Freeview films from 11/12/21

By Film Cheltenham TeamDecember 10, 2021 Freeview highlights Leave a comment

World Cinema Saturday (11/12) 21:30 BBC4 Stieg Larssons Millenium Episode 5 (2010). Better known as The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest Part 1. Swedish with English subtitles. … [continues]

Films around Cheltenham from 4/12/21

By John MorrishDecember 4, 2021 Films around Cheltenham, Uncategorized Leave a comment

The Cineworlds Some Harry Potter reruns. Some Matrix reruns. A new Resident Evil called Welcome to Raccoon City. A live event-cinema thing featuring the pomaded poltroon Andre Rieu, my late mum’s favourite. Another event=cinema thing featuring Gorillaz, probably aimed at a slightly different audience. Also, something about Monsta X, apparently a K-Pop band. And The… [continues]

Freeview films 4/12/21 to 10/12/21

By Film Cheltenham TeamDecember 4, 2021 Freeview highlights Leave a comment

World Cinema Saturday (4/12) 21:30 BBC4 Stieg Larssons Millenium Episode 4 (2010). The second part of The Girl Who Played With Fire. In Swedish, Italian and French, with subtitles. … [continues]

Topsy-Turvy

By John MorrishDecember 4, 2021 Films of the Week Leave a comment

Mike Leigh’s first venture into the musical and out-and-out costume drama, this is the story of how playwright W. S. Gilbert (Jim Broadbent) and composer Arthur Sullivan (Allan Corduner) created The Mikado (1885), the comic opera that saved their careers. It brings to life the nature of creative partnerships, the world of musical theatre, and the wider… [continues]

Stephen Sondheim: 22/3/30 to 26/11/21

By Film Cheltenham TeamDecember 4, 2021 Obituaries Leave a comment

A personal appreciation by Tony Palmer, film director and writer I had the privilege of working with Stephen Sondheim for the ‘musicals’ episode of my TV series All You Need Is Love (1977). Unlike many of his songs, Sondheim was lucid and simple, emphasising his debt to, and friendship with, his mentor and ‘adopted’ father, Oscar… [continues]

Who screened the first talkie in Cheltenham?

By Film Cheltenham TeamNovember 27, 2021 Odds and ends Leave a comment

by John Elliott. First published in Cheltenham Local History Society Journal in 2013. I had always believed and, indeed, have quoted in talks I have given that the first screening of a talkie in Cheltenham was that of Ronald Colman in Bulldog Drummond at the Theatre and Opera House. The Gloucestershire Echo of October 1,… [continues]

Films around Cheltenham from 27/11/21

By John MorrishNovember 27, 2021November 27, 2021 Films around Cheltenham, Uncategorized 1 Comment

The Cineworlds A lot of very familiar stuff at the Cineworlds this week: The House of Gucci, Encanto, King Richard, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Eternals, etc, etc. There are a couple of ‘Unlimited’ exclusive screenings of Boxing Day, which is a post-Christmas mid-Atlantic romcom with a largely black cast, directed by Ami Ameen, whose trans-Atlantic acting and… [continues]

Freeview films 27/11/21 to 3/12/21

By Film Cheltenham TeamNovember 26, 2021November 27, 2021 Freeview highlights 2 Comments

World Cinema Saturday (27/11) 21:30 BBC4 Stieg Larssons Millenium Episode 2 (2010). According to the BBC’s website, this is the conclusion of The Girl Who Played With Fire, reviewed last week. According to the Radio Times, it’s the first part. I wish these people would get their… [continues]

Blue Velvet (1986)

By Film Cheltenham TeamNovember 26, 2021 Films of the Week Leave a comment

Blue Velvet, which is on Sunday at 23:15 on Film4, is David Lynch’s early, eerie masterpiece. It is the story of a young man (Kyle McLachlan, who was later to appear in Twin Peaks) who becomes obsessed with a nightclub singer (Isabella Rossellini), who is herself in the grip of a gang of criminals who have kidnapped… [continues]

Fire Will Come (2019)

By John MorrishNovember 20, 2021November 20, 2021 Films of the Week, Uncategorized Leave a comment

In Fire Will Come (2019). Amador, a convicted arsonist returns to his remote village to look after his ageing mother, Benedicta, braving the suspicion of his former neighbours. Both leading roles, and most of the other parts, are played by non-professional actors. Amador (Amador Arias) was (and probably still is) a forester, and this is… [continues]

