Embracing English Roots

In the last week, I watched 2 indie films (which I believe were pretty mainstream in the UK), and zero blockbusters. (I have absolutely no interest in seeing 2012, for some reason. Oh, probably because I think that John Cusak and Amanda Peet are the most irrelevant has beens to cast as romantic leads in any film after 2004. Don't get me wrong... I loved John Cusak... when I was 10).

The Boat That Rocked (Or, to American Audiences: Pirate Radio)

I have been anxiously awaiting this one since I saw the trailer when I took my 15 year old brother to see the Hangover as an attempt to buy his love back after not picking him up at the airport.

Anyhoo, what's not to love? The peeps from Love Actually (which I made NB watch in prep for both this and Christmas), with particular hearts to Bill Nighy. Jack Davenport, aka Steve from Coupling, who is showing up everywhere these days, most notably Flash Forward...

...And that hottie mc hot hot, Tom Sturridge, who you might remember from previous posts as being the hottie son from Being Julia, Robert Pattinson's bff (apparently he was sleeping on his couch in NY?) and also from briefly dating Camilla Belle. (Side note: on LaineyGossip, she had a hilarious posts about "why is?" and one of them was Camilla Belle which I thought was dead on). Except Holy Mutha I thought he had a monobrow when he first came on. But it's ok, it was just his greasyEnglishboy mop of hair.

Thoughts on Talulah Riley? I just can't decide on her. She was in St Trinians, which I loved, but I didn't love her. She was in Pride and Prejudice (the Kiera one) as the sister that no one remembers. She was in a little movie with RPattz (there's that cinema incest...) which I didn't see but she looked annoying in. She was the love interest in this. IDK. She's ok. She's pretty. I feel like she's one to look out for, if anyone is interested. Bet you she makes it big.

Oh. Right. The film.

The plot: A bunch of dudes operate an illegal rock and roll radio station from a boat in the English Channel and have to thwart the government peeps who try to shut them down.

I liked it, it was hilarious. The dialogue was super snappy, and it was really fun and campy. I had some issues with the story... it was just kind of like... whaa? The whole bad guys trying to shut down the radio thing felt like it was just thrown in to give some kind of structure to the happenings on board. Most of the attempts by the bad guys were shut down by a line from Bill Nighy ("Well, I hired this awesome DJ, so our sponsors will give u

s money from abroad since it's illegal in the UK..."). But whatever, who really cares about a little thing like emotional investment in the plot? I'm just rooting for the boy to get laid.

Although I did cry in the end. NB hinted that he might have gotten misty-eyed also. Here's a hint: they might have borrowed some shots from Titanic and The Perfect Storm. Yeaaaa.

~

An Education

LaineyGossip told me to watch this, and apparently I take whatever gossip blogs say to their millions of readers as personal messages à moi. Oh, also I saw the trailer on iTunes and it looked trés bien.

At first I was hesitant about Carey Mulligan, because I think she looks slightly lesbionic with her new haircut for Wall Street 2, but now that I've seen the film I'm thinking she is way too awesome for Shia. Not that I don't love him. But... I love her more.

Jenny, a swotty 16 year old trying to get into Oxford, decides that school isn't that awesome when you can just marry a rich, exciting older man.

I loved this movie because Jenny was so so so real. At the beginning of the film, I was like ugh, she is so much cooler than I was because she's clever and witty, and drops little bits of french into her speech, which I remember being the thing to do at that age but my accent was always dreadful. Hers is perfect.

Then she goes out with Peter Sarsgaard's friends, and meets Helen who is all sophisticated and chic and does her hair and wears jewels and in real life was a Bond girl one time... and Helen says she got her fur from King's road, and Jenny says something like "c'est trop cher pour moi." Very subtle, I like it. But Helen looks at her like she is a complete alien and goes "What did you say?" and Jenny says "I said it's too expensive for me." and Helen says "No you didn't." and Jenny says "I said it in French." And Helen says...

... Why?

And it is like whooosh you are a little embarrassed girl, and it's not like Helen is being rude, she is just genuinely perplexed. I was right thurr with Jenny.

Also later at dinner, Jenny gets all excited about the art and has a burst of enthusiasm and gives her very adult, flippant view on art, and they indulge her and make it so so clear that she is such a child playing grown up. And her man would tease her about being so bourgeois while doing ironically bourgeois things like drinking champagne at dinner and going to auctions.

Anyway, those were my two favorite moments. And also this white and red dress that she wears.

Also love: Olivia Williams as her teacher, and Emma Thompson as the head mistress. This was set in the 60s, by the way, which was interesting because the only thing women could do with a degree was go into public service or teach, and it was pretty normal to be insanely racist...

One thing I did not love: again, the plot was a little weak, or rather the overall lesson was. It was basically one big PSA to stay in school and not have sex. Um, that might clue you in on how it ends.

Hmm. It seems Emma Thompson shows up in both of these. Also bangs, which made me very analytical of my own. More to come on that topic. I also found myself sounding more English for a good half hour after... then I lost it again.