Bit Of A Waste Of A Freebie

I walk the Lad again this morning and then cycle. 

At lunchtime my colleague and I walk up to the Brunswick, only to be told yet again that it'll be at least an hours wait for food. so we walk all the back to Pride Park and decide to try The Yard. Which isn't too bad. The sandwiches are decent, quite large too. The beer isn't real ale but the keg Shipyard is quite drinkable.

In the evening it’s dog training and I am ready for the Lad’s over excitement when he realises he’s not got to be picked up any more. He doesn’t disappoint. He just loves it and over excitement doesn’t really cover it. He was desperate to join in and was rather shocked to find himself restrained by a lead.

Meanwhile L and Daughter go for a good old singalong (if that’s your thing) at the Greatest Showman on the last of our freebie tickets at Cineworld. Bit of a waste of a freebie if you ask me...

(Wednesday 14^th March)

Face Down Your Demons

Today is our club's dog show over at Newark, which means an early start and a lot of hard work but it all goes very well. I even get in four runs with MD. Three of these are his first ever runs in Grade 6 and two of them are clear rounds. He comes 6^th and 7^th in these but that’s not quite enough to get us a rosette. He also comes 2^nd in a pay on the day class that only has eight entries. My club awards me one of our old discontinued trophies for that, which is nice of them...

My computerised system of putting the results up on the big screen I nicked from work works a treat. The only problem is that the computer I took doesn’t work when I get it home. Not sure what’s gone on there as there seems to be a problem with the power supply. Whether that’s the power at the arena or at home I’m not sure. 

In the evening we go see the ‘must see’ film of the year e.g. La La Land which is, of course, also a musical. So never before have I been ready to hate a film so much because I really dislike pointless singing in films but we always try to see all the Oscar nominees so... here we are.

What’s worse we’re even at the Cineworld multiplex as our local independent Broadway is fully booked. The omens are not good, not good at all.

First I think a stiff one is in order and we have a drink in the Hop Merchant which is the latest incarnation of the former Turf Tavern. Then, it can't be delayed any more.

I immediately feared the worst when the film opened with a scene that was practically straight out of Grease. Grease isn't a bad movie, just not really my thing at all, and people sing ‘n’ dance in traffic jams all the time, so nothing pointless about that. It happens every day on my commute down the A52.

This however was a pivotal moment, things got a whole lot better.

La La Land tells the story of Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and Mia (Emma Stone) who first meet in that all singing all dancing traffic jam in Los Angeles, presumably the LA in La La, in what becomes the first of several chance meetings. 

Sebastian is a frustrated jazz pianist who dreams of opening his own jazz club but is stuck playing Christmas songs in a bar just to make ends meet. That is until he finally cracks, plays something different and gets sacked. As he storms out he brushes past Mia who was about to approach him in chance meeting number two.

Mia is a prospective actress but who works in a coffee shop on Warner Brothers' lot while she awaits her big break. Unfortunately audition after audition just deals her rejection after rejection.

Mia again bumps into Sebastian at a party where he is in the band that are playing. He’s looking very bored as they cover A-ha’s ‘Take On Me’ but that’s nothing to how he looks when they take requests from the floor and Mia asks for ‘I Ran’. They don’t really come much more uncool that the uncool 80’s band that were Flock of Seagulls, unfairly so me thinks, and it’s like a knife in the back for our frustrated jazz pianist. The song is perhaps also an appropriate comment on the Mia\Sebastian story so far.

It probably means something... he says of their third chance meeting, probably not... she replies, as they finally get to talk.

They get together and we follow them over the course of the next four seasons as they urge each other to pursue their dreams but while eventually Mia does and starts her own one woman show, Sebastian goes on tour with a band playing music he doesn’t really like just for the money. He is away so often it kills their relationship.

Yet it is Sebastian that turns up out of the blue to pick Mia up off the floor after her show fails and forces her into one last audition which is the one that finally lands her big break but that takes her away from him, possibly for good. 

Five years on they have another chance meeting. Sebastian has finally started his nightclub while Mia has moved on with someone else but... what if... and this is the deal with La La Land, everything has a 'what if'.

The big one is whether Mia and Sebastian should pursue their dreams and their art or just go after the money? Do they then end up together? 

