It used to be, as I was writing in these pages that I would do little film reviews or book reviews, or album and music reviews because I'm interested in that stuff and I thought it was nice to share and then I stopped that.
And then, the other day, I wrote about Brian and Charles here after Stuart and I had seen it in cinema club and there is a review of that by me that you should read here.
But, over the first couple of weeks of my Sab, I’ve been able to explore a couple of different things and so I thought I'd pass them on just in case you're looking for something to watch because the risk is that you just turn on your streaming service of choice and plug into something garbage and waste your life on a little bit of digital fentanyl (more of that later).
So, a few recommendations from the last few weeks for stuff that might make you feel good, a little bit better about yourself or actually teach you a little lesson here or there.
1) Bullet TrainI've looked at this for ages.It's Brad Pitt and I watched it on the way to America. If you ever liked anything by Tarantino or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or those type of movies, The Gentlemen etc etc etc, then you've got to pick this up.
You might have already seen it.
It's an extraordinary bit of work and it looks absolutely beautiful set on the Japanese bullet train, but it's pretty violent so, it's not for the faint hearted.
The violence though is that type of comedic violence which makes you sit up and go, ‘oh my god’, but you know it's in a movie, so it doesn't seem so terrible, but the twists in the plot and the characters are absolutely beautiful and it is riveting entertainment for the time of the movie. Must watch!
2) Living with Bill Nighy
This is one of the most beautiful of movies.
It's a remake of a 1950s Japanese movie, but it's set in London in the 1960s and it's so terrifically English and so terrifically Bill Nighy.
At the end of it though, it will be hard for you not to cry because it's such a moving piece of work, which will make you think about what you're doing and why you're here and what your point is, and I don't think there's ever anything better than that.
3) Brian and Charles
See the previous blog post about this here.
On reflection over the last few weeks, I think this should be on the curriculum for schools.
4) Amsterdam
This is Christian Bale; Christian Bale has never ever done a bad film in my view and this is certainly not a bad film.
It's unusual and different and beautiful.
It's a story of friendship and love and being different and it makes me wish that I had reached out a little bit further and harder when I was younger and that's never a bad thing.
5) American underdog
The story about Kurt Warner is the most beautiful of films if unexpectedly so because it's so American and cheesy.
It's the true story of a quarterback in American football who played for the St. Louis Rams ultimately, after years and years of trying to break through to achieve his dream.
I'm not religious and I'm not one for tambourine bashing American Christianity and so there is a little bit of that in it, which does put me off slightly at times, but the film is so good, and the story is so wonderful (and based on the true story, quite clearly).
But the extraordinary nature of how he managed to get to where he got to with such persistence and such amazing perseverance is something that gives me a little bit of light for a dark day.
I hope one of those might fill a weekend or be watched with your family or have something for you to enjoy.
Blog Post Number - 3319