Watching - December 2022

Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)

After revisiting Pretty in Pink so disappointingly a couple of days ago, I had to watch probably my favourite John Hughes film. The soundtrack here isn't quite as good and it doesn't contain Molly Ringwald, but the story is better, the characters are more developed and the ending is the right one!

Disenchanted (2022)

Enchanted is a bit of a family favourite so this was always going to be a watch together - which is what we did, albeit with B remotely and without K for some reason. Capturing the same whimsical yet tongue-in-cheek spirit as the original was always going to be difficult and if the sequel doesn't quite manage, it's not for want of trying or for want of fairy tale clichés to cram in.

Classic Albums: A Night at the Opera (2006)

For some reason TVDB only knows about a feature film length version of this, but that's not what I saw on Prime, which was about 45 minutes long and interesting enough but a little light on detail (and contained nothing about "The Prophet's Song" for some reason). Always amazing to watch (Sir!) Brian May playing though - just a genius.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

A candidate for one of the best sequels ever? William Goldman said that sequels are whore's movies - it's all about the money - but given that Cruise could have made a sequel decades earlier if he really was interested in cashing in, maybe this exists because he really wanted to tell the next story. Just as preposterous as the first film but better filmed and possibly a better story and, dare we say it, possibly a better film. I ordered this on DVD the day after we watched it in the cinema and I don't regret that at all.

Martin and Martin: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life (2018)

An odd two-hander, in which Steve Martin gets to play a little banjo, Martin Short gets to do some comedy-vaudeville and both get to trade mock insults with obvious affection and much show business affectation (particularly so in Short's case). I wouldn't normally bother with this kind of thing, but it passed about an hour, had some laugh-out-loud moments and was generally pleasant enough.

Runaway Jury (2003)

Apparently the trial's subject was changed from tobacco to guns fairly late, following the release of The Insider. On the one hand, it makes little difference which legal product kills someone, but on the other, it makes a lot: tobacco isn't protected by the constitution. However, instead of this being an interesting discussion about the US's weird cultural gun fetish, this is just a story of a jury being swung. Most of the interesting parts of the book are lost and in particular, we get no idea how John Cusack's character sways the jury - which makes it all a bit implausible. Passes the time but not particularly good.

24 Hour Party People (2002)

I don't have many claims to fame, but this is one of them: I was a student in Manchester when Madchester was kicking off and the Hacienda was the coolest nightclub in the country. Except I wasn't actually there: I was at the alternative clubs and the Poly bop, listening to The Velvet Underground and The Stooges, Mudhoney and The Wonder Stuff, not any of this dance crap. I think we know who was proved correct. Nevertheless I was aware of enough of it - and learned enough in the next few years - for this film to be an interesting trip down memory lane. Very entertaining in many ways (albeit I suspect off-puttingly confusing for anyone who doesn't already know the subject matter), but badly unbalanced by having Tony Wilson played by Steve Coogan, who, through no real fault of his own, just makes every character he plays sound like Alan Partridge.

Only Murders in the Building (2021)

I found this via reading about Martin & Martin (above), only to later discover that it's part of a resurgence of interest in whodunnits (with films like Knives Out), which makes me very on trend or something. Allegedly. Anyway, this series is great fun, with loads of twists and turns before the murderer is revealed and a amusing sense of self-awareness. Martin Short in particular is hilarious as a washed-up theatre producer who insists in giving delivery notes to just about anyone. Perhaps a slightly shorter series would have been a bit more focussed and if the stunt-casting episode with Sting was a bit misjudged, at least they took the micky out of themselves later for doing it. There's a second series too, but I'll have to see if I can be bothered once I don't have a whole holiday season to watch it!

Knives Out (2019)

Once I got past Daniel Craig's American accent - and not just a generic US one but a full-blown southern drawl - this turned out to be a very entertaining whodunnit, a clear successor to Christie's drawing room mysteries. Great fun and much better than the badly off-target Branagh version of Poirot.

