Hi
Everyone,
Last
week the death of British actor Sir Roger Moore was announced. He,
perhaps, will be most remembered (on screen) as James Bond and Simon
Templar (aka
The
Saint), and off-screen as a dedicated UNICEF
goodwill
ambassador. I have fond memories of growing up watching Moore and
Tony Curtis having a “whale of a time”
in the 1970s television
crime
series The
Persuaders.
It
remains one of my favourite shows – and I own the series on DVD.
I
have just
a
little more to
say about
Sir Roger's career on page two of my latest newsletter. Suffice it to
say here that, sadly,
he passed
away
on 23rd
May from
cancer aged 89. I
don't have any details of the exact nature of his final illness
except that his family described it as “a short but brave” battle
with cancer.
Speaking
of illness, I'm afraid I have to mention something that I am
struggling with myself at the moment. For
a number of years my eyesight has been slowly
deteriorating,
and things have got to the point where I can't
see out of my
right
eye. More accurately, I can see – but I have a
blurry
kind
of double
vision. Although the other eye is not
as bad
at present, it is suffering from the same condition.
Therefore,
it
has been a bit
of a struggle
to compile this month's newsletter and I don't honestly know whether
I shall be able to continue or not. Maybe
I shall soldier on for a bit. If
I do carry on; readers may have to put up with a more hap-hazard Big
Films Monthly
result. I shall be getting medical advice on
this shortly.
If the June 2017 issue does
prove
to be the last – I'd
like to say now that it's
been a real joy and pleasure to produce the magazine for you all
- and
I hope you've enjoyed reading
it.
If it
turns out I
can't
continue, I hope you'll
forgive me for that decision. However, I haven't decided yet; so
there may well be another magazine and
blog entry coming
on 1st
July 2017; I just can't say yet.
On
a lighter note, the Cannes Film Festival had it's awards recently.
You can read all about it by following this link
http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/press-articles/communique/articles/all-the-70th-festival-de-cannes-awards
Here,
however, are some of the headline results:-
The
Palme D'or was won by the Swedish satirical drama The
Square.
Sofia
Coppola won best director for The
Beguiled.
Best
actor was Joaquin Phoenix for his performance in You
Were Never Really Here.
The
Best actress award went to Diane Kruger for her performance in German
film Aus
Dem Nichts (In the Fade).
Nicole
Kidman was honoured by presentation of the 70th
Anniversary Award (which – in her absence – was received by Will
Smith on her behalf).
The
big films released in the UK in June
2017 include Wonder
Woman, Transformers:
The Last Knight, Despicable Me 3,
and The
Mummy.
Here's
a picture from each of those movies to
whet
your appetite:-
HASBRO, TRANSFORMERS and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro. Hasbro © 2017
Here's
a comprehensive run down of the June 2017 new releases:-
The
major films are: All Eyez on Me, Baby Driver, Berlin Syndrome,
Churchill, Despicable Me 3, Gifted, Hampstead, In This Corner of the
World, My Cousin Rachel, My Life as a Courgette, Norman, Rock Dog,
Rough Night*, The Book of Henry, The House, The
Last Word*, The Mummy, The Shack, Transformers: The Last
Knight, and Wonder Woman.
Limited
or “key cities” releases include: After the Storm, A Man
Called Ove, By the Time it Gets Dark, Centre of My World, Daughters
of the Dust, Destination Unknown, Dough, My Name is Lenny, Nails,
Summer in the Forest, The Shepherd, and Tubelight.
Other
limited releases given their “own spot” in the newsletter are:
Alone in Berlin, From the Land of the Moon,
Kedi, Slack Bay, Souvenir, Stockholm My Love, The Seasons in Quincy,
Whitney: Can I Be Me, and Wilson.
In
addition to all of the above, the classic movies Der
Mude Tod [aka Destiny]
(1921) and The
Graduate (1967) have
also been showcased. Video on demand
offerings Okja,
Edith Walks,
and A Good Day to Die – Hoka Hey
also get a mention.
*Note:
The movies Rough
Night
and
The Last Word
referred
to
above - and initially slated for a June 2017 release - have been
delayed until later in the year. See
the June newsletter for details.
Not
mentioned in the publication are the June releases
Risk
and Chubby
Funny. Both
of these come out on June 30th
.
You
may also be interested in other recent
or forthcoming releases
Half
Girlfriend, Isoken, Raabta, and
Dying
Laughing.
Also
not
included in the magazine are this month's “Event Cinema”
entertainments
– most
of which are listed below.
As
usual, information sometimes differs when
comparing
various sources,
so
please take the details below
with
a large
pinch
of salt and do some further investigation if you are interested in
attending
any
of these events. Also,
the recent tragic events in Manchester may have had a knock-on effect
on some live performances. So please double-check the following:-
-
7th June 2017 – Dream/Symphonic Variations/Marguerite & Armand – Royal Opera London 2016/17 (Royal Opera House)
-
8th June 2017 – La Traviata – Glyndebourne 2017 (Trafalgar Releasing)
-
9th June 2017 – Berliner Philharmoniker Live 2017 – June Convert (More2Screen)
-
9th June 2017 – Take That: Wonderland Concert Live from the O2 (CinemaLive)
-
10th June 2017 – Peter Pan – NT Live 2017 (Trafalgar Releasing)
-
13th June 2017 – Exhibition on Screen – Michelangelo: Love and Death (Seventh Art Productions)
-
14th June 2017 – Resident Evil: Vendetta (Park Circus)
-
15th June 2017 – Le Mans 3D (Independent)
-
16th June 2017 – Fireman Sam (National Amusements)
-
19th June 2017 – Die Entfuhrung Aus Demserail – Teatro Alla Scala Live Opera 2017 (Thunderbird Releasing)
-
20th June 2017 – America Valhalla (More2Screen)
-
22nd June 2017 – Salome -NT Live 2017 (Trafalgar Releasing)
-
28th June 2017 – Otello – Royal Opera, London 2016/17 (Royal Opera House)
(In
addition, don't forget to look out for “Secret Cinema”
presentations if these are of interest to you).
https://www.secretcinema.org/
Here
is the link to my latest newsletter (which is a download of
approximately 53MB):-
Often,
when compiling the magazine, I have technical issues arising from the
necessary compromise between wanting to provide a publication that
isn't too large (in file size terms) and one that has great-looking
images. Occasionally, (in order to remove “noise”, avoid
over-pixelation, and provide sharp images) processing results in a
relatively large output file. Why am I waffling on about this?
Simply
to say that the 53MB version of the newsletter above has mostly
images that are fine - but one or two that suffer if you zoom in. For
a slightly better experience – but a much larger file – you may
prefer the following download of 121MB. The improvements are minimal
– but if your system can easily handle a 121MB download.....why
not? Please click here:- June 2017 newsletter (high def version).
I'm
off to see Wonder Woman tomorrow. Can't wait! Especially as
early reviews have been largely positive. Whatever you are intending
to see in the coming weeks – I hope you have a great time. Happy
viewing!
For trailers for most of the major films mentioned above please see below:-
All Eyez on Me
Baby Driver
Churchill
Despicable Me 3
Gifted
Hampstead
My Cousin Rachel
Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer
The Book of Henry
The House
The Mummy
The Shack
Transformers: The Last Knight
Wonder Woman [Award-winning trailer]
