James Clay Stuff

December 10, 2022December 10, 2022

Movie Advent Calendar #10 – Contagion

But right now, our best defense has been social distancing. No hand-shaking, staying home when you’re sick washing your hands frequently.

In 2012 I did a cinematic advent calendar of twenty four films. These were films that I really liked and have enjoyed at the cinema. This year on a similar theme I will be posting a movie advent calendar of twenty four movies.

Contagion was released in 2011, this medical thriller had a large cast including Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Elliott Gould, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Ehle, Sanaa Lathan, and Marion Cotillard.

The film’s plot concerns the spread of a highly contagious virus transmitted by respiratory droplets. It described the various attempts by medical researchers and public health officials to identify and contain the disease. There is the loss of social order as the virus turns into a worldwide pandemic. The film concludes with the introduction of a vaccine to halt its spread.

I bought Contagion on iTunes back in 2012 and watched it on my iPad. At the time I did compare the film to the 1995 film Outbreak, but did feel Contagion, with it’s global story was better and more realistic. I think I did watch it again later as well.

Of course in 2020 we saw the coronavirus pandemic hit the world. In March 2020 I scared myself silly by watching Contagion again. The film is about a much more lethal virus with a shorter incubation period than coronavirus. So in the interests of accuracy I checked the trivia and goofs sections of IMDB only to read this section in the goofs.

The disease in the film is highly lethal, affects a very large number of people and has a short incubation period. In reality an infectious disease must have a long incubation period and less lethality than in the film to facilitate a sustained transmission. The real case makes tracking much more difficult, which is a central part of the film, therefore the filmmakers had to bend the facts a bit.

Oh…

I still think the film is worth watching. Luckily we didn’t see the breakdown in social order that was seen in the film. However in the film we didn’t see people dismissing the vaccine as some did with the coronavirus vaccine.

I still think this is a powerful film and one that is worth watching and is still relevant.

Get Contagion at Amazon.

December 10, 2022

Not a cinema #365photos2022

December 9, 2022December 10, 2022

Movie Advent Calendar #09 – Fury

The first twenty minutes or so of Saving Private Ryan is a raw horrific introduction what “modern” warfare is all about. This is no glorified Hollywood war film, this is what, according to many veterans, war is really like. That opening sequence was brutal and extremely shocking. it is shocking as the violence is sudden, brutal and non-discriminating. You get to see not just the immediate impact of war, but also the brutal impact it has on individuals.

Fury, though I don’t think is in the same league as Saving Private Ryan is a brutal film that again demonstrates the horror of war and the horrendous impact that this has on the people who are forced to live through this.

Whereas Saving Private Ryan demonstrates the optimism of the Normandy landings, Fury though takes us to the brutal assault through Germany and you can see that the soldiers just want the war to be over. However the total war policy in 1945 Germany, shows that there was no respite, no way to let down your guard.

Like Saving Private Ryan there is an ensemble cast, these are the crew of the M4 Sherman tank named Fury.

I do think Brad Pitt provides an excellent performance of the grizzled, hardened tank commander. Logan Lerman as private Norman Ellison, a young clerk with no combat experience, reminded me of Jeremy Davies as Technician Fifth Grade Timothy Upham. The newcomer who no one likes and no one trusts.

Wardaddy (Brad Pitt) with Norman (Logan Lerman) in Columbia Pictures’ FURY.

Much of the battle sequences look unrealistic and fantastical, then you find out later they are based on things that actually happened. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

The brutality of some of the scenes makes Fury a film that can be difficult to watch, but you do care about the characters and that keeps you watching.

Fury wasn’t a film I saw at the cinema, but I think this is a cinematic film and one worth watching. I got it on Blu-Ray in the end.

Get Fury at Amazon.

December 9, 2022

Tinsel Forest #365photos2022

December 8, 2022

Frosty Grass #365photos2022

December 8, 2022December 7, 2022

Movie Advent Calendar #08 – Tenet

Don’t try to understand it.

I heard a lot about this film being unwatchable, or needed repeated viewings, so I didn’t make the effort to go and see it at the cinema.

The film follows a former CIA agent who learns how to manipulate the flow of time to prevent an attack from the future that threatens to annihilate the present world.

This is both a film about traveling through time and a film that isn’t about time travel.

I actually really enjoyed the film and did think it was relatively easy to follow. I did have to focus on the film, this is not a film you can multi-task with. The scenes which are “repeated” are clever and sometimes I did struggle to understand who was who and what was going on, but I think that was intentional by the writer and director. The film certainly also benefited from a repeat viewing.

