Film review - The Dallas Buyers Club

We haven't seen a film in ages, mainly because there's so much rubbish out there, so The Dallas Buyers Club sounded intriguing.

It's the story of Ron Woodroof, (played by an almost unrecognisable Matthew McConaughey) a red neck, homophobic Texan electrician & rodeo guy who contracted HIV through intravenous drug use & unprotected sex with prostitutes.  He was given 30 days to live by the doctors.

At the time, mid 80's, AZT was the only known drug available for treating HIV positive patients and unfortunately it was still in the testing stages.  Ron refused to accept the prognosis and started learning about his condition as well as other treatments available in other countries. He was able to exploit a loophole in the law of the time which allowed terminally ill patients to import drugs from other countries and set up a buyers club.  This brought him into contact with a transvestite, Rayon - a fantastic performance by Jared Leto - with whom he forms a tentative and unlikely friendship.

Image via http://www.unnomdeguerre.com

Given the subject matter, it's actually quite an uplifting and even life affirming film.  Matthew McConaughey's intelligent, nervy performance makes the film.  If he doesn't win an Oscar for it, frankly there's no justice in the world.

It's by no means a perfect film.  It's very long and could easily have cut twenty minutes of unnecessary scenes.  Jennifer Garner as a sympathetic doctor was all cliche and surface which jarred against the moving performances from McConaughey & Leto.

Definite recommendation from me though if you want something a little different from the standard gaming inspired/rom com/action movie fare.  

Thinking of those affected by Hurricane Sandy

or should I say, Superstorm Sandy.

I've been watching the news coming in from the Eastern Seaboard of the United States with grim horror.

Although I've never been to New York City, I use the underground here in London so pictures like this fill me with dread at how awful this must be.  I've been in London when the whole city has closed down for one reason or another (usually a terrorist attack), and I know how horrible it is.  You can't do anything but sit and wait.

Image via guardian.co.uk

Image via businessinsider.com

Image via businessinsider.com

Ever since I was a little girl, I've dreamt of going to New York.  The glamour, the creativity, the buzz, the people, the iconic landmarks - I need to experience them for myself.

So, in solidarity with NYC, I've compiled a list of my favourite New York based films, TV shows and stage shows.  No disaster movies allowed.  Stay safe, New Yorkers, we're all thinking of you.

1.  42nd Street

I'm talking about the stage musical here.  This was one of the first shows I worked on when I came to London.  I sold ice-creams in the interval & I couldn't believe my luck to actually be working in a real theatre in London.  Every night I used to sneak into the auditorium and watch the show.  The spectacle and the glamour were breathtaking.

 

2.  Rear Window

I'm a big Hitchcock fan and this film is one of my favourites.  I love the way the tension is built up from seemingly ordinary occurrences.

Image via oilersnation.com

3.  Ghostbusters

What's not to love? 

4.  How to lose a guy in 10 days

Kate Hudson is the quintessential single New York girl about town. Career driven but looking for love.

5.  Sex and the City

Of course I wouldn't have forgotten it!  Still the best programme I've ever seen about being single and trying to find love.

Film review - The Woman in the Fifth

I'll have to admit, I'm a sucker for a French psycho drama so I was rather looking forward to seeing 'The Woman in the Fifth'.

Sadly it fell far, far short of my expectations.

In brief, an American writer, Tom Ricks (Ethan Hawke) arrives in Paris to 're-connect' with his estranged ex-wife and young daughter.  He turns up at their apartment and it becomes apparent that his ex-wife has a restraining order against him for reasons that are never properly explained.  He flees when she calls the police, jumps on a bus, falls asleep and wakes up in one of the roughest parts of Paris to find that all his belongings except his passport have been stolen.

Now at this point, you & I would have gone to the embassy or the police to report the theft but no, he wanders into a nearby cafe and orders a coffee with the handful of change he has in his pocket, gets chatting to the Polish waitress Ania and asks her if she knows of any rooms he could rent.  She introduces him to the Arab cafe owner Samir. Personally I'd have taken one look at Samir's rather sinister bulging eyes and ran for the hills but our erstwhile hero tells him that although he'd like to rent a room, he has no money to actually pay the rent and just like that, Samir lets him have a room for free, so as long as Tom hands over his passport.  There's no explanation as to why a seemingly intelligent person, with all the options and freedoms that an American abroad possesses, would do such a thing and thereby commit himself to a life of exploitation and abuse but he does.

