As you hopefully will have noticed, this blog has been following the lead of Sleater-Kinney and global economic stability, by going on indefinite hiatus. Lots of things going on at the moment for me, so writing about music for ten people to read hasn't been too high on the to-do list.
But with Arsenal winning again today and my completion this morning of the MPRE, I've a bit of time, so I can tell you what I thought of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, which I watched recently. I've a horrible habit of watching Simon Pegg in whatever shit he agrees to appear in, and with the reviews generally being pretty poor, I wasn't expecting much out of it.
Based very loosely on the autobiography of Toby Young (who was on Have I Got News For You last night, but that's an aside), the film is terrible, overbroad comedy with lots of overdone gurning and falling over for the first hour or so. Pegg's character is idealistic but hampered by his complete arrogance and unlikeability. If you've seen that clip where he's playing with the chihuahua, it's like that for an hour. Then it suddenly takes a sharp twist towards responsibility, maturity, self-awareness and (relative) seriousness with - hoo boy - a rant from Kirsten Dunst. The film hasn't earned the right to become reflective, so it doesn't resonate much, and soon enough we're back to dumb comedy set-pieces (food fight ftw!) and a predictably corny ending. Also, there's a transsexual lapdancer, which is always funny.
It's a big problem for the film when the best reactions are for two of the three people from The I.T. Crowd in brief appearances, a coke dealer who was in ONE SCENE of 'Spaced' (hey, it made me happy), and a pretty decent soundtrack. Guillemots! Robyn! Dragonette! There's some props to 'Con Air', though, so that's good. If you're not a Pegg completist, then I envy you, and don't watch this.
You thought Brad Pitt was a cave in Yorkshire
Chuck your boyfriend, have a sandwich
I was late to the party, I'll admit it.
I didn't watch Spaced until the second series, in 2001. But I didn't really fall in love with it until I had moved to the States. Every place I have lived since coming to America, has seen me play both series to my friends here. I've lost count of how many people I've turned on to the show. Once 'Shaun of the Dead' came out, my already-knackered Region 2 DVDs went into overdrive because of the renewed interest. So, I'm delighted that the show is finally available to buy in America.
It's probably my favourite television program of all time. I still get chills at the "getting to know you" montage at the start of the first episode. I still dance along with Tyres during his brief appearances. I'm still filled with pride when I see my streets, the streets of North London, when I see them drinking at the Monarch. I saw Coldplay there! I still coo at the sight of a pre-Office Ricky Gervais in a one-minute cameo. The scene at the end, soundtracked by 'The Staunton Lick', still makes my heart soar. And I still get annoyed when I see reviews that refer to the "fake couple" thing as if that's the central premise. (Entertainment Weekly, you did this most recently)
Not to mention all the quoting. There's a pretty strong probability that I could perform a one-man show of all fourteen episodes. Is that something to be proud of? I don't know. The nerdcore appeal strikes home – like all Spaced fans, I've had exactly those kinds of geeked-out conversations with friends about movies, books, the Manic Street Preachers, etc. Unlike other sitcoms, it never felt like an unrealistic world.
The new edition DVD set comes with some new commentaries, including American fans of the show like Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino. The ones I enjoyed the most though are from Patton Oswalt, who repeatedly says "This part of London looks so shitty!" and Bill Hader, whose Michael Bay anecdote you can hear below. And another thing: I didn't know that the part of Brian was initially written to be played by Julian Barratt. Isn't that interesting!
It's not finished.
If you've never seen Spaced and you're reading this, you'd probably enjoy it.
It's finished.
[download Lemon Jelly - The Staunton Lick]
[download Bill Hader's Michael Bay story]
[Buy the DVD already (US)]
A broken collarbone and a dead meerkat
My fondness for Simon Pegg isn't much of a secret, and I thought Michael Ian Black's standup album was pretty good, so I had high-ish hopes for Run Fatboy Run, which the two co-wrote. Alas and alack, the film is a whole heap of okay. There are some funny moments, like when an old lady says "cock" and the cameos from a couple of British comedy giants (seriously, these are tall men), but for the most part it's a really formulaic romantic comedy with not much to get worked up about. Pegg falls over a lot and doesn't give it much as the lovable loser. Most annoyingly, his love rival Hank Azaria's Whit begins as a far preferable alternative, not annoying at all, and then suddenly shifts into the archetypal bad guy far too conveniently. David Schwimmer's direction doesn't really have much flair, there's Fratellis on the soundtrack, and even Dylan Moran can't save this film. I wanted to like it, I really did, but it's far too plain to warrant much more than a shrug and a chuckle.
I'm Bill Murray, you're everyone else
I've seen quite a few films lately. Here, I'll write about them.
Michael Clayton: Finally! A film that tells the truth, that the legal industry - my destination of choice - may be actually quite shady! But seriously, Tony Gilroy, a man who can probably make my daily walk to the mailbox seem tense and dangerous (this is a compliment) wrote and directed a solid, if unremarkable thriller in which George Clooney didn't come off as smug. The plot keeps ticking along nicely, though I imagine that non-law-students may have been a little lost/bored at times. Tilda Swinton won the Oscar, but I wish Tom Wilkinson had too, because he was great in it. Which leads us nicely into...
Dedication: I have real trouble with films in which the main character is entirely unlikeable. This indie stars T-Wilks, briefly, along with Billy Crudup and Mandy Moore. A pretty standard socially-awkward-guy meets free-spirited-pretty-girl-with-her-own-skeletons story, except this socially awkward guy is a rampant misanthrope who's angry at everything. There really wasn't much to like in the film, so stay away.
