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(Release Info London schedule; January 19th, 2018/Curzon Bloomsbury, 18:30) "The Final Year" "The Final Year" gives a look at the inner workings of the Obama administration as they prepare to establish a legacy when leaving power after eight years. The film revolves around Obama's foreign policy team; 'Secretary Of State' John Kerry, 'UN Ambassador' Samantha Power, 'Deputy National Security Adviser' and presidential confidant Ben Rhodes, as well as 'National Security Adviser' Susan Rice and President Obama himself. Over the course of 2016, they travel the world attempting to solidify and lock-in policies that they believe will define their legacy, promote diplomacy over large-scale military action, and fundamentally alter how the US government confronts questions of war and peace, as they prepare to hand over the machinery of American power to a new administration.   John Kerry served as 'Secretary Of State' from February 2013 until the end of the Obama administration. He previously was a Senator from Massachusetts and Chairman of 'The Senate Foreign Relations Committee'. Kerry first met Barack Obama in 2004, during Kerry's own presidential campaign, and chose Obama as the keynote speaker for his nominating convention. Kerry served in Vietnam as a 'Naval Officer'. Following his military service, Kerry became a prominent anti-war activist testified before 'The Senate Foreign Relations Committee' in 1971. Samantha Power served as 'US Ambassador' to 'The United Nations' from February 2013 until January 2017. During President Obama's first term, she worked in 'The White House' as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for 'Multilateral Affairs' and 'Human Rights' at 'The National Security Council'. Samantha Power emigrated from Ireland at age 9, and became a US citizen in 1993. After college, she was a journalist in Bosnia during wartime, and later wrote 'A Problem from Hell: America And The Age Of Genocide', which won 'The Pulitzer Prize'. Power met then-Senator Barack Obama in 2005, and worked on his first presidential campaign as a foreign policy advisor.   Ben Rhodes served in 'The White House' as 'Deputy National Security Advisor' for 'Strategic Communications' from 2009 until January 2017. Rhodes joined the Obama presidential campaign in 2007, and later became one of the president's closest aides. Rhodes was a creative writing student at NYU when he witnessed the 9/11 attacks. He moved to Washington and was hired by former Congressman Lee Hamilton, who co-chaired both 'The Iraq Study Group' and 'The 9/11 Commission'. Rhodes helped draft 'The 9/11 Commission's' final report, which became a best-seller. Susan Rice served as 'National Security Advisor' from 2013 until January 2017. During President Obama's first term, she was Ambassador to 'The United Nations'. In 2004, Rice was a foreign policy adviser to John Kerry during his presidential campaign, when Kerry chose Barack Obama as the keynote speaker at his convention. In 2007, Rice was one of the first prominent foreign policy advisors to join Obama's own presidential bid. Rice had previously been a Senior Director at 'The National Security Council' during President Bill Clinton's first term, and was Assistant Secretary of 'State For African Affairs' during Clinton's second term. "The Final Year" begins in late 2015 and continued to the early hours of the morning on January 20, 2017, the day of Trump's inauguration. Director Greg Barker filmed extensively throughout the year at 'The White House' and 'State Department' in Washington DC, 'The United Nations' in New York City, and in 21 countries, following US officials on their international travel. The film is shot on-the-fly, with minimal equipment, no lights, and the smallest possible crew at all times, which gives the documentary flexibility to be nimble and capture spontaneous moments. Simultaneously, the editing team in LA reviewed and assembled nearly 1,000 hours of footage.       Timeline -   Sept. 2015. Presidential visit to 'The United Nations General Assembly'.   Jan. 13-17, 2016. Vienna, Austria. 'Secretary Of State' John Kerry, on 'Implementation Day' for 'The Iran Nuclear Agreement'.   Apr 17-24, 2016. 'UN Ambassador' Samantha Power visits Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria.   May 15-18, 2016. 'Secretary Of State' John Kerry attends Syrian peace negotiations in Vienna.   May 19-25, 2016. Presidential trip to Vietnam.   May 26-28, 2016. Presidential trip to Hiroshima, 'Potus' speech at 'Peace Memorial'   Jun 15-18, 2016. John Kerry visits Greenland to study climate change.   Jul 14-Jul 22, 2016. Ben Rhodes travels to Laos in advance of Presidential visit.   Sept 3-6, 2016. Barack Obama is the first US president to visit Laos.   Sept 18-24, 2016. 'United Nations General Assembly' meetings, attended by President Obama, John Kerry, Samantha Power and Ben Rhodes.   Nov 08, 2016. Election night.   Nov 13-16, 2016. 'Potus' visits Athens as part of his final overseas trip.   Jan 19th and 20th. John Kerry, Ben Rhodes and Samantha Power pack up and leave their offices. Filming wraps at 4am the morning of January 20th, hours before the inauguration. At 4am on the morning of Donald Trump's inauguration, the film shows 'UN Ambassador' Samantha Power as she slowly removed her 7 year-old son's artwork from the walls of her office overlooking 1st Avenue. She fills a bankers box with all the drawings, and then carried it down into a waiting 'SUV' for what would be her last official ride as 'US Ambassador' to 'The United Nations'. Earlier that day Secretary John Kerry leaves 'The State Department' for the final time, and with speechwriter and presidential confidant Ben Rhodes in 'The White House' as he packs his own belongings, wistfully coming across his handwritten notes from a 2009 sit-down with Obama in 'The Oval Office' to talk through what the President wanted to say in his upcoming speech in Cairo. This is the end of an era, everyone feels