This blog contains the notes that I write for the films we screen in our village film society together with other posts about films I've seen or film related articles and books that I've read.
In a typically brilliant article Anne Billson argues that superheroes are the new god and laments the lack of what, in The Guardian, would be called female gods:
I came later to graphic novels after giving up Batman comics at the age of 11, but ultimately I gave in and read Watchmen before seeing the film. The graphic novel was superb in its range and execution, and its episodic structure made it difficult to adapt into a coherent story (would it have worked better as TV series?), but ultimately I missed the words.
The film was close to its source in many scenes which were famed exactly as drawn, but i think i would have enjoyed the film as much without having read the novel.
I've never been a Superman fan, but loved the X-Men (especially the first two films) and the Christopher Nolan Batman reboot, ie the Dark Knight Trilogy. However my all time favourite superhero films have to be Hellboy and Hellboy and the Golden Army.
Today I can exclusively reveal that the next series of Downton Abbey will include a scene set at a fete - and I will not be in it.
When we went to the local fete - my wife bought up the-plant stall and I made a beeline for the books, I noticed a stall advertising for extras for the next series of Downton Abbey.
I was interested - inevitably - but the date did not work: filming was during the week, and unfortunately I do not have the leave left to take time off.
The high point of the afternoon was seeing Penelope Wilton opening the fete. apparently she has some kind of role in Downton Abbey, but to me she will always be Harriet Jones - one of a whole range of ancillary characters in Doctor Who.
I resisted the temptation to say "I know who you are"...
I think Robbie Collins is an excellent critic and a real addition to the film pages of The Daily Telegraph, but I have to disagree with hist lit of the 10 best comedy films of all times:
There's plenty to argue about here, and although I would not dispute Don't Look Now,Kes, and Kind Hearts and Coronets, there is nothing by Hitchcock (in his pre-Hollywood phase), Bill Forysth (especially Local Hero) or John Boorman (Excalibur or Hope and Glory).
Other major omissions are Peter Greenaway, Ken Russell and Terry Gilliam.
Trying to compile a list of best films is about as much use as speculating about who will be the new Doctor Who!!!
It's our AGM on Thursday, so time for the final film of the season.
We try to choose something that will bring in the punters so that they will renew their subscriptions for next year, and this time we've chosen Quartet: something that will fit our age demographic perfectly :-)
I've not seen it and am looking forward to it very much. Here are my notes:
Quartet
UK 201290
minutes
Director: Dustin
Hoffman
Starring:Billy Connolly, Maggie
Smith, Michael Gambon, Pauline Collins, Sheridan Smith, Tom Courtenay
Awards and Nominations
Nominated
for one Golden Globe (Maggie Smith as Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy)
A
further three wins and one nomination
“There’s a gentle,
sugared honesty in Quartet about old
age: it stops short of anything too testing or tragic.This is a lot closer to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012) than it is to Amour (2012), and the only final curtain
here is made of heavy, red velvet.”
Robbie
Collins
At Beecham House, a
home for retired musicians, the annual concert to celebrate Verdi's birthday is
disrupted by the arrival of Jean (Maggie Smith), an eternal diva and the former
wife of celebrated tenor Reggie (Tom Courtenay) one of the residents.
The screenplay is by
Ronald Harwood, who adapted it from his play of the same name with the
particular members of the film’s cast in mind.In recent years Harwood has written the screenplays for films as diverse
as The Pianist (2002), Oliver Twist (2005) and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
as well as working on the screenplay for Australia
(2008) but before this he had a distinguished career as a playwright and
novelist.Initially he had intended to
become an actor, and a fascination for the stage and its performers is a
recurring theme in his work: in addition to Quartet
he wrote both the original play and the screenplay for The Dresser (1983) (one of the best plays and films ever written
about the theatre) which starred Tom Courtenay as the general assistant to an
elderly actor, After The Lions, a
play about the French actress Sarah Bernhardt and All the World’s a Stage, a general history of theatre.
The director of the
film is Dustin Hoffman, making his debut as a director at the age of 75.Hoffman received much critical acclaim for
his work on the film.As the late Roger
Ebert noted:
“What’s
... evident is that he loves the stage, loves show business and has a heart
full of affection for these elderly survivors.He also loves his location, here called Beecham House, and scenes are
bridged with many shots of the elegantly landscaped grounds.”
After an
award-winning career on stage and in film which has included, amongst many
other nominations and awards, two Best Actor Oscars and three BAFTAs for Best
Actor, in 2013 Hoffman won the Breakthrough Directing Award at the Hollywood
Film Festival.
