Okay, I’m awake- but it doesn’t feel that way.

George returned yesterday, and it’s great to have her back. Spent ages just catching up and talking about all the stuff I hadn’t had anyone to talk to about (like the stuff that’s going on in New Orleans at the moment which, frankly, boggles the mind). I also managed to get a whole heap of stuff done in London yesterday, and I’m now staring at a whole heap of work to do over the next few days. I’ve got a press junket on Tuesday- my first- and I’ve got to do five round-table interviews. In a row. I don’t even know exactly how they work, which is something I absolutely detest (I can cope with most situations as long as I can actually know what’s coming). I guess we’ll just have to see how it goes.

Also saw BROTHERS GRIMM last night which, as a Terry Gilliam fan, I found terribly disappointing. It’s got “troubled production” written all over it, and while there is some gorgeous stuff in there, it also seemed to bring out many of Gilliam’s worst and most incoherent excesses. The script is rather clunky, cookie-cutter stuff (what do you expect from Ehren Kruger, writer of The Ring?) and many of the fairy-tale references seemed awkwardly sandwiched in (an oil-like cartoony entity suddenly goes flat and starts shouting “You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man!” Er… why?). There’s also some very dodgy performances- including some dodgy villain work from Jonathan Pryce, and a near-unintelligible explosion of a turn from Peter Stormare, the man who you can rely on to demolish a movie in less than five minutes. If Gilliam was churning these out left right and centre, you could forgive him the occasional misfire, but considering he’s only managed five movies in the last fifteen years, it’s pretty dispiriting to see his films getting so messy so quickly.

Oh, the pain, the pain.

I’ve got a ridiculous number of films to watch, and only a short amount of time in which to do it. Probably better get started…