ATTACK THE BLOCK

I've been subscribed to LoveFilm for a while now and in all honesty, used the service quite frequently all the way up until I was made redundant. I'm well aware that this sounds backwards but that's just the way it goes. As a result, ATTACK THE BLOCK sat in my room, cold and alone, gathering dust.

I'd wanted to see this for a while, what with the ludicrous sounding plot: smooshing London hoodlums with aliens? Yes please. And I wasn't disappointed! In fact, I'm having difficulty trying to think of a single bad thing to say about this film. I love the fact that it's British, I love that even I found it difficult in places to understand what the hell the kids were saying (God knows how Americans will manage) and I love how a stupid alien-invasion story turned into something that I can't wait to go and purchase for my own DVD collection!

The story is simple: a gang of mid-teen London hoodlums are out one night mugging innocent passers-by when a meteorite hits. It ain't any old meteorite but in fact an alien which attacks the ring-leader, Moses, who then, in true as-seen-on-the-news style, kills the alien and parades it through the streets of London. But there's a slight problem, more meteorites begin to hit and these new aliens are slightly bigger and scarier than the one that's just been killed.

When watching this film, it's important to not take it too seriously. In fact, don't take it seriously at all. It's not a hard-hitting drama about "youth today" (despite nudging you slyly in the ribs every now and again as these kids are left to their own devices). Nor is it a fully fledged comedy. The balance teeters quite precariously between comedy and sci-fi and the result is an incredibly enjoyable, humourous and yet scary flick that I am looking forward to watching again.

Rating: *****

SHAME

It's definitely not often that I feel compelled to write two posts in one day but I've literally just come back from watching Steve McQueen's SHAME at the Filmhouse here in Edinburgh. I'm always up for a trip to the cinema but this wasn't my choice (and I probably won't be seeing it again). When a friend asks me if I'm interested in seeing such-and-such-a film and I've never heard of it before, I will often say yes simply for the pleasure of watching something with a blank slate.

Overall, I would say that, yes, this is a "good" film but I was left feeling quite... odd. I don't have a problem with sex scenes and I understand that the protagonist, Brandon (Michael Fassbender), has an addiction to sex (and how else can a film portray such an addiction if not through multiple sex scenes, masturbation, porn and prostitutes?). I guess I just got a bit bored. Add to that the distinct lack of dialogue. Again, I understand that he's been left damaged in some way by some un-mentioned horror from his childhood, but again, I have the attention span of a fish so a big screen with not much happening means I get a bit fidgety.

What I did appreciate, though, was the character of Sissy (Carey Mulligan), Brandon's sister who has also been left damaged from the same un-mentioned horror. Yet, while Brandon is an attention seeker in the form of physical and sexual attention, Sissy is desperate for companionship which she doesn't get from Brandon as he insists on trying to push her away. And the ending was pretty much perfect as far as I'm concerned.

Basic gist, I do recommend this film if you like your arty, independent films with long gaps in dialogue and plot for some graphic shots of nakedness or running or sitting on the subway... I just get bored way too quickly.

50 Book Challenge 2011 [FAILED]

Me again!

As promised, this is a round up of the final six books that I read in 2011. Nothing to get massively excited about, except perhaps The Hunger Games which sees the film release later this year. As I've said before, I read the first two books in the trilogy and found them them to be somewhat of a let down, especially Catching Fire (the second one) which was just -painful- in places. But go watch the trailer! It looks like they've taken all the good parts, mainly the idea, and I'm dead serious when I say I'm looking forward to it.

A Kestrel for a Knave

Kes, 1969

I also read A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines, a hard hitting British classic that I think everyone should read. It's what the film KES is based on and I'm well aware that the film is far more popular than than the book (and another essential for anyone wanting to brush up on their British films). The dialogue in the book is written in Yorkshire dialect which means at some times, I had no idea what was being said but that doesn't detract from how emotionally powerful this little book is.

