Ben-Hur

 

Courtesy of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

Being produced, filmed and released towards the end of Hollywood’s golden age, Ben-Hur was an MGM studio film of epic proportions. The film took nearly 9 months to shoot on the biggest studio in Europe, Cinecittà in Rome, used over 10,000 extras and over 2,000 horses. The film was nominated for countless awards, winning 11 Oscars, including Best Picture and is stapled in people’s mind for the myths surrounding on set deaths, as well as the sight of a caravan in the infamous chariot race scene.

Full review is over at Filmhounds.

Mean Streets

 

Martin Scorsese has been known for his gangster films, as well as a foray into other genres, but his third film, Mean Streets was the one that pushed him into the spotlight. A gangster film about violence, crime and fraught friendship, Mean Streets not only showcased Scorsese's talent, this was Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro's first appearance together in a film, as well as the first in a long line of films, the latter worked on with the director. It could be said that Mean Streets was the start of something special.

Following a group of 20-somethings as they each try to make a name for themselves in New York city, going from small time criminals to aspiring gangsters. Charlie, trying his best to avoid crime but working for his mafia boss uncle, dreams of opening his own restaurant. Along with Tony, who runs the local bar and Michael, a loan shark who runs small dodgy deals, Charlie spends his time cleaning up the messes of his sometimes friend, Johnny Boy, a petty thug who rips off loan sharks for a living. But sooner or later, Johnny Boy's bad habits will catch up with him.

Full review over at Filmhounds HERE.

BFI Film on Film Festival

 

BFI is bringing real film back to the big screen this summer, this time in the form of a festival celebrating film solely on celluloid. Just like listening to music on vinyl, watching film projected offers an entirely different look, sound and emotional impact. The festival was designed to create a unique cinema experience enabling the audience to enjoy film in all its glory. 

Full post over at Filmhounds HERE.

BFI Film on Film Festival is at BFI Southbank from 8-11 June www.bfi.org.uk/film-on-film

London Comedy Film Festival (LOCO)

 

The world’s largest festival of funny cinema is back! LOCO has been going strong for over a decade and with this year sees new Festival Director and Artistic Director, Anna Wetherell and Benedict Morrison taking up the reins, the festival promise to deliver something special. With new and classic comedies, features and shorts all to be screened in the heart of East London, Hackney Picturehouse.  

Full preview HERE.

London Comedy Film Festival 2023 (LOCO) will take place at Hackney Picturehouse from 11-14 May 2023

It's Not a Wonderful Life

Looking over past posts, particularly Christmas themed ones, I came across something I wrote about the Christmas favourite, It’s a Wonderful Life. For some reason I waited years to watch it and when I needed films for my blindspot list, I decided now (then) was the time. But this was not the film I thought it was going to be.

From the minute George is introduced, he has ambition, he wants more from life and definitely more from the town of Bedford Falls. Each time George agrees to stay behind and stay chained to the town his eyes grow dimmer and by the time George has a family and business to cope with and he’s literally lost the will to live, the fight has left him. You can see the flicker of hope disappear from his face. All his life George just wanted to leave the town and when everyone stopped him, he wanted to leave this mortal coil but he wasn’t even allowed to do that! This isn’t the heart-warming story it’s been portrayed as. It’s a nightmare.

As someone who really does love Christmas but I may have lost a bit of spark on some years due to loss, I still find joy in the season (not the holiday). I have my own traditions I like to keep to, which usually involves decorating on 1st December, making biscuits, watching my list of Christmas films, buy presents in November, that sort of thing, as well as my family and friends’ traditions. I do love Christmas but, I cannot bear the thought of It’s a Wonderful Life as it fills me with sadness. I’d much rather watch the Moonlighting episode ‘It’s a Wonderful Job’.

