Our Leading Lady

Need to keep blogging, so much going on!

Well, here is a publicity shot of our Lauren in our movie "Much Ado About Lauren". This is Abi Murray, who is doing brilliantly and truly lights up the screen.

So Abi is now rehearsing the pantomine over in St. Albans so we won't be filming anything with her until January. Need to film lots of other stuff though.

So in the last couple of weeks we have been trying to film as much as posible with her.

We shot one scene where the character Becky is told she won't be in the play and ends up attacking Lauren. Went well! Catfight! We then shot a quick scene in a corridor which comes much later in the movie.

We also filmed as much of our "dining room" scene as we could. Things do suffer when you rush! This is a difficult scene and we only had about 40 mins with Ellie and so I went ahead and filmed, only to realise that I wasn't filming at 25fps! Which may seem incidental but does make a big difference to the "look" of our movie (video is shot at 50 fps and as we are shooting on Hi def we can adjust shutter speed and achieve a more cinematic look.)

We carried on filming when I had adjusted the setting, and did well, though it is noisy in that dining room, but the stuff with the cards worked well. Richy and John were excellent, and great physical comedians. We'll do some additional filming in the new year, as there's some good stuff we missed out from the scene.

Shot a scene around John's house, which is right towards the finale, we were going to shoot outside, but glad we didn't as it soon began to rain very hard!

We shot a corridor scene with Jack and Abi, where she tells him she is in the play. We got there in the end! I am learning that with film you can get away with a little wayward line learning as you can almost go line by line if you have close ups, so you can flick back and forth between characters.

Loads more to do, but we currently have a 50 min film! About halfway. Learning a lot (even at my ripe old age, how Orson Welles put Citizen Kane together at 24 I'll never know!) Computer technology is helping a lot, I am able to fix a lot in editing, and I am learning how to cut and paste alternate audio takes over the visuals so that the sound is a lot more seemless. I can also adjust lighting.

I spent two days on a "real" movie set last week. I was an extra in "Mad, Bad and Sad" which involved doing some work in a casino and then a bar. Got to meet Meera Syal (briefly, she didn't seem very happy) and also was given a line (!) to say to the guy who plays the cafe owner in Jack Dee's "Lead Balloon". A nice guy and got to chat for a little while before he had to lose at blackjack and stagger about drunk. My line? Okay, here it is. "Hard luck mate!" I went for disbelief, sorrow and ridicule!

The tour has come to an end! "The Word Made Fresh" concluded on Sunday November 25th in Luton (at LCF, my home Church.) It was a great and emotional night. The Church were so loving and helped to make such a memorable night. I was given a Noah cake! One of my best performances which I am glad about, because the whole thing was filmed for a DVD which should come out in January. It's been a good but long tour, and I'm glad I was stretched, but I feel I want to be stretched some more. But not really regarding travelling!

Matt Summerfield and the team took us out for a nice meal to conclude the tour and I was presented with a lovely souvenier poster to commemorate all that had happened. Urban Saints and Matt are brilliant, I really must write some more dramas for them!

By the way, my book of 20 drama sketches, entitled, "Dramatic Set Ups Volume 1" is now available from a Christian bookstore in Luton! Just £10, well worth it!

Now preparing for the Nativity service this Sunday (5pm!) and I have to say I am loving working with some extrememly talented 11-14 year olds. They are bringing some 10 year old scripts very much alive! Must do more with them next year (I think I feel a panto coming on!!)

End of week ???? of filming!

Just realised it's been a while since I have written about the movie I am making, and as my good buddy recently reminded me, a while since I have written about any movie at all!

Haven't been to the pics for a while, but I saw the Pixar rat movie a few weeks ago and loved it. Moviemaking with love in every frame. A classic, and one of the best films of the year, animated or otherwise.

I sit here typing, feeling excited and very optimistic about, "Much Ado About Lauren". We have been doing a lot of filming and I have just edited together around 35mins of fairly completed footage.

What have we done? Well we succesfully re-shot the low lit scene with Rich, John and Simon. Went really well, and still very funny.

We shot a nice scene with the boys outside in the quadrangle at the school, which looks good. That was an example of finding something to shoot because an actress wasn't available to work on the scene that we were scheduled to do. Nice picnic tables!

We keep trying to film as much with Abi as possible before she goes off to dance in a panto for the whole of December. So we are really filming out of sequence at the moment and our "party" scene is probably going to have to wait till next year now.

Shot the post "drunken text" scene between Simon and Abi, worked fine but we nearly always seem to play "avoid the cleaners!" There is so much that goes on behind the scenes with a film like this, shooting on the hop, trying to get what we can before all the other elements take over and take us away from what we're doing. But we are getting there, and the jigsaw pieces are truly starting to fall into place!

Two days ago we filmed Simon's favourite scene so far. What he has always termed as "The Kissing Scene", although I have to say by the end of the movie there will have been a fair amount of kissing going on!

This particular scene is where our principal characters rehearse a kiss which is in our play within the movie. It went well, plenty of takes, because I thought Simon would appreciate it! Then Lauren's boyfriend bursts in and hits Greg in the face and upsets Lauren. All went well, and it was good having the energy of our "villain" Jack, playing Justin, back in the film.

Yesterday we filmed a nice little corridor scene which also involved the lovely Ellie, who I am determined to get in the film as much as possible because she is talented and a real screen natural. Simon and the boys were involved as well, and the wonderful Abi, who is also a huge pleasure to work with, and gives up so much of her spare time to help us. She was brilliant in the moment she had to confront Justin and I couldn't have ever hoped for a more lovely, talented, hard working, cheerful leading lady in our film!

Lots more to do and artistically this is one of the hardest, yet probably most ultimately rewarding projects I have ever been involved with. I have been involved with theatre almost all my life, but in ten years time this film will still be able to be put into whatever strange movie viewing device we have then, and viewed in the way that I intended.

Just as I finish this entry I also want to "big up" Simon Wade, who is a great friend of mine (I love his whole family!) and has been there from my initial furious texting that took place when the idea for this movie popped into my head. We laugh at each other and make fun, but this film would not be happening without this young man. And Simon I will always be in your debt for helping one of my dreams come true, (not the one where some of our leading ladies lather each other up in a jacuzzi, although surely we could write a scene like that very quickly!) I mean this actual feature film endeavour! Simon helped with the script, got his friends to be involved and, of course, sought permission for a crazy 37 year old film maker to wander around a high school filming students several days a week. Simon is funny, brilliant, a great actor and a great collaborator and friend. And I salute you sir!! Let's finish this film, before we watch England NOT participating in Euro 2008!!

End Of Week 5 of Filming

Another week goes by for "Much Ado About Lauren". Got a few things done this week.

We were able to film our "WHEELCHAIR GIRL" scene, which was fun. This is basically a flashback where Greg remembers a date he had which didn't start out very well. A young lady called Sarah helped us with this, and it went well. She fell over very convincingly and then we bandaged her up a bit and put her in a wheelchair, she also rolled over some roses very convincingly, and gave Greg (Simon) a very convincing whack around the face.

Again nice to edit some flashbacks into context with rest of the film, and see how they work.

We also filmed a corridor scene with quite a few of the cast. Worked well, we see Greg and his friends observe Lauren getting friendly with our Justin character. We got there in the end, though I think we are starting to annoy the cleaners who work around the school, we try and subtley ask them as many times as possible to keep quiet for a few more minutes so we can complete filming.

John and Richy who play Marlon and Billy made the journey over to Simon's on Saturday, so we could film the "DVD scene" which is a nice little male slumber party. Wanted to go for slightly lower lights with the tv light asissting, to give a different effect, seemed to go well, and as usual the boys were hilarious and improvised very well. Got to watch out for the boom in shot! Making a film is a film school all in itself.

Got the footage home (I actually had said to Simon, "that went really well, it's unusual to finish filming and not think of anything that went wrong and seemed to go against us.") Realised I had spoken too soon! These sort of cameras do not care very much for low lighting, and the picture was blotchey and nowhere near as sharp. Actually liked the light levels but the camera didn't seem to like it, thus the interference. Lighting is about helping the camera replicate what we see, and a set needs a lot of lighting for a camera to capture what we would see as normal.

