# Brixton Ritzy - upcoming films, reviews and opinions



## Gramsci (Mar 20, 2013)

> 4 Totnes Devon why is it so great? Time magazine declared the town, which sits on the River Dart 20 miles from Exeter, to be the capital of New Age chic.


 
Only one mention of Devon. New Age chic is in. How like Devon .

Anyone seen "Cloud Atlas" ? very New Age. Korean cutie cyborg tells us we are all interconnected and should love one another.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 20, 2013)

Gramsci said:


> Anyone seen "Cloud Atlas" ? very New Age.


 
I saw that today


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## pissflaps (Mar 20, 2013)

Cloud Atlas is just... just awful. It's like watching 7 shit movies all at once, all with tom hanks in them. please don't watch this film, it will ruin the rest of your week.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 20, 2013)

gaijingirl said:


> ooh currently trying to decide whether to see that or Django today - one off opportunity to watch a film. Django means I could also get a swim but I hear it's v. violent and I struggle a bit with that these days. #gonesoft


 
I enjoyed Django, but then I have no problem with violent films


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## Gramsci (Mar 20, 2013)

gaijingirl said:


> ooh currently trying to decide whether to see that or Django today - one off opportunity to watch a film. Django means I could also get a swim but I hear it's v. violent and I struggle a bit with that these days. #gonesoft


 
Django is very violent. Cloud Atlas- it rolls along nicely and essentially is a love story. But not a great film.


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## gaijingirl (Mar 20, 2013)

anyways... Gramsci and Minnie the Minx - I did see Django in the end.. it actually turned out to be less violent than I had anticipated so I survived it.. and got my swim.  All good.  I did think it was way too long though - a bit in the middle there I was zoning out - but that may say more about my attention span these days than anything else.  Not used to being able to sit still in one place for such a long time.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 20, 2013)

gaijingirl said:


> anyways... Gramsci and Minnie the Minx -I did think it was way too long though - a bit in the middle there I was zoning out - but that may say more about my attention span these days than anything else. Not used to being able to sit still in one place for such a long time.


[/quote]

I'd avoid Cloud Atlas then


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## Gramsci (Mar 20, 2013)

I'd avoid Cloud Atlas then [/quote]

And definitely not "Beyond the Hills"- two and half hours of arthouse Euromisery

I liked it. Best film Ive seen for a while.

Stoker is worth a look if you like extreme Asian cinema. ( in English)


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 20, 2013)

Gramsci said:


> Stoker is worth a look if you like extreme Asian cinema. ( in English)


 
Dubbed or subtitles? Or actually English English? 

eta:  Ah right



> _Stoker_ is a 2013 British-American psychological thriller film directed by Park Chan-wook and written by Wentworth Miller. It stars Mia Wasikowska, Matthew *...*


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## colacubes (Mar 20, 2013)

Gramsci said:


> I'd avoid Cloud Atlas then


 
And definitely not "Beyond the Hills"- two and half hours of arthouse Euromisery

I liked it. Best film Ive seen for a while.

Stoker is worth a look if you like extreme Asian cinema. ( in English)[/quote]

Stoker is brilliant  I have no desire to see Cloud Atlas (Tom Hanks hater) and I thought Django was both too long and rather predictable.

/Barry Norman


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## colacubes (Mar 20, 2013)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> Dubbed or subtitles?  Or actually English English?


English. American English, but English nonetheless.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 20, 2013)

I like Park Chan Wook, so might make that my next outing


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## Gramsci (Mar 20, 2013)

nipsla said:


> Stoker is brilliant  I have no desire to see Cloud Atlas (Tom Hanks hater) and I thought Django was both too long and rather predictable.
> 
> /Barry Norman


 
U might be interested in the Czech films starting at Ritzy this Sunday. Saw some last year. Czech cinema is of high standard.


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## Orang Utan (Mar 21, 2013)

Stoker was rubbish. Nipsla and gramci must be tripping. 
Carry on


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## Rushy (Mar 21, 2013)

Saw Bullhead on Tuesday. Brilliant film.
Warning: it's not  a particularly violent film but there is one scene which the gentlemen will find particularly disturbing. It's not graphic, but the cinema went silent for about thirty seconds and then you could hear the guys starting to breath again. It was very key to the plot though.


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## leanderman (Mar 21, 2013)

Used to watch loads of movies but - working evenings and needing babysitters - can't risk wasting a night out on a bad film.


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## Gramsci (Mar 21, 2013)

I started a new thread?


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## Gramsci (Mar 21, 2013)

Rushy said:


> Saw Bullhead on Tuesday. Brilliant film.
> Warning: it's not a particularly violent film but there is one scene which the gentlemen will find particularly disturbing. It's not graphic, but the cinema went silent for about thirty seconds and then you could hear the guys starting to breath again. It was very key to the plot though.


 
Great performance from the same actor who was in Rust and Bone.Similar character but no happy ending in a Belgium film. I did like this film. Belgium films are often extreme like this one. There is not a lot of actual violence but the potential of it is simmering away in the background.

As a film about masculinity I thought it worked well without being PC. Reminded a bit of "Raging Bull" .Saw it with a female friend and she liked it so its not a film just directed at men.

I also liked the Belgium black humour. And references to the Flemish/ Walloon divide.

Deserved a wider release.


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## MillwallShoes (Mar 21, 2013)

my mum went to see "a romanian film" last night at ritzy and said it, the film, was "fucking awful." sorry i ahvent got mroe to go on.


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## MillwallShoes (Mar 21, 2013)

leanderman said:


> Used to watch loads of movies but - working evenings and needing babysitters - can't risk wasting a night out on a bad film.


that's waht rotten tomatoes is for..


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## Gramsci (Mar 21, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> Stoker was rubbish. Nipsla and gramci must be tripping.
> Carry on


 


Anything with Nicole Kidman.

A friend said she did not like Kidman as she used botox and her face was wooden. Told her that when she his 40+ she might decide to have a bit of help. She insisted her skin would remain flawless. She is stunning.


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## Gramsci (Mar 21, 2013)

MillwallShoes said:


> my mum went to see "a romanian film" last night at ritzy and said it, the film, was "fucking awful." sorry i ahvent got mroe to go on.


 
That would be "Beyond the Hills".


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## MillwallShoes (Mar 21, 2013)

Gramsci said:


> That would be "Beyond the Hills".


yep, think that was it.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 21, 2013)

Gramsci said:


> Anything with Nicole Kidman.
> 
> A friend said she did not like Kidman as she used botox and her face was wooden. Told her that when she his 40+ she might decide to have a bit of help. She insisted her skin would remain flawless. She is stunning.


 
Oh no, is Kidman in it?


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## editor (Mar 21, 2013)

Gramsci said:


> I started a new thread?


Sorry - I asked on the Brixton news thread about spinning the Ritzy film talk off in to a separate thread and yours was the first post I could find from that thread. Still, think of the kudos!


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## Gramsci (Mar 21, 2013)

editor said:


> Sorry - I asked on the Brixton news thread about spinning the Ritzy film talk off in to a separate thread and yours was the first post I could find from that thread. Still, think of the kudos!


 
fine by me.

Good idea


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## Gramsci (Mar 21, 2013)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> Oh no, is Kidman in it?


 
And what is your reason for not liking the Aussie?


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 21, 2013)

Gramsci said:


> And what is your reason for not liking the Aussie?


 
She married Tom Cruise for a start!


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## Gramsci (Mar 21, 2013)

Czech film festival starts at Ritzy this Sunday.

They will be showing a new Czech film every Sunday for next weeks.

Czech film is of a high standard. For a small country they have a long standing film industry. Not many get released here so this will be only chance to see these films.


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## Gramsci (Mar 21, 2013)

MillwallShoes said:


> my mum went to see "a romanian film" last night at ritzy and said it, the film, was "fucking awful." sorry i ahvent got mroe to go on.


 
What I said on film/books thread:

"Beyond the Hills" (Dupa dealuri ) Trailer here

I went to see this fine example of Euromisery at the Ritzy. Two and a half hours of unrelenting grimness. Not a crowd puller then. Lots of room as the cinema only had about ten people in it Saturday afternoon. I liked it. Great way to spend cold Saturday afternoon.

Its made by the director Cristian Mingiu. He is known for his film about abortion in Communist Romania "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile)".

After seeing it I read it is loosely based on a real event. A women who undergoes an exorcism at a Monastery. No its not melodramatic. The Father is not a "Rasputin". Its very claustrophobic. You are not told the time it is set in. But there is a jolt when you realise its around now. The monastery is almost medieval. Its not an exploitative place but a refuge from the harshness of present day Romania. It expressed a disappointment with the West. Communism is gone but the West ( as the Father says at one point) is no alternative. The self imposed poverty of the Father makes his church more popular. Also gets him in trouble with the church hierarchy. However the real world impinges itself on the monastery when a confused women turns up.

The film contains no music until right at the end when the credits come up. Another jolt as I then realised the sound in the film was the wind more than anything.

It reminded me of the work of Bela Tarr (Satantango). In the post Communist times people look to something they can believe in. But , with the black humour of East Europe, it turns out into a disaster and a false trail.

The cinematography is very good. Particularly the way he lets you get to know people through there faces.

I would say it is definitely worth seeing. If not light entertainment.

Shows that Mingiu is not a one off director. This is an assured piece of film making. I look forward to his next film. Good to see Romanian film is getting released here.​


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## TruXta (Mar 21, 2013)

Norwegian kids telly showed a load of Czech made stuff when I was a nipper, it was ace. Might have a go at one of these films.


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## Pat24 (Mar 24, 2013)

going to see Arbitrage later, heard it's quite good. Plus Richard Gere is on it - he's kind of hot


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## Mrs Magpie (Mar 24, 2013)

Gramsci said:


> Czech film festival starts at Ritzy this Sunday.
> 
> They will be showing a new Czech film every Sunday for next weeks.
> 
> Czech film is of a high standard. For a small country they have a long standing film industry. Not many get released here so this will be only chance to see these films.


I was hoping to see Jan Švankmajer in that list


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## colacubes (Mar 24, 2013)

Went to see The Paperboy today in Clapham as it's not on at the Ritzy yet (I guess because of the Czech film festival stuff).  Anyway, was rather good if very fucking dark.  Zac Efron gives a very mature performance for a former Disney tween star, and Matthew McConaghey was surprisingly brilliant.  There were 2 violent scenes in the film that drew audible gasps from the watchers, and I have to say given those and a couple of others it must have only just made the 15 rating (there's one quite violent sex scene as well albeit with little exposure of flesh).  Macy Gray is the true star of the film as the narrating voice, but the ending was a little bit meh. Worth a watch though.


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## colacubes (Mar 24, 2013)

Pat24 said:


> going to see Arbitrage later, heard it's quite good. Plus Richard Gere is on it - he's kind of hot


 
How was it?  I quite fancy watching it during the week.


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## editor (Mar 24, 2013)

Is Good Vibrations showing at the Ritzy? I fancy seeing that on the big screen.


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## Orang Utan (Mar 24, 2013)

nipsla said:


> Went to see The Paperboy today in Clapham as it's not on at the Ritzy yet (I guess because of the Czech film festival stuff).  Anyway, was rather good if very fucking dark.  Zac Efron gives a very mature performance for a former Disney tween star, and Matthew McConaghey was surprisingly brilliant.  There were 2 violent scenes in the film that drew audible gasps from the watchers, and I have to say given those and a couple of others it must have only just made the 15 rating (there's one quite violent sex scene as well albeit with little exposure of flesh).  Macy Gray is the true star of the film as the narrating voice, but the ending was a little bit meh. Worth a watch though.


I agreed that Macy Gray was great, but thought it was overly melodramatic sweat Southern gothic with a plot twist too far.
I have never seen Efron in anything before but thought he was great.
I will never forget one particular scene on the beach though!


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## colacubes (Mar 25, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> I agreed that Macy Gray was great, but thought it was overly melodramatic sweat Southern gothic with a plot twist too far.
> I have never seen Efron in anything before but thought he was great.
> I will never forget one particular scene on the beach though!


 
Yeah, the beach scene was a bit


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## Pat24 (Mar 25, 2013)

nipsla said:


> How was it? I quite fancy watching it during the week.


It was good, nothing too intellectually engaging, but it was entertaining. I honestly could have waited for it to come out on netflix


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## Gramsci (Mar 26, 2013)

Just seen at the Ritzy ( cheap day Mondays) "Side Effects" 



I was a bit nonplus-ed by it. It looks goods and is a film noir plot with twists and turns. But I could not help but think I have seen this kind of thing before. Also it seemed old fashioned in the way that the man is the victim who has to pull out the stops to save his life. Women they are devious creatures. Reminded me a bit of Basic Instinct in that sense.

I did like the way that none of the yuppie New Yorkers were portrayed as nice people. Below the surface they got nastier and nastier as the film went on. Good portrayal of the complacent middle class who will stab there fellow workers in the back if necessary.

Also takes apart the therapy culture of these people. Got a problem- get a pill or a shrink.

Is the film supposed to be a comment on present day corporate US or an exercise in film noir? Never sure whilst I watched the film.

Unlike satire this was played straight as a thriller. A satire on corporate business and middle classes can work as in the Norwegian film "Headhunters".

I got the feeling this film was trying to be more sophisticated than that. Or thought it was.

ps Soderberghs two part life film about Che I would highly recommend. You need to see both parts as they complement each other.


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## Gramsci (Mar 26, 2013)

editor said:


> Is Good Vibrations showing at the Ritzy? I fancy seeing that on the big screen.


 
I cannot see it on Picturehouse website. Its coming out on the 29th March. Curzon Soho have it. I did not know about this film. Looks like limited release. So u may need to catch it in first week.



> Terry Hooley was a prominent figure in the Belfast punk scene. _Good Vibrations_ is an entertaining account of his life, from how he lost an eye in a scuffle to his ability to sweet talk both Unionists and IRA members into allowing him to open a record store without having to pay protection money. Set against one of the most turbulent periods in the city’s history, this film is a reminder of the sanctuary from the world that record stores once were.


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## Maltin (Mar 26, 2013)

gaijingirl said:


> I did see Django in the end.. it actually turned out to be less violent than I had anticipated so I survived it.. and got my swim.  All good.  I did think it was way too long though - a bit in the middle there I was zoning out - but that may say more about my attention span these days than anything else.  Not used to being able to sit still in one place for such a long time.


No, it doesn't say anything about your attention span. Many people agree that it is overlong.


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## Thimble Queen (Mar 27, 2013)

Going to see Trance at the Ritzy on Friday. Nice Easter treat. Will report back


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## Gramsci (Mar 27, 2013)

MrsDarlingsKiss said:


> Going to see Trance at the Ritzy on Friday. Nice Easter treat. Will report back


 
I saw the trailer and it looks worth seeing.

Lot on at Ritzy this weekend

French director Ozon latest "In the House"- I really like his films. They are never quite what u expect

"The Paperboy" with Nicole Kidman

Ken Loach doc "The Spirit of 45" is still on. I notice this has been doing well at Ritzy. Some screenings have been almost sold out.

and as mentioned "Trance" Boyles latest. Its also got Vincent Cassel in it - a plus point. He starred in the French crime movie Mesrine ( in two parts)- which shows the French can make outstanding crime movies. So wonder how Boyle's will stand up. (Cassel is married to Monica Belluci. Lucky git)

Also this doc on British postcode wars I heard about on the radio is at Ritzy. Looks like unglamourised account. The documentary maker was asked to help with a truce between two gangs.


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## Gramsci (Mar 27, 2013)

Annoyingly "Post Tenebras Lux" has gone this weekend. Only on for a week. And has disappeared from other cinemas as well. Except for Odean Panton street. Which has crap screens. Irritates me when this happens. The director is quite well known. So could have stayed on for a couple of weeks. Cinemas can be ruthless sometimes. The first week is all important.


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## Gramsci (Mar 27, 2013)

Maltin said:


> No, it doesn't say anything about your attention span. Many people agree that it is overlong.


 
Im not most people. 

I didn't think it was overlong.


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## DJWrongspeed (Mar 28, 2013)

Gramsci said:


> Annoyingly "Post Tenebras Lux" has gone this weekend. Only on for a week. And has disappeared from other cinemas as well. Except for Odean Panton street. Which has crap screens. Irritates me when this happens. The director is quite well known. So could have stayed on for a couple of weeks. Cinemas can be ruthless sometimes. The first week is all important.


 
Defo worth checking, still on at the ICA which is actually cheaper than the Ritzy for films these days. My last few visits to the Ritzy have been annoying due to audience noise.  Do people have to eat pop corn loudly for 2.5hrs


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## artyfarty (Mar 28, 2013)

Saw Paperboy last night, not at the Ritzy, was a bit disjointed at the start, but after 20 mins or so things fall into place and it turns into an interesting and engaging film, like the reviews I've read have said great acting and great cast but perhaps not brilliantly edited. Looks good too, and its got saucy Macy Grey in it!


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## Gramsci (Mar 28, 2013)

DJWrongspeed said:


> Defo worth checking, still on at the ICA which is actually cheaper than the Ritzy for films these days. My last few visits to the Ritzy have been annoying due to audience noise. Do people have to eat pop corn loudly for 2.5hrs


 
Thanks for tip. Just checked ICA website. Unfortunately its on Screen 2 on weekend which I am not keen on. Really surprised this film only lasted a week. Even Curzon have pulled it from Renoir.

I hate popcorn. Also people leave it all over the floor as well.


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## Gramsci (Mar 29, 2013)

this doc on British postcode wars I heard about on the radio is at Ritzy from Friday . The documentary maker was asked to help with a truce between two gangs.

The documentary maker discussed the film on Nightwaves. Its in the last 15 mins of the programme.

The documentary is to be shown on C4 soon.


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## Gramsci (Mar 29, 2013)

Forgot to say as part of Czech film season at Ritzy this new animation is on this Sunday.

One I definitely want to see.


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## secateurz (Mar 29, 2013)

hipster 

I watched Paperboy. Would not recommend, the prison scene just did not compute.


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## sparkybird (Mar 29, 2013)

Just went to see Trance

I found it really entertaining, Mr Sparkybird a bit non plussed (too predictable he said)...

Great film to look at though and good sound track

Not very busy - maybe a lot of people are away this weekend


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## Gramsci (Mar 29, 2013)

sparkybird said:


> Just went to see Trance
> 
> I found it really entertaining, Mr Sparkybird a bit non plussed (too predictable he said)...
> 
> ...


 
I was sitting near the front. 

I agree. I found it entertaining. It has had average reviews. Not sure what reviewers want from Boyle. I rate him as a good director but not a great one. And he is British. I like to see British popular films up there competing with Hollywood on the big screen. Popular film market would otherwise be cornered by Hollywood.

I found the storyline interesting. Cannot say to much as it will spoil it.

The story line is over the top. But I do not mind that in a film. In this case it was psychological film rather than guns and action. Which I liked. 

At Ritzy there is a short intro from Boyle thanking people for coming to see his film. Nice touch. Boyle is likeable. Especially after his Olympic opening ceremony.

His films are likeable as well. That is possibly a weakness. This film could have been darker. He did, however, manage to avoid the mockney gangster genre in this film.

Rosario Dawson as the hypnotherapist is hot.


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## Gramsci (Mar 29, 2013)

"Paperboy"

Nothing wrong with it. It just that Southern Gothic does not do much for me. Always set in recent past of US. So that it can be seen as past that is no longer. Its not really genre that is critical of aspects of US society . Despite references to race.

So it comes across as a freak show. The gross behaviour of some of the characters is there to shock. But does not add to the story. 

Acting is good and holds one attention.


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## sparkybird (Mar 29, 2013)

I was sitting near the  back..

Not much in the way of eye candy for us birds, sadly


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## Gramsci (Mar 29, 2013)

sparkybird said:


> I was sitting near the back..
> 
> Not much in the way of eye candy for us birds, sadly


 
What about Vincent Cassel? Rugged Gallic good looks.


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## Gramsci (Mar 29, 2013)

Pat24 said:


> going to see Arbitrage later, heard it's quite good. Plus Richard Gere is on it - he's kind of hot


 
You should check out "Days of Heaven". A young Richard Gere. Very handsome and charismatic.


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## Thimble Queen (Mar 29, 2013)

Hmm thought is was ok... There were some parts of it that were a bit ridiculous but it wasn't awful. I thought it looked great and was pretty well acted. But i felt like something was missing in the story. Maybe it was the darkness that others mentioned.


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## Thimble Queen (Mar 30, 2013)

There were some very annoying people who turned up to the cinema on the wrong day. The ritzy staff very kindly let them stay but they were occupying one of our seats and a seat of the other group. They were refusing to move >_<  The other group had to get a member of staff to sort it and then man was complaining loudly about how annoying and rude it was that they were moved! Turn up to cinema on the right day then MUPPETZ!


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## secateurz (Mar 30, 2013)

have you seen Killer Joe?  now that for me was a much better Southern shocker!


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## Gramsci (Mar 30, 2013)

secateurz said:


> have you seen Killer Joe? now that for me was a much better Southern shocker!


 
Killer Joe was another well made film. Left me a bit cold. But I think that was part of the intention. Better in the way it was a more straightforward film. More like a horror film.


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## Gramsci (Apr 15, 2013)

The second Argentinian Film Festival starts at the Ritzy this coming weekend. I went to the first one. The films I saw were very good. Due to its success this one is on at more cinemas. As is usual most of these film will not be released here.

Here is website


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## Gramsci (Apr 15, 2013)

Saw the "Late Quartet". Still on at Ritzy

I highly recommend that people catch this film in the cinema.

As the title says its about a Quartet.The dynamics of the relationships are upset when they suddenly have to find a new member. This film, like the recent, Haneke "Amour", deals with ageing and loss. Its also about how life is art. This is not a high brow poncy film. The film discusses what life is about. Amidst all the little power struggles and sexual entanglements the music is what grounds these four people ( plus the young student). The film is uplifting despite its sadness and loss. I would say its a radical film. In this time of cuts where the arts are denigrated its important to place art at the centre of life. Not at the edge as some form for "Cultural and Creative industry" that is tolerated if it furthers the GDP.

Nor does the film say that there are petty squabbles and a "higher life". No the passion of the music is the passion of the whole person. Something the film goes into in the relationship between the first and second violin.

Christopher Walken as the mainstay of the quartet is a revelation. What an actor. He rises to the challenge of this part. As he does in the fictional story.

Also it was good to see a film that had a mix of ages. I must say mainly older at the screening I went to. But the film is not really aimed at one particular age group. Its commented in the film that the quartet are of radically different ages. So the film is also making a statement about how people of different ages can relate to each other. An important point in a society like ours which tends to get stratified into different groupings.

The music is wondeful. I do not know how the director managed to get the actors to make it look like they were actually playing. But its flawless.


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## DJWrongspeed (Apr 17, 2013)

Caught Place Beyond the Pines yesterday. Not bad if a little  sprawling. Felt like 3hrs+ even though it was 2hrs 20. Anyway £5 ticket in the afternoon on screen 1 was a bargain.  No disturbing audience members


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## Gramsci (Apr 18, 2013)

DJWrongspeed said:


> Caught Place Beyond the Pines yesterday. Not bad if a little sprawling. Felt like 3hrs+ even though it was 2hrs 20. Anyway £5 ticket in the afternoon on screen 1 was a bargain. No disturbing audience members


 
I did think his first film "Blue Valentine" was better. This film had that feeling that he wanted to make a big statement type film. Whereas Blue Valentine worked well as a "small" film. If u see what I mean.

Also felt that the female characters in Place beyond the Pines were incidental to the story. Which was a bit disappointing. This was a film about men. Fathers and sons. As though relationships between mothers and sons were not that important.

Also it came across as bit as an add for "Families need (biological) fathers".


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## colacubes (Apr 19, 2013)

I went to see Spring Breakers this afternoon.  It's clearly trying to be an arty film, but frankly it wasn't.  That's not to say I didn't enjoy it, but it was trying to dress up sex, drugs, pretty girls and violence as something it really wasn't.  I thought it was enjoyable escapism and that's about it.  First film I've seen that was a reasonable 90 minutes for a while too   Probably just as well as I think it would have got dull if it was another half hour longer.

Also saw the advert for the new Almodovar film which looks ace so will try and see that soon


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## gaijingirl (Apr 19, 2013)

nipsla - i saw the trailer for that.... I was tempted to go purely on the premise that it was reasonably short, but it seemed quite clearly a film for watching semi-naked Hollywood startlets prance about - probably with quite a catchy soundtrack.  Very very rarely get to the cinema these days but can always find time for an Almodovar...


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## colacubes (Apr 19, 2013)

gaijingirl said:


> nipsla - i saw the trailer for that.... I was tempted to go purely on the premise that it was reasonably short, but it seemed quite clearly a film for watching semi-naked Hollywood startlets prance about - probably with quite a catchy soundtrack. Very very rarely get to the cinema these days but can always find time for an Almodovar...


 
Tbh that was pretty much what it was. I know the director's got a bit of a rep as a Hollywood badboy but it was semi exploitation guff which was moderately enjoyable.

I'm not a massive fan of Almodovar (purely cos I struggle with subtitled films ) but it looks really good. I think the UK premier's at the Ritzy actually


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## gaijingirl (Apr 19, 2013)

nipsla said:


> I'm not a massive fan of Almodovar (purely cos I struggle with subtitled films ) but it looks really good. I think the UK premier's at the Ritzy actually


 
oh wow.. really?  I'll have to look that up.


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## gaijingirl (Apr 19, 2013)

nipsla - ah... found this:

http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cine...o_Excited_Satellite_Q_A_With_Pedro_Almod_Var/

i guess it's sold out?  Also it's a plane disaster thing (albeit a comedy) which is not a great thing for me...


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## colacubes (Apr 19, 2013)

gaijingirl said:


> nipsla - ah... found this:
> 
> http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cine...o_Excited_Satellite_Q_A_With_Pedro_Almod_Var/
> 
> i guess it's sold out? Also it's a plane disaster thing (albeit a comedy) which is not a great thing for me...


 
Yep probably not


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## sparkybird (Apr 21, 2013)

Just seem The Place Beyond the Pines and agree - it was waaaaay too long. (Feel like I have the cinema equivalent of bed sores!)

Didn't really feel that you got to know much about the characters even in 2 1/2 hours... And the most interesting (potentially) one was the cop/lawyers young son

And Ryan Gosling is just doesn't look like a convincing baddie even with loads of tats

On the plus side, saw the trailer for the Paul Raymond film which looked like a hoot


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## Gramsci (Apr 21, 2013)

Anyone seen "Rebellion" by the director of "La Haine"? I was going to see it today as its said to be a return to form by this director. But been a bit tied up with other things.

Also interested in the subject which is French colonialism.


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## Gramsci (May 5, 2013)

On a lighter note I saw Pedro Almodovar new film  "Im So Excited" at Ritzy.

It is very good. Effortless is the word I would use. At one level its a light comedy. Its also a satire on todays Spain.

An airliner going around in circles above Spain trying to find somewhere to land. The economy class are drugged up to keep them quiet. The Spanish wealthy live it up in the business class. A banker on the run, a women who has comprimising videos of the 600 most wealthy and powerful men in Spain.

An intelligent comedy is how I would put it.

Trailer makes it out to be very camp. The trailer put me off but when you see whole film it works.

Also some swipes at relations between Spanish and there Spanish speaking South American cousins. Which I would like to know if are general.

Not much on new at Ritzy this week that interested me except this. Well worth seeing.


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## footballerslegs (May 5, 2013)

Has anyone seen the Look of Love? Am thinking of going to watch either that or I'm So Excited tomorrow and cant decide on which (unless I do a Bank Holiday double).


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## sparkybird (May 5, 2013)

Do go and see Bernie - was the best film I've seen in a while (although this is also because I've been a bit disappointed recently with the films I've seen...)

Jack Black is very good as the character. Funny, sad and thoughtful all at the same time.

It's based on a true story, set in a small Texan town, of a funeral director who befriended a rich old widow (Shirley McLaine) and then ended up killing her as she was so nasty and controlling. The townspeople couldn't believe he would ever do such a thing and so his trial got moved outside the county

The views of the townspeople are hilarious at some points!

Not heard great things about the Almovodar film, but on the basis of Gramsci's review will check it out as I am a fan


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## Effrasurfer (May 5, 2013)

sparkybird said:


> Not heard great things about the Almovodar film, but on the basis of Gramsci's review will check it out


 
Ditto.


