The Outfit

Graham Moore / UK 2022 / 105 min / Cert 15

Set in a gentlemen’s outfitters in Chicago in 1956, this old-fashioned crime thriller has a strong dialogue driven story with lots of twists on the way.

Mark Rylance gives a stellar performance as Leonard Burling, a master tailor from Saville Row. Most of Leonard’s customers are gangsters who use his back room as a place for trading messages. He turns a blind eye, until a visit one evening has devastating consequences.

With its action in a single location, it has been likened to a Hitchcock thriller. “The Outfit follows a pattern set by countless flicks of the past, but its freshness is in the intelligence and surprise of the script” (Empire)

The Teachers’ Lounge

Ilker Catak / Germany 2023 / 98 min / Cert 12A / Subtitles

A gloriously intense thriller about things that can happen every day – and the dramatic impact of a few wrong decisions, even if taken with good intentions.

Leonie Benesch (The Crown) plays Carla, a dedicated young German high school teacher. When a series of thefts occur and one of her students is suspected, she does some modest detective work – with unexpected consequences.

She then tries to mediate between outraged parents, opinionated colleagues and aggressive students, but is relentlessly confronted by the school system structures, overlaid with national, racial and class resentments.

As we will Carla to transcend the obstacles and threats, the more desperately she tries to do everything right, the more she seems to approach disaster.

The Zone of Interest

Jonathan Glazer / UK 2023 / 105 min / Cert 12A / Subtitles

The most requested film by our members and the winner of both the Oscar and Bafta for the best foreign language film.

Based on Martin Amis’ novel of the same name, it tells the story of Rudolf Hoss who is a devoted family man. He lives with his wife and young children in an attractive villa close to his work as the commandant of the Auschwitz extermination camp.

The film has been described as a landmark movie, hugely important, that’s unafraid of difficult ideas. It does not show what is happening close to the family home, but the events are heard.

The picture won the Oscar for best sound.

Jonathan Glazer’s unforgettable Auschwitz drama is a brutal masterpiece (The Guardian)

The Bikeriders

Jeff Nichols / USA 2023/ 116 min / Cert 15 / Speech subtitles, to help audience members with hearing loss

Set in 1960s Chicago, this is an absorbing drama based on true events. We follow the rise and decline of fictional motorbike club, The Vandals, through the eyes of Kathy (Jodie Comer, giving a riveting performance). She is married to Benny (Austin Butler), who is expected to be the successor to leader Johnny (Tom Hardy).

The country changes with the return of the Vietnam veterans, as does the bikers club. “Jodie Comer, Austin Butler and Tom Hardy are magnetic in this power struggle-cum-love triangle inspired by Danny Lyon’s 1968 photographic study of

Chicago bikers.” (The Guardian).

Stafford Film Theatre 12 Film Membership

See Stafford Film Theatre’s full programme from as little as £5.50 per film.

Ticket prices

Full price:       £12 *

Senior (Over 60): £11 *

Junior (Under 25): £7.50 *

Membership (cost for 12 films)

Full member:                   £114 (price per film £9.50) *

Senior:                £102 (price per film £8.50) *

Junior:                £66 (price per film £5.50) *

 

Stafford Film Theatre Six Film Membership

See six of Stafford Film Theatre’s fantastic new line-up of films from as little as £5.50 each.

Ticket prices

Full price:       £12 *

Senior (Over 60): £11 *

Junior (Under 25): £7.50 *

Half season membership (either films 1-6 or 7-12)

Full member:     £57 (price per film £9.50) *

Senior:                £51 (price per film £8.50) *

Junior:                £33 (price per film £5.50) *

 

American Fiction

Cord Jefferson / USA 2023 / 116 min / Cert 15

Thelonius “Monk” Ellison is a literature professor and novelist whose highbrow fiction works sell poorly.

Angered by the accusation that his writing ignores ‘the African-American experience’, Monk pseudonymously pens a stereotypical ‘Black’ novel which gains widespread acclaim.

Soon he’s complaining to his agent: “The dumber I behave, the richer I get.” This delightful satirical comedy is an Oscar and Critic’s Choice winner for best adapted screenplay.

“Elegantly walking a line between absurdist satire and family drama, this is a clever send-up of how the broadness of Black culture gets reduced to cliché.” (Empire).

The Magic of Motown

Get ready for all the hits, glittering costumes, dazzling dance routines and outstanding musicianship in this breath-taking live concert spectacular.

You will be going Loco down in Acapulco as we take you back down memory lane with all the Motown classics from artists such as Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, The Supremes, The Four Tops, Martha Reeves, The Jackson 5, Smokey Robinson, and many, many more.

Celebrate the sound of a generation with one very special night of The Magic of Motown!

 

This is a tribute show and is no way affiliated with any original artists/estates/management companies or similar shows. Promoter reserves the right to alter the programme.

Northern Live

Keeping the Faith to the original sounds of the underground movement that started on the dance floors in the North and eventually swept the Nation including an 11-piece band with 4 lead vocalists performing over 30 original hits, expect to hear:

Dobie Gray – “Out On The Floor”, R Dean Taylor – “There’s A Ghost In My House”, Frank Wilson – “Do I love You – Indeed I Do”, Gloria Jones – “Tainted Love”, Al Wilson – “The Snake”, Yvonne Baker – “You Didn’t Say A Word”, Jimmy Radcliffe – “Long After Tonight Is Over”, Garnet Mimms- “Looking For You”, Dean Parrish – “I’m On My Way” and many, many more.

Alfie Moore: A Face For Radio

Somewhere in a parallel universe little Alfie’s natural comedic performance skills were recognised by his doting parents who encouraged and developed his blossoming talent. After several years as a stage school brat Alfie’s angelic face was launched on stage and screen and the rest is history.

Meanwhile, in this universe Alfie Moore was told to stop messing about in class before being ‘encouraged’ into the grinding, grimy world of an apprenticeship in the Sheffield steelworks. When recession hit he traded steel for copper by joining Humberside Police.

Thirty years of shift-work, initially in the Sheffield steelworks and then as a copper on the beat (where he was punched in the face quite a lot), has left him with ‘a face for radio’.  A face not so much ‘lived in’ as inhabited by a settlement of squatters with little regard to property maintenance and repair.

In his 40s a surprising career shift turned middle-aged Alfie from street cop to BBC radio star. But when TV fame beckoned could he grasp it or was he past it?

 “…offbeat, revealing and very funny” You Magazine

“…thoroughly engaging, endlessly funny. His charisma shines through as bright and colourful as a twirling blue light. Mature Times