Latest news with #WesAnderson
Scottish Sun
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Scots city centre to get its first cinema in 25 years – and locals have been ‘crying out' for it
Peacock Cinema's full Film Programme has also been revealed 'READY TO ROLL' Scots city centre to get its first cinema in 25 years – and locals have been 'crying out' for it Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A SCOTTISH city centre is set to get its first cinema in 25 years - and locals will love it. Residents in Dunfermline have been "crying out" for a movie theatre located in the heart of the city after the last one closed two decades ago. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 The new cinema will be located in Carnegie Hall Credit: GOOGLE MAPS And now they will finally get their wish when a brand-new community cinema opens this weekend. Peacock Cinema will hold its first showing at Carnegie Hall on the Fife city's East Port at 7pm on Friday. Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited will be the first film to play on the big screen as the pictures launches its own summer movie season. There hasn't been a movie theatre located in the heart of Dunfermline for 25 years since the last one shut. The Robins Cinema, which was a historic venue also located on East Port, closed in 2000 after facing financial difficulties. Before that, there was the Regal Cinema, but this closed sometime in June 1976 after being acquired by the Littlewoods retail stores, and was destroyed in a fire set by vandals soon after. We know people in Dunfermline have been crying out for a city centre cinema for years, now we've made it happen Derek Glen There was also The Palace Kinema, but this shut down in the mid-1960s and was demolished to make way for a car park. Over time, this left a huge hole in the city's cultural scene, and the Dunfermline Regeneration Trust began working to bring the big screen back. The next closest cinema in Dunfermline is the ODEON, which is located in Fife Leisure Park. The charity teamed up with OnFife to make it happen, and they have kicked it off with a special seasonal arrangement. Inside 'world's largest cinema' the 'Big King' with 2,700-seater triple-decker 'grand hall' and giant 3,000sq ft screen Project lead Derek Glen told The Herald: 'We know people in Dunfermline have been crying out for a city centre cinema for years, now we've made it happen. "But if folk really want it to last, they need to back it by turning up.' He added: "Whether you're after a low-cost family outing, a nostalgic night out, or just a good excuse for popcorn, Peacock Cinema is here, and it's ready to roll." Peacock Cinema promises to "bring a fantastic programme of films to Dunfermline city centre" with screenings every Friday and Sunday throughout the six-week summer season. And it has its very own tuck shop where visitors can grab huge bags of popcorn, drinks, sweets and ice cream. Describing the new project on the website, OnFife has said it is offering affordable ticket prices and a welcoming atmosphere. It added: "It's a perfect way for folk of all ages and backgrounds to come together and celebrate the magic of film." Screenings will take place over three strands to cater for all ages. Peacock Cinema's Film Programme Here is the full Film Programme of Peacock Cinema's six-week summer season. Friday, July 25 - The Darjeeling Limited - 7pm Sunday, July 27 - Muppets Most Wanted - 11am Sunday, uly 27 - To Catch A Thief - 1.30pm Friday, August 1 - A Real Pain - 7pm Sunday, August 3 - Ratatouille - 11am Sunday, August 3 - Murder on the Orient Express - 1.30pm Friday, August 8 - Housekeeping - 7pm Sunday, August 10 - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - 11am Sunday, August 10 - Planes, Trains & Automobiles - 2pm Friday, August 15 - Free Solo - 7pm Sunday, August 17 - The Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists - 11am Sunday, August 17 - Lion - 1.30pm Friday, August 22 - Lost in Translation - 7pm Sunday, August 24 - Where The Wild Things Are - 11am Sunday, August 24 - Roman Holiday - 1.30pm Friday, August 29 - Cinema Paradiso - 7pm Sunday, August 31 - Mulan - 11am Sunday, August 31 - The Breakfast Club - 1.30pm These include 'Summer Explorers' on Fridays, which shows everything from comedies and drama to adventure films, and 'Junior Explorers' on Sundays, which is tailored for families. For those who love a timeless film, 'Classics' are available on Sundays, with time set aside in the cafe area for pre- or post-film chats. The website adds: "Just in time for summer, the exploration theme for our first season will take you on a thrilling cinematic adventure around the world. "We'll journey from country to country, and genre to genre – from captivating dramas and musicals to thought-provoking documentaries and award-winning animations. "With screenings across three unique strands, catering to all ages, Peacock Cinema has something for everyone this summer". Tickets cost £6 for an adult and £5 for a concession or child, and can be purchased on the door. More details can be found by visiting the OnFife website.
