Ooh, if I hadn't had to use the last of my Tesco Cineworld vouchers last night, I wouldn't have gone out. Brr, it was cold! I had both hail and snow on the way home from work. Anyway, forewarned, I wore a nice warm coat as I waited at the bus stop. Still jiggled up and down as I waited for the bus, but I timed it better this time and didn't have to wait so long. I was pretty much the only person on it all the way to the bus station, which is en route - I suspect most people had more sense than to venture out. My phone said it was 3 degrees - I think that was an optimistic estimate. Felt more like -3.
Handily, it was in Screen 2, like last night - so I knew to ask for Row E. The screen was pretty empty when I arrived - ended up maybe a third full. I finally got to see the trailer for Jupiter Ascending - it looks as terrible as the poster, and cast list, would suggest.
And so to Kingsman: the Secret Service. I rarely give things a bad review - I do like to find what's good about them, or what was intended. Here, I find myself in a different situation - I find it impossible to say anything bad about it at all! Film of the year so far - although that's not saying much. We are still in January, after all. But you'll go a long way to find something as clever, as funny, and as entertaining all at once. Which is a joy, because I didn't pick it up from the trailer.
Basically, it's a spy comedy, with Michael Caine as the head of Kingsman Secret Service, based behind an exclusive tailor's on Savile Row. A very genteel secret service, then - cue lots of ads for exclusive men's products, as endorsed by the stars of this film. Colin Firth plays a longstanding agent, who recruits a young tearaway to be the newest member. Mark Strong is Merlin, equivalent to M from the Bond films. Samuel L. Jackson plays the megalomaniac villain (with an hilarious lisp, and a squeamishness for violence) and Mark Hamill shows up as a hapless academic that he has kidnapped.
There isn't a cliche they don't play with, and there are some really memorable one-liners. This is quite violent, but it's stylish as anything, and it's clever! And once they've set up the action sequences, it all proceeds to merry mayhem. Helluvan entertaining film, with a brain. Very highly recommended!
As I scurried home in the icy cold, I noted that our local fox wasn't about - I guess he had more sense, although I saw him at roughly the same time the night before. I did notice something I haven't seen before, though - remember those hail showers I had on the way home from work? I saw something funny as I passed the parked cars. I looked closer - the hail that had fallen earlier hadn't melted, the cars were coated in it. Never did actually see that before.
Back to Ireland tonight, hoping to stay warm! Back to London on Sunday, and on Monday I'm off to the Opera House for the ballet of Onegin, and on Tuesday to the Print Room in Notting Hill for a play called Title & Deed..
Showing posts with label Cineworld Hammersmith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cineworld Hammersmith. Show all posts
Friday, 30 January 2015
Wednesday, 28 January 2015
Film: The Theory of Everything
Two down, one to go! So, tonight was #2 of my three Tesco Cineworld vouchers, and off I went to Cineworld Hammersmith again. Tonight, it was The Theory of Everything, and a later show, so I ate at home first.
Bus both ways this time, and a perishing wait at the bus stop - warmer coat tomorrow, methinks. I checked with Google Maps where exactly to get off, and was reminded that they have a funny theory about that. I have said it to them, but of course to no avail. Point is, they want you to stay on until the stop after the cinema, which the bus goes right past. But the cinema is about exactly equidistant between that stop and the one before it, so I think it makes more sense to get off at the first of the two, when you can already see the cinema. So, Hammersmith Town Hall it was, and a brisk trot to the cinema, and boy was I glad to get inside.
This time, I was in Screen 2, upstairs. They have a wide aisle running behind the fifth row of seats, so I chose a seat in that one. I didn't realise how far back it was, i.e. how small the screen was. Also, there was a slightly loud group right behind my row, with coats and feet on the seats in front of them, right where I was supposed to be sitting. I sat further along the row, and finally decamped to the next row down. Luckily, I didn't seem to have taken anyone's place - there was plenty of room. And row E was sufficiently close to the screen.
So, as you probably know, this is the story of Stephen Hawking, played by Eddie Redmayne, and his first wife. Emily Watson plays her mother. Do bear in mind, first of all, that this is based on Mrs. Hawking's book, not on Stephen Hawking's books - so the science is brief and high-level. Apart from some pretty basic calculus equations that we get a glimpse of, and some brief speeches to summarise what he's working on, the science takes a back seat. This is the story of his first marriage, which followed hard on the heels of his diagnosis with motor neurone disease.
In the beginning of the film, he's a fairly normal, if abnormally bright, and extremely geeky, postgraduate physics student at Cambridge. Gets a fancy for this young arts student. I must say, from what I know of geeky guys' conversations, this is pretty on the money. Then, in short, one day he stumbles and falls rather badly, and knocks himself out. When he comes to, he's told he has two years to live. Crikey! Undaunted, and despite his desperate attempts to avoid her, the young lassie declares that she'll take what time she can get, and they're hitched.
