Film Club
Join the RSC Film Club, all you need to do to join is take part as often as you want.
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Welcome to the RSC Film Club A chance to watch and discuss films, maybe your favourites, maybe something you’ve never heard of before, with all your favourite crew mates. We will be watching one film per month, hopefully giving everyone a chance to watch the film and to have a decent discussion about it before moving on to the next one. How do we choose what to watch? There will be a different theme/genre every month to keep things fresh, which will be announced in this thread. Everyone is free to nominate a film in this thread, all of which will be put in a random draw and chosen by good ol’ trustworthy @Con (it’ll just be luck that his films …
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Monty Python and the Holy Grail [RSC Film Club 55]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 423 views
This month's film club selection, thanks to @djw180, is Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the first feature length film from the legendary British comedy troupe made up of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. Directed by the two Terrys, Jones and Gilliam - both of their directorial debuts - the film is a spoof of Arthurian legend in the Python's own surreal and slapstick style. Chapman stars as King Arthur (I didn't vote for him) who, after assembling his knights of the round table, is given a quest by god, to seek out the Holy Grail. Their journey sees them face off against animated monsters, rude Frenchmen and…
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The Reader [RSC Film Club 53]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 586 views
The first half of our awards season double-bill, nominated by @djw180, is the 2008 drama The Reader, for which Kate Winslet won the Oscar for Best Actress. This is a film I know nothing about, but the synopsis sounds interesting, with Winslet playing a guard at a concentration camp. It co stars the always brilliant Ralph Fiennes as well as Bruno Ganz and Lena Olin. As well as Winslet's win, the film was nominated for Best Film, Director, Adapted Screenplay and Cinematography. it doesn't matter what i feel, it doesn't matter what i think. the dead are still dead
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Leaving Las Vegas [RSC Film Club 54]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 424 views
The second half of our Oscar double-bill is the film that got Nicolas Cage a Best Actor award, Leaving Las Vegas, as nominated by @omarcomin71. Cage plays suicidal, alcoholic screenwriter Ben Sanderson who, when he feels like he has nothing left to live for, resolves to go to Las Vegas and drink himself to death. While there he meets prostitute Sera, plated by Elisabeth Shue and the bond they form may be enough to bring him back from the brink. As well as Cage's win, the film was nominated for Best Director, Actress for Shue, and Adapted Screenplay. i don't know if i started drinking 'cause my wife left me or my wife left me 'cause i st…
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Akira [RSC Film Club 39]
by LimeGreenLegend- 2 followers
- 3 replies
- 671 views
The first film of 2022 will be our second animated film, and that is Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira, nominated by @djw180. An absolute landmark in the history of animation, Akira is a cyberpunk film about a biker gang getting involved in military experiments exploring the limits of telekinetic power. Incredibly detailed backgrounds of the towering, neon drenched Neo-Tokyo set the standard of what cyberpunk looks like and the soundtrack, a mixture of the traditional and the futuristic, perfectly sets the mood. And then there's the finale, which I'll leave you to experience for yourself. I only watched this recently but I'm glad for an excuse to re-watch it as this w…
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Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles [RSC Film Club 52]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 475 views
Our first film of 2023 is the winner of the latest once-a-decade Sight and Sound poll to determine the greatest film of all time, Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles by Chantal Akerman. The film stars Delphine Seyrig as the titular Jeanne Dielman, a middle aged widow who lives a quiet, orderly life with her teenage son Sylvain (Jan Decorte), while also entertaining the occasional gentleman caller for some extra money. The film follows her over three days where you can watch her slowly unravel in the most subtle way. This isn't a film that everyone will enjoy, being nearly three and a half hours long and consisting of minutes long stat…
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The Muppet Christmas Carol [RSC Film Club 51]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 442 views
I'm pretty sure that Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is one of, if not the most adapted literary work of all time, and this right here is the best of the bunch. Directed by Brian Henson, son of the legendary Jim Henson, The Muppet Christmas Carol stars Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge with a supporting cast that includes Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy as Bob and Emily Cratchitt, The Great Gonzo as Charles Dickens and Rizzo the Rat as himself. Everyone knows this story, but if you've never seen this version before I think you'll be surprised at how faithful this is to the source material. Michael Caine is genuinely brilliant as Scrooge, playing it straight…
