Category: Drama

Radioactive

The incredible, true story of Marie Curie and her ground-breaking scientific achievements. In Paris, 1893, Marie meets fellow scientist Pierre Curie. The pair go on to marry, raise two daughters and change the face of science forever by jointly winning the Nobel Prize for the discovery of radium in 1903.

Showing: 1 November 2023

BBFC Ratings Badge 12A

Radioactive Plot Synopsis

Radioactive is the incredible, true story of Marie Curie and her ground-breaking scientific achievements. In Paris, 1893, Marie meets fellow scientist Pierre Curie. The pair go on to marry, raise two daughters and change the face of science forever by jointly winning the Nobel Prize for the discovery of radium in 1903. Marie Curie was the first female scientist to win the esteemed prize.

After the death of her beloved Pierre, Marie continues her research and invites scandal when she has an affair with another prominent scientist, Paul Langevin. However, it is Marie’s commitment to science which prevails, and the responsibility that comes with discoveries that quite literally change the world. Intercut between past and various sections of the present, we see how their science shaped both modern medicine and the advent of nuclear power and weapons.

Film Reviews

Life, death, science, mysticism, love and hate blend together to reveal depths of an internationally renowned genius. Deeply personal, sometimes tipping into the experimental, Radioactive is like no biographical feature I’ve ever seen.

Joelle Monique, Paste Magazine

As startling as it is to see the beloved scientist hated in her time, that we’re able to see this headstrong legend as a sexual being at all is a credit to how much Pike gradually humanizes her as a woman, while never pleading for our pity.

Amy Nicholson, Variety

Official Film Trailer for Radioactive

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< October 2023

December 2023 >

The Children Act

As her marriage flounders, eminent High Court judge Fiona Maye has a life-changing decision to make at work – should she force a teenage boy to have the blood transfusion that will save his life? Her unorthodox visit to his hospital bedside has a profound impact on them both.

Showing: 4 October 2023

BBFC Ratings Badge 12A

The Children Act Plot Synopsis

Smart, elegant, and deeply moving, The Children Act stars two-time Academy Award-winner Emma Thompson in a riveting performance as Fiona Maye, a British High Court judge who, in the midst of a marital crisis, must rule on a life-changing legal case concerning the survival of a teenage boy. At issue whether to order a blood transfusion on the boy (Dunkirk’s Fionn Whitehead), a Jehovah’s Witness who, just months short of his eighteenth birthday, is refusing on religious grounds the procedure that would save his life. Adapted by Ian McEwan from his own novel, and directed by Richard Eyre (Notes on a Scandal; Iris), The Children Act is a deeply affecting portrait of strength, devotion, and love, with the incomparable Emma Thompson giving one of the very best performances of her career.

Film Reviews

The Children Act is a masterpiece from beginning to end and it should not be missed.

Tiffany Tchobanian, Film Threat

The Children Act is a cerebral piece, for sure, and a disturbing one by the end, but Thompson’s performance brings life to the complex moral questions it attempts to examine.

Fionnuala Halligan, Screen Daily

Official Film Trailer for The Children Act

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< September 2023

November 2023 >

Brian and Charles

After a particularly harsh winter Brian goes into a deep depression; completely isolated and with no one to talk to, Brian does what any sane person would do when faced with such a melancholic situation. He builds a robot.

Shown: 6 September 2023

Exminster Film Club Rating: 61%

2019 BBFC Ratings Badge PG

Brian and Charles Plot Synopsis

Brian and Charles follows Brian, a lonely inventor in rural Wales, who spends his days building quirky, unconventional contraptions that seldom work. Undeterred by his lack of success, Brian attempts his biggest project yet. Three days, a washing machine, and various spare parts later, he’s invented Charles, an artificially intelligent robot who learns English from a dictionary and has an obsession with cabbages. What follows is a humorous and entirely heartwarming story about friendship, family, finding love, and letting go.

Film Reviews

If themes about the importance of friendship, hope, and love land a bit on the nose, there’s no denying Brian and Charles takes an innovative approach to delivering them, even if — see above — the tack is brazenly metaphorical. Yet its distinctive charms are resonant enough to offset a slender story in what nevertheless amounts to a sweet and earnest, modern-day fable.

Kim Huges – Original Cin

It isn’t easy to develop a sketch-length idea into a feature film and not easy to pivot from ironic comedy into dark Straw Dogs-style menace, and then into a sweet-natured happy ending. But Earl, Hayward and Archer have managed it. It’s the bromance of the year.

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Official Film Trailer for Brian and Charles

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< March 2023

October 2023 >

Dream Horse

Dream Alliance is an unlikely race horse bred by small-town Welsh bartender Jan Vokes. With no experience, Jan convinces her neighbours to chip in their meagre earnings to help raise Dream in the hopes he can compete with the racing elites.