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## Gramsci (May 9, 2013)

sparkybird said:


> Not heard great things about the Almovodar film, but on the basis of Gramsci's review will check it out as I am a fan


 
Found this in the Torygraph. He talks about film. Here its marketed as a comedy. In Spain some of the references to present day Spain are clear. Some topical references would not be so obvious to non Spanish audience. I did not know about the airports or the King. Nor did I know his support for the victims of the recession. ( and Javiers) Almovodar says:





> The plane has departed from Madrid on its way to Mexico City, but has developed a fault and is circling Toledo, waiting for another airport’s runway to become available. “The passengers are going around in circles, they don’t know where they’re going to land or how they’re going to land. And in real life we don’t know how we’re going to get out of this [economic depression], who will be in command, what the risks are and how dangerous it is. For the Spanish people it’s a very clear metaphor for society.”
> There are other topical touches – a joke about the king’s supposed lovers; a reference in a newspaper headline to “Top 10 political scandals”; a passenger who is a bank president, fleeing from a scandal involving embezzlement. All the action takes place in business class; economy passengers are sound asleep, drugged on the pilots’ orders, thus having no say in what happens to the plane.
> Even the difficulty in finding the plane an airport to land has real-life echoes: many of Spain’s recently built airports are unprofitable “white elephants”, and one, Ciudad Real in the province of La Mancha, where Almodóvar grew up, closed down last year after four disastrous years. The director used Ciudad Real (a “ghost airport”, he calls it) as a location for the film’s final scenes.
> All this subtext is crucial for him – he is a vociferous critic of the centre-Right People’s Party that governs Spain. He has spoken out against banks evicting people from their homes. He has allied himself with demonstrators who have taken to the streets in several Spanish cities against politicians “selling out” to corporate and banking interests. And he has voiced his support for 15-M, a youth protest movement disenchanted with all political parties.
> “The government hates me for it,” he says ruefully but with a sly grin. “Public Enemy number one is Javier Bardém and the second is me. We’re the bêtes noires of Spain for the government. Maybe I’m number one right now because I’ve just released this movie, but Javier was bigger when Skyfall opened because it was his moment to talk. At the premiere on opening night, he went over and talked to the [anti-government] protesters. I admire Javier. He resolves the situation of being a star and a citizen at the same time.”


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## colacubes (May 9, 2013)

I went to see it  yesterday and thought it was excellent.  The satirical nods to the issues facing the Spanish economy and society at the moment were excellent.  Very funny and camp as well.  First one of his films I've seen and thoroughly enjoyable.  The main reason for not seeing them before is I don't watch subtitled films at home cos my telly is small and I need new glasses  and I always seem to miss them at the cinema.  Anyway, would definitely recommend.


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## gaijingirl (May 9, 2013)

sparkybird said:


> Do go and see Bernie - was the best film I've seen in a while (although this is also because I've been a bit disappointed recently with the films I've seen...)


 
ah.. this is annoying.. we went to see Oblivion as it had slightly better babysitting-related timing than Bernie... anyway, I thought it was pretty weak.  Wish we'd seen Bernie now.


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## Gramsci (May 22, 2013)

Went to see the Danish film "A Hijacking" about Somali pirates taking a ships crew hostage. The film is not about the actual hikack but the tense negotiations to between the Danish company and the Hijackers.

Rather relevant to me at moment.

This is excellent, no heroics and shows how in present world everything comes down to money. There is no black and white moral distinctions. Both the Danish CEO and the pirates negotiator are businessmen. Both want to get the job done.

Only slight disappointment is that the film has the look of a made for TV film. It is very good but you could watch it on TV.


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## Gramsci (May 22, 2013)

New Star Trek film is old school Star Trek.That is a compliment.

Humour and a good storyline. It critiques the "War on Terror". So like the best of the old Star Trek deals with issues in the present world.

Looks good as well in 3D.

The baddie is excellent. But not new. I thought I recognised the name


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## Gramsci (May 31, 2013)

I see the Ritzy has a lot of animation on this weekend. A couple of Japanese and also animation shorts.

I saw Assayas new film "Apres Mai". For some reason in UK called "Something in the Air" at Ritzy. Not on this weekend. Another film about beautiful French youth in the turbulent 60s/70s.

There have been several recently. "Dreamers" By Bertolucci for example.

This is beautifully shot. It is very French. It is not a film that could be made here. We have completely different political culture. So I know I have to let myself get immersed in a film like this. Which does work. The film follows them from school to young adulthood. It is easy to make fun of the hippy politics and mysticism now. But the film catches the almost innocent earnestness of the times.Its not uncritical of them either. Whilst expounding on revolution they are separated from the workers.

The main character is clearly based on the director. He gravitates between art and political commitment. Never able to harmonise them together. A bit like the film itself. Which is not a criticism but an observation. So perhaps its a lifelong tension in Assayas that he is putting on film?

However it is just one view of the 60s. It assume that one knows the background.

For that you need to see William Kleins doc on the events of 68. He was living in Paris so just took his camera out and filmed it. A great documentary. It is on DVD. I saw it at the Tate a while back. Remembered it when I saw this film


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## sparkybird (Jun 9, 2013)

Hey all!

Have been away and missed soooo much cinema! 

Anyway, please go and see Beyond the Candelabra - Douglas, Damon and Lowe all give great performances.
The trailer was a bit camp and funny, but it's a pretty sad film, although very entertaining


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## editor (Jun 9, 2013)

I might give Star Trek a go tomorrow. Or is it worth going for the 3D flavour on Tuesday?


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## colacubes (Jun 9, 2013)

I don't think the 3D added that much tbh so I wouldn't bother.  Tis good though


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## Gramsci (Jun 16, 2013)

editor said:


> I might give Star Trek a go tomorrow. Or is it worth going for the 3D flavour on Tuesday?


 
Did u go? If so what did u think of it?


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## Gramsci (Jun 16, 2013)

The Act of Killing

I saw this at the BFI today on screen one.

It is coming to Ritzy from 28th June.

The opening night will show the extended version 159 mins ( the version I saw at BFI) with Q&A with director.

Thought I would flag this up now as its a must see on the big screen.

It is the best film I have seen for ages. Riveting if gruesome viewing.

It is a documentary about those who killed communists during military rule in Indonesia. The military encouraged local gangsters to kill communists.

The director got a few of these now old men who were killers to talk. These killers have never been punished. In fact they are publicly lauded for there actions even now. So they were very open about how they killed people.

The two gangsters the director focuses on were smalltime hoods who used to sell tickets at the local cinema. One of them loved films. Particularly Hollywood. So the director got them to re enact there murders by using scenarios from films they liked. Musicals, Cowboy, gangster and police films.

The film starts turning into a surreal nightmare that one cannot get out of. But that is the position of the main "gangster" in the film. He , whilst hating the communists, confesses he still has nightmares about what he did.

Using scenarios from fictional film genres provides a way to show what happened. Its like film is a distancing technique.

The documentary makes one question film as well.

They discuss at one point a famous Indonesian propaganda film , still shown , that is about how terrible communists are supposed to be. The main killer in the film said watching that film always made him feel better about what he did. Even though he knows its a blatant piece of propaganda.

There is something particularly scary about watching someone direct a scene of an interrogation and killing of an alleged communist who is a killer. 

Some of the most amazing bits are when the killers talk amongst themselves about how the cope with the memories they still have of what they did.

It does show how relatively ordinary people can end up doing monstrous things.

At one point it reminded me of the history of the holocaust I read a while back. The Germans found it difficult to kill lots of people in cold blood so developed less bloody ways of doing it. So did the Indonesian killers.


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## Gramsci (Jun 21, 2013)

Ritzy are showing Rossellini film "A Journey to Italy" this coming week. A restored version.  I have never seen it. It is now regarded as a masterpiece of European cinema.

www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Ritzy_Picturehouse/film/Journey_To_Italy_Re_2013


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## Gramsci (Jul 3, 2013)

I saw the documentary "Stories we Tell" at Ritzy. Looks like last chance to see it at Ritzy on Thursday.

It is very good. And I am not a fan of autobiographical docs. There are serious issues in the world that need coverage ( see "The Art of Killing") not navel gazing.

However this is more, at times, philosophical look at how we construct stories and the past.

It starts with quote from the writer Margaret Atwood. Saying that a novel/story starts as chaos. It is the act of writing that brings it to coherent narrative. But whilst one is in the process it is not coherent. A writer does not start with a finished story in the head.

One thing that one learns from this is that people do not lie. They construct and reconstruct there past and present. Sometimes through choice and often by chance.

I found this documentary more interesting than I imagined it would be. It is definitely more than just the director unearthing her family secrets.


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## Gramsci (Jul 4, 2013)

Ben Wheatley latest film "A Field in England" is coming to Ritzy this Friday.

He did "Kill List" and "Sightseers".

This has been getting very good reviews. Heard the director talking about it.

Sounds it is part homage to 60s and 70s psychedelic films. Also really weird films like "Witchfinder General". The director also talked of being influenced by the camera work of Peter Watkins film "Culloden" ( Watkins- one of this countries great directors who worked mainly abroad. As he could not get funding here).

It is coming out on all platforms at same time. Some new films do this now.

It will be in cinema, on demand and also Film4 etc. So u could watch it for free on Film4.


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## Gramsci (Jul 11, 2013)

"A Field in England" is on this coming week.

I saw it last week. Its worth seeing on cinema screen.

I liked it. Its was strangely moving in the end. You get to know the characters as the film goes on. It is a pychological film rather than horror like his last film "The Kill List". But like the Kill List the characters find themselves trapped in a nightmare they cannot get leave.

I however feel Ben Wheatley film almost work but for some reason just do not get to the top grade.

I was reminded of Tarkovsky "Stalker" and Bela Tarr "The Turin Horse". Stalker because its a small group entering this pychological space. A couple of scenes in A Field in England reminded me of it. The use of shots of the field , with no special effect, but making it mysterious for example.

"The Turin Horse" for the sense of entrapment and black humour.

I still think this is Wheatley best film to date. He gets across the sense of mystery. This film and The Kill List locate the English landscape ( and England) as something that , under the surface, is violent and uneasy. Which is imo accurate.

This is theme that is also in a film called "Robinson in Space"


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## Gramsci (Jul 22, 2013)

At Ritzy this week "Easy Money"

Renamed as "Easy Money" for english speakers. I liked this a lot. Student moonlights as taxi driver to try to make money to keep up with his posh mates. Gets involved in drugs gang who need him as a front to launder the proeeds. His education in business administration comes in handy. Ha Ha. Some interesting tips on how to run a drugs business. 

What I particularly liked about this film was the emphasis on the characters rather than on violence or car chases ( though its got good action scenes). The Student, the Slav and the South American all have reasons to do one final job to set themselves up and get out of this industry.

And the drugs business is that. The film is about how peoples relations with others is warped by money. The film is a critique of a world in economic crisis of capitalism. As the students lecturer say a crisis is also an opportunity.

Two hours but did not feel like it. Worth seeing in the cinema as the cinematography is good. See before the Hollywood remake.


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## Gramsci (Jul 29, 2013)

Just spent to much time on threads about house prices.

It was a delight to see this film that extols the virtues of losers.

"The Worlds End" from the the team that made Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.

I was not that keen to see it. Just another film about grown up men trying to relive there youth.

But came out thinking this is the best film they have done.

It also, to my surprise, had some serious moments. Without spoiling it this film has a dark edge to it. Its a particularly black view of modern Britain imo. I would call it a satire rather than a comedy. Its also funny and does not drag.

If they are humanity’s only hope for survival then its a pretty grim one.


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## Gramsci (Aug 20, 2013)

Alpha Papa

Alan Partridge film.

At Ritzy now.

A slight disappointment. It has funny moments. The cast around Alan are very good. But it felt like the TV series but a bit longer. 

Also like the Borat film it slightly softens the character up. All ends happily. The TV series was much more cringe making.

Still it got applause at end of film from the die hard fans. So must be doing something right.

Some of the best moments are when Alan goes on one of his monologues. His description of his "panic attack" , bursting in on the Board meeting and also the dreadful company party. Classic.

These, I now realise, are in the first section of the film.


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## EmmaSharez (Aug 23, 2013)

Gramsci said:


> Alpha Papa
> 
> Alan Partridge film.
> 
> ...


 
The Alan Partridge film looked terrible - thanks for confirming


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## sparkybird (Aug 31, 2013)

Just got back from seeing Elysium

What a disappointment - was expecting more along the lines of District 9 - but no - far too many clichés and 'soppy' bits

And Matt Damon with shaved head wasn't even THAT easy on the eye


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## Effrasurfer (Sep 3, 2013)

Highly recommend 'The Way, Way Back'. A very huggable comedy.


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## sparkybird (Sep 8, 2013)

The Great Beauty - Mr SB loved it, me.... was a bit too long

Funny, odd and beautiful to look at

I'd never make a good reviewer would I?

Still tonnes better than Elysium


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## Gramsci (Sep 8, 2013)

Upstream color

Best film I have seen for a while. By the director of Primer. This is his first film for eight years.

I liked the way it used images rather then dialogue. It needs to be seen in a cinema.

The plot? This film goes into Cronenberg weird territory. Maggots are used as a psychedelic drug.

A women has a maggot put into her body. The effects are long lasting. Altering the persons ability to deal with every day life. Every day sounds appear to take on meanings. Nothing is quite what it seems. 

There are few special effects. Mundane reality takes on a paranoid edge.


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## Winot (Sep 9, 2013)

^^ really want to see this - loved Primer


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## Gramsci (Sep 13, 2013)

A documentary about Stuart Hall is on at Ritzy this week.

Stuart Hall is political theorist who works has been influential on cultural studies.

The director of the doc Akomfrah is not as well known as he should be in this country.

Nine Muses, his previous film, is a stunning piece of work.


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## Gramsci (Sep 13, 2013)

"The Great Beauty"

Italian flm by director of "Il Divo " and "The Consquence of Love"

This film has to be seen in the cinema. What is it about? An ageing dilettante living in Rome seeks a meaning for his life. Its sparked by his 65 birthday. What follows is a celebration of Rome the city. In all its grandeur and folly. The Great Beauty is the city. Beauty that lives on as its inhabitants party and quarrel. 

Great opening scene of his birthday party. The whole film is a feast for the eyes.


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## Gramsci (Sep 15, 2013)

Saw the doc on Stuart Hall (see post 103).

It is worth seeing in the cinema. As with Akomfrah other work it is beautiful to look at.

It is a companion piece to Nine Muses. Nine Muses is a visual poem ( that is the only fitting way I can describe it). It uses footage of the Windrush generation coming to UK intercut with readings from the Odyssey and other works of literature. Not a straightforward history or sociological look at migration its more a psychological study using literature.

Likewise in this doc on Stuart Hall archive footage and voice of Stuart on various programmes over the years builds up a picture of the man and his work.

It is riveting viewing and not your standard documentary.

Stuart Hall was a pioneer of modern cultural studies/ postcolonial studies. This doc shows how his own life lead him to questions of social theory. He grew up in Jamaica at the end of the colonial period. His parents a middle class Jamaican family.

The major theme running through his life and work is the idea of "Hybridity". He says the Caribbean is a hybrid culture. To the question of where he comes from he can say several places. His family ancestors are African, Portuguese, and possibly East Asian. This is the norm in the Caribbean.

He translates this to say that a component globalisation is hybridity. Cultures are not pure. Do not worry this film is not an Open University course. It is , like Stuart comes across, a very humane film.

Like the protagonists in the Nine Muses Stuart has always felt out of place in different degrees. That also is an effect of hybrid culture.

For him this is a positive. The film charts his life in Britain. From a committed youthful intellectual in the radical 60s to know.

In the film, its interesting that he comes across as almost at home in 60s early 70s Britain. At end of film he says he feels out of place in post Thatcherite society.

Cannot help feeling that the concept of hybridity as a positive has not turned out in the way that he foresaw. Modern Britain is a hybrid of neo liberalism and social liberalism. Modern Capitalism can accommodate itself to hybridity of culture. Or co opt it.

I also disagree with his idea that hybridity can be extrapolated globally. The Caribbean was made out of slavery and imperialism to produce a new hybrid society. But other parts of the world do not have this history. Japan for example was never colonised. It is not a hybrid society.


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## Gramsci (Sep 17, 2013)

Saw "Rush" yesterday. Its on screen one at Ritzy. 

Its about the Formula one rivalry in 70s between Hunt and Lauda. 

You do not have to be into Formula one to enjoy this film. Its about the rivalry between two men. This is the 70s and women are girlfriends and wives. No sign of feminism.

This film is almost old fashioned in the way that its made. It is unpretentious. Its not an art movie like "The Great Beauty". It tells a story. Its nostalgic about the 70s. This has been done before. The police tv series a while back for example (Life on Mars). 70s portrayed as a time when men ( and it is men) did not have to be part of the corporate world. Both Hunt and Lauda are in a way "drop outs". Both obsessed with speed and danger not money. 

The film is unashamedly full of stereotypes. British amateurism versus Teutonic efficiency. 

The film shows how dangerous it was in 70s. Which is true. It does not glamourize the risks. This helps to make the film work. 

The film is evenly divided between the racing circuit and the lives off circuit of Hunt and Lauda. 

The scenes on the track are very well done. Takes u right there and gives feeling of what it must have been like. 

I would call this film part of the new successful genre of nostalgic film. Like "The Kings Speech". Class is there but treated uncritically. Individuals might not fit well into there class (King, Lauda , Hunt) but they do not go against it. Ultimately these two films want to go back to a time that never really existed. They present themselves as about individuals and how they surmount problems.


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## Gramsci (Sep 22, 2013)

"Metro Manila"

At Ritzy this week.

Cracking crime thriller set in Philippines. Directed and produced by new British director Sean Ellis. Did well at Sundance ( the only festival that would give this film a chance.) 
Its a genre crime film so the premise is not that original. But does that matter when its as well made as this film? With plenty of twists and turns. I have a soft spot for films where the honest little man trying to feed his family is up against it it the big bad world where only money talks. 

Heard the director talking about the film after I had seen it. He wrote script in English and then filmed it in Manila. The subtitles were part of the film editing. So its not like a foreign language film with the subtitles put over the film. He made sure that the subtitles did not interfere with the look of the film. 

Its also well acted and shot.


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## Gramsci (Oct 4, 2013)

Saw that the "The Perverts guide to Ideology" with Q&A with Zizek sold out tonight.

You can hear him discuss it here.


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## Gramsci (Oct 5, 2013)

Went to  see "The Perverts Guide to Ideology". Weighing in at over two hours it is a tour de force from Zizek and well put together by Fiennes the director.

I did think that this might be dumbed down version of Zizek thought. He is better known as the "Elvis" of theory. Who is good at provocation. 

Its not. It uses examples from high and popular culture to show how ideology works. This is subtle analysis of how ideology operates in late Capitalism. 

I never understood his take on Christianity until now. The lesson to take is that we are alone. The is no "Big Other". Christianity is precursor of atheism. In that way Christianity is truly radical.

He makes use of film to show how ideology works. There is a great analysis of the Titanic. Be sure to wait at end of credits for Zizek to give one final swipe at the film. 

I particularly liked the way that Fiennes recreated sets of films from which Zizek propounds his theories. It shows that film is not necessarily escapism. Film is a social construct not just entertainment.


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## Gramsci (Oct 9, 2013)

In the Name of

Saw this Polish film which is on limited release in UK.

Mainly Polish audience at the Ritzy (London). Shows there is a market in London for more Polish film.

Malgorzata Szumowska is the new generation of Polish film makers. I have seen two of her previous films "33 Scenes From Life" and "Elles".

Both good films but flawed. I thought she had a very good film in her and this is it. Its is beautifully shot. Many scenes work through images rather than dialogue. What film should be. 

This film was a controversial hit in Poland. It deals with homosexuality and Catholic Church. Heard at the Q&A at Hackney there was one irate person took objection to it.

It is a subtle film not agitprop. And better for it. Its not an attack on religion in the sense of spirituality. Its worth a second seeing. 

I also felt it was an interesting look at masculinity in all male institutions. Quietly subversive film.


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## CH1 (Oct 14, 2013)

Gramsci said:


> Went to  see "The Perverts Guide to Ideology". Weighing in at over two hours it is a tour de force from Zizek and well put together by Fiennes the director.


I went to this myself - having realised that on Mondays it "only" costs £6.50.
It certainly was a tour de force of films used to illustrate Zizek's philosophical position. I think his take on Christianity a bit odd, given his use of the film of "The Last Temptation of Christ", which takes a traditional theological position, albeit through the dramatic device of imagining what would have happened had Christ yielded to temptation on the cross. Loved the bits from Brazil.
I had expected a bit less intellectualising and a bit more shock horror, given the title of the film.

My favourite film of this type remains Dušan Makavejev's "WR Mysteries of the Organism" - which must still be the definitive study of Stalinism vs sexual liberation. I saw this at the old Academy Cinema in Oxford Street in 1972, following a rave review by Dilys Powell in the Sunday Times (she named WR film of the year) 
WR Mysteries of the Organism is currently available in full on Youtube here:    Can't recommend it enough!


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## Gramsci (Oct 14, 2013)

CH1 

I never had the pleasure of going to The Academy cinema in Oxford street . It has legendary status. 

When Derek Jarman "Sebastiane" was first shown there they queues went around the block. So I have heard. Only cinema that would show it. 

Thanks for link. Have heard of this Yugoslav film but never seen it. Made during a relaxation in censorship. 

I did not know about Dilys Powell. 

How people and films get forgotten. Whilst being well known in there day.


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## CH1 (Oct 14, 2013)

Gramsci said:


> CH1
> I never had the pleasure of going to The Academy cinema in Oxford street . It has legendary status.
> When Derek Jarman "Sebastiane" was first shown there they queues went around the block. So I have heard. Only cinema that would show it.


I can't throw any light on the premiere of Sebastiane at the Academy - I saw it when it first came out, but in Rome, which was a bit of a mistake. The soundtrack of Sebastiane was in Latin and with Italian subtitles I was no wiser really.
I do clearly remember the supporting feature to WR Mysteries of the Organism though - it was a film called "Hetty King: Performer" and was a very esoteric documentary about the male impersonator Hetty King (Burlington Bertie from Bow etc). The documentary narrator was Lindsay Anderson. Extract here


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## DJWrongspeed (Oct 16, 2013)

Gramsci said:


> Went to  see "The Perverts Guide to Ideology". Weighing in at over two hours it is a tour de force from Zizek and well put together by Fiennes the director.



Really enjoyed this, it's a bit too fast in places,would love to see the transcript to pick over the points made. Really want to see some of the more obscure films he mentions:
_The Fall of Berlin, Seconds, Zabriskie Point, They Live_


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## leanderman (Oct 18, 2013)

Not completely convinced by Blue Jasmine despite a great performance from Cate Blanchette.

Male characters are rather wooden.


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## Rushy (Oct 18, 2013)

leanderman said:


> Not completely convinced by Blue Jasmine despite a great performance from Cate Blanchette.
> 
> Male characters are rather wooden.


I loved it.


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## leanderman (Oct 18, 2013)

Rushy said:


> I loved it.



It's quite good. But, of his recent films, I prefer Midnight in Paris. Probably because Owen Wilson makes me laugh.


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## Orang Utan (Oct 18, 2013)

leanderman said:


> It's quite good. But, of his recent films, I prefer Midnight in Paris. Probably because Owen Wilson makes me laugh.


He sounds like Charley off of the anti-paedo ads from the olden days


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## Gramsci (Oct 19, 2013)

Captain Phillips.

This is on at Screen One in Ritzy. It was actually warm in there this morning . Must have sorted out the heating. 

Greengrass , the director, did the excellent "United 93" about 9/11 fourth hijacked plane. Captain Phillips is made in similar way to United 93. It starts using an observational documentary style as u follow both the Captain and the Somali pirates starting the day at work. So to speak. 

I have also seen ( at Ritzy ) the Danish covering the same subject "The Hijacking". 

So I compared the two. The Hijacking concentrates on the negotiations to release the crew. Set in both Denmark and Somalia. It build tensions through discussions between both sides. 

Both films are done in a documentary observational way. Both situate the films as be a particular aspect of the globalized insecure world that is now emerging. 

Captain Phillips concentrates with the cat and mouse game the pirates and the tanker play with each other on the high seas in the first half.  This works well. Barry Ackroyd the cinematographer deserves credit for what must have been arduous circumstances to film in. No CGI in this film. And the better for it. 

The second half is on the confrontation between the crew and the pirates. I was impressed by the Somali who plays Muse as a mixture of desperation, courage and intelligence making sure this film is not just goodies vs baddies. 

Evening Standard reviewer Charlotte O Sullivan says that, 

"The first half of the film provides tough , spartan fare; the stuff on the lifeboat is American cheese."

I do not entirely agree. The stuff on the lifeboat is tense and claustrophobic. Reinforces the fact that these pirates are driven to it by economic reasons. They lost there livelihoods as fishermen because of war. As in the Danish film they are no different from the rest of us. Reminded of the discussion that the Captain has with his wife in beginning. Telling her the world has become tougher and more competitive. That he wants his children to be able to deal with this when they leave home.

However  this film is made for a US audience. The bad guys cannot win. Bits of it in second half reminded me of Bourne film which Greengrass directed.

United 93 stuck to spartan documentary style. Also on purpose Greengrass did not use big name actors. I was expecting that more with this film. Also I am sure that United 93 used little music. As Captain Phillips is done in doc style I found the music in it deflected the realism. Turned parts into an action film. 

Its an uneasy alliance of realistic spartan film and Bourne style action. But this reflects the America of being at once critical of itself but also proud of the power it can project. So in that way a comment on US.

What saved the film from "American Cheese" for me was Tom Hanks performance in last ten minutes of film. Will not say what happens but it undercuts the American Cheese that O Sullivan rightly criticizes.


----------



## Effrasurfer (Oct 22, 2013)

I saw 'The Selfish Giant' on Sunday morning. Massive, massive film. Not a dry eye in Screen 4. We had to take on a substantial roast lunch at the White Horse afterwards to steady ourselves.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Oct 22, 2013)

Effrasurfer said:


> I saw '*The Selfish Giant*' on Sunday morning. Massive, massive film. Not a dry eye in Screen 4. We had to take on a substantial roast lunch at the White Horse afterwards to steady ourselves.



Puts this on my list of films to look out for. Just downloaded The Arbor yesterday having read a Guardian review of The Selfish Giant.


----------



## Gramsci (Oct 25, 2013)

Coming up at Ritzy is the African film festival. I went last year. Saw two very good films. African film is not well distributed in this country. 

It hit or miss what I saw as none of the directors is known to me. 

See here the website


----------



## Frumious B. (Nov 2, 2013)

Two intriguing directors' Q and As coming up. Seats still available:
http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Ritzy_Picturehouse/film/Piercing_Brightness/
http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Ritzy_Picturehouse/film/Dirty_Wars/


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## Dexter Deadwood (Nov 3, 2013)

Frumious B. said:


> Two intriguing directors' Q and As coming up. Seats still available:
> http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Ritzy_Picturehouse/film/Piercing_Brightness/
> http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Ritzy_Picturehouse/film/Dirty_Wars/



Interested in the second link. Didn't know about the film, am downloading it from TPB now.


----------



## sparkybird (Nov 3, 2013)

Just got back from seeing Philomena

Wow - amazing story (you couldn't make it up) and Judi Dench of course was fab and Alan Partridge (oops sorry Steve Coogan) I warmed to

Plenty of laughs too, I felt it didn't need them all. but overall it is a film that will stay with me for some time
Cinema was packed!


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## Dexter Deadwood (Nov 5, 2013)

sparkybird said:


> Just got back from seeing Philomena
> 
> Wow - amazing story (you couldn't make it up) and Judi Dench of course was fab and Alan Partridge (oops sorry Steve Coogan) I warmed to
> 
> ...



I just watch this interview with Coogan and Sixsmith and am very keen to see this film.
*Dexter Deadwood* ‏@DexterDeadwood9m
Steve Coogan and Martin Sixsmith on Philomena: 'It's got humanity without irony' - video interview http://gu.com/p/3k3k9/tw


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## Gramsci (Nov 11, 2013)

Saw "Gravity" today. 

It does look good. I have reservations about 3D. You need to sit in right place to get best view of it. Also the slightly dark look to screen compared to 2D irritates me. 

The story line is fairly simple. Will not give plot spoiler but some of the ideas are a bit obvious. This is not Tarkovsky or Kubrick. Trouble is that when I see sci fi films like this based around space they never match up to these two masters of cinema. Though this is best effort I have seen. 

What it does do is give one a real feeling of being adrift in this hostile environment. I particularly like the spacecraft.


