Tag: films
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Films Sometimes Take A While
Last year at the London Film Festival, I went to the surprise film. It was Wong Kar Wai’s long awaited new film – The Grandmaster. Well I say, “new”, but actually I was watching it in October, when the film had actually come out in China in January 2013. The film had experienced a somewhat…
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Interstellar
A new Christopher Nolan film is always something to welcome. He’s been on quite a winning streak for a while now. And while I might prefer the original Norwegian Insomnia to his perfectly fine remake, and think that Christopher Priest’s novel of The Prestige is better than the film, I’m actually a fan. Interstellar is…
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Blockbusters and Sleepless In Hollywood
If it feels to you, as it does to me, that there are an ever greater number of superhero and other franchise films clogging up cinemas, then you’d be right. And these two books explain pretty well between them what’s happening in Hollywood and beyond. Indeed, it’s the “beyond” that is really driving this. Blockbusters…
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American Hustle
The new David O Russell film, American Hustle is immensely enjoyable. We’re dropped in at the deep end, with some kind of con or undercover operation going on. And not going well. But we get quickly get into flashback as our narrator and main character Irving Rosenfield (Christian Bale), sets out in a life –…
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Captain Phillips and Saving Mr Banks
Tom Hanks managed to somehow both open and close this year’s London Film Festival with a pair of very different films that I managed to see within twenty four hours of each other. Some film-makers demand to be seen, whatever they do. And Paul Greengrass is one such film-maker. Captain Phillips opened this year’s London…
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The Armstrong Lie
I’ve been watching the Tour de France for as long as I can remember. Back in the eighties, I readily adopted the new sports that Channel 4 brought to air – cycling, NFL, although perhaps not kabbadi. I certainly remember seeing Greg Lemond beat Lauren Fignon in a final stage time trial in 1989, to…
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Northwest and Kon Tiki
The Northwest, or Nordvest, of Copenhagen seems to be rough part of town. Let’s put it this way, you didn’t see much of it in The Killing or Borgen. It’s where the impoverished working class live, with kids falling helplessly into a life of crime. Casper is a young lad who burgles for a living.…
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Nebraska and Pioneer
As the London Film Festival gets into gear, I’ve been trying to catch a few films before heading to Salford and the Radio Festival. Nebraska is the new film from Alexander Payne, whose breakout film was Election, but who has also made About Schmidt, Sideways and The Descendants. I’ve not seen all his work, but…
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Gravity
Wow. I’ve just seen Alfonso Cuarón’s latest film, Gravity, and, well, just… wow! It’s a stunning piece of work, and I was just blown away by it on every level. Fear not – I won’t be spoiling the film in any way, and will say as little about the plot here as I can. Because…