DVD - Flight - directed by Robert Zemeckis

Star rating - 6/10

If there's a plane involved in a significant way in a film, then you know there's going to be trouble. And trouble is very much in evidence in this Robert Zemeckis directed film just out on DVD. Denzel Washington puts in his usual high quality performance level as the pilot of a plane, Captain Whip Whitaker, that is involved in a terrifying accident.

But the twist in the film is that although he pulls off an amazing move to invert the plane to stop it falling from the sky so rapidly, and only lose six lives as a result, rather than the whole planeload of passengers and crew, he was drunk and high on cocaine at the time. His hero status quickly drops to zero, as he fails to cope with his addictions following the crash, and investigators quickly put two and two together. 

The premise is that only someone so high on stimulants would have attempted so audacious and crazy a manoeuvre. This may well be the case, as a non pilot I don't feel qualified to comment. But the action is laboured, the twists highly signposted, and the accompanying score so invasive you can almost spot the violins behind Washington at key dramatic moments. The classic redemption themes are just a bit too obvious.

It's a shame as the set up is well done, and the white knuckle ride during the flight very scary indeed. There is good support from Kelly Reilly as a heroin addict who starts a relationship with Whip after the crash, but who walks away when his behaviour becomes intolerable even for her. And Don Cheadle is great as the lawyer trying his best to get a positive outcome for Whip, who derails him at every turn through his addictions. But it really should have been at least half an hour shorter and much sharper.

Talks - Dave Haslam In Conversation with ...Paul Morley - Gorilla Bar

Star rating - 9/10

Legendary figure on the Manchester, and indeed national, musical and wider cultural scene, Paul Morley, was in talkative mood at Gorilla Bar for the latest in Dave Haslam's informal interview events. His tour is to promote his new book The North (And Almost Everything In It), but the evening inevitably also dwelled on his amazing personal experiences of the Manchester scene with the likes of Joy Division and Tony Wilson.

The evening started off with some random slides for Morley to explain and entertain us with. And it was very refreshing to hear him recount a myriad of entertaining and fascinating reminiscences, intelligent opinions and random factoids without being annoyingly interrupted after every few words, as he so often is by Sarah Churchwell on The Review Show (or is that just me taking an unsubstantiated dislike to the veritable professor?).

Morley spoke passionately about his love of author J G Ballard, whom he once interviewed in the back of a car up and down motor ways about, funnily enough ... motorways. And his informal education at Reddish Library with its wonderful evocative smell. He posed a potential bleak vision of our future as Apple or Google replace northern cities with corporate gloss, and former glorious urban centres 'disappear into their own murk'.

His book is certainly a veritable tome - running at 592 pages - and weighing (as one audience member helpfully informed Mr. Morley) more than a bag of sugar. Morley was quick to counter that it was really 10 slim volumes, with 'a remarkable index that goes from Susan Sontag to Sooty'. But it is not just sweet reminiscences, although there are some of those. It also contains random, spontaneous fragments of the history of the North sourced from Internet, which he freely admits are not acknowledged in the book, and are not necessarily even true. Interviewer Dave Haslam commented that it would be depressing if all our view of the North amounted to 'is Liam in his parka'.  Hopefully Paul Morley will help to make sure that it is not.

You will have to wait for my review of the book, having only just devoured my first tenth of the bag, so to speak, but judging by the portion I have read, and by the wonderfully produced recent extracts on Radio 4's Book of the Week, it will be a real treasure trove.

In person Paul Morley is intelligent, thought provoking, fascinating and very funny. He might be criticised for writing about the North, and Manchester in particular, from his adopted home of London, but as he agreed with me as he was generously signing my copy, he could not have written this book without moving away and gaining perspective. I'm just glad he returns from time to time for our listening pleasure. 

