Our cinema going over the Summer and Autumn dwindled considerably but with good reason. We bought our first house after years of renting and the process was long and stressful leaving little time for films. Hopefully we will return to our nearly weekly habit in the New Year. I’m going to give you a quick round up of the films we saw since June when we went to the excellent F1 film.

• Jurassic World. I really enjoyed this. I wasn’t a fan of the franchise and this was probably the first time I’d seen a JP film since the earliest film. It has an engaging plot, nothing too brain taxing but the special effects were excellent. The sea creatures circling the boats were particularly thrilling for me. 7/10
• Superman. Another film seen without much knowledge of prior films for me. This was an average film, made better by the slight flaw in the main character – he didn’t seem to be the “Superman” of legend, he was vulnerable and ultimately needed help to triumph. 6/10.
• The Fantastic Four. Another average superhero romp for me. The acting felt a little wooden and I didn’t really warm to any of the characters. 6/10.
• The Bad Boys 2. Just silly and funny. Nice animation. 7/10.
• Taylor Swift | The Release Party of a Showgirl. Not really a film, more of an experience. I was with friends and we had a lot of fun. Selfies at the cinema, lots of other Swifties around us, an all around feel good night out. The filming of the video for The Fate Of Ophelia was the main theme of the film, interspersed with Taylor Swift talking about all the other tracks on the album. Fascinating to see the video process from the storyline to the choreography to the filming. 9/10.
• Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere. I’m not a huge Springsteen fan, so this was never going to be a must see film for me but I’m glad I saw it. It was a deeply personal side of an artist I know very little about as a man. It would have worked as a biopic of a fictional artist just as well, the Springsteen element wasn’t the most interesting thing – the torment of not being understood as an artist, battling with everyone to deliver the masterpiece you know is inside you – that’s the story of the film and it was moving to watch. 7/10.
• Nuremberg. Almost the film of the year for me. Definitely in my top three. I’ve subsequently read a couple of reviews criticising the performance of Rami Malek in the film but I enjoyed it, a slightly fragile, uncertain portrayal of a man battling with the monster he’s confronted with but reluctantly finding the human being oddly fascinating. I didn’t know a lot about this period of history so it was sobering and informative as a film. 9/10.
• Park Avenue. I saw this alone and I think there was only three people in the cinema which is sad because it was a very enjoyable film. Plot wise it was slow and meandering but that was important, it embodied the whole theme of the story for me – Fiona Shaw’s character is slowly dying whilst trying to hide this from the people around her. The sets and costumes were beautiful – Kit’s wardrobe was wonderful. The storyline probably needed another strand to inject a counter point to the film, I think probably the daughter’s dalliance with an old flame was supposed to be that but it kind of got lost in the heaviness of the mother/daughter relationship. 7/10.
• Wicked: For Good. Alongside everyone else I’d been waiting for the second part of the Wicked story for a year. I did well to avoid reading about the likely plot and similarities or otherwise to the stage show (which I haven’t seen) so the plot twist was a surprise. The film was wonderful – admittedly all the great songs seem to be in the first movie, but For Good was enough! The animation of the animals is beautiful and all the special effects were flawless. The most important thing is the story, you almost don’t notice the other things while you’re watching, just remember them when you reflect on the film later. The relationships and the story are wonderful and perfectly portrayed. I laughed, gasped, shed a little tear and rejoiced alongside everyone else in the cinema. 10/10

So that’s my whistle stop round of up our summer/autumn films. Hopefully the weekly review service will be resumed in January.