READING, WATCHING, LISTENING TO

Find out what has been entertaining the Entertainment Manchester staff this week...


THE EDITOR

WATCHING: Saw The Incredible Hulk at the cinema, which was alright. I was a big fan of the Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno tv show and movies, and this doesn't really match the pathos of those, and nor does it aim as high as Ang Lee's Hulk, but it's pretty good for what it is, and you can't go too far wrong with the likes of Ed Norton, Tim Roth and Tim Blake Nelson in the cast. On on a completely different level, I'm now on Season Three of The Wire on DVD and it just keeps on getting better and better. The Incredible Hulk may have the special effects, the explosions and the smashing, but The Wire is the one that is truly epic.

LISTENING TO: Weezer's sixth album, erm, Weezer. Going back to the self-titled album approach, I'd hoped that they might bounce back from the mediocre Make Believe, but if anything, this is a further step in the wrong direction. Rivers Cuomo has been playing dumb for so long now, it's tempting to wonder whether he really has become dumb. Certainly that moustache begs a few questions. Other than that, the usual mixed bunch of White Zombie, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, Live, Gun, Luciano and Leonard Cohen - in the hope that I might still get into his shows at the Opera House this week.

READING: Still Phra Peter Pannapadipo's Phra Farang tale of a British man's life as a Buddhist monk in Thailand. Coming to the end of it now and it's been a very good read with a good sense of humour and a great insight into a completely different world and way of life, Phra Peter's experiences are never dull, both as a 'fish out of water' travel guide and a book about Buddhism. His attempts to communicate in Thai are certainly always entertaining, as he describes the bewildered expressions of fellow monks as he explains that there are four elephants on top of his hut, when he was actually just trying to say that his roof was leaking. This is why everyone should just speak English...


THE WRITER


WATCHING: The Happening. Oh dear. Despite feeling let down by M. Night Shyamalan‘s recent films, I was cautiously optimistic that he would regain his form in The Happening after being impressed by the creepy trailers. Sadly, it’s his worst to date. A relentlessly silly thriller about a poisonous gas which forces people to commit suicide, The Happening is full of hamfisted direction, convoluted character motivations and reams of dreadful dialogue. An impressive cast led by Mark Whalberg and Zooey Deschanel could have saved it, but they‘re unique, often quirky, actors miscast in a film which calls for everymen, and seem wooden as a result. Hopefully, Shyamalan can regain his form one day, but he needs to ditch the big ideas, forget the convoluted plots and turn back to the complex character work that made The Sixth Sense and Unbreakeable so good.

LISTENING TO: She & Him - Volume One. Talking of the lovely Zooey Deschanel, I’ve been listening to extracts from her debut album this week. She’s been writing music all her life apparently, and been in a band - If All The Stars Were Pretty Babies, with fellow actress Samantha Shelton - for the last few years, but with She & Him (a collaboration with M.Ward), she’s finally got something released - and it’s pretty damn good. Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? is a fantastic bouncy summer tune, Sentimental Heart displays Deschanel’s talent with lyrics and Take It Back is a darker, more bruised love song than you‘d perhaps expect from an actor. This Is Not A Test is a little too country-schmuntry (yes, it’s a word!) for my liking, but all in all this is very promising, with Deschanel’s expressive voice proving that a history in acting can sometimes be beneficial to a career in music.

READING: Devil May Care. This has been written by Sebastian Faulkes in the style of Ian Fleming to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the Bond author’s birth, and some have suggested it reads like a pastiche of his work. Nothing could be further from the truth. The first 007 book to be released since 2002‘s The Man With The Red Tattoo, Devil May Care is certainly a perfectly studied replica of Fleming’s novels, but it’s original enough to stand on its own two feet. Bond finds himself in the Middle East crossing swords with the villainous Dr Julius Gorner while hunting down his new ladyfriend’s drug addict sister. Gorner has a vendetta against England, and his crimes are revenge for those the country committed during the Empire years, so there are some stinging attacks on England’s past that you get the feeling Fleming wouldn’t entirely approve of. Hardcore Bond fans may not be impressed by it either, but for me the political edge only adds more brilliance to Faulkes’ work. He’s updated a classic character, while at the same time staying true to his roots and, as obvious as it is to say this, DMC would make a great film.