A Bit of a Natter About Films

I had been intending to do a recap of the things that I’d done in 2009 including all the bits I never got round to blogging about, but unsurprisingly I was too busy playing games to do it and now, heading into the fourth week of 2010 it seems a little late to drag up the old stuff when there’s so much new coming along.

Between the snow falling at Christmas and the recent horrendous weather that has left me feeling depressed and hibernatory, Mrs H3 and I went to see Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr. Now I’ve never really enjoyed a Guy Ritchie film before, in fact I’m not entirely sure that I’ve ever seen one as they’re really not my cup of tea, but the combination of classic detective and sexy actor had me intrigued enough to go. And I loved it. I can honestly say that it’s one of the few films that I’ve seen in the last year that I would happily return to the cinema to watch again and again. Robert Downey Jr is excellent as a grimy sort of Holmes, who might not be awfully canon, but sure makes for good entertainment and because of the subject matter Ritchie wasn’t able to put too much of his gangster stuff into it, but did still bring the fights and explosions. A visual feast (and not just RDJ), exciting and with a half decent story too. I’d definitely recommend it.

On the other hand I’m still not feeling the love for Avatar. I don’t know why, because in every way it should be my perfect film. Sci-fi/fantasy, with beautiful animation (even though it has a dodgy storyline) and the critics and just about everyone I know who has seen it, have universally enjoyed it. But for some reason it still doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest except as a vague feeling that if I don’t see it at the cinema I’ll have missed out on something. However, this feeling isn’t strong enough to actually get me to the cinema.

There are plenty of films coming along that I do want to see in 2010. Of course there’s the first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (expect a countdown ticker to appear as soon as the Leaky Cauldron or Mugglenet produce one), although that of course isn’t until November. Before then the big release is Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland in March, starring the usual Burton crew and also an adaptation of The Lovely Bones, which I think is out shortly, based on a book I very much enjoyed reading. There seem to be plenty of remakes in the works like Clash of the Titans, which I’m sure will be visually stunning given the abilities of CGI these days, but I suspect that they will lack something in the storytelling as so many of those films do.

Also released shortly is a Hollywood version of Edge of Darkness, which older people may remember as a brilliant UK television series from the 1980s. Sadly this new version stars Mel Gibson, an actor in whom I have lost a lot of faith over the years and early reports don’t sound promising as for starters the ending has been changed. There is still a temptation to see the film, although I think buying the box set of the original series and re-watching that is probably the better bet.

Anyway, this week I’ve seen two films on television, both of which I’m sure were feted by the critics. One of these was a completely brilliant and surprisingly delightful gem of a film, the other was depressing, violent and relentlessly downbeat apart from the contrived ‘happy’ ending. It has left me wondering what it is that makes film critics label a film as ‘feelgood’. I am of course referring to the film which has been dubbed ‘the feelgood film of the decade’, Slumdog Millionaire. As I’m sure everyone knows by now, this happy little tale actually has more in the way of violence and torture than happiness – so how can it be ‘feelgood’? The film left me thoroughly depressed and wishing that I hadn’t wasted 2 1/2 hours of my life on it.

However, the film that I think should take Slumdog’s title is Akeelah and the Bee. I originally watched it purely because there was nothing else on the television at the time and I couldn’t be bothered to dig out a DVD and because it seemed vaguely interesting. This is a gem of a film and I was surprised at how involved I became with the characters and the story and whilst the ending is somewhat bland and obvious (much like Slumdog Millionaire) it left me with a happy little glow that lasted for the rest of the day – and in my life that’s a great thing.

I’m Back!

Yep it’s true. I’m back and bigger and better than ever.

Firstly, I need to make some apologies.

To those of you who I haven’t spoken to enough, when I really should have done; to those who I argued with and upset and was mean to – I apologise. I apologise for not talking, or for talking too much – for the tears and the tantrums, for the arguing and the pain. Basically, I’m sorry for having been such an almighty pain-in-the-arse.

And the hugest THANK YOU in the world too, to Mrs H3 for sticking with me through thick and thin – you are, quite literally, my lifeline. Without you I wouldn’t be writing today. I love you matey, in all your guises.



There are two main reasons why the blogging stopped, neither of which I really want to go into in detail. Enough to say that the concert season pretty much dried up for the summer (damn you festivals!), thus leaving Mrs H3 and I in the situation of having to make our own entertainment down the pub - although that did produce some interesting evenings as the pictures show, and I have been recovering from an illness which has left me unable and not wanting to write anything, let alone a blog.



But as the words of the song say, I’m picking myself up, dusting myself down and starting all over again and the re-emergence of the blog is part of that.
So, back to the good stuff.


*~* MUSIC *~*

The concerts have started again, although they are a little thin on the ground, especially after the extremely sad announcement that Chas and Dave have split up. Obviously our entire autumn schedule had revolved around their concerts, but neither Mrs H3 nor I have any interest in seeing the Chas Hodges Band. We need Dave to make our evening complete. However, all is not dim on the concert front as we do still have Marc Almond, The Flaming Lips, Gary Numan, Alice Cooper and the mighty Rolf Harris to see between now and Christmas and Mrs H3 is off to see Dizzee Rascal later this week.

This is a weird feeling for me, as I’ve never had any interest in Dizzee (although I quite like Bonkers) and I decided that I didn’t want to see him, so told Mrs H3 she could find someone else to go with her. Of course, now I’m wishing I hadn’t said that as it seems very strange NOT to be going to a concert with her and I’m worried that I’m going to miss something good. So yep, now I’m wishing I was going!

Since I last blogged a million years ago, we’ve been to see I Am Kloot at Relentless Garage who have just released a new album of b-sides and rarities, and who were absolutely fantastic (no, of course I’m not biased). I rather like the venue and it was a joy to see the songs performed by the whole band again, although I was a little surprised by their jazzed up version of my favourite song Fingerprints and not entirely sure that I liked it that way.