The Star
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Star
When streaming won't cut it and you need the DVD
Last month, a young man walked into Night Owl, a store in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn that sells Blu-rays, DVDs and even a few video cassettes of movies and television shows, and browsed for several minutes. Eventually he plucked a case from a shelf: A handsome Criterion Collection release of The Royal Tenenbaums, the first Wes Anderson movie he had ever seen. 'I had a ton of DVDs growing up,' Noah Snyder, 27, said. But reading about the way contemporary conglomerates treat films and television programs on their streaming services had prodded him to acquire physical media again. Snyder cited actress Cristin Milioti's recent comments about Made for Love, her show that was not only cancelled, but removed altogether from the HBO Max streaming platform. 'The stuff the CEOs do, they're bad decisions,' Snyder said. 'I don't want something I love to be taken away like that.' In the last decade or two, the story of physical copies of movies and television has been overwhelmingly one of decline. Blockbuster is essentially gone, streaming is ascendant, Netflix no longer sends DVDs through the mail, and Best Buy no longer stocks them in its stores. Many manufacturers have ceased making disc players. Retail sales of new physical products in home entertainment fell below US$1bil (RM4.26bil) last year, according to the Digital Entertainment Group, an industry association. Yet amid the streaming deluge, there are signs – small, tenuous and anecdotal, but real – of a rebellion. Alex Holtz, a media and entertainment analyst at International Data Corp, compared Blu-rays to vinyl albums. Holtz, an audiophile, gladly streams new music while on walks, but he buys records he loves. 'We're in a back-to-the-future moment,' he said. Similarly, some movie fans are deciding to reinvest in the old-fashioned notion of owning copies of movies and shows. They often look and sound superior to streaming and, at least as importantly, they can be held in your hands and, absent burglary or a covetous brother-in-law, they cannot be taken away. 'THINK: of your favorite film,' the producers of the 2022 indie comedy Hundreds of Beavers wrote in a viral manifesto last year, as they prepared to drop their physical release. 'Now think again: where's your personal copy? You probably 'stream' your movies – from some faceless, centralised data server. But WHO owns that server? WHO decides what stays and what goes?' The manifesto concluded, 'This isn't just about nostalgia – it's about survival: Blu-rays are freedom in the face of digital control.' Increasing numbers of film fans agree. 'People are getting wise to this idea that you don't really own the digital things you supposedly own, and the only way you truly own something is to own it physically,' said Aaron Hamel, who, with his business partner, Jess Mills, opened Night Owl earlier this year. There are hobbyists and collectors constantly building new shelf space and scanning notices of releases from obscure imprints. Johnathan Lyman, a software developer in Washington state, supplements his many streaming subscriptions with physical media. He subscribes to HBO Max, but he also has all of the seasons of Westworld, which streams there, on 4K Ultra HD – because, he said, it looks 'way better.' But perhaps more notable are the casual, less technically savvy, and younger cineastes who wish to own physical copies of their first Wes Anderson film, or the complete run of Twin Peaks, or the movies that were their favourites when they were 11. 'With streaming and with how things are being changed and banned and challenged, it feels important to keep movies I love,' said Avery Coffey, 25, the host of 'Unbound & Rewound,' a podcast about horror books and movies, who was also browsing Night Owl last month. Coffey bought a DVD of High School Musical recently, she said, 'to show the children in my family things that are important to me.' Buying a physical copy of your favourite movie is not a purely sentimental decision. When you stream, say, Casablanca, you are in effect renting it – it is available only so long as a streamer chooses to make it available and you choose to subscribe to the service (or, in the cases of free streamers, view advertisements). And when you buy Casablanca digitally, typically through Amazon, Apple or YouTube, you almost always are actually licensing it – and licenses can be revoked. Users of the anime service Funimation learned this the hard way last year, when the streamer was acquired and some earlier digital licenses were no longer honoured. And Amazon users allege in a pending class-action lawsuit that they misunderstood the nature of digital ownership, leading them to pay higher prices than they might have otherwise. Digital versions can also be altered by their owners. George Lucas added numerous computer-generated scenery and fauna to Star Wars, and even reversed a shootout between Han Solo and the bounty hunter Greedo; the version streaming on Disney+ is not the original. Streamers have removed nudity and cigarettes from films. Episodes of 30 Rock that used blackface were taken out of circulation at the creator Tina Fey's request. Netflix deleted a graphic scene from the first season of 13 Reasons Why two years after it released the show. 