“My God, it’s full of stars”: rekindling that childhood awe of the night sky

The Milky Way – copyright Jim Richardson

At around four o’clock this morning I abruptly awoke with that horrible feeling of suffocation that signals an impending asthma attack.  The room felt achingly stuffy and I coughed and wheezed before sitting up and fumbling around the bedside table for my inhaler.  I moved to the open window in a bid for fresh air.  That’s when I noticed a sky positively gleaming with stars.  Concentrating on this amazing spectacle, amidst puffs of my inhaler, my breathing began to settle.

I don’t think I have seen as many stars from my bedroom window in ever.  There was no moon, just a sky punctured with stars.  I pulled a fleece on over my pj’s, put my slippers on and opened the back door of the house.  What I saw took my breath away (not literally – the asthma had been doing that pretty well).  I saw the Milky Way; our galaxy; a spectacular band of billions of stars (and planets), some appearing, and living up to the galaxy’s name, as a milky white blur along the band.  Words cannot describe how beautiful it was – possibly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.  As I looked around The Plough looked as close to Earth as I have ever seen it; Betelgeuse, the red supergiant on the shoulder of Orion, brightly glowed pink and to the left of Orion, Jupiter shone so amazingly bright.  I saw Pegasus, Andromeda and Cassiopeia, shooting stars and copious satellites.  I stood in awe for a very long time until, eventually, cold, tiredness and a sore neck intervened, forcing me to go back to bed.  I could still see stars peeping in my window as I lay under the duvet; they began to fade with the rising sun, though it hadn’t yet breached the horizon.

I don’t ever remember seeing the Milky Way as a kid (unless, of course, you count the chocolate bar, which was quite familiar to me) and I don’t ever remember seeing as many stars, growing up in town.  Now, in the country, where the light pollution is minimal, amazing spectacles like the one I saw early this morning are probably commonplace.  Yet, it seems I am too busy, too cold, getting into the car, or watching TV, and don’t make the effort to look as often as I should.  It took an asthma attack to rouse me from my bed, forcing me to look out of my window before I saw it, otherwise I may have missed it entirely.  Looking up at that starry sky, in the night-time silence, I honestly felt that same excitement of childhood – ecstatic at seeing stars and planets with my own eyes; feeling alone, yet wondering if there is anyone else out there; simultaneously feeling part of something bigger and infinitely beautiful; wishing I was an astronaut, or an astronomer.  Maybe we should all take the time to stop, look up there and just appreciate how amazing it is, and we really are.  When was the last time you really looked?

Underrated: Fallen (1998)

Dir: Gregory Hoblit
Cast: Denzel Washington, John Goodman, Gabriel Casseus, Donald Sutherland, Embeth Davidtz, James Gandolfini, Elias Koteas

This dark, scary alley might not have been the best shortcut

A late Friday-night showing of Fallen (1998), on BBC 1, reminded me how great this movie was, and still is, yet there are still people out there who have never even heard of it, let alone seen it.

Directed by Gregory Hoblit who had, two years previously, directed the excellent Primal Fear (1996) – which catapulted a great, unknown actor by the name of Edward Norton to stardom and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nod – Fallen is a mix of detective thriller/mystery and supernatural.  A stellar cast featuring the always-awesome Denzel Washington as Det. John Hobbes with support from the likes of the late, great James Gandolfini, John Goodman and Donald Sutherland, ensures that a sense of realism is maintained throughout, serving to increase the growing sense of fear and dread.  We are as sceptical as Hobbes is, refusing to believe anything out of the ordinary.  The opening title sequence and a later, very clever ‘pass-the-parcel’ scene both make use of the Rolling Stones’ Time Is On My Side, which I have been a big fan of for years and I now always think of this movie whenever I hear it.  You really care for, and fear for, the main characters – another stand out performance is the brilliant Gabriel Casseus as Hobbes’ brother Art.  Like one of my other underrated films, Constantine (2005), Fallen leaves you begging for a sequel, but the ending is so good that it would be a shame to taint it by taking it any further.

If you haven’t seen it yet, why not?  It’s fifteen years old, but it certainly doesn’t show it (time is on it’s side) and it’s as enjoyable today as it was then.  Definitely amongst my favourites.  I urge you, seek it out.

