Avengers Assemble (2012) – The Avengers (original title), 143 min – 12A
Director: Joss Whedon
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson
Genres: Action
Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. brings together a team of super humans to form The Avengers to help save the Earth from Loki and his army.
Note: This is our last Saturday night film this year! We are working with the Wordsworth Trust to host a series of Romantic Literature related film events in December to March
Nick Fury is director of S.H.I.E.L.D, an international peace keeping agency. The agency is a who’s who of Marvel Super Heroes, with Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When global security is threatened by Loki and his cohorts, Nick Fury and his team will need all their powers to save the world from disaster.
92% Tomatometer – Review on Rotten Tomatoes
‘With a script that never forgets its heroes’ humanity and no shortage of superpowered set pieces, The Avengers lives up to its hype — and raises the bar for Marvel at the movies.’
Review by Peter Bradshaw – The Guardian, Thursday 3 May 2012
‘Joss Whedon’s ensemble comic-book outing has a sparkling script and a tremendous villain…….
It’s an enjoyably absurd and absurdly enjoyable extravaganza, both delirious and surrealist.’
Film starts 8.30pm – free admission Joining us for food – please book ahead
Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)- 127 min, 12 Cert
Director: Rupert Sanders
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron
Genres: Action | Adventure | Drama | Fantasy
In a twist to the fairy tale, the Huntsman ordered to take Snow White into the woods to be killed winds up becoming her protector and mentor in a quest to vanquish the Evil Queen.
You know the story…..
Snow White, imprisoned daughter of the late king, escapes just as the Magic Mirror declares her the source of the Evil Queen’s immortality. The Queen sends her men, led by a local huntsman, to bring her back. But upon her capture, the huntsman finds he’s being played and turns against the Queen’s men, saving Snow White in the process. Meanwhile, Snow’s childhood friend, William, learns that she is alive and sets off to save her.
While it offers an appropriately dark take on the fairy tale that inspired it, Snow White and the Huntsman is undone by uneven acting, problematic pacing, and a confused script.
Film starts 8.30pm – free admission Joining us for food – please book ahead
X-Men: First Class (2011)- 132 min, 12A
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Stars: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence
Genres: Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi
In 1962, the United States government enlists the help of Mutants with superhuman abilities to stop a malicious dictator who is determined to start world war III.
Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-MEN.
With a strong script, stylish direction, and powerful performances from its well-rounded cast, X-Men: First Class is a welcome return to form for the franchise.
Film starts 8.30pm – free admission Joining us for food – please book ahead
Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) – 119 min
Hauru no ugoku shiro (original title)
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Genres: Animation | Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Romance
When an unconfident young woman is cursed with an old body by a spiteful witch, her only chance of breaking the spell lies with a self-indulgent yet insecure young wizard and his companions in his legged, walking home.
A love story between an 18-year-old girl named Sofî, cursed by a witch into an old woman’s body, and a magician named Hauru. Under the curse, Sofî sets out to seek her fortune, which takes her to Hauru’s strange moving castle. In the castle, Sophie meets Hauru’s fire demon, named Karishifâ. Seeing that she is under a curse, the demon makes a deal with Sophie—if she breaks the contract he is under with Hauru, then Karushifâ will lift the curse that Sophie is under, and she will return to her 18-year-old shape.
Review – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, Friday 23 September 2005
Miyazaki’s films require a conscious investment of attention; you have to immerse yourself in them, and soon you will find yourself floating, buoyed up by his gentleness, his visual exuberance, and his unshowy intelligence and emotional literacy. It is a lovely film for all ages.
Film starts 8.30pm – free admission Joining us for food – please book ahead
In Time (2011 – 12, 109 min
Director: Andrew Niccol
Starring: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried and Olivia Wilde
Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller
In a future where people stop aging at 25, but are engineered to live only one more year, having the means to buy your way out of the situation is a shot at immortal youth.
