Tag: film

Adventures in Soho Part 2: The Sarah Marshall Chronicles

You may remember, back when I had Less than 24hrs in San Francisco, that everywhere I looked I kept being reminded of The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Not that I kept seeing Sarah Connor-themed posters… Oh no.
(could’ve made an interesting new angle for the next Terminator mind)

The ones that haunted my vision were for someone called ‘Sarah Marshall’.
This, out of context, made no sense to me…

However – all was to be revealed when I returned to the UK when a reasonably new (and good) friend of mine, Mike Sizemore, (blogger, vlogger and all round jammy film reviewer), invited me along to a top secret blogger screening of Judd Apatow’s latest film, ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’.

Having never seen or heard of the film before, aside from the aforementioned US poster campaign, I was quite pleased that Mike had thought of me and the invite was even more attractive as a) I managed to swing a ‘plus one’ and b) it was as the Soho Screening Rooms (which sounded suspiciously seedy if you ask me).

To whet my appetite even further, Mike even included a link to the latest Forgetting Sarah Marshall trailer…

DO NOT WATCH THIS YET

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9podUETps8[/youtube]

Ok. Judd Apatow is someone I’ve only just got to know. Having steered clear of Knocked Up (it didn’t look like my kind of film) I recently rented out – (check me, old school) – Superbad.
Which is easily one of the best films I’ve seen this year.

I watched the trailer, laughed a little… wasn’t sure… saw a couple of guys from Superbad… saw Russell Brand… realised it was a free screening.. and made my mind up.
One quick call to the girlfriend later and I had an evening of free entertainment in Soho, with blogger buddies AND I get to impress the Girl.

Who cares what the film is like right? Wrong.

Hand on heart I went into the cinema descended into the depths of said screening rooms not really expecting much. ‘Expecting much’ is not something I do often. Not expected anything is the best way to a) avoid disappointment and b) be pleasantly surprised. Fortunately, this time round, the evening fell firmly into category ‘b’.

Y’see I had this horrid COCK SHOT feeling that the trailer had given away all the funny bits and, for a little while, I thought COCK SHOT I was right. But, I am happy to report that COCK SHOT there’s still quite a lot of amusement to be had throughout the rest of the film.

That aside, COCK SHOT, for maximum enjoyment, I would recommend avoiding the trailer for this film as much as possible because as much as it does entice you into watching the film itself; it also gives away its fair share of funnies… I found myself knowing which joke was next as I’d watched the trailer several times and kinda knew which bit came when y’know? Please – don’t let this put you off – this film IS very, very funny.

Something that took me that took me completely by surprise was that beardy man over there on the right ————————————————>

He was actually very good in this film.

Although I can’t say I’m surprised.

Russell Brand is one of those comedians who I tell everyone I can’t stand and yet find myself often watching him on the tellybox and chuckling away at his dickensian wiles as he meanders his way around our fair language like a blind man on a bicycle…

I want to hate him, but I can’t.

Git.

And as I said, in this he is cast perfectly.

Git.

I don’t do film reviews often – although coincidentally enough, the last one I reviewed was a comedy also (albeit an unintentional one) – so for me actually sit down and bother to write this up means it’s actually worth seeing.

I laughed that hard I nearly wet myself.

No really. Forgetting Sarah Marshall has the some what strange honour of being the first EVER film that I was able to leave the room for. EVERY film I see I always make sure I go before I sit down.
I hate those people that pay £8-£10 to go and see the latest blockbuster and end up missing a massive chunk of plot because they forgot to have a number one before they went in.

I mean REALLY. It’s like 2 hours people!
You’ve just paid to watch the damn film – so sit down and watch it!

*sigh*

Anywhoo – I won’t be doing that again in a hurry, on the way back I was blinded by the light from the projector and ended up tripping on the step, stumbling up the stairs and then hitting a fellow blogger in the chops (sorry Annie!).

I digress.

This film is funny. See it.