Shown: 5 April 2023

Exminster Film Club Rating: 96%

2019 BBFC Ratings Badge PG

Dream Horse Plot Synopsis

Experience the inspiring true story of Dream Alliance, an unlikely race horse bred by small town bartender, Jan Vokes (Toni Collette). With very little money and no experience, Jan convinces her neighbors to chip in their meager earnings to help raise Dream and compete with the racing elites. Their investment pays off as Dream rises through the ranks and becomes a beacon of hope in their struggling community.

Film Reviews

We can see every plot point rounding the turn long before the finish line, but that’s OK, because we’re having a (dare I say it) jolly grand time every step of the way.

Richard Roeper – Chicago Sun Times

Sure it’s hokey, but this fact-based crowd-pleaser starring a terrific Toni Collette as a struggling Welsh villager who risks everything on a racehorse she breeds and raises is an underdog story that works like a charm.

Peter Travers, ABC News

Official Film Trailer for Dream Horse

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< March 2023

September 2023 >

Top Gun: Maverick

After thirty years, Maverick is still pushing the envelope as a top naval aviator, but must confront ghosts of his past when he leads TOP GUN’s elite graduates on a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those chosen to fly it.

Shown: 1 March 2023

Exminster Film Club Rating: 83%

BBFC Ratings Badge 12A

Top Gun: Maverick Plot Synopsis

After more than thirty years of service, military awards, medals and decorations for extraordinary heroism in combat, distinguished US Navy Captain Pete Mitchell, call sign Maverick, finds himself exactly where he belongs: pushing the limits as a top test pilot. Having spent years avoiding promotions after the events of Top Gun (1986), Maverick must now confront the ugly past and an uncertain future while tasked with training the next generation of elite fighter pilots for a nearly impossible suicide mission. As the veteran naval aviator prepares the brilliant graduates for the top-secret assignment, stretching the rules to the breaking point, Mitchell has to face an equally critical challenge: navigate through an uncomfortable relationship with a hotshot lieutenant holding a grudge. Can Maverick and his Top Guns perform a miracle, give the enemy hell, and come back home in one piece? – Nick Riganas

Film Reviews

This is the ideal example of a big summer blockbuster and one of the best legacy sequels we’ve ever gotten: a movie that knows how to move along and give you what you came for.

Trace Sauveur – The Austin Chronicle

Thrilling, moving and gloriously Cruisey, Joseph Kosinski’s sequel to the 1986 hit is unquestionably the best studio action film in years.

Robbie Collin, The Telegraph

Official Film Trailer for Top Gun: Maverick

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< February 2023

April 2023 >

Finding Your Feet

On the eve of retirement a middle class, judgmental snob discovers her husband has been having an affair with her best friend and is forced into exile with her bohemian sister who lives on an impoverished inner-city council estate.

Shown: 1 February 2023

Exminster Film Club Rating: 97%

BBFC 12 Rating Badge
  • Date of release: 2017
  • Running time: 1h 51m
  • Director: Richard Loncraine
  • Writers: Meg Leonard and Nick Moorcroft
  • Country: UK
  • Language: English
  • Links: IMDB Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic BBFC

Finding Your Feet Plot Synopsis

When “Lady” Sandra Abbott discovers that her husband of 40 years is having an affair with her best friend, she seeks refuge in London with her estranged, older sister Bif. The two could not be more different – Sandra is a fish out of water next to her outspoken, serial dating, free-spirited sibling. But different is just what Sandra needs at the moment, and she reluctantly lets Bif drag her along to a community dance class, where she starts finding her feet.

Film Reviews

Finding Your Feet finds its own footing by putting its trust in its sturdy performers and avoiding many of the usual tea-time clichés as it allows its British cast to be defined by their relatable human circumstances more than quaint Anglo quirks.

Susan Wloszzczyna – RogerEbert.com

The modest rewards in Finding Your Feet are ones of sprightly human chemistry rather than great narrative discovery, of all-round good humour rather than outright hilarity.

Guy Lodge, Variety

Official Film Trailer for Finding Your Feet

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< January 2023

March 2023 >

Belfast

From director Kenneth Branagh, Belfast is a personal story about the power of memory. Set in late 1960s Northern Ireland, a young boy on the cusp of adolescence and childhood hijinks. Yet, with his hometown caught up in turmoil, his family faces a momentous choice: hope the conflict will pass or leave everything for a new life.

Shown: 4 January 2023

Exminster Film Club Rating: 93%

BBFC Ratings Badge 12A

Belfast Plot Synopsis

From lauded director Kenneth Branagh, and starring an acclaimed ensemble cast, Belfast is a personal and joyful story about the power of memory, set in late 1960s Northern Ireland. At the centre of the film is Buddy, a young boy on the cusp of adolescence, whose life is filled with familial love, childhood hijinks, and a blossoming romance. Yet, with his beloved hometown caught up in increasing turmoil, his family faces a momentous choice: hope the conflict will pass or leave everything they know behind for a new life.

