feeling listless

Christmas Every year since 1995, just before christmas I've sat with a cup of tea and a biscuit and watch 'In The Bleak Midwinter', the Kenneth Branagh film about a group of actors putting on a production of Hamlet in an old church at Christmas time. It's a small film, made in black and white and featuring many of his friends (some of whom would turn up in the four hour Hamlet). But it's passionate, filled with lovely dialogue, affectionate performances, and actually makes you feel good about Christmas. Like all good films it's changed with me over time. Few people saw the film on its original release -- the press unkindly described it as an ego piece for Ken (although they think that about everything he does, so what's new?) and though word of mouth was good it wasn't showing anywhere. A few people saw it on video (including a girl in a video shop I frequent -- she was asking the shop keeper for something else funny to watch (having just brought back the seventh Police Academy film and UFO, the Roy Chubby Brown film) so I pulled this off the shelves -- I know it was entirely the kind of film she'd hate, but I couldn't help myself). I had hoped that more would have seen it on TV, but sadly Channel 4's policy of not showing b/w films in prime time (unless they're by Scorsese) meant that it appeared it 2:30 in the morning the other night to a miniscule audience. I can heartily recommend you go and pick up a copy. Oh and if you're in America, its retitled in your country as 'A Midwinter's Tale' for some unaccountable reason (which is oddly enough the title the Channel 4 showing the other night. Odd, most odd).

Blog! Some weblogs forego long lists of links and complicated front pages (ahem) and just offer the content in a pure, yet exceedingly focused form. The inaccurately titled inessential is filled with moments of genuine inspiration: "Brent’s Law of Feline Behavior: The only way to stop a cat from crying at a window is to open the window; the moment you do that, he’ll go cry somewhere else." In the spirit of this post I present some films I haven't seen and don't intend to (this is going to be difficult, because regular readers to this blog will know, I'll watch any old hacked off garbage):
Snatch
Kickboxer
Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit
Glitter
Raging Bull
Pokemon: The First Movie
The Next Best Thing
Armistad