basics...
A slim volume from the stacks of books I've yet to read, Alarums looked like it was going to be a horror or at least a thriller. What actually happens is that Melanie has a vision of her father being hit by a car, she travels with boyfriend Bodie to check up on him and discovers that her sister Pen has been receiving nuisance phone calls and that her stepmom may be shagging her dad's business partner.
brilliant...
I liked Alarums from the beginning, it was fast paced and dialogue heavy, not too much time spent on describing the set-ups, so I was looking forward to a thriller like Creepers. What the novel turned out to be was more of a slow-burn relationship drama between Bodie and the two sisters, Melanie the jealous, suspicious one, and Pen the strong yet frightened sexpest victim. Laymon writes believable characters and realistic dialogue and creates a compelling sense of intrigue that kept me going to the shocking last chapter.
but...
The trouble with Alarums is that it all seems to build to that last chapter revelations, which turns some of what has gone before on its head and leaves you pondering the morality of the characters. This is all well and good but I would have liked a less straight forward mystery with my shock ending, even if the characters were almost enough to keep my interest. The supernatural thriller element - Melanie's visions - is under-used, although its integral to that final twist. I think Alarums would have worked better as a short story, even shorter than this slim 300 page volume.
briefly...
A good set up and cast is let down by a too-linear mystery and not-quite-worth-it ending.
basics...
A True Stories documentary about Simeon II, King of Bulgaria for a couple of years before he was toppled and exiled in 1946 aged 9 when the Soviets invaded. 50 years later Simeon unexpectedly returned to Bulgaria and won the 2001 election to serve a term as Prime Minister.
brilliant...
What a fascinating story! I never even heard of this unique part of royal history. The disjointed narrative style of the documentary pieces together the various parts of the tale by interviewing various Bulgarians who remembered Simeon fondly, as well as Communists and the ex-King himself. So through these personal insights we learn of how the young boy king (Tsar) came to the throne so young, and how he was exiled to Egypt with his family. Archive interviews with the young Simeon show him to have been a very level headed businessman, not filled with anger towards his country, seeing himself as a victim of a certain set of circumstances more than anything else. His return to Bulgaria decades later saw him greeted by hoardes of adoring 'fans' eager for him to come back to them, but once in power as PM, a role that was seemingly thrust upon him unbidden as per the monarchy, the dream of Simeon's return turned sour. He found that it was difficult to bring about the social change that Bulgaria so needed in the post-Soviet world and his supporters, including one man with a royal tattoo, became disillusioned. A particularly interesting moment came for Simeon at the British Queen Mother's funeral when he was sat as PM on the world leader's side of Westminster Abbey, across from the other royals - his surname, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha indicates his relation to our own royal family. It's curious to see how fickle the finger of history can be to monarchies when comparing the UK's with Bulgaria's.
but...
The langourous style of the documentary is infuriating at times and cries out for the more conventional tropes of the genre such as captions indicating who speakers are and narration to link the pieces together.
briefly...
A compelling tale of an unconventional monarch told in a novel, albeit slightly annoying, style.
basics...
A trilogy of investigations into the human animal by Desmond Morris, from the (in)famous The Naked Ape (1967) through less well known The Human Zoo (1969) and Intimate Behaviour (1971).
brilliant...
I picked up this hardback in a charity shop, drawn by my fleeting knowledge of the Naked Ape and the intriguing subject matter. It's taken me a few months to get through all 3 alongside various works of fiction, even though combined they only total 500 pages, and it's been an interesting read. The Naked Ape stirred controversy when it came out in 1967 for Morris' study of the animalistic, zoological approach that he takes with human nature. He looks for reasons behind human behaviour in the history and evolution of the species, as well as in the context of our busy modern lives, with comparisons made with our hairier ape cousins. The 'sequel' looks at how humanity's move to the cities is mirrored by the lives of captive zoo animals and how the conditions affect our behaviours. The final piece of the trilogy sees Morris examine the ways that human beings are intimate, from handshakes and sex to using pets, masturbation and pillows as intimacy proxies. While some of the statistics and references are dated the conclusions that Morris draws are interesting and leave many a moment for pause and reflection. It seems like Morris has an evolutionary, behavioural or childhood explanation for every single human action, from the tiniest thing like the way your cross your legs to the reasons we like certain animals over others. It's a fascinating trilogy, with the first and third books my favourites, and it's a really easy read - there are no footnotes or bothersome facts and statistics, well there are a few, but mostly the books are written to be read and understood by anyone so are refreshingly jargon-free.
but...
