Unconsumed Media Project #3: Community (Season 1)

Another Christmas present that I was more than happy to receive. This is one of those things that I'd read about on the internet but had never actually seen - I think it was only shown on the Viva channel here in the UK, and I didn't even know that channel existed.

I don't really get why it isn't much more popular. The set-up is fairly 'classic American sit-com' - a bunch of oddballs with a 'will they won't they' handsome couple at the centre. I can easily imagine E4 repeating it infinitely, but for whatever reason it's never really found a broader audience.

From the description above I've made it sound a bit rubbish, but it is actually genuinely great. Beyond the basic set-up there's enough self-referencing and continued jokes to make it a cousin of Arrested Development. It also features Chevy Chase in his best role since The Three Amigos/the video for 'Call Me Al'.

Annoyingly, there doesn't seem to be any immediate plans to release season 2 on DVD. And 'they' wonder why people illegally download...

Unconsumed Media Project #2 - Taken

Technically this isn't my DVD, but it was sat on the shelf all unwatched so I'm including it. My friend bought it for my girlfriend as a birthday present. I'm not really sure why.

The film itself is basically Liam Neeson Kills A Load Of People, and for some reason it's massively popular. I have nothing against action films really but I just found this a bit boring. It's a bit like watching someone else playing a video game. There's no tension to it, and it's all a bit too 'serious' to just give yourself over to the ridiculousness of it all in the way that you can with a film like Crank, for instance.

Unconsumed Media Project #1: 'Snuff' by Terry Pratchett

So in a vague nod towards 'New Year's Resolutions' I set myself the challenge of reading all my unread books and watching all my unwatched DVDs. I'm starting with trying to clear my way through some of the stuff I got for Christmas before I get bogged down with whatever I end up receiving for my birthday.

First up was the latest Discworld book, Snuff. Getting the new Terry Pratchett book is a Christmas tradition that's been going on for years now. I'm not even that 'in' to them any more, but they're nice and readable and still raise a few laughs. I'm sure I'll be a bit sad when Pratchett's illness progresses to a stage where he can no longer write, so I'm glad that the tradition can continue for now.

Generally I'll start reading the new Discworld on Christmas day itself, and my Mam will tell me I'm being anti-social (whilst making me sit through 2 hours of Downton Abbey isn't) but this year I didn't crack on with it until the New Year had fluttered her eyelashes.

So, the book then. I'd say it was fairly typical of the later Discworlds. Amusing and enjoyable, but not much more than that really. The more established characters seem to have run out of a bit of steam unfortunately, and the plot felt like a bit of a re-tread of others in the series. Still, let's hope that the Discworld continues for as long as possible

Preview Review: Pixar directors doing action filums.

Hello blog!

Sometimes I think I like watching film trailers more than I like watching films themselves. It's fairly rare to find a good trailer. One that actually makes you want to see a film without giving away everything that happens. Luckily, most films aren't very good and are way too long anyway; so it's nice to have a film's best bits shorn of its 2hr30mins into an easily digestible format.

Today I am looking at newish trailers for Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol (catchy name that) and John Carter - formerly Of Mars. I'm comparing them for no reason other than they're both 'live action' films directed by people better known for their animation work, specifically with Disney Pixar. MI4:GP (catchy initials!) is directed by Brad Bird (The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille) whilst JC (of Mars, not Nazareth) has Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, WALL-E) shouting "lights, camera, action".

The MI4 trailer does a nice job of outlining the basic premise before descending into a mess of too-fast cuts and action shots of Tom Cruise running, jumping, climbing, and having silly hair. Jeremy Renner decides to blur the lines between franchises by playing a government super agent. He will also be appearing as government super agents in The Avengers and the new Jason Bourne film that won't actually feature Jason Bourne. That Eminem song is pretty awful, but I guess they're appealing to a demographic.

John Carter doesn't once mention that he's actually on Mars, but the big red sandy deserts, alienoids, and twin moons have a fair old crack at giving it away. I think tonally I prefer this to MI4's trailer, even if it does use the horrible 'close up on an opening eye/wake up in a strange location - where am I?' shot and a pretty shoddy cover of Arcade Fire's My Body Is A Cage. Those desert shots really are nice, the Willem Defore voice over bit gives it some 'gravitas', and they seem to have balanced the campness away from Flash Gordon territory. And in that scene of John Carter wearing a hat, he looks a bit like Jack White.

