What you thought of Loose Cannons-

Excellent:  37

Good:  29

Average:  3

A gorgeous film with gorgeous young men!!!!  mmmm!              Lovely.         Fantastico.
Brilliant, bitter-sweet, beautiful.....                         Lovely fun            Fab!         A great Film.
Ma che bella storia!   Grazie tante!                      Light Italian comedy - wonderful
Subtitle; But what a beautiful story.  Many thanks.
Lovely poignant film.
Loved everything about this film!  Including the music.        Lovely.        Very enjoyable.
Very well acted, good story.
Enjoyed it but hoped for La Cage aux Folles.

Very moving but hardly comedic.  Wonderful camera work.
Pasta-licious. - I liked the old Dad.
I can sympathise with Tommaso's problem with the pasta factory.  I had my fill of it after a week in Italy.                                                            Real Italy.
Stereotype piled on stereotype.  Occasionally very funny but in a guilty sort of way.

A feel good film with serious undertones.
Confused at the end.              Just a little too explicit.           Fun, amazingly funny with a twist.
Enjoyable and funny - if a bit confusing.               Good fun - in spite of the complicated ending!
Nice film.  Clever epilogue device.
The blend of comedy and drama did not always work but the lending of different eras was brilliant.  We probably missed quite a bit by not knowing what the songs were about.   Poor Teresa!
A slow start and an overlong end but some good bits in the middle, once we worked out who was who.

If a film is really good (like last week's) I don't notice how uncomfortable the seats are.  The seats were pretty hard tonight!
It held my attention all through.  A lovely colourful film.
Loved it, although some of the ultimate moralising was too deep for my understanding!
Subtle, beautiful, uplifting!
Very beautiful - lovely music.  Quite poignant too.
It went through the whole range of emotions - sensitive - humorous - thought provoking and such beautiful people.

Good to re-visit Lecce!                        I want to see it again tomorrow
But who got the girl?

The next film will be Of Gods and Men  on Wednesday September 28th beginning at 7.45 p.m.


            

A

Confused

Good to

A gorgeou     

Welcome back to True Grit

What you thought of the film - and of our use of subtitles!

Excellent - 41
Good - 22
Average - 3

Overal approval 89%

A faultless western.                A most unusual western.        A tribute to the old westerns.             Entertaining.

Enjoyed the different approach.         Terrific start to the season.                Exciting and engrossing

A great start to the season.           A rattling good film.        Both of us thought it a brilliant film.

A tale for our times?             Brilliant!  There's no substitute for a first class western.

Better than I expected, I loved the original but was pleasantly surprised.   Enjoyed it more than the original.

Well acted and probably a more realistic interpretation than John Wayne's film.

They showed it like it was!                Great film.  Loved it.  Fantastic filming; great actors; lovely story.

One of the best Coen brothers' film I have seen.  The actress that played Mattie Ross senior wasn't a patch on Hailee Steinfeld.                                 Unusual film with a stunning performance by a 14 year old.  Wonderful start to the season.             Just as good on the second viewing as on the first. 
A great start to what looks like a superb season.              
At last!  A western with no cows but Jeff and Hailee delivered grittily!

Jeff Bridges, legend - The Dude abides.        Excellent - was that really Jeff Bridges?

Violence and jokey dialogue; the first True Grit was a better film.

Come back Clint......all is forgiven.  Snatches of good, bad and ugly ...Too loud.

Enjoyable film but I found the 'Quakerish language' at odds with the western location.

Excellent acting and photography.

And now for the great Subtitles debate............

Pro Subtitles - 24

Subtitles probably essential!                      Subtitles I found helpful.              Quite liked the subtitles.

Subtitles good.        Subtitles were a useful addition.               Subtitles were very useful and effective.

Subtitles definitely useful - please continue with all American films.          Subtitles - useful!

I liked the subtitles.                        Too loud!  Subtitles are useful.              Subtitles are a great idea.

Subtitles most necessary, excellent.                         Necessary to have subtitles - good idea.  Subtitles :-)              

Please keep the subtitles.              Subtitles very useful.                      Subtitles were invaluable but sound too loud.

Enjoyed the subtitles.                    
A great script which would have been spoilt without subtitles.  They are a great idea. Thanks!                  
The subtitles helped.                                                                        Liked the subtitles.      
After a short while the subtitles disappeared.

And yes, it did need the subtitles.                              Subtitles OK

No preference either way - 10

I for one could hear every word.                            Thought subtitles quite helpful - don't mind either way.

Not a good test for subtitles because the 'American' delivery was slow and clear in this particular film.  However, the sound was terribly loud.                                   

The dialogue in this particular film is slow and clear, so this was not a good test.  But I think in many American films that I have seen, subtitles would have been a great help.