it and the end of an epic 15-month film shoot that take us on a once-in-a-career journey inside the workings of our foreign policy machinery. This is a story about a small group of people who came together nearly a decade ago, rallying behind a man and his cause. They set out to change the world, and against all expectations, found themselves in a position to affect that change. The believed they could redefine American foreign policy, promote diplomacy over large-scale military action, and alter how we as a nation think about questions of war and peace. They had their share of victories, the Iran deal, climate change, Cuba, and despite their own internal divisions over one of the toughest foreign policy questions of our age, at the outset of 2016 they believed they had largely succeeded, and that their legacy would define US foreign policy for decades to come. In retrospect, what the cameras captured is more than just high-ranking government officials at work, as fascinating and informative as that may be. The film captures a worldview, an attitude, an approach to international affairs that, we now know, is fleeting, unique to a particular moment. As anyone who has worked in government knows, behind the access, the crises of the moment, and the elusive but seductive sense of power, there's simply an enormous amount of hard, usually thankless work. Witnessing that up close, and seeing how dedicated our public servants are, is truly humbling and inspiring; honestly the greatest privilege of professional life.   "The Final Year" gives an unprecedented look at the shaping of US foreign policy by following key members of outgoing US President Barack Obama's administration. It's a fly-on-the-wall documentary about the last year of a presidency, in the spirit of the classic campaign film 'The War Room', only in reverse. Senior officials inside 'The US National Security Apparatus' are not used to having a documentary film crew hang around for months on end. It's a truly revealing film about the human dynamics and emotions at play inside the normally opaque world of US diplomacy. The film looks for strong personal narratives that illuminate the complexities and moral ambiguities of global politics and war. For "The Final Year" secures unprecedented access to 'The White House' and 'State Department', capturing the emotions and human dynamics behind American diplomacy at it's highest levels. This film is by far the most challenging, in terms of access, in terms of storytelling, and in terms of the sheer logistics involved when filming inside what's known as 'The Potus bubble', especially overseas. This film is controversial, the very nature of it's subject matter almost guarantees that, but the film goes beyond the politics of the moment, and helps foster a wider discussion about how America can and should relate to the wider world.

I sat down with pen and paper to make notes on Melvin van Peebles’ milestone film for the first time: I had heard it mentioned in numerous film history books, including Mark Cousins’ very entertaining The Story of Film, and approached it with a feeling of academic solemnity. This was to be a serious film viewing. But 3 minutes in pen and paper had dropped onto the floor at my feet and I was scrambling for the fridge to arm myself with a can of fire water and a packet of crisps, the wind of this joyous flatulence of a film cutting pleasurably across my face. This is a film so wacky, horrifying, hilarious and fiercely political all at the same time that it defies all notions of academic stuffiness I had come to expect. Then again, I might have known from the title that there had certainly been no other film of this kind to have been made before. Made in 1971 whilst the Vietnam War was raging across the screens and student protestors’ blood was being painted on the white walls of Washington, Sweet Sweetback is an assault on the senses even today with Peebles’ varied use of jump cuts, split screen, freeze frames, filters, zooms, superimpositions, etc. Such techniques had been used in film before, but never with so much in-your-face brashness as here. A work like Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song proves what Peter Greenaway meant when he once remarked that “continuity is boring.” A curious statement to make, yet what it highlights is the sheer freedom of expression that film allows, and I suppose that what Greenaway meant by this was that too little films—including some of his own, by the way—seemed to have forgotten that film making is, at its core, fun. In breaking the conventional protocol enforced for years that we call the Classical Hollywood filmmaking and by actually experimenting with the filmmaking and editing processes, Peebles treats his viewer to an all-night (well, 1 hour and 37 minutes to be precise) free-for-all visual buffet. If only more films had that level of energy and joy for the craft with the sheer goofiness to pull it off. Indeed, I must say that it felt like I was watching a home movie at times, but the best kind of home movie where the person filming dreams of making films in the future. The kind of home movie where they will play, cut, move to another place and play, cut, then move again. The kind that will infuriate relatives and probably eavesdrop on family-shattering conversations by accident, but at least the video would have been worth watching. The film also has a devout and healthy hatred of the corrupt enforcers of the law: the eponymous hero skewers them with pool cues, beats them with knuckle busters and sets them on fire, all to jaunty Ramsey Lewis Trio style music. Peebles treats his characters with the subtlety of a road runner cartoon, with Sweetback as Roadrunner and the police as Wile E. Coyote. Sweetback is somewhat justified for this to say the least when some policemen break into a flat, supposedly looking for him, and then beat the innocent occupant until he is practically blinded with his own blood. After this is done, one of them concludes: “That’s not Sweetback.” The other replies “So what?” Sweetback does however skin police dogs, which was a shade too sadistic for my taste. All in all, it would be unfair of me to describe all of the details of this film, but I will say that Terry Southern’s very funny book Blue Movie—supposedly written for Stanley Kubrick after the success of Dr Strangelove—about a dedicated filmmaker trying to make the most artistic and socially redeeming pornographic film ever made. Necrophile producers, neurotic actors and clueless cameramen and eventually the Vatican and the pope invade its pages, but Melvin van Peebles baadasssss song is what jumps to mind in reflecting Southern’s anarchic spirit for the brawny and the bawdy. Not Kubrick. ���]�I

