This was a good film. The way some of the shots were framed was amazing, and the casting and performances seemed great to my non-Germanic self. However, I have no real idea what it was about. Violence and cruelty and people’s capacity for both I guess. There’s a point near the start when the narrator says something along the lines of “I think what happened in the village helps to explain what happened later in the rest of the country” (ie, the Nazis). It’s a massively ambiguous statement that he never follows up on. On top of that you get the whole unreliable narrator thing, you don’t really know anything about what happened to his character after the film – he may have been complicit in Nazi-ism himself and just looking for scapegoats in his past to pin the blame on. It’s (probably intentionally) frustrating because you’re sort-of waiting for some huge reveal or insight and it just never comes. So yes, there’s a lot in it to digest. And it’s very very very bleak. Well worth seeing.
Monday 14 December 2009
Wednesday 9 December 2009
ATP NBC MBV
Last weekend was the All Tomorrow’s Parties Nightmare Before Christmas event, curated by My Bloody Valentine. I had a fun weekend. The bands I saw were…
Josh T. Person (later dubbed “King of Butlins” by Warren Ellis)
De La Soul (fun party band to start the weekend off proper)
Witch (J Mascis on drums but they all looked a bit like J Mascis)
Yo La Tengo (some people didn’t seem to like this but I did, not as good as they were last time I saw them)
The Tyde (so-so west coast jingle jangles with a Dylan sneer. They got the guy from The Thrills out to do some backing vocals at one point)
The Membranes (John Rob’s punk band. Hilarious)
Sun Ra Arkestra (good but I wasn’t quite in the mood for it, so I went and pumped loads of 2p coins into the penny arcade thing)
The Pastels (this washed over me a bit, don’t really remember it)
J Mascis & The Fog (good stuff, J had a mini colloseum of amps around him)
Sonic Youth (good, but I was a: stood behind a massive pillar, b: drinking the worst ale ever, and c: it was Saturday night and I wanted HITS but they played a fair bit of stuff from the Eternal instead)
My Bloody Valentine (not life changing)
No Age (brilliant, the best I’ve seen them, and they got Bob Mould out at the end)
Chuffed Up (double brilliant)
A Place To Bury Strangers (I’ve seen them 3 times before and it’s getting a bit samey but it’s good enough)
Th’ Faith Healers (this was ok)
Swervedriver (good but not great)
Mum (didn’t stay long, don’t like ‘em)
EPMD (amazing stage banter: “any Puerto Ricans in the house?” and “this for the ladies – all 6 of y’all!” and then a 10 minute obituaries section)
Bob Mould (played a mainly acoustic set, he seemed like a genuinely great guy)
Dirty Three (stage banter > the music)
Lightning Bolt (incredible, was umming and ah-ing about seeing them but so glad I did. Really glad they play on a stage now)
As you might be able to guess from my brief summaries, I’m a bit indifferent to a lot of shoegazey stuff so I got a bit over-egged with that side of things – but that just made me enjoy the other bits more. Had loads of fun with my friends, and that’s always the best bit of ATP – dancing, pile-on, playing the arcade games, talking nonsense in the sports bar, drinking mulled cider in the chalet.
2 negative points – one was the staff not really having a clue what was going on with the wristband exchange thing on Friday, and the second being that Watership Down is the worst film ever to watch if you’re even slightly hungover. But other than that, no real complaints. Yay!
PIZZA SLICE BONUS MATERIAL – had 9 slices of Pizza Hut buffet. Not a bad effort.
Josh T. Person (later dubbed “King of Butlins” by Warren Ellis)
De La Soul (fun party band to start the weekend off proper)
Witch (J Mascis on drums but they all looked a bit like J Mascis)
Yo La Tengo (some people didn’t seem to like this but I did, not as good as they were last time I saw them)
The Tyde (so-so west coast jingle jangles with a Dylan sneer. They got the guy from The Thrills out to do some backing vocals at one point)
The Membranes (John Rob’s punk band. Hilarious)
Sun Ra Arkestra (good but I wasn’t quite in the mood for it, so I went and pumped loads of 2p coins into the penny arcade thing)
The Pastels (this washed over me a bit, don’t really remember it)
J Mascis & The Fog (good stuff, J had a mini colloseum of amps around him)
Sonic Youth (good, but I was a: stood behind a massive pillar, b: drinking the worst ale ever, and c: it was Saturday night and I wanted HITS but they played a fair bit of stuff from the Eternal instead)
My Bloody Valentine (not life changing)
No Age (brilliant, the best I’ve seen them, and they got Bob Mould out at the end)
Chuffed Up (double brilliant)
A Place To Bury Strangers (I’ve seen them 3 times before and it’s getting a bit samey but it’s good enough)
Th’ Faith Healers (this was ok)
Swervedriver (good but not great)
Mum (didn’t stay long, don’t like ‘em)
EPMD (amazing stage banter: “any Puerto Ricans in the house?” and “this for the ladies – all 6 of y’all!” and then a 10 minute obituaries section)
Bob Mould (played a mainly acoustic set, he seemed like a genuinely great guy)
Dirty Three (stage banter > the music)
Lightning Bolt (incredible, was umming and ah-ing about seeing them but so glad I did. Really glad they play on a stage now)
As you might be able to guess from my brief summaries, I’m a bit indifferent to a lot of shoegazey stuff so I got a bit over-egged with that side of things – but that just made me enjoy the other bits more. Had loads of fun with my friends, and that’s always the best bit of ATP – dancing, pile-on, playing the arcade games, talking nonsense in the sports bar, drinking mulled cider in the chalet.
