Reel Review

[Reel-Comments] No cinema for old grumps...

2008-03-17T13:58:00.004Z

(Subtitled: the Coens go the Odeon.)

One of the most lauded and awarded films of the decade came to the Manchester Odeon (Printworks) for a final post-Oscar farewell fling. But I bet the Coens didn't bet on people trying to watch their film whilst:

- three mouthy Irish lasses talked in the back row (who were finally ejected by staff after half an hour),
- a man ran down the stairs, answering his phone loudly on the way (during Tommy Lee Jones' last scene!!!), and
- about a third of the audience left before the end.

Hence, a refund from the teenaged duty manager at the end of the screening, and the birth of a new resolution...

No more cinema. Nope not ever. OK, unless it's the Cornerhouse/ Ritzy/ Watershed/ etc. or a festival.

I can't bear it anymore.

God, I'm middle aged now.

[Reel-Reviews] Match Point (3 stars)

2008-01-28T13:45:00.000Z

20 words or less:-

Starts well and Woody makes London look gorgeous, but it becomes too “slasher”/dream sequence to be taken too seriously.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: match point

[Reel-Reviews] Little Miss Sunshine (4 stars)

2008-01-28T13:44:00.000Z

20 words or less:-

Charming and quirky family road movie exploring beauty, community and love of life. Not as cute as the hype.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: little miss sunshine

[Reel-Reviews] Narc (3 stars)

2008-01-28T13:43:00.000Z

20 words or less:-

Twisty turny cop thriller that asks you to question truth and meaning, although it walks a fine line on cliché.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: narc

[Reel-Reviews] Shaun of the Dead (4 stars)

2008-01-28T13:42:00.000Z

20 words or less:-

The zom-rom-com to end all zom-rom-coms. Witty and silly but wonderfully put together.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: shaun of the dead

[Reel-Reviews] Finding Neverland (4 stars)

2008-01-28T13:41:00.000Z

20 words or less:-

Magically endearing and possibly over-sentimental telling of Barrie’s Peter Pan life. Good directing by Forster, and a wonderful Johnny Depp.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: finding neverland

[Reel-Reviews] Goodbye Lenin! (3 stars)

2008-01-28T13:39:00.000Z

20 words or less:-

Funny take on the prevention of stress and impact on family, through deceit and stealth. Nicely conceived and well designed.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: goodbye lenin

[Reel-Reviews] Silent Light (3 stars)

2008-01-28T13:35:00.000Z

20 words or less:-

Poignant and austere take on one man’s breakdown in a Mexican Amish community. Best opening 10 minutes of 2007!

IMDB listing and technorati tag: silent light

[Reel-Reviews] The Kite Runner (4 stars)

2007-11-27T17:32:00.000Z

A free preview ticket to watch a best-selling book made into an Oscar-tipped film in an LA cinema? You bet we wanted to be there!

The Kite Runner is anticiapted on several fronts. As Marc Forster's newest film (he of Finding Neverland, Monster's Ball and Bond 22). As a "Hollywood" film that could make serious box office returns without a single starry name. Mostly as the long-awaited adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's book of the same name. The audience was certainly buzzing as we took our seats.

The good news is that the film delivers on all those fronts and more. I suspect this screening was a "word-of-mouth" builder to help sell it when it finally gets its release, and it earned and frankly deserves this.

Pros
Great source material in the form of the book's plot, and very faithfully adapted
Fantastic performances especially by the younger actors
A well-delivered directorial narrative and some wonderful cinematography

Cons
The subtitles - too many for a non-arthouse audience?
Maybe there is too much plot to fit into two hours

M said later (not having read it) that he thought he could it would be a better book than a film. I think it's possibly true, but mainly because the film is too easily resolved in the two-hour timeframe, whereas you have to live with the book for days... And essentially, it's also another film about writers and writing (see Atonement).

My final concern isn't likely to be one that effects too many other people - but as a Brit abroad in LA, I was very concerned that the final scenes would seem too triumpahilist, too much of a "victory" for the American character and the US in general. As it was, some sensitive humour and near perfect timing avoided any such hint of this.

Here's hoping that it gets the box office it deserves.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: the kite runner

[Reel-Reviews] Michael Clayton (3 stars)

2007-11-27T17:20:00.000Z

The truth can be adjusted. So goes the tagline, but does that go for the actor's choice of role and performance too?

George Clooney plays law firm fixer Michael Clayton with apparent ease but hardly breaks a smile all performance. It's certainly a departure from his swish/ indulgent turn as Danny Ocean. Add to that the fact that the man's a liberal in a conservative American entertainment system, and not a bad director to boot. For those reasons alone, I gave him the benefit of the doubt with this role - and ended up unsure whether it was a 4 or 2 star film...

As I say, it would seem easy enough to play - a downbeat loser who can control everyone's life but his own. So far, so cliched. But the role's loaded against him from the start - what's not to like about a well-paid, good-looking lawyer being brought down a peg or two with his personal disasters? But Clooney brings an essential chink of unease and gravitas to a role that becomes increasingly complex through the film - and it wasn't just his Merc exploding that made me feel more sympathetic.

Again, one small quibble - act one seemed too slow, act three too fast (as M said afterwards, he wondered how they were going to wrap it all up with 10 minutes to go). Otherwise a steady and interesting choice for Clooney in balancing his other more frivolous films/ roles.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: michael clayton

[Reel-Reviews] Atonement (4 stars)

2007-11-27T17:14:00.000Z

A wonderful adaptation of the Ian McEwan book, faithfully bringing to the screen the oppressive heat of a single summer day and its unimaginable consequences...

From the cricket chirrups to the heat haze, everything is detailed and delivered. And there are some really solid performances here, not least James McAvoy and Saoirse Ronan, as the young Briony.

My only slight greivance with another-wise moving and well-shot film is actually with the concept of making this "readers' book" into a film in the first place. For me, the plot turns and twists on the fact that Briony is a writer, and so the final scenes maybe lose a little of their punch. But that's a minor niggle in a fabulous film.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: atonement

[Reel-Reviews] Earth (4 stars)

2007-11-27T17:09:00.000Z

We managed to see a sneak preview of Earth last night – on a digital screen. And therein lies the difference between this and a two-hour special of the BBC TV shows Planet Earth and Blue Planet…

An impressive visual and aural feast it is, but partly because of the scale of the screen and the definition of sound and visuals. Think you’ve seen a great white shark eating a seal before? Not this large you ain’t. Think you’ve seen polar bears struggling to survive in an broken-iced ocean? Not in this detail you ain’t. Think you know the noise that monkeys make wading through a flooded savannah? Not this clearly you ain’t. From the fluffy feathers on that duckling’s wing tip to the chilling crack of the Arctic ice shelf, this is a whole new experience.

