Moli review of the year…

Like most years, 2012 started as most years do, with promises for diets and fitness, plans for a better working life and more fun that the previous year.  These plans always find a way of failing for one reason or another.  I wanted so many things to happen in 2012 and I’m a little sad to say that most never came to fruition.  They say that the I wants always want and I gets always get.  I therefore didn’t make things happen for myself and only have myself to blame for any stagnation in my life.  As a child the 6 weeks holiday from school lasted a lifetime in the longest and warmest of summers.  Now a year passes with the blink of an eye and I find myself writing my review of the year with the feeling that I’ve some how let myself down having not done enough to move my life forwards.  Its not however that I haven’t tried, just that I’ve failed to land my plan in 2012…

Moli & Beer - London Olympics 2012

The year was always going to be special with some significant events that really defined how I will remember the year. I firmly remember standing in the cold and rain with thousands of people to get my first chance to see the queen in the flesh.  Little would I know that 3 months later I would be sitting next to her in my car while in a traffic jam. Now that was a very surreal moment…

Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant

The Diamond Jubilee was the start of a party that led up to the London 2012 Olympic Games which I felt was the most amazing month for London and the UK as a whole.  I loved seeing the games makers everywhere I went and still wonder where these people are now that we can no longer see them dressed in purple and with an ID badge the size of small TV around their necks.

Games Makers

We did have some hot sunny days but my cold soaked feet tell me otherwise, I know that at the start of the year the weather men were asking for more rain after a very long dry period but whatever rain dance they did it certainly worked and continues to do so with abundance.  I humbly ask that we can have a decent summer in 2o13. Please……  The Jubilee and the Olympics brought ships, boats and all manner of water craft to the Thames.  I loved seeing all the tall ships, the cruise ships and seeing the aircraft carrier HMS Ocean which I was lucky enough to visit.

Tall Ship

GEMINI - GALLEONS LOCK

HMS OCEAN

The daily helicopter flights of the RAF flying over my home keeping me and everyone else safe was always welcome even late at night.  The special forces practicing mock attacks on the Queen right outside my lounge window was better than any TV show.  Also it was free and it lasted most of the day…

It was the year that I decided to change my car after many years with Jennie the Mini and although it broke my heart to part with her, the new car is amazing and so much more than I could have expected.

Land Rover Freelander 2

It took for most of the year to pass for me to finally get a couple of decent films to watch.  The first was Looper which was a very original story and so well constructed.

Looper Poster

and the other was Skyfall which was long overdue and well worth the wait.

Towards the end of the year I took a Helicopter flying lesson and drove a rally car which was great fun.

Silverstone Rally Experience

I was lucky to meet and see some interesting people, Jeri Ryan, Keeley Hawes, Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn, Karl Urban, Gillian Anderson, Carol Ann Ford, Meryl Streep, Natalie Portman, Richard Curtis, Stellan Skarsgård and only last week ended up meeting up and coming British actress Hayley Atwell…

Moli & Hayley Atwell

After all that, I guess 2012 wasn’t a terrible year. I got to take lots of pictures. Have some laughs and oh bugger, that’s another year gone with a blink of an eye… I wonder what 2013 will bring???

Happy New Year everyone and thanks for reading Moliblog…

M

Moli and The Iron Lady…

Moli Meets Meryl…

Which is was a great start to the year with my first Q & A for 2012 for the film, The Iron Lady…

The Iron Lady Poster

The film was always going to have the Marmite effect on the public opinion given the subject. Like many, I remember having a low opinion of Thatcher, as did much of her cabinet, which led to her ultimate demise. However, after nearly 22 years since she left office I find myself ambivalent to her and her history. I won’t deny that she had a major influence on British society and this film allows the viewer to bring their own memory of that impact by skirting around the political issues and focusing on the person. Anyone expecting to get any political insights or answers to her more controversial decisions will be disappointed. It’s not about politics. It’s more about the loss of oneself and the equality that we all have in old age and death. In essence, it’s a story about everyone. No matter who we are or were, we could all drop dead washing up a teacup.

Meryl Streep never met Thatcher in her preparation for the role and her performance wasn’t any worse for it. Streep captured the essence of the character without being comical or a spitting image caricature of Thatcher, she told us that she did get advice from Neil Kinnock, former Labour leader and unnamed people who were in her cabinet at the time in order to capture the person. The well researched make up and costume supported what was an award nominating performance. Listening to Streep talk about the role showed that she was a very smart and intuitive actress and to some large degree, much better than the quality of the overall production. Streep’s portrayal of Thatcher’s mental illness was based in artistic license, as this isn’t really known in detail. Only a book by Carol Thatcher, her daughter has given any insight into this and was certainly a catalyst for the movies theme. Therefore it is a weak premise for historical accuracy but fascinating as a subject matter.

Iron Lady Screening 2012, Meryl Streep & Phyllida Lloyd

Director Phyllida Lloyd whose previous work includes Mamma Mia and writer Abi Morgan (Brick Lane, Shame) chose to tell the story through flashbacks of her life. However, the flashbacks were primarily on her political life without going into any real detail and the hallucinations of the recently passed Dennis Thatcher played by Jim Broadbent. The appearances of Dennis were comical but all too distracting for me and took too much away from the torment of her inability to let him go.

The Iron Lady Screening 2012

The film didn’t touch on Thatcherism and the rights and wrongs of her career or her time as a Chemist and Barrister, which I feel would have added something to the story. Her desire to be more than a shopkeeper’s daughter is a rag to riches story that missed out her pre political life and her time at Oxford.

The film did nothing to change my opinion of Thatcher, which goes to show how balanced the screenplay was not to glorify or offend. It’s all too easy to demonise someone who, for many people is already demonetized and in contrast to this for some is worshiped and any critical approach would be unwelcome. However the film missed a chance to be something great and Streep was wasted in my opinion.

As always, I say go and see it and make your own mind up,

Moli