Movies and books
So I went to see Elizabeth: The Golden Age the other day. I loved it, and will post more about it soon. For now, this has amused me:
Do I have a book about Walter Raleigh on my shelf?
Yes
Have I read said book yet?
No
Will I now always think of him as Clive Owen?
Hell yes!
Is this a problem?
Hell no!
Tee hee. I thought it was funny. It really is a bit like seeing the movie before reading the book.* I also have a bio of Elizabeth – the Alison Weir one, I think – which my darling bought for me on a whim once and who was subsequently devastated when I informed him that I was a bit over Elizabeth, because she had been done to death. I think I am also at the point where I can read that book, too.
*Which I have only successfully done once: I saw the BBC series of Pride and Prejudice before reading it, and it made reading it much easier, for me.
Children of Men
…is great. Clive Owen is great. Of course.
It’s a very clever movie: it’s set in 2027, and women have been infertile for 18 years or so. The world seems to be going to hell in a handcart, the implication being that without children, there is no hope, so people give up. It’s a world that is very recognisable: not as London or the UK in general maybe, but Baghdad – Belgrade – Srebrenica – absolutely. In fact, the world as a whole and the ideas are very close to 2006, just taken to a slightly further extent – refugee camps that are like concentration camps, Britain closing its borders…. The movie doesn’t explain very much about the situation, which I think is a good part – there is no huge exposition of the situation to bore you stupid, you’re just meant to pick it up as you go along – which you can indeed do.
It’s a good flick. Go see it!
The Inside Man
This was brilliant. Denzel Washington (magnificent; and not an entirely goody-goody character either), Clive Owen (why did that man not become Bond?), Jodie Foster (a very different role for her – and she was great). Kat saw it at the flicks in Edinburgh and said it was great then; I was sorry to miss it on the big screen. It’s actually something I would consider seeing again, in a while. Very, very clever.
Randomly Yours, Alex 