We also saw Peter Doherty at the Roundhouse, which I’m not sure was the right venue for him. Although he was good as ever, we got the impression that he wasn’t completely comfortable there and he seemed to be lacking something that we’ve seen at previous shows of his. A good evening, but I think he’d have been happier somewhere where the audience could get a bit closer – the gap between stage and audience at the Roundhouse is huge and their bouncers are numerous and well-prepared. There was never any chance of a stage invasion, which probably ruined Peter’s night a little as he does like to get people up on stage whenever he gets the chance.



A repeat visit too, to the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. Once again they were very good (although they omitted Psycho Killer from their repertoire this time unfortunately), but the venue, Blackheath Concert Halls, was dreadful. The whole building was over-heated, but the concert room itself was totally airless and it was hard to stay awake because of the heat, although the chairs were so uncomfortable that they did help a little. There was one fan, located in the bar area, which Mrs H3 and I spent most of the break standing in front of (bad luck to anyone else who wanted to get the benefit) in an attempt to cool down. The toilets were acceptable, but the cold water had been turned off, leaving only scalding hot water for hand washing – definitely not needed at any time, but especially when the place was already so warm. All in all the evening wasn’t as entertaining as it should have been and even though the UOGB did several of those clever multiple song mixes including some I’d never heard before, it was hard to think of anything else but getting out and getting some fresh air. This was followed by the worst chips I’ve probably ever tasted in my life from a fish and chip shop that apparently has won awards for being the best chip shop in...well, I’m not sure where...London? the UK? The world? I’m guessing maybe it’s the best chip shop in Blackheath.

We were also fortunate enough to see the always excellent Blue October at the O2 Islington Academy. This is a strange little venue and not being in the mood for heading for the front (much to Mrs H3’s relief I imagine) my view of the band was rather restricted, to the point that in the end I gave up even trying to see them and just enjoyed the blast of freezing cold air from the excellent air conditioning whilst I got lost in the music. There was a bigger crowd than I’d anticipated which I’m hoping is a growing fan base rather than people just turning up on the off-chance, although as Mrs H3 pointed out, rather a lot of the audience were foreign.

There was a chance to meet the band afterwards, but although I wanted to get a hard copy of the latest album Approaching Normal, the whole thing looked rather disorganised and there were a lot of screaming girls around, so we decided instead to just get the hell outta Dodge. Amazingly, the car park that we’d used was almost empty despite being pretty cheap. Definitely a good find for future concerts in that area as getting up that way is a nightmare when the tubes are playing up as they were for the IAK concert.



Finally, Mrs H3, her mum and I all wandered down to the Lewisham Country Fayre (apparently Lewisham is in the country) and had a pleasurable afternoon petting llamas and goats, eating cakes, drinking tea and watching Boney M. Yep, that’s right, Boney M were headlining the afternoon’s attractions. Running through their range of hits (most of which Mrs H3 didn’t know, being such a youngster) the band, who still contain one original member (the woman in red) were enthusiastic and lively and we rather enjoyed the show, although there were some very strange people there – which I suppose livened the proceedings up even more.




*~* FILMS *~*

Now the last time I posted about films it was, of course, excitement at the impending Harry Potter film that I’d been counting down to for over a year. As luck would have it I ended up seeing the film twice on opening day, the first time alone, the second with Mrs H3 and I think it would be fair to say that it comes in as my second favourite of all the films, top place still being held by the Prisoner of Azkaban.

It’s almost time for the DVD to be released and way too late for reviews, but I think my view pretty much fits with the majority of other HP fans – the film was good, but had its flaws. I was confused rather than elated when I left the cinema the first time and couldn’t actually decide if I thought the film was brilliant or rubbish.

As ever there wasn’t enough Snape, although admittedly there was more than any previous film and I was hugely disappointed that they missed the most important line of the whole book out of the film – it wouldn’t have taken too much more screen time for Snape to say ‘DON’T CALL ME COWARD!” I was disappointed too at the lack of the battle at the end of the film, instead replaced by a pointless (in my and lots of others opinion) attack on the Burrow. I was also exasperated by the Ginny/Harry/Room of Requirement scene as that leaves too many important things unsaid or undone for the next film.

In fact that would be my main criticism – too much important stuff not explained. Mention of the horcruxes, but not how they were made, or why they were important. Too much stuff removed and little put in that added substance, although the fish scene was quite delightful.

The ‘unfortunate event’ as it’s become termed by Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode, was wrong and gave a completely different impression of the end of the film to the end of the book. And I have to congratulate too, Steve Kloves for still attempting to ship Hermione and Harry even when it’s completely obvious that they’re never meant to be a couple.

Since then there’s been little on the cinema front either, although Mrs H3 and I did, sadly, waste two hours of our lives going to see The Time Traveller’s Wife which was incredibly dull and just totally crap and the completely excellent District 9 which I would definitely recommend to everyone, although I did find it incredibly sad.

But this week has seen the beginning of the new season and the release of a load of films that I want to see and of course I’m now on countdown for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland next March (as it’s a little early for me to be counting down to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One ). Coming up are 9, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant , New Moon, the Twilight sequel; Where the Wild Things Are and, surprisingly, Guy Ritchie’s version of Sherlock Holmes (or maybe not a surprise as it stars Robert Downey Jr). Out now are Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Up and even Zombieland which received pretty good reviews.

I went to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs after good reviews from both critics and friends and thought it was excellent. I went to a Saturday afternoon showing and thus shared the cinema with lots of children, all of whom seemed to enjoy the film as thoroughly as I did. This animated film revolves around the premise of a man who invents a machine to turn water into food and is both laugh-out-loud funny (for children and adults) and touching and although a little mawkish at the end, is generally an all round feel-good movie. I came out of the film feeling glad that I’d seen it, which I think says it all.

I was also impressed with the staff of Showcase Cinema at Bluewater as they had no problem in throwing out a large group of youngsters who were mucking around in the cinema and refused to shut up even after repeated requests from the rest of the audience. The woman who removed them received a cheer from the rest of us.