'When consumers purchase media, they believe they have a series of rights, including that of permanent possession: the ability to loan it, to give it away, to resell it,' said Aaron Perzanowski, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School. He added, 'We still see consumers being frustrated, outraged,' when they realise they do not have that right after they have bought something digitally. The streamers are fickle. Movies cycle on and off services (many outlets, including The New York Times, publish lists of movies on each one that are updated every month). And while physical media is often not cheap, the streamers' prices are also daunting: This year, the combined cost of ad-free subscriptions to, for instance, Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu and Criterion Channel summed to more than US$700. 'I continue to be an advocate for streaming, but it doesn't strike me as an either-or proposition,' said Jonathan Marlow, the executive director of Scarecrow Video, a nonprofit archive in Seattle. (Others include Kim's Video in New York and Vidiots in Los Angeles.) The streamers do not possess infinite films, Marlow noted. Netflix recently had around 16,000 titles; Scarecrow boasts nearly 150,000, many rentable by mail from across the country. 'When everyone says, 'Everything's available online' – which it isn't – they look at Scarecrow as an anachronism: 'Why should such a thing exist?'' Marlow said. 'It exists because people are not satisfied with the choices they already have.' For many fans, streaming itself – the unprecedented instant accessibility of thousands of movies and TV shows – has goosed demand for the earlier technology. 'The proliferation of media has maybe even overstimulated the appetite for newcomers to the world of film to be interested in film, and they suddenly discover that it's enjoyable both to watch something and to have something,' said Richard Lorber, the chair and CEO of Kino Lorber, which has a streaming service and also distributes physical copies of movies – and whose physical business, Lorber said, is up 15% this year. The Criterion Collection similarly views its streamer, the Criterion Channel, as 'a gateway back to physical media collecting,' the company's president, Peter Becker, said in an email. Another thing driving renewed interest in physical media is quality. A decent disc on a decent television typically provides stronger picture and sound than streaming. 'Those are highly compressed files, in order to pass across the internet easily,' Douglas McLaren, a film archivist at the University of Chicago, said of streaming. His university's film studies center does not have any streaming subscriptions, he said, relying instead on its library of more than 7,000 videos and discs and more than 3,000 film prints. What has maybe most marveled the more serious physical media boosters is how their hobby or passion has become kind of … cool. Criterion Closet videos, in which film personages stand in the middle of Criterion's roster of discs and excitedly snag their favourites off the shelves, has become a viral hit. And Williamsburg – a neighbourhood that has exported its sensibility across the world – now has a video store. 'We're older millennials,' Hamel, of Night Owl, said. 'We're shocked by the number of college-age people coming in and buying a couple US$5 DVDs to go home and watch together.' – ©2025 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Forbes
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
A Belle Époque Feast In The Swiss Mountains: Dining At Hotel Victoria Glion