Ok, so if you’re a fan of the shows, have the DVDs, or have looked through the Beeb’s extensive websites, you might have seen some of the footage before. But not like this you ain’t.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: earth film

[Reel-Reviews] Control (4 stars)

2007-10-10T15:05:00.001Z

Anton Corbijn’s Ian Curtis/ Joy Division film, Control, lived up to (very high) expectations last night. Beautifully crafted and shot, it was a period piece as much as any Merchant Ivory - the difference being this was Macclesfield, Salford and Manchester in the 1970s.

Of course, knowing the ending made it a very intense experience from the off. But Corbijn's tenderness and vision made me ache and finally weep for that damaged young man, isolated and alone despite (because of?) his fame.

It was an ultimately fatal, bad mix - the lows of epilepsy, medication, marriage and adultery, and the itinerant lifestyle of the music scene. But as needed, there was humour writ right through it all – not least, a brilliant one-liner about The Fall’s Mark E Smith.

To complete the full Mancunian experience, there was also a fist fight in the cinema during the screening last night! A drunk bloke, who was heckling, commentating and singing (!) his way through the film, finally got shouted at by another bloke down the front and a spot of bother ensued. And I have to say, after we’d escaped the film having got through the rest in reverent silence, we thought it had rather added to both the tension and the moment...

technorati tag: control

[Reel-Reviews] Kapital (1 star)

2007-07-05T09:51:00.000Z

Kapital – last night was the world-premiere for Greg Hall/ Steve Martland film commission for Manchester International Festival. Apparently the three “Londoners” (those two and Alex Poots, festival director) cooked up the title in a café in Finsbury Park – and I think that about says it all.

Simon Mellor said in the post-film Q&A that he thought that Manchester was one of the main characters in the piece. And I couldn’t have agreed less. If you’re a Cockney, why come to a strange city and try and make a “Mancunian” film?

My feeling overall was that it could have worked as four short films. Actually, it could have been one short. In fact, I recommend you watch the well-edited one minute trailer approximately 75 times instead of catching the full director’s cut…

It was like watching an art installation film piece in a cinema; it’s certainly no feature film. Nice try MIF, but features budgets tend to have another nought on the end of them. As a result of that, and I suspect also the providence of the director, this really isn’t a film worth seeking out. More Krap-ital than Kapital.

technorati tag: kapital, manchester international festival

[Reel-Previews] Cannes - truth vs hype...

2007-06-05T08:21:00.000Z

There's an interesting list of the most hyped/ actual best films showing at Cannes on the BBC Collective at the moment... Go read and mark your diary for what to watch/ miss.

technorati tag: cannes film festival

[Reel-Comments] film sense-orship

2007-04-30T15:08:00.000Z

Too young to see the film you star in because of the BBFC rating? Then make sure you get it shown in Bristol (a la Shane Meadow's This is England).

At last, an authority showing some sense over film censorship - and adjusting the certification to a 15. If only this had happened for Sweet Sixteen as well. Sadly, it's too late now.

technorati tag: BBFC, this is england

[Reel-Comments] Top 50 religious films...

2007-04-30T14:57:00.000Z

Fat Roland prompted me to mention this here to those that might not have seen it: The Church Times’ 50 top religious films.

And no, The Passion of The Christ is not number one (but it does make it to 9 somehow). And how did The Sound of Music make it to 17?...

Of course, I’m going to argue that their premise is flawed (we’re all po-mo now, right?). Picking the “top religious” films creates a false divide between the scared and the secular. We’re not, after all, watching these movies in church – they’re being made (often in Hollywood) for cinema audiences. They acknowledge this – “A film might promote values that viewers would want to share passionately, but contain no explicit reference to faith or creed. Its plot might be read as an allegory that invites comparisons with religious themes, but only to some of its viewers.” For me, it’s not a good enough reading of the times – people do have spiritual experiences in the cinema and these top 50 films are largely not the ones that would provoke this reaction (think Matrix, think Truman Show).

Hardly any of their long list even touch the popular approach to the subject – Liar, Liar and Bruce Almighty might be two to mention here. Plus, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (breaking the “rules”) made it in because it’s “metaphorical nature was clear enough.” And yet, a film that is a metaphor for something else other than religious life/ values/ etc but has overtly religious content made it in as well (ref: The Crucible – McCarthyism/ religious persecution).

My other snarl would be towards this quote in particular: “…surprisingly for an era often categorised as greedy and secular, the 1980s produced 14 of our films.” But it’s common knowledge that Hollywood is a (cinematic) decade behind the times, isn’t it? This reflects the fact that writing, pitching, producing and marketing a film often takes about that long. Thus the releases of these “80s” flicks are a glance back to the 70s – the fall out from and reaction to the Vietnam war, the end of flower power, the rise of environmentalism, feminism and so on. It’s the films of the early 90s we should be wary of – hence only five making the list (all post-1994 – The Apostle, The Crucible, Priest, Afterlife, Prince of Egypt).

Nuff griping… you can see the list for yourself here.

technorati tag: church times, religious films

[Reel-Previews] "15 minutes" - this sunday

2007-04-30T10:55:00.001Z

15 Minutes (18)

The final in our Heroes and Villains series (and the last in this run of films…)

This Sunday, 6th May

Doors: 6.30pm Film starts: 7pm prompt

VENUE CHANGE ** please note that we've moved venues (contact for location details) **

If you want to explore the film's themes and issues: Post-film discussion: 9.15pm onwards Evening ends: no later than 10pm

Feel free to bring your own food, drinks and snacks.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: reel spirituality, 15 minutes

[Reel-Reviews] Sunshine (3 stars)

2007-04-13T09:23:00.000Z

Having been offered a preview ticket for this at the Cornerhouse, with a post-screening Q&A with Danny Boyle, Benedict Wong, and Dr Brian Cox, it would be churlish to pan Sunshine. In truth, there's not a lot to pan - it's generally a well-paced, philosophical, beautiful film, depicting the flight of a space crew to reignite the dying sun with a huge nuclear payload.

The film reflects on our reliance on and obsession with this tame but fiery beast, and for the majority of it, it's a slow-burn philosophical sci-fi that addresses a wide-variety of ethical and scientific issues, whilst borrowing from every other high-sci-fi of the last 30 years (2001, Alien, Solaris, etc).

Sadly in the third act, I felt that the plot fell prey a bit to an unnecessary twist - one that turned this into a thriller (even a slasher) rather than allowing us to complete the journey at the earlier, more-lesiurely-but-no-less-tense pace. Ah - and I could have done without the last scene but hey, I'll just mentally scrub it...

That aside, the soundtrack was stunning, and the visuals of the sun itself, gorgeous. It's had some very mixed reviews (panned on Newsnight Review, four-starred by the Observer, Guardian, Empire...) but go see the light (or dark?) for yourself.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: sunshine

[Reel-Comments] It's oh so quiet...