And the fun doesn’t stop with films. Halloween is on its way and Mrs H3 and I are going to Hendrick’s Halloween Ball - St Anthony’s Dance a fancy dress event at the Troxy ho sted by the Last Tuesday Society. The following night will see us once again dressed up (for a change) for the Sherwood Oak Halloween Party . Expect a huge bunch of photos to appear shortly.

So I think it’s time to shut up now. You see, now I've got going again I can just rabbit on...and on...and on....

It’s Here! Well, Almost!

So it’s almost time. The moment I’ve been waiting for so long. Yep, of course I’m talking about getting my Severus Snape fix, erm I mean Harry Potter fix, with the release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince at midnight tonight. Sadly, it appears that nowhere in the UK, or at least nowhere within travelling distance for me, is doing a midnight showing, unlike the US where there are all sorts of things going on. So I’m relegated to having to wait until the morning to see it. But I suppose, after the wait I’ve already had, another thirteen hours is nothing.

I’ve spent the last three weeks desperately trying to ignore the wealth of clips etc. that have been released in the run-up, but gave up after the London premiere last week, and have since immersed myself in all the hype and am as excited as a six year old waiting for Santa. All my geeky HP friends (and believe me, I count myself as a geek too) are as excited as me and all day the tweets have been flying on the subject of the film and the Harry Potter Alliance drive to get #Dumbledore as a trending topic on Twitter. Facebook too has been flooded with HP surveys and quizzes and statuses that hint towards something momentous occurring shortly.

I’ve just noticed that the countdown ticker on my blog is wrong, as it still shows Friday as the release date. I guess they never got round to changing it; still I won’t hold it against the Leaky Cauldron as they have been somewhat busy recently.

♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫

Okay, so last time I posted I was heading for the London Ukulele Festival, where I and a number of other uke players were going to try and break the world record. I am happy to say that we did it, with 851 players completely routing the previous 401 player record. Mrs H3 and her parents came with me for support, and I can honestly say that it was a really good day out. I also managed to raise £85 for Cancer Research, not a fortune, but not bad with only one day to collect sponsorship. The photos from the day are below and you can see, amongst other videos, the report that appeared on the ITN news. A picture of my official certificate, when it arrives will follow.

Tomorrow also sees the re-emergence of Mrs H3 out of quarantine, as she’s been suffering with the dreaded swine flu. Fortunately, not serious enough to end up in hospital or dead, although she did pass it to her mum (get well soon Zena), so things have been a bit quiet on the going out front over the last couple of weeks.

However, it gets going again on Saturday with our trip to the Lovebox Festival at Hackney (which I’m now regretting only going for one day, as Gary Numan and The Doves are playing on Sunday), although we are seeing Gary next Saturday at Shepherds Bush, so all’s not lost. I just hope the weather is nice, not sure I can face spending the day waiting for Duran Duran in the rain.

Update

Okay thought I'd better give a quick update as I haven't got round to blogging again recently. I had meant to do a post with reviews of the films I've seen since the last filmic post, but to be honest I can't be bothered - I'll just say that I've seen State of Play, X Men Origins: Wolverine, Coraline and Star Trek and they were all pretty good. Star Trek was at the IMAX at Waterloo, which I'm not sure was an improvement - probably not, although it's not going to stop me going to see Harry Potter at the IMAX as it has bits in 3D apparently (sadly probably not Severus Snape though). Coraline was in 3D, although I'm sure that wasn't improved for being so, it could have used the 3D far more effectively and sadly, the Jonas Brothers concert film that was shown as a trailer was excellent and showed just how good it could have been.

Anyway, as you'll see from the counter it's now only 31 days until the release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and of course I'm getting mega-excited. I've stopped watching all the trailers etc. as I'm fed up of seeing bits of the film and WB have released so much footage now that I feel like I've already seen it. D Day is Wednesday 15th July and I expect to be at one of the first showings of the day - sadly no midnight showing at any of the cinemas near me, as there apparently are in the US, but I think the first showing is about 11am.

Talking of Severus Snape, WB have just released this and I’ve decided that I NEED it. No don’t ask where I’m going to put it ‘cos I have no idea, although I’m happy sharing my bedroom with both Alan Rickman and Severus Snape ;) I don’t care how impractical a 6’ 2” standee is ... I want it!

So to other news. Went to Chelsea Flower Show as usual, but this year Lynnie Lou had the audacity to go away on holiday to Spain with her sister so instead Mrs H3 and I went. Had the usual cracking day and were very lucky to have excellent weather. We got hundreds of photos before the batteries went on my phone and her camera about half way round. Sadly, I didn't get to see James May, but we did see most of the other major TV personalities.

Mrs H3 and I spent Bank Holiday Monday at Hall Place in Bexley where we joined King Henry VIII and his court in watching jousting etc. It was fun and once again we were lucky with the weather. In fact I actually got sunburnt. However, I’m not sure they were expecting the turnout they got as the food court contained only a burger bar, a jerk chicken stand (wtf?) a donut stall and an ice cream van. Queues for all were horrendous and we ended up leaving and driving the ten minutes down the road to Bluewater to grab something from Burger King instead. Anyway, photos to follow when we get round to uploading them, which will be after Mrs H3 returns from her highly exciting holiday in Skiathos.

Coming up next Saturday is the London Ukulele Festival. Having finally got my beautiful lilac sporano ukulele, I signed up to take part in the World Record attempt for the most ukulele's played in one place at the same time, assuming that we go. All well and good, but firstly I have to play (and I believe, sing) The Sloop John B - a tune that I haven't played since I was 12 and gave up guitar lessons. Not only have I had to relearn the chords (and believe me my fingers are feeling the burn) I've had to learn how to tune my ukulele as this warm weather is knocking it out of tune almost every time I play. Fortunately I've found a great online tuner - I have no idea what I'll do at the festival itself though. Hopefully one of the many hundreds of other ukulele players will be able to help me. Secondly, I'm supposed to be raising sponsorship money as it's an event for Cancer Research, but as I’m still not 100% sure that we’re going I feel a bit bad asking people to sponsor me for something I might not end up doing. If anyone’s interested in sponsoring me if I do go, please leave me a message or e-mail me to let me know.

