cinema

In the Palme d'Or post awards press conference, jury president Steven Spielberg said, "...we were privileged to see this story of deep love and deep heartbreak evolve. we were absolutely spellbound by the brilliance of the performances of these two amazing young actresses. We felt that we needed to invite all three artists up on the stage at the same time." The jury exceptionally awarded the Palme to all three, director Abdellatif Kechiche and actresses Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux. 

Each year our guest film correspondent Séamas McSwiney sends us special reports from the Cannes film festival. With decades of experience in film journalism, and work published in some top international publications, here he previews Cannes 2013:

Because it is Cannes, the stars will come out in broad daylight early on Wednesday evening. They will climb the red-carpeted steps of the Festival Palace to the firefly photo flashes and cries of Leonardo! Carey! Steven! Nicole! ...

The opening film is the 4th adaptation of the classic American novel, The Great Gatsby, a timely revisit of themes of financial excess and decadence of the 1920s. And though you may not have the chance to share the rare oxygen of the Lumiere Theatre with the Hollywood elite, you can see Baz Luhrmann's new spectacular 3D version of Gatsby nationwide just a day or two later at a cinema near you. Luhrmann's Gatsby was ready months ago but the studio decision was to wait for Cannes and open worldwide in the same week, thus taking full advantage of the planetary press binge and this unique red carpet photo op.

I went to watch the film in 3D last Saturday and I was pretty excited as I had previously watched the trailer numerous time. I was expecting something big as the trailer is really something- it sets you in a dark atmosphere and shows some real trouble caused by a great villain (you can watch it below).

The movie follows last summer's epic The Avengers which I have watched too many times to tell you I enjoyed it so much. The film, Starring Robert Downey Jr, shows Stark's ups and downs since the events in the Big Apple, as Stark has a post-traumatic breakdown. It reveals some personality aspects of Stark we would not have expected.

Yet we soon meet the charismatic hero and joker again, as well as the Mandarin- the new comic book villain depicted as a TV menace and played by Ben Kingsley. Love is also in the air, with Downey and Paltrow a fabulous screen couple to my opinion.

The movie gets off to a hot start and introduces some eye-popping action sequences with the use of awesome new technologies and formidable explosive combats.

The recent film from polemical director Quentin Tarantino, ‘Django Unchained', is a ‘Spaghetti Western', a genre that emerged during the 1960s. It is a story about a freed slave, who with the help of a German bounty hunter sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner. This critical review will focus on two characters that play a pivotal role alongside the hero Django (played by Jamie Foxx).

Django´s Wife

The ‘captive' Broomhilda, is the principal motor of the story; Django desires revenge on those who tortured her and the will to rescue her is what compels him into the adventure. The story is typical of Westerns films; what is known as the ‘captivity narrative'.

Usually the white woman, representing the values of Christianity and civilisation, is held captive by savages who, through torture and rape, put in peril the values she represents. She is finally rescued after courageous resistance to physical and psychological exploitation. However, in the complicated ideological bloodbath of Django´s story, Broomhilda´s rescue does not represent the triumph of civilisation over savagery, or the opposite.

At universities up and down the UK lovers of film are joining together and setting up their own cinemas. Though they have been around for years, student cinemas are on the rise. With high definition projectors cheaper than ever, it has never been easier for student societies to create a cinema: for students, by students.

Some student cinemas are run by huge societies, with daily screenings in large lecture theatres. Others are far smaller, intimate groups of people who put on their own weekly screenings for other fanatics. Either way, there is no great secret why student cinemas are so popular- they have loads of benefits over traditional chains.

Cheaper Tickets

The most obvious benefit is the price. Cinema tickets seem to be going up in price all the time, and chances are you're going to have to shell out over a tenner for a ticket at most cinemas these days. In contrast, you can go and watch a film at a student cinema from just £2. Most student cinemas also have membership schemes, making tickets even cheaper for regular filmgoers.