Reviews by AndAnotherThing

I didn't enjoy reading this book.

But oddly once I put it down and thought about it I realised I was savouring how neatly the biblical references fit together, the different perspectives of the same events are like Gospels, the messianic figure is obvious but you've also got allusions to Peter (Wood's thrice denial of the Blundy girl), St. John the Baptist prophesying the betrayal and execution, Mary and Joseph and of course the crucifixion itself.

Without giving anymore away the point is the cleverness of this book only really comes through once you've finished it. It's like The Usual Suspects, suddenly it all makes sense. Except without the great performances and slick editing.

Basically it's vaguely disappointing and at times you feel like skipping to the end of each section just to get on with it but some how weirdly it sits in your memory like a smug and self satisfied toad of knowing cleverness.

I wouldn't say don't read it but if you want to read something set in that era that takes on the challenges of the changing religious and political situation in Europe and how it effected the common man then you should instead read Q by the Italian anarchists writing under the pseudenym of Luther Blisset - it's incomparably better, both more thrilling and more visceral and does more to illuminate the age than this 17th Century espiode of Inspector Morse could ever hope to.

There are two things that surprise me about this film. Firstly that it is not at all the recent Farrelly brothers style American schtick we have become accustomed to being trained to react to like packs of mindless mall seals all clapping and honking in unision.

It's almost as though someone gave Pedro Almodovar his next gig in Hollywood immediately after doing Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

OK OK I'm not saying this is genius work, it's an OK movie. It's just the adult nature of the film that is surprising. To clarify for those sweating plams out there, by adult I mean humour requiring a greater than schoolyard level of appreciation and possibly the experience of actually having had a relationship at anything beyond the seemingly ubiquitous, tepid, shallow, masturbatory transcience of your my space profile. Believe me there once was a time when we met up with friends for an entire evening of conversation without the aid of mobile phones, internet connectivity or references to Little Britain.

I can only wonder how this went down in the mulitplex hell of USA inc.

But, and more importantly, the second surprising thing about this film was how fat many of the actors are? What's going on? Vaughn, his buddy Favreau and the woefully underused D'Onforio are all huge bloaters. Who was providing the food on set for Christ sake and couldn't someone have passed some onto Jennifer who looked like she could have used some fattening up after her bouts of post-Brad bullemic self abuse.

Anyway. Just don't watch it with your other half.