The final book that I read last year was We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. I don't think there's much else I can really say about this book considering the film came out at the end of last year amid much media hype. The book is heavy in the most literal, metaphorical and physical sense and I loved it. The film did a brilliant job of translating Shriver's sinister tale to the silver screen. Read/watch it.

The Book List 2011

#9 - 14

9. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins ****/*

10. Catching Fire [The Hunger Games Trilogy] by Suzanne Collins ***/**

11. Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin ****/*

12. A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines ****/*

13. One Day by David Nicholls ****/*

14. We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver ****/*

50 Book Challenge 2011

So there's this thing called the 50 Book Challenge in which people try their damnedest to read 50 books in one year. On the surface, it sounds like an extremely achievable challenge, even if you're a slow reader like me, just so long as you choose your books wisely and aim to spend no longer than roughly 7ish days on each. For the record, I am an incredibly slow reader (hence why I have a volcano of unread books and a new years resolution to not buy any more this year... starting from today... as I miiiight have bought one yesterday.... but that doesn't count.... cough)

ANYWAY.

I think it was through Falletron that I first heard of such a thing but only decided to "give it a go" last year. And by the by, when I say "give it a go", I knew I had no chance so in a way, I kinda gave up before I'd even started! On top of being a slow reader, I don't actually spend that much time reading unless perhaps I'm on a bus or the book is particularly gripping.

This video is actually a mashup of eight videos that I intended to make last year, i.e. a review video for each of the books that I read, but ended up being too lazy to make at the time.

The Book List 2011

#1 - 8

1. Shakespeare by Bill Bryson ****/*
2. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards ****/*
3. Witch and Wizard by James Patterson with Gabrielle Charbonnet */****
4. In Sarah's Shadow by Karen McCombie ***/**
5. Secret Window, Secret Garden [Four Past Midnight by Stephen King] ****/*
6. The Library Policeman [Four Past Midnight by Stephen King] **/***
7. The Sun Dog [Four Past Midnight by Stephen King] ***/**
8. The Langoliers [Four Past Midnight by Stephen King] ***/**

The next video will be along the same lines and be a mashup of the remaining six books that I read last year. Like I say at the end of the video, I promise to read more this year!

The Book Buying Ban

Weh-hey! It's a new year! Woo! Yeah! Let's call it TWENTY TWELVE guys, none of this two-thousand-and nonsense any more.

Anyways, as you can see, I've made a new video. I kind of decided, back when two-thousand-and-eleven was drawing to a close that I should try and be a little more productive when it comes to my YouTube channel... especially now-a-days when it seems as though some utter arse has been ignoring my plea to not tell anyone about it. And before you say anything, yeaaah, I know, if I don't want people to see my videos then why have them up on the INTERNET? Surely that's ridiculous right? Well, I beg to disagree. I didn't have to tell anyone but I foolishly trusted this so-called-friend to not share my secret but alas. A lesson has been learnt: no one can be trusted.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

But putting my trust issues aside, I basically had to make a choice; either recoil in embarrassment and delete my channel... or take a deep breath and carry on. I've chosen the latter. Which is interesting because this is the first video I've made since Sept.

Here's the deal. This video explains that my New Years Resolutions are to firstly STOP buying books (I'm such a slow reader and such a fast buyer) and to secondly, try and read more books than I did last year... which shouldn't be too difficult because I only managed a grand total of 14....

But what I didn't mention was my video making resolution (mainly because no one actually gives a shit if I make videos except for me yet you'll be surprised at how many people care about books no matter who is talking about them). In a nutshell, I'm hoping at least a video once a week. The rules are slightly sketchy even to me (and I'm writing them for Pete's sake!) but as today is the 6th of Jan, I have successfully managed to stick to said sketchy rules. Now I have another 7 days to produce a new video. Hopefully one without such terrible lighting but I stayed up till stupid o'clock watching the third season of Dexter. And playing The Sims on my iPad.

I neeeeed to get my priorities sorted out.