The Passion of Pablo Cheesecake

A super-duper, extra long, bonus edition of the regular blog because, well frankly, the last couple of days has been a bit fucking EPIC.

This weekend Mrs Cheesecake and I went to the cinema like we usually do (hell if you've ever read this blog before you'll already know that). The only slight wrinkle was the third (yes you read that correct, I said 'third') film that we saw. More on that in a bit but first a little about films one and two.

The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists

This was brilliant fun. Aardman have proved yet again that their approach to animation is a genuine crowd pleaser. Hugh Grant is on fine form as The Pirate Captain. He was pitch-perfect (there's a sentence I never suspected I'd write about him). Turns out a plasticine pirate is the perfect role for Mr Grant. Martin Freeman, Brian Blessed, Imelda Staunton, Lenny Henry, Russell Tovey, Salma Hayek, Jeremy Piven,  David Tennant and Mr. Bobo all deserve a mention as well for their sterling efforts. If you have ever dreamed about having your own monkey butler (I know I have...actually thinking about it he would probably go all Planet of the Apes on my ass though so perhaps not) this is the film for you.

Yaarr....Avast behind and other dubious puns

Wrath of The Titans

The second film on Saturday afternoon was the sequel to the remake of the film that was somewhat based on the original stories of ancient Greece, Wrath of the Titans. We dutifully purchased our tickets and discovered the following.

Yes, I'm childish enough to find this funny

The film was ok I suppose. The complaints I levelled against Sam Worthington's hair in the first film have certainly been addressed. The 3D was better than before and the 'big fuck-off battle' finale was pretty entertaining. I just wasn't that interested in the build up that I had to sit through to get there.

Overall I think I probably would have preferred to have seen a film called Wrath of the Tit. Wait a second didn't Woody Allen do that one time? Lets ask him....hey Woody...Woody!...WOODY!!!....Damn, he seems to be busy.

Wrath of the Tit - Part II*

*It really is amazing what you can find on the Internet isn't it? Woody vs a Giant Boob...crazy times eh.

The Gospel of Us

The final film of the weekend required a bit more than our usual level of commitment. How about a 400 mile round trip for example. 

Yesterday afternoon we found ourselves in Port Talbot, South Wales to attend the premiere of The Gospel of Us starring Michael Sheen and the people of the town. In a nutshell this was a reinterpretation of The Passion Play but with a modern, secular feel. The play itself took place over the three days of Easter 2011 but the director, Dave McKean has spent the last year bringing together footage to create a two hour version of the spectacle. 

To be serious for a moment. If you've ever seen McKean's other directorial experiment, MirrorMask, then you will appreciate the director's iconoclastic approach to any subject he tackles. The Gospel of Us blends music, animation and footage taken on the day to create something that is an assault on the senses. This cinematic event is truly striking and a genuine spectacle to behold. If you get the chance to see this I would strongly advise you take the opportunity. There was a moment near the films climax where I felt all the hairs at the back of my neck stand up. McKean uses some clever editing techniques to bring crowd scenes to life and draw the focus toward the players as the tale unfolds. Astonishing stuff.

Prior to the screening Mrs Cheesecake was in attendance in the press pit and got to meet Mr McKean, who got a free chocolate for his time (Oh yeah, we're willing to bribe a director. We'll so go there). Mrs Cheesecake also got some great shots of Michael Sheen, Owen Sheers and Rachel McAdams. 

For more details about the event, including photos, check out http://www.michael-sheen.co.uk. (It's all good I know the owner of the site, I slept with her last night).

Told you it was a big old update didn't it?

I need to go have a bit of a lie down, I'm spent.

Laters

Pablo Cheesecake vs That There London

It's not very often that Mrs Cheesecake and I get the opportunity to head of to the big city but yesterday we had a perfect excuse. Mrs Cheesecake is a rather huge fan of Michael Sheen (don't believe me? check out www.michael-sheen.co.uk, all her own work don't cha know). Anywho, we had scored some tickets to go and see Himself (that's what he is known as in our house) as Hamlet at The Young Vic.

As the show wasn't on until 7pm we decided we would check out a bit of the city we hadn't experienced before. I should state for the record I was also jonesin for a Starbucks Eggnog latte and figured I could cater for coffee habit along the way.

So prior to the show - Borough Market. Awww man this place is food porn of the highest order. Every direction you turn there are loads and loads of specialist vendors hawking their wares. It is a blissful assault on the senses. Within the first 100ft we had walked past someone making grilled garlic king prawns, someone else selling hot mulled wine and another selling pates, relishes and many varieties of salami. Best part, without a doubt, LOADS of free samples. I just didn't know where to start.

