Outro

And so ends our journey, I hope you've enjoyed the 35 days of film in glasgow, as much as I did.
I won't say stay tuned for more because there will be no more posts on this blog. The blog has already served it's purpose.
So without further ado,

Films that were screened at the Festival and -through no fault of my own- I was unable to see.

So after "reviewing" the many movies I've seen at the Film Festival this year I wanted to write a post about all the movies I really wanted to see but was too busy to didn't get the chance to, as the long title of the post reveals.


1.) New Low

It's supposed to be a cute RomCom and was screened at Sundance. (I actually bought tickets to watch it before watching a trailer for it, and a few hours before the screening I decided to see the trailer and was not sold so ended up going shopping instead. Whoops...) Moral of the story: always watch the trailer before buying a ticket.

2.) Apnea

This one I really wanted to see! And in no way was it my fault that I didn't in the end. I swear I had classes.
It's a greek movie (and I'm half greek, so this film was close to home) that's about a european swimming champion, who as he's swimming in the water remembers his relationship with his ex-girlfriend who has mysteriously disappeared. It's directed by Aris Bafaloukas, who was himself a swimmer and among the cast members I found one of my favorite greek actors.
Unfortunately, I was not able to find a trailer with english subtitles but here's a trailer non the less.

Clicky to check out the rest.

"Unforeseeable, that's what you are."

A few weeks ago I had to write an analysis of a movie for one of my classes at uni. We were given a few choices and I picked In The Loop (2009) written and directed by Armando Iannucci, which had been on my must-see-movie-list for a while anyway.

And I discovered a gem.

Peter Capaldi.

And his character in the film Malcolm Tucker.

As I was watching the movie I thought, 'wait a sec this guy has a scottish accent, and a pretty strong one as well, he must be from Glasgow!', and so I IMDb'ed that "S-star-star-T". (I'm determent to make IMDb a verb like Google.)

And low and behold he is. I do apologise though for my lack of knowledge of this little fact before.

So I introduce to you Peter Capaldi.

He was born and brought up in Glasgow and went to Glasgow School of Arts. While studying there he got his breakthrough role in the film Local Hero (1983). He did a bunch of other films, including Soft Top Hard Shoulder (1993) and won a BAFTA Scotland for his performance in it, but he mostly had roles on TV shows.

In 1995 he directed and wrote the short film Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life, which won him an Academy Award for best short film (live action).

But then he did the role he was born to play. Malcolm Tucker, the foul-mothered communications manager, in the series The Thick of It (which In The Loop is based on).

I cannot even begin to explain how much I laughed when I was watching the film and how much I laugh every time I remember a quote. It's just hilarious and I can't even imagine how funny the series must have been. If you haven't seen the film yet, I suggest you do so right away because you're missing out big time. Also watch it with english subtitles you don't wanna miss any jokes.

I can only compare Malcolm Tucker to two other TV characters that have ever existed, the 'legend-wait for it-dary' Sue Sylverster (of Glee) and Ari Gold (of Entourage). If you're not watching either of these shows you're missing out just because of these two characters alone.
I mean the writers that come up with the stuff these characters say must be disturbed, but hey, it's still entertainment.

Malcolm Tucker (Click here for his awesome quotes)

Sue Sylvester (Click here for some of her awesome quotes)

Ari Gold (Click here for some of his awesome quotes)

Can you imagine the awesomeness if they all joined forces together. It would just be too epic.

Clicky for even more awesomeness.

The GFT -my new favourite place in Glasgow.

*angelic chorus music*

Keeping things spicy and fresh around here I will talk about my one favourite venue for movie-watching (yes, that's a word) here in Glasgow. (I only know of 2 places actually, can you tell I'm a total newbie? That is an awful word.)

The GFT a place that I wouldn't have known about if it weren't for the Glasgow Film Festival. Okay, I would have found out about it eventually... I was just exaggerating. In the end though I'm glad I did.

So back to reality, I love that place, they screen exactly my type of movies and that's all I need to know.
They screen everything from old classics to contemporary to european films. Which is always a breath of fresh air from your regular big budget films.

