Welcome to the first of my weekly blogs, keeping a proper tally of how many cinema trips have I been making over the course of this year. I'm partially doing this to give a few recommendations, partially to keep to a regular schedule of writing practice, but also I think it will do me good to have a simple project like this I can commit to for the year, give me a good sense of achievement. So, with that idea of self improvement in mind, it seems appropriate that the first film of the year was...
1. Creed II - Vue Leicester Square
Decided to get the year off to a good start, by catching up with something I had been looking forward to for a while, and using up a gift card I got for Christmas. The first Creed was a superb piece of work, and this was definitely a worthy follow-up; Michael B. Jordan is charismatic a lead as ever, the character beats work great, there are a few moments where the story avoids the directly obvious in clever ways, and holy hell are the actual boxing scenes well directed. I do find it amusing though that this character based drama does come so directly from the events of Rocky IV, by far the cheesiest and most ridiculous of the series. Granted, I wasn't expecting them to bring up stuff like Rocky's robot in this one, but it's still amazing that they make the events of IV seem like they could have happened in the real world; Dolph Lundgren's return as Ivan Drago is really well done, he feels like a person rather than the commie He-Man he was before. Also, Sylvester Stallone has claimed that the character of Rocky is being retired for good after this; if that is true, it's a very good note to end on. I actually have on the shelf next to me a Rocky blu ray set I found in a charity shop (seven quid; utter steal!), I'll have to make the time to go through all of them again soon.
2. Three Identical Strangers - Bertha Dochouse, Curzon Bloomsbury
This was a new one for me; I have visited the Curzon Bloomsbury once yonks ago, but the Bertha Dochouse, a screen specifically for the showings of documentaries, is relatively recent, so this was a novelty. I used to see quite a few docs at the Picturehouse Central, before I found out, so I'm pleased to have a new venue for these, I might end up seeing about a membership if I think I'll use it enough. This particular documentary I was especially interested in as director Tim Wardle was one of the guests at the last Mark Kermode Live in 3D night at the BFI last month, where among other matters Tim mentioned the film got a most unexpected, but appreciated plug, by The Rock. I can see what Mr. Johnson saw in the film, as this is an incredible story well told, with the facts presented in the right order for maximum impact. It has the effect of drawing you in by what looks like would be a heartwarming tale of lost siblings finding each other, but by the end you are seething with anger at some of the secrets revealed. Now this story is already public knowledge, but not enough people are already aware of it, as it raises a lot of fascinating, and indeed worrying, questions. If you're interested, go into the film blind if you can, just so you can have the tale told in the optimum way.
3. One Cut of the Dead - Prince Charles Cinema
I am so pleased to have finally seen this one; it sold out three times at FrightFest, in the months afterwards I have been hearing endless praise of it from the horror community, and I'm glad it has lived up to the hype. Now the opening section, where a full zombie story is done as a single camera one take job, is the sort of thing to get your interest, but for a film-maker to go "well, we could just do that straight, but how about we do something even more ambitious..." and then pull that off is something else entirely. For the conceit of it effectively being a mini-double bill, of the single take film, and of a fictional "making of", means that the film has a tonne of rewatchability (that opening will get all the more amusing knowing what's revealed in the later acts), as well as being a great tribute to low budget film making. This ended up being a huge box-office word of mouth success in Japan, and not only will I say deservedly so, but I will add that it deserves to be so worldwide too. It's getting special showings in UK cinemas at the moment, so I will advise getting to your nearest one first chance you get, it's definitely one that works well with a crowd. Oh, and a pox on whoever it was that tried that scam with the bootleg on Amazon Prime! Boo, indie films don't need pricks like you trying to nick their box office!
So, one week down, 51 and loose change to go, and averaging so far a movie for every two days. Let's see what next week brings, and if I can break the habit of a lifetime, and see this thing through to the end.
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