Release Info London schedule; November 26th, 2019 (Picturehouse Central, Piccadilly Circus, Corner of Great Windmill Street and, Shaftesbury Ave, London W1D 7DH, UK, 18:20 pm) (Clapham Picturehouse, 76 Venn St, Clapham, London SW4 0AT, UK, 20:30 pm) https://www.google.de/search?oq=&aqs=mobile-gws-lite..&source=hp&q=Lucy+in+the+sky+showtimes+London "Lucy In The Sky" How does life change after such a transcendent experience? What would inspire such disturbing behavior, particularly from someone who’d been the image of space-worthy perfection? By 34, Lucy Cola (Natalie Portman) has achieved her every dream and has to find a new dream. None of this stuff is easy to navigate. And, you know, she spirals out a bit, which is human. Lucy is a strong woman whose determination and drive as an astronaut take her to space, where she’s deeply moved by the transcendent experience of seeing her life from afar. As astronaut Lucy floats alone in the vastness of space, the blue marble of 'Earth' reflecting in her eyes, she’s overcome with wonder and awe. Precious few ever behold the planet from this perspective. Lucy senses the majestic enormity and relative insignificance all at once. She's an astronaut whose penchant for excellence earns her a coveted spot in the tight-knit boy's club at 'NASA'. But after realizing her dream of going to space, Lucy’s everyday Earthly existence suddenly feels stiflingly small. Back home as Lucy’s world suddenly feels too small, her connection with reality slowly unravels. Laser-focused on training for her next mission, her life slowly falls apart as she loses touch with what’s real, and what’s really important. That adjustment of having gone up to see the celestial everything and then you come back and go to 'Applebee’s', it’s a very weird transition that seems really interesting. Studies show astronauts can experience personality changes and a feeling of disconnection, and even cellular changes, after spending time in space. For Lucy Cola, that mental unraveling leads her to frantically drive across the country to confront a former lover Drew Cola (Dan Stevens) and his new girlfriend Kate Mounier (Tig Notaro). It's a story of a brilliant and determined woman nearly undone by her own dreams. The film has three main settings; outer space, 'NASA' headquarters and Lucy’s Texas home. Deep blues and crisp whites denote space; a dash of vivid red and yellow set things apart at 'NASA'; while Lucy’s Earthly life is rich with natural hues of green and brown. As she begins to go a bit mad, the colors brighten. So that when the movie goes to a darker place emotionally, it doesn’t go to a darker place physically. At the beginning of the movie Lucy wants success, to be happy for the fact that she got to do this and to want her to go back to space. The script focuses on Lucy and how her life on 'Earth' changes after seeing the planet from afar. The story is told from the perspective of the protagonist, who believes he has psychic abilities but may also be suffering from a mental illness. The film uses experimental visual techniques to convey Lucy’s mental state. One example is treating aspect ratio as a storytelling device, shrinking the frame when Lucy is on 'Earth' and broadening it when she’s in space. When she’s in space, we’re in our widest aspect ratio. But when she comes down, her world shrinks. As she dreams of and trains for her return to space, she gradually loses her personal tethers. Butterworth uses elements of magical realism to show Lucy’s grip on reality slipping. You’re in these crazy places telling these stories, and then you go home and you’re doing the school route and it’s kind of back to normal. The film explores her emotional experience. It’s really to try to get inside her state of mind. She’s facing the biggest questions of life because of this experience of being exposed to the vast nothingness of space. She’s confronting her relationships, her desires and her own major flaws. When you've to look at yourself in the mirror like that, it’s kind of the rawest human experience you can havet, o face your own ugliness. And literally the film uses the screen as a tool. We go down to a smaller aspect ratio, so suddenly she’s in a box. The intention is to make Lucy’s perspective feel deeply personal, even as she makes illogical and impulsive decisions. We're deeply related to the plight of an overachiever like Lucy. The story’s in a box. The film takes a little license and aesthetic liberty in order to create the perspective from Lucy’s eyes. We're in full widescreen when we’re in space, then when we’re on Earth, we shrink the box. Now the movie is literally more claustrophobic, and she’s living in a world that’s physically smaller. It’s a way to very clearly show the audience what the feeling is. When she’s at her freest and most comfortable, the frame will open up to 240 widescreen. And when she’s feeling more constrained, it closes down to 4:3. The 5:1 aspect ratio is a device that the film uses to show her isolation from the world at large. It helps to feel the difference in Lucy’s emotional state. Another innovative visual technique the film creates is the 'Infinite Zoom' in which character and background appear to move independent. A tiling technique that appears to