That, of course, is only the beginning, as child follows on child, and she finds herself doing everything, and putting her own life second..
It's quite moving. Of course, we know the basics of the story anyway. It is interesting to see flesh put on the bones of it, and as the disease progresses, it's shocking to see just what an effect it has on their everyday life. Redmayne plays a credible Hawking, and I can only imagine how uncomfortable it was for him, slouched over in that chair all day at an unnatural angle - very similar to what it's like for real. The girl who plays his wife does a wonderful job of transforming from the wide-eyed student bride to the weary-eyed frustrated wife.
You can only wish them all well.
Tomorrow, the last of my vouchers will serve to pay for me to see Kingsman: the Secret Service - same time, same place. Stars Colin Firth, Michael Caine, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Strong, and lordy - Mark Hamill! Didn't know he was still acting.
Then it's back to Ireland for the weekend - glad my flu has cleared, flights are miserable when you're sick! On Monday, I'm headed to Onegin at the Opera House, and on Tuesday to Title & Deed at the Print Room, Notting Hill.
Bus both ways this time, and a perishing wait at the bus stop - warmer coat tomorrow, methinks. I checked with Google Maps where exactly to get off, and was reminded that they have a funny theory about that. I have said it to them, but of course to no avail. Point is, they want you to stay on until the stop after the cinema, which the bus goes right past. But the cinema is about exactly equidistant between that stop and the one before it, so I think it makes more sense to get off at the first of the two, when you can already see the cinema. So, Hammersmith Town Hall it was, and a brisk trot to the cinema, and boy was I glad to get inside.
This time, I was in Screen 2, upstairs. They have a wide aisle running behind the fifth row of seats, so I chose a seat in that one. I didn't realise how far back it was, i.e. how small the screen was. Also, there was a slightly loud group right behind my row, with coats and feet on the seats in front of them, right where I was supposed to be sitting. I sat further along the row, and finally decamped to the next row down. Luckily, I didn't seem to have taken anyone's place - there was plenty of room. And row E was sufficiently close to the screen.
So, as you probably know, this is the story of Stephen Hawking, played by Eddie Redmayne, and his first wife. Emily Watson plays her mother. Do bear in mind, first of all, that this is based on Mrs. Hawking's book, not on Stephen Hawking's books - so the science is brief and high-level. Apart from some pretty basic calculus equations that we get a glimpse of, and some brief speeches to summarise what he's working on, the science takes a back seat. This is the story of his first marriage, which followed hard on the heels of his diagnosis with motor neurone disease.
In the beginning of the film, he's a fairly normal, if abnormally bright, and extremely geeky, postgraduate physics student at Cambridge. Gets a fancy for this young arts student. I must say, from what I know of geeky guys' conversations, this is pretty on the money. Then, in short, one day he stumbles and falls rather badly, and knocks himself out. When he comes to, he's told he has two years to live. Crikey! Undaunted, and despite his desperate attempts to avoid her, the young lassie declares that she'll take what time she can get, and they're hitched.
That, of course, is only the beginning, as child follows on child, and she finds herself doing everything, and putting her own life second..
It's quite moving. Of course, we know the basics of the story anyway. It is interesting to see flesh put on the bones of it, and as the disease progresses, it's shocking to see just what an effect it has on their everyday life. Redmayne plays a credible Hawking, and I can only imagine how uncomfortable it was for him, slouched over in that chair all day at an unnatural angle - very similar to what it's like for real. The girl who plays his wife does a wonderful job of transforming from the wide-eyed student bride to the weary-eyed frustrated wife.
You can only wish them all well.
Tomorrow, the last of my vouchers will serve to pay for me to see Kingsman: the Secret Service - same time, same place. Stars Colin Firth, Michael Caine, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Strong, and lordy - Mark Hamill! Didn't know he was still acting.
Then it's back to Ireland for the weekend - glad my flu has cleared, flights are miserable when you're sick! On Monday, I'm headed to Onegin at the Opera House, and on Tuesday to Title & Deed at the Print Room, Notting Hill.
Tuesday, 27 January 2015
Film: Ex Machina
It's very nearly gone, thank goodness. My flu, that is. And I have these three Tesco vouchers for Cineworld that will have expired by next week, so I had to get them used - and what with flying back to Ireland at the weekend, that means these three nights are it, starting tonight. Otherwise, I might have stayed in. Unfortunately, the things aren't valid at my local Cineworld - funny definition of a "West End" cinema - so I have to take transport to the nearest cinemas where I can use them. So they're not as cheap as they might have been - but still represent a saving. Still, I probably won't buy them again.