I always saw Frank Capra's classic as a beacon of hope and Christmas cheer and that's how it was sold to me. Of course, as I got older, still never having seen it, I read that George, our hero, goes through a 'Christmas Carol' type deal but just with the future part, where he sees what lives would be like if he hadn't been born. The fact that George was about to kill himself by jumping off a bridge only having to jump in any way to save an old man, his guardian angel, puts a downer on the whole story. George is pushed to his limit when he steps up to that bridge, having had to miss out on countless chances to escape his hometown, where I'm sure he would be far happier. He is always making sacrifices and always 'doing the right thing' for everyone else, it's no surprise he ends up on that bridge. He's meant to be saving his town, friends and family from the evil Mr Potter but how has it come to be George's problem? The visit to 'Pottersville' just mounts more pressure on George than ever. Seeing that yes, he may have saved people, or changed people's lives, but I still can't shake the fact that it is all at the expense of George's real happiness. What I would have liked to see is what if George HAD got to live his dream, what would have his life been like?

Maybe there is an alternate universe where George escaped Bedford Falls, left his brother and uncle to take over the business and he ran off into the sunset. Maybe even with Mary. But if he had done that, there wouldn’t have been a film.

Boulevard! A Hollywood Story - BFI Flare

 

Sunset Boulevard was one of the stories that Hollywood told about itself, not hiding the fact about how difficult it was to make it in the business and how it was when you were no longer in the spotlight. Gloria Swanson was perfectly cast as the forgotten film star, Norma Desmond, who falls in love with the younger screenwriter Joe who she hires to edit the script for the film that would be her return. The role was also very much close home for Swanson for she had been a famous silent film star and had seen roles dry up over the years as she aged. Sunset Boulevard should have been her grand come back. But after the release, the roles just weren’t there. In another part of town, actor Richard Stapley had had enough with bit parts and along with his partner Dickie Hughes, had started work on a musical. Thinking Swanson would be perfect they reached out to her but instead of wanting to do something new, she proposed a musical version of Sunset Boulevard.

Full review is on Filmhounds HERE.

The Craft Legacy

 

Spending too much time trying to tick all the progressive boxes, The Craft Legacy woefully misses the mark in what a sequel needs to follow a cult classic. This is such a shame as the first half had potential and lost its way completely by the end. 

 

Full review over at Filmhounds HERE.

They Came From Beyond Space

When a strange formation of meteors crash land on a farm in Cornwall, top scientists form a team to investigate. Dr Curtis Temple, highly regarded in his field of expertise, exterritorial life, is unable to join the team as he is still recovering an accident that left him with a silver plate in his head. At the meteor site the team of scientists have their bodies and minds taken over by aliens through strange lights and sounds. As the aliens begin to take over the people in the local area as well as infect several other with a mysterious red plague, Temple discovers the meteors came from the Moon. He attempts to try and find out what exactly is going on and what the aliens want with Earth.

All I can say is, thank god for Arnold Gray.

 

Full review over at Filmhounds HERE.

 

Neo Noir: Marnie

 

SNAPSHOT POST

Hitchcock's suspenseful sex thriller, as the poster for the film calls it, is borderline insane as its premise is ridiculous, on paper. On screen however, Tippi's Marnie is both a cold hearted thief and vulnerable woman suppressing childhood trauma that rears its head at the most difficult of times. On the surface the cruelty Marnie suffers is a punishment for crimes but really this is a exploration into her mind. Not as deep a dive as it could go but still a worthy Hitchcock classic that is mostly pushed aside in flavour of his other films. The double side to this film is connected to Tippi Hedren herself who only did the film because she contracted to due to the abuse she received from Hitchcock. This could be the real breakdown we witness from that stress. But that might reading too far into it.

 

For more #noirvember & #NeoNoir follow @little_sister_filmnoir

 

Noirvember: The Bigamist

 

Film noir usually follows similar plot points and usually involves crime, murder, theft, kidnapping, police corruption and sometimes but not always, a femme fatale. But The Bigamist doesn’t quite follow these rules, except for the crime part to an extent. It is indeed illegal to be married to more than one person at a time (not including polygamists) which is the crime our protagonist, Harry Graham, is guilty of. But his double life and double marriages are not committed out of spite or resentment. He loves his wife but he also wanted to do the right thing when he got another woman pregnant, so married her too. This is one of the tamest films in the genre.

 

It could be easy to say that Ida Lupino’s Phyllis is the femme fatale of the piece but she never leads Harry on, never takes advantage or convinces him to do anything. She is understanding and diplomatic. Even Harry’s wife Eve isn’t the revenge taking person and its hinted that maybe she forgives him for his actions. There is little danger but immense devastation as three lives are ruined, four if you include the child. The fact that Eve cannot have children and Harry gets Phyllis pregnant after a one-night stand, just makes the entire situation heart-breaking. Cruel fates steps in at just the wrong time, which could be seen as an element of any film noir.

