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Post by councilchild on Sept 12, 2014 9:02:29 GMT
last film i watched was a Blemish punk film called 'Ex Drummer' Dir Koen Mortier, centred around a disabled punk band and Its the most socially/politically incorrect films I have ever seen!! If you don't get offended by extreme cinema then please do watch it..
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Post by GR on Sept 14, 2014 21:47:10 GMT
All Is Lost -- watched last night on one of the Epix channels. An oddly compelling piece of minimalist storytelling, thanks in large part to Robert Redford's performance (as an old man alone at sea, trying to survive over the course of a week after he finds a hole in his boat).
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Post by jill on Sept 15, 2014 8:13:55 GMT
Pride Thought this was great! The story of the London based gay and lesbian support group that linked to a South Wales mining community during the miner's strike. An inspiring story about solidarity across boundaries. It's a populist film, made for a mainstream audience, which explores the politics, but mainly foregrounds the human element/story. More Full Monty than Ken Loach. This might not satisfy everyone, but I thought it was really well done-great script, strong characters. Paddy Considine's excellent and-another Meadows connection-Joe Gilgun also puts in a good performance. Really enjoyed it-brought a lump to my throat at the end. See it. Nice write up here-the documentary All Out, Dancing in Dulais, embedded in the article is well worth a watch too. www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/31/pride-film-gay-activists-miners-strike-interview?commentpage=2
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Post by Bill Edwards on Sept 16, 2014 19:41:12 GMT
Pride
Yes as Jill says this a really good film. It falls short of being great in my tiny opinion due to, as Jill hints at, its similarity to films such as The Full Monty, Brassed Off and Billy Elliot. While these are good films, and I enjoyed them at the time, they're not really to my own taste due to the forced comedy, manipulative sentimentality and the caricatured characters. Those films have a rather ephemeral, snack food quality for me. Again that's just my tastes. I would've preferred it to have been closer in style to Loach, Meadows or Clarke where the comedy just comes naturally out of general circumstance as does the tragedy. The amazing story deserved less frivolity and the very real people kind of got turned into nameless ciphers. Sez me.
Saying that though the cast is excellent and really so is the script which is very witty in places. Gilgan and Considine are ace. More importantly for me though it was incredibly educational. I was only vaguely aware of this event of our recent history and had never given it due and proper attention. What I didn't know and what the film revealed was that it led directly to the Labour Party including gay and lesbian equal rights in its manifesto due to the unions block voting it in as a way to say thanks for the support. A crucial stepping stone that's made my life a lot easier than it could've otherwise have been.
So I'm waffling on about Pride because despite the flaws, in my eyes, it's a very enjoyable film and really funny in places. And yes, it might make you do blubs too.
Oh and the soundtrack is fucking brilliant!
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Post by jill on Sept 16, 2014 21:55:04 GMT
Pride It falls short of being great in my tiny opinion due to, as Jill hints at, its similarity to films such as The Full Monty, Brassed Off and Billy Elliot. While these are good films, and I enjoyed them at the time, they're not really to my own taste due to the forced comedy, manipulative sentimentality and the caricatured characters. Those films have a rather ephemeral, snack food quality for me. Again that's just my tastes. I would've preferred it to have been closer in style to Loach, Meadows or Clarke where the comedy just comes naturally out of general circumstance as does the tragedy. The amazing story deserved less frivolity and the very real people kind of got turned into nameless ciphers. Sez me. I wouldn't necessarily disagree with what you say, although I liked the Full Monty when it came out and I still do-ha ha. It could have been a very different film and that film could have been and might well have been totally brilliant. I suppose it comes down to a decision on how to pitch it and to who, with an eye firmly fixed on the box office no doubt. Having made that decision, I thought they did a splendid job. The politics is subtle, by which I mean downplayed, becoming more overt towards the end, as you point out. Interestingly, there's a grumpy review in that famous champion of solidarity and the labour movement The Economist which I won't post, that starts off describing the film as 'one of the most militantly political films of recent history', which when you've struggled through all the sour waffle, turns out to be on account of its endorsement of the labour movement. Anyway, for anybody who's thinking about going to see it, here's a lovely review from Mark Kermode: www.theguardian.com/film/2014/sep/14/pride-film-review-mark-kermode-power-in-unlikely-union
