What’s On at Rio Cinema this week

Rio’s Alex Jackson brings us up to speed on the must-see releases and quirky features coming up at Rio in the next few days

Ryan Gosling stars as Neil Armstrong in First Man, which gets underway at Rio shortly - Credit: Archant

Hello Hackney,

Coming shortly to the Rio, we have the tale of ‘the most dangerous mission of the 20th Century’, First Man. This action packed lunar epic charts NASA’s 1969 attempt to put man on the moon, captivating the imaginations of millions of earthlings and bitterly disappointing cheese fanatics worldwide.

Ryan Gosling dons the bell-bottoms as astronaut Neil ‘Stretch’ Armstrong, in a hotly anticipated number directed by his celluloid soul pal – La-La Land’s Damien Chazelle – and inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s original theatrical release. Claire Foy crowns this truly regal drama as Janet Shearon, Armstrong’s wife. We won’t give away the end.

The future cult classic Mandy is also approaching on the horizon. Starring Nicholas Cage, it tells the tale of two outliers who live a life of simplicity in the Pacific Northwest of the 1980s. Their passing encounter with an LSD powered cult of motorbike riding skeletons understandably turns their lives upside down somewhat, resulting in a psychedelically tinged bloody journey into the very meaning of violent vengeance. It did well with web-critics following its release at Sundance last year, and Cage’s performance is reportedly close to a career-best.

We also have our Rocky Horror Picture Show shadow-cast event coming up in late October. It’s been going strong for 30 years in cinemas all over the world, having started humbly at Baker Street’s basement cinema in ’87. This event is set to be bonkers, with several of the various international troupes jetting in to Dalston to perform the entirety of the film on our stage simultaneously, as the feature itself is projected on the big screen. We expect a sell-out, highly energetic audience who are fully expected to take part in honing the atmosphere of the evening. Far more bizarre and awe inspiring than a sing-a-long screening, this really will be one of the highlights of 2018 for us, and we encourage bagging a ticket now to avoid missing out.

Finally, we have a few new items on our bar, as we continue our mission to stock only products sourced locally, such as our cookies made lovingly by nautically themed children’s educational charity Hackney Pirates.