Not back to pre covid levels, but a reasonable month at the cinema:
The Doors: Live at The Bowl ’68 Special Edition – A one night only worldwide special screening of restored film of a Doors concert from the Hollywood Bowl. Show with an interview with surviving band members, John Densmore and Robby Krieger. The interview is a thinly disguised advert for a 50th anniversary special edition of LA Woman. The concert itself is fantastic!
Twin Peaks + Panel – Part of the first Square Eyes festival held at Birmingham’s MAC (Midland Art Centre). The event consisted of a panel discussing if Twin Peaks the return is a movie or a TV series following Cahiers Du Cinema declaring it the best film of the last decade, and Sight and Sound placing it second in its top ten movies of 2017. This was followed by an interview with Chrysta Bell who played FBI Agent Tammy Preston in the show. Finally, they screened “The” episode of Twin Peaks, season three Part 8.
The Eternals – Has the MCU run out of steam? Not a bad film, but the weakest MCU movie of the year to date, and a shadow of the franchises best movies. Some of the casting is fantastic Kumail Nanjiani, Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Gemma Chan, Barry Keoghan, and Don Lee, others isn’t so good, Kit Harington and Richard Madden are very limited actors (please don’t let either of them be the next James Bond).
Spencer – Set over three days of Christmas in an unspecified year. The story is fictional but hits all the points you would expect. Warmer and more accessible than director Pablo Larraín’s earlier film Jackie. Jonny Greenwood’s score is excellent. Kristen Stewart’s performance is outstanding and a further reminder she is long overdue an Oscar nomination.
Bull – An enforcer for a local criminal returns home after ten years away. By casting Neil Maskell you can’t help thinking they are invoking Kill List (a film director Paul Andrew Williams hasn’t actually seen). Compelling and entertaining, it is often brutal, although the low budget shows at times.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife – Jason Reitman’s sequel to his father’s movies from the 80’s. By combining a coming of age story with the mythology of the franchise, Reitman has made both a sequel to the first two Ghostbusters movies, and “his” movie. Carrie Coon and Paul Rudd are always worth watching, but the star of the movie is Mckenna Grace.
Bad Luck Banging or Looney Porn – The Romanian submission for the Best International Feature Oscar is as bonkers as the title suggests. Split into three very different parts that make sense if they don’t totally knit together. The plot centres around the fallout when a sex tape a teacher makes with her husband finds its way online. The final section is the most satirical and best, but it is the opening that is getting all the headlines! The film starts by showing the sex tape, which is actual porn.
As a TV show and a concert and respectively, I have excluded Twin Peaks and The Doors. The Eternals was a little disappointing leaving Spencer, Bull, Ghostbusters: Afterlife , and Bad Luck Banging or Looney Porn. There is an argument for any one of them to get movie of the month but the winner has to be the most original and different film, my movie of the month is:
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