Tag: films
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Past Lives
I was making a list recently of all the new-ish films that I needed to catch up on. I was also trying to work out which film was on what streaming service. Past Lives was a problem, because it didn’t seem to be in any of the usual places (Mubi, BFI Player), but in Fopp…
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Everything Not Everywhere on Home Media
Yesterday, the 2023 Oscar nominations were announced, and the film with the most nominations was Everything Everywhere All at Once with 11 nominations including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress (x2) and Best Supporting Actor. I know I’m banging a bit of a drum on this subject, but why on earth can’t…
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Notes from the London Film Festival #2
The festival is over for another year, and I thought that I should conclude my notes about the films I saw this year’s festival. I’ve got to say that I’ve been lucky and there wasn’t a duff film amongst them. I came away very satisfied with all the films I saw, even those that were…
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Notes from the London Film Festival #1
It’s that time of year again, and I’ve bought a selection of tickets to London Film Festival titles. For the most part, I’ve avoided films that are going to get a decent-sized release in the near future, and I’ve also avoided titles that are definitely going to streaming – in the main because I’ll be…
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The Future of Cinema
Sometimes, when you experience shabby service, you just have to call it out. And as someone who loves to see films in a cinema, that’s what I’m doing here. But first some backstory. Where Cinema is in 2022 The global pandemic has hastened something that had already been happening prior to the start of 2020…
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Finding a New Movie Studio
This morning came news that the UK, and London in particular is going to be home of a new film studio. Specifically, Blackstone Real Estate and Hudson Pacific Properties have found a spot 17 miles north of London in Broxbourne to site their new studio facilities that they claim will see £700m invested, and bring…
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Rebecca
Netflix has a new adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca on the service. While this isn’t a review of that film, I can say that it’s probably just “OK” rather than anything special. And that’s a shame because I’m an enormous fan of director Ben Wheatley, and he has a decent cast – with a…
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Vitti and Antonioni
Over the last week or so, I’ve been watching or rewatching the loose trilogy of black and white films that Michelangelo Antonioni made with the actress Monica Vitti released between 1960 and 1962. Each was made in black and white, and each took a profoundly moderning – and sometimes disparing look at the new world.…
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Getting By Without Cinemas
I go to the cinema a fair amount, and I suspect from the film industry’s perspective, I’m in the top 10 per cent or higher in my frequency of going. I see a film at the cinema probably every fortnight on average – especially during Oscar season, when we’re deluged with quality films at a…
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Final Thoughts on the 2019 London Film Festival
Every year for the London Film Festival, I either see a whole load of films, or I basically don’t see any at all. This year was in the former category, but even then, I only managed 11 films – although that feels like a lot. Especially if you see three films on a single day.…
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LFF: The Irishman
I saw The Irishman at one of the satellite screenings that the BFI has tended to organise for the closing film. I didn’t come up lucky in either of the draws for the opening or closing films – perhaps because the Odeon Leicester Square – or Luxe – is now so luxury, that there are far fewer seats than…
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LFF: La Belle Epoque
La Belle Epoque is a high-concept romantic comedy with a top-notch cast. Daniel Auteil is Victor, an aging cartoonist who’s newspaper has gone online only and no longer needs him. As a result, he feels lost and left behind. His wife Marianne (Fanny Ardant) is trying to keep up. She’s a psychiatrist who gets excited by the digital possibilities of things…