Wednesday, November 26

You'll Never Eat Lunch In This Town Again


Have been lazy about the blog recently so just a quick film post here.
Having read the interview with Mickey Rourke in the weekend's Observer, it seems that Darren Aronofsky's new film The Wrestler is set to be the catalyst for one of the biggest Oscar wins of all time.
Rourke is a man who has really been through alot of shit, most of it his own doing, and it seems that before his comeback run of the last few years, he has been a poverty-stricken loser who thought it was all over for him.
The interview reveals a sensitive man, once touted as a future Brando, who has battled with himself for a long time and is being given one last chance.
His is an intriguing story and I'm hoping The Wrestler lives up to the hype that is starting to build around it.
In other film news, I meant to post about Body Of Lies a while ago after I had watched it. It's a pile of bollocks and again the standard for anti-CIA, cerebral political film-making has been set by the wonderful Syriana. It will be hard to top that, especially if Hollywood's default actor for an Arab-speaking, covert agent in the Middle East is Leonardo di Caprio. I actually think he is a great actor but only in certain roles and in Body Of Lies he has neither the gravitas nor beard-growing abilities to make it all work.
Next on my to-see list is Waltz With Bashir , an animated documentary of sorts by Ari Folman, which deals with the horrors of war in a way not previously seen. Looks like an intense experience.
Anyone catch the Kurt Cobain doc recently there, About a Son? Audio clips of journo Michael Azzerad talking candidly with Kurt while the hack was researching his book at the time. The audio is complemented with stills from the areas Cobain grew up in and used to hang around. A really moving song at the end (Mark Lanegan doing Museum) had me in silence for a good 10 minutes after the credits had rolled. Also on recently was The Thrilla In Manila, the documentary about Ali and Joe Frazier's relationship from friends to foes. The doc reveals some genuinely uncomfortable stuff about Ali, who is so revered amongst sportsfans, and shows him as a nasty, racist man who mouthed off a little too easily on things about which he should have known better. Easily as good as When We Were Kings. Quality stuff.
Anyway coming soon. My ten best films of the year (because everyone else is going to do albums).
Spoiler warning: said list may feature There Will Be Blood. Feel free to suggest your own faves of the year too.

7 comments:

ctrl/alt/delete said...

I wait your top then movie with baited breath , was just saying the other day i haven't seen a really good film in a while , so it better be good something with a car chase and a good few explosions or something along the lines of Troll 2

Adam said...

Don't knock Troll 2. Fucking classic that. Tis the cinematic equivalent of total football like the Dutch used to play in the 70s. Fluid and genius. And the little singsong they have doing that creepy song is unreal.

ctrl/alt/delete said...

not knocking Troll two at all boss.

Do you see this writing...? Do you know what it means...? Hospitality. And you can't piss on hospitality! I WON'T ALLOW IT!

but in seriousness looking forward to your top ten.

Gardenhead said...

Me too. Although ya should do best music too. Go on. Please. It will be a bit noisier and rough than some of the more insipid efforts I'm sure will start to emerge like unlanced pustules across the blogosphere.

Anonymous said...

Ah jaysus, you are putting it up to me now hah?
As regards the film thing, I have missed alot this year but goddman it I will come up with something, if only for you two beautiful bastards.
And I'm a fan of drippy music shit too but now I'm gonna have to ignore all that for fear of a compost heap deluge of abuse if I dare put Bon Iver within spurting distance of the top five.

Gardenhead said...

Feel free to gently fellate Bon Iver's toes as if they were super splits in June. I don't mind as long as i see some Fucked Up and TNV in there.

Anonymous said...

You were silent for 10 minutes? Sinead must love Lanegan! OOOWWWWAAAAHHHHAAA!!!!!