Flotsam & Jetsam VIII
After hiding from the sun like some portly vampire, I actually made it out and about this weekend, finally completing a visit to the V&A museum in Knightsbridge which is a venue I’ve been meaning to revisit since I moved to London some seven years ago. Whilst at college I attended the V&A and caught a memorable Bill Viola exhibition which I enjoyed, shame it’s taken me so long to give the permanent exhibitions in the museum my attention. The most impressive pieces I stumbled across were the Raphael cartoons as they are erected, in sequence, in a massive chamber at the heart of the museum. Even a committed atheist like myself was captivated.
I popped into Harrods after the V&A for a bit of window shopping, leaving the place only £3.50 lighter of pocket after picking up the new Stephen King paperback - that my friends is self control. Despite his not writing a decent book in many years (and don’t get me started on the absolutely dreadful conclusion to his epic Dark Tower series, which we Kingophiles have been following for some twenty years) I still can’t resist a new release. On a slight tangent, here is one of my favourite scenes from the second best Stephen King film adaptation - I’m not going to insult you by identifying the first. I’ve always loved this scene, but can’t quite articulate why - it certainly takes on a new dimension given Sheen’s portrayal of Jed Bartlett through seven seasons of ‘The West Wing’.
A short film that I remember seeing during a visit to the Bradford Film Musem. Makes you feel all insignificant doesn’t it?
I’ve finally ploughed through all of the Guardians ‘1000 Movies You Must See Before You Die‘ and can finally reveal (drum roll please) that I’ve caught 732 and missed 268 - 73% is a pretty good pass rate in my book. Most of the stuff I’ve missed seem to be Asian or Iranian in origin, so I suspect a limited release in the UK is to blame. That’s my excuse anyway.
One for you budding David Bailey’s out there - Some terrific and influential photographs. A warning though, some of them are pretty explicit and disturbing so NSFW.
Jonathan Miller can come across as a pretentious, aloof snooty fuck - much like myself - but his recent series on the history of atheism is great viewing. Food for thought. Finally, this is terrific - and I claim my £10 when we see this technique adopted in the next Michael Gondry film…
24% here.
Mind you, there are some real howlers in the list:
E.g. for what possible reason would anybody recommend Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery?
Jurassic Park?
Enter the Dragon? (Even the write up says “atrocious acting, paper-thin plot and rancid production values”).
I’d question putting Eraserhead on any list of “must see” films too (it is mind bogglingly bizarre though).
Wargames? I ask you!
More so though, there are some notable omissions.
E.g. Dark Star’s in but there’s no Escape from New York?
Where’s East is East? Or is Kes enough to satisfy the “Down at Heel Northern Film” genre?
Wayne’s World but no Westworld? Odd.
West Side Story but no Richard III (Sir Ian Mc version IMO) or Macbeth?
Overall it was a somewhat strange list, containing plenty of perfectly decent material but peppered with trash of the “blimey Tarquin, can you think of another film beginning with the letter B? I’m running short you see” ilk.
But there you go, if you read the Grauniad you get what you deserve
Pip pip!
Well, these lists are always subjective – and open to hostility and debate, that’s part of the fun. I concur with your comments about the inclusion of ‘Austin Powers’, and ‘Wayne’s World’ should be ejected. ‘Jurassic Park’, ‘Eraserhead’ and ‘Enter The Dragon’ are all worthy though, the former as the definitive moment when CGI took over the major studio releases (plus it’s got it’s superb set-pieces) the latter as examples of fine cult movies, regardless of budgets or coherence !! One Carpenter movie is in there which is good, although I would have opted for ‘The Thing’ but that’s just me.
It’s got most of your Tati films in there so shut your noise !!