My Week in Movies, 2016 Week 39

Posted on September 30, 2016 by jaycluitt

I’m still in China as I write this, but I should be on my way home when it gets published, so I’m going to reserve any further tales of my exploits for the upcoming monthly recap that should drop this weekend, providing I don’t just collapse onto a bed when I get home and sleep for several days, which to be honest I’m not exactly ruling out.

Instead, here’s my thoughts on season 1 of The Wire, because there’s nothing better to do when you’re alone in a foreign country for an extended period of time than binge watch a TV boxset. I’m just annoyed I only brought the first season with me. I’m going to go out on a limb here and make a fairly bold and potentially controversial statement – The Wire is great. I’m hooked, I can’t wait to watch more and see what happens and where all the characters go next. It’s got this ability to make utterly despicable characters – on both sides of the law – and make them compelling, watchable and endlessly entertaining, whilst ruthlessly maiming, imprisoning and killing off other, more likeable characters, yet still keeping me engaged. Scene-wise my highlight is still detectives Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West) and Bunk Moreland (Wendell Pierce) investigating an old crime scene in episode four, with the entire dialogue for the scene being comprised of “Fuck” and it’s numerous variations. I’ve gone back and watched that scene a few times and, if I can find it on Youtube once I’ve returned to a country that has access to Youtube, then it’s probably I’ll be covering on a future Favourite Scene Friday for To The Escape Hatch. There are too many great characters to list, but personally I find the law-enforcement side to be richer and more developed, even the more supporting ones like Major Rawls (John Doman) and Sergeant Jay Landsman (Delaney Williams). On the main team, it’s all about Lester (Clarke Peters), and I’m looking forward to seeing where he goes next. Criminal-wise, nobody outshines Omar (Michael K. Williams). Expect to read my thoughts on series 2 as soon as possible.
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My Week in Movies, 2016 Week 38

Posted on September 24, 2016 by jaycluitt

Greetings from China! So far I’ve been here five days and, as predicted, blog-wise I’ve been less productive than could have been hoped. I’m here primarily for work purposes, but a lot of the time is set aside waiting for our China-based tool-makers to make some adjustments to some tooling, but it turns out that I’ve had plenty of work to be getting on with, so the stack of films I brought with me haven’t really garnered a whole lot of attention, and neither has the wad of notes from previously viewed movies. Instead I’ve been up late working, some days I haven’t actually left the hotel, and when I do it’s like walking out of a fridge and into an oven, because bloody hell is it hot here. Like unbearably hot. I went for a stroll today and sweated through my t-shirt in minutes. Plus I’m pretty terrified of getting lost here, as I the only Mandarin I know is “nǐ hǎo”, which means “hello”, so I can’t really rely on anyone to give me directions. Thus much of the local culture has passed me by, not that there’s a great deal to do around these parts anyway as it’s mostly factories, hotels, offices and the standard small shops that crop up around those locales. The company I’m visiting has taken me out a couple of times, and last night I ate about half my weight in lobster (actually crayfish I think, but they call them lobster here), which was delicious, but I feel with lobster the actual meat isn’t worth the hassle of getting to it, plus there was a TV playing throughout the meal showing the whole cooking process, starting with the carefree crustaceans merrily swimming and scrabbling their way around until they’re caught, cooked and served. I’m pretty sure in a steak restaurant they don’t show documentaries about cows whilst you eat, so that was a little off-putting. Still, tasted good though.

I have watched a few films since I’ve been here though, mostly in the background whilst getting on with other things, and I watched a few films before heading here, and some on the plane, so there’s plenty to talk about this week. I also made the mistake of finally starting to watch The Wire and bringing the first season with me (Aisha decided all the characters swear too much for her to watch past episode two), so almost every time I sit down to watch something I can’t resist another episode of that instead. Damn it’s good. More on that once I’ve finished the season. Oh, and the worst thing about being here, other than spending two weeks practically alone and with no-one to hold a full conversation with, is the internet restrictions. I’m amazed that WordPress is still operational, given that Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and Blogspot are all out of action. The worst is Google, which takes out all it’s subsidiaries too, so no Google Maps, and no Gmail, not even on my phone. I use three Gmail accounts on a regular basis – all the organising I do for the LAMB and the Lambcast is on there – so this is getting unbearable. Plus, I missed this week’s Great British Bake Off! Anyway, here’s what I’ve watched in the past week:
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My Week in Movies, 2016 Weeks 36 & 37

