Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 463

Where Fiction & Reality Blur

I've been catching up on lots of movies over this freezing, snowed-in Christmas period, and one of the most intriguing is Banksy's hilarious 'Exit Through The Gift Shop', a documentary that purports to be about talentless Thierry Guetta, an ADD French vintage clothing store king who becomes the documentarist to the nascent guerilla street-art group, [...]

Re:View – '127 Hours'

If it wasn't for James Franco and director Danny Boyle, this true story of Aron Ralston, the climber who got his arm stuck between 'a rock and a hard place' (the title of his inspirational memoir) would simply have become another of the 'Trapped' sub-genre of thrillers like 'Open Water', 'Frozen' and the like.

Boyle's [...]

Restoring The Canals

London's Regents Canal is 8.5 miles long, has 13 locks, 7 basins, 50 bridges and 2 tunnels. It was opened on August 1st 1820, and horses pulled barges along it, making deliveries in London until the railways took over. The riverside people regarded the boat people as 'water gypsies', but were friends with the bargees [...]

Re:View – 'Black Swan'

Yes, this psychological-horror ballet drama is being talked about as an Oscar winner. Natalie Portman is incredible in it. The 'You Are There' camerawork which physically hurls you into a production of Swan Lake is immersive. And I thought it was ludicrous.

Darren Aronofsky is a director committed to actors' vehicles, and this is virtually [...]

Re:View – 'Monsters'

The only bad thing about 'Monsters' is the bland title, which might keep audiences away, and that would be a shame because the film is a genuine game-changer, as radical to the new SF as 'Night Of The Living Dead' was to horror. There's not much here for gorehounds and SF action geeks, but you [...]

Hidden London: Cabbies' Cafes

There are supposed to be around 25,000 black cabs in London. There are supposed to be 25,000 streets within a six mile radius of Charing Cross Station. There are also 13 cabbies' cafes dotted around London. There were once an awful lot more.

The first one was built in 1875 to provide cabbies with somewhere warm [...]

Re:View – 'Devil'

The cursed hand of M Knight Shyamalan plants itself firmly across John Erick Dowdle's short, sharp precinct movie in the first of what is intended to be a series of chillers called The Night Chronicles. Shyamalan says the series is born of a desire to tell stories, but on the evidence of his output, what [...]

Ten Great Places To Eat In Central London

The French are upset, apparently.
London has been voted a better gastronomic city than Paris, and even English cheese has come out ahead of French cheese. Personally I think Paris wins for ambience, as London restaurants often involve sitting in gloomy interiors.

What I don't like; restaurants for the Ladies Who Lunch (and don't eat), Chelsea [...]

Please Miss, I've Finished.

Can I get down from the table now? I've just finished the new Bryant & May novel, and have rather surprised myself with the ending. I think you'll be surprised too.

Perhaps I should do the Stephen King thing of having a fag and a drink, but I don't smoke and it's too early for alcohol. [...]

Understanding Shakespeare

Probably the most consistent criticism I hear about Shakespeare from people I talk to, especially kids, is that the language is impossible to understand. To an extent I agree – if you only read the text it often seems to make little sense – and certainly the analogies and references prove hard work. But the [...]