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Steve Jobs [RSC Film Club 44]
by LimeGreenLegend- 2 followers
- 4 replies
- 751 views
This month we're delving into the filmography of Oscar winning director Danny Boyle thanks to @Con's nomination. His is an incredibly varied filmography, from gritty drama to Bollywood musical through to sci-fi and feel-good family fare he's pretty much done it all. The film we'll be watching, nominated by @djw180, is a biopic, that of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, also the title of the film. Written by Aaron Sorkin of The West Wing fame, Steve Jobs stars Michael Fassbender in the title role. The film covers the period in his life from 1984 up to the release of the iMac in 1998. It co-stars Kate Winslet as Apple marketing exec Joanna Hoffman, Seth Rogen as A…
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Flash Gordon [RSC Film Club 50]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 3 replies
- 501 views
Our fiftieth film for the film club is a cult classic and guilty pleasure, as per @omarcomin71's category nomination. That film is 1980's Flash Gordon, chosen by @djw180. Sam J. Jones plays Flash, football star of the New York Jets who has to defend the Earth from Ming the Merciless (Max von Sydow). As well as Sydow there are a number of fantastic actors in supporting roles such as Topol, Timothy Dalton, and the shy and retiring Brian Blessed. I have vague memories of seeing this as a child but I couldn't tell you a thing about it apart from the legendary soundtrack by Queen, so I can't wait to watch this again. gordon's alive
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Rosemary's Baby [RSC Film Club 49]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 452 views
Our Halloween selection this year was nominated by our resident horror expert @Con, and that is Rosemary's Baby from 1968. It stars Mia Farrow as Rosemary Woodhouse, a young pregnant woman moving into a new apartment with her husband Guy, played by director John Cassevetes. But she soon starts to suspect that her elderly neighbours may have a less than innocent interest in her baby. Widely regarded as one of the great American horror films, it won several awards, including a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Ruth Gordan, who plays Rosemary's sinister neighbour Minnie. This is another classic horror film that I haven't seen yet, so I'm looking forward t…
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The Untouchables [RSC 48]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 469 views
We're diving into the world of organised crime this month with @djw180's nomination of Brian De Palma's The Untouchables. Based on a true story, this film stars Kevin Costner as by the book lawman Eliot Ness who is determined to bring down Al Capone (Robert De Niro) and his illegal bootlegging activities. He is helped by his crew of untouchables, so called because they can't be bribed, unlike most of the cops in Chicago. This group is made up of Charles Martin Smith, Andy Garcia, and, in an Oscar winning performance, Sean Connery. Throw in a classic Ennio Morricone score (my favourite of his), and you have one classy flick. It's been a while since I've…
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Old Henry [RSC Film Club 47]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 3 replies
- 472 views
Our second film for this month's double feature is @omarcomin71's nomination of the recent western, Old Henry. The film stars the always excellent Tim Blake Nelson in a rare leading role. He plays the titular character, a widowed farm owner who must protect it, and his sons, from local outlaws. Not having even heard of this film, let alone seen it, I don't have much to say, so here are some quotes from favourable reviews. From TheWrap, Steve Pond said he wished parts of the film were "more expansive" but overall described it as a "beautiful elegy" with a finale that feels "just right." Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, David Rooney described the direc…
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Bad Luck Banging or Loony p*rn [RSC Film Club 46]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 535 views
This month the film club was open choice, and the first of the two films selected is Radu Jude's confrontational and explicit Bad Luck Banging or Loony p*rn. This film stars Katia Pascariu as teacher Emi whose s*x tape that she makes with her husband is somehow leaked online. Kids in her class see it and she is quickly summoned before a group of teachers and parents who are to decide if she's fit to be a teacher. Told in three distinct acts, this is the very definition of confrontational cinema, with it opening with the McGuffin of a s*x tape in all of its glory. But the real meat of the film is the meeting to decide Emi's fate, things getting more and…
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Young Frankenstein [RSC Film Club 45]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 510 views
