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Thank you to all our members and guests for your continuing support and we hope to see you again for the start of Season 7 later in the year - click on "COMING SOON IN SEASON 7" in the top menu bar for a selection of films and events planned for future screenings
On Fridays the bar is open 30 minutes before the film starts
On Fridays the bar is open 30 minutes before the film starts
Friday 12 October - finding your feet (2017)
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Laughs, tears and mid-life awakenings abound in this feature from Richard Loncraine (The Special Relationship) starring Imelda Staunton, Timothy Spall, Celia Imrie and a scene-stealing Joanna Lumley as members of an amateur dance troupe in London.
Staunton plays Sandra, introduced prattling on about the range and categories of honours bestowed by the Queen. Her husband Mike (John Sessions) has just retired as police commissioner, and Sandra is basking in his ascension to the peerage and her newfound status as a Lady. All their friends are assembled for Mike's retirement party at the couple's palatial Tudor house in Surrey, but when Sandra finds him in the arms of her long-time friend Pamela (Josie Lawrence) in the garage, she packs her bags and lands on the East London doorstep of Bif (Imrie), the free-spirited older sister she hasn't seen in 10 years. Sandra's hauteur immediately bumps up against the dry playfulness of handyman-with-a-van Charlie (Spall), her sister's friend, who lives on a houseboat in Maida Vale after selling his home to pay for the care of his wife Lilly (Sian Thomas), who is suffering from dementia. Charlie and his widower neighbour Ted (David Hayman) shake off their grief at a regular dance class in the local town hall, where they're joined by Bif as well as Jackie, an inveterate divorcee and former barrister played by Lumley. After a charity dance in Piccadilly Circus goes viral, the group is invited to perform in Rome, and what follows after the group’s European sojourn is more interesting, as Sandra is forced to choose between her old life and a new one without guarantees. (No prizes for guessing.) Hollywood reporter (part review) |
Friday 19 October - the greatest showman (2017)
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“Being panned by some critics hasn't stopped Hugh Jackman's infectious movie musical “The Greatest Showman” from becoming the most enduring film hit for a decade.” Lucy Todd BBC
"The Greatest Showman," directed with verve and panache by Michael Gracey, is an unabashed piece of pure entertainment, punctuated by 11 memorable songs composed by Oscar- and Tony-winning duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who composed the songs for "La La Land," as well as the current Broadway hit Dear Evan Hansen. The film is made for the whole family to enjoy, and so it leaves out many of the darker elements (explored in the 1980 Broadway musical Barnum, music by Cy Coleman). This is a difficult tightrope to walk, but credit is due to Gracey, a perfectly cast Hugh Jackman, and the entire cast, who play this story in the spirit in which it was written (by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon). "The Greatest Showman" positions itself as a story celebrating diversity, and the importance of embracing all kinds. Roger Eber.com |
"Friday 26 October - sweet country (2017)
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Warwick Thornton’s majestic, 1920s-set outback western does quite a bit of momentarily slipping backwards or forwards through time to show us characters as they once were or are yet to be. Written down it sounds disorienting, but in practice it is mesmerisingly intuitive – and an inspired means of expressing on film the Aboriginal sense of time as a circular pattern, rather than a linear path.
A little foresight puts us at an advantage too: the country might be staggeringly beautiful, but it is also stark and merciless, particularly on the white settlers scratching out their lives from one day to the next on land that refuses to be tamed. It may was inspired by actual events in Central Australia in the 1920s. Sweet Country is tough, spare and lyrical right down to the bone: even its soundtrack is nothing more than a natural background chorus of insects and birdsong, plus one solitary Johnny Cash track that plays over the closing credits. It is also a work of moral conscience that rules out easy answers, with acridly funny moments of black comedy and a sense of awesome natural spectacle that is inseparable from its dramatic impact. It has a power that makes the cinema shake. Telegraph (part review) |
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FRIDAY 2 NOVEMBER
ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD (2017) CERTIFICATE 15 RUNNING TIME 132 MINUTES |
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ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD follows the kidnapping of 16-year-old John Paul Getty III (Charlie Plummer) and the desperate attempt by his devoted mother Gail (Michelle Williams) to convince his billionaire grandfather (Christopher Plummer) to pay the ransom. When Getty Sr. refuses, Gail attempts to sway him as her son's captors become increasingly volatile and brutal. With her son's life in the balance, Gail and Getty's advisor (Mark Wahlberg) become unlikely allies in the race against time that ultimately reveals the true and lasting value of love over money.