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Post by Bill Edwards on Sept 17, 2014 12:02:28 GMT
Pride It falls short of being great in my tiny opinion due to, as Jill hints at, its similarity to films such as The Full Monty, Brassed Off and Billy Elliot. While these are good films, and I enjoyed them at the time, they're not really to my own taste due to the forced comedy, manipulative sentimentality and the caricatured characters. Those films have a rather ephemeral, snack food quality for me. Again that's just my tastes. I would've preferred it to have been closer in style to Loach, Meadows or Clarke where the comedy just comes naturally out of general circumstance as does the tragedy. The amazing story deserved less frivolity and the very real people kind of got turned into nameless ciphers. Sez me. I wouldn't necessarily disagree with what you say, although I liked the Full Monty when it came out and I still do-ha ha. It could have been a very different film and that film could have been and might well have been totally brilliant. I suppose it comes down to a decision on how to pitch it and to who, with an eye firmly fixed on the box office no doubt. Having made that decision, I thought they did a splendid job. The politics is subtle, by which I mean downplayed, becoming more overt towards the end, as you point out. Interestingly, there's a grumpy review in that famous champion of solidarity and the labour movement The Economist which I won't post, that starts off describing the film as 'one of the most militantly political films of recent history', which when you've struggled through all the sour waffle, turns out to be on account of its endorsement of the labour movement. Anyway, for anybody who's thinking about going to see it, here's a lovely review from Mark Kermode: www.theguardian.com/film/2014/sep/14/pride-film-review-mark-kermode-power-in-unlikely-unionYes Pride has very much been constructed to achieve broad appeal and it deserves to be a massive success. I'm griping but I would've preferred it to have been less candy coloured and more gritty. I have both The Full Monty and Brassed Off on DVD as I loved them at the time. Yet when I think about watching them now a vast chasm appears between me and those films. After being blown away by the realism of DMS the doors that that film opened up to me and, Jill, your own educating of me about what great social realist work is out there; films like The Full Monty seem manipulative, mechanical and lifeless now. Yes the reviews have been very interesting. The Mirror slates it yet The Currant Bun and The Daily Wail love it! Oh the staggering twisted irony.
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Post by thegooddoctor on Sept 22, 2014 18:15:21 GMT
Slightly off-topic, but a quick heads-up about the BBC film "Marvellous" due to be broadcast on BBC2 at 9pm this Thursday (25th September). I haven't been lucky enough to get to one of the preview screenings, but people I know who have tell me it more than lives up to its billing. It features things very dear to me - Stoke City, Keele University, the Potteries - and its been widely tipped to scoop a bunch of BAFTAs, not least Toby Jones in the lead role. Guardian taster here: www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/sep/21/toby-jones-marvellous-neil-baldwin
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Post by jill on Sept 25, 2014 21:58:11 GMT
Slightly off-topic, but a quick heads-up about the BBC film "Marvellous" due to be broadcast on BBC2 at 9pm this Thursday (25th September). I haven't been lucky enough to get to one of the preview screenings, but people I know who have tell me it more than lives up to its billing. It features things very dear to me - Stoke City, Keele University, the Potteries - and its been widely tipped to scoop a bunch of BAFTAs, not least Toby Jones in the lead role. Guardian taster here: www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/sep/21/toby-jones-marvellous-neil-baldwinThat was great When were you at Keele? I was there 1995-2000, which overlaps with Macari's time at Stoke. Nice to see the campus again-some good memories. Alas, I don't remember Nello though My friend Debbie played for the Keele football team during that time (hey, she was really good). Must email her and see if she remembers him.
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Post by thegooddoctor on Sept 28, 2014 7:07:49 GMT
I was a student at Keele 1993-1997, and then later as an on-off lecturer between 2006-2010. I did see Nello around quite a few times but I already knew him from his connection with Stoke City. I played in a six-a-side league at Keele for a few years in the late 90s and Nello would sometimes turn up to watch. Lou Macari actually had two spells with the club: the first (glorious!) one where he got us promoted before eventually leaving to manage Celtic (which you see in the film), and then the second a short time later after Celtic sacked him for never turning up. He almost got us into the Premier League but quit again in 1997....this time to concentrate on suing Celtic for wrongful dismissal. Good old Lou Thought the film was great, too. Really nicely done. Proper Potteries accents to boot!