The nearest to work is Cineworld Hammersmith, which is, hopefully, where I'll be able to use them for the rest of the week. Looking at the IMDB ratings, the highest rated Cineworld film for today is Baby, an Indian thriller. However, upon reflection - I'm so sick of Indian thrillers full of gratuitous violence. Specifically, the scenes in the trailer that put me off were those with interrogations that involved beatings. Now, it might be a good film - and I can handle violence in film - but the implicit condonement of that behaviour bothers me. Plus, I find Indian films generally overrated. So I'm skipping it.
Which, led me, delightfully, to Ex Machina tonight. I've been intrigued by this since someone mentioned it at work, and was glad to get a chance to see it. So off I went, straight from work, to the early evening showing. It's ages since I got the Tube at rush hour, and I'm glad of that - also glad I wasn't in a hurry, considering how long it took to arrive! Thirdly, I was glad to see the crush of people that got off at West Kensington, just in time for me to get on. Truly, I don't think I'd have managed to squeeze on further down the track. Getting off at Ravenscourt Park was interesting, as I was at the opposite side of the carriage to the door that opened..
I used to live around there, but it's been a long while now since I got off at that stop, and I'd had to look it up on Google Maps earlier today. So it wasn't surprising that I failed to find the fastest way onto King Street. Still, I had no problem finding the street, just not by the very fastest route. There's a zebra crossing right in front of the cinema (oh, the feeling of power!) and I was shortly inside and smugly watching the guy at the till say "of course you can!" to my question as to whether I could get a ticket with this voucher. Screen 3 was just to the side, and seating there is in one block. I picked a seat in the middle - what's nice about this cinema is the seating plan is on a printed sheet in front of you.
Saw a couple of interesting trailers - one for Kingsman: the Secret Service, which previews on Thursday and is currently top of my list for then, and one for Fifty Shades of Grey. Which isn't on my list at all - I daresay it'll be useless, like the book on which it's based. As someone remarked today, the film would have to be pornographic to make anything of the story watchable. Unlikely.
And so to tonight's film. I hadn't even seen the trailer, so it was a surprise to me to be confronted almost immediately with one of the Gleesons. "Gosh," I thought, "isn't that..?" Red-haired, Irish acting family. Can't mistake them. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember this guy's name (it's Domhnall). Anyway, turns out he's a programmer for a major software company, and as the film opens, he's won the company lottery. The prize is a week at the CEO's exclusive estate!
So in no time at all, he's whisked off in a private helicopter to this vast estate, looking like the wilds of Scotland really. The house itself is practically a bunker, and it's some time before he can even find his host. And they're the only ones there - apart from a taciturn, Japanese-looking maid, and Alicia Vikander. Who hardly counts as a house guest.. you see, the purpose of this little trip is really to conduct a Turing test between Gleeson and Vikander. Because she's absolutely the last word in AI, a humanoid robot that is kept in a glass-walled room for the purposes of questioning.
The film looks and sounds absolutely beautiful. It's all clean lines, the swish of automatic doors, and classical music playing softly. Kind of like a modern hotel - with no windows. (This guy wants to keep his research private - although any potential thief would have some trek across that estate!) And, as with the best science fiction, it's extremely thought-provoking. How do you define intelligence? How do you figure out whether an entity is lying? And what do you do with an intelligent being you've created?
Hats off to Alicia Vikander. She's the hot starlet of the moment, and she plays a blinder here as the ingénue robot. I can't give any more away, but the ending is brilliantly thought out. It's a stylish, thought-provoking, and gripping film. Very highly recommended. About the trailer though - having watched it since, it does occur to me that you could go into this expecting a straightforward thriller about a rogue robot. Not at all what's going on here.
I just missed a bus across the road - irony is, I'd have caught it if there hadn't been another in front of it that blocked the driver's view. So I had a cold ten-minute wait for the next one. Decided to hop off one stop early and head to my local Chinese - I hadn't had a chance to eat after work. It so happened that I was sat beside a businessman staying in a local hotel, who had decided that venturing out to eat was the better option, and was very pleasantly surprised by what he found there. Well yes, I agree!
Tomorrow night, next on the list is The Theory of Everything - then, as I say, Kingsman the day after. Both also in Cineworld Hammersmith, but later in the evening, so I can eat at home. At least I'm getting to see some of the big releases.. next Monday, when I'm back from Ireland, I've got a ticket to the ballet Onegin, at the Opera House. Nice and far forward in the Amphitheatre, too. I'm delighted about that - sounds lovely. And on Tuesday, I'm heading to the Print Room in Notting Hill for the first time in ages - the show is called Title and Deed, and is a monologue about being an outsider. Oh, and I think getting out and about has done my flu a power of good!
The nearest to work is Cineworld Hammersmith, which is, hopefully, where I'll be able to use them for the rest of the week. Looking at the IMDB ratings, the highest rated Cineworld film for today is Baby, an Indian thriller. However, upon reflection - I'm so sick of Indian thrillers full of gratuitous violence. Specifically, the scenes in the trailer that put me off were those with interrogations that involved beatings. Now, it might be a good film - and I can handle violence in film - but the implicit condonement of that behaviour bothers me. Plus, I find Indian films generally overrated. So I'm skipping it.