The dated references include some dubious responses to homosexuality. I'm surprised it's covered at all, but for the most part, as with the majority of the activities explored by Morris, homosexuality is treated dispassionately, without judgement. Maybe it was just me though but sometimes I did feel that there was a bias against homosexuality on occasion, which I take as a sign of the times the books were written. The 'prejudice' also stretches to descriptions of women as mothers and homemakers, and the assumption that couples are married before having children - a bit old-fashioned but excusable.
briefly...
Not as shocking as I expected, The Naked Ape Trilogy has been eclipsed by a more free-thinking time, where this sort of human behaviour study is not novel, but even many decades later Morris makes strong arguments that are difficult to disagree with.
basics...
Will Burton (Gaelan Connell), a somewhat geeky type with a penchant for indie music and writing letters to David Bowie, moves to a new school and ends up best friends with ex-cheerleader Charlotte (Aly Michalka) and manager of her band, who he renames I Can't Go On, I'll Go On, in preparation for a school battle of the bands.
brilliant...
I had certain expectations about Bandslam. The title and front cover of the DVD, as well as the presence of Vanessa Hudgens of High School Musical fame led me to believe that this would be a fluffy music-filled confection to warm my cockles, and that Hudgens would at least turn up in the first 20 minutes. Happily, Bandslam turns out to be much better than expected, and a much different film. Like Todd Graff's Camp before it, Bandslam subverts the sugary teen movie cliches with wit and fresh characters. Connell is an unusual lead, he's an unknown and quite ordinary looking (he's no Zac Efron) but he has charm and a good line in sarcasm, plus has Lisa Kudrow playing his mother. He was bullied at his previous school because his dad was a drunk driver responsible for a hit and run, and later in the movie his friend Charlotte's dad dies. This depth to the characters' backstories and emotional baggage leads to a more reasoned, less fluffy movie than I'd imagined. That's not to say that Bandslam is sad or dour, rather it is grown up and is aware that there are not always happy endings, but the journey is the fun part. Hudgens downplays well as moody Sa5m (the 5 is silent), who tries to be Will's girlfriend in competition with his love of music and the band. As for the musical numbers, there are a few, but this is no musical: the performances are mainly in the last 20 minutes when the Bandslam competition actually takes place. The big showpiece is a cover of Boy George's Everything I Own, a quirky, offbeat choice in a movie full of them. It totally makes sense. About the only predictable thing in Bandslam is the choice of cameo at the movie's end.
but...
Although I did really enjoy Bandslam a great deal it would have been even better with a peppier script, with some more memorable gags. And more Lisa Kudrow. But then every movie needs more Lisa Kudrow.
briefly...
Subverts expectations (and a misleading title/advertising campaign) to become a worthy companion piece to the similarly refreshing Camp. Todd Graff is a director to keep an eye on.
basics...
A documentary from the recently created Disneynature brand, the film focuses on the lives of the unusual lesser flamingos of the Lake Natron in Tanzania.
brilliant...
Part documentary, part nature-porn, with a life-span narrative to hang it all on, Crimson Wing started out slow with lots of pretty shots of landscapes and soon became an enveloping, pleasurable experience, combining the silky tones of Mariella Frostrup's poetic narration with stunning photography and genuinely interesting creatures. These flamingos fly back to Natron every year to breed - what's weird is that Natron is incredibly salty and not much survives here, yet the flamingos build nests from the salt and bring up their chicks on it. This leads to some of the chicks' downfall as they wander about in the water, get coated in salty crud which then hardens on dry land, weighing them down like concrete ugg boots and leaving them prey to various carnivores. There's less information here than in an Attenborough documentary and the pace is more relaxed, with a quirky soundtrack that makes Crimson Wing stand out as more than just a documentary about pink birds. The images of running flamingos was rivettingly hypnotic and awe-inspiring.
but...