Skype. Since changing to my new computer I’d completely forgotten about Skype, mainly because it turns out that my phone is not compatible with the new software. The old Skype software, plus the new phone software has now been installed and Skype is once again a great place to chat!

A General Update

As I’m off to Spain on Sunday and might not get round to updating again till who knows when, I thought I’d have a general round up on the things I’m looking forward to in the next couple of months.

-- Movies --

At the moment I'm considering going to see 'Brideshead Revisited', although I love the 1981 TV series with Anthony Andrews and Jeremy Irons so much that I'm a little worried I'll be disappointed with the film, just as I was with 'Pride and Prejudice'. I suspect though that the next film will be Kiefer's 'Mirrors' which is now out on 10th October instead of this week as originally scheduled (sorry Mrs H3, apparently it really is scary).

The good news is that 'Twilight' has finally been brought forward. Unfortunately not to the spot vacated by Half Blood Prince as I was hoping, but to 19th December (the same day as my work's Christmas party - guess which one I'll be going to!)

So now I’m focussing on possible upcoming movies. The one I really want to see is ‘Good’ starring Viggo Mortensen, Jason Isaacs and Mark Strong but as yet there’s no release date for it in the UK. I just hope it isn't going to go the way of ‘Bottle Shock’ and ‘Nobel Son’, the Alan Rickman films I’m still waiting to see (now released (or just about) in the US but still with no sign of a release date over here – I guess they are going to be another ‘Search for John Gissing’ or ‘Snow Cake’). Other than that there seems to be a dearth of movies until the new Star Trek film which isn’t slated to be out till next May after being delayed.

And look! Only 288 days to go now till the release of Half Blood Prince - the time's just flying by isn't it?

-- Music --

Well still no sign of that philanthropist giving me free tickets for the Roundhouse next weekend *sigh* but Elbow’s new found fame from winning the Mercury Prize has apparently launched them into the big time and they are doing a show at Wembley Arena (yep, really) on 14th March 2009. Not wanting to miss out this time I’ve already bought our tickets!

And I’m seriously considering Johnny Bramwell at Night and Day on 27th November. Of course I was anyway, but news on the IAK board that he’ll be doing a 90 minute set including NEW songs is more than enough to have me champing at the bit to go. All I need to do now is work out the logistics (and cost of course) of getting to Manchester.

Other than that there are two more concerts planned so far for this year – Chas and Dave (yep those perennial favourites) at the Catford Broadway Theatre on 18th October and the Bootleg Beatles (who I last saw at Glastonbury in 1994 and completely stole the weekend) at the O2 Indigo on 20th December.

-- Panto --

It’s soon going to be that time of year again (…oh no it isn’t; oh yes it is!) and so to get in the Christmassy spirit Mrs H3 and I decided that after the excitement of last year’s Peter Pan with Paul Michael Glaser we’d take in a panto or four this year. It was a matter of making some tough decisions (there was NO way I was going to see Joe Pasquale in Dartford) but finally our panto season looks like this:

29th November – Jack and the Beanstalk (Maidstone)
6th December – Cinderella (Bromley)
13th December – Peter Pan (Croydon)
3rd January – Snow White (Catford)

Among the ‘stars’ we’ll be seeing this year are Brian Blessed (yay, we love BB!), Steve Guttenberg, Antonio Fargas and Helen Lederer.

A Bit Late But It's The 'Tropic Thunder' Review

Oops. I meant to have an update but got taken ill with a bad cold/chest infection so never got round to it. Still better late than never eh?

Okay so we went to see 'Tropic Thunder' a couple of weeks ago. Now as you know I wasn’t really looking forward to the film because of it containing Steve Coogan and Ben Stiller (no idea why I thought I disliked him as Dodgeball is still one of my all time favourite comedy films and he was very entertaining on Jonathan Ross the other week)

Now for Mrs H3 and I the laughter started before the film, during the trailer for the Jim Carrey film ‘Yes Man’ – which is a definite no-no for us so by the time ‘Satan’s Alley’ appeared (sorry you need to see the film to understand I’m afraid – so go watch it NOW!) we were already in stitches. I can honestly say that this didn’t stop for the whole movie nor for about an hour afterwards while we discussed it. Both of us were in agreement that if the film had been out on DVD we would have bought it immediately on leaving the cinema.

The star of the film wasn’t Ben Stiller, Jack Black or Robert Downey Jr. although they were all excellent, but Tom Cruise who stole the whole film with every scene he was in. Now I’m not (and neither is Mrs H3) a TC fan, in fact I’d be hard pushed to name a film of his that I’ve seen (and no I’ve never seen Top Gun) and we were both convinced that he’d make a perfect Wormtail (which has actually been our nickname for him for the last good few years) but it did leave me wondering whether I had misjudged him. Certainly he is perfect for comedic roles, especially those that require a foul-mouthed, badly dressed, badly dancing middle aged man, in fact he could probably give Hugh Grant a run for his money.

I can also say that from my point of view it was worth seeing for Steve Coogan even though I dislike him (or maybe because I dislike him), although I can’t say more without giving away the plot.

Anyway the long and the short is that the film is funny, very funny and if you enjoy Ben Stiller films, or Jack Black films then you’ll probably enjoy it. So go and see it and then you too can laugh over Satan’s Alley like Mrs H3 and I (and check out the website too which I’m not giving the addy for as it’ll mean nothing if you haven’t seen the film … Did I say go see the film already?)

*

Woohoo. I’ve got my new chair. Actually I’ve had it for a few weeks now but after mourning the death of my old chair it was only right to trumpet the acquisition of the new one (and people have actually been asking whether I’ve got it which is a bit freaky!)Anyway it’s a proper orthopaedic chair with loads of levers etc. and it was an absolute bargain as those sort of chairs go.

