This week sees a blockbuster starting on a new path, talking of treading new paths I have spent the half term with my family on a UK road trip culminating in a trip to the top of Ben Nevis, I have written this in advance so you can only hope we made it to the summit.

If there is no movie piece next week then you will know I am still stranded in the highlands.

l For booking details, visit wtwcinemas.co.uk

New Releases

Transformers Rise of the Beasts

The latest installment in the robot mutating franchise has a slight twist.

With a movie back in decades to the 1990s, this time we have the introduction of the animal-bots.

This offering is more in line with the spinoff Bumblebee film and takes the series in a better plot driven vein than The Last Knight.

Along with Fast and Furious films we do enjoy action films, but they need to have good character driven plots to keep person’s interested, it cannot all be high octane stunts there does need to be some grounding and plots that interest, fortunately the early reviews are extremely positive about this film and the new characters and era setting have hit the right note.

Set in 1994 Brooklyn New York, Noah, an ex-military electronics expert, and artefact explorer Elena are swept up in a three-way conflict between the Maximals, Predacons and Terrecorns as they aid Optimus Prime and the Autobots in a war to protect Earth from Unicron’s arrival.

Unicron is a super villain and appeared in the original 1986 animated movie.

One of his skills is his ability to grow to gigantic sizes, so a whole team will need to be on hand to defeat this foe.

The film stars Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback with voices provided by Peter Cullen, Ron Perlman and Michelle Yeoh.

Event Cinema

Fleabag

National Theatre Encore screeningswith Phoebe Waller Bridge, probably due to her starring role in the upcoming Indiana Jones movie.

Fleabag is a rip-roaring look at some sort of woman living her sort of life. Following a box-office record-breaking run in cinemas in 2019, the one-woman show returns to cinemas to the big screen this summer.

Fleabag may seem oversexed, emotionally unfiltered and self-obsessed, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. With family and friendships under strain and a guinea pig café struggling to keep afloat, Fleabag suddenly finds herself with nothing to lose.

The hilarious, award-winning play that inspired the BBC’s hit TV series Fleabag, was filmed live on stage in London’s West End in 2019.

Written and performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag, Killing Eve) and directed by Vicky Jones, screening on the June 15 and 18.

Ziggy Stardust: The Global Premiere

David Bowie features are always extremely popular and we have Ziggy Stardust: The Global Premiere on July 3.

Echo Velvet Ltd and The Makers Of will produce and manage a global week of activity that celebrates the re-release of the 50th anniversary edition of Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture, with full marketing support from Warner Music and the David Bowie estate.

Our version of the film, which features musician Jeff Beck, has never been seen before in cinema. (There is also an encore screening on the 6th July).

Pat’s Film Club

The Wicker Man: 50th Anniversary Event

Showing on June 21 at The Plaza cinema for Pat’s Film Club is The Wicker Man: 50th Anniversary Event.

This feature is a star-studded on-stage celebration of the film, its undisputed status as a cult classic and perhaps the best British horror film ever made.

Presented by Edith Bowman, the on-stage show will include guest of honour, actress Britt Ekland, chief film critic from The Independent, Clarisse Loughrey, associate musical director from the film Gary Carpenter, Dominic and Justin Hardy – sons of the director Robin Hardy, who are currently making a documentary about their father’s experience with the film, and superfan of The Wicker Man: acclaimed writer/actor Reece Shearsmith.

There will be an exclusive musical performance by Broadside Hacks, covering 4 tracks from the iconic soundtrack.

Cinema Memories

Looking back over cinema memories and this week we have an interview with a former employee and our current coffee bean supplier to White River Cinema Kieran.

Will - Hi Kieran, you were founder member employee of the White River Cinema opening but your association to cinema going within the family does stretch further back.

Kieran - Yes my Grandad was David Walker who used to be the manager of the old Filmcentre, which would have been the Classic when he started out, plus my mother also worked on the floor.

Will - Yes I remember speaking to her last time we met, I will be seeing her soon and I think I have the next person on my list to ask for cinema memories! Now tell us about the very first film you worked on.

Kieran - I was selected to work the opening night in 2008 and that night I remember watching the James Bond film Quantum of Solace for a bit and really enjoying the car chase scene, the first film I sat through was Madagascar 2.

Will - Quantum of Solace is certainly not the most memorable Bond film, I think that was around the time of a writer’s strike in America, luckily, they have bounced back. What have been some of your highlights working in the cinema?

Kieran - I remember the launch of digital 3D and we had a special screening of Pixar’s UP, that was a big event and the 3D was pretty special. Another moment that stands out was getting celebrity visitors to the cinema. We would have Lenny Henry visit often.

Will - I haven’t seen him for a few years so it’s probably safe to say that he was always a miserable so and so.

Kieran - Absolutely, on one occasion I accidentally gave him too much change, I could see him looking at it and quickly pocketing it.

Will - Let us hope that extra pound went to Comic Relief. What was the most memorable film of your time working in the cinema?

Kieran - There is a lot to choose from but the one that stands out is Tarantino’s Inglorious B*****ds. I had just turned 18 and was a real treat to watch an 18 film in the cinema, I loved it.

Will - It is a great film; I don’t like the ending but I love the rest of the film certainly the opening scene with Christoph Waltz. What would you say has changed the most about cinema going over the years.

Kieran - There are always advances in technology. I am a stakeholder of sorts now by providing you with the coffee.

Will - Yes and I don’t drink hot drinks but I am reliably informed that it is an excellent coffee blend and is extremely popular, Miller’s Koffi for all your local coffee needs, search for it online, that’s your plug done.

Kieran - Back on the cinema changes, I have noticed there doesn’t seem to be as much big publicity anymore, there used to be some epic stands and I do remember the big Star Wars one.

Will - Yes, we still get stands but not much with any variety anymore. My favourites were a Harry Potter Prisoner of Azkaban one which was a lamppost and had a holographic poster of Sirius Black on it, but the best was at Wadebridge cinema and a Horton Hears a Who stand, that had a peep hole and you could see an entire village inside the stand, very clever. Now finally alongside a coffee what is your cinema snack of choice?

Kieran - Has to be Minstrels and Sweet popcorn.

This Week’s Quiz

As this week sees the Rise of the beasts in the Transformers franchise, I am looking at other movie titles that feature ‘rise’ or variations of grammatically.

Question 1

Which actor played Bruce Wayne/Batman in The Dark Knight Rises? 

Question 2

In the concluding Star Wars saga The Rise of Skywalker, which actress played Rey?

Question 3

Which action star played Art Jefferies in the 1998 movie Mercury Rising?

Question 4

Who voices the simian leader Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes from 2011?

Question 5

Which sword and sandal epic does the sequel Rise of an Empire belong to?

A) Clash of the Titans

B) 300

C) Troy

Question 6

Which Australian actors voice Bunnymund and the Tooth Fairy in the 2012 animation Rise of the Guardians?

Question 7

Which former real life couple feature together as Selene and Lucian in the 2009 film Underworld Rise of the Lycans?

Question 8

Who star as investigators Webster Smith and John Conno in the 1993 film Rising Sun?

Question 9

Can you name the three poster board stars that played Dale McKussic, Jo-Ann Valaneri and Lt. Nick Frescia in the 1988 film Tequila Sunrise?

Question 10

One of the Super hero franchises that has struggled is Fantastic Four, but who played the heroic quartet (Mr Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch and The Thing) in 2007 film Rise of the Silver Surfer?