Learners

Learners

• Director: Francesca Joseph
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Jessica Hynes, Shaun Dingwall, David Tennant, Sarah Hadland, Michael Maloney
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jessica Hynes – Doctor Who, Son of Rambow, Shaun of the Dead, Black Books, Born Romantic, Swing Kids
• Shaun Dingwall – Young Victoria, Doctor Who, Colour Me Kubrick
• David Tennant – Broadchurch, What We Did on Our Holiday,  Doctor Who, Fright Night, The Decoy Bride, United, Hamlet, Kick Ass Girls St Trinian’s 2, Glorious 39, Secret Smile, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Blackpool, Bright Young Things, Jude, Takin’ over the Asylum
• Michael Maloney – River, Summer in February, Young Victoria, Bonekickers, Notes on a Scandal, Babel, Hamlet, Othello, In the Bleak Midwinter, Hamlet, Henry V
• Why? David Tennant
• Seen: 19 October 2019

             Beverly (Hynes) has failed her driving test eight times. Her partner Ian (Dingwall) has been her teacher. She realises she needs professional instruction.

       She ends up with Chris (Tennant). He’s kind and patient, a rock nerd and a Jesus freak. She’s a cleaner in a police station and is chronically short of money.

       Eccentric characters abound in this odd little film. Eccentric, and essentially unhappy and trapped in dead-end lives.

       Don’t worry, it’s feel-good. Too feel-good to be honest. Good acting saves it, but I had been hoping for, even expecting, a 5.

      

3 * of 5

X Men The Last Stand

X-Men The Last Stand 2006

• Director: Bryan Singer
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Halle Berry, Famke Jansson, James Marsden, Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Alan Cumming, Bruce Davison
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Hugh Jackman – Les Misérables, Australia, The Fountain, Kate & Leopold, X Men First Class etc
• Ian McKellen – Vicious, X Men First Class, the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films, Richard III, Six Degrees of Separation, Cold Comfort Farm, The Ballad of Little Jo, Macbeth
• Patrick Stewart – The Hollow Crown Richard II, Hamlet, Extras, X Men First Class, Star Trek (one of them, I don’t remember which), Excalibur, Hamlet, I Claudius
• Halle Berry – Cloud Atlas, Things We Lost in the Fire, Monster’s Ball, X Men First Class, Bulworth, Jungle Fever
• Femke Jansson – X Men Days of Future Past, The Dead Girl
• James Marsden - X Men Days of Future Past, The Butler
• Anna Paquin - X Men Days of Future Past, The Squid and the Whale, Almost Famous, Amistad, The Piano
• Why? Slightly addicted to the series
• Seen: 19 October 2019      

       Again, more or less the same cast as the previous one. After the tragedy of the end of X2, Logan and Scott are messed up, Mystique is captured and Magneto is … wherever.

       A mutant antibody – a ‘cure’ for mutation - has been developed. Magneto recruits to fight back. Jean returns but she’s not the same.

       Wha’?? This can’t happen!

       A bit of Hogwarts and lots more Harry Potter feeling and Magneto exhibits his Richard III persona.

       Wha’?? This can’t happen!

       There are many surprises, too many clichés and fistfights/explosions, many cool one-liners and some truly suspenseful moments. This is quite a worthy conclusion to the series and that last scene with Magneto nudges the rating up to

      

4* of 5 (Hal agrees)

The Darkest Minds

The Darkest Minds 2018

• Director: Jennifer Yuh Nelson
• Based on book by Alexandra Bracken
• Cast: Amandla Stenberg, Mandy Moore, Bradley Whitford, Harris Dickinson, Patrick Gibson, Skylan Brooks, Miya Cech, Gwendoline Christie, Wade Williams
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Amandla Stenberg – Hunger Games
• Mandy Moore – American Dreamz, Romance & Cigarettes
• Bradley Whitford – The Cabin in the Woods, The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, Kate and Leopold, X Files, Philadelphia, A Perfect World
• Gwendoline Christie – Star Wars, Top of the Lake, Absolutely Fabulous the movie, The Hunger Games, The Zero Theorem, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
• Why? Sounded good
• Seen: 13 October 2019      

       Having just read the book and liking it, I’m curious about this.

       A strange illness affects children, either killing them or leaving them with strange powers.

       When Ruby turns ten her parents suddenly don’t remember who she is and turn her over to custody. She is sent to Thurmond Prison Camp where the children are divided into groups, each assigned a colour, each with different powers. Ruby discovers that she is an Orange with the greatest and most dangerous powers. She fools them into thinking she is a safe Green.

       She’s there for six years and escapes with the help of a young doctor (Moore) but can she be trusted? Can anyone Ruby meets be trusted? Can she herself be trusted? She has learnt that her touch can wipe out people’s memories. She can also read minds and manipulate others’ thoughts and actions.

       She so wants to trust her new friends Liam (Dickinson), Chubs (Brooks) and Zu (Cech).

       It’s a good adaption. The four kids are great. It’s a pity that Zu’s role is reduced, she’s such a sweetie. And I miss the music of the 60’s and 70’s from the book. Otherwise…

      

4 * of 5

The Fits

The Fits 2015

• Director: Anna Rose Holmer
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Royalty Hightower, Alexis Neblitt, Da’Shan Minor, Lauren Gibson, Makyla Burnam
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• None of them
• Why? Dance
• Seen: 12 October 2019

       Eleven-year-old Toni (Hightower) boxes with her brother (Minor) at the community centre but when she discovers the local dance troupe she can’t resist. She joins and learns to dance. She felt like an outsider while boxing and she still does in the dance troupe but she makes friends with the younger Beezy (Neblitt). Some of the older girls are afflicted with a mysterious disease which causes fits and unconsciousness.

