May Movie

30th May 7.00pm

Marnie

Dir: Alfred Hitchcock                  USA                1964

88  mins              

Starring:  Tippi Hedren, Sean Connery, Diane Baker        

Language: English

Rumours abounded that Grace Kelly would be making a comeback before this adaptation of Winston Graham’s novel went into production.  Her icy aloofness would have been perfect for the tale of kleptomania, frigidity, fetishism and suppressed anxiety, and Tippi Hedren was considered no substitute by contemporary critics.  Hindsight has established this as on of Hitchcock’s most fascinating “misfires”.  Some of the conspicuously artificial set design and the back projection may not suit all tastes, but watch for Robert Burke’s suave colour photography and the mental duel between a man (Sean Connery) turned on by crime and a woman who steals to forget.

(Radio Times guide to Films 2013)

“This remains a compelling Hitchcock thriller but it’s Tippi Hedron’s remarkable central performance which steals the show.”

(Kim Newman, Empire Magazine)

“Universally despised on its first release, Marnie (1964) remains one of Alfred Hitchcock’s greatest and darkest achievements. Tippi Hedren, in a performance based on a naked, anxious vulnerability, is a compulsive thief; Sean Connery is the neurotically motivated southern gentleman who catches her in the act and blackmails her into marriage. The examination of sexual power plays surpasses Fassbinder’s films, which Marnie thematically resembles, going beyond a simple dichotomy of strength and weakness into a dense, shifting field of masochism, class antagonism, religious transgression, and the collective unconscious. The mise-en-scene tends toward a painterly abstraction, as Hitchcock employs powerful masses, blank colors, and studiously unreal, spatially distorted settings”

(Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader)

 

April Movie

25th April 7.00pm

Children of Heaven

Dir: Majid Majidi   Iran                1997

88  mins              

Starring:  Mohammad Amir Naji, Amir Farrokh Hashemian, Bahare Seddiqi          

Language: Farsi with english subtitles

This delightful comedy from Majid Majidi, a key member of the younger generation of Iranian film-makers, proved something of a favourite on the festival circuit.  Like The White Balloon and The Apple, it confirms the Iranian industry’s genius for movies about children, with Mohammad Amir Naji and Mir Farrokh Hashemian wondrously natural as the impoverished siblings who try to disguise the loss of the latter’s shoes by sharing a pair for school.  This enchants as much as it entertains. (Radio Times Guide to Films 2013)

“Children of Heaven” is about a home without unhappiness. About a brother and sister who love one another, instead of fighting. About situations any child can identify with. In this film from Iran, I found a sweetness and innocence that shames the land of Mutant Turtles, Power Rangers and violent video games. Why do we teach our kids to see through things, before they even learn to see them?”

(Robert Ebert, Chicago Sun Times)

“The performances from Amir Forrikh Hashemian and Bahare Seddiqi as Ali and Zahra are wonderful: Seddiqi sweetly thoughtful and loving, Ali tremulously bright and sensitive, habitually on the verge of tears. This is a pellucid and gentle film, made with the simplicity and grace of a children’s tale and yet its humour, emotional clarity and directness speak directly to adults and children alike – and the pre-teen principals shoulder an adult burden of performance. It is a film whose images and scenes – particularly the running race Ali finally enters to win a new pair of trainers – linger in the mind.”

(Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian)

March Movie

28th March 7.00pm

The Crying Game

Dir: Neil Jordan    Ireland                1992

112  mins              

Starring:  Stephen Rea, Jaye Davidson, Forest Whitaker          

Language: English

A British soldier is kidnapped by IRA terrorists. He befriends one of his captors, who is drawn into the soldier’s world.

“What elevates this little gem of a movie into a different dimension is that he does it with the twin taboos of Northern Ireland and adult sexuality and he does it with the aid of Stephen Rea, a great Irish stage actor blessed with a quite extraordinary sense of grief about everything he does. “I’m not good for much,” sighs Rea, as the full, desperate nature of his sorry plight takes hold, and, like so much about The Crying Game, it really is enough to break the hardest of hearts”

(Barry McIlheney, Empire Magazine)

“Neil Jordan first came to view as the writer-director of “Mona Lisa” (1987), with Bob Hoskins as the chauffeur who has a love-hate relationship with a prostitute (Cathy Tyson). His films since then have been widely varied, from the odd supernatural comedy “High Spirits” to last year’s winsome fable “The Miracle,” which many liked more than I did. Now comes “The Crying Game,” one of a very few films that wants to do something unexpected and challenging, and succeeds even beyond its ambitions. See this film. Then shut up about it.”

(Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times)

 

February Movie

28th February 7.00pm

Radio Days

Dir: Woody Allen    USA                1987

88  mins              

Starring:  Mia Farrow, Dianne Weist, Mike Starr            

Language: English

A nostalgic look at radio’s golden age focusing on one ordinary family and the various performers in the medium.

“Naturally, the proceedings are bathed in rose-tinted nostalgia. But Allen could still highlight the transience of celebrity and the triviality of much of the radio output in exploring the extent to which the medium dominated people’s lives. Fondly lampooning the quizzes, soaps, sportscasts, comedy hours, news bulletins and kids shows of the period, he showed how the grown-ups took ephemera like Roger and Irene’s tittle-tattle as seriously as Joe treated the Masked Avenger and Biff Baxter. Moreover, he also highlighted the popularity of novelty tunes rather than the hits from the American Songbook that usually punctuated his soundtracks.”

(David Parkinson, Empire Magazine)

January Movie

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!

31st January 7.00pm

If a Tree Falls

Dir: Marshall Curry, Sam Cullman     USA                2011

85  mins              

Starring: Lisa McGowan, Tim Lewis, Kirk Engdall             

Language: English

A rare behind-the-curtain look at the Earth Liberation Front, the radical environmental group that the FBI calls America’s ‘number one domestic terrorist threat.’

“But Daniel did achieve a certain level of dignity in standing by his convictions. Ultimately he came across as a gentle soul, who made serious mistakes when he was young.

Is it right to brand this man a terrorist?

This documentary did not answer the question, what it did do is raise a whole lot more and in the best way, to make you have a long, hard think.”

(Louise Gray, The Telegraph)

“Curry and co-editor Matthew Hamachek assemble the wide-ranging material into an informative, compelling story line..”

(Justin Lowe, The Hollywood Reporter”)

Best Movies of 2012.

Hi everybody.

Empire Magazine have recently posted their Top 20 Movies of 2012.

Have a look and let us know what you think.

Empire’s Best Films Of 2012 The Empire staff choose their top 20 of the year – is your favourite on the list? Click here

December Movie!

20th December 7.00pm

Mr.Smith Goes to Washington

Dir: Frank Capra      USA                1939

129  mins              

Starring: James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold                 

Language: English

A naive man is appointed to fill a vacancy in the US Senate. His plans promptly collide with political corruption, but he doesn’t back down.

“Cast for the hesitant naivete that distinguished him from Gary Cooper’s folksy decency, Stewart’s passage from idealism to harsh-won wisdom was not only credible, but also deeply moving, as he made superb use of both his beanpole vulnerability and his stuttering, initially poorly pitched delivery style to win over the sceptics in both the body and gallery of the meticulously recreated Senate Chamber.”

(David Parkinson, Empire Magazine)

“There’s tremendous dramatic impact threaded throughout the picture, interwoven with those deft human episodes which have become familiar with Capra’s direction in previous pictures. He keys the motivation of his basic premise without wasting time, and then carries it through vigorously.”

(Variety Staff, Variety Magazine)