Which, led me, delightfully, to Ex Machina tonight. I've been intrigued by this since someone mentioned it at work, and was glad to get a chance to see it. So off I went, straight from work, to the early evening showing. It's ages since I got the Tube at rush hour, and I'm glad of that - also glad I wasn't in a hurry, considering how long it took to arrive! Thirdly, I was glad to see the crush of people that got off at West Kensington, just in time for me to get on. Truly, I don't think I'd have managed to squeeze on further down the track. Getting off at Ravenscourt Park was interesting, as I was at the opposite side of the carriage to the door that opened..
I used to live around there, but it's been a long while now since I got off at that stop, and I'd had to look it up on Google Maps earlier today. So it wasn't surprising that I failed to find the fastest way onto King Street. Still, I had no problem finding the street, just not by the very fastest route. There's a zebra crossing right in front of the cinema (oh, the feeling of power!) and I was shortly inside and smugly watching the guy at the till say "of course you can!" to my question as to whether I could get a ticket with this voucher. Screen 3 was just to the side, and seating there is in one block. I picked a seat in the middle - what's nice about this cinema is the seating plan is on a printed sheet in front of you.
Saw a couple of interesting trailers - one for Kingsman: the Secret Service, which previews on Thursday and is currently top of my list for then, and one for Fifty Shades of Grey. Which isn't on my list at all - I daresay it'll be useless, like the book on which it's based. As someone remarked today, the film would have to be pornographic to make anything of the story watchable. Unlikely.
And so to tonight's film. I hadn't even seen the trailer, so it was a surprise to me to be confronted almost immediately with one of the Gleesons. "Gosh," I thought, "isn't that..?" Red-haired, Irish acting family. Can't mistake them. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember this guy's name (it's Domhnall). Anyway, turns out he's a programmer for a major software company, and as the film opens, he's won the company lottery. The prize is a week at the CEO's exclusive estate!
So in no time at all, he's whisked off in a private helicopter to this vast estate, looking like the wilds of Scotland really. The house itself is practically a bunker, and it's some time before he can even find his host. And they're the only ones there - apart from a taciturn, Japanese-looking maid, and Alicia Vikander. Who hardly counts as a house guest.. you see, the purpose of this little trip is really to conduct a Turing test between Gleeson and Vikander. Because she's absolutely the last word in AI, a humanoid robot that is kept in a glass-walled room for the purposes of questioning.
The film looks and sounds absolutely beautiful. It's all clean lines, the swish of automatic doors, and classical music playing softly. Kind of like a modern hotel - with no windows. (This guy wants to keep his research private - although any potential thief would have some trek across that estate!) And, as with the best science fiction, it's extremely thought-provoking. How do you define intelligence? How do you figure out whether an entity is lying? And what do you do with an intelligent being you've created?
Hats off to Alicia Vikander. She's the hot starlet of the moment, and she plays a blinder here as the ingénue robot. I can't give any more away, but the ending is brilliantly thought out. It's a stylish, thought-provoking, and gripping film. Very highly recommended. About the trailer though - having watched it since, it does occur to me that you could go into this expecting a straightforward thriller about a rogue robot. Not at all what's going on here.
I just missed a bus across the road - irony is, I'd have caught it if there hadn't been another in front of it that blocked the driver's view. So I had a cold ten-minute wait for the next one. Decided to hop off one stop early and head to my local Chinese - I hadn't had a chance to eat after work. It so happened that I was sat beside a businessman staying in a local hotel, who had decided that venturing out to eat was the better option, and was very pleasantly surprised by what he found there. Well yes, I agree!
Tomorrow night, next on the list is The Theory of Everything - then, as I say, Kingsman the day after. Both also in Cineworld Hammersmith, but later in the evening, so I can eat at home. At least I'm getting to see some of the big releases.. next Monday, when I'm back from Ireland, I've got a ticket to the ballet Onegin, at the Opera House. Nice and far forward in the Amphitheatre, too. I'm delighted about that - sounds lovely. And on Tuesday, I'm heading to the Print Room in Notting Hill for the first time in ages - the show is called Title and Deed, and is a monologue about being an outsider. Oh, and I think getting out and about has done my flu a power of good!
Wednesday, 19 February 2014
Film: Jack Strong
Well now, another surprise! I was planning on seeing The Crash Reel tonight, but then it occurred to me that I'd better check out the trailer, not being a big fan of snowboarding, myself. Sure enough, I had zero interest. So that's now been permanently removed from my film list. Which left the highest-rated - according to IMDB - film I could find showing tonight as something called Jack Strong.
Now, when I decided this was ok to go see, I didn't check out the above link to the film. I just went with the bare-bones description on IMDB - a Polish Cold War spy thriller. Rated at 7.9 (now dropped to 7.8, I see). That was enough to spark my interest. When I checked where it was showing, I discovered it was only showing in Cineworld - and only in five of them, at that! - Hammersmith was the closest. Now, I found that curious - when I first moved to London, that was my closest cinema, but I hardly ever went there because the selection was so bad. And they are one of only five cinemas screening this! Odd..
Quickest way there was to get the bus, which goes from just up the road from my place, and runs right past the cinema - so that's what I did. I was actually first on, the bus having only just left the garage. My, the nostalgia at being back there again! I was a little early, so had time for a quick run to the toilet beforehand - where they have nattily named the stalls after film stars. I visited the Meryl Streep. ;-)
I detected many Polish accents, from what I could tell. As I waited for the film to start, it occurred to me - of course, every time I walked up there, I passed many Polish-themed shops, and there's a Polish theatre just up the road. There must be a large Polish community locally - no wonder they screened this!
And so to the film. Set mainly in Poland, and starring mainly Polish actors - none of whom is familiar to me - it does, however, have one familiar face - Patrick Wilson, of all people, who plays the CIA handler responsible for the Polish spy who is the film's hero. He'll be familiar to anyone who's seen The Conjuring, or the Insidious films, where he does battle with ghosts and demons. He also appeared in Prometheus, and Morning Glory, where he played the boyfriend of an intensely irritating Rachel McAdams. I walked out of that film. I wasn't the only one. Not his fault. Anyway, in this one, he gets to show off his Polish-speaking skills! Who knew..
So - the title refers to the codename of a real-life senior Polish military official, who, sick of the Soviet occupation of his country, smuggled military secrets to the CIA during the 1970s, until the net started to close in on him. To give any more of the plot away would be truly criminal. I will say, however, that this is as tense a thriller as I've seen in a long time, and so good that I am stunned that I saw and heard absolutely no advertising for it. I mean, I was gripping the arms of my seat. I was watching through my fingers. I was gasping and uttering expletives and exclamations.
A good Cold War thriller will be very tense, and this has all the classic elements. Military uniforms, spy cameras hidden in cigarette lighters. In a pre-internet and pre-mobile age, this spy must communicate on a sort of mini-typewriter with a broadcasting capability - a high-tech new invention. Which keeps losing signal - plus ca change! Most of the action takes place in Warsaw, and everywhere we see in the Eastern bloc has snow on the ground. Permanently, even though the film spans about 10 years. The spy himself is quite pleasant to the eye (was in real life, too). And the film includes what must be the slowest car chase I've ever seen on screen, the cars skidding on slush. Which is also one of the most exciting I've ever seen.
Really highly recommended, for those into thrillers. Go see!
For tomorrow, I finally managed to get a ticket to Common People, which has been continuously sold out when it's been shown. This week, it's showing tomorrow only, and I got one of the last six seats at Clapham Picturehouse, the only cinema showing it. I just checked now, and there's exactly one seat left. Move fast, if you want to see it! Also showing there next Sunday and Thursday..
Now, when I decided this was ok to go see, I didn't check out the above link to the film. I just went with the bare-bones description on IMDB - a Polish Cold War spy thriller. Rated at 7.9 (now dropped to 7.8, I see). That was enough to spark my interest. When I checked where it was showing, I discovered it was only showing in Cineworld - and only in five of them, at that! - Hammersmith was the closest. Now, I found that curious - when I first moved to London, that was my closest cinema, but I hardly ever went there because the selection was so bad. And they are one of only five cinemas screening this! Odd..
Quickest way there was to get the bus, which goes from just up the road from my place, and runs right past the cinema - so that's what I did. I was actually first on, the bus having only just left the garage. My, the nostalgia at being back there again! I was a little early, so had time for a quick run to the toilet beforehand - where they have nattily named the stalls after film stars. I visited the Meryl Streep. ;-)
I detected many Polish accents, from what I could tell. As I waited for the film to start, it occurred to me - of course, every time I walked up there, I passed many Polish-themed shops, and there's a Polish theatre just up the road. There must be a large Polish community locally - no wonder they screened this!
And so to the film. Set mainly in Poland, and starring mainly Polish actors - none of whom is familiar to me - it does, however, have one familiar face - Patrick Wilson, of all people, who plays the CIA handler responsible for the Polish spy who is the film's hero. He'll be familiar to anyone who's seen The Conjuring, or the Insidious films, where he does battle with ghosts and demons. He also appeared in Prometheus, and Morning Glory, where he played the boyfriend of an intensely irritating Rachel McAdams. I walked out of that film. I wasn't the only one. Not his fault. Anyway, in this one, he gets to show off his Polish-speaking skills! Who knew..
So - the title refers to the codename of a real-life senior Polish military official, who, sick of the Soviet occupation of his country, smuggled military secrets to the CIA during the 1970s, until the net started to close in on him. To give any more of the plot away would be truly criminal. I will say, however, that this is as tense a thriller as I've seen in a long time, and so good that I am stunned that I saw and heard absolutely no advertising for it. I mean, I was gripping the arms of my seat. I was watching through my fingers. I was gasping and uttering expletives and exclamations.
A good Cold War thriller will be very tense, and this has all the classic elements. Military uniforms, spy cameras hidden in cigarette lighters. In a pre-internet and pre-mobile age, this spy must communicate on a sort of mini-typewriter with a broadcasting capability - a high-tech new invention. Which keeps losing signal - plus ca change! Most of the action takes place in Warsaw, and everywhere we see in the Eastern bloc has snow on the ground. Permanently, even though the film spans about 10 years. The spy himself is quite pleasant to the eye (was in real life, too). And the film includes what must be the slowest car chase I've ever seen on screen, the cars skidding on slush. Which is also one of the most exciting I've ever seen.
Really highly recommended, for those into thrillers. Go see!
For tomorrow, I finally managed to get a ticket to Common People, which has been continuously sold out when it's been shown. This week, it's showing tomorrow only, and I got one of the last six seats at Clapham Picturehouse, the only cinema showing it. I just checked now, and there's exactly one seat left. Move fast, if you want to see it! Also showing there next Sunday and Thursday..
Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Film: Thor: the Dark World
Today, rather than being cold, was wet. Perfect day for the cinema. Wow, was I lucky I picked yesterday to go the markets! Now, the best rated films showing today, according to IMDB, were Le Mépris and Thor: the Dark World. I figured Thor would be more fun, so booked that, since the nearest place it was showing was Cineworld Hammersmith, and Cineworld gives a discount for advance bookings.
I booked an early showing, and got the Tube straight from the office. Fortunately, I seemed to get before the evening rush. Unfortunately, it was lashing rain when I got off - but I only had a short walk. Was so busy watching my feet that I overshot the cinema - but soon realised my mistake, turned back, and didn't get too much wetter. The ATM in the lobby worked as it should, and we had a short wait while they finished cleaning the cinema. Helpful of them to post tape across the screen door saying they're still cleaning it - I haven't seen that before.
Very small screen - I sat in the second row from the front. Mind you, I suppose it has been showing for a while. As we were waiting for the ads to start, I just had time to eat the Lindt chocolate Santa that I bought on a whim at Tesco today. Well, it is Christmas..! and the fact that the self-service till only charged me £1, instead of the posted price of £1.50, doesn't hurt a bit.
Included in the ads was the trailer for The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug. Looking forward to that - although I can't remember most of what happened in the original Hobbit film. Well, for some films, that doesn't matter. Such as the film I saw tonight.
It would help to have a bit of Norse mythology going into this. Right then, here we go. First off, there are nine worlds. Some of which we visit in the film. Primary among these is Asgard, home of the gods, whose king is Odin. Played in this film by Anthony Hopkins - my, he does get around! Confusingly, in the course of the film, he explains that they're not gods, because they're not immortal, they just live for 5,000 years or so. Anyway. He's married to Frigga, played here by Rene Russo. It's a long time since I've seen her in anything - she is looking well.
They have two sons - Thor and Loki. (Well, they're her stepsons, but howsoever.) Thor, famous for wielding a magical hammer that, among other things, he can fly with, is here played by Chris Hemsworth, whom I really should start to recognise - he's been in a few things I've seen. I didn't see the original Thor film, but he also starred in Rush, and appeared as George Kirk, James T. Kirk's father, in Star Trek: Into Darkness and the 2009 Star Trek. And he was in The Cabin in the Woods! Well, but who noticed anyone out of that except the bad guys..? (In the mythology, Loki, a trickster and not to be trusted, isn't actually related to the others, but never mind.)
Also appearing is Sif, who in the mythology is blonde and is Thor's wife. Here, she's brunette and wants to be his wife, but he's more interested in Natalie Portman. She's a quantum physicist (or something) from Midgard (earth) and doesn't appear in the mythology, funnily enough. But then, Thor always did have a fondness for humans, it seems. She works with Stellan Skarsgård, who plays a particularly batty cosmologist, and she has to fend off the attentions of poor Chris O' Dowd, who's put on a bit of weight since I last saw him. And Christopher Eccleston plays the bad guy trying to destroy the universe, no less.
Right then, that's us all set up. Except you don't really need to know any of this - a surprising amount of it is drip-fed to you during the film. Still, it doesn't hurt to know it in advance. Most of the action takes place on other worlds, with the legions of bad guys battling legions of good guys, with very space-age weaponry, I must say. Personally, I preferred it when they got down to earth and started ripping up London. Nothing personal! Greenwich gets it pretty bad - apparently it's the centre of the convergence (don't ask). Other fun bits (and the film does have a neat sense of humour) include when Thor and the bad guy are battling it out in mid-air and crash into the Gherkin, sliding down the side to the bemusement of people inside (and cracking the glass in the process, tsk) - and when Thor materialises in Charing Cross Tube station and dusts himself off just as a train is pulling in. He asks the stunned young lady just inside the door how to get to Greenwich. Now, pardon me, but from my knowledge of the network, no, you cannot get a direct Tube from Charing Cross to Greenwich, never mind be there in three stops.. maybe it's one of those gravitational anomalies.
