinema seemed to be enjoying it, and I got to meet him and although I don’t know what dimension he has come from, he seems a decent person so I’m going to be super generous and give it 5 out of 10 (I think alcohol helped tbh)
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Post by Marwood on Sept 14, 2023 19:51:14 GMT
Saw Big Shark this evening, it is such a ‘wow’ film I think it might take a while to put my thoughts into words but Tommy Wiseau showed that The Room wasn’t a one off when it came to putting together a truly sh*te film.
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Post by Marwood on Sept 11, 2023 23:25:43 GMT
In previous years, if there’s been any guests like directors or actors, they will be introduced on stage before the film and say a few words, usually takes five to ten minutes at most but I’m not sure if there will be any of that this year due to the ongoing SAG strike (although I saw both Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard made appearances at the Venice Film Festival last week, so don’t know how that happened)
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Post by Marwood on Sept 8, 2023 20:22:13 GMT
I thought it was the party he had at Pikes in Ibiza that is the stuff of legend, with fireworks going off that could be seen from Africa 😝
I won’t start on the dwarves stories/rumours, this is a family friendly place 🤪
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