Thursday 19 May 2011

Nativity

I rented this film on Lovefilm.  It's quite a cute story of a primary school teacher, played by Martin Freeman, who has lost the love of his life to Hollywood.  He is asked by the retiring headteacher to put on the nativity play, alongside a pretty bizarre classroom assistant he has been given, which he sees as a bit of a poisoned chalice.  Many of the children are pretty amusing - I suspect cast from real primary school classes.

Monday 16 May 2011

My dog Tulip

I went to see this film at the Richmond Odeon Studio - one of my new local cinemas now that I have moved house.  There were two other people watching the film, so it wasn't exactly a sell-out.  It is an animated film that is based on a book by JR Ackerley, a man who died in the 1950s or 1960s, and lived a relatively solitary life.  In his 50s he built up a very strong relationship with his dog, an Alsatian called Tulip - who reminded me a little bit of the late lamented Sheba (who used to nip your ankles just to let you know she was there).  I read the book about five years ago, but had forgotten how much of the material is about Tulip's toilet habits, and Ackerley's attempt to breed her.  The associated stories are entertaining and endearing, but suffice to say that you don't want to watch this film whilst you are having a meal, or if you have a bit of a "jippy" tummy!

Sunday 15 May 2011

Africa United

I rented this film on DVD. It is the story of three youngsters from Rwanda who decide to travel to the 2010 football world cup in South Africa, walking, by bus, hitching lifts, etc. They pick up two other interesting characters en route. Not a particularly deep and meaningful film, but quite a nice feel good movie, with some nice African scenery and some entertaining animation.

Friday 13 May 2011

Tell no one

I rented this french DVD, which was directed by Guillaume Canet, on Lovefilm. It is a pretty tense thriller that stars Francois Cluzet as a paediatrician whose wife is mysteriously murdered and then eight years later he is anonymously sent a video clip via the Internet that seems to show her as being alive. In the meantime he is implicated in a connected double murder hunt, and has various scrapes with the police and others. All in all a very gripping but not too gruesome film that had me guessing throughout.

Thursday 5 May 2011

The eagle

I went to see this film in Peckham with my friend Sean, who had chosen it specially, as he likes Roman stuff. It's billed as an historical epic film, set in the year 140 AD ( remember that one?). I have to say that Roman history is not really my cup of tea, but I did find it pretty engaging, mainly because about half of the film is set in Scotland (aka Caledonia) and it's set around the relationship between a roman commander (Channing Tatum - crazy name, crazy guy!!) and his slave (Jamie Bell). Indeed I gather from wikipedia that some of the filming took place in Achiltibuie, a small village in Wester Ross, near Ullapool. My parents spent their honeymoon in Achiltibuie and have returned there practically every year for 48 years. It's a beautiful, peaceful part of the world that I get to all too rarely.

Red Dog

I went to see this film at the Barbican with Hilary. It was being shown as part of the London Australian film festival, and yes it was about a red dog. The dog, which is a kelpie (native to Australia) unites a disparate mining community in remote western Australia, where lots of the scenery is also red. Watch out for the bit part played by Louis de Bernieres, the author whose book the film is based upon (and who was at the screening). The story is told as a series of episodes in the past, and is an endearing film overall. Some nice views of the dry dusty scenery, and massive mining equipment. Also watch out for red cat, an impressively fearsome feline.