There is a succession of major releases in cinemas at the moment but this week we have a bit of a change with the musical Greatest Days set to take cinemas by storm and on weather related films like a flash of lighting the latest superhero offering The Flash is in cinemas.

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Greatest Days

The big screen adaptation of the stage musical which features the back catalogue of Take That’s songbook.

Now before we continue, I am not the biggest Take That fan but it has to be said their music is fairly easy listening and it works really well within the musical format. This is basically a Mamma Mia of sorts with Take That instead of ABBA tunes. 

We follow four friends who win a trip to Greece to watch Take That in concert which is reminiscent of their teenage years when they first went to watch the boys in action. A lot has happened in the twenty years between concerts including a tragic loss form the original friendship group. 

Reuniting after a long period of time the girls soon find their friendship has endured after absence as we are whisked away on a Mediterranean musical adventure that delights and spellbinds. 

The musical set pieces are superb and the choreography is a joy. The film is heart-warming, funny and most of all uplifting, this is a real summer treat.

Greatest Days

The Flash is the latest in the DC movies franchise which is looking to transition once again with the arrival of James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) as head of operations.

It is certainly a mixed bag with DC films and they do struggle a bit with their identity. They have pulled off a masterstroke this time though by bringing back Michael Keaton as Batman, who played Bruce Wayne in Tim Burton’s 1989 and 1992 movies. As Spider-Man No Way Home proved that if you can bring back a nostalgic superhero you will bring in a crowd. 

Barry Allen (aka The Flash) has had plenty of turmoil in his life and the tragedy that his father was convicted of murdering his mother when Barry was young. Believing his father to be innocent and wanting to bring his mother back, Barry embarks on a mission to travel at ultimate speed and through dimensional space to change history. But as we all know that any change in historical events can have a major knock-on effect. 

With Barry’s actions an alternate current world exists with the villainous General Zod in full control. Barry enlists the help of various Justice League Members from various timelines to help him right this wrong. Ezra Miller stars as the title character and he is joined by Michael Shannon as Zod and Ben Affleck as another Batman! 

I have waned a little on superhero films recently but I am honestly looking forward to this one and intrigued to  see the premise of this film.

Fleabag

Screening tomorrow night (June 15) and on Sunday (June 18) is an encore screening of Fleabag from the National Theatre.

Written and performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag, Killing Eve) and directed by Vicky Jones, 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.

This week we have a special guest on the cinema memories, well everyone is a special guest but this time it is Carclaze School head and the organiser of this year’s St Austell Festival of Children’s literature, Simon Pollard.

An event which is bringing some major authors to the town to share stories and workshops and the cinema are pleased to be hosting a number of the writers during the day including A.F Steadman who is behind the Skandar and the Unicorn Thief book series. Please join us at the cinema, the library and various pop-up locations around the town this Saturday.

Will - Hi Simon, thank you for joining me and it will be interesting to hear the memories of a regular cinema goer instead of an employee this week.

Simon - Thank you, I have had a quick look at your questions and answering the questions was not easy!

Will - It is often tricky as it is difficult to choose your favourite films and moments but let us begin with what was your first cinema going memory?

Simon - Growing up in Taunton, Somerset, my early visits to the cinema were usually “Saturday Morning Pictures”. I can remember seeing Herbie Goes Bananas and The Fox and the Hound. I think before this we may have gone as a family to see an anniversary re-release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Key formative films were the Star Wars trilogy (I remember a double bill of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back), Indiana Jones and ET.

Will - We do often get asked for double bills, and they do happen occasionally, the Marvel Avengers final two films had a double bill, we had a quintuplet bill once screening all five Twilight films back to back, that was a session. Now what would you say are the best things about visiting a cinema?

Simon - The best things about going to the cinema are concentrating just on the film you are there to watch. No mobile phones, no channel hopping. Just a big picture, great sounds and time when you are not thinking about all you have to do. It is pure time out / escapism.

Will - Absolutely, when you are at home you will easily be distracted by something mid-movie. What is the most memorable film for you from your visits to the White River Cinema?

Simon - This is the hardest question. Being a keen reader and advocate of reading for pleasure I think I’ll choose Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 2). This is because it brought to a conclusion a story that has inspired many to read and brought to life so many key moments from the books. It was the series you wanted to end for the conclusion of the story but didn’t want to end so there could be more.

Will - There are some great book adaptations and some less so but the consensus is always that the book is better than the film. Now if we were to make a film of your life who would you like to star as yourself?

Simon - It would be a big stretch of the imagination but because he was my cinematic hero in my formative years - Harrison Ford. I think in the new Indiana Jones film they use AI to bring a younger version to the film - controversial but if a film was ever made of my life, it could make it possible for Harrison Ford to play me!

Will - I reckon that’s a great casting choice, certainly with his experience as Indiana Jones and a professor. Now the final question that we ask everyone is your cinema snack of choice?

Simon - I think, Maltesers. Particularly letting the melt in the mouth and trying to make the bag last as long as possible into the film!

The topic for this week’s quiz is unlikely appearances and comebacks, with Michael Keaton returning to the role of Batman after thirty years I am looking at other unexpected reappearances as characters and a few actors that have had a second wind in the acting career.

Question 1

Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot makes a surprise appearance at the end of which 2023 action film sequel? 

Question 2

Top Gun Maverick had to star Tom Cruise, but which little seen actor of recent times reprised his role as Iceman?

Question 3

Many of us thought the claws were hung up but who will be reappearing as Wolverine in the upcoming Deadpool movie?

Question 4

Which actor returned as Captain Barbosa in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise?

Question 5

Alec Guinness was not a fan of the script in the original Star Wars film but his character did return from the dead in the following movies, but what is the name of his character?

A) Qui Gonn Jinn.      

B) Anakin Skywalker.     

C) Obi Wan Kenobi.

Question 6

Natalie Portman returned to the MCU in Thor Love and Thunder but in her earlier appearance in Thor, who played the titular character’s parents Odin and Freya?

Question 7

Matthew McConaughey has had a career bloom kick-started in 2013 when he featured in two Best Picture Oscar movies, can you name them both?

Question 8

Brendan Fraser is back out of the wilderness with his Academy Award winning turn in The Whale this year, but he is best known for his role in The Mummy franchise but who played Evelyn in the first two films and her brother Jonathan?

Question 9

Sex and the City follow up Just Like That has Kin Cattrall appearing but who played co-stars Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte?

Question 10

An unlikely return to the role of Dr Who awaits for David Tennant who also starred on the big screen in Mary Queen of Scots but who played the title character Mary, Elizabeth I, William Cecil and Henry Darnley?