Milk

I know I'm slow on the uptake, but I've finally been able to watch the film Milk. A wonderful, inspiring film it is too. Sean Penn is brilliant in it, so brilliant that it is difficult to believe it is actually him. It is also difficult to believe that such an outrageous piece of legislation as Proposition No 6 was a serious proposal just thirty years ago.

Am I insane?

That was the uncomfortable question I asked myself on a couple of occasions during my viewing of "In the loop" yesterday. The film was a blast - I laughed uproariously at regular junctions all the way through. James Graham has already provided a superb review, so I won't attempt such a thing.

Suffice it to say that it is a fantastic film but I do think it is a film for moderate to heavy political anoraks. In a theatre of sixty people, there were probably only a third of the audience who were regularly "getting" the jokes.

When Judy (Gina McKee) protested to Peter Tucker (Capaldi) that something was "within my purvue", Tucker shouted at her "Purvue? What do you think this is? A ***king Jane Austen novel?" I laughed my head off - very loudly - at this, only to find the gentleman in front of me turning around to look at me as if I was disturbing his enjoyment of the film. (He didn't laugh once during the whole film, as far as I could see). After momentarily feeling admonished, I then relaxed with the thought that the oevre was actually advertised as a comedy, so laughing is normally allowed on such occasions. Is it wrong to laugh too loudly? I think not.

A further illustration of the anoraks-only appeal of the film was when the naive Toby Wright (Chris Addison), in a Washington hotel bathroom, chatted on his mobile with his old college friend working in CNN. After talking about going out for a beer, he casually mentioned that he was going to a "Secret War committee" the next day. I laughed at this. I was alone in the auditorium in my appreciation of that. Needless to say, the "Secret War committee" featured on CNN a few minutes after the bathroom-CNN friend conversation.

But the best line of the film, for me was after an insult and swear-word laden argument between Tucker (Capaldi) and Lt Gen George Miller (played by the excellent James Gandolfini) (or was it the Bolton bloke?). They called each other every name under the sun and thoroughly and derogatorily explored each others' parentage. In the end, Tucker walked away and then turned around, looking very hurt, saying "By the way, DON'T EVER CALL ME ENGLISH AGAIN!".

Bobby

I managed to watch the DVD of Emilio Estevez's Bobby at the weekend. I found it to be a thoroughly absorbing and enjoyable film. One of the questions which the film attempts to answer is "why was Boby Kennedy so loved, particularly across the racial divides in America?"

With the characters of the humble Mexican busboy (based on the young man who actually cradled RFK's head after he was shot) played by Freddy Rodirguez and the campaign volunteer played by Nick Cannon, the film attempts to explain the love felt towards Bobby.

However, for me, the movie spends too much time on two campaign volunteers who spent the day of the assasination at the Ambassador Hotel getting stoned, when it could have spent that time more usefully in further exploring why Bobby Kennedy inspired so many.

Having said that, it is an excellent film, a truly moving film which is a joy to watch. Any film with Anthony Hopkins, Harry Belafonte and Martin Sheen in it (plus an army of other highly notable actors) would have to be subjected to an almighty directorial mess-up not to be delightful - and there is no mess-up here. I particularly found the weaving of contemporary footage of Bobby Kennedy to be inspired. Apart from someone playing his back, there is no attempt to have an actor playing Bobby Kennedy. That makes the film exteremly powerful, in my view.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

BBC Breakfast this morning featured some clips from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which is out soon. The main attraction of this film, for me, is Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge.

Ian Carmichael - still going at 86

Jonathan Calder quite rightly draws attention to the remarkable career of George Cole, who appeared in Diamond Geezer on ITV last night.

In terms of longevity of his acting career, it is worth sparing a thought for Ian Carmichael. Although not a child screen actor like George Cole or James Fox, Carmichael was on stage acting from 1939 and film acting from 1952. As well as being in some hilarious Boulting Brothers films in the 50s (usually as the butt of the jokes), he has been a regular on TV ever since. Only recently, he completed three series of Royal for ITV where he played Mr Middleditch, the hospital secretary. He looked remarkably young for his 86 years.

Mr Bean's holiday

Not late with this one. Well, I do have a ten year old daughter and we watched it being filmed in Paris last May (left), so we had to go.

Not a bad film. Laughed out loud several times. The end was quite rousing. Emma de Caunes (pictured) is captivating. A very good bit of entertainment. But it is always good to have a child to take to this sort of film!

Starsky and Hutch

Yes, late again. Not a great film. It seemed on a par with some of the TV episodes. It killed 101 minutes. I find it very difficult to get past Owen Wilson's nose.

Master and Commander

I always seem to be late watching films. Not only did I watch this on Film4, but it was Film4+1 because I was late for the start. What a wonderful action film! The battle scenes were stunning. I now wish I had watched it on the big screen, because seeing it in "letter box" format was a bit restricting.