Tina, Helgi and Alice

The first Christmas that I moved to Brighton I treated my mum and sister to tickets to see the 80's legends A-ha in concert at the Brighton Center. We'd all been fans of theirs for a long time and never been fortunate or flushed enough to see them live before. I remember being close to bankruptcy that year due to the expense of the move and spending the first month in Brighton without a job, essentially meaning it was 2 months before I actually earned anything. I honestly don't know what I'd have done without my then housemate and still best friend to help me through that time. When I say 'help me through' I mean financially and emotionally. 

I'd been dumped by my boyfriend the year before (in fact he was instrumental in my decision to move to Brighton), and continued to work at the same place as him for the year that followed. I was being tortured every minute of the day that I spent there. I maintain even now that I loved him, although he didn't believe this. He went on a boys holiday a few months into our relationship and cheated on me while he was away. I knew this from the way he acted around me from the moment he got back. Any guys reading this might think that's dumb, "how can you know he'd cheated on you?" etc, I can't really explain it. I just knew. To add to my crazy thoughts of infidelity I should point out that he never confirmed this to me. Instead of telling me why he'd suddenly gone weird and working through this, he dumped me, by work email. Citing many other reasons for his lack of wanting a relationship with me. He eventually confessed all to my aforementioned best friend by email to clear his guilty conscience.  

I won't dwell on the loser who didn't have the decency to end our relationship face to face (or even in private which would have been nice). For anyone who hasn't been dumped over work email I'll just say that it's degrading and humiliating and not something you ever forget. So even if I could forgive the infidelity, I would never forgive him for being a complete coward that day.

But as I said, I won't dwell, this is not a story about him. It's just a story that's veered off the path somewhat. Not unlike my other stories. My mind wanders you see, it's an admitted flaw of mine. 

Back to A-ha at the Brighton Center, Christmas 2005. 

We took our seats and awaited the dreadful support. I didn't know who it was. It's not that I'd not heard of them, I literally didn't know because I hadn't checked who the support was. I wasn't a very frequent concert goer at this point in my life, but I'd been to enough concerts to know that the support acts were usually awful. 

Then out of nowhere this tiny blonde girl appeared on stage and started singing. And I found myself listening. And liking what I was hearing. She said her name but I was so far away I couldn't really hear it, Tina something, Deekow? Dikou? Then she told the most charming story about how she wrote her next song in the back of Willy Nelson's tour bus. Right, I thought, my best friend will LOVE her. So I started frantically typing the words I could make out from the song into my phone. "Take what you want from me, take what you can. And then hide it somewhere I can't see, out of my hands. Do what it takes to make you feel better, yeah, never forget that you are nobody's man." I loved that song. Still do. It's only now I see how well those words matched my break up. By the end of her set I was screaming and clapping as loudly for her as I did for Morten and co. 

I looked up the lyrics when I got home and found out the tiny blonde girl was a Danish singer/songwriter called Tina Dico (Dickow in her native land). The album featuring most of the songs she'd performed wasn't out yet but I pre-ordered it for BF knowing she'd love it. And if she didn't I'd just suggest that she let me keep the album for myself. I set about ordering everything Tina had released so far and by the time In The Red came out I owned every album and EP released. As it turned out my BF wasn't all that keen, but by the time Tina toured Brighton again for her In The Red tour I'd gotten a whole bunch of my friends to come and see her. 

Although I've now heard almost every song in her repertoires, she always finds new ways to impress me or make me feel something I've never felt for a particular song before. For example, I was never that keen on the title track from In The Red, but there's something about the way she plays it live that I just adore. I was never that keen on One (from the same album) but then it gets played on my favourite TV show Grey's Anatomy, during one of the saddest episode's in the show's history and all of a sudden it's beautiful and emotional and I love that one too. 

I recently moved house again and again it's pretty much left me bankrupt. Luckily for me, one of the friends I introduced to Tina during the aforementioned In The Red tour, was good enough to get me tickets to Tina's most recent Brighton based gig on Saturday night. And boy was she on form. But this time it was Tina's turn to introduce the new kids on the block (no, not the 90's boy band!) in the form of her backing singer/keyboard and trombone player Helgi Jonsson and support act Alice Shaw. 

