Paddington (2014)

 

Last night I went with my mum and sister to our local multiplex for a screening of Paddington. As my mum's childhood favourite, me and my sister were bought up on the stories of the bear that found himself far away from his home in Darkest Peru and landed in the busy streets of London. It is safe to say that we were all eagerly anticipating this film for a good dose of nostalgia.

I am happy to announce that not one of us was disappointed. It is always dangerous, I feel, to see a modern creation of something you loved as a child, it is normally at least, never quite the same. However, director, Paul King, has done great justice to the bear and encapsulated the charm and heartwarming nature of Michael Bond's stories. 

I may be biased given my already present love of Paddington, but its hard to see how anyone could not like this film. Though admittedly I found it something of an emotional rollercoaster, quickly going from happy to sad, to tense, to happy, to nervous, to happy and back round again. The films naratative is well balanced, to me it feels short, though not rushed, but I think this is due to the increase in rather lengthy features (Interstella anyone?) that have been produced in that last few years.

Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins play the well-meaning parents wonderfully. Bonneville's cross dressing moment was enough to stir a child at the back of the screening in an uncontrollable fit of the giggles.  Normally, sitting in a screening full of children is not what I'd like, but in the case hearing the reaction of the scattered few only added to my enjoyment of the movie. The giggling and gasping and commenting made for an interesting insight into how this generations youngersters feel about movies. It is safe to say, that, if Paddington is anything to go by, they love it every bit as I do. Julie Walters was of course as excellent as ever, providing several laughs whilst being something of a voice of reason behind some plot points. Perhaps a little more of Capaldi and Broadbent wouldn't have gone a miss but that is simply being pandantic.


Paddington is contemporary enough for new audiences, without losing any of its original sinserity. Paul King is sure to maintain references to the time in which Bond stories were created. The suitcase and tag around the neck offers chimes of the war.

Paddington film exceeded my expectations, the charcaters indosyncracies and every other little quirk make for a delightful 95 minutes of screen time. It is sweet, warm and fun. Just what it should be.



Now, maramaldae sandwich anyone?

'Her' Review

Her - Spike Jonze, 2013. 

I had the pleasure of going to a screening of 'Her' at Birmingham's Electric cinema (http://www.theelectric.co.uk/home.php)
The Manger gave a short talk to the students we took on the runing of the cinema, a little about the film and also some disscussion regarding sci-fi, which with regard to this particular film makes for interessting disscussion. We got to have a nosey inside the projection room too which was pretty amazing.

Her follows the story of Theodore Twombly, as he deals with the break down of his marriage to Catherine (Rooney Mara) and falls in love with his OS. Set in a Utopian Los Angeles, though with definite elements of dystopia, this postmodern film deals with something of a contemporary topical issue. Human relationships. Or lack of, may be more accurate here. Shot in a dreamy soft light, with plenty of graceful lens flare, director Spike Jonze poses the idea that people are more attached to technology than they are other people. Human intereaction is rapidly disappearing dispite the fact that 'social media' is designed to increase interaction.

Scarlett Johansson voices the Operating System that Joaquin Pheonix falls for and is every bit as loveable as you'd want her to be. Joze has meticulous thought through every detail of this film. Twonbly (A reference to the artist here?) himself works as a love letter writer for those who cannot find the words themselves. Something that seems a fairly feesable profession in the none too distant future.The very real possibilty of such a thing happening is exactly what makes this flim work. Sci-fi films begin by setting out ideas and rules that the world of the film can live by, thereby convincing the audience that such a world could exist. In the case of Her, we are placed in a hyper-real world, the set of rules laid out feel entirely possibly. Jonze has explored a societal issue that many of us can, in some way, relate to.

Though at times this film can be a little slow, it acheives what I feel it sets out to do. Jonze has successfully created an intelligient film, cleverly creating a world we can fully believe in. He puts in a world of relative lonliness, yet still makes it feel warm. Its heartfelt and poetic style offers the audience a fascinating take on the rom-com. It is a beautifully crafted, quirky, postmodern love story that leaves you thinking about the all-to-credible prediction of our societies future.


This is a great article on the film ... http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/12/why-em-her-em-is-the-best-film-of-the-year/282544/

Lia Ices

This has been on repeat for days.
Beautiful.