The Pizza Slice: Rustichella at Pizza Express

Ended up in Pizza Express on Monday night. My jet-set social life meant there was little point in me going home after work, and so I answered the call of the ever present voucher code.

I usually order a La Reine, but I fancied something different. After some umms and ahs I settled on the Rustichella. Supposedly topped with pancetta, rocket, and roasted tomatoes. Unfortunately it was also topped with a Jackson Pollock splatter of Caesar salad dressing. There is absolutely no need for such a thing on a pizza.

Memo:

Must. Write. More.

At The Pictures: Of Gods And Men

I saw Of Gods And Men last week. I thought it was rather great. It’s the (based on a true) story of a community of French monks, living in Algeria in the mid 90s, and how their lives change with the growth of Islamic fundamentalism. The monks have an almost symbiotic relationship with the indigenous community, but the monks find themselves between the terrorists and the government, and have to decide between abandoning their monastery or staying the course. The direction mirrors the monks’ lifestyle with its meditative slow place but it never fails to engage, mostly thanks to the brilliant cast; each character reacting in their own way to the changing world around them. It could have been so easy to show everyone as a stereotype or an archetype, but the film’s real triumph is to portray them as genuine human beings.

The Pizza Slice: 2010

When I think of pizza in 2010 it’s my visit to New York City that stands out above everything else, so this might turn into a belated What I Did On My Holidays. It’s just on another level over there. You get a fair amount of average places, but what really amazed me was the number of crappy looking places that, upon further inspection, were churning out incredible looking pizzas from wood burning ovens. I walked down one street near where we were staying in the East Village, and there was a wood delivery truck stopping at regular spots all down the street to deliver fuel to the humble looking pizzerias.

It wasn’t wood-fired pizza that won the day however, but old king coal. Grimaldi’s was a name I’d encountered whilst googling ‘best pizza new york’ and it had also been recommended by a work colleague. A friend of friend, resident in NYC, had also heard good things about it. The ‘good things’ have made it a bit of a tourist trap, and we had to queue for roughly an hour just to get a table. Eventually we were called in (we even got to jump the queue slightly) and the 5 of us were squeezed around a tiny table. The walls were covered in Frank Sinatra memorabilia (apparently he was a big fan), the waiter asked me what my ‘secret’ was - I was the only male in our party. Best of all though were the chefs. They worked as a chain. One passed the dough to the next, who effortlessly stretched it into a base, then another would apply the toppings, give it a drizzle of sauce, and fling it into the roaring hot coal burning oven. The cooked pizzas were then brought to the tables and perched on stands. We shared 2 between the five of us. They were easily the best pizzas I have ever eaten.

The most surprisingly nice though was a slice I had in Central Park’s Summer Stage whilst waiting for Pavement to come on. Despite some great food at Green Man and Latitude festivals, my expectations for food bought at outdoor music events are still coloured by the Reading Festival, but New York again excelled itself. One stall had a car trailer which had been converted into a wood-burning oven*! I had a great big slice of margherita and it was great.

Everything pretty much pales into comparison.

* For the record, I don’t think a wood burning oven is an essential of good pizza making. I’ve had plenty of great pizzas from places with more 'modern' ovens. It’s just that a wood burner is a bit of a badge, highlighting the chef as someone who cares about the pizza they’re producing. A Pizza Hut pizza cooked in a wood burning oven is still going to be pretty crap.

The Films I Liked Most At The Pictures in 2010

I think I saw more films at the pictures this year than in any other year ever, probably thanks to getting a membership card for the Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff (a bargain at £25 for me and my girlfriend). Some of them were right clunkers - especially The Ghost (which was simply preposterous) and Iron Man 2 (which struggled to shoe-horn its 'expanded universe' into anything resembling a plot). Some of them were brilliant. Here, in no particular order, is them:

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans

I've not seen the original all the way through, but that apparently means I've seen more of it than Werner Herzog, who directed this remake. Out goes Catholic guilt. Out goes New York City. Out goes Harvey Keitel. In comes Nic Cage being completely insane as he tries to solve a murder in post-Katrina New Orleans. Words cannot do it justice.