Posted on September 20, 2016 by jaycluitt

Late again, sorry, same excuse: I’ve been busy, but this time exceptionally so. I’m writing this from a hotel room in China, where I’ll be spending the foreseeable future on a trip for work. How much time I’ll be spending in the room is as yet undefined, hence my references earlier this month with regards to how productive I’ll be blog-wise in September. So far? Not very. Anyway it’s been a busy couple of weeks preparing for this trip, but I do have a fair few films to discuss. So many in fact that I’m going to cut off the diary at this most recent Friday, and I’ll aim to pick up the weekly format this coming Friday, when hopefully I’ll have a little more time to catch you up on, amongst other things, some new releases from this year that I watched on the plane. For now though, here’s what I watched fairly recently, in the latest addition of what should really be called My Fortnight in Films:
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My Week in Movies, 2016 Weeks 33 & 34

Posted on August 30, 2016 by jaycluitt

Apologies for these lists becoming fortnightly of late, all I can do is try to be better next week. I sit down to write them every weekend, but something comes up, or inspiration doesn’t, and I end up putting them off. The problem is then I watch more films, meaning more to write in these posts, and so on. Anyway, enough procrastinating, here’s what I’ve watched this past fortnight:
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My Week in Movies, 2016 Weeks 31 and 32

Posted on August 14, 2016 by jaycluitt

This past week I turned 29, an age generally only noteworthy for being the last chance to do everything you’d planned to do before turning 30. At this point it might be expected for me to list those remaining things I’ve yet to cross off, as some form of checklist for the coming 12 months but – and I fear this may be perhaps the most depressing notion I’ve come across – I have none. I’m not bragging and crowing about how I’ve accomplished all I’d set out to do, and am over a year ahead of my lifelong schedule, no, instead it would seem that I never had any goals of this kind. No grand plan to follow, no aspirations in life. The path I’m travelling is one I have no map or compass for, no earthly clue where it may lead, and no real destination in site. You might think this is somewhat liberating, but you see I yearn for such an aim. I crave something to head for. That’s probably why I occasionally dedicate this blog to wading through various movie lists, else otherwise what would I possibly write about? And if anything, it’s these lists that are my one concrete goal, completing them is the one clear (if incredibly distant) point in my future. Outside of them, I really have no clue.

Turning 29 does have a different significance for me, personally though. I’m sure I’ve made reference in the past – probably when I first started the 1001 List, so I’ll forgive you if you’ve forgotten – that I once had a dream that I’d die at a certain age. I didn’t put a great deal of stock in this notion, but it’s one that has stuck with me, niggling at the back of my mind. The age at which I always thought I’d pass was 28 years old. The number of months, weeks and days into that year were never specified, so whilst the past year hasn’t been spent with my back pressed firmly against every wall, head on a swivel seeking out my impending, imminent demise, I’d be lying if I said it hadn’t crossed my mind from time to time. In fact my quest through the 1001 List even began with an otherwise arbitrary deadline that passed midway through my 29th year. Now it would seem all of this has just been a waste, but fortunately a waste of not very much, and now I can go on living with the knowledge that the end could occur for me at any time. Knowing my luck I’ll get knocked off my bike one film away from finishing. Anyway, speaking of films, here’s what I watched over the past week: Continue reading →

My Week in Movies, 2016 Week 30

Posted on July 30, 2016 by jaycluitt

I’ve been busy and stressing out a lot about work this week so there’s not all that much to report on my life in general, so instead here’s an update on what I’ve recently been watching TV-wise.

I’m still introducing Aisha to The West Wing, and we’ve made it over halfway through Season 2 but I can sense she is starting to get a bit annoyed with some of the characters, or at least the high-pressure fast-paced world within which they live, due to the concentrated nature of our viewing, so I think we might take a break from it for a while. Maybe we’ll try a season of The Wire in between. In contrast I’ve recently worked my way through the entirety of Veep, all five seasons, and it makes an interesting comparison to The West Wing. In TWW, all the characters – at least the ones we follow week-by-week – are inherently good people, all trying to do what they believe to be best for the greater good and, for the most part, they’re all great at their jobs. In Veep, on the other hand, the main cast is comprised of detestable and incompetent fools spending every moment fighting for themselves at the cost of anyone and anything, and I think both shows are fantastic in their own way. I also appreciate in Veep how with each season they try to write in someone even more vulgar and foul-mouthed than they’ve had previously, with Season 5 introducing Jonah’s uncle, Jeff Kane, played by Peter MacNicol. He doesn’t have an awful lot of screen time, but pretty much everything he says is an insult towards Jonah (Timothy Simons), and that’s OK with me. In fact about half of everyone’s dialogue is insults to Jonah.

