September 17  Julie & Julia at 7.30pm. Runtime: 123 min. PG-13  Biography | Comedy | Drama | RomanceMeryl Streep as Julia Child is one of the most endearing, arresting performances ever. One evening, while bemoaning the lack of meaning in her life, Julie picks up Julia Child's cookbook and decides to cook all 524
recipes in the book in a year, while blogging about her
experience. At first, no one is interested, but as time goes by, Julie gets more and more followers of her blog.) Nominated for an Oscar. Another 9 wins & 13 nominations.

October 1 Hobson's Choice. UK:U 1954  Comedy / drama Runtime: 107 min.
HOBSON'S Choice starts with dopey Will Mossop being awakened from dreams of moving from the Salford cobblers' shop where he works, to a great shop in St Ann's Square, Manchester, by feisty spinster Maggie Hobson, daughter of the hard-drinking, tight-fisted Hobson, citizen of the community and Will's boss. John Mills plays Will with the right amount of bewilderment and determination, at turns touching and hilarious; while Brenda de Banzie gives Maggie a sense of desperation throughout her scheme to make 'her man' a success. The great Yorkshire actor Charles Laughton is superb as Hobson. Best scenes include the moon in the puddles, Will's  'it's Oldfield Road for us', and Maggie's 'well, you'd better kiss me then'. And never has a man gone to his doom with more feeling than John Mills' Will on his wedding night!
Awards: Won BAFTA another 1 win and four nominations.

October 15  ' MicMacs' 2009 UK:12A   Comedy | Crime French with English subtitles. Runtime:105 min. Rated R for some sexuality and brief violence. A French Film. Jean-Paul Jeunet, director of "Amélie" and "A Very Long Engagement" returns with "Micmacs", the story of a lonely misfit named Bazil (Dany Boon), who after being accidentally injured in a shoot-out, is adopted by a band of other misfits. Together, they take on a band of arms-manufacturers whose products respectively injured Bazil and killed Bazil's father, by
triggering tension between them. An amusing vigilante story. Awards: 3 nominations

November 5  'Bright Star.' 2009 Runtime:119 min. Rated PG. The drama based on the three-year romance between 19th century poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, which was cut short by Keats' untimely death at age 25. A beautiful film
documenting a little know relationship. We also see how Keats died almost a pauper and yet went on to become probably the best loved and celebrated of English Poets, up there with Byron and Wordsworth. . Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins & 15 nominations

November 19  'The Last Station'.  Runtime:112 min UK 15 with Helen Mirren.  Tolstoy is wonderfully presented as a man who is aware he cannot live up to his own ideals. It shows how his image and words are corrupted into the ideals and beliefs of others who have lost their way. The acting, cinematography, costumes, are superb. It is a film about love. The portray and
comparisons of old love and new love. Love of a man and love of an ideology.  It is a very funny and moving film. Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 11 nominations.

Thursday. December 23 at 2pm. 'The Fantastic Mr Fox'. 2009 Runtime: 87 min. FREE MATINEE. Its stop-motion animation versus CGI as director Wes Anderson gives life to a Roald Dahl children's book about a fox (George Clooney) that juggles providing for his family and taking his midlife crisis in stride. The Fantastic Mr. Fox goes from common chicken thief to journalist. This is actually funnier than you may think. It is a blend of sophistication with old school story telling. Local farmers are tired of their chicken houses being raided...and yes they have a real good idea of who is causing their grief. Mr. Fox goes into survival mode and must outwit the chicken farmers and doing so saves a whole community. Mr. Fox is fantastic and a hero. Besides Clooney, an all-star cast lends voice to these interesting characters: Meryl Streep, Wilem Dafoe, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Eric Chase Anderson and Wally Wolodarsky. Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 13 wins & 18 nominations .

 

February 4 'Laxdale Hall'  1953 UK U Comedy | Romance Runtime 77 minutes classic tale of the canny Highlanders taking the sassenachs to the cleaners. The essence of the situation has great similarities with other contemporary movies like 'Whisky Galore', and has inspired more modern ones like 'Local Hero'.The five owners of motor cars in the parish of Laxdale hold a tax revolt to protest the absence of a proper road into a remote village on the Wet Coast of Scotland near Skye. A parliamentary delegation is sent from London to restore order!
All acting performances are wonderful, with early appearances by character actors who went on to become household names. Prunella Scales as a very young schoolteacher; Rikki Fulton as a Glasgow poacher. I particularly enjoyed Kynaston Reeves as the Meenister, Jamieson Clark as the grocer, and of course Roddy MacMillan as the undertaker. And the general, oh the cheneral! My favourite line is from a bit player, spoken at a public meeting. "Forty miles from the sea? No view of the Cuillins and no river? Man, I would rather live in Hell than in a place like that!"
Truly a way of life that has all but disappeared, even in Applecross where the movie was shot. On my last visit I arrived in the village by one good road and left by another.


