The Illusionist

I saw The Illusionist a couple of nights ago. I hadn't heard of the movie, but kept seeing the poster on bus stops everywhere and it caught my eye. So after a quick look on the official site and viewing the trailer I thought it was my type of film and I wasn't disappointed.

Edward and Sophie are childhood sweethearts despite being at different ends of the social scale (he is the son of her father's carpenter). Despite being told they cannot see each other, they continue to meet in secret. Finally they are discovered together, and Sophie implores Edward who has been studying magic to make them disappear, but he can't and the two are seperated for good. He leaves and travels the world learning more about the craft of magic. Years later, Edward in the guise of Eisenheim, the Master Illusionist and Sophie who is now the Fiance of Crown Prince Leopold of Austria meet again at one of his stage shows. They resume their affair, but as they plan to run away together tragedy strikes. But all is never what it seems.


This is the best role I have seen Edward Norton in since American History X. He is outstanding as Eisenheim making him a charismatic yet human character. The support is equally as good - Paul Giametti as the dogged, flawed yet enlightened Police Inspector on his tail, and Jessica Biel suprising me with both her ability to do accents and her luminence as Sophie. Rufus Sewell plays the psychotic yet charming Leopold, an act he can probably do in his sleep by now, seeming to be one of the long list of English baddie actors in Hollywood these days.

The film is gorgeous to look at, the colours and opulence enhancing the period, and at times the photography gives the film an almost dreamlike quality which fits in well with its subject matter. Added to that the haunting score and the movie is perfection. Plus its nice to see something original on the screen and that actually makes you think and question what you've seen earlier in the movie.

When Good Fans Go Bad

Being a part of two very different fan communities - Robin Hood and Richard Armitage, I am exposed to different levels of fan worship all the time. It's something that fascinates me how I can look at something/someone objectively and see good or bad points and yet another person can never see the bad only the good and in some instances flame anyone who dares suggest their chosen idol/topic is less than perfect.

I came across an article on WikiPedia that actually discusses the various stages of fan worship and actually gives it a name - Celebrity Worship Syndrome (CWS). There are 3 stages:

Mild affliction

People with mild affliction have a passion for talking about their chosen celebrity. They will pursue an interest in one celebrity and denigrate competing stars.

Someone with mild affliction would say, "My friends and I like to discuss what my favourite celebrity has done" and "Learning the life story of my favourite celebrity is a lot of fun." Psychologists found that people with mild affliction were generally extroverts.

Moderate affliction

People with moderate affliction were found to have an intense personal relationship with their idol.

Someone with moderate affliction would say, "I consider my favourite celebrity to be my soul mate" and "I have frequent thoughts about my celebrity, even when I don't want to."

Intense affliction

The third group were found to generally be solitary, impulsive, anti-social and have insensitive traits.

Psychologists enlightened that Hardcore CWS sufferers feel that they have a special bond with their idol. However, their bond is more intense than that of a sufferer with mild affliction. They believe their idol knows them personally and are prepared to do anything for their idol, even sacrifice their life.

Someone with Hardcore CWS would say, "If I were lucky enough to meet my favourite celebrity , and he/she asked me to do something illegal as a favour I would probably do it" and "If someone gave me several thousands dollars(pounds) to do with as I please, I would consider spending it on a personal possession once used by my favourite celebrity."

Researchers indicate that their form of CWS is borderline pathological.

I find it quite interesting that despite running fan websites and forums, I actually only come under the heading of mild affliction and even then I don't meet the criteria entirely, not being one for slagging off other actors because they are not Richard. It actually really annoys me when people do, as by my very great and public annoyance with some RA fans slagging off Jonas Armstrong, because in a series called Robin Hood in which he plays Robin Hood he gets more screen time than Richard who doesn't play Robin Hood.

With regards to moderate affliction, well I don't think RA is my soulmate, and I'm more likely to have sudden thoughts about a bloke I like in real life than RA.

Definitely not Intense Affliction. I would not do anything illegal for RA, neither do I feel I have a specila bond and if someone gave me thousands of pounds I'd buy a new car.

Unfortunately on several occasions in the Richard Armitage Community I have come across behaviour that borders on Intense Affliction.