Reading - December 2022

Eminent Hipsters by Donald Fagen (2013)

I've been meaning to read this for ages and finally got it out from the library a couple of weeks ago. I suspect I might be the first person to do so, judging by its pristine condition. Perhaps this is unsurprising: Donald Fagen isn't a household name and the band he fronted through the 70s, Steely Dan, is well-known amongst music lovers but still a bit of an acquired taste - so the potential audience for a slim book about really obscure musicians and influences from his childhood is probably limited. If it had been an autobiography - which is kind of what I expected - then it would have been of more interest. As it is, finding out about some of Fagen's influences has some value, but the second half of the book is a tour diary - and, as I say, it's not a big book anyway. Amusing in places and worth the read, but overall, mildly disappointing.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (2004)

Despite being ostensibly classified as "science fiction/romance", this is only SF in the very broadest sense. Henry's time travelling isn't just a metaphor for any long term medical condition but is actually defined as one, and so his absences can be compared with a partner who is physically or mentally not with you through no fault of their own. But because he has found Clare - his true love, to whom he keeps returning and is destined to be with, through some unexplained causality of looped time - he can manage. I don't believe in the idea of "the one" any more than I believe in time travel, but it's a fine sentiment for a book and I was happy to indulge in it. It's over five hundred pages long and I did wonder how Niffenegger would sustain the story, but it stayed involving and moving right to the end. Very enjoyable. I just wish that authors could let go of the idea of "literature" enough to provide a happy ending.

What If? 2 by Randall Munroe (2022)

More disastrous scenarios from innocuous premises, explored in fascinating detail and with cute pictures. An ideal book to read over breakfast or lunch, or similar short bursts, as it is best read with a break in between chapters. Great fun.

The Humans by Matt Haig (2013)

I think the quotes on the front cover ("hilarious", "wonderfully funny") do this novel a disservice. It's never outrageously funny, so if you picked it up expecting a comedy extravaganza you might be disappointed. On the other hand, if you are interested in a gently amusing but thoughtful and bittersweet story of family and love, suffering and sacrifice, and why all are necessary to be human, you might have found the right book. Having an alien attempt to understand humans and their culture is a cute way to examine things from another perspective; perhaps the alien here could be anyone who feels themselves, well, alienated from society or their family (is this too obvious? Honestly, I am so poor at subtext). I enjoyed the book, although I found the slightly odd mix of emotional analysis and slightly thriller-esque elements meant I wasn't as involved or moved as The Time Traveler's Wife earlier this month. (As an aside, I do like Matt Haig's take-down of book snobbery very much though!)

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!)

Watching - October 2022

Stewart Lee: Tornado (2022)

The companion piece to Snowflake wasn't as funny. Lee's show is basically about himself - or about his character, "Stewart Lee", anyway - and although there's plenty of amusement, I mostly chuckled rather than anything else.

Death on the Nile (2022)

A sumptuously filmed, expensively cast, melodramatic mess. The bare bones of the original, elegant plot are buried underneath a hodgepodge of unnecessary characters, needless activity and pointless scenery. Poirot is barely recognisable as Christie's "little Belgian", as all his original characteristics are presumably considered the antithesis of a real detective (which was actually kind of the point) and therefore removed, and we're left with a cliched star vehicle for Kenneth Branagh, who runs around, shouts, broods and accuses everyone, but exhibits no sense of discovery or intellect, merely a magician's reveal at the end that comes out of nowhere. Since any film is a massive team effort, it seems unfair to blame Branagh for this hopeless misreading, but since he's the director and star, that's what I'm going to do. Other than that though, it's not a completely awful film, just generic and a bit dull.

Gattaca (1997)

A striking, stylish piece of sci-fi that has stayed with me for a long time. The setup is pretty straightforward but then it's combined with a murder mystery that gives the story some structure. As always, some of the minor plot points don't bear thinking about too much, but it doesn't spoil things, and the score is superbly evocative.