This month we are celebrating the work of the legendary Mel Brooks by watching one of his films, namely Young Frankenstein, as nominated by @djw180. Gene Wilder stars as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, grandson of the infamous mad scientist who re-animated a corpse. After inheriting his estate, Frederick takes up his grandfather's work and makes a monster of his own (the brilliant Peter Boyle). This is peak Brooks, with the jokes coming thick and fast - the first joke happens before a single word is said, just count how many times the clock tolls over the opening credits - all delivered perfectly by an incredible supporting cast including Marty Feldman, Cloris Le…
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Strictly Ballroom [RSC Film Club 43]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 3 replies
- 698 views
This month's film club selection, nominated by @djw180, is the Australian rom-com Strictly Ballroom, directed by Baz Luhrmann. This is the first part of an unofficial trilogy, followed by Romeo + Juliet in 1996 and Moulin Rouge in 2001. The film sees talented dancer Scott Paul Mercurio) team up with beginner Fran (Tara Morice) as no one else will dance with him due to his unconventional style which has seen him denounced by the Australian Dancing Federation. I've not seen this before, but having had seen Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge I'm expecting something bold and brash and oozing with style and energy and melodrama. i'm not danci…
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Citizen Kane [RSC Film Club 42]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 3 replies
- 697 views
The second half of our Oscar special, a winning Best Screenplay film, is the legendary Citizen Kane, arguably the greatest film ever made, easily the most influential. When elderly, reclusive billionaire media mogul Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles) dies in his palatial estate, dogged reporter Jerry Thompson (William Alland) sets out to discover the meaning behind his enigmatic last word, "Rosebud". He interviews people who knew him and we get to see Kane's entire life from childhood through to his lonely death. This is Orson Welle's debut film, and as well as starring in the lead role he also directed, produced and co-wrote the screenplay with Herma…
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Fargo [RSC Film Club 41]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 551 views
To celebrate this years Oscars, and Will Smith's mental breakdown, we're rounding out the 'big five' by watching films that won the award for Best Actress and Best Screenplay. @omarcomin71will be pleased with the results of the Best Actress pick, Frances McDormand's winning performance as Marge Gunderson in the Coen Brother's Fargo, something he's been nominating for months 😉 A pitch-black crime comedy, McDormand plays the sweet natured yet ruthlessly efficient cop investigating a kidnapping case for car salesman Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) and a series of murders committed by the psychopathic Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stomare) and his quick talking partne…
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The Long Kiss Goodnight [RSC Film Club 40]
by LimeGreenLegend- 2 followers
- 5 replies
- 629 views
This month we are celebrating the long career and extensive filmography of Samuel L. Jackson, the highest grossing actor of all time whose films have made a worldwide total of over 20 billion dollars. Billion. The film we'll be watching is the 1996 spy film The Long Kiss Goodnight. The film stars Geena Davis (whatever happened to her?) as amnesiac teacher Samantha who may have been a spy before she lost her memory. With the help of our man Jackson as private detective Mitch Henessey she attempts to put together the pieces of her past. Directed by Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger) and written by Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, The Last Action Hero, The Nice…
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Barton Fink [RSC Film Club 37]
by LimeGreenLegend- 2 followers
- 3 replies
- 683 views
This month's film club selection comes from the filmography of Ethan and Joel Coen, as nominated by @djw180. The winning film is their lesser known 1991 thriller/comedy/noir film Barton Fink, selected by @Con. Set in the early 40s, Barton Fink stars John Turturro as the titular character, a hot new playwright who goes to Hollywood to start working on movies. However, upon arriving he finds that he is being told what to write, and has to stay at the rundown Hotel Earle, which may in fact be hell. This film has a great, and terrifying, supporting turn from John Goodman as Charlie Meadows, his hotel neighbour, and smaller but memorable roles for the likes of St…
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Die Hard [RSC Film Club 38]
by LimeGreenLegend- 3 followers
- 4 replies
- 742 views
It's taken three years, but we're finally celebrating Christmas at the Film Club with Die Hard thanks to @TheFox2000unit's nomination. Directed by John McTiernan (Predator, The Hunt for Red October, The Last Action Hero), Die Hard is a holiday classic about family, friendship and a terrorist takeover of a Los Angeles skyscraper. Bruce Willis stars as blue-collar New York cop John McClane, in town to visit his estranged wife and kids at Christmas. But soon after he goes to meet her at Nakatomi Plaza, the skyscraper in which she works, it is taken over by a group of terrorists led by Hans Gruber, played by Alan Rickman in a fantastically hammy scene-stealing …
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La Strada [RSC Film Club 34]
by LimeGreenLegend- 2 followers
- 6 replies
- 674 views
