Wild Bill

[valda]

What a beautiful beautiful beautiful film, totally unexpected 9/10

i can remember Dexter Fletcher as a little actor in a series about child reporters, wow I feel old now Anyway, he bounded into the cinema and introduced the film and spoke a bit about it - I wish he'd come in afterwards so we could ask questions. I felt so sorry for him because of the low turn out, and I do hope this gets a reasonable box office on word of mouth.

I thought the film was a powerful tale of a father trying to re engage with his sons after a long stretch in prison. he doesn't really want to but he has to, to save them from Child Services. He also has to see if he can stay on the straight and narrow, or go back down the path of gangs and drugs.

All the performances were solid, especially from the children, the little one totally out of his depth, and the older one trying to run a home for the two of them without parents. Charlie Creed-Miles as the father and Leo Gregory as his one time mate and now the top dog of that little corner of Stratford were both equally as good. The only one who didn't really fit for me was Andy Serkis.

Its films like this that make me proud to be British and that we have a thriving pool of talent who have come up the hard way and can really ply their trade in such films. Shame its so hard for so many British films to get off the ground and get funding.

Well done Dexter 9/10

ps cracking sound track

[Sunny Saver]

I thought an absolute utter disgrace for the people that no-showed or just held onto tickets till the last minute, the director was staring at a room maybe 25% full. It was clearly a labour of love for him and the film was dedicated to his father and it must have been sad for him to see such an empty cinema for a free screening. The no showers should really be a shame of themselves!

I thought the same too. I was surprised it was so empty as the tickets went really quickly.

I saw the test screening last year and was interested to see if they'd made any changes. They hadn't really.

I enjoyed it more the first time as I didn't expect it to be so good, this time I knew what to expect.

OH liked it too (two films in a row for him... not bad).

[Beate]

You were there, Octopus? I didn't see you! We sat with ejwrank, valda and hopeprince, and had SunnySaver behind us. Glad some of us made the journey, it was woefully empty, maybe a third full. I didn't know the director would turn up to introduce it and felt bad the minute he came in and looked at the empty room. He was a lovely bloke.

I really liked the film, it was gritty and real and told you hard it is to take a different path in life, even with the best intentions, as your old friends (the "known criminials" you ought not to associate with anymore) won't leave you in peace.

It also tells you how hard it is on the kids, left alone and bewildered, with the older one trying to care for his younger brother the best he can and making a remarkably good job of it, all things considered. The system seems pretty easily fooled as well. I thought Will Poulter gave a cracking performance, and so did most others.

8/10

[Octopus]

Yep I arrived with a friend of mine (no, not the handsome one) 5 minutes before it started! I didn't check if I knew anyone actually, especially as I wasn't wearing my glasses!
I was behind two girls who put their legs / feet on the seats in front of them. Lovely.

[EthanRunt]

Oddly had to sign an embargo tonight. I could have talked about it for 6 months, but now I'm silent.
Weird. Ah well.

[Beate]

An embargo? After it was shown at LFF in October?
Where did you see it?

[superhero]

Embargoes are only for big shot film bloggers. hahaha

[anakin]

Also saw this at Apollo tonight. Also surprised by the Director. Also sad for him that it was so empty. Certainly didn't deserve such a poor turn out - second time in the last week I've been pleasantly surprised by how good this film was.

Didn't spot the two faces I'd have recognised, which is a shame! Was surprised by two latecomers who then left early! Definitely their loss!

8/10

[superhero]

latecomers leaving early

[ejwrank]

I liked the film a lot. It was tough and gritty and I thought it was very well done (and probably done on a shoe string budget). How amazing was it that the director turned up to say hello and thank us for coming. I hope the film does well -- they deserve a lot of success with it.

Nice to see Sunny Saver and family, Beate and OH, valda and hopeprince and sorry we all missed octopus