Ich, Robot...

On Thursday night I went to see Terminator Genisys. Oh dear.

Obviously made by fans of the original (a good thing). In fact it's almost a remake, ticks all the boxes - it's just that the plot is hugely confused though.

My favourite quote from one of the reviews is, "There’s so much wrong with Terminator Genisys it’s hard to know where to start, but the script is the obvious place..."

The characters just say some stupid things so its fun watching the other actors hod and try and look interested. "Reverse the neutron flow of the flux capacitor, you say?" etc. And don't get me started on the number of random time machines that pop up conveniently.

Worth seeing but just don't expect too much.

Secret Cinema 21...

On Saturday night Stu, Darren, Tim and I went to the latest Secret Cinema in the old Town Hall in London's trendy Crouch End. We'd been told what to wear, where to go and who to meet - but were a bit surprised (and mildly disappointed) by the film. It was a 'classic' - just a not very good one!

The 'business' beforehand was excellent would with all the actors playing their part very well.

Still worth a punt on SC even if the film choices can be a bit variable.

Goldfrapp: Tales of Us...

Last night Darren treated me to a trip to the cinema to see Goldfrapp who were screening six new videos films inspired by music from their album Tale of Us. After the films were shown the band performed an hour long live set via a satellite broadcast from Air Studios in London.

The films were great albeit all rather similar in tone: black and white, sensual, shaky camera work, nudity in big country houses, murder on windswept beaches, slow-motion cycling, night-time shoots with people running through smokey back-lit forests, water (lots of water) - that sort of thing. Very 1980s. Very Vienna.

One video which did make me weep though was Annabel. A moving story of a little boy's inner voice.

The live set was good too - although perhaps missing that special something that a live audience gives back to a live performance.

Mind you, I was back to my crying again during Clay - a story of two soldiers' love.

So all in all a success as an event. Nice to see their videos on a big screen - but perhaps just missing that live interactive element that an audience provides.

Secret Cinema...

A few weeks ago Stu and I went to the latest Secret Cinema event.

There are mild spoilers below so if you are going - read no further!

It's hard not to give the game away with these films  - but to be honest everyone I spoke to knew what it was before they had arrived. Suffice to say it was good film.

This time the event was held down in West Croydon at the old thirteen-story BT offices. The place had been done out like a make-shift Ministry of Information which we could roam about in until the film started proper.

We had become employees of the newly formed G.O.O.D. organisation where we had been assigned to the Committee for Credit Creation (Keynes Department K-4.06/F). We started our 'work' at 6:30pm prompt in our trusty grey suits. About twenty of us sat around a large meeting room table trying to come up with ways to generate wealth and sell the idea to the general public. It was fun and funny.

After that we headed up a floor to the media area where we filmed an advert with a group of other people - something about a mother, a loud-haler and her lazy kids running down for breakfast. Don't ask.

Then we just wandered about - there were masks and a party and a typewriting class and an office with a table that moved and showroom dummies and a restaurant and rooms with paper flowing out of the walls and people, lots of people. It was great fun.

The film was projected in the central atrium with the sound coming out of speakers behind us. The footage was fairly dim and so hard to see but the environment more than made up for that.

Another triumph for SC. Now if only they had sorted out the licencing so we could have had a drink...

Secret Cinema...

Last Thursday Stu and I went to the latest Secret Cinema event. We loved it. The event that is. Not so much the film.

[WARNING: MILD SPOILERS]

We'd been pondering what the film might be this time round - but at a party the previous weekend someone had let the cat out of the bag albeit confirming a widely circulated rumour. Unfortunately I'd seen that film the previous day and Stu wasn't keen to see it at all. Oh well.

There had in fact been lots of clues in the video clips, Twitter, Facebook and emails we had been sent in the run up to the event and various articles in newspapers had plainly stated the film title so we perhaps should have cottoned on earlier.

Anyway, we were instructed to wear navy blue boiler-suits as Matter Analysts, join the company Brave New Ventures and meet at the statue of the Engineer at Euston station at 6pm sharp. We were then lead up the road to a disused 190,000 sq ft NHS transport depot which had been repurposed into a space ship.

Once we had arrived we exchanged our cash for bright plastic tokens so we could buy beer and ventured into the frankly cavernous event space.

It took hours to explore all the rooms. There was a library, infirmary, laboratory, hydroponics, main computer room housing "Mother", navigation bridge, front and rear flight deck, cameras on helmets, workshop, maintenance floor, garage/loading bay with the real vehicles flown over from the real film set, numerous bars, Ping Tron (ultraviolet powered ping pong), hypersleep stations and booths, undercarriage, front and rear engines, surgical museum, restaurant, conduits, surface ramp, supplies area, crew quarters, escape pods, and plenty of signage. To say there was great attention to detail would be putting it mildly.

We were there for three hours in which time we took off, went into stasis, travelled through space, drank a few beers and finally had to be 'evacuated' due to a 'contamination'.

The evacuation meant we had to go down to the 'escape pods' i.e. cinema downstairs and be given our 'protection eyewear' i.e. 3D glasses before getting a brief safety briefing/motivational speech from none other than Ridley Scott himself.

I won't say too much about the film as I have done so twice before except to say that Stu wanted to leave before the end. Oh dear.

This Is England: The Musical...

A fantastic rap by Dan Bull summarising the film This Is England.

The Best Film Trilogy...

What's the best film trilogy of all time? The Toy Story trilogy? Think again.