So we plan to re-shoot the scene next week, and I am gutted because I can't stand wasting people's time. But we keep going, and make sure I learn from all this, especially with the party scene coming up, it is better to overlight and take the level down in the computer during post, than it is to do the opposite.

We have found our party house, and it is going to work out great. Abi is in a professional pantomime for the whole of December so wanting to film as many of her scenes as possible now.

End of Week 4 of Filming

So we have been working on this movie for a month now! It seems much longer! But as we are fitting in filming wherever we can, around school and people's busy schedules, it is going to take quite a while longer. We have shot 14 scenes (only 62 to go fact fans!)

I am out of bulbs! The bulbs that cost £10 each! Got to order about 8 more for safety, we need our lights! I think the budget for this film, before advertising etc is going to be just under £1500. Not that much in movie terms (peanuts is an understatement, this budget would buy Tom Cruise's lunch on one day of any of his recent films.) But that is a lot of money in the desperately trying to stay married terms!

I brought in another talented actor friend for a cameo this week. The wonderful Jools Georges who I have acted with many times over the years. She is a brilliant comedic actress, and great to have around. She played a form teacher. She also brought her beautiful daughter Annabel with her, and the girls loved her, and helped out by holding her.

Scene went well, but we had to cut occasionally when Annabel was missing her mummy, or just wondering what on earth was going on! This scene is the 2nd half of the first scene we shot in the school, we now see Greg entering the classroom and seeing Lauren once again after being accosted by Becky.

Jools was great, as was Jack and the rest of the cast. We had a good amount of extras and that makes all the difference, adds to a convincing "school feel."

The next day we shot another common room scene, and I also shot a quick fill in scene of Abi (playing Lauren) walking down a corridor looking for the right classroom, which will be cut in earlier before the scene where she meets Greg for the first time.

We were a bit against the clock as Ellie who plays Caroline (excellent must give her more to do) had to be at work by 4, so we shot all of her stuff and then found convincing ways of shooting reactions and stuff to what she had said previously.

Then shot Richy, Simon and John, all of their bits around the girls sequences. Took a few takes but we got there and it does all cut together nicely. Current running time of Much Ado About Lauren is 23mins. Of course when we finish filming everything, we could be well over the two hour mark, so will probaly have to make little snips all the way through the film to meet our hopeful running time of around one hour forty five minutes.

Shot a quick insert flashback with Simon at his place, when he is dispairng at the computer keyboard. We have shot this once before, in a hurry I might add, and when I looked at the footage I discovered you could see me clearly reflected in a poster on the boys wall! Looking forward to cutting in a flashback scene into context, these are what will make our movie different and hopefully very funny.

Much Ado About Lauren end of week 3 of shooting

So there it is , our title. Much Ado About Lauren. Thrown a lot of titles around but this seems the most appropriate in line with the quirky comedy feel of the film and that our leading man's nickname is Shakespeare and he writes a play about Lauren! Get the word out, we have a title!

So another eventful week, had a great time filming with Simon and Tom some dialogue scenes in their house. We tried to vary locations so we have the brothers chatting in close up on the floor, and then we have them exchanging dialogue in the shower! Very funny, in fact I ruined a couple of takes laughing so much! Can I just go on record in saying the boys were not naked during the filming of this scene (and neither was I!) Very funny seeing the boys chatting while lathering each other up!

Then proceeded to film them chatting while straightening hair and then having a cozy chat together in bed. Can I just say this reads a lot worse than it actually is! Tom had a teddy bear with him and all is very tasteful!

Filmed a "common room" scene in 2 halves. It was great to welcome Sophia back into the film, we shot a scene with her and Simon (he reads her the poem his brother has written her) and then she storms out screaming revenge.

We then filmed the second half of the scene with Ian and Jack playing two of our "bad guys". All went well and we had some fun. All cuts together well. We had another lamp blow, but I discovered that it was a fuse and not a bulb. Subsequintly the lighting in a couple of shots was not all I wanted but, hey, we are doing the best we can with what we have and the times these young people are available.

Able to track down these types of fuses and so the lamps are ready for another week!

Also pleased to meet up with my good friend and fellow blogger, Stevie Warner, who played me some new songs he has written for the film, which are excellent. He also gave me a cd of some other songs he has written over the years and I LOVED a song caled, "Blue" which I will be putting in the movie somewhere (I just hope Abi who plays Lauren has blue eyes!! Although I won't be re-casting her if she doesn't!! Abi lights up the screen and I'm so glad she's a part of this.)

End of 2nd week of filming

Had a good filming week. We have an 11 minute movie! Two scenes shot this week, including a drama lesson which introduced Paul Wade as our drama teacher. Went well, good extras helping us, and it all edited together well.

One of our bulbs blew so that was annoying working with only one light. I have ordered some very expensive (£45 for 4!) replacement bulbs off the net, but also went to B and Q to buy some one quarter strength bulbs to tide us over the next week.

Simon, our leading man has not been at all well this week, throat infection, but we were still able to shoot another scene which brings his crazy brother Lenny (played by Simon's actual crazy brother Tom!) back into the movie after his very funny entrance earlier on. Took a while to light, but the scene worked well and this also edits well together.

Looking forward to week 3. Loads to do, and a fair bit of catching up to do, but I think we might be onto something pretty funny here, if we keep working at it.

Latest title idea- "Loving Greg". Greg being our leading man, and he wants the girl to love him and he is also trying to be loving to someone else. Got to come up with a final title soon! If you are reading this feel free to leave a comment as to if you like this title or what you think might be a better title!

I miss Letterman!!

Having a quick click on youtube I noticed this video. Really great. Dave Letterman with Paris Hilton. Laughed out loud, particularly at Dave's response to someone yelling, "I love you Paris!" from the audience. Dave is so quick witted and by far the best of all the American chat show hosts, Conan, Jay Leno etc. But he's not on British TV any more! The other guys you can find, but Dave was dropped from the schedules over a year ago. I really miss him! Come on ITV2 Or ITV3 Or ITV4 get him back on the British airwaves, you can show hours of fishing, get showing Dave again!!!

End Of Week One Of Filming

So a week ago today we commenced shooting on this untitled high school comedy (which is going to be called, "Say The Right Thing!" unless we can come up with something better soon!)

It has been a great week, we have completed 8 scenes and I have cut that together into about 5 minutes of screen time so far. It all looks and sounds good! Of course lessons have been learned, including it is a good idea to get permission from the railway authorities before trying to film on a platform. We will go back with written permission which the staff gave me phone numbers and names for.

Lights are working well, and we "lit" our first scene on Thursday. Have to be careful of shadow, particularly from the boom mike, but it all worked well in the end, and footage edits well. Sophia did really well in this scene, which she had to do over and over again, ending up on her knees in front of Simon and then falling to the floor! We ended up having a little crowd watching at one point, we are starting to get a "buzz". Also first day for Abi, our leading lady.

Wednesday night we had our first night shoot! Well sort of, I acquired loads of disposable cameras, other cameras and people (Terry, Tom, Kathryn and Steven again!) so we could get the feel of a black and white imaginary slow motion premiere that opens the film. Loads of flashes going off! Lynsey was hired in (not paid but she recieved a cup of tea and a toasted tea cake later!) for the glamour and looked suitably beautiful, Simon looked good too in his tux. All went well, great location discovered by Terry and the moon looked great. A number of takes and in the can! Thanks Lynsey you are our dream lady!

Yesterday, we had another shoot, and would you believe it, an exterior shoot planned and there was a downpour all afternoon. But decided to soldier on, and see what we could do.

It all worked out really well, no-one said this was going to be easy! Were able to grab a few moments here and there to create establishing shots of school, and had some impromtu extras! Then was able to put camera inside entrance and shoot our introduction to John and Rich who play our leading man's best friends. These boys got better and better with every take, and I am pleased with the footage.