Persepolis: I've been getting through the graphic novels very slowly (thank goodness for boring classes), so I was glad to finally see the film. And it was terrific! The main thing to note here is that it's far funnier than you'd expect for a first person account of the Iranian Revolution. There's an "Eye of the Tiger" montage in there, and some Bee Gees dissing, which I am fine with. All that, and the animation is swish. Check it.
La Vie en Rose: Marion Cottilard is great, and definitely was a worthy winner of the Oscar. That aside, I didn't care for the film at all. Another pretty interesting real-life story was lost in a very run-of-the-mill drugs/sing/yell at everyone/cry/sing some more/yell at everyone/be old/repent cycle. Also, following Basil Fawlty's instructions, they completely failed to mention the War at all, which was a really odd and conspicuous omission.
The Savages: This film was really heavy, but not heavy in the way a good funk song is heavy. Caring for a parent who's in the throws of dementia is terrifying, and Hoffman and Linney were great and the script really got across their fears and vulnerabilities well. It was just so dark that I had trouble getting much enjoyment out of it. Sorry.
Great World of Sound: Nice idea, low key indie film. It didn't really do much for me, I've got to say, but the dynamic between the two leads was pretty good. The musicians in the film didn't know they were being filmed for a movie, and so all the auditions are completely natural, which is a nice touch. Here's the trailer - worth keeping an eye out if you're a fan of producer David Gordon Green.
Meet the Spartans: Well, I promised I'd see it. No real shocker to say that it wasn't very good, but I was disappointed to see at least two jokes recycled from Epic Movie. This time they throw in "parodies" of television commercials as well as just movies/tv shows, etc. There's an Anna Nicole Smith joke toward the beginning, which I thought was in poor taste, and it didn't get much better for the remaining hour. At least it was really, really short. Tegs, what happened to you?
Be Kind, Rewind: As you may have seen, white people really like Mos Def and Michel Gondry, and I do too. But I found this one mostly unsatisfying. The heart of the film, where they recreate old movies, is pretty neat, because Gondry has a great flair for stuff looking amazing. Unfortunately, the set-up and the ending are really clunky. Check out the Sweded films on their site - especially Gondry's own reworking of the movie trailer, and that's most of the joy of the flick. Better luck next time. Oh, and it's always worth giving a shout-out to Adam and Joe, who did similar stuff years ago. Only, they did it with toys.
The Good Night: I don't know what to tell you. This one was all over the place. Terrible, despite the fact that the first voice you hear, and the first face you see, belong to this man. The characters are all whiny and unlikeable, the plot is so muddled and baffling as to make me furious, and nothing good happens at all. There are people involved here that I like - Martin Freeman, Simon Pegg, Penelope Cruz - but it's a train wreck. Avoid like schoolteachers at bus stops.
Film review: Hot Fuzz
This review was written by my friend Thomas Neumark. Visit his blog Breaking Kayfabe, and/or watch his stand up here.
My favourite thing about going to the cinema is trailers. Now the trailer for Hot Fuzz was nothing that special but this didn’t necessarily dampen my spirits. You see the reason I like trailers is not the same reason that I like movies. Before Hot Fuzz there was a trailer for the movie 300. That’s the kind of trailer I really like. The plot is 300 Spartan warriors against one million invading soldiers. One million! And it looks like they put up a good fight. The breathy voiceover may well have said something along the lines of “destiny has got a new six-pack”.
My second favourite thing about going to the cinema is the ludicrously overblown advert style thing for Dolby Surround sound. It is done on CGI as though it’s going to astonish us in anyway. What kind of country-fried rube is impressed by this kind of stuff these days? I mean we’re living in a world that has produced xtube (a pornographic version of youtube), Technicolor doesn’t cut it anymore.
Hot Fuzz itself was excellent. There are a series of excellent turns from the great and the good notably Bill Bailey and Timothy Dalton who needs to give back all those scenes he stole. Pegg and Frost’s dynamic is once again subtly (ever so subtly) different to their previous pairings. This time is much more homoerotic: my favourite kind of erotic.
The tone of the whole thing is, like Jesus Christ, slightly hard to nail down. At some points it is almost Airplane like in its pastiches and references, at other times, especially in the last half hour, the action is a lot more convincing, nearly as good as the fabled Bad Boys II which is a constant reference point for some reason.
Ultimately if you’re the kind of geek who is reading this you will be most interested in whether Hot Fuzz is better than Shaun of the Dead. Yes it is. I didn’t find the romantic story line particularly compelling in Shaun whereas giving Pegg and Frost a hint of the gay along with their wonderfully silly banter makes Hot Fuzz “better than Shaun of the Dead”, there I’ve said it.
[download David Arnold - Theme from Hot Fuzz]
What makes you think it was murder?
Since AYGH? is your unofficial one-stop source for news regarding Hot Fuzz, the new comedy from Pegg and Wright, here's an update. Firstly, there's a well-formed website up and running, with a contest I don't really understand, and some details about who's in it. Hey! It's Bill Bailey looking not-like-a-mental-hippie!
Also, there's a new U.S. trailer, complete with intro from Simon, Edgar and Nick. And - yes! - it's Paddy Considine!
I can't put into words how excited I am.
[watch new U.S. trailer for Hot Fuzz]
Ow! My face!
My sister got back this week, after two months in England and France. I am, of course, delighted that she's back. Not so much because I obviously haven't seen her since May, but because she bought me the Big Train DVD whilst over there.
C'est quoi? A BBC sketch comedy show from the late 90s, starring - amongst others - Simon Pegg and Mark Heap (who'd go on to be in Spaced) and Kevin Eldon (Jam, Spaced, Black Books). It was very surreal and silly and funny and to show you what I'm talking about, here's a couple of sketches of theirs.
* Parlez-vous Anglais?
* The American General
Alas, I couldn't find the clip online of Chaka Khan taking on the Bee Gees in an Old-Western saloon fight, maybe look for that on your own?
