Watching - November 2022

She's All That (1999)

I'm not sure why I chose this, other than I had it vaguely at the back of my mind as a well-known romcom that I hadn't watched yet. Now, having done so, I'm not really sure I can explain its  apparent popularity. The story feel like it has major gaps in it, or at least substantially unexplained motivations. Why isn't Laney more suspicious of Zach's motives? Why does Zach suddenly turn into a nice guy after clearly being a jerk jock? Anyway, that, and the terrible transformation of Rachel Leigh Cooke from "ugly" (actually very pretty) to "beautiful" (stereotypically Hollywood "sexy"), make this a slightly tedious and unbelievable watch.

Bros: After the Screaming Stops (2018)

Matt Goss popped up on Strictly Come Dancing this year and seemed like a humble, thoughtful person, as perhaps befits someone who's been through the pop mill (although we were never allowed to forget his "record-breaking Vegas residency"). So what with that, and having just finished Nick Duerden's Exit Stage Left, I thought I'd catch up on this documentary. Unfortunately, in this, he comes across worse: self-centred and too lost in showbiz to realise it, for all his new age "be kind" speak. Luke Goss seems better, as someone who has had to deal with being "the other one" and consequently had to make his own life. They reconcile, they hug and argue, tell each other "I love you, but ..." and finally emerge victorious (against an industry who "never supported them", apparently) at a reunion concert. I'm still left with an overall sense of "so what?" about it all though. And what about the actual "other one", Craig Logan? Mentioned exactly zero times, almost airbrushed out of existence (and not part of the reunion, by choice) - but by some measures, actually the most successful of the three - and probably the most interesting.

The Blues Brothers (1980)

I first saw The Blues Brothers in 1982, at a real, genuine American drive-in, in a double-feature with Rocky. Obviously now a classic but at the time probably just doing the rounds a year or two after its release, I don't remember what I thought of it at the time, but I've seen it so many times since that I just know I like it now. This time I watched it with Z and it was great to introduce him to it. He particularly liked the massed ridiculousness at the end. Apparently at the time this held the record for the most number of cars wrecked in the making of a film - 103!

Ghosts (season 4, 2022)

Still amusing and an excellent family watch (although I can't get into binge watching like my kids - I prefer an episode per night), but perhaps slight diminishing returns.

I, Robot (2004)

For anyone who's a fan of Isaac Asimov's seminal Robot short stories and novels, this isn't just a disappointment but an utter perversion of everything the good doctor wrote. Instead of a thought-provoking piece about how robots might fit into society, a few of Asimov's classic characters are borrowed - in name only - and a couple of his stories adapted, and all shoe-horned into an unimaginative, blockbuster-by-numbers piece of Hollywood Frankenstein schlock. And the egregious and unnecessary product placement really grates too.

David Baddiel: Jews Don't Count (2022)

This is the documentary of the book and makes the same main points - that is, that anti-Semitism isn't considered "real" racism - albeit in less detail, as there's only an hour. It does give Baddiel the opportunity to speak to a number of well-known Jewish people, mostly in entertainment, about how they feel about the subject, and (unsurprisingly) they feel the same. To me, as a Jew, the points made are all obvious (and sometimes painfully so), but it's interesting to see them made nonetheless. I hope that more than just Jewish people watch the programme.

Cousins (1989)

This is a long-time favourite of mine, a gentle, sweet romance about two people married to the wrong people but who find each other. Interestingly, though, I lent it a friend a while back and it came back about two days later with a complaint that I'd given them a horrible film full of people cheating on each other. I can kind of see that point of view, but the film is at pains to make Isabella Rosselini and Ted Danson's characters nice, honest people, while making their spouses (William Peterson and Sean Young) horrible, self-obsessed idiots. It's more a slice of real life with real consequences than other films perhaps. But I like that.

