Having gone to Backlash with Conor & Ste on Thursday then partied it up birthday style on Friday, I spend the rest of the weekend sitting around & watching a lot of TV. Last night I checked out two flicks: John Boorman's 'The Tiger's Tail' & 'Half Nelson'.
Tiger's Tail just plain sucked, which was a shame because obviously Boorman has had his share of great movies (although his choices of late have been rather odd- 50 cent's 'Get Rich Or Die Trying' being the main offender). Brendan Gleeson is also a bit of a hero, having given possibly the greatest ever performance by an Irishman as Bunny Kelly in 'I Went Down'.
This movie is a total shambles though. Obviously a labour of love for Boorman, being written, directed and produced by the veteran; but has clearly suffered for the fact with no one having the authority to step in and tell him where he was going wrong. The story is all over the place, and the script is laughable in that painful unintentional way. AND.. i know it was kind of 'the point' of the movie, but it really portrays Ireland as much worse of a shithole than it actually is. Like comically so. One particular scene shows Gleeson bringing his son into a hospital after an overdose and walking into an emergency room that resembles a snapshot from Dante's Inferno, with screaming people spouting jets of blood left right and centre. Come on, Mr Boorman, really now...
Anyways, the other movie was a damn sight better- Half Nelson, which is a neat little drama about a gifted & dedicated school teacher who's also a crackhead. Not the laugh-a-minute riot that it could have been, but a great flick nonetheless. Well made and impeccably acted, one of it's strong points is the the majority of the soundtrack was done by Broken Social Scene, to tremendous effect. Well worth checking out.
Now, back to the TV. I hate watching TV shows as they make it their business to suck you in and proceed to drag you along for HOURS, only very rarely delivering a satisfying conclusion. Hence why I said no to the Sopranos after season 1, and never want to see an episode of Lost again. So for quite some time I've been putting off watching Heroes, knowing damn well that the sheer Marvel-ness of the whole thing will get me hooked with the greatest of ease. Last night I cracked, so I'm now eight hours in. Damn. And I only have the first 11 episodes. Damn! I'll have to find the rest online. See you all in a week or so...
Tiger's Tail just plain sucked, which was a shame because obviously Boorman has had his share of great movies (although his choices of late have been rather odd- 50 cent's 'Get Rich Or Die Trying' being the main offender). Brendan Gleeson is also a bit of a hero, having given possibly the greatest ever performance by an Irishman as Bunny Kelly in 'I Went Down'.
This movie is a total shambles though. Obviously a labour of love for Boorman, being written, directed and produced by the veteran; but has clearly suffered for the fact with no one having the authority to step in and tell him where he was going wrong. The story is all over the place, and the script is laughable in that painful unintentional way. AND.. i know it was kind of 'the point' of the movie, but it really portrays Ireland as much worse of a shithole than it actually is. Like comically so. One particular scene shows Gleeson bringing his son into a hospital after an overdose and walking into an emergency room that resembles a snapshot from Dante's Inferno, with screaming people spouting jets of blood left right and centre. Come on, Mr Boorman, really now...
Anyways, the other movie was a damn sight better- Half Nelson, which is a neat little drama about a gifted & dedicated school teacher who's also a crackhead. Not the laugh-a-minute riot that it could have been, but a great flick nonetheless. Well made and impeccably acted, one of it's strong points is the the majority of the soundtrack was done by Broken Social Scene, to tremendous effect. Well worth checking out.
Now, back to the TV. I hate watching TV shows as they make it their business to suck you in and proceed to drag you along for HOURS, only very rarely delivering a satisfying conclusion. Hence why I said no to the Sopranos after season 1, and never want to see an episode of Lost again. So for quite some time I've been putting off watching Heroes, knowing damn well that the sheer Marvel-ness of the whole thing will get me hooked with the greatest of ease. Last night I cracked, so I'm now eight hours in. Damn. And I only have the first 11 episodes. Damn! I'll have to find the rest online. See you all in a week or so...
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