The Social Network

A brilliant portrait of a young man with no social skills who revolutionises how people socialise. Director David Fincher reins in his visual style and lets the script 'do the talking' (that's a joke about Aaron Sorkin's dialogue!). Much more than just a "film about Facebook".

Four Lions

Chris Morris generates a brilliant amount of humour by (FILM STUDIES) juxtaposing the absurdities of extremism against the mundaneness of modern life.

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

Won my heart with its opening scenes and didn't let it go for the film's duration. I can appreciate that it's not for everyone (read some of the 1 star reviews of the DVD over on Amazon) but I thought it was great (though the ending wasn't as good as the comics).

The Albums I Listened To Most This Year.

I don't use Last.fm or anything, so this won't be based on anything other than my selective memory, but never mind. In no particular order, I give to you...

Yeasayer - Odd Blood

Mostly for Ampling Alp and O.N.E I'll admit, but this album lived in my kitchen and pretty much sound-tracked all my cooking for a good few months.

Surfer Blood - Astro Coast

I found this slightly underwhelming at first. The first 2 songs are great but the rest of it didn't really do anything, but for some reason I kept going back to it and now I'm completely in love with the whole album. Especially the track 'Anchorage', which starts quite slowly and then explodes into life as it progresses. Deceptively simple.

The National - High Violet

Pretty much a victory lap after Alligator and Boxer. Utterly brilliant nonetheless. Probably the best band in the world.

The Walkmen - Lisbon

Unfortunately they'll probably always be "that band who did The Rat" (I think when they last played Cardiff that was even on the poster), but away from that undoubted 'indie disco' classic they've, in their own way, slowly started to equal The National for that whole 'bruised masculinity / triumph in the face of adversity' thing.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Not quite as good as Funeral (obviously) but a slight refocusing and a move away from the bombast that made Neon Bible a bit overbearing at times. I really like this album.

At The Pictures: Inception and Toy Story 3

Been putting off writing about Inception, wanted to let it sink in a bit more. I really enjoyed it, and it’s great seeing original content in Summer blockbusters. The look, pacing, sound and structure were all great. But as time goes by the effects of it are wearing off a little and I’m starting to think “was it actually that good?” – the characters were a little bit one dimensional, and there was a bit too much talky-explainy scenes. I did enjoy it though, and I’m probably going to go and see it again, but it’s not a 5 star classic. Nice clothes though, and I’m enjoying reading various people’s interpretations, which are bordering on fan-fiction, about ‘what was REALLY going on’.

Toy Story 3 was just another example of Pixar’s brilliance. You really can’t fault them. My one gripe is that I wanted loads more Mr Pricklepants. Let’s hope he gets his own spin-off. I can’t really think of anything to say. It’s not as good as Up. It might be better than The Incredibles.

At The Pictures: Greenberg

So last night I saw Greenberg, the latest film from Noah Baumbech or whatever he’s called. It stars Ben Stiller as the titular Roger Greenberg who retuns to his native LA following an exile in New York, and some kind of unspecified psychological breakdown inducing hospital stay. He hangs out with his brother’s PA, and meets up with his old band mate. All three central performances are pretty great, some of the best work I’ve seen from Stiller and Rhys Ifans. I’d not seen the girl in anything else but she was also great. Like a less hot less annoying Zoeey Deschanel. They’ve all got various issues and problems, and the plot doesn’t really go anywhere – the pet dog’s ongoing illness is the only narrative arc really, but it’s still engaging throughout and occasionally funny. I particularly enjoyed Greenberg’s ranty letters. The Mayor of New York, the airline company, a taxi firm, and Pakistan all fall foul of his poison pen. It’s not really a comedy though, just East Coast anxieties moved to sunny LA.

Books What I Done Been Reading

On the bus this morning I finally finished reading Jonathan Lethem’s The Fortress Of Solitude, which I’d been given as a birthday gift back in March.