Christopher Nolan does an excellent job in directing the film and the look and feel, and direction of Tenet, did remind me of another film Nolan directed, Inception in some ways.

I thought John David Washington was excellent in the lead role. How his character develops across the film is really engaging, you find out more about what is happening, just as his character does.

Overall I enjoyed this film, much more so than I thought I would. At one point I was going to not watch it after reading some of the reviews, but I am glad I did.

Get Tenet at Amazon.

December 7, 2022

Then and Now – Cabot Circus

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. The first of the posts in this series was of a council building in Manchester. I always thought I should give then and now photographs a go. However what I have started to notice is that I have been doing Then and Now photographs unintentionally over the years and have been taking photographs of the same thing or place from the same view or perspective years apart. Now this has come to my attention I have started to intentionally take photographs of the same place.

In November I posted one in this series about Cabot Circus at Christmas time having taken a photograph in December 2019 and then intentionally took a similar photograph in November 2022.

What I hadn’t remembered was that I had taken identical or similar photographs before. Going through my collection and some old Flickr albums I found two more photographs.

This photograph was taken not long after Cabot Circus had opened. The shopping centre had opened on 25th September 2008, this photograph was taken on the 21st October 2008.

I took some more photographs and at the time I was then approached by security who told me that this was against their rules. I thought this was bizarre. Was I taking photographs of the shops?

No!

Was I using my big Canon 400D with 75-300mm lens?

No!

Was I using my nice 50mm lens which I keep meaning to use more?

No!

Was I using my point and shoot Sony W35?

No!

What was I using?

I was using a Nokia N95 phone!

I was surprised to be asked to stop. Weird policy. Of course once more people had more phones they stopped enforcing the policy.

Going through my collection I also had taken this similar photo on the 4th July 2016.

Three years later on December 8th 2019. I was on my way to do a pick up from the Vue Cinema, so I took a photograph of the festive Cabot Circus. Not realising I had taken similar photos before.

This photograph was taken on the 26th November 2022. I remembered I had taken a photograph in the same location, so took this one.

So I had unintentionally taken three photographs of roughly the same place over an eleven year period.

December 7, 2022

Bauble #365photos2022

December 7, 2022December 7, 2022

Movie Advent Calendar #07 – Stan & Ollie

In 2011 I did a musical advent calendar that I posted to Google+ (remember that) and a final summary on this blog. In 2012 I did a cinematic advent calendar of twenty four films. These were films that I really liked and have enjoyed at the cinema. In 2019 I did a televisual advent calendar of twenty four television programmes. These were television programmes that I really liked and have enjoyed watching. This year on a similar theme I will be posting a movie advent calendar of twenty four movies.

I got Stan & Ollie on Blu-Ray for a present, though it took a while for me to sit down and watch it.

I remember watching Laurel and Hardy films when I was young on the television, so was aware of their fame and background.

The film focuses on details of the comedy duo’s personal relationship while relating how they embarked on a gruelling music hall tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland during 1953 and struggled to get another film made. Though they were famous for their movies, by 1953 their careers were waning and they were less popular than they were back in their heyday.

I loved the production and cinematography of this movie. It made clever use of CGI to recreate 1950s Britain. The story is both funny and also sad.

I really enjoyed the film and made me appreciate the life, challenges and difficulties that Laurel and Hardy faced in their professional lives.

A text epilogue explains they never performed together again. Oliver’s health did not recover and he died in 1957. Stan refused all offers to perform without Oliver but continued, until his death in 1965, to write material for Laurel and Hardy.

Get Stan & Ollie at Amazon.

December 7, 2022December 7, 2022

Remembering The Eagle has Landed

Back in 2012 I was doing a cinematic advent calendar and on the 7th December 2012 I posted about The Eagle has Landed.

There are quite a few films in that advent calendar that have significant memories over and above the film itself. With The Eagle has Landed I went to see it at the Aldeburgh cinema with my grandparents. Looking back I was seven (maybe eight) when I went to see it, which when you consider the current certification of 15 was way too young! What I do remember was that whenever there was a scene with blood, my grandparents would say to me, that’s tomato ketchup! I think because I saw that film at that cinema that it is one of my favourite films and in that list.

The film was set in Norfolk and partially in the Channel Islands. However, the filming of the Channel Islands and coastal scenes was mainly filmed in Cornwall. The majority of the film was in and around the fictional village of Studley Constable, these scenes were filmed in the village of Mapledurham in Oxfordshire.

In March 2014 I was driving from Oxford to Reading, and having watched the film recently and checking out IMDB for the filming locations, I realised that Mapledurham was on the way. So I set the sat nav and drove to the village. It was easy to find and I drove down to the Manor House.