2007-03-27T11:34:00.000Z

Apologies if you think this blog has gone a bit, erm quiet of late. No, we've not forgotten you, just that things have got a bit busy...

Anyway posts that are imminent/ pending:

Walk The Line - the Johnny Cash biopic
Whale Rider - a wonderful tale of leadership and empowerment
An Inconvenient Truth (why does Al Gore spend so much time in cars and planes?)
Norbit (a film so "good" Eddie Murphy wrote not one, but TWO parts for himself...)
Under the Mud (a Liverpudlian community film so good that no-one will ever see it!)
Mark Kermode's 10 Film Commandments (just because)
And an interesting piece on the Guardian about film criticism...

Phew!

[Reel-Comments] From Oscar, With Love...

2007-02-26T16:04:00.000Z

Told you so. Well, sorta.

Best picture - Babel
(someone else said it was too like last year's winner, Crash. Point taken.)
Actual winner - The Departed

Best director - Martin Scorsese, The Departed (yeah!)

Best actor - Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland (yeah!)

Best actress - Helen Mirren, The Queen (yeah!)

Best supporting actress - Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
(shoulda - who wouldn't want her to win over Jennifer Hudson in a Motown schmuck-up?)
Actual winner - Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls

Best supporting actor - Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
(shoulda - one of the finest performances and one of the best character actors of hie generation. Think Kevin Spacey circa The Usual Suspects... but I think the Academy honouring a man playing a paedo is a little too liberal even for Californians...)
Actual winner - Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine

technorati tag: 2007 oscar winners

[Reel-Previews] House of Flying Daggers - Reel Spirituality, this Sunday

2007-02-26T15:58:00.000Z

House of Flying Daggers (15)
The second in our Heroes and Villains series

This Sunday, 4th March
Doors: 6.30pm Film starts: 7pm prompt

VENUE CHANGE ** please note that we’ve moved venues (email for location details) **

If you want to explore the film’s themes and issues:
Post-film discussion: 9.15pm onwards Evening ends: no later than 10pm

Feel free to bring your own food, drinks and snacks – I think there might be free popcorn!

Continuing the series of Heroes and Villains:
1st April - Leon (18)
6th May - 15 Minutes (18)

IMDB listing and technorati tag: reel spirituality, house of flying daggers

[Reel-Reviews] The Princess Bride (3 stars)

2007-02-07T11:41:00.000Z

Rob Reiner made his name directing This is Spinal Tap. Three years later, he was directing what should be a TVM kids film. Somehow, in the intervening 20 years, The Princess Bride has become something of a cult classic – designated such by drunk students and those harking back to a bygone (80s) era.

A bit of a mystery to me but a harmless and fun way to kill 90 mins on a cold, dark Saturday afternoon.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: the princess bride

[Reel-Reviews] My Little Eye (1 star)

2007-02-07T11:39:00.000Z

In a word – miserable.

(I wanted to give it no stars, but M says that’s not a rating…)

IMDB listing and technorati tag: my little eye

[Reel-Previews] Reel Spirituality - this Sunday

2007-01-29T13:34:00.000Z

Sunday 4 Feb - The Proposition (18)

Reel Spirituality - 1st Sunday of the month at Nexus
Doors: 6.30pm Film starts: 7pm prompt

If you want to explore the film’s themes and issues:
Post-film discussion: 9.15pm onwards Evening ends: no later than 10pm

Feel free to bring your own food. Drinks and snacks available on the night.
+ Book stall of film and spiritual books +

The series on "Heroes and Villains" continues with...
4th March - House of Flying Daggers (15)
1st April - Leon (18)
6th May - 15 Minutes (18)

technorati tag: the proposition, reel spirituality

[Reel-Comments] Oscar nominations

2007-01-23T14:28:00.000Z

So, the long awaited Oscar nominees list is out. Anyone want to take a punt on who'll win what in the top categories?

For what it's worth, my votes go on:

Best picture - Babel
Best director - Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Best actor - Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
Best actress - Helen Mirren, The Queen
Best supporting actress - Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Best supporting actor - Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children

At least I nailed my colours to the mast early on, before the real hype kicks in... And you can crucify me sometime after dawn on 26 Feb.

technorati tag: academy award nominations, the oscars 2007

[Reel-Review] Into Great Silence (5 stars)

2007-01-18T14:58:00.000Z

I read recently that one of the golden rules of creative writing was “don’t tell the reader, show them”, meaning that explanation is patronizing and ultimately detracts from the narrative. Philip Groning might well have had this line in his head when he filmed his three-hour documentary, Into Great Silence, about the monastery, La Grande Chartreuse, and its order of Carthusian monks.

I’m so glad he chose not to make an “explanatory” documentary – this was immersive cinema, which is exactly what it needed to be. I don’t think it could have been anything else. In that sense, it reminded me a little of Koyanisquatsi. Put simply, it was a series of beautiful moving-photographs, capturing the natural and built environments, the rhythmic daily life of the monks, and of course the silence…

Yes, I had little idea what the chants all meant; yes, the on-screen quotes jarred occasionally (especially when they’re in French and German, thus subtitled right at the bottom of the screen in English); yes, I spent the first 30 minutes feeling acutely aware of the rustle of every single person in the sold-out cinema. Even a little explanation (a smooth voiceover by Morgan Freeman a la The March of the Penguins?) would have killed it.

What’s more, you can’t exactly rush a film that took 16 years even to get permission to make and is essentially about a life of intense, focused, reflective contemplation measured out by seasons and in rhythm to a 900 year old daily pattern. To try and fit it into a neat 120 minutes would have felt wrong. Like slow food is to McDonalds, this is to your average Hollywood blockbuster. I am also struggling to think of the last time I was in the cinema with such a respectful audience. OK, I was the youngest by about twenty years, but a less cinematic bunch I couldn’t have imagined. I reckoned everyone else there either was or wanted to be a priest or a nun…

On reflection, it would have been difficult to make a film about the life of this monastery that wasn’t beautiful. My memories of it now are only of elementary essentials: shafts of light, flickering candles, simple food, snow, sunshine, reading and writing, chants, wooden spoons, long corridors, and of course that silence…

The daily reality of the monks’ lives was to me a mix of the unexpected and to-be-expected. The unexpected? Them sliding down a snow covered hill and whooping in delight, the plastic bottles, their electric razors, feeding the cats. The expected? The monks praying, praying, and then praying some more - in the flickering light of the chapel, in their simple wooden cells, at all times of the day and through every season. And that silence…

It’s not a lifestyle that I would want to live, but it’s an incredible and privileged glimpse into a life a world away from mine. The monks’ economy of action and focus of attention is something that I envy on one level – as if everything has become so simple and so condensed and so thoughtful that nothing else matters.