Even with my previous misgivings about support acts being blown out of the water by Tina I tend to be skeptical at best when it comes to anticipating support acts. Happily Alice (and her backing vocalist Amy Tinsley) again made me re-think my prejudices. Another singer/songwriter but a keyboard is her instrument of choice (Tina favours a guitar) and this time hailing from Bristol. She was the perfect prelude to Tina's main show, not even letting a dodgy microphone get her down. My friends and I were already following her on Twitter and Facebook before the evening was over and we'd purchased her album before the second support act had even arrived on stage. 

The second support act was Helgi, who as I mentioned is also a member of Tina's band. I loved his sense of humour and the way he played with the audiences perception of him. His singing wasn't bad either and his CD was "only £5" as the salesman in him pointed out.

This brings me neatly to the end of the evening. I've already mentioned that Tina was on form and I'm afraid this is all you're getting out of me on the subject of Tina as this was more a post about support acts (in case you didn't get that?). And the moral of this story? If there has to be one, I suppose it would be to not let past experiences cloud your judgement. Or some shit like that.

Tina's Blog can be found here and is an excellent read: http://tinadico.tumblr.com/

Tina's Website: http://tinadico.com/

Tina's Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/tinadico

Tina's Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/tinadico

Tina's Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tinadico?sk=wall&filter=2

Alice's Website: http://aliceshaw.co.uk/

Alice's Myspace: http://tinyurl.com/6chmqna

Alice's Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/aliceshaw

Alice's Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aliceshawmusic

Helgi's Website: http://www.helgijonsson.com/

Helgi's Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/helgijonsson

Busybody

Before you wonder about where this post is going, I can assure you it's not about how I like to spy on my neighbors! This post is about something I have been waiting to share with you, my faithful two readers, all week.


I was lucky enough to be asked to do a review of the play 'Busybody' last week for the Herald paper which covers Worthing, Shoreham and Lancing (and also features in the Littlehampton Gazette). Their usual reviewer was away and by a stroke of luck, I was allowed to submit my review of the play, being performed at Worthing's Connaught Theatre, which was then featured in last thursdays edition. So if you live in the South and happened to grab a copy you might have read my review and not even realised it was me! 


In case you missed it the review is here:

The reason I didn't tell you straight away is that I wanted to wait until the paper had done it's full circulation before I blogged about it. Just so I couldn't be accused of stealing anyone's thunder. The play has now finished and the new edition of the paper is out so I don't think I can be considered as stepping on any toes now.


It might seem like a really small step but as this is the first time I've had my name attached to an article in print, it's a really big deal for me.


Should any similar endeavors arise in the future you will of course be suitably informed. As ever I appreciate the on-going support you give to me and my blogs.

Paul

http://www.whatispaul.com/

As a huge fan of Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz (and as someone who's met Nick Frost - he was one of the nicest famous people I've ever had the pleasure to meet!) I was looking forward to Paul like you wouldn't believe. I've known about it ever since Simon Pegg and Nick Frost first started talking about it which must have been at least two or three years ago now. I was intrigued at how different a movie Paul would be considering Edgar Wright wasn't going to be involved, as he'd been instrumental in the three previously mentioned Pegg/Frost outings. 


Paul is an alien who crash landed on earth in 1947. Only he wasn't called Paul then. He was pulled from the wreckage of his spaceship and so named by the young girl who found him. Paul is then taken to Area 51 where he remains, a prisoner of the US Government, for the next 60 years. Whilst trying to escape Paul crashes again (this time a car rather than a spaceship) in front of an RV (camper van for you non US folks!) driven by British geeks Graeme (Simon Pegg) and Clive (Nick Frost). The three of them embark on a road trip across America, along the way picking up Ruth (Kristen Wiig), a devout Christian who doesn't believe in aliens, and a series of federal agents following their trail.


I was right to wonder how different Paul would be without Edgar Wright's co-writing and directing skills. And I couldn't help but miss him and wonder what Paul would have been like with him at the helm. Truthfully, probably not that different. I'm not saying I didn't like Paul, just that it was different, and there's not necessarily anything wrong with different. 


