De Sica's masterpiece of Italian Neo-Realism. Shot in beautiful black and white in post-war Rome, it tells the story of Ricci, a poor bill poster who loses his livelihood when his bike is stolen. He searches all over the city for it, helped by his devoted son, Bruno.
Nugget: a wonderful, sad, but touching film.
Read the full review on FilmExposed.
[Update: Friday 17 June 2011: looks like FilmExposed is no more, so that link is broken.]
Friday, 29 September 2006
Tuesday, 19 September 2006
Blow-Up (1966) - ickleReview (TV)
Film by Michelangelo Antonioni set in London, based on the short story Las babas del diablo by Julio Cortázar. A photographer (David Hemmings) inadvertently photographs a murder when he is taking pictures of a couple cavorting in a park. The woman (Vanessa Redgrave) asks for the pictures back when she sees him, but he refuses. She tracks him back to his studio. He fobs her off with the wrong film and develops the right one after she has left. It is then when he is blowing up (enlarging - hence the title) the pictures that he notices a gun and a corpse in the bushes.
There are early scenes of him shooting models in the studio. He treats some of them quite harshly. He is over-exposed to beautiful women and doesn't treat them with much respect. Yet the women are desperate to be photographed by him and use their bodies as lures; but because he sees so many beautiful women, he is hard to impress. When he does let a couple of groupies in, there follows a number of artful but nevertheless gratuitous and quite inexplicit semi-nude erotic scenes.
The remarkable thing about this film is the almost total lack of significant dialogue. Most of the story is told just in pictures. It's so pervasive one doesn't notice the characters aren't speaking most of the time. This is nicely rounded off at the end when the photographer watches a group of mime artists collecting money for charity play a mime tennis match without balls or racquets. They even make the photographer go to fetch the ball and throw it back to them.
For film buffs, the most interesting thing about this film is the influence it had on Brian Da Palma's Blow Out (1981), which develops the detective aspect much further. The best scenes are those in which the photographs are being developed in the dark room. The pictures-within-the-picture are telling a hidden story within the pictures.
Nugget: not quite the blow-me-up-and-away cinema classic I was led to expect. Not a bad film, but not a world-breaker either. Some rather artificially lit night scenes when the photographer goes to look for the corpse and the fact that he never appears to have to change films when stalking the couple outdoors puncture the plausibility of the film.
This review was also posted on Blogcritics.
There are early scenes of him shooting models in the studio. He treats some of them quite harshly. He is over-exposed to beautiful women and doesn't treat them with much respect. Yet the women are desperate to be photographed by him and use their bodies as lures; but because he sees so many beautiful women, he is hard to impress. When he does let a couple of groupies in, there follows a number of artful but nevertheless gratuitous and quite inexplicit semi-nude erotic scenes.
The remarkable thing about this film is the almost total lack of significant dialogue. Most of the story is told just in pictures. It's so pervasive one doesn't notice the characters aren't speaking most of the time. This is nicely rounded off at the end when the photographer watches a group of mime artists collecting money for charity play a mime tennis match without balls or racquets. They even make the photographer go to fetch the ball and throw it back to them.
For film buffs, the most interesting thing about this film is the influence it had on Brian Da Palma's Blow Out (1981), which develops the detective aspect much further. The best scenes are those in which the photographs are being developed in the dark room. The pictures-within-the-picture are telling a hidden story within the pictures.
Nugget: not quite the blow-me-up-and-away cinema classic I was led to expect. Not a bad film, but not a world-breaker either. Some rather artificially lit night scenes when the photographer goes to look for the corpse and the fact that he never appears to have to change films when stalking the couple outdoors puncture the plausibility of the film.
This review was also posted on Blogcritics.
Amores perros (2000) - ickleReview (cinema)
Debut feature by director Alejandro González Iñárritu, who went on to make 21 Grams (2003). This film about dog owners, set in Mexico City (and hence in Spanish with English subtitles),is indebted in some respects to Quentin Tarantino in its structure of three interrelated stories told out of chronological order, which collide - in more ways than one - in a car crash at the beginning of the film, which recalls the crash scene in Pulp Fiction (1994) when Butch (Bruce Willis) runs over Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames).
Octavio (Gael García aka Gael García Bernal) and his buddy are being chased in a car when the film opens. A body is bleeding on the back seat. Only later do we realize it is a fierce fighting dog called Cofi. In their attempts to escape their pursuers, they crash side-on into a car at a crossroads.
Octavio, we later learn, as the film goes back in time, has an infatuation with his sister-in-law, who has fallen pregnant for the second time and is afraid to tell her husband Ramiro (Cofi's owner), a violent, volatile thug who robs convenience stores and fucks checkout girls at the place he works. Octavio builds up a stash of money using Cofi in highly profitable dog fights and asks the sister-in-law to run away with him.
The second story, whose characters we have caught glimpses of already, is about a magazine editor who leaves his wife for a perfume model. They move into an apartment together, overlooked by one of her huge billboard advertisements. They have anything but a smooth start to their lives together and even lose her beloved dog, Richie, when he falls down a hole in the floorboards, chasing a ball.
The third story features a tramp, also a dog-owner, a former university professor who became a militiaman and now survives by doing contract killings. He, too, has appeared in the earlier stories and ends up nursing the wounded fighting dog, Cofi, back to health after the car crash. He claims to have given up being a hitman, but agrees to one more job, killing a man's partner.
The film is quite long at 153 minutes, but each story is engaging and could be a film in itself. It doesn't reflect very well on dog owners. (There is a disclaimer right at the beginning of the film that no animals were harmed during the making of the film. Usually this appears in the end credits.) The dogs become characters, a big influence on the lives of their owners in each stratum of society.
Iñárritu is a compelling storyteller, ingeniously linking the three stories. After the first crash, one can sense it coming from the other characters' points of view. One of the best aspects of this film, uncommon in Hollywood narratives, is the lack of plot resolution; but nevertheless it retains a sense of closure.
Nugget: a fresh way of storytelling. The title translates roughly as "Love's a Bitch", punning on "perros" meaning "dog". The main characters are all, of course, driven by the love of their dogs.
This review was also posted on Blogcritics.
Octavio (Gael García aka Gael García Bernal) and his buddy are being chased in a car when the film opens. A body is bleeding on the back seat. Only later do we realize it is a fierce fighting dog called Cofi. In their attempts to escape their pursuers, they crash side-on into a car at a crossroads.
Octavio, we later learn, as the film goes back in time, has an infatuation with his sister-in-law, who has fallen pregnant for the second time and is afraid to tell her husband Ramiro (Cofi's owner), a violent, volatile thug who robs convenience stores and fucks checkout girls at the place he works. Octavio builds up a stash of money using Cofi in highly profitable dog fights and asks the sister-in-law to run away with him.
The second story, whose characters we have caught glimpses of already, is about a magazine editor who leaves his wife for a perfume model. They move into an apartment together, overlooked by one of her huge billboard advertisements. They have anything but a smooth start to their lives together and even lose her beloved dog, Richie, when he falls down a hole in the floorboards, chasing a ball.
