Moli goes on holiday and gets a fan club…

I think its time that I did an update to the blog. I’ve been busy having fun and that’s a good enough excuse I guess to be lazy and not write the blog. I really want to write weekly or twice a month. Anyway after Easter I decided that I really needed a short break out of the UK as the weather is fairly unpredictable and looking at the costs of UK based hotels, it was clearly cheaper to go abroad. Having visited Tenerife at the start of the year I was keen to try somewhere new with some guaranteed sunshine. I ended up going into Thomas Cook to book it and was offered some lovely places that interested me. However, the flight times going out and coming back at 3am and 6am would destroy any rest I aimed to achieve. It’s crazy that airlines actually have these as an option for holidaymakers. I really can’t understand why people would do it and I certainly wouldn’t, So, I decided to have a rethink and choose the holiday destination based on decent flight times. Well, the only one available was traveling to Tenerife again, so not an ideal solution as I wasn’t that keen to make a return trip so soon but I did enjoy my last trip. I reluctantly agreed on the destination and book the agents recommended hotel called the Blue Sea Interpalace. This was billed as a 4 star hotel. So, I paid my money and got excited about the trip.

After a good flight on Easyjet and chatting the cabin crew at the back of the plane abut the latest Galley FM which is all the tales and gossip of cabin crew the 4 hour flight passed very quickly. The stories were very funny and mostly involved which crewmember was shagging who and how rude most of the customers can be. Once we landed I had a 1 hour coach trip to the north of the island and my hotel. So, after 5 hours traveling from Gatwick I arrived at the Blue Sea Interpalace hotel and was presented with two Spanish reception staff. Now I was hoping for a “Hello” or “Hola” and a smile but I was sadly out of luck. I was however, ignored for 5 minutes while they chatted to each other and looked glum about life in general. Which they did acknowledge my existence it was almost as an inconvenience. Checking in with the world’s most unfriendly human was fortunately quick and I was offered a room on the 3rd floor. The room was tiny and next to a busy and noisy road. Bikes, cars and people seemed ridiculously loud and sleep was impossible. Sitting in bed I was getting more and more angry. I discussed my feeling with the 10,000 ants that were sharing my room that night. They seemed happy about the state of things and offered no real help. The next morning, having not really slept, I spoke to a new and slightly less unhappy man on reception about changing rooms. He said yes and asked “would I like a top floor room with a sea view?” I looked at him for a moment and replied, “Errrr…. Yeah” So I moved and got a much better view and less ants.
Tenerife

Finally I could relax but this was clearly not a 4 star hotel and I would be generous saying it was 2 stars with is worn out carpets and very average food and frankly awful nightly entertainment. The weather was my main reason for going and I had plenty of sunshine to keep me happy. I had some of the free beer that was like water and simply couldn’t have actually contained any alcohol. So, I mostly drank real water and played the games that were on offer.

Untitled

This for me was the highlight of the trip. A rep would walk around the pool area and call out the name of the game about to be played. First up was shooting which I loved doing and was actually fairly good at. The hotel was mostly populated by German OAP’s but one of them was to become my nemesis or my arch enemy. Eddie was actually a resident at the hotel and played the games every day and had become quite good at them. Eddie was a loud man and a bloody know all that kept beating me at all the games, normally ending with a “Yar” Some of the games I’d never seen or played before like a Dutch game called Sjoelbak. It was played with wooden discs and all the other OAP’s had over the course of the week become my fan club, all of them willing me to beat Eddie. I had become their champion and with their backing I focused on the game in hand and with a little bit of luck I managed to beat Eddie with much applause from my new fan club and to much frowning from Eddie. Take that!!!
TenerifeOn the only cloudy day I took a walk up to the botanical gardens which was a very relaxing place to sit and enjoy all the colours.
Tenerife

In the end I was able to have a relaxing break but I honestly couldn’t wait to come home and get back into my own bed and a decent cup of tea. I learnt that Thomas Cook have no idea of star ratings. German OAP’s are really good at unknown European games and you are never too old to have a fan club.