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Post by jill on Nov 5, 2014 22:14:23 GMT
Northern Soul Saw this a few weeks back. Wanted to see it again before posting (this must be record time from cinema screens to out on DVD?) Been wanting to see this for about 3 years. Incredible how the buzz built up around the film in the interim. I had to go to Sheffield to see it-all showings sold out everywhere in the E. Mids. First time around, I liked it-or liked bits of it. Great soundtrack, got the 70s feel and look spot on. Steve Coogan was great There really was a time when teachers called kids cretins and told them they'd never amount to anything without being sacked. Always great when a cinema audience loves a film so much (a lot of smart, middle-aged people, laughing at John buzzing is box off and dancing in the aisles at the end). Nostalgia apart, I wasn't sure about it as a film. Tons better than Soul Boy, which was feel good, enjoyable enough, but didn't say anything about the Northern Soul scene. I initially thought this film had gone too far in the other direction-overdoing it in building the entire storyline around the drugs culture (and, inevitably, the dork boy cum cool soul boy who gets the girl). On a second watch though, I changed my mind. The storyline was a lot more coherent and-yes-realistic than I thought on first view. Not dazzling, but does a pretty good job packing a lot into 90 minutes and gets the balance just about right between a celebration of the music and the scene and the narrative on the downward spiral of friendship, with a predictably, but not overly sentimental resolution. Thought the two young lads in the lead roles were great. A Meadows connection too-nice performance from Emily Ashton. How much you will enjoy it depends entirely on how old you were in the 70s, how much you like the music, or both-it's that kind of film. 7/10 from me
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Post by thegooddoctor on Nov 6, 2014 1:52:01 GMT
Saw '71 on a flight back from the States a couple of days ago. Thought it was fantastic, and (Meadows-connection alert!) a fantastic performance from Jack O'Connell who is really fulfilling his early promise and shaping up as a fine actor. Sean Harris is his usual persuasively 'orrible self - he might get typecast as a nasty bastard but, by Christ, no-one does it better than he does. You'd have to ask someone who lived in Belfast in the 70s and 80s how accurate it is, but it was exactly how I imagined the city from growing up and seeing grim news footage on the telly all the time. Just this awful labyrinth of violence and horror...
I haven't seen Northern Soul yet, but Soul Boy was real let down for all sorts of reasons - and this coming from someone who could watch Felicity Jones all day long. That film's nadir was when a bunch of characters miss their bus and casually walk back home to Stoke after a night out....in WIGAN!! Oh dear...
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Post by jill on Nov 7, 2014 15:34:35 GMT
Saw '71 on a flight back from the States a couple of days ago. Thought it was fantastic I haven't seen Northern Soul yet, but Soul Boy was real let down for all sorts of reasons - and this coming from someone who could watch Felicity Jones all day long. That film's nadir was when a bunch of characters miss their bus and casually walk back home to Stoke after a night out....in WIGAN!! Oh dear... I have been hearing really good things about 71. Missed it when it first came out, but still hoping I'll catch it on the big screen. That would be some walk!!! Soul Boy was OK, but soundtrack apart (I love Turn to Stone, though N/S purists would be a bit sniffy about that even-it made the charts, terrible ) it was just fluff. Trip to the States? Excellent. Job interview? Hope so.
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Post by thegooddoctor on Nov 7, 2014 16:32:20 GMT
Yeah, "fluff" is about right. A waste of a half-decent cast too. I take the production of "Northern Soul" so soon after as a sign that the industry knew it was an opportunity missed and a slice of cultural history still worth representing on the big screen. Not an interview, sadly; I won a holiday to Florida in a competition. So, not so sad really
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Post by jill on Nov 7, 2014 16:41:12 GMT
That's brilliant. I never win anything. Hope you got to go to at least one water park Yes, I'm a big Martin Compston fan (thought he nailed the Stokie accent). Would like to see him in a Meadows film, though maybe he's throwing his hat in for the SNP leadership now
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Post by thegooddoctor on Nov 8, 2014 11:11:31 GMT
That's brilliant. I never win anything. Hope you got to go to at least one water park Of course! Nothing quite like being the wrong side of 40 and spending a day running around a massive water park behaving like a demented 10-year old. No Inbetweeners 2-style poo catastrophes either
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