At The Flix with @Timmy666
Greetings from Birmingham (aka Middle Earth) as we round up all the action at the cinema over the next week. Whilst one film is pretty much dominant, there are also a few other things to see too, including a tonne of festive stuff, so let’s get to it.
Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, The (12A)
So here it is. We’ve already got to the last part of the trilogy. I’ve watched the films with a sense of nostalgia, indeed back in the early noughties when my brother and I headed annually for the Lords of the Rings trilogy.
To have had a similar annual format has been one of the joys, and it will be missed for those reasons alone. It has been an adventure, and even with The Hobbit’s faults, I have thoroughly enjoyed it. This final chapter brings it all home – rousing, and action packed – let’s dose on Peter Jackson’s hefty slice of epic and take it to its logical conclusion, or should that be conclusions. Expect magnificent battles, creatures, quips and much more – this is what these films should deliver, and even if there might be several endings, I’ll probably still leave wanting just a bit more!
Tinker Bell And the Legend Of The NeverBeast (U)
The Christmas kids film-roll continues apace with Tinker Bell’s latest adventure about an ancient myth of a fabled creature, The NeverBeat, whose distant roar sparks the curiosity of Tinker Bell’s good friend Fawn. The NeverBeast is not really welcome in Pixie Hollow, and the scout fairies are determined to capture the mysterious beast before it destroys their home. They must rescue the NeverBeast before time runs out.
It’s predecessor was well-received and hopefully will strike the balance so dragged-along adults can feel part of the adventure too.
Elsewhere, at the mac, it is great to find Winter Sleep (15) being shown. This was this year’s Palme d’Or winner from Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan and tells the story of a wealthy, retired actor who runs a small hotel in a remote mountain village in central Anatolia, and the inescapable pressures the isolated landscape puts on his marriage.
There are a couple of classic film offerings showing on Sunday at various locations. Ridley Scott’s sci-fi masterpiece Blade Runner (15) returns to the big screen in its extended 2007 Final Cut version, and as big screen opportunities go, this is an essential one. Also, head over to Highbury Little Theatre in Sutton Coldfield on Sunday at 7.30pm for a showing of Guillermo del Toro’s amazing fantasy horror Pan’s Labyrinth (15), one of my favourite films of 2006.
Christmas film offerings are in abundance, and you’ll find plenty of Frozen singsongs. At Birmingham’s LGBT Centre, you’ll be able to see Joyeux Noël (12A), the 2005 film based on the eponymous football match between the Germans and Allies in Christmas 1914. There’s a showing of It’s a Wonderful Life (U) at Odeon Broadway Plaza on Monday 15th.
There are a couple of film ‘events’ such as The Electric hosting a Christmas wine tasting with wine expert Ian Harvey alongside what they amusingly call the “future Christmas classic” known as Elf You might need quite a lot of tipple to fully appreciate that! Urban Coffee Company are doing an Christmas supper, drink, popcorn and film which is the classic 1947 original The Miracle on 34th Street.
So, there’s plenty to be seeing over the next week. What are you looking forward to? Have I missed something? Let me know at @timmy666 on Twitter.
