The Wackness

In case anyone was wondering, I'm not dead, just had extremely limited net access of late and not too much time as well. Since I last updated, I've properly moved into my new flat -- which I love, and this evening or tomorrow evening Sketchy will be coming down! :) The dissertation is coming along ok... I mean to have it mostly done by the end of next weekend.

Friends have been coming and going all summer, but lately it seems that more are coming back, as university beckons. I saw my friend Pooh last night, who's recently returned from a year abroad in Thailand (she was there with Cranberry). It was great to see her and we ended up chatting ourselves to sleep, after going to the cinema and sharing a bottle of wine at hers.

We watched The Wackness which I was quite excited about after reading some glowing reviews. For those of you who haven't yet heard about it, it's basically a 'period piece' set in the summer of 1994 in New York, focusing on Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck), an 18 year old pot dealer, his friendship with his client and therapist Dr Squires (Ben Kingsley) and romance with Squire's stepdaughter Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby).

I don't really have too much to say about it... I did enjoy it but not as much as I expected to (as with Juno). The acting was good all-around, particularly Ben Kingsley who was compelling. I found Peck vaguely repulsive (he had his mouth hanging open way too much), but that might have been the point. The film generally felt natural and didn't succumb to predictability. Some of the 'period touches' and dated language felt a tad forced -- certain shots lingered too long on things like Gameboys and mix-tapes and occasionally the young actors seemed to be unconvinced when they proclaimed things were 'dope' or 'phat' (kinda like, omg, what am I saying??). However there were also some little things that suddenly made everything seem so magical, like Luke dancing on the street after kissing Stephanie, and each pavement slab he touched lighting up like a dancefloor. You may also want to experience the total bizarreness of seeing Mary Kate Olsen being fingered by Sir Ben Kingsley... or not.

So I'd recommend it, but I think you can also wait for the DVD!