Last week, I finally cleared the stack of unwatched home-recorded DVDs by taking in The Last King of Scotland. With hindsight, I'm quite glad I didn't get round to going to the cinema for it, or buying the DVD; it's not a bad film, but I have to conclude that the next time that film meme goes around, I do have an answer for "actor less likely to ( Read more... )

Best of the year:

• Fiction - The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco
• Non-Fiction - The Silent Traveller in Lakeland, by Chiang Yee
• Music - The Michael Nyman Band at the Proms
• Film - Katyń
• Exhibition - The Wieliczka Salt Mine near Kraków

On Thursday we went to Reading Film Theatre to see Katyń. There was a respectable turnout but it couldn't really be described as busy - perhaps a little surprising in view of the legendary Polish community in Reading, or perhaps not. Sometimes, as for some of the characters in the film itself, maybe it is best to forget ( Read more... )

As you might expect, Milk has more 1970s moustaches than a 118 118 advert. I find it difficult not to view the film as somewhat depressing, not just because of Milk's fate but also because the blind hatred and prejudice may have subsided in some places, but it certainly hasn't in others. The biopic focuses more on the political rather than the ( Read more... )

Book Review: Our Man in Havana, by Graham Greene
I've had a run of books that need to be read before other books that I've yet to read: Speer's own writing before Gitta Sereny's book, Caesar before Augustus, and now Our Man in Havana before The Tailor of PanamaIndeed, the original reason I wanted to read this was the apparent repetition of plot ( Read more... )

Last night we went to the Reading Film Theatre to see Mongol, a biopic on the rise to power of Genghis Khan. There isn't much narrative or continuity, it's more a series of excerpts from his life, but it works. Though brutal and bloody at times, the austere beauty of the landscapes was also moving.

kharin and I went to see The Oxford Murders last night. There were possibly as many as six other people in the cinema; I find that odd given the popularity of Morse and Lewis, with which it clearly shares a connection. Some advertising I've seen also claims a connection to the Da Vinci Code, a prospect on which I am pleased to remain ignorant.

( spoilers )

kharin and I went to see The Golden Compass this afternoon. Reviews of the film have not been unequivocally positive, but I haven't read any of the Philip Pullman books, and I hoped the lack of foreknowledge would improve my enjoyment of the film. And I did enjoy it. Not necessarily for the story, which didn't strike me as particularly subversive (though ( Read more... )

Best of the year:

• Fiction - Verdigris Deep, by Frances Hardinge
• Non-Fiction - The Coffee-House, by Markman Ellis
• Film - The Queen
• Music - Glière's Third Symphony at Prom 8
• Exhibition - Canaletto in England at Dulwich Picture Gallery

On Sunday kharin and I went to see Elizabeth: The Golden Age. We were initially enthusiastic when the film was trailed a month or two ago, but somewhat put off by the insipid reviews in the press. These were countered by uitlander a week or two ago.

It isn't as good a film as the preceding Elizabeth of 1998, nor is it as complete as the TV drama of recent years ( Read more... )