This month we are going international as the film club watches a movie in a language that we've not yet covered, as suggested by @djw180. So no films in English, French, Norwegian, Korean or Japanese could be nominated. The winning film, nominated by me, is Federico Fellini's neorealist drama, La Strada (The Road). It stars Giulietta Masina as Gelsomina, a naive and simple young woman whose mother sells her to a travelling circus to be the wife and assistant of the brutish strongman, Zampanò (Anthony Quinn). She soon falls in love with the circus's clown, Il Matteo (Richard Baseheart) and considers leaving her jeasous and violent husband for him. I…
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Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror [RSC Film Club 35]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 657 views
It's spooky season and that can only mean one thing here at the film club, time for horror. Just like last year we are having a double bill with a classic and a modern horror film. For our classic selection we have F.W Murnau's legendary German expressionist vampire film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror. Starring Max Schreck as Count Orlok the film is an unauthorised retelling of Bram Stoker's Dracula, the names all changed to avoid lawsuits, but other than that it is a pretty faithful version of the story. It was so faithful that the estate of Bram Stoker sued the production company and won, putting the company out of business and having a judge rule that al…
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The Shining [RSC Film Club 36]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 602 views
The modern half of our horror double bill was nominated by @PretendWereDeadand is Stanley Kubrick's haunted house masterpiece, The Shining. The film stars Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall as Jack and Wendy Torrance, a couple charged with looking after the isolated Overlook hotel during the winter months. Along with their young son Danny (Danny Lloyd) the soon discover that they may not be alone. I don't think I have to say much more about this film here, it's so legendary that even the carpet is iconic. It is interesting to note that Stephen King, author of the book on which this is based, hated this film so much that he made his own TV miniseries ver…
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American Graffiti [RSC Film Club 33]
by LimeGreenLegend- 2 followers
- 6 replies
- 782 views
The genre for August's Film Club selection, as nominated by @Conwas school/college films. The winning entry, nominated by both @djw180and @Squirrelis George Lucas's ode to his teenage years, American Graffiti. Set over the last night of summer vacation, the film follows a group of teenagers as they hang out for the last time, cruising in their hot rods, trying to pick up girls and looking to the future. It stars Ron Howard (Happy Days) before he became an Oscar winning director and Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws), with an expansive supporting cast that includes Harrison Ford (you know who he is). Not only did the film fuel the wave of 50s/60s rock 'n' roll nostalgia…
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A Bronx Tale [RSC Film Club 32]
by LimeGreenLegend- 3 followers
- 8 replies
- 1k views
This month's category, chosen by @djw180 was play adaptations with the winning film being @omarcomin71's selection of A Bronx Tale. The directorial debut of Robert De Niro, A Bronx Tale is based on the 1989 autobiographical play of the same name, which was a one man show by Chazz Palminteri, who also adapted the play for the screen. The film is a coming of age story where the young Calogero (Francis Capra/Lillo Brancato, Jr. as child and teen Calogero respectively) is torn between his father Lorenzo (De Niro) and local gangster Sonny (Palminteri). This is another film club choice that I haven't seen yet so there's not much more I can say. I'm really …
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Rate the Last Film you Watched 2: Electric Boogaloo
@djw180 that bathtub scene in Saltburn was a lot of fun right? Slurp slurp yum yum 🤤 -
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Rate the Last Film you Watched 2: Electric Boogaloo
Saltburn (2023) dir Emerald Fennell Barry Keoghan stars as student Oliver who becomes friends with the very wealthy Felix (Jacob Elordi) and gets invited to spend the summer holiday at his family's country estate, Saltburn. To me, Keoghan is most famous for his role in The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and that makes plot similarities stand out a bit more as Oliver works his way into Felix's family, in an increasingly creepy way. It's a bit nauseating at times, I assume intentionally. Two scenes in particular came close to being un-watchable for me as I have quite low tolerance for anything gross to do with various bodily fluids. Not one to watch while you are eating! I didn't see exactly where the plot was going but how it ended was not a surprise. However the actual last 10 – 15 mins seemed quite rushed, as if the writer wanted to include more but someone decided the film could not be any longer. The acting is very good, particularly Keoghan plus Rosamund Pike and Richard E Grant as Felix's parents. 8 / 10- 1
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Rate the Last Film you Watched 2: Electric Boogaloo