We then filmed Abi's (playing Lauren) intro into the movie. What will be her first moments on screen. My good friend Steve Hill came along to play her father, and bought his lovely Audi. We shot inside the car from both points of view and then some nice "waving shots", Steve drove away and all was done! Steve was great, good comedy, so was Abi and all the footage cuts together to make a great opening to our movie.

Just need those train sequences and some key flashbacks and our first moments will be complete. Onto week 2!!

Shooting Day 1

Well, we have some footage "in the can"! We shot four scenes around the Wade residence today. Had a great time. Shot in bedroom, stairs, hallway, out front and on the roof of a car! It is great working with my good friends Simon And Tom, and indeed Kathryn (the boys Mum) who has a role in the movie! Quite a stretch playing their Mum! Steven became boom operator for the shoot and Terry became our driver when we headed over to Milton Keynes to pick up our lighting from Jessops (add another £199 to the budget!)

Had to contend with gardeners and noise but all went well. Particularly pleased when we watched the footage back. Hi def at 25fps looks really good, widescreen and approaching cinema feel (well as close as you can get without a budget of around £50,000.) Tom injured his toe! Climbing onto the roof of the car! But he soldiered on.

Casting has gone well, particularly pleased to be working with such a great bunch from St. George's School. Auditions were good, but difficult decisions had to be made. I think we have found a great Lauren, Becky, Justin and more!!

Saw "Run Fatboy Run" tonight and really enjoyed it! Laughing out loud and a real feelgood movie (though it should have ended with a wedding!) Simon Pegg is great as so was Dylan Moran. A great British Comedy! With nothing to do with Richard Curtis!
I would give it 4 Peggs out of 5.

As research for our movie we earlier in the week (on my 37th birthday!) went to see, "Superbad." And it wasn't good. The characters were way funnier than the movie. Some of it was a little too over the top in the crudeness department, it was 20 mins too long and there seemed to be little inventiveness and actual comedic skill in the writing. Though I do like some of the actors, I just think there is a better vehicle out there for them somewhere.

2 Supes out of 5

I have to say, our movie, is going to be almost the total opposite to the "Superbad" mentality, call it "inventive reasonably clean fun." Although we wouldn't mind a slice of their 200 million worldwide and counting!

The computer is fixed. Almost everything blew! It had nothing to do with hi def footage, just a coincidence it decided to burn up from the inside there and then. So the £487 bill to fix it (and in some ways improve it) is not part of the filming budget. Glad to get back to work "doing" different videos for Church etc.

We have a boom mike! For sound! A pleasant accident really. Bought a stereo adaptor for mike (£4.96) and an extension lead for mike (£6.49) we also have a light refractor which, well, refracts light! Big and round and white, or silver or gold.

Making A Movie Ain't That Easy!!

Soon to embark on shooting my first full length feature film, after 20 years of writing and directing sketches, plays, monologues, musicals, pantomimes, editing videos and shooting short films.

But there is a lot of frustration! And this is getting expensive! You know how you hear of film makers ploughing their savings into a project, well I can sympathise! And this is the same month as my wife's credit card is cloned and we had 3 and a half thousand pounds spent on petrol in India! Thanks guys!

So I need to film on hi def right? If you're going to do this, do it properly! Can't afford to hire a movie camera, film stock and processing charges, so you go for the best the home market can offer. So have just acquired a Sony HDR HC7E hi def camera. Cost-£699.

But what do I do? I get the camera and decide to see if my editing software will handle hi def footage. It doesn't!! Computer went pop and for the next hour kept turning itself on and off. A friend took a look and I need to get in the big guys, this is going to be expensive, video card probably blown. And more!

Needless to say the software upgrade for editing hi def footage arrived yesterday (£63.21 incl VAT), wish it had arrived earlier now! I am sticking with Pinnacle 11 Ultimate because it's what I know. Been using version 9 plus for a few years now. Of course I wanted to experiment with shooting and editing before filming began, work out how hi def will work with software and decide what "mode" to film in. I hope I still get to! Don't want too many re-shoots!

Being an advanced camera means I can adjust shutter speed. Do want a "film look" so with experiments I have made I am thinking of going for hi def, obviously, but at 25fps. As some of you know video shoots at 50 fps but makes a film look like a "making of", so I am halving the shutter speed, anyone got any advice on this, I would appreciate it!? But as we all know, film is "truth captured at 24 frames per second." Want it to look good on that huge Sundance screen!

Of course to shoot a movie well, you need a good microphone, don't just stick with the camcorder's own. So I head online and order a Sennheiser camcorder mike for £112.48 (including shipping and handling.) Arrived yesterday, looks really cool. But doesn't fit the mike shoe on top of my hi def camera!! I begin to call Germany, because Amazon want you to go straight to the supplier, but had trouble being understood! I don't know why, I spoke slowly and loudly!

Went online and discovered that I can purchase an adaptor that will make this mike work on my camera. But the 2 stores that stock it, close at 1 on a Friday and aren't open on a Saturday. Even for online purchases! Got to wait till Monday, but we are due to start shooting on Thursday! Got to do quiet stuff first.

What tape to use? Mini dv or hi def dv? Gone for the latter, forums say there is less chance of drop out and this film (which could be the only chance to direct a feature that I get) is worth the few extra pounds for more professional tape (got a box of 10 for £62.50 incl VAT.)

We will get there! Had a good time walking round Simon's school with him on Thursday, met some people who will be great in the movie and found some great locations. Also met with the headmaster who is a really nice, encouraging, supportive man. We are a go!

We hopefully have an audition this Thursday and begin shooting soon after.

So prep days-my whole life up to this point. Although Simon and I brainstormed ideas in early August and the script was finished about a week ago.

Oh, I forgot! 15 copies of the script-printed and bound=£64.51 incl VAT.

Current budget equals, all above, minus mike adaptor which I haven't been able to order yet!

£1001.70
(that's a lot of Christmases and birthdays honey!! For those of you who don't know my wife owns and rides horses as a 3 day eventer, so she is extremely understanding, as this movie budget is nothing compared with what that great big animal costs us!)

The End Of Summer!

But then again, did Summer ever really begin!? Just thought I'd do a quick re-cap of the last two or three weeks.

Went to Soul Survivor with the youth group, had a really good time, but the weather was awful. Enjoyed partnering with St. Mary's Church on this little adventure. Music and worship was excellent.

Watched a few movies. Rush Hour 3, pale impersonation of the other two movies. Seemed like a rushed, we need more money kind of movie. Some good action here and there but to say this was half-hearted would be an understatement!

Saw Knocked up! Quite enjoyed it, some real laugh out loud moments, but like a lot of romantic comedies, it became so romantic they began to forget about the comedy, and a lot of it, in the later stages, involved people yelling the F word very loudly. I like Seth Rogen, and will probably see Superbad but does everything have to imitate American Pie! Maybe not, more of this later.

Saw The Bourne Ultimatum. Which rocked! Fantastic film, it's great to watch a film made by people who obviously love film. Damon was amazing, and the action scenes were excellent, particularly the Waterloo sequence. Good to see Paddy Considine in a non-Shane Meadows, non British movie. I think Bourne Supremacy is my favourite of the three, we do need a little rest between the action and I felt this third film needed one more scene at the end. Maybe looping round to the beginning of the first movie? The second film felt more satisfying overall.

Spent some time with my family in Swansea, which was great. Welsh cakes! Caswell Bay! China China!

Also, I wrote a movie! At last! Flicking through channels a few weeks ago, happened upon Gregory's Girl and Pretty in Pink. Began to think about an English High school comedy. Hasn't really been one since Gregory's Girl and that was 1980! So, I have a good friend, who is an actor, and part of the youth group and attends High School. Began to bounce around some ideas and Simon helped with High School life, scenarios to think of including, terminology etc. and we have a script which is called....well, that's the thing we have a couple of titles we can't decide upon. But I will keep you posted.