I think I just wanted to like it so much and in the end I just thought it was alright. I put down the casting of Paul as one of the reasons I didn't love the film. *If you don't like knowing who voice actors are, please skip to the next paragraph* As mentioned previously, I'm really not a fan of Seth Rogan. I hate to repeat myself but as with the review I did of his film 'The Green Hornet' I feel like he only knows how to play himself. Now I don't honestly know if Paul was written with him in mind. If it was, well I don't really blame him for taking it, as I would probably take any part that Simon or Nick wrote especially for me. But he's not exactly fighting the typecast here. 


I can't fault any of the other cast. Jason Bateman was sufficiently stern as the no-nonsense federal agent who gives chase to the elusive alien and his cohorts. I loved Kristen Wiig, having not really seen much of her before I didn't know what to expect and I thought she was delightful as the shy and innocent Ruth. So sweet and charming but then with a potty mouth you'd never expect! Pegg and Frost were on form as ever, it's always a pleasure to see them on screen together no matter what they're doing. I just wish I could put my finger on why Paul didn't do it for me, maybe I was just looking forward to it too much? Maybe it was the voice casting of Paul, as I thought the CGI was excellent? I wasn't all that disappointed, it just wasn't as great as I'd hoped. Maybe it will be a grower. When I've watched it a couple more times, I'll let you know. 7 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 20th February 2011

UK Release Date - 14th February 2011

Cast Overview:

Simon Pegg ~ Graeme Willy

Nick Frost ~ Clive Gollings

Sigourney Weaver ~ 'The Big Guy'

Jason Bateman ~ Special Agent Zoil

Bill Hader ~ Haggard

Joe Lo Truglio ~ O'Reilly

Kristen Wiig ~ Ruth Buggs

John Carroll Lynch ~ Moses Buggs

Blythe Danner ~ Tara Walton

Jane Lynch ~ Pat Stevenson

Jeffrey Tambor ~ Adam Shadowchild

and

Seth Rogan ~ Paul

Director ~ Greg Mottola

Writer(s) ~ Nick Frost and Simon Pegg

A Short Story by a Special Guest

I have come to realise that one of the added bonuses of having my own blog is that I can use it to introduce my readers (yes, all two of you!) to other fantastic writers. I had a very interesting conversation with a friend today about her work that she might, someday soon, let me read. And who knows, if I like it, maybe that would be enough for her to publish it and then I can tell you about it! More diverse writing for you, more readers for her! Win win! 

Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to an amazingly talented writer who I genuinely happen to think is one of the most talented people I know. And believe me, I know a lot of talented people. 

So I now hand over my blog, momentarily, to Sheila Mitchell.

The Lift

  “It’s 8:52.  It’s the usual endurance test as I wait for the lift to trundle its way down to the ground floor.  45 pain in the arse floors to rattle down, to get to me, and which one do I work on?  The sodding 44th!”

  “The worst thing about the wait is when you see it stop on a floor and hold for a few miserable seconds...or longer!  When that happens it’s like the entire universe is just taking the piss.  Finally it gets down to “G” and dings, sarcastically.”

  “I enter the lift and press 44 whilst crossing my fingers that I’ll be lucky, but I never am.  The lift meanders slowly through the numbers, all the while a muzak version of “Bohemian Rhapsody” is piped through irritatingly.  The lift might as well be humming the tune to annoy me.”

  “DING!”

  “Bollocks!  Stopping on 8.  What now?  The doors open...and nothing happens.  Bloody typical! Some arsehole presses the button and then fucks off on another lift.  The doors start to close again.  A figure darts into the lift, diving through the air, I barely have time to get out of the way.  The uniform suggests some kind of soldier, but I barely have time to register that as the three tentacles shoot in, grabbing the soldier by the throat, waist and right leg, yanking him out of the elevator.  Just as he is about to be pulled into oblivion he manages to lodge his left knee and right hand against the door. The tentacles tighten around him and his face, red through exertion goes even redder as whatever owns the tentacles tries to squeeze the life out of him.  He’s going purple now and trying to reach his gun holster on his right hip with his left hand.  Ha!  Good luck!”

  “NNNGGGGHHH!”