To start with I felt a bit voyeuristic watching them move slowly about the monastery, but my initial worries that there were no main characters to hang 167 minutes of “action” on were put aside as, even without words, the men came to life on the screen – the young one, the ancient and stooped gardener/cook, the novice…

Towards the end, one old monk – who was blind and partially deaf – said a few simple sentences about his beliefs. One of those stuck with me: “The world has lost any sense of God. It is a pity…” And it was the one time that I wanted to speak out and break that silence…

IMDB listing and technorati tag: into great silence

[Reel-Reviews] Broken Flowers (4 stars)

2007-01-18T12:38:00.000Z

Jim Jarmusch’s direction is contemplative at best, but in this film it’s so laid back, it’s horizontal. Each scene seems to have about 15 seconds at the beginning and end just of unpeopled landscape/ environment shots. Indeed, there are entire scenes that just consist of Murray’s care-worn face staring into the camera or his silhouette contemplating the view. The film is gorgeously mellow and more than a little whimsical. Murray is perfect in the unenergetic and quirky lead role – and it’s one that he’s comfortably familiar with (cf The Life Aquatic, Lost in Translation).

It’s the story of Dan Johnston (a modern day Don Juan – “I was into computers, and women”) making a road trip around various exes who might or might not have sent him a anonymous pink letter informing him of the son that he never knew he had. His friend Winston has urged him to go and visit them to collect clues as to the sender and thus the mother. Don has no real life to speak of – a nice house, a string of beautiful exes, and every material need met – but no life. Everywhere you go there might or might not be (pink) clues as to the mother of his unknown son – a business card, a motorbike, a typewriter… His reliance on the kindness of and interaction with strangers sort of symbolizes the fact that he’s as comfortable, if not more so, with them as with anyone who actually knows or has known him.

A really confident and well-crafted film about need and want, the past and the future, hope and let-down…

IMDB listing and technorati tag: broken flowers

[Reel-Reviews] Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (3 stars)

2007-01-18T12:33:00.000Z

A short and sweet review of Shane Black’s directorial debut, featuring Robert Downey Jnr and Val Kilmer.

It’s a very self-aware and cute LA who-dunnit. And it knows it. But it’s a poor show when you say that the dialogue outshines the cast, direction and plot, even in some cases the actual delivery of the lines. A couple of the pick of the crop:

B-Movie Actress: So what do you do?

Harry: I'm retired, I invented dice when I was a kid. What do you do?

And:

Perry: “This isn't good cop, bad cop. This is fag and New Yorker.”

In short, it’s engaging enough as the piece of Hollywood fluff it is.

IMDB listing andtechnorati tag: kiss kiss bang bang

[Reel-Reviews] The Hours (4 stars)

2007-01-12T14:39:00.000Z

This is a beautifully woven film, due at least in part to Michael Cunningham’s source novel and Stephen Daldry’s direction. The fact that they’ve also got one of the best female casts of modern times might also have helped… David Hare, who adapted the novel for the screenplay, has said that despite comments that the book was “unfilmable”, he thought it was one of the most cinematic books he’d read. I’d have to agree…

In 1923, Virginia Woolf sits in her study trying to write her novel, “Mrs Dalloway”, a day in the life study of a socialite hostess with hidden depths…

In 1950s America, Laura Brown is an apparently good suburban wife, expecting her second child and baking a cake for her husband’s birthday. But she can hardly drag herself away from reading “Mrs Dalloway”…

In 2001 in New York, Clarissa Vaughan is party-planning for her award-winning poet, AIDS-infected friend and ex-lover Richard, by whom she was nicknamed “Mrs. Dalloway”…

So, one is writing it, one is reading it, and one is living it – whichever way you look at it, “Mrs Dalloway” is at the centre of everything.

A study of womanhood, parenting, loss, death, liberation, choice, and love.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: the hours

[Reel-Reviews] Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life (5 stars)

2007-01-12T14:30:00.000Z

To give it its full title… Apparently, Capra was the first studio director ever to have his name above the title of the picture. So there. That alone justifies the five stars IMHO.

No seriously. It’s the ultimate Christmas Eve movie. And one of my all time favourite films. So there again.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: it's a wonderful life

[Reel-Reviews] White Christmas (1 star)

2007-01-12T14:25:00.000Z

Well the post-Xmas excesses have finally worn off (!) and I’m getting round to updating the site with three films we watched over the festive season.

I hadn’t seen this is musical-disguised-as-an-excuse-for-Bing-Crosby-to-sing-White-Christmas-yet-again for about a decade when we slumped down in front of it on Boxing Day evening. And now I remember why I’d avoided it for so long. It’s really a hardly-disguised Holiday Inn remake – sure, it’s fun and it’s got some good tunes in the early part (esp Sisters). But from the moment the two young are-they-aren’t-they couples arrive in Vermont, they’ve pretty much lost me.

Danny Kaye apes his way through the whole film, Bing Crosby is a one trick pony, and neither of the girls is that convincing. And as a first use for Paramount’s VistaVision, then cutting-edge widescreen technology, it’s a bit frustrating, mainly because so much of it was filmed in a studio.

Forget this – and watch It’s a Wonderful Life every time instead.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: white christmas

[Reel-Previews] Reel Spirituality: this Sunday - The Life Aquatic

2007-01-02T10:23:00.000Z

New Year’s resolutions - See more films? Do something new? Get 30% extra from your Sundays?

Then come along to Reel Spirituality!

This Sunday, the last in “The Outsider” series…
7th January - The Life Aquatic (15)

1st Sunday of the month at Nexus
Doors: 6.30pm Film starts: 7pm prompt

If you want to explore the film’s themes and issues:
Post-film discussion: 9.15pm onwards Evening ends: no later than 10pm

Feel free to bring your own food. Drinks and snacks available on the night.
+ Book stall of film and spiritual books +

The next series is “Heroes and Villains”
4th February - The Proposition (18)
4th March - House of Flying Daggers (15)
1st April - Leon (18)
6th May - 15 Minutes (18)

See you there? Hope so.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: the life aquatic, technorati tag: reel spirituality

[Reel-Comments] Happy Christmas from me, and Happy Christmas from him!

2006-12-20T11:29:00.000Z

technorati tag: happy christmas

[Reel-Reviews] Dear Wendy (4 stars)

2006-12-11T13:12:00.000Z

This is not a critique of America and the country’s relationship with guns. Both von Trier and Vinterberg have said so, so it must be true, right? And obviously, nothing that either of them has said previously has ever had a spin on it for controversy’s sake, or their tongues planted firmly in their cheeks. No, no, no, of course not. So this is not a film about American gun culture, right?

As Jamie “Billy Elliot” Bell’s excellent Dick Dandelion says: “The regulations are, that the most important thing for a Dandy [one of the gang] is never to show off his partner [gun], whatever the provocation. We carry them as moral supports. And that's the most important thing. They may be carried, but never brandished. That would be the worst thing of all. [contiunes as voice-over narrative] Not one of us were in doubt about the most important thing of all. The reason why our partners could only be fired in the darkness of the old mine and could never be exposed to full light and thereby be woken up. Because once awoken nothing could stop them from following their true nature and killing. And it was so forbidden to say that word, that we called it "loving" instead. And "loving" could never ever happen because that would be the end of it all."

