Natasha's New Film Blog

 Hello, this is my first post of 2021 ! Apologies for not posting between December 2020 and now, I had intended to do some posts before now but you know how things have been, wherever you are in the world, the last half a year has been difficult, so I hope you can forgive my lack of posts this year.  Just to re-introduce myself, I am Natasha, a Film and Television studies degree graduate (and unemployed, I was an essential store worker during last years lockdown but I am not anymore, currently seeking employment, ideally in film or television but that work is hard to get). I am a 20-something from the UK and obviously, I love film.  Since I last posted anything, when we were in tier 4, in this country we have gone into full lockdown (which happened over Christmas and new year time) and come partly out of it (rules started lifting in March and its now July but there is still a lot of rules in place). In May, after over 6 months of being completely closed, our cinemas were ...

  Just a brief round up of what films I have seen at the cinema this year/ other film related activities. Of course, not half as much as I would have liked. January Downton Abbey promo poster I saw the Downton Abbey (Michael Engler, 2019) movie at the cinema (Odeon) with my parents at a silver screen re-release as I somehow did not get round to seeing this in the cinema at the end of 2019 when it came out despite being a huge Downton fan. This was probably the only time I have been to the cinema this whole year where it was full. My own photo from the BOP event I attended the  Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (Cathy Yan, 2020) Rollerdisco promotional event at The Steelyard night club in London with my friend Maisie. I was lucky I just saw about the tickets for it online, it was free and so cool, the neon lights, the cool drinks, the free candy floss, even down to the writing on the women's toilets mirror. My photo of the same arch from th...

The Burnt Orange Heresy poster   What is art ? That is a question Joanna Lumley's Patsy asks in the 90s television satire comedy, Absolutely Fabulous ( BBC, 1992 - 2016) . This a question The Burnt Orange Heresy ( Giuseppe Capotondi, 2020) attempts to answer, but presents more questions than answers. To be art, does a piece of work have to be approved by a critique ? Does art have to physically exist or can it be a figment of someones' imagination ? Can an accident be considered art ? None of these have a clear answer, I think that is left to the cinema audience to decide. Some film fans may like this film because of the fact this film is different because, it is a piece of art in someways because it asks questions, and like art, some will like it, some will not. The Burnt Orange Heresy tries to be too clever, there is a smugness to it. I just felt bored by how slow it was, and you can see "the plot twist" from miles off, theres a line fairly early on which tells you...

Cinderella poster This one is a short review, of Cinderella ( Kenneth Branagh, 2015 ) as I have seen this film several times before, but as I made it my aim this year to review or at least write about every film I see at the cinema this year, I had to include it. In October it was my birthday. Giving options of what I could do to mark the day were limited, I decided to see a film at the cinema with four of my fellow young adult friends. I had hoped to see Death On The Nile ( release date to be announced, Kenneth Branagh ), the sequel to Murder On The Orient Express ( 2017, Kenneth Branagh ) both adaptations of Agatha Christie's Poirot novels. However, like most of the big releases the release has been postponed till next year. My back up plan were Eternal Beauty ( Craig Roberts, 2020 ) and On the Rocks ( Sofia Coppola, 2020 ), Sofia Coppolas' newest film starring her staple artist Bill Murray. On The Rocks was on at a cinema an hour away, which giving the current situation was...

Summerland's promotional poster   On Tuesday last week I saw Summerland (Jessica Swale, 2020) at the cinema. Summerland is a period drama about a young boy, Frank, played by Lucas Bond in the second world war who is evacuated from London to Kent and sent to live with a woman, Alice, a lesbian played by Kent fellow Kent native Gemma Arterton who is the village outcast and she does not want Frank living with her. Gemma Arterton's wardrobe must be full of period costumes, having recently played Vita in Vita and Virgina (Chanya Button, 2019) and another war-time piece, Their Finest (Lone Scherfig , 2016) . Giving the character and time-period of Summerland, then, it is not a suprise Arterton was chosen to play Alice.  It is an independent, British made film, Kent as the primary filming location. As a Kentish girl myself it was nice to see places I recognize on screen. Summerland is the kind of film that is generally suitable for all ages, but is most likely to attract older...

  Went to the cinema for the first time since lockdown, I've missed it so much the cinema is my spiritual home. Last film I saw was Le Mans '66 (Ford V Ferrari) (dir. James Mangold, 2019) on a silver screen re-release in mid March, the cinema was empty due to the fact older people were deciding themselves to isolate before the government brought it in. (The last new film I saw was Sonic the Hedgehog (dir. Jeff Fowler, 2020)   (in mid February). So has happened since then we can all agree, it was good to do something I love for the first time in over 4 months.  Stage Mother promotional poster I saw Stage Mother (dir. Thom Fitzgerald,2020) with my friends Maisie and Harry who like myself are fans of drag. The movie was about a woman, Maybelline, played by Jacki Weaver who inherits a gay bar from her son who died young, a bar which has regular drag performances on.She then helps the queens and other characters.  It was an enjoyable enough film, could have do...