The Next Three Days

I wrote my first ever film review for The Belfast Telegraph. I've to write several of them in the hope of securing something full time. Kind of like an audition I suppose. Here it goes:


I didn’t know what to expect when I went to see The Next Three Days, having not seen any reviews, but the one trailer I had seen looked promising.

The 2010 thriller film directed by Paul Haggis stars Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks. It may be advisable for Paul Haggis to stick to screenwriting, as this motion picture was a slapdash congregation of Banks’ dry acting and an unnecessary amount of close-ups of Russell Crowe’s face. The plot, that was very slow in developing, seemed like a waste of talent as it did not allow for Crowe to deliver the same level of performance that we saw in some of his other recent films, such as American Gangster and Robin Hood.

Russell Crowe plays the part of John Brennan; A college professor who makes an unrealistic bid to break his wife out of jail after she is wrongly accused of murder and given a 20 year sentence. The film took a long time to deliver any amount of thrill, but the last half an hour delivered in full what the first two hours failed to. It was a saving grace to anyone who had the patience to endure the first two hours of linear and uninteresting plot development. The film’s fanciful plot summed up how an ordinary man is capable of juggling his job and looking after his son, while becoming a master escape artist and saving his wife from prison. It even put into layman’s terms how to make a bump key for opening most pin tumbler locks, and an interesting method of breaking into cars using nothing more than a tennis ball.

One scene that stood out involved the College professor dad shooting up a dealer’s house that doubles as a meth lab, and murdering a dealer, becoming guilty of the same crime his wife was wrongly accused of; a hypocritical flaw that reoccurs in the plot. After buying drugs, breaking into vans, consorting with unscrupulous characters, shooting up a meth lab, stealing thousands of dollars in drug money and breaking his wife out of jail, it becomes apparent that no one is more deserving of a hefty prison sentence than him; which makes the ease of the couples escape from the country slightly farfetched. It came as no surprise that Elizabeth Banks tried throwing herself from their car in a suicide attempt, her second in the film, during their escape. If I was watching this film in a car I’d be considering the same alternative.

This is one film I won’t be buying on DVD.

Recently

The last while hasn't been the best. I've seen changes in people I really hoped wouldn't change, at least, not fast as they have done. People who once told me they'd always be there turning their backs. People who distance themselves from me the second my usefulness has expired. I've got some massive weights on my chest right now and it seems on the run up to Christmas people couldn't care less. I'm hoping a solution will present itself in time. But if you knew how I was feeling you'd have just the same level of doubt as me. As each day goes by its mounting. I finish off each day more unsure and less hopeful than the day before. But like the song says, "Though hope is frail, it's hard to kill."

Sorry for the morbidity of this post. In dire need of a pick me up.

U2

Last few days I've been taking a liking to this group.

A song stood out at the end of Friday's episode of Coronation Street:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqEUnvR1mWo

U2 - All I Want Is You

You say you want
Diamonds on a ring of gold
You say you want
Your story to remain untold

But all the promises we make
From the cradle to the grave
When all I want is you

You say you'll give me
A highway with no one on it
Treasure just to look upon it
All the riches in the night

You say you'll give me
Eyes in a moon of blindness
A river in a time of dryness
A harbour in the tempest
But all the promises we make
From the cradle to the grave
When all I want is you

You say you want
Your love to work out right
To last with me through the night

You say you want
Diamonds on a ring of gold
Your story to remain untold
Your love not to grow cold

All the promises we break
From the cradle to the grave
When all I want is you

You...all I want is...
You...all I want is...
You...all I want is...
You...


Also sang Rod Stewart solo in a karaoke recently, but thats a video I'm not posting a link too :P


Wee piccie I took with my brother Jason, hung over in London the morning after a Placebo concert we went over for:

Winston Churchill..

..once said - "‎"We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity, is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle."

Belfast and Key Of Atlas

Here are some shots I took in a lonely photographic day in Belfast. Must say though, the time to reflect was excellent.





And some pictures I took at a Key Of Atlas LP launch:






Thats all for now. Stay tuned x

It was brought to my attention that my blog was feeling neglected, so here I am nurturing it once again. I was thinking about what to post. I could ramble on for hours of drivel that would put my few readers completely off ever returning. On the other hand, i remember the idea i had recently that i was going to take some pictures in my bedroom. Probably where I spend the most of my time. The place I eat, sleep, watch tv, play xbox, read, write, msn, text, phonecall, listen to music, clean, dirty, clean again, and do virtually everything when I'm not out of the house.


View from my bedroom door. From left: Bed, bedside table, chair (where my laptop sits most of the time) and wardrobe.
___________________________________


Same as before, only upright view. You can see my snake Quentin's tank sitting on top of my chest of drawers. also notice the rug that sits in the middle of my room on top of a fully wooden floor.
___________________________________


My lineup of shoes. From left to right: Nice shoes I bought in Limerick I wear for nicey things, trainers for not so nicey things, slippers ^_^ and finally my black leather work shoes that I end up doing most of my walking in.
___________________________________


View from the foot of my bed. My wardrobe and he chair in front of it, again with laptop on it.
___________________________________


The top of my bedside table. Its normally far more cluttered than this. Pen and notepad. Change out of my work trouser pocket. Blackberry and Sony Ericsson (ireland phone), picture of my family, and a coaster :)
___________________________________


View of my bed from another corner of the room. Shelves of books above it. Window, bedside table again etc.
___________________________________


View of the door from where the chair is. Emerald Garrison banner and a pull-up bar going across the door frame. Get so used to ducking underneath it habitually now.
___________________________________


My tv unit which holds my extensive collection of DVDs. You can see my safe on the left of it. The messy shalf on the bottom is my xbox and all that comes with it.
___________________________________


Two shelves on the left of the unit; the top housing my safe; the second where I put all the papers I get pictures in. On top of those papers is an extract from the Irish News which is the article from when my grandfather passed away.
___________________________________


The shelves above my bed. You will see the collection of National Geographic I've been gathering. The bottom shelf also normally holds my camera but in this instance, obviously, I was using it. I also perch my phone on the bottom shelf during calls, using the hands free, to get better reception.
___________________________________


Some pictures on my wall that I entered into a few competitions in the past. The blue bag on top of Quentin's tank has my other grandad's old camera in it. A family heirloom and one of the few remaining items to prove he existed.
___________________________________


On top of my wardrobe, here I hang my V for Vendetta mask because the minfridge behind it doesn't work. Two Ferrero Rocher boxes that have become my change boxes. One for northern currency, the other for Euro change.
___________________________________


Several years worth of Egyptian figurines that I collected with a magazine. Never have the patience to stand and dust them all though. The picture to the right is one I didn't take. It has a daisy in it, and the daisy is shown in all of the water droplets in the foreground.
___________________________________

So there you have it. I shall try post again soon, when there's news to post.

Ciao x

Another Wedding

Heres a wee selection :)