The book is essentially about New York, and Brooklyn in particular. It takes a panorama of themes equal to The Wire in scope. Race relations, gentrification, the end of hippy ideologies, music, drugs, graffiti, and some other bits and bobs are all touched upon as we follow the lives of 2 character growing up from the 70s to the present-ish day. There’s also a vein of the fantastic running through the book’s core, which intertwines with the characters’ love of comic books.

The whole thing’s pretty ambitious basically, and the writing style is a bit dense at first – it took a while for it to grip me, but I’m really glad I stuck with it.

At The Pictures: The Killer Inside Me and The Brothers Bloom

I went to the cinema twice in 2 days. Crazy.

First I saw Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me, which came shrink wrapped in controversy. It wasn't that bad reeeeeeeally. The violent scenes were pretty grim, but there was no implication that the women were enjoying it - which is a criticism I've read in some reviews. The film deals with the old literary staple of The Unreliable Narrator, but to me it didn't quite work. There's also a really bad CGI scene at one point. If you don't have the budget for a decent effects shot, then don't bother. I can't decide if I actually liked it or not. File under 'hmmm, interesting' I suppose.

The Brothers Bloom is Rian Johnson's follow up the opinion splitting Brick. For some reason it's taken about 2 years for it to reach UK cinemas. I really liked it, but I can see that it's not for everyone. Like Brick, it makes no allusions to being set in the 'real' world, which grates on some for reasons I don't get. It's a bit 'indie film by numbers' at times. A little Coen Bros, a bit of Wes Anderson, etcetera etcetera, but I don't mind a bit of that. All the locations they filmed at were stunning, and the trio of central performers were great. Plot wise I don't think it quite manages to do everything it was trying to, but it's a fun ride. Hope his next film gets here sooner rather than later.

At The Pictures round-up

Hello Blog! Seen some films, forgot to blog about them. Let's see if I can remember them all.

The Ghost - Not very good. Silly pot-boiler of a thriller that didn't really work. The whole thing hinged on some hidden evidence that really would have been found within about 5 minutes if the baddies had done a proper search for it. Ludicrous twist at the end as well. Oh dear. I've never seen my girlfriend hate anything as much as she did this film (except for the drug dealer guy who used to park in our car park in the old flat, and the Evil Ninja Cat from down the road).

4 Lions - This broke my run of 'going to see underwhelming films'. Hurrah! A great film from Chris Morris of Brasseye etc fame. A nice companion film to In The Loop in a way, both exploring different aspects of The War On Terror blahdiblahblah. The phrase 'rubber dinghy rapids' still has me chuckling. Gets very dark in places, as expected, but it's hilarious for about 99% of the time.

The Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans - Werner Herzog's bonkers 'remake' is pretty much the best film I've seen this year. The only word I find that can do it justice is 'wild'. It's also hilarious. Even the old couple sat in front of me (who started out saying "I didn't think it was going to be like this" during one of the earlier scenes) were howling with laughter at the iguana scene. Another fantastic Nic Cage performance following Kick Ass.

Next up I might go and see The Killer Inside Me, though I'm going to look like a right stealth-perv going to watch it on my own :-(

At The Pictures: A Single Man & Iron Man 2

Had 2 slightly underwhelming trips to the pictures last week, let's hope whatever I see next restores my faith in cinema.

First up was A Single Man, the lauded debut from fashion man Tom Ford. The direction was a bit OTT for my tastes, lots of slow lingering arty shots. It was a bit like those perfume adverts you get at Christmas time, only a bit depressing. The performances were great though, Tony From Skins did particularly well to overcome his weird mega-tan and the worst jumper ever created. Ultimately it felt empty though, and the ending was a bit of cop-out.

Iron Man 2 is the imaginatively titled sequel to Iron Man, the surprise hit of whenever it was that it first came out. Like A Single Man, it has some cracking performances - Downey Jr is perfect in the lead roll, but it's Sam Rockwell that steals the thunder with his fantastic turn as a business rival desperate to cash in on the Iron Man arms race. Unfortunately the film really does fall apart around them. The plot is really unengaging and doesn't really do anything beyond moving us from point A to point B. Mickey Rourke has a great intro but isn't really given much to do after that. Scarlett Johansen is utterly pointless. Samuel Jackon turns up for a confusing cameo that probably means nothing to non 'fanboy' types, and the director Jon Favreau vainly inserts himself into as many scenes as possible. On top of this you've also got Gwyneth Paltrow in a will-they-won't-they roll that's hard to get excited about, and Don Cheadle gets to be War Machine for a bit. Even though there's already way too much going on, they then shoe horn in a load of 'world building' stuff to supposedly wet our appetites for the other Marvel films in production - Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers. It's not a bad film in any way, but it's not a good film either. It's a bit of a shame really.

