{"id":85,"date":"2005-01-15T15:14:42","date_gmt":"2005-01-15T15:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/applecrumble.wordpress.com\/2005\/01\/15\/vera-drake\/"},"modified":"2017-09-20T11:31:27","modified_gmt":"2017-09-20T11:31:27","slug":"vera-drake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2005\/01\/15\/vera-drake\/","title":{"rendered":"Vera Drake"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='e-content'>We went out on Thursday night to the wonderful <a href=\"http:\/\/www.phoenixcinema.co.uk\/\" title=\"Phoenix Cinema, East Finchley\">Phoenix Cinema<\/a> in East Finchley to see <a href=\"http:\/\/uk.imdb.com\/title\/tt0383694\" title=\"Vera Drake entry at the Internet Movie Database\"><i>Vera Drake<\/i><\/a>, the latest film from director <a href=\"http:\/\/uk.imdb.com\/name\/nm0005139\/\" title=\"Mike Leigh entry at the Internet Movie Database\">Mike Leigh<\/a>.  I didn&#8217;t quite know what to expect &#8211; we had seen the trailer a week before, which looked excellent, but I had read the review in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uncut.co.uk\/\" title=\"Uncut\">Uncut<\/a> magazine, which didn&#8217;t like it at all.  It&#8217;s a wonderful, if very tragic and depressing film &#8211; probably one of the saddest things I have ever seen.  Good for a melancholy weeknight.<\/p>\n<p>Having seen the film I completely disagree with the Uncut reviewer, John Mulvey, when he calls the film &#8220;crude and unconvincing&#8221; and says that the director &#8220;drags out his thin, grim plot with sadistic relish.&#8221;  I felt the film got the pace just right &#8211; we got to know the characters and the family before things start to go awry.  From the consolidated reviews over at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.metacritic.com\/film\/titles\/veradrake\" title=\"Consolidated reviews of Vera Drake at Metacritic\">Metacritic<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rottentomatoes.com\/m\/vera_drake\/\" title=\"Consolidated reviews of Vera Drake at Rotten Tomatoes\">Rotten Tomatoes<\/a>, it looks like most people agree.<\/div>\n<p><span hidden class=\"__iawmlf-post-loop-links\" data-iawmlf-links=\"[{&quot;id&quot;:6781,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.phoenixcinema.co.uk&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20260104170012\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.phoenixcinema.co.uk\\\/&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.phoenixcinema.co.uk\\\/PhoenixCinemaLondon.dll\\\/Home&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-13 18:13:48&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-24 03:17:22&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-19 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22:43:24&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404}],&quot;broken&quot;:true,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-06-21 22:43:24&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:6785,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.rottentomatoes.com\\\/m\\\/vera_drake&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20251119004438\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.rottentomatoes.com\\\/m\\\/vera_drake&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-05 15:53:37&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-13 18:13:44&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-19 21:32:02&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-02 00:49:02&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-25 01:18:12&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-05-17 13:49:43&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-06-21 22:43:24&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-06-21 22:43:24&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]\"><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<a href=\"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2005\/01\/15\/vera-drake\/\" rel=\"bookmark\" title=\"Permalink to Vera Drake\"><div class='e-content p-summary'>We went out on Thursday night to the wonderful Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley to see Vera Drake, the latest film from director Mike Leigh. I didn&#8217;t quite know what to expect &#8211; we had seen the trailer a week before, which looked excellent, but I had read the review in Uncut magazine, which didn&#8217;t [&hellip;]<\/div>\n<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"webmentions_disabled_pings":false,"webmentions_disabled":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-85","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-film","7":"h-entry","9":"hentry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":91,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2005\/01\/23\/the-red-shoes\/","url_meta":{"origin":85,"position":0},"title":"The Red Shoes","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"23 January 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Last night we stayed in and watched The Red Shoes, an absolutely delightful film. 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As we walked over to the market, past Exchange Square, we noticed a load of trucks, lights and cables all being shifted around. On the way back we saw scores of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Film&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"On location filming Run, Fat Boy, Run","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/282453049_50be28f633_m.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":321,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2007\/02\/03\/morgan-freeman-in-the-seven-samurai-well-almost\/","url_meta":{"origin":85,"position":3},"title":"Morgan Freeman in The Seven Samurai (well, almost&#8230;)","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"3 February 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"We went to see the Sunday matinee of The Seven Samurai at The Rex last weekend. 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