November 2005 Archives

The most striking thing I noticed about the film was it's cunning integration of the opening credits into the action going on behind them. Whether anyone else in the cinema noticed this makes me wonder if it was worth their effort, but presumably some creative artist is going round with that on his c.v. now.

The other thing that struck me was how much Jodie Foster had aged since I last saw her up on the big screen, reminding myself of my rapid ascent into middle age. Let's not even dwell on how young she looked in Candleshoe.

These minor points out of the way, what of the film? The film slowly built up the tension, the opening scenes bringing a sense of foreboding in a well crafted manner. In the process we are introduced to Jodie, an american aircraft engineer and her dead husband, who seemingly fell to his death from the roof of their apartment building in Berlin. Such is her tragic loss, that she imagines him being with her on a walk back to the apartment from the mortuary, a sign of her emotional fragility perhaps, an issue that is played on heavily later in the film. We are also introduced to the daughter back at the apartment, and her aprehension at flying back to america with her mother and father (travelling in cargo) for the funeral.

They are the first to board what appears to be an Airbus A380, but refreshingly no product placement here from Airbus and in scenes reminiscent of Hitchcock's "A Lady Vanishes" (also similiarly replete with plot holes), after Jodie Foster wakes up after a short nap, her daughter is missing, and not even a thorough search of the airplane reveals her whereabouts.

With plots twists and turns a plenty, it transpires that not only did no one see the daughter on the plane, but the departure gate had no record of her, the bording card was missing, and the passenger manifest didn't list her. What appears to be the final clincher on Jodie's delusions is when the captain gets a message back from Berlin to say that not only did her husband die but according to the mortuary he took his daughter with him on the plunge.

So there we were sixty minutes in the film, ready to write the whole thing down to a psychotic episode from the grieving wife, but what's that on the window? A heart drawn in the dust by the daughter just after they boarded the plane? (I told you it was reminiscent of A Lady Vanishes).

Throw in a few dodgy looking arabs, screaming kids, an incredulous sky-marshall, a captain whose patience is wearingly increasingly thin and the most unhelpful flight-attendents you've ever met, and it makes for a tense thriller.

At least, until the last 20 minutes, where it all gets a little silly, but that's Hollywood for you.

Bury St Edmunds was last week treated to a brand new 8 screen cineworld cinema, complete with a "Benny and Tranny" (or whatever it's called) restauarant and a couple of other bland nationwide food outlets.

Righty I thought, I'll pay them a visit, grin and bear it as I mingle with the hoardes of Suffolk Chavs for whom a trip to the cinema is the highlight of their social calendar, a step up from hanging around the war memorial or larging it up outside the chip shop.

Imagine then, my surprise to discover that for an 8 screen cinema, only the following films were showing this evening:

Flightplan, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Harry Porker and the Noblet of Jizz, and In Her Shoes.

None of which were showing within an hour of my arrival in Bury St Edmunds courtesy of One Railway. Bollocks to that then. I headed off to the old tiny two screen cinema hidden down a back street, to see what they were showing.

This small cinema, which recently rebranded itself as the "Hollywood Film Theatre" the week Cineworld opened, simply oozes small town charm. I especially liked the hand written ticket, and the invitation from two members of staff to sit wherever I like. The seats were were wide and spacious, with plenty of legroom for even a lanky chap like myself. It was a pleasure to sit through the advertisements, which were not shown for as long as any other local cinema. Yes, Arts Picturehouse, I'm looking in your direction. I imagine Vue is even worse, but it's been so long since I've visited their spunk stained piss smelling cesspit of a cinema.

It's also the first time I've been to a cinema where the staff say "good evening sir" when you leave the auditorium. Hurrah for friendly customer service. I hope you don't get put out of business by Cineworld. Judging by the letters in the local paper, and the comments I've heard from people who've been to cineworld "and won't be going back in a hurry", the Hollywood Film Theatre could be around for a while yet, and good luck to them.

The Hollywood Film Theatre can be found in Hatter Street, Bury St Edmunds. (Tel 01284 754477).

[I'll do a review of Cineworld when they finally show a film at a time that is convenient for me, rather than vice versa]

I don't know the reasons behind the government's keenness to pass this bill, and I don't care (the old difference between ignorance and indifference again). Whilst in my local non-smoking pub tonight I did start considering the possible effects that the new legislation might have.

Firstly we have the social impact. Some of the criticisms of the current licensing laws is that they are outdated, and also the common 11pm licence rule means that people try to get down as many drinks as possible before closing time. This latter fact has been blamed for the binge drinking culture that our society currently suffers from.

