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!

Jamesy Boy

why, hello there.

Continuing my posts about Glaswegian actors. Next up: James McAvoy.

He was born and lived in Glasgow until he was 20, then he moved to London.

I've seen almost all of his movies and he's definitely one of my Top 5 favourite actors of all time.
So buckle up cause this is going to be a long one.

In my opinion his first break came when he did a part in the film Wimbledon (2004). After that he had a small part in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005).
But his real big break was in The Last King of Scotland (2006) when he portrayed the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's (Forest Whitaker) physician. He got a lot of critical acclaim for that part, including a BAFTA nomination (he also won the Rising Star Award that year) and a BAFTA Scotland win.

Jamesy Boy in
Atonement

He went on to star in movies like Penelope (2006) opposite Christina Ricci (<-- love him in that movie), Starter for 10 based on David Nicholls' novel with the same title and Becoming Jane opposite Anne Hathaway, the Jane Austen biopic, where he showed us what classic fictional heroes like Mr. Darcy and Edward Ferrars were based on.

But my favourite role of his and arguably one of his best is in Atonement starring opposite Keira Knightley and directed by Joe Wright, one of my favourite directors. The film is based on the novel by Ian McEwan, and is also one of very few movies that actually managed to be properly adapted from a book, also on that list Pride & Prejudice (2005) (incidentally also directed by Wright. Coincidence? I thing not.) Just thinking about that movie makes me tear up. Such a sad and beautiful story. And even McAvoy himself said that the script for Atonement was the best he had ever read.

Clicky for more. Do it.

That dude that directed Neds.. Peter... Mu-

Taking a break from blogging about my Glasgow Film Festival adventure (clicky here for all the previous posts about the festival, you know you want to.), I want to focus on some Glaswegian/Scottish actors in the industry.

And to kick things off let's start with Peter Mullan. "Random" fact: Peter Mullan was one of many guests at the Glasgow Film Festival in 2010. (I can always find a connection.)

As you saw from my post about Meryl Streep, I won't be rattling down birth dates and all that non-sense, and I'll focus more on the actors' career and work and ad some random stories of my own.

So let's take a look at Peter Mullan the actor, writer and director.

Peter Mullan wasn't born in Glasgow but he moved there with his family when he was quite young. He eventually went to the University of Glasgow and studied economic history and drama, and that's where his journey starts.

He was in several Scottish productions such as Braveheart ("Freeedoooom!" <-- I'm sorry, I had to.), Trainspotting, (although, I haven't had the chance to see it yet, a friend of mine showed me the infamous "toilet" scene and I have yet to muster the courage to actually watch it), which stars fellow Scottish actor Ewan McGregor, and Shallow Grave.

In 1988 he won the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in Ken Loach's film My Name is Joe. 

Eduardo: "Sorry! My Prada is at the
cleaners along with my hoodie and my
 'f**k you' flip-flops, you pretentious
douchebag!"

Other movies he has been in include Boy A, staring Andrew Garfield who is enjoying a lot of attention right now for his awesome role in The Social Network, in which (at least in my opinion) he was a lot better than Jesse Eisenberg, and he's currently filming a Spiderman reboot directed by one of my favorite directors Marc Webb of (500) Days of Summer.

Mullan also has a part in the last two Harry Potter instalments. He played one of the Death Eaters, Yaxley, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I (How amazing was the movie, btw! I was so glad director David Yates finally stepped it up after heartbreakingly watching his two disasters that were HP5 & HP6.) and will apparently return again in Part II (15 more weeks!!!!).

If you're a Harry Potter fan you're definitely about to open a new tab to see this again, so for your comfort here it is:

Although Peter Mullan is a brilliant actor, he's wanted to direct since the age of 19. 

He has written and directed three critically acclaimed feature films to date. His first was the film Orphans, which won several awards at the Venice Film Festival in 1998.

His second feature film The Magdalene Sisters (2002) also won him a Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, the film also got 2 BAFTA nominations.

His most recent project is the movie Neds, which was in cinemas just a month or so ago.

He has also written and directed several other short movies.

