Movie of the Week: Red Lights
Jun. 29th, 2012 09:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaceyWe had to go all the way to Batley to see this as Cineworld in Wakefield wasn't showing it - apparently due to low viewing figures. I'm not sure how they expect to get viewing figures up if it's not available to watch. There were several advantages, however: 1) Showcase Batley is across the road from Ikea, so we combined the movie with shopping and lunch - always good - and 2) the Showcase Cinema in Batley is quite nicely designed, has some comfirtable waiting space and the seating layout (in our screen anyway) is good and seats are comfortable. Cineworld in Wakefield doesn't have seating if you have to wait and some of thir screens are suffeiung from tired seating and cramped layout. The Odeon multiscreen in Huddersfield has a horrible atmosphere and a weird layout, funnelling customers up a single escalator to the main floor, and it's seats are semi-reclined and play havoc with my back.
Anyhow, the cinema isn't the main point, I'm supposed to be talking about the movie, which was actually much better than I expected it to be given Wakefield's dire prognostications regarding poor audiences. The gist of the story is that Cillian Murphy and Sigourney Weaver are part of an underfunded university department of psychology concentrating on debunking mediums, hauntings and psychics. They've had a reasonable amount of success, but Toby Jones, head of a rival department, is sucking up funding for his big experiment - to prove the existence of psi-powers.
And then into the middle of interdepartmental wrangling comes Simon Silver, blind psychic, healer, psychic surgeon and spoon-bender, (Robert De Nero). He makes a spectacular return to the stage after many years, having retired when one of his detractors died during a performance, leaving the believers half convinced that there was a psychic cause. Murphy is desperate to investigate Silver, but Weaver, who has crossed paths with him before, wants to leave him well alone.
To say anything more would be offering too many spoilers, but it is worth watching. There is a reveal at the end which I only got about 30 seconds in advance. Performances are good. The only thing I found irritating was the use of hand-held cameras or 'shakycam' for at least some of it. Presumably it was to disorient the audience more, but once spotted it was just annoying. That aside, though, this is well worth seeing if you can find a cinema that's still showing it.
Anyhow, the cinema isn't the main point, I'm supposed to be talking about the movie, which was actually much better than I expected it to be given Wakefield's dire prognostications regarding poor audiences. The gist of the story is that Cillian Murphy and Sigourney Weaver are part of an underfunded university department of psychology concentrating on debunking mediums, hauntings and psychics. They've had a reasonable amount of success, but Toby Jones, head of a rival department, is sucking up funding for his big experiment - to prove the existence of psi-powers.
And then into the middle of interdepartmental wrangling comes Simon Silver, blind psychic, healer, psychic surgeon and spoon-bender, (Robert De Nero). He makes a spectacular return to the stage after many years, having retired when one of his detractors died during a performance, leaving the believers half convinced that there was a psychic cause. Murphy is desperate to investigate Silver, but Weaver, who has crossed paths with him before, wants to leave him well alone.
To say anything more would be offering too many spoilers, but it is worth watching. There is a reveal at the end which I only got about 30 seconds in advance. Performances are good. The only thing I found irritating was the use of hand-held cameras or 'shakycam' for at least some of it. Presumably it was to disorient the audience more, but once spotted it was just annoying. That aside, though, this is well worth seeing if you can find a cinema that's still showing it.
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