----------



## Gramsci (Nov 14, 2013)

Ritzy are doing a showing of docs dealing with Nuclear power this weekend.


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## Brixton Hatter (Nov 14, 2013)

Gramsci said:


> Saw "Gravity" today.
> 
> It does look good. I have reservations about 3D. You need to sit in right place to get best view of it. Also the slightly dark look to screen compared to 2D irritates me.
> 
> ...


i saw it too (not at the Ritzy) - I agree totally about the 3D, you need to be in the middle, fairly close to the screen to get the best 3D effect. And the glasses do make it a little darker. Agree re: the film too - pretty decent for a Hollywood offering. Good suspense sustained throughout.


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## CH1 (Nov 15, 2013)

Gramsci said:


> Ritzy are doing a showing of docs dealing with Nuclear power this weekend.


Thanks for plugging this. I've booked for the freebie.
Interested in "The Good Reactor" but not £11.50 for a 20 minute preview!


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## Gramsci (Nov 15, 2013)

CH1 said:


> Thanks for plugging this. I've booked for the freebie.
> Interested in "The Good Reactor" but not £11.50 for a 20 minute preview!


 
That reminds me the first one at 12am "A is for Atom" is free. Adam Curtis is good doc maker.


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## CH1 (Nov 16, 2013)

Gramsci said:


> That reminds me the first one at 12am "A is for Atom" is free. Adam Curtis is good doc maker.


A for Atom was excellent. Might have seen it before - it was made for the BBC in 1992. It explains a lot to me. Like why Germany and Japan are pulling out of nuclear now. They had obviously been sold on the commercial promises made by Westinghouse/General Electric back in the 1970s which proved to be reckless safety-wise even then.
The directors of the remaining films showing in this Nuclear Day are to be involved in a post-viewing discussion at 20.30 pm it seems (except for Adam Curtis who made A for Atom - he's busy filming apparently).
I would say that £20 for a day ticket is excellent value. If I wasn't knackered and unable to concentrate I would have gone for it.  As I said earlier I am curious to know what this proposed safer Thorium alternative is all about and also why nobody is investing in it.


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## Gramsci (Nov 16, 2013)

CH1 said:


> As I said earlier I am curious to know what this proposed safer Thorium alternative is all about and also why nobody is investing in it.



I was busy today so missed these docs.

I have seen doc on Thorium. Its safer than other nuclear fuels. Waste is safe after about 400 years instead of thousands. Is not useable for weapons. 

There is argument that development of Thorium reactors was not heavily funded as governments post war were more interested in developing weapons grade nuclear fuels. ie power plants that could also supply weapons material during Cold War.


----------



## Effrasurfer (Nov 17, 2013)

I thought The Butler was very good, better than I was expecting. Best use I've seen of splicing documentary footage into the movie in a way that made you almost forget which was which. The movie sagged a tiny bit in the middle but was full of memorable moments. Alan Rickman as Ronald Reagan was a strange thing to watch.


----------



## Gramsci (Nov 22, 2013)

Ritzy are doing a charity screening on Saturday morning to raise money for the Philippines.


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## Gramsci (Nov 22, 2013)

I saw last week. Still on at Ritzy. Doing well despite poor reviews.

Script is by the writer Cormac McCarthy.

I did hear one review by ex ICA director Ekow Eshun that was favourable. He reckoned most reviewers just did not get it. There is no back story for the characters he pointed out was a good thing. He also pointed out the you never know the name of the Counsellor. He is just called that throughout the film. 

If Cormac meant the film to be a morality tale I did not see it as that. This film reminded me of some of the demented Asian extreme films. Its a nightmare look at modern day America. Money, greed and sex. There is a lot of sex. 

Its nasty , unpleasant and possibly misogynist. Still not sure on that last one. If you see it you will have to come to your own conclusions on the car sex scene.

The film is  shot in a garish style. But imo that fits the subject matter. Trashy and rich.

It is violent. But not that violent. The most chilling bits are when the characters talk about what may happen.

Also what is odd , in a good way , about it is that there are no plot surprises. You are basically told what is going to happen. Its all going to end badly. Very badly.

What also saves the film is the top notch actors in it. Cameron Diaz excels herself as the scary girlfriend of drug dealer Badem.

I liked the truck that carries the drugs from Mexico. Its going to make it to the US whatever happens. How many people get killed and double crossed the truck is going to US.

The film has religious tone. The Counsellor makes a Faustian pact. He keeps getting warned by the criminals not to do it. Cameron is from the dark side. As is shown in a scene where she goes to Church and scares the shits out of a priest.

Altogether an unpleasant viewing experience.


----------



## Gramsci (Nov 22, 2013)

Talking of demented Asian films the Ritzy is showing one of the best on Friday night "Battle Royale"

Makes "The Hunger Games" look like a vicars tea party.


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## Gramsci (Dec 1, 2013)

Saw this at Renoir today. Its on at Ritzy this week. I got the early cheap showing at Renoir. Such a nice cinema. Was getting irritated by Ritzy last couple of times I went. First time there was still popcorn everywhere from previous showing, next time it got cold. 

At 3 hours you need to set aside half a day for this film. Its worth it. Its a love story. The fact that its between two women is not the point. Its the kind of film the French do well. Its about ordinary people. But its not patronizing nor is it banging you over the head with its politics. And it does contain politics. Its just the way it does it makes it seem a normal part of life. But I think this is also a difference in political culture. In France its perfectly normal to be on the left.

The length of the film works. After a while you settle into their world. Its engrossing. It refers to a novel several times near beginning. “La Vie de Marianne,” by the 18th-century author Pierre de Marivaux. A novel about love at first site and passion according to what is said in film. ( I had never heard about it). This film also shows two people falling for each other.

Its a film that gradually builds up to become a serious look at relationships between two people. Whilst there is a lot dialogue the film depends on the unspoken look. It allows the viewer to work out what is going on. Rather than being told. Two great performances from the leads.


----------



## leanderman (Dec 1, 2013)

Brixton Hatter said:


> i saw it too (not at the Ritzy) - I agree totally about the 3D, you need to be in the middle, fairly close to the screen to get the best 3D effect. And the glasses do make it a little darker. Agree re: the film too - pretty decent for a Hollywood offering. Good suspense sustained throughout.



It's a decent film that keeps you guessing. And I like both actors. Not sure about the merits of 3d.


----------



## sparkybird (Dec 1, 2013)

Gramsci said:


> Saw "Gravity" today.
> 
> It does look good. I have reservations about 3D. You need to sit in right place to get best view of it. Also the slightly dark look to screen compared to 2D irritates me.
> 
> ...



Saw it last week and forgot to post so....

Surely this is what 3 D was made for? It felt integral to the film and not just an add on. You didn't feel like scenes were deliberately shot to as to show off the 3D effects. And it looked amazing on the screen.

Shame about the Hollywood style ending - it would have been much more powerful without it

BUT - still a must see


----------



## Gramsci (Dec 1, 2013)

sparkybird said:


> Saw it last week and forgot to post so....
> 
> Surely this is what 3 D was made for? It felt integral to the film and not just an add on. You didn't feel like scenes were deliberately shot to as to show off the 3D effects. And it looked amazing on the screen.
> 
> ...



I would like to see it at the IMAX. As the IMAX is designed for 3D. Converting existing cinemas is a compromise. 

Agree about ending.


----------



## Gramsci (Dec 3, 2013)

"Leviathan" is on at Ritzy this week. Its a documentary about a fishing trawler. 

Its not traditional doc. There is no voice-over or interviews. It is images and a soundtrack. This is best film I have seen for a long time in its pure use of image and sound. It immerses the viewer in the sea. 

I was Q&A with the makers of the film. In reply to the questions the film makers said that it could be read in different ways. There is no right or wrong meaning to take. Some see it as aesthetic experience ( which I did) and other see it as ecological film. 

I like the fact that the film was open ended in this way. 

The 2 film makers are anthropologists. This film is observational and they used to cameras to get viewpoints of the fishermen. So I can see the influence of a kind of anthropology which does not read meaning into peoples actions. But tries to observe them in there own environment without bringing any pre judgement on there activity. 

Most of the cameras broke except for GoPro cameras. Which are small and designed for sports. Definitely a good buy as tested in these tough conditions. 

The cameras also picked up sound. Which the two film makers got a sound engineer to put together with the film footage. Great sound track works with the images. 

If you want to see something that is not run of the mill this definitely is a must see. 

I saw this film as a crossover between documentary and art film. Pity there is not more of this. Its what cinema was made for.


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## CH1 (Dec 19, 2013)

*Parsifal - live relay from Covent Garden*
I feel moved to provide "feedback" on the Royal Opera House live relay of Parsifal on 18th December
Not having been to one of these cultural events before, I was provoked by the BBC Radio 3 relay from Covent Garden last Wednesday. The description of action in an intensive care unit made me very curious.
I must say I was not disappointed. 
There are two issues here. One is how adequately the live relay reproduced the experience in the Opera House. There I am slightly at a loss, since I have never seen Parsifal live in an opera house. I did see a live concert performance at the Proms on 25th August by a strong cast with the Halle Orchestra conducted by Mark Elder. This was sonically stunning.
The Ritzy/microwave link could not compete with the live Albert Hall sound - but the live broadcasting of the opera as sung/acted on stage was very much more emotionally intense than the concert performance.
I had issues with some of the staging - which paganised what is clearly (to me) Christian iconography of the Holy Grail inherited from mediaeval romances.
Nevertheless as a first-time user as it were of the Ritzy's live relay service I would feel much more confident in booking for a future operatic treat such as Don Giovanni - due up in February apparently.


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## Gramsci (Dec 19, 2013)

CH1 said:


> *Parsifal - live relay from Covent Garden*
> I feel moved to provide "feedback" on the Royal Opera House live relay of Parsifal on 18th December
> 
> I had issues with some of the staging - which paganised what is clearly (to me) Christian iconography of the Holy Grail inherited from mediaeval romances.



Wagner relationship with Christianity is interesting. He lived in a period of revolution and criticism of religion. By building his own Opera House at Bayreuth to stage his work anywhere else is in some ways second best. He regarded the high point of art to be Gesamtkunstwerk("total work of art"). In a way its supposed to provide cultural and spiritual experience which replaces traditional religion. 

BBC radio 3 had series of short talks about the influence of philosophy on his work. Ending with a critique of his work by Adorno ( have not listened to that one yet).

They are online here

Well worth a listen.


----------



## leanderman (Dec 19, 2013)

Gramsci said:


> Wagner relationship with Christianity is interesting. He lived in a period of revolution and criticism of religion. By building his own Opera House at Bayreuth to stage his work anywhere else is in some ways second best. He regarded the high point of art to be Gesamtkunstwerk("total work of art"). In a way its supposed to provide cultural and spiritual experience which replaces traditional religion.
> 
> BBC radio 3 had series of short talks about the influence of philosophy on his work. Ending with a critique of his work by Adorno ( have not listened to that one yet).
> 
> ...



Saw the Ring cycle once. More than epic.

Surprised Winot has not pointed out he went to this Parsifal, and sat next to a leading politician!


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## Winot (Dec 19, 2013)

leanderman said:


> Saw the Ring cycle once. More than epic.
> 
> Surprised Winot has not pointed out he went to this Parsifal, and sat next to a leading politician!



I did!


----------



## oryx (Dec 19, 2013)

CH1 said:


> I did see a live concert performance at the Proms on 25th August by a strong cast with the Halle Orchestra conducted by Mark Elder. This was sonically stunning.
> The Ritzy/microwave link could not compete with the live Albert Hall sound - but the live broadcasting of the opera as sung/acted on stage was very much more emotionally intense than the concert performance



Saw this too (nephew is in the Halle Youth Choir) and it was great. Didn't think I'd like Wagner much but I loved the warm sound of the brass.

I only looked on here to see if anyone had reviewed Blue Is The Warmest Colour! Thanks for the review Gramsci - and for the mention of it being three hours long!

We were going to go tomorrow night (to the Ritzy) but I don't think my other half will manage three hours after a 1.5. hour drive home.  Might go Sunday.


----------



## leanderman (Dec 19, 2013)

leanderman said:


> Saw the Ring cycle once. More than epic.
> 
> Surprised Winot has not pointed out he went to this Parsifal, and sat next to a leading politician!



Doh. I'll blame Tapatalk


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## Winot (Dec 20, 2013)

leanderman said:


> Doh. I'll blame Tapatalk



Sorry, I meant that I did sit next to a leading politician, not that I did divulge it on U75. But now you've outed me, yes (stands up) my name is Winot and I sat next to Michael Gove at the opera. 

 *awaits expulsion*


----------



## leanderman (Dec 20, 2013)

Winot said:


> Sorry, I meant that I did sit next to a leading politician, not that I did divulge it on U75. But now you've outed me, yes (stands up) my name is Winot and I sat next to Michael Gove at the opera.
> 
> *awaits expulsion*



Did you check the ceiling is sound? 

There today for the Nutcracker.


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## Gramsci (Dec 21, 2013)

oryx said:


> I only looked on here to see if anyone had reviewed Blue Is The Warmest Colour! Thanks for the review Gramsci - and for the mention of it being three hours long!
> 
> We were going to go tomorrow night (to the Ritzy) but I don't think my other half will manage three hours after a 1.5. hour drive home.  Might go Sunday.




In France it was shown in two parts. I think that would spoil it. Unlike "Mesrine" it was not made to be seen in two halves.


----------



## Minnie_the_Minx (Dec 31, 2013)

I saw The Hobbit this afternoon.  Wanted to leave within 20 minutes, but decided I should stick it out, but fell asleep a few times.


----------



## leanderman (Jan 1, 2014)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> I saw The Hobbit this afternoon.  Wanted to leave within 20 minutes, but decided I should stick it out, but fell asleep a few times.



First film was a total bore. 

Studios are too scared to make new films so just keep mining the same franchise. 

Depressing. 

Hate kids' films so always take a book or Kindle in with me.


----------



## Minnie_the_Minx (Jan 1, 2014)

leanderman said:


> First film was a total bore.
> 
> Studios are too scared to make new films so just keep mining the same franchise.
> 
> ...



Could have faffed around on internet but thought it would be rude


----------



## leanderman (Jan 1, 2014)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> Could have faffed around on internet but thought it would be rude



Yes. I wonder about that. I try to be respectful. Got through a lot of Tartt's Goldfinch while kids were watching Cloudy with Meatballs II.


----------



## Effrasurfer (Jan 1, 2014)

leanderman said:


> Yes. I wonder about that. I try to be respectful. Got through a lot of Tartt's Goldfinch while kids were watching Cloudy with Meatballs II.


In the good old days we used to leave the kids in the cinema and sit with a free coffee in the cafe area...which I'm having a hard time picturing in my head now because I can only imagine the current configuration. And all for a measly pound.


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## Effrasurfer (Jan 1, 2014)

CH1 said:


> *Parsifal - live relay from Covent Garden*
> 
> Nevertheless as a first-time user as it were of the Ritzy's live relay service I would feel much more confident in booking for a future operatic treat such as Don Giovanni - due up in February apparently.



Ooh thanks for the reminder. Don Giovanni is the only opera I have actually ENJOYED and been gripped by as opposed to mildly enjoyed or suffered through. Few years back I got free tickets to a dress rehearsal at the Royal Opera House with Bryn Terfel and OMG the whole thing was amazing. I'm almost afraid to see it again for fear of disappointment.


----------



## sparkybird (Jan 1, 2014)

Finally got to see Nebraska yesterday - glad I made the effort - a wonderful film: sort of road trip/father son movie. Shot in black and white in big bleak landscapes. Very funny and very sad in parts. Mr Sparkybird summed it up
"Son discovers new things about his dad - some good and some bad. But overall our (his?) view of him is the same at the end of the film as it was at the start"


----------



## sparkybird (Jan 1, 2014)

Also saw Secret Life of Walter Mitty before Christmas - not my first choice but I was desperate to go to the cinema and this was all that was on at the time. OK - bit of fluff really, the first part of the film where he daydreams was very good but then when he actually goes stuff rather than daydreaming, was a bit crap. Apart from the David Bowie bit in the helicopter.....


----------



## Nedrop (Jan 7, 2014)

Blue is The Warmest Colour - saw this just before Christmas, still thinking about it, stunning, absorbing film
American Hustle - fun caper full of cheeky lines and dubious haircuts. David O'Russel has a lovely trilogy in The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle

How i love The Ritzy


----------



## Gramsci (Jan 13, 2014)

Twelve Years a Slave


On at Ritzy. Its been selling out despite being in Screen One. 

 Steve McQueen , the director , started out in video art/ installation. Which he was very good at. I have seen some of his more gallery based work. He is now establishing a fine body of work. Hunger ( about Bobby Sands), Shame ( about sex addict) and now this film based on the life of Soloman Northup, born free but kidnapped and sold as a slave. 

Like Hunger and Shame this film deals with the darker sides of human nature. It has been criticised as being like a "torture porn" film. It does remind me of horror film. The best horror films explore the hidden aspects of humanity. This film makes you watch what you know to have been real. In that way its more successful that Hanekes "Funny Games". Which he made to unsettle the viewer into questioning voyeuristic aspect of cinema. 

It is an uncomfortable film to watch. Northup goes from the relative harmony of New York to the horror that is Louisiana. Northup is no hero. It shows the compromises he has to make to survive. It also shows how slavery degrades humanity. Both the slaves and the slave owners. 

The films power comes from its look at the psychology of slavery. The different ways the slave owners and slaves deal with it. Slaves in the Southern States were property. However much the slave owners try using other human beings as beasts it is not possible. This leads to the slave owners either trying to make out that they are humane or irrational sadism. Both the "humane" slave owner and the sadistic one try to distance themselves from the actual reality of what they are doing. 

This film is definitely Oscar winner material. Be interesting to see if this film does get an Oscar. I would think its unlikely. Its to unflinching a look at a major part of US history.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 14, 2014)

Gramsci said:


> Twelve Years a Slave
> 
> 
> On at Ritzy. Its been selling out despite being in Screen One.
> ...





The book on which the film is based is available on Kindle for £0.49p;

First published in 1853, _Twelve Years a Slave_ is the narrative of Solomon Northup’s experience as a free man sold into slavery. Northup’s memoir reveals unimaginable details about the slave markets, the horrors of life on a plantation, and the dreadful day-to-day treatment of the slaves from the perspective of a man who lived more than thirty years as a free man before being forcibly enslaved.

Written in the year after Northup was freed and published in the wake of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s _Uncle Tom’s Cabin_, Northup’s story was quickly taken up by abolitionist groups and news organizations as part of the fight against slavery. The book fell into obscurity in later decades, only to be rediscovered in the early 1960’s. In 2013 it was adapted into a feature film entitled _12 Years a Slave_, directed by Steve McQueen and produced by Brad Pitt.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00FDS85EM/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title


----------



## leanderman (Jan 14, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> The book on which the film is based is available on Kindle for £0.49p;
> 
> https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00FDS85EM/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title



Bought.

Saw American Hustle, and wish I had seen this instead.


----------



## sparkybird (Jan 14, 2014)

leanderman said:


> Bought.
> 
> Saw American Hustle, and wish I had seen this instead.



But wasn't Jennifer Lawrence amazing?!?!


----------



## leanderman (Jan 14, 2014)

sparkybird said:


> But wasn't Jennifer Lawrence amazing?!?!



Yes! So yes! What we said immediately on end of film.

Not seen her before. Film 7/10. She 11/10. Cooper very good too.


----------



## Effrasurfer (Jan 15, 2014)

Gramsci said:


> Twelve Years a Slave
> 
> 
> On at Ritzy. Its been selling out despite being in Screen One.
> ...




Brilliant review. It reminded you of a horror film, it reminded me of a drama-documentary, it was a bit of both. Quite fascinating to see the faces of Solomon's present day decendants here:  and one strange thing is you'd swear a couple of them were white!


----------



## Gramsci (Jan 15, 2014)

Effrasurfer said:


> and one strange thing is you'd swear a couple of them were white!



Thanks for compliment on my review.

Colour and race is complicated in countries that have had slave populations. A lot of people in US, Caribbean are not "pure" white or black ancestry.


----------



## sparkybird (Jan 15, 2014)

leanderman said:


> Yes! So yes! What we said immediately on end of film.
> 
> Not seen her before. Film 7/10. She 11/10. Cooper very good too.



In which case you NEED to see this (slightly different to AH!)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1399683/


----------



## leanderman (Jan 15, 2014)

sparkybird said:


> In which case you NEED to see this (slightly different to AH!)
> 
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1399683/



Will do. Thanks.


----------



## leanderman (Jan 17, 2014)

Effrasurfer said:


> Brilliant review. It reminded you of a horror film, it reminded me of a drama-documentary, it was a bit of both. Quite fascinating to see the faces of Solomon's present day decendants here:  and one strange thing is you'd swear a couple of them were white!




The film brought out for me the economic aspect of slavery: cost of labour, money and greed.

It deserves every award possible.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 18, 2014)

leanderman said:


> The film brought out for me the economic aspect of slavery: cost of labour, money and greed.
> 
> It deserves every award possible.



I just watched it this evening having read the book this week. I never once thought of the cost of labour, money or greed.

My primary thoughts concerned the cognitive compromises people make in order to survive/fight oppression and conversely justify oppression.
The "good" slave owner "Ford" just as evil as the "bad" slave owner "Ebbs" but not in his mind.
Class was also an issue for me, the educated blacks (presumably all free) looking down on those blacks born into slavery and seemingly knowing nothing better. The suggestion was that they were unable to comprehend and therefore useless in any fight against oppression.

Superb casting, great acting, the cinematography equally stunning.


----------



## leanderman (Jan 18, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> I just watched it this evening having read the book this week. I never once thought of the cost of labour, money or greed.
> 
> My primary thoughts concerned the cognitive compromises people make in order to survive/fight oppression and conversely justify oppression.
> The "good" slave owner "Ford" just as evil as the "bad" slave owner "Ebbs" but not in his mind.
> ...



All this too.


----------



## Gramsci (Jan 23, 2014)

"The Wolf of Wall Street"

What a bizarre film I thought at the end of it. Leonardo DiCaprio excels himself as the Salesman/ Broker who realizes that he can sell people worthless investments. He holds this rambling long movie together. Its borders on self indulgence on the part of Scorsese. There are some great set pieces where DiCaprio "motivates" his workers. 

The film is ambiguous. Is it a criticism of Wall Street? Or is there a sneaking admiration for DiCaprio and the small group of loyal guys he recruits?

The FBI agent says to Jordan he is not the usual person he he is after. Jordan was not born into money. Him and the half a dozen friends he starts off with are blue collar chancers who seize an opportunity to make big money. Does it have parallels with Goodfellas and Casino? Yes it does.


----------



## colacubes (Jan 23, 2014)

Gramsci said:


> "The Wolf of Wall Street"
> 
> What a bizarre film I thought at the end of it. Leonardo DiCaprio excels himself as the Salesman/ Broker who realizes that he can sell people worthless investments. He holds this rambling long movie together. Its borders on self indulgence on the part of Scorsese. There are some great set pieces where DiCaprio "motivates" his workers.
> 
> ...



I saw it today (at Clapham cos I was in the area) and I agree with your review.  I really enjoyed it. In addition to your review I'd say that I thought it's portrayal of drug taking was the most honest I've seen in a film in terms of not being moralistic about it and people having fun taking them.  They are on occasion really fucked up but there wasn't (in all cases) a horrible end to  the characters due to it.  The soundtrack was great.  But the film was about 45 minutes too long - it could really have done with some judicious editing.


----------



## leanderman (Jan 23, 2014)

colacubes said:


> I saw it today (at Clapham cos I was in the area) and I agree with your review.  I really enjoyed it. In addition to your review I'd say that I thought it's portrayal of drug taking was the most honest I've seen in a film in terms of not being moralistic about it and people having fun taking them.  They are on occasion really fucked up but there wasn't (in all cases) a horrible end to  the characters due to it.  The soundtrack was great.  But the film was about 45 minutes too long - it could really have done with some judicious editing.



Why are so many films too long?


----------



## colacubes (Jan 23, 2014)

leanderman said:


> Why are so many films too long?



Fuck knows.  In fairness, I've seen 12 years a slave and Gravity as well in the last week and neither were overlong.  But 3 hours is too long by far.


----------



## leanderman (Jan 23, 2014)

colacubes said:


> Fuck knows.  In fairness, I've seen 12 years a slave and Gravity as well in the last week and neither were overlong.  But 3 hours is too long by far.



American Hustle is 30mins too long


----------



## Ms T (Jan 23, 2014)

leanderman said:


> American Hustle is 30mins too long


Agreed. I loved the outfits though.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 23, 2014)

I can't be the only soul who thinks "The Wolf of Wall Street" was atrocious. How it is nominated for Best Picture is beyond me. I can only think it's because of Scorsese.


----------



## Gramsci (Jan 23, 2014)

colacubes said:


> I saw it today (at Clapham cos I was in the area) and I agree with your review.  I really enjoyed it. In addition to your review I'd say that I thought it's portrayal of drug taking was the most honest I've seen in a film in terms of not being moralistic about it and people having fun taking them.  They are on occasion really fucked up but there wasn't (in all cases) a horrible end to  the characters due to it.  The soundtrack was great.  But the film was about 45 minutes too long - it could really have done with some judicious editing.



Good point on the drug taking. He got away with that. No criticism that I have seen of that aspect of it.

But as Jordan says near the beginning of the film its the money thats the drug. One of the things one realizes is that initially these were hard up guys who wanted to be rich. Like in his other film Casino they made enough money ( as Jordans dad said) to never work again. But they continued despite knowing the Feds were after them.

Now I have thought about it the film is an indictment of Capitalism. This is how it works. Money does not create anything real like housing or things people need. Its exactly right for Scorsese to show the link with getting high and money. Money is not some neutral socially useful thing to make our lives easier.The film works for me as its not banging me over the head Loach style.

Another thing about the drug taking was that it was not recreational. Something to do partying on the weekend. Or to wind down. It was an integral part of there lives. Same with the sex. It was most telling when the went to that foreign place "Europe". Suddenly there boorish antics were not socially acceptable. I thought the funniest scene was with the Swiss banker. Jordan was trying so hard to fit into this weird "European" politeness.

It has been criticized for its portrayal of women. Which I think is harsh. That is how it was. I talked to someone who worked in the city a while back. Hiring escorts for parties to entertain clients was normal. Probably still is now the City has been bailed out.

You could tell in the early days of financial crisis it was really hitting the City as I used to see the Lapdancers out giving out tickets for a free dance at the clubs near the City.

I liked the sprawling length of the film. It fitted into the chaos of there lives. I thought it got better as it went along.


----------



## Gramsci (Jan 23, 2014)

leanderman said:


> American Hustle is 30mins too long



As much as I tried to like it American Hustle didn’t do much for me. 

However its interesting that there are parallels with the Wolf on Wall street. Both the main characters were conmen. Both sort of got away with it. 

Back in 70s there were films like All the Presidents Men and Serpico which were genuine uncynical looks at America.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 24, 2014)

Gramsci said:


> As much as I tried to like it American Hustle didn’t do much for me.
> 
> However its interesting that there are parallels with the Wolf on Wall street. Both the main characters were conmen. Both sort of got away with it.
> 
> Back in 70s there were films like All the Presidents Men and Serpico which were genuine uncynical looks at America.



I thought Hustle was a much funnier film than Wolf. Thought Bale was very good, Leo less so.
All the Presidents Men, now that's a film! I can't remember Serpico so i'm putting it on my list to watch after i have finished with the other Oscar Best Picture nominated films. Dallas Buyers Club up next then Gravity.


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## Gramsci (Jan 24, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> I thought Hustle was a much funnier film than Wolf. Thought Bale was very good, Leo less so.
> All the Presidents Men, now that's a film! I can't remember Serpico so i'm putting it on my list to watch after i have finished with the other Oscar Best Picture nominated films. Dallas Buyers Club up next then Gravity.



Serpico is one of the key films of 70s US cinema. Seems to be not as well known now. Some films get forgotten.

I think the cop in American Hustle was a bit like Serpico. Reminded me of that film.


----------



## leanderman (Jan 24, 2014)

Gramsci said:


> Serpico is one of the key films of 70s US cinema. Seems to be not as well known now. Some films get forgotten.
> 
> I think the cop in American Hustle was a bit like Serpico. Reminded me of that film.



Serpico brilliant


----------



## sparkybird (Jan 26, 2014)

Just got back from Wolf of Wall Street. De Caprio was very believable - I've grown to like him as an actor as he's got older!