The third story features a tramp, also a dog-owner, a former university professor who became a militiaman and now survives by doing contract killings. He, too, has appeared in the earlier stories and ends up nursing the wounded fighting dog, Cofi, back to health after the car crash. He claims to have given up being a hitman, but agrees to one more job, killing a man's partner.
The film is quite long at 153 minutes, but each story is engaging and could be a film in itself. It doesn't reflect very well on dog owners. (There is a disclaimer right at the beginning of the film that no animals were harmed during the making of the film. Usually this appears in the end credits.) The dogs become characters, a big influence on the lives of their owners in each stratum of society.
Iñárritu is a compelling storyteller, ingeniously linking the three stories. After the first crash, one can sense it coming from the other characters' points of view. One of the best aspects of this film, uncommon in Hollywood narratives, is the lack of plot resolution; but nevertheless it retains a sense of closure.
Nugget: a fresh way of storytelling. The title translates roughly as "Love's a Bitch", punning on "perros" meaning "dog". The main characters are all, of course, driven by the love of their dogs.
This review was also posted on Blogcritics.
Saturday, 16 September 2006
Turning the vicar's bike around
The euphemism "I'm just off to turn the vicar's bike around" means "I need to go to the toilet". I am fond of this expression and can be heard using it in special company.
Books I have read
Here is a list of books I have read recently. Each time I finish a book, I'll add it to the list.
* denotes a book read (either whole or in part) while turning the vicar's bike around.
* denotes a book read (either whole or in part) while turning the vicar's bike around.
October 2024
September 2024
363) Douglas Adams, Douglas Adams at the BBC: A Celebration of the Author's Life and Work (audiobook)
August 2024
July 2024
June 2024
354) Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses (audiobook)
May 2024
353) Philip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass, Book 3 in His Dark Materials: The Complete Collection
352) Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat (audiobook)
351) Philip Pullman, The Subtle Knife, Book 2 in His Dark Materials: The Complete Collection
350) Héctor García and Francesc Miralles, Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life (audiobook)
349) Tim Harford, How to Make the World Add Up: Ten Rules for Thinking Differently About Numbers (audiobook)
April 2024
348) Tim Harford, The Undercover Economist (audiobook)
347) David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI (audiobook)
346) Tim Parks, Hotel Milano
345) Tim Parks, Italian Life: A Modern Fable of Loyalty and Betrayal
March 2024
344) David Baddiel, Jews Don't Count (audiobook)
343) Cal Flyn, Thicker Than Water: History, Secrets and Guilt: A Memoir
342) Philippa Perry, The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (and Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did) (audiobook)
341) Sara Wheeler, Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica (audiobook)
340) Claire McGowan, The Fall
February 2024
339) Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World (audiobook)
338) R. D. Laing, Conversations with Children
337) John Kampfner, In Search of Berlin: The Story of a Reinvented City (audiobook)
January 2024
336) Andrew Leland, The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight
335) Bill Bryson, The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America (audiobook)
334) Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (audiobook)
333) Chuck Klosterman, I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling With Villains (Real and Imagined) (audiobook)
December 2023
332) Chuck Klosterman, Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto
331) Michael Lewis, Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
330) Chuck Klosterman, Eating the Dinosaur (audiobook)
November 2023
329) Graham Robb, The Debatable Land: The Lost World Between Scotland and England (audiobook)
328) Jason Hickel, Less Is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World (audiobook)
327) John McMurtry, The Cancer Stage of Capitalism: From Crisis to Cure
326) Katja Hoyer, Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990 (audiobook)
October 2023
325) John Kampfner, Why the Germans Do It Better: Notes from a Grown-Up Country (audiobook)
324) Julia Samuel, Grief Works: Stories of Life, Death and Surviving (audiobook)
323) Cariad Lloyd, You Are Not Alone (audiobook)
322) Peter Frankopan, The Earth Transformed: An Untold History (audiobook)
September 2023
321) David Eagleman, Sum: Tales from the Afterlives (3rd reading)
August 2023
320) Flann O'Brien, The Third Policeman (audiobook)
319) Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch (audiobook)
318) Richard Ford, Be Mine
317) Peter Bently and Mei Matsuoka, The Great Dog Bottom Swap
316) Tim Parks, Teach Us to Sit Still: A Sceptic's Search for Health and Healing (audiobook)
July 2023
315) Ned Boulting, 1923: The Mystery of Lot 212 and a Tour de France Obsession
314) Brendan O'Shannassy, Superyacht Captain: Life and Leadership in the World's Most Incredible Industry (audiobook)
313) Chris Goodall, What We Need to Do Now: For a Zero Carbon Future (audiobook)
312) Christopher Isherwood, Goodbye to Berlin
311) Noam Chomsky, The Essential Chomsky, ed. Anthony Arnove (audiobook)
310) Philip Pullman, Northern Lights, Book 1 in His Dark Materials: The Complete Collection
309) Chanel Miller, Know My Name (audiobook)
June 2023
308) John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces (audiobook)
307) John Barton, The Word: On the Translation of the Bible (audiobook)
306) Private Eye Annual 2018, ed. Ian Hislop *
305) Jack Kerouac, On the Road (audiobook)
304) Bernard Hare, Urban Grimshaw and the Shed Crew
303) Nevil Shute, A Town Like Alice (audiobook)
May 2023
302) Judith Guest, Ordinary People301) Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows (audiobook)
300) Tim Parks, Medici Money: Banking, Metaphysics and Art in Fifteenth-Century Florence
299) William Golding, Lord of the Flies (audiobook)
298) P. G. Wodehouse, Mike and Psmith (audiobook)
297) Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism: On Living Better with Less Technology (audiobook)
296) Steve Krug, Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 3rd rev. edn
295) Breece D'J Pancake, The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake
294) Tim Parks, The Hero's Way: Walking with Garibaldi from Rome to Ravenna (audiobook)
April 2023
293) Emma Richler, Feed My Dear Dogs
292) John Barton, A History of the Bible: The Book and Its Faiths (audiobook)
March 2023
291) Rory MacLean, Pravda Ha Ha: True Travels to the End of Europe (audiobook)
290) Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene (audiobook)
289) Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor (audiobook)
288) Kes Gray and Jim Field, Oi Cat!
287) Kes Gray and Jim Field, Quick Quack Quentin
286) Kes Gray and Jim Field, Oi Duck-billed Platypus!
285) Kes Gray and Jim Field, Oi Frog!