After finishing Veep the other day I found myself at a loose end for half an hour, so tried the pilot of Vice Principals. I hadn’t been overly impressed with the trailer, and a prominent role (or in fact any role) for Danny McBride never works out, but the involvement of Walton Goggins showed some potential. Alas I failed to find any moment of the pilot entertaining, and Goggins, who seems to work best as an unhinged, unpredictable psychopath, is forced uncomfortably into a fey, almost straight-laced role he seems entirely wrong for, and instead of being on relatively equal pegging with McBride screen-time-wise Goggins seems very much in a supporting role, which is hugely disappointing to me. I won’t be continuing with this show.

Anyway enough about TV, let’s get to the movies!
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My Week in Movies, 2016 Week 29

Posted on July 23, 2016 by jaycluitt

I don’t do well in warm weather. If I was a country, my biggest export would be sweat. So this past week, the hottest in the UK so far this year, has been pretty unbearable. Even when sitting still I can secrete enough liquid to hydrate a small village. I’m the only person I know who could sweat in a bath of cold water. As in this is something I have done. Yesterday. So on Sunday, when I was invited to London to attend the screening of a film directed by one of my fellow writers over at Blueprint: Review (more on this later) I was of course honoured and delighted to be a part of the day, but I dreaded the experience of just being in London during a heatwave. Considering I don’t have much of a sense of style, I’d be attending via a 2 hour train journey and carrying numerous bags of shopping requested by my partner, I hardly expected to make anything close to a good impression upon these media professionals at what must have been a momentous occasion in their lives. Vigilante is the first feature film released by Blueprint: Film. It’s the first feature of director Darren Bolton, and also the first for many of the people involved, including my friend and regular Lambcast guest David Brook, who edited the feature. And here I was arriving a little late, dripping in sweat as though I was doing an impression of Lee Evans in a sauna, generally bedraggled and loaded up with a giant crate of Ben’s Cookies for Aisha’s work colleagues. Everyone else was dressed to the nines in decadent evening wear or at the very least something marginally photogenic, whilst I appeared to be debuting this season’s new look, “Post-Beach Hike Formal”. I feel I’m missing the point of the premiere – it was a great evening and an even better film, so instead of me self-indulging my own misplaced vanity, let’s talk about that instead, shall we? Here’s what I watched this week:
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My Week in Movies, 2016 Week 28

Posted on July 17, 2016 by jaycluitt

So the world got overrun with Pokemon this week. I haven’t played Pokemon Go, nor do I intend to. I played Pokemon when I was a kid, enjoyed it, traded the cards for a while, even saw the first movie in the cinema (as part of a friend’s birthday, but I was into it and watched the TV show too) but I bailed after I think Silver/Gold on the GameBoy Colour. I am however interested in the game and think it’s a novel and intriguing turn of events for the world of gaming and technology in general, and anything that encourages kids to get outside and exercise, potentially socialising with other like-minded individuals surely must be a good thing. A friend of mine has found it’s a great and so far effective way to spend quality outdoor time with his son. They’ll go for walks together in the evening, chatting as they catch pidgeys with one another. That’s great. Less so is the hordes of people tripping over one another to nab an elusive squirtle but hey, whatever makes them happy. And truth be told if I had more time and a phone that was currently capable of accessing the internet (my old phone just went and gave up on all online stuff, even Wifi, and my new phone doesn’t get activated for another 2 weeks) then there’s a chance I’d be all over this too. I think for a lot of people this’ll be a fad they’ll become tired after a few months, like a tamagotchi or gym membership, and for others it’s going to become a way of life. And to those people I say all power to you. Just please stop talking about it on Facebook. Here’s what I watched this week:
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My Week in Movies, 2016 Week 24

Posted on June 17, 2016 by jaycluitt

I mentioned a few weeks ago that sometimes you create entirely unexpected correlations between the films you watch. Back then I managed to see a string of films all involving families with many Italian brothers, but this week it’s a much more specific and unexpected relationship between the two films I saw, and the two podcasts subsequently recorded about them. After a couple of months of scheduling conflicts the Lambcast finally got around to recording the podcast for April’s Movie of the Month franchise special on The Godfather trilogy. In the first film, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) spends some time in Sicily, during which he meets, falls for and marries a girl names Apollonia. Immediately after recording that show I sat down to watch June’s Movie of the Month, Purple Rain. Guess what the name of Prince’s love interest is in that film? You guessed it, Apollonia, as played by Apollonia Kotero. It’s a name I’ve never even heard outside of these films, yet here are two watched and discussed consecutively. Freaky, right?
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My Week in Movies, 2016 Week 23

Posted on June 10, 2016 by jaycluitt

The plan is working! My mission to review more films than I watch has so far been a success, in that this week I watched one required-reviewing film, but reviewed two, including the one I watched! Yeah, small steps, but steps in the right direction nonetheless. Not much else to report – the wedding planning continues – so let’s get into what I watched this week:
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