I wrote during mornings in Wales, and our 80 page epic is ready. We hope to start filming soon, and we'll finish it when we finish it! Do need some music though, which we can't afford to pay for! Pop, rock kind of stuff. So any unsigned bands want to get a song of theirs in a movie? Let me know. You'll get some exposure, get a credit and the film will hopefully be seen in as many film festivals during 2008/2009 as possible. Excited about this, we need to overcome a few things but, at last, we get to make a full length feature film which has a script! And is written in such a way that we can make it with no-budget, and still appeal as a film.

Tour starts again on Sunday the 9th! Off to Kettering! I am also performing a new comedy monologue (a youth leader losing his mind!) at the Urban Saints Leaders gathering at Stopsley Baptist on Saturday, then rushing back to catch the England game. We'd better qualify!

The Simpsons Movie Review

Well, it was good to finally see The Simpsons on the big screen. It certainly looked cinematic at times. But as a good friend of mine recently commented, this movie is basically a Simpsons episode spread out over 87 mins. With the same amount of laughs you would expect in a 22min installment.

They went for the big, but seemed to forget the small. So many favourite locations and characters from the TV show are overlooked. The family were taken out of Springfield for 20 mins. It just wasn't funny enough. It had the potential to be Borat wettingly funny but they were thinking so much about the cinema they forgot about the jokes.

The film looked great, but it felt more like a school outing than a journey to the school itself. The best gags have been seen in the trailers, I liked it but I wanted to love it.

2 and a half Homer's out of 5

Evan Almighty Review

I had low expectations heading into this movie, mostly from the very poor reviews I had read and the opinions of good friends that had seen it in the US.

But I was pleasantly surprised! This is a good movie, Steve Carrell as Noah is funny and believable. I liked the updating of the Noah story for the 21st Century, and when I pray I like to think of Morgan Freeman!

Morgan as God (held over from Bruce Almighty) had some nice moments, particularly with Evan's wife in the coffee shop. A speech that I'm sure I'll be using in Church some time.

No, Evan Almighty isn't hilarious, and the reason for all those animals being on the ark was stretching it a bit, but an enjoyable film. As a Christian I found some real value in this film. Borat is a lot funnier than this, but that film made me uncomfortable as a Christian, in the Church scene, whereas this in some ways affirmed my faith and made me think, do I make a stand for what I believe?

I enjoyed the Genesis 6:14 symbolism and Evan struggling with literally turning into a modern day Noah. It wasd good to see John Goodman back, even if I was a little distracted by his left eye and some of the supporting cast were good fun.

Good, clean fun and I will be getting the DVD!

3 arks out of 5.

My Most Exciting Movie Prospect For 2008!!!

Feel free to play the video above that I have managed to embed on this blog!

This is basically the Comic Con preview of the 4th Indiana Jones movie (May 22nd 2008!) It is so great to see Karen Allen back playing Marion Ravenwood.

But what gave me the biggest buzz was hearing Spielberg basically say that he is making another popcorn movie-for us! It has been a while, he has made many worthy and excellent films since the Jurassic Park sequel in 1997, but I love it when he just goes out to entertain.

Spielberg has made my movie going life so entertaining, and I love him for it. I can't wait for this movie, if I wasn't directing a play which opens that same week next year, I would be on a flight to LA!!

The John Williams music, Harrison Ford not looking at all like Homer Simpson! A David Koepp script! Spielberg has his name on my favourite blockbuster of 2007 (Transformers) and now he'll be right there in 2008! Bring on that boulder baby!

Transformers Review

Wow! And double wow! Just got back from watching the best blockbuster of the Summer by far. This film was huge! So many jaw-dropping moments. Transformers was everything I hoped for and more!

In a Summer of mostly disappointing sequels, the film to rule them all, in the blockbuster stakes, is based on a toy! From many years ago!

I can honestly say I have never watched the original cartoon version of Transformers. I think I am just a little too old for it to have infiltrated my childhood. So I cannot really compare or complain about differences between this live action film and the cartoons. I have now learnt about Optimus Prime and Megatron. I now can tell my Autobot from a Deceptecon. I want a bumblebee! It is a testimoney to the effectiveness of the film-makers and these robots that I was moved when one of the Autobots was captured!

There are of course humans in the film and young Shia Lebouf is making a real name for himself. I look forward to him in the hopeful best blockbuster of '08, Indy 4 when he is rumoured to play Indiana Jones son. He is excellent here and helps add some excellent moments of humour into the story. He is certainly someone to watch in the future.

But the biggest accolades must go to the genius's at ILM and Mr Michael Bay. Not since Jurassic Park in'93 have I witnessed true wonder on a cinema screen, seeing events you would never see in real life, played out so convincingly and excitingly. The robots look amazing, and the fights are fantastic. Mr Bay holds everything together incredibly well, the pacing is excellent and there is a good balance between getting to know the characters and watching them involved in near-death occurrences.

This is one of the best blockbusters I've ever seen. Made for the Summer market (you never find Oscar contenders released between May and August, they normally arrive between September and January.) I have to say though, I don't think there should be a sequel. I just can't work out what other story they could tell without it being a re-tread of this film or something less satisfying. This is a great action film and I look forward to seeing it again.

4 and a half transformers out of 5

Shrek The Third Review

Well, I have to say I had very low expectations heading into this film, another third episode of a popular franchise. What with the Empire 2 star review and the trailers looking average at best. But I have to say I was pleasently surprised. I enjoyed this movie!

Usually a trailer will have most of the best bits from the movie, (Die Hard 4, Silver Surfer) but the company producing the trailer for this Shrek movie just seemed to want to show us more of the same and none of the more impressive visuals on offer here.

I certainly enjoyed it as much as the other two movies, and what I love about Shrek is the world the film-makers have created. It all seems familiar and also a pretty cool place to hang out for 90mins.

It is not a hilarious film, only just a comedy really. But it is so well made and the characters so endearing that you sit there with a smile on your face through most of the movie. I am actually looking forward to the already announced Shrek 4, although, maybe it could do with a few more laughs.

Shrek the Third is a logical continuation of the storylines began in the first two movies and shows once again how amazing computer animation can be. To think that my favourite movie magazine (Empire) gave this 2 stars but the plodding, angst ridden latest Harry Potter, 4 stars! What is the reviewing world coming to?!!!

3 and a half donkeys out of 5

Harry Potter And Order Of The Phoenix Review

Oh dear. I was really looking forward to this film. Goblet of Fire was excellent and Prisoner Of Azkaban was a marked improvement over the first two films. But this. It has filler, written all over it. So little happens. There doesn't seem to be any plot to forward the narrative. A lot of teenage angst, and some pretty good acting from Daniel Radcliffe and Gary Oldman.

The effects are good enough, apart from Hagrid's half brother. This was always the weakest book in the series and this shows. J.K. Rowling is untouchable, but she really needs an impartial editor who can prune some of the pages and say something like, "there isn't enough story here to justify so many pages!"

What was exciting about the book was the end battle, but it's hardly there at all! From a making of programme I understand they hired a dance choreographer to help with the finale. Well, there wasn't much choreography in what I saw. Just a mess of swirls and lights. If this script was handed in without a certain wizard's name attached it would never have got made. This film is already making a fortune, but it doesn't deserve to. A lazy script producing a lazy film. Rowling and the film producers can do better, and I hope they do with "Half Blood Prince".

Can we really expect great films (Goblet Of Fire certainly was) when they have five films in a series released in just six years? I know the reason for this is obvious, we don't want an actor in his late twenties playing a teenager but the scripts need a little less reverance to Rowling and more effort into what would actually make a good film. A disappointment in what is turning out to be a fairly disappointing Summer.

2 wands out of 5

Die Hard 4.0 review

I love the Die Hard movies! Great action films alongside Lethal Weapons and Indiana Jones. As far as I am concerned, the order they were made equals the order of merit I would put them in. With the original of course, being the best. So Die Hard 4. Very good. I was wondering if it would "feel" like a Die Hard movie, and it did! Terrorists, Mclane drawn in almost by accident and a family member of his in some sort of close proximity or indeed in jeopardy. Whatever happened to Bonnie Bedella? Who was superb as Mclane's wife in the first two movies, can't remember seeing her since playing Harrison Ford's wife in Presumed Innocent.