February 2023
284) Lucy Mangan, Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading283) Rob Wilkins, Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes: The Official Biography (audiobook)
282) Edmund de Waal, The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance
281) Isabella Tree, Wilding (audiobook)
January 2023
280) Stanley Tucci, Taste (audiobook)
279) Ben Goldacre, Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients (audiobook)
December 2022
278) Alis Rowe, The Girl with the Curly Hair: Asperger's and Me
277) Cal Flyn, Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape
276) Arthur Ransome, Swallows and Amazons (audiobook)
November 2022
275) James Rebanks, The Shepherd's Life: A Tale of the Lake District (audiobook)
274) James Nestor, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art (audiobook)
273) Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species (abridged audiobook)
272) Jonathan Raban, Coasting
271) Roman Krznaric, The Good Ancestor: How to Think Long-Term in a Short-Term World (audiobook)
270) Ken Thomas, The Official Channel Four American Football Annual 1992-93
October 2022
269) Jarvis Cocker, Good Pop, Bad Pop (audiobook)
268) P. G. Wodehouse, Joy in the Morning, in P.G. Wodehouse Volume 1: The Jeeves Collection (audiobook)
September 2022
267) Dave Eggers, You Shall Know Our Velocity! (audiobook)
266) Matthew J. Bruccoli, Some Sort of Epic Grandeur: The Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald
265) Edward W. Said, Culture and Imperialism (audiobook)
August 2022
264) F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tender Is the Night
263) Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea
262) P. G. Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters, in P.G. Wodehouse Volume 1: The Jeeves Collection (audiobook)
261) Blanche Ebbutt, Don'ts for Wives
260) Salman Rushdie, The Moor’s Last Sigh (audiobook)
259) Gary Imlach, My Father and Other Working-Class Football Heroes
July 2022
258) Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
257) Michael Mosley, The Fast 800: How to Combine Rapid Weight Loss and Intermittent Fasting for Long-Term Health (audiobook)
256) Stephen Fry, Troy: The Siege of Troy Retold (audiobook)
255) David Sedaris, Happy-Go-Lucky (audiobook)
254) Tim Parks, Italian Ways: On and Off the Rails from Milan to Palermo
253) Michael Moore, Dude, Where’s My Country? (audiobook)
June 2022
252) Michael Moore, Stupid White Men: ...and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation!
251) P. G. Wodehouse, Right Ho, Jeeves, in P.G. Wodehouse Volume 1: The Jeeves Collection (audiobook)
250) W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor’s Edge (audiobook)
249) Joseph Heller, Catch-22
248) Michael Mosley, The Clever Guts Diet: How to Revolutionise Your Body from the Inside Out (audiobook)
245) Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer, The Fast Diet: The Simple Secret of Intermittent Fasting: Lose Weight, Stay Healthy, Live Longer (audiobook)
244) Emma Smith, Portable Magic: A History of Books and Their Readers (audiobook)
May 2022
243) David Sedaris, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (audiobook)
242) Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, trans. George Bull (audiobook)
241) Sun Tzu, The Art of War, trans. Lionel Giles (audiobook)
240) P. G. Wodehouse, Carry On Jeeves, in P.G. Wodehouse Volume 1: The Jeeves Collection (audiobook)
239) Tom Fletcher, Ten Survival Skills for a World in Flux (audiobook)
238) Richard E. Grant, With Nails
237) David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day (audiobook)
236) Greg McKeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (audiobook)
235) Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children (audiobook)
234) Tim Parks, Adultery and Other Diversions
April 2022
233) A. M. Homes, This Book Will Save Your Life
232) Tim Parks, An Italian Education
231) W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence (audiobook)
230) David Eagleman, The Brain: The Story of You (audiobook)
March 2022
228) Hope M. Harrison, The Berlin Wall: A World Divided (audiobook)
226) Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, and Jonathan Miller, The Complete Beyond the Fringe
225) Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim (audiobook)
224) John S. Mason, The Making of Ynyslas: Tales from an Area the Size of Wales - 25,000 Years Ago to the Present Day
February 2022
222) Chuck Klosterman, The Nineties: A Book (audiobook)
221) Chris B. Brown, The Art of Smart Football
220) P. G. Wodehouse, The Inimitable Jeeves, in P.G. Wodehouse Volume 1: The Jeeves Collection (audiobook)
219) Leonard Gardner, Fat City
January 2022
218) Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (audiobook)
217) Tim Krabbé, The Rider, trans. Sam Garrett
December 2021
216) H. M. van den Brink, On the Water, trans. Paul Vincent
215) Martin McDonagh, A Very Very Very Dark Matter
214) David Hare, The Absence of War
213) Rory MacLean, Berlin: Imagine a City
212) Joe Miller, Ugur Sahin, and Özlem Türeci, Vaccine: How the Breakthrough of a Generation Fought Covid-19 (audiobook)
November 2021
211) Bill Bryson, Notes from a Small Island (audiobook)
210) Bill Simmons, Now I Can Die in Peace: How The Sports Guy Found Salvation Thanks to the World Champion (Twice!) Red Sox
209) Malcolm Gladwell, The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War (audiobook)
208) George Orwell, Keep the Aspidistra Flying (audiobook)
October 2021
207) Reni Eddo-Lodge, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People about Race (audiobook)
206) Stephen Fry, Heroes: Mortals and Monsters, Quests and Adventures (audiobook)
September 2021
204) Bob Mortimer, And Away… (audiobook)
203) Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis (audiobook)
202) Sally Rooney, Beautiful World, Where Are You
201) Jon Ronson, Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries (audiobook)
August 2021
200) Tim Parks, Italian Neighbours: An Englishman in Verona
199) Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning (audiobook)
198) Malcolm Gladwell, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants (audiobook)
197) Robert Clark, Friday Night Lives: Photos from the Town, the Team, and After
196) Michael Lewis, Pacific Rift
195) Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success (audiobook)
194) Deborah Frances-White, The Guilty Feminist (audiobook)
193) Bertrand Russell, What I Believe: 3 Complete Essays on Religion (audiobook)
192) Tim Parks, A Season with Verona: Travels Around Italy in Search of Illusion, National Character and Goals
191) David Sedaris, Theft by Finding: Diaries: Volume One (audiobook)
July 2021
190) Elizabeth Day, How to Fail: Everything I’ve Ever Learned from Things Going Wrong (audiobook)
189) Luke Edwardes-Evans, Serge Laget, and Andy McGrath, The Official History of the Tour de France
188) Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (audiobook)
187) Prof Steve Peters, The Chimp Paradox: The Mind Management Programme for Confidence, Success and Happiness (audiobook)
186) Alan Bennett, Talking Heads (audiobook)
185) Kate Raworth, Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist
184) Caroline Criado Perez, Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men (audiobook)
June 2021
183) Mark Williams and Danny Penman, Mindfulness: The Eight-Week Meditation Programme for a Frantic World (audiobook)
182) Ross Gay, The Book of Delights (audiobook)
181) Bill Bryson, At Home: A Short History of Private Life (audiobook)
180) Mario Puzo, The Godfather
179) Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me (audiobook)
May 2021
178) Michael Lewis, Playing to Win (audiobook)
177) Stephen Fry, Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold (audiobook)
176) Michael Lewis, The Premonition: A Pandemic Story
175) Tom Brady, The TB12 Method: How to Achieve a Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance (audiobook)
174) Richard H. Thaler, Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics (audiobook)
173) Julian Jackson, The Fall of France: The Nazi Invasion of 1940
April 2021
172) Malcolm Gladwell, Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking (audiobook)
171) Ben Goldacre, Bad Science (audiobook)
170) Rand Fishkin, Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World (audiobook)
169) Trevor Warner, Cat Body Language: 100 Ways to Read Their Signals
168) Richard A. McKay, Patient Zero and the Making of the AIDS Epidemic (audiobook)
March 2021
167) Philip E. Tetlock and Dan Gardner, Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction
166) Cal Newport, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World (audiobook)
165) Don Norman, The Design of Everyday Things, 2nd rev. edn (audiobook)
164) David Epstein, Range: How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World (audiobook)
163) Malcolm Gladwell, Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know (audiobook)
February 2021
162) Ten Poems about Home, selected and introduced by Mahendra Solanki
161) Richard P. Feynman, "Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character as told to Ralph Leighton, ed. Edward Hutchings
160) Bert Wagendorp, Ventoux, trans. Paul Vincent
January 2021
159) Roman Krznaric, How to Find Fulfilling Work (2nd reading)
158) Nathan Pyle, Strange Planet
157) Art Spiegelman, The Complete Mous
156) Marci Alboher, One Person / Multiple Careers: The Original Guide to the Slash Career
155) Craig Brown, One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time
December 2020
154) Shirley Hughes, Dogger's Christmas
153) W. Timothy Gallwey, Edd Hanzelik, and John Horton, The Inner Game of Stress: Outsmart Life's Challenges and Fulfill Your Potential
November 2020
151) David Hare, Beat the Devil: A Covid Monologue
July 2020
July 2020
150) Sally Rooney, Conversations with Friends
May 2020
149) Sally Rooney, Normal People
March 2020
148) P. G. Wodehouse, A Pelican at Blandings
February 2020
147) Kenneth Wheare’s autobiography
146) Richard Ford, A Piece of My Heart
December 2019
145) Karl Blanks and Ben Jesson, Making Websites Win: Apply the Customer-Centric Methodology That Has Doubled the Sales of Many Leading Websites (audiobook)
May 2019
144) Chris Voss and Tahl Raz, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as If Your Life Depended on It
143) Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness
142) Michael Lewis, The Fifth Risk
141) Steve Jalim, career.fork(): How to Thrive as a Freelance Developer
140) Pat Kirwan, Take Your Eye Off the Ball 2.0: How to Watch Football by Knowing Where to Look
January 2019
139) Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow
October 2018
138) John Sutton, Walton Well: the Ford, the Fountain, the Foundry and the Prophet Elijah
137) Alan Bennett, Allelujah!