Anyway - crazy story - I guess a bit embellished, but I'm sure a lot of that sort of stuff went on in those places - and Scorsese at his 'everything to excess' best. Worth seeing just for the numerous drug taking scenes -hilarious.
It was 3 hours long, and could probably have been a little shorter, but not much
Would recommend as an entertaining film


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## Gramsci (Jan 27, 2014)

sparkybird said:


> Just got back from Wolf of Wall Street. De Caprio was very believable - I've grown to like him as an actor as he's got older!
> 
> Anyway - crazy story - I guess a bit embellished, but I'm sure a lot of that sort of stuff went on in those places - and Scorsese at his 'everything to excess' best. Worth seeing just for the numerous drug taking scenes -hilarious.
> It was 3 hours long, and could probably have been a little shorter, but not much
> Would recommend as an entertaining film



Here is journalists view of the film. Written by the journalist who featured in the film doing a hatchet job on Belfort company. Makes an interesting read.


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## Effrasurfer (Feb 3, 2014)

Someone's organizing the filmic equivalent of a Book Club, I like this idea and plan to check it out.
https://twitter.com/filmchild/status/430480039176458241/photo/1


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## Gramsci (Feb 8, 2014)

Realized that the Ritzy have stopped doing the cheaper tickets before 5pm on weekends. They are full price all weekend now.

I have emailed Ritzy.


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## CH1 (Feb 9, 2014)

Gramsci said:


> Realized that the Ritzy have stopped doing the cheaper tickets before 5pm on weekends. They are full price all weekend now.
> 
> I have emailed Ritzy.


It could get worse http://money.aol.co.uk/2014/01/10/cineworld-to-merge-with-major-chain/


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## sparkybird (Feb 9, 2014)

Gramsci said:


> Realized that the Ritzy have stopped doing the cheaper tickets before 5pm on weekends. They are full price all weekend now.
> 
> I have emailed Ritzy.


 
I have just noticed that too! Well, no I didn't actually, I just assumed that all prices had gone up, so evening seats would be even more expensive. But there seems to be no booking fee now for online booking??


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## Gramsci (Feb 11, 2014)

sparkybird said:


> I have just noticed that too! Well, no I didn't actually, I just assumed that all prices had gone up, so evening seats would be even more expensive. But there seems to be no booking fee now for online booking??



UR right they have dropped the booking few. Makes sense. Never understood why there was a booking fee.


----------



## OvalhouseDB (Feb 14, 2014)

Has anyone seen The Dallas Buyers Club?

I went last weekend to while away an afternoon while Mr Ovalhouse and OH Junior saw Robocop.

I liked it. It is a very trad classic story: an ordinary man becomes his own hero in response to an unexpected crisis in his life (AIDS diagnosis - 30 days to live) and ends up as the little guy sticking it to the Man (big pharma and the US of A). But it is spectacularly unschmaltzy. The character never becomes wholly likeable, and in as much as his quest brings relief and justice for many he never loses his intense self interest.

Even the most unlikely and almost romantic plot lines (the necessary inclusion of a nice woman with ideals) are given a coating of grit as a disguise.

Great performances, some beautiful filming, and I did like the exploration of unlikely and changing alliances as AIDS in the 1980s struck at the world view of so many communities.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Feb 14, 2014)

OvalhouseDB said:


> Has anyone seen The Dallas Buyers Club?



I thought it was excellent if a little flawed. Of the Best Picture nominated films for this year i would rank Dallas Buyers Club at number 3 behind Nebraska and 12 Years A Slave.


----------



## Winot (Feb 14, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> I thought it was excellent if a little flawed. Of the Best Picture nominated films for this year i would rank Dallas Buyers Club at number 3 behind Nebraska and 12 Years A Slave.


 
Really want to see Nebraska.


----------



## OvalhouseDB (Feb 14, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> I thought it was excellent if a little flawed. Of the Best Picture nominated films for this year i would rank Dallas Buyers Club at number 3 behind Nebraska and 12 Years A Slave.


 
I haven't seen either of those - I wasn't up to 12 Years on that afternoon. On my list - if I ever get another cinema opportunity in the near future. I was half tempted by Invisible Woman, but, well, frocks....


----------



## Gramsci (Feb 14, 2014)

OvalhouseDB said:


> Has anyone seen The Dallas Buyers Club?
> 
> I went last weekend to while away an afternoon while Mr Ovalhouse and OH Junior saw Robocop.
> 
> .



Saw it on Monday.

Two great performances from Matthew McConaughey as Ron and Jared Leto as Rayon. They held the film together.

There was interesting review in Evening Standard.

This points out that the real life Ron was a married bisexual. This has been written out. Ron in the film is a hard drinking homophobic redneck. It would have been interesting to have done a film about how a bisexual married man dealt with this illness. It would have been a more complex story.

The Big Pharma part of the plot did not work for me. I had friend who had AIDs in that period. I used to used visit him in hospital etc. So know about this subject.

AZT was not simply foisted on doctors by "Big Pharma". In the early days there was no treatment for AIDS. The treatments were for the opportunistic infections that people got due to weakened immune system.

I used to visit my friend in the AIDs ward at Middlesex hospital ( now demolished). I have nothing but praise for the doctors and nurses. It was crisis management of illness in that ward.

AZT did not go through full clinical trials. It was gay groups who campaigned for it to be offered as treatment. There is a bit in the film of TV footage of Act UP protestors with placards demanding AZT to be given to people. People were dying in hospital.

AZT in early days was offered with advice. There were side effects. Effectively patients and doctors were testing the drug as they went on. My friend did not take it. After a few years the combination of different drugs including AZT was developed.This is used now and means people can live relatively normal lives.

I think the Big Pharma plotline is more modern concept that has been overlayed on this story.

The most interesting character was Rayon ( Jared Leto). Accurate portrayal of how some people dealt with prospect of death. People did not want to die. Having seen people near death I can guarantee that its not something people embrace.

Watching the film to me brings back memories. But for the mainly younger audience its not something that they have directly experienced. Wondered what people made of it.

AIDS is now manageable illness. Jared Leto as Rayon had to lose a lot of weight to play the part. Its accurate but not something one sees now with better treatments.

edited to add: The actual portrayal of the effects of the illness was accurate. In case its thought that some of it might have been exaggerated for purposes of drama. There is one bit were Ron has to stop his car in the street and has to be helped by his policeman friend. Thats how it was. Suddenly someone would collapse and you would have to get them to hospital.

It was something that I thought was one of the good things about the film. To clarify what was being portrayed was how the illness affected people before effective treatments were developed.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Feb 14, 2014)

OvalhouseDB said:


> I haven't seen either of those - I wasn't up to 12 Years on that afternoon. On my list - if I ever get another cinema opportunity in the near future. *I was half tempted by Invisible Woman*, but, well, frocks....



I like the reviews for that, i'm just about to start reading Dickens for the first time.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Feb 14, 2014)

Winot said:


> Really want to see Nebraska.



It's brilliant, i'm even prepared to forgive the pretentious black and white. Bruce Dern gives an outstanding performance, June Squibb was also excellent. For me the landscape played a part as well. It's equally funny and poignant. Of the Best Picture nominations, Nebraska wins it for me.

It's out there as a torrent on TPB if that is your thing.


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## leanderman (Feb 15, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> I like the reviews for that, i'm just about to start reading Dickens for the first time.



Great Expectations is as amazing as Tale of Two Cities is incomprehensible. David Copperfield, meanwhile, is charming.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Feb 15, 2014)

leanderman said:


> Great Expectations is as amazing as Tale of Two Cities is incomprehensible. David Copperfield, meanwhile, is charming.



I was considering the first two and Hard Times. Think i'll start with Great Expectations then.


----------



## leanderman (Feb 15, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> I was considering the first two and Hard Times. Think i'll start with Great Expectations then.



After Wilkie Collins's Woman in White, it's the most exciting story I've read.


----------



## leanderman (Feb 25, 2014)

Quite enjoyed Her. Very stylish. Rather funny. Reasonably intelligent. 

Lego Movie even better.


----------



## Gramsci (Mar 10, 2014)

"The Grand Budapest Hotel" 

Wes Anderson s latest film. The opening credits name the writer Stefan Zweig as the influence. I had to look him up afterwards. He lived in Vienna in the interwar period. So saw the final days of that centre of European culture. 

Piece here on Wes talking about Zweig.

After reading that interview and this article on Zweig the films take on a darker tone in hindsight. 

The plot is not the main interest. The Hotel and Gustave the concierge are what the film revolves around. 

The first third of the film I loved. Its wonderful. Starting in the near present then going back to the last days of the hotel is brilliantly done. Ralph Fiennes, as usual, shows himself to be a top notch actor. A real presence on screen. 

It is good to see a film that so inventively uses special effects. He creates scenes which hark back to early cinema and magic lanterns. 

The film sags a bit in last half. However the final black and white scene shows the beginning of the end for the Europe as WW2 starts. 

I did find it amusing that the fictitious country its set in is called Zubrowka. This is the name of a famous Polish Vodka.


----------



## Gramsci (Mar 10, 2014)

BTW the cheapest day to go the Ritzy is Monday. Its basically half price all day.


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## leanderman (Mar 11, 2014)

Gramsci said:


> "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
> 
> Wes Anderson s latest film. The opening credits name the writer Stefan Zweig as the influence. I had to look him up afterwards. He lived in Vienna in the interwar period. So saw the final days of that centre of European culture.
> 
> ...





I love Zweig - his memoir, The World of Yesterday, is very moving. A man whose success is bookended by the personal tragedy of two world wars. 

He wrote the story for the excellent film, Letter to an Unknown Woman.

I bracket him broadly with Joseph Roth  

Still, the only people I know to have read him too are: Roy Hodgson and Sigmund Freud!


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## Gramsci (Mar 11, 2014)

leanderman said:


> I love Zweig - his memoir, The Workd of Yesterday, is very moving. A man whose success is bookended by the personal tragedy of two world wars.
> 
> He wrote the story for the excellent film, Letter to an Unknown Woman.
> 
> ...



Thanks for reference to the film. Just looked it up. Did not know about it.


----------



## supercity (Mar 24, 2014)

leanderman said:


> After Wilkie Collins's Woman in White, it's the most exciting story I've read.


Can I chuck in a recommendation for Dickens' Dombey and Son? Aged 16, after months of procrastination and dreading it as an A level set text, I picked it up and didn't sleep for two days till I'd finished it. Also, as a bonus, bits of it are set in a thinly disguised Camden Town at the time the great railway valley was being constructed into Euston and all the poor were being turfed out of their homes.


----------



## sparkybird (Mar 24, 2014)

Just saw Grand Budapest Hotel yesterday - liked it, not loved it. Was very different from the trailer... (which suggested a romp along, laff along fast paced witty comedy with lots of one liners - it was like this I suppose, but in slow motion - not necessarily a bad thing though!)

For those who've not seen it, Moonrise Kingdom is far superior (IMHO)


----------



## Winot (Mar 24, 2014)

sparkybird said:


> Just saw Grand Budapest Hotel yesterday - liked it, not loved it. Was very different from the trailer... (which suggested a romp along, laff along fast paced witty comedy with lots of one liners - it was like this I suppose, but in slow motion - not necessarily a bad thing though!)
> 
> For those who've not seen it, Moonrise Kingdom is far superior (IMHO)



FWIW, I loved it and thought it was his best film since Rushmore (or maybe Royal Tenenbaums). His strongest narrative to date, I thought (maybe because he wrote it alone?).


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## leanderman (Mar 26, 2014)

sparkybird said:


> Just saw Grand Budapest Hotel yesterday - liked it, not loved it. Was very different from the trailer... (which suggested a romp along, laff along fast paced witty comedy with lots of one liners - it was like this I suppose, but in slow motion - not necessarily a bad thing though!)
> 
> For those who've not seen it, Moonrise Kingdom is far superior (IMHO)



The Budapest trailer is offputting. Moonrise Kingdom is very good


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## Gramsci (Mar 29, 2014)

Salvo

This was on at Ritzy over the last week.

Its had mixed reviews. I saw it on the off chance.

I really liked it. What puts this above the average mafia film is the cinematography. Which is inventive and outstanding. Some shots reminded me of art cinema. It is good to see a film that uses cinematography well. Its been criticized for being more style than substance. I disagree. Cinema is a visual medium and this film makes full use of that.

It also is like a spaghetti western. Its a dark brooding film. More about Salvos existential crisis. Everyone in the film is trapped in some way. As the Mafia Don, who employs Salvo as a bodyguard, implies are they the walking dead? Correctly some reviews have said there is an influence of Melville. The great French director. So its not a social realist film its psychological to the point of being slightly surreal.

Its more slow paced than the trailer. Which is a point in its favour.

How is it Italian men always look effortlessly stylish? Talked to someone I know who lived in Italy for a while. She says that’s how there are.


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## Gramsci (Apr 13, 2014)

"The Raid2"


I saw the first film "The Raid" when it came out and was impressed. This did so well that the director made another. This second film does not work as well. It has its moments. Which are the fighting scenes. The first film was full on mayhem. Simple premise well done.

I think the mistake this time was to try and put more plot in. What it did was borrow from other directors. Tarantino and Nicolas Winding Refn.

From Refn was some of the cinematography from Only God Forgives. Which worked. Some quite surreal indoor scenes I liked. From Tarantino women fighting. Always a turn on watching women being violent.

So there is "Hammer Girl" and "Baseball Bat Man" ( as listed in credits.) There is great scene of Hammer Girl taking on an underground train full of mafia. Using two claw ( that came in useful) hammers that are easily obtainable from ones local hardware shop . Baseball Bat man was an inspired idea that livened up the violence. Both characters were simple and over the top cartoon like. This worked well. Also added a bit of humour.

Trouble was the characterization was thin. The idea of undercover cop was better done in Hong Kong film "Infernal Affairs" ( remade as inferior film "The Departed"). I could not really feel that much interest in the characters.

Kept on waiting for the action. This sometimes took a long time to come along. The film could have been shorter. The action, when it happened, was incredibly well done. Apart from Hammer Girl two scenes stand out. The pitched battle in a muddy prison yard and a car case near the end.

In hindsight what made the first Raid film work was that it grabbed you by scruff of neck and plunged you into non stop mayhem. Because this film did not it felt a bit stop start and jerky.


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## Gramsci (Apr 22, 2014)

"Locke"



Deserves the praise its been getting.

Its one man ( Tom Hardy) in a car driving to London. It takes place in real time. Will not spoil the plot. His carefully constructed life is under threat of falling apart on his drive to London.

There are no other actors on screen. Just him, the car and the (handsfree) phone he is constantly on as he tries to keep his life together.

Quite a feat to pull off. Hardy does a great job. Its also great to look at.

The film has had a lot of good reviews. Heard one on Radio which was critical. Not of the acting but the plot. She thought the way the female characters ( not seen but on the phone) were portrayed were traditional stereotypes. That the gender relations were out of date in a film set in the modern era. That it was a boys movie.

I thought a fair criticism. Does not detract from the film. It made me wonder if the writer of film meant it to be about masculinity. He is super organised, driven ( hence the car I think had a meaning for the film) and thinks he can sort everything out.

Whilst on the surface he appears, to everyone else, totally together. Its a front. Which is what masculinity often is. One night it all starts to crumble.

.


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## Gramsci (Jun 2, 2014)

Jimmys Hall by Ken Loach and Paul Laverty



Not my first choice to see this weekend. I saw Polanski "Venus in Fur" about S&M relationship as first choice. Film is a good medium to explore the politically incorrect sides of human nature. Jimmys Hall takes a more optimistic view of human nature. An interesting contrast. 

Then heard Loach interviewed on radio about Jimmys Hall. Turned out that the interviewer Grandfather had fought for the IRA. In civil war had opposed the treaty. The interviewer said that the film resonated with what she had heard about that time.

This is very good film. I do hope that its not Loach last film. As he said he might retire after this one.

What I liked about it is that its a popular film that manages to say a lot without slipping into Hollywood melodrama. What I mean is that its format with love interest etc is fairly standard one but its message is not. Im not always keen on Loach as he sometimes verges on social realism. One of his best recent (underrated) films is Looking for Eric. A really odd film that works and tells a message without being didactic.

I say its film by Loach and Laverty as Laverty is long time collaborator with Loach as a scriptwriter. This is a joint film. Directors traditionally get the main credit. But imo the best of Loach is when he works with Laverty.

Its set in 1930s republic. Jimmy comes back to Ireland from USA and restarts up a hall ( basically a community centre in modern language). This is seen by the church as a rival for influence.

Its not just an historical film it also is about the importance of a popular culture as a radical force. How ordinary people can build a culture for themselves. In that way the film has an optimistic view of the human spirit. Shows how left politics can tap into peoples emotional needs for community and joy- "If I cant dance its not my revolution". An important point to make when UKIP are managing to present themselves as a populist party. Its does not have to be like this. Reminded me of "Red" Kens GLC of the 80s.

It also does not paint a black and white picture of the opposing view. The priest is an interesting character. The arguments for and against are both put.

Its also wonderfully shot. Loach is often regarded as a political film maker first. Its not acknowledged enough that he really knows the craft of cinema.


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## Gramsci (Jun 11, 2014)

X Men: Days of Future Past

I have been finding action movies featuring comic book heroes becoming tedious recently. Special effects start to all look the same. The story lines are conventional. 

Once I started watching this film I found I was actually interested in what was going onscreen. Did not feel I could watch it with half my attention. 

Some reviewers have said its for X Men experts only. I did not think so. I have seen one of the X Men films. The thing about this film is that its a complicated plot. You have to pay attention. 

I also like the sci fi changing history theme. 

Its an action film with good use of special effects. It does need to be seen in 3D for that scene which critics have been raving about. Will not tell you what it is. But its worth 3D viewing for that scene which is astounding piece of cinema. Best use of 3D I’ve seen for a while. 

It manages to put together good use of special effects with character driven story. Rather than just depending on being a spectacle. 

There is one scene where a tv shows an excerpt from Star Trek. This film reminds me of the best of Star Trek.


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## Gramsci (Jun 15, 2014)

Now that Ritzy workers have called for boycott the previous post will be my last for a while from the Ritzy.

Nearest cinema is BFI and BFI Imax - which does pay the LLW.


----------



## spliff (Jun 29, 2014)

Just saw a "RITZY LIVING WAGE" flag in front of West Holts stage Glasto.


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## editor (Aug 1, 2014)

I haven't been to the Ritzy since the strike started, but hopefully there's been a breakthrough now. 

Anyway, coming up:  Black Cultural Archives film season opens at The Ritzy from 15th Aug – full season programme details here


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## Orang Utan (Aug 1, 2014)

What breakthrough, editor ?


----------



## editor (Aug 1, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> What breakthrough, editor ?


This one: Breakthrough on the Ritzy pay dispute looks likely after late night talks between BECTU and Picturehouse


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## Gramsci (Aug 23, 2014)

Back at the Ritzy today. Went to see the Dardenne brothers latest film "Two Days, One Night"

Its about a women who wants to  come back to work after being ill to find that her job has just been voted out by her fellow workers. They were given a "choice" of voting her out or keeping her on and losing a bonus.

The two days and one night take place over  a weekend as she visits her co workers to persuade them to change their minds.

It sounds like a grim piece of worthy social realism. Its much better than that. Its has a great performance from Marion Cotillard as Sandra. It also has dramatic tension. I did wonder what reaction she will get every time she rang a doorbell. Nor does it  go into rousing speeches about the horrors of capitalism and the unity of the workers. Its a film that shows rather than tells. Its more damning for that of the alienation of the contemporary workplace. How people struggle to just get by.

I also found it a humane moving film. The emotional side of the film is gradually built up. One important aspect of the film is her repeated assertion in the film is that she does not want pity. What she wants is more than a job. Its meaningful connection with others. The film shows how the individual workers have to put themselves and their families first before their solidarity with others. In her they see what it has done to them.

The film is deceptively simple in the way its shot. Their is no soundtrack. Except for everyday noise. The camera concentrates on Sandra face a lot. Everything seems very bright and overwhelming. At one point she says she wishes she could be a like a bird see hears singing nearby. Carefree and happy. The clean tidy town looks prosperous on the surface. But in fact the people in it are not carefree. They are anxious about their future.

Definitely a film to watch. 

Without giving away the ending this is a film that has a message. Its is heartwarming. 

My only gripe is that the Ritzy now charges full price on weekend afternoons. This limits how often I can go.


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## Winot (Aug 23, 2014)

Gramsci said:


> My only gripe is that the Ritzy now charges full price on weekend afternoons. This limits how often I can go.



I guess they've got to pay for those wage increases somehow.


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## Gramsci (Aug 23, 2014)

Winot said:


> I guess they've got to pay for those wage increases somehow.



This started soon after Cineworld took over Picturehouse. Nothing to do with wage increase.

Do you mean to say that as I supported Ritzy LLW its my fault that cinemas are becoming to expansive for some people?


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## Orang Utan (Aug 23, 2014)

Winot said:


> I guess they've got to pay for those wage increases somehow.


Cunts.


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## Winot (Aug 23, 2014)

Gramsci said:


> This started soon after Cineworld took over Picturehouse. Nothing to do with wage increase.
> 
> Do you mean to say that as I supported Ritzy LLW its my fault that cinemas are becoming to expansive for some people?



No criticism of you Gramsci!


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## Gramsci (Aug 23, 2014)

Winot said:


> No criticism of you Gramsci!



Thinking about it makes business sense to do cheap tickets at non peak times.

The Curzon does cheap tickets for first showing every day including weekends. They call it "Early Bird" ticket price.  I sometime cycle up to west end to do that. Noticed that its well attended at that time. So its worth while for Curzon to do it.

Ritzy used to be better attended in weekend afternoons when it was cheaper. I do not think changing it to full price was a good move by them.

The Prince Charles does cheaper tickets than most. Their argument is that they get more people to come to see films so can make a profit.


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## editor (Aug 24, 2014)

Winot said:


> I guess they've got to pay for those wage increases somehow.


Or they could just trouser less fat profits for themselves.

PS They haven't actually agreed to pay out any wage increases yet.


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## OvalhouseDB (Aug 26, 2014)

Boyhood.

I loved this film. Everything about it: the vision of making a film with the same actors over 12 years, extraordinary performances, level of detail and humanity not sacrificed to 'pace' or excitment or anything sudden. Beautiful performances, editing, filming.

The film has a curious perspective that gives a refreshingly moralising-free alternative to the usual schmaltzy American family dramas / coming of age films, in which the Ethan Hawkws character is not judged - and his strength as a father and his contribution is shown as a rich seam throughout the kids lives.

It's a long film, you have to absorb yourself in it.


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## sparkybird (Sep 14, 2014)

Haven't been to the cinema in ages

Just got back form seeing Pride - based on a true story of a gay and lesbian group supporting welsh  miners during the strike - yes it's cheesy and somewhat stereotyped, but a great story, very funny in parts and quite inspirational. PLUS some great 80's music which took me back to my youth!


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## Gramsci (Sep 16, 2014)

Saw Pride today.

Other posters have already mentioned that it moved the audience. At Ritzy (London) it got applause at end of film. It did move people. Including me. I did find myself swept along with it. Partly as I am sympathetic to its politics I think. A plus point of film is that it is made so that one is almost compelled to be swept along with it imo. As such I think its a great political film in the good sense of propaganda. There is good use of soundtrack.

As a film its not perfect. This is not a criticism of the films politics. This is a film not a protest or demo.

Some great performances made a lot of difference. The director managed to tread the line between feelgood movie and making some serious points.

I think that the beginning of film was excellent. Felt it sagged a bit in middle at times. Yes I got the message about gays / welsh small village culture clash. It did not have to be repeated so often. But was saved by some great set pieces. The disco dance in the miners hall for example. The last third tried to cram so much in that it was rushed.

The last third was interesting as it went more deeply into the politics. This tied in with some of ideas from the beginning and middle of film.

The gay movement was not one thing. The film is about those who saw gay rights and wider Labour struggles as linked. Others in gay movement wanted to get equality but did not want to link the movement for gay equality tied to a wider socialist movement.

I found it very interesting to see the 80s "Rainbow" alliance politics on screen. In long run those in gay movement who saw struggle for gay rights as part of a wider socialist politics lost out to those who went for equality before the law only ( ie right to be in army, be a openly gay business owner etc.)

In the films favour it puts forward a plausible argument the a socialist sexual politics is credible and not to be dismissed as out of date 80s. 

The films message for this present day is that solidarity is all important. Not in the sense that one should show solidarity but its something that people need. A message that it puts across well. It is through others that we find our individuality and sense of self. 

Its what has been lost since Thatcher.


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## Gramsci (Sep 16, 2014)

Ritzy is cheap all day Mondays. Only time I can really go now. I was talking to a couple of Italians who have just come to London. They also thought cinemas here are expensive compared to Italy. There its the equivalent of £3 to see a film in evening.


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## Gramsci (Sep 16, 2014)

sparkybird said:


> Haven't been to the cinema in ages
> 
> Just got back form seeing Pride - based on a true story of a gay and lesbian group supporting welsh  miners during the strike - yes it's cheesy and somewhat stereotyped, but a great story, very funny in parts and quite inspirational. PLUS some great 80's music which took me back to my youth!



I liked the way the director used music. Integral part of the film rather than an add on. The music brought people together. As in Ken Loach recent film Jimmys Hall.

Both make the point that left politics is about joy or should be. "If I cant dance its not my revolution".

And the film did make me feel better. The wonders of cinema.


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## Thimble Queen (Oct 16, 2014)

The new Edward Snowden doco is on at the Ritzy tomorrow. I'd quite like to see it but I already have plans http://www.brixtonblog.com/edward-snowdon-documentary-to-premiere-at-brixton-ritzy/25349


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## editor (Oct 23, 2014)

Some things to consider before handing over any money to the Ritzy: 
Huge job cuts announced for Brixton Ritzy workers in wake of pay dispute settlement


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## CH1 (Oct 23, 2014)

editor said:


> Some things to consider before handing over any money to the Ritzy:
> Huge job cuts announced for Brixton Ritzy workers in wake of pay dispute settlement


I notice that the David Lean Cinema is back - and tickets are half price compared to the Ritzy.
Presumably Thornton Heath might be an alternative for those with time to travel?


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## Miss-Shelf (Oct 24, 2014)

Peckham plex is 4.99 all day for films


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## Thimble Queen (Oct 24, 2014)

Miss-Shelf said:


> Peckham plex is 4.99 all day for films



Love peckham plex


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## Monkeygrinder's Organ (Oct 24, 2014)

Given their behaviour maybe this shouldn't be a sticky anymore. We could replace it with a 'Fuck The Ritzy' thread instead if necessary. editor


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## editor (Oct 24, 2014)

Monkeygrinder's Organ said:


> Given their behaviour maybe this shouldn't be a sticky anymore. We could replace it with a 'Fuck The Ritzy' thread instead if necessary. editor


As soon as I get to hear the full details of what's going on, that may well be the best solution. I'm certainly never going back again until things are sorted out for the staff.


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## Fingers (Oct 24, 2014)

Agreed with both of you, as soon as the waters clear, let us SEO them out of Brixton.


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## Effrasurfer (Oct 26, 2014)

Anyone interested in setting up a film society as an alternative to the Ritzy until Picturehouses get their act together? http://bffs.org.uk/export/sites/bffs_site/pdffolder/Starting_a_CC_2010.pdf


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## Orang Utan (Oct 26, 2014)

Saw The Badadook there on Saturday.
Quite impressive Oz horror about parental resentment towards children. The sound design was fantastic and the monster is quite creepy.


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## Miss-Shelf (Oct 26, 2014)

What does SEO mean?


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## Effrasurfer (Oct 26, 2014)

Search Engine Optimization. Fiddling with websites to influence how high they occur on the page when you search for them on Google.


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## editor (Oct 27, 2014)

Fingers said:


> Agreed with both of you, as soon as the waters clear, let us SEO them out of Brixton.


If they go ahead with these mass sackings (and it's what the workers want), I'm more inclined to keep listing their events on Brixton Buzz but then also add the reasons why the cinema should be boycotted under each entry...


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## Orang Utan (Oct 27, 2014)

editor said:


> Some things to consider before handing over any money to the Ritzy:
> Huge job cuts announced for Brixton Ritzy workers in wake of pay dispute settlement


Don't forget it's Picturehouse Cinemas and Cineworld who warrant a boycott, not just Ritzy.


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## editor (Oct 27, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Don't forget it's Picturehouse Cinemas and Cineworld who warrant a boycott, not just Ritzy.