What I Watched This Week #114 (March 4 – 10) La Pointe-Courte dir. Agnes Varda/1955/1h20m The debut film from one of my favourite filmmakers, Agnes Varda, is also the starting point for one of the most influential cinematic movements in history, the French new wave, often wrongly credited to Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless in 1960. It is a film of two halves. One a portrait of the titular fishing village where we take in the various local characters and their everyday problems ranging from government interference in their fishing operations due to pollution to the illness of a young child. The second half looks closer still at the troubled marriage between two unnamed people (Philippe Noiret, Silvia Monfort). La Pointe-Courte is his hometown and she is visiting from Paris to see whether their relationship can still work, paralleling the troubled community itself. A blend of fiction and almost documentary like observation this non judgemental look at the lives of the working class prefigures later documentary works of Varda's like The Gleaners and I made forty five years later. But that documentary style doesn't stop the film from being beautifully shot with some very striking compositions, especially when, during a conversation between the two, the two faces of the leads are blended together in a very impressionistic way that reminded me of a shot from Ingmar Bergman's Persona. There are times when the film feels a bit ponderous and it does lack a lot of the playfulness of Varda's best films but that is made up for by the sheer number of cats prominently featured. 8/10 Two George Melies shorts: The Man with the Rubber Head 1901/3m The Diabolic Tenant 1909/7m These two films from the man who put the magic in the movies showcase his talents but at two different points in his career and really highlights the progress he made in just a few years. The Man with the Rubber Head is a simple gag film with Melies playing a man who inflates a head (also Melies) to gigantic proportions before an explosive punchline. In The Diabolic Tenant Melies plays a devilish trickster who rents out a room, furnishing it all from one trunk like an evil Mary Poppins. His furniture comes to life and he is banished so has to pack up in a hurry before scarpering. Both these films make charming use of the camera trickery that he discovered by accident in 1896 which allowed him to make things disappear in a puff of smoke right before our eyes. We see him advance these techniques in these films with him playing with perspective and masking off parts of the film allowing him to pull off tricks that he could never do on the stage. That's what makes watching these films still so enchanting over one hundred years later, the wonder that Melies has at the possibilities of this new toy called film and the ways he could use it to make people gasp at things they've never seen before. The Man with the Rubber Head – 7/10 The Diabolic Tenant – 8/10 Murder Ahoy dir. George p*llock/1964/1h33m The last of the four Miss Marple films starring Margaret Rutherford sees the elderly amateur sleuth and professional busybody investigating an old warship, the HMS Battledore – which is now being used to rehabilitate wayward youths, after one of the trustees of the ship suddenly dies after a visit. This is the first film in the series not based on a story by Agatha Christie, but the writers did an excellent job in crafting a classic whodunnit in her style. There are a hatful of creditable suspects, a couple of extra murders once the investigation has started and a satisfying reveal which culminates in a swordfight between the murderer and Marple, who still has some moves. My favourite thing about this film is the interplay between Marple and the highly strung captain of the ship Captain Rhumstone (Lionel Jeffries), who can't get her off the ship quick enough, so naturally Marple delights in extending her stay for as long as she can. Rutherford is, as always, delightful in the lead role. Cunning and playful in equal measures with a startlingly expressive face she is just a joy to spend time with, so it was a little sad when the credits ran and our time together was over. 8/10 Poor Things dir. Yorgos Lanthimos/2023/2h22m The latest film from the director of The Favourite and The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Poor Things stars Emma Stone - who recently won the best actress Oscar for this role - as Bella Baxter, a woman with the mind of an infant who is an experiment of the Frankenstein-esque Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), who she refers to as God. Wanting to leave the small, safe world that he has made for her, wanting to grow as a person and to learn new things and to travel and experience the world she decides to run off with the slimy lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), leaving behind Godwin's sweet assistant Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef). This is a coming of age story taking cues from Frankenstein, Pinocchio and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and shining it through the grotesque, absurd and sexually liberated lens of Yorgos Lanthimos. Stone fully deserves her Oscar. Bella is such a unique, fully realised character who grows throughout the film more than any other character I've ever seen. Starting as a literal baby we follow her through all of the stages of development and she embodies them so fully that it's totally disarming. The score also follows this development. It starts as discordant and atonal, like a child bashing tunelessly on a piano, but as Bella develops and grows the melodies grow more complex until, by the end, it is a fully