Finally – Props to my mate Scott who saw this outside Hammersmith Tube Station last week…

It seems the hate campaign is spreading…

Less than 24hrs in San Francsico

I mentioned in my last post that I felt like I had to write a little bit about very short stay in San Francisco.
After the madness that was CTIA in Las Vegas, stepping off the plane that Thursday evening at SFO was like a breath of fresh air…

I flew to Las Vegas (via Dallas Fort Worth), on Sunday March 31st.
Did a bunch of SpinVox things (worth a click through – great video) for them whilst I was at CTIA.

Lots and lots of fun.

I hung out with some cool folk, took part in some cool events and generally just had a good time… You get the idea.

The following Thursday however, I had to fly to San Francisco.

THANK YOU LORD.

I don’t think I can actually find the words to say how much I love that place. Really. It’s just… Brilliant.
Regular readers will know that this wasn’t my first trip to SF, so I kind of know my way around a little bit.. which was nice.

I landed at something like 9pm and I was scheduled to fly home the following evening around 7ish so I had :
*adopts film trailer esque voice*

“Less than 24hrs in San Francisco!”

🙂

So what did I get up to?

Well, after sharing a cab with some new friends that I met in Vegas, I must’ve got to my hotel around 10ish I guess?
Checked in, took my cases up, chilled out… I was gonna hit the sack then and I thought…

“Y’know what? I love the bar here. If I’m only here for a short amount of time, I best make the most of it. I think I deserve a Gin & Tonic…”

 

So off I trotted down to the Redwood, (beautiful bar this – it’s got Harry Potter Paintings on the walls… if you know what I mean), ordered myself a glass of Tanqueray & Tonic (extra lime) and just sat… and chilled.

Lovely stuff. About a half hour or so later I decide to go for a wander outside, get some air etc… and I end up chatting to this random guy, Tomas was his name, Danish chap, chatting to him about SF.. where’s good to go out etc.. He was in town on business with a couple of friends and had just been turned away from a club as they weren’t allowing large groups of men without any women. It happens.

Anyway – he and I head back into the bar and there are his (also Danish) mates talking to these women.

“Right, I can see where this is going…” I thought to myself “…I’m gonna have one more then head to bed”

I got it half right…

I was chatting away to Tomas just off to the side of the group when one of his mates called over to get the round in…

“Gin & Tonic!” I replied… and suddenly I had a LOT of attenton!

“Oi! You’re not Danish!”

“I never said I was!”

 

Que much laughter and explanations etc… These girls were in SF for a friend’s wedding. Great bunch they were too. The lot of us all ended up going clubbing together. (A place called ‘Slide‘ – Yup. It had a slide. Brilliant).

Fantastic night. Great company too.
Was really refreshing to be out with a group of girls who weren’t out on the pull or who weren’t looking for anything etc… They just wanted to have a drink and a chat and maybe a little dance and generally just enjoy their evening.

The Danish guys were mental. But we loved them for it. Hehehe…

All in all a great night was had   🙂
Friday rolled around so I went shopping… Bought LOADS of T-Shirts (more on that soon), some new boots, some DVDs and, surprise surprise, a new suitcase to bring it all home in. Heh heh…

Before I sign off – A blog post wouldn’t be complete with me adding in some relevant media…

First – some photos from SF.
A few from my recent trip but most from my trip in October last year… Hope you enjoy them.


Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Oh – and as a point of interest – ALL of the photos above were taken with a Nokia N95.
LOVE that phone! 🙂

San Francisco

And second…

One of the great things about being in the States is you get to see some of the latest shows/films etc…

And you also get to see some of the awesome posters etc and you often get a hint for what’s coming too…

So for instance, last year, there were Heroes posters everywhere.

This year however I kept seeing things like this one —–>
And variations thereof…

Had no idea what it meant. No idea what it was about. Nothing.

For some reason I kept thinking of The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Good thing is these posters became suddenly very clear to me upon my return, when my new (and actually quite cool) friend Sizemore invited me along to a ‘Blogger’s Screening’ of the new comedy, ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall‘.

And bloody good it was too, (thanks dude).

Full write up to follow…
🙂

Koh Samui – Day 4

Morning all..

