Velvet Film and More

Call Me By Your Name is a coming-of-age drama, adapted from Andre Aciman’s 2007 novel of the same name. The story, set in 1980’s Italy, follows 17 year old Elio and the love that blossoms between him and an older grad student staying with him and his family for the summer, named Oliver. This gem that is taking the festival circuit, and soon the cinema, by storm is directed by Luca Guadagnino, who we know for films such as A Bigger Splash and I Am Love and with Armie Hammer and breakthrough actor, Timothee Chalamet as the forefront of this movie, who can truly have any doubts before watching?!?! Since I saw a preview screening of Call Me By Your Name yesterday, I have been trying to figure out some structure for a review; something similar to how I’ve always reviewed, you know, ramble too much, talk more about my inability to hate movies and then write a line about the movie itself, but, and not surprisingly, that wasn’t working for a piece on this film. Trying to write a bor

This weekly Wednesday topic on Velvet 'More Than An Actor' is basically a chance for me to talk about all the books and Spotify playlists and more that I have by people in the film industry that I'm obsessed with. As this is the first piece of its kind, it was a little to pick what one, from a very long list, to kick start it off with; which seems a bit silly since all the others listed will fill up future Wednesdays. Eventually I decided on one, as you may have already been able to tell from the title, and that is the literary work of Mr James Franco. We've always seen a lot of James Franco, well because he's James Franco, but recently he's got Franco and films fans alike all excited with the trailer release for The Disaster Artist, a movie about the greatest worst movie of all time; The Room. Like a lot of people, I was first introduced to James by the classic stoner comedy; Pineapple Express , and yes I called it a classic, can you deny it? I

Image taken from www.collider.com Okay, so this isn’t so much as a review because, to be honest, there’s no point; there’s no review I can do without saying what pretty much everyone else in the world is saying about this movie. No, this is more just me talking about it rather than, sort of, analysing it; I just thought I’d do a small ramble piece on it so I can tell someone else about it other than my other half, who for the record saw it with me so knows it all already and also he’s probably one more obsessive sentence away from sewing my mouth shut. So I have turned to you my Velvet-ians, yes, I have elected you the eyes and ears to express myself to, you are now officially my movie therapist! Congrats! Unfortunately there is no specific qualification available with it, but I’m pretty sure you can blag it on your CV. See, I’ve already began rambling and haven’t even said the title of movie, though as I write this I realise I’ve probably put it in the title, however, if you

Image taken from http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/vikings_logo_detail.png Vikings blessed our screens back in 2013 and we certainly haven’t forgotten it since, it's continuously getting more and more successful with every episode, so it’s safe to say there’s an axe in a lot of people’s hands and even more hearts. Michael Hirst, creator of Tudors, pulled another one out of the history hat taking us from one king to another, England to Kattegat and has both entertained and educated us; but remember, those who mention this SO MUCH, it is still a drama, NOT a documentary, the foundations are the history but the walls are the fiction that has kept us go in grossed and in my case, in absolute tears. Following Ragnar Lothbrok in his rise from farmer to king as well as his comrades, his family and his lovers, we can’t help but love and hate them all. It is an epic that truly captures the figurative and literal bloodshed. You can’t talk about Vikings without t

Image taken from syfy.com/12monkeys So, I am a bit of a late bloomer, but the saying ‘better late than never’ fits so perfectly for this moment, this new obsession in so many ways. I best warn you while I have you at the beginning * holds back intense urge to start quoting* , I may trail off into rantier rants than you have ever seen before here on Velvet and that rather makes you close the page right now, or you realise I mean some serious business and you need to hear what I’ve got to say; if you’re the latter, cheers! If you’re not, cheers also, you’ve still given me a view that sadly, but honestly helps with my insecurities from time to time, we all win! See, I’ve already started-STAY ON TOPIC VELVET! Okay, so I finally swallowed the fear I originally had of a TV show adaptation of one of my favourite Gilliam/Sci/Mental/Dystopian movies and that, if you haven’t already guessed, is 12 Monkeys. The original 1995 movie was directed by Gilliam and written by David & Janet Pe