The Pizza Slice: Cafe Citta

Cafe Citta's biggest boast is that they have Cardiff's only wood burning pizza oven, countering the claims made by the gas burning 0 Degrees and Prezzo. So obviously I've been itching to go since I noticed it opening a few months ago. I wasn't sat close enough to the oven to see it exactly, but there was definitely wood smoke in the air as I ordered a ham and mushroom. Unfortunately it wasn't a stone oven, but some kind of metal one, so the oven can't sustain the fierce 400 degree heat of a proper pizza oven - no 90 second pizzas here, but it was still one of the best pizzas I've had in Cardiff. Nice base, slightly charred (though not blistered), and crisp at the edge. What really sang though was the quality of the ham. Not sure exactly what sort of pig it came from, but it was really tasty. The service was a bit slow as the oven isn't big enough to cope with the demand of a full restaurant in which everyone wants pizza. Which was a shame, but the pizza we were presented with was worth the wait I suppose. The side salad that came with it wasn't particularly great, and I've had better coffee as well, but I'd still be happy to return.

At The Pictures: Hurt Locker and Kick Ass

Haven't had much time for blogging for various boring reasons so I'm a bit behind.

The Hurt Locker - finally got round to seeing this a few weeks ago in Chapter's Cinema 2 (the tiny one that's all red with stars). If I could, I'd see every film in the world in that little room. Mind you, it did get really warm what with it being completely full of people - including 2 brilliant old ladies sat behind me who went "gosh!" and "no!" and talked about mints in that brilliant way that only old ladies can. DIGRESSION! Sorry, the film itself was pretty good but I didn't really take anything away from it. Definitely not the best film of the last year, but good enough. It goes downhill a bit towards the end, but the tension is (for the majority) held throughout and the main character's recklessness is engaging. It just loses it at the end. I really didn't like the last scene at all, wrong choice of music more than anything. Anyway, nerd face on - I really want Katheryn Bigelow to direct The Avengers. She's built her career making films about men being manly, and if you just swap the 2 leads from Hurt Locker with Captain America (the straigh-laced 'by the book' character) and Iron Man as the reckless one and you've pretty much nailed the dynamic. Oh well, she/they won't do it and The Avengers is going to be a horrible mess of a turd.

Kick Ass - when I studied for my A Level in Film we did this bit about genres, and how there's 3 stages to a genre's developement. Kick Ass shows the superhero/comic book genre (restarted by X Men about 10 years ago) moving into the 3rd and final phase, what we called The Decadent Phase. Basically what this means is that it gets a bit postmodern and dicks about with the genre conventions and the viewer's expectations. Kick Ass does it brilliantly as well, from that opening shot of the crazy guy attempting to fly and onwards, it's basically made the whole genre redundant - Mark Webb's Spider-Man reboot feels especially irrelevent now (though I'll keep an open mind 'till I see some footage obvs). Nic Cage channelling Adam West is one of the greatest things I've seen on screen. The only thing I didn't like was the use of music from other films. It's fine when it's done in a pop cultural way, the Banana Splits theme soundtracking Hit Girl's first massacre is brilliant, but when it just cuts into straight 'film music' from 28 Days Later and Sunshine it really jarred me out of the moment (especially with the Sunshine one, as I couldn't remember what film I'd heard it in before and it was bugging me). But all in all it's a cracking little film and well worth watching.

Side note re: Kick Ass - Where the hell was my Scott Pilgrim trailer Cineworld? I'd been avoiding it online all week so I could catch it on the big screen! Boo-urns. I've watched it online now anyway. Looks like Edgar Wright has really nailed the feel of it and the visuals, but I'm still unconvinced on Michael Cera as Pilgrim. Wait & See innit.