August 2018
136) Karl Blanks and Ben Jesson, Making Websites Win: Apply the Customer-Centric Methodology That Has Doubled the Sales of Many Leading Websites
May 2018
135) Richard Ford, The Ultimate Good Luck
134) Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
March 2018
133) Richard Ford, Between Them
132) Sarah Knight, The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k
January 2018
131) Tarell Alvin McCraney, The Brothers Size
130) Martin McDonagh, The Pillowman
December 2017
129) Michael Lewis, The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story
November 2017
128) Sarah Knight, How to Not Give a F*ck at Christmas: A No F*cks Given Guide to Surviving the Holidays
September 2017
127) Michael Lewis, The Money Culture
August 2017
126) Michael Lewis, The Undoing Project: A Friendship that Changed the World
July 2017
125) Martin Amis, The Rachel Papers
May 2017
124) Nicholas Dawidoff, Collision Low Crossers: Inside the Turbulent World of NFL Football
123) Andrew Fusek Peters, Dip: Wild Swims from the Borderlands
April 2017
122) Chris B. Brown, The Essential Smart Football
January 2017
121) Alan Alda, Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself
November 2016
120) Jon Ronson, The Elephant in the Room
July 2016
119) Karen Joy Fowler, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
May 2016
118) Dave Eggers, The Circle
March 2016
117) Michael Lewis, Losers: The Road to Everyplace but the White House (aka Trail Fever)
January 2016
116) Michael Lewis, Flash Boys: Cracking the Money Code
December 2015
115) Roy Peter Clark, How to Write Short: Word Craft for Fast Times
114) David Lodge, Changing Places
September 2015
113) Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, Now, Discover Your Strengths: How to Develop Your Talents and Those of the People You Manage
June 2015
112) Roger Deakin, Waterlog: A Swimmer's Journey through Britain
February 2015
111) E. M. Bard, Test Your Cat: The Cat IQ Test
December 2014
110) Richard Ford, Let Me Be Frank With You: A Frank Bascombe Book
109) Tom Gauld, You're All Just Jealous of My Jetpack
November 2014
108) Aleks Krotoski, Untangling the Web
September 2014
107) Markus Zusak, The Book Thief
May 2014
106) David Eagleman, Sum: Tales from the Afterlives (2nd reading)
December 2013
105) Michael Lewis, Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life
104) Michael Lewis, Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood
August 2013
103) David Eagleman, Sum: Tales from the Afterlives
102) Michael Holley, War Room: The Legacy of Bill Belichick and the Art of Building the Perfect Team
February 2013
101) Nate Silver, The Signal and the Noise: The Art and Science of Prediction
100) Margaret Forster, Diary of an Ordinary Woman
January 2013
99) Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Freakonomics
July 2012
98) Roman Krznaric, The Wonderbox: Curious Histories of How to Live
June 2012
97) Hugh Warwick, The Beauty in the Beast: Britain's Favourite Creatures and the People Who Love Them
96) Hugh Warwick, A Prickly Affair: My Life with Hedgehogs
95) Rob Brydon, Small Man in a Book
May 2012
94) Roman Krznaric, How to Find Fulfilling Work
93) David Allen, Getting Things Done: How to Achieve Stress-Free Productivity
92) H. G. Bissinger, Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream
December 2011
91) Michael Lewis, Boomerang: The Meltdown Tour
August 2011
90) Gregg Easterbrook, The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse (audiobook)
89) Simon Gray, The Early Diaries: "An Unnatural Pursuit" and "How's That for Telling 'em, Fat Lady?"
88) Michael Lewis, Next: The Future Just Happened (audiobook)
December 2010
87) Michael Lewis, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
March 2010
86) Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited
85) Reviel Netz and William Noel, The Archimedes Codex: Revealing the Blueprint for Modern Science
February 2010
84) Alan Bennett, The Habit of Art
83) Lynne Truss, Get Her Off the Pitch!: How Sport Took Over My Life
82) George Plimpton, Paper Lion: Confessions of a Last-String Quarterback
January 2010
81) Simon Gray, Key Plays: "Butley", "Otherwise Engaged", "Close of Play", "Quartermaine's Terms", "The Late Middle Classes"
December 2009
80) Deirdre Wilson, Slave of the Passions
79) Michael Lewis, Liar's Poker
78) Michael Lewis, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game
77) H. D., Palimpsest
November 2009
76) Richard Ford, Women with Men
October 2009
75) Stephen Potter, The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship; or, The Art of Winning Games Without Actually Cheating
September 2009
74) Richard Wiseman, 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot
73) Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls
July 2009
72) Joe Simpson, Touching the Void
June 2009
71) Susan Orlean, The Orchid Thief
April 2009
70) William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying
69) Julian Barnes, Flaubert's Parrot
68) A. Walton Litz, The Art of James Joyce: Method and Design in "Ulysses" and "Finnegans Wake"
67) Little Gidding: An Illustrated History and Guide
66) Mark McCallum, Home Truths: The Peel Years and Beyond: Real Stories from British Life as heard on BBC Radio 4
March 2009
65) Azar Nafisi, Reading "Lolita" in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
64) Philip Welsh, The Single Person
63) Tom Paulin, The Secret Life of Poems: A Poetry Primer *
January 2009
62) Doris Lessing, The Golden Notebook
December 2008
61) Simon Gray, Enter a Fox: Further Adventures of a Paranoid
60) Gillian Butler and Tony Hope, Manage Your Mind: The Mental Fitness Guide
November 2008
59) George Bornstein and Ralph G. Williams, eds, Palimpsest: Editorial Theory in the Humanities
58) Simon Gray, Coda
September 2008
57) Eviatar Zerubavel, The Clockwork Muse: A Practical Guide to Writing Theses, Dissertations, and Books
56) Sarah Dillon, The Palimpsest: Literature, Criticism, Theory (2nd reading)
149) Sally Rooney, Normal People
March 2020
148) P. G. Wodehouse, A Pelican at Blandings
February 2020
147) Kenneth Wheare’s autobiography
146) Richard Ford, A Piece of My Heart
December 2019
145) Karl Blanks and Ben Jesson, Making Websites Win: Apply the Customer-Centric Methodology That Has Doubled the Sales of Many Leading Websites (audiobook)
May 2019
144) Chris Voss and Tahl Raz, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as If Your Life Depended on It
143) Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness
142) Michael Lewis, The Fifth Risk
141) Steve Jalim, career.fork(): How to Thrive as a Freelance Developer
140) Pat Kirwan, Take Your Eye Off the Ball 2.0: How to Watch Football by Knowing Where to Look
January 2019
139) Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow
October 2018
138) John Sutton, Walton Well: the Ford, the Fountain, the Foundry and the Prophet Elijah
137) Alan Bennett, Allelujah!