Films around Cheltenham from 20/11/21

By John MorrishNovember 19, 2021November 20, 2021 Films around Cheltenham 1 Comment

The Cineworlds Nothing much new at Cineworld Cheltenham in the early part of the week. Two children’s animations on Sunday: Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds and Tom & Jerry: The Movie. I’ve only seen the trailers, but I wasn’t impressed. Thefirst one clearly thinks a farting horse is a guaranteed laugh-riot. The second demonstrates the… [continues]

Freeview films 20/11/21 to 26/11/21

By Film Cheltenham TeamNovember 19, 2021November 20, 2021 Freeview highlights Leave a comment

World Cinema Saturday (20/11) 21:30 BBC4 Stieg Larssons Millenium Episode 2 (2010). The second half of the screen version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, in which Mikael Blomkvist, ejected from his journalist role as a result of a court… [continues]

Films around Cheltenham from 13/11/21

By Film Cheltenham TeamNovember 13, 2021November 19, 2021 Films around Cheltenham Leave a comment

The Cineworlds New this week at the Cineworlds is Cry Macho, which sees Clint Eastwood getting back in front of the camera at the age of 91, playing a clapped-out rodeo rider who his hired to go to Mexico and bring back an old boss’s teenage son. Along the way, ‘the world-weary horseman finds unexpected… [continues]

Freeview films 13/11/21 to 19/11/21

By Film Cheltenham TeamNovember 12, 2021November 12, 2021 Freeview highlights Leave a comment

World Cinema Saturday (13/11) 21:30 BBC4 Stieg Larsson’s Millenium Episode 1 (2010). This is the start of a repackaging of the original series of three films made from Larsson’s series of novels, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and… [continues]

Charulata

By John MorrishNovember 12, 2021November 12, 2021 Films of the Week Leave a comment

There is no doubt about my Film of the Week. Not only is Satyajit Ray’s Charulata (1964) profoundly beautiful, it also happens to be hard to find at at a time when cinematic art has become a commodity to pile high and sell cheap. It’s on Channel Four on Friday (19/11) at 03:00. Set your… [continues]

Freeview film 6/11/21 to 12/11/21

By Film Cheltenham TeamNovember 5, 2021 Freeview highlights, Uncategorized Leave a comment

I’m sorry to say I haven’t got round to doing a Film of the Week this time, but I especially recommend His Girl Friday, Paths of Glory, Last Orders and Nebraska, if you haven’t seen those. World Cinema Saturday (6/11) 21:00 BBC4 Portrait of a… [continues]

Gloucester French Film Festival

By Pamela WeaverNovember 5, 2021November 5, 2021 Odds and ends, Uncategorized Leave a comment

Starting on November 8, Gloucester Guildhall is showing six relatively recent French films that have so far had limited or no release in UK. The highlight of the festival, ahead of its release date of December 31 is Titane, the winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Titane is the story of a… [continues]

Films around Cheltenham from 6 November 2021

By John MorrishNovember 5, 2021November 5, 2021 Films around Cheltenham, Uncategorized Leave a comment

The Cineworlds The new film this week at the Cineworlds is Eternals, another from the everlasting fount of mediocrity that is Marvel Studios. This one is directed by Chloé Zhao, the Chinese-born, LA-educated, director of the multi-Oscar-winning Nomadland (2020). It stars two Brits: Gemma Chan, who made her name with Channel Four’s android saga Humans,… [continues]

Films around Cheltenham from 30 October 2021

By John MorrishOctober 30, 2021October 30, 2021 Films around Cheltenham Leave a comment

The Cineworlds New at the Cineworlds this week are Antlers (2021), Last Night in Soho (2021) and, from Friday, Spencer (2021). Antlers is directed by Scott Cooper, of whom I know nothing, and produced by Guillermo del Toro, who is, as we know, very good with special effects and prosthetics. It’s a horror about a… [continues]

Freeview films 30/10/21 to 5/11/21

By Film Cheltenham TeamOctober 29, 2021October 30, 2021 Freeview highlights Leave a comment

World Cinema Saturday (30/10) 21:00 Talking Pictures The Gods Must Be Crazy (1981). A South African – Botswanan comedy, which became the most commercially successful South African film up to that time and gained wider release. The farcical action revolves round a Coca Cola bottle dropped from a plane, a biologist and some guerrillas. Largely seen as a… [continues]