stretch images to impossible dimensions. The approach is conceived to reflect Lucy’s emotional state when she learns that her grandmother is in the hospital. You know when you've a really traumatic event and you've to go somewhere, and you can’t really remember how you got there because it's all such a blur? So she’ll actually travel from her house to the hospital throughout the 'Infinite Zoom', and the shot continues to take her into her grandmother’s room at the end. The three most prominent relationships in Lucy’s life undergo dramatic changes after she returns from space, and each contributes to her decline. She begins an affair with her colleague Mark Goodwin (Jon Hamms), leaves her loyal husband Drew Cola (Dan Stevens), then loses her grandmother Nana Holbrook (Ellen Burstyn), the stalwart maternal figure in her life. Mark Goodwin, is the strapping, recently divorced astronaut whose flirtation with Lucy becomes an affair. Much more than the story being about a love triangle or a relationship, it’s really more about how we, as human beings, and especially as people that have seen 'The Earth' from a different perspective; have to adapt to that in our daily lives and how difficult that's. Mark has firsthand experience with how space flight can change one’s worldview. He’s about to go back up into space and he has his fears and doubts about it? How many times can you ride the rocket and survive? So there’s a certain self-destructiveness that he’s going through as well. Mark embodies the quintessential pilot trope; a tremendously confident, take-charge guy. There’s that kind of swagger that comes not only with that but being from Texas, and truly having the pressure of having people’s lives in your hands and needing to get the job done. In contrast to the swaggering astronaut is Lucy’s endearingly devoted, ever-supportive husband, Drew Cola. Drew is a faithful man in every sense, to his wife, to 'NASA' and to doing what’s right. And when Lucy goes off the rails and leaves him, that fundamentally rocks Drew and the world of his belief. Drew is the guy who has this sort of leather 'BlackBerry' holster, you know, a mustache. The rock in Lucy’s life is her Nana, a hard-drinking, tough-minded woman. Nana raised Lucy to be hard-working, responsible and diligent. Lucy has an ingrained resilience and strength that's endowed from her grandmother. She's someone who's always told by her grandmother that she would have to work harder than everybody else. And she did, and it takes her to space. It’s kind of no-nonsense, no-frills. Get the job done. Lucy develops an unexpected connection with another female astronaut, Erin Eccles, (Zazie Beetz). The character is a role, sort of, in Lucy’s disintegration of self. Initially poised to be adversaries, the two women develop a more nuanced relationship throughout the film. There’s also a point of a deeper rivalry that can exist, too, if there’s a feeling that there can only be one of us and there are so few spots on upcoming missions. It's more of a mentorship than a catfight. Because we don’t need to see that, and it’s not really what this is about. Another key relationship in Lucy’s life is with her 16-year-old niece Blue Iris (Pearl Amanda Dickson), who serves as a grounding reality-check. As Lucy’s world falls apart, Blue Iris is dragged along on this adventure in a way that allows us to see her journey through somebody else’s eyes. We’re watching a little bit of a train wreck with what’s happening with Lucy, and Blue Iris has this beautiful observational quality about her. Magical realism is the subjective experience that Lucy goes through on her return to Earth. An otherworldly feel through narrative metaphors, like the chrysalis-to-butterfly theme throughout the film, along with experimental camerawork and subtle image shifts that correspond with Lucy’s emotional trajectory. The idea of magical realism is you've to create reality in a way that’s completely realistic and familiar to people. Then when you take these magical turns, these slightly surreal turns, they've real impact. Much of the magic in the magical realism comes through creative camera techniques, including two experimental approaches developed specifically for the film. It's important to bring together all of these technical elements of magical realism the audience is able to go into Lucy’s mind and experience her distorted reality as she does. It really helps us to understand, through metaphors, what she’s experiencing and the struggles she’s going through. When you spend a year in space, every single thing that you do demands constant focus, because if you don’t, you die or someone on your team dies or something catastrophic happens. You get home and you’re completely drained, and it takes a little while to kind of ramp back up into just living a normal life where you’re not hyper-focused. The human experience is kind of always searching; searching for meaning, searching for who you're, searching for relationships with other people. The transportation captain is a woman. We've a female grip! It’s a female-centric film. In a scenario where the guys with the right stuff, you know, typically have been really daring and done kind of crazy and courageous things, and that’s what makes them fit to be astronauts. And a woman with the same kind of behavior might be called erratic or crazy, where the guys get high-fived for it. It’s a story in which a woman ends up doing things that ordinary people might look down on or judge her for. Because it’s very easy to root for people when they’re making good choices. It’s harder when they’re making bad choices. But that’s exactly the moment when they need empathy the most. The film takes this sort of feminist road, as it explores how gender stereotypes may have affected personnel relations and opportunities at 'NASA'. 'The New York Times' recently reported about the particular challenges female astronauts face at 'NASA' even today as the organization prepares for another moon landing in 2024.

