I keep saying that I'm going to write up some reviews of my favourite Christmas films, and not getting round to it. So far, saying that I'm going to do something and not getting round to it is a rather impressively consistent theme to this blog. You're welcome.
So far this year, I haven't actually watched that many of my favourite Christmas movies. Partly I've just been a bit busy with boring and crappy things to be able to, and partly I've been saving them for a bit closer to Christmas, when I'm getting closer and closer to getting off work and can let my Christmas spirit fly with great abandon. Sorry if any of it gets on yous.
I have managed to see Elf, however. I saw it at a screening at the Ulster Museum, courtesty of the Movies at the Museum programme from the QFT. £2.70 to go see a movie in a lecture room at the museum on a Saturday afternoon really isn't a bad deal at all. Especially if you've got kids to bring with - an afternoon of movies and the museum for that price is really quite the bargain.
Anyway, back to the movie. Since I first saw this a year or so after it came out, Elf has become a firm favourite of mine at Christmas. It's just so flipping funny and so very, very sweet. It manages to be the perfect combination of heartwarming, hilarious, daft and offbeat to make it appealing to pretty much everyone of every age.
It's definitely in the top two or three of Will Ferrell's best performances, I reckon. Just thinking about all 6'3" of him in his elf costume running around New York City, chasing after people who forgot their hugs is enough to make me spontaneously break into fits of giggles. He's the perfect mix of daft and sincere, without being so over the top as to make his character cloying, which is a problem I've had with some of his more recent films.
This balance between sincere and ridiculous is also played out nicely by the levels of cynicism in the other characters, namely his real father Walter and love interest Jovie. The way in which their dim world view is broken is another thing that makes the film ring so true - they don't have some sort of manic conversion to the cult of Christmas, they just soften and thaw out a bit. It's believeable. Well, y'know, for a film about a 6'3" elf who grew up in the North Pole.
Plus, it's got a great script, great direction, great music (mostly big band/swing type classics, which is very much ok with me) and frankly if you don't love it, you're a wee bit wrong as far as I'm concerned.
As you can tell, these aren't exactly intended to be in-depth analyses of films from a terribly critical or knowledgable perspective or anything, it's really just some random thoughts from me. More to follow...at some point. Hopefully.
Monday, 13 December 2010
Two Door Cinema Club, Cast of Cheers, Not Squares (gig review)
Oops. It seems I've been a tad lax about all this stuff lately. Put it down to the usual pre-Christmas insanity. Well, that and my utter laziness. Here, you will find my review for ATL of Two Door Cinema Club's Christmas homecoming, ably supported by The Cast of Cheers and Not Squares.
This was the first time I had seen Two Door in quite some time, and it was remarkable to note how far they've come. It's fantastic and really quite touching to see a band that you're used to thinking of as just another wee local band (no matter how great you think they are) pack a venue like the Mandela to the rafters, and fill it with so many different types of people. You had your usual scenesters, your indie kids, your older folks who've found something a bit indie/a bit pop that they actually like, and the 'one gig a year' type folks who think that TDCC were discovered by Cool FM, bless 'em.
But every single person was having a ball, singing every word to all their songs - it was a crazy and rather lovely atmosphere, and you couldn't help but feel all proud of and chuffed for the lads who clearly could hardly believe all of this themselves.
They've had one hell of a year, and surely things are set to get even better for them. They were tight as hell, and every single song seemed to be another perfect jangly indie pop hit that puts a smile on your face.
And I have to give a huge shout out to the always ace Not Squares, too. They're just so flipping great, I really have run out of ways to heap praise on them. It was a wee bit too early for them to be on stage, I reckon, since it was still a bit empty at first and people were trying to thaw out from the ridiculous cold and ice outside, but by the end of their set they were just bloody brilliant. Asylum and Release the Bees are absolutely stonkingly massive, huge tunes (and those are some words I never thought I'd see myself write), the type of thing that should make Not Squares absolute superstars the world over. But for right now, it's quite nice to feel like you're part of some select little club that knows of their awesomeness.
Anyway, it was a great wee night altogether, and made one very excited to think of what must be in store for all of the bands on the bill.
This was the first time I had seen Two Door in quite some time, and it was remarkable to note how far they've come. It's fantastic and really quite touching to see a band that you're used to thinking of as just another wee local band (no matter how great you think they are) pack a venue like the Mandela to the rafters, and fill it with so many different types of people. You had your usual scenesters, your indie kids, your older folks who've found something a bit indie/a bit pop that they actually like, and the 'one gig a year' type folks who think that TDCC were discovered by Cool FM, bless 'em.
But every single person was having a ball, singing every word to all their songs - it was a crazy and rather lovely atmosphere, and you couldn't help but feel all proud of and chuffed for the lads who clearly could hardly believe all of this themselves.
They've had one hell of a year, and surely things are set to get even better for them. They were tight as hell, and every single song seemed to be another perfect jangly indie pop hit that puts a smile on your face.
And I have to give a huge shout out to the always ace Not Squares, too. They're just so flipping great, I really have run out of ways to heap praise on them. It was a wee bit too early for them to be on stage, I reckon, since it was still a bit empty at first and people were trying to thaw out from the ridiculous cold and ice outside, but by the end of their set they were just bloody brilliant. Asylum and Release the Bees are absolutely stonkingly massive, huge tunes (and those are some words I never thought I'd see myself write), the type of thing that should make Not Squares absolute superstars the world over. But for right now, it's quite nice to feel like you're part of some select little club that knows of their awesomeness.
Anyway, it was a great wee night altogether, and made one very excited to think of what must be in store for all of the bands on the bill.
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