At The Flix with @timmy666
Hello one and all,
I write this week’s Flix just as the announcement of Christopher Lee’s passing has come on the news. Few actors have left such a monumental footprint on cinema from Dracula to Scaramanga. Arguably though it’s his last ten to fifteen years which has seen his impact on cinema reach the commercial stratosphere with the LOTR and Star Wars franchises, and most importantly his contributions to heavy metal. The word ‘legendary’ does him complete justice.
RIP Christopher Lee.
Here’s what’s out this week…
Jurassic World (3D) (12A)
The trailer brings back memories of Jaws 3 or 3D as it was known, where Jaws managed to reap loads of havoc on an maritime based amusement park!
I like that Jurassic World has an amusement park setup again through which a super intelligent dinosaur starts to perform massive acts of dino-terror.
I have got to admit I have never been the biggest fan of the Jurassic Park franchise. This has the potential to be a lot of fun though.
Given it has been a while since JP3, the uplift and significant bite in special effects is noticeable.
That said, as always with these films, it’s often the humans who are the silly ones and I hope that beneath the checklist of obligatory things that have to happen, there’s much fun to be had for kids and adults.
And thankfully it seems, Spielberg’s (who is EP) own footprints are all over it.
The Look of Silence (+Q&A) (15)
Opening in various screens from Friday and followed up on Sunday by a live satellite Q&A, this is Joshua Oppenheimer’s companion piece to his acclaimed documentary, The Act of Killing.
Between 1965 and 1966, an estimated half-a-million people were murdered in Indonesia in one of the worst instances of genocide ever. The killings came as part of an anti-communist purge after a failed coup attempt. 60 years later, the shadow of those murders still looms large over the country, and Joshua Oppenheimer’s film focuses on one family’s determination to find out what happened to their son and brother.
The documentary is produced by director Werner Herzog and veteran docu-director Errol Morris.
London Road (15)
Opening tomorrow at the Everyman, London Road is the big screen version of a musical following the dark true story of five prostitutes who were murdered on an Ipswich street back in 2006)
London Road is about the community living through such an ordeal – emerging from the horrors that had befallen it.
The scriptwriters Rufus Norris (who also directs) and Alecky Blythe have dared to tear conventions up in telling the story of a part of little Britain.
The musical did this and to bring it to the big screen in a mainstream release is in itself a triumph of the musical’s impact and its bravery in dealing with the complexities of prostitution and drug addiction. It is a very political film.
The cast is led by Olivia Colman and Anita Dobson and even features a seven minute musical cameo from Tom Hardy as a taxi driver.
The Damned: Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead (18)
Showing at the Electric in various screenings from Friday is Lemmy filmmaker Wes Orshoski’s profile of legendary punk pioneers The Damned.
The film follows the band over three years celebrating 35th years together, charting the band’s history, infighting and how estranged former members went out on their own anniversary tour, while other former members battled cancer.
Girlhood (15)
Showing at the mac Friday through Monday, Girlhood is Celine Scimma’s third film and something of female-focussed rites of passage drama, a film dealing with universal issues of teenage struggles and triumphs that all cultures can recognise. The film is French, female and black and, this is starkly portrayed but the reviews have indicated there are things that we can all relate to.
Finally, on Sunday, remember to catch Film Food Club’s showing of Midnight in Paris (12A) at the Electric followed by dinner at Hotel du Vin.
That’s it from me this week. Be sure to tweet your comments and queries to me on twitter @timmy666.
More next week.