There's a scene in Sausage Party when a human character, tripping on bath salts, suddenly sees food and other inanimate objects grow eyes, legs and arms and, not before long, they start talking to him. This MUST have been how the idea for Seth Rogen's raunchy comedy was born. Sausage Party aims to do to food what Toy Story did for toys, what The Lego Movie did for Lego and what The Emoji Movie tried to do for emojis. It aims to bring them alive; to give them feelings and their own hopes and dreams. And for the most part it succeeds. Its influences are clear, but it does a good enough job of distinguishing itself from similar movies; mostly through it's obscene adult humour. Seth Rogen comedies aren't known for their high brow comedy and Sausage Party is the same; reliant on being loud, offensive and at times disgusting. Set in a supermarket, where all the food and products are secretly alive; this film has some genuinely clever ideas and set pieces. A trolley crash near the beginning turns into a scene from a disaster or war film. Flour fills the air, suffocating the protagonists (a sausage and a bun... yeah it's a weird film), an Oreo walks shell-shocked through the chaos, it's back biscuit missing. At times this is a straight up horror film with a no holds barred approach to showing food's perspective of humans. I'd like to talk about more of these good ideas but that would ruin the surprise of seeing them for yourself. I'm a huge fan of puns. I regularly use them to annoy my family and friends to no end. Apparently Sausage Party does too, its setting and story provides a gold mine for puns and other food related jokes and the film uses every single one it can find. At many points throughout the movie it felt like the filmmakers came up with jokes first, story second. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, not all the jokes land well. Sausage Party is a highly offensive film that relies heavily on racist stereotypes, gross out humour, sex jokes and euphemisms. If you're Mexican, Native American, Jewish... basically any race or religion you will be offended at some point during this movie. It uses the native country's of food items to give them their personality. For example, we see some  German products that are basically Nazi's repeatedly announce their hatred of Juice...Jews....geddit? The potatoes are Irish...because Ireland and potatoes.....geddit?! The local Chinese takeaway is called Pu Ping...Pu Ping...Pooping...DO YOU GET IT YET?! It frustrates me that this film resorts to this kind of humour so often throughout. Near the beginning our madly in love protagonists spend what feels like forever talking about touching tips. Finger tips that is. It's just so forced at times. However, these stereotypes do give the movie one thing. Surprisingly, Sausage Party is incredibly thought provoking. Using real world global differences in a smaller more compact setting allows the film to perform interesting, not always subtle, political and religious commentary. Talk of...ahem Crackers "invading" the land (shopping aisle) of Native American food, there's lengthy reference to the sticky political climate over in Palestine as well commentary on the constraints of many religions; mostly in reference to their standpoint on sex and sexuality. The filmmakers obviously struggled with an ending. The film, which had a perfectly fine ending point, continues on for another painstakingly unfunny couple of minuets. The ending comes out of nowhere and, taking a leaf out of The Lego Movie's book, becomes extremely meta. Much like in that movie however it's terrible, unnecessary and takes so much away from the film. It's just a really bad way to end the movie. Sausage Party is Seth Rogen and co. at their craziest. Offensive, loud and downright gruesome in parts it struggles to elevate itself above its low brow sometimes childish humour and terrible ending. Not so subtle political and religious commentary however leave the viewer with plenty of food for thought.

Cast: #dakotajohnson #jamiedornan #ariellekebbel #kimbasinger Director: #jamesfoley Fans of the books and first two film's #fiftyshadesofgrey and #fiftyshadesdarker, have waited for a whole year to see this final finale, hope you all enjoy. After sailing through dark and stormy waters, #christian and #ana are finally get married ready to start a new chapter in their lives. But, the arrival of Ana’s ex-boss and a voluptuous architect hired to design the couples dream home poses a threat to their blissful existence. Having come to terms with the many lovers that have come before her, Ana (Dakota Johnson) is finally at peace with Christian’s (Jamie Dornan) colourful past and the pair become husband and wife. After a blissful honeymoon living the life of luxury, the happy couple return home and go back to work. But, things are only normal for a short period. Ana is threatened by her ex-boss Jack (Eric Johnson), who is still bitter from being sacked. With Jack’s threats becoming more and more dangerous, and Christian’s past haunting them once again, Ana begins to feel the heat and wonders if she’s made a major mistake after all. Dakota Johnson reprises her role as Ana, while Jamie Dornan is back again as #MrGrey. There's strong support from Kim Basinger (#LAConfidential) and #TylerHoechlin (#EverybodyWantsSome). MY FINAL THOUGHTS I don't know how on earth I managed to bravely sit down and review this? Since I've seen the previous ones I said to myself I might as well complete the trilogy properly. I've always admired passionate #moviegoers especially my fellow male species who patiently sit through dozens of #chickflicks without kicking and screaming. Overall I gave this kinky #romcom a satisfactory 3/5 Stars 🌟 🌟 🌟 Without disheartening any genuine excited fans of the #novels I think the second film was much better. Definitely a movie for a #ladiesnightout #cinema #entertainmentnews #filmcritic #filmmusic #musicnews #music #soundtrack #sia #song #deerinheadlights #kamaras_reviews

