Films for a Bank Holiday Weekend!

We had a bit of a lazy one this Bank Holiday weekend and very nice it was too; plenty of reading done and (unusually for us) a chance to catch up on the pile of DVDs that always look appealing in the shops but we never seem to get round to watching. Book reviews will be back tomorrow (probably with the Michael Moorcock collection but I am enjoying ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’ right now...), in the meantime here’s what we were watching over the weekend...

‘Batman Begins’

How long has it been since this movie came out? I don’t even know but Friday night was when I finally got round to watching it. I am officially rubbish at watching films when they come out and I regret hanging around so long before picking this one up. ‘Batman Begins’ was great.



It made a real change to see what Bruce Wayne actually got up to before turning up in Gotham City as Batman instead of the usual ‘this is what happened to him as a child and look... here’s Batman!’ There was more of a sense of him making an actual journey rather than just nipping to the fancy dress store for a rubber suit. It wasn’t all just thoughtful stuff though, Christian Bale is as hard as they come and when he went to work things kicked off in style with loads of explosions in all the right places. A fine supporting cast (Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon was brilliant, Michael Caine didn’t do a bad job either as Alfred) and a dark brooding Gotham backdrop rounded things off nicely. I’ve never felt the urge to pick up a Batman comic but this film could change all that. Now I just need to watch ‘The Dark Knight’...

‘Ghostbusters’ and ‘Back to the Future’

What? Both DVDs were really cheap in Tesco’s and I fancied a nostalgic trip back to the eighties without the indignity of being ten years old all over again...



There’s not a lot I can really say about these two films; you’re probably thinking it already. Both are the best way to spend a weekend in front of the TV without having to think too hard and be entertained at the same time (I will fight anyone who dares say otherwise). What did get me though is the fact that both of these films are well over twenty years old now and there is still stuff in them that I hadn’t noticed until now. Hands up who noticed that when Dana Barrett came back to her apartment, after having done her grocery shopping, she had a packet of ‘Staypuft Marshmallows’ in the bag? Oh... maybe it was just me who hadn’t noticed... It was also interesting to read, on Wikipedia, that Bill Murray’s role as Peter Venkman was originally meant for John Belushi (before he died).



‘Back to the Future’ isn’t as mad and in your face as ‘Ghostbusters’ but still manages to pack a lot into a short space of time. I’ve seen it a dozen times at least and I still get tense watching the final scenes as Marty McFly tries to get back home. In the same way, I always end up cheering at the end where Biff ends up as the guy waxing cars. It’s ideal Bank Holiday viewing however you look at it! :o)

See you tomorrow...