August 2018
136) Karl Blanks and Ben Jesson, Making Websites Win: Apply the Customer-Centric Methodology That Has Doubled the Sales of Many Leading Websites
May 2018
135) Richard Ford, The Ultimate Good Luck
134) Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
March 2018
133) Richard Ford, Between Them
132) Sarah Knight, The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k
January 2018
131) Tarell Alvin McCraney, The Brothers Size
130) Martin McDonagh, The Pillowman
December 2017
129) Michael Lewis, The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story
November 2017
128) Sarah Knight, How to Not Give a F*ck at Christmas: A No F*cks Given Guide to Surviving the Holidays
September 2017
127) Michael Lewis, The Money Culture
August 2017
126) Michael Lewis, The Undoing Project: A Friendship that Changed the World
July 2017
125) Martin Amis, The Rachel Papers
May 2017
124) Nicholas Dawidoff, Collision Low Crossers: Inside the Turbulent World of NFL Football
123) Andrew Fusek Peters, Dip: Wild Swims from the Borderlands
April 2017
122) Chris B. Brown, The Essential Smart Football
January 2017
121) Alan Alda, Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself
November 2016
120) Jon Ronson, The Elephant in the Room
July 2016
119) Karen Joy Fowler, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
May 2016
118) Dave Eggers, The Circle
March 2016
117) Michael Lewis, Losers: The Road to Everyplace but the White House (aka Trail Fever)
January 2016
116) Michael Lewis, Flash Boys: Cracking the Money Code
December 2015
115) Roy Peter Clark, How to Write Short: Word Craft for Fast Times
114) David Lodge, Changing Places
September 2015
113) Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, Now, Discover Your Strengths: How to Develop Your Talents and Those of the People You Manage
June 2015
112) Roger Deakin, Waterlog: A Swimmer's Journey through Britain
February 2015
111) E. M. Bard, Test Your Cat: The Cat IQ Test
December 2014
110) Richard Ford, Let Me Be Frank With You: A Frank Bascombe Book
109) Tom Gauld, You're All Just Jealous of My Jetpack
November 2014
108) Aleks Krotoski, Untangling the Web
September 2014
107) Markus Zusak, The Book Thief
May 2014
106) David Eagleman, Sum: Tales from the Afterlives (2nd reading)
December 2013
105) Michael Lewis, Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life
104) Michael Lewis, Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood
August 2013
103) David Eagleman, Sum: Tales from the Afterlives
102) Michael Holley, War Room: The Legacy of Bill Belichick and the Art of Building the Perfect Team
February 2013
101) Nate Silver, The Signal and the Noise: The Art and Science of Prediction
100) Margaret Forster, Diary of an Ordinary Woman
January 2013
99) Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Freakonomics
July 2012
98) Roman Krznaric, The Wonderbox: Curious Histories of How to Live
June 2012
97) Hugh Warwick, The Beauty in the Beast: Britain's Favourite Creatures and the People Who Love Them
96) Hugh Warwick, A Prickly Affair: My Life with Hedgehogs
95) Rob Brydon, Small Man in a Book
May 2012
94) Roman Krznaric, How to Find Fulfilling Work
93) David Allen, Getting Things Done: How to Achieve Stress-Free Productivity
92) H. G. Bissinger, Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream
December 2011
91) Michael Lewis, Boomerang: The Meltdown Tour
August 2011
90) Gregg Easterbrook, The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse (audiobook)
89) Simon Gray, The Early Diaries: "An Unnatural Pursuit" and "How's That for Telling 'em, Fat Lady?"
88) Michael Lewis, Next: The Future Just Happened (audiobook)
December 2010
87) Michael Lewis, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
March 2010
86) Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited
85) Reviel Netz and William Noel, The Archimedes Codex: Revealing the Blueprint for Modern Science
February 2010
84) Alan Bennett, The Habit of Art
83) Lynne Truss, Get Her Off the Pitch!: How Sport Took Over My Life
82) George Plimpton, Paper Lion: Confessions of a Last-String Quarterback
January 2010
81) Simon Gray, Key Plays: "Butley", "Otherwise Engaged", "Close of Play", "Quartermaine's Terms", "The Late Middle Classes"
December 2009
80) Deirdre Wilson, Slave of the Passions
79) Michael Lewis, Liar's Poker
78) Michael Lewis, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game
77) H. D., Palimpsest
November 2009
76) Richard Ford, Women with Men
October 2009
75) Stephen Potter, The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship; or, The Art of Winning Games Without Actually Cheating
September 2009
74) Richard Wiseman, 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot
73) Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls
July 2009
72) Joe Simpson, Touching the Void
June 2009
71) Susan Orlean, The Orchid Thief
April 2009
70) William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying
69) Julian Barnes, Flaubert's Parrot
68) A. Walton Litz, The Art of James Joyce: Method and Design in "Ulysses" and "Finnegans Wake"
67) Little Gidding: An Illustrated History and Guide
66) Mark McCallum, Home Truths: The Peel Years and Beyond: Real Stories from British Life as heard on BBC Radio 4
March 2009
65) Azar Nafisi, Reading "Lolita" in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
64) Philip Welsh, The Single Person
63) Tom Paulin, The Secret Life of Poems: A Poetry Primer *
January 2009
62) Doris Lessing, The Golden Notebook
December 2008
61) Simon Gray, Enter a Fox: Further Adventures of a Paranoid
60) Gillian Butler and Tony Hope, Manage Your Mind: The Mental Fitness Guide
November 2008
59) George Bornstein and Ralph G. Williams, eds, Palimpsest: Editorial Theory in the Humanities
58) Simon Gray, Coda
September 2008
57) Eviatar Zerubavel, The Clockwork Muse: A Practical Guide to Writing Theses, Dissertations, and Books
56) Sarah Dillon, The Palimpsest: Literature, Criticism, Theory (2nd reading)
55) Ed Morrison and Derek Robinson, Better Rugby Refereeing: Guidance, Tips, Warnings, Insights and Advice on Refereeing at Every Level
54) Simon Gray, Fat Chance
53) Simon Gray, The Last Cigarette
August 2008
52) Sarah Dillon, The Palimpsest: Literature, Criticism, Theory
May 2008
51) Peter Elbow, Writing Without Teachers
April 2008
50) Geert Lernout, The French Joyce
March 2008
49) Michael Groden, "Ulysses" in Progress
48) Fritz Senn, Joycean Murmoirs: Fritz Senn on James Joyce, ed. Christine O'Neill
47) Frank Budgen, James Joyce and the Making of "Ulysses": And Other Writings
February 2008
46) Richard Bath, The Scotland Rugby Miscellany *
January 2008
45) Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader
44) Karl Beckson, The Religion of Art: A Modernist Theme in British Literature, 1885-1925
December 2007
