Film 2003

After a flurry of cinema-going at the beginning of the year, it had been a while since I'd seen something new. But the weekend was a bit of a filmfest as I caught up with three films I'd missed when they hit the cinemas many months ago.

I'd had Todd Haynes's 'Velvet Goldmine' for the best part of a year and a half, and I'm quite glad that when I did eventually get round to watching it I was sober. That said, J was sober too and got completely lost trying to follow the convoluted narrative thread, and I found the film's fragmentary nature pretty difficult to deal with too.

It's a fair evocation of the glam era and, through Christian Bale's character, what it meant for the fans, but I couldn't help feeling that it was a bit pointless. Why base Brian Slade's character so transparently on David Bowie, and Kurt Wild's even more transparently on Iggy Pop (Ewan McGregor turning in a fine performance, particularly in the gig scenes)? Why not just document the real life story? After all, '24 Hour Party People' succeeded in doing just that, whilst lacking none of the myth and magic. If nothing else, the original music would have made for a better soundtrack.

Sunday evening's entertainment was two goofy comedies back-to-back. First up, 'Zoolander'. I'd heard good things, and it's not bad, but the voice Ben Stiller affects grated on me instantly, as did the seemingly constant need to wheel out celebrity after celebrity as a source of amusement. There, for instance, in the middle of it all, was David Bowie. Wrong film, Dave - try 'Velvet Goldmine'.

Better - and unexpectedly so, because the trailers horrified me - was 'Galaxy Quest'. Or was it just the wine I'd consumed? Confession time: I was a regular viewer of 'Home Improvement', but that was in another lifetime almost, and my faith in Tim Allen's capacity to carry a full-length film had waned. He does a pretty sound job, though, assisted by Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman, doing his usual hissing-through-the-teeth-whilst-rolling-the-eyes routine. The laughs were more often with rather than at. Something tells me the part of the hanger-on who becomes part of the crew was earmarked for Steve Buscemi, but he was otherwise engaged...