There's an argument to be made that the flowery script is too airy fairy at times, and that more importance is given to the lives of the flamingos than is appropriate. And sometimes the images are not just nature-porn wonderous but computer wallpaper placeholders. I find it a bit odd that this is being released by Disney as there's nothing particularly Disnified about it, it's a UK/US/French co-production with the Disney name slapped on the DVD box. Although honestly, would I have picked this up if it hadn't?
briefly...
An uplifting, beautiful story of a surprisingly fascinating creature and its equally intriguing habitat.
basics...
Another week, another thriller from the pile. This week I picked up one of 4 books I seem to have acquired within box sets of thrillers written by John Francome, who is probably sick of the Dick Francis comparisons, but hey they both wrote crime novels set in the world of horse racing. Would knew there were so many plots to be had in that world? Stone Cold sees jockey Kelly Connor playing detective to find out who had her father killed and what it had to do with a shady bookie and a millionaire Qatari playboy prince.
brilliant...
Different to Dead Cert in many ways, Stone Cold is set in the nineties and sees Kelly travelling the world, to Japan and America at least, to race. I never knew that horse-racing was such an international thing - this and other incidental racing trivia makes for an interesting read. The central mystery as the deaths stack up is pretty compelling too, and almost lasts til the end. Kelly's investigations don't feel as forced as in some crime novels where the non-detective/police character suddenly turns super sleuth. She slowly begins to question the people in her life, while trying to grieve for her father and maintain/claw back her standing in the racing world.
but...
Sadly I thought the revelation about who the mastermind behind all the deaths was a tad too predictable and I lost interest towards the end.
briefly...
A pleasurable read set in a world that I have no interest in, yet Francome makes compelling - so full marks for that!
basics...
From the country, channel and even some of the cast who brought us the awesome Forbrydelsen comes a Danish hybrid of The West Wing (one of the best TV shows ever) and Commander-in-Chief (one of those shows that US channels like to cull before they reach a full season, this one was a sub-West Wing melodrama with Geena Davis as the first female US President) that sees Birgitte Nyborg (Sidse Babett Knudsen) take up the post of Denmark's first female Prime Minister and leader of a shaky coalition government.
brilliant...
Another winner from the Danes! And another strong female lead to rival Sarah Lund in the tough yet human form of Birgitte Nyborg. The show has The West Wing's sense of drama, political insight, and hot button current issues, plus Commander-in-Chief's female in charge premise, along with that show's propensity to fire a staff member seemingly each week (so I've no idea why Borgen is to be remade in the US, it's already been done!). It also has a wry sense of humour, real tension and believable characters. Birgitte has to juggle life as PM with her slowly unravelling marriage - to none-other than Sarah Lund's partner/villain from Forbrydelsen II! - and it is a credit to Borgen that although the fissures are there early and you fear that they may actually come to blows, the storyline never feels forced or soapy, it's natural and understandable, and both characters are so real you route for them both. Nyborg's cabinet (including Theis Birk Larsen as defence minister!) are a motley crew and it's particularly interesting to see how coalition politics, so common all over the world except in UK, works and using it as a mirror with our current government. The other lead characters are Joshua Jackson-lookalike Kasper Juul (Pilou Asbæk), Birgitte's spin doctor, and TV1 anchorwoman and wannabe-investigative journalist Katrine (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen). Neither was as easily likable as Birgitte to begin with - he was a bit of a slime ball and she was irritatingly grief-stricken, but both blossomed into key elements of the Borgen whole, with the government's relationship with the media playing a particularly important part in Denmark's political life. And Katrine's boss is only Lund's first partner, Jan Meyer (Søren Malling), but much funnier here. The plots were mostly self-contained in each of the 10 episodes but there were many long-running threads, and the nature of the storylines - dealing with terrorism, racism and the sovereignty of Greenland - were suitably topical and explored some very interesting ideas.
briefly...
