ayepatz

I SO wish I hadn’t taken my iPad to the loo with me...

Love the Atlantique. Beautiful!

A wonderful book. Clearly over the head of that publisher.

I agree that the film was muddled in places. To use the Hitch comparison again, it’s like he put both Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant in the same movie. As for the cinematography, there were some incredible moments, including a jump cut that’s as good as anything Kubrick ever put on the screen. It was so subtle I almost missed it. He cut from Brad Pitt walking away from the camera to Margot Robbie doing the same in a totally different location, with Robbie exactly continuing the step and path of Pitt whilst holding the same 2/3 place in the composition of the shot. When I realised what he had done, that alone made we want to see the film again. The ending, whilst original in its rewriting of history, was, for me, a sop to the fans of his earlier films, and sat awkwardly with the style of the rest of the movie. It was certainly entertaining in a borderline-slapstick way. As I say, I feel that he is reaching out to find something new, but at the moment he’s not quite found it. I’m excited by the potential though, after all, as Robert Browning so elegantly put it, “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a Heaven for?”

I disagree. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will probably go back to see it again. It is different from anything he has done before, and I would argue, it’s nice to see him breaking with the formulas he relied upon for success in his earlier movies. The writing felt far more mature, and the characters more deeply developed than in his previous outings. The whole experience felt less “pulpy” than his previous efforts, and, visually, it was easily his most cinematic outing to date. That being said, it wasn’t a perfect movie by any stretch of the imagination, but felt more like a director stretching himself to find a new style. Many great directors before have followed a similar path, resulting in truly exceptional movies in later periods of their career. I would cite David Lean and Alfred Hitchcock as two standout examples. So, not perfect, but an interesting development. I am very interested to see where it leads.

A right old rogue’s gallery! Happy Birthday to George! 🍾🥂

My wife accidentally bought vegan chocolate from Zabar’s yesterday. The package explained that the chocolate was gluten, soy, nut and dairy free, but did not display the text “unsuitable for carnivores” anywhere. The emotional distress and psychological damage of the last 14 hours has been devastating. Someone must compensate us for this outrage. I am now sitting in my lawyer’s waiting room.

Stage-side at Kiss in Brooklyn on Tuesday. Great fun. Gene Simmons is 70 on Sunday. Lol

Please send my best wishes

Boris.

Very sad news indeed. My thoughts and condolences to all his family.

I refer you to my previous post.

I would rather eat a yard of my own excrement.

I can think of a few examples of sporting greats who overcame poor decisions in the past:- Muhammad Ali - dodged the draft, arrested and stripped of his titles. Recovered to be revered as “The Greatest”. Diego Maradona - committed one of the worst acts of cheating in football history. Redeemed himself moments later with the greatest individual World Cup goal of all time. Tiger Woods - the ultimate fall from grace. That Masters win. Michael Schumacher - drove Damon Hill off the track. Went on to be the most successful champion in F1 history.

Cracking post mate.