"As a thriller it’s consistently gripping, if sometimes a smidge reliant on cliché. As a study of how cold, hard cash can make a man’s heart cold and hard itself, it’s terrific. Scott and Plummer, meanwhile, deserve plaudits for their 11th-hour gambit. Who knows, the latter may even end up getting all the awards in the world." Empire Magazine "All The Money in the World is not perfect; there is a touch of naivety and stereotyping in its depiction of the malign Italians with their one, redemptive nice-guy gangster. But with the help of Plummer’s tremendous villain-autocrat performance, Ridley Scott gives us a very entertaining parable about money and what it can’t buy." Guardian |
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SUNDAY
11 NOVEMBER 4 PM JOURNEY'S END SPECIAL EVENT TO MARK 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE END OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR CERTIFICATE 12A RUNNING TIME 107 MINUTES In collaboration with St Mary's Church, the Baptist Church and Our Lady of Light Church |
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March, 1918. C-company arrives to take its turn in the front-line trenches of norther France, led by the war-weary Captain Stanhope (Claflin). With a German offensive imminently approaching, the officers (Bettany, Graham, Sturridge) and their cook (Jones) use food and the memories of their lives before the war to distract themselves, while Stanhope soaks his fear in whisky, unable to deal with the dread of the inevitable. A young officer, Raleigh (Butterfield), arrives fresh out of training and abuzz with the excitement of his first real posting - not least because he is to serve under Stanhope, his former school house monitor and the object of his sister's affections. Each man is trapped, the days ticking by, the tension rising and the attack drawing ever closer...
"An outstanding cast savours performing a play that has stood the test of time. Avoiding sentimentality, this is a valuable rejoinder to those who would sugar-coat mass slaughter." Empire Magazine "This new version of RC Sherriff’s classic play about the futility and slaughter of the first world war is powerful, passionate and superbly acted." Guardian |
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FRIDAY 16 NOVEMBER
ISLE OF DOGS CERTIFICATE PG RUNNING TIME 105 MINUTES |
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In this stop-motion-animated film from writer/director Wes Anderson, an outbreak of canine flu in Japan leads all dogs to be quarantined on an island. A boy (voice of Koyu Rankin) journeys there to rescue his dog Spots (Liev Schreiber), and gets help from a pack of misfit canines who have also been exiled. His quest inspires a group of dog lovers to expose a government conspiracy. The voice cast also includes Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Bob Balaban, Greta Gerwig, and Yoko Ono.
"The beautifully stop-motion animated Isle of Dogs finds Wes Anderson at his detail-oriented best while telling one of the director's most winsomely charming stories." Rotten Tomatoes "Isle of Dogs is another utterly distinctive, formally brilliant exercise in savant innocence from Anderson, somewhere between arch naivety and inspired sophistication. I laughed a lot, not really at jokes, but at its hyper-intelligent stabs of visual invention. " Guardian |
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FRIDAY 23 NOVEMBER
PHANTOM THREAD CERTIFICATE 15 RUNNING TIME 130 MINUTES |
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Set in the glamour of 1950s post-war London, renowned dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his sister Cyril (Lesley Manville) are at the center of British fashion, dressing royalty, movie stars, heiresses, socialites, debutants, and dames with the distinct style of The House of Woodcock. Women come and go through Woodcock's life, providing the confirmed bachelor with inspiration and companionship, until he comes across a young, strong-willed woman, Alma (Vicky Krieps), who soon becomes a fixture in his life as his muse and lover. Once controlled and planned, he finds his carefully tailored life disrupted by love.