Intelligent, thought-provoking, funny, dramatic, emotional, topical... quite simply one of the best dramas I've seen.
before I begin...
Ok
so I've been writing this blog for a few years now and it's only last
week I even considered that other people might be reading it when I came
across the 'comments' section and found some that were months old! I
feel bad about not responding, especially where people actually asked me
questions. It seems I never set the blog up to email me when I get a
comment and I never thought to look, mainly because I write this blog
primarily for myself. I've also signed on for the new-look layout of the blogger dashboard, which won't affect the look of the blog itself but will take a bit of getting used to behind the scenes. So, if you are reading this... hi!
basics...
On with the review then... Waiting for Godot was another of those free/volunteer shifts at the Playhouse, and another play I knew nothing about. Written by Samuel Beckett, the play is mostly a two-hander between Estragon (Patrick Robinson) and Vladmir (Jeffrey Kissoon) as they wait for their friend. Nothing much happens, twice, apart from a visit from a posh guy called Pozzo (Cornell S John) and his creepy slave Lucky (Guy Burgess).
brilliant...
I've read that this is supposed to be one of the best plays ever written. But then you shouldn't believe everything you read should you? I can see how theatrical, literary types would get excited by this as it borders on the pretentious. It is saved from this fate though by some terrific acting and surprisingly funny and kinetic performances. Having studied English Literature at school and uni I've since become tired of looking for meaning in texts and I'm much happier to watch something that doesn't require footnotes and background reading to enjoy. I think that Godot would have been less interesting to watch in this performance as the all-black cast speak with Caribbean accents and there's an edge to some of the dialogue that wouldn't be present with a white cast, for example Lucky's status as a slave and the leads' discussion about hanging themselves from a tree brings to mind lynching. Whether these associations are intentional or not is hard to say, it could be my own curious take, but either way they add more depth to a play that could have gone either way.
but...
Waiting for Godot is loooong. Not only does nothing particularly exciting happening, it takes 90 minutes each act to do so. And after a hard day's work I wasn't that fussed to have to do my volunteer thing til 11pm on a Friday night!
briefly...
A bit too amibuous for my tastes, this was still a good night of theatre, with great performances from Robinson and Kissoon, sharing an easy chemistry as the two lead tramps.
basics...
Another random selection from my stack of unread thrillers, Creepers is a Thriller with a capital 'T'. In it Frank Balenger joins a group of 4 urban explorers (or 'creepers') as they investigate a long-abandoned hotel before it is knocked down. Needless to say, things go awry pretty quickly when it appears that the Paragon may not be as empty as they thought...
brilliant...
Wow - talk about exciting, unputdownable fiction, this book hit all the right notes and had me desperate to get back to it. Morrell (creator of Rambo) is a new name to me, and if his other work is as good as Creepers I'll definitely be searching it out (turns out I have another of his books tucked in my box sets, score!). His style is punchy, his characters well sketched without too much detail slowing down the action, and the plot unravels like a skillfully wrapped confection, especially in the way that Balenger's history and true motives are revealed bit by bit. I didn't know what to expect from this book, and I thought from the cover it might be a horror or have a science fiction bent. Rather it's a tale of greed, obsession and some pretty gory action as Balenger and his new friends face off against a trio of well-equipped thieves and the real boogie man that has been haunting the hotel for decades. The book reads like a gripping movie, in a good way, although I wouldn't like to see an adaptation as it would be too bloody for my viewing taste.
briefly...
An unexpectedly fantastic chiller that is written with such verve that every time I put it down to go to sleep I felt disappointed.
basics...
A dashing adventure story set in 1880s Southern Africa, The Diamond Frontier sees ex-soldier Simon Fonthill and faithful Welsh companion '352' Jenkins fighting off Afghans, Boers and bushmen as they rescue a young damsel in distress and become caught up in General Wolseley's attack on Sekukunis Town. Oh and there's blossoming, buttoned up romance too, with plucky reporter Alice Griffith.
brilliant...