If the Ritzy workers want a boycott at the Ritzy, then that's what I'll support.  Bit difficult to boycott other places I never go to, though. Or rather it's dead easy, but rather ineffectual!


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## Orang Utan (Oct 27, 2014)

editor said:


> If the Ritzy workers want a boycott at the Ritzy, then that's what I'll support.  Bit difficult to boycott other places I never go to, though. Or rather it's dead easy, but rather ineffectual!


Sure, but you are not the only person to read this and there are many Picturehouse cinemas in London.

(BTW I only went to the Ritzy because a friend of mine works there and I got in for free. I didnt buy any snacks or owt).


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## Quartz (Oct 29, 2014)

Just spotted that the story has made it to the Guardian and thought of this thread.


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## Gramsci (Nov 2, 2014)

Quartz said:


> Just spotted that the story has made it to the Guardian and thought of this thread.



Its on the Ritzy strike thread on this forum.


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## sparkybird (Nov 16, 2014)

If you want to have a good 3 hour snooze - book a ticket for Interstellar.....


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## Gramsci (Nov 16, 2014)

sparkybird said:


> If you want to have a good 3 hour snooze - book a ticket for Interstellar.....



Is it that bad?

I was listening to the Saturday Review on radio 4 and it was panned by them. It has had mixed reviews.


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## Gramsci (Nov 16, 2014)

Argentinian film festival coming up soon. Most of these films will not be released here.


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## sparkybird (Nov 16, 2014)

It was pretty bad... The guy next to me left after about an hour. Matthew Mcconaughey did the best he could with it (loved him in Magic Mike and Dallas Buyers Club), Anne Hathaway was, meh, and Michael Caine brought ZERO to the table. But it was mainly the story was rubbish and it was just toooooo long. The music was the best thing if I'm honest!

Screen 1 was pretty packed, but the mood somewhat subdued

Off to see Mr Turner later - hope this is better!!


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## friendofdorothy (Nov 16, 2014)

sparkybird said:


> It was pretty bad... The guy next to me left after about an hour. Matthew Mcconaughey did the best he could with it (loved him in Magic Mike and Dallas Buyers Club), Anne Hathaway was, meh, and Michael Caine brought ZERO to the table. But it was mainly the story was rubbish and it was just toooooo long. The music was the best thing if I'm honest!
> 
> Screen 1 was pretty packed, but the mood somewhat subdued
> 
> Off to see Mr Turner later - hope this is better!!



Turner is also very long, but good acting. Didn't enjoy it myself - but that could just be me.


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## friendofdorothy (Nov 16, 2014)

I want to go see The Imitation Game. Some friends of mine rated it highly. Anyone seen it yet? don't spoil it for me.


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## Winot (Nov 16, 2014)

friendofdorothy said:


> I want to go see The Imitation Game. Some friends of mine rated it highly. Anyone seen it yet? don't spoil it for me.





Spoiler



Britain wins the war.


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## 299 old timer (Nov 16, 2014)

The world's doomed. Our cowboy saviour finds a Nasa rocket and flies it into a wormhole where, on the other side, he encounters Spock and Captain James T Kirk. They save the world. The end.


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## sparkybird (Nov 16, 2014)

Enjoyed Mr Turner  - can't really say why. Yes it's long and not much happens but somehow it kept me engaged. Mr Spall was great!


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## Gramsci (Nov 18, 2014)

As its Ritzy cheap day on Mondays I saw "Nightcrawler" and "Leviathan". 

Two contrasting films. One fast paced American the other slow meditative Russian. What they had in common is that they both featured men on the edge living in nightmarish societies. 

Jake Gyllenhaal character Lou in Nightcrawler has been compared in reviews to Travis from Taxi Driver. I think that there is a definite reference to that earlier film about USA by the director of this film. This time it revolves around the news in US. Without spoiling the end of film its more nightmarish than Taxi Driver. This film goes beyond the media as an indictment of the ruthless nature of present day American society. I also liked it as its got a sense of (very black) humour and verges on B movie sordidity at times. Stops the film being to worthy. 

Its also a film about voyeurism. As Nina ( Rene Russo as the hot older woman) the TV news director says car crashes and bloody crime is what makes the news. It reminded me of Haneke film "Funny Games". Which Haneke made to criticize violence onscreen. The aftermath of violence shown in Nightcrawler and the way Lou gets so engrossed in filming it does not glamorous it in any way. One of the good things about this film. There are elements of horror in Nightcrawler despite it being rooted in reality. 

"Leviathan" is very very Russian. Russian films like this are like marmite. You either like them or loath them. I like them. Its long ( surprise surprise) with slow long takes. I bumped into another cinephile at Ritzy who had just seen it before I did. He noticed that for a long slow film the audience settled down and were gripped by it. I would agree. It did hold peoples attention. It held mine even though I am not quite sure what it was about. Starts out as film about political corruption and ends with a discussion about faith. In particular the story in the Bible about Job. In between its about father/ son relationship, Russian masculinity ( drinking and shooting), the Kafkaesque legal system ie the small town is a microcosm of present day Russia.  I do not mind not being sure exactly what a film is about if it grips me like this film did. The visuals are wonderful. Like Nightcrawler the heavy nature of its story is lightened by streaks of black humour.


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## sparkybird (Nov 18, 2014)

Thanks Gramsci! Really want to see Leviathan (hope it's still on next weekend!)


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## Gramsci (Nov 19, 2014)

sparkybird said:


> Thanks Gramsci! Really want to see Leviathan (hope it's still on next weekend!)



Its not. Last showing is this Thursday.


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## Gramsci (Nov 19, 2014)

A documentary by the director of Black Power Mixtape is being shown this Sunday with a Q&A with the director.

From the website



> *Overview*
> Narrated by Ms Lauryn Hill, Concerning Violence is a bold and fresh visual narrative on Africa, based on newly discovered archive material covering the struggle for liberation from colonial rule in the late ‘60s and ‘70s
> 
> *Synopsis*
> Narrated by Ms Lauryn Hill, Concerning Violence is both an archive-driven documentary covering the most daring moments in the struggle for liberation in the Third World, as well as an exploration into the mechanisms of decolonization through text from Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth. Fanon’s landmark book, written over 50 years ago, is still a major tool for understanding and illuminating the neocolonialism happening today, as well as the violence and reactions against it.


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## Gramsci (Nov 23, 2014)

Hunger Games is nearly selling out at Ritzy.And its in screen one. 

What I object to is that the last book is now divided into two films. They copied this from the Hobbit I reckon. Refused to see a three film version of a small book.


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## sparkybird (Dec 26, 2014)

Just got back from seeing Birdman  - screen one was pretty empty - I guess a lot of people are away

All I can say is - JUST GO!

Best film by far this year

(and I booked and saved my ticket on my new phone - I'm all techied up now, me!)


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## DJWrongspeed (Jan 12, 2015)

What are the ethics of buying Ritzy membership?  I'm a bit of touch having been away, has the pay dispute been resolved ? Is everyone still supporting it by going etc.

Leviathan is recommended if it's still on. It's not often you catch a slice of Russia on screen. I was eager to drink vodka afterwards, warning


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## leanderman (Jan 12, 2015)

sparkybird said:


> Just got back from seeing Birdman  - screen one was pretty empty - I guess a lot of people are away
> 
> All I can say is - JUST GO!
> 
> ...



Agreed. It's very funny.


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## Gramsci (Jan 13, 2015)

DJWrongspeed said:


> What are the ethics of buying Ritzy membership?  I'm a bit of touch having been away, has the pay dispute been resolved ? Is everyone still supporting it by going etc.
> 
> Leviathan is recommended if it's still on. It's not often you catch a slice of Russia on screen. I was eager to drink vodka afterwards, warning



Its been resolved for now. Yes its ok to go. 

The Ritzy ticket prices are winding me up. Cheapday Mondays. More on weekday evening. Even more all day Saturday and Sunday now. 

Leviathan is not on now. It was still on at Curzon. Grim but very good film.


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## leanderman (Jan 13, 2015)

Membership seems good value.


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## Gramsci (Jan 15, 2015)

leanderman said:


> Membership seems good value.



It is if you go enough. 

But its all these memberships you have to pay up front for. Curzon do one. £55 is a lot to pay upfront for many people. 

BFI membership ( which is a real membership as it gives you voting rights and the membership goes to support film)gives discounts at ICA and Cine Lumiere as well as BFI.


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## leanderman (Jan 16, 2015)

Gramsci said:


> It is if you go enough.
> 
> But its all these memberships you have to pay up front for. Curzon do one. £55 is a lot to pay upfront for many people.
> 
> BFI membership ( which is a real membership as it gives you voting rights and the membership goes to support film)gives discounts at ICA and Cine Lumiere as well as BFI.



You get your money back on watching three films a year (roughly).

In my case, cinema nights are largely unaffordable because of babysitting costs. 

So I have taken to going alone for the midday film.


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## CH1 (Feb 2, 2015)

Sorry to deviate (slightly), but the thread has been a bit dead lately.
I broke with habit to watch Werner Hertzog's _Nosferatu the vampyre_ on Film 4 last night.
 
Last time I saw this it was in the old Ritzy around 1982. The TV screening reminded me what an atmospheric film it is. It also reminded me of the atmosphere at the "Little Bit Ritzy" with a full sized auditorium (including the back 4 rows, now converted into a bar).

I seldom scan the current Ritzy schedules because they presuppose constant viewing of film shows to know which (generally) Hollywood "product" you might be paying £14 to watch.

In the early 80s chocolate brownies were 50p, tea was 30p and there was NO POPCORN. And if they showed a film there was generally artistic merit.


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## snowy_again (Feb 2, 2015)

I think Artistic Merit might have been a _little _stretched on the gore / slasher / kung fu all nighters.


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## CH1 (Feb 2, 2015)

snowy_again said:


> I think Artistic Merit might have been a _little _stretched on the gore / slasher / kung fu all nighters.


This was the era of "the 50 worst films of all time"!

My favourite blockbusters were:
"Renaldo and Clara" a 4 hour Bob Dylan film, subsequently withdrawn, though it seems to be available again now on the internet.

Syberberg's notorious film of Wagner's Parsifal - with the sex-change lead character. Also more than 4 hours.

Those were Sunday all-dayers though.


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## friendofdorothy (Feb 2, 2015)

CH1 said:


> Sorry to deviate (slightly), but the thread has been a bit dead lately.
> I broke with habit to watch Werner Hertzog's _Nosferatu the vampyre_ on Film 4 last night.
> View attachment 67184
> Last time I saw this it was in the old Ritzy around 1982. The TV screening reminded me what an atmospheric film it is. It also reminded me of the atmosphere at the "Little Bit Ritzy" with a full sized auditorium (including the back 4 rows, now converted into a bar).
> ...


I saw thet in 1982 too, at the Scala - a right old flea pit then. Very interesting film - shown as part of a silent horror bill. At the time I wondered why all the night time scenes were so light, like bright day light, wondered if there was some technical problem with low light scenes . Only found out this year they used to hand tint the film back then - so the sky would have been dark blue.  Was it tinted on Film 4?


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## friendofdorothy (Feb 2, 2015)

Back on topic I went to see _Ex Machina_ today. About young techie doing the Turing test on a female AI  - great looking robot. Any one else seen it?

Last film I saw was the _Imitation Game_ about Alan Turing. He's all the rage now.


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## CH1 (Feb 2, 2015)

friendofdorothy said:


> I saw thet in 1982 too, at the Scala - a right old flea pit then. Very interesting film - shown as part of a silent horror bill. At the time I wondered why all the night time scenes were so light, like bright day light, wondered if there was some technical problem with low light scenes . Only found out this year they used to hand tint the film back then - so the sky would have been dark blue.  Was it tinted on Film 4?


I think you saw the original Murnau silent film?
The Herzog version of Nosferatu was made around 1979 as a "tribute", and was a normal colour film with sound. Halliwell's Guide complained that the English language version had very poor colour - but Film 4 showed the German version yesterday so no probs!


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## Rushy (Feb 3, 2015)

friendofdorothy said:


> Back on topic I went to see _Ex Machina_ today. About young techie doing the Turing test on a female AI  - great looking robot. Any one else seen it?
> 
> Last film I saw was the _Imitation Game_ about Alan Turing. He's all the rage now.


I saw it at C4s cinema. It was a bit weird as it was the day before release and we were watched throughout by security wearing infra red glass to ensure we were not recording it. I enjoyed it. It was entertaining. Agree the robot was fantastic. But I didn't feel there was anything all that new about it. Perhaps a little too superficial. And whilst I rated the robot and apprentice, I felt the inventor was a little unconvincing. Especially the drunken scenes. Three and a half stars from me.


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## brixtonblade (Feb 4, 2015)

Rushy said:


> I saw it at C4s cinema. It was a bit weird as it was the day before release and we were watched throughout by security wearing infra red glass to ensure we were not recording it. I enjoyed it. It was entertaining. Agree the robot was fantastic. But I didn't feel there was anything all that new about it. Perhaps a little too superficial. And whilst I rated the robot and apprentice, I felt the inventor was a little unconvincing. Especially the drunken scenes. Three and a half stars from me.



I went last week and really liked it.  Had just enough substance to make it interesting without being too much brain work to enjoy.  I agree that there weren't too many new ideas in it but didn't think it felt too cliched for that.


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## Rushy (Feb 4, 2015)

brixtonblade said:


> I went last week and really liked it.  Had just enough substance to make it interesting without being too much brain work to enjoy.  I agree that there weren't too many new ideas in it but didn't think it felt too cliched for that.


Agree. I think I just heard too much hype and expected something a little more challenging.


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## brixtonblade (Feb 4, 2015)

Rushy said:


> Agree. I think I just heard too much hype and expected something a little more challenging.



I was fairly hype free, got the chance to go to pictures and looked at website to see what was on and thought this looked interesting.


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## Rushy (Feb 4, 2015)

brixtonblade said:


> I was fairly hype free, got the chance to go to pictures and looked at website to see what was on and thought this looked interesting.


Yep. Hype never bodes well!


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## friendofdorothy (Feb 4, 2015)

Rushy said:


> I saw it at C4s cinema. It was a bit weird as it was the day before release and we were watched throughout by security wearing infra red glass to ensure we were not recording it. I enjoyed it. It was entertaining. Agree the robot was fantastic. But I didn't feel there was anything all that new about it. Perhaps a little too superficial. And whilst I rated the robot and apprentice, I felt the inventor was a little unconvincing. Especially the drunken scenes. Three and a half stars from me.


The inventor was a psychopath, but then so was his robot. The fact his robots were all 'fantasy' women was rather annoying, the demeaning way he treated Kyko. I wondered if Kyko was a robot or a slave when I first saw her. 

As the 'apprentice' was there to do a Turing test - surprised he didn't ask her more questions about feelings / moral issues. Ava was programmed to see his lies, whereas he was too male to see hers. Why didn't he pick up on what Ava said about 'going on a date' - didn't he notice that it didn't include him? Was he supposed to be that naive?

Convincing A1 robot or not I doubt she would get far without a passport.


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## Gramsci (Feb 9, 2015)

I saw "Selma" today at Ritzy. Have not been to Ritzy for a while since they put there prices up.

Its about one part of Martin Luther Kings equal rights campaign. It starts when he get the Nobel prize and his further campaigning to get the right to vote for African Americans. In law they had the right to vote but in Southern States its was made difficult to register to vote. In practise only whites got to vote.

It is a great performance by David Oyelowo as King. The film builds up and holds one attention. This is apparently the first film with King as main character. This surprised me as he is such a famous person in recent American history.

I am not always keen on biographical films of famous heroes. The film almost goes into Hollywood worthiness at times. The music indicating when you should get emotional. Perhaps as its not my history ( Its the US) is why it grates a bit. Unlike with "Pride" which I saw a recently.

I think I wish it could have drawn parallels with now. The equal rights campaign of 60s was successful but as recent events in US show there is still a long way to go for African Americans. Its interesting as a part of American history but its not a controversial subject now.

Maybe having a woman directing the film made a difference. Women in the film are shown to have important role in the civil rights movement.  Kings wife is represented as an important character in her own right.

What the film does show is how dangerous it was then to campaign in deep South. People did get beaten up and killed.

What I also liked about the film is that its got top notch performances from all the actors. This is an actors movie. Its got a great script and is quite talky. A lot of political maneuverings and backroom dealing. Which in fact are riveting viewing. Reminded me a bit of Spielbergs "Lincoln". The President is a great character in this film. 

The script is exceptional as they could not use Kings original speeches in this film. It appears that Dreamworks have the rights to them. Which is somewhat bizarre.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Feb 9, 2015)

Gramsci said:


> I saw "Selma" today at Ritzy. Have not been to Ritzy for a while since they put there prices up.
> 
> Its about one part of Martin Luther Kings equal rights campaign. It starts when he get the Nobel prize and his further campaigning to get the right to vote for African Americans. In law they had the right to vote but in Southern States its was made difficult to register to vote. In practise only whites got to vote.
> 
> ...



It's my film of the year, just edging out Birdman.


----------



## DJWrongspeed (Feb 19, 2015)

Waited for about 10mins yesterday to get served at the upstairs bar while some posh luvies ordered food and then pondered the wine list. It was all 'darling' and 'best cabernet sauvignon' 

Meanwhile the queue lengthened......can't these people fuck off to Clapham?


----------



## Gramsci (Feb 22, 2015)

The Ritzy has writer and director Peter Strickland’s latest film "The Duke of Burgundy" on this week. I am a fan of this directors work. His previous films I have seen are "Katalin Varga" and "Berberian Sound Studio".

Like Tarantino his films are partly homage to older cinematic traditions. In this case the arty euro-smut of 70s. In the 70s there was a overlap between soft porn and the "art" cinema. Or depending on your view dressing up soft porn as high brow entertainment. 

As cinema audiences numbers were threatened by increasing TV use one way to get keep cinemas going was relying on the dirty mac brigade who would go to see arty foreign films for a bit of smut. 

Nothing wrong with that. 

Back to Strickland. Here he mentions some of his influences. 

This homage to euro smut is based around a sado masochistic lesbian relationship involving a lot of expensive lingerie and knee high stiletto boots. All beautifully shot in long slow camerawork. Included are some trippy psychedelic sequences. 

The film, surprisingly, holds together and works. Why I am not quite sure. 

Why does it work? Like cinema it takes one into a closed world that is not realistic. In this closed world there are no men. Everyone appears to live in old country houses with large slightly decaying gardens but only met at the library. The library being about moths.

After a while I got drawn into this world. A bit like the moths attracted to light. The film works as it has an hypnotic quality to it. The repetitions of the sex are not boring as each time they are done there are slight differences. 

The study of moths is as much an obsession as the ritualized sex. The library has lectures where the women give talks on moths. How to distinguish between almost identical moths. Like the study of moths the sex is studied and enacted down to the last detail. 

The film also works as its a psychological study of two people in this unreal world they inhabit. They both strive to a perfection that is unrealizable but which they will continue. 

Why do they do it? I would say like many of the films in 70s that this film pays homage to its putting off fear of ageing and death. At one point one of the women complains of ageing. A dream sequence features a skeleton.


----------



## friendofdorothy (Feb 22, 2015)

Sounds lovely. Looks so much better than 50 shades


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## sparkybird (Mar 20, 2015)

Flipping heck - what's happened to the Ritzy's website. It's horrendous!


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## Gramsci (Mar 20, 2015)

sparkybird said:


> Flipping heck - what's happened to the Ritzy's website. It's horrendous!



Does seem easier to find info.

ie the the ticket prices. Which are really winding me up. Ritzy is more expensive than other Picturehouse cinemas in London.

I noticed this when I looked up a film that was not at Ritzy.

Stratford East

peak price £9.50

Ritzy peak price £12.60

Why? Stratford East is a new complex But its still cheaper than Ritzy. Someone I know said its because with the changing demographic in South London Picturehouse know they can charge more and still get the punters in. Stuff the less well off residents who loyally used Ritzy all these years.I heard Clare Binns, who is now big noise at PH, who started off in the old Ritzy saying that cinema is now marketed by PH as an "experience" where people spend out on wine etc. ie its now aimed at those with high disposable income.  Not me Clare.

I was talking to a local parent about Lambeth Culture2020 consultation , which makes great play about everyone being 20mins from cultural activities, that she cannot afford it.

A criticism of Lambeth Culture2020 consultation is that it does not deal with making culture affordable. Some think that Lambeth Labour are quite happy with Picturehouse.


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## sparkybird (Mar 24, 2015)

yes but tickets impossible to book on your phone... gave up and fired up the laptop.

The tickets I booked were for for Still Alice. Both of us came out a bit shell shocked, that's how powerful the film and Julianne Moore's performance was.
You'll need to take a box of tissues.


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## CH1 (Mar 24, 2015)

Gramsci said:


> Stratford East
> peak price £9.50
> Ritzy peak price £12.60
> Why? Stratford East is a new complex But its still cheaper than Ritzy. Someone I know said its because with the changing demographic in South London


I feel very tempted by the prices at the Cinema Museum in Dugard Way (some of the screenings are only £3 - but the titles are somewhat esoteric. Even I find it hard to be nostalgic for the 1910s!)


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## OvalhouseDB (Apr 8, 2015)

I love the Cinema Museum.

email them and tell them what you'd like to see - I bet they will oblige if they can!

Gramsci - I also love they way you write about film - for some reason I missed this thread when I saw Selma at the Ritzy. I didn't know that DreamWorks own the speeches - how shocking, that the words of a public statesman can be owned. I wonder how King would have felt about that? I assumed that it was a writer's choice, to avoid the well known, the what we think we are familiar with about King, and I thought it was a brave and effective decision, to manage without the 'Dream' speech. No danger of cliché, or sentimentality which can come with the familiar. Also, seeing it at the ritzy - I loved the audience participation: when Amelia Boynton talked of coming from strong stock there was a resounding 'Amen', harmonies were sung, there was a standing ovation. And seeing Tulse Hill school boy Tim Roth play George Wallace...so chilling.
It was , as you say, an actors film.


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## CH1 (Apr 11, 2015)

I notice from the Evening Standard magazine that Harriet Harman, who says she has lived in Herne Hill for 30 years, lets her hair down by going to the Ritzy. "I recently saw Birdman, which was so surprising and clever." she is quoted as saying.

The only celebrity I've seen recently in a place of public entertainment is (Lord) Jeffrey Archer. I must go to the Ritzy more - though it always seems to be American pulp fiction whenever I bother to get the leaflet.

P.S. Harriet's favourite pub is the Sun of Camberwell. I wonder if she thinks it is better having been foreclosed on and bought out by Antic?


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## Orang Utan (Apr 11, 2015)

CH1 said:


> I notice from the Evening Standard magazine that Harriet Harman, who says she has lived in Herne Hill for 30 years, lets her hair down by going to the Ritzy. "I recently saw Birdman, which was so surprising and clever." she is quoted as saying.
> 
> The only celebrity I've seen recently in a place of public entertainment is (Lord) Jeffrey Archer. I must go to the Ritzy more - though it always seems to be American pulp fiction whenever I bother to get the leaflet.
> 
> P.S. Harriet's favourite pub is the Sun of Camberwell. I wonder if she thinks it is better having been foreclosed on and bought out by Antic?


I saw Chris Morris and Richard Ayoade there once, queuing to see Hot Fuzz


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## David Clapson (Apr 15, 2015)

There's a free members' preview of The Falling on Sunday at 11.00 https://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cin...opy=2&_m_utk=5453d01e8ac4d64679d30787b6b7f3b6


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## 299 old timer (Apr 15, 2015)

Gramsci said:


> ie the the ticket prices. Which are really winding me up. Ritzy is more expensive than other Picturehouse cinemas in London.
> 
> I noticed this when I looked up a film that was not at Ritzy.
> 
> ...



As these prices before or after the industrial action that raised the workers salaries?


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## Gramsci (Apr 15, 2015)

299 old timer said:


> As these prices before or after the industrial action that raised the workers salaries?



They were after Cineworld took over Picturehouse. A different pricing policy.

Wages have nothing to do with it. Cineworld is a large profit making concern.


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## David Clapson (Apr 15, 2015)

Going to the Ritzy doesn't make sense unless it's before 5pm on a weekday with a members' discount and you sneak in chocolates from Iceland and a decent coffee from Rosie's.


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## sparkybird (Apr 16, 2015)

I've just had an email from Picture House apologising for their new website and saying that they will be fixing it
Yah!


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## Fozzie Bear (Apr 16, 2015)

I am going to this next week:



Where is good nearby to grab something to eat beforehand?


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## BigMoaner (Apr 16, 2015)

look what you can get a few miles down the road! what would that buy in brixton? a large shed?

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-49439320.html

no hipsters
no cupcakes
no beards
hardly any ipads and if there are none of htem are taking pictures of expensive food.


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## sparkybird (Apr 16, 2015)

yea, but you have to be over 60....


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## CH1 (Apr 16, 2015)

BigMoaner said:


> look what you can get a few miles down the road! what would that buy in brixton? a large shed?
> 
> http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-49439320.html
> 
> ...


What's all that stuff about a £100,000 reduction only with a "Home for Life Plan" then?
Sounds like those Age UK Funeral Plans to me!
Do you think we are that desperate?


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## cuppa tee (Apr 16, 2015)

BigMoaner said:


> no cupcakes


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## BigMoaner (Apr 17, 2015)

cuppa tee said:


> View attachment 70271


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## BigMoaner (Apr 17, 2015)

put this on the wrong thread. sorry all. bit shit no matter where it was anyway.


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## ibilly99 (Apr 18, 2015)

Just saw these guys at the Ivy House tonight - fantastic band and music FREE at Ritzy 3 pm tomorrow.

https://www.facebook.com/events/486464084826931/


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## Dexter Deadwood (Apr 19, 2015)

Post moved to http://www.urban75.net/forums/threa...-chat-april-2015.333614/page-14#post-13845993


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## cuppa tee (Apr 19, 2015)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> The train was very busy today, full steam ahead.
> 
> View attachment 70436



are you trying to derail the thread....?


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Apr 19, 2015)

cuppa tee said:


> are you trying to derail the thread....?



Lol.
I put it in the wrong place.


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## Fozzie Bear (Apr 23, 2015)

Fozzie Bear said:


> I am going to this next week:
> 
> View attachment 70266
> 
> Where is good nearby to grab something to eat beforehand?



TONIGHT.

Also my ratfink mate has dropped out, so I have a spare ticket if anyone is interested?


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## DJWrongspeed (May 22, 2015)

Saw "We are many" last night with a link up Q&A afterwards with Jon Snow. It's about the 15th Feb global anti-war demo. It failed but the film looks at the build up and it's legacy. Enormously moving with many key people interviewed. Obviously not Bush or Blair but some quite senior US figures so it has real legitimacy.

Go see this film. Not quite sure how it's going to get distributed yet.


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## Gramsci (May 30, 2015)

Finally to to see a film at Ritzy today. The prices have been stopping me going.

Went to see Mad Max Fury Road on screen one in 2D. I do not find 3D adds much and prefer to watch a film without the 3D glasses.

The last Mad Max film was years ago. Tina Turner as Queen of Barter Town. This Mad Max is similar to that one in that Max is trapped in a post apocalyptic settlement.

This Mad Max has been updated for our times. And its much grimmer. Tina Turners "Bartertown" is, compared to Mas Max Fury Road, a rational response to collapse of industrial society. Trying to impose some order on chaos. Fury Road has religious cult who control water supply. Promising a ticket to paradise for its loyal warriors. The rest scrabbling around for the scraps. So unlike Tina Turners primitive return to capitalism this is more like ISIS.

As I was going to Ritzy bumped into a woman outside who said it was feminist film. And it is. Charlize Theron plays "Furiosa" who attempts to escape from this nightmare with the leader of the cults harem.

Yes this is good old Ozploitation. Ultra violence and gratuitous shots of hot babes.  I also liked the fact its still got the Australian accents. No Hollywood version this is. Australian heavy metal nutjobs careering around in the desert throughout.

Same director of the original Max films. Give him credit for not softening it up for a kids rating. This is 15 plus only. Unlike a lot of recent action films based on goodies versus baddies.

Mad Max at beginning of this film has gone mad. He is a broken man whose only aim now is to survive. Seeing and hearing visions from his past. The first part of the the film he goes through even more real nightmares until hooking up with Furiosa.

The film is demented as ex Mad Max Gibson film "Apcocalyto". Which it reminded me of when I watched this one. Knocks the spots of recent flurry of films based on super heroes.