  “With an almighty show of strength he twists and whips the gun out and lets off a salvo of shots at whatever’s playing a live action version of Stretch Armstrong.  A defiant roar explodes in the elevator, along with several gallons of green gunk, a big splodge of which lands on my lapel.  I can’t believe it.  Some people have no consideration.  The doors close...finally.  The soldier rubs his neck that now has a huge red welt around it.  At last we’re moving again, until the bastard leans forward and presses 12.  FUCKING HELL!   The doors open and he runs out screaming, blasting his weapon at God only knows what?  Idiot!  He’ll run out of ammo soon.  We keep on moving up, but now the muzak version of “The Ace of Spades” being murdered by a plastic orchestra when we stop at 17.  Jesus Christ!”

  “The doors open again and again nothing.  I’m getting sick of this.  Suddenly a chain saw bursts into life somewhere on the floor.  A scream cuts through the air, getting closer, eventually a woman in her twenties with blood on her shirt stumbles in fear into the elevator.  The chainsaw is getting closer now.”

  “HOLD THE ELEVATOR!” some guy shouts, murder in his voice.  “HOLD IT!”

  “Fuck off!” I reply.  “I’m not holding it for two people!”

  “I press the doors close button and hear some dick head cursing me as the lift gets moving  again.  She’s stood there shaking and then she leans forward and presses 21.  What is it with everyone today?  She gets out of the lift and starts running, a chainsaw starts again somewhere in the background as do the screams.  Doors shut, we move on.  As the muzak changes and I wonder why the writers of “Highway to Hell” ever allowed this terrible version to be made.  The elevator stops on 24.  Fucking hell!”

  “The doors open and this time there is someone waiting for the lift.  He’s crawling on the floor, a wound in his belly leaking blood all over the place as he drags himself inside.  A woman follows behind with a mop and bucket and a yellow 'slippery-surfaces' warning sign.  The doors close and the guy at the back of the elevator, leaking all over the lift floor, uses all his strength to raise a hand and point.”

  “P...P...P...Please press 27,” he says. 

  “The cleaning woman does this as he lies back against the wall, groaning and struggling for breath. I can’t believe this.  It’s just not my day.  Eventually we get to 27 and he crawls out leaving more red goo all over the place.  The doors close and the cleaning woman starts mopping furiously.  Within seconds the red mess left by that bleeding idiot is all gone.  She then presses 36.  GODAMMIT!”

  “Excuse me,” she begins in a Spanish accent.  “Excuse me ...is wet here and no can walk, okay.”

  “She has a saggy face that looks like she’s been cleaning for a thousand years.  With that kind of timescale on her features she couldn’t have cleaned the lift and got off at another time?  We stop at 36 and she dawdles out, using her mop to push her wheeled, yellow bucket forward and thankfully out.  Hopefully that will be all I have to go thr...39!”

  “The doors open and a naked couple walk in.  Behind them the sounds of laughing and giggling float through the air.  They remain oblivious as they stare at each other in wonderment.  I hate this place.  You’d think an organization like ours could afford to buy its own building.  I chance a quick glance back.  Bastards!  She’s standing there looking so pert at him!  Well, he’s just showing off.  They leave at 42 to yet more giggling and moaning.  UGH!  Why they didn’t use the stairs I don’t know.  Finally we reach 44.  I leave the elevator at speed, ignore the toilets, even though I need it, and head straight to my desk.  I log in and check the time.  9.04am.  Fucking hell!”

  “Get stuck in the lift, Sheila?” asks Gloria, who sits across from me.

  “12 minutes to get from the ground floor to my desk,” I reply.

  “Who was it today?” she continues.

  “Army guy, screamer, bleeder, naked couple.  But you know what pisses me off the most?”

  “What’s that, love?”

  “THAT’S MEANT TO BE THE FUCKING EXPRESS ELEVATOR!”

  “Yeah, it’s always the same people, isn’t it?” asks Gloria.  “Have you seen the transforming photocopying robot yet?”

  “No, I haven’t.”  

  “He gets in on 20,” she continues, “Optimus Print I think his name is.  Don’t know what he’s doing there.”

  “Who needs the grief?” I reply and get out to work, selling insurance.

I can't help but wonder (wow, did I really just turn into Carrie Bradshaw?) if this was written for me, seen as I work for an Insurance company and quite frequently have to take the sluggish ride up to the 7th floor in the company lift? I wouldn't presume to think I'm that much of an influence on Sheila but it did make me chuckle at the thought. 