I thought the young hacker side-kick was excellent, a good source of frustration and humour. Kevin Smith's cameo was pretty good, his second scene causing me to reminisce about the big policeman Al in the first movie, who also had a brief cameo in the second.

The action was excellent, some great set pieces. Particularly the tunnel, the plane and the elevator shaft. I have to mark down slightly for the anti-climactic ending. The action was so intense up to that point and the way Mclane finishes off the villain was certainly the weakest of the four films by far.

The actor playing the villain has come in for some stick but I thought he did all that was required. He was a computer whizz, not a stunt man. He had some good exchanges with Willis, especially the one when he reveals he has got his daughter, "come on say something funny!" I enjoyed the film very much, and felt the director did a really good job. I know his Underworld films have faced a lot of derision but I remember watching Underworld Evolution knowing Wiseman had got the Die Hard gig and saw his potential, particularly with the helicopter blades ending (if you've seen it you'll know what I mean!)

So a good film, yeah, a little tame, particularly when put up against the others. Almost no blood and swearing. Which is fine, but having spent 6 hours in John Mclane's company from 1988-1995 you know he would say a lot more fruitier one liners than he does in this movie!

I don't think there should be a Die Hard 5:Die Hardest, I mean he's gone from a building, to an airport, to a city, to a country-can Bruce really save the World?! Probably!

So my Die Hard order of merit, would now be-Die Hard, Die Hard 2, Die Hard 4, Die Hard 3.

4 die hards out of 5

The Long And Winding Road!!

This last Sunday the "Word Made Fresh" tour ventured to the North of Wales to Colwyn Bay. I travelled there from Swansea with my Mum and Dad. The performance went well, they were a really fun and appreciative crowd. Great feedback, we had a little bit of problems with sound at the beginnng of the show, but nothing to worry about. I've never heard my narration read by someone else before! Well done Andy!

But you see, what will stick most in my mind from this night is not the performance and the fantastic people, it is the journey to and from the venue. There isn't a motorway going from South Wales to North Wales. There is just one very very winding road. It took about 6 and a half hours to get there, we had a quick stop off for a nice lunch in a place we can't remember and certainly wouldn't be able to spell! Most of the journey reminded me of the last fifteen minutes of "The Italian Job" (the proper one with Michael Caine) when they are on the coach traveling around the side of the mountain. Almost the whole journey was like that! My Mum and Dad were brilliant, as ever, but I must get them a Sat Nav sometime! Because we got to Colwyn Bay and we seemed to travel around and around it about 10 times looking for the road the church was on!

Eventually at 5.45 I got a call from the organiser who guided us to the church which we had driven past about an hour before! I then had 45 mins before curtain up, which was a bit of a dash but everything worked out.

We left at around 9.30pm, it took us a little while to find the road out of Colwyn Bay (it was almost as if this place doesn't want you to go there and when you're there it doesn't want you to leave!) And then we arrived back at my Mum and Dad's house at 2.45 in the morning! It was such a long drive and ny Dad drove the whole trip there and back! Amazing! We had a naughty portion of chips each on the way back, but we deserved it. I haven't clung on for dear life for so long since we went on Space Mountain at Disney World six times in a row three years ago!

The next morning I woke up and headed back to Luton having had a fantastic time with my wonderful family. I had a great time with Mum and Dad at their CAMEO lunch at their church on the Wednesday, I enjoyed meeting my sister's latest addition to her family, a cute little dog called Max who bites everything and I loved my parents wonderful hospitality including Welsh cakes, infinite cups of tea and boiled eggs for breakfast. A great time and a great memory that will be imprinted on my mind forever!

Fantastic 4 Rise Of The Silver Surfer Review

Was this better than the original? Released just 2 years ago? Yes, I suppose. This is the closest I’ve seen to a comic book literally being brought to life. Not the Frank Miller graphic novels, deep and meaningful but bright, forgettable cartoons aimed squarely at the under 10’s. All the great Silver Surfer moments were used in the trailer, and he was the highlight of the film, his initial appearance being one of the most enjoyable, especially the surfing down the side of the building. All the actors did their best with the material they had, some of the FX were excellent, but some were really poor! Why doesn’t Mr Fantastic do much stretching? Because it looks terrible onscreen! Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Jessica Alba all fine. But this was all so paper thin, I didn’t care! Spiderman 3 was a disappointment, but Spiderman 2 is one of the best superhero films ever made. This so called fantastic film is so short, why not add half an hour of how this family wrestle with being superhero’s in their everyday existence instead of just aimlessly running towards the next action scene. As was witnessed by, in my opinion and the opinion of my good friend Tom who I snored through it with, 300, you can have all the battles you want but unless you care, you just ain’t there! But it’s a kids film Dave! I know but so where Toy Story and The Incredibles, and they are way more fulfilling than this disappointing glop of candy floss!

2 surfers out of 5

The Swansea Experience!

Performed, “The Word Made Fresh” in my family’s home town of Swansea on Sunday. Great to perform in front of my family and of course, my Dad on father’s day. Also coincided nicely with my sister’s 40th birthday celebrations. Arrived on Saturday when there was a bit of a party which was great. We had a good time and a bit of a sing-song! Also spent some time with a couple who I probably haven’t seen in about 20 years. That was great, so good to catch up. Then I had to be up bright and early (6.30!!) to travel with my Dad down to a Swansea radio station where I was being interviewed on the breakfast show by local celebrity Kevin Johns. Walked into the building and sat down in front of the mike and then was on air about two minutes later! Had a good chat plugging the performance and what I’ve been up to. Enjoyed it and I think it went really well. I’m told I will be emailed the chat sometime. If that happens I’m hoping Joel or Tom or both will help me get that on to this blog so you can all hear my very early morning ramblings I gave about acting, the Abbey National and people throwing rotten fruit at me for yourselves!

My brilliant nephews helped me when we got to the Parklands Church for the 6.30 performance. The venue looked great and the stage was set up. Lighting and sound was sorted and off we went.

I’m going to get a bit spiritual now, but there’s no other way of putting this. You see about an hour before the end of the party for my sister on the Saturday night I started to get a really painful stabbing pain in my back. No, this wasn’t a nephew prodding me with a sharp instrument, it just started to happen. Well, it became so intense that I could barely sleep that night. I got up and did the radio thing and then became quietly concerned that my back could really hinder what I was hoping was going to be a very special performance. It got to the point that I was having trouble breathing because my back would hurt that much when I took a deeper breath. I didn’t want to take any painkillers because the bottle said they would make me drowsy and I wanted my head to be totally clear for the evening. Anyway by the afternoon Mum sprayed some stuff on my back which didn’t seem to help too much, but I’m assured it was “Deep Freeze” and not insect repellent! Then I layed down on my front for a couple of hours because I thought this might help. A few people had offered to pray for me earlier on and of course I was grateful, but there didn’t seem to be any immediate difference. We got to the venue and I was still really inhibited (the show must go on!!) and I was starting to work out how I would amend some of my blocking (movements) in the show to compensate for the pain I was in. So 10 mins before curtain up (or lights on which was more the case) the leaders of the event said a prayer for me, as I shared with them about the concerns I had for my back and again I was grateful that they prayed for me. And now, and can I just say I would never write these words unless I knew them to be true, from the moment my name was announced and I approached the stage for the show to begin, I didn’t have a single pain in my back whatsoever! I was feeling great! No blocking was needed to be changed, in fact I seemed even more energetic. And my back has been superb ever since! Wow! Take from that what you will. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the night and it was a great pleasure to publicly thank my parents for all the love and support they have given me in all these wacky endeavours I have undertaken in my 36 years of being alive! A great night, and a night I don’t think I will ever forget for all sorts of reasons.