One reviewer I read asked why it worked. There is not much in the way of dialogue. Its violent action film but you get to care about the characters and root for them.

To go back to the feminist angle on it. Yes it does have one. Surprising really.

Paul Mason article on the film is worth a read. 



> The subtext of most modern dystopias is the futility of rebellion. Rebellion leads to chaos; the powerful have multilayered defences; or as in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, society is so screwed that death is preferable. In Mad Max: Fury Road rebellion happens. It is spectactular, it is feminist, it is led by Charlize Theron.
> 
> We can only hope that, like the original, it proves to be a cultural turning point.



I grew up with Mad Max. For younger audience Mad Max is new. There are references to the older films. The wind up musical toy for example in one shot. Miller the director has done a great job on this film. The action sequences are outstanding. To reference Apocalypse Now. And not to much CGI. Whole load of credits at end for the stuntmen. Like the old films they did actually do this for real. Or it looks like it.


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## CH1 (Jun 1, 2015)

Noticed some reviews for "Timbuktu", currently on at the Ritzy.
Sounds like a film I could relate to - anybody been?


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## Gramsci (Jun 5, 2015)

CH1 said:


> Noticed some reviews for "Timbuktu", currently on at the Ritzy.
> Sounds like a film I could relate to - anybody been?



I have not seen it but the have seen one of the directors previous films. If you get a chance to see it in cinema I can say he is top director.

African film do not get much in way of distribution here. France does more to distribute and support African film.

The director learnt about film making in USSR. Soviet Union used to give promising young Africans free education in USSR. And USSR film making education was top notch at that time.

Its on at BFI on Southbank. I notice its on Tuesday which is the cheap day around £6


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## CH1 (Jun 8, 2015)

I caught Timbuktu this evening at the Ritzy (Screen 5). £6.50 - Monday "retired" rate.
I was very impressed with the film, though it was not exactly what I had expected. 
It was mainly about the impact of the Islamic extremist takeover on two particular families.

The Islamicists were in effect shown up - one leading puritan seeking out un-Islamic behaviour and dress in others was himself a secret smoker (against his own dictates).

There was a limited amount of action in town in a mosque and on roofs of mud-built houses. I find mud built African architecture quite fascinating.

I seldom go to action films or violent ones, so there were some episodes which I found shocking.

First - a prize cow belonging to the male lead strays into the nets of a river fisherman, who brutally slays the animal (lovingly named GPS by her owner).
This leads to the fisherman being accidentally shot during a revenge fist fight.

The last third of the film is devoted more or less to the Islamists detaining the killer (hero) and trying him without even contacting his family.

There are two side- trials. One where a woman is sentenced to 40 lashes (which we see carried out) because she was singing (as an entertainment).
Then the couple sentenced to death for adultery. They are buried up to their necks and stoned.

The hero is sentence to death by firing squad - the execution being disturbed by the arrival of his wife who is then also brought down in a hail of bullets. I found this intense, shocking and romantic all at once.

The film ends with the couples daughter running into the danger zone - and we are left in the air as to what happens to her.


----------



## CH1 (Jun 29, 2015)

Went to see "Going Clear" - partly because I'm interested in the twists and turns of Scientology having read my first exposé about it in the 1980s.

I would say that if you don't know very much about Scientology this film had a comprehensive overview, although what the Scientologists say is correct - it is completely based on accounts given by people who have rejected the organisation and are now very "anti" (some after as much as 30 years membership).

The film is quite long (2 hrs) and is partly interviews with the people involved in the various situations and partly dramatised (which I'm not too keen on as a technique).

Anyone who has seen John Sweeney's Panorama programmes on Scientology will not find anything surprising here - and indeed not very much extra, although Sweeney's programmes were several years ago and this film is up to date.

The general idea seems to be that L Ron Hubbard was a canny buffoon who knew how to make money, whereas the current leader David Miscavige is more ruthless and according to the film his management style is leading to a decline in numbers of Scientologists.

This doesn't matter however as at this stage the Church of Scientology has lots of valuable properties scattered round the world in prime sites. So even though numbers are declining, the asset value of the Scientology movement is doing well - due to asset inflation in the current economic crisis.

Something I didn't know - Scientology has form on homophobia. They harassed and attempted to reprogramme lesbian members. They have also publicly opposed homosexuality referring to it as a mental illness.

Finally - I would recommend this film if you are into exposés of Scientology or cults. If not it will probably be a bit dry I should think.


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## DJWrongspeed (Jul 15, 2015)

Caught Love & Mercy last night. Recommended. I'm no Beach Boys fan but this was a fascinating insight into the 60s music scene.

The later scenes with Wilson under the thumb of some crazed pyschotherapist are fairly creepy. John Cusack is excellent.


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## CH1 (Jul 16, 2015)

DJWrongspeed said:


> Caught Love & Mercy last night. Recommended. I'm no Beach Boys fan but this was a fascinating insight into the 60s music scene.
> 
> The later scenes with Wilson under the thumb of some crazed pyschotherapist are fairly creepy. John Cusack is excellent.


I'm heavily into theramins.


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## brucenbart (Jul 26, 2015)

Went to see The Legend of Barney Thomson today. It's a black comedy about a Scottish barber, starring and directed by Robert Carlyle  and featuring Emma Thompson (who is hilarious) and Ray Winstone.

Haven't laughed so much for a long time. It's really well shot too, with the some of the grim Glaswegian buildings looking amazing set against great skies.

Do see it!


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## Gramsci (Jul 27, 2015)

Saw "Inside Out". Its on at Ritzy. But saw it at the new cinema in Walthamstow - the Empire. Was visiting a friend and saw it on the off chance. At £8 for a Saturday evening showing its was way cheaper than Ritzy. Weekday showings are an amazing £6. Why Picturehouse have to charge so much is beyond me. 

Inside Out is latest animation from Pixar ( now part of Disney). It got good reviews and I had heard the makers talk about it. I was intrigued to see it as it goes (literally) inside the head of a young girl as she copes with moving home. 

It is kids film. But as my friend said she thought it was to complicated for smaller kids. And it does contain a lot of complex psychological concepts about how emotions, memory and social relationships interact and work. 

It led me to look up the advice they got. Piece here from the psychologists who advised the film makers.

Myself I agreed with her that its was a lot of ideas put across in the film. It was cleverly done however as the quality of the animation and action meant that older and younger kids would get something out of it. Heard an interview with the film makers afterwards and they were asked about this. They said they made the film so that it had "layers". I think they meant that different ages could see the film and be entertained by it. They would watch the same scene which had different "layers"to it that could be responded depending on your age. This I thought was exceptionally clever piece of film making. 

The audience of mainly families with there kids seemed to be engrossed in it as it got going. ie they stopped chattering and fidgeting. And the younger kids ( ie less than or 11 which is age of the girl in film) at screening seemed to like it. 

The animation is very imaginative. Once one goes to the other bits of her mind- memory , dream factory its gets rather psychedelic. Reminded a bit of Yellow Submarine. One character they meet in particular. 

So for Hollywood film from Disney stable its rather daring I thought. It was however frustratingly wholesome. Family and American Apple pie and all that. It kept on getting away from that then being wholesome again. Quite a weird combination. It of course veered towards happy ending. It had its dark sides. With interesting ( and apparently accurate according to the psychologists) view of the role of sadness. 

It is imo a thought provoking film. One thing that it does do is look at how people construct memory. Memories are chosen or disregarded. They are also viewed in different ways that can change over time. As the psychologists say emotions are not the opposite of rational thinking. They play a major role in how people interact with the social world. 

For a American Hollywood film its does not fit with competitive ethos either. ( The positive thinking one can do it if try hard enough American dream ) Its saying that its when we realise our dependence on others that we can progress. Its cooperation not competition that makes social world work. 

BTW watch the end credits. Hilarious little views inside the mind of a cat and dog. 

So I was well impressed by this. Saw it in 2D as got to the point where 3D imo does not add much.


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## leanderman (Jul 27, 2015)

Thanks for that very interesting review.

Saw it today in 2D. Despite its superb production values, I found it quite disappointing.

The set-up was complex. So much so that I had to ask my ten-year-old afterwards what all the islands were about.

I also found it lacked laughs and seemed longer than it was.

The kids seemed slightly nonplussed.

But, I'll check for their proper feedback tomorrow.


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## leanderman (Aug 20, 2015)

Kids did like Inside Out a lot. 

But Minions is better, they say. 

The characters' garbled language is hilarious, at any rate. 

And it's set in London.


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## Winot (Aug 20, 2015)

leanderman said:


> Kids did like Inside Out a lot.
> 
> But Minions is better, they say.
> 
> ...



I thought the Minions was pretty disappointing, apart as you say from the language.  Haven't seen Inside Out yet.  Kids films aside, I am looking forward to the new Noah Baumbach.


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## leanderman (Aug 20, 2015)

Winot said:


> I thought the Minions was pretty disappointing, apart as you say from the language.  Haven't seen Inside Out yet.  Kids films aside, I am looking forward to the new Noah Baumbach.



Going to that tonight!


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## leanderman (Aug 20, 2015)

leanderman said:


> Going to that tonight!



American Mistress is excellent. 

Remarkably, it has much to say about urban gentrification. 

Plus, there is a good 80s UK soundtrack.


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## Mr Retro (Aug 28, 2015)

Off to see Straight Outta Compton. Never a vociferous consumer of film, it will be my first excursion to the Ritzy in 10 years of on off living in Brixton.


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## Winot (Aug 28, 2015)

leanderman said:


> American Mistress is excellent.
> 
> Remarkably, it has much to say about urban gentrification.
> 
> Plus, there is a good 80s UK soundtrack.



I liked it but thought in places it was a bit sub-Wes Anderson.


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## leanderman (Aug 28, 2015)

Winot said:


> I liked it but thought in places it was a bit sub-Wes Anderson.



True.


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## T & P (Oct 27, 2015)

Went there today and bought a couple of portions of pop corn for the film. Unfortunately one of them consisted largely of dregs, which we discovered half way though the film. They
offered us a free replacement but would not give us a refund, which I thought was a bit shitty, especially as by the time we could tell them the film had ended.

The film was Spectre btw. It's okay but not as good as Skyfall.


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## CH1 (Oct 28, 2015)

T & P said:


> Went there today and bought a couple of portions of pop corn for the film. Unfortunately one of them consisted largely of dregs, which we discovered half way though the film. They
> offered us a free replacement but would not give us a refund, which I thought was a bit shitty, especially as by the time we could tell them the film had ended.
> 
> The film was Spectre btw. It's okay but not as good as Skyfall.


I hate popcorn and the eating of popcorn near me in the cinema.

As if it wasn't enough to pay West End Prices for Hollywood shit in a former arthouse community cinema on my doorstep, there is a trial of endurance watching 20-30 minutes of glamorous adverts for various expensive cars before the film even starts.

I've seen the most interesting films on BBC Four in the last couple of years. The Ritzy's offering is pathetic in cultural terms. They have betrayed everything the original founders (late 1970s) set out to do.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 28, 2015)

Went to see Spectre today and I could hear someone eating popcorn 5 seats away in row behind me.  Felt sorry for the people right in front of popcorn eater


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## T & P (Oct 28, 2015)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> Went to see Spectre today and I could hear someone eating popcorn 5 seats away in row behind me.  Felt sorry for the people right in front of popcorn eater


Amateur popcorn eater. It should only be done during action/ noisy scenes, which drown out the sound nicely.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 29, 2015)

T & P said:


> Amateur popcorn eater. It should only be done during action/ noisy scenes, which drown out the sound nicely.


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## DJWrongspeed (Oct 30, 2015)

Went to an entirely pop corn free showing of 'Taxi Teheran.' Quite how Panahi got to make it and out to us is amazing. He's been imprisoned in the past. Has some very clever scenes, it's not all slapstic & drama.


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## Gramsci (Dec 14, 2015)

Saw Carol today. Well it was at the new revamped Renoir. But its still on at Ritzy. I got chatting to a what turned up to be a high up in Curzon cinemas in a lift a few weeks ago. Was lamenting the loss of the cut price " Early Bird" tickets at Curzon and that me and my cinephile friends were increasingly unable to see films in cinema due to cost. He took this on board ( saying he didn’t understand why the "Early Bird" cut price tickets ended) and gave me two complimentary tickets.

So went to the new Renoir/ Bloomsbury to see Carol on the big screen the "Renoir". Which is good screen. But a staggering £18 if I had not had complimentary ticket.

Was it worth seeing. Yes. Pretty well flawless imo. Wonderfully shot. Wonderfully as the screen appears to glow and come alive when watching it. Only way to describe it. Rare to see a film that does this. The opposite of the digital hard edged Hollywood film that now is dominant.

Based on a Patricia Highsmith novel about a relationship between two women. So its very much psychological take.

Its set in repressive 50s US. But I found it , in a quiet way, quite surreal. Cate Blanchett is mesmerizing as the ( and I must say stunning) older women who starts a relationship with a shop girl. Surreal in the sense that Carol is ridiculously wealthy and privileged. Where the money comes from is not gone into. Partly why I think the film has a surreal ( and also magical / fairytale) feel to it.

So its also about class. The shop girl Therese is on the edge of the 50s bohemians which were starting to come to the fore in the 50s. I would say the class issue has been overlooked in reviews.

As its Highsmith the twists and turns draw one in. Its like thriller but much cleverer than one might think. And more subtle than say a film Thelma and Louise - this film has a road movie section in middle that does not end in way that I thought it would.

Talking of Thelma and Lousie this film is way more erotic. The eroticism is based around looks and glances. However Cate does get down to it with Therese later in the film. This not simply a pastiche of a 50s melodrama.

Haynes the director is said to be influenced by 50s directors like Sirk who made "womens pictures". I have not seen Sirk so not sure how accurate this is.

Another aspect of the film is the place of men. They arent all portrayed as awful. However in the film there place is peripheral to women. Kind of interesting to see a film where women , without making it an issue, are foregrounded in a film.

Is it a political film saying how terrible it was in 50s US? Not really. The film is about the relationship. About the unknowable attraction that two people can have without fully understanding it. The film begins and ends with two people looking at each other across crowded rooms. Just seeing each other in wordless way.


----------



## Gramsci (Dec 14, 2015)

CH1 said:


> I hate popcorn and the eating of popcorn near me in the cinema.
> 
> As if it wasn't enough to pay West End Prices for Hollywood shit in a former arthouse community cinema on my doorstep, there is a trial of endurance watching 20-30 minutes of glamorous adverts for various expensive cars before the film even starts.
> 
> I've seen the most interesting films on BBC Four in the last couple of years. The Ritzy's offering is pathetic in cultural terms. They have betrayed everything the original founders (late 1970s) set out to do.



I agree.

What is more and more winding me up is that culture is now becoming the preserve of the well off.

My free ticket to the old Renoir showed me the change in clientele. Back when I first started to go to cinema regularly the Renoir was full of the old timers who weren’t well off but who liked cinema.

Now its much more upmarket clientele. I felt a bit of an interloper there now. I really resent it.

Read an article about Brit director Peter Strickland. Here he is on Scala. 



> Strickland's own route into the movies was some way from the usual path of film school and advertising agency. It began with a trip to London at 16, his first visit to the capital alone – one that took him to the fabled Scala cinema in then-perilous King's Cross. That night, previously limited to "watching Cocktail at the Reading ABC", he saw David Lynch's Eraserhead. If the film proved predictably formative – it ripples through Berberian Sound Studio – the venue was still more so.
> 
> "There was something magical about that space, how it felt so illicit. And the films they screened had this sense of everything being up for grabs, Tarkovsky one night, a Russ Meyer triple-bill the next. For me, it was feverish. I can still trace the urge to make films back there."



Spot on. Remember seeing Pasolini "Salo" then banned , Herzogs "Aguirre Wrath of God"  and "Scarface" as well as sleazy films. They even had a copy of the banned "Clockwork Orange" .All cheap. Its was so cheap the resident "Bag Lady" was often there all day. And you could buy a ticket and basically stay all day. Even had a cinema cat who kept rodents at bay and wandered around the auditorium.

Kings Cross was not that perilous. But different. Walk past the sex shops, street walkers and druggies to get to Scala. But perfectly safe area imo.


----------



## friendofdorothy (Dec 14, 2015)

Gramsci said:


> Saw Carol today. Well it was at the new revamped Renoir. But its still on at Ritzy. I got chatting to a what turned up to be a high up in Curzon cinemas in a lift a few weeks ago. Was lamenting the loss of the cut price " Early Bird" tickets at Curzon and that me and my cinephile friends were increasingly unable to see films in cinema due to cost. He took this on board ( saying he didn’t understand why the "Early Bird" cut price tickets ended) and gave me two complimentary tickets.
> 
> So went to the new Renoir/ Bloomsbury to see Carol on the big screen the "Renoir". Which is good screen. But a staggering £18 if I had not had complimentary ticket.
> 
> ...


That sounds so much better than I would have imagined having read the book and a few reviews. When mentioning that Carol was a film now to some dykey friends the consensus was 'what? that miserable novel? oh.'


----------



## Gramsci (Dec 14, 2015)

friendofdorothy said:


> That sounds so much better than I would have imagined having read the book and a few reviews. When mentioning that Carol was a film now to some dykey friends the consensus was 'what? that miserable novel? oh.'



Filmmakers will take an existing novel as a starting point then alter it. I have not read the novel so do not know how much Haynes has changed the existing story.

My one criticism of it could be that its , unintentionally , reinforcing stereotypes. As I said the men in film are not portrayed in a bad way. But there is subtext that women are much more in touch with deep emotions whilst men try but are clumsy and hamfisted in there attempts. Implying that relationships between two women somehow are more "natural" even if frowned on by society.

Highsmith work does write of the darker side - Ripley for example. So its not just this novel thats miserable.

Googled articles on the novel and this is interesting look at how the novel has been portrayed and a more positive appraisal of it.


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## CH1 (Dec 30, 2015)

From what I've seen of the advance hype I'm definitely not going to waste £14 on "The Hateful Eight".

Reservoir Dogs sent me to sleep - it was too gross to pay attention to.

Now we have what seems to be a satire on spaghetti westerns, complete with Morricone music.

There is only one perfect spaghetti western - "Once upon a time in the West".

Tributes/worthy antecedents such as "The good the bad and the ugly", "For a few dollars more", "My name is nobody" abound - all with genuine star quality actors used to the milieu, and with the authentic music and direction.

Frankly Tarantino is here inviting us to a Methodist year-end service, whilst pretending it is a Tridentine Mass.


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## CH1 (Jan 11, 2016)

Surely David Bowie's most dramatic acting moment


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## sparkybird (Jan 17, 2016)

Saw the revenant today. Wow. Go and see it soon as it's in screen 1. The acting, actors, story just take second place to the landscapes, beautifully shot in amazing light.


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## Gramsci (Jan 18, 2016)

I  also saw the Revenant 


Not surprising it looks stunning as the cinematography is by Emmanuel Lubezki who has worked with the director Terrence Malick. This film has been compared to the work of Malick in the way it looks. His film The New World covers some of the same issues. Europeans taking Indian land for example. 

This film compares well with Werner Herzogs film Aguirre Wrath of God and Fitzcarroldo. People who are pushed to the limit and dwarfed by the natural world. 

Its a long film but as my friend said does not feel like it. Just heard the director  Alejandro González Iñárritu on radio talking about. He wanted to make the film a cinematic experience. Film it for real. (like Herzog imo). He succeeds.  

All the men in the film are desperate with nothing to lose. Driven by vengence or wracked by guilt. The most unlikeable character Fitzgerald ( Tom Hardy putting in a great performance) is telling it how it is. No one has the moral high ground. Even Glass is making his living helping those colonise Indian land.

There are different levels in the film. Its also about Fathers and sons. Glass ( Di Caprio) the good father and Fitzgerald the bad one. Revenant means someone who has come back from the dead. Glass is barely alive throughout the film driven by revenge. Like Herzog again its about mans relationship with nature. Glass is a spiritual one influenced by living with the Indians. Fitzgerald is cynical (?). There is no God no redemption out in the wilds. 

The film really started to have its effect in the second half. Unrelenting grim existential nightmare as Glass struggles to stay alive for one reason only. 

The director has said the performance of Leonardo DiCaprio is going back to the acting of the silent era- Buster Keaton is the example he used. The actor not using words but his whole body. I agree. Its an outstanding performance from Leonardo. And the film has whole stretches with little dialogue.


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## sparkybird (Jan 18, 2016)

Great review gramsci!
It was amazing really that the main character did not much more than grunt.... And what he could convey through this.
I didn't even recognise tom hardy! Found out after and need to look at some stills to see if I can recognise him


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## Winot (Jan 18, 2016)

Saw the Room on Saturday. Extraordinary film. Don't see if you're doing a dry January - we needed a stiff drink afterwards.


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## sparkybird (Jan 18, 2016)

Hmm, I'm put off the room as I really found the book annoying.... But maybe that's coz I don't have kids?
Or, as one of my book group suggested 'a heart either'


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## CH1 (Jan 19, 2016)

sparkybird said:


> Hmm, I'm put off the room as I really found the book annoying.... But maybe that's coz I don't have kids?
> Or, as one of my book group suggested 'a heart either'


This could be an insoluble artisic paradox.

I don't read books much, but have on occasion been disappointed by the film version of a book.

Sometimes though it is possible to appreciate the film and the book as alternative interpretation in a parallel universe.

Classic disappointments for me - having read a book, then seen the film later on

1. Bonfire of the Vanities

2. The Da Vinci Code

Another example would be The Naked Lunch - where the film is nothing like the book at all. In fatc IMHO it appropriates a snappy seductive title to a film which is actually a gimmicky biography of the author William S Bourroughs.

The film The Room doesn't even look my cup of tea, so your decision in this case.

I guess the alternative problem could be this - it can be possible to love a dramatisation so much that you may never get to know the book at all. In this category I would put the 1985 BBC TV adaption of Bleak House starring Diana Rigg and Denholme Eliott. Apparently whole chunks of the plot are missing, but it made such an impression on me I simply could not even watch the 2005 remake - which was apparently equally incomplete.

I guess I should have been a good boy at school and read the book.


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## sparkybird (Jan 23, 2016)

Saw Brookyn today. Completely different film from the one I saw last week (The Revenant).
Liked it. But then I did like the book
The scenes with the girls round the table in Julie Walters' Irish boarding house were brilliant


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## stdP (Feb 1, 2016)

Saw Youth there last night; highly recommended if you've liked Sorrentino's previous stuff, explores a lot of similar themes to La Grande Bellezza and with a similar "upliftingly depressing" mood and a somewhat sprawling structure. Really nice seeing Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel playing grumpy old men together, lots of wryly observed humour. Very much not everyone's cuppa tea though, and I seem to be the only person on the planet to not know WTF the left-handed joke was all about.


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## sparkybird (Feb 1, 2016)

Not nearly as half as good as the great beauty though.. . apparently the director wanted the same lead for youth, but got Michael Caine instead


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## stdP (Feb 2, 2016)

Indeed not as good... I think he's still trying to find his feet in english a little. The Great Beauty felt very confident, Youth much less so (especially in terms of the dialogue), and I did get the impression the role could well have been written with Tony Servillo in mind. Still liked it though


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## sparkybird (Feb 2, 2016)

Tony Servillo, yes him. I did suggest to a few male friends and Mr SB that they should be aiming for this look as there approached old age, not hoodies, jeans and trainers . hilarity ensued...


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## sparkybird (Feb 2, 2016)

I guess it also helps that's he's Italian and disgracefully handsome.


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## Tropi (Feb 2, 2016)

I watched The Revenant and found it incredibly dull.


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## leanderman (Feb 2, 2016)

Tropi said:


> I watched The Revenant and found it incredibly dull.



I was expecting that but, except for the spiritual stuff, it was pretty exciting.


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## Gramsci (Feb 7, 2016)

sparkybird said:


> Not nearly as half as good as the great beauty though.. . apparently the director wanted the same lead for youth, but got Michael Caine instead



Have not seen Youth.

My favourite films by him are Il Divo and The Consquences of Love.


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## Harbourite (Feb 7, 2016)

Gramsci said:


> Have not seen Youth.
> 
> My favourite films by him are Il Divo and The Consquences of Love.



The IMDb summary description of The Consequences of Love ("An introverted man's life changes completely when he finds himself attracted to a young bar-maid") is nicely understated ... !


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## leanderman (Feb 7, 2016)

Spotlight is unflashy and very interesting. Strong cast


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## Harbourite (Feb 18, 2016)

leanderman said:


> Spotlight is unflashy and very interesting. Strong cast


Saw "A Bigger Splash" last night and enjoyed it


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## Nanker Phelge (Feb 27, 2016)

Went with Jnr to see Triple 9. It was in the very comfy screen 5. 

The seats were better than the film....which started out well but run out of steam. Way too many name actors and not enough for them to do. Kate Winslet put in an enjoyable turn, but again there was not enough of her.


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## Harbourite (Feb 27, 2016)

would like to hear from anyone who has seen grimsby. the film.


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## DJWrongspeed (Mar 20, 2016)

Saw* High Rise* last night. Enjoyable dystopia. Kind of ran out of steam and peaked to early I thought. Saw alot of reviews saying how funny it was. I'm not sure the dark humour is really the main message. Obviously we need more crazy British films like this.


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## Maharani (Mar 20, 2016)

Harbourite said:


> would like to hear from anyone who has seen grimsby. the film.


Heard it was good. I thought it looked shite.


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## Maharani (Mar 20, 2016)

Are we only allowed to make comment here on films seen at the ritzy?


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## Maharani (Mar 20, 2016)

Anyone seen Deadpool yet?


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## Lizzy Mac (Aug 28, 2016)

50% off membership at Picturehouse this weekend (until Midnight Monday I think).
I think the site has crashed so try later or phone if interested.


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## Gramsci (Aug 28, 2016)

Maharani said:


> Are we only allowed to make comment here on films seen at the ritzy?



There is a thread for films at cinema on the books/ films forum.


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## Gramsci (Aug 28, 2016)

Lizzy Mac said:


> 50% off membership at Picturehouse this weekend (until Midnight Monday I think).
> I think the site has crashed so try later or phone if interested.



You can go to Ritzy and join there.


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## Lizzy Mac (Aug 28, 2016)

Gramsci said:


> You can go to Ritzy and join there.


13p a minute on the phone.  Bit harsh.


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## Gramsci (Aug 28, 2016)

Lizzy Mac said:


> 13p a minute on the phone.  Bit harsh.



What I meant was you can go in person to the Ritzy to pay for the membership. They can do it all there rather than trying on internet or phone.


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## Lizzy Mac (Aug 29, 2016)

Gramsci said:


> What I meant was you can go in person to the Ritzy to pay for the membership. They can do it all there rather than trying on internet or phone.


I got that, I was agreeing : ) It took me several tries online and the phone seemed very dear as I got through to a long answer phone message.


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## CH1 (Sep 15, 2016)

Sorry to see that "The Magic Christian" due on at the Cinema Museum tonight has been cancelled.
Would have been £5.

Still I did discover this free gem at the Cinema Museum on 22nd September


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## CH1 (Sep 24, 2016)

CH1 said:


> Sorry to see that "The Magic Christian" due on at the Cinema Museum tonight has been cancelled.
> Would have been £5.
> 
> Still I did discover this free gem at the Cinema Museum on 22nd September



Just to say this "Kiki" film is fantastic - I highly recommend it.
It was like a update/mix of "Tongues Untied" and "Paris is Burning"

Any LGBTQ+ sympathetic person will know exactly what I mean.


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## sparkybird (Oct 15, 2016)

Went to the cinema for the first time in ages yesterday. Saw Swiss army man. wow, weird!! But enjoyable. My respect for Daniel Radcliffe has gone up immensely- he plays a dead person for the whole film!


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## Gramsci (Oct 23, 2016)

Saw "I, Daniel Blake"- It was in Walthamstow with my friend who lives there for £8 on a Saturday evening. Unlike Ritzy high prices.

Its on at Ritzy.

My (not a Corbyn supporter) Labour party friend I saw it with liked it. Said Theresa May and her Tory friends should be made to see it.

TBH I was not over keen on idea of seeing it. Seeing the trailer and I was afraid it would be to worthy. Honest worker up against the system.

It verged on that at times. Saved from this by Daniels young neighbours who know how to use the system and scam there way to survive. One point telling Daniel , the paragon of old school honest hard worker, that the system is there to grind him down. Its intentionally set up to do that. Something he is slow to learn. A different generation who have learnt to survive unlike him who naively believes in "doing the right thing" as politicians often say.