A change from the variously set detective novels of recent weeks, this heroic tale is packed with exciting escapades, jolly British derring do and a lot of realistic colonial history thrown in for good measure. Fonthill is an engaging hero, and his sidekick Jenkins, whose dialogue is written in convincing Welsh vernacular, is amusing, while Alice is a tough cookie making it in a man's world. The action sequences are gripping, the setting is authentic and original and the whole thing is a more than satisfying way to pass the time on a cold winter evening.
but...
Yet another book from the cheap 'thriller' collections that is the third in a series! It didn't matter a jot to the story that I hadn't met Fonthill and co before, but it would've been good to experience their adventures in Afghanistan and India first hand.
briefly...
All this excitement at the expense of Johnny-foreigner makes one proud to be British! Or something...
basics...
A trio of morality plays about the state of Britain at the beginning of the 21st century, as told by the warped wind of Charlie Brooker and featuring an all star cast (well, episode 1 anyway).
brilliant...
The best episodes were those (co-)written by Brooker; the first, The National Anthem was a blackly hilarious skewering of the media, politics and the public appetite for spectacle wherein the people's princess is kidnapped and the ransom demands that the PM must have sex with a pig live on TV. Played completely straight by the likes of Rory Kinnear and Lindsay Duncan, the drama feels like it is but a single breath from reality in the way that the media manipulates public opinion and how both fuel political actions. It all ends up rather bleak and distressing, and the title of the series is never more apt.
basics...
A truly unique performance, Showstopper! The Improvised Musical does exactly what it says on the tin: when the show opens the sole actor on stage is on the phone to a theatrical agent, telling him about his new musical, the setting, style and events of which are plucked there and then from the audience. Armed with this information, the lights go down and the 5 performers come on to present an inevitably funny musical set in the Antarctic, on a ship carrying a host of love triangles and treacherous characters... who sing numbers in the style of Ghost, Sondheim, flamenco, Noel Coward and Wicked.
brilliant...
Showstopper! is what live theatre is made for, a one-off show, made up on the spot by a crazily talented company of comedy improvisers with great voices. I laughed throughout and didn't stop marvelling at the creativity and gusto (and guts) that the cast combined to create a narratively satisfying piece of theatre. The two female cast members were particularly memorable as female cabin crew with dubious Eastern European accents and powerful sets of pipes.
briefly...
I'll never see anything quite like it again. Although I will make sure I see the company next time they come back to the Playhouse.
basics...
One of Shakespeare's lesser known plays (I had never read/seen it and had no idea of the plot going in) Coriolanus was brought to life by Ralph Fiennes both in front of and behind the camera. Bringing the Bard's words to a modern-day setting, filmed in war-scorched Serbian towns, Coriolanus is a popular soldier who grudgingly becomes consul in Rome, but his reluctance to adhere to the requirements of the role lead to his ousting at the hands of the people.
brilliant...
Seeing an unknown Shakespeare production without prior knowledge of the characters and plot can be a risky affair, especially when the original language is retained. Thankfully, Coriolanus was pretty easy to follow, helped in no small part by the use of on-screen captions, the news-reader (Jon Snow!) commentators/chorus and the present-day settings. Fiennes gives the production a visceral, muscular look and feel, the camera rarely staying still. The dialogue seems to be stripped back to the bare essentials too, with only a few scenes of speechifying, and none of the exposition/solliloquy of Hamlet or King Lear. The cast are uniformly excellent, from gruff Gerard Butler, Coriolanus' on-again-off-again enemy/ally; Brian Cox's manipulative Menenius, who's final scene is devastating; and the sheer force of nature that is Vanessa Redgrave's Volumnia, our hero's mother. She's a really strong character, of Lady Macbeth proportions, in a sea of masculine power. It could have been easy for the character of Coriolanus to be unlikable - he's surly, never gives a reason for his reluctance to serve the people and is quick to anger - yet Fiennes makes us care for him while leaving motives open to interpretation. This is a film that I found myself discussing long after we'd left the cinema. It is a very powerful piece of cinema. The more I think about it the more I like it, from the music, the camera work and the direction to the story and cast. Brilliant.
briefly...