Hotel Victoria, Switzerland Hotel Victoria Perched like a jewel on the shoulder of the mountain, above the shimmering curve of Lake Geneva, the Hotel Victoria Glion rises from the mists of time–a living reverie of Belle Époque grandeur. As our funicular gently scaled the slopes from Montreux, each click of the track seemed to lift us from the modern world and deposit us into an artist's dream of 19th-century Switzerland. High on the mountain above Montreux– close to Rochers-de-Naye–Hotel Victoria has a sense of history combined with a warm family welcome and a one-of-a-kind setting. The village of Glion greeted us with hushed charm, its cobbled stillness hinting at stories whispered between pines and alpine flowers. At the heart of it all stands the Hotel Victoria, more reminiscent of a theatre set than a hotel, with its rose-pink façade and golden yellow accents recalling something plucked from Wes Anderson movie The Grand Budapest Hotel . Upon arrival the hotel you half expect Ralph Fiennes–in character as concierge Monsier Gustave–to answer the door. Indeed, Anderson drew inspiration from Grand Swiss Belle Epoque hotels for his fictional hotel. Hotel Victoria, Glion, Switzerland. Photograph © Sky Sharrock © Sky Sharrock We were welcomed by the hotel's young director Antoine Mittermair who, at the young age of 27, took over the running of the hotel from his father, tasked with carrying its legacy and the spirit of the hotel into the future. Stepping into the lobby was like going back in time to 19th Century Belle Epoque Switzerland, the era of the Grand Hotels: oil paintings softened by age, porcelain vases poised with dignity, and carved furniture that seemed to hum with memory. Art at Hotel Victoria Glion © Sky Sharrock © Sky Sharrock We were guided to the terrace where we sat in antique wicker chairs on the emerald green grass, savouring the fresh mountain air. Before us, Lake Geneva stretched like liquid silver, the town of Montreux below humming faintly with the sounds of the Jazz Festival. A Negroni, perfectly bittered and bright and an Aperol Spritz, kissed by the sun were our opening notes. Hotel Victoria Glion terrace © Sky Sharrock © Sky Sharrock Lunch unfolded as a love letter to Swiss-French cuisine, lovingly created by the chef's steady hand. A chilled and minted Pea Velouté, as light as a breeze, tasted of meadows and first blooms–so delicious and fresh that we asked for the recipe, which was later printed out for us and presented in a beautiful card. No attention to detail was spared. A delicate and refreshing starter of Ceviche de sériole aux pickles was beautifully presented and quickly digested, before the pièce de résistance -Dover sole à la meunière–a symphony of butter and lemon, plated with such care it felt like a travesty to eat it. The Chef–Mr. Gilles Vincent–emerged onto the terrace to greet the guests. Pea Veloute soup at Hotel Victoria Glion © Sky Sharrock © Sky Sharrock Each bite was a delight, each moment on that terrace a postcard to remember, for the delectable food, service and picturesque view. The perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon–or any meal time–on a level with the clouds in the Swiss mountains, in a parallel universe where time stands still and you can take time to savour every mouthful of lovingly prepared food. We felt like we had stepped back in time to a Golden era of fine dining and Belle Epoque design. Classic Swiss dishes on the Hotel Victoria's menu include Sliced veal Zurich style and Châteaubriand with darphin potatoes and seasonal vegetables. Hotel Victoria is one of three Belle Epoque hotels located in Montreux, where the legacy of the artistic movement endures in the region's landscape and architecture. La Belle Époque–translating as "Beautiful Era" in French–refers to a period in French and European history stretching from the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 to the start of World War one in 1914. Hotel Victoria was born in the late 19th century when the Belle Epoque hotel business was flourishing on the Swiss Riviera, as the result of a new architectural movement which influenced architectural trends and, accompanied by technical innovations such as running water and electricity, enabled the construction of grand hotels with bathrooms and lifts–radical and luxurious innovations at the time. Hotel Victoria Glion Terrace © Sky Sharrock © Sky Sharrock Chef Gilles Vincent is a culinary artist, taking care to skilfully combines local produce with seasonal treasures to create classic gourmet masterpieces that are easy on the eye and agreeable to the palette. At Hotel Victoria Glion the classic menu is accompanied by a well-stocked wine cellar, with the staff on hand to suggest perfect pairings of food and wine. There is a sense of nostalgia in this historic family-run hotel, not only in well preserved Belle Epoque design with hints of Art Nouveau, but also in the Chandeliers, silverware and perfectly starched table linen that all add the perfect finishing touches to this hidden gem of a restaurant set amidst a century-old park with a flower garden. Hotel Victoria Cave a Vin Hotel Victoria Hotel Victoria Glion is not merely a hotel–it is an ode. To time, to beauty, to the slow and careful art of living well. To dine there is to slip, if only for an afternoon, into a gentler age.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘I am elated each time I watch': why Rushmore is my feelgood movie
