The Social Network

I saw this film on 18th October at Stratford Picture House

This was a very entertaining film. For a while I thought what unpleasant people these students are. Then I realised these Harvard undergarduates were being portrayed in a similar way to how Oxford and Cambridge men used to be shown (and the active Harvard students were men) - arrogant toffs, arrogant oinks and aspiring middle-class types despised or exploited by both. Maybe that is how things were and are. Most people either grow out of this teenage phase or are pulled out of it by realities. this film showed incredibly clever but immature and selfish young men who unfortunately are in a position to drag their contemporaries and society along the self-obsessed path.

Birmingham Royal Ballet

I saw this performance on 16th October
at Sadlers Wells Theatre

Pointes of View - Superb
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue - Good
In the Upper Room - Brilliant

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

I saw this film on 11th October at Stratford Picture House

Gekko is out of gaol, hated by his daughter, snubbed by his former colleagues but his prospective son in law fawns on him and he is still an inspiration to almost everyone else although apparently now a profit of doom.

The hero Jake has a touching faith in fusion energy, I don't suppose he ever heard of ZETA, and although almost completely wet behind the ears seems much sought after on Wall Street.

This is sanitised capitalism. Other than the merchant banker who commits suicide because his bank goes bust (he built it so cannot bear to see it go down) very little is shown of the effects of the meltdown. The worst shown to happen is the hero’s mother has to go back to nursing when her property business goes bust because her son can only (!) give her 30K dollars. The American dream continues financial meltdown or not.

Made in Dagenham

I saw this film on 4th October at Stratford Picture House

The Town

I saw this film on 27th September at Stratford Picture House

Devil

I saw this film on 20th September at Stratford Picture House

I could not work out why everything was shown upside down at the start and the continuing use of odd perspectives throughtout the film did not do much for me. There were some pretty scary and unexpected happenings but I found the eventually revealed plot rather disappointing with a strange morality. But over all it had lots of suspense and I have seen far worse. Almost half the audience seemed to consider attending the film more of a social occasion, a bit like going to see football on a big TV in the pub while chatting to your mates, than as a performance to watch. Surprisingly though this did not spoil the film completely. Worth going to see.

The Last Exorcism

I saw this film on 6th September at Stratford Picture House

Is the girl really possessed? Is the father a nutter, a perpetrator or with a genuine concern for his daughter? Is the son part of the cause of the goings on?
Most of the answers are revealed at the end, unfortunately the hero will never know.