Valentines Day

Where to begin with this one? I should probably start with Miranda and try not to get lost on the way. Miranda started out as my penpal and quickly became one of my best friends. She was one of the most uniquely quirky, wonderfully weird people I have ever had the pleasure to know. She was beautiful, funny, smart and one of those people who usually knew exactly the right thing to say in any given situation. And even when she didn't, saying the wrong thing usually turned out to be right. 


In 2008, at the age of 25, she killed herself.


*I want to stress at this point that this is not going to be an upsetting post. Or at least I'm going to try and not make it an upsetting post. I just need to explain a little of the back story here.*


February 14th this year would have been Miranda's 28th birthday. In order to remember Miranda in a not-so-morbid way, my best friend (who I met because of Miranda) and I decided to go to London for the day, and do things she would have done if she were here. Like going to the cinema, seeing an exhibition, wandering around the shops etc. 


I found out the night before that the Prince Charles Cinema was showing a special double bill of Labyrinth and The Princess Bride. For those who didn't know Miranda, this choice of films could not have been more appropriate for us to see on this day if she had chosen them herself. The only snag was that Labyrinth was sold out.


On the off chance that Labyrinth tickets would somehow become available in the 24 hours that followed, my best friend and I headed to London on Valentines/Miranda Day anyway. Once at the PCC (after we were told there were categorically no tickets left for Labyrinth) we decided to see the imminent showing of Blue Valentine. It seemed an oddly appropriate choice seeing as it was Valentines Day. 

I won't go into details (as these are on my review blog) but it was a suitable mix of sweet love story and depressing bitterness. But it also left you with a sense of hope. No bad thing on Miranda day. 


After trying our luck for Labyrinth tickets again - and being told there were none - we went to one of Miranda's favourite London haunts (is it politically correct to say haunts when now refering to someone who's deceased?) The Cinema Store. Now, normally I would keep such gems as this place to myself, but to be honest I think they could use all the custom they can get these days as they have closed one of their 2 stores. If you're a film memorabilia fan and you happen to be going to London please pop in and have a look around, they're on Upper St Martin's Lane. Or go here http://www.thecinemastore.co.uk/. 


Anyway, following our brief shopping spree, we had a lovely dinner in 50's style American Diner Ed's and then headed back to the PCC for The Princess Bride. 

One of my all time favourite movies. I honestly don't think there is any better cinema experience than when you are part of an audience who all love the film you're watching as much as you do. As this was also the first time I'd seen The Princess Bride on the big screen it was a wonderful end to an almost perfect day.


The only way it could have actually been perfect is if Miranda had been there to celebrate with us. But for all I know, maybe she was.

The Princess Bride

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093779/

For the explanation of how I came to go to a special screening of one of my all time favourite films The Princess Bride, you will need to read the corresponding post on my personal blog as it's kind of a story in itself. 


Having said that I will say that I saw this on the same day as Blue Valentine and at the same cinema, the Prince Charles Cinema in London (http://www.princecharlescinema.com/). One of the reasons I love that cinema so much is the fact that they show quirky independent films on general release as well as special screenings of older classics, such as this.


I honestly can't remember how old I was when my brother introduced me to this film but I'm sure I must have been around 10 or 11 years old. Basically around the age of Fred Savage's character at the start of the story. I loved it instantly as I'm sure any kid that age must have. I continue to love it to this day, for reasons different to those which made me love it as a child, and for many of the same reasons I loved it as a child. It is consistently the film I watch when I'm sick, to make me feel better.


In case you don't know, The Princess Bride is a film based on a book by William Goldman. In the film, the novel 'The Princess Bride' is read by a grandfather (Peter Falk) to his poorly grandson (Savage). As the grandfather says to the grandson (to get him interested in the book) it's a tale that includes "fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love and miracles". What more could you ask?


