Film Review: Changeling

Changling is based on the true story of Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie), who’s son, Walter (Gattlin Griffith) went missing in 1928.  Eventually police returned a boy to her, claiming he was her son, but she was adamant they had returned the wrong boy.  Her fight to get her real son back results in her being branded delusional and committed to the psychiatric ward at Los Angeles County Hospital.

It is a good and interesting film, but it is very long and does drag a bit, particularly at the beginning.  It also leaves unanswered questions and, I’ve found out since, has some inaccuracies.

In my opinion, this is one of many films that have been ruined by the trailer giving too much away.  The trailer makes it clear that the wrong boy is returned, so the part of the film between Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) first claiming he is not her son and it becoming clear he definitely is not, is too long and boring because there is no suspense, as you already know he’s the wrong boy.  However, the film does pick up, once it is confirmed (by the dentist and teacher, not police) that he is not her son.

The film shows the corruption in the Los Angeles Police department, in 1928, and is made all the more shocking by the fact that it is based on a true story – the corruption part of the film, it seems, is completely accurate.  In fact most of the film seems to be true to the real story, except a few details about the impostor and what really happened to Walter Collins (Gattlin Griffith), but I won’t go into that, because it will ruin the film.  If you already seen the film, and want to know what I mean, click here.  The film also depicts Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) as a single mother, who’s husband left her, because he did not want the responsibility of a child.  In fact, her husband, also named Walter Collins, was in prison for burglary.

In conclusion is is a good film, with Angelina Jolie giving a great performance, and is definitely worth seeing, but be prepared for a slow beginning.  It inspired me to look up the actual events, so it must have done something right…

Tracey – OwnAFilmCompany.com

Photos From Our Launch Party

If you’ve been to this blog, or visited our website lately, you will know what we had a launch party for our new website, last Thursday.  It’s a bit difficult to write up a launch party – it was a party – there were drinks and food and music and people – but luckily we have photos to do the write up for us.

The party did include an auction of film memorabilia, in aid of Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), registered charity number 1050845.  We had planned on a silent auction, but as you can see from the photos, that didn’t really work,  so we held an impromtu normal auction.  Most of the items sold and the four that didn’t, are available for online auction now.

These photos were kindly taken by Tony Halford of Tony Halford Photography.

Online Film Memorabilia Auction, in aid of Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY)

We still have a few items left, after our launch party with silent auction, in aid of CRY, so we are going to try to sell them online, before returning them to our supplier. These are 3 day auctions, so be quick!

These items, as with all those in our silent auction, were supplied to us by a third party, at a reserve price. The reserve price goes to the supplier. Everything over and above that goes to CRY (after Ebay and credit cards fees etc have been deducted).

All items were signed in person and come with a certificate of authenticity.

All reserve prices are listed here and we will close the auction early, if a suitable offer is received, so contact us, if you would like to make an offer.

If you cannot view the auction below, click here.

Last Night’s Launch Party

A big thank you to everyone who came to our party last night, especially those who bid on the auction.  Photos coming soon, but in the meantime here’s the raffle and auction results:

Auction

Autographed In Person 16X20 Photos

• Sean Connery, James Bond – Reserve: £250 Sold for £250
• Robert DeNiro, Raging Bull – Reserve: £225 Unsold – contact us if interested
• Jack Nicholson, The Shining – Reserve: £200 Sold for £235

Autographed In Person 11X14 Photos

• Angelina Jolie – Reserve: £95 Unsold – contact us if interested
• Johnny Depp & Orlando Bloom – Pirates of the Carribean – Reserve: £150 Unsold – contact us if interested

Autographed In Person 8X10 Photos

• Heath Ledger – Reserve: £185 Unsold – contact us if interested
• Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, Men In Black – Reserve: £45 Sold for £50
• Orlando Bloom, Pirates of The Caribbean – Reserve: £35 Sold for £50
• Keanu Reeves, The Matrix – Reserve: £25 Sold for £50
• Kevin Bacon, Death Sentence – Reserve: £20 Sold for £22.50

Autographed In Person Boxing Glove

• Sylvester Stallone, “Rocky” – Reserve: £150 Sold for £170

Raffle Winners

• Two tickets to Thriller Live, donated by Adrian Grant, Producer of Thriller Live.
  Won by Maureen Judge
• Alfred Hitcock DVD Boxset, donated by OwnAFilmCompany.com.
  Won by Matt Evans
• The Audrey Hepburn Collection DVD Boxset, donated by OwnAFilmCompany.com.
  Won by Lee Gibbons
• Alyson Hanigan Autographed In Person Picture, donated by OwnAFilmCompany.com.
  Won by Jayesh Panchmatia
• Drew Barrymore Autographed In Person Picture, donated by OwnAFilmCompany.com.
  Won by Andrew McDonough
• Avon Bond Girl 007 Gift Set, donated by OwnAFilmCompany.com.
  Won by Tony Halford

More Film Memorabilia Announced

As we have already said, to celebrate the launch of our new website, we are having a launch party at Oxygen in London’s Leicester Square, on January 8th 2009. The party will include a silent auction, of film memorabilia, and business card raffle,  in aid of the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), registered charity number 1050845.  Visit www.ownafilmcompany.com/party for full details and free tickets.

We announced the first few auction items, a few days ago.  We have now secured the follwoing items as well:

AUTOGRAPHED 16X20 Photos
Jack Nicholson – The Shining
Sean Connery – James Bond
Robert DeNiro – Raging Bull

AUTOGRAPHED 11X14 Photos
Angelina Jolie
Johnny Depp & Orlando Bloom – Pirates of the Carribean

AUTOGRAPHED 8X10 Photos
Heath Ledger

AUTOGRAPHED BOXING GLOVES
Sylvester Stallone – “Rocky”