At the Flix with @Timmy666
Hello cinema-goers.
So from last week’s offerings, did you survive White House Down Did Rush actually rush you off your feet? It would be great to get your comments here on Birmingham Faves.
It’s a packed week of stuff happening at the flix, so clapper boards at the ready, here are the highlights delivered in a tightly edited style that Roger Corman would hopefully be proud of.
Dark Horse comic fans should be in for something represents R.I.P.D’s universe and with Jeff Bridges, Ryan Reynolds and Six Degrees of mobile phone wielding Kevin Bacon present, you’d expect some fun too? Or would you. So many comic book adaptations this year (and of recent years) have failed to live up their original source material. Will it be case of ‘go see’ or ‘R.I.P’?
…. Or maybe don’t bother calling?! This for me, all depends on which level of Halle Berry flick this is? When it’s good, it’s Monster’s Ball, when it’s bad, it’s Catwoman or Gothika! ? Halle Berry plays an experienced 911 operator who makes an error of judgement and questions her future before being called upon to help an abducted teenager. Deeply engaging or deeply dippy? Intelligent or inept? Well, which way do you think it’s going to go?
When the usually very fair Total Film is giving it the one-star treatment, you know something isn’t right. Diana focuses on the last two years of her life and a love affair with a heart surgeon. I have to question what Naomi Watts is doing in this. Diana is so close to the national consciousness that doing something like this is going to touch the nerve of so many people. So, you’re on a bit of a mission to do something which is going to be a great film when it is wrapped up the legacy of who she was and how she died. It is also hard to reserve judgement when one-star reviews were on the front pages of many newspapers the day after the premiere! And maybe that’s the problem, the trailer looks sentimental, reverential and a bit TV movie meets Mills and Boon. It doesn’t look like a director or lead is prepared to go down any kind of dark path. Consequently, source material would truly need to be stirring and equally matched by a quality script to make it worthwhile. I shouldn’t judge before seeing it but ….
One Direction: This is Us – Extended Fan Cut (PG)
This is obviously for the 1D fans out there. Go on, I’d love any of the Birmingham Favourites readers to admit you are a 1D fan? Morgan (Super Size Me) Spurlock is directing, so it’ll be honest and impactful, erm, in a kind of Simon Cowell production company kind of way.
If you’re looking for a Sundance-festival endorsed film, check this out at the Electric (on until the 22nd September), a coming-of-age comedy about three teenage friends – who decide to spend their summer building a house in the woods and living off the land. One by one they realise that family is something you can’t without.
Shane Carruth’s first film, Primer was a hugely ambitious and crazy film which gripped my brain (as much as I could keep up). If his second feature, the horror feature, Upstream Colour is anything like as confident and strategy as his film film, you’re in for a treat! The film is showing at The Electric from Saturday 21th until Monday 23rd September.
On for the next week at mac Birmingham, this Italian film (La grande bellezza) from director Paolo Sorrentino is a stylish drama of an aging writer who recollects his passionate, lost youth. Sorrentino’s films are nothing if not a visual feast. Reviews have been uniformly very positive so most definitely one to check out this week.
Finally, for fans of Audrey (who isn’t?), be sure to check a special showing of Roman Holiday at the Electric at 11am on Saturday morning. Still her finest performance in my opinion.
So, it’s one direction to the multiplex for 1D fans, and for me, I’ll be heading in another direction to the Electric for Upstream Colour! :).
Signing out ’till next week, cinema goers!
By Tim Wilson. Creative Action Man, Head Boffin at IndieLove, Drummer and Coffee Drinker. Follow at @timmy666