In the enactment of the narration we meet Buttercup, a young woman who lives on a farm in the fictional country of Florin. Her only company is Westley, her farm boy whom she loves to torment. He only ever says three words in response to her every command, "As you wish". One day, Buttercup realises that when Westley says "As you wish" he is really saying that he loves her. This realisation sparks another for Buttercup, that she truly loves him back. Westley has no means for marriage to Buttercup so he seeks his fortune across the seas, but his ship is attacked by pirates with a reputation for leaving no survivors. Buttercup, believing Westley to be dead, is inconsolable. Five years later Buttercup is chosen by the heir to the throne of Florin, Prince Humperdinck, as his bride to be. What Buttercup doesn't know, is that he secretly plans to start a war with the country across the sea, Guilder, by having her murdered and framing the Guilderians for her death.


Has Westley's death all been a bad dream? Does Buttercup succumb to Prince Humperdinck's dastardly plan? Does it all end happily ever after? Well if you haven't already seen The Princess Bride there is NO WAY I'm going to tell you. You will simply have to buy (Amazon - http://tinyurl.com/6caln6a) or rent (LoveFilm - http://tinyurl.com/6boftob) it and find out! To borrow the tagline I will tell you is that this is 'not just your basic, average, everyday, ordinary, run-of-the-mill, ho-hum fairytale'. It's so much more! Among other things it's a love story, a fairytale, a comedy and a revenge plot. 


It has sumptuous costumes and locations, filled with some of the most ridiculous characters you'll ever see. The dialogue is perfectly witty and sarcastic in equal measure, and so completely out of place for the era (and yet perfectly fitting at the same time) it's hilarious. The casting is genius, without any exception. I wouldn't change a single member of this cast or the way they portray their characters. I love the way this movie has me laughing, crying, quoting, caring, hating and adoring every moment. Therefore I think it's fitting that The Princess Bride should be my first - but hopefully not last - perfect 10 of the year. 10 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 14th February 2011

Original UK Release Date - November 1987 (I was 6)

Cast Overview:

Cary Elwes ~ Westley

Robin Wright ~ Buttercup

Mandy Patinkin ~ Inigo

Andre the Giant ~ Fezzik

Wallace Shawn ~ Vizzini

Chris Sarandon ~ Prince Humperdinck

Christopher Guest ~ Count Rugen

Billy Crystal ~ Miracle Max

Carol Kane ~ Valerie

Peter Cook ~ The Impressive Clergyman

Mel Smith ~ The Albino

Fred Savage ~ The Grandson

Peter Falk ~ The Grandfather/Narrator

Director ~ Rob Reiner

Writer ~ William Goldman (Screenplay written from his Book)

Blue Valentine

http://www.bluevalentinemovie.com/

As mentioned previously, I am a big fan of The Notebook. In developing a love of that film I also developed a fondness for it's stars Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling. And as such I tend to look forward to their up-coming projects. Blue Valentine is no exception to that rule. 


Blue Valentine had the added bonus of also starring Michelle Williams, who I've been a fan of since her Dawson's Creek days. I was eagerly anticipating the film's release when I read a fascinating interview with Ms Williams in Empire Magazine (http://tinyurl.com/6hq9toh). In the interview Williams talks about how committed she'd been to telling this story, ever since she first read the script when she was in her early 20s*. The interview also sheds light on the director's methods of enabling his actors to get to know each other well enough to hate each other. Williams explains how she and Gosling prepared for their roles by living together for a month, in between filming, in order to find out what would annoy them about each other if they were a real couple. For example, what would make them argue etc.


By the time the film's release date came around, it was obvious that none of the cinemas in my town (or surrounding area) were going to be showing it. I find it's always the way with the ones you REALLY want to see! Thankfully I have an amazing best friend who not only wanted to see the film, but also didn't mind taking time out of her Valentines Day plans to go to London, and see the film with me at the delightful Prince Charles Cinema.


The film flips between present day bitterness and the bittersweet early days of Cindy and Dean. They met by chance when he was working for a removal firm, moving an elderly man into a home. She happened to be visiting her grandmother at the same home on the same day. As Cindy had a boyfriend, she turned down Dean's offer of a date. They meet again a month later when Cindy has become disillusioned with said boyfriend and decides to give Dean a chance. In between these flashes of the past we also see Dean and Cindy as they are now, embittered and worn down by life, family, jobs and each other. The film continues to switch between Cindy and Dean then, getting to know each other and falling in love, to now, knowing too much about the other person and falling out of love. 