Four Rooms is the result of the collaboration between four of the most influential directors of the 1990’s: Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. The anthology comedy film is set at a hotel on New Year’s Eve. The audience follow Ted the bellhop (Tim Roth) on his first shift at the hotel as he wanders from room to room attempting to fulfill the every request of its guests. Each film maker makes their mark on the hotel by directing the inhabitants of one room; and, you guessed it, there are four in total. Tim Roth’s portrayal of Ted in Four Rooms does not disappoint. From room to room, he oozes energy: skipping, jumping, wiggling and sweating whilst cantering around the hotel. Ted’s every move is exaggerated. Roth brings a fresh take on the bubbly male character, and no homosexual stereotypes are thrown at him, though he uses his light voice and crisp, English accent to his advantage. In many ways, it is Roth’s performance which makes the film a whole. Without a strong lead, and commitment to the character, a movie with four big name directors would be unenjoyable. Instead, the comedy which flows through the movie links each room and is expressed greatly through Ted. The first scene is from Anders, winner of the 1992 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best New Director. Hers is an all-female cast; a covern of witches who attempt to revive one of their own. Madonna stars as Elspeth, the head of the covern, a woman dressed in head to toe, skin tight leather. The Honeymoon Suite was my favorite of the rooms, for it proved itself to special. The women are written to be sexy and funny, a combination which, it could be said, intimidates male audiences and is thus scarce in Hollywood. They dance around, semi-nude, close together and chanting. Not one actress falters, embracing the weirdness of the scene which results in hilarity for audiences watching the drama unfold. A highlight is the discomfort shown by Ted around the women, who in turn tease him and eventually end up needing his services to complete their spell. The next room is Room 404, written and directed by Rockwell. Following a call to the room where a party is taking place, Ted heads up to refill their ice bucket, however, he enters the wrong room. Suddenly, a fantasy hostage situation is unfolding before Ted, and he soon becomes non-consensual participant. A husband has his wife tied up and gagged and is accusing Ted of having an affair with her. Uncertain if the situation is real or a fantasy of the couple, Ted ends up with a gun pointed at his head. The best part of this scene is the shot of Ted hanging out of the bathroom window, shouting for help. The screen is split in half by the outside wall of the hotel as Ted’s body is suspended, his whole weight on the window ledge. Despite the creativity in the cinematography of this scene, the scene as whole doesn’t contain much action. Furthermore, I found the narrative of the scene quite confusing. The audience are aware Ted is at no real threat, though the husband and wife characters are written to compliment the faults of the other. Eventually, Ted escapes the room and checks the number on the exterior of the door, it could either read 404 or 409. As every film fan knows, Rodriguez has a certain panache to his movies. They are effortlessly stylish, and usually dangerous. In the third installment to Four Rooms, Room 309, Antonio Banderas is the strict father of two misbehaving children. He and his wife wish to escape their little terrors for an evening, thus bribing Ted to watch over them whilst they party into the New Year. Chaos, as it surely does where the bellhop is concerned, ensues. The screenplay for Room 309is is near perfect: for example, the scene opens as Banderas’ character is scraping his son’s hair back with a comb, causing the boy obvious pain but he shows little regard for his son’s dcomfort. Eventually he gives up, angrily telling his son he has his mother’s hair. His wife’s reaction is priceless. The children display a sassy attitude towards the eager to please Ted, calling him for every little thing and driving him crazy. This scene is by far the funniest of the four in the movie and ends in a horrifically hilarious still. The final room is The Penthouse. Tarantino directs and stars in the seemingly longest installment of the movie. As always, his acting is wooden and the scene revolves around him; Tarantino casts himself as “famous film director, Chester Rush”, the hotel’s VIP guest. By this point, Ted is growing tired and after phoning his boss to quit, he is persuaded to stay for one more call. He enters The Penthouse and from there the scene is seamlessly edited as the camera pans the set and the audience are introduced to each of Rush’s friends. The first half feels like Tarantino is exaggerating his knack for writing dialogue. The scene is fun, but pointless; nothing much happens. However, the narrative picks up in the second half as the characters educate Ted on their bet, which if he agrees to participate in will earn him a lot money: one of the men bets Rush he can light his Zippo lighter ten times in a row with no faults. If successful, this man will win Rush’s classic car, but if he fails he loses his “pinky” finger. After much persuasion Ted agrees to participate: it is his role to slice the man’s finger from his hand. The scene ends swiftly (WARNING: SPOLIERS) with the man failing to light his Zippo on the first attempt, the shot cuts to a close up as Ted brings down a hatchet onto the man’s finger, dismembering it from his body. Ted sweeps up his money and exits The Penthouse, anarchy unravelling in his mist. Overall, Four Rooms is a well put together comedy drama which begs not to be taken seriously. The lack of action in some scenes is made up for in the cinematography and comedy provided by Ted. The directors created a brilliant common thread in the bellhop, the character’s physical comedy and exaggerated hyperactive mind is well portrayed by Tim Roth. For me, the best room is Anders’ Honeymoon Suite whereas Tarantino’s Penthouse is an anticlimactic end to an otherwise entertaining movie.

Written, Produced and Directed by: Mahmoud Shoolizadeh United Kingdom, London, September 2018 Synopsis: SUSAN is a story of Love and War. A feature social drama film basically about Susan who lives in London, England with her lovely family. She loses her husband in Afghanistan war. She suffers but she keeps her Love and hope alive. In this film Susan is the symbol of love and kindness. She faces lots of challenges in her life, though she tries hard to keep this kindness and love, even in the very difficult situation she is facing. While she is alone, full of pain and misery, one unexpected moment happens and this is just the beginning!