2 negative points – one was the staff not really having a clue what was going on with the wristband exchange thing on Friday, and the second being that Watership Down is the worst film ever to watch if you’re even slightly hungover. But other than that, no real complaints. Yay!
PIZZA SLICE BONUS MATERIAL – had 9 slices of Pizza Hut buffet. Not a bad effort.
Wednesday 2 December 2009
At The Pictures: Zombieland
Almost forgotten I'd seen this. It's good fun, in a knockabout disposable way.
It follows a small group of survivors in a zombie apocalypse world. 28 Days Later running zombies, not the Romero shufflers. It’s got a bit of everything; action, comedy, romance. Everyone involved seems to be really enjoying themselves (but not in a self indulgent Oceans 11 style), and it all zips along at a nice pace with some nifty visuals chucked in. Scares come in the usual ‘things popping up suddenly with a loud noise accompaniment’ format, but the schlockiness serves the film well. Plans are apparently afoot for a 3D sequel.
The film also contains A Hot Girl.
It follows a small group of survivors in a zombie apocalypse world. 28 Days Later running zombies, not the Romero shufflers. It’s got a bit of everything; action, comedy, romance. Everyone involved seems to be really enjoying themselves (but not in a self indulgent Oceans 11 style), and it all zips along at a nice pace with some nifty visuals chucked in. Scares come in the usual ‘things popping up suddenly with a loud noise accompaniment’ format, but the schlockiness serves the film well. Plans are apparently afoot for a 3D sequel.
The film also contains A Hot Girl.
The Pizza Slice: The Italian Way
I love The Italian Way with all its overt Italian fakery and fishing nets dangling from the ceiling. It’s just a bit kitsch in the best way possible. And it’s BYOB on the wine. “Wahey!”
Had some good calamari for starters, not chewy at all – always a good sign. She had some rather good meatballs.
Main course was obviously the pizza (or I wouldn’t be blogging). There’s no set menu here, you just build your own and get charged per topping. It’s quite a nice approach I guess. I had pepperoni, mushrooms, and olives. It was good pepperoni, not too hot and it didn’t have that cutting the roof of your mouth quality that some bad pepper sausages do. The mushrooms gave it a nice bit of texture. The olives were good but a bit annoying as they hadn’t been de-stoned. This isn’t usually that much of a problem for me, but on a pizza it’s a bit annoying. You either had to dissect them or just try and not choke to death. I went for the dissection approach. She had anchovies, artichokes, and olives. She agreed with me about the olives.
For pudding we shared a tiramisu. Not the best one I’d had to be honest. Washed it down with a nice filter coffee. Then we went to Chapter and I drank Buddy Holly themed ales. Brilliant.
Had some good calamari for starters, not chewy at all – always a good sign. She had some rather good meatballs.
Main course was obviously the pizza (or I wouldn’t be blogging). There’s no set menu here, you just build your own and get charged per topping. It’s quite a nice approach I guess. I had pepperoni, mushrooms, and olives. It was good pepperoni, not too hot and it didn’t have that cutting the roof of your mouth quality that some bad pepper sausages do. The mushrooms gave it a nice bit of texture. The olives were good but a bit annoying as they hadn’t been de-stoned. This isn’t usually that much of a problem for me, but on a pizza it’s a bit annoying. You either had to dissect them or just try and not choke to death. I went for the dissection approach. She had anchovies, artichokes, and olives. She agreed with me about the olives.
For pudding we shared a tiramisu. Not the best one I’d had to be honest. Washed it down with a nice filter coffee. Then we went to Chapter and I drank Buddy Holly themed ales. Brilliant.
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