Rambles about the wonderful world of wrestling.
Funded by Kickstarter Blue Ruin is the perfect example of how crowd funding can get projects off the ground that otherwise might never see the light of day. Written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier, who’s only previous full length directorial credit was 2007 Murder Party, a horror comedy that I can’t even pretend I’ve seen.
In Your Eyes is interesting not just because it comes from the pen of Joss Whedon, a man who never seems to stop working, but also because of the way it has been distributed, forgoing the standard cinema release and instead going straight onto Video on Demand via Vimeo. It’s a paranormal romance that see’s Brin Hill adapting the Whedon script and stars Zoe Kazan and Michael Stahl-David.
Locke is a film that has been badly misconstrued in some quarters. Any suggestion that it is a gripping thriller is far from the truth. In reality, director Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things) has created a interesting character study, that takes place solely on the drive from Birmingham to London and stars Tom Hardy and only Tom Hardy.
The Amazing Spiderman was a reboot that no one needed. While many were in the favour of Andrew Garfield pulling on the red and blue spandex, it felt too close to Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire’s successful (well apart from the 3rd one) go at the franchise. It was a movie that wasn’t aided by the strict nature of the spidey origin story, meaning that the whole thing was shrouded by a feeling of deja vu.
How do you survive in modern day, small town Ireland, as a good priest. That’s the rather simple question at the centre of Calvary. In a world where the Catholic church has been hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons, we follow the last week of Father James Lavelle, (Brendon Gleeson) who in the opening scene of the film is told in the confessional booth that he is going to be murdered next Sunday. He knows who has made the threat, but we and the rest of the characters in the film don’t, as even in these circumstances he honours the rules of the confessional booth. As director John Michael McDonagh has said, it’s a who will do it, rather that a who done it.
The Double is director Richard Ayoade’s (The IT Crowd) second film in the directorial seat, following on from 2010’s Submarine. It is based off a short story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and stars Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska. It’s a movie that suggests that Ayoade is not willing to stick to his comedic comfort zone as it differs widely from The It Crowd’s own brand of surreal humour.
Captain America is an old school superhero. Everything from his look to his name is just a bit uncool to those of us not filled to the brim with American patriotism. Therefore, it’s no real surprise that when people look back on the first phase of Marvel movies, Captain America: The First Avenger is the one they have the least love for, meaning that Captain America: The Winter Soldier may not fill audiences with the same excitement as a new Iron Man or Thor movie. However, the First Avenger is an important part of Marvel lore and Winter Soldier is out to establish why.
The Muppets (2011) was one of the big surprises of the last few years, as it took everyone’s favourite puppets and made over one hundred and sixty five million dollars at the box office, alongside scooping as Oscar for best song. Therefore, it’s hardly any surprise to see a sequel hit the screens with Jason Segel and Amy Adams dropping out for Ricky Gervais and James Bobin keeping his spot in the directorial chair.
Let’s just put this out there straight away, Under The Skin is weird. There is no two ways about it, it’s just fact. It’s part sci-fi, part horror and part psychological fuck up. Directed by Jonathan Glazer and starring Scarlett Johansson it’s been a bit of a personal project for the two of them to get this movie, based off of Michel Faber’s novel of the same name, onto the big screen in recent years. Filmed in Glasgow it’s hardly the big box office smashes we have come to expect from Johansson and this is one of the most interesting films she’s done.
This year’s charity Kiltwalk has set itself the goal of raising two million pounds. The annual event is taking place in Glasgow, Dundee, Edinburgh, Speyside and Aberdeen and is working alongside a wide range of local and national children’s charities.
The Edinburgh event will take place on the 11th of May and the 26-mile walk kicks off from Murrayfield at 9am. With last year’s seeing an impressive 1,350 people taking part, this year they are hoping to more than double that figure, with the number of walkers being capped at 3,000. Mhairi Pearson, the Head of Marketing and Fundraising at the Kiltwalk, is confident that they can reach their targets:
“Last year we raised over 1 million pounds and we are going for 2 million this year, which I am confident we will get.”
Those taking part in the event, and the charity themselves, cite the simplicity of it as being a key part behind its success. It works essentially as it says on the tin, you walk while wearing a kilt. It also lacks any competitive edge insuring a relaxed atmosphere for those involved. If the full 26 miles sounds a bit too much however, there is also a half walk, which comes in at 13 miles, and an even shorter ‘Wee Walk’, which covers only six, making sure that the whole family can have a go.
Lloyd Mawson, who is walking in the event to raise money for a friend’s sister who suffers from Cystic Fibrosis, believes that the casual nature of the event is one of the main reasons that it has proven successful:
“It is something that is very inclusive, you don’t have to be an athlete or take a great deal of time to do this kind of stuff, so if more charity events were along these lines we could raise an awful lot of money.”
With the event-taking place in order to raise money for children’s charities, each year is seeing more and more people get involved. National groups like Cash for Kids are key partners of the organisation, but there is also a strong focus on insuring more local organisations are involved. For example, Edinburgh’s own The Sick Kids Friends Foundation, a charity that supports the work of the Royal Hospital for sick children in Edinburgh, is one of the main charity partner’s for the Edinburgh event. They will receive a share of all sponsorship raised from the Edinburgh Kiltwalk, but are also inserting their own team into the event, from whom they will receive 50% of all sponsorship raised.
If you are interested in taking part in the Kiltwalk or in volunteering to help with the organisation, all the details can be found on their website, www.thekiltwalk.co.uk.
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