It also weighs a ton and I nearly put my back out trying to get the box up the stairs on my own (the delivery driver ran when he saw how many stairs it needed to go up). The box was so big it only just fitted on the stairs and I couldn’t actually close the door until it was about 4 steps up. Eventually it was just too heavy and the box started to rip so I let it fall back downstairs and brought up the pieces separately. When I finally reached the bottom of the box (almost as big as me so not good for my back) I found a piece of paper which said that the chair is heavy and needs two people to lift it! Nice of them NOT to put that on the outside of the box where it might have been more useful!

Films and More

Hurrah!

Finally there is a film out that’s worth paying good money to see.

‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army.’

Worth it alone for the very funny Barry Manilow scene (rated by MTV as the best moment of the summer) and definitely for Luke Goss’ portrayal of the elf prince (yep you KNOW I’m in love!), this film is superb. Far better than the original ‘Hellboy’ in my opinion, due I think to the ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ type creatures that positively infest the movie, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the film in a way that I haven’t done for ages.

I would agree with Mrs H3’s assessment that the film bears little resemblance to the trailer though. I think the trailer misses out on the fact that this is basically a romance movie, albeit with monsters instead of humans (hence the Barry Manilow section).

However, don’t let that put you off. Guillermo del Toro has done another fine job with this film and has managed to pull off a mixture of arthouse and mainstream Hollywood in one wonderful film. If you love ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ I’d think you’d like this film. If you haven’t seen ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ see it immediately!

So the next film we’re likely to see is ‘Tropic Thunder’. Mrs H3 says it makes her laugh just thinking about it. Now I’m not sure whether this is because the film is genuinely funny or whether it’s because she’s thinking of me squirming over seeing it. Sure it has Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr, but it also has Ben Stiller and Steve Coogan and that can’t be good. However, I’m game for a laugh (which is why I refused to go and see ‘You Don’t Mess with the Zohan’) so we’ll go and see if it matches up to the trailer, which does actually have a funny scene in it (the bit with the kid for anyone who’s seen it).

Whilst at the cinema we saw a display for the new Kiefer flick ‘Mirrors’, which I tried to steal as it had an almost lifesize picture of Kiefer on it. The film’s not out till 3rd October, but is at least something to look forward to as it looks like ‘Twilight’ isn’t being released in the UK in November, instead appearing on the original release date of 9th January 2009.

Oh and note the countdown ticker – only 323 days till Harry Potter is out (see 10 days have gone already) … almost no time at all *LOL*

Finally, and for those that like to know these things (mum and dad mainly) I think I’ve broken my toe. Running late as ever, I caught my foot and bent my middle toe right back causing all sorts of pain. By this morning it was swollen and purpley black from the bruising and still painful. Of course there’s nothing I can do about it but wait for it to mend. It’s amazing how easy it is to hit your foot when you don’t want to!

The Angry Ranting Bit

Yep I’m pissed off … extremely pissed off. With Warner Brothers. I’m sure by now that everyone knows that the release of ‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince’ has been put back by eight, count ‘em, EIGHT months due to Warner Brothers money grabbing attitude.

Now I know I’m not alone in being upset. The Leaky Cauldron crashed from the number of people trying to access the site and comment on their disgust of the situation – over 600 comments in 2 hours, and reports in various world newspapers about petitions and boycotts from what are described by the LA Times as "amongst the most intense devotees in contemporary pop culture" show that the fans are very angry indeed.

This isn’t helped when WB executives release statements which give away their true intentions. Blaming the recent writers strike is useful but doesn’t cover up the fact they’re hoping to make more money by waiting till next July, especially when IMAX produce a press release saying exactly that. After the understandable outrage from the HP fandom at the date change WB’s President Alan Horn was quoted as saying that he acknowledged that the studio would have to pacify fans in the months to come: “We would never do anything to hurt one of the movies or the series. We love our fans.” Mr Horn certainly doesn’t use my definition of the word love!

The first pacifiers came quickly. After months of nothing much in the way of promotional material suddenly there were new pictures: including Snape, Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange performing the unbreakable vow; Snape and McGonagall with the golden trio examining the charmed necklace and the Slug Club meeting and Christmas party.

Nice to see especially for a Snape fangirl like me (maybe Snape will get more than ten minutes of playing time in this movie after all – a must surely considering the book (and film) is really called Harry Potter and Severus Snape), but annoying too. Forget the pictures and just give us the film!

I guess that explains why the official trailer wasn’t released with ‘The Mummy’ as had been touted by WB at the end of last month, however the publicity machine has already been gearing up for the November release so it will be interesting to see what happens when they have to promote next July. Entertainment Weekly (a huge magazine in the States) is running their 7 page feature on the film this month (it hits the newsstands today) and I am sure there will be others. Hard to see how this missed publicity will be recaptured when the film finally comes out.

So now I have to wait until 17th July 2009 to see the film. WB have helpfully pointed out that this means less of a wait for film 7 – ‘The Deathly Hallows Part 1’ which is due out on 19 November 2010 (assuming of course they don’t shift that date to a more profitable one too), but that doesn’t help. I expected the wait for the next film. I didn’t expect to have to wait another eight months for this one.

Interestingly, as part of the EW article, Steve Kloves (writer of 5 of the 6 HP scripts so far) says that he has just finished the first draft of HP7 Pt1. He is quoted as saying that they (I assume he means WB) are worried that with the end of the book series that the popularity of the franchise will drop and they won’t have an audience for the last films. Perhaps he and the executives at WB ought to take a look at the HP fandom before making stupid statements like that. Not only does it show no signs of diminishing, the number of people enjoying the books and films increases every year as more young readers (and adults willing to take a chance) pick up the stories. The main reason WB are likely to lose an audience is through stupid moves like the one they pulled yesterday!