February 18  It's Complicated 2009  Runtime: 120 min.  UK 15
"It's Complicated" is a comedy / romance Successful Californian food store owner Meryl Streep has been happily divorced from her former husband Alex Baldwin for the last ten years, but on a trip to New York to attend their son's graduation, she starts an affair with him. He happens to have re-married, to a younger woman, while she becomes involved with her architect Steve Martin. Will Meryl and Alec get back together again, or will she set off into the sunset with Steve. Nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Another 2 wins & 5 nominations.

March 4    The Concert 2009  Runtime:119 min COMEDY/ DRAMA / MUSIC  Language French /Russian. English Subtitles. Having a conductor face insurmountable odds in turning around a makeshift, rag-tag 55 piece orchestra into one befitting of the name "Bolshoi", building up to a crescendo of a finale that just begs for an encore.

Nodame Cantabile provided a lot more romantic fluff and a quick 101 introduction to classical music and its famed composers, sort of like a McDonald's way of a fast-food sampling rich musical pieces, but it is Le Concert that persisted in wanting to use Tchaikovsky's The Violin Concerto, which is considered as one of the most difficult for the violin, to center this film around it, complete with a huge and critical backstory that makes this film well rounded, and in keeping you engaged especially with a tale about passion bordering on obsession, and the redemption of the sins of the earlier generation. But don't get me wrong that the film is solely filled with such serious themes, as it's almost comedy all of the way to its centerpiece performance. We follow the story of Andrei Filipov (Aleksei Guskov), a one time hotshot conductor of the Bolshoi orchestra who was cut down to size, and now works as the janitor in the halls of his glorious past. He chances upon an opportunity from Paris which had invited the Bolshoi, but hence decides to hijack this opportunity, and to bring his own team of musicians on a trip that they would never forget. He's a man on a mission, and you just might wonder why he would want to take such a big risk, other than the fact that the current Bolshoi orchestra is playing like crap, but it adds to the mystery of the man, and the past that he's hiding from through the bottle. Awards:2 wins & 4 nominations

March 25    The Ghost (Writer) 2010 UK 15 Drama | Mystery | Thriller.

Great to see something a bit different and original arrive at the cinema. With a quality plot and an admirable cast to carry it, this film portrays a seemingly realistic behind the scenes view of modern politics.

With so many discreet messages hidden in the dialogue and screenplay it would undoubtedly be worth watching twice. Commendable performances from all but in particular from lead Ewan McGregor who manages to carry subtle meanings from the script to the camera very well.

Cleverly placed sarcastic comedy breaks up the seriousness nicely without upsetting the sinister and mysterious feel of the film. Typical Polanski style, the film will leave you debating the ending and analysing its message.
Awards:1 win & 1 nomination


April 15       The Illusionist.(if available ) Animation  Ireland:12A Sylvian Chomet's feature The Illusionist is another strikingly beautiful animated work. Like Belleville Rendezvous before it, this film features a slightly downbeat but amusing narrative and likable characters. The world they live in is by turns grotesque and beautiful. Like the earlier film, there is virtually no dialogue either, usually just half-heard snapshots of words. The story instead is told via the actions of the characters. Perhaps unsurprisingly the narrative is very simple. But the beauty of this film is not in the storyline but in the details. It's in the gorgeously atmospheric settings, the melancholic characters and the frequent moments of quirky humour. The Illusionist is another triumph for this wonderful French animator.  The film is set for the most part in Scotland. And the mysterious misty Highland scenery coupled with the medieval and Georgian beauty of Edinburgh are perfect subject matter for Chomet's style of art. There has always been an enigmatic element of the sublime to this artists work, and the Scottish setting fits him like a glove. It's truly a love letter - especially - to the grand old town of Edinburgh. But the film is more than an aesthetically beautiful exercise, as there are a number of memorable characters and a definite emotional core. This viewer had a lump in his throat at the end, although admittedly the story pleasing does finish on a happy and hopeful note.

In summary, The Illusionist is a beautiful and melancholic film about the coming-of-age of a young girl and the end-of-an-era for a type of entertainer. Fabulous stuff.

or Harry Brown  2009 crime | Drama | Thriller as a substitute.  Rated R for strong violence and language throughout, drug use and sexual content. Michael Caine is excellent, this is probably one of his best films and I expect film nominations for his role.The film gives a gritty but realistic view of the life most people live on the sink estates of Britain, all are there through no choice of their own, but some are aware of the conditions they are forced to live in. I don't think we'll see the British government promoting this film as it portraits the country in a very bad light, though, if you are not from Britain and would like a taste of what some of us have to put up with I recommend you see this film. Overall, a very well put together film which will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up at times..  Awards:1 win & 3 nominations .
..........END.

Strathendrick Film Society

Strathendrick film society have decided that in the current economic conditions it might ease the burden on the family entertainment budget by KEEPING the reduced family membership at £36 for next year's season. We hope that even more members will join this season as the cost of driving 20 miles to the nearest cinema has increased so much recently. One of our family members said that firstly she had to almost drag her children to the first film  but the boys quickly grew to really enjoy the film nights and become quite the 'young film critics.'