Ocean's 13 review

I enjoyed this film. Not immensely, I feel Ocean's 11 certainly had the edge over this (the remake not the rat pack original.) But this was a lot better than the mess that was Ocean's 12. Things are certainly back on track here, I just felt the heist at then end of 11 was a little more satisfying in the pay off (false vault!)

I am a big fan of Steven Soderbergh, the director of this picture, and if you have seen Traffic, Erin Brockovich, Out Of Sight or Ocean's 11 you would have to agree that he can work wonders with colour, a camera and cross-cutting narratives. I loved the totals being won at the diferent tables being shown across the screen, a really nice touch, as so was some of the split-screen work.

There were many laugh out loud moments in Ocean's 13, I think I probably laughed more here than with the first two films combined. The revenge angle was good and it was great to see Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin together again for the first time since the under-valued Sea Of Love. And Al didn't shout! Not once!

These sort of pictures are just a lot of popcorn fun, there was a nice turn from Andy Garcia and you really find yourself wanting to spend two hours in the company of these characters. You also really want them to succeed. There were a number of good pay offs (literally!) and I think the Ocean book is now well and truly closed. But they went out in style and George, Brad and Matt make for a very enjoyable teaming this time round. Also good was Carl Reiner (Rob's dad!) and it was great to see David Paymer back on the big screen after what seems like an age. He is a wonderful character actor, and here played the very put upon diamond award representative. Loved him in Mr Saturday Night for which he was Oscar nominated.

So a good movie, but I think Ocean's 11 is stil my favourite.

3 and a half Ocean's out of 5

POTC At World's End Review

What a frustrating and at times incredibly boring experience!

I loved the first Pirates movie, The Curse Of The Black Pearl. Such a fun, fantastic breath of fresh air! It came out of nowhere. A film based on an admittedly good theme park ride!? But it was so entertaining, so well written, funny, exciting and a marvellous blend of the fantasy and the historical. So it makes a lot of money and we are promised 2 sequels! Fantastic!

But then they make the mistake of filming them back to back a la Matrix 2 and 3 and Back To The Future 2 and 3. Now I know there is the excuse of getting the full cast together for a prolonged period of time. But we end up with one really overlong movie split in two! Dead Man's Chest had its moments, the wheel fight, Jack's intro, Davey Jones seemless CGI etc but was disappointing compared with the first. The sense of fun seemed to be gone. But somehow I forgave the makers for the 2nd film because of the promise of this third installment.

What were they thinking? If you had told me they had drafted in new writers for these two films I would have believed you! And been a bit more understanding. But they didn't, the brilliant writers of the original are responsible for this hugely disappointing third installment. It is sooooo long! Probably having the running time of a Lord Of The Rings movie, but feels twice as long as each of them! And there was an intermission! Whose idea was this? I've never been to a movie where there has been an intermission! And I've been going to the cinema since 1973! I'll tell you whose idea it was, the concession makers! Oh yes! Intermission comes up, 200 people get up out of their seats and buy more ice creams, drinks and popcorn! They're all back in their seats and the movie re-commences! Concession sales doubled in every performance!

I have to say, the film started well, I really enjoyed the Singapore sequences, and they had me pretty much till just past the point when the are all safely out of Davey Jones's locker (Up is down etc) and then so much talking! So much plot! So much boredom! Get on with it! This is supposed to be a thrill ride, remember what it's based on. If the ride was like this movie, they would have to be giving people mouth to mouth two thirds of the way through the ride! Enough tea and chat, let's have some fighting!

And then it comes, pretty much from the point of Keith Richards' cameo onwards, we are back in winning territory. Great sea battle, nice moments. And some humour at last, and fighting! Someone should have trimmed at least half an hour from the very flabby mid-section (and I should know I sill have a very flabby mid-section!)

So my lowest mark yet. 2 and a half out of 5. Johnny you're a genuis but the writers dropped the ball and spent over an hour moaping around the floor looking for it!

Belated 28 Weeks Later Review

Saw this just a couple of hours ago, the last showing at the Cineworld Luton! So glad I did. A real big screen type of movie, even though anyone not seeing it up to this point will probably now have to wait for the DVD. That's fine just move an armchair up really close to the telly! This film had so many amazing sequences it's hard to remember them all, some of the shots of a deserted or dilapitated London were breathtaking. The firebombing, the opening cottage attack, the attack on the car, the helicopter blades, Robert Carlyle's transformation, the night scope scene, the zig-zag and Wembley Stadium! A superb action adventure, and for me the best, "infected/zombie" film I have ever seen. Way better, in my opinion, than the original which I thought was over-rated somewhat. And a lot better than Shaun Of The Dead, which, I'm sorry, I also think is overrated! I seem to be much more of a Hot Fuzz type of bloke! So many people have just turned against me! It's just one film and I loved Spaced! Something I've always been bemused about with the George. A. Romero type of films is how slow the undead move. Just jog and you'll get away from them! But not in the 28 movies! That was what was so fresh about the original, but everything is taken up a notch here. Robert Carlyle is terrifying at times. Always an actor I've liked to watch, particularly, if like me, you thought he was one of the greatest murderers the Cracker series ever produced. The pace and tension hardly lets up in this fantastic blood soaked thrill ride (certainly not for the squeamish!) And I felt it had more tension in a single minute than Danny Boyle's own Sunshine produced in almost 2 hours! (controversial!!) From the credits this certainly looked like a British film (which is hard to define these days.) And if that is the case, we are doing very well! We can do moody mellodrama, but action, can we honestly compete with Hollywood there? Yes! On the strength of this! Michael Bay eat your heart out, (or get Robert Carlyle to eat your heart out for you, he seems really hungry these days for human flesh, although, can I just say, Mr Bay, please, please make Transformers as good as the last trailer. I am so excited!!)

Well done to all concerned (28 weeks later, not Transformers, we'll pass judgement on that in July), and I award you

4 and a half stars out of 5

because although most of the camerawork was mesmerising, some of it made me want to empty my bag of popcorn and use the bag as a....well, I think you can guess! The words, motion and sickness very much come to mind!

Into Battle! And Other Theatricals!

Performed "The Word Made Fresh" in Battle which is near Hastings on Friday night. Went well. A lot of young people in the balconey, so was quite noisy, I felt I had to "up" certain parts to win them over and I think it worked. Had to have my battery replaced during the second half of the show. Well not my battery, I don't think I have a battery, I mean more the battery in my radio mike! Good feedback at the end, again, nothing to do with the mike or the battery, more the people who watched, and then we headed for home. Another 7 hour round trip, touring is tiring! The night before I went to see St. Andrew's Players performance of Godspell. Which was very good-that group really do have talent, as anyone who saw their, "Hired Man" will testify. Great set, great lighting within the church and exquisite harmonies. Like Jesus Christ Superstar, the writers of Godspell didn't think Christ's resurrection was worth putting in to the end of the production, which is a shame because it's probably the most important miracle Jesus ever performed! To conclude a thoroughly theatrical few days, I went to see, "A Murder Is Announced" produced by my beloved St. Christopher Players at the library theatre. Funny not to be at all involved but I thought they did an excellent job. Some excellent performances by very good friends of mine, fantastic set and all held very well together by my good friend Calvin who was directing and seems to have a real knack for these murder mystery type things!