SPOILER ALERT.
This is cue for a number of rather irritating dead end story lines;
Tom goes to a lawyer and starts a custody battle for his daughter that will cost him €10,000 that he doesn't have.  There is a single scene in the lawyers office then nothing more.

He takes on a job as a security guard for Samir.  Every time he lets people into the building, (who, incidentally, can only enter if they say the correct code), there's a lot of screaming & banging and the light in his office dims.  One night he ventures out of his office, sees a lot of blood in the corridor and runs away.  And that's it.  No explanation, no follow up.

He also starts stalking his daughter, lying on his grotty bed watching the trains pass by his window, fighting with his neighbour about flushing the toilet and begins a love affair with a mysterious wealthy woman, Margit, (Kristen Scott Thomas).  She's the woman in the fifth arrondissment of the title, (even though her address is actually in the second).  It's a long time since I've seen such a badly written character.  She's all cliche and no substance.  It's a mystery why the extremely talented Kristen Scott Thomas took on such an awful part.  I can only assume she had an enormous tax bill to pay or something.

Image via telegraph.co.uk

I'm not going say anything more just in case you do want to see the film.  It's not all bad by any means - I did like the fact that it portrayed a side of Paris that's a million miles away from the picture postcard tourist version.

I can see what the film was trying to do - explore mental illness and delusions but personally I think it was done far better in Black Swan and even Midnight in Paris.

*Amended 2/3/12*   

"Midnight in Paris" - a review.

Things haven't been going that well recently and I've been in a bit of a slump so I decided to indulge in unabashed escapism & see the new Woody Allen film, 'Midnight in Paris'.

I've always been in two minds about Woody Allen.  He's invariably struck me as rambling & self-indulgent but Paris is one of my best loved cities in the world and the luminous Marion Cotillard, who's one of the stars, is my favourite actress so I decided to give the film a go.

It turned out to be a very good decision on my part - 'Midnight in Paris' is wonderful.

To summarise briefly, it's about Gil, an American writer played by Owen Wilson, visiting Paris with his fiancee Inez, played perfectly by Rachel McAdams, and her very Republican parents.  Gil is a romanticist, a dreamer who'd love to move to Paris & write a novel whilst Inez is more self absorbed & dreams of owning €18,000.00 antique chairs to put in a brand new Malibu beach house.  It's obvious from the start that they're completely unsuited but they stumble along unhappily.

One night Gil decides to take a walk through the streets of Paris on his own.  He's picked up by an antique taxi and transported back to a time he's always dreamed about, the golden age of Paris, the Jazz Age, where amongst many people, he encounters his idols Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Picasso, Dali and Gertrude Stein who gives him advice on his novel.  Most importantly of all he meets Adriana, (Marion Cotillard) the *fictional* lover of Picasso.  She's a dreamer too who yearns for La Belle Epoque.  I know the time travel aspect sounds dubious but it's testament to Woody Allen's skill as a film maker that, not only does it work, but he subtly suggests it's a manifestation of Gil's unhappiness as he tries to work out a solution to his problems.

There was also a great cameo by Carla Bruni, Sarkozy's missus and the first lady of France.

I won't say too much more about the plot because I wouldn't want ruin the film for you but the film left me on a high.  It's about the nature of love, about nostalgia, about yearning for something better.

The clothes, both in the present day and in the 1920's were breathtaking.

Image via http://www.bonjourparis.com

Image from http://www.style-extraordinaire.com/2011/06/midnight-in-paris.html

At times I found my breath catching at the exquisite detail on the 1920's clothing.  

In many ways though, Paris was the real star of the show.  It was clearly the Paris that only really exists in tourist brochures but no matter, it was beautifully & sumptuously shot and left my heart singing at the sheer beauty of it all.  Shots of grim banlieues would clearly have just ruined it.

After the film, I walked back through the park and watched the sunset.  A perfect end to a perfect afternoon.

You can't really see the sunset in this picture because my iPhone couldn't quite capture it.

  

Easter weekend in London

I do hope all my lovely readers had as great Easter weekend as I did.  We spent it in London.  Personally I love London on Bank Holidays.  There's none of the manic rushing that happens during the working week.  Just people who really enjoy London.

Unfortunately I did have to work Friday and Saturday but the double time was extremely welcome.