 

Ida Lupino both stared in and directed this film noir classic, which has been cited as of the first American feature films where an actress has directed herself. She also rounds up the cast with the likes of Joan Fontaine, her near opposite in the story and Edmond O’Brian as the man who just wanted to do the right thing. Each charismatic in their own way but here, they are subdued into a strange trance where all the characters in the story are actually decent people. There is barely a flash of violence or revenge or even anger. The placid feeling throughout does make the film uneasy to watch as nothing major really takes place, just the discovery of Harry’s double life. But the story is still compelling, thanks to great performance and the suspicion that things aren’t that easy.

For more #noirvember, follow @little_sister_filmnoir

Noirvember: Four Film Noir Classics

It seems that Film Noir is a genre that is both of its time and one that has created modern sub genres, film noir never dies. Secrets fuel stories where women are centre stage and gangsters dominate the sidewalks where men are in the spot light. Back in 2018, Arrow Academy released a box of four films, classic film noir that I had yet to discover. The film included are; The Dark Mirror, Secret Beyond the Door, Force of Evil and The Big Combo.

For all reviews of each of the films, they are over at Vulturehound HERE.

For more #noirvember, follow @little_sister_filmnoir

 

This was originally published on Vulturehound in 2018

The Limitless Control of the Robot

 

Science fiction has never shied away from the possibilities that technology brings as well as the downfalls it could cause. Exploring the means and mechanisms of this genre, a cornerstone ideal that that provides endless ideas, stories and theories is the evolution of the robot. 

Cinema Year Zero explores Fritz Lang's films through 8 different essays. To read these and the full version of mine, as well as a recording, check it out HERE. 

Noirvember: Mildred Pierce

SPOILERS

Based on the novel by James M. Cain, the story about a woman who separates from her husband and has to provide for her two daughters in 1930s. She gets work as a waitress and soon decides to open her own restaurant. She becomes a success and remarries again but she is forever plagued by her demanding elder daughter, Veda, who looks down on her mother throughout her life, no matter what she does. It seems an unusual plot from Cain as he is known for his crime stories but director Michael Curtiz creates a very different beast entirely.

Changing the ending and parts of the story, Curtiz creates a film noir of sorts with Joan Crawford in the title role. The stereotypical roles of the genre are askew and don’t follow the normal pattern, instead it is the camera angles and the superb lighting, especially in the more dramatic moments that make this one the better films of its genre. The film is seen as flashback from Mildred’s point of view as she explains what has happened in the last 4 years to a police detective after she finds out her second husband has been murdered. Cutting back and forward from the past to the present, it unravels as to who the murderer could be.

Crawford is brilliant as the tortured and troubled Mildred, having come from nothing, working her way up in the world, becoming a successful businesswomen when not many thought she could, should be an achievement but Mildred is torn down by her demanding arrogant daughter Veda. Unlike the original novel, Veda eventually gets her comeuppance. Mildred’s strange devotion to her spiteful daughter is elevated when her youngest Kay, dies suddenly and she puts everything into pleasing Veda which is ultimately her downfall.

Veda is actually part of the cause of Mildred’s divorce and downfall. She says at one point that she believes that Veda looks down on her which is why she seeks her approval. Veda’s hate for her mother and where she is from is unexplained, except for when she blames her mother for spoiling her, she bites the hand that feeds her and thinks she is entitled to a better life for no reason. Veda’s character isn’t given depth beyond her childish demands and selfish plans, leaving much of the dramatic to her mother. Mildred changes throughout the film, her character and confidence but she is plagued by her past and told she is worth nothing, Veda is her reminder of this which is why, when the ties are finally cut, she is distressed and relieved at the same time. She is finally free of her demon and can start again, but this time for herself.