Soundtrack Genius: Clint Mansell & John Murphy

John Williams is a household name, and for good reason. His brilliant work on Star Wars, Indiana Jones, E.T., Schindler’s List, et al. is instantly recognised by the world (arguably more so than the work of Mozart or Bach).  More recently, Hans Zimmer has gained similar worldwide recognition for his work on all three of Christopher Nolan’s Batman films, most notably The Dark Knight (2008), as well as on the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

My favourite pieces of music, however, soundtrack or otherwise, are by two composers, the names of whom are still widely unknown – Clint Mansell and John Murphy.  You may not have heard of them, but you will recognise their work when you hear it – Lux Aeterna and Adagio in D Minor, respectively.  Both of these beautiful compositions have moved beyond their original movie soundtracks to be used in numerous adverts, film trailers and TV programmes.

The haunting Lux Aeterna features in Mansell’s soundtrack for Darren Aronofsky’s (much underrated) Requiem for a Dream (2000). I’m no expert in music but the shifting strings, played by the amazing Kronos Quartet, are perfect for Aronofsky’s film.  They expertly echo the swift cuts and hip-hop montages; the changing situations of the movie’s protagonists.  Just hearing Mansell’s piece immediately conjures the sadness and desperacy associated with addiction, life, death, depression – that feeling of life slipping away.  Amongst the melancholy is an element of calm submission.

It takes a lot to make me cry, but every time I listen to Murphy’s Adagio in D Minor tears begin to form.  Something that affecting has to be pretty special.  Written for Danny Boyle’s (also deeply underrated) Sunshine (2007), Murphy’s music is as poignant as John WIlliams’ Skywalker Theme from Star Wars (1977) and as majestic as the infamous use of Strauss’ Blue Danube Waltz in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).

Murphy has been a frequent collaborator with Danny Boyle and another of his outstanding compositions, In the House – In a Heartbeat appears on the soundtrack of 28 Days Later (2002).  Similarly, Mansell often works with Darren Aronofsky and their more recent association, on Black Swan (2010), is also another exemplary work, which cleverly makes use of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.  Mansell also recently worked on the brilliant soundtrack to Park Chan-wook’s Stoker (2013).

Although the names Clint Mansell and John Murphy may not be altogether familiar, their genius will be forever remembered in the music of Lux Aeterna and Adagio in D Minor.

Columbo: you were great, but that case would never hold up in court

My previous post, on Quincy ME, got me all nostalgic for another of my favourite shows, the brilliant Columbo.  Another influential classic that has stood the test of time.  Peter Falk was faultless in his genius portrayal of the clumsy, bumbling and dishevelled detective; seemingly harmless, but always several steps ahead of the murderer, armed only with his notebook and pencil, cigar and the choking fumes from his Peugeot 403.

The episodes always had the best titles, like ‘A Stitch In Crime’ (1973), where the murderer is a surgeon and ‘Uneasy Lies the Crown’ (1990), where the murderer is a dentist.  Columbo was also frequently directed by now-familiar names such as Steven Spielberg, Jonathan Demme and Sam Wanamaker, and featured an array of well-known actors in the role of the murderer – from Leonard Nimoy to John Cassavetes, Donald Pleasance, Jack Cassidy, George Hamilton, and even Johnny Cash.  William Shatner amusingly appears in two unrelated episodes – with ‘Fade Into Murder’ (1976) a must see for the ski-mask/sunglasses combo disguise which Shatner’s character adopts in order to carry out his crime.

Spock, does this ski-mask make me look fat?

Of course, I’m giving nothing away by exposing the actors who played the murderer, as Columbo always followed the ‘inverted detective story’ format, immediately revealing the perpetrator of the crime.  That was the fun of it – guessing that little bit of evidence; that loose end that Columbo would pick up on to catch his crook.  Although, most of these ‘loose ends’ would be unlikely to hold up in court.  In fact, there have been episodes where Columbo has seemingly got his man through entrapment.  In one such episode, ‘Agenda for Murder’ (1990), Columbo, amazingly, claims that bite marks on a piece of cheese, that was found at the crime scene, match those on a piece of chewing gum that he retrieved from the murderer’s wastepaper bin, implicating him.  The murderer gives himself up, but Columbo later reveals that the dental x-rays he showed the murderer, and supposedly used to match up the bite marks, were actually his own.

Oh…just one more thing

There were rumours that the crumpled detective was to be resurrected in a film, produced, and possibly, played by Benicio del Toro – a huge fan of the show.  I’ve heard no more of this, but I think del Toro may be an inspired choice to play an updated Columbo.  I also think it would work best if it was made as a TV series.  After all, TV is where it began, and the high calibre of current shows have made TV work highly desirable.

‘Agenda for Murder’ features my favourite Columbo guest-murderer, Patrick McGoohan, who appeared in four episodes and also directed, wrote and produced for the show.  He was always fun to watch and the perfect foil to Falk.  I guess one of the appealing and nail-biting aspects of Columbo was that we were actually rooting for the bad guy, in a way.  We knew they did it and we knew that Columbo would figure it out and finger the murderer in the end, but there was always that sense that maybe, just maybe, he (or she) might just get away with it.

