The History Boys

Well, what can I say other than five stars and excellent. Now here is a film that won't be released abroad before it's released here. It was fantastic, and I won't be giving you a synopsis, because you really have to see it for yourself! Alan Bennett is a genius! I can't wait for the DVD, and I really want to see the stage show! Absolutely hilarious - go see!

JK

The Children of Men

The Wednesday Film

It's safe to say that this film was pretty pants, on my scale of films. However, I pretty much knew this would be the case when I read the book a couple of weeks before going to see the film. It's generally the case that the film is worse than the book (Lord of the Rings being the exception because I couldn't read the book, well because I didn't like it - not that I was that keen on the films, but there we go,) and I can confirm that this was the case with this film.

Firstly, they changed the dates when it was set, (I can actually see the need for this, what with the book being written in 1992, and set in the near future, I can see the need to push it back a bit,) secondly, when the youngest person on earth died, they DIDN'T go and seek out the second youngest, because the first didn't exactly handle the pressure well. Then we meet Theo, who looks more like an alcoholic than a university professor, and then the film pretty much skips to half way through the book, leaving out all the back story, like the Quietus. (In the film the Quietus comes in a box - a suicide pill I think.)

They left out the autocratic ruler of England called Xan (Theo's cousin, who is vital to the plot - they renamed him Nigel or something,) who is integral to the conclusion of the book. At this point they rejoin some elements of the book with the car journey trying to rush the pregnant woman to safety, and then we leave the book for the final time, in order to break into a deportation facility, to get onto a boat to escape to the Human Project.

Maybe if I hadn't read the book, I would have made more of the film. But the book was so very good, I felt that the film could have kept more rigidly to it, whilst keeping the suspense. Also, they could have successfully included a lot more back story about Theo, and Julian, and about the Five Fishes, and how they came about and their cause.

Altogether, not a film I am desperate to see again, and I wont be getting it on DVD any time soon, but should it be on telly, and I am desperate for something to watch, (and lets face it, it's a highly likely situation at the moment!), I could watch it again.

2 Stars.

On the other hand, the meal TA and I had at Weatherspoon's before hand was very nice (although my chili could have been a tad hotter, unlike TA's chicken burger,) but for £6.49 for two meals, I thought it was bargainous!

JK

Children of Men (and dinner!)

Yet another Orange Wednesday and yet another film! Last night John & I went to see Children of Men at the Odeon cinema in town. As the screening didn't start until 9pm we decided we would splash out and go for food first. Given that our Wednesday evenings are supposed to be a cheap night out we went to Imperial, the bigger of the two J D Weatherspoon pubs in town (and also the one with parking) where we had two main meals for the bargain price of 6.49. I'm sure Adam & Troe will agree that this is a cheap meal out by British standards! John had Chilli Con Carne & I had Chicken Burger.

I can safely say that the Odeon is not as pleasent a cinematic experience as Picture House! You have to queue outside, the toilets are scanky and the seats are cramped! Not that I'm picky!

As for the film, I haven't read the book (despite John having leant it to me) so I went in with basically no expectations, unlike John. From my point of view it wasn't a bad film, it wasn't a good film. The film started in much the same way as the book (I've read the first 10 pages!) with the death of the youngest person on earth but apparently it deviated basically from there on in! I'll be honest though, it didn't live up to the trailers. More explanation as to why the world was in the mess it was and how the various groups fitted in wouldn't have gone amiss. Understanding more about the history between Theo & Julian and why Theo is the person he is today would've been nice too!

The cast was pretty good - Clive Owen was sexy (although even he didn't make flip-flops look cool!) Michael Caine was amusing & Pam Ferris looked really odd with dreadlocks.

All in all I felt that it wasn't a bad film, not a good film but not a bad one! I won't be racing out to get the DVD but I'm glad I've seen it if only so I know for my self it doens't live up to the hype.

Dinner was nice though!!

Driving Lessons

Well on Wednesday TA and I went to see Driving lessons, starring Julie Walters (Billy Elliot), Rupert Grint (Harry Potter) and Laura Linney (Love Actually). It was quite funny, although I felt a little slow at times, so I think I would give it a 3.5 out of 5.

The plot revolves around Ben Marshall (Grint), who's 17, and lives at home with his mother (Linney) and father. His father is a vicar, and Ben lives a very repressed life under his controlling mother, who happens to be having sex with a much younger vicar just down the road. She used Ben's driving lessons as a cover for her sexual encounters, and pours her heart and soul into a biblical play, in which Ben is a eucalyptus tree, and the hot young vicar is Jesus.

Ben's mother takes in an old male lodger, who happens to have killed his wife, and she thinks it would be a good idea if Ben got a summer job to be able to contribute some money towards the lodger's upkeep. (It's worth noting here, TA turned to me and said "I'd tell her to **** off!) Admittedly, so might I have, but there we go. Anyway, Ben gets a job looking after a retired actress, Evie (Walters), and Evie it turns out, likes camping.

Evie asks Ben to accompany her camping, but when Ben asks his mother she says no. So Evie cons Ben into taking her for a drive, and when they get to the campsite, Ben sets up the tent to complete the picture, where, upon his demand to leave, Evie swallows the car key, so they have to stay the night. (Yes, I know, an old Woman and a young boy in a tent, but I promise, there isn't anything sinister about it!) On the way back home the next day, Evie pretends to be dying of breast cancer, in a bid to convince Ben to drive her to Scotland for a poetry recital, which he begrudgingly does. While there he falls in love with the assistant of the poetry recital organiser, with whom he spends the night, and misses the recital, which upsets Evie, as she can only remember her words when Ben is there. They argue and fall out on the drive home, in which it comes out that a) Evie can't drive (so Ben is driving illegally), and b) that Evie had "lied about the fucking cancer!"

They make it back, but when Evie comes round to Ben's house to enquire about him, his mother turns Evie away saying Ben doesn't want anything to do with her anymore. Ben's mother lets it slip just before the religious play that Evie had been round looking for Ben, and Ben runs off stage half way through, speeding to Evie's house on a bicycle, and when he gets no reply (Evie is in a drunken stupor slumped over the table), he pedals back to resume his tree duties. Evie then bursts in at the moment of Jesus' resurrection, and plays the part of god, getting the audience into a happy clappy stupor, and leads Ben outside, only for the wife killing lodger to run over his mother, just after he announces she's been having sex with the hunky young vicar!

All in all it was a funny and enjoyable film, I just thought that the plot was thin and protracted. You have got to love Julie Walters (who more than makes up for Grint's lack of acting skills - which let's be honest are pretty lacking), and personally I think she deserves a knighthood. She is marvellous and hilarious in all the things I have seen her in.

JK