Film Reviews

Taken all together, Branagh’s film is in its own special way like a cinematic equivalent of the Irish brogue that fills it: It’s lovely, it’s lyrical and it’s next to impossible not to be swept up by its charms.

Mike Scott

There’s only one trouble with his semi-autobiographical account. It’s so polished—so spirited, funny and skillfully calibrated—that it could be taken for a while as a crowd-pleaser and not a lot more. Sign me up for the crowd, though. This is surely the most pleasing film I’ve seen so far this year, but also the most affecting.

Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal

Official Film Trailer for Belfast

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< December 2022

February 2023 >

It’s a Wonderful Life

The classic film about an angel who is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.

Showing: 7 December 2022

Exminster Film Club Rating: 94%

2019 BBFC Ratings Badge U - Suitable for all
  • Date of release: 1946
  • Running time: 2h 10m
  • Director: Frank Capra
  • Writers: Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett and Frank Capra
  • Country: USA
  • Language: English
  • Links: IMDB Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic BBFC

It’s a Wonderful Life Plot Synopsis

George Bailey has so many problems he is thinking about ending it all – and it’s Christmas! As the angels discuss George, we see his life in flashback. As George is about to jump from a bridge, he ends up rescuing his guardian angel, Clarence – who then shows George what his town would have looked like if it hadn’t been for all his good deeds over the years.

Film Reviews

It’s one of those ageless movies, like “Casablanca” or “The Third Man,” that improves with age. Some movies, even good ones, should only be seen once. When we know how they turn out, they’ve surrendered their mystery and appeal. Other movies can be viewed an indefinite number of times. Like great music, they improve with familiarity. It’s a Wonderful Life falls in the second category

Roger Ebert

Although peppered with colourful, sharply drawn characters, this is Stewart’s movie, instantly loveable as a small town dreamer who sacrifices everything for others. His journey to despair and back warms the cockles like little else. Enjoy it in a cinema so you can sob among others.

Ian Freer, Empire

Official Film Trailer for It’s a Wonderful Life

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< November 2022

January 2023 >

The Duke

In 1961, Kempton Bunton stole a valuable painting from the London National Gallery. He sent ransom notes saying that he would return it on condition that the government invested more in care for the elderly. What happened next became the stuff of legend. An uplifting true story about a good man who set out to change the world.

Shown: 5 October 2022

Exminster Film Club Rating: 90%

BBFC Ratings Badge 12A

The Duke Plot Synopsis

In 1961, 60-year-old Kempton Bunton stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. He sent ransom notes saying that he would return the painting on condition that the government invested more in care for the elderly. What happened next became the stuff of legend. An uplifting true story about a good man who set out to change the world and managed to save his marriage.

Film Reviews

You could dine on nothing but lard for twenty years and still not develop the hardness of heart necessary to avoid being won over by Roger Michell‘s The Duke, a ridiculously charming British comedy that dunks a gamely accented prestige cast into an appealingly milky true story like so many digestives into a warm, well-earned, early evening cuppa.

Jessica Kiang, The Playlist

The Duke is that rarest of things: a comedy that knows that a twinkle in the eye and a fire in the belly needn’t be mutually exclusive.

Robbie Collin – The Telegraph

Official Film Trailer for The Duke

Review from an EFC Member

A film based on a true story. Outstanding performances by Jim Boadbent as a man with an active social conscience and Helen Mirren as his long suffering wife. The story is touching, a balance of grief, justice and many humorous moments.

I greatly enjoyed the whole film and would happily watch it again.

Judith
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< September 2022

November 2022 >

West Side Story

Manhattan, Upper West Side, 1957. Against the backdrop of the decaying tenements of New York, two gangs fight for supremacy. This oscar-winning reimagining of the beloved musical tells the classic tale of fierce rivalries and young love in 1957 New York City.

Shown: 7 September 2022

Exminster Film Club Rating: 88%

BBFC Ratings Badge 12A

West Side Story Plot Synopsis

An adaptation of the 1957 musical, West Side Story explores forbidden love and the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds.

Film Reviews

This is a West Side Story for both the past and present, as pleasing as the best movie musicals used to be, and as relevant as today’s headlines. It makes you feel like you are actually on the turbulent streets of New York’s west side, not a sound stage.

Rex Reed, Observer

West Side Story is contrived, certainly, a hothouse flower of musical theatre, and Spielberg quite rightly doesn’t try hiding any of those stage origins. His mastery of technique is thrilling; I gave my heart to this poignant American fairytale of doomed love.

Peter Bradshaw – The Guardian

Official Film Trailer for West Side Story

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< April 2022

October 2022 >