M

Moli finds Gravity…

Every year I see a fair few films, which I cast my critical eye over.  Some of these films have been reviewed on Moliblog and mainly fall into two categories, either very good or bloody terrible.  Sometimes a film comes along that stands head and shoulders above that of other films, it sets a benchmark for others to follow and to be compared against.  Gravity sets a landmark in technological filmmaking history like 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), TRON (1982) The Matrix (1999) and Avatar (2009)

Gravity

The films is shot in IMAX and 3D and is the first film in my opinion that really makes full use of these formats.  From the first shot to the last, the imagery is mind blowing and the viewer finds themselves almost part of the action like no other film has done before.  The viewer is drawn into orbit and into the story of Dr Ryan Stone played by Sandra Bullock.

Gravity

Gravity

The action starts right away and doesn’t stop with the wow factor till the last beat. Bullock’s pulls out the performance of her career and despite the appearance of George Clooney, the film is Bullock’s to deliver and she does just that.  The director Alfonso Cuarón, allows the performers to shine without being overshadowed by the action and the revolutionary special effects that were specially invented for this film.

In addition to the story of being trapped in space and fighting for survival, is the subplot of a woman still grieving for her death of her child and facing her own death.  The two shots that develop this are Ryan floating inside a space station in a the fetal position, including umbilical cord and her eventual return to earth which looked very much like a re-birth.

Gravity

I can’t find fault with the film, except that it might only be viewable in the cinema with 3D and IMAX.  I will be very interested in seeing Gravity on the small screen and comparing my experience to the one I had on the big screen, which took my breath away. Go and see one of the best films I’ve seen for years before it leaves the cinema.  Fantastic film.  FIVE STARS…

M

Moli and The Iron Lady…

Moli Meets Meryl…

Which is was a great start to the year with my first Q & A for 2012 for the film, The Iron Lady…

The Iron Lady Poster

The film was always going to have the Marmite effect on the public opinion given the subject. Like many, I remember having a low opinion of Thatcher, as did much of her cabinet, which led to her ultimate demise. However, after nearly 22 years since she left office I find myself ambivalent to her and her history. I won’t deny that she had a major influence on British society and this film allows the viewer to bring their own memory of that impact by skirting around the political issues and focusing on the person. Anyone expecting to get any political insights or answers to her more controversial decisions will be disappointed. It’s not about politics. It’s more about the loss of oneself and the equality that we all have in old age and death. In essence, it’s a story about everyone. No matter who we are or were, we could all drop dead washing up a teacup.

Meryl Streep never met Thatcher in her preparation for the role and her performance wasn’t any worse for it. Streep captured the essence of the character without being comical or a spitting image caricature of Thatcher, she told us that she did get advice from Neil Kinnock, former Labour leader and unnamed people who were in her cabinet at the time in order to capture the person. The well researched make up and costume supported what was an award nominating performance. Listening to Streep talk about the role showed that she was a very smart and intuitive actress and to some large degree, much better than the quality of the overall production. Streep’s portrayal of Thatcher’s mental illness was based in artistic license, as this isn’t really known in detail. Only a book by Carol Thatcher, her daughter has given any insight into this and was certainly a catalyst for the movies theme. Therefore it is a weak premise for historical accuracy but fascinating as a subject matter.

Iron Lady Screening 2012, Meryl Streep & Phyllida Lloyd

Director Phyllida Lloyd whose previous work includes Mamma Mia and writer Abi Morgan (Brick Lane, Shame) chose to tell the story through flashbacks of her life. However, the flashbacks were primarily on her political life without going into any real detail and the hallucinations of the recently passed Dennis Thatcher played by Jim Broadbent. The appearances of Dennis were comical but all too distracting for me and took too much away from the torment of her inability to let him go.

The Iron Lady Screening 2012

The film didn’t touch on Thatcherism and the rights and wrongs of her career or her time as a Chemist and Barrister, which I feel would have added something to the story. Her desire to be more than a shopkeeper’s daughter is a rag to riches story that missed out her pre political life and her time at Oxford.

The film did nothing to change my opinion of Thatcher, which goes to show how balanced the screenplay was not to glorify or offend. It’s all too easy to demonise someone who, for many people is already demonetized and in contrast to this for some is worshiped and any critical approach would be unwelcome. However the film missed a chance to be something great and Streep was wasted in my opinion.

As always, I say go and see it and make your own mind up,

Moli