On the whole I would prefer without subtitles but in this film they really helped.                          I found the sound track on this film easy to understand but most American films would benefit from subtitles.

Subtitles are useful but would not like them generally.                Though subtitles are quite helpful, I don't mind either way.              Subtitles not necessary this time but will be in future I'm sure!      Subtitles needed at times

Con subtitles - 10

I'm not convinced about the subtitles.            Bit distracted by the subtitles.             Distracted by subtitles.

On balance I'd prefer no subtitles with this film but I can see some benefits.

Good film with diction not as poor as I'd expected.  Subtitles not necessary - Americans should make films with better diction or we shouldn't have to watch them!!                    Subtitles distracting - sorry.

I think I prefer no subtitles.                        No subtitles.                      Subtitles rather distracting and volume too loud

No subtitles.    

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Next film.   Thursday September 15th.      Loose Cannons.   Mine Vaganti     dir Ferzan Ozpetek
A young gay man in a large, loving and eccentric Southern Italian family plans to free himself from the family pasta business by 'coming out'.  His plan misfires and this delightful comedy reveals how his dilemma is resolved.

The AGM

The AGM and 25th anniversary was marked by wine and delicious cakes.  We collected £256  in donations for the Democratic Voice of Burma in response to the many members who, after the screening of Burma VJ, asked if they could contribute to a fund to support the families of the video journalists imprisoned by the current regime.

We welcomed two members to join the committee and discussed the arrangements in our new venue.  Grateful thanks were expressed to Durweston Village Hall for their help and hospitality while the new school hall was being finished.  There are some technical problems yet to be solved in the new hall but we hope to settle comfortably in our new venue for the foreseeable future.

Heartbreaker

What you thought of Heartbreaker: Excellent: 26 Good: 31 Average: 5 Overall response in favour: 84%

Amusing. One of the best this season. Great film. Très amusant


Classy fun! Different! Amusing - Very Good.

How absolutely delightful. Thank you so much. What a way to end the season. Perfect!

Very amusing. A good ending to the year. Great fun. Best of breed!

Well found! Good choice.



Great to hear the audience laugh for a change.

An entertaining end to the season.

Giggle a minute, ending silly but still great.

Ever after happily they lived.

The perfect prototype for my future marriage!



Entertaining! Good end to a lovely season - Merci!

Effervescing experience exemplifying élan!

The French are more witty than I gave them credit for!

A good finish to the season. Graham performed brilliantly!

A good light touch, amusing.

Much better than George! (Clooney? The previous film was Up in the Air)

Romain Duris was fantastic! The film was great fun.

A fun ending to the season - he was very dishy, except when he cried!!

Nice change to have a light hearted film.



A nice comic touch to end the season. A light hearted enjoyable romp.

Rather weak. Good in parts.

Light and frothy and an excellent ending to the season. Thank you Committee for some good films.

A slick, charming, entertaining film. What a good film to end on!

Great fun, slick - funniest film of the season. A lot of fun. Nice to finish on!

Such fun! A good end to a good season!



A lovely film to end the season. Thank you for the delicious refreshments. Have a good summer.

CAN WE HAVE THE FLAPJACK RECIPE?

Can we have lots of jolly films next season?

A good ending to a year's films. Thanks.

Up in the Air

What you thought of Up in the Air

Excellent: 4

Good: 12

Average: 17

Poor: 2

Very Poor: 2

Overall response in favour 60%

American nonsense. Fun Movie. Light entertainment.
Very funny in parts but overlong for the material – slight overall.
A potentially grim subject made into a very quirky and enjoyable film.

It was a nice critique of the corporate life!
Don’t sell your soul to a man. Never believe a woman!
Not great but a comment on individualism – or should I say a warning!

Inconsequential fluff with pretensions. The separate elements did not gel together at all. Nice aerial shots.
Entertaining but not great.
A rather predictable thesis! Still enjoyable.
Trite, predictable, visually uninteresting, even monotonous: one or two amusing lines but overall I wanted to jump off a bridge myself!
Interesting but limited.

Predictable story line – acting OK but nothing special. I actually found it a bit boring – like his life.
George is to acting like wood to a puppet. Come back Michael Caine.
Natalie’s whining voice and the usual American film poor diction spoilt and otherwise passable film.
The dialogue wasn’t very clear; even after all your valiant efforts.
I prefer Clooney’s “Big head-waggling, saucer-eyed comedies”.

Thanks that did me some good!
OK, but I’m glad I didn’t pay for a ticket at the cinema for it.
What a hell of a job.
Makes you appreciate the Job Centre.
Did I miss something?
Give me a morbid film with a sad ending!
PLEASE can people keep mobile phones off.
I have nothing to say.

