Tales of the Riverbank the original still stands strong The recent remake just didn’t cut it for me Oh wait a minute just realised it was just a dream following a quick cat nap
Get me. I'm going to a BAFTA screening of the Laurel and Hardy film tomorrow at the Odeon Shaftesbury Avenue, with a Q&A afterwards with the director and Steve Coogan. You may touch my coat.
Sadly, the occasion wasn't nearly as glammed up as I had hoped and the Q&A afterwards seemed a little perfunctory, but the film itself was wonderful and more than made up for my disappointment at not finding myself sitting next to Kate Winslet or Gemma Arterton. Stan and Ollie is an excellent film, telling a touching story which is rather sad but uplifting at the same time, whilst also providing plenty of laughs. It's beautifully shot and has superb central performances from Steve Coogan and John C Riley as Stan and Ollie, excellently backed-up by Nina Ariande and Shirley Henderson as their wives (who actually get some of the best lines), and Rufus Jones, playing Bernard Delfont as a kind a lovable spiv. A shout out, too, to the make-up people who did a remarkable job in turning John C Riley into an ever-expanding Oliver Hardy. Highly recommended.
Definitely on the to see list. Just the fact that this film exists and has been getting good reviews has sent me onto YouTube where there are endless L&H clips, achieving the very rare thing for me of laugh out loud in an empty room. Priceless, timeless genius.
I hadn't known before seeing this film quite how much of the creative genius was Laurel's. He did pretty much all of the writing, even, heartbreakingly, continuing to write never-to-be-performed Laurel and Hardy material for 8 years after Hardy's death, until his own. There's a telling moment in the film where they are on the set of Way Out West and the director consults Laurel about a certain shot, only to be berated by Hal Roach, "What are you asking him for? You're the director, direct!"
i joined the sons of the desert for a year or two great magazines there was a stage play doing the rounds 25/30 years ago from memory it was a two man show and was very good watched it in brentford / chiswick i think just looked it up tom mcgrath sounds familiar Tom McGrath Radical Scottish poet and playwright, and the founding editor of International Times Mark Fisher Fri 1 May 2009 00.01 BST First published on Fri 1 May 2009 00.01 BST It must have been about 1990 when I first interviewed the poet and playwright Tom McGrath, who has died from cancer of the liver aged 68. It was in his Edinburgh office at the Royal Lyceum, where he was the Scottish Arts Council's associate literary director. Some time around the point when I turned the cassette tape over, I asked my second question. McGrath did not do soundbites. Such loquaciousness would be indulgent in some, but with McGrath - genial, generous and quick to laugh - it was just the way his mind worked. Each thought would trigger a new idea, each allusion a digression, each digression firing another set of mental synapses. Conversation with him was like navigating through a sea of possibilities; it took time to reach the destination, but the journey - always logically plotted - was fascinating. In a 1973 poetry anthology, his biographical note describes him simply as "explorer". It was a job title he never relinquished. This was no less the case in 2005 when I met him near his home in Kingskettle, Fife, to talk about a revival of his debut play, Laurel and Hardy, still have a framed poster somewhere must try and find that
Just watched the Bros documentary, which, based on what I'd read, I had expected to be hilarious in a Spinal Tap kind of way. I didn't find it so at all. Just dull.
It was more spina bifida, but mildly entertaining. Problem is that the Täp were more talented (and they were merely taking the piss).
Went to the SSE Hydro in Glasgow last night to see Massive Attack perform their 3rd, and most successful, album Mezzanine on it's 21st anniversary tour. Normally, these anniversary tours are a bit of a greatest hits bash out for the band, raking in some cash from their fans wanting to relive their younger days - not so last night. Opening with a Velvet Underground cover, it became immediately apparent this was going to be different. Large screens showed a futuristic city-scape, with loads of green spaces like something you would imagine designers in the 50s would create for their vision of now. Starting to think it was getting a bit trippy, the screens started to flash up bold writing with statements like "ONCE UPON A TIME DATA WOULD SET US FREE". Turns out the band have commissioned Adam Curtis to create a full visual show for the tour (this was the first night, so there was no inkling this had been planned). Some very graphic footage to some tunes depicting atrocities of war, anti-war slogans then flicking to clips of Trump, Putin, Blair, Saddam. Lots of propaganda with regards to fake news, how agencies are stealing our data and using it to shape our lives - how the dead remain with us through data, film footage of dead celebrities, a big dig at pharmaceutical companies and how their products are doled out . As a show it worked perfectly, very moving, the music was superb, guest vocals from Elizabeth Fraser from Cocteau Twins were hauntingly beautiful as were those of Horace Andy. The tour continues tonight in Manchester, playing the O2 in London 22nd Feb....if you were a fan of the album, grab a ticket! Proper reviews, and some footage here... Live review: Massive Attack Mezzanine XX1 at Glasgow SSE Hydro, 28 Jan 2019 | The List https://www.list.co.uk/article/1063...zzanine-xx1-at-glasgow-sse-hydro-28-jan-2019/ Massive Attack cover Velvet Underground and The Cure as they kick off dazzling 'Mezzanine' UK tour https://www.nme.com/news/music/watc...nniversary-tour-dazzling-glasgow-show-2439899
Went to see Stan and Ollie tonight at the cinema. Good performances from Steve Coogan and John C Riley. I thought in some scenes that Riley looked very much like Hardy. Coogan had some good characteristics of Laurel. Vocally both we're very convincing. The waiting room scene made me laugh out aloud which the director cleverly showed twice to depict their life journey. looking around the cinema seeing just 4 of us in there, mirrored the audiences watching their failing careers in the film. The poster on the wall and the continual mentioning of new acts like Norman Wisdom also reinforced it was out with the old and in with the new. At the end I had a tear in my eye watching the story of two of my childhood heroes. A nice feel good film that I would recommend.
Hope so, it deserves to as one of those quirky British films that warms the cockles. It’s simple, heartwarming, funny and sad. Both leads are great but so to the two wives who have their moments to. Go see
