AS the school holidays come to an end, there must be parents and grandparents who will be relieved that family life is a bit more structured, or back to normal in the case of grandparents.

We have some of the better films for the grown-ups again. We have an amazing line-up from now until Christmas and then the Oscars. I will keep dripping these out over the coming weeks.

We have been told to keep a date free in October by the National Theatre, but I have no idea what for just yet. But when they do this it is usually something good – watch this space.

Films this week

Sex Tape (15) actually launches today (Wednesday). Cameron Diaz plays Annie opposite Jason Segel, who plays Jay. They make a “tape” for their own consumption, but find it distributed over their various devices via The Cloud. The film shows their exploits in attempting to recover the devices or delete them. I think this looks like great fun from the trailer and we will be watching this one soon Cameron Diaz always seems to do good films as does Jason Segel.

The Hundred Foot Journey (PG) starts on Friday. It is a drama about an Indian family who arrive in a small French village and set up a new restaurant across the road from, the Michelin-starred venue, run by the formidable Madame Mallory, played by Helen Mirren. This is one film I will be watching before next Wednesday.

Lucy (15 and number one in the top 10) – we finally got around to watching Lucy this week and it is a really interesting plot. I am determined not to give anything away as it is difficult to talk about the plot without giving part of the whole plot away. The story does need a complete suspension of disbelief for a few reasons on which the premise of the film is set. But it is all too plausible in the way that the evil element values life so little and have total control of what they possess and the deals they do. Well worth watching – one of our regulars said “that is certainly food for thought!” If we only use ten percent of our brains what would we be like if we could access all of our brains?

Planes (U) is with us for another week.

Still with us this week is How to Train Your Dragon 2 (PG and number seven in the Top Ten). How To Train Your Dragon 2 seems to be one of those films that is going to run for a good while yet a bit the way that Despicable Me 2 did. We think that people like dragons. There is a feeling that we will be booking How To Train Your Dragon 3 due out next year.

What If (15) - catch it while you can it won’t be staying past Thursday.

The Inbetweeners 2 (15) – staying for week day showings.

The Boxtrolls (PG and 2D only these shows) is with us on Saturday and Sunday as Previews this week. The Boxtrolls is a family animation film where a young orphaned boy grows up with underground cave-dwellers who are rubbish collectors. He tries to save his friends from an evil exterminator. The Boxtrolls is from the novel “Here Be Monsters”.

 

Looking further ahead:

Don’t Forget Pride (15) is set in 1984 and tells the story of gay and lesbian support for miners during the long strike. It looks to be extremely funny with an amazing cast including Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton and Dominic West. There are always fits of laughter when this trailer plays.

The Ryedale Literature Festival is on the weekend of the 10th to the 12th of October with a star author – Michael Morpurgo – author of War Horse and Private Peaceful. We have booked the film of Private Peaceful for the afternoon of Saturday the 11th at half past four.

 

Live Stage Productions:

RSC Live: The Two Gentlemen of Verona (12A) is live tonight 3rd of September at 6:45 and tomorrow NT Live: Medea (12A) shows at 6:45. Booking has picked up a little and there are fewer seats available though they are well spread across the screen.

The final Encore of Skylight with Bill Nighy and Carey Mulligan is next Monday the 8th with about five seats still available at the time of writing.

We have added NT Live: Frankenstein (15) with Benedict Cumberbatch playing the Creature on Thursday the 30th of October. If you remember Benedict Cumberbatch was more popular than Jonny Lee Miller as the Creature last year and there has been interest in this performance both from people who missed it last year and from those who just want to see it again.

The Encore performance of Billy Elliot on the 2nd of October has sold out and those on Saturday the 4th (at 6:30 pm) and Sunday the 5th (at 1.30 pm) still have plenty of space.

A Streetcar Named Desire (12A) still has some seats available for the Live show on the 16th of September and the Encore showing on the 22nd of September still has good seats available at the time of writing.

All for this week from the Husband and Wife team leading at the Palace, thank you for reading and hope to see you soon.