IMDB listing and technorati tag: dear wendy

[Reel-Reviews] Oldboy (5 stars)

2006-12-11T13:08:00.000Z

I’m honestly still working out what this film was about, who did what to whom and why. And we watched it more than a week ago!! Fabulous script, great ideas and well executed – but it will mess with your head. It's easy to see how it won the year Tarrantino charied the Cannes jury! A film about revenge, vengeance, family, redemption, remberance and forgetting.

Go watch – unless you’re offended by death, swearing, sex, violence, eating animals, etc, etc. On second thoughts, don’t. And if you do, remember, I certainly didn’t recommend it! ;-)

IMDB listing and technorati tag: oldboy

[Reel-Reviews] How the Grinch Stole Christmas (3 stars)

2006-12-11T13:04:00.000Z

We first saw this film on Christmas Eve, just the two of us in the printworks, and loved every minute of its seasonally-appropriate silliness. We re-watched this on Saturday whilst wrapping presents and writing cards, with a glass of mulled wine. Ahhh… lovely!

Normally I’d run a mile from a kids film directed by Ron Howard and starring Jim Carrey, but for once, Jim does himself and it justice. It’s filled with good one liners (“Blast this Christmas music. It's joyful and triumphant.”), silly visual gags and a moral ending about Christmas not being about the presents!

IMDB listing and technorati tag: how the grinch stole christmas

[Reel-Reviews] The Sum of All Fears (2 stars)

2006-12-11T13:00:00.000Z

This is one of those slightly silly terrorist/ nuclear bomb films that Hollywood loves to make. Ben Affleck as the rooky - check.
Morgan Freeman as his knowing boss – check.
A best-selling thriller adaptation – check.
Good cameo turns by familiar faces (in this case James Cromwell and Philip Baker Hall) to keep you guessing what else they’ve been in – check.

Although this might be an odd thing to say, the redeeming feature is that at least the bomb goes off – it does NOT for once fall to Affleck and co. to cut the blue (or is it red?) wire with seconds to go. But overall, it’s nothing more than an average blockbuster thriller/ action fare, suitable for a mindless Saturday night.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: the sum of all fears

[Reel-Reviews] Casino Royale (4 stars)

2006-11-27T16:53:00.000Z

++ POTENTIALLY CONTAINS SPOILERS ++

Being a Bond fan, from the days when I was allowed to go and see the newest release in the cinema around my birthday (The Living Daylights since you ask – ooo, and an Aha theme tune), it seemed right and fitting that about 10 of us made the trip to the Odeon on Saturday afternoon to indulge my birthday whim of seeing Casino Royale…

Latterly, I’ve hated and felt a little betrayed by the silliness of the films – their kitsch/ spoof of a spoof plots, characters, opening titles, everything (ref the invisible car in Die Another Day)! As Peter Bradshaw put it – “it’s as if Austin Powers had never happened”.

But this is a whole new level - not just the best Bond film in years, but one of the best action films I’ve seen. Just seeing the words “Daniel Craig as Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007” on the screen sent shivers down my spine...

In a similar vein to Batman Begins, it explores the back story of one of the bad boys of cinema. And I loved every minute of it – the black and white sequences, the free-running opening chase, Daniel Craig’s homage to Ursula Andres in those trunks, the believable bad guy, Bond winning his now traditional spoils (the martini, the Aston, etc), James and Vesper’s verbal sparring on the train, Mary’s whispered “oh no!...” about a key character just before the film’s closing minutes, the fact they held the music and *that* line to the very end… Perfect!

The only thing that felt a little silly and/or contrived was the love story section… but even that was a necessary plot device, so I’m going to forgive them.

Bond is dead. Long live Bond.

technorati tag: casino royale

[Reel-Reviews] Tailor of Panama (2 stars)

2006-11-24T10:38:00.000Z

When we first started this blog, people kept telling me they were worried that we'd only ever award 3, 4 or 5 stars. I replied that that's because we don't knowingly set out to watch crap. How times change...

Flicking on Film4 the other night, we watched Pierce Brosnan and Geoffrey Rush in this film based on a best-selling John Le Carre novel. Watchable at the very least, right?

This film doesn't know whether it's a drama, a thriller, a comedy, or a spoof of a spoof of Bond (note the leading man). So much less than the sum of its parts.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: tailor of panama

[Reel-Reviews] L.I.E. (5 stars)

2006-11-24T10:28:00.000Z

This is the third recent film we’ve seen that’s dealt with the difficult and sensitive subject of sex and children – Little Children, The Woodsman and now L.I.E. (the Long Island Expressway).

“On the Long Island Expressway, there are lanes going east, lanes going west, and lanes going straight to hell.”

A beautifully shot and constructed film about the life of one 15 year old coming of age, with a masterful and flawless performance by Brian Cox. But it was the character Scott (played by Walter Masterson) that's still with me days after. He’s 'Not Peter Pan' – both the Boy Who Grew Up and all shadow, no boy. A terrifyingly good and stunning turn in equal measure.

Well worth seeking this one out.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: L.I.E.

[Reel-Comments] Robert Altman - RIP

2006-11-22T09:14:00.000Z

This man frequently challenged my perceptions of direction and film-making - Short Cuts and The Player to name but two. He will be sorely missed.

technorati tag: robert altman

[Reel-Previews] Oldboy

2006-11-20T16:07:00.000Z

Reel Spirituality
(by Sanctus1)

Ba-humbug! Who needs twee Christmas films when you can have award-winning Asian extreme?

OLDBOY (18)

Sunday 3 December

The third in our 'The Outsider' series - four films exploring alienation, isolation, exclusion and ‘the other’

Every first Sunday of the month at Nexus
Doors: 6.30pm Film starts: 7pm prompt

If you want to explore the film’s themes and issues:
Post-film discussion: 9.15pm onwards Evening ends: no later than 10pm

Feel free to bring your own food. Drinks and snacks available on the night.
+ Book stall of film and spiritual books +

The Outsider series continues
7th January - The Life Aquatic (15)

Heroes and Villains
4th February - The Proposition (18)
4th March - House of Flying Daggers (15)
1st April - Leon (18)
6th May - 15 Minutes (18)

IMDB listing and technorati tag: oldboy

[Reel-Comments] Reviewers beware...

2006-11-20T14:11:00.000Z

Shock horror - apparently Johnny Vaughan might (not) go to every cinema (p)review himself for his Sun column.

In today's front page Media feature, the Guardian claims that there are shifty ongoings in the world of sleb film reviews...

technorati tag: film reviews

[Reel-Comments] When is a 'royale premiere' not a premiere?...