This Is England 5 Star Review

It has been a long time since I have had such a powerful experience watching a film. This Is England is an incredible piece of work. The performance of Shaun, the little boy whom we join as the drama unfolds is simply breathtaking. So untypical of a Hollywood Movie Kid but the cause of me having tears running down my face on at least two occasions in this troubling, fascinating piece of work. Growing up in the 80's, Shane Meadows had me from the moment Roland Rat appeared on the screen! There were so many moments where I was immersed back in my childhood. But it is through the eyes of Shaun that we walk, and it is quite a journey. Meadows is a quite brilliant film-maker. There were moments where the humour and warmth reminded of Mike Leigh, and then the people sitting around chatting about anything, an on form Tarantino and then the flip from slowly built up tension to explosive violence, a Mean Streets echoing Martin Scorsese. I loved this film, but of course found it at times to be extremely uncomfortable. What is England? There are so many brilliant performances in this film, I could go on and on. It is rare in a film that you sit there willing the protaganist to make a different choice though understanding when he does make a wrong one. Shaun's deceaced in the Falkland's father being the cause of probably the most decisive decision he makes. When Shaun stands up to the returning from prison leader of the skin-heads, I was on the edge of my seat. Getting a young actor to portray so much hidden anger and then far from hidden remorse in a scene which is so full of tension anyway, deserves every acting nod this young lads shelf can hold. This film should be seen, films like this affect you, so few films coming out this Summer will do that. They will be entertaining but ultimately forgettable. Some scenes in This Is England will never leave me. I remember in 1995 when Empire magazine said loudly on the release of Trainspotting, "Come in Hollywood! Your time is Up!" Well, we don't need Hollywood on the strength of films like this. They provide the popcorn, Shane Meadows provides the meat. I am aware that some will search out this film on the strength of this review and others but can I just say this film is not for everybody. The language is absolutely extreme. The F word being used by characters like I would say, maybe, or really. But that's part of the point, for some, bad language is there language in everyday life and thus it does have a naturalistic appeal which you get used to. Obviously the moments of racist abuse are very hard to swallow, but again, that's kind of the point. The character who says them has chosen a road that will have extreme consequences on him and those around him. This film hits so many emotional buttons, I came out a quivering wreck!

So 5 stars, thumbs ups, squiggley symbols, whatever you want to call them. A brilliant piece of work and if this isn't up for many many BAFTA'a next year, I will personally destroy my copy of The Queen which I believe was up for about 7!

Zodiac

Before I start this review let me just say that I am a huge fan of the works of director David Fincher, Seven and Panic Room are superb pieces of entertainment. I even enjoyed The Game and parts of Alien 3! So I went into this film with very high expectations due to the serial killer masterpiece which is the afore-mentioned Seven. That film has stayed with me for a very long time. So, to Zodiac. Again, I am a big fan of the three actors involved with this film, whose names you can see on the poster to the left of these words. The performances were excellent, and Fincher shows once again that he is a master with a camera, the opening shot of the film is simply stunning. There was some tension in certain scenes, particularly the build up and what Zodiac says to the mother of the baby before we see her on the side of the road. But my biggest problem with this film, and I'm going to get a lot of flack off some of my friends for writing this. But a lot of the time, I found it, well...dull! Yes, dull. A David Fincher film! A man who can make a camera swoop around a kitchen entertaining. It just seemed to plod along with different excellent actors looking at many different pieces of paper. The Zodiac scenes, the attacks, had some real cinematic value. But because we know they never caught the killer when we go into the cinema, it all seems a little anti-climactic. Though the coda at the end of the film would seem to indicate that some resolution was brought to the case. It was a bold choice to work from the viewpoint of the investigators, and the comic writer, but it didn't have enough momentum to sustain a two and a half hour running time. Not in my opinion. I wil be going back to Seven many times in the future, but probably not Zodiac. Sometimes a true story isn't enough to make a gripping film, you also need something inherently cinematic to work alongside that. Yes, All The President's Men has a similar set up, but the tension invoked in that film far outweighs what we have here.

So, 3 out of 5 for the quality of all those involved, but definitely not the new 7!

Meat And Potato Pies And Interruptions!!

Had a great day yesterday (Sunday.) Began by performing the "Gideon" monologue at a local Methodist Church which was celebrating its 168th anniversary. Good times. My good friends Alan, Bob and Neal were also involved in the service and we were shown to the vestry on our arrival so we could prepare, and so I knew where to change into my "frock" when the time was right. There was also a sort of en-suite toilet within the vestry where one could powder whatever needed powdering and wash one's hands etc. So, at the appropriate point I left the service and went into the vestry to change. I am just getting changed, note I hadn't completely changed at this point, when the toilet door from within the vestry opened and a lady and her daughter came out and were very surprised to see me standing there and sort of covering myself hurriedly with a Biblical outfit. They left with the mother covering her daughter's eyes, and then another lady came in a few moments later, also trying to avert her eyes while quietly giggling to herself. This little toilet inside the vestry wasn't a little private facility for clergy and visiting performers to only use at all, it was open (literally) to the whole congregation! On a regular basis! Whenever they wanted! Anyway all eventually went well, and Gideon blew his own trumpet at the appropriate time. I just didn't enjoy the experience of almost revealing my trumpet to complete strangers in the vestry of a Methodist Church!
So then it was home for a quick change and a bite of lunch before my good friend Dave Grundy picked me up to take me to the evening performance at Lymm, North of Manchester. Good journey and we arrived at the Baptist church in good time. Fantastic people, great venue and felt particularly welcomed by the co-ordinator of the event, Mark and his family. All went well, good responses. And then we go into the second act, which involves 7 New Testament characters. So, I had just finished "Peter" when a lady came to the side of the stage and started telling me off for "being the man who sold out Jesus!" Of course that wasn't technically true, that was Judas. Anyway I tried to explain to her that, literally in about 6 seconds I was about to play a much happier Thomas who had seen the risen Jesus, and she seemed okay about this. Mark carefully helped the lady away and on we went! Had great feedback at the end of the show and then I WAS PRACTICALLY FORCED TO FALL OFF THE WAGON!! Now, let me explain, my wagon is the one that involves healthy eating and a distinct lack of fatty foods etc. because I have become a bit of a fatty over the years, and I have decided to make some changes. And they are working! Until Dave Grundy who I love to bits, decided that we really couldn't leave "up North!" until I had partaken in a meat and potato pie and chips made from (put on strong northern accent) "Hard Lard!!" So I had my first portion of chips in about 4 months and I have got to say, they tasted great! Dave had a steak and kidney PUDDING with chips, gravy and mushy peas! Oh, Dave's Renault Scenic smelt like Heaven! It was a great end to a great night, and indeed a great day. I am well and truly back on the wagon, and....clinging on for dear life!!

Incident not Accident!!

I performed three monologues from "The Word Made Fresh" at the CRE or Christian Resources Exhibition in a delightful place called Esher today. I say I performed three monologues, because I was actually supposed to perform 5! I was late! The M25 struck again! It took me 2 hours and 40 mins to get there, because there was an incident! It wasn't an accident, it was an incident! So, was it an accident as we would understand it (someone gets rear-ended or something) but on this occasion someone crashed into someone deliberately so it wasn't an accident at all, it was a deliberate, and if they had called it an accident instead of an incident would they have gotten into trouble by the trades description people!? Of course, on a serious note I hope and pray no-one was hurt in the incident and monologues are hardly as important as what might have transpired on the motorway this morning.
Anyway I got there and had to park miles away from the venue. Of course I came off the motorway and followed this massive stream of fishes attached to cars all to the way to the showground. We were like a group of salmon. I finally found the arts theatre and Matt Summerfield, ever the trooper that he is, had been covering for me, talking about the tour and no doubt a few other things. So up I got and went through, Noah, Gideon and Jonah. Went well, seemed to be a fair amount of interest and I met two lovely ladies from an arts centre in London, which sounds fantastic! On Sunday I have a High Town Methodist Church's 168th celebration and then it's off to Lymm in north Manchester in the evening! Looking forward to it!

The Word Made Fresh Keeps Getting Fresh!