Eventually, after much umming and ahhing,  we ended up joining a queue for a stall called Roast to Go. The queue was pretty long but I took this to be a good sign, turns out it was totally worth it. I got a salt beef, mustard and pickle sandwich while Mrs Cheesecake had turkey and cranberry. It may have been the best sandwich I have ever eaten (and I really do mean EVER!)

More wandering about and I got to try some splendid cheese, an exceptional terrine and a great wild mustard relish. I think that if we had the time, the cash and the inclination we could have spent the entire day at there.

The evening found us at The Young Vic and we had pretty epic fucking seats, 4th row ain't at all shabby. We've seen a good modern take of Hamlet before, starring the Tenth Doctor and Jean-Luc Picard, but this interpretation was a different class. The performances were all mesmerising but Sheen was exceptional. Nothing better than a bit of live theatre.

I reckon that'll do for now. Much as I enjoyed visting that there London. It is nice to be back in our little house, fussing the cat on the sofa. I have some serious mooching about scheduled so best be off to do it.

Laters Taters

Ohh by the way, before I forget,  after such a hectic day it may not be a massive surprise to discover that I completely forgot about, and didn't manage to get, the coffee I was hoping for. Perhaps next week.

Live (ok nearly 24hrs late) from the BAFTA Red Carpet

sunday

I’ve never been to a red carpet event before so wasn’t sure what to expect when  Mrs Cheesecake and I headed to the Theatre Royal for 8 am. Mrs Cheesecake had very diligently checked out the BAFTA website and was aware that we had to go an collect wristbands before we would be allowed entry to the event.

When we arrived there was already as sizable queue but everyone was in high spirits even though it was raining. We queued for around 45 minutes and eventually found ourselves at the front where we were given our wristbands by some nice security guards. They explained that we were not going to get access to the red carpet site until at least 1.30pm.


Suddenly we had hours to kill and the weather by this point was fucking terrible. After some looking around we found ourselves having breakfast in Tuttons. I cannot recommend this restaurant highly enough. I’m not sure if it was because they took pity on two drowned rats but their breakfast is sublime. The service was splendid and it turns out there is nothing better than a full English to the strains of Vivaldi for restoring one’s equilibrium.

The rest of the waiting time passed quickly as we wandered around Covent Garden and enjoyed a bit of cafe society. Mrs Cheesecake even spotted Richard E. Grant.

Back to the queue and eventually we managed to make it to the red carpet area. Again more waiting but it was good to watch all the comings and goings.

Enough of preliminaries lets get to the event itself. Between us Mrs Cheesecake and I got some ace shots and we saw a veritable cornucopia of stars.

Deep Breath…..here we go…we saw…..

Sharto Copley, Christoph Waltz, Matt Dillon, Noel Clarke, Oliva Williams, Jeremy Renner, Peter Capaldi, Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson, Jason Issacs, Sam Taylor Wood, Aaron Johnson, Nicholas Hoult, Armando Iannucci, Tahir Rahim, Jane Goldman, Terry Gilliam, David Baddiel, Anil Kapoor, Claudia Winkleman, Colin Firth, Ann Marie Duff, Andy Serkis, David Morrisey, Nick Frost, Jonathan Ross, McKenzie Crook, Mark Kermode, James Corden, Kate Winslet, James Cameron, Prince William (yup royalty), Mickey Rourke, Robert Pattison, Quentin Tarintino, Clare Danes.

There were others as well but I honestly can’t remember them all. We got some top photos as well.

Here is one of Sharto Copley

and what does he write on an autograph?

If you can’t make it out it says YOU FOOKIN PRAWN! Class.

One conclusion I did come to is that Joely Richardson and Kate Winslet may not be human. I don’t mean that in a nasty way. Quite the reverse in fact. They are both absolutely flawless. Pictures do not do them just SERIOUSLY. Mrs Cheesecake felt the same way about Jonathan Rhys Myers. In other interesting news Clive Owen is really surprisingly short. Again don’t mean that in a nasty way just expected him to be taller.



Disappointment of the night. No Jeff Bridges or Michael Sheen. Well I don’t suppose we can have everything can we.

Ass Monkeys of the evening – All of the professional autograph hunters. They were all rude as fuck and kept making me angry. These are the cock javelins that get autographs just so they can sell then on for profit. Fucking ring pieces the lot of them. I think some of the stars were avoiding our area because of these assholes.

Oddly we ended up with one of the official umbrella like the one you can see in the Joely Richardson pic. Weird but true.

It was most definitely an experience.

No longer on the Red Carpet.
Pablo Cheesecake