Always infuriates me when celebrity junkies are seen as fine. But, normal **** up junkies are just left to rot.
Very true. And addictions are not restricted to narcotics. Alcohol and gambling addiction worries me hugely. The normalisation of gambling beyond the ‘fun level’ is dreadful. I know young people who lose thousands every year on something that generally causes stress; their behaviours are those of serious addicts.
I have seen at first hand how some parents would rather buy some lottery tickets than feed their kids. That is small scale gambling, but shows just how desperate some are to get out of their current life. Horrible situation.
That’s it. I have seen that too, exactly as you describe it. Can you stop? I don’t want to, I enjoy it. As says every addict.
A recommendation with a difference. On the strength of two of the cast and crew being ex-Watford players (Dominic Blizzard and Jamie Moralee), I watched a film called 90 Minutes. A very weak & disjointed storyline, shocking acting, and a script written by someone who appears to only know two words - both with four letters, one starting with 'F' and the other with 'C'. My recommendation is that, if you're ever tempted to watch it, don't bother.
Finally watched Flags of Our Fathers, the partner to Letters from Iwo Jima, watched months ago. Two hard hitting films from 2 different human perspectives, why do we fight wars for power maniacs.
These days, the British film industry does not have the cache it once had. We are producing an enormous amount of tut - I’m unsure if they are tax write-offs, vanity projects, or a mixture of the two.
I watched Blinded by the Light yesterday. I set aside my two biases against the film: it's set in L*t*n; I'm not a fan of Bruce Springsteen. It's actually quite superb and ultimately uplifting. Springsteen's lyrics are right up there with Dylan for my money (as their music / voices grate on me) and the backdrop of mid-eighties working class England (unemployment under thatcher, racism, culture clash etc) is in sharp focus with the upbeat feel of those 60s pop band musicals. Funny, poignant, uplifting. Give it a go!
Also we signed up to get the streaming of the NT plays... we couldn't get tickets to see Frankenstein with Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller so we're very much looking forward to this! Both versions.
Just stream this. Watched the version with JLM as Frankenstein and BC as the monster. Absolutely sensational. We'll watch the role reversal early next week. BC is right up there with anyone we've seen on stage... McKellern, Stuart, Dench, Smith, Spacey, Goldblum, Tennant, Tate, Brynner (yes, Mrs Fez saw The King & I on stage), Heston (yes, Ben Hur/El Cid to most of us!), Lipmann, Conti, alas neither of us saw Olivier though Mrs Fez thinks she's seen Geilgud -a sortie through her programmes is on the horizon- and, trust me on this, his performance is utterly sensational.
Watched The Departed last night. Scorcese (?) film with tons to quality actors and for one the good guys did not win, no one did. Very tense.
Good film that one. I think it's a remake of a Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs. I watched The Counsellor last night - a Ridley Scott thriller with Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, J-Lo and Cameron Diaz. Deliciously murky, not one redeeming feature about any of the characters and not for the faint hearted.
Change of pace, I enjoyed the James Brown biopic Get On Up on Film 4. It will be doing the rounds over the coming weeks no doubt. Also tomorrow (today) on Film 4 at 9pm is the excellent Hidden Figures - I've been looking forward to seeing this again for ages but Amazon Prime were charging a small fortune to see it. The story is of three mathematicians behind the Apollo missions. Katherine Johnson, the real life main heroine of the story, passed away just a couple of months ago. It's moving stuff, especially as it's set in pre-civil rights era Virginia. Great stuff.
Talking of things in The Godfather being reminiscent of earlier films, this is from the 1968 ‘A Dandy in Aspic’ opening titles:
