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Post by jek on Jan 14, 2024 15:42:15 GMT
We're enjoying this while failing to grasp some of the names. But we all know the man we have come to describe as Dutch Monty Don a-like, Kees. I'm wondering though if this is like having say Kirsty Wark or Fiona Bruce turn up in a UK equivalent.
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Post by jek on Jan 13, 2024 8:04:21 GMT
Another Art Pass fan here. Disappointed recently to find out that the Hayward Gallery are no longer part of the scheme. But so many other galleries/museums are. I reckon mine pays for itself many times over. The magazine is good too.
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Post by jek on Jan 4, 2024 11:16:45 GMT
Elizabeth Line seems to be running - except for after 10.30 pm on the Wednesday, when it will not call at Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street or Whitechapel.
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Post by jek on Jan 2, 2024 12:59:40 GMT
Another thumbs up here for One Life which I saw yesterday. It's just a very well crafted movie. I remember seeing the Winton story unfold on 'That's Life's. What a weird TV programme that was - it had the sort of segues that even the One Show would blush at. So I was surprised that I found it as moving as I did. Would have liked to see more of Romola Garai, but then I would always like to see more of Romola Garai!
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Post by jek on Dec 27, 2023 9:43:54 GMT
showgirl Yes we saw it at our local Picturehouse which, luckily for us, is less than a ten minute walk from our house and which I regard as an extension of our front room (albeit with less comfy seats!).I think the Picturehouse may have shot itself in the foot with this one. There may have been twenty people at the screening. Whereas the Boy and the Heron preview a couple of weeks ago (similarly priced at - expensive - Kia preview prices) was very well attended. We worry a lot about losing our Picturehouse especially as we have a large Vue also within walking distance and are promised an Everyman next year. I don't understand the economics of how they are running it (although it is let out a fair bit to local evangelical churches) but we treasure it while we have it.
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Post by jek on Dec 26, 2023 17:36:02 GMT
Just back from a preview of The Holdovers. What a lovely movie with some great performances. Such a shame that it wasn't released a little earlier as with its Christmas setting that would seem appropriate. There were five in our party - aged from 22 to 61 and we all really enjoyed it. For those of us old enough to remember, the period details are spot on. Highly recommend.
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Post by jek on Dec 22, 2023 11:23:20 GMT
I'm one of the people who commented on this in the other thread. I really enjoyed seeing it at the Barbican Cinema. I have since watched it on Netflix with my daughter (who had not seen it and who, as a music graduate, was interested in it) and I have to say that it wasn't a patch on seeing it in the cinema. Not only was it much better on a big screen (obvious, I know) but, as a hearing aid wearer, I had no difficulty hearing the dialogue in the cinema but on TV it was as alece10 described. And it was special hearing the London Symphony Orchestra at full tilt in the film, just as I so regularly hear them in the main hall of the Barbican.
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Post by jek on Dec 20, 2023 15:44:06 GMT
I just got an offer from my Marks and Spencers loyalty card for 20% off tickets for this. Valid between 1st Jan and 29th February but not week commencing 12th February and only Monday to Thursday. Tickets must be booked by 28th December. I had no idea that M&S Sparks did theatre offers - it was just there when I opened the M&S app. Might be worth keeping an eye on - especially as signing up for a loyalty card costs nothing (at least if you don't count them having access to your data).
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Wonka
Dec 17, 2023 17:55:32 GMT
via mobile
Post by jek on Dec 17, 2023 17:55:32 GMT
I enjoyed this - especially it's inventiveness - the props makers must have had fun. It's daft really but I was surprised at how many of the cast were American. I know that Gene Wilder was American but I think of the Wonka story as very British. I enjoyed playing location spotting (Eltham Palace in particular as Slugworth's office) and the use of constructed sets and CGI to create a world that you couldn't quite place. I think it will earn a place in the family movie canon - something that will be watched in years to come, much as my generation return to The Railway Children and The Amazing Mr Blunden, as well as the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
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Post by jek on Dec 17, 2023 14:45:35 GMT
Return visit to this last night having seen it in the first run. Slight worry as we weren't let in at first 'due to technical difficulties' but it went ahead after a ten minute delay. It was just as magical as we remembered, and the extra person who had joined us this time just loved it. The pacing is so right to get the feel of the movie and also has the ability to grip children in the way that some slow things do (and many of us will have had the experience of small children wanting to watch stuff endlessly on repeat). I particularly love the rapt attention of the whole audience when the 'mild peril' is introduced in the second half. And the music is just lush - and played and sung so beautifully. Definitely five stars from me. Clearly the merchandise is a huge hit too (luckily not my thing as it was very expensive). All three of the selling points were very crowded and lots of people had bags, plushies etc.
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Post by jek on Dec 15, 2023 22:30:48 GMT
Just back from a preview of The Boy and The Heron. We're big Ghibli fans in this house (my children are now in their 20s and have grown up watching them). I think this is up there with the best. Moments of great beauty, humour and - for reasons I can't work out - incredibly moving. Lots of it doesn't make any sense but I think with Ghibli you just have to go along for the ride. The wartime setting reminded me of Grave of The Fireflies which I made the mistake of letting my kids watch when they were far too young!
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Post by jek on Dec 14, 2023 10:28:17 GMT
I am in the camp of being disappointed with this. I went in having read reviews ranging from 5 stars (the i paper) to 3 stars (the Guardian). I love the film - my daughter claims that it, and the film Death of Stalin, got her the A Level grades she needed to get into Cambridge - and I love the music of Elvis Costello. In fact I remember playing Costello's I Want You, which features in the musical, on repeat at the time of a romantic break up in the mid 1980s! But somehow, despite excellent performances, this just didn't work for me. I think some of it is to do with scale. The stage felt too small for the dancing bits but somehow too big for the really intimate sections. I was also a bit cross that from row B in the circle (so not a cheap seat) bits of the action were lost as they were played out at the front of the stage. I didn't hate it but I won't be encouraging people to go and see it.
I am enjoying seeing Luke Thallon grow up. I first saw him in the Guildhall production of Crazy for You back in 2017 (so his singing ability was no surprise to me). He was such a ball of energy in that. My eldest son is one year younger than Luke and so I know just how much people mature in their early twenties. It's a real pleasure to watch.
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Post by jek on Dec 3, 2023 15:48:12 GMT
Like showgirl I enjoyed this. We saw it at the Barbican Cinema which felt appropriate given that the London Symphony Orchestra is resident at the Barbican Hall. As a regular at LSO concerts I especially liked spotting the current Barbican orchestra members playing the Mahler symphony - lots of wigs and period appropriate glasses. I thought it sounded and looked beautiful. It also cleverly circumvented what is so often a problem with biopics - introducing characters in a slightly clunky manner. There was a tiny bit of that with Jerome Robbins and Betty Comden and Adolph Green, but nowhere near as much as in old movies like the Gershwin story. It must have been very difficult to decide what areas of an eventful marriage to focus on - there was nothing about their involvement with 'radical chic' and hosting a party for the Black Panthers, for example. I'm now home and looking forward to listening to some Bernstein CDs.
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Post by jek on Dec 2, 2023 17:29:28 GMT
This is a play I valued rather than enjoyed. I shall be thinking about it for some time. I should say that the subject matter was quite close to the bone as I am a woman in her sixties whose body requires almost as much maintenance as our Victorian terraced house! The themes around ageing don't get explored enough but at points I felt they would be better considered by a playwright older than 42. I say that as an Annie Baker fan. I didn't see The Flick but loved John (also starring Mary Louise Burke) and enjoyed parts of the Antipodes. I found the audience reaction a bit strange at points - finding poignant stuff hilariously funny. Also an elderly woman (aged about 80 I would say) a few seats from us in the gallery snored through the whole performance. She was attending by herself and so had no-one to nudge her awake.I felt very worried for her as people were laughing and talking very loudly about her as they left (she could clearly be heard in other parts of the auditorium). In a play which takes a compassionate look at ageing it struck a sour note.
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Post by jek on Nov 28, 2023 22:16:02 GMT
Fallen Leaves. A ray of sunlight in a bleak world. The jobs the protagonists do are soul destroying, they are living in close proximity to a brutal war (we get reports from Ukraine on the radio), but somehow they still grasp at the good things that life can offer. The audience at tonight's Picturehouse preview seemed largely appreciative. Great to see Alma Poysti in a very different role from the one she played in Tove. The colour palette of the film is lovely too - lots of reds and blues. And obviously the soundtrack is a winner.
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Post by jek on Nov 22, 2023 11:58:59 GMT
I see that the very intrusive music is lifted from The Go-Between. In an interview carried in the Radio Times Natalie Portman said that Todd Haynes told her to watch that (and also the Pumpkin Eater) as preparation for filming. These films and others were in a list he gave the cast and crew before they started filming.
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Post by jek on Nov 21, 2023 22:18:45 GMT
Just back from another Picturehouse free preview for members. This time it was Joanna Hogg's The Eternal Daughter with Tilda Swinton playing both the mother and daughter roles. I went in with low expectations as I am not a huge Joanna Hogg fan but I enjoyed this more than I expected to. It is very slight - think novella rather than meaty novel - but it is well crafted and acted. If I'd been watching it at home I would have got distracted and gone off to make a cup of tea but in the cinema it kept me engaged for the 96 minutes of its run.
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Post by jek on Nov 18, 2023 19:13:31 GMT
Uplifting seems to be thin on the ground at the moment showgirl. We went to see the documentary The Mission this afternoon about the young evangelical missionary who decided to go and spread the word among an isolated island tribe with catastrophic results. It's fascinating but certainly not uplifting. My 22 year old daughter went to see Saltburn this afternoon and described it as a one star movie. And on paper it looked like she was the target audience. Roll on Fallen Leaves!
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Post by jek on Nov 16, 2023 13:55:53 GMT
I mentioned watching this at the weekend in the 'last movie you watched' thread. If mkb or anyone else fancies a good look at the French judicial system I really would recommend the many series of Spiral. It is pretty much impossible not to fall in love with the wise and passionate Judge Roban.
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Post by jek on Nov 16, 2023 10:50:39 GMT
Went to a free preview last night at our local Picturehouse for May December. By the standards of most of the previews I have seen here it was pretty busy - over half full I'd say. So Todd Haynes clearly has his followers. I went having enjoyed Far From Heaven, Carol and Wonderstruck but not having seen anything else by him. Well May December is up there with the least enjoyable films I have seen all year. I found it very boring and it wasn't helped that the main characters were so dislikable. At one point the woman in front of me got her phone out and I was disappointed when I saw from the time lighting up that we were only half way through. I'm sure that many other people will love this - the reviews certainly suggest that. But it certainly wasn't for me or my husband. Did enjoy seeing a trailer for the Kaurismaki film Fallen Leaves starring Alma Poysti who lit up the screen in the biopic of Tove Jansson of Moomin fame. Only a couple of weeks until that is out.
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Post by jek on Nov 15, 2023 8:37:48 GMT
Went last night and felt the production was in very safe hands with Christopher Eccleston at the helm. It felt just as warm and special as it has in previous years. Given Christopher Eccleston's politics and his personal history his closing, fund raising, speech had real fire. It really is a timeless production. Our £10 seats were in Row S of the stalls which meant that we even got snowed on! We very much enjoyed watching a couple of teenage lads sat in front of us making repeated visits to the mince pie stall - all that growing takes a lot of fuel! So pleased to have seen this this year after not having seen it since before Covid.
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Post by jek on Nov 12, 2023 18:32:45 GMT
Enjoyed Anatomy of a Fall today but boy is it long! It's two and a half hours and demands proper concentration from the viewer. Much more of it was in English than I expected but I was glad that years of watching Spiral had given me a working knowledge of the French judicial system! I think you could tell it was gripping because, despite it's length, there weren't many people popping out for toilet trips (though the queues at the end were pretty long - and the Barbican isn't short on toilets). I'd certainly recommend it and it was good to see Sandra Huller in such a meaty role (I loved her in Toni Erdmann). Choose a cinema with comfy seats would be my advice.
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Post by jek on Nov 7, 2023 9:36:58 GMT
Have now got round to watching Nyad, now that it is on Netflix. It's very much geared to my demographic (60 year old women who have grown up/ old alongside Annette Bening and Jodie Foster) and I very much enjoyed it. I am now slightly troubled that I don't have a magnificent obsession to take me through my sixties! Mind you my 24 year old son did rather break the mood by pointing out to his dad and I that we are both exhausted after a bit of gardening so maybe a physical challenge isn't the way to go. But seriously, I think the directors (whose Free Solo documentary was magnificent) have done a good job with this. It probably would have been even better on the big screen but it wasn't being shown anywhere local to us. It's certainly worth a watch.
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Post by jek on Nov 1, 2023 11:48:03 GMT
Starring in this year's M&S Christmas ad. Which will now be everywhere!
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Post by jek on Oct 25, 2023 7:54:55 GMT
Arlene Phillips was on the Radio 4 Today programme this morning (at about 7.45 am) sharing her affectionate memories of Bill Kenwright. She was particularly funny talking about his refusal to hire the requisite number of swings, reckoning that if they were available others would stay off work.
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Post by jek on Oct 19, 2023 10:26:04 GMT
I know that the ballroom version is different but I thought that it was commonplace in Argentina to see elderly people dancing the tango. So maybe Angela Ripon dancing it isn't quite so unlikely.
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Post by jek on Oct 18, 2023 9:03:34 GMT
I too saw The Miracle Club. I didn't love it (I see the director has directed some episodes of Call The Midwife and it very much had that feel, only longer). But I did think it very much captured the complications of Irish Catholic family life. At 60 I have Irish Catholic aunties who cut off their own children for transgressions against church moral teaching. The priest was written well, I thought. The screening I went to only had five customers but I would think there should be an audience for this.
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Post by jek on Oct 17, 2023 10:07:02 GMT
Just got the email stating that priority booking starts on November 2nd for Nye, Dear Octopus, London Tide, Til The Stars Come Down and Underdog:The Other Bronte. Also mentions that they are having some 6.30 pm performances.
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Post by jek on Oct 16, 2023 7:37:52 GMT
I second the Coffin Works and also the Back to Backs which are operated by the National Trust and are just near the Hippodrome. Generally need to book for the latter - as it is small and popular.
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Post by jek on Oct 15, 2023 10:10:36 GMT
I think those of us who have children of a certain age (mine are all in their 20s) we have vivid memories of Layton in the CBBC series School for Stars (2011) whch followed youngsters training at Italia Conti. From a google it looks like it can be seen on YouTube.
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