Tag: Curzon Victoria

An Evening With Marianne & Leonard, 25 August 2019

When Janie gets a mad on to see something, she tends to want to see it there and then. So although the movie Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love would probably be available to see somewhere long after the bank holiday weekend…

…and although it was carnival weekend and the only slot that might suit us was Sunday evening at the Curzon Victoria…

…off we went. Actually the journey wasn’t too bad.

Here’s the movie trailer:

It was a very interesting movie. Janie has long been fascinated by Leonard Cohen, his muse Marianne Ihlen and the interesting lifestyle they (and many others) had on the Greek island of Hydra in the 1960s.

The movie actually spans many decades, right up until the time, in 2016, when both Marianne and Leonard, coincidentally, succumbed to Leukaemia within a few months of each other.

There was a very interesting article about this story and the movie in the Observer – here is a link to that piece.

The next day, we were invited next door to Joy’s for drinks and nibbles, where we met a nice Italian family who have just moved in to the neighbourhood. Coincidentally, the Italian gentleman was a huge fan of Leonard Cohen, although Cohen’s work is little known in Italy.

Janie and I look a little “Marianne & Leonard” in the following picture, taken that next afternoon at Joy’s…

…if you are prepared to use your imagination rather a lot.

Paddington 2, Curzon Victoria, 24 December 2017

This is a simply fabulous movie. We loved the first Paddington movie; I think we both loved this one even more.

It is even more charming, even funnier and even more action-packed/exciting than the first Paddington movie.

Here is a link to the IMDb entry for the film.

Me, outside a pub in Victoria, before the movie

I posed for a photo outside a pub, The Albert, in Victoria, before entering the Curzon, for reasons explained by clicking the photo above or this link.

This was our first time at the Curzon Victoria – very nicely done the place is too – we’ll surely go to that one again if/when it suits.

But back to Paddington 2 – superb cast yet again, with Hugh Grant doing a brilliant job as the guest villain for this particular film.

There are bits that possibly tickle me more than most people – for example the way my Notting Hill neighbourhood is depicted – so charming & quirky…almost but of not quite as it really is. Except we do have a calypso band on almost every street corner…of course we do.

Indeed I absolutely love the way London is depicted in this film – a subtle blend of modern (e.g. The Shard) and old (steam trains, telephone kiosks, Victorian prisons…umm).

Paddington 2 really did have me and Janie laughing, crying and getting excited by the action like the pair of overgrown kids we clearly are.

If you haven’t seen it yet, stop reading and start making plans to go see this film.