Theatre - The Birthday Party - Royal Exchange

Star rating - 10/10

The Royal Exchange fully do justice to Harold's Pinter's spellbinding yet unresolved masterpiece The Birthday Party - see my review at Creative Tourist:

http://www.creativetourist.com/articles/theatre/manchester/manchester-theatre-review-the-birthday-party/

Books - All That Is - James Salter

Star rating - 8/10

I hadn't heard of James Salter until the reviews for his latest novel came out, and after hearing the praise being heaped on him, I felt that I may be missing out on an American literary giant of whom I had been blissfully unaware. So before I tackled this latest book All That Is, I quickly made up for lost time and checked out one of his earlier rated works from 1975, Light Years.

To say I was awe inspired by the beauty of the writing would be an understatement. There was not so much in the way of intricate plot, but his writing made me want to linger in each carefully constructed paragraph, and gently follow his characters along their lives in a gorgeously described journey. So I picked up All That Is with great expectations, so to speak. 

And although the power of the description used here is not so immediately striking, it is nevertheless another great book, which deals with similar themes - relationships, longing, desire, and lives lived.  Philip Bowman is a young naval officer at sea off Japan when we first meet him, and his second world wartime experiences shape his post war life. He finds success relatively easily, in his white, middle class American milieu,  both professionally, and romantically. But his romantic path doesn't run so smoothly, as he settles down to life as a literary editor.

As with his earlier work, the plot just slides along without any majorly dramatic moments, but the effect on the reader of the small interchanges and events is rather like a snowball. It is slightly annoying the way Bowman can find a seemingly never ending succession of beautiful and intelligent women to entangle himself with, without really putting much effort into the search. On the other hand some men of his ilk seem to find themselves living exactly that pattern. And Bowman finds out that easily discovered relationships don't necessarily lead to happiness.

Salter demonstrates again with this novel just what a dazzling brilliant writer he is - and like his characters, he seems to put little effort into the words on the page, allowing them to glide along at their own pace, but behind the smooth facade is obviously a gigantic genius effort at work, creating a beautiful and brilliant book that stays with you long after the reading of it is over. 

Theatre - Manchester Sound:The Massacre - Library Theatre, secret location

Star rating - 7/10

One of the joys of the Library Theatre's current homeless status has been their peripatetic productions which have used the magnificent buildings of Manchester to great effect. But don't expect me to reveal where their new play takes place - it is in a very secret location which is only revealed after the audience assembles in a car park in the Northern Quarter. That's all I can give away. This new production by writer Polly Wiseman finds linking themes between two very different but defining moments in Manchester's history - the 1819 Peterloo Massacre, and the late 80's 'Madchester' clubbing scene.

I have to say I was curious about how the two themes would hang together. One is an historic tragedy of epic proportion, where a peaceful protest by working class Mancuians seeking the vote was violently and fatally broken up. Troops, armed with sharpened sabres, and acting on the orders of local magistrates, charged the large crowd, wounding over 650 people and killing eighteen protesters. The other was a heady time for younger club goers, not just centred around the famous Hacienda club, but taking place in venues across the city. Madchester was both a sound, and possibly more importantly, an attitude of defiance and pride.

The action flits between the two, starting off with actors posing as clubbers mingling with the audience, checking their stashes, and using phrases like 'mad for it' and 'banging' as the assembly on the car park unfolds. I always really admire actors who perform in promenade performances, especially when they are required to interact so much with the audience, as well as keep in character. It's all the more impressive here as they have to keep in two totally separate characters, either E dropping ravers, or Victorian protesters, and back again.

The location itself is magnificent, and its many floors are well used by the action. It's perhaps a pity then when some of the changes of scene are a bit disjointed and don't hang together very smoothly. A fair bit of time is wasted just getting to the next scene, which is a pity. But the cast are great, Janey Lawson and Rachel Austin are worthy of particular note. And it's not every day you get to see a former rugby league player in an acting capacity, but Adam Fogerty is genuinely scary both as a nightclub thug, and an angry police chief.

The theme of being free to express yourself is the linking one, and it could possibly have been brought out a little earlier in the play, and a little more forcefully. Some of the scenes where the two worlds collide work well, some are less successful. Overall the Peterloo Massacre bits are very much the stronger. But it's a very enjoyable experience, and praise should go to the Library Theatre and  Director Paul Jepson for another inventive, site specific play which is another love letter to this wonderful city and the people in it.