What also makes the film work is the other main character the single mum Katie. An outstanding performance by Hayley Squires. I , by chance , heard her talking about the film earlier in the day. She was passionate about it and the politics around it.

The growing relationship between her ( and her children) with the lonely widowed Daniel is very touching.

Despite my reservations about seeing the film I was swept up in it. It develops into a moving film. Juxtaposing the humanity of ordinary people under pressure with the alienating State bureaucracy that is humiliating them and destroying them. And is set up to do so. Interesting touch was that not everyone in the Job Centre is nasty. Its the (Capitalist) State that is the problem. With ordinary people caught up in it.

Benefits Street this is not. And from the radio interview with Hayley that is something that the film wanted to oppose.

 Loach has worked with the same scriptwriter for years- Laverty. IMO they work as an equal partnership. Laverty is very much on the Left and sees his work as part of that.

They had done a lot of research. The scene in the Food Bank was apparently based on a real incident.

It has had good reviews. The critical one was the Evening Standard. By the ES normally good critic David Sexton. I wouldn’t read it if ur going to see the film as it gives to much away.Read it after or go to last couple of paragraphs.

Sexton says that Loach is not telling us anything "we" didn’t already know. Which is true in a way. So my question is why is this still going on? How is it that society hounds and punishes people with the least ? Does film make any difference?

Sexton does not have the imagination to ask these questions.

The one thing I think Loach/ Laverty succeed in is giving back those on benefits there humanity. TV like Benefits Street is as much "agitprop" as this film. Sexton is quick to accuse this film of being agitprop. But does not see the insidious way that media portrayals can work the other way.

Sexton spends the last two paragraphs of his review slagging off Loachs Marxist politics. ( He is a Marxist). Sexton says he should look up what it was really like in Soviet Union and North Korea. Loach has already dealt with Stalinism in his film about the Spanish Civil War. So really Sexton should take a closer look at that film.

In this country Loach does not have the regard he gets in France. Sexton has a dig at the film for this reason as well. It won at Cannes.

Sexton is interesting to read as the mainstream political class do there best to ignore Loach. He has had major awards in his long career. This countries most famous living film director and one wouldn’t think so with the reaction he gets from the establishment. Sexton inadvertently gives an example of the way he is viewed. 

Sexton attitude, common in this country, is the middle of the road concern. Of course the way the system treats people is wrong but simple black and white views of people like Loach simply wont do. And would lead to totalitarian state if they did. Its all a very complicated issue and of course one would like to see things improved.

I got the feeling from Sexton review is that he didnt like having to see this all up on screen. Makes it all to personal and real. Made him uncomfortable.

And that maybe why film still has a purpose.


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## OvalhouseDB (Oct 30, 2016)

Good appraisal of the film, Gramsci.

One of the things that I liked was that in making Daniel an ordinary, decent, every-guy / any-guy, the focus was on the system, not on judging the recipients. Our system should do what it is set up to do, regardless of whether people feel individual recipients of the welfare net are 'deserving' or not - which is the effect of Benefit Street et al.

Excellent directing.

I am not a crier in films, but this one made me cry full on, twice, and I wasn't the only one.


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## CH1 (Oct 30, 2016)

Gramsci said:


> Saw "I, Daniel Blake"- It was in Walthamstow with my friend who lives there for £8 on a Saturday evening. Unlike Ritzy high prices.


I need to get along to this!

IDS got two goes on the radio (Radio4's Today Programme and LBC) to "review" this film - and to quote Denis Healey it was "like being savaged by a dead sheep"

Ken Loach was quite powerful - though sparing - on Question Time this week.

The film Kes made a big impression on me at the age of 15, though only a couple of years later I was shocked at another of his efforts - "Family Life" which was essentially a depiction of the views of anti-psychiatrists RD Laing and David Mercer. That film was really disturbing - and I believe if seen today would be seen rather differently. Other than that I can't think of anything else I've seen.

I, Daniel Blake is currently showing at the Peckham Plex @ £4.99 where I will probably go tomorrow - so I can assuage the shock of the film at Peckham 'Spoons "Monday Club" prices.


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## CH1 (Nov 13, 2016)

Fabulous bit of book-ending - BBC Four showing "Cathy Come Home" tonight.

Don't remember it (I was 12 when it was shown) but it is clearly the same director as I, Daniel Blake. The attention to statistical detail and characterisation of working class people are consistent. Cathy's background landscape is grim - though it seems that London actors were used in a Birmingham streetscape - so no sightings of Geneva Road in 1966! The film does not only dwell on overcrowding and homeless families - but also the way old people are treated.


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## dbs1fan (Nov 14, 2016)

Treat yourself to a great Korean horror,  Train to Busan. ...a very entertaining two hours!


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## Gramsci (Nov 14, 2016)

CH1 said:


> Fabulous bit of book-ending - BBC Four showing "Cathy Come Home" tonight.
> 
> Don't remember it (I was 12 when it was shown) but it is clearly the same director as I, Daniel Blake. The attention to statistical detail and characterisation of working class people are consistent. Cathy's background landscape is grim - though it seems that London actors were used in a Birmingham streetscape - so no sightings of Geneva Road in 1966! The film does not only dwell on overcrowding and homeless families - but also the way old people are treated.



I have not seen it.

It had a big effect when it came out. With questions arising from it being made in Parliament. The time is what made was a different political landscape. There was still a mainstream feeling that something should be done.

I Daniel Blake reviews have tended to concentrate on Daniel but the other half of the film is the single mother shipped out of London for "rehousing".

Nothing changed much. The less well off being still being shafted.


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## Gramsci (Nov 14, 2016)

dbs1fan said:


> Treat yourself to a great Korean horror,  Train to Busan. ...a very entertaining two hours!



Is it that good? I always liked Asian "extreme" cinema. Tartan films used to bring Asian films to a Western audience. The demise of Tartan films is a loss. 

Always remember seeing an early import from Tartan films at Curzon Soho The Audition. Made in 1999 before advent of use of internet. Sleazy and sordid. Knocked the spots off Western horror movies.


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## dbs1fan (Nov 15, 2016)

It really is good; it's funny and dramatic and moving in turn. Another Korean horror worth seeing is The Host. Actually one of my favourites is Old Boy, the original.  Don't go near the remake!


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## CH1 (Nov 15, 2016)

dbs1fan said:


> It really is good; it's funny and dramatic and moving in turn. Another Korean horror worth seeing is The Host. Actually one of my favourites is Old Boy, the original.  Don't go near the remake!


I've got a Korean DVD of "Eraserhead". Is this taste indicative?


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## Orang Utan (Nov 15, 2016)

CH1 said:


> I've got a Korean DVD of "Eraserhead". Is this taste indicative?


Eraserhead is not a Korean film. It's David Lynch's first!


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## CH1 (Nov 15, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> Eraserhead is not a Korean film. It's David Lynch's first!


Yes - and when I bought the DVD from Amazon about 8 years ago the Korean version (which can be played without subtitles) was the only one available on Amazon.

I did loyally go to the (old) Ritzy to see it when first shown - maybe mid 1980s I think. (even there we were behind the times for a 1970s David Lynch).

The reaction of Ritzy customers at that showing was very mixed - about 50:50

best I've ever seen

totally vile rubbish.


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## Angellic (Nov 16, 2016)

dbs1fan said:


> It really is good; it's funny and dramatic and moving in turn. Another Korean horror worth seeing is The Host. Actually one of my favourites is Old Boy, the original.  Don't go near the remake!



And only matinee screenings. Sounds worthy of a late night screening. Will try and see it this weekend, work permitting.


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## Gramsci (Nov 17, 2016)

Angellic said:


> And only matinee screenings. Sounds worthy of a late night screening. Will try and see it this weekend, work permitting.



Ritzy workers strike this weekend. So likely mge will close the cinema.


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## CH1 (Dec 11, 2016)

Interested to know if anyone has invested £14 to see what is clearly the worst film of the year in the opinion of one Evening Standard Reviewer:
The Birth of a Nation, film review: Don’t fall for Saint Nate

Quite glad I read the review in a way. Quite put me off. It would appear that this film, whilst claiming to rectify the racism of the DW Griffith monumental silent era peon to the Ku Klux Klan is in itself of morally repugnant.

Read the Standard review if you want to familiarise yourself with the warts and all - but suffice it to say the reviewer objects on moral grounds to the film director, the hero of the film and the narcissism of the director's performance as Nat Turner.

A right Royal Flush if you like.


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## Gramsci (Jan 1, 2017)

CH1 said:


> Ken LoachI, Daniel Blake is currently showing at the Peckham Plex @ £4.99 where I will probably go tomorrow - so I can assuage the shock of the film at Peckham 'Spoons "Monday Club" prices.



Went to Peckham Multiplex for the first time today. I liked it. Slightly down at heel feel of cinemas I used to go to when I first was in London. And the demographic was noticeably different. Will go again.

Saw "Passengers". Which had very mixed reviews but audiences like.

My friend liked it.


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## DJWrongspeed (Jan 16, 2017)

Caught '*Manchester By Sea*' this weekend. If it hadn't been for dry January I would've liked a stiff drink afterwards. Well worth catching. Casey Affleck is brilliant.
Lonergan's previous film 'Margaret' is also brilliant but was under promoted due to studio disagreements.


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## CH1 (Jan 16, 2017)

I recommend "Silence" for those who crave intense moral questioning. A Catholic up-bringing or familiarity with Catholic beliefs and doctrines would help bring empathy to the choices the leading characters face.

I think the film has resonance on all sorts of levels, but central here is the response of believers to demands from the Japanese pagan authorities for spiritual subservience (referred to in the film as "apostasy").

The Catholic church is built on the legends and true stories of martyrs. The moral complication in the film is that of spiritual leaders threatened with the prospect of not them, but their flock being executed very cruelly if they themselves do not recant.

And further if people (including priests and missionaries) publicly renounce their faith - are they permanently lost - or do they remain Catholics capable of being absolved form their sins?

I am not very familiar with Martin Scorsese's work - but I am a big fan of "The Last Temptation of Christ".  In my opinion "Silence" is a very worthy successor - and in many ways asks probing moral questions in a more incisive way.

The cinematography is quite striking in places - though looks much lower budget than "Last Temptation". I saw the film at Peckham Plex, for economic reasons,  but it is on at the Ritzy still.


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## dbs1fan (Jan 16, 2017)

Agree with DJ Wrong speed.  Manchester-by-the-Sea is totally absorbing, affecting and powerful. Michelle Williams never does a bad film, IMHO.
It's worth Picture house's inflated price. Go see!


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## Gramsci (Jan 16, 2017)

went to see Scorcese Scorcese "Silence". It's struggling at the box office. See here
Box Office: Why Ben Affleck's 'Live by Night' and Martin Scorsese's 'Silence' Fared So Poorly

CH1 recommended this film to me last night. Thanks. Glad I saw it.

I have not read reviews properly yet. Been mixed. It's a long film. I found it riveting after first twenty minutes.I don't agree with some reviewers who say it says in bits it drags and needs tighter editing.

It is a film (as with all films IMO) that needs one to get into it and enter the films world. Which is faith and religion.Not something I am into.

It reminded me off "Bridge over the River Kwai" at moments. I can see why it it has not done well. It's subject matter, length and pace make it an "arthouse" film. Not a criticism. 

It deals with existential issues of life. It's been criticized for not taking on enough the issue of the west using religion to colonize other countries. This is unfair. Some of the best bits of the film are the discussions between the Japanese gentry where this is brought up.The tables are turned the Jesuits find they are treated to the same methods that they use by the Japanese.

The film raises more questions than it answers. Which is a plus point imo.

Are the poor peasants really "Christian"? As Liam tells the young Padre.  The poor peasants see Christianity as a route to Paradise. A way out from there oppressed living conditions. Are the Jesuits deluding themselves that the poor see Christianity in the way that they do?

Is it pride that makes one keep to the faith and encourages the poor to martyr themselves for faith? Is the better road to be Judas? In the long term to keep the faith alive? Is God listening? Is sacrifice of any point if God is not listening?

And the Japanese take up the Padres desire to test his faith in a way he only gradually realises.


Whilst the film is not overtly political I would say it has something to say of the present day. The young Padre says that  Christianity is truth. It's applicable to the whole world. If it wasn't it would not be "Truth". It's like the West invading other countries to give them "liberal democracy"in Iraq etc.

So a film I would recommend. And great performances.


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## OvalhouseDB (Jan 16, 2017)

Manchester By The Sea is some of the best writing / directing I have seen in film - stunning performances too.
But it is very harrowing.
So many brilliant details.
Set in America, but quite not-American in its style and narrative.


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## Orang Utan (Jan 17, 2017)

Gramsci said:


> went to see Scorcese Scorcese "Silence". It's struggling at the box office. See here
> Box Office: Why Ben Affleck's 'Live by Night' and Martin Scorsese's 'Silence' Fared So Poorly
> 
> CH1 recommended this film to me last night. Thanks. Glad I saw it.
> ...


Your review reminds me of Michel Faber's The Book Of Strange New Things. It's about a missionary sent to a newly discovered planet to teach the aliens about Christianity and the Bible. The preacher struggles with similar philosophical uncertainties. Fantastic book.


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## CH1 (Jan 17, 2017)

Orang Utan said:


> Your review reminds me of Michel Faber's The Book Of Strange New Things. It's about a missionary sent to a newly discovered planet to teach the aliens about Christianity and the Bible. The preacher struggles with similar philosophical uncertainties. Fantastic book.


You could I suppose try the original novel "Silence", which seems to have made an impact several times over in the last 50 years.

I was talking to a Japanese doctor about the piece this afternoon. The original novel received awards when published in Japan in 1966. The author - Shūsaku Endō - is a Catholic and on the back of the success of his book organised some sort of symposium about whether Chrisitanity is a suitable religion for the Japanese psyche.

I see from Wikipedia that the book had been turned into a film twice before (once Japanese, once Portuguese).
Moreover it was made into a stage play by the author, then turned into an opera and in 2007 inspired the Scottish composer James McMkillan's Third Symphony (Silence).

All in all the story seems to have made a lot of headway in the artistic sphere - despite current Hollywood takings being zilch!


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## Gramsci (Jan 18, 2017)

Orang Utan said:


> Your review reminds me of Michel Faber's The Book Of Strange New Things. It's about a missionary sent to a newly discovered planet to teach the aliens about Christianity and the Bible. The preacher struggles with similar philosophical uncertainties. Fantastic book.



I think you are spot on. The film is like this. I will check the book.

Liam Neeson who plays the priest the two young Jesuits try to find is a lost soul. The certainties of his faith crumble in the face of this alien culture.


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## Gramsci (Jan 18, 2017)

CH1 said:


> I was talking to a Japanese doctor about the piece this afternoon. The original novel received awards when published in Japan in 1966. The author - Shūsaku Endō - is a Catholic and on the back of the success of his book organised some sort of symposium about whether Chrisitanity is a suitable religion for the Japanese psyche.



Last year I met by chance a Japanese tourist who I ended showing around London. Remember her asking me about Harry Potter ( the books and films are popular in Japan) and Sherlock Holmes ( the recent TV version is big hit in Japan). I was surprised she knew all about them. Not really my thing. Realised for her it was exotic and different.

What the film does not go into is the appeal that Christianity had for the poor Japanese.It's touched on. To me it seemed they saw Christ as a man for the poor and oppresed. The Jesuits don't really get this. Seeing the Japanese peasants as a bit like the "noble savage".It's the Japanese noblemen who correctly see Christianity as a threat to the social order. 

Not is Buddhism covered in the film. Heard someone talk about Buddhism on radio yesterday. Whilst a Buddhist he said in West people have a rosey view of Buddhism. In the east it was the religion of the establishment. With a sometimes bloody history that parallels Christianity.


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## CH1 (Jan 21, 2017)

Gramsci said:


> Last year I met by chance a Japanese tourist who I ended showing around London. Remember her asking me about Harry Potter ( the books and films are popular in Japan) and Sherlock Holmes ( the recent TV version is big hit in Japan). I was surprised she knew all about them. Not really my thing. Realised for her it was exotic and different.
> 
> What the film does not go into is the appeal that Christianity had for the poor Japanese.It's touched on. To me it seemed they saw Christ as a man for the poor and oppresed. The Jesuits don't really get this. Seeing the Japanese peasants as a bit like the "noble savage".It's the Japanese noblemen who correctly see Christianity as a threat to the social order.
> 
> Not is Buddhism covered in the film. Heard someone talk about Buddhism on radio yesterday. Whilst a Buddhist he said in West people have a rosey view of Buddhism. In the east it was the religion of the establishment. With a sometimes bloody history that parallels Christianity.


Re Jesuits - what you are saying may be correct when the order was founded (1534 approx) but nowadays they tend to be in the lead with social/religious issues - Liberation Theology etc. They (in my experience) tend to be much more open about different (non-Catholic) traditions within Christianity. When it comes to Japan I guess they may been converting local animists. Buddhism is by no means a majority religion there - now or in 1639.

So possibly Martin Scorsese is playing an intellectual game with historically aware viewers - not least those who are Catholic.

Then the is the parallel with Europe. In 1492 the Alhambra Decree required Jews in Spain and Portugal to convert to Catholicism or be expelled. The Spanish Inquisition was created to supervise. Following on from this there was a massive expulsion of Morriscos (Moors - originally from Morocco  - some of whom had converted to Catholics but were still thought to be heretics by the Inquisition). These expulsions occurred mainly 1609 - 1613, but the final mass expulsion from Granada was in 1727. 

In the film Silence the action starts in 1639 and immediately shows a cultural purge going on in Japan which as it happens mirrors what was going on in Spain and Portugal. BTW my Japanese friend said the numbers affected in Japan ran into many thousands - although of course the film focuses mainly on the missionaries.

This Wikipedia article here about Kakure Kirishitan details the effect of the suppression forcing Christianity into an underground religion from the 1630s. It shows artefacts - crosses and virgin/child ornaments perhaps designed to "pass" as Japanese local items. This illustrates the broad cultural accuracy of the film, I would suggest in discussing the question of Christians force to practice in secret. 

So really you have a film depicting atrocities against those who, according to my Japanese doctor friend came from families who had been encouraged by local tribal Japanese medieval rules to convert to Christianity in the interests of trade and social relations with "the west". Then an embargo on foreign trade and religion is imposed by a new centralising regime who see Buddhism as an important Japanese cultural unifier.

This ironically was going on at the same time as the Spanish (and Portuguese) state was acting in a similar paranoid way. The parallel is not made in the film - but surely the assembled Jesuits at the premiere would have been well aware of this. Brexit is Brexit!


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## Gramsci (Jan 22, 2017)

Saw "Manchester by the sea" at Peckhamplex. As other posters have said it's a very good film. As OvalhouseDB points out it is different from typical Hollywood film. I think this is partly the setting. I was chatting to someone who comes from that area of USA. Said it's realistic portrayel of the area around Boston and the people.

It does remind me of some French film- stories about ordinary people.

It's long but didn't feel like. Ended wanting more. It's a humane film. Whilst the subject matter is heavy it's in the end a positive look at how people are essentially good. Some very touching scenes.

A friend I saw it with said he normally does not like films with a lot of flashbacks. But in this film they worked. The film has a complex structure without being showy about. 

IMO it also builds up using a lot of short scenes built around the small town and the sea. Which helps to make this long film not drag.


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## iantldn (Jan 23, 2017)

Saw hacksaw ridge at a preview last week. Amazing story and brilliantly acted. War violence is very gory and graphic so not for the feint hearted, but gives it a very real feel. Highly recommend it.


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## Gramsci (Jan 30, 2017)

Hacksaw Ridge.

First off Mel Gibson knows how to make a film. It's gripping. Not a shot wasted.

It's message? Deeply right wing. The Japanese are portrayed as underhand and lacking humanity. I thought the film might be more anti war.

However it's message is that good old American values win out in the end. What are we fighting for? The right of the individual to follow his (Christian) beliefs. Unlike the Japanese hordes.

Contrast this with Scorsese's "Silence". A much more subtle look at belief.


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## iantldn (Feb 3, 2017)

I did find the portrayal of the Japanese a bit troubling but it was telling it from an American perspective and I'm sure they viewed them how their represented in the film.

The faith stuff didn't bother me too much, even though I'm not religious in the slightest, I was more focused on the captivating story of Doss and the brilliant performances by the actors. I was amazed about how much of it was actually true to life:
Hacksaw Ridge vs the True Story of Desmond Doss, Medal of Honor


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## Gramsci (Feb 3, 2017)

iantldn said:


> I did find the portrayal of the Japanese a bit troubling but it was telling it from an American perspective and I'm sure they viewed them how their represented in the film.
> 
> The faith stuff didn't bother me too much, even though I'm not religious in the slightest, I was more focused on the captivating story of Doss and the brilliant performances by the actors. I was amazed about how much of it was actually true to life:
> Hacksaw Ridge vs the True Story of Desmond Doss, Medal of Honor



Clint Eastwood did two films on the war from both sides. The same battle for an island.

Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) - IMDb

This is a fictionalised account by Gibson of the war against Japan. Eastwood managed to show the Japanese in a different light.

Gibson did show it in the way that the Japanese were seen as the war progressed. It's not good enough for Gibson to trot out the same clichés of Japanese ina film years after the war ended.


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## DJWrongspeed (Feb 10, 2017)

Saw Toni Erdmann last w/e. This is miles away from US/UK film style perhaps more like Yorgos Lanthimos' Dogtooth. Probably not everyone's cup of tea. It's also not exactly a comedy that makes it alot cleverer and able to explore some serious points. It's not 3hrs like everyone says more like 2:40.


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## sparkybird (Feb 12, 2017)

T2 Trainspotting. Loved the cinematography, but the story felt a bit meh.
However it did give me the chance to see the trailer for Prevenge which looks ace! I loved Sightseers and this is in the same vein.... Sorry about the pun


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## Gramsci (Feb 12, 2017)

Also saw T2 today at Ritzy. It was on in screen one. Which is a good screen with good sound. (Almost) worth the high weekend price.

The first Trainspotting was a big hit here and in Europe. This surprised me. My Spanish friend said it was hit in Spain. Heard this from friends from Eastern Europe. Summed up the 90s drugs and neo liberal capitalism. My Russian friend said Russia in 90s was like the way Scotland was portrayed.

I took my Spanish friend to T2. She liked it. Warned here about the Scots English. ( In Spain Trainspotting was dubbed. ) She followed most of it. She really liked T2. I did explain the politics behind the scene in the Unionist bar. The funniest scene in the film.

Agree with sparkybird the cinematography was good. I liked the way the film looked. It's nice to see a director use visuals in an interesting way.

Times have moved on. It's quite a political film. He manages to do it in a different way to Loach. The four of them are the lost generation of Thatcherism. Out of there depth in the new Scotland. There is a great scene where they apply for an EU grant to "regenerate" the old pub.

It's a film about growing older but not wiser. Which I did find close to the bone.

I was wondering if it would be nostalgic follow up to the first film. It manages to avoid this.

Don't leave just at the end. As the credits are wonderful visuals and sound track.

All in all I found it a touching film.


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## sparkybird (Feb 13, 2017)

I wish I could write reviews like you gramsci!
Yes you're right, the unionist pub singalong was hilarious.
My Slovak friend also had a bit of trouble following some of the dialogue. I was surprised as her first job in the UK was an au pair in Scotland. She was convinced that Scottish and English were completely different languages at first! And I suppose in some respects they are!


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## Lizzy Mac (Feb 19, 2017)

Moonlight is the first film in years that I could watch again almost immediately.  It's beautiful.


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## dbs1fan (Feb 19, 2017)

Moonlight is incredibly moving. Great casting and acting.


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## Angellic (Feb 20, 2017)

dbs1fan said:


> Moonlight is incredibly moving. Great casting and acting.



Was at the screening with a Q&A with both Barry Jenkins, director and Tarell Alvin McCraney, co-writer, there. Loved the film and great to see it that night.


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## CH1 (Feb 20, 2017)

I gather Moonlight should be coming on in Peckham soon - so may go. It had 20 min utes cut for showing in India apparently!

Did they show "Loving" at the Ritzy? It was well reviewed by the Standard, but now seems not to be on anywhere local.


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## Gramsci (Feb 27, 2017)

I saw Moonlight. More later.

Ritzy workers are now asking for a boycott of Picture House/Cineworld as part of the Living Wage campaign. So will be my last visit for a while.


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## Winot (Feb 27, 2017)

Gramsci said:


> Ritzy workers are now asking for a boycott of Picture House/Cineworld as part of the Living Wage campaign. So will be my last visit for a while.



I saw that. Is it an open-ended boycott do you know, i.e. until they give the all clear?


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## Gramsci (Feb 27, 2017)

Winot said:


> I saw that. Is it an open-ended boycott do you know, i.e. until they give the all clear?



I don't know. Only realised today. 

Ritzy workers former position was for people to support the strikes but still go to Ritzy at other times.

I'm not sure boycott is good tactic. Not everyone who uses the cinema will know about it. Unless they read local press. I don't think Ritzy workers can stand outside asking people to boycott Picture House cinemas.

Bottom line is I don't think boycott will affect Picture House that much. Whereas strikes and demos gain attention.


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## Gramsci (Feb 28, 2017)

Moonlight.

I haven't seen La La Land. This film is worthy winner of an Oscar.

I think the film is about masculinity. It has parallels with Manchester by the Sea in hindsight. Both of them deal with issues around men dealing with there emotional lives. 

I agree with reviewers who say this film does not undermine Black male masculinity. That it takes stereotypes and undermines them. The drug dealing surrogate father, for example, is shown to be a tender father for the boy. It's a more complex look at Black lives in a tough working class neighbourhood. In a similar way Manchester by the sea did the same of a white working class town. What I'm saying is that,like all good works of art, the film has universal themes. 

An American take on the film,

All That Stands in Our Way: Between Tyler Perry, Barry Jenkins and the Black Art Film


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## CH1 (Feb 28, 2017)

Gramsci said:


> Moonlight.
> 
> I haven't seen La La Land. This film is worthy winner of an Oscar.
> 
> ...


I haven't seen Moonlight yet - but it sounds to me as though we've been there and done that here in UK - but it has not broken through.

Isaac Julien is a black gay Londoner (originally) and made quite a few films of varying genres.

His film "Looking for Langston" (1989) was quite well received. An "art film" made in black and white, poetry being read against back scenes.

Young Soul Rebels (1991) was a gay/bisexual love triangle story around local pirate radio fans and a homophobic Jamaican garage mechanic.This could be compared to a black "Don't stop the Music" with a murder sub-plot which might explain its poor reception - though it was typical of the sort of thing Channel 4 funded at the time.

Isaac Julien made several other films - mainly documentary or biographical. Particularly impressive being Frantz Fanon: Black skin, White mask (1996) about the black Marxist psychiatrist born in Martinique.

I think I need to see "Moonlight" to comment further about Barry Jenkins - but he seems very very "normal" (i.e. not flamboyant or arty farty) from the quick interview I saw. I suspect he has been lucky in that the film Moonlight gathered the favourable reviews at just the right time to get the Oscar - which is great.

Isaac Julien on the other hand seems to have given up film-making and now concentrates on art installations.


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## Lizzy Mac (Feb 28, 2017)

Gramsci said:


> Moonlight.
> I think the film is about masculinity. It has parallels with Manchester by the Sea in hindsight. Both of them deal with issues around men dealing with there emotional lives.


I do agree with you, however, I think I'd react in the pretty much the same way as the male protagonist in Manchester by the Sea if that happened to me.


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## editor (Mar 4, 2017)

A full boycott has been called for the Ritzy: Boycott called for all Picturehouse and Cineworld Cinemas including the Brixton Ritzy


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## CH1 (Mar 12, 2017)

Gramsci said:


> All That Stands in Our Way: Between Tyler Perry, Barry Jenkins and the Black Art Film


I am fascinated by the controversy in that article over Tyler Perry - who I don't know at all. 

*Moonlight*
I did get round to it - screen 2 at the Plex on Saturday. About 2/3 full for the 4pm showing.

I found the change of actor playing the main character a bit disconcerting, though it was inevitable this had to happen. No doubt Stephen Spielberg could have scoured the earth for actors who morphed seamlessly.

I think the narrative was highly plausible, and much of the film about terrible parenting from the drug addicted mother and serious school bullying later on.

The interlude of the drug dealing surrogate father teaching his "son" to swim was charming - though of al things this seemed least plausible. It was more like the dealer needed a son, than vice versa, but it tied in nicely with the end of the film. 