A fantastic film, that may be dark and violent, which isn’t just the murder at the start, at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

For more #noirvember, follow @little_sister_filmnoir

 

This was originally published on Vulturehound in 2017

Noirvember: Double Indemnity

 SPOILERS

Insurance Salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), by chance goes to see one of clients about motor insurance but instead meets his intriguing and beautiful wife Phyllis. She plays the bored but concerned housewife trying to trick Walter into letting her sign accident insurance for her husband. Walter sees right through her plan and guesses murder. But already under her spell, infatuated the two begin an affair. Walter eventually comes round to the idea of murder and the two plan the would be perfect plot. When Phyllis' husband 'accidentally' falls from a slow-moving train and breaks his neck, at first no one is none the wiser until Walter's colleague, an investigator of claims, smells foul play. Soon the deadly couple's plan and feelings unravel. 

 

Although the film has very stereotypical elements of Film Noir, there are things that are slightly skewed. The lead male is not a detective or a useless drifter, he's an insurance salesman. The 'detective' role is Keyes, Walter's colleague who can sniff out any false insurance claim by listening to what he calls 'the little man' inside him. But although he knows something is wrong the $100,000 claim after thinking it over, he doesn't suspect for one moment his friend and colleague is involved. Unlike other Film Noir genre films, the story had a central friendship, Keyes and Neff. Unlike the be all and end all relationship of a man and a woman having an affair. The two friends, have some great exchanges and also alters the dynamics of the film. The little things make all the difference, such as the ongoing exchange where Neff always lights Keyes' cigars for him. These are welcomed. Especially as insurance is not the most exciting of settings.

 

It's not surprise that the film has some similarities to The Postman Always Rings Twice as the original novella was written by James M. Cain. As the film was made at the time of the damned Hayes Code, the original ending, double suicide, was cut. The ending that Billy Wilder planned involved Neff going to the gas chamber with Keyes watching but instead the film ended with the two men on the ground, Neff dying and Keyes lighting his cigarette for him, a gesture of friendship.

 

Of course, the story is really all about the femme fatale in this story, Barbara Stanwyck, she plays ice cold Phyllis who plays three women technically. The unwanted housewife, the lover and the sinister killer. She has the ability to be emotional and pretend to show love but in one quick stare, morph into a cold-hearted killer.

 

One of the most haunting images is in the opening credits. A lone man, on crutches, coupled with eery ominous music of impending violence sets the tone of the film, foreshadowing events to come. Double Indemnity is always listed as one of the greatest of its genre and it does indeed hold up against its contemporaries but there is something slightly lacking that even Stanwyck’s style just can’t quite measure up.

 

For more #noirvember, follow @little_sister_filmnoir

 

This was first posted as part of the Blind Spot Series 2015.

 

Noirvember: The Killing

 

“You like money. You've got a great big dollar sign there where most women have a heart.” – Johnny Clay, The Killing, 1956

 

Before The Shining, before A Clockwork Orange, before Lolita, (named) one of the most influential directors, Stanley Kubrick adapted another story for the big screen. Film noir The Killing, based on Lionel White’s novel Clean Break wasn’t the first feature film Kubrick made but it is the one that caught people’s attention. A heist movie with a group who don’t know all the details, only what they need to know was a heavy influence on Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. The opening sequence of The Dark Knight also paid homage to The Killing with The Joker wearing a very similar mask to the one Johnny Clay wears during the heist.

 

Newly released from prison, Johnny Clay plans to do one last big heist and start a new life. He decides to rob the racetrack on the day of a featured race and ensembles a group of men who need the money for various reasons. Amongst the group is a corrupt cop and a couple of employees from the racetrack itself. Clay also enlists the help of a wrestler and rifleman to provide distractions on the day. The only one of the group to know everyone and the whole plan is Clay to avoid accountability. Everything seems to be in place but betting teller George’s spoilt viper tongued wife Sherry finds out about the heist and the money at stake and sets about making her plans.

 

Like all of Kubrick’s films, The Killing is unlike his others, apart from Killer’s Kiss, which is also a film noir. The film’s unique storytelling is shown out of sequence revealing what each of the gang members are doing and where they will be next. The overbearing voiceover was not originally part of the film and was only added when the studios insisted claiming an audience wouldn’t understand what was happening. It’s a shame that Kubrick’s narration free version won’t ever be shown. This feels as if the filmmakers underestimated their audience. The characters that make up the group each have their own strength and role to play in the grand scheme of the heist. Looking for the familiar film noir genres traits, they are all there, including Marie Windsor’s femme fatale who betrays her husband. But there are no happy endings to be found, nothing is that simple. The film ends on murders, a mishap and an over stuffed suitcase with an incident at the airport being quite unexpected.

