What I Done
Italy versus Sweden: A great match. Sweden were barely in the game for three quarters of the match, Italy scored in the first half (a beautiful header from Cassano) and absolutely dominating the field. Then in the second half Sweden made some good substitutions, whilst Italy made some bad ones, and suddenly they were threatening the Italians. This lead to Sweden's sublime but ridiculous equaliser from Ibrahimovic, six minutes from time. The Italians must be kicking themselves. (As was I for missing Holland versus the Czech Republic.)
Grosse Point Blank: Missed the first half hour due to the football but I've seen it many times before and there was still plenty of very good bits to go. In fact it can only be its sheer oddness that kept it from greater acclaim. The script is an absolute cracker and it is packed with small but perfectly judged performances (Jeremy Piven is excellent as usual). It also just about manages to carry off one of the hardest things to do in film: mix comedy and killing in a way that isn't morally repugnant. (See Bad Boys 2 for a perfect counterexample.) The glibness of Blank is a glibness the film is aware of and manages to deal with. Excellent soundtrack too.
Yellow Dog by Martin Amis: Amis is a prodigiously talented writer who is aware of this fact and his prose is incredibly rich. Depending on your palette too much of this prose may make wish to vomit. I can't get enough of it. I was chatting to one of my housemates about the release of Yellow Dog last year and she wasn't looking forward to it because it was a boy's book. It undoubtably is a boy's book; a book for and about being a boy, specifically about modern masculinity and the male place in the family. In this some of his recent reportage (noticeably this) resurfaces but it works a lot better as fiction than it did then. So we have a funny, over the top farce with a backbone of seriousness about fatherhood that actually works quite well. The squalid sex and violence has a counterweight in the form of the main character's relationship with his daughters (even taking into account the recurring incest theme). In addition to this Amis shoehorns in a sidewise injection of the apocalyptic because he can never resist. This doen't work so well.
Theatron: Part of the LIFT 2004 season (as was this). The idea is that a cross section of people were interviewed after watching various performances over the last year and then their words were presented verbatim (but edited) by a group of actors. It is meant to be a comment on theatre, specifically what happens after a performance finishes, but it ends up being far more about language and articulacy.
Grosse Point Blank: Missed the first half hour due to the football but I've seen it many times before and there was still plenty of very good bits to go. In fact it can only be its sheer oddness that kept it from greater acclaim. The script is an absolute cracker and it is packed with small but perfectly judged performances (Jeremy Piven is excellent as usual). It also just about manages to carry off one of the hardest things to do in film: mix comedy and killing in a way that isn't morally repugnant. (See Bad Boys 2 for a perfect counterexample.) The glibness of Blank is a glibness the film is aware of and manages to deal with. Excellent soundtrack too.
Yellow Dog by Martin Amis: Amis is a prodigiously talented writer who is aware of this fact and his prose is incredibly rich. Depending on your palette too much of this prose may make wish to vomit. I can't get enough of it. I was chatting to one of my housemates about the release of Yellow Dog last year and she wasn't looking forward to it because it was a boy's book. It undoubtably is a boy's book; a book for and about being a boy, specifically about modern masculinity and the male place in the family. In this some of his recent reportage (noticeably this) resurfaces but it works a lot better as fiction than it did then. So we have a funny, over the top farce with a backbone of seriousness about fatherhood that actually works quite well. The squalid sex and violence has a counterweight in the form of the main character's relationship with his daughters (even taking into account the recurring incest theme). In addition to this Amis shoehorns in a sidewise injection of the apocalyptic because he can never resist. This doen't work so well.
Theatron: Part of the LIFT 2004 season (as was this). The idea is that a cross section of people were interviewed after watching various performances over the last year and then their words were presented verbatim (but edited) by a group of actors. It is meant to be a comment on theatre, specifically what happens after a performance finishes, but it ends up being far more about language and articulacy.