A mixed bag today but that rather fits the bill for a modern Christmas, that provocative mixture of God and Mammon. On the train to a sparsely attended (the majority of ticket holders presumably scared away by the dread Covid) but magnificent Maddy Prior/Carnival Band concert I observed less than sanguinely the painful and foul outpourings of the unmasked. I have no scientific standing to support or condemn the wearing of masks but once a duly elected authority has recommended donning the wretched things, it seems to me to be the decent thing to put up with it. And don't fuck about on trains - it's ill-mannered. But any discontent was dispelled by the talent on display on stage and the sheer decency of the company we kept that night. A man is blessed who has such friends.
Anyway, those films. A very worthy movie to kick us off. Worth asks the supremely difficult question - what is a life worth? I won't spoil it for you but I will simply say this - this wizened old lawyer was sufficiently moved to feel that all young lawyers should be made to watch this film. If they did they might better understand the importance of doing their job with humility. 73/100.
Next a supremely silly film but one that wears its silliness well. Unlike the similarly plotted but earnest Olympus Has Fallen, White House Down metaphorically winks at its audience even as deadlier and deadlier weapons are unleashed by the military-industrial complex. It's pointedly daft but nicely done. James Woods chews the scenery to good effect as the sort of security chief you are grateful was not around on January 6 when a whole slab of America got divorced from its senses. It is directed by Roland Emmerich and it goes some (but decidedly not all) of the way towards making up for his delivery of the specious pile of crap that is Anonymous. White House Down - despite myself I enjoyed it. 60/100.
Finally, another Aardman Animation (we have already had Arthur Christmas), in fact their first feature-length effort. It's not Toy Story but then very little is. Chicken Run, a plasticine pastiche of The Great Escape (a joke which will of course have been lost on its target child audience but which will bring them back to the film in later life - quite likely at Christmas) is charming and funny. I didn't set out to watch it when it screened earlier this week but caught the beginning and found myself staying to the end - I have seen it before but the humour remains winning. 70/100.
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