The Two Faces of January (Nov 10th): Review

The Two Faces of January is a gripping and highly watchable film which I would highly recommend. Set in the sixties, it is undeniably “old school” – a twisted tale of murder, treachery and double-dealing, based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith, where you half expect Alfred Hitchcock to appear in cameo at some point.Viggo Mortensen (Lord of the Rings) and Kirsten Dunst (Spiderman) play Chester and Colette Macfarland a rich and affluent couple touring the sites and sounds of Europe, with us first catching up with them in a glorious looking Athens.
Appearing to be relaxed and happy together, they hide a dark secret that is about to catch up with them. Oscar Isaac plays American rogue Rydal, who seems to stare intently at Chester. Is he part of the impending storm, or just an innocent caught up in events he can’t control? Tensions rise, not just because of the plot pressures but also because of the obvious sexual tension growing between the charismatic Rydal and Chester’s lovely and much younger wife.

Gloria – Review: Oct 13th 7pm at Nantwich Civic Hall

Gloria is a “woman of a certain age” but still feels young. Though lonely, she makes the best of her situation and fills her nights seeking love at social dance clubs for single adults. Her fragile happiness changes the day she meets Rodolfo. Their intense passion, to which Gloria gives her all, leaves her vacillating between hope and despair — until she uncovers a new strength and realizes that, in her golden years, she can shine brighter than ever. GLORIA is Chile’s official entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards (R), and stars Paulina García in a tour de force performance that captured the Silver Bear Best Actress Award at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.

Beautifully filmed with a great soundtrack. It can be regarded as a true and honest film worth watching.

Review: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Sept 8th)

The Grand Budapest Hotel offers a bustling movie getaway most Wes Anderson fans will find irresistible. A wild romp set in a 1930s Eastern European mountain resort, it features a colourful assortment of players and a story within a story within a story that keeps burrowing deeper into its own silly seriousness. The plot unfolds backwards, as unspooled by the owner of the hotel to one of its guests, relating his beginnings as the establishment’s bellboy, Zero. Zero and his mentor, the hotel’s long time, ladies-man concierge, the ultra-dapper Monsieur Gustave , become friends and co-conspirators in a spiralling, sprawling misadventure that includes a murder, a missing will, a purloined painting, an outlandish prison break, and the outbreak of something that resembles World War II.
Everyone seems to be having a big old time in the big old hotel, and everywhere else, and several scenes are real jems, like the scampering prison escape—which feels like a live-action re-enactment of something from the stop-motion animation antics of The Fantastic Mr. Fox—and an extended sequence in which a secret cadre of other concierges drop everything to help one of their own out of a jam.