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Robin's Re-enactment of the First World War
There were no less than six wines to taste three from the French side of the trenches and a corresponding three from the German side. There was also some German and French snacks to complete the comparison as well as add to the overall theme of the evening. After carefully considered marking it was decided that the sides were evenly matched. The 1930 Oscar winning film showed the gory detail from a German perspective. I expected subtitled german actors but instead we had american actors with american accents!
Mike's American evening
Mike managed two american beauties in one evening. The first was a Robert Mondavi Fume Blanc which was described, somewhat rather oddly, as better than "tits on a griddle". This was the first white wine featured and it was highly praised. The second beauty was Mena Suvari who introduced Kevin Spacey to his very own mid life crisis. Annette Bening, Kevin Spacey and Chris Cooper (pictured) were all superb. At the end of the evening we were all glad we had survived our own midlife crisis!
Andrew's Gritty Prison Drama
Andrew wanted to try wines featuring old vine hand harvested Carignan grape variety. We comapared two wines one from the Carcassonne region in France and one from Chile. It was difficult to choose a favourite. The film shows a son meeting his father for the first time for 14 years when he is transferred into an adult prison (Starred Up) from the young offenders where he has become too violent to manage. Father steps in to try and control his son and make him fit in with the prison hirearchy. The result (not too surprisingly) is a large amount of swearing and violence!
Dave's Birdman
Dave decided that now obscurity of the film is no longer marked he could pick up some easy points by choosing a recent oscar winner. Very strange film all about a washed up actor (Michael Keaton) trying to restart his career by staging a broadway play. Edward Norton and Emma Stone are also very good in thier roles. However, it is the cinematography that is quite amazing with some takes seeming to last 15 minutes or more uninterrupted. Two similar Saint-Emilion both very good despite a £20 difference in cost. Just shows you can get some good wine at £10 per bottle.
Bruce's Russian parenting tips
Bruce had just returned from a visit to Moscow so we had a russian theme to the eveninng. Chilled Vodka was a good intorduction. The wine tasted more like Maderia so did not get a high approval rating. Food was excellent smoked salmon and small sardines best eaten in one go. The film was a dark drama filmed almost in black and white about a father taking his two sons on a holiday after a 12 year absence. Having seen the the russian attitude to fatherhood we all reallised we were too soft on our kids.
Jonathan's Bio-Pic
Jonathan hosted at short notice and introduce another new genre that we never knew existed. Two Bordeaux wines were presented from Nethergate and everyone guessed the Pomerol was the superior wine. Excellent cheeses were also supplied. The film was all about Neil Baldwin, a man who has shrugged off his perceived limitations to live an incredible life. Film and wine were well recieved to give Jonathan a high score of 3.5.
Dan's new Muse
L'Apartment for those of you that understand french which it looks like most people do given the pre show emails that were exchanged. Dan's new theme is to show only films with Monica Bellucci. Attendance was poor and Dave had to leave before the film had even started! Food was excellent french cheeses. School boy error - Dan chose a bottle of wine that had been used in the previous event.
Nick's Christmas Canape Event
Canape event was held at 76 Debden Road. Dave canape was voted the winner. See this page for more details. Choice of two wines in a blind tasting and everyone identified the more expensive wine although there was some dicussion as to whether the wine was worth three times the cost. Good attendance obtained at a difficult time of year using an online booking system which was too complicated! Robust after film discussions.
Ian's Scottish Musical
A new genre for the club and particularly brave to choose a scottish theme since there are not many vinyards in Scotland. An excellent bottle of whisky was provided instead which was sipped carefully during the evening.
Simon's Manga
Another new genre complete with Sake and Sushi.
Jimbo's and Rosemary's Baby
Jimbo hosted and selected three wines. I am glad to say the most expensive was the best! Rosemary's Baby was billed as a new genre for the club - horror - however nobody left the room at potentially frightning moments although that maybe because the thought of negotiating the stairs in the dark was deemed to be scarier. It was decided in post film discussion to track attendence! Attendence was good and food was ample.