Performed in a place called Tadworth last Sunday night. About an hour and a half away from sunny Luton. Had a good time. Smaller crowd than last week, maybe 60 people but most seemed pleased and perhaps in some very small way blessed by the experience! Had fun in the second act as it began. A short recorded narration introduces each of the 14 monologues. So Act 2 has seven monos inspired by New Testament characters (from the Bible if you hadn't already worked that out.) So I talk to the very nice guy hosting the event and he opens the door and just says, "go ahead Dave". Which generally means I go onto the stage, the narration is played and off we go! So I get onto the stage, put down my carefully prepared glass of Really Really Really light Ribena, and turn my back on the audience. I notice that the stage lights are on, which is a bit strange, but never mind as the old pro I am, I stand there and await my cue. And wait, and wait. I then turn to the young lady offstage and sort of mime pressing a button to start the narration. With which she quickly replies, "we've already played it." It had been played while I was outside chatting with the nice chap at the end of the interval! I then turned to the audience and apologised and asked if they'd enjoyed the interval, I thought my "was the coffee nice?" comment went down particularly well, as did, "we're not filming this one, are we?" So on I went, but it was then I realised that that 30 second narration really helps focus my mind and helps me to "get into character" as those nambey pambey actors always go on about! I've discovered I am one! I am nambey pambey! Of course a quick prayer before each monologue also helps! But all's well that carried on well! And someone even washed up my Ribena glass! What a great night!

A Saviour, Not An Exclamation!!!

Now for a bit of a rant (we've certainly had enough ramblings and reviews so far on this blog!) Just finished reading the daily newspaper and I came to the last but one page and of course, Sir Alex Ferguson is very pleased that his team have won the Premiership. This is not a rant about Alex Ferguson or Manchester United, but as I read the article, I come across this; Sir Alex says, "I can't be that old! Jesus Christ-somebody wrote that I was 66 this week!" Can I just say, I'm getting a bit tired of a personal friend of mine (Jesus) being used as an exclamation! Like, "Flipping heck" or "For crying out loud!" or "Well, knock me over with a feather duster!" Jesus is deserving of a lot more respect than that! Really! If I was bold enough to get a t-shirt printed, well, I suppose, I'm bold enought to get a t-shirt printed, I'm not so sure about wearing it, the shirt would definitely say, "Jesus Christ! A Saviour-Not An Exclamation!!!!!!"

Spiderman 3 review!

And look the first photo on my blog! So Spidey 3 and just to say there is a SPOILER WARNING on this review, and I have always wanted to type that! So, if you haven't seen the movie and want to keep the secrets secret, watch the film and then read me later.
I have read a number of reviews for this movie, Empire 3 stars etc and thought they must have got it wrong, Sam Raimi (the director) knows what he's doing, the trailers look fantastic. Well, something did go wrong and most of the lukewarm reviews were right. This is definitely the weakest of the three Spiderman films. At times I felt like the writers of the Hulk movie and Batman and Robin had got together to write this film because the original Spiderman writers were too busy. What I mean is, we have a scene (their fight is all too brief, and we should have had more of that amd less of the singing and dancing!) between Sandman and Venom where they decide to join forces to beat Spiderman, just like Poison Ivy and Mr Freeze, in Batman And Robin (and Batman Forever but that had Jim Carey in it so all was forgiven) and the film also turns into heavy drama, taking itself far too seriously for a comic book Summer blockbuster, which is exactly where Ang Lee went wrong with the Hulk movie. Tobey Maguire should have a bonus for all the crying he had to do. I felt like throwing him a hankie! More action, less moaping around!
Where the villains are concerned, I don't think there are too many of them, they're just not very good! They had all the screen time they deserved, which is why the movie should be 20 mins shorter. Stop the whining! Venom and Sandman are just not in the same league as Dock Ock and the Green Goblin, they didn't deserve a movie each, and that's the point, there are not too many villains they are just really weak villains. So, yes, the movie is a disappointment, and surely we should have ended with a proposal and then a wedding!? Wrap things up nicely, that's what I say. Which they didn't really do with Sandman. Though, I have to say everyone gave their all, acting wise, for what really should have been picked up at the script stage. This is not a soap opera, it's an action flick that spends so much time motivating all the characters, we've run out of time to see what they were motivated to do!
So, yes, I'd have to agree with Empire, 3 stars out of 5 most definitely. Roll on Johnny Depp and crew, let's see what you have to offer!

Kingdom Business!

The tour continues! Last night was the 6th performance of the "Word Made Fresh". This is a year long tour that I have embarked on in partnership with Urban Saints. It is a one man show which I have written and I portray 14 men from the Bible. 7 from the Old Testament and 7 from the New Teastament and I get to wear a frock! A Biblical frock, if it was any other kind of frock I would also be portraying some women from the Bible, but I don't think that would go down very well, at all, ever. The tour has been going really well, I have been to Taunton, Lemmington Spa, Letchworth, Romford, Harpenden, and last night I was at the opening night of the "Kingdom Business" conference at the Bethel Convention Centre in West Bromwich. I really enjoyed being in a big venue with a lot of people, it "lifted" me somewhat and we had great fun. There were about 800 people there by the end, I say by the end, because being the opening night of a conference, with people travelling in from all over the country, coach loads of people kept coming in during the show! It got a little distracting, but I don't think it marred the enjoyment of anyone. I did have a bit of a panic just a couple of minutes before going on stage though. My mike sort of collapsed on the floor while I was in my dressing room. Yes, dressing room, I had a dressing room with sink and guess what? A fruit platter! I was given a fruit platter! I've never been so excited, I felt like I was at Live Aid or 8...or whatever. My own fruit platter! So back to the mike, which was depressing me with it's mangled position on the floor, so I decide to enter the auditorium so I can speak to one of the nice sound chaps, and one comes down to see me fairly quickly. But we had to go out of the auditorium to be able to communicate. You'd have thought I could have put a mike on myself but as the performance was to be recorded and filmed and the production team had to check my glass for my perfectly proportioned drink of ribena, which I sip, or gulp down, as the need may be between monologues, so that it would look right on camera, I thought I'd better check my mike! So, it was all sorted. But I turned round and a lovely lady wouldn't let me back into the auditorium! Because I didn't have my, "Kingdom Business" id tag on which was on the t-shirt I had arrived in! I was now in my Biblical frock, outside the auditorium, due to be going onstage in 2 minutes! They didn't have colourful laminated badges in the times of Noah and Moses, you see! I expressed this as lovingly and as urgently as I could and after a quick walkie talkie conference I was allowed in, and all was well! It was a great night and the hospitality of the all the people involved with the conference, their kindness and true servant hearts really made a difference and made us feel at home, even though, we weren't! After the show there was great feedback, and a little boy came up to me and handed me a drawing he had done of me! Which was touching and sweet and very scarey (I am eating healthily, I am!) So thank you, New Testament Church of God! You rocked!

The Hills Are Alive!

I think it is time for a review, as that's in the title of this blog. I'll ramble later, unless I'm actually rambling now, which I might be. Well, after much back scratching, begging and credit card transactions I was able to obtain for my darling wife and I, tickets to The Sound Of Music at the London Palladium. We have been married now, eleven years! But not to each other. No, that was a joke, of course to each other. So, to the delight of my wife we went and saw Connie off the telly. And it was very good. (When do I give a mark out 5? I'm not sure.) It was also Lesley Garrett's last performance as the Mother Superior so there was much blubbing and flower throwing at the end. The songs are excellent in this musical, instantly recognisable, apart from the three that weren't recognisable. Because they weren't even in the movie. Connie was excellent (come on, she's had some time off recently.) The set was amazing, children cute and characters well defined. But whenever the wonderful (as seen on "Celebrity Fame Academy"!) Lesley Garrett was onstage, and sang or, "belted out" as is probably more the case any number, I kept thinking, wow! that poor, lowly Mother Superior must have spent a lot of time in the opera. She must have been classically trained at some point. She was so overwhelmingly operatic that it sort of pulled me out of the production, because she sounded so different to all the other nuns. But, if anyone didn't have a tear in their eye at the end of act one as the Mother Superior sang, "Climb Every Mountain" and it came to it's crowd pleasing, rousing conclusion, then they should probably be checked for a pulse.
So all in all a fantastic night out. Glad to get such sort after tickets without having to resort to selling a kidney. I just had to lend one to someone for a week.
4 and a half stars out of 5 (would have been 5 out of 5 but Lesley sang almost too well!)

I have become a blogger!!

So this is it, I'm typing words and they will be available for people to read on the World Wide Interweb! Now I've just got to think about something to write......Won't be long now.....Actually I think I'd better go away and have a think.