Casino Royale

Well on Wednesday night TA and I went to Exeter for an Orange Wednesday! (How original!)

Anyway, TA nipped into town after work to grab the tickets (there weren't many left!), and then we met up for dinner at George's Meeting Place (Weatherspoons). However, there was a car accident just up the road, and it did involve a chav car so we went to do a bit of gawping (John), and videoing (TA). I did think we were going to see the jaws of life, but it was obscured by firemen, who weren't letting us have a very good show!

Anyway, I had chili with rice and a side of chips, and TA had Salmon and Lime fishcakes with chips for dinner, and had a good old chin wag before pootling up to the cinema, through the very rude crowd of people just standing in the doorway, generally being arseholes! Eventually we got in and got seated (easy, being the first ones through the door!)

The film was really good, with a bit of back story about the new bond (Craig), and some excellent work by Jame Dudi, reprising her role as M. The story does explain a lot about why bond is who he is, and I think Craig pulled it off well. I thought the plot was a little boring, action at the start and at the end, but maybe if I knew about poker and Texas hold'em, maybe the middle would have made more sense! I mean, yes I got the fact that money was being won and lost, I just had no idea why!

However, due to my foolishness, I parked in the car park that shuts at 11pm, (and with the film finishing at 11:20pm, I had to miss the last 30 minutes!) Damnations, oh well, I shall just have to rent the DVD when it comes out in March! All in all a good show (dodgy theme track though,) - well worth a viewing - 4 stars.

For the girls - TA insisted!

The Breakfast Club

Well as John has already said we went on Sunday to see Ghostbusters at the Picture House as part of their monthly 'Breakfast Club' Since Clare seemed a bit confused (altho YAY for the comment!!) I thought I would explain.

Once a month Picture House run what they call a Breakfast Club where they open up on a Sunday morning for coffees (or hair of the dog if its a bit of a 'morning after the night before' sort of Sunday) pastries (more on them later) and Sunday paper perusal before they show a movie from the '80s - hence the name of the Breakfast Club. And before it is suggested - they DID show the Breakfast Club movie back in September time so we missed it.

Suffice to say I was expecting something more than what we got. As John as already mentioned the gumph says arrive any time after 11 so we did but apparently it meant any time after 11 as long as its after 11.30 since the doors didn't open til then. Then when we got upstairs I was expecting real obvious 80s music to get people in the mood (altho they seemed to play the History Boys soundtrack so John was happy) As for the actual breakfast part of the Breakfast Club it was poor to say the least. They had an offer on of regular coffee, tea or fruit juice and a croissant or flapjack for £2. Not great! When we got down to the screen the cinema was maybe a quarter full if that so I can't see how they are making any decent money out of it. Then obviously there was the misordered reel issue as John explained.

I was thinking about it and I reckon you could make it better with hardly any effort. Its the sort of thing that could be SO good but apparently they have no intention of putting any effort in. I it was down to me I'd start by doing a flyer drop in the week before the event, all round Exeter especially round near the Uni housing so that people actually knew it was happening. Then I'd open the doors when they were supposed to open not 30 minutes late! As for the breakfasty bit I would have classic 80s music playing getting more & more obvious the closer to the movie starting. You know, stuff like early madonna & michael jackson. The breakfast part of things - I'd have a really good selection of pastries (not two scabby looking croissants & a pain au chocolat!) jugs of fruit juice on the bar for free refills, make sure the whole place smelt of fresh bread and coffee...Oh and I'd ensure the film was played in the right order!!!

But on a high point - I love the Ghostbusters movies!!

bustingGhost

Well, today (Yes, it is a Sunday, and yes I know we usually do Wednesday outings!) TA and I went to the Picturehouse Cinema in Exeter to see a childhood classic - GHOSTBUSTERS!

It all started out well, I met TA at the cinema where we had a coffee (John) and a Raspberryade (TA). Chatting about the merits (or lack of them) of British drivers! We then pootled down to the cinema to select some seats, and TA popped back to the foyer to get a drink and some popcorn!

After a few adverts, the film started, and all was well - slightly poor quality - but I was expecting that - I was only 7 months old when it was first released. (Although really people, digitally re-master!!!) Anyhoo, half way through something strange happened, (I think there may have been a ghost in the machine) because some nitwit put the reels on in the wrong order! So we saw Gozer (Slavitza Jovan) in the gateway bit before it had been explained that the evil dogs have possessed Dana (Sigourney Weaver) and Louis (Rick Moranis). Grrrr - TA and I are writing strong letters of complaint, in a bid for a refund and possibly free tickets as well!

