'The Woman In Black' and 'Ironclad'

On Sunday afternoon we went to our local Odeon cinema to see "The Woman in Black", a new film adaptation of the book by Susan Hill. This is the story of a young solicitor, Arthur Kipps (played by Daniel Radcliffe) who is sent to retrieve some legal papers from the house of an old woman who has died. Once he arrives at the large crumbling property, located in the middle of sinister marshland, strange things start to happen....

It was nice to see a modern horror film that was relatively quiet and slow-paced, and that did not depend on lots of over-the-top CGI effects or bombastic mood music. I haven't read the book, but me and Mrs. did watch the 1989 ITV version a few nights before, which we both thought was superior to this new cinema version. Daniel's performance was decent, and he seems to have mastered the tears-standing-in-eyes close up. In all, I think he gave a fairly nuanced performance, especially as hasn't that much to say - this is not a talky film. The picture would have been better without the needless addition of the dead wife story line - in the 1980's version she is very much alive. I also thought the vaguely upbeat ending was a little hokey. But all in all, the film was enjoyable. No big scares, but mild tension throughout. The jump scenes were full-on manipulation with loud bangs in the music, unlike the ITV version which was genuinely creepy, quiet, and had a downbeat tone. Definitely worth seeing though. Also, it was great for us to go with my sister and her husband for an afternoon out at the flicks.
*Thanks to Carla for helping me with this review.

We also watched Ironclad on DVD this week: an extreme action film (British produced) based on the real event of the siege of Rochester Castle in 1215 AD. Here, we have the wonderful Paul Giamatti as the mad King John, attempting to take back his kingdom from the barons of England that forced him to sign the Magna Carta. It also starts James Purefoy as the Templar knight leading the defence of the castle against him - essentially the hero of the piece - and boy, does he have a big sword, as the King's army of Danish ruffians find our to their disadvantage. I have to say I loved this film. True, the story is rather weak (er,..."Defend the castle".) and the production looks as if the film makers could have done with a bit more cash, but what is there is very entertaining, if only for spotting the overt gore and battle violence, and the odd wish-crack from the solid cast. Good to see Derek Jacobi as well, and the CGI landscapes of the castle and its surroundings looked pretty good on the whole. This might make a good double-bill with Black Death, another medieval set film from the recent past, which stars the always watchable Sean Bean.

Rochester is still a castle we haven't visited, so I'm even more excited about going there now! Must re-watch the episode of Castle where Marc Morris discusses the real history of the event. Excellent series.

Marsden Fire Festival

Last Friday, we drove up to Marsden in West Yorkshire, to stay for the weekend and attend the annual (and now famous) 'fire festival' which takes place on the Saturday evening. We went there last year and because it was so much fun, we decided to go back. The weekend was marked with very cold weather and the threat of snow, which it did for most of Saturday afternoon and evening. We got there late afternoon on Friday, and having found our town centre accommodation ok, we had time to have a quick walk (wrapped up well!) around the town and take some photos, and buy a few bits from the local health food / greengrocer shop. The home-
made wholemeal multi-grain bread was fantastic! Our place was a converted ground floor studio apartment that over looked the canal - very handy for the town centre, only five minutes walk away down the canal.


After an easy morning, we spent some of Saturday afternoon on a walk around the town with the local walking group. Unfortunately this was cut short due to the very cold and snowy weather, so we didn't make it up to the top of the hills which would have liked to have done. Still, it was nice to walk along the canal in the other direction to what we had been used to, and then to loop around along the bottom of the hills back to the town centre. The hills looked impressive in the snow. Thank goodness for walking boots! Also fun was avoiding the very inquisitive dog that happened to be with our group.

After dinner, it was out again for the Fire Festival. The locals organise this to celebrate the pagan ritual of 'Imbolch' (which marks the unofficial start of spring, or rather the return of the sun and the start of plant growth.) Its an absolutely wonderful event; the atmosphere produced by the large crowd, the pagan drumming, the long fire-lit procession, the fire twirling demonstrations, and then the 'show' part, where Jack Frost and his evil minions fight The Green Man for 'supremacy of the Earth' before the fire works go off. Jack, of course, represents winter and darkness, where as the Green Man represents Spring, the Earth, light etc. The people dressed up in those two extravagant costumes do have a bit of a fisty-cuffs at one point as well.
Memorable moment...the very noisy little girl who was an enthusiastic Jack Frost fan, who shouted in her Yorkshire accent her support throughout the show. For instance, "Jack Frost! We know yu-lose, but we-want yu-to win!" The amazing occurrence was that during the show, after the Green Man won his little boxing match and chased Jack off, it actually stopped snowing!
Some pictures of the event can be found here.

Thankfully it didn't snow at all overnight, so it was easy to clear the car on Sunday morning. Also, the ice on the roads wasn't that bad and the sun was shining so our drive home was pleasant. We stopped off in Huddersfield on the way back to do a supermarket run, and to meet up with a friend who I hadn't seen for some years. A great weekend!