Examples

On hearing her favourite actor may be gay or in a relationship, one fan confessed she couldn't stop crying. On seeing a picture of this actor with another woman, she couldn't believe how others were happy he seemed to be happy in a relationship with someone and again wanted to cry as it was bad he may have a girlfriend.

Very Scary Mary behaviour IMO. This is very much in the realms of "if he didn't have a girlfriend, he would be with me, if he knew me"

Some people write fan letters to their chosen celebrity - done it myself. However, some people write continuously, somehow that suggests to me, they consider they have some relationship with the person. Hmm Yes - in their head and nowhere else. This obviously would put them in the second category of CWS.

I find it very sad and very odd that some fans just can't see the difference especially when actors are concerned between playing a role on screen and how they actually are in real life. They may be nice in real life but who knows, not a fan, despite some thinking they do. The operative word here is Actor - i.e even the 'real' persona they present through interviews and public appearances, is their public persona, not necessarily how they are in private. Sad that some fans just fail to recognise this again it suggests they believe they have some 'connection' or relationship with the celebrity.

I think it sad and a little scary that some fans put all their emotional energy into someone they don't know and it is a little scary I'm sure for the celebrity to have to deal with this behaviour.

You can read the whole Wikipedia article on CWS here

BAFTA & The Last King of Scotland

I watched the BAFTAS last night. I don't know why but it seemed a little dull this year. Perhaps it was missing the wit and repartee of Mr Stephen Fry who sadly was not hosting this year. Don't get me wrong I am big Jonathon Ross fan, I mean who else could dare to wear a Robin Hood hat with a tangerine coloured suit and be so nonchalant about it, but he just seemed a bit too well behaved and obsequious, which is unlike him.

My film viewing has been sadly lacking in the last year, so I had only actually seen two of the main nominees - The Last King of Scotland and The Queen, both of which were dead certs to win awards anyway so I suppose I didn't have that nervous tension of was my favourite going to win an award. In fact I've never really felt that since the night The Return of the King won all those Oscars, I suppose it would take a lot to beat that amazing moment it won Best Picture.

Back to The Last King of Scotland, Forest Whitaker won Best Actor, deservedly so for his performance as the charismatic yet murderous Idi Amin. However, I'm slightly annoyed that James McAvoy seems to be getting ignored in the majority of the awards and plaudits thrown at the film. Although his performance is not as good as Whitaker's it's certainly not far off it.

Another thing that puzzles me is that Nicholas Garrigan (McAvoy) is in the majority of the movie and the story is about his time in Uganda with Amin, despite the title Amin is in the movie much less, so how come Whitaker is nominated for best actor awards and McAvoy in the case of the BAFTAS, best supporting actor. Very odd, I wonder how they work these things out.

I would recommend seeing The Last King of Scotland, its an interesting, if at times unpalatable story of one man being sucked in by Amin's charm and how he becomes complicit by his inaction in the atrocities going on around him before Amin turns on him. It is gory in a couple of places, but having heard of the killings and tortures carried out under that regime, the film makers could have made it much worse.

Since James McAvoy didn't win Best Supporting Actor I was hoping Michael Sheen would for his performance as Tony Blair in The Queen. I thought he and Helen Mirren were wonderful together in the film, and his performance was certainly as good as hers. Alas it wasn't to be. Although Little Miss Sunshine has been on my Must See list for some times, so I'll reserve opinion on whether Alan Arkin deserved to beat my two actors until I've seen it.

We Go To Nottingham

I visited Nottingham this weekend to meet up with some of the Ladies and one Gentleman of the Robin Hood 2006 Forum .

I arrived on Friday lunchtime, and since I have never been to Nottingham before was totally lost the minute I stepped out of the train station by the wrong entrance - note to Midland Mainline your signage is pants. Floowing my inbuilt shopper radar, I soon found the shops and had a calming latte before eventually discovering the Tourist Information Centre. Pausing there briefly to grab a free map and some brochures, I left before I did too much damage to my finances in their shop.

It rained all afternoon, and there was me trudging round Nottingham with nary an umbrella and weighed down by a bag full of Robin Hood goodies from The Tales of Robin Hood, obligitary pen, teddy, snowglobe and hat, so I nipped into Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem for a half, for purely medicinal and drying out purposes of course.