The festival had most of it's screenings and events there (there were also screenings at Cineworld and The School of Arts).
But that's not all the theatre has to offer.
It offers a variety of film courses through-out the year, that encourage discussion about films.
It hosts special screenings of older movies, for example the director's cut of the german Academy Award winning film The Tin Drum (1979) is being screened this week.
It hosts other festivals like the Italian Film Festival in Scotland, where italian films are screened. (Click here for more info)

Sometimes they provide captioned screenings for the hearing impaired.
The theatre also hosts a bunch of regular events every month or so, like the Film Discussion Group, where film lovers gather to discuss certain movies, whether they are blockbusters or arthouse (as you probably figured out from the name of the event).

And a whole lotta other stuff as well. If you're interested in finding out more (and you should be) visit their website here, which will give you more info, a lot more efficiently than me.
If you want regular updates (and great ones too) do what I do and follow them on twitter here.

That's all.

And he told us of his life in the land of Submarines

It's time, it's time. For my last film "review" on this blog.
The film I'm talking about is (everybody!) "Submarine"! It also happens to be my favourite film out of all three films that I saw at the festival this year.
I remember seeing the trailer when it was released way back in October (at least I think it was October) and not being able to wait to actually see it, so there was generally a lot of excitement in my air that day.

Fun fact: After pre-buying the ticket to see the film at the GFT, I happened to find out that the screening of the day before had director Richard Ayoade, Craig Roberts and Yasmin Page introducing the movie. From what I can remember it was a last-minute thing. But still I was very disappointed that I missed that screening. I was even more disappointed after having actually seen the film cause it turned out to be so good.
But that's all in the past now so I shall not dwell on it.

And so I finally saw it and boy did it live up to my expectations.

Richard

The hilarious yet touching coming-of-age film tells the story of Oliver (played by newcomer Craig Roberts, who's here to stay. You heard it here first.) as he tries to save his parents' (Noah Taylor & Sally Hawkins) marriage and simultaneously tries to maintain a relationship with his first girlfriend Jordana (Yasmin Page).
The film is the directorial debut of comedian Richard Ayoade (of The IT Crowd), who also wrote the screenplay, which is based on the novel by Joe Dunthorne.
It was also an Official Festival Selection at Sundance this year.

The soundtrack includes some pretty good tracks and they are original songs, written purposefully for the film by Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys.

 

The Director, Craig Roberts,  Yasmin Page and Ben Stiller. (Wait. Wah? Yeah apparently he has an executive producer credit and also had a teeny cameo in the film.)

But all these facts are irrelevant, all you need to know is that you'll laugh your bum off if you go see this movie. That's really all there is to it. I remember the entire theatre being in a constant state of laughter during the entire screening.

I love this pic tho. (click to enlarge)

All in all, it's the perfect movie but there's one thing that was very wrong with it. Yasmin Page. I'm sure she's a lovely person but she really does not convince me as an actress. I really don't mean to be a "cyber bully" but her performance physically pained me, and that's only my opinion. Every time she came on screen I just cringed. To the extent that I couldn't understand why Oliver was so in love her. But yet I bought it. (Which is meant as a compliment for Craig Roberts' performance not Page's)
There is this one scene where she's supposed to be mad at him and all she does are some weird ticks that I think are supposed to make her endearing, which only make her seem mental. Don't even get me started on her facial expressions.
Now, I don't know how the director intended for us to see her so I won't say anything else on the subject.
Other films that she's been in and that have only fostered my annoyance with her, include; I Could Never be Your Woman (2007) (with Michelle Pfeifer and Paul Rudd) and Ballet Shoes (2007) (a made-for-TV movie with Emma Watson).
Ok, ok, I promise *rant over*.

But my personal feelings about Yasmin Page aside, it's a pitch-perfect screenplay played by an extremely talented cast, so you're guaranteed your money's worth.

Now, please enjoy the trailer below:

It's in cinemas right now, so GO while you still can!