2006-11-20T14:08:00.000Z

...when it's shown on three screens simultaneously.

Presumably the one that counts officially (and start three seconds before the others) is the one with Her Maj and Mr Craig in it. Surely?...

technorati tag: film premiere

[Reel-Reviews] Day Night Day Night (unknown stars)

2006-11-14T11:02:00.000Z

You might (not) have noticed that we're one review short of a full screening from the London Film Festival - a US/ German/ French co-production called Day Night Day Night.

The story of an unnamed female suicide bomber in New York's Times Square, there are whole sections which I found it practically unwatchable. M and I then had one of the most intense and interesting discussions of the festival about this very film (probably the very reason that neither of us have posted a review). Is it a badly made film about an effective group of terrorists, or a well made film about badly organised group of terrorists? And how do you know?

The answer? I still haven't got a clue...

IMDB listing and technorati tag: day night day night, london film festival

[Reel-Reviews] Kes (4 stars)

2006-11-14T10:58:00.000Z

Having watched Kes recently, I’ve been meaning to review it for a few days – but the more I think about it the more I’ve struggled with what to write. I’ve come to the conclusion that the film just gets more complex and opaque with time. Did the film stand up to scrutiny after nearly 40 years? Yes. Because of its age do we judge it more harshly, or do we give it sympathy points? Neither, maybe. See what I mean? It’s complicated.

Some themes:

Childhood obsession – Billy’s utter focus on the bird to the exclusion of most other things, exemplified by his only show of school enthusiasm being his talk on the kestrel

Taking the direct approach – Billy wants to know more about birds, so steals a book on birds when he can’t borrow one, and takes a bird to train

The link between Kes and Billy – Both locked in a cage, both at their best when free and outdoors

Indoors/outdoors – All the good things that happen to Billy are outside, while all the bad things happen inside

Hopes and dreams – Billy survives by satisfying his immediate needs, but are his hopes and dreams projected onto the bird, wishing the bird to do well rather than himself? The interest of his English teacher carries Billy’s enthusiasm into adulthood, almost as a validation

And the big question - what happens to Billy after the end of the film?...

[Oh, and Billy Elliot owes a good deal to Kes and Ken. Watch both and see what I mean!]

IMDB listing and technnorati tag: kes

[Reel-Comments] The curtain in Odeon West End screen 1

2006-11-03T13:52:00.000Z

technorati tag: cinema curtain

[Reel-Comments] Audiences are strange...

2006-11-02T14:44:00.000Z

Having moaned a bit about this specific problem at the start of the festival, I'm glad (of course) to see that it's not just us...

technorati tag: audiences

[Reel-Comments] London Film Festival highlights

2006-11-01T16:15:00.000Z

Walking the red carpet three times and papping the paps

The soundtrack of Breaking and Entering (by Underworld and Gabriel Yared)

Seeing Charles Clarke (ex-Home Secretary) going into Odeon West End - either to the screening of Bobby or Princess (I know what I'd prefer the answer to be!)

M and I observing the “10 Minute Rule” (talk about anything but…) at the end of each film, and then (mostly) all hell breaking loose as we both simultaneously try to say what we thought of it, how many stars, etc

technorati tag: London Film Festival

[Reel-Reviews] Hollywoodland (4 stars)

2006-11-01T10:33:00.000Z

It seems a bit churlish to give this four stars - especially given we were in the starry presence of Bob (Hoskins), Ben (Affleck), Adrien (Brody) and director Allen Coulter after our shimmy down the red carpet...

The story of the 'death by gunshot wound to the head' of America's original Superman, actor George Reeves (Affleck), the film picks away at the studio system, the mess of Reeves' personal life and the veneer of Hollywood fame. As the circumstances of his death are investigated by erratic, freelance PI Louis Simo (Brody), and more and more detail comes to light, several scenarios as to who and why and how that gunshot wound were inflicted are exposed and explored. Deftly highlighting the similarities and differences between Simo and Reeves (their families, lifestyles, hopes, insecurities), the film forces us consider notions of identity and (anti)heroism.

The critics say that it's Affleck’s turn as Reeves that is a career best, but I'd say that Diane Lane's steely and intense performance as Reeves' lover (Toni Mannix) is almost unsurpassable. I'd even mention the 'O' word, but we know what these internet rumours can do to a cast?...

IMDB listing and technorati tag: Hollywoodland, London Film Festival

[Reel-Reviews] Breaking and Entering (4 stars)

2006-11-01T10:21:00.000Z

Will (Jude Law) is a Landscape Architect working on the regeneration of the Kings Cross area of London. In an act of self-confidence Will and his business partner Sandy (Martin Freeman) set up their new office in the same area, renowned for its existing businesses of prostitution and drug-dealing.

Inevitably, having ordered a pallet-load of Macs and flat screen monitors, the office is broken into after the opening party and the hardware repatriated by Bosnian refugee Miro (Rafi Gavron) to a North London estate. Will and Sandy further fail to understand that the second best time to rob a design office is just after the replacement computers have arrived courtesy of the insurance company.

Following this Will and Sandy are thrown into a bizzare set of circumstances, entirely of their own naive making, yet that doesn't prevent the feeling of desperate wonder at how the hell they get into such a mess, and even more how the hell it can be resolved. Sandy settles for a relationship with the cleaner and a one-off random discussion with a prostitute but Will is (believeably) drawn into a relationship with the thief's mother Amira (Julitette Binoche).

Director, Anthony Minghella, draws profound comparisons between Will's partner Liv (Robin Wright Penn) and Amira and between Bea, Liv's acrobatic and autistic daughter, and Miro with his wild portage-inspired, roof-jumping acrobatics.

A final act of naivete, selfishness, and sheer ugliness by Will leaves the ending totally open and whilst somewhat 'hollywood' the ending retains dignity and a grasp on real life, in recognising that you can't just put a sticking plaster over damaged emotions and expect no pain.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: Breaking and Entering, London Film Festival

[Reel-Reviews] Anche libero va bene (Along The Ridge) (5 stars)

2006-11-01T09:50:00.000Z

I only realised at the final credits that director Kim Rossi Stuart also plays one of the key characters in this film... and that he's also one of the screenwriters. Maybe that explains in part the clear and unadulterated vision that comes through in this film.

11-year-old Tommy, aside from being brilliantly portrayed by Alessandro Moraces, is trying to make sense of his family and keep it together whilst at the same time being confronted with the reality of his mother's absence from family life. Father, sister, and mother all have equally strong roles and complex relationships too.

This is an observational film for others to aspire to. So often the desitre to portray a 'proper end' or 'meaningful storyline' interfere but there is no such dissappointment in this film-making - only deep, deep feeling, sympathy for, and empathy with the characters.