Welcome to a world where time has become the ultimate currency. You stop aging at 25, but there’s a catch: you’re genetically-engineered to live only one more year, unless you can buy your way out of it. The rich “earn” decades at a time (remaining at age 25), becoming essentially immortal, while the rest beg, borrow or steal enough hours to make it through the day. When a man from the wrong side of the tracks is falsely accused of murder, he is forced to go on the run with a beautiful hostage. Living minute to minute, the duo’s love becomes a powerful tool in their war against the system.
Review by Henry Barnes The Guardian, Friday 4 November 2011
This elaborately imagined sci-fi thriller from the Gattaca director is a fun ride, even if its message is a bit obvious
John Carter (2012) 12A, 132 min
Director: Andrew Stanton
Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins and Willem Dafoe
Transplanted to Mars, a Civil War vet discovers a lush planet inhabited by 12-foot tall barbarians. Finding himself a prisoner of these creatures, he escapes, only to encounter a princess who is in desperate need of a savior.
John Carter, a Civil War veteran who in 1868 was trying to live a normal life, is “asked” by the Army to join. But he refuses so he is locked up. He escapes and is pursued. Eventually they run into some Indians and there’s a gunfight. Carter seeks refuge in a cave. While there he encounters someone who is holding some kind of medallion. When Carter touches it, he finds himself in a place where he can leap incredible heights, among other things. He later encounters beings he has never seen before. Later he meets a woman who helps him to discover that he is on Mars. And he learns there’s some kind of unrest going on.
Commentary by Ben Child – Guardian, Thursday 1 March 2012
Why John Carter has to be seen to be believed
John Carter is the kind of movie no studio bigwig in their right mind ought to have greenlit – but where else will you see such strange monsters?
Avatar (2009) – 12, 162 min
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver
A paraplegic Marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home.
When his brother is killed in a robbery, paraplegic Marine Jake Sully decides to take his place in a mission on the distant world of Pandora. There he learns of greedy corporate figurehead Parker Selfridge’s intentions of driving off the native humanoid “Na’vi” in order to mine for the precious material scattered throughout their rich woodland. In exchange for the spinal surgery that will fix his legs, Jake gathers intel for the cooperating military unit spearheaded by gung-ho Colonel Quaritch, while simultaneously attempting to infiltrate the Na’vi people with the use of an “avatar” identity. While Jake begins to bond with the native tribe and quickly falls in love with the beautiful alien Neytiri, the restless Colonel moves forward with his ruthless extermination tactics, forcing the soldier to take a stand – and fight back in an epic battle for the fate of Pandora.
Review by Peter Bradshaw guardian.co.uk, Thursday 17 December 2009
Strip away from this movie the director’s massive reputation, and you have a truly weird story about an aggressive futureworld corporation bankrolling avatar-technology so that human beings can insinuate themselves into the lives of aliens to seduce them. What an indie-freaky idea it is – and that is what makes it an experience.
TRON: Legacy (2010) – PG – 125 min
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde
The son of a virtual world designer goes looking for his father and ends up inside the digital world that his father designed. He meets his father’s creation turned bad and a unique ally who was born inside the digital domain of The Grid.
Sam Flynn, the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn, looks into his father’s disappearance and finds himself pulled into the same world of fierce programs and gladiatorial games where his father has been living for 20 years. Along with Kevin’s loyal confidant, father and son embark on a life-and-death journey across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.
Tron Legacy – review Steve Rose guardian.co.uk, Sunday 5 December 2010
Any sequel to Tron was always going to be a tricky task but Disney may just have pulled it off – if you don’t think too much
Tron Legacy is best enjoyed as a showreel of cutting-edge visuals – an extended Daft Punk video, perhaps, or a computer simulation of Bridges’ inner turmoil since he won his Oscar last year. He won’t win any for this but the visual effects departments might.
It is often beautiful to look at, and could come to represent the fashion tropes of its era as faithfully as its predecessor did. And the silliness somehow adds to the enjoyment rather than detracting from it. It’s the best kind of bonkers.
