Recently in movies Category

I feel sorry for the guy sitting next to me on the plane to Houston, with me blowing my nose every five minutes. Still, right after take-off he falls asleep, and stays sound asleep for five hours. How does he do that?

I've read the paper, done some Chinese homework and then watched a couple of films. The second one is Contagion. It is about people like us who move around from place to place, spreading their contagion. Gwyneth Paltrow has a leading but very short-lived role. I don't want to spoil the film for anyone, but she's dead within the first ten minutes. After that, the characters are dropping like flies.

The disease spreads through people on buses, in schools, in casinos, on planes, through touching surfaces, coughing and sneezing. They don't even have to get on to people gathering at conferences, shaking hands or air-kissing. After watching the film I resolve to keep a clear metre away from everyone in meetings this weekend. And to be prepared for the next mass outbreak of a deadly virus, as soon as I get home, I'm going to fill up the freezer and put a few multi-packs of bottled water in the shed.

The cinema's fascination with oil continues with the imminent release of "Black Gold," a drama about the Middle Eastern oil boom, starring Antonio Banderas.

The film is in the vein of "Lawrence of Arabia," according to some reviews, which also point to the "horror of Antonio Banderas' miscasting as an Emir.

The plot is about two Arabian chieftains who have been at war about a piece of disputed land, the Yellow Belt. At a final truce, one chieftain, Nassib (Antonio Banderas) asks his foe, Amar (Mark Strong) to offer his two sons as hostages to Nassib to guarantee there will be no further hostilities between the two in claims over the Yellow Belt. Amar agrees and peace reigns. Fifteen years later, American prospectors for oil come to the region, and inform Nassib that there are millions of oil reserves beneath the disputed land. Nassib allows for oil exploration to take place in the Yellow Belt, igniting a war with Amar.

UK release is 24 February 2012.

What is the obvious link between the hit Danish TV series "Borgen" and petrochemicals? Luckily this was not a question in the ICIS Christmas Quiz, which closed yesterday and is still shrouded in mystery.

Yes it was the year of the EPL in Copenhagen. In a year when everyone has gone crazy for all things Danish - Borgen, The Killing, woolly jumpers - the EPL was just embracing the Zeitgeist.

In last week's episode, the blonde TV reporter was seen running down the exact same stretch of waterfront between the Marriott and the Copenhagen Island hotel where EPL delegates strolled to meetings.

I am waiting to see the characters eating in the Krebse Gaarden, where we enjoyed a spectacular dinner, or even the much celebrated Noma.

Was the Blog the only one to spot the periodic table on Sherlock Holmes's bedroom wall, in the brilliant new 21st-century Sherlock on BBC TV?

The dashing Sherlock, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, shows he is not only a man of science, but a man of chemistry, in the first two episodes of the second series, which started just two weeks ago and is the talk of the Blog household.

For fans of chemicals and Sherlock, and surely there are many, there is already a cult T-shirt combining the two: another perfect chemical gift.

The Blog had never ever read a zombie book or watched a zombie film (unless we count Sean of the Dead), and was quite happy to keep things that way until the news broke that Brad Pitt was at the INEOS Grangemouth chemicals site making a film of the zombie book "World War Z."

Next thing I know, the Blog son had brought the book home and recommended it as a very good read. Incredulous though I was, there inevitably came a time when I was looking for something to read and gave it a go.

So now I have read it, and despite the book not having a single mention of Grangemouth or a chemical plant, it really is quite good.

It is written as a series of personal testimonies about a global pandemic and Armageddon-style total war, from the outbreak, through the war years, to the bleak aftermath. As a war memoir, it is interesting and for the most part, quite gripping, but you really have to disregard all the coverage of zombies.

You could even imagine that the writer was a war journalist who had tried his hand at popular fiction, but that is clearly not the case, because it seems that the writer has written a whole series of zombie books including a survival guide, an illustrated version and a graphic novel. The Blog is not in the least bit tempted.

If you still hanker after EPCA in Monte Carlo, this silly chick flick is worth seeing for the shots of Monte, mostly the Hotel de Paris, the coastal road and one scene on the beach by the Beach Plaza.

Otherwise "Monte Carlo" (the movie) is all implausible plot, clichéd characters, Texas goes to Paris, makeovers, girls meet boys nonsense. Enjoy!

It is not high art, but Robert Harris's most recent book, The Fear Index, is well-written and the plot rattles along at a brisk pace. It is just the thing for a long flight if you are interested in trading, markets, algorithms, finance and risk, with a bit of murder, Darwinism and Swiss tourism thrown in.

The characters are all "ultra-high net worths" and the key protagonist is fantastically clever and erudite, but wrestling with madness. Published in September 2011, the book is bang up to date with references to eurozone countries defaulting on debt and the meltdown in the financial markets.

Heathrow T5 at 9.40 pm is a ghost town. There are five people in the giant BA lounge, and all the food is being cleared away. I have never flown out so late before, and the whole airport is strangely empty. I am on the third-to-last flight of the night; the last one is at 10.40 pm which, as a relatively local resident, I have to say is late enough. After mine, there is just Abuja and Tel Aviv, then nothing till 6.15 am.

I am glad to see my Blackberry has survived being cleansed with a makeup remover wipe, after I read a DISGUSTING article by Carol Midgley ("For all our sakes, wash your hands" subscribers only) in the Times today about the spreading of diseases - the article was inspired by the release of the film Contagion. It makes me not want to touch anything, and I am revolted when the woman in the seat next to mine starts coughing.

Arriving the next morning in Buenos Aires in time for the start of the APLA conference, the conference hotel is still full of delegates from a urologists' conference. This Blog is avoiding the obvious gags, but probably others will not.

Contains very strong language, strong violence, sex references and drug use, said the warning on the cinema website. I didn't think that sounded like my kind of film, but "The Guard" is very funny and even quite touching. It is a story about an Irish village cop and a straight-laced FBI agent, and their fight against a gang of murdering drug smugglers.

Since most of the films I've seen lately have been on a small screen on a plane, it was a delight to watch in the best small cinema I have ever visited. The Curzon in Wimbledon, two floors above the HMV shop, is new and very smart, with wide blue plush seats and loads of legroom, and a rather sleek coffee bar attached. A good film on a pin-sharp wide screen with a cup of coffee in hand definitely beats watching films on planes.

Brad Pitt is filming at the Grangemouth petrochemical plant in Scotland, the Blog reads with disbelief in today's Scotsman.

After bringing Glasgow to a halt last week, the film crew for the zombie film "World War Z" moved on 22 August to the industrial landscape of Grangemouth on the east coast of Scotland, on the banks of the Firth of Forth.

According to another article, the area has been screened off, with only film crew and zombie extras allowed on set. Nevertheless, some 100 onlookers have gathered at the site, and doubtless some of them have some connection to the Ineos site.

9 November 2012: First official trailer for the film ...