A stunning Shakespearean drama that delivers action, drama and spectacle, I don't expect to see another thriller this year that will match the impact of Coriolanus.
basics...
A French action-comedy-drama-fantasy-sci-fi hybrid based on a comic book series, The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec shares sees our titular heroine going all Tomb Raider in early twentieth century Egypt before chasing a pteradactyl around Paris in the search for a cure to revive her tragically-injured sister.
brilliant...
There's nothing that extraordinary or adventurous about this film, other than the opening 15 minutes in Egypt, which borrows liberally from Indiana Jones and director Luc Besson's own The Fifth Element. It's an exciting beginning, preceded by a typically French prologue featuring narration that wouldn't be out of place in Amelié. Where the movie comes into its own is when Adèle returns to her home town, Paris, to find her one hope for saving her sister's life, a barmy professor, is being put to death for unwittingly bringing a prehistoric monster back to life which is now terrorising the city's residents. What follows is a quirky, oddly subdued and suprisingly emotional tale of sisterly love and unfortunate coincidence, backed up by some amusing fish-out-of-water comedy moments from a revived Pharoah and his minions. Wacky, inventive and with a particularly gallic Besson sensibility, Blanc-Sec is a charming movie, with a plucky, interesting heroine at the centre of it all.
but...
It seems churlish to complain that the film is not adventurous enough, but the title promises more than the film delivers - this is no country-hopping travelogue movie, but it certainly whets the appetite for any possible further adventures. I didn't really need to see Louise Bourgoin's boobs though, as pretty as they were.
briefly...
Not reaching the dizzy heights of confection that made Amelié dazzle, Adèle Blanc-Sec's Diverting Adventure is still more exciting and inventive than many of its peers.
basics...
Two crime novels written by female authors, starring two very different sets of detectives in different locations. In Arabesk Inspectors Suleyman and İkmen investigate the murder of a singer's wife in Istanbul, while in Mourn Not Your Dead Superintendent Kincaid and Sergeant Gemma James try to discover who killed a Police Commander in a small English village.
brilliant...
Both books came from crime boxed-sets, and both turned out to be the third in the series featuring these particular detectives. And both were well-written, had intriguing mysteries that didn't feature any really clever twists, and were populated with interesting, real characters. Arabesk was novel in the setting and I was drawn into Nadel's descriptions of Turkish life, into the chain-smoking male detectives, the old-fashioned-yet-modern male-female relationships, and the differences between different peoples and their backgrounds. It didn't feel like this was just a murder mystery that happened to be set in Istanbul, rather because it was set there it opened up new possibilities for motives, for character interaction and for extraneous detail. Crombie's more 'traditional' tale of sleepy village life, where everyone knows each others' business rises above stereotypes with a realistic central duo, Kincaid and Gemma (interesting that's he's always identified by surname and she by first name) who shared a sexual relationship in the last book that creates all sorts of tensions in this story.
but...
As I noted above, neither story has a revelation that surprised me or came out of the blue, in contrast to The Dead of Jericho, and so the pay offs felt a little flat, even though they were real. The resolution to Mourn Not Your Dead was the more pedestrian in terms of the murder investigation, the personal relationships were more interesting.
briefly...
Two solid novels that capture their worlds wonderfully and feature fallible, credible detective heroes whose further adventures I'd be happy to follow.
We recently watched Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure that I had recorded on TV... and then realised I actually own it on DVD! The perils of a large DVD collection. Anyway, I enjoyed it all the same, and it brought back memories of when I saw it live in Stoke-on-Trent while at uni, and I got a photo with Gorman afterwards. I need to find that and dig it out to scan and put with my 'James Meets...' celebrity photo ops on Facebook.
