Synopses of films

Saturday 16th January 2009  @ 7.30pm
Mamma Mia  Cert PG
MerylStreep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried   
Run Time 105 mins
The delirious sight of Meryl Streep leading a river of multigenerational women singing "Dancing Queen" is one of the high points of Mamma Mia!, the musical built around the songs of the hugely popular pop group ABBA. The plot sets in motion when Sophie (Amanda Seyfried, Mean Girls), daughter of Donna (Streep), sends a letter to three men, inviting them to her wedding--because after reading her mother's diary, she suspects that one of them is her father. When all three arrive at the Greek island where Donna runs a hotel, Donna flips out and finds that passions she thought she'd laid aside are coming back to life. The story is  about Streep and the three guys (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, and Stellan Skarsgard), as well as Donna's best friends (Christine Baranski and Julie Walters).  

Saturday 14th February 2009 @7.30pm
Brideshead Revisited Cert 12a
Ben Whishaw, Jonathon Cake, Hayley Atwell, Greta Scacchi, Matthew Goode
Run Time  128 mins   
Though director Julian Jarrold's adaptation of the Evelyn Waugh novel BRIDESHEAD REVISITED spans decades and continents, it's a taut film that never drags and can excite contemporary audiences. Matthew Goode stars as lower-class Londoner Charles Ryder, an aspiring artist who is beginning his studies in history at Oxford in the 1920s. A chance encounter with dandyish aristocrat Sebastian Flyte (Ben Whishaw, changes the course of his life. The two embark on a close, intense friendship that is further complicated by the introduction of Sebastian's beautiful sister Julia (Hayley Atwell,  and his overbearing, extremely religious mother, Lady Marchmain (Emma Thompson). BRIDESHEAD REVISITED follows Charles from the carefree '20s through the beginning of World War II, focusing on his complicated relationship with the upper-class family and their estate, Brideshead.

Saturday  20th March 2009 @ 7.30pm
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers Cert U
Jane Powell, Howard Keel, Jeff Richards, Russ Tamblyn
Run Time 98 mins
In the Oregon Territory, mountain man Adam Pontipee (Howard Keel, acting and singing with gusto) comes to town to sell his crops and woo a woman to be his wife, succeeding with spirited Milly (Jane Powell), who is tired of feeding and waiting on so many men at the local inn. Her dreams of keeping house for just one man are shattered when she discovers that Adam shares his pigsty cabin with six brawling brothers. Milly's good cooking and stubborn nature whip the young men into shape and inspire them to seek women of their own. But after a disastrous barn raising during which the brothers snare the attention of the town girls only to be taunted into fighting with the town men, Adam suggests his brothers forget gentle methods of love and follow the actions of the Roman with the Sabine (Sobbin') women. The kidnapping of their six sweethearts spurs Milly to throw the men out of the house, but enforced proximity caused by winter and the brothers' good intentions just might help love bloom again.

Saturday 27th March 2009 @ 7.30pm
The Duchess Cert 12 a
Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Dominic Cooper, Charlotte Rampling
Like her direct descendent Princess Diana, Georgina Duchess of Devonshire was a glamorous royal, much loved by the public. While her attractiveness and charm afforded her popularity, the intelligent and vulnerable Duchess was trapped within a loveless marriage to one of the country's richest men. Rebelling against the establishment, Georgina became active campaigner for the liberal party and in turn, romantically involved with Earl Grey, leading her through tragedy, self-discovery and redemption.

Saturday 17th April @ 7.30pm
Easy Virtue Cert 12a
Colin Firth, Kristen Scott Thomas, Jessica Biel, Kimberley Nixon, Ben Barnes
Set in the twilight of the roaring twenties and at the cusp of the next decade, EASY VIRTUE is the story of John Whittaker, a young Englishman who, after falling head-over-heels in love with glitzy American Larita, finds himself getting married rather promptly. Returning to the family home, Larita's newfound mother-in-law develops an instant allergic reaction to the Whitakers' newest family member. While accommodating to Mrs Whittaker's prickly personality at first, Larita quickly discovers that in order to make her marriage work, she must play her mother-in-law at her own game, and a battle of wits ensues ...