For me the emotional impact seriously started from Chiron lonely on the beach accidentally having a gay encounter, then the bullying cranked up and his "lover" being forced to inflict a crippling assault.

Chiron (having morphed into 50 Cent) lying on the bed lonely years later, taking call from his lover/(unwilling) abuser. Then the final 10 minutes or so - and final picture.

To me this raises question of betrayal and possible hoped for resolution - which are wisely left hanging.

Not a gay film as such - but a film that laid issues wide open.


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## CH1 (Mar 25, 2017)

Just to draw attention to this article in the Evening Standard: The Curzon boss leading the revolution in the world of cinema

According to Mr Philip Knatchbull head of Curzon Group and a film financier via Artificial Eye "If you go out and see one of our films at the Curzon Mayfair or Curzon Aldgate you may pay £15 or £18. If you want to see it on the same day as its cinema release of Curzon Home Cinema you pay £10 or £8.50. If you are a member and wait 28 days you can buy it for £3 or £4"

Gramsci sometimes quotes Curzon approvingly in this battle of the cinema giants - but it sounds  as though they are actually in the same game as Cineworld, Odeon and Vue - namely "monetising the product", the product being the art or the trash which they are investing in and trading.

The current question in my mind is this: Goldsmiths London University recently opened a Curzon cinema screen in the Richards Hoggart Building with the following charges:
Adult 8.50  Senior Citizen 6.50   Student 5.50  Child 4.50
Goldsmiths Staff/Alumni 6.50  South London Card 6.00 Lewisham Local Card 6.00  Street Feast Friends 6.00

The screen/auditorium is on a par with Ritzy screen 5 I would say - maybe slightly bigger (I haven't been to a film there,  but a lecture)

Does this sound competitive for an "experience" which is at least twice as luxurious as the Peckham Plex, but probably less than half the size screen-wise - and still above the Plex's bargain busting £4.99 one size fits all price?


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## Gramsci (Apr 3, 2017)

The Peckhamplex is under threat. Info here

peckhammultistorey

I know a lot of Brixton people use it now Ritzy is expensive. (Also the boycott) .
I used to still use Ritzy only occasionally now its expensive.

Yet another affordable place under threat for "regeneration".


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## Gramsci (Apr 3, 2017)

As a friend of mine said to me it's heartbreaking what's happening to London. There will be nothing left for us.


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## editor (Apr 3, 2017)

Gramsci said:


> The Peckhamplex is under threat. Info here
> 
> peckhammultistorey
> 
> ...


For fuck's sake.


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## CH1 (Apr 6, 2017)

Gramsci said:


> The Peckhamplex is under threat. Info here
> 
> peckhammultistorey
> 
> ...


It will be a big loss if they get rid of the Plex. That will leave only cinema club type places doing "one offs" - like Duggard Way and Whirled.


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## CH1 (Apr 8, 2017)

Anyone know anything about Silver Screen Membership at the Ritzy?

Word has it (via the Telegraph) that this is free.

But there is absolutely nothing about it on the Ritzy website - except that the film I wanted to see was £6 at a Silver Screen Club showing next Thursday (as opposed to £13.50 or whatever)

BTW this concerns the Raoul Peck film about Jamnes Baldwin "I am not your Negro"

There is an alternative one-off showing at the Whirled Cinema sponsored by Kush Films - this is £8

I am still undecided though - I heard or read a review that said it was a bit peculiar that the film draws particular attention to James Baldwin's girlfriend, when he was noted for being black and gay.

There is a very long rumination on this issue by one Max S Gordon here - he also relates his views on "Moonlight". To cut it short I think Max's view is that James Baldwin was a very private person who did not write letters to partners, so when Raoul Peck happened upon what appeared to be an early passionate correspondence with a woman when Badwin was 19 or 20, he used this to add human interest. The fact that there are no later letters in Baldwin's literary estate to male friends or lovers means Peck has no factual material to show Balwin as a gay man.

So - I may go to Ritzy to see if I can be a Silver Screen member free - in which case I might break the embargo. Otherwise I might trust Kush Promotions Paypal booking system for the Whirled.


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## dbs1fan (Apr 9, 2017)

Boycott the Ritzy in support of the strikers.


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## Gramsci (Apr 10, 2017)

CH1 said:


> Anyone know anything about Silver Screen Membership at the Ritzy?
> 
> Word has it (via the Telegraph) that this is free.
> 
> ...



Fascinating essay by Gordon. Read half of it so far.

I think what he's saying is that the documentary omits the fact that Baldwin wrote about sexuality. In particular sex/ love between men. That the doc does not show that that Baldwin wrote about sexuality and race.

I haven't seen the doc so cannot judge.

He also infers that to gain access to Baldwin's papers he had to compromise. Not touch on Baldwin's sexuality. Baldwin's family control access.

Ralph Ellison novel "Invisible Man" is mentioned. I have almost finished it.

I will, after reading, this essay put Baldwin's  "Another Country" on my reading list.


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## CH1 (Apr 15, 2017)

Having now seen "I am not your negro" - which is on general release - and also just seen for the first time "Selma" (BBC2) - these are my comments:

1. I am not your negro is like the opposite of Selma. Everything visual in I am not your negro is an actual newsclip or excerpt from a TV debate show or a university debate (eg James Buckley vs James Baldwin Oxford Union 1965) or an actual civil rights event - or recently Ferguson etc.

Selma is a dramatisation featuring numerous private moments which may or may not be minuted - (thinking of telephone calls from LBJ etc)

2. The general tone of Selma is one of a struggle reaching a positive and justified conclusion

The feeling I got from I am not your negro was that this is an unremitting struggle against prejudice which has progressed - but still ended up standing still so to speak.

3. I felt extremely cautious as to whether some of the interactions in Selma necessarily took place in that way - but with I am not you negro there is no doubt about the film excerpt of Baldwin - that is him, very cleverly putting his view. But as an academic debater - not an on the ground campaigner.

There is little biographical detain about Baldwin. The film is only concerned about Baldwin vis-à-vis civil rights - not his literary career. It was mentioned that he was gay - but only in the context of the FBI smearing his reputation.

I thought the film dragged in places. The film clips of Baldwin were fascinating to me. The words of Baldwin read by Samuel L Jackson to the accompaniment of various scenes - from a silent film of Uncle Toms Cabin, various newsreel clips of riots in Watts, Detroit, Ferguson etc were a bit depressing really. It made me think that it was a case of one step forward and two steps back.

In a way this is a film which might benefit from a presentation followed by a discussion.

I saw this director (Raoul Peck's) film about Patrice Lamumba (first President of Democratic Republic of Congo allegedly murdered at the instigation of the CIA in 1961) at the OLD Ritzy in 1992 and it made quite an impression on me.

I guess I come back to the point - there is valuable archive footage in "I am not your negro" but whether James Baldwin would have chosen to juxtapose his words with people being beaten up in the street in Selma, Watts or Ferguson we don't know. That is Raoul Peck's artistic contribution.

The bit I found most shocking was the newsreel footage of Alabama white racists - real people, not the caricatured slobs on the film "Selma".


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## Gramsci (Apr 15, 2017)

CH1 
Thanks for the excellent review. I looked up the film about Lumumba

Lumumba (2000) - Plot Summary - IMDb

Really want to see this. Reminds me I was in a bookshop and saw a book about him. It's pretty certain US didn't want the likes of him running a newly decolonised country. 

I have seen Selma. Thought it was a good film.


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## CH1 (Apr 15, 2017)

Gramsci said:


> CH1
> Thanks for the excellent review. I looked up the film about Lumumba
> 
> Lumumba (2000) - Plot Summary - IMDb
> ...


There are two versions of Lumumba - I saw the low budget documentary originally released about 1992. The one you have there on IMDb is a longer docudrama (which I haven't yet seen). Lumumba's story is gruesome. He was trying to implement a socialist solution for the much maltreated ex Belgian colony in 1960. He came a cropper because he took Congo "non-aligned" - that is using expertise from Cuba and trying to regulate exploitative companies.

The same thing happened in Ghana incidentally. Gh became non-aligned and after President Nkrumah started collecting Lenin Prizes etc. he was deposed. He died in exile but at least his body was returned home for burial. Lumumba's body on the other hand was melted down in acid according to Rauol Peck's film. A uniquely vicious was to deal with a person who had given hope to millions.


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## CH1 (May 12, 2017)

I have to comment on "Get Out!"

I went to see this on the strength of a mildly positive review by Mark Kermode - who didn't discuss much about the plot-line. And I see why having been to the film.

This seems a very well put together film which has you uneasy almost right fro the beginning. I will not describe the lot as this would spoil enjoyment if you were thinking of going.

What fascinated me was whether this was a sort of homage to a number of earlier films - or simply that a banal plot gives that impression because other shockers inevitably cover similar ground.

To my mind there are two sequences seem to reference Eraserhead by David Lynch.
Funnily another film based on a similar idea was "The Clonus Horror" (1979). I saw that in exotic circumstances in Grenada around 1981 - and the packed cinema really took it on board empathising and shouting out.

No chance of audience participation in the afternoon showing of "Get Out" at the Ritzy. There were 6 people this Silver Screen showing - no doubt because the main run has finished. But I did need my free coffee on the way out - and I didn't stir the sugar!


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## editor (Jun 2, 2017)

Boycott the Ritzy
Brixton Ritzy cinema staff suspended before pay talks as strikes set for this weekend


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## sparkybird (Jul 13, 2017)

.


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## Lizzy Mac (Jul 13, 2017)

It really has ruined my treat to myself membership.


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## editor (Jul 13, 2017)

Well done to everyone who is supporting the workers and boycotting the Ritzy. It's an important fight.


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## DietCokeGirl (Jul 25, 2017)

Went to see Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle last night (guiltily breaking the boycott for one night only), essential watching for anyone who cares about social housing.


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## CH1 (Jul 25, 2017)

DietCokeGirl said:


> Went to see Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle last night (guiltily breaking the boycott for one night only), essential watching for anyone who cares about social housing.


I want to see that. Currently reading "Big Capital - who is London for?" by Anna Minton which presumably covers similar ground.
In view of the likely impending CPO of the Peckham Plex maybe they will show Dispossession in solidarity?


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## editor (Jul 25, 2017)

DietCokeGirl said:


> Went to see Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle last night (guiltily breaking the boycott for one night only), essential watching for anyone who cares about social housing.


Pretty sure the striking workers were OK with people watching that particular film. I miss going to the Ritzy cafe but I'm sticking with the workers!


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## DietCokeGirl (Jul 25, 2017)

Aye, I asked the staff and they'd given it their blessing, still felt uneasy giving PH the cover money but it's an important issue and screening it local made it accessible to Cressingham residents.


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## DietCokeGirl (Jul 25, 2017)

CH1 said:


> I want to see that. Currently reading "Big Capital - who is London for?" by Anna Minton which presumably covers similar ground.
> In view of the likely impending CPO of the Peckham Plex maybe they will show Dispossession in solidarity?


Get in touch with them, I'm sure something could be arranged - maybe offer to arrange a screening yourself with a local cinema? I'm feeling inspired to do similar to get it as widely seen as possible.


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## David Clapson (Sep 8, 2017)

Someone by the name of Danny Lavelle, who writes for the Guardian Daniel Lavelle | The Guardian, is plugging the Ritzy in the Londonist today 8 Things To Do In Brixton During The Day No mention of the campaign. How can a Guardian writer stoop to this? Unless there are two Danny Lavelles...I don't think there are.


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## editor (Sep 8, 2017)

Picket on today


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## phillm (Sep 8, 2017)

CH1 said:


> I recommend "Silence" for those who crave intense moral questioning. A Catholic up-bringing or familiarity with Catholic beliefs and doctrines would help bring empathy to the choices the leading characters face.
> 
> I think the film has resonance on all sorts of levels, but central here is the response of believers to demands from the Japanese pagan authorities for spiritual subservience (referred to in the film as "apostasy").
> 
> ...



Am an enormous fan of Scorcese and looked forward to Silence. It is epic , beautifully shot in every frame , wonderfully acted but in the end left me feeling 'so what' and why should I care about mediaeval western Catholicism's attempt to proseletise in feudal Japanese society. It's probably me not him , it's a difficult one for the fans to be sure. The Japanese seemed more enlightened than their 'moral saviours'. Maybe you need to be catholic to get it ?


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## snowy_again (Sep 8, 2017)

Might be worth taking down the ritzy listings on buzz - or are they added by promoters?


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## editor (Sep 8, 2017)

snowy_again said:


> Might be worth taking down the ritzy listings on buzz - or are they added by promoters?


They're added by the promoters and it's a bit tricky because there's some good bands/worthy nights there. As for the cinema, I rarely see films listed on Buzz and I've refused to run features on any of the press releases I've been sent since the start of the boycott.

The listings thing kind of runs separately to the content/editorial part of the site anyway and given the vast - almost weekly - amount of coverage, publicity and support we've given to the striking Ritzy workers, I reckon it might even help spread the word about the boycott to people who don't know about it.

I'm sure others may disagree but the bottom line is that I've spoken to the workers about this and they're happy with what we're doing.


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## CH1 (Sep 8, 2017)

phillm said:


> Am an enormous fan of Scorcese and looked forward to Silence. It is epic , beautifully shot in every frame , wonderfully acted but in the end left me feeling 'so what' and why should I care about mediaeval western Catholicism's attempt to proseletise in feudal Japanese society. It's probably me not him , it's a difficult one for the fans to be sure. The Japanese seemed more enlightened than their 'moral saviours'. Maybe you need to be catholic to get it ?


I don't know that the Japanese were more enlightened. The moral blackmail threatening lingering mass torture to death on Japanese Christian converts if the missionaries refuse to apostatise seems pretty strong stuff. Equal or worse than the Inquisition.

I am currently reading the book, but as I'm not a very visual person it creates a less vivid impression that Scorcese's film. Not less harrowing though.

Endo - the original Japanese author - seemed preoccupied with the issue of conflict between Catholicism and traditional Japanese society, and wrote other books on the issue. I guess Scorcese chose "Silence" because it distils his own meditations about doubt, as in The Last Temptation of Christ (which I thought was also excellent).


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## CH1 (Sep 13, 2017)

Went to "God's Own Country" - at "The Studio" at BFI. The venue is somewhat downstream of Ritzy screen 5 I would suggest - the Ritzy has a raked floor so you don't get heads at the bottom of the screen. £8.50 seems to be the normal price for BFI Studio (£7.20 members and guests)

The film is pretty amazing for a directorial debut. Not for the queezy. Knee trembling gay sex (not totally explicit) and some obsessive filming of lambs being pulled out of sheep's wombs, a still-born calf and other such farming reality scenes.

More disturbing perhaps was the very cold and uptight family at the centre of the film.

This is an intense film with a gay romantic theme which somehow ends with the possibility of happiness. In the harrowing nature of the story and the twist at the end it shares something with "Moonlight". But "Gods Own Country" is an overtly gay romance in a way that "Moonlight" is not.


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## editor (Sep 14, 2017)

Just to add: Buzz covered three stories supporting the Ritzy workers and campaigners in just the last three weeks. I don't think anyone gives them as much coverage as us.

Search Results for: boycott


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## Gramsci (Oct 2, 2017)

CH1 said:


> Went to "God's Own Country" - at "The Studio" at BFI. The venue is somewhat downstream of Ritzy screen 5 I would suggest - the Ritzy has a raked floor so you don't get heads at the bottom of the screen. £8.50 seems to be the normal price for BFI Studio (£7.20 members and guests)
> 
> The film is pretty amazing for a directorial debut. Not for the queezy. Knee trembling gay sex (not totally explicit) and some obsessive filming of lambs being pulled out of sheep's wombs, a still-born calf and other such farming reality scenes.
> 
> ...



Saw this in the wonderful Peckhamplex. Good point about Moonlight. This film was in some ways straightforward love story. Just happened to be two men. My partner liked it a lot. As she saw it as romantic. Which it is. In in Peckhamplex it had crossover appeal from my unscientific look at the audience. Looks like it has done well for a low budget British movie. Been on for several weeks and still a good turnout to see it when we went. 

I liked it. The film was made by the good use of the wild country landscape and the two great performances by the two main actors.


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## editor (Dec 2, 2017)

I'm going to de-sticky this thread as the boycott is still underway.


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## CH1 (Dec 9, 2017)

editor said:


> I'm going to de-sticky this thread as the boycott is still underway.


I was looking for it to comment.

Anyway it's that I was curious to see the Ai Weiwei film on refugees called "Human Flow" which was reviewed in Friday's Standard.

Can't see it listed at the Ritzy - but the Doc House at the Bloomsbury Curzon has it including the discounted off-peak price of £5 like the Ritzy used to do before it got less community minded. HUMAN FLOW | DocHouse


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## Gramsci (Jan 10, 2020)

Now the boycott has ended I back at Ritzy. So resurrecting this thread. My review of 1917 on the film thread.


saw 1917 today at screen one in the Ritzy cinema ( London).

I have avoided reviews as didn't want to know to much.

It really needs to be seen on a big screen. There is also an IMAX version. I would recommend trying to see it now.

A staggering piece of work.

It is straightforward into the action deceptively simple story making. Goes along at a break neck pace that reminded me of Gibson's Apocalypto. Seamless large scale pieces using extras and special effects.

The post apocalyptic landscapes are quite stunning and disturbing.

It reminded me of tarkovsky "Stalker" at times. The two protagonists go on a journey to the "zone" No Man's Land. Full of traps and surreal encounters in an alien landscape. And "Apocalypse Now". They meet the good and the mad on their journey into the darkness.

What I really liked about the way it was made is that it does not give one a particular message.

I read it as a decent into hell. In that sense it is an anti war film. It also reminded me of the landscapes of hieronymus Bosch via Sci fi. A sci fi novel I read . Set In future where hell is set up in virtual reality where one is uploaded . Its grimly repetitive without escape. This is the reality the two protoganists are thrown into.

Its a quite surreal experience to watch this film.

Definitely a must watch at the cinema.

To add it combines all this with moving personal story of the two main protagonist in the film.


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## Angellic (Jan 10, 2020)

Why has the boycott ended? Too soon to renew membership?


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## CH1 (Jan 10, 2020)

Was toying with the idea of seeing Wozzeck tomorrow - live relay from Metropolitan Opera, New York.
27 quid student/retired rate seems a bit steep though.


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## Gramsci (Jan 10, 2020)

Angellic said:


> Why has the boycott ended? Too soon to renew membership?





			https://bectu.org.uk/news/bectu-response-to-picturehouse-ruling/


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## BusLanes (Jan 19, 2020)

I have not seen 1917 but the two people I know who have also said see it at the cinema and ideally IMAX


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## editor (Jan 19, 2020)

Angellic said:


> Why has the boycott ended? Too soon to renew membership?


I'm still avoiding spending any money there. If the Peckhamplex can give their staff the living wage plus bonuses, why can't this bunch of rip-off cunts pay their staff better?


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## ricbake (Jan 19, 2020)

We


Gramsci said:


> Now the boycott has ended I back at Ritzy. So resurrecting this thread. My review of 1917 on the film thread.
> 
> 
> saw 1917 today at screen one in the Ritzy cinema ( London).
> ...


Went to the Curzon Victoria to see 1917 because its a small and comfortable, I wanted to watch it in a cinema that amplified the immersive experience I was expecting. Best film I've seen in a long time excellently put together, the sets, the colouring and even the dialogue was reminiscent of the Peter Jackson reconstructed genuine WW1 footage. It's intense and I was gripped start to finish, drawn in, flinching, repulsed, crying, its quite an experience.


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## Gramsci (Feb 16, 2020)

I saw "Parasite" at Ritzy today. Cinema was packed so this is a popular film. Winning the Oscar of course helps. It was this or Emma. As this was on at right time we saw this. I was a bit concerned it wouldnt be my partners cup of tea. I like Korean film but know they go into dark territory. And can be violent.

Glad to say my partner gave it the thumbs up. Reason being this was a working class family who all stick together and support each other in a society which is divided between rich and poor. This over rode the dark side of the film and the violence. They stick together right to the end which my partner ( and myself) found moving.

I do like films that give the wealthy middle classes a hard time. Middle class get what they deserved in this film.

I havent read the reviews yet. Only know the house is a real house. Its a great part of the film. I saw it in screen one at Ritzy and it deserves a big screen.

This is a film about class. Looked up Bong Joon Ho. On this film he said:



> > In today's capitalistic society there are ranks and castes that are invisible to the eye. We keep them disguised and out of sight and superficially look down on class hierarchies as a relic of the past, but the reality is that there are class lines that cannot be crossed. I think that this film (Parasite, 2019) depicts the inevitable cracks that appear when two classes brush up against each other in today's increasingly polarized society.





> Bong Joon Ho - IMDb
> 
> 
> Bong Joon-ho is a South Korean filmmaker. The recipient of three Academy Awards, his filmography is characterized by emphasis on social themes, ...
> ...


( I saw Snowpiercer last week on internet . Its a sci fi post apocalyptic film of class war on a train. Worth a look and quite a different kind of film. )

A note on Asian culture. People I have known from Korea and China get a bit upset about viewing them as the Asian other with a particular way to tell stories. Both Korea and China have gone through Modernisation project of the right and left. In case of Korea in a divided country. The south was modernised in breakneck speed under authoritarian governements. Korean friend parent were poor peasants. She lives in city like any "Westerner". They feel themselves to be as Western as Europeans. The difference being that their industrial revolution took place in a very short period of time post WW2. They find it condescending to be viewed as not on a par with the rest of the "West". Or seen as "different".

This films popularity is also that it is about class in a capitalist society which a lot of us ( ie me) can identify with.

Im trying not to give plot spoilers here but the quote from director is spot on about what this film is about.

Smell is a theme that runs through the film as a cultural class signifier of class hierarchy for example. Plays an important role in the film.

The little put downs and feeling of inferiority that punctuate this film are spot on from my experience.

There is a great scene in the middle of the film where the poor family are living it up whilst the rich middle class are away. A discussion on wealth.One says the rich mother is nice. As the mother of the poor family says if I was rich I would be nice.

I liked this film from start to finish.

I liked the ending. It was great to see the nauseating middle class garden party disrupted by the working class.

Ten out fuck the rich ten from me.

This is an angry film that portrays the simmering class resentments of capitalist society. Made in Korea but just as relevant here.

Fuck the rich

Also who are the "Parasites"? The poor family who latch themelves onto this wealthy family or the wealthy middle class family? It the wealthy imo.


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## Big Bertha (Feb 17, 2020)

Gramsci said:


> I saw "Parasite" at Ritzy today. Cinema was packed so this is a popular film. Winning the Oscar of course helps. It was this or Emma. As this was on at right time we saw this. I was a bit concerned it wouldnt be my partners cup of tea. I like Korean film but know they go into dark territory. And can be violent.
> 
> Glad to say my partner gave it the thumbs up. Reason being this was a working class family who all stick together and support each other in a society which is divided between rich and poor. This over rode the dark side of the film and the violence. They stick together right to the end which my partner ( and myself) found moving.
> 
> ...


Does it have subtitles?


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## CH1 (Feb 25, 2020)

Gramsci said:


> I saw "Parasite" at Ritzy today. Cinema was packed so this is a popular film. Winning the Oscar of course helps. It was this or Emma. As this was on at right time we saw this. I was a bit concerned it wouldnt be my partners cup of tea. I like Korean film but know they go into dark territory. And can be violent.
> 
> Glad to say my partner gave it the thumbs up. Reason being this was a working class family who all stick together and support each other in a society which is divided between rich and poor. This over rode the dark side of the film and the violence. They stick together right to the end which my partner ( and myself) found moving.
> 
> ...


I went to see Parasite at the Peckham Plex this afternoon.
Was pleased I didn't pay Ritzy price, as I didn't really enjoy it.
I'm not saying it isn't a clever film - but I didn't really get the class issue people are referring to.
I haven't been to Korea, but I have been to India, Morocco, Ghana and Nigeria - all of which have serious wealth inequality.

I think Parasite is a Korean Shaun of the Dead - but if there is a sense of humour it doesn't come over to me.
I have an unfortunate brain defect which leads me to compare and contrast films, music or art in terms of something I've already experienced.

I started off thinking Parasite was like The Servant, then it morphed into the Beast in the Cellar. Finally it really resolved into God Told Me To - a film so inappropriate that a 1980s Ritzy staff member recently claimed in the Brixton Review of Books to have cut out the offending celluloid and put it in her closet.

I have to say on this one I agree with Trump but for different reasons. Trump is alleged to have complained that he couldn't follow it because the actors were not speaking in English. For my part I would say that the film has a clever plot but is really cynical a definitely not uplifting or inspiring.

I note there was a certain dwelling on backing up toilets. Maybe people whose favourite character is Mr Creosote might find that comforting.


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## Angellic (Feb 27, 2020)

CH1 said:


> I went to see Parasite at the Peckham Plex this afternoon.
> Was pleased I didn't pay Ritzy price, as I didn't really enjoy it.
> I'm not saying it isn't a clever film - but I didn't really get the class issue people are referring to.
> I haven't been to Korea, but I have been to India, Morocco, Ghana and Nigeria - all of which have serious wealth inequality.
> ...


Struck me as a film more about greed than class.


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## CH1 (Feb 28, 2020)

Angellic said:


> Struck me as a film more about greed than class.


Maybe - the high-living family had a sense of assurance, and their counterparts a desperation of not having a secure future, hence their parasitic inveigling. The danger below and the denouement is why I would class this as a horror film rather than a DH Lawrence style story on class.


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## Gramsci (Feb 28, 2020)

Well I thought maybe I was putting to much emphasis on class in the film. Googled class and parasite the film and it appears Im not that wide off the mark.

I cant understand how one can watch this film and not see its about class and inequality.


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## Reno (Feb 29, 2020)

It's a bit of a shame that this thread is split off from the main discussion on films at the cinema in the books, film, tv forum. There already was an ongoing discussion on Parasite there. The Ritzy mostly just shows the films every other cinema shows.


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## CH1 (Feb 29, 2020)

Reno Your comment on the thread you referred to was illuminating.








						Films you've seen at the cinema: 2020
					

Bad boys for life. Weak story, typical action flick saved from being totally awful by the comedy.




					urban75.net
				




I see the comments there are to a degree from film/cinema lovers and aficionados.
I don't really fit into that category.

I do occasionally go to either the Ritzy or the Plex, when II'm curious about a film. In this Parasite case I wanted to see what the fuss was all about.
Last film I saw in the Ritzy and was very impressed by was Get Out.
I also liked or was impressed by Silence and Moonlight at the Plex.
Gods Own Country I think I saw at the BFI.

I'm a bit lazy looking round Urban, so I did post some comments here, as the Ritzy Films thread was in my face so to speak.

Coming back to your analysis of the director of Parasite - this does explain why I didn't like the film. Monster movies are a very personal thing, and if Parasite is toned down, as you say, I can;t see me liking his other offerings either.


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## Reno (Feb 29, 2020)

CH1 said:


> Reno Your comment on the thread you referred to was illuminating.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


What I was referring to, is that the type of comedy which is culturally specific to Korean cinema has been toned down in his later films. Parasite itself is no more low key than his other films. His thriller Mother, my favourite of his, is probably his most low key movie.

I too loved Get Out, but I think it's actually pretty similar to what Bong Joon-ho does. Social satire in the form of a genre film.


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## CH1 (Sep 25, 2022)

Since this thread has died - how about a quick gander at the transformation scene from the notorious "sex-change" Parsifal, on view at the Ritzy for a whole day showing on a Sunday in 1982. Nothing like it has been seen since!


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## CH1 (Oct 10, 2022)

Seems like there IS a discount on Mondays:
It’s #HappyMonday with tickets only £7.90 (£4.90 for members) all day today!

I'm somewhat confused by The Woman King -which is the latest cult Hollywood epic released presumably for Black History Month.

The plot seems quite similar to Werner Herzog's Cobra Verde - which I recall seeing in the Ritzy when it came out around 1987.

The again, Herzog adapted his screenplay from the novel "The Viceroy oif Ouidah" by Bruce Chetwin


So what is the truth here - is this successive fictionalisation of true events where the latest iteration is unwilling to acknowledge intellectual property rights?
I reckon the creators of the new movie are lucky that they are dealing with a dead author and Werner Hertzog here.
Werner is apparently more interested in creating his own myth of benign sage to get into court.

There is an interesting precedent:
Writer and Pulitzer Prize winner *Alex Haley* is best known for his book Roots. This book was later turned into a famous miniseries. Haley was accused of taking parts of The African by Harold Courlander and using them in Roots. He was sued in 1978 and eventually admitted that he had plagiarized the information.


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