Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Zodiac

Now that we're edging towards summer, all the big summery blockbuster movies are looming. Already we've had the slightly sticky mess that was Spider-Man 3, and this week, arrrr! Cap'n Jack Sparrow be back in the third Pirates of the Caribbean, arrrr! And of course after that there'll be Shrek, Transformers… blah-dee-blah-dee-blah.

The downside of all these big budget plot vaccums is that the smaller, more interesting, less mainstream films get blown out of cinemas. Which is why today I ran out of work to catch Zodiac, because I noticed that the number of screenings for this film were dwindling in light of the impending and aforementioned Pirates. Arrrr.

Now, I'm a huge fan of David Fincher's movies. I'm one of the few people that actually like Alien 3; OK, it might not be the best Alien movie, but it's certainly visually interesting and there's some nice moments. Then of course there's Se7en and Fight Club, which pretty much speak for themselves, and Panic Room, which succeeds in making an interesting movie out of the fact that Jodie Foster's stuck in a box (hey, Jared Leto's face gets toasted too!). The only Fincher movie I haven't seen is The Game, but that's more to do with the fact that it's got Michael Douglas in it and he annoys me slightly.

And so, my Fincher-worshipping credentials established, I was very much looking forward to Zodiac. I was not disappointed. I'd actually approached the film with two slightly apprehensive notions; one being that it's nearly three hours long, and I thought my bum might fall asleep, and the other being that as it's based on a real life killer whose identity was never established, it might not have a very satisfactory conclusion. I needn't have worried - Zodiac has bitch-slapped Sunshine off the top spot as my favourite movie of the year so far. It was chillingly awesome. And despite my constant professing of not being a fan of Jake Jiggly-balls (as Marcosy calls him), he put in another cracking performance in another cracking movie.

Go see it before it's barged out of cinemas by the big guns.

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Ooo - nice weather!! How gorgeous has today been? Let me tell you: very gorgeous. And I enjoyed it all the more upon deciding to walk to Chiswick to look at trainers in Boardwise. After the pretty dismal response to the trainer vote, y'see, I did some more research on t'internet, and discovered that the Boardwise website is selling my beloved Kingpins at the knockdown price of £27! I can replace my worn-out trainers with identical shoes! So I thought I'd see if they had them in the shop.

They did not.

I did, however, buy something I've lusted after for a few years now: camouflage shorts! Yes, I know *everyone* is wearing them these days, but I still wanted a pair, and these were rather tasty. Those toned lower calves will be flashed around town before you know it - as long as the weather holds…

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OK, back on the weekend, Tara meme'd me with a post about eight random facts about everyone's favourite subject - me! (What!? Stop looking at me like that…). Anyway, the reason I've not done it yet is because I've been trying to think of eight interesting facts, and have found myself sadly lacking. But who cares - here's eight random and potentially crap facts about ME!

• When I was a kid, my dream job was to be a bus driver, and I amassed such a vast collection of toy buses that Sparky Ma and Pa considered seeing if they could get me on Blue Peter as 'Britain's most bus-obsessed child' or something. Seriously, buses *everywhere*.

• When I was about eight, big bro Simon dropped a big rock on my foot while on holiday, and the nail on my big toe turned black and eventually fell off (don't worry - a replacement grew!); I took the toe nail to school in a paper bag for a show-and-tell type thing, which, I seem to recall, went down very well.

• The first album I bought was 'Cloud Nine' by George Harrison on tape. Picked it up on CD a couple of years back, and still like it.

• Earliest cinema memory: watching Return of the Jedi in 1983, and leaning round Sparky Ma during the scene in which Admiral Ackbar first appears to say to Simon (in possibly the most incredible instance of pointing out the obvious EVER) "that's Admiral Ackbar."

• I once owned stick insects. And I seem to remember they went on hunger strike one holiday because we didn't have the right sort of leaves to give them. Fussy bastards.

• Once appeared on The National Lottery show when my school got a lottery fund grant; I was giggling 16 year old in the background in the canteen. I actually have it, but sadly only on VHS, so I can't share it with you.

• Was an avid fan of TV's Beauty and the Beast until Linda Hamilton left.

• I worked in the bar at Thorpe Park for two weeks after leaving school. Could never remember what each drink cost, so charged people pretty much what I wanted depending on how nice they were to me.

14 comments:

Tara said...

Wow, your pets went on hunger strikes too? I don't think the lizard I had enjoyed the crickets I was instructed to feed him. He'd never eat them and eventually died. Stupid, Lézard. That was his name.

My dream job was to be a veterinarian, then I wanted to be a parapsychologist and then a storm chaser.

Tim said...

Yes, they did. The stupid things. We eventually got them to eat something, but could tell they weren't happy.

All of your dream jobs are infinitely more exciting than bus driver. Ha ha - storm chaser over here would pretty much consist of sticking your head out the window and saying "yep, raining again…"

Miss Smuggersham said...

Dammit! You guys get all the good movies first! I don't even think Sunshine has been released here yet!

P.S. So with you on Beauty and the Beast. He wasn't too beastly, was he?

Tim said...

Have you not got Zodiac yet?! Ooo - it's worth the wait!!

Beauty and the Beast was great, wasn't it? And, oddly, didn't Beast look more beastly out of makeup?

missyandchrissy said...

despite your dislike of Michael Douglas, i highly suggest you watch The Game...its such a good movie.

and i had "cloud nine" as i kid too! i know have 'got my mind set on you' playing continuously in my head...

Tim said...

I'll probably get round to it at some point…! I don't like Douglas' eyes. They're very birdy…

Yeah - that's the song I bought the album for!!! I love 'When we was Fab' too, although the whole thing is pretty damned good!

Dinah said...

hee hee hee, Jiggyballs.

Tim said...

Tee-hee!

Inexplicable DeVice said...

Aaarrrrgh! I went and saw Spider-Man 3 at the expense of 28 Weeks Later. What a huge sticky mess indeed! I only saw it because there was a trailer for Transformers (which looks *so* cool, btw). Why didn't I listen to you?! Why?!?!

Anyway, I shall now go and see Zodiac, but I don't know how seriously I can take it because every time I see lovely Jakey, I'll be thinking Jiggly-balls. Tee hee, indeed!

As for the camo shorts buy: * bites lip *

Tim said...

Transformers does look cool. Although I am a tad worried, it being a Michael Bay film, that his trademark shakey-cam might make me feel a little bit sick…

Oh dear - not a Spidey fan, hmmm?

Go see Zodiac!! I might just see it again!!

Why are you biting your lip? You'll make it bleed!

skillz said...

Admiral Ackbar is the MAN. Aliens 3 was quite good I thought.

Tim said...

Admiral Ackbar is the FISH! I'm glad you liked Alien the Third Skillz; there's now two of us in the world that like it.

skillz said...

Aliens the third was more similar to Aliens Episode IV than Alien 2 as both only had one alien. I liked the doctor who was hepped up on goofballs the whole time, he was da FISH!

Tim said...

Do you like The Alien Resurrected as well? I did. I liked them all, actually.

Da fish is my new favourite complement!