All 3 entries tagged Review

Money

This witty novel tells the story of John Self, a first-time movie director. Having made a name for himself directing TV commercials, Self is given the opportunity to direct a full length movie thanks to the purse-pulling powers of his New York contact, Fielding Goodney. The movie, Good Money or Bad Money (it changes through the novel) is to feature a cast of egotistic, emotionally unstable and unreasonably demanding actors, and the novel includes several very funny encounters and conversations with these, presumably, b-list celebs. As Self signs several documents throughout the novel without looking at them, the final twist in the plot is not entirely a surprise as Self is abruptly wrenched from his hedonistic lifestyle of money, sex, alcohol, fast food and Atlantic-hopping.

The plot is good, but the intertextuality of this novel is striking, and makes me want to read it again in an attempt to pick up on several references that I undoubtedly missed. Most overt are the Orwellian references. Not only does he read Animal Farm on recommendation of his friend, Martina, but the references to 1984 are rife. The novel itself was conveniently published in 1984. Self repeatedly stays in room 101 of his favourite hotel; his name itself, like Winston Smith, is an “everyman” name; he spends the duration of the novel overseeing rewrites of the script, just as Smith spends his days re-writing history. Likewise, characters sharing names with literary figures might also more than just a coincidence: Twain, Fielding. The London pub he frequents is called The Shakespeare. The novel is clearly making statements about literature and writing itself … although what? I’d need to read it again to make any kind of insightful comment on that.

Amis cleverly places his own self in the novel as the writer Martin Amis that occasionally bumps into Self and ultimately re-writes the movie script for him. Poised as a counterpart to Self’s over-indulgence and love of money, Amis cleverly brings the two of them together in a moment where they both share a tear at the televised wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles. This passage is perhaps reminiscent of the closing passage of Animal Farm where pigs and man become indistinguishable, and leaves the reader with a possible hint that Self and Amis are not the polar opposites that they initially seem.

This is a clever novel, depicting a consumer culture of New York and London in the 1980s, but, like 1984, with many passages and themes that still ring true today.

: 04 Sep 2006 16:39 |  Tags: Book Review |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Not to be taken ssssseriousssly

Excuse the awful title of this review. At 9.30 on a Sunday evening I don't feel inspired enough to come up with anything more original!

This is a fab movie so long as, as my title suggests, you go into the cinema and don't have any intention of taking the movie too seriously. Leave the intellectualism at the door please! The closest this film comes to socio–political commentary is in the one brief moment when it is mentionned that one of the snakes is native to the Middle East. Humph. It's an easy enough comment to ignor, and is probably completely meaningless.

Really enjoyed this. Laughed a lot, jumped a lot, squirmed a bit. It wasn't so scary that I found myself checking under the bed before going to sleep last night either … it's not believable enough to be that scary … it's just good pure fun. And it doesn't pretend to be anything other than that.

: 20 Aug 2006 21:43 |  Tags: Movie Review |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

DC Confidential

I'm not one for reading about politics, or even for reading autobiographies. However, when someone bought Christopher Meyer's DC Confidential for my partner as a gift, I snapped at the chance to read it first!

It's been a few months in the reading, and I found it a little slow to get going with, but Meyer's easy–style and comic anecdotes make it a worthwhile read. It's pitched as being controversial, but I can't say that he reveals a great deal that we either wouldn't have already known or suspected. Likewise, the chaper on 9/11 doesn't tell us a great deal – but then I guess that's to be expected given the global media coverage of it nevertheless. The chapters to follow this, however, are an entirely different matter giving a unique and, I would say, well–balanced insight into UK–US relations.

His background in PR and speechwriting shows through – Meyer is an excellent story–teller, and it's really the style and tone that make this book as opposed to any controversial revelations.

: 02 Aug 2006 13:25 |  Tags: Book Review |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem