I used to be very impressed by how up to speed my teenage son was about the new movies (and games) that were going to be released. He and his pals would be talking about a new blockbuster months before it arrived on our screens.
Kids his age spent a great deal of time watching YouTube clips and so the big film studios, by means of teasers and trailers, target their advertising very effectively. I too, spend a fair bit of time on YT (now there’s a surprise!) but I never get shown trailers for Japanese anime films or low-key Danish tragi-comedies. I just get ads for booze and dating agencies that want to introduce me Russian ladies in search of romance.
How do you find out about new movies?
Friends of course are invaluable (not least on the AW). DuCool has tipped me off about lots of fine cinematic delights. But he is definitely the Godfather of Glum. Do you want black and white photography, an avant-garde, 60s Polish jazz soundtrack, a slow-moving plot full of despair, suicide and sporadic, angstful bonking? He’s the man.
Looking for a frothy, frenetic, foolish, French farce with mild peril and artistic nudity? Not really his strong point.
Mercifully, here in our local square in Kärrtorp, we’ve got a vintage suburban fleapit: Bio Reflexen. It’s manned by volunteers and thus offers very reasonable prices), they have a broad-ranging programme, including family films at Sunday lunchtime and it’s five minutes walk from home. Perfect!
This autumn I’m particularly looking forward to:
When Marnie was there by Studio Ghibli wunderkind, Hiromasa Yonebayashi, an anime based on a novel by Joan G Robinson, transposed from Norfolk to Sapporo
Mamoru (Wolf Children) Hosoda’s action adventure: The Boy and the Beast. I suspect Kid Dynamite has already seen them.
Anybody else got a good local cinema? How do you get your cinematic kicks? Netflix or another streaming service, on DVD, at a local cinema or at a big multiplex?
I’ve also joined Reflexen’s fortnightly Tuesday evening film club:Skarpnäcks Filmstudio. Seven films for 30 quid. I do appreciate being forced outside of my comfort zone and seeing movies that I might not have chosen myself. And if you think the AW is a bunch of grumpy codgers….
They were very happy when I joined. “Nice to have some young people in the audience.”
If you’re interested these are the films on the autumn programme.
Last Tuesday we saw The commune by Danish director Thomas (Festen) Vinterberg. He grew up in a commune himself and the film, which is set in the 70s, has a certain autobiographical flavour. Strong performances by all the cast and it’s beautifully filmed. There’s a certain similarity to Moodysson’s Together, but this story of the break-up of a marriage has far fewer laughs.
Then we’ve got DuCool favourite Brooklyn(John Crowley, UK/Canada/Ireland 2015), The Daughter (Simon Stone, Australia 2015), In the crosswind (Martti Helde, Estonia 2015), Taxi (JafarPanahi, Iran, 2015), Mustang (Deniz Gamze Erguven, France/Germany/Turkey/Quatar 2015).
The final film will be the winner of the EU Film LUX prize The nominated films are As I open my eyes by Leyla Bouzid, My life as a courgette by Claude Barra or Toni Erdmann by Maren Ade.
No! I’d heard of very few of them either. But the filmclun has a very good track record.
So, what new films are you looking forward to in the next few months? Alternatively, which films have you seen in the past year or so that we ought to be looking out for in the DVD shop?
Which new actors, scripwriters or directors should we be keeping our eyes open for?
Hollywood studios spend as much on advertising their blockbusters as they do on making them. But all over the world there are directors making excellent films which, due to small marketing budgets, rarely make it beyond the film festival. Here’s a chance to put that right a little.
And I promise, I will forward your suggestions to the Bio Reflexen. They do so like when youngsters like me have some new ideas.
Yay! Down with the (Afterword) kids!
Film festivals are probably more important for “small” films than they are for blockbusters.
Winning the Audience Favourite at the Stockholm Film Festival usually leads to a cinematic release in Sweden at least. I see that one of my favourite films of recent years, Uberto Pasolini’s Still Life won an award in Venice. A friend very warmly recommended it and then it I saw it was being shown at Bio Reflexen. A small, poignant gem. Eddie Marsan is magnificent as a council employee who tries to track down the families of those who have died alone.
Yes, Still Life is a lovely film.
Seen Marnie, which is good but not top drawer Ghibli. Waiting eagerly for the Mamoru Hosada, all his previous movies have been excellent.
As far as finding out about new films goes, I’m subscribed to the weekly email from Bristol’s excellent Watershed art cinema, which gives pretty extensive info on new films. I don’t suppose you have to live in Bristol to sign up to it, either, hint hint
I’ve just signed up. Thanks. Kid. We may see some Bristol-Kärrtorp cross pollination.
It can’t be easy for any younger Ghibli director. Miyazaki, one of the great poets of the cinema, is a difficult act to follow. I’m looking forward to the Hosada film too. The trailer gives it a slightly Disney flavour which I’m sure is not how it is. Maybe that co-operation can be a mixed blessing at times? Certainly must have helped break Ghibli into the US market though.
Found this tonight on the BBC website. Looks interesting and I know a 13 year old girl who would like it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-37469662
Great find DBP! Will keep my eye open for it or suggest to Reflexen that they schedule it.
Good to see Ghibli getting some competition. Keep them on their toes a little.
Glad to hear your daughter is still interested in anime. My son has a likewarm interest in the cinema right now. Hopefully I can tempt him with the new Tim Burton,but I’m not over-confident.
As a film to get a ‘lively’ audience discussion going can I recommend Force Majeure. Set in France but made by a Swedish director and about a Swedish family on a ski-ing trip. Made in 2014 and just brilliant. I saw it with a male friend, Ms Moles has a viewing with his wife pencilled in and then we will all compare notes…
Force Majeure was a big hit in Sweden and even seems to have made some waves in the US.
The original Swedish name was Turist (guess what that means!) but Force Majeure was used in many other countries. In France it was called Snow Therapy and in Hungary, Lavina, which I suspect means Avalanche. Most odd.
Looks good – just ordered from Amz
It’s on Netflix. I wish there was an easy search engine that tells you at anytime whether something is on NF or Amazon or Sky etc (sorry to bring this away from actually going out of the house to see films)
Well, we have just that here, so I bet there is: https://www.finder.com.au/movies-internet-tv
There’s a film of Julian Barnes’ brilliant short novel Sense Of An Ending in post-production. As always when a film is made of a book I really enjoyed I’m curious, sceptical and a bit narked.
I enjoyed the novel a lot too. Thanks to IMDB one knows a lot about a film beforehand.
Top notch cast but I was a bit baffled to read: “Credited cast, sorted by IMDb STARmeter”
IMDB seems to be rather like the stock exchange: Humphrey Bogart down two points but a point boost for Jim Braodbent.
They also have a chart that shows the popularity of films, even those made 50 years ago.
Director Taika Waititi from New Zealand, (whose roots are a combination of Maori and Jewish culture) has definitely become a name for me to watch out for. There’s a wonderful dry, under-stated, laconic humour in films like Eagle vs Shark.
This summer I watched Boy which was beautifully filmed and both hilarious and tragic.
Are New Zealanders all this amusing? I was reminded a little of Kaurismäki. Not so strange perhaps. NZ and Finland are both countries which are on the edge of the known world.
He’s now filming a Marvel blockbuster about Thor which is a little of a disappointment. But if all the Asgardians have a Kiwi accent it could be fun.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/taika-waititi-interview-on-hunt-for-the-wilderpeople-thor-ragnarok-new-zealand-a7307336.html
I watched The Hunt For The Wilderpeople the other evening. A very nice film, although not a patch on the hilarious What We Do In The Shadows (its charm and humour lies in the interaction between Sam Neill and the young lad; the supporting cast of comic characters aren’t particularly funny or convincing).
I haven’t seen Boy. Must check it out.
Only one site to go to as far as I am concerned – nice mixture of blockbusters and obscure. Mind you I thought Force Majeure was pants.
http://www.timeout.com/london/film
They describe De Palma as “one of the most documentaries ever made”. That’s nice.
There’s never been a more documentary documentary
‘Bogart’:
“Tell her that she has the most irresistible eyes.”
‘Allan Felix’:
“You have the most… eyes I’ve ever seen on any person.”
– Woody Allen, Play It Again, Sam, 1969
That looks excellent, Lodestone. Thanks. Lots of lists to give me inspiration and I really like the way that have two sets of stars: Time Out says, Readers say. A way of acknowledging that their likes can be a little outré at times.
I hadn’t realised until a few days ago, that Time Out London became a freesheet back in 2012 and its major presence now is an on-line one. Out of touch, moi?
Cool! The Time Out guy takes a dump all over my favourite film of the year so far – the admittedly made-to-cleave-audiences Swiss Army Man..
I’m a regular reader of the BFI’s Sight & Sound magazine, which as well as having some really good long-form articles about film in general, has an excellent review section which covers cinema releases and those on DVD / bluray. I always avoid the glossy mags like Total Film and Empire, which are basically comics for people who watch fantasy movies with guns.
I imagine Sight and Sound is an excellent way of keeping tabs on new releases.
I would often dip into it as a teenager. I was a voracious film-goer and spent many a happy hour at the BFI’s National Film Theatre on the South Bank which greatly expanded my knowledge of the history of the cinema.
(A while later, my girlfriend at that time worked there and would occasionally (in the age before widespread subtitling) do a live translation of the dialogue in Frnech films. What a task!)
Time Out has been reviewing films since 1968. Sight and Sound, which was founded in 1932, even longer. There must be some amazing databases of film reviews out there.
Intereting to see how the S & S Best Films of all Time has changed throughout the years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sight_%26_Sound
in 2012 the unthinkable happened: Hitchcock’s Vertigo pipped Citizne Kane to the post as the best film ever made.
Completely agree – very interesting to see how it has changed over the years.
On a separate note, recently finally Dr. Strangelove – could not see how anyone could think that was one of the 10 best of all time??
It was the combination of a great director, Kubrick, a big star, Sellers and a topic that everyone was very preoccupied in the 60s. It was subject matter that the cinema had not dealt with in this way before too.
It’s the reason why thunderingly mediocre but earnest films clean up at the awards every year – you just can’t get consensus when it comes to comedy. And, to give critics some credit, they will be aware that even some of the best funny stuff doesn’t age that well..
You’re right there. Sewer. The Oscars just love an earnest movie.
I think there’s also an attitude that comedy isn’t really high art: it’s a second class citizen somehow. Even though being a good comedy actor or director requires a lot more flair and skill. Any numpty can look serious, tragic or heroic. Delivering a witty comic line with perfect timing demands real skill.
Of course a film can be extremely funny and yet deal with more serious issues too. Pride is a perfect example.
I haven’t been to the cinema in…well, since the second Lord of the Rings installment, when it was a work reward thing to go to this screening. And before that it was probably another ten years or so.
I can’t enjoy films at the cinema, because I always cry (even at comedies). So I just sit there, tense and waiting for the floodgates to open, and when I feel them starting I have to shut down and desperately try to think of something else to try to stop it from happening, and the film is utterly ruined. Plus it’s too loud nowadays and I’m a grumpy old person who doesn’t like surround sound…
Occasionally I get a DVD of some film I’ve heard lots of good things about, and almost always I find it quite awful. Or get restless half-way through and wonder why the director thought it was such an interesting story that it needed to be 2:30 long (yes – when it comes to films I’m like one of those many Afterworders complaining that there is no good new music!)
I recently got a free code from a streaming service to see a film of my choice, and looking through hundreds of films in their list of choices I couldn’t find one single film that I wanted to see. So I watched an old DVD of a film I’ve seen twenty times already (oh dear – I really am like those “I only listen to old albums” Afterworders! 🙂 )
So reading about new films is all I do, I never actually see them, in spite of living near two of the best cinemas left in Stockholm, where almost all of the films I read about and find interesting are shown (i.e. not the blockbusters).
If I’m really honest, the DVDs I go back to most these days are the quite bad films. Preposterous plots, incompetent acting, ridiculous effects. I find them comforting somehow, and strangely moving the way they try so hard but fail. Mediocrity is underrated! 🙂
I shed a manly tear at Bridget Jones’s Baby the other night, so I sympathise…
We have a nice local indie cinema called the Regal Twin in Graceville (what’s not to like about a cinema in a place called Graceville?). Twin because it has a mere two screens. It shows a rich diet in indie films, with regular blockbusters to pull a few punters in. I’m about bang in the middle of their demographic, and they don’t sell popcorn. I’ll repeat that: THEY DON’T SELL POPCORN. (This makes a nice contrast with the local Hoyts, which has at-seat gourmet meal service FFS.) They do have an excellent Thai round the corner though.
Upcoming movies I’m looking forward to include the new Woody Allen, Cafe Society; The Light Between Oceans (heartwrenching by the looks of it); Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake; Hell or High Water (I try not to let a Jeff Bridges film go by).
That’s once I’ve caught up with Sully, Snowden and Eight Days a Week of course.
You are a real film enthusiast, Mike. But then you do have a have a “boutique arthouse” to go to
http://www.regaltwin.com.au/
Which looks as inviting as my dear Bio Reflexen.
The repertoire looks excellent.
Thanks for an hilarious account of why you do not go to the cinema, Locust. Remind me to buy a large box of kleenex if I ever tempt you to visit Reflexen.
I know a fellow who reviews films; he has a double pass, but no wheels, I have no tickets but do have a car. It’s quite a pleasant trade-off, and SFWIC is happy to see me out of the house two or three times a week.
According to last year’s diary, I saw 112 films…but very few of them would I have been happy to pay full ticket price for (tickets here are $20), let alone recommend, and there were two where we snuck out early.
112? In the cinema?? That’s quite an achievement.
The most I think I ever visited the cinema in one year was 2011, when I had a Cineworld card and kept a list of all the films I watched, to try and decide at the end of the year if the card was value for money or not.
I decided it was, by a nose. Here’s the list. I won’t bore you with my insane numbering/filing system, but basically the ones with lots of stars next to them are the ones I liked.
1) *****1 The Next Three Days
2) Season Of The Witch
3) *****2 Henry’s Crime
4) *****3 Green Hornet
5) *****4 Tron Legacy
6) *1 The King’s Speech
7) *****5 Get Low
8) *****6 Black Swan
9) The Mechanic
10) *****7 Neds
11) *****8 True Grit
12) *2 The Fighter
13) Paul
14) *3 The Adjustment Bureau
15) *4 You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger
16) Submarine
17) *5 The Eagle
18) *****9 Unknown
19) *6 Source Code
20) *****10 The Lincoln Lawyer
21) *7 Oranges And Sunshine
22) *****11 Limitless
23) *****12 13 Assassins
24) *****13 Attack The Block
25) *8 Insidious
26) Blitz
27) Senna
28) *****14 Stake Land
29) *****15 Potiche
30) *****16 The Tree Of Life
31) Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows
32) *****17 Super 8
33) *9 Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
34) The Inbetweeners
35) *10 The Skin I Live In
36) *****18 The Guard
37) *****19 Cowboys And Aliens
38) *****20 The Troll Hunter
39) *****21 Kill List
40) *****22 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
41) *11 Jurassic Park
42) *12 Warrior
43) *****23 Drive
44) *****24 Perfect Sense
45) *13 The Three Musketeers
46) Real Steel
47) *14 Johnny English Reborn
48) *****25 We Need To Talk About Kevin
49) *15 Paranormal Activity
50) *16 Midnight In Paris
51) *17 The Ides Of March
52) *****26 Straw Dogs
53) *****27 Contagion
54) *18 Ghostbusters
55) In Time
56) *****28 The Rum Diary
57) *19 Wuthering Heights
58) Tower Heist
59) Tintin
60) *20 My Week With Marilyn
61) Hugo
I should explain, I have a child…. Just noticed a few kid’s movies on that list…
That’s an interesting list with several surprises. Only one star for the King’s Speech and Almodovar and four for Cowboys Vs Aliens. Idiosyncratic! Just the way I like it.
We agree on The Lincoln Lawyer: marvelous gritty, witty movie!
Matthew McConaughey is one of Hollywood’s brightest right now. Like Chris Pratt (another one to watch), he had a longish career in romcoms and sitcoms before getting meaty roles. They both are accomplished actors.
The presence of Pratt in The Magnificent Seven reboot is a major selling point for me.
No need to explain away seeing kids films. Many are far more entertaining and intelligent than films made for adults.
I thought Cowboys Vs Aliens understood and excelled within its strange genre very well. I have a soft spot for films that understand the balance between camp and serious that you get from comic books. The Spirit is another maligned favourite I really love.
Agree re Matthew McConnoughnehy (spelling???)…. I loved him all those years ago when I saw him in Dazed and Confused and then spent 15 years waiting for the world to catch up.
Someone else I thought the same about was Jennifer Lopez: Remember she was once a potentially great actress, in Out of Sight? But unlike Mr M, I don’t think she’ll ever quite return from rom com hell.
Ms Lopez probably has other more important fish to fry in the pop world, so just takes the easy options. I can’t imagine her agent lookibg out for challenging roles for her.
Great comments on this thread, Arthur. You certainly know what you like and dislike. I may even give Cowboys vs Aliens a try!
Thanks. I care deeply about what makes films good and bad. Your facebook film group sounds intriguing – I’ll try and take a look!
Excellent! It’s only been running for a week or so, but people are taking the opportunity to write about films that they’ve seen recently that they like or dislike. It’s a mixture of AW people and others who I know who are keen film-goers.
You’ll have to submit a member request if you want to post something. Anything to do with the cinematic arts is welcome.
No stars at all for Asif Kapadia’s documentary about Ayrton Senna?
Seems a little harsh. I thought it was excellent…
His documentary on Amy Winehouse also received a lot of praise.
A director with a fondness for tragic subject matter.
I was so bored by Senna. The emperor’s new clothes, truly.
I couldn’t get past the thought that it’s a silly little sport populated by silly little overprivileged boys. I don’t have much of an interest in cars or sport, and I thought this might be the movie to convert me…
I was wrong…
You were right about motor racing though.
No stars for Submarine? That can’t be right. Your keyboard must be defective.
Wes Anderson lite. Right down to the kooky soundtrack and Futura bold titles.
Mind you, Richard Ayoade redeemed himself with The Double. I thought that was glorious: thought provoking, funny AND nightmarish. The perfect combination.
112 films? Far, far too many! There must have been some absolute turkeys.
My NFT ex-girlfriend now writes film reviews for an on-line service and she has to sit through some unspeakable rubbish.
But which of the 112 did you actually enjoy?
Need to get my current World Cinema credentials up to scratch.
We are reasonably served in Winchester with an Everyman but also the local Film Soc which has just announced it’s programme – haven’t heard of most.
http://www.winchesterfilmsociety.co.uk/season-2016-17/
I will look through that list, Mr Tunes, and see if any ring any bells.
I was thinking about the films that I enjoyed in the last year or so and realise that it’s a fairly international list, thanks largely to the film club. Here are a few.
Ida (Pawel Pawlikowski, Poland )
This was suggested by DuCool and it ticks all the boxes mentioned above for a classic Duke Gloomfest. And it’s a small masterpiece.
Natural Sciences from (Matias Lucchesi, Argentina )
A road movie in which a teenage girl tries to discover the identity of her father. Very low-key, beautiful pampas scenery and fine acting.
Pride ( Matthew Warchus. UK)
Surely you’ve all see this story of how gay activists help out during the miners’ strike? Warm, funny and with a powerful message.
The Phantom Boy ( Alan Gagnol, France)
From the director of A cat in Paris, a very poetic yet also exciting kids film about a boy with cancer who develops super powers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEZzhT_PBzQ
Of Horses and Men ( Benedikt Erlandsson, Iceland )
Seriously peculiar yet rather compelling. Dark, brutal, violent, beautiful. Romantic comedy my arse! The nearest it gets to romance is a couple having a furtive shag on the tundra (still holding their horses’ reins) while the rest of their equestrian pals furtively watch on with binoculars. That’s Iceland for you!
Awesome work sir – will review
Bliney!
Icelandic Equestrian Promiscuity?
TMFTL or what?
Here you go @timtunes. A few comments on what seems to be a very varied selection of films. I posted some trailers as I suspect several of them will appear in other places than Winchester.
Next week! Embrace of the Serpent on Tuesday 4th October
This Colombian film was shown at a Latin American festival here last weekend. Both shows sold out. I’m told it is excellent.
Victoria
I’ve seen this German thriller and enjoyed it a lot. All done in one shot with no cuts at all! It starts slowly but really builds up.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
This New Zealand film directed by Taika Waititi is on my must see list. See Gary’s comment above.
Mustang
DuCool (and many others) loved this Turkish film about five sisters who get locked away after behaving inappropriately.
A pigeon sat on a branch reflecting on existence.
Weird and dream-like. Roy Andersson is one of Sweden’s very finest directors and this is one of his best. And one of my daughter’s schoolmates and his dad are in it!
Alleluia! The Devils’ Carnival
A horror musical directed by three of the Saw films. Gosh! That has got to be screwball.
Rams
An Icelandic comedy about sheepfarmers. Never heard of it but what’s not to like?
The Club.
If you can imagine an Argentinian version of Father Ted without the laughs and with some pretty unpleasant defrocked priests, that might give you some idea.
Fab – I’m going to try embrace next week – I’ll report back!
I love the first two films of the Roy Andersson trilogy – “Songs from the Second Floor” and “You, the Living”. They’re not only two of my absolute favourite Swedish films of all time, they’re two of my favourite films of all time, full stop.
In that exalted company, I thought the third film of the trilogy, “A pigeon sat on a branch reflecting on existence” was a big disappointment. Most of the time it looks like someone doing a rather unsubtle parody of a Roy Andersson film…
I suspect that Mascots, a new Netflix film by mockumentary master, Christopher “Nigel Tufnell” Guest, will be of interest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6hqYhcPFvw
Interesting to see on IMDB that both he and Rob Reiner, who directed Spinal Tap, have done as much acting as directing.
Hardcore cinephiles among you may also be interested to hear that this thread now has a parallel existence (and hopefully a slightly longer life) over on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1574166589558789/
I’ve already pressganged several AWers and it’s an open group where anyone is welcome. This morning Mikethep introduced us to the joys of Greasy Strangling.
Surprised, given the comments about how appealing a “club” vibe with a set menu of quality fare is, that no-one has mentioned MUBI. It used to be like a smaller, more indie Netfilix, with a fairly wide range of mostly foreign, mostly acclaimed films. But a while back it switched to a format of a rolling month of movies, where a new one comes up each day and today is the last day to watch the one that started 30 days ago. Supposedly, the idea is to persuade you to try stuff you might not otherwise and to free you from the bizarre phenomenon (it’s certainly happened to me) where you spend half your allotted movie time browsing…
That sounds very interesting. £5.99 a month seems affordable as well. Is it old films as well as new films? (I couldn’t see a list but I might have missed it).
We have Netflix and Amazon Prime, but you’re right: I spend more time clicking and scrolling than just watching stuff.
That’s why I like an actual cinema. You feel a sense of occasion and you want to make the most of it.
I’ve just rediscovered Mubi – I’ve had a sub for ages but completely forgot about it. The original format was frsutrating, because most of the films I wanted to watch weren’t available in the UK. It can be a bit earnest at times, but it’s refreshing to be presented with a modest list of films (30, I suppose) which are an engaging mixture of indies from all over the world and classics – they’re showing Henry V, Black Narcissus, Great Expectations and And God Created Woman at the moment.
Also showing: The Sea Horse from 1934 – ‘Painlevé’s most celebrated underwater documentary testifies to the delicate charm of this curious critter. Submarine surrealism, with dramatic footage of a pregnant male seahorse giving birth.’ You don’t get that on Netflix, do you?
A 1934 seahorse documëntary! You certainly can’t accuse Mubi of being too mainstream.
The Less is More approach is very interesting. Nothing but quality.
But there are times when I must succumb to baser pleasures and nothing but a Greasy Strangler will do.
Not a film likely to ever darken Mubi’s door,
Interesting. I had never heard of it, although it does seem to be available in Sweden.
Certainly seems to be one for those who want to see more than the latest blockbuster. And they even have an online magazine with content that is more Sight and Sound than Empire.
https://mubi.com/notebook