We finished the outing with coffee (TA) and hot chocolate (John), in Starbucks before heading home! I meandered into the Co-op on my way to buy a EuroMillions ticket – so fingers crossed!

The cinema on a Tuesday? No, really!

Yes, this week John & I broke away from our Wednesday night cinema routine for the second week running by going to the Picture House screening of TransAmerica on Tuesday night.

As part of Picture House Exeter celebrating their 10th birthday they are showing some of what they term 'Modern Classics' and this week it was the turn TransAmerica. This is a film that I wanted to see when it first came out but never got around to it so I was pleased to have the oppurtunity to see it. It wasn't one on John's list of 'Flims-To-See' but he saw a trailer a couple weeks ago & agreed it was worth a go. Unfortunately the trailer he saw was made up of funny clips which isn't a strictly true portrayal. One review I saw described the film as 'a comedy drama' which is more acurate than just a comedy. On his own blog John gave the film a 3* rating on the basis of it not being that funny. Personally I thought it was really well balanced showing the emotions that Bree was dealing with against the natually comedic moments that arise in day to day life without even trying.

For those of you who don't know TransAmerica is about Bree (Felicity Huffman - Desperate Housewives) who is a pre-op transsexual about to go through her (his?!) final gender reasignment surgery. All the best laid plans are thrown into disarray though and in Bree's case this happens with the news that she fathered a son in her days as Stanley. The film follows Bree as she flies to New York to bail Toby (Kevin Zegers) out of jail and then drives him across country to LA all the while trying to hide the fact that a/ she is technically a he and b/she is in fact his father. Needless to say neither of these things stay under wraps for the entirety of the film and we see the fallout of both Bree's attempts to hide her true identity and what happens when the truth comes out.

Zegers looked hot as Toby but it just makes me feel old - he's only 19 for Gods sake! I know I'm not exactly old enough to be his mother but still its a bit young!

In conclusion I liked the film, it lived up to my expectations and I would recommend it as a well rounded film!

TA x

Torn...

Ok I know this is something we have actually DONE but it's funny & we both like it so here it is!

Torn

This is my first attempt at posting a YouTube video...it didn't work! I'll try again!

TA x

Why would they do that? Why?!! WHY?!!!!!

OH MY GOD!!! What is it with Dumb Ass American Teens?!?! Surely no regular person would do the things these idiots did?!

Hang on, let me explain - this Wednesday there was nothing that really apealed to us at the cinema so we decided to watch a DVD. I went down to John's house, we had pizza and chocolate pudding (with goo!) then we decided to watch House of Wax. Now, I have owned the DVD for over a year since I bought it when it was first released in the UK back in October 05 but I have never watched it! Now I am not a person who particularly likes 'makes you jump' sort of fims (and by not particularly likes I mean I detest!) and House Of Wax certainly makes you jump.

I spent a lot of time yelling "WHY?!? WHY WOULD THEY (please delete following as appropriate!) GO IN THERE/GO OUT THERE/NOT RUN AWAY/TOUCH THAT/STICK AROUND/SPLIT UP etc etc?!?!?!?"

I requested numerous times that we give up and watching something else, anything else but John said we had to watch it through so I did, well I sat there hidden under a blanket with my fingers in my ears at times but I did see the end! I can safely say I will NOT be watching it again but if you like 'that kind of thing' you'll love it!

The Devil does indeed wear Prada

On my birthday back on the 19th of October John & I went to see The Devil Wears Prada. I LOVE IT! I know John really wasn't sure about it before hand and attended more due to the fact it was my birthday therefore my choice (!) but I think he decided that it was really quite good.
Obviously the fashion was key with some amazing outfits throughout the film. Nice to see was that many of the outfits sported by 'Andy' (Anne Hathaway) were actually do-able in many ways (OK, maybe not with the same label but the otherall look - do-able!) Meryl Streep was a great Miranda Priestly - she does that cold, evil, cut-you-down-with-a-look thing so effectively! But, oh my God, the SHOES!! I LOVE shoes! I really want the DVD, great (admittedly girly) film.