Happy Face

Tell him he's got a walnut heed.

A tedious selection if you ask me, but then all the other awards have been too, not like the oscars to surprise anyone. Happy to see Terrence Howard on there for actor (though he doesn't have a hope of winning like he should, hopefully his song (Hard Out There For A Pimp) will). . I'd have loved to see Manderlay in there somewhere (but that was never going to happen), or Me and You and Everyone We Know. No Babam Ve Oglum or The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada for foreign flick either? They better be on next year. Where was No Direction Home too? Should have been in the documentary list.

The Ice Storm Bleak like American Beauty but came out a few years earlier and is (in my opinion) better. The humour is less obvious and the scenario more believable. The empathy therefore felt for the characters gives the devastating ending more of an impact than you get from American Beauty. Using the weather to convey a feeling of foreboding should feel like a cliche (well...it does to be honest), but here it is fresh and integral. I've never been more impressed by a Kevin Kline performance either. Highly recommended. Death In Venice Looks occassionally lovely but that isn't enough to sustain it's two mind numbingly tedious hours. All of its themes are explicitly stated in short bursts of dialogue such as this about an egg timer "The aperture through which the sand runs is so tiny that first it seems as if the level in the upper glass never changes. To our eyes, it appears that the sand runs out only, only at the end. And until it does, it's not worth thinking about. Till the last moment when there is no more time... when there's no more time left to think about it.". So, you don't realise life is short till it's too late! Hardly original, maybe it was in 1912, but if you must make a film about it now, try conveying it in a less hamfisted way than a voiceover followed by 40 minutes of almost silent perving on a young boy. There are other ideas on the purity of art, disregarding shame to achieve genius etc all similarly approached. Avoid if possible. This Sporting Life Excellent British film from the 60's. Richard Harris is great as a lonesome rugby player struggling to win the affections of an equally lonely widow. The fact that she refuses to move on from the death of her husband leads to Harris becoming exasperated and violent alienating himself all the more from her. Depressing but well worth it.

2 lines is one of the more in depth reviews in this entire thread to be be perfectly honest with you. 85532[/snapback] I've got a pirate copy me mate loaned me. Worth a watch or not? 85533[/snapback] I certainly think so. Far better than Lock, Stock or Snatch or any of the shitty Brit gangster films they inspired. Far more classy and glossy than any of them without the terrible stereotypes. And Seinna Miller is a nice bit of eye candy.

2 lines is one of the more in depth reviews in this entire thread to be be perfectly honest with you.

This review is pretty unfair, complaing that the good tracks are in the wrong place is just whingeing. Otherwise I whole heartedly agree.

Why would a naked 21 year old be cut? It's only a 15 and it was in the version I saw. Passed uncut in the UK

Pilkington wouldn't work on TV. He's basically a man who says stupid things. There's no need for a story, jokes or payoff. Monkey news is becoming a bit tired now too.

Maybe 'scripted' is going too far, but certainly planned and played in character. I always thought Pilkington was a put on. In this weeks, with the diary of fat men sneezing and that, it went too far. Why did he bring it in to work if he's serious about it? I still think they've all been brilliant, and pissed myself laughing. Better than most scripted TV comedy.

So far this morning... Ricky Gervais' latest Podcast (the most blatantly scripted so far). The Arctic Monkeys - Whatever etc. (Still not convinced, though ...Dancefloor is a great song). Beastie Boys - To The 5 Boroughs Radiohead - Kid A

I'd forgotten about them and that Spiderman song.. ROCK! It's what we're all about, It's what we live for, Come on shout it out! Class.

Why would ANYONE give a shit? 83723[/snapback] Well they wouldn't would they, that's EXACTLY why i didn't start a whole new thread. Come on son, think on!

But you'd have to wash your cupboard out everyday to keep bacteria from it getting on the rim of the cup!!! Since I don't have infestation worries I'd rather take my chances with a bit of dust.

Why would ANYONE put a cup back in the cupboard upside down?

The Wicker Man Good Lord. I sat with such open mouthed astonishment over the full length of it. Totally freaky. The jolly folk music is the most frightening thing like.

The Constant Gardner - Canny little romantic thriller. Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl - I've never been so gripped by a silent film. Not exactly edge of your seat stuff by todays standards, but always interesting and some superb performances.

Nowt impressive tbh. Westlife got 7 in a row.

A few covers for me tonight... String Cheese Incident - Walk This Way Blind Melon - Three is the magic number Lemonheads - Live Forever Oasis - I Am The Walrus ("Doesn't matter if it's out of tune") REM - The Passenger Richard Cheese - Rape Me

Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony - The Hustle

Dogville The first of Lars Von Triers American trilogy is superb. Grace (Nicole Kidman) is on the run and ends up in a small town in the middle of nowhere called Dogville. In exchange for keeping her hidden, she does jobs for all the people in the town. At first politeness keeps the townsfolk from giving her too much work, but as time goes by they get more and more out of her, then it all gets very wrong. Nicole Kidman was brilliant and I don't normally rate her. I can't see why people think it's anti-American, it seems to me that it's anti-humanity. I suppose playing Young Americans over the end credits with pictures of American poverty is what does it, but that seemed to me like baiting, because the film doesn't cover any themes specific to America that I can think of. Manderlay The second of Lars Von Triers American trilogy is superb. Grace is in the deep south and comes accross a plantation called Manderlay that still practices slavery 70 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. After freeing the slaves she feels required to help them embrace their freedom, and succeed in their own right. I didn't enjoy the film as much as Dogville, but it's ideas were far better explored. The fact that we are always on the slaves side and want Grace to achieve her goal is totally subverted when we see that if these 'slaves' aren't going to bring about change themselves, they can't be helped. How much more can be done for them before they take some steps for themselves? It is also analagous to the situation in Iraq. With well intentioned inteference forcing personal ideals on a community not ready or willing to change, with disastarous results.

Yann Tiersen - Les Jours Tristes

I like this fella http://ahfcchat.com/board/html/emoticons/swoon.gif

I also like Mr Man (the character that goes into the shop and asks for incredibley obtuse things). The 'Pirate Memory Game' sketch could have come from classic Two Ronnies. 80925[/snapback] Hmmmmm. I like that Pirate memory game sketch and my brother loves it, but The Two Ronnies were far superior, their sketches were clever. The wordplay on fork handles/four candles sketch or the bloke who answers the last question asked are superb. Pirate memory came is just, as you say, obtuse. It's bizarre. It won't be as funny in twenty years as some of the Ronnies stuff is now.

Look at that lads shorts! 80802[/snapback] My thoughts exactly.

They fucked about with the first 2 seasons on BBC 3 for a while so you never knew when it was on. You're best off getting the DVD's than trusting the BBC.