The Stranger at lunchtime today, an adaptation of Camus’ novel.
Super black and white photography and sound throughout, and acting by the main characters. We thought the courtroom scenes stood out and Meursault’s encounter with the priest.
A thought-provoking study of alienation, colonialism, and a crime committed by a man without feelings. (And one such thought that the film provoked in us was, and why did he not have feelings?)
Recommended.
Day out in Chester pottering old haunts whilst Mrs. H. worked there for the day. Booked to see Josh O’Connor in Rebuilding. A lovely, gentle film with a deliberate but low key climate change background. Had something of the mood of The Peanut Butter Falcon if you’ve seen that.
Felt a little daft as it was only when the film started I realised the music was by Jake Xerxes Fussell and James Ellington and I’ve been listening to the lovely soundtrack for many months.
Where did I see the former in concert? Chester of course.
We loved Devil Wears Prada 2 recently.
Great writing and filming in the vapid world of a fashion magazine. (I noted Stanley Tucci’s sense of style and thought of my own!)
Beyond the glitz and glamour, we took heart from the message conveyed, that journalism still matters.
Finally got around to seeing Is This Thing On? In a cinema too.
An excellent film from start to finish although I wasn’t convinced the relationships had the depth the writers evidently thought was obvious. Translates the John Bishop origin story to the US with all that entails and has the rarity of a happy ending.
Just saw Nuremberg with Russel Crowe and other great actors - fantastic how they played the roles….
Mrs. H. and I went to see The Christophers at Home In Manchester. Trailer suggested a rogueish McKellen and a fairly typical 3 out of 5 film. Far far from that. Guardian gave it a 5 star review. It’s not, but it really was excellent. Another film let down by a trailer though. It suggested a waspish comedy when it was really about so much more. An excellent film.
Thanks - this is on my list
Plus 1 for the Christophers - finally caught up with it tonite. Superb film - a McKellen masterclass and the camera just loves Michaela Coel and her stillness. Yup way more than a jolly theatrical two hander although vicious laughs aplenty.
“The locations and photography really sell the Scottish landscape”. As does @IanF .
Cheers Stu!
Savage House.
Richard E Grant and Claire Foy in a regency comedy concerning a down at heel minor aristocracy attempting to raise their social standing by hosting a Duke and Duchess to dinner.
Enjoyable with a number of chuckle aloud scenes but the humour is on the dark/dry side.
Lunchtime viewing of Disclosure Day with the offspring and their ex partner. 2 hours 45 minutes entertainingly spent in the Everyman in Manchester. A slightly different sci fi plot to the norm and executed as well as you would expect from Spielberg. It fair belted along and only slowed in the last quarter at a point involving a warehouse with a full size replica house in it (not a spoiler). If anything I think there would have been little detriment had it persisted with the original pace throughout.
A ludicrous amount of Easter Eggs in it. Enough no doubt for some to start a separate thread but, for once, I thought the film very much benefitted from many of them. The visual and audio references to E.T. and Close Encounters were funny and well done but, equally, they were intended to convey a consistent world view from those films to this. I liked it. Lovely to see references to stuff like Duel too.
Fascinatingly I am normally the critic of the household but today it was the offspring. They very much felt that there were some odd creative choices made e.g. what happened to the Eve Hewson character from when she ran to when she reappeared? Would there not have been even more tension had we followed her story as well as that of Josh O’Connor and Emily Blunt? I kind of agree but enjoyed it anyway.
Plainly silly but no more so than Project Hail Mary and just as enjoyable.
Also saw Disclosure Day at a surprisingly full Saturday afternoon screening.
Quite enjoyed the film and I thought Emily Blunt was excellent - Colin Firth less so. We were both quite put off by the pantomime villans; their dress, the cars etc but really liked the links to other films. I also liked the way the ‘disclosed information’ didn’t ‘over-reach’. Much of what they showed is not far from what has been released but I thought the TV crews quick decision that it wasn’t faked was unrealistic.
If you enjoyed Close Encounters / ET when they were released that this fits well. If you were a youngster, perhaps less so.
Saw Disclosure Day too last night and enjoyed it, though it’s by no means Spielberg’s best, IMV but entertaining. Good ending - at least we didn’t get “Take me to your leader” or “We come in peace”!!
Saw it on Wednesday. Half full cinema, the sound was not good. Too intense mixing.
The dice landed at four.
Second of 4 films in 3 days. Northern Soul - Still Burning. Appropriately enough saw it with a couple of friends in Leigh Film Factory. Actually far better than expected with the music and dancing in many ways being the least interesting aspects. Some fascinating asides from the likes of Wayne Hemingway, Paul Mason, Tony Blackburn, Marc Almond and the wonderful Ian Levine. Hugely poignant shot at the end of the post fire interior with the grand piano still on the stage. Very well known but still…
Joining the (sort of ) Spielberg love in - went to see Disclosure Day this afternoon. Not his best - a bit thin tbh and in the end a bit of a ‘small film’. And the plot really doesn’t bear much analysis after it has finished. However, being a Spielberg film it was still very entertaining and, as usual, he gets the best out of the actors - great from Josh O’Connor but a career best from Emily Blunt. Although my favourite films are not made by him, I still think that Spielberg is the best director in the history of cinema. Whether it’s a Saturday morning adventure film ( Raiders), small town American life ( Jaws), the Holocaust ( Schindler’s List) or war films ( Private Ryan), he never forgets that the primary purpose of films is to entertain and he does it again
I do agree it’s not his best but it’s hugely entertaining and the plot gaps are not really any worse than some of the stuff in any of his other films.
Only 7 in the big screen theatre, Royal, Sutton Coldfield for the Monday 1330 showing of Disclosure Day.
I enjoyed it but didn’t think it was a must-see. Creaky plot, Colin Firth rather wooden, Emily Blunt very good.
Saw The Fall Of Sir Douglas Weatherford. Peter Mullen was excellent but it was far too much of a one man show with other characters largely caricatures. The idea that it was in part played for comedic effect was bewildering. It’s one of the bleakest films I’ve seen in a while. The narrative voice simply didn’t work either.
The comedy was provided by the cinema insect which flew past a few fines before settling on a gentle walk around the projector lens. Most disconcerting.
Moved cinema to then go see Fairyland. Based on a true story in AIDS hit 70s/80s San Francisco I was astonished to see it had inly 3/5 type reviews. A wonderful film which was nicely shot, had a quietly excellent soundtrack and matched comedy and pathos and in terms of the fatter daughter dynamic could not have felt more true to life. So so glad I saw it.
I did leave the cinema briefly about 50 minutes in to complain as I just couldn’t be bothered having yet another row with idiots talking. I let the cinema staff do the dirty work, which they very kindly did. There were only 5 of us in there. 2 couples and me so they’ll know who it was and I really don’t care. The odd whisper is tolerable. To whisper through all dialogue without pausing for breath is just astonishing.