Here's a trailer of his latest film Neds:

Meryl Streep

No sarcastic, snappy or random title this time because this post is about Meryl Streep and there's just nothing funny about what a great actress she is.
She is without a doubt one of the best actresses of all time (and also one of my favourite actresses of all time). She also possesses such a unique and timeless beauty, and is ageing quite gracefully. (I personally love her cheekbones.)
She's simply the best.
She's been nominated for an Academy Award 14 times, for films like; Julie & Julia, The Bridges of Madison County and Out of Africa, and actually won the award twice for Kramer vs. Kramer and Sophie's Choice. She's almost gotten nominated every single year since 1979. Almost.
Her record-breaking 16 nominations, are something that is joked about a lot at the Academy Awards, specially last year in the opening monologue when Steve Martin jokingly said that the Academy ends up 'nominating Meryl Streep no matter what'.


On the same night Stanley Tucci also said:

That is why I have spearheaded a movement in the Academy to cap the number of nominations per actor at 16, which means that this could be the last time that anyone would have to stand up here and say despite their personal feelings that Meryl Streep is quite simply the best.

But we all know that she'll be coming back for more. I would bet everything I have that she'll get another nomination for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in the film The Iron Lady when it is released. She's so good you don't need to actually see the movie to know how good she'll be in it.
In 2004 she was also the recipient of the 32nd annual AFI Lifetime Achievement Award.

Things get very intense after the jump.

A poem, an interview and a trial.

Continuing my Glasgow Film Festival adventure, I went to see "Howl" at the GFT on the 19th of Feb.

And once again, when I was looking around at the website to figure out what movies I wanted to see this one definitely called out to me.

"Sorry James, but let's be realistic."

James Franco is in it. Not only is he one of my favorite actors today, but he's a damn good one, and he has an Academy Award nomination to prove it. Alright, so he didn't win, but let's face it being nominated opposite the guy who delivered the most gut wrenching performance of the year for his portrayal of a king who stutters, doesn't exactly give you a chance.

The first time I discovered James Francos talents was from his tiny cameo in the comedy Date Night which starred comical genius Tina Fey, and my love for him just kept on growing after that. That is because I totally ignored the disaster that was co-hosting the Oscars with Anne Hathaway. It was so puzzling to me how such a brilliant and funny actor was not able to bring some kind of excitement to the hosting gig of the year. But hey, it's the Oscars they were probably nervous. Let's all together just forgive the Academy for picking young hosts and cut the poor duo some slack.

Ginsberg

But to sum up, I was sold.

What's the film about you ask?
It's basically about Allen Ginsberg, a poet, who was a leading figure in the Beat Generation, and his poem titled "Howl", which is considered a classic poem of the beat generation. The poem can be summed up in that it is about the way Ginsberg viewed the world at that time, and how destructive the forces of capitalism and conformity where in the United States.

The whole story is told through three interrelated threads: an animation that portrays the surrealism of the poem, an interview with Ginsberg where he talks about how he came to be the artist that he was, and society's reaction to the poem, which is known as "the obscenity trial".

Before the film began, we, the viewers, were told that the movie was written and directed by two renowned documentary film makers, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman and that actual court transcripts and interviews with Ginsberg were used to write the film's screenplay. All this really showed in the film and made it that much more interesting.

While the animation of the poem was pretty awesome, it did not in anyway help me understand the poem, which I'm ashamed to admit but I really know nothing about poems, so I won't pretend that I do.

Sad Don Draper (<-- click it you'll laugh!)

The cast of the film was brilliant. Everyone from the main roles to the little cameos such as Mary-Louise Parker, David Strathairn and Treat Williams.
But most importantly James Franco really delivers in this role and it really showcases his talents.
Apart from Jon Hamm, who was just showing us what Don Draper would have been like as a lawyer, and the answer is: the same.

All in all it's an incredibly well done movie and highly recommended by moi.

A goat and a funky grave.

My Glasgow Film Festival adventure started with the screening of the film "Boy", on the 16th of Feb.