 

Although the film performed poorly at the box office upon its initial release, the film lived on to critical acclaim, being named of the greats of its genre.  The Killing doesn’t ‘feel’ like a Kubrick film but something the director made because of his curiosity, which we can appreciate now and in the future. 

 

For more #noirvember, follow @little_sister_filmnoir

 

This was first posted for Check the Gate at the Prince Charles Cinema

Watch List: August & September

Apartment 1BR

Full review can be read HERE. 3/5 

 

The Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day 

The first film is a cult classic and is just such a brilliant film, how do you top that? Well, you make a sequel that makes nearly no sense whatsoever and you bring back familiar faces and replace Willem Dafoe because he was most likely busy. This time, a hitman is hired by the mafia to murder a priest to bring the Saints back to Boston so they can have revenge BUT of course when The Saints arrive, with new pal Romeo as their sidekick, things do not go according to plan. There are moments of hilarity and ridiculous scenarios as well as amsuing details such as the emphasis on the hitman's height but this is the world of The Saints here so you have to expect the weird stuff. 3/5

 

Room

The harrowing story of a woman kept captive for years in a shed with the only positive part of her life, her young son is a film I didn't run to see at the cinema. Mainly because of the story and the real-life story that inspired it. Brie Larson is brilliant in the film as is the breakout star Jacob Tremblay as Jack, their bond and chemistry is the obviously the heart and soul of the film. Seeing the story unfold through Jack's eyes brings a new perspective on this type of story and I can see why there was so much hype around the film when it was first released. Waiting all this time to see it, I don't think took anything away, but the kidnapping and the strain everything put upon Larson's Ma is so painful to watch. Jack has his life ahead of him but Ma will be forever scarred and forever in pain and fear, even with time and I can't let that go. 4/5

 

12 Monkeys

 After years of this film sitting in my ‘to watch’ pile (in my mind) I finally got the film I had heard so much about. A science fiction thriller from Terry Gilliam, when he was making great films, is hard to resist. Of course, this is a film that resonates now more than ever, revolving round a disease that was spread in 1996 driving what remained of the human race underground. Future man Bruce Willis is time travelled back in time to find out who is responsible for the virus getting out and, in that time, makes friends with crazy Brad Pitt and scientist Madelaine Stowe with fixed effects. It’s a pretty damn good film despite making me feel uneasy in the state we all find ourselves in. 3/5

Tenet

I went to support the film that was meant to welcome people back to cinemas and I still stand by this, but, this film, was not a masterpiece. Nolan has some great ideas but how executes them is with varying success. Inception was about dreams and our perception of reality, here he cross the time travel line but it isn’t really a time travel story, it’s about time inverted….WHAT?! Starting with a fantastic opening scene pumped full of adrenalin but then quickly morphed into a sequence of fast dialogue heavy scenes that do not set up the story and does not explain anything. Literally, nothing. The only hint, a drawing but that is actually pointless too. There were too many scenes you can’t hear dialogue whether that was part of it all or not. Granted, there are some fantastic visuals but the overall reason for why things are happening is just, weak. There were also quite a few plot holes which I felt were set up in a film set before this one which we will never get to see. 2/5

Beanpole

 Full review can be read HERE. 4/5

 

Schemers

 Full review can be read HERE. 2/5

 

Night School

 I usually avoid Kevin Hart vehicles but this has Tiffany Haddish in it so I needed to see it. A fun silly comedy about a guy who struggled with school loses his job and can’t get another without a GED so he goes to night school to get one, meets group of kooky characters each with their own personalities and stories, hides his schooling from his successful girlfriend, is taught by the brilliant Haddish and has to overcome an old rivalry with a guy who knew in and now is the principle of their old high school. It’s all fun and games and dramatically plays down the fact that his character has learning difficulties that had gone unnoticed by his teachers when he was at school, but I suppose that would have been a whole other film with less laughs. 3/5