Quincy ME: without you there’d be no CSI, House, Dexter, etc.

I genuinely shed a tear last December 24th upon hearing the news that Jack Klugman had died, aged 90.  As a kid, I adored Quincy and now, getting on a bit, I still do.  It’s one of those shows that was great back then, and still is.  It made forensic pathology cool.

Quincy was stubborn, professional, had an eye for the ladies, a penchant for boats, a mischievous sense of humour and a heart of gold.  Klugman made his character hugely likeable and Quincy’s banter with his sidekick Sam, his boss, Dr Astin, and Lt Monahan, was always fun to watch.  Furthermore, Quincy had such a great theme tune.

Quincy made me want to be a forensic pathologist long before the likes of CSI made everyone want to be one.  Sadly, I never fulfilled my dream, but I still think about what could have been and I still wonder if it would be as awesome as Quincy made it look.  It certainly did look like ‘the most important and fascinating sphere of police work’.

I miss the 80s: before everything was rendered in CGI and actors didn’t have to appear perfect

“Have you seen the CGI in An American Werewolf in Paris? Hilarious!
At least the beast who got me was actually there”

First of all, let me just say that I am not slating CGI – in certain contexts it can be brilliant.  It works best, in my opinion, when it is used more subtly, for example, in films like Fight Club, Interview with the Vampire, Inception.  There are films which have successfully and brilliantly used CGI to create the impossible – Jurassic Park for one – although it did feature a combination of CGI and animatronics – and a great story.

What I’m fed up with, though, is the increasing reliance on having every element of a film computer generated, in place of a built set or make-up.  I watched the recent showings of the Star Wars saga on ITV2 (it’s been a while since I’ve seen them) and I couldn’t believe how much the latest films – Episodes I-III – have dated, purely due to the fact that virtually every element of the sets and each scene are CGI.  The original, and best, Episodes IV-VI, with their model ships, travelling matte backgrounds, motion control, puppets and real sets etc. still look FANTASTIC (except for the CGI elements that were added later for the Special Edition releases).

Kudos to directors like Christopher Nolan, who likes to film as much as he can get away with in live action and favours location shooting and real sets.  Ridley Scott also built huge sets for Prometheus, in a similar vein to Alien.  Moon‘s director, Duncan Jones, also used excellent model work for his movie, proving that lower budget sci-fi films often have an element of problem-solving required for the special effects which, more often than not, turn out much better than the CGI option.

I also mourn for the days when actors didn’t have to be perma-tanned, hair extensioned plastic, with teeth so white that looking at them for too long could damage your retinas.  People looked better back then.  They were still beautiful – look at Sean Young in Blade Runner.  Yes, I know, there was still make-up and wigs and expert lighting and Vaseline smeared on the camera lens, and I’m sure that people did get surgery and veneers then, too, but it was all much more subtle.  Although they were still gorgeous movie stars it all seemed, somehow, more attainable; identifiable.   Everything, and everybody, these days seems so…illusory.

I know as a girl I’m supposed to rave about Dirty Dancing and P.S. I Love You, but to hell with that, I love Die Hard and Fight Club!

I’m sorry, in fact no, wait…….. I’m not actually in the slightest bit bloody sorry……..my favourite films are Die Hard and Fight Club, with the latter quite likely at the top of my list.  There are lots of other films I love too, of all genres, but I’m not going to rant on about bloody P.S I Love You etc., which, incidentally, I have seen and is dire, and other such girly delights “just because they’re what girlies are supposed to watch”.

P.S. John McClane - I Love You

There are few girly films (girly films? – chick flicks, whatever they are called) I can think of that I feel inclined to compliment (I’ll try and think of some before the end of this post, I promise), but I can think of bazillions of thrillers/sci-fi/action/drama/horrors/westerns/etc./etc. 

While others are fawning over “not putting baby in a corner” and blubbing over The Notebook (I always think of the cinema scene in Just Friends with Ryan Reynolds, heh heh) give me a barefoot John McClane with a dirty/bloody wife-beater and a machine gun (HO! HO! HO!), or Tyler Durden and his gasoline/frozen concentrated orange juice Napalm cocktail anyday! 

Now, I’m not a film snob in any way, shape or form and I’m willing to give it a go and make up my own mind.  If a film does it for me, I will certainly sing its praises.  Loudly!  But I have yet to make it through Mamma Mia(!) and I doubt I ever will, as I find it that repugnant (I had to think for a few moments there of a word strong enough to describe how deeply unpleasant I found what I saw and heard).  I have no problem with musicals, or Meryl Streep or ABBA for that matter, but dear God!  They could use this film as some form of torture, it could easily replace waterboarding.