What I Did On My Holidays: Aberaeron

As a birthday treat the girlfriend booked us a weekend away on the coast in Aberaeron. She got us a lovely little thatched cottage through Under The Thatch.

We got there on Friday afternoon, and were pleasantly surprised that the owners (or whoever) had left us a pint of milk and some amazing pics (welsh cakes, not pictures). The cottage itself was great, the outside was lime-washed pink and the inside was really nicely done up with a sleeping area on a mezzanine floor, and a wood burning fire stove in the living room area. We wandered into town and had amazing fish and chips with mushy peas at The New Celt, and a pint of Rev James in The Monachdy. Town was pretty quiet actually, considering it was a Friday. Hadn’t really realised that the population would be so seasonal. After that we went back to the cottage for a relax. A short while after she’d booked it, my girlfriend received an email informing her that the cottage now had a hot tub installed in a small outhouse, so we gave it a go. It was set at 40 degrees Celsius, and we couldn’t get the temperature to drop any lower despite frantic jabbing at the minus button. Neither of us are particularly great with heat. I don’t think we managed to stay in there for more than 20 minutes, it was just too hot. We had the windows open and everything, by the end we were sitting on the tub’s edge with just our legs in the water and it was still horrible. Need to stick to a luke-warm tub in future.

On the Saturday we drove down to Newquay and had a walk along the beach. Again, a lot of things were still shut for the season, so we ended up driving north to Aberystwyth. We had a walk about the shops and along the front, had a pint and watched half of the Wales game, had a cup of tea and a toasted sandwich, and played on the 2p machines in the arcade. Then we drove back to the cottage. In the evening we went to the Harbourmaster, which is a gastropub of sorts I guess. We ate in the bar (didn’t really fancy paying the restaurant prices). Girlfriend had a nice bit of grey mullet on linguine pasta; I had the burger which, whilst being tasty enough, basically fell foul to every ‘chefs trying to over-poshify their burgers’ cliché. The bun was really crusty, the cheese was too strong and didn’t melt properly, and the whole thing was too big to actually take a bite out of. In the end I had to abandon the bun lid and eat it with a knife and fork. Every chef considering burger cooking should be forced to watch Heston Blumenthal’s In Search Of Perfection where he makes the perfect burger. The man understands. They also served it on a chopping block. A trendy double bluff at appearing rustic that a lot of restaurants seem to be doing – it’s better than serving it on slate though, nothing worse than the scrape of a knife against a sheet of slate. After that it was back to the cottage for a couple glasses of wine and I finally finished reading China Mieville’s The City & The City, which I’d been reading since around Christmas time. Short review: it’s good, but as with all of his other books, it’s got more ideas than story.

Then we came home on Sunday to do Mothering Sunday stuff with assorted mothers, and then won £125 at the pub quiz. All in all, it was a lovely relaxing weekend. 10/10.

The Pizza Slice: Pizza Express and Strada

Sorry, have been falling behind on my Pizza Slicing. I’ve got 2 to tell you about.

Had an Al Tirolo at Pizza Express. Speck Ham, and a medley of various mushrooms. Really enjoyed it. It was topped with some fresh parsley after it had been cooked, though I would have liked a little more of it. It was on the Romana base which I am a fan of. Was considering going for their new ‘hottest ever pizza’ from the new range from the guest chef, but I wasn’t in a spicy mood and I quite like a bit of veg on my pizza. I’ll give it a whirl next time. I had a nice lemon tart for pudding.

Then about a week later we went to Strada as we were in the Bay anyway to watch Richard Herring at the Glee Club. Was once again impressed with the weight of the glasses and the pop-top bottles of table water. I ordered the Bresaola, which features thin strips of cured beef and huge dollops of ricotta, topped with fresh rocket. It was nice, though the ricotta was a bit rich, and there wasn’t that much flavour to the beef itself. Had a nice macchiato coffee after.

Still can't decide which of these 2 high street titans is my favourite. Think Pizza Express slightly pips it, as it’s slightly tastier and the menu has more depth. However, I find Strada a nicer ‘dining out’ experience, and I also prefer their bases.