Or maybe she just wanted the chance to, you know, sidle up to him. ;-) And yes, Laura, there is quite a gratuitous shot of him, near the start of the film, with his top off, having a wash. Ah yes, lots of fun to be had at this film! Recommended.
Tomorrow is looking, at the moment, like another film. Which currently seems likely to be a Venezuelan offering by the name of Calloused Hands. Which is showing in the Venezuelan Embassy, of all places! In the Bolivar Hall. Apparently, they do all sorts of cultural things. Just, for goodness' sake, don't got to the official website to find out about any of them, because they don't have a single entry there. No, you have to go to their Facebook page. And there you will find a link to their newsletter, where you will discover that this is part of the Latin American Film Festival. Never let it be said that I failed to track down a good film..
I booked an early showing, and got the Tube straight from the office. Fortunately, I seemed to get before the evening rush. Unfortunately, it was lashing rain when I got off - but I only had a short walk. Was so busy watching my feet that I overshot the cinema - but soon realised my mistake, turned back, and didn't get too much wetter. The ATM in the lobby worked as it should, and we had a short wait while they finished cleaning the cinema. Helpful of them to post tape across the screen door saying they're still cleaning it - I haven't seen that before.
Very small screen - I sat in the second row from the front. Mind you, I suppose it has been showing for a while. As we were waiting for the ads to start, I just had time to eat the Lindt chocolate Santa that I bought on a whim at Tesco today. Well, it is Christmas..! and the fact that the self-service till only charged me £1, instead of the posted price of £1.50, doesn't hurt a bit.
Included in the ads was the trailer for The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug. Looking forward to that - although I can't remember most of what happened in the original Hobbit film. Well, for some films, that doesn't matter. Such as the film I saw tonight.
It would help to have a bit of Norse mythology going into this. Right then, here we go. First off, there are nine worlds. Some of which we visit in the film. Primary among these is Asgard, home of the gods, whose king is Odin. Played in this film by Anthony Hopkins - my, he does get around! Confusingly, in the course of the film, he explains that they're not gods, because they're not immortal, they just live for 5,000 years or so. Anyway. He's married to Frigga, played here by Rene Russo. It's a long time since I've seen her in anything - she is looking well.
They have two sons - Thor and Loki. (Well, they're her stepsons, but howsoever.) Thor, famous for wielding a magical hammer that, among other things, he can fly with, is here played by Chris Hemsworth, whom I really should start to recognise - he's been in a few things I've seen. I didn't see the original Thor film, but he also starred in Rush, and appeared as George Kirk, James T. Kirk's father, in Star Trek: Into Darkness and the 2009 Star Trek. And he was in The Cabin in the Woods! Well, but who noticed anyone out of that except the bad guys..? (In the mythology, Loki, a trickster and not to be trusted, isn't actually related to the others, but never mind.)
Also appearing is Sif, who in the mythology is blonde and is Thor's wife. Here, she's brunette and wants to be his wife, but he's more interested in Natalie Portman. She's a quantum physicist (or something) from Midgard (earth) and doesn't appear in the mythology, funnily enough. But then, Thor always did have a fondness for humans, it seems. She works with Stellan Skarsgård, who plays a particularly batty cosmologist, and she has to fend off the attentions of poor Chris O' Dowd, who's put on a bit of weight since I last saw him. And Christopher Eccleston plays the bad guy trying to destroy the universe, no less.
Right then, that's us all set up. Except you don't really need to know any of this - a surprising amount of it is drip-fed to you during the film. Still, it doesn't hurt to know it in advance. Most of the action takes place on other worlds, with the legions of bad guys battling legions of good guys, with very space-age weaponry, I must say. Personally, I preferred it when they got down to earth and started ripping up London. Nothing personal! Greenwich gets it pretty bad - apparently it's the centre of the convergence (don't ask). Other fun bits (and the film does have a neat sense of humour) include when Thor and the bad guy are battling it out in mid-air and crash into the Gherkin, sliding down the side to the bemusement of people inside (and cracking the glass in the process, tsk) - and when Thor materialises in Charing Cross Tube station and dusts himself off just as a train is pulling in. He asks the stunned young lady just inside the door how to get to Greenwich. Now, pardon me, but from my knowledge of the network, no, you cannot get a direct Tube from Charing Cross to Greenwich, never mind be there in three stops.. maybe it's one of those gravitational anomalies.
