Bomba turninga2 by Andgasow – Own work. Licensed under GFDL via Wikimedia Commons. movie: the imitation game Watching Benedict Cumberbatch in this film only a few days after watching Sherlock was a challenge – there are many similarities in character genre, but Cumberbatch plays the roles differently. There is a lot of propaganda within the …
Author Archives: cafedave
dendy direct: the babadook
dendy direct: the babadook I’m not generally a horror fan, but with Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo making regular “babadook” sounds in their flagship film review podcast for weeks and months, I decided to watch it. Again, there were playback problems with connecting the dendy direct (iPad) to the apple TV, and so part of the creepiness of …
apple tv: blue jasmine
Blue Jasmine (2013) was one of those lingering movie-of-the-week offerings on the apple TV, and it took me nearly a month to get back to it, but an evening finally arrived. If’s clear why Cate Blanchett won her Oscar: this is a role that gives her a broad emotional spectrum to play. It’s the usual …
movie: birdman
Birdman (2015) is a borderline-arthouse movie. The camera dances around the key characters in long, continuous shots – it’s the kind of film you can get lost in. If you’re looking for a Fight-Club level tilt from Edward Norton, an only-slightly Galifianakis from Zach, and an amazing performance from Michael Keaton. There are underlying themes of life’s …
addressing the challenge of staying present
Anyone who has owned a smartphone for long enough will know how much it taps into your attention span. Put your smartphone down for a while, and go for a walk: see how many times you feel the twitch to pick it up again, whether it be to check the weather, look up the answer to a trivia …
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book: what’s happening to our girls?
Book: What’s happening to our girls? A book for parents to think about the changes in culture and society as it affects their children, since they were children themselves. It’s not a positive picture: lots of challenges with girls growing up too soon, with too little a sense of self-worth. A good starting point, but …
movie: the hobbit: the battle of the five armies
movie: The Hobbit: the Battle of the Five Armies Put aside for a moment the complaints that a short book is turned into three high-grossing movies. If you’d like to go back to Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth for one last visit, then you’ll be headed there. There’s lots of blood-less CGI fighting, hand-to-hand combat, a …
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movie: penguins of madagascar
Movie: Penguins of Madagascar One requested by the kids. Again, we took them to the Dendy for their family pricing and smaller screens. 6yo enjoyed it throughout, 3yo (almost 4yo) was a bit scared by the final set piece action sequence. It’s more an action movie than a comedy, though there are plenty of things …
DVD: Son of Rambow
DVD: Son of Rambow is the story of outsiders in a bizarre school, of imagination and film-making that will make you wonder why you ever stopped being 12 years old. with its references to Rambo, it’s probably not suited for very young kids.
dendy direct: The Ides of March
Dendy Direct: The Ides of March I liked the idea of having my movie rental money go through Dendy direct instead of to Apple’s coffers, so I’ve tried this out now a couple of times. It’s a fairly smooth process, although you have to log in via both a web browser and an app, so …