'Let's hope it's got a happy ending,' Herman Blume, played by Bill Murray in one of his best roles, says near the end of Wes Anderson's 1998 film Rushmore. He makes the remark about an over-the-top, literally pyrotechnic school play that his teenage friend Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) has just debuted to an audience of dazed teachers and parents. But his comment stands in for the whole movie, an audacious and risky comedy that should not work, but does. I am elated each time I watch this poignant, wise and wildly funny film – and, yes, there is a happy ending. Rushmore is about children trying to act like adults and adults acting like children. Fischer is a precocious scholarship student at Rushmore, a prestigious private boys' school. He is the sort of bright but naive young person who tries to impress an adult by telling them, with a straight face, that he plans to apply to Oxford and the Sorbonne for university, with Harvard as a 'safety.' In fact, Fischer spends more time planning lavish plays and starting school clubs than studying. He is one of the school's 'worst students,' his headmaster (Brian Cox) sighs. One day Fischer meets Blume, a local industrialist whose sons are students at Rushmore. Blume is a self-hating rich man – his loathing of his boorish, silver-spoon-fed sons is one of the film's many funny running jokes – and he takes a shine to the scrappy Fischer. Despite their difference in age, the two develop a sincere and surprisingly equal friendship. A wrench is thrown into their bromance when Fischer meets Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams), a new teacher at Rushmore and a recent widow, and develops a powerful crush. In addition to the obvious hurdles – he is a child, and she is not interested – his friend Blume becomes smitten, as well. (Talking to Fischer by cellphone, Blume tries to talk him out of his crush on Rosemary. 'I mean, she's not that beautiful. She's not that intriguing,' he argues, as the camera pans to reveal that he is spying on her through a classroom window.) The two friends spiral into an infantile battle for Rosemary's attention – without, in classic male fashion, having given much thought to her feelings. A love triangle (sort of) between two adults and a teenager is an odd, even uncomfortable, premise for a movie. Rushmore's protagonist, Fischer, is also frankly a bad person: a shameless operator who manipulates people, subjects the exasperated Rosemary to grand and misguided romantic gestures, and acts ruthlessly to realize his overambitious projects. (Perhaps Anderson is trying to tell us something about auteur filmmakers?) There's a version of Rushmore that reads like Fatal Attraction; it is a testament to the film's intelligence that it instead bubbles over with charm, warmth, and emotional observation. I first watched Rushmore in high school, when I was old enough to appreciate the movie but not really to fully understand it. It was recommended by a friend who had a touch of Fischer to him, and perhaps saw a touch in me, too. Watching the movie, I had a strange shock of recognition: not just 'Where has this been all my life?' but 'How is it that some people I've never met made something perfectly tailored to my sensibilities?' Of course, a good film offers more, not less, each time you watch it. I've come back to Rushmore again and again, and each time I catch things – jokes, call-backs, themes, smart symmetries and flourishes – that I hadn't noticed before. The film is the best of Anderson's quirky vision, without an overindulgence in the aspects of his style that can be grating or 'twee,' to cite a common criticism. One reason may be the contribution of the actor Owen Wilson, who co-wrote Anderson's first three films (including another fan favorite, The Royal Tenenbaums). I suspect he balanced Anderson's whimsy with a certain groundedness and emotionality. Rushmore is stamped with the famous Anderson aesthetic, but its characters and story also have a realness that his more recent work sometimes lacks. As entertainment, the film gives me sheer pleasure. Yet it is also a profoundly shrewd study of relationships, ego, and growing up, whose emotional maturity is all the more impressive given that Anderson and Wilson started writing it when they were still in their twenties. And the film's iconic soundtrack of British Invasion pop-rock is perfectly chosen, none more so than in the final scene. As characters dance sweetly to Faces' Ooh La La, the lyrics offer a summation: 'I wish that I knew what I know now … When I was younger.' Rushmore is available on Hoopla in the US or to rent digitally in the UK and Australia
