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Manchester By The Sea (Blu-ray Review)

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Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Lucas Hedges, Kyle Chandler, Tate Donovan
Directed By: Kenneth Lonergan
Running Time: 137 mins
BBFC Certificate: 15
UK Release Date: May 15th 2017

Our Score

Despite allegations of past sexual assault swirling around Casey Affleck, he picked up the Best Actor Oscar for Manchester By The Sea, with Kenneth Lonergan also winning an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Judging purely from what’s on the screen, you can see why they won, as Affleck puts in an extremely good performance, working from a nicely nuanced script which prizes emotion but tries to avoid cliché.

Affleck is Lee Chandler, who’s working as a janitor in Boston. He drinks too much, barely socialises and gets in trouble for being rude to tenants. He gets a call to say that his brother has died and so he heads to his hometown of Manchester, Massachusetts. Lee also knows he’ll have to help look after his teenage nephew, Patrick (Lucas Hedges) but isn’t prepared for that fact his brother has named him as Patrick’s guardian, something he doesn’t feel vaguely able to handle. [Read more…]

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La La Land Scores Record-Tying 14 Oscar Nominations

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The Oscar nominations are here, and while many expected La La Land to do well, few expected it to tie for the record of most noms ever. It now matches All About Eve and the all-conquering Titanic with 14 nominations. As expected La La Land’s nomination haul included Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Ryan Gosling and Best Actress for Emma Stone, as well as a raft of nods in everything from Best Original Song to Best Cinematography.

It was the only movie that did exceedingly well, with Arrival and Moonlight both scoring eight. It’s a particularly impressive achievement for the gay-themed, African American drama Moonlight, which many thought that despite being deserving, might struggle to get noticed in amongst the studio titles with much larger marketing budgets. It’s haul includes both Best Picture and Best Director nominations, and Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Score.

Hacksaw Ridge, Lion and Manchester by the Sea followed them with six nominations apiece, and Fences and Hell or High Water with four each. It ensures that while La La Land has cemented its position as the frontrunner, there’s still plenty of space for others to win.

There were some surprises though, as while Arrival may have gotten eight nominations, Amy Adams – who many thought was a shoo-in – wasn’t among them. It’s also a bit odd that Suicide Squad (Best Make-up and Hairstyling) and Doctor Strange (Best Visual Effects) scored nominations, the best received superhero movie, Deadpool, got nothing.

Take a look at the full list of nominations below: [Read more…]

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Manchester By The Sea (Cinema Review)

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UK Release date: January 13th 2017
Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, Lucas Hedges
Directed by: Kenneth Lonergan
Certificate: 15
Running time: 137 mins

Our Score

It’s always a sure sign of a fine movie when a character says exactly the same line twice, but with completely different meaning. That’s what happens in the fine, downbeat drama when young Patrick (Lucas Hedges), who has just lost his dad (Kyle Chandler) to a heart attack, asks his uncle Lee (Casey Affleck) to give him a lift to band practice. The first time it’s gentle, playful, a sweet, lonely boy asking his uncle, struggling to cope himself, for a simple favour. The second time it is harsh, angry, the boy is fed up with being passed around like an unwanted toy.

The remarkable thing about this film is the number of times it sets itself up for a clichéd resolution, and never follows it. Affleck’s Lee is a man struggling through life, an underpaid janitor with no friends and a crappy one-room apartment. When he discovers that his brother has died and he is the named person to care for his nephew Patrick, he does it, but reluctantly. [Read more…]

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Manchester By The Sea Trailer – Casey Affleck becomes his nephew’s guardian in the acclaimed film

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manchester-by-the-sea-slideManchester By The Sea got rave reviews when it debuted at Sundance, with some people immediately putting it in the Oscars race. Indeed, distributors Amazon Studios and Roadside Attractions must agree, as they’ve given is an awards friendly November US release slot.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘After the death of his older brother Joe (Kyle Chandler), Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) is shocked to learn that Joe has made him sole guardian of his nephew Patrick (Lucas Hedges). Taking leave of his job, Lee reluctantly returns to Manchester-by-the-Sea to care for Patrick, a spirited 15-year-old, and is forced to deal with a past that separated him from his wife Randi (Michelle Williams) and the community where he was born and raised.   Bonded by the man who held their family together, Lee and Patrick struggle to adjust to a world without him. In his first film since 2011’s acclaimed Margaret, Lonergan once again proves himself a powerful and visionary storyteller as he seamlessly weaves past and present together, crafting a tension-filled tale that deftly eschews sentimentality in favor of penetrating emotional insight and deeply affecting human relationships.’

A trailer has now arrived. Take a look at it below. [Read more…]

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