As it was such a gorgeous day on Sunday, my boyfriend and I decided to go up to Hampstead Heath and enjoy the weather.  I adore everything about Hampstead - the beautiful unspoiled village with it's boutiques & fantastic pubs, the wild, vast untamed heath...

We wandered through the Heath for a while

then retired to The Holly Bush, a beautiful little pub just off the high street, that dates back to the nineteenth century, for a couple of glasses of rose and a very nice roast dinner.  After The Holly Bush, we were in no mood to end the evening so continued on to The Flask, another of my favourite pubs in the area for another glass of rose and a game of Trivial Pursuit, ( I lost!)

We woke up late-ish on Monday and decided to go and see 'Submarine'.  It's a strange, quirky little film but I loved it.  It's coming-of-age film about a teenage boy in Wales trying to loose his virginity & cope with the potential break up of his parents marriage.  Sounds run of the mill but the style is not.  It's divided into slightly dramatic sections like a book but it works because it's the way teenagers see life.  Well, it's the way I saw things when I was fifteen!  Disaster strikes!  The break up!  Definitely a recommendation from me.

The Kings Speech - a review

I was in desperate need of mental and cultural stimulation today after spending the whole day yesterday on Facebook/Twitter & watching some truly woeful TV so I took myself off to see 'The Kings Speech'.

Image via www.awardsdaily.com

It was a very smart move on my part.  It's an amazing film. Colin Firth was magnificent.  Not in a hot-Mr-Darcy-emerging-from-the-lake kind of way.  In a strong, intelligent actor at the height of his powers kind of way.  Geoffrey Rush was as great as ever and it was good to see Helena Bonham-Carter going back to her roots & playing an English gentlewoman.


For those of you not in the know, it's about Bertie, the reluctant prince who overcame a crippling stammer with the help of an unorthodox Australian speech therapist and became King George VI.  During World War II, King George VI played a very important part in boosting British morale and became a symbol of the British spirit.  I actually found myself welling up at times as they both overcame obstacles in their lives and became the unlikeliest of friends.  Dare I whisper the hackneyed phrase 'life affirming'?


Definitely a recommendation from me.

Films, fashion and faux pas.

I just love the Oscars.  I love the films, the fashion, the personalities - the whole over-the-top glamourous splendour of it all.  The live broadcast is in the middle of the night here in Britain but I don't care.  I stay up all night wrapped in a blanket, eating popcorn and watching it all. 


This year's Oscars were a particularly good watch.  It's a shame that 'Mugabe and the White African' didn't make it through to the final short list for best documentary but they did incredibly well to get as far as they did. I was overjoyed to see a woman, Kathryn Bigelow finally winning Best Director.  The mean part of me was particularly pleased that she beat her ex-husband, James Cameron of the mighty Avatar / Titanic / Aliens etc fame to the post.  Bizarrely 'The Hurt Locker' hasn't been released in the UK yet but I certainly intend to see the film once it has been.  Not sure how it managed to win a BAFTA without being released here...


Sandra Bullock was another treat this year.  I thought her outfit was one of the best Oscars outfits ever.

Image courtesy of chron.com

That gorgeous Marchesa gown would look even better on me, (in my dreams!) but no matter, she looked exquisite. The beautiful, delicate embroidery on the bodice and the shimmering, metallic fabric just took my breath away but I think that the final touch of genius was the fuchsia lips.  The obvious choice would have been a pillar box red but the pink made it fresh, youthful and modern.

Another surprise was Kristen Stewart.  Her habitual surly glare to camera really gets my goat, (smile, girl, do you know how many people would kill to be in your position?) but last Sunday she actually managed to not only crack a smile but finally lose the irritating rebellious teenager attitude.

    Image courtesy of sawfnews.com

However, my favourite person of the evening was the incomparable Gabourey Sidibe.  

Image courtesy of huffingtonpost.com

I love the normalness of her.  Yes, she's made some slightly duff fashion choices here, (the colour does nothing for her complexion and that applique across the waist & on the neckline only serves to broaden her) but who hasn't made some bad sartorial choices? She's brimming with joy just to be at the Oscars and I love that. If I ever got to go to the Oscars, (yea right), I'd be the Gabourey of the show.

In the absence of any real faux pas this year, I'm going to leave you with my favourite from times gone by - Bjork from the 2001 Oscars in her infamous swan dress.

Image courtesy of tvtropes.org