       It’s very slow with a lot of close-ups and long shots of Toni. In some ways it’s visually evocative but is it symbolic? Allegorical? I don’t get it.

      

2 * of 5

X2

X2 (2003)

• Director: Bryan Singer
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Halle Berry, Famke Jansson, James Marsden, Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Alan Cumming, Bruce Davison
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Hugh Jackman – Les Misérables, Australia, The Fountain, Kate & Leopold, X Men First Class etc
• Ian McKellen – Vicious, X Men First Class, the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films, Richard III, Six Degrees of Separation, Cold Comfort Farm, The Ballad of Little Jo, Macbeth
• Patrick Stewart – The Hollow Crown Richard II, Hamlet, Extras, X Men First Class, Star Trek (one of them, I don’t remember which), Excalibur, Hamlet, I Claudius
• Halle Berry – Cloud Atlas, Things We Lost in the Fire, Monster’s Ball, X Men First Class, Bulworth, Jungle Fever
• Femke Jansson – X Men Days of Future Past, The Dead Girl
• James Marsden - X Men Days of Future Past, The Butler
• Anna Paquin - X Men Days of Future Past, The Squid and the Whale, Almost Famous, Amistad, The Piano
• Alan Cumming – Doctor Who, The Tempest, Get Carter, Third Rock from the Sun, Titus, Eyes Wide Shut, Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion
• Why? Slightly addicted to the series
• Seen: 11 October 2019      

       More or less the same cast as the previous one. Bad guys are manipulating Magneto, now in a plastic prison, to get Xavier’s secrets. Hostilities against the mutants are increasing.

       Xavier is kidnapped and the school is invaded.

       It’s fast-paced, confusing at times (as usual) but it makes a kind of sense if you don’t think too hard. The story itself isn’t so interesting. It’s the moments of emotion between the characters that make it worth watching. That and it’s quite exciting. But why make the mutant Kurt, who otherwise is rather cool, a practicing Christian? That’s just silly and lowers the rating. It could have been 3 ½ or 4 but it ends up as

      

3 * of 5 (Hal says 1)

The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption

• Director: Frank Darabont
• Based on the story by Stephen King
• Cast: Morgan Freeman, Tim Robbins, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, James Whitmore
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Morgan Freeman – Lucy, Transcendence, Oblivion, The Dark Knight Rises, The Magic of Belle Isle, Invictus, The Dark Knight, Wanted, Gone Baby Gone, Batman Begins, Million Dollar Baby, Bruce the Almighty, Levity, Nurse Betty, Amistad, Kissed the Girls, Moll Flanders, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Driving Miss Daisy, Eyewitness,
• Tim Robbins – War of the Worlds, Mystic River, Human Nature, High Fidelity, Jungle Fever, Bull Durham
• Bob Gunton – The Lincoln Lawyer, The Perfect Storm, Thousand Acres, Dolores Claiborne, Roswell, JFK, Born on the Fourth of July, Matewan
• William Sadler – Fringe, Roswell, The Green Mile, The Mist
• Clancy Brown – Hail Caesar!, Dead Man Walking, Bad Boys 
• Gil Bellows – The Life of Pi, Slumdog Millionaire, The Namesake
• James Whitmore – Bonanza, Planet of the Apes, The Wild Wild West, Run for Your Life and many other 60’s series
• Why? Good film
• Seen: Once or twice before. Now 6 October 2019

             Andy Dufresne (Robbins), a young bank president, is sentenced to life for the murder of his wife and her lover. He is innocent.

       Red (Freeman) has served twenty years of a life sentence and is once again denied parole. Red is a fixer, smuggles in cigarettes, booze, anything.

       The prison warden (Gunton) is a sadistic Bible booster.

       After two years of being brutalised by the guards and other prisoners Andy starts making a life for himself. He and Red become friends. Andy gives the staff financial advice in exchange for improvements for the prisoners.

       Years go by.

       Praise for this film knows no bounds. It deserves the praise. It’s not the best film ever made, nor even the second best as is claimed on the DVD box, but it is good. Freeman and Robbins are terrific.

4 ½ * of 5

Pygmalion

Pygmalion 1938

• Director: Anthony Asquith, Leslie Howard
• Based on the play by George Bernard Shaw
• Cast: Leslie Howard, Wendy Hiller, Wilfred Lawson, Marie Lohr, Scott Sunderland, Jean Cadell, David Tree
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Leslie Howard – Gone with the Wind
• Wendy Hiller – The Comedy of Errors, Richard II, A Man for All Seasons, Sons and Lovers
• Wilfred Lawson – Tom Jones
• Why? A classic
• Seen: Once before. Now 5 October 2019 with Hal and YW in our read-book-watch-film group      

       For all its faults My Fair Lady remains one of my favourite films. The only serious objection is the ending, when Eliza Doolittle comes back to Henry Higgins.

       This black and white version is beautiful in its way. Howard is nastily charming, Cadell is a good Mrs Pearce, Lawson reminds me of Jack Sparrow, Hiller is enjoyable as Eliza.  But - !

       What is this? All these years I have remembered that this film ends with Eliza walking out on Henry. But here too she comes back. Just like in My Fair Lady! What a bitter disappointment. How could I have remembered so wrong?

       What to do now?

       Until the ending I liked it quite a lot. But there’s the difference. I like this. I love My Fair Lady. So?

3 ½ * of 5. (Hal says 4, YW 3 ½)