43) Michael Lewis, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
42) Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, trans. Geoffrey Wall
October 2007
41) Richard Ford, The Lay of the Land
40) Arthur Power, Conversations with James Joyce, ed. Clive Hart
September 2007
39) Laura O'Connor, Haunted English: The Celtic Fringe, the British Empire, and De-Anglicization
38) Know Your Traffic Signs *
August 2007
37) The Mays, 15, ed. Sean O'Brien, Colm Tóibín, and others
36) The Highway Code, rev. 2004 *
35) Fitz Hugh Ludlow, The Hasheesh Eater: Being Passages from the Life of a Pythagorean, ed. Stephen Rachman
July 2007
34) P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves and Wooster Omnibus: The Mating Season; The Code of the Woosters; Right Ho, Jeeves
33) Philip Larkin, Collected Poems, ed. Anthony Thwaite *
June 2007
32) Imre Madách, The Tragedy of Man, trans. George Szirtes *
May 2007
31) James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, ed. Jeri Johnson
30) Clive Hart, ed., James Joyce's "Dubliners": Critical Essays
29) Thomas F. Staley and Bernard Benstock, eds, Approaches to Joyce's "Portrait": Ten Essays
28) Ian Halperin, Fire and Rain: The James Taylor Story *
27) James Joyce, Stephen Hero, ed. Theodore Spencer, John J. Slocum, and Herbert Cahoon
April 2007
26) David Norris and Carl Flint, Introducing Joyce, ed. Richard Appignanesi *
25) Steve Fuller, The Intellectual: The Positive Power of Negative Thinking... *
24) Stanislaus Joyce, My Brother's Keeper: James Joyce's Early Years, ed. Richard Ellmann
23) Conor McPherson, The Seafarer
22) The Dublin Diary of Stanislaus Joyce, ed. George Harris Healey
March 2007
21) Pound/Joyce: The Letters of Ezra Pound to James Joyce with Pound's Essays on Joyce, ed. Forrest Read
February 2007
20) Samuel Beckett, Happy Days
19) Conor McPherson, The Weir
18) Gérard Genette, Palimpsests: Literature in the Second Degree, trans. Channa Newman and Claude Doubinsky
January 2007
17) Richard Ellmann, James Joyce, 2nd rev. edn (1982)
December 2006
16) A. S. Byatt, The Biographer's Tale
November 2006
15) Homer Obed Brown, James Joyce's Early Fiction: The Biography of a Form
14) Richard Ford, A Multitude of Sins
13) James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, ed. Jeri Johnson
12) Instructions for British Servicemen in France, 1944 *
11) Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain, 1942 *
10) Roman Krznaric, The First Beautiful Game: Stories of Obsession in Real Tennis *
9) James Joyce, Stephen Hero, ed. Theodore Spencer, John J. Slocum, and Herbert Cahoon
October 2006
8) Patrick Dunleavy, Authoring a PhD: How to Plan, Draft, Write and Finish a Doctoral Thesis or Dissertation
7) Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast *
September 2006
6) Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon
5) James Joyce, Exiles
August 2006
4) Tom Stoppard, Rock 'n' Roll *
3) Tobias Wolff, Old School
July 2006
2) Sylvia Beach, Shakespeare & Company *
June 2006
1) The Mays, 14, ed. Don Paterson, Jeanette Winterson, and others
See also books to read.
54) Simon Gray, Fat Chance
53) Simon Gray, The Last Cigarette
August 2008
52) Sarah Dillon, The Palimpsest: Literature, Criticism, Theory
May 2008
51) Peter Elbow, Writing Without Teachers
April 2008
50) Geert Lernout, The French Joyce
March 2008
49) Michael Groden, "Ulysses" in Progress
48) Fritz Senn, Joycean Murmoirs: Fritz Senn on James Joyce, ed. Christine O'Neill
47) Frank Budgen, James Joyce and the Making of "Ulysses": And Other Writings
February 2008
46) Richard Bath, The Scotland Rugby Miscellany *
January 2008
45) Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader
44) Karl Beckson, The Religion of Art: A Modernist Theme in British Literature, 1885-1925
December 2007
43) Michael Lewis, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
42) Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, trans. Geoffrey Wall
October 2007
41) Richard Ford, The Lay of the Land
40) Arthur Power, Conversations with James Joyce, ed. Clive Hart
September 2007
39) Laura O'Connor, Haunted English: The Celtic Fringe, the British Empire, and De-Anglicization
38) Know Your Traffic Signs *
August 2007
37) The Mays, 15, ed. Sean O'Brien, Colm Tóibín, and others
36) The Highway Code, rev. 2004 *
35) Fitz Hugh Ludlow, The Hasheesh Eater: Being Passages from the Life of a Pythagorean, ed. Stephen Rachman
July 2007
34) P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves and Wooster Omnibus: The Mating Season; The Code of the Woosters; Right Ho, Jeeves
33) Philip Larkin, Collected Poems, ed. Anthony Thwaite *
June 2007
32) Imre Madách, The Tragedy of Man, trans. George Szirtes *
May 2007
31) James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, ed. Jeri Johnson
30) Clive Hart, ed., James Joyce's "Dubliners": Critical Essays
29) Thomas F. Staley and Bernard Benstock, eds, Approaches to Joyce's "Portrait": Ten Essays
28) Ian Halperin, Fire and Rain: The James Taylor Story *
27) James Joyce, Stephen Hero, ed. Theodore Spencer, John J. Slocum, and Herbert Cahoon
April 2007
26) David Norris and Carl Flint, Introducing Joyce, ed. Richard Appignanesi *
25) Steve Fuller, The Intellectual: The Positive Power of Negative Thinking... *
24) Stanislaus Joyce, My Brother's Keeper: James Joyce's Early Years, ed. Richard Ellmann
23) Conor McPherson, The Seafarer
22) The Dublin Diary of Stanislaus Joyce, ed. George Harris Healey
March 2007
21) Pound/Joyce: The Letters of Ezra Pound to James Joyce with Pound's Essays on Joyce, ed. Forrest Read
February 2007
20) Samuel Beckett, Happy Days
19) Conor McPherson, The Weir
18) Gérard Genette, Palimpsests: Literature in the Second Degree, trans. Channa Newman and Claude Doubinsky
January 2007
17) Richard Ellmann, James Joyce, 2nd rev. edn (1982)
December 2006
16) A. S. Byatt, The Biographer's Tale
November 2006
15) Homer Obed Brown, James Joyce's Early Fiction: The Biography of a Form
14) Richard Ford, A Multitude of Sins
13) James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, ed. Jeri Johnson
12) Instructions for British Servicemen in France, 1944 *
11) Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain, 1942 *
10) Roman Krznaric, The First Beautiful Game: Stories of Obsession in Real Tennis *
9) James Joyce, Stephen Hero, ed. Theodore Spencer, John J. Slocum, and Herbert Cahoon
October 2006
8) Patrick Dunleavy, Authoring a PhD: How to Plan, Draft, Write and Finish a Doctoral Thesis or Dissertation
7) Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast *
September 2006
6) Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon
5) James Joyce, Exiles
August 2006
4) Tom Stoppard, Rock 'n' Roll *
3) Tobias Wolff, Old School
July 2006
2) Sylvia Beach, Shakespeare & Company *
June 2006
1) The Mays, 14, ed. Don Paterson, Jeanette Winterson, and others
See also books to read.
