Movies and Films and Cinemas

I used to be a movie buff back in the day. When i say buff, what i really mean is i used to buy videos, and then DVDs, all the time. My cupboard doors were adorned with movie posters collected from trips to the Showcase cinema at Coatbridge. It was one of the few nights out i used to get back in the dark days. Then i went through a few lean years and rarely visited the cinema at all. But still the DVD collection grew. I like all manor of films but not things like Star Wars nor Star Trek or that ilk. I do have a fair few rom-coms though. As well as low key movies.

Anyway, over the past few months I've taken a liking to going to see films at the cinema and so the other week i decided to get Cineworld Unlimited card. It costs £13.50 per month and you can go and see any film at any time. There are a few exceptions if you're going to see a 3D film but pretty good value. For years there was one grotty cinema in Stirling at Allan Park. It was a bit of an institution but i couldn't tell you th elast film i saw there. Perhaps it was Braveheart... Yes it was. Anyway they built a new Vue cinema down Forthside and its good but it doesn't do the unlimited card and costs quite a bit. I've been a few times and i've never actually seen the place full. People assure me it does sell out some times! So i opted for the Cineworld card. There's one in Falkirk but Glasgow Renfrew Street has been my weekly haunt.

In the past wee while i've seen Blue Valentine, Black Swan, NEDs and Love and Other Drugs.

Blue Valentine is the story of a couple who meet randomly and fall in love. (Isn't it always the way). I'm not going to tell you the way these stories go but this film was pretty intense. Really intense, perhaps even more so because it seems to be filmed really close up to the actors. Is this some kind of different camera or technique? It really made you feel you were there which at times I felt like i was intruding. The performances from Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling were good. Although I couldn't help but think of her as Jen from Dawson's Creek. And how did they get his hairline to recede?... 4 out of 5.

Love and Other Drugs is Anne Hathway as a young woman with Alzheimer's disease and Jake Gylenhaal as a well he ends up being a pharmaceutical sales rep and also manages to look hot all the way through the film. Again another boy meets girl movie, I won't tell you the ending but there was a particularly moving part at one point. A good solid rom-com-drama-thingy. 3 out of 5.

NEDs. Does exactly what it says on the tin. It is what it is. A tough tale of gangs of N.E.D's in a part of Glasgow in the 1970's. For me the boy playing the lead character does a fantastic job. Likeable in a bad way. Directed by Peter Mullan, he also acts in it. He's as menacing as I've ever seen him and i didn't like him (or rather his character). He was a bad nut. The supporting cast, especially John McGill's gang, are ace. There's one scene when the gangs meet to fight and this leader is running across a bridge with 3 inch platform heeled boots and a three quarter length leatherette coat. Too funny. Its violent at times and really sweary so not for the easily offended. For me this wasn't a problem. I've heard some people remarked that its too over exaggerated but i don't think so. If people think this kind of thing didn't or doesn't go on between gangs, they should take a trip to the real world some time. Excellent film. 5 out of 5.

Black Swan. Mad, darkly filmed intense, traumatic, gruesome at parts. Its certainly unique in that way. I came out thinking I'd been through the wringer. Natalie Portman gives a fine performance as a starved and mental ballet dancer. Mental probably because of her exhaustion and starving (although it doesn't show you much of this). I watched this the day after I saw NEDs and i have to say this to me was more gruesome. Mainly because of the close up shots of her bending and stretching her toes, ripping the skin from her fingernails, pulling black feathers from her back and cracking almost every bones in her body. The experience was heightened by the accompanying sound effects. There were parts that were a tad...intimate.. but you should be able to put up with that! The boys will like it, if you're into really skinny girls who are a bit mad. It was a good movie, worth seeing but not one I'd go out and buy. 4 out of 5.


Angela xx