Watch the official Thoroughbreds film trailer! Childhood friends Lily and Amanda reconnect in suburban Connecticut after years of growing apart. Lily has turned into a polished, upper-class teenager, with a fancy boarding school on her transcript and a coveted internship on her resume; Amanda has developed a sharp wit and her own particular attitude, but all in the process of becoming a social outcast. Though they initially seem completely at odds, the pair bond over Lily's contempt for her oppressive stepfather, Mark, and as their friendship grows, they begin to bring out one another's most destructive tendencies. Their ambitions lead them to hire a local hustler, Tim, and take matters into their own hands to set their lives straight. THOROUGHBREDS is released in UK cinema’s on March 9th 2018 Read our official Thoroughbreds film review.

AHHHH Titanic, one of the major classics on screen, and the still 'going-on' debate whether Rose had room on that door or not?! If you are part of the population who loves a romance, with a few tears, as well as a young Leonardo DiCaprio on your screen, then Titanic is definately a film you will enjoy. Titanic is one of the most famous tradegies to occur causing the director James Cameron, to have the pressure on highlighting the the world the horrible tragedy and historical events which occured that awful night in 1912. DIRECTOR: For a good movie, calls good director, and James Cameron is certainly a good director. With the stress of showing the emotional aspect of this occurance, Cameron provided a memoriable and amazing tale of two lovers of different classes, wanting to spend eternity with each other rather than with their apparent family. The use of flashbacks made this film so moving and memorible whislt seeing Rose aged 100, (the present) and to the past (1912) ACTORS: The use of actors within Titanic provides an amazing and emotional atmosphere for the audience watching the film. With the talented acting of Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, what is there to hate about it?! Kate's acting is devine, highlighting her aristocratic life with her elegant gowns and stunning appearence. Whilst Leo's role is much more layed-back, due to him being noticed as a 'poor guy', thus contrasting with his romantic interest. The acts of the class system is shown to see higher and lower class being divided, however Kates character Rose, and Leo's character Jack go against this and find love in the weirdest of places - a massive ship. SETTING: The setting and effects used are amazing! Notice the intricate details which the creators have placed into the scenes. I was able to watch the behind the scenes of the film, in which the creators informed of the detail of making the settings look exatly the same as the real titanic which tragically sunk in 1912. The delicateness of first class gives the atmosphere of pure wealth and power over the lower class, who are seen to be in rooms like a square, two bunkbeds and nothing more. COSTUMES: As a member critiquing films, I believe costumes is to be one of the main aspects which creates the atmosphere in which the film was set - if for example they were wearing hoodies and adidas shoes in this film is wouldn't be realistic - however, the designers inflicted their knowledge on past higher and lower class fashion back in the early 20th century. The black suits with black ties showing men as the dominant figure, with the higher women wearing elegant gowns and fuffy hats highlighting purity and delicatness. THEMES: The overall theme for this movie is LOVE, a tragic love story left with the audience in tears and inpity. As well as providing a desire for both men and women to have on how their relationship would be. SOUND: The non-degetic sound in my opinion proivide the most emotion, with Celine Dion's song of 'My Heart Will Go On,' even when used in an instrumental way, left my heart shaking and feeling faint. MEMORIBLE MOMENTS: There is flashbacks of the video footage of the real life titanic, this moment creates a flood of emotion for the entire audience as it puts into account the real life event which took place, and that this movie was based off of such a tragedy that it is shocking it truly happened. I RECOMMEND K x

In Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, we rejoin the story three years on: An impending volcanic eruption threatens to wipe out the surviving dinosaurs on Isla Nubla, and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), has created the 'Dinosaur Protection Group' in an attempt to save the dinosaurs from extinction. After the U.S. Senate rejects plans to rescue the dinosaurs, Claire is contacted by John Hammond's former partner, Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell), who is planning to move the dinosaurs to a new island sanctuary. Whilst discussing the rescue operation, Eli Mills (Rafe Spall) – Lockwood's aide – voices concerns that locating Blue, the sole surviving velociraptor, will be near impossible, compelling Claire to recruit Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to help on the mission. J.A.Bayona directs this sequel to Colin Trevorrow's, Jurassic World. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom promises to be a "darker film", one more "scary"; exactly what you'd expect from Bayona. However, with a huge franchise production such as this, there's always going to be a back-and-forth between the director and studio; usually resulting in any influence the director has being significantly watered down. Regrettably, that's exactly what's happened here. Bayona does what he can with a lacklustre script, naff story, and a franchise too afraid to take risks. There are – and entirely to Bayona's credit – some visually beautiful and brilliantly put to together scenes; some of which are actually quite scary. The opening scene – one of the best – Is full of promise: The pitch dark setting, tropical thunderstorm, lashing rain, and general murky gloominess provides a sincere horror movie ambience; comparable in tone to Jurassic Park's opening scene. And again, during the third act, there's a remarkable scene, set in a sprawling gothic style mansion, which sees the indoraptor – Henry Wu's (BD Wong) latest lab manufactured horror – hunt Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon, playing Benjamin Lockwood's granddaughter), who is seeking solace in her bedroom. The creature, slowly creeping over the rooftops, silhouetted against the moon, strikes an imposing figure; the iconic Wolfman look. The scene shifts to a Nosferatu feel as the creature, with long reaching claws, purposefully and delicately opens Maisie's bedroom window and enters her room: Shadows creep slowly across walls, and claws tap menacingly against the wood floor as the creature moves in a measured, loury manner towards Maisie; hiding under the covers of her bed. Extreme close-ups of both subjects follow; creating a palpable sense of uneasy closeness. Making good use of long unbroken shots, slow purposeful movement, and intense close-ups do add a tangible sense of dread: I enjoyed these sections of the film very much and really appreciated the directors nods to various classic horror monsters. Unfortunately, these scenes are few and far between; any sense of threat is quickly extinguished within the first quarter of the movie as you realise this is the safe franchise film you knew you should have expected. The cast is adequate if not exemplary, and Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard obviously enjoyed a friendly working relationship. There are a slew of new faces, all of whom do a perfectly acceptable job in their respective roles, most of which are destined to end up as one-hit wonders. And therein lie the problem. Neither of the main cast has anything in the way of character development (They're reunited in this movie in exactly the same way as in Jurassic World; with Claire having to recruit Owen, who's at his trailer, at the behest of somebody else, after an awkward break-up), and none of the new characters are worth spending any time or effort on as they'll never be seen again. Much of the storyline seems rushed and badly paced, particularly the island rescue scenes: There was a good deal of build-up to this section of the film, and many people were anticipating a Jurassic Park: Lost World kind of feel; those people must be feeling let down. Too much time was spent on scenes either side of the island rescue section, but particularly just after it takes place. The section of the movie between the Isla Nubla rescue and Lockwood estate scenes is long, unnecessary, and just boring. Much of this could have been scrapped and more time could have been spent on Isla Nubla, developing characters and giving us more dinosaur action. From a technical point of view, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom has some wonderful cinematography, and is perhaps where J.A.Bayona's influence is felt most staunchly. The use of animatronics is something which has been sorely missing from these movies for many years and make a welcome return here: A shame then that the movie relies far too much on CGI throughout much of the duration and never uses it to its full potential. While the CGI isn't bad in and of itself, it does feel unsubstantial and holds no weight. The scenes using animatronics were instantly noticeable and more enjoyable: Consequently, this leads to many of the scenes using CGI to feel a bit limp. Verdict Maybe I expected too much from a child-friendly franchise movie, maybe I'm being overly harsh; I just couldn't help but feel massively disappointed. In all fairness, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom achieves what it sets out to make; a loud, fast, and entertaining enough action-adventure movie which families will flock in their thousands to see; I have no doubt that it'll have a huge taking at the box office. I just wish J.A.Bayona had more free rein, or that the studio had been more willing to take risks. What we've been left with is a movie which is as average as they come: A movie which showed such promise, and really could have been something special. For me, the movie is saved from falling into complete mediocrity by the (admittedly few) windows of greatness that could have been; something I attribute to the director. Should you go see it at the cinema? Yes, absolutely. Is it something I'd want to purchase on release? Probably not. 6/10

Cast: #anthonygonzalez #gaelgarciabernal Director: #adrianmolina Disobeying his family’s baffling ban on music, Miguel embarks on a journey through the enchanting Land of the Dead in search of his dreams of becoming a #musician. 12-year-old Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) who lives in a small town in rural #Mexico hopes that one day he can become a musical sensation, just like his idol, the late great #ernestodelacruz (Benjamin Bratt). But, his family have other plans and imposed a ban on music. He still practices and plays in secret, in an attic which his made into a shrine for his idol Ernesto de la Cruz. The ban commenced many generations ago, when Miguel’s great-great-grandfather supposedly abandoned his loved ones to pursue a career as a singer. As the annual Day of the Dead festival approaches, the town of Santa Cecillia prepares to celebrate its deceased and honour their memories. However, a twist of fate sees Miguel miraculously transported into the Land of the Dead, where the macabre residents are shocked to find a living person walking amongst them. MY FINAL THOUGHTS A few things which caught my attention about Coco was some of it's breathtaking animated backdrops, they looked absolutely stunning. The magical thing about Pixar they've always manage to capture the imagination of the audience. This lovable new addition to their franchise doesn't disappoint. It also educates the younger audience about the Mexican folklore festivities, which is associated with the celebrations #dayofthedead. This movie has a touching storyline, not forgetting to mention it's gorgeous music which is composed by Michael Giacchino, the man behind the music of #startrek. Overall I gave this toe-tapping, inspiring movie which is catered for the whole family young and old, a dizzying 5/5 Stars 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 #followyourheart #seizeyourmoment #cinema #cocó #entertainmentnews #familymovienight #filmcritic #movienews #mustseemovie #mexicanmusic #pixar #pixarcoco #composer #michaelgiacchino #unpocoloco #kamaras_reviews