With less focus there are so many places where this Italian family set in Rome could try to make a dramatic statement. Instead, in an exercise of self-control the director keeps the subject, this family, in clear focus for the duration of the film and ultimately makes a far stronger statement: about siblings; about family life; about fathers and sons; about mothers and daughters; about brothers and sisters; about being an 11-year-old in a screwed up world.

This is a film to remind us that we can only really hurt the people we know best and that we gain most of our practice on our own familes.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: Along the Ridge, London Film Festival

[Reel-Reviews] Falling (3 stars)

2006-10-29T23:38:00.000Z

This five friends reunited film has an ambiguous translation at its start - the German language title is 'Fallen'. The film festival titles it 'Falling' as above, but the subtitles had it down as 'Floating'. It might sound like a little thing, but I think it makes all (some?) of the difference.
Each friend has a past to live up to, a present to capture, a future to behold and fall into, a reputation that preceeds them, and ideas that define them - plus secrets to be told...

A great enemble showcase piece, highlighting the talents of six of Austria's best contemporary women in film (the cast and director, Barbara Albert), what it makes up for in characterisation, it ultimately lacks in a plot which slightly struggles to transcend its cultural context. Maybe a case of being genuinely lost in translation.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: Falling, London Film Festival

[Reel-Reviews] For Your Consideration (3 stars)

2006-10-29T23:35:00.000Z

After his take on dog shows, Christopher Guest turns his satirical eye to the thing he surely knows best - making movies. It's the story of the cast and crew of 'Home for Purim', a small-scale and limited production (in every sense). But when Oscar buzz hits the set after a crew member reads a rumour online, the rivalries, jealousies, and egos *really* start to take centre stage...

Film-making itself provides opportunities for some of the most self-obsessed, shallow and superficial dialogue, characterisation and narrative - the characters' unquestioning acceptance of its absurdity giving all the more tragi-comic potential. For me though, the jokes were just a bit too "in" and the whole thing slightly too knowing to make me care enough about any of them.
Not 'best in show', but certainly a solid third place.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: For Your Consideration, London Film Festival

[Reel-Reviews] Infamous (5 stars)

2006-10-29T22:05:00.000Z

What makes a 5 star film? I may change my mind in days to come on this film but I feel I have to go with my gut instinct when the film ended. Unlike Bobby seen earlier that afternoon that 'logically' is a 5 star film, this film took me on a journey and into a different realm, which in this genre makes for a 5 star film in my book.

Toby Jones plays the 'eccentric' late 20th century author Truman Capote impecabbly, which is an odd word to use given how much this film is about people being used by others, especially Capote. Small in stature, Truman is larger than life, but complex too. The film follows a foreseeable course but I did not expect how we were going to be taken there by director and script writer Douglas McGrath.

The script is based around the creation of Capote's book, In Cold Blood. This depicts in a "new form of reportage" the brutal murder of a family in a Kansas town. We are left to ponder to what extent this form of reportage lies in the literary genres of fact or fiction. Nelle Harper Lee (Sandra Bullock), one of Capote's few non-society companions, has no doubts about Capote's aims as he extracts the base material for his book from the townsfolks and the murderers themselves.

The film could run its course and in many ways it does. Ultimately we are left wondering where the line between fantasy and fiction lies in Capote's own mind - and whether we too have experienced this through the film maker's lens.

At the time though I was taken in by the harrowing ending to this film and particularly a shot of Capote looking in a mirror where every emotion just runs across his face from sheer joy to sheer horror. This is a wonderful but desperately sad story.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: Infamous, London Film Festival

[Reel-Reviews] The Lineup (3 stars)

2006-10-29T22:01:00.000Z

This 1958 classic from director Don Siegel appeared newly restored at the London Film Festival thanks to work by Sony-Columbia. We heard some of the restoration story from their chief restorer at this viewing - interesting to hear someone literally talking about 'the film' as something equally crafted and masterminded as the director's piece.

This is a cop-thriller based in San Francisco centred around a drug trafficking ring and the increasingly desperate attempts of a psychotic hitman to recover his employer's goods from the innocent tourists who have acted as carriers.

The drunken / maniacal driving and other action scenes around San Francisco are compelling enough to keep a contemporary audience on the edge of their seats.

The film is noted as "very influential" and is certainly a classic. It is somewhat difficult to rate fifty years on so 3 stars may be unfair. Nonetheless this is a chair-gripping 86 minute race from the opening scene to the 4.30pm harbour siren.

IMDB listing and technorati tag: The Lineup, London Film Festival

[Reel-Reviews] Bobby (4 stars)

2006-10-27T21:41:00.000Z

This is the story of the eponymous assasinated senator - isn't it? The short answer is it's not that simple. It is the story - scrap that, the stories (plural) of a group of unrelated, everyday Americans in the Ambassador Hotel in June 1968 over the 18 hours before RFK's shooting.

Much of the film uses an incredibly clever interweaving of news footage from the months before and day of the assination itself with a brilliant ensemble acting piece (oh, that a cast...). But to even say this much implies it's a film building up to a shooting scene - and it's not: it's a film about a day in the life of everyday America but with echoes down the decades. There are references to voting and the Presidential primaries, but also to everything from fashion and current affairs, to MLK's assasination and Vietnam. And Estevez whispers in our ears the reminder that there are no shortage of parallels to our own times...

Of course you can't miss what you never had, but this is Estevez's version of events surrounding the "President they never had". And Bobby's really a minor character in what is actually a study of the signs of the times. As one of the campaigners says, "Now Dr King is dead, there's only Bobby." Just a man - not the Senator or a presidential hopeful, but a man, and one whose election to high office could have impacted our world in ways we dare not guess. And yet he was only one man - an individual, one of us.

The pivot point is Laurence Fishburne's chef telling a tale of the medieval king who would become Arthur. He was not always thus, it was a role that he grew into, and yet was all along - a once and future king. Estevez's film forces us to ask the question - if Bobby Kennedy was that once upon a time, who is our current once and future king?

IMDB listing, technorati tag: Bobby, London Film Festival

[Reel-Comments] London Film Festival Viewing

2006-10-27T11:11:00.000Z

A list of the films we're seeing at the London Film Festival:

- Little Children (2006 dir. Todd Field)
- Princess (2006 dir. Anders Morgenthaler)
- Bobby (2006 dir. Emilio Estevez)
- Infamous (2006 dir. Douglas McGrath)
- The Lineup (1958 dir. Don Siegel)
- For Your Consideration (2006 Christopher Guest)
- Breaking and Entering (2006 dir. Anthony Minghella)
- Falling (Fallen) (2006 dir. Barbara Albert)
- Day Night Day Night (2006 dir Julia Loktev)
- Hollywoodland (2006 dir. Allen C)
- Anche libero va bene (Along the Ridge) (2006 dir. Kim Rossi Stuart)

technorati tag: London Film Festival

[Reel-Comments] Audiences are strange

2006-10-27T08:44:00.000Z

Audiences are strange! I'm not saying everyone has to have the same reaction to a film as me but surely there are some things that you don't laugh at?

