Blog

UPP Films of the Year 2024

UPP Films of the Year 2024

As 2024 comes to a close, it’s time to celebrate the standout films that defined the year. From visionary directors such as Yorgos Lanthimos and Jonthan Glazer to unforgettable performances from the likes of Andrew Scott and Emma Stone, these are the UPP's Films of...

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Magnolia: All Life’s Rich Tapestry is Here

Magnolia: All Life’s Rich Tapestry is Here

Paul Thomas Anderson is, arguably, the finest American film director, currently working. Yes, he’s had his misfires (Inherent Vice and The Master most definitely have their longeurs) and he regularly fluffs his endings (the otherwise perfect Licorice Pizza literally...

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Gilda Lights a Mighty Fire

Gilda Lights a Mighty Fire

Charles Vidor’s 1946 Gilda, which is screening in a new 75th anniversary print at the UPP this month, with its eponymous femme fatale central character; brooding atmosphere (courtesy of Carl Dreyer’s cinematographer Rudolph Matte) and dark thematic concerns is (in...

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The “Other” Great Gene: Gene Wilder Re-evaluated

The “Other” Great Gene: Gene Wilder Re-evaluated

I have already written elsewhere about the work of Gene Hackman, one of the finest actors to emerge from Hollywood in the late 1960s and early 70s, but, lest we forget, there was also another great Gene to be found on our screens around the same time – the hilariously...

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Down in the Sewer: The Third Man at 75

Down in the Sewer: The Third Man at 75

Carol Reed is certainly one of the great British film makers. Up there with Powell and Pressburger, David Lean and Alfred Hitchcock although he is, arguably, less well-known. It was a trilogy of films in the mid 1940s which made him a force to be reckoned with - IRA...

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Lone Star: Dead in the Heart of Texas

Lone Star: Dead in the Heart of Texas

“Lefty” filmmaker John Sayles wrote and directed an extraordinary run of intelligent, small-scale independent American movies in the 1990s and early 2000s. Not bad for a guy I first got to know as the scriptwriter of several low budget shockers in the 1980s, including...

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The 1970s – Hollywood’s Second Golden Age

The 1970s – Hollywood’s Second Golden Age

They don’t call the 1970s, Hollywood’s “second” Golden Age, for nothing. Looking back upon the decade, it’s an extraordinarily rich period and one of the most interesting films from those golden years is playing in a re-mastered copy at the UPP over the coming months...

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Plan your visit

Our beautiful art deco inspired auditorium can be found just off East Oxford's Cowley Road. We are open 7 days a week. We open the cinema and box office 30 minutes before the scheduled start time of each film, and the Box Office then closes 10 minutes after the film starts. We don’t show adverts, just a couple of trailers, so don't be late as the film itself starts very close to the advertised time!