When I went on the GFF website to pick which movies I want to see for the blog (and for my personal enjoyment), this movie just popped right out.
First of all, the fact that they sum it up by saying, [t]he year is 1984 and Michael jackson is taking a small town in New Zealand by storm; no one loves him more than young Boy, was enough to convince me that I needed to see this. It also doesn't hurt that it's the highest grossing New Zealand film of all time and that it won several awards at film festivals all over the world.

I mean, how can you not like this?

But Michael Jackson is hardly the centre of the story. (Obviously.) The film is more about how two brothers who live with their grandmother, meet their estranged father for the first time, as far as they can remember, after he gets out of prison. The elder brother also has a goat as a pet, which I found extremely intriguing since that's my favourite animal.
Now, don't let the seriousness of the topic mislead you, one of the best aspects of the film is that is tells a serious story in a comical way that just makes you leave the theatre with a smile on your face. (How's that for advertising!)

It's everything a movie should be (according to me at least), light, cheesiness-free and with an ending that won't give you delusional expectations of reality yet will not make you wanna jump off a bridge after watching the movie.

Boy, his father & Rocky

The hilarious and well written script was delivered by an incredibly talented cast, specially the children, who had better comedic timing than Graham Norton. And Boy's younger brother Rocky was definitely my favourite. Not only is he adorable, but he has some extremely funny moments.
I can't really compare this movie to anything, it stands on its own.

All in all, a very moving story, with a lot of laugh out loud moments. And all this was accompanied by a beautiful and simple score, that like everything else in "Boy", made the film flow that much smoother.

The awesome shirt.

Like I said, I won't exactly be "reviewing the films I see here per se, I'll just share my random thoughts about them. And on that note, here are the 5 things I will take away from this movie:
1. Life sometimes really is more a comedy than a drama.
2. It wakes up the child in you, which is always a good thing.
3. My fondness for goats has only grown and now I wish I could have one as a pet too.
4. I want a shirt like Boy's. ----->
5. Boy & Rockys mothers grave is extremely funky, I cannot describe it, but trust me it is funky (as in cool and awesome, not the other definition), if you ever see the movie you'll know what I'm talking about. And no, obviously I was unable to find a picture to illustrate what I mean.

If all this hasn't peaked your interest, here's the trailer:

One last piece of advice, make sure you watch the movie with subtitles otherwise you'll get a headache from concentrating so hard.

Introducing erm... well the Introduction.

This is a blog about the film scene in Glasgow, Scotland from the perspective of a 20 year old non-Scottish female, who has recently moved to Glasgow to study. The blog/me will explore the variety of film related stuff here in Glasgow over the span of 5 weeks, hence the title of the blog which I've used as a homage to one of my favorite films (no, I will not say which...). That is to say I will explore film in Glasgow for 5 weeks and probably only find the time to blog about it in the last 2 weeks of said 5 weeks. As you can tell I'm a very eloquent writer, but I won't brag.

Anyway, by the end of this great journey which we shall embark upon, you will see what a rich film culture(?) Glasgow has, I mean they have their own film festival!
But sarcasm aside, I am really excited about this since I am a big film buff (most people have google as their homepage, I have IMDb) and I will also get the chance to explore what Glasgow will have to offer me over the next few years as I try and complete my course.

Over the next few blog posts I will try and "review" some movies that were screened (and that I've watched) at the Glasgow Film Festival, which was on from the 16th of February till the 27th, and then I'll blog about some of the many venues that are available here in Glasgow for movie-watching. I will also blog about a few of my favorite Glaswegian actors out there.

I would also like to add and emphasise that I tend to ramble on about random and sometimes pointless stuff/stories and I  have a tendency to get heavily sarcastic. Sarcasm being a key word here.

Before we kick things off I would like to thank my dear friend Yazzy, who kindly took the time to make the fabulous background that you are enjoying right now, because I have no photoshopping skills whatsoever, and because she's awesome.

So, if you've stumbled across this blog, have fun, if you don't like it just close this window OR if you're really bored try and guess which movie each of the pictures in the background is from. (Hint: most of them will be mentioned in the blog. Just sayin'.)

- Mariam