M a z's M o v i e M e m o r a n d u m » Thoughts

Personal glory – film podcast addict gets email read out

Maz — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:13:07 +0000

For the past few months, I have become a self-confessed addict of the BBC 5 Live Radio podcast from Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo, broadcast on Fridays between 2pm and 4pm – listening to it on the way to work, around the house, on the train – sometimes I listen to one episode three times, just to make sure I’ve not missed anything…

On the show, ‘The Good Doctor’ (Kermode) discusses the week’s new film releases with Simon, engaging in witty banter and the like, all of which is as amusing and heartwarming as it is informative. No wonder over 10,000 people download the podcast every week.

Today, whilst resting my mysterious neck/shoulder injury, I happened to be listening live to the review show. When Simon and Mark were going through the UK box office top 10, I had an email read out! How exciting. It was concerning ‘Up In The Air’ and a certain particular moustache…

Visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/kermode to hear it, click on the second part from Friday 5th February 2010.

The first episode of Mad Men – crazily good

Maz — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:14:36 +0000

It was a tiring day at work, I’d already watched an old (and slightly below-par) episode of Gavin and Stacey, I’d dropped the last cookie in the house in my cup of tea (turning it into a soggy mush), I was in a downward spiral. Gazing over at a pile of unwatched and unopened dvds, my listless eyes fell upon series 1 of ‘Mad Men’. Despite believing myself to be devoid of the energy that I usually invest in a new television series, I blithely decided to give the aliterated show a visual whirl.

As soon as I did so, my vegetative state took on a new guise as one rapt, transfixed by what I saw: glossy visuals, beautiful shots and clever mise-en-scene, stellar acting and a script on a level with Aaron Sorkin’s best work.

Set in early 60’s America amongst an elite community of advertising executives, the show explores politics, socioeconomic issues, sexism and ethnicity with apparent aplomb and proves what a hellish world the office workplace could be for women at the time, unprotected by the sexual harassment laws of today.

Admittedly this is all based on the first episode alone, but this is the first intelligent, high-quality series since ‘The Wire’ that I’ve got really excited about.

Thoughts on The Wrestler

Maz — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 17:26:58 +0000

Having finally gotten round to watching Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler (2009) a couple of nights ago, I was left feeling mildly disappointed. Yes, Mickey Rourke is brilliant as Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson, and yes the fight scenes are very realistic and yes the casting is excellent – BUT… I was left feeling rather disappointed by the film’s ending. Or maybe thats because those kind of finales are ten-a-penny at the moment. And I did see The Thing for the first time only recently, which has an ending that to me seems similar to The Wrestler. Its a shame, as the first 45 minutes were well paced and deftly handled.