Film, theatre and gig round-up
Nov. 24th, 2007 06:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearElizabeth: The Golden Age
A bit patchy, a bit melodramatic in places, but overall quite enjoyable. Plus, Clive Owen managed to be both attractive and compelling - who knew he had it in him? I was so surprised, I missed a few scenes whilst trying to reconcile his previous performances with this one. There were several gorgeous horses involved, but Elizabeth's horseback speech to the army suffered from "restless equine syndrome", which you see an awful lot in films. Directors seem to think it will be more impressive if the characters' horses wheel around on the spot and refuse to stand still while the characters are giving stirring speeches. Any real life rider knows that a horse actually standing still is much more impressive! I was also a little confused by the timing of the film - everyone kept going on about how Elizabeth was still young enough to get married and have children, but the dates that were put up at the end of the film meant she would have been 52 during the action - surely a little old to bear children, especially given the time period.
American Graffiti
The film George Lucas made before Star Wars - it tracked the adventures of several American teenagers during the night before two of them were due to go off to college. It was rather fragmented and a little odd in places, but was quite fun overall.
Planet Earth
After everyone raved about this so much, I thought it was bound to be a disappointment, but it really lived up to its reputation. I didn't watch anything else for the whole of last week and I was completely spellbound the whole way through. Interestingly, I braved both sea-related episodes and wasn't freaked out at all, even when the stingrays appeared (sea creatures have always been my biggest phobia, stingrays in particular), which was very cool. My favourite animal, rather unexpectedly, was the baby musk ox - so incredibly cute!
The Country Wife
Free theatre tickets are always a good thing, and this turned out to be very funny. I was initially rather distracted by the amazing costumes - I missed quite a lot of dialogue early on because I was mesmerised by the protagonist's coat, but it was exactly the kind of comedy I actually find funny. Comedy usually leaves me completely cold but, for some reason, Restoration comedy is the exception, so a good time was had by all - I think it's the witty dialogue that does it. It's comedy you have to pay attention to and think about in order to get, which make it an intellectual exercise rather than a gut response.
Oysterband
I only went to this gig because I wanted to spend time with the other people who were going. It's really not my kind of music, and I was really ready to go home by the time the main band had finished playing - I didn't *dislike* the music, but I didn't enjoy it enough to take my mind off my aching feet. However, the evening was well worth it, because not only did we have a very nice meal beforehand, but the support act was absolutely brilliant. Dan Donnelly - not quite as good on the CD I bought as he was live, but definitely worth the ticket price for the evening. He also made the main act more fun to watch because he played with them too - it was his first time playing with them that night, and he had to keep checking a list taped to the stage to find out which instrument he was supposed to play next. He also kept wandering away from his microphone and had to run back every time he realised he was supposed to be singing backing vocals, which was quite amusing.
A bit patchy, a bit melodramatic in places, but overall quite enjoyable. Plus, Clive Owen managed to be both attractive and compelling - who knew he had it in him? I was so surprised, I missed a few scenes whilst trying to reconcile his previous performances with this one. There were several gorgeous horses involved, but Elizabeth's horseback speech to the army suffered from "restless equine syndrome", which you see an awful lot in films. Directors seem to think it will be more impressive if the characters' horses wheel around on the spot and refuse to stand still while the characters are giving stirring speeches. Any real life rider knows that a horse actually standing still is much more impressive! I was also a little confused by the timing of the film - everyone kept going on about how Elizabeth was still young enough to get married and have children, but the dates that were put up at the end of the film meant she would have been 52 during the action - surely a little old to bear children, especially given the time period.
American Graffiti
The film George Lucas made before Star Wars - it tracked the adventures of several American teenagers during the night before two of them were due to go off to college. It was rather fragmented and a little odd in places, but was quite fun overall.
Planet Earth
After everyone raved about this so much, I thought it was bound to be a disappointment, but it really lived up to its reputation. I didn't watch anything else for the whole of last week and I was completely spellbound the whole way through. Interestingly, I braved both sea-related episodes and wasn't freaked out at all, even when the stingrays appeared (sea creatures have always been my biggest phobia, stingrays in particular), which was very cool. My favourite animal, rather unexpectedly, was the baby musk ox - so incredibly cute!
The Country Wife
Free theatre tickets are always a good thing, and this turned out to be very funny. I was initially rather distracted by the amazing costumes - I missed quite a lot of dialogue early on because I was mesmerised by the protagonist's coat, but it was exactly the kind of comedy I actually find funny. Comedy usually leaves me completely cold but, for some reason, Restoration comedy is the exception, so a good time was had by all - I think it's the witty dialogue that does it. It's comedy you have to pay attention to and think about in order to get, which make it an intellectual exercise rather than a gut response.
Oysterband
I only went to this gig because I wanted to spend time with the other people who were going. It's really not my kind of music, and I was really ready to go home by the time the main band had finished playing - I didn't *dislike* the music, but I didn't enjoy it enough to take my mind off my aching feet. However, the evening was well worth it, because not only did we have a very nice meal beforehand, but the support act was absolutely brilliant. Dan Donnelly - not quite as good on the CD I bought as he was live, but definitely worth the ticket price for the evening. He also made the main act more fun to watch because he played with them too - it was his first time playing with them that night, and he had to keep checking a list taped to the stage to find out which instrument he was supposed to play next. He also kept wandering away from his microphone and had to run back every time he realised he was supposed to be singing backing vocals, which was quite amusing.
