Spent a day in London as Warner Bros. launched Rocknrolla on an unsuspecting public - well, probably quite suspecting as the public knows what to expect from a Guy Ritchie film and his last couple haven't done that well. However this is the guy (sic) that brought the world Lock, Stock... and Snatch so there's a certain kind of film that he does well if you like your gangster-chic to be of the cockney dramedy style.
The film is actually fairly good as long as you know what to expect and the likes of Gerard Butler, Thandie Newton, Tom Wilkinson and Idris Elba do nothing to hinder the pace and proceedings. It's packed with too many characters with silly names (One-Two, Mumbles, Handsome Bob) and overlapping plots and isn't as clever as it thinks it is, but the result isn't too shabby and better than I thought it would be.
The press event all took place in what appeared to be a normally disused building on the banks of the Thames which Warners had slapped with posters and temp lighting. There was a lot of pomp and circumstance, but also a feeling that they were all trying hard to be hip and make this a bigger thing than it was. But the press stuff went well. The cast seemed a bit bored but answered questions well enough (i watched as Ritchie expertly swatted the Daily Mail - that bastion of maintaining Britain's morality - for hypocritically asking about the state of his marriage to Madonna... ahh they never cease to disappoint) and I even got some stuff from Mark Strong about his role in the adaptation of Mark Millar's Kick-Ass. Still hoping to get on the set of that project if I can work things out with Mr M. in October.
All very exciting, but now back to the normal everyday world and day in and day out routine and hoping it won't be too long before I get my normal laptop back from repair. Back to work...
