Films
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Frozen 2
I came to the original Frozen quite late on, I didn’t see it in the cinema but rather watched it with some Disney obssessive friends and apart from Agnes Nitt I don’t think I’ve ever empathised with a character more. I loved Elsa so fiercely and Let it Go has been an anthem for me ever since. This probably makes me a basic bench but at this point I don’t really care. I had a moment of glorious catharsis where I ugly cried at Disneyland Paris when Elsa appeared and sang let it go. It touches me somewhere deep in my feels and I’m not going to apologise for that.…
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London Film Festival 2019 pt 1
This was my first real go at London Film festival. Last year I was not organised and only got to see Susperia, this year I’d sorted out a spreadsheet with options and a budget. Without further ado here are the films that I would heartily recommend. Our Ladies, which is a film adaptation of a novel called the Sopranos. It was about young women who were part of a catholic girls school choir and their trip to Edinburgh to take part in a competition. Really it was about the relationships between the girls and how at 16 you are on the cusp of everything or we are all lead to…
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Monty Python Season
The BFI Southbank has been running a Monty Python at 50 season and last weekend it reached its climax. My partner and I headed to see Monty Python and the Holy Grail and a preview of Terry Gilliam’s new film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Monty Python’s Holy Grail was my first Python film. I loved it, and there was a time where I could quote most of it without thinking about it. Seeing on the big screen with an audience made up of fans was glorious. It wasn’t quite levels of quoting along but the laughs from all around the auditorium was heartwarming and felt special. We were…
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Pain and Glory – review
This evening our Cineworld unlimited screening was Pedro Almodovar’s Pain and Glory. A Spanish language film starring Antonio Banderas as Salvador an ageing film director who has health issues and has seemingly given up on everything. The film moves through his life in various narrative strands the present where we learn about his health issues and why he has stopped writing and directing. His childhood which we see non-sequentially. Penelope Cruz plays his mother in the flashbacks and her performance is nuanced and exquisite. The film opens with the young Salvador watching his mother and her friends sing as they wash their laundry in the river. Grudges that…
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Hobbs and Shaw – Review
I have been chomping at the bit waiting for this to come out. Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham versus Idris Elba in the Fast and Furiousverse. I’ve never really been into F and F but I can literally watch and enjoy anything with Dwayne Johnson in and I am not sure how. Small warning this film is 2hr15 mins long and whilst there is plenty of action and it doesn’t drag I was starting to feel it. Hobbs and Shaw is your odd-couple buddy movie, where these two dislike each other but have to work together to save Vanessa Kirby’s character who plays Shaw’s sister Hattie. Something in the past…
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Secret Unlimited Screening 12 – Crawl
I’m not sure if you know the drill about what happens at a Cineworld Unlimited Secret Screening. Those of us who have unlimited passes can book screenings for unreleased films. Most of which are announced and I try and get to as many of them as possible as usually, the films are fine; there is the odd dud but its a great way to get me to see something outside of my usual milieux. The secret screenings are mostly the same. It’s just you don’t know what you will end up seeing. This can work to your advantage or not. Generally, I like the surprise – but it helps to…
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The Lion King 2019
One of my favourite Disney movies is the Lion King. I watched the original to death as a teenager and the music – all of the music – just feels wonderful. When I heard they were doing a ‘live action’ remake I was dubious. For a start its not live action its naturalistic CGI and that is not quite the same thing at all. But the casting sounded amazing, Donald Glover, Queen Bey, Jon Oliver as Zazu I was suddenly on board. The trailer when it was released pretty much gave me shivers. It was a shot for shot remake of the animated and then all worries were set aside,…
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In Fabric
I was intrigued it looked like the unholy mix of Susperia and Are you Being Served.
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Cinema watches
In the last week I’ve been to see: Blinded by the Light – a lovely coming of age story about a boy of Pakistani heritage finding his place in the world via the music of Bruce Springsteen. There are moments that feel like gut punches. The use of Springsteen’s music juxtaposed with Javed’s own turmoil. His desperation of getting out of Luton, the pressure to conform to family expectations. The reality of what Margaret Thatcher did to people in the 80s and how the music of a guy from New Jersey resonated with Javed and Roops. This film also contained Hayley Atwell as the English Teacher I would have killed…
