Tag: cinema

Get their look: Chilled home cinema

Chilled home cinemacredit

If we had a chilled home cinema like the one above, I don’t think you’d get us out of the house in the evenings – especially in the winter!

Long, slinky black sofas hugging the walls; bundles of squishy, comfy cushions; dark walls and low sloping ceiling all helping to give the ultimate cinema experience.

A home cinema is only as good as its AV equipment and it doesn’t get much better than a ceiling-mounted cinema projector and huge, electric drop down screen.

All that’s missing are the boxes of hot popcorn. Sweet or salted?

  1. Optoma HD142X long throw full HD home cinema projector
  2. Optoma DE-3120EGA Panoview 120 Inch 4:3 matt white electric drop down screen
  3. RCR Timeless whisky decanter
  4. Skull and crossbones cushion
  5. Vintage mirrored cocktail drinks tray
  6. Parsons concrete top/ stainless steel base 48×28 small rectangular coffee table
  7. Poliform ‘Dune’ modular sofa designed by Carlo Colombo

Get their look: Chilled home cinema | H is for Home

Four cinematic offices you’ll never forget

Still from The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)credit

Of course, the main thing we see when we’re watching a film is the actors and their interactions; we listen to their dialogue and watch their body language to get the full import as to the movie’s message.

Sometimes, however, the environment they’re in is just as important – it sets the backdrop, makes us feel free, fearful or inspired. In films which feature offices, you’d be forgiven for overlooking many of the sets – they’re just there to provide a place to sit, to show that people are at work. Then there are the films that use the office setting as a protagonist in itself – after all, many of us spend five days a week in one of these places, so why wouldn’t these environments loom large?

Here are four films that use offices as effective – and memorable – characters.

Still from 'The Incredibles' (2004)credit

The Incredibles

Life as a decommissioned hero is a miserable experience for Mr Incredible and there’s no greater sign of this than his cookie-cutter, grey and oppressive little office cubicle. This box is where he sits day after day, trying not to deny insurance pay-outs to elderly clients, until his bullying jobs-worth of a boss pushes him too far and ends up pile-driven through each and every wall in the place. This 2004 hit gives us a worthy metaphor for busting out of corporate chains if ever there was one.

Still from 'The Matrix' (1999)credit

The Matrix

Another maze of grey cubicles in this 1999 film, and another hero breaking out of them (almost). Keanu Reeves gets a weird call from a weird mobile phone that (weirdly) arrives in the post. The (weird) call tells him to get out of his office and so he tries. However, he (probably quite sensibly) bottles it and the men in black grab him and stifle further comment by making his mouth seal over. That doesn’t happen at your average commercial property in St James, eh?

Still showing Floor 7½ from Being John Malkovich (1999)credit

Being John Malkovich

1999 was a year for surreal offices and the Mertin-Flemmer Building in Being John Malkovich was particularly strange, what with having a half-sized floor and all. Floor 7½ gives us some very memorable moments – a pastiche corporate training video which explains the story behind the half-floor being just one. Apparently, a sea captain fell in love with a dwarf and promised to build a half-sized floor in his new office building just for her. If that wasn’t weird enough, a filing cabinet on this floor hides a portal into John Malkovich’s consciousness. Would you go through it? Really?

Still from American Psycho (2000)credit

American Psycho

This 2000 film looks back at 1980s bear-pit corporate culture through the eyes of Patrick Bateman, who may or may not be a status-driven murdering sociopath. Bateman is a mergers and acquisitions specialist who hangs his entire identity and mental stability on his cool clothes, his fancy juicer and the exotic fruit he pushes through it and his moisturiser. When his colleagues and rivals show how cool and influential they are too, he doesn’t like it. When there’s a good old dinkle-swinging contest over business cards in a conference room, Bateman finally tips over the edge and then it’s nail-guns and dead tramps all the way.

What films can you think of that contain iconic or memorable offices?