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘I am elated each time I watch': why Rushmore is my feelgood movie
'Let's hope it's got a happy ending,' Herman Blume, played by Bill Murray in one of his best roles, says near the end of Wes Anderson's 1998 film Rushmore. He makes the remark about an over-the-top, literally pyrotechnic school play that his teenage friend Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) has just debuted to an audience of dazed teachers and parents. But his comment stands in for the whole movie, an audacious and risky comedy that should not work, but does. I am elated each time I watch this poignant, wise and wildly funny film – and, yes, there is a happy ending. Rushmore is about children trying to act like adults and adults acting like children. Fischer is a precocious scholarship student at Rushmore, a prestigious private boys' school. He is the sort of bright but naive young person who tries to impress an adult by telling them, with a straight face, that he plans to apply to Oxford and the Sorbonne for university, with Harvard as a 'safety.' In fact, Fischer spends more time planning lavish plays and starting school clubs than studying. He is one of the school's 'worst students,' his headmaster (Brian Cox) sighs. One day Fischer meets Blume, a local industrialist whose sons are students at Rushmore. Blume is a self-hating rich man – his loathing of his boorish, silver-spoon-fed sons is one of the film's many funny running jokes – and he takes a shine to the scrappy Fischer. Despite their difference in age, the two develop a sincere and surprisingly equal friendship. A wrench is thrown into their bromance when Fischer meets Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams), a new teacher at Rushmore and a recent widow, and develops a powerful crush. In addition to the obvious hurdles – he is a child, and she is not interested – his friend Blume becomes smitten, as well. (Talking to Fischer by cellphone, Blume tries to talk him out of his crush on Rosemary. 'I mean, she's not that beautiful. She's not that intriguing,' he argues, as the camera pans to reveal that he is spying on her through a classroom window.) The two friends spiral into an infantile battle for Rosemary's attention – without, in classic male fashion, having given much thought to her feelings. A love triangle (sort of) between two adults and a teenager is an odd, even uncomfortable, premise for a movie. Rushmore's protagonist, Fischer, is also frankly a bad person: a shameless operator who manipulates people, subjects the exasperated Rosemary to grand and misguided romantic gestures, and acts ruthlessly to realize his overambitious projects. (Perhaps Anderson is trying to tell us something about auteur filmmakers?) There's a version of Rushmore that reads like Fatal Attraction; it is a testament to the film's intelligence that it instead bubbles over with charm, warmth, and emotional observation. I first watched Rushmore in high school, when I was old enough to appreciate the movie but not really to fully understand it. It was recommended by a friend who had a touch of Fischer to him, and perhaps saw a touch in me, too. Watching the movie, I had a strange shock of recognition: not just 'Where has this been all my life?' but 'How is it that some people I've never met made something perfectly tailored to my sensibilities?' Of course, a good film offers more, not less, each time you watch it. I've come back to Rushmore again and again, and each time I catch things – jokes, call-backs, themes, smart symmetries and flourishes – that I hadn't noticed before. The film is the best of Anderson's quirky vision, without an overindulgence in the aspects of his style that can be grating or 'twee,' to cite a common criticism. One reason may be the contribution of the actor Owen Wilson, who co-wrote Anderson's first three films (including another fan favorite, The Royal Tenenbaums). I suspect he balanced Anderson's whimsy with a certain groundedness and emotionality. Rushmore is stamped with the famous Anderson aesthetic, but its characters and story also have a realness that his more recent work sometimes lacks. As entertainment, the film gives me sheer pleasure. Yet it is also a profoundly shrewd study of relationships, ego, and growing up, whose emotional maturity is all the more impressive given that Anderson and Wilson started writing it when they were still in their twenties. And the film's iconic soundtrack of British Invasion pop-rock is perfectly chosen, none more so than in the final scene. As characters dance sweetly to Faces' Ooh La La, the lyrics offer a summation: 'I wish that I knew what I know now … When I was younger.' Rushmore is available on Hoopla in the US or to rent digitally in the UK and Australia