I’ve just thought of a few chick flicks I can actually admit to liking!!!! Wow, I didn’t think I could, but I have.  Okay, I actually really enjoyed 27 Dresses, there I said it!   Also, Bridget Jones’s Diary, there’s one.  Are these strictly chick flicks?  I am detecting comedy here, but hey I’ll say both.  I adore When Harry Met Sally, Heathers and Mean Girls, but I class these as comedy – brilliant comedy. 

Sigh!  But I still love Fight Club……and Die Hard and The Terminator and Alien and Aliens and The Thing and Goodfellas and Pulp Fiction and Zodiac and Se7en and Coming to America and Road to Perdition and Full Metal Jacket and The Running Man and Jaws and The Dark Knight…………………………………

The Real Invention of Facebook: Catfish

True Stories: Catfish – 10.00pm, More 4, Tuesday 3^rd May 2011
Dir:  Ariel Schulman, Henry Joost

People always ask me if I know Tyler Durden......oh wait

It’s difficult to explain the way this film makes you feel – shocked, thrilled, excited, scared, embarrassed, deeply disturbed – to name but a few.  But definitely fascinated and glued from start to finish.  I don’t want to spoil the film for anyone who may not have seen it – and I recommend that you see it if you haven’t so far – but it’s a documentary concerning the long-distance relationship, through Facebook, text message, instant messenger and phone calls, between photographer Yaniv (or Niv for short) Schulman and 8 year old painter/prodigy Abby and her family.  The relationship begins when Niv is sent a painting Abby has made of one of his dance photographs, which she had seen in a magazine. 

Spoiler alert!  If you have not seen this movie ignore the following paragraph and move on to the next – I think you would enjoy the film much more if you didn’t know much more about it.  Okay, it may not be a direct spoiler, but whilst watching the film I was thinking about ‘The Night Listener’ and I had that same, slightly freaked-out feeling of dread that I had with that story.  I was dying to know the truth, and worried how sinister it would be.  At times I was cringing as it began to unfold.  I still don’t really know how to feel about the woman concerned – I feel pity in a way and embarrassment at the same time.

The authenticity of Catfish has been questioned, i.e. that parts of the documentary were staged or re-enacted to tell the story.  I personally feel that it carries a really important message about technology and relationships and is as important, if not more so, than ‘The Social Network’.  I would even say that it is good enough to be considered a documentary thriller.  Whether or not the story itself is genuine, is not important (ironically), because the final result is mesmerizing and disturbing, above all very watchable, and will stay with you long after you have seen it.

Shattered Glass: Late night gem

Shattered Glass (2003). Cert: 12A.  Dir: Billy Ray.  Starring:  Hayden Christensen, Peter Sarsgaard, Chloe Sevigny, Steve Zahn.

Uh, oh.....Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do

I caught this film on BBC One late one Wednesday night recently (23 March, 2011).  My expectations weren’t that high, but I really was very pleasantly surprised.  I was unable to sleep after watching it and have been thinking about it since.  I felt the need to write something in its praise.

It tells the true story of young journalist Stephen Glass, who wrote for The New Republic (one of the most highly respected political magazines in the US), and other high profile publications such as Rolling Stone and Harper’s.  After building a reputation as The New Republic’s “rising star”, the authenticity of one of Glass’s articles came under scrutiny from a journalist at a rival publication.  Upon further investigation, Glass was found to have “invented” elements (or possibly entire events) of at least half of the articles he had written.

Hayden Christensen – often considered “wooden” in many of his roles – is actually really very good, and manages to pull off a character who seems capable of saying anything to get himself off the hook, at times coming off as slightly creepy, whilst still remaining likeable.  He is the type of person who always pays compliments to his colleagues, always remembers their birthdays and always appears to be self-deprecating. 

I really felt for Christensen’s character and did not want him to be “found out”.  The film made me think about the depths of Glass’s imagination and how astoundingly brilliant they really were.  I also thought about the fact he was very young (only 23 when he began working at The New Republic), how much he wanted to succeed, and how desperately he craved approval from his editor and colleagues (I keep thinking about the line “You’re not mad at me, are you?”).

The later scenes of the film, when Glass’s work is being questioned, are thoroughly nail-biting and I found myself unable to watch at times, cringing, and feeling Glass’s embarrassment, as he desperately tries to explain the holes in his story. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and would highly recommend it – why has it taken me so long to see it??!!