Tuesday, 5 September 2006
Movies beginning with V
Looking through my list of ickleReviews, I realize I've reviewed a film for every letter of the alphabet except V. Any suggestions for how I should plug this gap? V for Vendetta springs to mind, but I've never been particularly keen to see that. I'm sure I've seen a few V's in my time, just not in the past couple of years.
Clouds above Oxford
This one looks like a painting. I love the way the sun highlights the top right corner.An Inconvenient Truth (2006) - ickleReview (cinema)
Documentary featuring Al Gore's slideshow presentation about global warming and climate change. For a film so full of scientific evidence, Gore does a much better job of presenting it than The Corporation (2003), without the sense that he's bashing you over the head with it.
Gore comes across as so much more statesman-like than he did in the 2000 presidential election campaign. He is a highly skilled, engaging spokesman. The visual aids he uses come across superbly on film. There is no doubt at the end of the film that global warming is a real and impending danger; and yet Gore's message is uplifting, not depressing.
The film is all about Al Gore. It's called "his" film about global warming in most media summaries, although he doesn't direct it (Davis Guggenheim does). It is a cutting together of a number of slideshow presentations he gave in cities across the world.
There are some moments (shot away from the presentation in hotel rooms, in the back of cars, in airports) where he talks about nearly losing his six-year-old son when he was run over, which feel like a presidential TV commercial, showing that he is a real person, not some political robot. He also has an annoying habit of calling the scientists who supply his data "a friend of mine", "my friend Joe Schmo". He probably has befriended them or knew them at college, but drop the act, bozo!
Nugget: everyone, including George W. Bush, should see this film.
Gore comes across as so much more statesman-like than he did in the 2000 presidential election campaign. He is a highly skilled, engaging spokesman. The visual aids he uses come across superbly on film. There is no doubt at the end of the film that global warming is a real and impending danger; and yet Gore's message is uplifting, not depressing.
The film is all about Al Gore. It's called "his" film about global warming in most media summaries, although he doesn't direct it (Davis Guggenheim does). It is a cutting together of a number of slideshow presentations he gave in cities across the world.
There are some moments (shot away from the presentation in hotel rooms, in the back of cars, in airports) where he talks about nearly losing his six-year-old son when he was run over, which feel like a presidential TV commercial, showing that he is a real person, not some political robot. He also has an annoying habit of calling the scientists who supply his data "a friend of mine", "my friend Joe Schmo". He probably has befriended them or knew them at college, but drop the act, bozo!
Nugget: everyone, including George W. Bush, should see this film.
Every Little Thing (aka La Moindre des choses) (1997) - ickleReview (DVD)
A documentary about a French sanatorium where the inmates rehearse and perform an annual summer play.
Nugget: not Philibert's best, but certainly still worth watching.
Please go to FilmExposed to read this review.
See also In the Land of the Deaf (1992) and Être et avoir (2002) by the same director.
[Update: Friday 17 June 2011: looks like FilmExposed is no more, so that link is broken.]
Nugget: not Philibert's best, but certainly still worth watching.
Please go to FilmExposed to read this review.
See also In the Land of the Deaf (1992) and Être et avoir (2002) by the same director.
[Update: Friday 17 June 2011: looks like FilmExposed is no more, so that link is broken.]
In the Land of the Deaf (aka Le Pays des sourds) (1992) - ickleReview (DVD)
A magical, informative and entertaining documentary of the highest order, In the Land of the Deaf brings a whole new meaning to the concept of foreign language film by exploring sign language and the lives of deaf people in France.
Nugget: on a par with Être et avoir.
Please go to FilmExposed to read this review.
See also Every Little Thing (1997) by the same director, Nicolas Philibert.
[Update: Friday 17 June 2011: looks like FilmExposed is no more, so that link is broken.]
Nugget: on a par with Être et avoir.
Please go to FilmExposed to read this review.
See also Every Little Thing (1997) by the same director, Nicolas Philibert.
[Update: Friday 17 June 2011: looks like FilmExposed is no more, so that link is broken.]
Monday, 4 September 2006
Eeking into the top 10 in the world
My housemate Emma-Kate Lidbury, a journalist at the Oxford Mail, only started competing in triathlons a year ago. Now she has finished 8th at the World Triathlon Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland. Well done, Eek! I wonder if she'll make it to the Beijing Olympics in 2008, when she'll only be 28.
Devastating new drugs craze
Drug users in parts of Yorkshire have started to inject ecstasy into their mouths. It's called "E by gum".
Source: my housemate Dafydd.
Source: my housemate Dafydd.
Sunday, 3 September 2006
Dogville (2003) - ickleReview (cinema)
Quite simply one of the best films you will ever see. Lars von Trier reinvents allegory for the modern day. Filmed on a bare soundstage with chalk lines marking out a set that isn't there, the visual paucity of this movie is at first unsettling. We hear the scrunch of feet on a dirt track or the sound of a door opening and closing; but we cannot trust the images alone. After a while, the understated flare of the acting takes over, suspending our sense of disbelief.
Nicole Kidman's performance is enchanting. She plays Grace, a gangster's girl mysteriously on the run, who finds temporary asylum in the Southpark-like secluded town of Dogville. At first, Grace finds it difficult to fit in; the townsfolk won't even let her lend a helping hand; they deny that their life could be made any better. But then, as Grace becomes more accepted, thanks to the support of the frustrated writer Tom Edison (Paul Bettany), the people of Dogville begin to take advantage of what she offers them. The purity of Grace and the innocence of the Dogville townsfolk gradually become besmeared as the nine pre-defined episodes progress. It seems inevitable that the gangster Godfather/God the Father (James Caan) will come to reclaim Grace.
Von Trier was co-founder of the Copenhagen "Dogme 95" group of directors who devised a set of avant-garde rules a decade ago known as "The Vow of Chastity" designed to reclaim the new wave in film. Yet Dogville consciously disobeys some of these rules - stating its intention in the mesmerizing opening crane shot, which slowly tracks in from a high-angle bird's-eye-view, all the way to street level. (Dogme dogma states that "The camera must be hand-held.") Despite the loss of "Chastity", the Dogme ethos is never lost: Dogville looks and - more importantly - feels unlike any other film. It seems to be leading you one way, only to baffle your suppositions, leaving you feeling wounded by the end, and lingering with you for hours, even days, afterwards.