"Paul Thomas Anderson does gothic romance in prestige Brit picture style, eliciting a worthy final performance from Daniel Day-Lewis that’s admirably matched by newcomer Vicky Krieps." Empire Magazine "If Phantom Thread is indeed Daniel Day-Lewis’s final film as an actor, he is going out on a wondrously bizarre note. This must be the oddest film in his career, one in which he gives a typically commanding but very idiosyncratic performance. Almost everything here is jarring – but generally in a very positive way. Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson’s script is impossible to classify. One moment, we think we are watching a fashion movie. The next, the film turns into a love story, a twisted and fantastical one with a very morbid core which takes its tempo from the swirling, orchestral Jonny Greenwood score... ...The pleasure here lies in the unpredictability of Paul Thomas Anderson’s approach, his ability and that of his actors to surprise us with every new stitch of the movie." Independent (part review) |
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FRIDAY 30 NOVEMBER
I TONYA INDEPENDENT FILM OF THE MONTH CERTIFICATE 15 RUNNING TIME 120 MINUTES |
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From the proverbial wrong side of the tracks in Portland, Oregon, former competitive figure skater Tonya Harding was never fully accepted in the figure skating community for not inherently being the image of grace, breeding and privilege that the community wanted to portray, despite she being naturally gifted in the sport athletically. Despite ultimately garnering some success in figure skating being national champion, a world championship medalist, an Olympian, and being the first American woman to complete a Triple Axel in competition, she is arguably best known for her association to "the incident": the leg bashing on January 6, 1994 of her competitor, Nancy Kerrigan, who, unlike Tonya, was everything that the figure skating community wanted in their representatives. Her association to that incident led to Tonya being banned from competitive figure skating for life. Tonya's story from the beginning of her figure skating life at age four to the aftermath of the incident is presented...
"Margot Robbie's dazzling skating biopic glides on the knife-edge between satire and sympathy" Telegraph "I, Tonya, directed by Craig Gillespie, is not quite a gold-medal masterpiece: it’s slightly too long, skates ribaldly over domestic abuse, and is uncertain how to conclude. As happens in Hollywood, Robbie is taller and lovelier than her subject, but she beautifully captures Harding’s wide-eyed yearning to excel despite forbidding odds." Spectator |
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THE FILM CLUB INCOME CONTRIBUTES TO THE RUNNING COSTS OF THE COMMUNITY LIBRARY AND HELPS KEEP IT OPEN - ARE YOU INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING TO ASSIST WITH FOH AND THE BOX OFFICE?
WE NEED ADDITIONAL CREW email: longcrendonfilmclub@gmail.com for details
Besides our film programme, trailers and membership details being available on our website www.longcrendonfilmclub.com we also email members one month in advance.
We also publicise our programme at Long Crendon Community Library and in The Crendon Crier.
You can follow us on Facebook and Twitter (by clicking on the social media icons below) for news on new films being added to our programme each month. www.facebook.com/longcrendonfilmclub
Please note if you are viewing the website on mobile phone there is a drop down menu on the top left by the logo.
THE FILM CLUB INCOME CONTRIBUTES TO THE RUNNING COSTS OF THE COMMUNITY LIBRARY AND HELPS KEEP IT OPEN - ARE YOU INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING TO ASSIST WITH FOH AND THE BOX OFFICE?
WE NEED ADDITIONAL CREW email: longcrendonfilmclub@gmail.com for details
Besides our film programme, trailers and membership details being available on our website www.longcrendonfilmclub.com we also email members one month in advance.
We also publicise our programme at Long Crendon Community Library and in The Crendon Crier.
You can follow us on Facebook and Twitter (by clicking on the social media icons below) for news on new films being added to our programme each month. www.facebook.com/longcrendonfilmclub
Please note if you are viewing the website on mobile phone there is a drop down menu on the top left by the logo.