developed and complex orchestral score. The direction is also unique and distinctly Lanthimos's own with the best use of the fish-eye lens since late nineties skate videos. The production design is just as unique, presenting us with a beautifully artificial world that feels like the perfect playground for Bella. The rest of the performances are excellent, with Ruffalo being just as good as Stone. His Wedderburn is like an evil David Niven, and it's so fun to see him break down more and more as he realises that Bella is a woman that he can't possess until he's just a shell of a man pulling out his hair screaming in the Parisian snow. This film is a lavish feast for the senses in every respect and one that will stay with you long after the final shot. 10/10 Lime's Film of the Week! The Holdovers dir. Alexander Payne/2023/2h13m Winter 1970 in a prestigious private school, Paul Giamatti plays ancient history teacher Paul Hunham who has been chosen to stay at the school over the winter break to babysit the small handful of students who have nowhere to go. Pretty much universally disliked by both students and faculty, Hunham slowly starts to form a bond with smart but troubled teenager Angus (Dominic Sessa) and the school's cook Mary (Da'Vine Joy Randolph, winner of this year's best supporting actress Oscar) who is grieving the death of her teenage son who was killed in Vietnam, with the trio eventually forming their own found family. Giamatti really shines in a rare leading role, really taking the opportunity to flex his acting chops and carry a film. I always love seeing actors mostly known for supporting roles excel in the lead like Harry Dean Stanton in Paris, Texas and Giamatti is just as good here. It's a testament to both his ability and the script that you want to spend as much time as you do with such a curmudgeon. But this isn't just a one note character, with more and more layers slowly revealed which leads up to a pretty heroic ending where he does more for this one kid than any teacher before. Randolph is brilliant as Mary, showing a different side to the world than you would normally see in such an elite setting and is really the heart of the film. Sessa is decent in his debut role, but I just didn't really like his character, which may be the point with him being like a young version of Hunham, but teenagers like that are just annoying as f*ck. This is a coming of age film, but it's the coming of age of a grown *ss man and a reminder that it's never too late. 8.5/10 The Iron Claw dir. Sean Durkin/2023/2h12m The Iron Claw tells the true story of the legendary Von Erich wrestling family who were huge in the 80's, the four brothers ruled over with an iron claw by patriarch Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany). Told from the perspective of Kevin Von Erich (Zac Efron) we experience the highs and mostly lows that this family went through. I had a little knowledge of this story before watching this film but I was not prepared for how sad it is, and the amazing thing is that the actual real story is even sadder. Kevin spends a lot of the film scared that he will pass on the Von Erich curse to his wife Pam (Lily James) and young children and when you see what happened to his brothers you might start to think that he's not just being superstitious. Like The Wrestler this is a film that has a love for the sport but portrays it as it really is. The scenes showing in ring action are really well done and the direction makes it feel like a TV broadcast from the period giving it a real feeling of authenticity. Efron and Jeremy Allen White and Harris Dickinson who play Kerry and David Von Erich all look like the real deal and could probably wrestle a decent match in real life. Also like The Wrestler, you don't need to know anything about wrestling to enjoy this film. If anything, I think you may get more out of it if you don't know anything because it really is quite unbelievable. The performances are all of the highest quality. I'm a big fan of Dickinson's from Triangle of Sadness and Scrapper and he continues a run of excellent and varied performances here, even pulling off a pitch perfect Texas accent, but the real standout is Efron who has left High School Musical long behind him, giving a performance here that had me in tears at the last scene. 9/10 The Champion dir. Charlie Chaplin/1915/31m An ambitiously long early short film from Chaplin sees his little tr*mp and his adorable bulldog companion becoming a boxing champion thanks to some luck and a horseshoe hidden in his glove. He is trained to fight the world champion, threatened to throw the fight and falls in love with the trainers daughter, played by Chaplin mainstay Edna Purviance, all within half an hour. It makes Raging Bull look dull and boring in comparison. Some fantastically slapstick fights are the highlights of this film with Chaplin coming out on top despite his clumsy awkwardness. What's great about Chaplin is how he hardly uses any intertitles, relying on performance to tell the story for the most part. He knows to keep it simple and relatable, and in his immortal character of the downtrodden everyman he is able to insert himself into any situation and we will cheer for him. When he becomes world champion we become world champion and life becomes a little better, even if just for a moment. This isn't a masterpiece like a lot of his other, later films, but here he is already a genius honing his craft to the finest edge. 7/10- 1
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