On the big screen

Tuesday is cinema day - even in Birmingham. Best of all, I can walk to my local multiplex.
Last night we wanted to treat ourselves to a night out and watched Paul, which did the trick for me. I wonder what the Americans are going to make of this movie, when it gets released later on this week.  I preferred it to Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's previous film: Hot Fuzz.



Other mainstream cinema adventures included The King's Speech - you really have to watch that one if Colin Firth is your cup of tea, and out of sheer consumerism we attended Harry Potter's penultimate offering H.P. and the Deathly Hallows I. Not bad, but quite predictable.

Something very different was the Mexican production Abel. Independent and thought provoking for sure. In Munich I watched Bergblut a love story set in the Tyrollean Alps during the wars of independence.



And finally I had a good look at films directed by Mike Leigh, triggered by Another Year.
His biggest success before Another Year appears to have been Secrets and Lies. That movie is available on youTube, in 14 parts. The critics say that Another Year is even better, but at least Secrets and Lies has some sort of positive end.

Then there is Happy-Go-Lucky; although the film supposedly centres on a happy girl, there is a lot of sadness in that movie. In Vera Drake Mike Leigh explores the moral dilemma and legal consequences attached to abortion - not an easy story, but well acted by Imelda Staunton. Once I learned more about her, I also had a peek at the Cranford Series by the BBC. That lot can keep you busy for hours. It is a bit hard to find, with the purposefully misleading spelling "¢яαηƒσя∂".