It's no doubt that 2017 is going to be a time of great change for everyone. Spare a thought, then, for those of us graduating university this year. I have no idea where I will be living in 12 months time, no idea what shape my income will be in, no idea whether I'll drive a car, ride, a bike, commute 50 miles to work, work at home, still have time for dodgeball, anything. In turbulent times it's normal to turn to a tad of escapism- though, of course, to nothing like the extent I would have when I was younger.
This month comes Trainspotting 2. I still haven't managed to watch the first film the whole way through, though I saw the play in Edinburgh, and that was amazing. I've booked for a special screening of the original next week at Cineworld, and intend to see the sequel shortly after. From what I know, it looks to be more light-hearted than the original- with barely any mention of drugs in the trailers, more of a focus on the madness of a cast of characters who still haven't attempted to adhere to traditional norms of a successful life. And, if you didn't hear, the Rubberbandits' Dad's Best Friend has made it to the soundtrack. I can't wait to see what scene it plays over. The next thing I'm looking forward to is the new Zelda game, which will release in March alongside the new Nintendo console. The actual console itself, I'm not sold on- considering the flop the WiiU has been, I have now joined that group of video game fans who would prefer to see Nintendo go "third party" so that I could buy a PS4 and get all the good high tech stuff alongside the fun Nintendo stuff, without having to spend extra. We got the most news yet last night regarding the Nintendo Switch. For a conference that included footage of a high definition Mario running around a city full of normal looking people, it was surprising that the most bizarre aspects of it all were the machine's price points. For one, Nintendo want customers to pay for online play- and given their terrible track record for that, who will bother shelling out to try it? As a fan, the company constantly frustrates with ridiculous decisions like that. Looking at the rest of the lineup, the new Mario looks pretty good, but it might be a little late for me, so I might end up buying the WiiU version of Zelda if it's not inferior. That would mean the end of the line for me as a Nintendo fan, but what a way to close that chapter of my life if the game is good. Perhaps even more exciting is what's coming in December 2018. Peter Jackson recently announced on Facebook that, having exhausted Tolkien, he's now started work on the Mortal Engines movies. That's movies, plural- the most reassuring thing about the whole post. If we get four films based on Philip Reeve's incredible trilogy it will really be a dream come true. There's a lot that could go wrong, but there's also so much that could go right. When I watched the last Hobbit film, I saw the CG battle scenes and thought, well, if they can do that they might now have the power to recreate the world of the traction cities. Combine it with some great acting and a good score and we have a new series of films to match the likes of last decade's Harry Potter. So when things turn bad these next two years or so, as I expect they may well do, I will still be able to turn to my calendar and look forward to experiencing some seminal entertainment. It might just be enough to keep me going.
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Gone Girl, when I saw it in the cinema last year, was a seminal experience. It was, as many great films of 2014-2015 were, a bit of a life-changer. It made me, as an impressionable, intermittently single young man, think a lot about the nature of marriage, as it should do.
I bought the DVD for my dad this Christmas, and we watched it earlier today. I'd already told my mam the whole plot, so she kind of saw everything coming. Perhaps just as well, for she's averse to violence and since I'd already warned her of the hammer-and-mirror scene and of course the film's blood-soaked twist, she persevered. Unfortunately, my dad, who I'd bought the film for, didn't enjoy it and said that he thought it was probably some kind of attack from "the gays" to destroy the sanctity of marriage. I don't know what makes him an expert- he's only been married once! All I'll say, is, if the Saw Doctors and the Simpsons didn't exist, we'd never agree on anything. But this is all beside the point. The real theme of this film, I noticed, is the constant mediatization of society. Yes, I'm really showing off where my student loan's gone here. |
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