Film Hub Fortnightly – December (part 2)

The region’s community cinemas are especially active with many Christmas themed screenings. On the 15^th, the Ormeau Community Cinema in Belfast will be screening the dark but comedic seasonal tale Krampus (2015) in The Pavilion Bar. While the Newcastle Community Cinema will be showing It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) on the 18^th and The Muppets Christmas Carol (1992) on the 19^th. The Roe Valley Arts & Cultural Centre in Limavady will also be showing It’s a Wonderful Life on the 23^rd and the Ghouls on Film series will be screening cult British horror Symptoms (1974)in the Black Box on the 19^th.

Over at the Queen’s Film Theatre, they are also continuing their festivities. Their run of It’s a Wonderful Life will be continue right up to Christmas Eve and there will be screenings of The Shop Around The Corner (1940) until the 17^th, Elf (2003) on the 17^th and then from the 19^th to the 23^rd and The Muppets Christmas Carol from the 17^th to the 24^th. On the 17^th they will be showing the Eddie Murphy and Dan Ackroyd comedy Trading Places (1983) and on the 18^th, rowdy queer comedy Tangerine (2015), Batman Returns (1992) and Home Alone (1990), and on both the 17^th and the 18^th, Carol (2015) a moving melodrama starring Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett and directed by Todd Haynes. On the 19^th and from the 22^nd to the 24^th, you can see National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) starring Chevy Chase. Paddington (2014) will also run the 19^th to the 24^th, the fantastical comedy Bell, Book and Candle (1958), starring Kim Novak and Jimmy Stewart, will play on the 19^th and 20^th and Gremlins (1984) on the 20^th.

There’s also plenty of new releases and revivals arriving to the QFT in the coming weeks. The Lost Daughter (2021) starring Olivia Colman and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal from a novel by Elena Ferrante, will run from the 17^th to the 23^rd. To The Moon (2020), an archival collage and tribute to the link between cinema and the moon, directed by Irish filmmaker Tadhg O’Sullivan, will run from the 26^th to the 30^th. While The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021), a new version of the Scottish play starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand and directed by Joel Coen, will run from the 26^th to the 6^th of January. Titane (2021), the award-winning French horror film, will also have a new year run from the 31^st to the 6^th. The Story Of Film: A New Generation (2021), Mark Cousins’s follow-up to his own epic series, will run on the 27^th and the 28^th, and from the 26^th to the 30^th, you can see the 1961 version of West Side Story. Concurrent with the new Steven Spielberg directed remake, out now in other cinemas.

Including the Strand Arts Centre, where you can not only see the new West Side Story (2021) but the latest Marvel movie Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). Opening on the 22^nd is another long-awaited sequel, The Matrix Resurrections (2021), starring Keanu Reeves and directed by Lana Wachowski, and from the 26^th the third Kingsman movie, The King’s Man (2021) starring Ralph Fiennes, will play. The Strand also have their share of Christmas titles with It’s a Wonderful Life on the 16^th, Elf on the 18^th and a host of screenings on the 24^th, including Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Elf and The Muppets Christmas Carol. Cinemagic will also be continuing their Christmas run with screenings of The Polar Express (2004) in the Ulster Museum and a single showing of Home Alone in The Black Box, both on the 18^th.

Movie House Cinemas are also showing the new West Side Story and Spider-Man: No Way Home and will be playing The Matrix Resurrections and The King’s Man from the abovementioned dates. They are running other new Christmas-themed releases including the family-friendly adventure film A Boy Called Christmas (2021), starring Maggie Smith, the romantic comedy Boxing Day (2021) and Will Smith starring drama King Richard (2021). In the coming weeks the older Christmas titles include Home Alone, Home Alone 2, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Elf, Die Hard (1988), Die Hard 2 (1990), Love Actually (2003) and It’s a Wonderful Life.

By Ruairí McCann