Not About Pasta But About A Sci-Fi Festival & 'The Joneses'

My meeting finished at 12.55, and I decided to go and see a film. I loaded up the flickster app on my phone to find out what the next movie to start was; and it was 'The Joneses' at the Apollo Cinema. Two thoughts crossed my mind. One was about pasta, and irrelevant to this blog. The other, was about the fact that I had never been to see a film at the Apollo cinema, nor had I ever eaten pasta there.
The place was bustling. I immediately got the feeling that some kind of geekfest was going on, especially after seeing two guys arguing about a spaceship and another guy with no teeth carrying a plastic sword. After buying my ticket and heading down towards the screen; I noticed the geekfest in full swing. Namely, quite a few guys in dark clothing talking about spaceship type things and wondering why there were no girls around.

If I sound like I'm mocking them, I am. However, to be honest, I felt a bit jealous. I love film, don't get me wrong. But I don't get genre erections like these people do. My love for film is a love for pretty standard stuff. The stuff you don't get geekfests for. These guys came together for their common love; spaceships, male bonding over spaceships, and books about spaceships. And I felt jealous. How great it is that they can all get together to see the eagerly awaited 'Daleks Invasion Earth 2150AD' and be stupendously excited about it. Not only that but they could buy the book about it whilst eating a cupcake and talking about other similar spaceship movies.

This is the great power of film-- how people can love a very specific thing and enjoy it together, and enjoy it together naked (I got the impression they were all going to get naked. A big naked geekfest. I could be wrong).

I sat and waited for 'The Joneses' to start. The film started at 1.05pm, except that it didn't. 1.15pm arrived and nothing was happening on screen. I was about to go and inform one of the staff that the projectionist was sleeping but then a grumpy dude from the back row stormed out in a rush. So I assumed he was taking care of business. Not totally sure what happened, but I suspect a sleeping projectionist. Probably because he's been made to watch Sci-Fi movies all week.
So, 'The Joneses.' David Duchnovny and Demi Moore were a real treat. You can just see how they had a blast with this movie. Duchovny has such great screen charisma; you just imagine him strolling onto the set, joking around, and barely noticing they've said 'Action!.' Demi Moore is a complete pro, and completely natural - she's instantly compelling on screen. Watching the two of them, it was plain, simple, movie-watching bliss. They just know how to bring it. The script was fine, the concept interesting - but the highlight, definitely, is the two old pros in front of the camera.

The Geekfest, if you're interested, is the Sci-Fi London Film Festival and, joking aside, looks like a well-run and interesting festival. It's just not my cup of space tea. And I prefer to be clothed when watching movies in public.

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