Meanwhile the film take a swipe at Hollywood for having the same choice and repeatedly picking the latter. What if Hollywood doesn’t make Star Wars 27 and Rocky 46? Ha ha.

In between there are clever references to classic films such as ‘Rebel without a Cause’ which is an interesting choice for their first date and which Mia had to dump her current bloke to get to.

The other thing is that this isn’t really a musical, it’s just a damn good film with a decent soundtrack that they happen to sing rather than play in the background but it also has a message, a decent plot, a lot of cleverness and some astonishing cinematography, if bordering on the surreal at times. It’s happy, it’s sad and I do love an unhappy ending but of course, different people will see different things in this film as I’m sure is the intention.

Emma Stone is simply amazing, which ought to make the whole thing disappear down a massive plot hole as she plays a girl who can’t get an acting job. Ryan Gosling meanwhile tries to not look out of his comfort zone and I think gets away with it. 

I shouldn’t really have doubted the film as it’s directed by Damien Chazelle who made the excellent Whiplash, another jazz filled film, and this also features the brilliantly humourless JK Simmons as Sebastian’s bar owner boss.

The worrying thing for the Oscar competition is that this is such a good film as it is but imagine how good it could have been if they’d left out the singing and dancing. Doesn’t bear thinking about. Fellow musical haters face down your demons and go see it.

The debrief takes us to the Scribblers and the Blue Monkey as usual.

(Saturday 28^th January)

Just Marking Time

There was a vague suggestion of the Walsall 10 miler today but I wasn’t serious. I think that’s too far too soon for me. L of course points out that I did 10 miles the other day... well yes, but it was in two chunks. Large chunks admittedly. Instead she can take me to the gym. It’s not often I say that.

I set out to do 15k on the gym bike, then round it up to 16k as that’s a nice round 10 miles and then, well let’s call it 20k that’s even rounder. So I’m quite pleased with myself in the end. I was just marking time really until L had finished her session but she ended up waiting for me.

What we don’t do is go to B&Q, which is the first time in weeks. I don’t know what this says about our relationship, whether it’s a good thing or not.

Then we head off to Cineworld on a ‘2 for 1’. Not that it is easy to get. They won’t accept our e-tickets because their scanner is broke and send us on a second gym workout of the day around the helter skelter insides of the Cornerhouse. Bit of a farce really.

We get in eventually, late but far earlier than most of the other customers, many of which arrive up to half an hour after the advertised start. They are obviously more frequent Cineworld visitors than us because they know exactly how long the tedious adverts go on for.

Luckily tonight’s file ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ is well worth the wait. Written and directed by David O Russell, who made last year's memorable 'The Fighter', it is based on a book by Matthew Quick.

In it we follow Pat (Bradley Cooper) as he moves back in with his parents after spending eight months in a mental institution because of a violent outburst that occurred when he found a history teacher in his shower. Which isn't too outburst worthy until you realise this wife was in there too and their wedding song was playing on the stereo. A perfectly understandable reaction if you ask me.

Although now diagnosed as bipolar Pat is determined to get his life back on track and that includes reconciliation with his wife, Nikki (Brea Bee). There’s one major obstacle to this, she has taken out a restraining order against him. This though is something he thinks he can work round, just got to stay positive and look for the silver linings in life.

His recovery doesn’t seem to be going that well when he bursts into his parents’ bedroom at 4am ranting about Ernest Hemingway's failure to provide a happy ending to his novel ‘A Farewell to Arms’ before flinging the book through the (closed) bedroom window.

He may however be saner than his father (Robert De Niro), who himself has been prone to the odd violent outburst, getting himself banned from attending the Philadelphia Eagles games. He is totally OCD about the Eagles, bets on their games (he’s a bookie), wants his Pat to watch them with him as a good luck charm and to further Father-Son bonding.

A dinner party organised by his friend Ronnie, and Ronnie’s wife Veronica... introduces him to his saviour, although he wasn’t to know that then. This is the rather tasty Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence aka Katniss from The Hunger Games). She too has issues to deal with after the death of her husband. Seriously depressed by such a tragic event, her method of coping was to sleep her way through eleven colleagues at her office. That includes a woman, a fact that fascinates Pat. As he walks her back to her parents' converted garage where she lives, she offers him instant gratuitous sex but he is appalled and declines, one would assume because he's still hung up on his wife.