Nugget: charming and unnerving; highly-suggestive, without ever being heavy-handed, John Hunt's quirky narrator tells it like a bedtime story, relating choice details which grate against his idyllic tone of voice. A pile-driver is pounding in the foundations for a nearby penitentiary, but it seems that Dogville is too innocent to be harbouring criminals. Outward appearances often hide a grotesque inner vision; but Dogville is beautiful by the very virtue of its darkened grandeur.
Nicole Kidman's performance is enchanting. She plays Grace, a gangster's girl mysteriously on the run, who finds temporary asylum in the Southpark-like secluded town of Dogville. At first, Grace finds it difficult to fit in; the townsfolk won't even let her lend a helping hand; they deny that their life could be made any better. But then, as Grace becomes more accepted, thanks to the support of the frustrated writer Tom Edison (Paul Bettany), the people of Dogville begin to take advantage of what she offers them. The purity of Grace and the innocence of the Dogville townsfolk gradually become besmeared as the nine pre-defined episodes progress. It seems inevitable that the gangster Godfather/God the Father (James Caan) will come to reclaim Grace.
Von Trier was co-founder of the Copenhagen "Dogme 95" group of directors who devised a set of avant-garde rules a decade ago known as "The Vow of Chastity" designed to reclaim the new wave in film. Yet Dogville consciously disobeys some of these rules - stating its intention in the mesmerizing opening crane shot, which slowly tracks in from a high-angle bird's-eye-view, all the way to street level. (Dogme dogma states that "The camera must be hand-held.") Despite the loss of "Chastity", the Dogme ethos is never lost: Dogville looks and - more importantly - feels unlike any other film. It seems to be leading you one way, only to baffle your suppositions, leaving you feeling wounded by the end, and lingering with you for hours, even days, afterwards.
Nugget: charming and unnerving; highly-suggestive, without ever being heavy-handed, John Hunt's quirky narrator tells it like a bedtime story, relating choice details which grate against his idyllic tone of voice. A pile-driver is pounding in the foundations for a nearby penitentiary, but it seems that Dogville is too innocent to be harbouring criminals. Outward appearances often hide a grotesque inner vision; but Dogville is beautiful by the very virtue of its darkened grandeur.
AKA (2002) - ickleReview (cinema)
Three is the magic number in director Duncan Roy's ambitious digital video portrayal of identity fraudster Dean Page (Matthew Leitch). Miserable in his middle-class life in Romford, Essex, with no chance of going to college and an abusive father, 18-year-old Dean is mesmerised by the glamour of the high-class clientele in his mother's posh restaurant.
Through a succession of lucky breaks, Dean slithers his way into the upper echelons of Londons fashionable Eaton Square, where he is adored by the camp aristocracy. Soon he too is wearing expensive clothes and eating in exclusive restaurants, all paid for on a bogus credit card. Dean's naïvety leads him into a homosexual Bermuda love triangle with fellow con man Benjamin (Peter Youngblood Hills), on the run from obscurity and family troubles in small-town Texas, and David Glendenning, a detestable free-loader who lives by the axiom that he makes even the royal family look "positively middle-class".
But Dean's masquerade soon melts under the heat of passion and the pursuit of two credit fraud investigators who hunt him down following his lavish spending trail in London, Paris and the south of France. On the brink of being accepted into the high society that he craves, Dean ultimately faces a choice between love and society status.
Roy tackles this re-working of his own true-life experiences with a refreshing vigour of originality. The entire film is presented in three simultaneous square frames, which show the action from concentric camera angles - sometimes in sync, sometimes ahead of each other, like a Bruce Nauman video installation at Tate Modern. The first twenty minutes of viewing is consequently very demanding, but one soon adapts to the format and appreciates the nuances it allows. The action appears to be filmed from three cameras recording at the same time, but the triangulation reveals that each frame represents a different take - as if three versions of the same story are happening at once.
Nugget: the end product is a visual banquet; but Roy's writing is at times unbelievable and potholed. Despite flashes of genuine humour and pathos, it is nowhere near as accomplished as Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr Ripley, but perhaps this is a deliberate move to mimic the crass falsity of polite society. Nevertheless, the sheer bravado with which the film ravishes class posturing in late-1970s Britain makes it more than worth a three-way look.
Through a succession of lucky breaks, Dean slithers his way into the upper echelons of Londons fashionable Eaton Square, where he is adored by the camp aristocracy. Soon he too is wearing expensive clothes and eating in exclusive restaurants, all paid for on a bogus credit card. Dean's naïvety leads him into a homosexual Bermuda love triangle with fellow con man Benjamin (Peter Youngblood Hills), on the run from obscurity and family troubles in small-town Texas, and David Glendenning, a detestable free-loader who lives by the axiom that he makes even the royal family look "positively middle-class".
But Dean's masquerade soon melts under the heat of passion and the pursuit of two credit fraud investigators who hunt him down following his lavish spending trail in London, Paris and the south of France. On the brink of being accepted into the high society that he craves, Dean ultimately faces a choice between love and society status.
Roy tackles this re-working of his own true-life experiences with a refreshing vigour of originality. The entire film is presented in three simultaneous square frames, which show the action from concentric camera angles - sometimes in sync, sometimes ahead of each other, like a Bruce Nauman video installation at Tate Modern. The first twenty minutes of viewing is consequently very demanding, but one soon adapts to the format and appreciates the nuances it allows. The action appears to be filmed from three cameras recording at the same time, but the triangulation reveals that each frame represents a different take - as if three versions of the same story are happening at once.
Nugget: the end product is a visual banquet; but Roy's writing is at times unbelievable and potholed. Despite flashes of genuine humour and pathos, it is nowhere near as accomplished as Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr Ripley, but perhaps this is a deliberate move to mimic the crass falsity of polite society. Nevertheless, the sheer bravado with which the film ravishes class posturing in late-1970s Britain makes it more than worth a three-way look.
Documentary: The Margins of Reality (2005) - ickleReview (book)
Timely but disappointing short study of the documentary form in cinema.
Nugget: there will be better books on the subject out there with fewer irritating ticks.
Read the full review on FilmExposed.
[Update: Friday 17 June 2011: looks like FilmExposed is no more, so that link is broken.]
Nugget: there will be better books on the subject out there with fewer irritating ticks.
Read the full review on FilmExposed.
[Update: Friday 17 June 2011: looks like FilmExposed is no more, so that link is broken.]
Saturday, 2 September 2006
Pierrepoint (2005) - ickleReview (DVD)
Film about Albert Pierrepoint, the best of Britain's last generation of executioners.
Nugget: one of the best British films of the last decade, with a brillig performance by Timothy Spall in the title role.
Read the rest of the review on FilmExposed.
[Update: Friday 17 June 2011: looks like FilmExposed is no more, so that link is broken.]
Nugget: one of the best British films of the last decade, with a brillig performance by Timothy Spall in the title role.
Read the rest of the review on FilmExposed.
[Update: Friday 17 June 2011: looks like FilmExposed is no more, so that link is broken.]
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