Category: Reviews
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#midweekfilmclub – On The Road – It’s a bit like the A470…
Jack Kerouac‘s On The Road is a staple of the Beat Generation; those drug addled, jazz fuelled writers and poets that liberalised publishing in America as it was. This sprawling, autobiographical book, manifestly takes in endless locations and characters, many a passing blur, as a chameleonic group of hedonistics do their utmost to tear a […]
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Film: Argo – Dir. Ben Affleck #midweekfilmclub
To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much; let’s be honest, Affleck’s had a patchy career at best, so a sortie into directing had me fearing the worst. But, and here’s the key, the story looked really interesting. That Affleck was also trying to switch from leaden actor to lead actor didn’t help my fears either. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
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Film: Berberian Sound Studio, Dir. Peter Strickland #midweekfilmclub 23
Much hyped and vaunted, the latest Brit-flick to have critics raving is Strickland’s sonic salutation; a disturbing glimpse into the pre-digital era of film making and specifically into special effects.
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Film: Hodejegerne (Headhunters), Dir. Morten Tyldum
After a slow start, headhunters hits it’s straps half an hour in and the tempo from there is excellent. There’s a reasonably complexed story arc (the film’s adapted from Jo ‘the next Stieg Larsson‘ Nesbo’s book) which is really slickly delivered. In short, we have 1.68m tall Roger Brown (that’s 5ft 6in for most readers!) playing a […]
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Restaurant: Can Zaman (Syrian)
I tried Can Zaman last night whilst looking for “something different”. As it was Friday and pay-day the wife and I fancied a takeaway and I needed a change from Chinese / Indian / Vietnamese (Pho Bac is excellent!), so I had a look around the web and saw one of my friends had raved […]
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Film: Take This Waltz, Dir. Sarah Polley #midweekfilmclub 21
Hmmm. After taking the summer off from MWFC, I thought it was high time to get the ball rolling again. Kinda wishing I’d chosen a different week. A while back I heard that In Bruges was, in essence, paid for by Eurostar, in return for product placement, before it became allowed per se. I loved […]
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TV: A Touch of Cloth
Just a quick note to say that the wife and I are loving this new series from the quill of Charlton Brooker. Top darts from Sky1. Best of all, it’s been commissioned for a second series too. 8/10.
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Film: Brave, Dir’s. Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman and Steve Purcell (co-director)
As is tradition, after a blustery, but sunny, day yesterday I woke this bank-holiday Monday morning to the sound of rain hammering away outside the window. August in Wales is nothing if not predictably unpredictable. So, having foolishly taken the kids to Cardiff National History Museum today, we were hand-tied that it was going to […]
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Pub: Plymouth Arms, Saint Fagans
Homepage: www.vintageinn.co.uk/theplymoutharmssaintfagans/ Nice place. Really, really attentive, helpful and friendly staff. Free wi-fi which allowed me to get some work done after a decent lunch. I had the Spanish Chicken Breast £8.95. It came with a few slices of decent chorizo, but a weird something else (cheese?), whatever it is they should ditch it as it […]
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Pub: Maltsters Pub – Llandaff, Cardiff
Homepage: http://www.maltsterscardiff.com/ Went there for Sunday Lunch last week. Sadly not a good experience. First off, it was cash only (OK these things happen) and it just went downhill from there… It took ages for food to arrive and when it did it was shocking. My wife – Beef Sunday Lunch £10.95. – A singled […]