They forge a very unconventional friendship, often while jogging/arguing around the local neighbourhood. Him in his bin liner, her in an ever increasing selection of interesting Lycra. Though Pat maintains his distance, Tiffany is certainly looking for more than friendship and she agrees to deliver a letter to Nikki on Pat’s behalf if he helps her out... by agreeing to be her partner in a dance contest.

OMG, don’t do that, don’t dance. L will think I've brought her to a rom-com. They do though, Pat figures that not only will this enable him to communicate with his estranged wife; it will also impress her and show her how well he is recovering.

I thought this film would be complex but it isn't. The film is exactly what you would expect from one about bipolar men, depressed women, OCD fathers, American Football and ballroom dancing with a nod to Hemingway but I didn't expect it to be romantic. Well at least it’s ripped up the rom-com rule book. Then bugger, there's a happy ending as well, as these two damaged souls heal each other through their dancing... sounds dreadful doesn’t it.

It’s a great film though, great dialogue and some really great scenes. It just goes to show that despite everything, despite the dancing, there’s a silver lining in all of us, and never mind how quirky/complicated/weird the girl is, don’t worry about it (n.b. they’re all like that).

Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper are both terrific. They are two central characters neither of which you want to throttle, which is a rarity these days. You care about what happens to them. The supporting cast is good too and it’s especially good to Robert De Niro with a great performance still in him.

Like Russell’s ‘The Fighter’ this surely will also be up for a few awards.

(Sunday 9th December)

Lovely, Apparently

The dogs are home, pleased to see us and soon over their ordeal. Daughter is home too, pleased to see us too (any chance of some money?), and soon over her ordeal of returning to Nottingham.

The boys make a re-acquaintance with the park and in the evening we make a re-acquaintance with the cinema. Although not Broadway. Thanks to the Times, 2 for 1 tickets for Cineworld.

‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ is not really my sort of film, it even has a terrible title, but here I am anyway... on a 2-for-1. It is based on the novel ‘These Foolish Things’ by Deborah Moggach, which is a much better title in my opinion.

We are introduced to the seven main characters, a motley crew, all of a certain age, who have all fallen for the so good it can’t be true advertisement for the ‘Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ encouraging them to outsource their retirement to Jaipur, India.

After an arduous journey, they finally arrive and can congratulate young entrepreneur Sonny (Dev Patel) on how nicely he Photoshop-ed the advert. He has an admirable ambition to run the hotel ‘for the elderly and the beautiful’, all he lacks is the money to do so.

The guests settle in, dust off the furniture, crush the cockroaches and tuck into their traditional British roast of... goat curry.

The cast is impressive. There’s Celia Imrie as the much married Madge who’s had enough of babysitting duties back home. Ronald Pickup plays the ageing womaniser Norman while Maggie Smith plays Muriel who hates all things foreign but accepts hip surgery in India. Tom Wilkinson plays Graham, a judge who walks away from his career to return to his boyhood India and to track down a former gay lover.

Naturally we have Judi Dench, she plays Evelyn who has been impoverished by the death of her debt ridden husband and Bill Nighy who is Douglas, one half of a couple, the Astley’s, who have been bankrupted by their daughter (we know their pain). Penelope Wilton play his miserable wife Jean. Jean hates India whereas it Douglas feel liberated. You hope that eventually he’ll be liberated from her too and so it proves. She is the only one who fails to let go the past and to embrace the future. Travel is of course supposed to broaden the mind, well some minds anyway.

As a backdrop, India itself steals the show. There’s also a nice side story as Sonny tries to woo his call centre sweetheart Sunaina (Tena Desae).

As a film it’s not too taxing, well not taxing at all really. As charming as it’s predictable, with many of the jokes as old as the cast. It’s a fluffy dog story without the fluffy dog. Come to think of it, why isn’t there a dog? Fluffy or otherwise. Why didn’t one of the characters have a four legged friend? Major oversight.

It’s not a word I'd ever use to describe a film but L described the film as ‘lovely’. So there you go. Lovely. Apparently.

(Saturday 17th March)