Spanish Film Festival
We seemingly have a film festival on each month in Brisbane and so… brace yourself for the 2009 Spanish Film Festival. The festival runs from May 21 to 31 at the Palace Centro Cinemas in New Farm.
There are 18 different films being screened. Some are new and some are classics which you may not have had the chance to see before. There’s a special spotlight on actor Javier Camara. You can see him in his new film, Chef’s Special, which one the audience award at the Malaga Spanish Film Festival, and you can see him in Talk To Her, a great drama from director Pedro Almodovar which won the Oscar for best original screenplay in 2002.
You can find out more by clicking here: http://www.spanishfilmfestival.com/brisbane/. Tickets are $15 for adults and $13.50 for students. Muchas gracias!
Aussie Cinema – The Good News
I spoke about it in last week’s issue and having seen it over the weekend, I can report that Samson & Delilah is a fantastic Australian film. The public seem to agree. The film made just under $200,000 over the weekend in Australia which is a strong considering (a) it was showing in just 12 cinemas and (b) it is an Aboriginal love story with little dialogue – not exactly a marketers dream. Hopefully the word of mouth continues to spread.
Aussie Cinema – The Bad News
I saw a cheap Aussie horror flick on Saturday night at the Palace Barracks starring Natalie Bassingthwaighte. I don’t think I’ve seen such bad acting in a film. Given I was the only person sitting in the cinema. I don’t think it’ll around for much longer. To make matters worse, the screening was 15 minutes late and when I paid for my parking with a $50 note, the machine gave me my change in $2 coins. It was like a poker machine. I can’t see how showing rubbish films like these will be profitable for cinemas.
Star Trek
Star Trek was a huge hit at the U.S. box office over the weekend with a nice $72m total. The previous biggest opening by a Star Trek movie was First Contact in 1996 with $30m (or about $50m in today’s dollars). It justifies the decision to “reboot” this series and most critics have been giving it the thumbs up. I’m in that camp and if you haven’t seen it yet, I suggest you do so.
See you next week.