Point incase: in Little Children a sex offender who has served his time leaves the front door of his aged mother's house. It's a well to do neighbourhood yet this guy has been harrassed by a vigilante group formed largely of one local resident. As he leaves the house with a pensive face the front door swings shut and we see flyers stuck to the front door with gaffa tape, then we get a shot from above of him walking across the garden where the path has been sprayed with the word 'evil'.

Now what in this scene possessed a substantial proportion of the audience to laugh out loud? My only explanation is that it was nervous laughter because they couldn't cope with the scenario.

How many films have I been to where this has happened? It's not just limited to London, it's also happened in Manchester and Toronto (that's conclusive proof obviously from such a wide survey).

technorati tag: London Film Festival

[Reel-Reviews] Princess (4 stars)

2006-10-27T08:42:00.000Z

A brother seeks revenge on his dead porn star sister's memory, and for the abusive life of her five year old daughter. But despite its harrowing premise, Princess is a fairy tale at heart.

Beautiully animated, disturbingly graphic and wonderfully banal, this 80 minute slice of fantasy takes you where no live action film about porn, murder, abuse and revenge ever could. One of the highlights for me was the limited use of live action scenes throughout the animation, with a couple of key characters only ever appearing in filmed footage shown in the cartoon world - a spuberb and subtle device for highlighting every aspect of fantasy at the film's centre.

Tartan Films have picked it up for distribution in the UK - do try and see it. Anders Morgenthaler, the director, said there were more people in Odeon West End Screen 1 last night than saw it on release in its native Denmark...

An animated Leon for the 21 century.

Film website, IMDB listing and technorati tag: Princess, London Film Festival

[Reel-Reviews] Little Children (4 stars)

2006-10-27T08:17:00.000Z

This film brilliantly portrays life below the outer masks of outward normality.

The world of this Boston suburb portrays a certain version of 'normal life'. Brad (Patrick Wilson) and Sarah (Kate Winslet) shake up their worlds and their families through an intense affair over six months. In parallel the whole community is shaken by a sex offender (played by Jackie Earle Haley) returning to a community, or perhaps we are more shaken by their reaction to him.

The story and the various relationships are told through a series of seemingly innocent yet profound objects:

- A jester's hat: makes a dad feel second best to mum
- A thong: divides a husband and wife (as well as providing the best comic moment in the film)
- A red swim suit: arouses a summer affair
- A portrait of wife and husband: depicts a husband overshaddowed by a wife
- A pair of shoes: represents a son's loss
- A kitchen knife: brings abuser and abused together in an unlikely setting

The film is not unlike American Beauty for it's look at the underside of life. It talks of holding on too tightly to objects, dreams, and ambitions from the past but also of being too easily distracted by new glittery ones. Meanwhile the relationships of here and now drift by untended and unloved.

A magnificent film but didn't wholly transport me to another world, hence 4*.

Film Website, IMDB listing, and technorati tag: technorati tag: Little Children, London Film Festival

[Reel-Comments] reel spirituality - kes

2006-10-24T10:02:00.000Z

Don’t go to a cold and rainy bonfire party - join us for a cosy film night…

KES
by Ken Loach (rated PG)

The second of four films exploring the theme of “The Outsider” – alienation, isolation, exclusion and “the other”.

Every 1st Sunday of the month at Nexus, Northern Quarter
Doors: 6.30pm Film starts: 7pm prompt

If you want to explore the film’s themes and issues:
Post-film discussion: 9.15pm onwards Evening ends: no later than 10pm

Feel free to bring your own food. Drinks and snacks available on the night.
+ Book stall of film and spiritual books +
See Sanctus1 for more details.

Other films in this series include:
3rd December - Old Boy (18)
7th January - The Life Aquatic (15)

IMDB listing and technorati tag: kes

[Reel-Previews] son of man

2006-10-24T09:33:00.000Z

Unfortunately this isn't showing when we're at the festival, but based on the review and other synopsis material, Son of Man is definitely going to find its way onto our rental list...

technorati tag: son of man, london film festival

[Reel-Reviews] millions (5 stars)

2006-10-23T14:43:00.000Z

Millions – Danny Boyle’s techni-glo, super-spirit-filled loveliness of a film.

Whether you’re 12 or 112, go watch. A film with humour, pace, provocation and warmth – but without the sentimentality. More like this please Danny...

IMDB listing and technorati tag: millions

[Reel-Comments] the first film of the festival

2006-10-19T09:48:00.000Z

Last night was the opening gala for LFF - The Last King of Scotland.

Most of the usual film sites are covering the festival, but the Guardian Unlimited Film site has a good section of interviews, reviews, features, top picks, etc. Obviously, due to their sponsorship, The Times site is the most full of detail at the mo, but it's not somewhere I'd visit often if it weren't for the sponsorship collaboration...

technorati tag: london film festival

[Reel-Comments] London Film Festival

2006-10-18T10:46:00.000Z

Today's the day when it all kicks off... Check out the website for new competitions and sign up for the podcast. There's also a great rough guide to the festival.

I have to say that the Tube ads are a bit underwhelming - but I did spot them all over the place when I passed through the Big Smoke yesterday.

Not long now...

technorati tag: london film festival

[Reel-Reviews] napoleon dynamite (2 stars)

2006-10-15T21:21:00.000Z

Napoleon Dynamite is a quirky indie film charting the nothing happening, small-town life of the protagonist – dealing with his dodgy salesman Uncle Rico, his chat-room-wannabe brother Kip, and his new friend Pedro’s campaign to be elected school president. It’s a film in which almost nothing happens – but I guess that’s Idaho for you… The tagline is “He’s out to prove he’s got nothing to prove”. Exactly.

IMDB listing and Technorati Tag: napoleon dynamite

[Reel-Reviews] lost in la mancha (4 stars)

2006-10-15T20:28:00.000Z

Fulton and Pepe’s documentary of Terry Gilliam’s doooomed and never-completed feature film, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, is a brilliantly revealing insight into the paranoid, fragile and tempestuous process of film-making. A decade after he first had the idea, and on a budget of only $34m (ie tiny! but still the biggest budgeted feature film using only European financing), Gilliam and his crew are beset by problem after problem after problem – overhead noise from the nearby NATO airbase, the mother of all hail storms and subsequent flash flood, the illness, absence and conflicting schedules of the cast, many pan-European linguistic and geographic co-ordination problems, and an eventual insurance claim for a cool $15m. Frankly, it makes even my hard weeks at work look like making daisy chains in the sunshine…

A film about a fantastical dreamer of a director, a bunch of filmic outsiders, maybe even victorious losers in a way.

IMDB listing and Technorati tag: lost in la mancha