A small part of my job requires that I go and review films.
Sounds fun? It is. Especially when the kids and I just 'had to' view all the latest kids blockbusters over the summer, they thought it was a blast and for the most part I did too. And of course they were on hand to explain to mummy when she didn't understand what was going on - the films are all in Czech.
And for the most part that's OK, they normally are visual feast. I pop my 3D glasses on, and sometimes laugh if I get the gag...usually about a minute or two after the rest of the audience.
However, since the kids went back to skool I've suddenly lost my wing men and I'm flying solo. I can't whisper to them in dark and or give them a nudge, 'hey what does that mean?'. Now it's just down to me, sitting with me glasses on...hoping the other 'more serious film reviewers' don't catch me out in the audience.
I know it's a great experience of Czech and all that, but when I've got to hand in something professional for my job I can't just zone out and hope that the bad guy wins (ok they normally do, but that's not the point).
My hardest viewing to date was a French spoken film with Czech subtitles, as I've only got an O level in French I had a headache after that one let me tell you.
This week I had to review two films, Life of Pi and Perfect Pitch
Life of Pi was in 3D, which really seems to be the norm these days. And it worked because it was an absolute visual spectacle - a whale jumping out of an ocean of phosphorus, Richard Parker the tiger pacing threateningly on the small boat......I recommend it, it's also a great story. But I have to say I'm getting a bit bored of 3D, and the problem is my kids expect nothing less, coupled with a pumped up sound track and a stream of visual computer graphics. All well and good as long as it's not just a gimmick to cover up what is essential a bad storyline.
Thank god there are still some films out there that are still 2D - I saw Perfect Pitch this morning in a beautiful old cinema called Lucerna which was built in 1906, it has a kind of art nouveau style and it's a real pleasure to see a film there.
Ok so the film wasn't as good as the wizz bang 3D Life of Pi...but that's not the point!