It seems that the basic premise will bring pub, and other licensed outlets into a more continental style of opening time. However, the new law does not address our other European divergence from alcohol retail, the duty levied on alcoholic beverages. In my travels around Europe I've seen a few different cultures, and very roughly speaking you can divide European alcohol attitudes into one of two categories. The first, and most noticeable in places like France, Italy, Germany, is the typical continental attitude, low duties, very flexible hours of sale. The second attitude, more prevalent in Northern, or Scandinavian, European countries is that of the high duty, stronger restrictions on hours of sales. I would say that on balance Britain has been traditionally more in line with the Scandinavian legislature. The new ruling will cause the start of an interesting disparity.

So on the one-hand pubs will be able to stay open longer, if granted a licence, but will those places necessarily attract more business? I don't think so, there's a finite limit to how many people want to drink and how much those people do drink. Initially there may be a bit more bingeing, more violence, unrest, puke on the street etc., but things will probably settle down eventually.

My guess is that people will still drink the same amount, but it will be over a longer period of time, but the bars and outlets will be open for longer, so their overheads will increase, it may create some interesting employment problems for them too. Higher costs, mean drink prices will go up, magnified by our already over the top alcohol duties. If (and I can't predict the future) and when this happens I think many outlets will see less trade and then close. We have not even begun to discuss the issue of what will happen when the proposed smoking ban comes in to force!

The extreme position is that the majority of pubs and bars left in five or ten years will be very expensive chains that do not serve food. The common boozer will probably disappear, hopefully the classic country pub will survive based on the charm of such places, we shall see...

Whatever happens my personal advice, like on the adverts, is to enjoy your drink responsibly.

BBC NEWS | England | Cambridgeshire | Police target offenders on road

I am pleased to see that the Police have finally decided to have a clamp down on cyclists and motorists who think they're above the law.

Gratifying as it is to mouth "you wanker" at motorists who jump red lights, go through "Bus Only" traffic lights, as well as do the three point manouvre of think it's ok to smoke, talk on a mobile and go round a roundabout whilst paying no attention to anything past the windscreen, I've never found it to have quite the same effect as a fixed penalty notice.

If only it were as fun to taunt the cyclists, but they mostly seem to be foreign students whose grasp of the English language is so poor as not to warrant any effort in trying to explain the rules of the road. Besides, if you're dumb enough to cycle down a busy dark road late at night with no lights on your bike perhaps you're only doing so out of concern for the lack of bodies available for medical research.

The artist remarked to me today at our usual lunchtime massage that he'd bumped into a former acquaintance last week, who I gather showed a mixture of surprise and contempt that I was still around, given that I hadn't changed since school.

This remark has been mulling around in my head for the rest of the day, as I got to wondering how much do any of us change? So putting aside physical traits - for whilst loosing one's hair is one mark on the "I've changed score", it is not something many of us wish to dwell upon - what are well left with?

It seems to me that many of our traits stay with us as we get older, perhaps the only thing that changes to any significant degree for the better is that of wisdom, until of course we reach that age where senility sets in. Other areas, such as culture, sense of humour and ambition, will wax and wane, certain things coming to the fore at certain points in our life, helping to guide us to a fulfilling and rich old age.

Of course, none of this is anything compared to the thought that I haven't been able to get out of my head since lunchtime - I would never get so drunk as to let grown men fondle my genitals when i was a teenager, and that has not changed to this day, however much of a hangover cure it is purported to be.

Again Tim Burton revisits his 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' territory with this animated feature featuring a host of voice-over talent. The story echos 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' too, another Burton feature adapted from the Washington Irving classic, in that the main living characters either Dutch or Dutch descent. So we are introduced to the main characters Victor Van Dort, voiced by Johnny Depp, a young groom to be forced into marriage by his status aspiring parents. As it turns out the bride to be is also being forced into wedlock as the grand family is down in its luck financially and the daughter, Victoria Everglot (the voice of Emily Watson), is single and of age! Any familiarity you may sense at reading the overview of the plot my be because the story is very similar to a cut down version of Charles Dickens' 'Great Expectations', or any costume drama for that matter.

So where does the corpse come into the equation I hear you ask? In true Burton-esqe style Victor wanders into the woods and, whilst reciting his vows, places the wedding ring onto a stick in the ground, but the stick is actually the bony finger of a previously abandoned bride who is summoned from the undead like a hormonal genie - or perhaps like a rotting Miss Havisham. She, the corpse bride (Helena Bonham Carter), drags Victor to the underworld as she now believes them to be married.

The film is a mere 76 minutes long, and much of the time is taken up with songs and other jollyties. As a result the movie seems to fly by and one gets the impression that it has been designed for children, but there is plenty to entertain adults too. As usual with an animated feature you can play the "guess the voice" game, or just marvel at all the little touches added to the visuals throughout the movie. It is a real feast for the eyes if you try and take everything in at once.

All in all a good fun film for all the family.

**** (out of 5)