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Film Blog Posts- Page 2 of 5 - The Open College of the Arts

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Bums on seats. A moving story. thumb

Bums on seats. A moving story.

Ever the optimist, for me there is no substitute to the cinematic experience, I think news of the end of cinema is premature. The latest merger of two giant chains should be seen as sign of optimism that maybe the cinema experience will continue to get better and we will continue to spend more time in a darkened room amongst strangers.

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Today's British cinema and history thumb

Today's British cinema and history

The rest of the world may love our costume dramas and imagine that England still thinks it rules the waves – about that delusion I think they are right – yet I am filled with gloom that cinema continues to churn out this stuff.

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The power of independence thumb

The power of independence

Her genius is that she sucks you into the narrative. It’s an over-indulgence of cinematic culture that I cannot have too much of. Following The Party, there is a royal flush of quality independent cinema to look forward to in the next week or two.

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Hollywood under the cosh thumb

Hollywood under the cosh

His observation that it is now the domain of streamed multi-episodic drama where character development reigns supreme is compelling. In his view the decline of modern Hollywood is driven by risk-aversion, but this demise is actually something that has been going on for a very long time.

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British cinema thumb

British cinema

Recently I read a very good article in the FT by Jason Solomons which starts by asking the question, ‘When was the last new movement in British Cinema… heralding a flurry of new directors and new styles?’

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The good, the bad and the unspeakably awful thumb

The good, the bad and the unspeakably awful

The debate about public opinion trumping critical analysis and what that means for popular culture will continue so long as there are films to watch and audiences to see them. But I say three cheers to all those who laugh at the emperor’s new clothing, leaving bad films to perform badly, losing their investors lots of money for letting self-indulgent, so-called talent loose on a film set.

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What is it about lists? thumb

What is it about lists?

I have to admit that I cannot find fault with the top ten comedies of all time as selected by all those critics. I’d probably put most if not all of them into my most loved comedies. Would you?

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A final letter from Venice thumb

A final letter from Venice

I’ve been home from the Venice Biennale for almost three months now and I’m thinking about the work I saw and what impressions have stayed with me.

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Filming in Almaty, Kazakhstan thumb

Filming in Almaty, Kazakhstan

Last month I was invited to give a masterclass in moving image to a group of young artists in Almaty Kazakhstan, for the ‘School of Artistic Gesture’ as part of an initiative of ArbatFest – an independent arts festival that has been going for seven years in the city.

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