The Babysitter: Killer Queen

I have a habit of seeing sequels first but with this Netflix film, I didn’t think I needed to see the first film, but now I’ve seen this, I will go back to the start. As far as horror comedies go, this was very fun, ridiculous and I could immediately get into it despite everything that was going on. Picking up a few years later and Cole, still traumatised and trying to move on from the last film’s events decides it’s a great idea to go with his ‘best friend’ knock off blonde from next door and her friends to a lake. Of course, things go very wrong when the ghosts of the cult rise up and try and kill him again. There are flashbacks to how and why everyone joined the cult that are very amusing and silly as well as a very excellent dance scene in place of a sex scene that is better left watched and unspoiled. Cole also has a buddy along for the night of terrors, the equally mysterious and traumatised Phoebe which means our troubled boy has someone to share his story with. 3/5

 

Scottish Mussel

A wholesome British rom-com that is both impossibly sweet, slightly predictable and something rare all at the same time. Directed (and starring) Talulah Riley, her debut as the former is what you’d expect from the genre but just feels like a new voice that barely got heard. I don’t think this gem enjoyed enough if any attention at the cinema beyond the UK borders (please correct me if I’m wrong). When Ritchie and his friends end up mistaken for pearl thieves, the small-time criminal decides stealing rare Scottish pearls might be a way to make money. But after volunteering at the wild life centre to gain access prime mussel spots, he starts spending more time with Beth, the very passionate conservationist and he begins to change his mind. Unlucky for him, local gangsters have also taken an interest in the pearls too. 4/5

Let's Play!

Park Circus are doing what they do best, celebrating classic films. This month their attention has been on films that embody the theme of 'play'.

When we think of ‘playful’ cinematic films, what could be more playful than two desperate out of work musicians, Joe and Gerald, who witness a mob killing and got on the run disguised as women. Of course, Billy Wilder’s classic comedy is much more than the premise. With fun, fast laughs and jazz, real hot, the fact that Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon are dressed as their counterparts Josephine and Daphne is only the surface.

 Men dressing up as women has been a comedic play in many a film, but what sets this film apart is the details ranging from the stereotypes such as the perverted old millionaire who sets his sights on Daphne or the mobsters who hide their weapons in interesting places to the ridiculous, involving ice being dropped, causing an emergency stop of the train. In fact, one the most playful elements of the film is when Joe dresses up as a man again, but this time, he’s an emotionally stunted millionaire, in an attempt to seduce Sugar (Marilyn Monroe), singer of the all-girl jazz band. It’s strange to think a man dressed up as a woman but dresses up as a man is the oddest delight in the film’s narrative.

Celebrating its 60^th anniversary, the film stands the test of time through its comedic timing, performances (especially Lemmon) and heart, whether its broken, beating or bruised. Despite being a film ‘of its time’ it can still be watched through a modern lens with appreciation, because, well, ‘nobody’s perfect’. 

For a more in depth look at 'Some Like it Hot' have a read of what I wrote HERE.

Watching Psycho

In all honesty, I don’t remember the first time I watched ‘Psycho’ but I know it was after I saw the 1998 remake. I was at a Halloween party, I think I was 15 or 16, I don’t remember the costume I wore but I know it was not a ‘sexy looking’ outfit. I went to an all-girls school and all the attendees of the party were girls so I didn’t have anyone to impress. As this was pre-Facebook days, I don’t have any photographs from that night. I say it was a party but really it was just a night of playing a few games and watching a ‘scary’ film while eating sweets. My memory is hazy so I don’t know what the other film choice was but I definitely had a hand in picking ‘Psycho’. This was because I thought it was going to be Hitchcock’s version. I was incredibly disappointed to find it was Gus Van Sant’s remake. On top of all that, it wasn’t particularly scary so most of the girls were annoyed and made fun of me for wanting to see it. It’s not as if I was the one who rented it from Blockbuster.

Growing up in a time when I’d only seen Vince Vaughn is mediocre comedies, seeing him as Norman Bates, one of the most famous characters in Hollywood film, seemed out of place and terribly miscast. I wrote in a post back in 2014 (please excuse my writing back then, I was still finding my style) that he was cast against type which is exactly that and upon reflection, is actually out of the box casting choice. He has that horrible disturbing laugh that fits in with the character’s mindset and you could easily believe, this guy is unhinged and definitely could be a killer.