The pub is extremely old and full of small nooks and crannies. Standing at the foor of the Castle, its well worth a visit if you're in Nottingham, it has a good choice of local beers and the usual drinks and a varied menu. The food is delicious, service quick and friendly and decent size portions.

After I was suitably dried out and refreshed I made my way to my hotel. I walked but I would recommend (especially in rainy weather) geting a bus or a cab. I stayed at The Travel Inn, Castle Marina. I like Travel Inn's, know what I'm getting with them and not pricey either.

I spent the evening with Dantesmuse from the Forum who is a Nottingham resident and who runs the wonderful Robinhood.org website. After meeting her in the centre of town in by this time heavy snow.


On Saturday I made my way back to the Trip to meet the ladies who were arriving that day, Lady Wolfshead, Clberg, Lexie, Hazzardgal, Nottinghamlass, Piffy, Tdcheck, Dantesmuse, Scarlettwoman. However, we seem to have mislaid a member somewhere, our very own Romantic Knight, could it be in fact he was just a lily livered knave who was scared of being the only man in a group of ladies. Hmm, well he came out with multitudous reasons for not attending and was berated soundly over the phone by the group, and threatened by Clberg with all sorts of things mainly involving handcuffs.

After a very enjoyable lunch and chat (and alcohol) we made our way up to the Robin Hood statue for photos. Time was spent admiring the statues, especially that of Robin, with close attention paid to his big sword and thighs. There are also statues of the Merry Men and some wall friezes depicting amongst other things Robin firing an arrow from his deathbed - in the legend, Robin having been poisoned by the Abbess of Kirklees Priory and her lover, lies on his deathbed in the gatehouse and tells Little John that he will fire an arrow and wherever it lands is to be his grave

We then went to the castle. Stopping non too briefly in the shop, very tempting to buy bow and arrows and wooden swords

The castle is a more modern building, built in the 17th Century, so for those of you whom like me were expecting something similar to Alnwick or Warwick Castles, you could be disappointed. The old castle was knocked down during the civil war, although parts of it remain - namely a bridge built by Henry III I believe and the gatehouse in the photo above. The castle itself houses an art and sculpture gallery and also something we nearly missed, but which Lexie and I had a look at - The Story of Nottingham which is very interesting, and you can see artifacts, models and old photographs of the City there.

We followed this by a trip to the tunnels and caves under the castle. Built into the rock itself, the visit takes you way down underneath the castle where you visit the dungeon where King David I of Scotland was held prisoner for 5 years. Its very damp, dark and cold. Its hard to understand how anyone could have survived a winter down there, 30 minutes was enough to chill me to the bones. Leaving that area you climb back up and emerge in the courtyard where the old stables and coach houses are, which is quite suprising. There is a pillory there which is great for photo opportunities, and with the help of Clberg we used them.

Leaving there you walk under a tunnel, then back up some steps to the castle before going deep below again to Mortimer's Hole. This is named after Roger Mortimer, lover of Queen Isabella the consort of Edward II. Isabella and Roger had had her husband killed, a homosexual, Edward was killed using a method which did not leave marks on the body - a red hot poker inserted into his bowels - not pleasant. This was a painful but effective way of ensuring that the body looked untouched. However, it was obvious what had happened, and Edward and Isabella's son, King Edward III, resenting what they had done and also the fact that they were ruling the country in his name, sneaked into the castle through the tunnel in which we stood and with the help of others dragged Roger Mortimer out through the tunnels, from where he was taken to London and hung, drawn and quartered. Legend has it that Queen Isabella was locked up in the castle for the rest of her life where she went mad, but in reality, she retired to Castle Rising in Norfolk.

The visit to the caves was extremely interesting. However word of warning it is not suitable for infirm or extremely unfit people, there are a lot of stairs up and down, some quite narrow and in places slippery.

We finished off with a visit to the Brewhouse Yard which is next to the Castle. Your ticket for the Castle gets you in there for free. This has a series of rooms and a shop depicting life in the last 300 years. You can stand in an old kitchen and air raid shelter, and with its interactivity it encourages you to touch and smell the artifacts there.

All in all it was a great weekend, despite the weather and lovely to meet and put faces to some of the members of the forum.