Rainy day thoughts ...

Some musing after reading the weekend papers ...

Nobody I presume sets out to make a bad movie, but some certainly turn out bad - how do the actors feel then having to promote them?  I caught sight of Simon Pegg a couple of times last week on early morning tv shows sitting on sofas (what has he done to his hair ? - he seems to be wearing something new ....) talking up this new piece of drek A FANTASTIC FEAR OF EVERYTHING which according to the reviews here is possibly the worst film of the year or as one says "is unarguably one of the worst British films I've ever seen" - what, worse than SEX LIVES OF THE POTATO MEN or LESBIAN VAMPIRE KILLERS which temporarily killed off James Corden's career here - once I saw that first review of it in "Time Out" followed by that "Sunday Times" page I knew it would take him a long time to recover, but of course he is now wowing them on Broadway. 

Pegg of course has form with bad movies - he may turn up in major franchises like that recent MISSION IMPOSSIBLE but there's also that awful BURKE & HARE and that take on Toby Young's HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS & ALIENATE PEOPLE, RUN FATBOY RUN etc - but I dare say he's not too worried, as he has several others in the pipeline since ... perhaps he should read the rave reviews from everyone for rapper Plan B (Ben Drew) and his film ILL MANORS - that should be suitable punishment.

Then there is Will Ferrell: "A word for CASA DE MI PADRE: rotten. This would have been stretched as a 5 minute sketch on Saturday Night Live. I have rarely laughed so little at a comedy", what on earth were Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna thinking?

Here's Grace ...

By now everyone must have seen those photos and clips of Grace Jones wowing them at the Royal Jubilee Concert as she hula-hooped her way through "Slave to the Rhythm". Everyone is commenting on how amazing she looks at 64 as she showed youngsters like Cheryl how it's done - Grace is bigger than ever now and headlines the annual Lovebox festival next Sunday here in London. (Music label). I saw her 10 years ago exactly at a festival in 2002 - where she was also the headline act and kept us all waiting as it got darker for 45 minutes so just as we were getting annoyed there she was and blew us away - it was an amazing act, one of the best I have seen. Those albums like NIGHTCLUBBING and LIVING MY LIFE are still essential and I love that COMPASS POINT double album sessions .... Grace can be known to be difficult but it was great seeing her chatting to The Queen. Grace's was actually the first 12" vinyl record I bought, back in the '80s - that double sider of "I Need A Man" and "La Vie En Rose" - and all those stunning videos ... Have a great Lovebox - it may be wet as our bad weather is set to continue.
Now the latest Hot Chip cd has arrived .....

What became of the movie brats ?

An interesting piece too on those other '70s directors we liked ...(apart from Scorsese, Spielberg, Coppola, De Palma):

• Hal Ashby - , THE LANDORD, HAROLD AND MAUDE, SHAMPOO, COMING HOME, BEING THERE etc - died in 1988, aged 59. "His increasingly erratic drug-fuelled behaviour meant that by the end of the 80s he could only get work directing minor tv shows".
• Peter Bogdanovich - THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, PAPER MOON etc- but flops like DAISY MILLER and AT LONG LAST LOVE put paid to that interesting career that began with TARGETS. His books though like "Who the hell's in it?" are fascinating as he knew them all .... 
• William Friedkin - still working
• Dennis Hopper - died in 2010 aged 74.
• Rob Rafelson - last film in 2002
• Robert Altman - died in 2006, aged 81
• Paul Schrader - writer of TAXI DRIVER, director of AMERICAN GIGOLO, BLUE COLLAR, LIGHT SLEEPER etc - still working at 65, now in indie films - I liked THE WALKER ...
• Alan J Pakula - died in 1998 aged 70 in a freak automobile accident when a pole crashed through his windscreen while driving - I am seeing KLUTE again later this week ...