May 2011 In Films, Books and Music

This month has been stunningly productive. I've done one, two or three hours revision more or less everyday, seen my friends, slept (a bit) and still managed to watch as many films as usual, listen to many more albums and read more than twice as many books! I'm now feeling slightly inproportionately smug...

Films
Once again, there are more lengthy reviews of other films (plus much over-indulgent waffling) over on my other blog - http://filmnerdsftw.blogspot.com/ - but these are the films I didn't review fully, because I a) got back from the cinema too late, b) watched them at a friend's house or c) couldn't be bothered.
City Of Angels - I had heard of this film before, though it's not massively well-known, purely because the most famous hit by my favourite band ('Iris', by the Goo Goo Dolls) was the themesong, so I'd seen clips in the music video and done my standard bit of cyber-nerding (I don't think that's a real thing, but I like it. Can we make cyber-nerding a thing?). Anyway, I was quite enjoying the slightly over-the-top cheesiness and Edward-Cullen-esque stalking-is-love thing, up until the out of the blue, pointless, infuriating and film-ruining ending. At least you've been warned.
Atonement - this was the first time I'd watched this since seeing it at the cinema back in...er...2007? It has a special place in my heart in that I think it was the first film my best friend and I ever went to see together (the beginning of a long and beautiful tradition), but that sadly doesn't change the fact that it slowly loses it's awesomeness as it progresses. I LOVE the first forty-five minutes or so, find the next half hour quite interesting, am mildly entertained by the ensuing twenty minutes and pretty much bored by the rest. It's still essentially a good film, and there's a couple of really brilliant sequences, but it's too heavy to adore, and too long (and SLIGHTLY boring...) to watch often.
Water For Elephants - I was a little bit wary of seeing this, since my opinion of Robert Pattinson is somewhat in the lurch; I think he's very capable of being an excellent actor, yet he's in the Twilight films. It's hard to reconcile those two facts. Anyway, this was MUCH more like it. Romantic, entertaining, exciting, poignant, funny now and again, visually beautiful and capturing the period perfectly, I loved it. Also, this is the only time I can ever remember being surprised by the ending in a POSITIVE way....
Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - I wrote a bit of a schmaltzy post about my opinion of the 'Pirates' franchise on my film blog, but that was before actually going to see the latest addition. I have to say, though I thought it was still missing something and it had - for me - a very different tone to the first few films, I still basically enjoyed it. Captain Jack Sparrow is, again, the brightest spark, Ian McShane was a brilliant baddie, the change of Geoffrey Rush's character angered me but was more or less fixed by the end, and Penelope Cruz was convincing in the obligatory 'feisty love-interest' part. Less good were the Orlando Bloom/Keira Knightley replacements; a mermaid with too few lines and a VERY handsome young actor (Sam Claflin) playing a holier-than-thou religious nut with some VERY dodgy lines and too few 'proper' scenes.

Music
Hey, I've actually listened to some new albums this month! Big shock, I know, but I conducted a mini-raid on my parent's massive CD shelves and found a bunch of gems (I'm spreading them over several months, so I can listen to them all properly), plus my friends spontaneously decided to lend me stuff.
Tim Minchin, 'And The Heritage Orchestra' - went to see this live at the beginning of the month and absolutely loved it. You have to get Tim Minchin's humour to love it, but I do and I did. Hysterical, intelligent and, to my surprise, actually better with the orchestra. Favourite tracks: 'Not Perfect', 'Cont', 'Rock N Roll Nerd' and 'The Fence'
Tori Amos, 'Scarlet's Walk' - this isn't really my kind of music, but one of my best friends has slightly odd taste in music and seems to think that if he exposes me to enough of it, I will one day come round to his way of thinking. And to be fair, I did actually like this album; it's not one I'd go nuts over and listen to relentlessly, but I definitely enjoyed it. I think that Tori Amos is one of those artists you (well, I) have to be in the mood for, but when you ARE in the mood, it makes lovely listening. Favourite tracks: 'Wednesday', 'Mrs Jesus' and 'Strange'.
The Beatles, '1' - I know it's shameful I didn't have any Beatles on my iPod up until now, but they're one of those bands my parents considered so ingrained in modern culture, I needn't be exposed to them in my childhood. Classic, fun, original and impossible to dislike. Favourite tracks: 'Help!', 'Paperback Writer', 'Yesterday' and 'I Want To Hold Your Hand'.
Fleetwood Mac, 'Say You Will' - Rumours is, in my opinion, one of the best albums ever made but - appallingly - it's not actually on my iPod. Up until this month, I didn't have ANY Fleetwood Mac on my iPod, which is also appalling since I've been listening to them since forever (my parents are fans) and I've also enjoyed their stuff. This is one of the later albums, which is less good, but it's still got a wicked beat and a song for every mood. Also, I want to marry Stevie Nicks's voice. Favourite tracks: 'Say You Will', 'Peacekeeper', 'Everybody Finds Out' and 'Goodbye Baby'.

Books
I have more than doubled my reading intake this month, and feel very smug about it. This is largely because the pile of Pre-University books beside my bed has actually started GROWING rather than shrinking, so something had to be done. Also, I've just found the majority of this month's books a real pleasure to read...
A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess - When I flicked through this book prior to reading it, my heart sank. About half of the words were complete nonsense, as far as I was concerned, and I didn't think it was going to make for the best bath-time reading...That said, I actually really enjoyed it. I didn't have a clue what the hell was happening for the first four or five chapters, but after a while it's surprising how well you get to understand the slang. The story itself was also really interesting in a 1984 kind of way; clever and intriguing, if slightly incomprehensible..
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky - I wrote a long and gushy blog post about this wonderful, lovely book - see below :)
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald - I'd tried to read this a few years ago and only made it a couple of chapters in, and, having now read the whole thing, I can see why I did that. The writing was absolutely beautiful; the kind of writing that sounds like poetry even though it's just description. The story was weird, because nothing at all happened for the first three-quarters of the book, then it ALL kicked off in the last fifty pages. To all intents and purposes though, a lovely book.
The Little White Horse, by Elizabeth Goudge - This is my best friend's favourite childhood book, so she'd waxed lyrical about it's beautiful loveliness and I was quite looking forward to it. And I did enjoy it. It was like Jane Austen had written a children's fantasy novel; very charming, delicate and daintily written. That said, it was much too twee for me. If I'd read it as a child, I would've loved it, but as a cynical 17-year-old I found it just a bit too schmaltzy.
Life Of Pi, by Yann Martel - this took a while to get going - for the first hundred or so pages it was about zoos and religion, which seemed an odd combination, amongst other things. However, once the story kicked in it became absolutely fascinating, and a story I've enjoyed far more than I was expecting to. Genuinely interesting, exceptionally original and very compelling.