Film No. 35. 9th film shown Thurs 26/04/07
Jason Solomons said "A rarity this, a serious golf movie, with another rarity, a cool performance by Kevin Costner playing a washed up pro taking a shot at the big title. there's a purity of narrative as it follows the trajectory of a perfect golf shot. Bizarrely, the story prefigured the real life, self destructive hillbilly hero, John Daly"
Sunday, 29 April 2007
Friday, 6 April 2007
The Swimmer
Film No. 7. 8th film shown Thursday 05/04/07
Lizzie Francke said "Adapted from a John Cheever short story, this is Hollywood at its eccentric best. Burt Lancaster is mesmerising as the middle-class dropout whose nose dive from suburban society precipitates the strangest odyssey. Adorned only in swimming trunks and his startling muscle tone, he pool dips his way across his waspish East Coast neighbourhood and attempts to understand his downfall. Structured episodically, there is an elegant craziness to this satire of sorts, as if it has been dreamt up in vivid Pucci-esque colours after one too many dry Martinis. But it captures the schizophrenic mood of late 1960's America - as one nation burned, another cooled off by the pool".
Lizzie Francke said "Adapted from a John Cheever short story, this is Hollywood at its eccentric best. Burt Lancaster is mesmerising as the middle-class dropout whose nose dive from suburban society precipitates the strangest odyssey. Adorned only in swimming trunks and his startling muscle tone, he pool dips his way across his waspish East Coast neighbourhood and attempts to understand his downfall. Structured episodically, there is an elegant craziness to this satire of sorts, as if it has been dreamt up in vivid Pucci-esque colours after one too many dry Martinis. But it captures the schizophrenic mood of late 1960's America - as one nation burned, another cooled off by the pool".
Sunday, 4 March 2007
The Day The Earth Caught Fire
Film No. 32. 7th film shown Sun 04/03/07.
Jason Solomons said "A brilliant London film, a great journalist movie and a classic example of period sci-fi cinema. Loe McKern is thrilling as the Daily Express writer (it was shot in the paper's old Fleet Street HQ) who has discovered global warming - Val Guest's film seems more prescient every year. Also there's an early cameo from Michael Caine as a policeman ushering crowds out of the city, a scene eerily reflected in Alfonso Cuaron's Children Of Men this year"
Jason Solomons said "A brilliant London film, a great journalist movie and a classic example of period sci-fi cinema. Loe McKern is thrilling as the Daily Express writer (it was shot in the paper's old Fleet Street HQ) who has discovered global warming - Val Guest's film seems more prescient every year. Also there's an early cameo from Michael Caine as a policeman ushering crowds out of the city, a scene eerily reflected in Alfonso Cuaron's Children Of Men this year"
Robin Hood
Film No. 44. 6th film shown Sat 03/03/07.
Jason Solomons said "Never counted among Disney classics, but my favourite because Robin was a cool, Flynn style hero and Marian was, well a fox. Peter Ustinov's spoilt brat King John is pure joy and still one of the best ever voice over performances"
Jason Solomons said "Never counted among Disney classics, but my favourite because Robin was a cool, Flynn style hero and Marian was, well a fox. Peter Ustinov's spoilt brat King John is pure joy and still one of the best ever voice over performances"
Wise Blood
Film no. 43. 5th film shown Mon 26/02/07
Philip French said "Huston's low budget masterpiece adaptation of Flannery O'Connor's 1952 novel about rival fundamentalist preachers in America's Bible Belt"
Philip French said "Huston's low budget masterpiece adaptation of Flannery O'Connor's 1952 novel about rival fundamentalist preachers in America's Bible Belt"
Sunday, 25 February 2007
The Mad Monkey
Film No. 39. 4th film shown Thurs 1st Feb
Mark Kermode said "Despite several Goya Awards this extraordinary adaptation of Christopher Franks book wasrongly trashed by critics in Britain and America. A spine tinglingly twisted take on Peter Pan, this intense psychological thriller boasts a career best performance by Jeff Goldblum. The climactic Paris morgue scene is heartstopping."
Mark Kermode said "Despite several Goya Awards this extraordinary adaptation of Christopher Franks book wasrongly trashed by critics in Britain and America. A spine tinglingly twisted take on Peter Pan, this intense psychological thriller boasts a career best performance by Jeff Goldblum. The climactic Paris morgue scene is heartstopping."
Sunday, 11 February 2007
Less Than Zero / Breathless
2nd & 3rd films shown Sat 27th Jan 2007
Film No. 33 Less Than Zero. Nick Love said "An example of an over-rated book being beaten by the film version. When researching my Eighties set film The Business it brought back all the neon lighting, the fashions and the emptiness of the era. It Has this amazing sadness and helplessness to it and at it's heart there's a career defining performance from Robert Downey Jr. It prefigures all that twitty teen stuff on Beverley Hills 90210 and the weedy OC"
Film No. 31 Breathless. Mark Kermode said "Critics howled at the blasphemy of Hollywood remaking Godard's A bout de souffle as a racy erotic thriller, but Jim McBride's joyous crime against cineacademia is a rip roaring rock n roll ride. Terrific location work makes this one of the best LA movies of the eighties, while a finger popping soundtrack jitterbugs between Jerry Lee, Link Wray and The Pretenders. Richard Gere looks great in ridiculous checked trousers, and even better out of them. Memorable scenes include Dick shagging a shower to pieces to the naked strains of Elvis Presley's Suspicious Minds"
Film No. 33 Less Than Zero. Nick Love said "An example of an over-rated book being beaten by the film version. When researching my Eighties set film The Business it brought back all the neon lighting, the fashions and the emptiness of the era. It Has this amazing sadness and helplessness to it and at it's heart there's a career defining performance from Robert Downey Jr. It prefigures all that twitty teen stuff on Beverley Hills 90210 and the weedy OC"
Film No. 31 Breathless. Mark Kermode said "Critics howled at the blasphemy of Hollywood remaking Godard's A bout de souffle as a racy erotic thriller, but Jim McBride's joyous crime against cineacademia is a rip roaring rock n roll ride. Terrific location work makes this one of the best LA movies of the eighties, while a finger popping soundtrack jitterbugs between Jerry Lee, Link Wray and The Pretenders. Richard Gere looks great in ridiculous checked trousers, and even better out of them. Memorable scenes include Dick shagging a shower to pieces to the naked strains of Elvis Presley's Suspicious Minds"
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