The Film Bit

Mrs H3 and I have been to the cinema a bit and seen most of the major the new films (except for the Dark Knight which I’ve gone off more and more as I hear more about it. It’s long (as soon as Mark Kermode said its 2 ½ hours and feels like it I knew I wouldn't be watching it unless I really had to), it’s boring (apart from when Heath Ledger is on screen so I’ve been told by just about everyone who’s seen it) and it’s got Christian Bale who personally I can't stand). So here’s a quick rundown on my thoughts on the films we’ve seen.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
So we went to the premiere and it wasn’t exactly the exciting evening we were hoping for. For starters the red (or rather green) carpet seemed to be a bit thin on the ground with stars. Apparently there were ‘celebrities’ but of course as I steadfastly refuse to watch any reality TV or read any of those crappy ‘real-life’ magazines I didn't recognise any of them. This is the reason I look so bemused in the photos. Being serious the only people I actually recognised were Liam Neeson (who was looking divine, as was his wife Natasha Richardson who wore a lovely blue dress) and the four kids (and that was probably only because I’d seen the video of the four of them getting off the boat while we were waiting).

Unfortunately the place we stood wasn’t the best for meeting celebrities either. What seemed like a good position opposite the podium where the TV woman was interviewing the stars as they came through meant they were whisked across to the podium just before they reached us and then continued signing autographs etc. with the crowd just after us. There were a few exceptions. The guy who played Prince Caspian – Ben Barnes (who is to play Dorian Gray in a new version of the film – one definitely on my list to see), made the effort to come back to see our section and a large screaming group of young girls next to my left ear attracted several children’s TV presenters and reality TV boys. Liam Neeson never came near although we waited for over an hour for him to reach us, although to be fair the four or five of us who wanted to meet him (strangely we were all older women) weren’t able to shout loud enough over the little girls crying for the latest reality TV star.



By the time the ‘stars’ had gone in it was well past time that the film should have started which wasn’t really fair considering it was a school night and there were lots of children there. We had to get to our seats and didn’t even have time to get a drink, let alone anything to eat. So we found our seats. The showing was at the O2 and seated 10,000 people. Imagine a cinema screen in a space that huge. We had and expecting problems seeing from further back had got seats about 3 rows from the front. However, the screen was huge, far bigger than expected and we could have easily seen it from everywhere. So we were further forward than I’d have liked, although it was good for seeing the film’s stars when they appeared on stage just before the showing. It was also a bit freaky when you turned round to realise there were almost 10,000 people behind you and very strange when sections of the audience suddenly burst out in sporadic applause and the like.

The film itself was good enough: certainly on a par with the previous title in the series with excellent cinematography and CGI. However, it was shot in New Zealand and there were several scenes where it was too similar to the Lord of the Rings, both in content and the use of the same spot for filming (an example of this is when the Telmarine’s chase Caspian from the castle they are washed away while trying to cross the river, the same stretch of water that washed away the Nazgul in Fellowship of the Ring when they were chasing Arwen and Frodo). Similarly when the Narnian’s attacked the Telmarine castle there was a definite feel of Harry Potter to it, from the aerial views of the castle to the flying griffin.

One major redeeming feature for me was the brilliant casting of King Miraz by Sergio Castellitto who I had never heard of before. He was very much the perfect baddie and I spent the whole film alternately thinking that I was in love and thinking how perfect he would be as Severus Snape. Not replacing my beloved Alan obviously, but for his vital younger years scenes in the Deathly Hallows (surely they must do the Prince’s Tale justice if they’re splitting the film into two parts mustn't they? By rights it should be a huge part of the films and I live in hope that eventually they’ll give him the prominence that he deserves). Sergio has the dark glittering eyes, the sallow skin and the prominent nose and just the right amount of snark to carry it off successfully.

So here’s a picture of him … tell me he isn’t perfect as a younger Severus.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Well you know I was looking forward to seeing this, after all I LOVE the first three films (yep even the dodgy second one) and although the reviews were dire I was still expecting great things. WRONG! The film was every bit as bad as the reviews said, in fact, if anything I’d have said it was worse. Overlong, boring and completely out to lunch (there was NO need for aliens in this film – Indy is a treasure hunter and we want to see that). It didn't help that Harrison’s performance reminded me heavily of the ‘Headcases’ TV show’s version of Indiana Jones. So much so that it really put me off. I came out of the film convinced that I would never watch it again, not even when it’s on the telly and I think Mrs H3 was pretty much in agreement with me on this. Certainly we were both hugely disappointed and felt that the series had been badly let down by this pile of crap.

Mamma Mia
I saw the stage show of this last year with the girls and absolutely loved it and when I saw the first teaser trailer towards the end of last year I was excited about the film version. An interesting choice of cast and the chance for an expansion on the magical stage show made this a must-see film for me.

Unfortunately I would have to confess to being a little disappointed. Although Meryl Streep and Julie Walters put in excellent performances and Colin Firth was lovely enough to look at as always, it seemed to me that putting the real scenery behind the set pieces somehow dampened the effect. The minimal staging in the show is just that for a reason. Imagining the scenery allows the performance to shine through, with all the scenery around to take your mind off the performance it comes across as lacklustre. It did have me pining for my Crete holiday but apart from that I wasn’t impressed although Pierce Brosnan’s singing performance was terrible enough to almost make it compulsive viewing.

I know that most of the people I went with enjoyed it thoroughly, although Mrs H3 did tell me just as the film was starting that she wasn’t an Abba fan, something that I think you really need to be. I couldn't imagine even seeing the film if I didn't like the music. Steve and the barmaids went to see it the following week and they loved it, even getting up and singing and dancing (we were far more restrained and stayed seated through the whole thing which might have been where we went wrong), except for Tammie – she fell asleep, citing the film as boring when asked. Personally I’d agree with Tammie.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Now I was looking forward to this almost as much as Indiana Jones. Yet again I have a deep love of the first two Mummy films (although my sister hates them and can't understand my interest at all) and was looking forward to the latest in the series even if it was no longer set in Egypt.