Turning Red (2022)

The female members of my household think this film's headline metaphor is offensive ("so you're saying that when a girl starts her period, she literally turns into a red monster??"), which I can kind of understand. But having actually watched it, I think it's a little more nuanced than that: I think it's an allegory about how it feels to start adolescence and puberty, rather than menstruation specifically or solely. And, as such, I found it funny and relatable. It's not a Disney or Pixar classic but it's perfectly decent, it's good to see female central characters, and the animation is superb, of course. And the 4*TOWN songs are very good!

Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)

Watched with Z, who seemed to enjoy it.

Wimbledon (2004)

Comfort viewing.

The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)

I've been meaning to watch this for a while, as it's supposed to be a valuable historical artefact that documents the US west coast's punk scene at the turn of the 80s. I'm pleased I watched it, and it's a chance to see footage of some of the iconic bands of the time (notably Black Flag, The Germs and X). The music is a disappointment though. It's crude, but to some extent that was point of punk and perhaps they improved (much as, say, The Clash did) - and if it sounds clichéd, well perhaps it didn't at the time. Now, however, this is as dated as 50s rock and less interesting.

Reading - October 2022

This New Noise by Charlotte Higgins (2015)

I found this because it contributed its title to Public Service Broadcasting's concert this year at the Proms (which I was at!) This is not a history of the BBC, although that's not obvious until well over a third of the way through the book. Instead, Higgins uses stories from the formation of the organisation to inform a discussion about its place in British society and its many detractors over the decades. In a way, it's heartening to see that the kind of idiotic comment made recently by Jacob Rees-Mogg (who questioned the BBC's impartiality in a pathetically transparent attempt to avoid an awkward question) has been going on for almost as long as the BBC has been in existence, and that many of the newspapers - particularly the Daily Wail - have always been against the BBC, probably initially through worry over competition and then latterly just because they'll moan about anything. Sadly, although I don't think the BBC should change, it probably will, because in a subscription world, it's very hard to justify a license fee. 

Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie (1933)

I always like a good whodunnit, from back when I first started reading Poirot stories. At the time I wouldn't have noticed how dated they were (given that this book would have been already fifty years old at the time!) but now it's glaringly apparent. Still, it doesn't spoil the ingenuity of the plot. Simple, easy reading. (Although what I wanted to read was Death on the Nile, as I had just watched it, but for some reason I don't own that)

Open by Andre Agassi (2009)

This is the first autobiography I've read that really articulates the struggle, hard word and pain that surely all world-class athletes (and probably greats in other fields) go through. Most play this down or just don't mention the hours, weeks and years spent tortuously refining the skills that put them at the top - presumably because they think it wouldn't be interesting. Agassi's book disproves that theory, but then it has a slight flavour of misery memoir about it that means all the pain is part of the story. And, of course, the story has redemption and a happy ending, as Agassi learns to love the game he was forced to play as a child and finally gets his dream girl. Indeed, this does also seem like a very extended love note to Stefanie (not Steffi) Graf, which is very sweet. Superbly written (with someone else, who is credited at the back), moving and insightful.

Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov (1982)

Great story-telling, maybe a little clunky in places, but never dragging. However, perhaps it's a bit over-familiar, so even though I chose it because I wanted something easy to read, it was a little unsatisfying. Which is a shame, because it's a classic.

Reading - September 2022

The Pre-Loved Club by Sue Teddern (2022)

This is a modern romance of sorts, I guess: two people, both separated from their first partners, who gradually realise they want to be together, but only after attempts with other people. It's more realistic and believable than your typical Silhouette romance, but oddly I found it a little frustrating, as it was obvious how it was going to end but seemed to take ages getting there. Still, I quite liked the "he said, she said" format (which reminds me, I would quite like to see that film again!)

One Man and His Bike by Mike Carter (2011)

I think the bicycle is a fantastic invention and I really should ride mine more. This is a feeling only made more intense by this somehow matter-of-fact and yet wondrous recounting of a journey around the coast of the United Kingdom. Part travelogue and part ode to his bike (a Ridgeback) and cycling in general, it makes you realise how big the country actually is - compared to, say, a man on a bike - and how different the regions are. It makes the four miles to work seem trivial but I'd still be nervous about some of the roads!