Thursday, January 22, 2009

The Good & Bad

Of the two movies I've seen this month, one was really good, the other was shockingly bad. Earlier this month I saw Frank Miller's 'The Spirit' and being a Miller fan I was looking forward to it only to feel let down by a weak Sin City clone with over long dialogue, seemingly sloppy editing and a general lacklustre feel. I really wanted to try and like it but it just didn’t grab me though Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlett Johanssen in Nazi outfits looked very cool! But outfits don’t make a movie and despite the odd grin nothing really moved me about the movie. Try harder next time Mr Miller!

Last night I saw ‘The Wrestler’ with Mickey Rourke, a wrestling fan I am not, but a Rourke fan I am. I went expecting it to be cheesy but was pleasantly surprised by a great movie that had me hooked a couple of minutes in. It wasn’t cliché or emotionally over the top, it was just damn good and Marisa Tomei is damn hot too!

I found myself identifying with Rourke’s character on a couple of different levels, especially regarding his private life depicted in the film. It’s a powerful piece of cinema, and in some ways a very noire fly on the wall docu-movie.

The Bad...

... and the good !


Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Winter Scenes

Winter views from Hartsholme Park in Lincoln taken last week, on my mobile phone. A lovely fresh invigorating winters day. Must check the park out in summer.


Monday, January 19, 2009

Tony Hart

Tony Hart the children’s Tv presenter and artist died yesterday aged 83. I grew up watching television watching shows such as ‘Vision On’ and ‘Take Hart’ almost daily as he created something out of nothing as quick as a flash, it was magical to watch. I guess I was a creative kid and watching Tony work always enthralled me, then later came along his hilarious animated clay character called ‘Morph’. I was just reading his mailbag often attracted between 6 and 8 thousand letters a week.

Goodbye Tony, and thanks for the childhood memories and I’ll never forget the 'Vision On' gallery music !