To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. Disappointment doesn’t cover how grieviously this franchise has been damaged by this terrible film. For me the first major and completely unforgivable problem was the casting of someone else as Evie and someone who was nowhere near up to the role. Okay so Rachel Weisz didn’t want to be in it (and I’m not surprised considering how crap it was) but instead of getting someone completely different with a totally different acting style and personality to play the character they should have killed her off. Brendan Fraser is of course always pretty wooden but you expect that and so he doesn't disappoint, but the actor who played the son seemed too old to be such; he was more like a younger brother. Even John Hannah’s performance (always usually a highlight in these films) was marred by rubbish jokes and the dialogue all the way through completely stank.

There were some good set pieces, clever special effects and of course martial arts, after all Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh were in there too, but it wasn’t enough to redeem what was an absolute stinker of a film. When the thing you worry about most is whether the yak was okay it tells you something is seriously wrong. As it finished Mrs H3 and I agreed that we would never go to see another Mummy film again and also decided that ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ was actually a better film! I think that says it all really.

The X Files – I Want to Believe
Well I didn't have the highest hopes for this as I’d heard reviews saying it was basically an extra long episode of the TV series. This was absolutely correct it really was, and not one of their more interesting episodes either. Having said that it meant I got to spend the best part of 2 hours in the company of David Duchovny so it wasn’t all bad (although I was pleased when he shaved off his beard). And I do have to give 10 out of 10 to Mrs H3 for coming up with a much better plot ending for the film than was actually the case! This is definitely the best of the films we’ve seen recently. although I’m hoping Hellboy 2 is going to be a step up, so far all the films I’ve been looking forward to for the Summer season have been disappointing (to say the least).

Of course there are films I am looking forward to, although not a huge amount it has to be said. Having said that the end part of the year has the films I’m REALLY excited about. Coming next is ‘Hellboy 2: The Golden Army’ as I mentioned above. I will admit that I wasn’t that keen on the original Hellboy film for reasons I can't quite put my finger on. For me it just wasn’t quite enough. However, it looks like Guillermo del Toro has gone to town with the monsters in this one, very much more ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ (which I absolutely adored) so I’m looking forward to it. The trailer looks awesome and of course it’s got Luke Goss in it, looking like an ill Lucius Malfoy so it’s almost worth watching for that alone.

I’m also now champing at the bit about ‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince’ since Warner Brothers have FINALLY released the teaser trailer for it (all 1 minute and 31 seconds of it – see below). Of course the theatrical trailer would be better and is desperately awaited (and not just by me either – I think the whole HP fandom is going mad with the lack of promotion), but it hasn't been released with The Mummy as was reported all over the internet (shame because it would have almost made The Mummy worth going to see). Other rumours suggest it will be shown with the new Star Wars film, but I have no intention of seeing that even for the HP trailer.



The HBP premiere has been chosen as this years Royal Film Performance. Amazingly the tickets are on sale to the public, although at £4,800 for 2 tickets (only a mere £7,000 for 4) for entrance to the main film theatre with the chosen royals plus other assorted famous people (Alan Rickman and Jason Isaacs? *sigh*) I don't think we’ll be attending unless Mrs H3 or I win the lottery in the near future. There are other tickets on sale at varying prices, a red carpet event with screening at an ‘adjoining cinema’ for £200 per person, or a smaller screen ‘adjoining cinema’ for £175. There is also a ‘Near Simultaneous Screening’ which takes place an hour later for £60 and a ‘Late Night Screening’ at £25.

Now I’m seriously considering the last option as it’s 1) the cheapest and 2) directly after the Royal premiere. I REALLY (and I do mean really) want to be among the thousands watching the stars of the film turn up on the red carpet just so I can be in close proximity to the lovely Mr Rickman. However, if there’s one thing I’ve learnt from the Prince Caspian premiere, there is nothing worse than watching the red carpet and then not having time to eat or even get a drink. So the late night showing makes a great deal of sense. I get to squee in a fangirly way at Alan (and Jason if he’s there) and then get to chow down before heading off to see the film. Worth £25 of anyone’s money to do that I’m thinking.

Finally the last film I am waiting for, almost as much as HBP is the teen vampire romance flick ‘Twilight’. I am avidly watching the two teaser trailers that have been released, plus any extra scenes that come along and can’t wait for more footage. It stars the gorgeous looking Robert Pattinson (who played Cedric Diggory in ‘Goblet of Fire’ and ‘Order of the Phoenix’) as Edward Cullen and there has been considerable discussion in the Twilight fandom about his suitability for the role. Well he looks pretty damn good to me (and no Mrs H3 I don't care at all that he’s too young for me I still think he’s completely gorgeous).



I have to admit to only having found the books since hearing about the film, but I love a good vampire story (oh okay I just love any vampire stories; good, bad and indifferent) and the ‘Twilight’ series are very good vampire stories and I would definitely recommend reading them. Surely it is impossible not to fall in love with Edward Cullen in the way that it was impossible not to fall in love with Louis in the Anne Rice books (or maybe I am just a shameless romantic), although it is even easier as he is every teenage girl’s dream man even if he is undead. And then there’s Jacob!



Once I’d got the books I’d read the first three, ‘Twilight’, ‘New Moon’ and ‘Eclipse’ within two weeks (and these are big 600 page books). ‘Breaking Dawn’ the last book in the series was released last week, apparently causing a huge backlash from the fandom because … well I didn't buy the book because I wanted to wait for the paperback, but I’m not sure I can wait that long – avoiding ‘Breaking Dawn’ spoilers is becoming more and more difficult and I really want to read the story before I hear about the ending and of course to find out what’s got everyone so upset.

It's My Blog's Birthday!

I’ve just realised that I’ve been doing this blog for two years now so HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my blog which I started on the 15th May 2006! Wow two whole years of aimless rambling – doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun!

Disappointingly I’ve just lived through a whole week without any live music; I’ve not seen a show, been to the cinema or done anything even vaguely of interest. Of course there are things on the horizon – in fact the future looks pretty good, but my present is most definitely boring.