Its 9:38am here and I’m in a good mood.. better than I was earlier anyway – couldn’t sleep at all last night – drifted off about 3ish.. up at 7am for my detox drink.. grrr… but yeah – the sun’s just come out so I’m gonna update this and go catch some rays..

So yeah – yesterday..

So I sat down with Steve and co and walked back through the lounge area and some guy had put Amelie on the DVD player.. I walked up to the sofa and said out loud to no one in particular – “Amelie.. Wow.. I love this film..”

And this girl who was sittin’ on the sofa just looked up at me and said “Why dont you watch it with me then?”

I looked at her, she smiled and me.. I smiled back and said:

“Y’know what… I think I will..”

So I did – I nipped back to the table told the others I’d be gone for a while.. and rocked back to the sofa and sat down next to this funky chick from Brighton called Jen.. she’s cool. So yeah – we talked about the film and stuff and THEN it hit me.. I hadn’t seen Amelie in ages! In FACT – I’ve only ever seen it once.. I fell in love with it – I think its a beautiful story, beautifully told and beautifully written with a certain poeticness about it.. so yeah – I saw it at the cinema YEARS ago in Southend with my mate Natalie.. Then I remembered why I hadn’t seen it since.. I’d always tried to get my ex to watch it because I knew how much she loved film and how much she’d enjoy it and she’d always flatly refused because I’d seen it and fell in love with it with Natalie! I never bought it on DVD because I knew it’d be more trouble than it was worth and stuff and… well – it was bonkers.. It always used to get to me how my ex would deprive herself of such a wonderful piece of film-making just because I’d seen it with someone else y’know?! …at the time I kind of just let it ride but now… now I’m like – WTF?! What’s that about?! I mean Jeez… So yeah – I enjoyed watching Amelie just that little more – it was like it was meant to be y’know? I mean what OTHER film could I just happen to watch while I was here y’know?!

So yeah – it was perfect..

Throughout the film this lass and I were having a bit of a chat and stuff and then after the film had finished I leaned back and looked up at her upside down and said

“Thank you.. so much.. I doubt I would’ve watched that if you hadnt have asked me.. “

“Awww, now worries mate” she said..

“So yeah.. I feel like I should ask you out for a drink and stuff but I’m kinda fasting so I cant.. “

“Ah well..” she said.. (Jen finished her fast about a week ago)

“..and our afternoon at the cinema went so well” I said.. a bit cheekily..

“Yeah..” ..she giggled.. “I’m actually going to see MI:3 tonight if you fancy it?”

“Yeah.. sounds like a great plan – cheers dude..”

“Cool – well I’m going with a mate so meet me back here at about half eightish yeah?”

“Yeah” I said.. and it was cool – we hooked up later and had a coconut drink and stuff then got a bus/van thing down to the cinema – MI3 wasn’t on so we watched Poseidon instead.. Jen’s friend turned up but went home because she was feeling rough so it was just me and her.. and it was cool.

Had such a nice evening.. it was like being thirteen again. We just snuggled up in the cinema together.. held hands and stuff.. watched the film.. had a giggle.. then we got a couple of taxi bikes home afterwards and I walked her home (back to her hotel anyway – she’s not staying here) we had a hug and peck.. (no snogging) ..and that was it. It was great.. there was no massive pressure to take things further.. there was no massive pressure to do anything at all.. so nothing happened and I think I felt better for it.. y’know?

Part of me was happy because I wasn’t erasing the memory of my past and part of me was happy because I wasn’t rushing into my future..

The respect was there for my ex and also for this girl that I’d met like 6hrs previous..

Its like Jet said: “..protect your heart before you give it to anyone else..” ..so yeah – last night I went on a ‘date’ (I think) and it was cool.

I feel good today. Yesterday I let go of a bit more.. and I felt.. I feel better for it. I don’t think I really ever understood how much baggage I had..

I don’t think it will all drain out while I’m here but I think being here is helping me pull the plug out y’know?

So yeah..

.. there you go.

🙂

Speak soon – the Sun’s out and I’ve been here longer than I wanted to be..

Laters.