Filmdation

The September Filmdation is on Friday 10th September!

The film choice is The Matrix and was chosen by Pauline Shaw.

The Matrix is a 1999 Australian-American science-fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski; starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving. It was first released on March 31, 1999, and is the first installment in the Matrix series of films, comic books, video games, and animation.

The July Filmdation is on Friday 30th July!

The film choice is The Road and was chosen by Iain McColl.

The Road stars Viggo Mortensen and is directed by John Hillcoat.  It is based on a 2006 novel by American writer Cormac McCarthy. It is a post-apocalyptic tale of a journey taken by a father and his young son over a period of several months, across a landscape blasted by an unnamed cataclysm that destroyed civilization and, apparently, almost all life on earth. The novel was awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

STOP PRESS! Apparently, the Road is too depressing for this exact moment, so Filmdation will instead be a viewing of that sartorial classic Rambo: First Blood instead. Philistines…

The June Filmdation is on Friday 25th June!

The film choice is House Of Sand And Fog and was chosen by Adam Bond.

The story concerns the battle between a young woman and an immigrant Iranian family over the ownership of a house in Northern California.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said, “Here is a film that seizes us with its first scene and never lets go, and we feel sympathy all the way through for everyone in it . . . it stands with integrity and breaks our hearts.”

The May Filmdation is on Friday 28th May!

The film choice was Monty Python’s Life Of Brian and was chosen by Simon Taylor.

In Simon’s words…

The Life of Brian is, for me, the best of all the life of Jesus films largely because it is very careful to distinguish Brian and Jesus.  Controversial in its day, now only Christians get the jokes, but they are good jokes.  The most coherent Python film, and the more history/theology you know the funnier it is.  Come and enjoy a great opportunity to laugh at ourselves, to find the source of at least five of my sermons, and to look on the bright side of life.

The April Filmdation was on Friday 16th April.

The film choice was Amadeus and it was chosen by Olly Home.

Milos Forman’s film adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s outstanding play was Oscar laden in 1985. Charting Salieri’s rivalry with Mozart – hard work versus genius, morality versus wantonness, “piety” versus frivolity – Amadeus is an exploration of the human condition and how we relate to God.  And the music’s not bad either.  As a Filmdation bonus, the screening was preceded by Falco’s classic track of the same name!

The March Filmdation is on Friday 12th March.

The film choice is Fish Tank, a 2009 British drama directed by Andrea Arnold.  The film is chosen by Rob Telford.

Mia, a volatile 15-year-old, lives on an Essex council estate with her single mother Joanne, and younger sister Tyler. Neglected by her frequently drunk mother, Mia is a loner, and is seen fighting with the other girls who live nearby- one of whom she headbutts in the nose. Excluded from school, she is frequently in trouble with the authorities and spends a lot of her time drinking alcohol procured from older kids on her estate. It is clear 11 year old Tyler, who drinks and smokes, is going the same way. Mia’s only outlet is street dancing, which she practices alone in a deserted flat.

Location: Tim’s place. If you need the address and/or directions, contact Rob on the email address under “Contact”.

Turn up any time from 7:45pm (we’ll start the film a bit after 8pm).  Bring something to drink and/or munchies.

The January Filmdation is on Friday 29th January.

The film choice is Harold and Maude, a 1971 comedy directed by Hal Ashby.  The film is chosen by Lexy Long.

The film, featuring slapstick, dark humor and existentialist drama, revolves around the exploits of a morbid young man, Harold, who drifts away from the life that his detached mother prescribes for him, as he develops a relationship with septuagenarian Maude.

Harold meets Maude, 79 years old, at a funeral. The pair form a bond, with Maude slowly opening Harold to the sensual pleasures of music and art – and the general anarchy of living for the moment and doing whatever one pleases.  Their relationship turns sexual, despite Harold’s mother’s best attempts to get her son to settle down with someone she considers appropriate…

The film is number 45 on the American Film Institute’s list of 100 Funniest Movies of all Time and number 69 in its list for most romantic.  In 1997, it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as being deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”  The film was a commercial flop in its original release, and critical reception was extremely mixed.  However it has since developed a large cult following.

Location: Tim’s place. If you need the address and/or directions, contact Rob on the email address under “Contact”.

Turn up any time from 7:45pm (we’ll start the film a bit after 8pm).  Bring something to drink and/or munchies.