Being ‘into film’ in secondary school was a like navigating a maze. I had to be into the films that everyone else wanted to watch, like ‘8 Mile’, ‘The Notebook’, ‘Honey’, ‘Notting Hill’, while also maintaining my edge of wanting to watch all genres of films from all eras. I read Empire while they all read Grazia and Heat. I am guilty of buying the latter on occasion but mostly, I read film and music magazines. I was and am an avid old movie watcher and probably only had one or two friends I could talk to about films so seeing the chance to watch and try and get a group of my peers to watch ‘Psycho’ was a big moment. I gave the remake a chance but I actually forgot most of it after the film ended. I asked my parents if we could get a copy of Hitchcock’s original. I think I had to wait 2 more years before I actually got to watch the film.

I’d seen other Hitchcock films and asked for a boxset for Christmas one year so I could devour as many as possible. ‘Psycho’ has always been one of those revered films that all the film critics, theorists and filmmakers say to watch only then to twist round a decade later and say its really awful. Usually. My personal experience of the film was as if I was learning how to make films and appreciate the story structure, as I had decided I wanted to go to film school. I was finally able to watch the film I knew so much about, seen clips and scenes from and able to piece together what made this film a masterpiece. Sometimes it takes a few viewings of a film to see how great or bad it is, but ‘Psycho’ is a film, for me, that I could see just how brilliant it was from the first viewing, even mentally removing the remake from my mind to make room for the occasion.

Tilda & Wes

Tilda Swinton is being honoured at BFI this month, receiving a fellowship for work in cinema over the decades. She is a staple in cinema, as both a British icon and international success. She is known for her indie and blockbuster roles, she is a literal chameleon. Last night she was joined on stage by one of her collaborators, a writer and director known for his distinct style in both production design, characters and stories. Wes Anderson is a filmmaker that you can instantly recognise and having him on stage with Tilda is a dream made in heaven.

 

They first met, unofficially, at Cannes when Orlando was being screened and Anderson was there for one of his short films. Years later, Swinton saw The Darjeeling Limited and wrote a fan letter to the director, prompting the two to meet and collaborate on three films and counting.

 

Together they had selected some films that had inspired and entranced them to take us on a magical tour through their cinema.

 

As both shared a passion for Powell & Pressburger, they started with ‘A Matter of Life & Death’ choosing a clip from the start of the film, moving on to reference ‘The Red Shoes’, ‘Peeping Tom’ and Tilda’s favourite film ‘I know Where I’m going’ which she talked about with such sweet delight, telling us all to take a trip on the sleeper train to Scotland so we could experience just a fraction of what she did when she saw the film. Wes had picked a Satyajit Ray film ‘Days and Nights in the Forest’ and showed us a 7 minutes clip, which the audience seemed to enjoy immensely despite only 1 or 2 people having seen the film. Tilda shared her admiration for Alec Guiness in Kind Hearts and Coronets who plays the entire family in the film, saying that it reminded her of her own family and how they all looked the same too. Wes made a point that he was planning on stealing some of the scenes we’d seen and asked that no one else do that. Ending on a quick clip of James Cagney dancing, the two legends slipped out the door.

 

It was just an hour talk but it was utterly delightful and it was really was a treat to have both Tilda and Wes on stage.

Returning to the Afternoon Movies

 On the 16th December 2013 I posted about 'The Amazing Mr Blunden' a classic British film from 1972. With itsd  own charm and weirdness about it, it used to be a film that my sister and I used to watch when we were very young. In fact this was one of the films that we had on a list, a list of films we thought no one else had heard of, at least people our age. There are several on there which we discovered to be films that everyone had seen and there still a few that remain unheard of.

The only connection to this festive season is that the opening scenes take place Christmas Eve but from there we are in glorious Spring time. For a brief summary, its all about the ghosts, the mansion and of course the mysterious man himself, Mr Blunden. 

With the release of a very special edition from Second Sight Films who have recently brough us the delightful 'Flight of the Navigator' back into our homes through its own special release, I have reviewed the film, in full, over at Vulturehoud which you can read HERE.

I also wanted to revisit my post from 2013 as I was still in the very early stages of finding my way writing wise and how I had pictured the blog to be. Honestly, its not my best, but its always good to look back and see how far you've come. But also, just for fun, HERE is the post. And if you want a real throwback, HERE it is from before I changed my blog name.