The one bright spark has been the acquisition of the new(ish) Elbow album ‘Seldom Seen Kid’. I already had and enjoyed an earlier album ‘Cast of Thousands’ but hadn’t really taken much notice of them for a few years. With the possibility of seeing them with I Am Kloot in Cheshire next month I thought it was high time to catch up with their newer work. I had heard (and loved) the single ‘Grounds for Divorce’ but hadn’t expected to enjoy the album quite as much as I did. I think it is probably a completely ‘me’ album. With fantastic lyrics, lush storytelling over divine music, upbeat yet careworn, dreamy and enchanting, the album is a joy to listen to and gets better with repeated listenings and I can safely say is one of the best albums (if not the best) that I’ve heard this year.

Not such a surprise I guess when Elbow are so closely linked to Kloot and have Richard Hawley doing guest vocals on a track. Perhaps it was obvious that I was going to love it.

Music will be playing a big part in my future as we’re still going to see Duran Duran on 3rd July at the O2 arena and now that Pete’s been released from jail it looks like his concert at the Royal Albert Hall has been rescheduled for the 12th (according to the NME anyway). I’m really interested in the Mighty Boosh Festival on the 5th at the Hop Farm as Gary Numan has announced he’ll be playing there and I love the Mighty Boosh; whilst Mrs H3 has shown interest in the Zoo8 festival at Port Lymphe mainly due to Chas & Dave’s appearance I think, who are unfortunately on the same date. I'm also extremely tempted by Jools Holland's upcoming concert at Rochester Castle on the 17th as Marc Almond is playing with him. All I need now is to win the lottery and I can go to all of them and the Latitude Festival that same weekend which IAK have just confirmed that they are playing (with Elbow).

But it doesn’t stop there. Next week sees the opening of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Although the critics haven’t been very kind to the film I’m sure it’ll be just as entertaining as the other three so I’m looking forward to seeing it. I’m not sure when though, next Friday Mrs H3 and I are off to see ‘Potted Potter’ a 70 minute take on the Harry Potter series. Believe me when I say we’ll go and see just about anything if it looks interesting enough!

In my last post I mentioned Diesel Park West playing at Chatham Central Hall. Fortunately I didn’t get tickets for this as the following day Mrs H3 got us tickets for the premiere of ‘Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian’ at the O2 arena. Not only did she get us tickets but she got us amazing tickets at the front, dead centre. Obviously this is going to be a fantastically star-studded event (after all it is the UK’s biggest film premiere and for charity – Great Ormond Street Hospital) and I understand that there is a dress code involved so look out for the two of us gracing the red carpet, no doubt trying to upstage any minor celebrities that may be there.

But before all this comes Chelsea Flower Show on Wednesday – the horticultural highlight of my and Lynne’s year and so far the weather forecast is looking good. The gardens … the flowers … the Pimms … ahhh the pleasure of a nice day and relaxing with the sounds of the brass band and an ice cream. Of course there will be the usual hundreds of photos uploaded somewhere on line after the event – my fabby purple new camera very kindly donated by Mrs H3 has a card big enough to hold almost 3,500 pictures – more than even I’ll need for the day!

Back to Normal ... Well as Normal as I ever get!

So I’m back at work, somewhere I was desperate to be last week when the course got a little overwhelming (the second week is definitely NOT the easiest) but where I really don't want to be now. All the problems I had before I went away are still here (and then some) and now there’s a MASSIVE pile of work to be done too.

As I said the second week of the course was incredibly hard and the volume of information required is huge. Unfortunately I think I did even worse in the exam than I did the first week (complete inability to answer the big 20 point question not helping too much there). And so it’s all over with the exception of the small matter of the workplace risk assessment and the 750 word report that I have to complete and return to the course centre by next Wednesday (no pressure at all then!) After that it’s just a case of waiting until 20th June to see how many of the modules I’ll have to resit. Of course if by some fluke I do happen to pass the whole thing maybe I’ll have to go on and do the Oxford Brookes Diploma *LOL*

While I was away Duran Duran announced their European tour and more specifically the London concert date at the O2 (3rd July for anyone who may be interested). Fortunately although they tried hard to make it impossible for me to get the fan club tickets I did manage to do so, although at an extortionate price (just how do Ticketmaster justify charging £6.75 per ticket as a booking charge? It’s completely outrageous!) This has gone some way to cheering Mrs H3 and I up as we had finally managed to get tickets for Pete Doherty’s gig at the Royal Albert Hall just before he was sent to prison and so were a little disheartened at the loss of that concert.

Of course we still have I Am Kloot to look forward to, the first concert being tomorrow night at Komedia in Brighton. The new album ‘I Am Kloot Play Moolah Rouge’ seems to be generating some good press, with both The Sun and The Evening Standard giving it 4 stars and Elbow’s lead singer Guy Garvey praising them from the rooftops wherever he can. I suspect that Mrs H3 is a tad fed up with them, but she’s far too nice to make me go to the concerts on my own and I keep hoping that with enough exposure she’ll eventually realise what a truly awesome band they are even if they’re never going to be as famous as I want them to be. At least they don't cost a squillion pounds to go and see (although there’s still a ruddy booking fee) and we’re on the guest list for the Koko gig as I’ve agreed to do a little name collecting for the newsletter. So if you see me there do say hi. I don’t bite … well not much!

The thing I had been looking forward to most about getting home was watching my brand spanking new DVD of Sweeney Todd which I was sure was going to be waiting on the doormat for me. Imagine then my extreme disappointment to find that not only had it not arrived, but it hasn't even been sent yet. Although it was released in the US on 1st April it appears that Play.com haven't yet got their supplies of the film. I’m gutted as I would have expected to have watched it at least once by now and am seriously considering buying it from elsewhere.

There’s a couple of films I might have to make the effort to see over the next few weeks. First of all there’s the quirky ‘Son of Rambow’ which appeals to me for some unspecified reason that I can't quite work out. Also ‘The Oxford Murders’ starring John Hurt and Elijah Wood as it’s one of those murder-mystery ancient clue solving films that I so love. Perhaps I’ll go and see that when I should have been seeing Pete D.