While I concede that this is not the cheeriest of films, I thought it did accurately portray the way that people drift apart and how sometimes, love just isn't enough. The interwoven flashback scenes of how Dean and Cindy met and fell in love are so believable. So much so that I felt a little uncomfortable watching the more intimate scenes, as though I were peeking into a real couple's private life through a keyhole. This only speaks of how good Williams and Gosling are, and how much they put themselves into these characters. Their director clearly had method to his madness in having them live together during filming, as I'm sure it was this prolonged time together that made their performances so grounded in reality. 


I can't go so far as to say that the film was enjoyable, as watching two people fight for their love rarely is. But I will say that it was a fascinating insight into the lives of a realistic and thoughtfully portrayed (dis)functional couple. 8 out of 10.

*For the purpose of grasping how long writer/director Derek Cianfrance has been trying to get Blue Valentine made and released, Michelle Williams is now 30.

Viewing Date - 14th February 2011

UK Release Date - 14th January 2011

Cast Overview:

Ryan Gosling ~ Dean

Michelle Williams ~ Cindy

Faith Wladyka ~ Frankie

John Doman ~ Jerry

Mike Vogel ~ Bobby

Director/Writer ~ Derek Cianfrance

Writer ~ Cami Delavigne

Writer ~ Joey Curtis

Chalet Girl *Exclusive Preview*

http://chaletgirlfilm.wordpress.com/

I signed up to SeeFilmFirst some time ago but always seemed to miss out on the exclusive previews they did in Brighton. Not so with today's screening of Chalet Girl. What with it's uninspiring concept and trailer I was very glad I was seeing this film for free. But unlike my other recent free film The Kids Are Alright, I would have happily paid to see this.

Chalet Girl tells the story of Kim (Felicity Jones), an up-and-coming talent in the world of pro skateboarding. She quits when a car accident causes the untimely death of her mother. With her skateboarding career set aside, she takes on a job at a local burger bar which allows her to financially take care of her father, Bill (Bill Bailey). With a shot at earning more money, Kim decides to take a job as a chalet girl. At expected, she finds the move to Austria and her new job to be quite an adjustment from her old life. Kim is now working for the rich family who own a large part of the ski-resort (if not the whole resort), and in her spare time she is making new friends and learning to snowboard. One of Kim's new friends Mikki (Ken Duken) convinces her to enter the up coming snowboarding competition, in which she could win $25,000, which would dramatically help her situation at home. In the midst of all this she grows ever closer to the son of the rich family, Jonny (Ed Westwick), who is hiding the fact that he is engaged to a girl his family deems much more 'suitable' for him than Kim.

Chalet Girl could have been very contrived and annoying but I am very happy to say that it wasn't, on either count. Admittedly this is because it appealed to my inner 12 year old girl. But I'm not saying it will only appeal to 12 year old girls, or older women who still have an inner 12 year old, as I went to see this with a man in his late 30's who also enjoyed the film immensely. It is obvious what will happen in the movie from the outset but I didn't feel as though this detracted from the enjoyment of watching it all unfurl and getting to know these characters in the process.

Chalet Girl is a feel good film, it's not too taxing, it doesn't really make you think, but it is well acted, bringing a warmth to the characters which wouldn't have necessarily been there on paper. 7.5 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 12th February 2011

UK Release Date - 16th March 2011

Cast Overview:

Kim ~ Felicity Jones

Jonny ~ Ed Westwick

Richard (Jonny's Father) ~ Bill Nighy

Caroline (Jonny's Mother) ~ Brooke Shields

Chloe ~ Sophia Bush

Nigel ~ Nicholas Braun

Georgie ~ Tamsin Egerton

Jules ~ Georgia King

Bill (Kim's Father ~ Bill Bailey

Mikki ~ Ken Duken

Willy ~ Adam Bousdoukos


Director ~ Phil Traill
Writer ~ Tom Williams

The Kids Are All Right

http://filminfocus.com/the_kids_are_all_right

You might find it odd that I'm reviewing this film now, when it came out last year. Truth is I have no idea why I didn't see it when it was released as I fully intended to. I started this blog with the intention to review all of the films I see at the cinema this year, therefore, however late I may have been in seeing The Kids Are Alright, it has to be included in this compilation.