Forrest Gump (1994)

Almost thirty years old now (which would be why Tom Hanks looks so young!), and obviously a classic. Moving in places, very sentimental in others (which I'm a bit of a sucker for anyway), in some ways an American Dream cliché and in others a social critique (there's a lot of presidents being shot), all in one improbably popular film. Great to see it again.

Pretty in Pink (1986)

This, on the other hand, I should have left firmly in the nostalgia bin. I haven't seen it in decades and it's not at all what I remember. Other than some great moments (Jon Cryer throwing himself around to Otis Redding, just about every scene with Annie Potts in it), some superb music choices (New Order must surely be very thankful to John Hughes), and, well, Molly Ringwald (my number one crush as a teenager <sigh>), it's ... awful. Little logic, context-free dramatic moments that flair up out of nothing and an ending which just makes no sense at all. It always annoyed me that Andie doesn't end up with Duckie, which is why my friend George recommended Some Kind of Wonderful to me - the film that this should have been.

Reading - November 2022

Exit Stage Left by Nick Duerden (2022)

There's a persistent fascination with the idea of the fallen star, as evidenced by a myriad of "where are they now" tabloid exposés, TV series and even films, looking at ex-footballers, ex-soap stars and ex-musicians. Duerden focusses particularly on the more critically acceptable end of the pop star market and attempts to draw out themes and insight from the stories of people as varied as Joan Armatrading, Echobelly's Sonya Madan, Shaun Ryder, Lloyd Cole and many more. But the real interest here isn't any more sophisticated than those tabloid columns - we just want to know what people are doing now. And the themes? I don't think there are any really. It turns out people are just as varied in pop stardom as they are in any other walk of life. A good read, albeit a little bitty (the chapters are quite short) and feeling like a collection of, well, tabloid columns rather than a book. 

Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov (1986)

I last read this eight years ago, but it's still very familiar. I know the surprise at the end but I can still remember being delighted by it the first time round. Of course, you have to have read most of Asimov's other books to understand the reference, otherwise it would be a complete damp squib.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (2020)

This was recommended to my by a friend (thanks Zoë!) and I'm pleased, because I wouldn't have read it otherwise. It's essentially a "what if" kind of story: what if I had asked her out, what if I hadn't taken that job, and so on. The story ends up pretty much how I expected but nevertheless the journey is interesting and moving, and if the moral is fairly obvious, you're not being whacked over the head with it. And it's nice and short too (a very under-rated quality in literature, in my opinion) and only took me a couple of days to read.

The Firm by John Grisham (1991)

I read this not long ago, but this time I'm struck by the implausibility and plot jumps, where suddenly the main character knows a bunch of things and you think, "when did he work that out?" In that respect, he's a bit too good and a bit too clever to be realistic. It's still a great read though.

The First Time by Matt Everitt (2018)

6 Music is theoretically exactly the kind of radio station I should like - serious about music, its history and place in society and dedicated to playing good music, not just commercial music. Yet for some reason I just don't find it engaging. Unfortunately that means I miss things, like Matt Everitt's series of interviews asking a wide range of "music icons" (it says here) about their formative experiences with music. I've listened to a few since finding this book and they're really interesting - as is this collection of them. Everitt's brief introduction to each interviewee is nicely judged too, and extra points for only once mentioning his old band, and then not by name (I had to look it up - he was in Menswear - but I think he's been a music presenter for a lot longer now!)

The Pelican Brief by John Grisham (1992)

The cartoon baddie who orders everyone killed who crosses him, just because, is almost straight out of a Bond film, and the romance between the two main characters is somewhat contrived and, frankly, improbable. But the story moves fast and keeps interest up.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (1920)

Poirot's first outing and it's ironic that he's portrayed as an aging man who is perhaps past his best - given how long he subsequently "lived". Like Miss Marple, he started out old and never got older. Still, it's fiction so never mind! All the hallmarks of Agatha Christie are present and correct, including the big reveal at the end and the clever way the clues can all point several ways. A classic in its own way. (read so that I could have a half-way intelligent conversation about it with someone who had just read it for the first time!)