Mad Men, Season Five (and yes I'm still alive)

Ok. I'm going to start with this one because I have just rewatched it on DVD after having watched it all when it was originally on tv. I haven't put anything on here since April, I've been useless! I blame having that job at the comic shop! And then having that tv job in Leeds and then being on holiday and then being in hospital. I am now bedbound and so I have no excuse... The thing is I actually did keep a note of all the films and plays I've seen and I prepared images for the blog, I just never seemed to have time to write it. So now, even though the reviews will be short and probably I'll say "I can't really remember it" a lot, at least I'll be back up to date!


Madmen season five was thrilling, I loved watching it weekly as well as watching it all in a couple of nights last week! Peggy is just the bomb, I can't wait for her in the next season. I can't write more, just that I love it and I'm glad after a season of Don thinking he can be different with Megan the final shot of him was like "Ah, fuck it, I'm Don Draper!"

Stephen King's IT (1990)

I never read the back of the videobox when I was a child, I never wanted to! I just saw Tim Curry's creepy clown face and though 'I never want to see that!'
Well, Lauren and I were in a horror movie mood a couple of weeks ago and we went crazy and bought a load of old shite- half that we haven't even watched yet. We didn't get round to IT either but I have been ill for the last week and thought a three hour movie (originally two long TV episodes) would do me good. And I thought it was GREAT! Apart from Tim Curry it's not really scary at all and I loved the first half because it was like watching one of those 80s movies set in the fifties about a load of kids in nowheresville America just hanging about, you know, like Stand By Me. So it was really great watching all these kids getting freaked out but dealing with it by making dams and saying stuff like "Holy Smokes!" even though people were getting murdered!
I also liked it when you saw the present day versions of the kids all played by actors that din't look like them at all- especially the guy playing older Seth Green. Anyway, when they went down into the sewers as grownups it was a bit boring, but it was an enjoyable romp and I haven't had any nightmares.

She Stoops to Conquer, National Theatre Live

This was definitely the best National Theatre Live I've seen- the only one worth seeing and the only one I'd want to have seen in real life.
It was fucking hilarious, the actors were deliciously over the top. Cush Jumbo is so adorable and I love Sophie Thompson and want to be her when I grow up.

Stewart Lee, Carpet Remnant World, York

On the day we went to see Stewart Lee we ate too much and watched too many horror films. Ten minutes from the end of Stew's stand-up show I stopped laughing, not because it wasn't funny any more, I just got too tired and my mouth hurt from smiling. Plus that bit about office world made me cry with laffs, yes it went on too long, but that's what I wanted. I wanted it to go on forever.
Great first Stewart Lee Live experience, well done Lauren booking those tickets a YEAR in advance. Do it again!!

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2011)

A bunch of college kids are in a car on their way to spend the weekend camping in the creepy woods, another vehichle passes them and the kids get a glimpse of the kind of folk they might meet in the hills... a couple of massive hillbilly hicks and their bruiser of a dog, chainsaws and all in their truck. We know the set up.
Yet this turned out to be THE BEST HORROR COMEDY. After that first scene the film then shifts to Tucker and Dale's point of view, they are hardworking country types who have finally saved enough money to buy and fix up a holiday home in the hills, they are cute and lovable and when bad things happen around them they are so scared and horrified that they weep.
The pure comedic joy you get from watching ridiculous stupid misunderstandings and accidents is immense. I recommend it.

My Week with Marilyn (2011)

Anna saw it at the cinema and said it was shite, which was a shame because I'd fancied seeing it because I wanted to see how Kenny tackled being Larry- to me it seemed the perfect casting.
My dad rented it and we watched it together. I thought it was brill! A great British ensemble piece and I actually managed to enjoy Judi Dench (there's a first!)
Also, just as I expected, Kenny nailed it. At some points I forgot he wasn't Olivier.

Anonymous (2011)

Good take on the 'who wrote Shakespeare's plays' theme. Nice acting and good story even if the script was a bit terrible, and I love it when acting families play older and younger versions of the same character. See photo of Joely Richardson playing young Queen Elizabeth and her mum Vanessa Redgrave playing older Bess. Thumbs up from British-actor-geek Amy!