The film is about a family consisting of two mums and two kids. The mums are a married lesbian couple who have each had one child using the same sperm donor. So the kids are half sister and brother. Following so far? We join them when the kids, aged 18 and 15, decide they want to meet their biological father. Joni (Mia Wasikowska) is 18, the daughter of Nic (Annette Bening) and about to head off for college. She's asked by her brother Laser (Josh Hutcherson), who is the son of Nic's wife Jules (Julianne Moore) and only 15, if she will make a call to the sperm bank where their mums obtained sperm donated by then 19 year old Paul (Mark Ruffalo). Paul, now late 30's, agrees to meet with the kids. Although the first meeting is awkward, it sparks a curiosity in all three to meet again and get to know each other better. However, as the first meeting happens without the knowledge of the mums, it comes as something of a shock for them to discover that their kids have not only contacted, but met up with a man neither of them know. The mums therefore decide that they must also get to know Paul and this is where the family drama's come in. 

I have to admit that I was left somewhat confused by The Kids Are Alright. First, although I thought the actors gave their all, and each of them had at least one strong scene, I have no idea how this film has won and been nominated for so many awards. Second, I found the early sex scenes in the film totally unnecessary. You might think this strange coming from the girl who has mentioned in several unrelated reviews how much I loved Love and Other Drugs, but hear me out. I didn't feel like either of the early sex scenes aided the story in any way. In fact, I think you could have cut both scenes completely and lost nothing in the way of plot. And before you go thinking I'm some sort of gay sex prude, I will state for the record that I thought the lesbian sex scene in Black Swan was one of the best portrayed, most realistic and sexiest gay sex scenes I have seen. Not that I'm an expert obviously.

Unnecessary sex aside, I also felt like the film was trying too hard to be funny. Sometimes with cringe worthy results. During the lesbian sex scene it emerges that they watch male gay porn in order to get aroused. This is mentioned later when Laser finds the porn and asks them why they watch it, being that they're lesbians and all. I have to say that I'm glad he did because I was dying to know. I don't know that many lesbians, but of the ones I do know I'm 99.9% sure they don't watch guys going at it to get turned on. At this point the writer obviously thought it'd be funny to point out that straight women often play lesbians in films and it's very unrealistic. That might have been a great joke if she'd spent any time making Bening and Moore into a believable lesbian couple. But for me personally, I didn't think they were. And I don't think the lack of sexual chemistry between them was helped by the terrible sex scene inflicted upon them.

I genuinely enjoyed a lot of the nicer moments of the film. Although it was obvious that Jules and Paul were going to start an affair, I enjoyed watching their relationship blossom. I similarly enjoyed seeing Paul's relationships change with each of the kids. I liked that he became more dad-like with them and their response to that side of him. I loved the scene at the dinner table with Annette Bening's moving rendition of Joni Mitchell's Blue, but I felt it was somewhat sullied by the scene that followed. The moments I enjoyed made me long for more, as this was when I was really beginning to like the characters and starting to see them less like a bunch of stereotypes who'd all been stuck in a movie together, hippy dad who was absent when the kids were growing up, the repressed and unappreciated mum who starts an affair, the borderline alcoholic mum who's too tightly wound to notice her wife's impending affair, the daughter who's trying to break out of mums grasp by rebelling etc. We've seen all of these characters before, in other, better movies. What makes these tired characters interesting is the change they undergo during the film, the lessons they learn. The problem here is that they don't change, or learn, they end the film exactly how they started.

My final *minor* criticism is that while I fully believe that the free spirited Jules would name her son Laser, I don't think her straight laced wife would have ever allowed her to go through with that. Yet again putting this movie firmly in the unrealistic category. I'm sorry to say that while the kids may have been alright, the film wasn't. 4.5 out of 10. 

Viewing Date - 9th February 2011

UK Release Date - 29th October 2010

Cast Overview:

Annette Bening ~ Nic

Julianne Moore ~ Jules

Mark Ruffalo ~ Paul

Mia Wasikowska ~ Joni

Josh Hutcherson ~ Laser


Director/Writer ~ Lisa Cholodenko
Writer ~ Stuart Blumberg