Or maybe she just wanted the chance to, you know, sidle up to him. ;-) And yes, Laura, there is quite a gratuitous shot of him, near the start of the film, with his top off, having a wash. Ah yes, lots of fun to be had at this film! Recommended.
Tomorrow is looking, at the moment, like another film. Which currently seems likely to be a Venezuelan offering by the name of Calloused Hands. Which is showing in the Venezuelan Embassy, of all places! In the Bolivar Hall. Apparently, they do all sorts of cultural things. Just, for goodness' sake, don't got to the official website to find out about any of them, because they don't have a single entry there. No, you have to go to their Facebook page. And there you will find a link to their newsletter, where you will discover that this is part of the Latin American Film Festival. Never let it be said that I failed to track down a good film..
Tuesday, 2 July 2013
Film: Before Midnight
Could have walked to Cineworld Hammersmith in half an hour, but I wanted to go home first, so ended up taking the Tube and reminding myself what my commute used to be like, as I used to live out that direction. :-) It's much nicer walking than standing in a crowded Tube carriage..
There were about a dozen people at today's showing of Before Midnight. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I cannot understand why more people aren't rushing to see this film. Ok granted, this was an early showing for a weekday, but why are the three cinemas closer to me not showing it at all? Why is this one only showing it at this unpopular time, and ending its run today? Incomprehensible.
Anyway, for those who saw and loved this film's prequels, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, I hardly need to say more than - this is more of the same. Go and love it and be surprised, as I was, at the end of the film, that it was over already. It's interesting, actually, looking at the IMDB ratings, that while both of its predecessors rate 8, this comes in at 8.5. I wonder how it'll age. As for this film, it does have the difference that Celine and Jesse are now an established couple, without the urgency of their previous meetings, but with plenty of the problems of everyday life getting in the way of what they'd really like to do. But their conversation is as fascinating and varied as ever, Greece looks appealing enough to make you long for a holiday on the Med (maybe not just there, just now - there is an interesting hint about Greece's troubles to come, in something Jesse says), and Julie Delpy is looking a lot better than in the last film, now that she's put on a bit of weight. If you ask me.
Walked home, through leafy Hammersmith. Ate in KFC again, because it was the first place I saw that I felt like, and I know this one to be much better than the last I tried, in Dalston. Sure enough, the hygiene was impeccable, the chicken wasn't salty, and the girl that served me came out from behind the counter to wipe every table that customers had just left, and even asked me how I was enjoying my meal. Recommended.
There's a play in Richmond tomorrow night, called Unrivalled Landscape, after a description of Richmond by Sir Walter Scott. It's a series of six interconnected stories, set in Richmond, and sounds interesting. I'll see how things go. Then Alexei Sayle on Thursday. And, in exciting news, I heard today that U2 has finished the latest album.. so that means a tour. Rumour has them performing a mini-tour (6x6 - 6 cities, 6 concerts per city) at the end of 2014, with a full-scale tour in 2015. Right, I'm ready to go.. just give me the dates and places..
There were about a dozen people at today's showing of Before Midnight. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I cannot understand why more people aren't rushing to see this film. Ok granted, this was an early showing for a weekday, but why are the three cinemas closer to me not showing it at all? Why is this one only showing it at this unpopular time, and ending its run today? Incomprehensible.
Anyway, for those who saw and loved this film's prequels, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, I hardly need to say more than - this is more of the same. Go and love it and be surprised, as I was, at the end of the film, that it was over already. It's interesting, actually, looking at the IMDB ratings, that while both of its predecessors rate 8, this comes in at 8.5. I wonder how it'll age. As for this film, it does have the difference that Celine and Jesse are now an established couple, without the urgency of their previous meetings, but with plenty of the problems of everyday life getting in the way of what they'd really like to do. But their conversation is as fascinating and varied as ever, Greece looks appealing enough to make you long for a holiday on the Med (maybe not just there, just now - there is an interesting hint about Greece's troubles to come, in something Jesse says), and Julie Delpy is looking a lot better than in the last film, now that she's put on a bit of weight. If you ask me.
Walked home, through leafy Hammersmith. Ate in KFC again, because it was the first place I saw that I felt like, and I know this one to be much better than the last I tried, in Dalston. Sure enough, the hygiene was impeccable, the chicken wasn't salty, and the girl that served me came out from behind the counter to wipe every table that customers had just left, and even asked me how I was enjoying my meal. Recommended.
There's a play in Richmond tomorrow night, called Unrivalled Landscape, after a description of Richmond by Sir Walter Scott. It's a series of six interconnected stories, set in Richmond, and sounds interesting. I'll see how things go. Then Alexei Sayle on Thursday. And, in exciting news, I heard today that U2 has finished the latest album.. so that means a tour. Rumour has them performing a mini-tour (6x6 - 6 cities, 6 concerts per city) at the end of 2014, with a full-scale tour in 2015. Right, I'm ready to go.. just give me the dates and places..
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