The next film Heartbreaker is preceded by the AGM on Thursday, April 7th at 7. 00p.m. There will be an opportunity to air comments on the new venue, the refreshments and the absence of shorts this season. We will be celebrating our 25th anniversary and there will be an opportunity to donate towards the expenses of the Democratic Voice of Burma.

Welcome

What you thought of Welcome:

Excellent: 38

Good: 28

Very Poor: 1

Overal Reaction in favour: 86%

Intrinsic. Very good film. Bon Chance. Thought provoking; very sad.
Another good film. Thanks. More like this please. Totally absorbing. Lovely club.
Heartbreaking. Very good but very sad. We must always do our best.

Many complex issues – how sad. Sad at the end: I’m glad I’m English.
So Mona ends up in an arranged marriage, knowing that the person who loved her died trying to get to her….
And they all lived….. Sad but enjoyable.
I almost hoped for a happy ending!
So much in life depends on where you are born. One of the saddest films I have seen.
More like this please. So many issues covered – sensitively done.
I don’t need this: life is sad enough. I want films that make me happy.
Something happier next time please.

Showed the power of an individual story.
Predictable story – nicely acted and photographed.
An affecting tale, well told. Good choice.
Thought provoking – what a difficult world we live in. Very moving. Superb acting and direction.
All the more powerful for being understated. Very well acted indeed.
Brilliant acting – very moving. Loved the music. Very sad but compelling with superb acting.

Well-judged. Cast a light on a nearly invisible (unseen) situation.
Very moving and especially interesting information about detention camps, rules regarding helping illegals, forced marriages in the UK.
The human driftwood of our vile actions overseas – hope some of the others really make it next time.
Heartbreaking. How can kindness be illegal?
We live in a privileged society. I had no idea the French had such wicked laws.
The French did not behave as our media implied.!
Another haunting allegory ( along with Un Prophete) on France and its ills.
Very moving story – a good insight into what goes on across the Channel.
Absorbing and believable – what would I have done? Good choice.
A lesson about compassion and humanity for all.

Utter tosh from the makers of la-la land. Total waste of space. Why did I stay?
Great improvement on the last one.
Simon’s ex-wife must have the same hairdresser as Helena Bonham-Carter. Very poignant.
You don’t very often see French people that scruffy.

The next film will be Up in the Air on Thursday March 24th.

The White Ribbon

What you thought of The White Ribbon

Excellent: 15

Good: 27

Average: 12

Poor: 4

Very Poor: 2

Approval rating: 70%

An enigma! Very haunting and fascinating. Deafening. Utterly dull.
Oppressive, abusive, sick people. Wonderful and very moving. Uncomfortable.
Sheer agony to watch – can’t imagine how it won an award. Too loud also! Interesting!
Absorbing – much better than Black Swan. Hard to watch. Unresolved.

Different but who did it?
The kids did it.
Oh dear, what a depressing film. Probably very good in various ways but I certainly didn’t enjoy it.
Excellent acting but it needed a dénouement.
Much darker than I had envisaged and not a very satisfactory ending.
No glamour, just a damn good film. A beautifully executed tale of mystery and intrigue.
Too long; well- acted but with no outcome it was rather depressing.
Wonderful photography but too deep and meaningful for me. Obscure. Too loud.
Atmospheric film, superb cinematography but not my kind of film.

Well done but infinitely depressing. When do we get episode 2?
An everyday story of country folk!! But glad we stayed to see it – after reading your résumé we nearly went straight home. At least no one fell off a roof….
Where was Miss Marple when you needed her? Vorsprung dürch Hanging Rock (Prefiguring Hanging Rock)
It was like Village of the Damned.
Explosive start! Confusing in parts but strangely compelling. Midwich Cuckoos?
Buddenbrooks meets Hammer House of Horror!
A German Lord of the Flies?

Let’s hope they all died in the Great War. Bloody Germans. A bit Teutonic! (sound was very shrill)
Why was the film made? There didn’t seem to be a reason.
A village with circles of evil percolating to all levels with “proprieties” preventing intervention and preserving the evil intact. The no telling tales culture.
Interesting insight to the period before the First World War.

I thought it would never end! My seat got harder and harder. A nightmare.
Brilliant and terrifying – even more so on this my second time.
Came in happy – went home distressed. Very strange but riveting.
Very strange but strangely compelling. I do see why it was in black and white.
Strange film, someone should write an ending. Not for the first time I wonder why that generation of parents ever had children.
Weird – too long but beautifully photographed and sound excellent.

I would like to see it again.
What the hell was that?
Strange. Can’t categorize.

The next film will be Welcome on March 17th at the School Hall.