It was my birthday at the weekend, so me and some friends headed to Ashton Lane for some cocktails in Vodka Wodka. I had a nice Kir Royal, but I wasn't too keen on the Very Berry Belvedere. I was very amused by how seriously the bar guy took his art. I was trying not to laugh - it was like that scene in "Love Actually" where Rowan Atkinson is gift wrapping the illicit necklace for Alan Rickman. By the time we had to endure the hunt through the bar utensils for a zest peeler, simply so he could carve a small curl of lemon rind to float in a Kir Royal, I was snorting into the Milkman's shoulder.
We moved on the Hillhead Bookclub for dinner, but that was a total shambles. We'd booked through 5pm but despite me checking that yes, the menu we had ordered from was definitely the 5pm one, the waiter came back about 10mins later to say that it wasn't and could we please change some of our orders? No biggie technically as there weren't many changes, but it set our meal back (in a place which has possibly the slowest service I've ever experienced anyway) which was an issue because we had tickets booked for a film showing at 8.30pm. The food was good though, even though we had to wolf it down and skip dessert...which really sucks for a birthday meal!
We raced back along to the Grosvenor after that, for the main event of the evening - The Great Gatsby!! I can't tell you how excited I was about this film. I mean c'mon, it's one of my favourite books brought to the screen by one of my favourite directors and with one of my favourite actors leading the cast. And may I just say that no, Leo isn't one of my favourites just because he is pretty. I honestly think he is a great actor, who doesn't quite get the praise he deserves for that because his pretty gets in the way...it's Johnny Depp syndrome. I didn't have time to re-read the book before seeing the film, but actually I'm quite glad I hadn't because it was like seeing it for the first time (almost). At first I was a bit unsure, but I quickly acclimatised to the world on screen. I avoid reading reviews before I see or read or listen to something, particularly when I expect to enjoy whatever it is. However, I had heard that critics didn't like the use of modern music in a jazz-era film. Well I say bollocks to that - it was totally the right choice of soundtrack because it made the characters and the time in which they were living instantly relatable. If they were plonked into the here and now, that is the music they would be listening to. And even if you personally don't listen to those artists or styles of music, it keeps the story real...if an "authentic" soundtrack had been used it would have dated the story unnecessarily and turned it into a cheesy pastiche. As it was, the film was slick, funny, touching and totally decadent which perfectly honoured the book. And even though I knew it was coming, the conclusion was still shocking, heartbreaking and infuriating. This film didn't disappoint.
0 comments:
Post a Comment