It was the BAFTAs last weekend and there was a lot to take away from the ceremony. For one thing, all of the winners were white which seems ridiculous given the diversity among the nominees. For another, Colin Farrell didn’t win Best Actor for his role in The Banshees of Inisherin. One of the few things that we can say that BAFTA got right was nominating Brian and Charles for Outstanding British Film. It wasn’t exactly going to win because it was up against some stiff competition. However, I was happy to see it getting recognised. Even though I hadn’t actually seen it at that point. It was a film that I had been eyeing up for ages because it just sounded like my kind of thing. A quirky British film about a lonely weirdo. I loved the idea of it. The award ceremony on Sunday gave me the perfect excuse to finally watch it.
You never really know what to expect from a film that makes headlines because of leaked photos showing a child actor in blackface. Good Boys caused a great deal of controversy when TMZ leaked photos showing one of the stand-in actors having been made to look darker-skinned. Seth Rogen apologised, obviously, but it’s a weird thing. In this day and age, why would anyone think it’s a good idea? Now, I’m not an expert but surely there are better ways of dealing with inconsistencies like this? For one thing, find someone who looks more like the main actor? There have got to be loads of kids out there who look similar enough to Keith L. Williams, right? Anyway, I guess it got the film noticed. Although, it’s a film that sees Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg producing a version of Superbad with kids. It was always going to get a fair bit of attention.
This is last TBT post of November. A fact that can only mean one thing: we’re only 4 posts away from the end of this whole series. In just four weeks time I never have to watch a film from 1988 ever again if I don’t want to. Somehow I’ve managed to avoid watching any of the “decent” films that I had intended to watch. I kind of feel like I need to at least watch Cinema Paradiso as it was the Oscar winner from that year. But, then again, when there are still so many shitty films out there it’s impossible to imagine sitting down to watch something good. I know that I’m watching both Scrooged and Die Hard in December so it just begs the question, what are the other two going to be? But, let’s not think about that now. Not when we have a film all about female empowerment. It’s all feeling very progressive but is it as predictable as I think it’s going to be?
Sherlock Holmes is quite the character. According to certain statistics, he’s the most portrayed human literary character. Way back in 2012, the Guinness Book of World Records awarded him the title after it decided the sleuth had been depicted a whopping 254 times on-screen. A number that beat Hamlet by 48. All in all, the great detective has, according to the numbers, been played by over 75 different actors so, by this point we’re definitely starting to get that sense of déjà vu. Which is probably why so many TV and film executives keep trying to find new and interesting ways to reinvent the character. We’ve seen him with deerstalker, without deerstalker, with a coke habit, without a coke habit, with emotions, without emotions. He’s been played by American actors, by British actors, by Grand Moff Tarkin, and by Dr Strange. So many options. It’s amazing anyone even keeps trying when there have been so many options! But, apparently, people will never stop trying to make it new again. Something director Thom Eberhardt took to a new level in 1988 when he turned the traditional premise on its head starring two of our finest actors.
John Hughes wrote a shitload of films. A hell of a lot more than I’ve ever really appreciated. Looking at his filmography has shown me just how much of an influence he had over my childhood and teenage years without me ever realising. Obviously, films like The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles are classic 80s teen films that everyone knows about. Then there’s kid friendly things like Home Alone and Uncle Buck both of which I’ve loved for years. But, as it turns out, there’s absolutely loads of films I’ve always enjoyed that were written by him too. After all, what kid really pays any attention to who writes a film? I mean if I had £1 for every time my sister and I watched the 1994 film Dennis the Menace I’d had a fuckload of pound coins right now. It was only thanks to Wikipedia today that I realised it was written by non other than John Hughes. Miracle on 34th Street is one of my top 10 Christmas films without me ever realising that it was another Hughes film. So, all set with the knowledge that John Hughes is probably single-handedly responsible for my cinematic awakening, I set out to watch another of his films that I’d never seen before. Would it be another classic or another 
I’m starting to get to the point with my TBT film jar where the fun films are getting fewer and the more serious ones are piling up. It will mean that I will finally get to see some of the classics of the 80s that I’ve always put off but it also means I’ll have to be in the right frame of mind when I watch them. Today I don’t think I could have handled anything other than this light-hearted crime caper. It’s been my day off and I’ve been super lazy all day. So lazy, in fact, that I fell asleep during my initial viewing of this film and missed a good chunk of the story. Once I’d been revitalised by my nap I went back and finished it properly. I don’t think my inability to stay awake was caused by the film itself. More the fact that my bastard body clock refuses to let me sleep in when I’m not working. The problem with working 7am shifts during the week means I’ve not had a proper lie in for years. I miss my uni days when I could genuinely sleep in all morning and not give a shit. Also, back in those days, because I had so little contact time, I could watch at least 3 films in one day.
Today has been a bad day, if I’m honest. Work sucks at the moment and, as it’s nearly been 2 weeks since the deadline for the job I really wanted, I’m assuming my recent application hasn’t come to anything. I mean I haven’t heard anything so I can still blindly cling to the small amount of hope that’s left. But it doesn’t look good. Still, there’ll be other jobs somewhere… I’m sure. I’ve just been tired and stressed today. A good night’s sleep will make everything seem better, right? Well, it can’t hurt. So I’ll try to wrap this up as quickly as possible. Which, to be honest, is probably a good thing. I watched Midnight Run for the first time ever yesterday and, stupidly, I wasn’t paying a great deal of attention to all of it. I mean I got the gist of it but I can’t say it really pulled me all the way in. So we’ll see what kind of sense we can make out of it. Incidentally, I’ve had the 
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