Film index
My Brother Tom ( 18) .000 (Dom Rotheroe. UK. 2001) . Jenna Harrison. Ben Wishaw. Honeysuckle Weeks. 1 l 1 mins. There are a pair of outstanding perfortnances at the heart of this tale of teenage friendship set in the middle-class suburban south of England. Harrison and Wishaw are utterly compelling as Jessica and her non-bioligical btit blood-bonded and somewhat disturbed brother Tom. It reads like the sttiff of children's television programming. but My Brother ’limi is a mature piece of drama. free of cliche and trite messages and full of heart and soul. See review. (‘ameo. lidinburgh.
New York, New York ( 15) 0000 (Martin Scorsese. LS. 1977) Liza Minnelli. Robert De Niro. Lionel Slander. 153 mins. Winning combination of satirical parody and heartfelt tribute. as Scorsese tries his hand at big-budget musical comedy. The two stars are outstanding as a warring couple. De .\'iro‘s downbeat jazz saxophinist perfectly countemoising Minnelli's struggling singer in an affecting rags-lo-riches yarn. Lumiere. lidinburgh.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (PG) .0... (Henry Selick. LS. 1993) With the voices of (‘hris Sarandon. Danny lilfman. (‘atherine ()‘Hara. 76 mins. Jack Skellington. the skinny trickster king of llalloweentown. is restless with success and needs a new challenge. so he hatches a plot to kidnap Santa and creates a mixed-up Yuletide which isn‘t quite what the kids of the world expected. Produced and based on a story and characters by Tim Burton. this is a real imaginative treat - deliciously dark stop-motion animation on the big screen. Selected release.
0 North By Northwest (PU) ooooo (Alfred Hitchcock. LS. 1959) Cary (irant. live Marie Saint. James Mason. Martin Landau. 136 mins. Quintessential Hitchcock comedy-actioner with (iranl perfect as the everyday adtnan pitched into a freewheeling espionage adventure. where nobody
believes his innocence bill he finds self- worth and romance along the way. Classic sequences abound. including the crop-dust- ing routine and the Mount Rushmore cli- max. Brilliant entertainment. See Rough ctits. (il’l‘. (ilasgow.
0 Brother, Where Art Thou? ( I2) 0... (Joel ('oen. [75. 2000) (ieorge (’looney. John Turturro. Tim Blake Nelson. l()7 mins. Preston Sturges’ Sullivan 's Travels and Homer‘s The ()dl'sfit’)’ are the starting points for this 30s-set screwball comedy. Smooth-talking liverett l7lysees Mc(iill ((‘Iooney ). simpleton Delmar (Nelson) and maladjusted Pete ('I‘urturro) are members of a chain gang on the run looking for buried loot. 'l‘heirjourney tip and down the state of Mississippi brings them into contact with assorted eccentrics based on Homer's mythological figures. A lighter work for the (‘oens. more Raising Arimna than l-iirgu. btit it‘s still a rare treat. A truly captivating confederacy of dunces. (il’l‘. Glasgow.
The Others ( 12) O... (Alejandro Amentibar. l'S/Spain. 2001 ) Nicole Kidman. Fionnula Flanagan. Alakina Mann. James Bentley. l()l mins. The Others combines all the elements of the Victorian (iothic thriller. btit Amenabar's American debut is actually set on Jersey. at the end of World War 11. Kidman plays (irace. a highly-strung woman who keeps her children locked tip in an old mansion because she believes they will die if exposed to the sun. However. they do not dwell there alone. Amenabar's is a moody tale that rests on the impossibility of working out what is real and what is supernatural. A triumph of merciless psychological manipulation. (ieneral release.
Passing Summer ( 15) (Angela Schanelec. (iermany. 2001 ) L'rsina Lardi. Andreas Patton. Sophie Aigner. 85 mins. Potrait of Berlin over a six month period focussing on the lives of a group of thirtysomethings. Part of the (iertnan Film Festival. (ii-'1‘. (ilasgow; l'ilmhottse. lidinburgh.
O The Philadelphia Story (PG) 0.... (George ('ukor. 1940) Katharine Hepburn. (‘ary (iranl. James Stewart. 1 12 mins. Splendidly sophisticated Hollywood comedy with Stewart as a scatt- dalsheet reporter covering the society wed- ding of recently divorced Hepburn. ex-hubby (irant lurking in the wings. and romance recurdling despite itself. Sparkling dialogue and charismatic performances all round make this one of the best of its kind. Remade as the musical. High Society. See Rough cuts. (ilfl'. (ilasgow.
Planet Of The Apes ( l2) 0.. (Tim Burton. LS. 2001 ) Mark Wahlberg.’1‘im Roth. Helena Bonhatn Carter. 1 19 mins. Burton's remake of the science fiction classic retains more of the entertaining social satire of Pierre Boulle's source novel than the 1968 original. Nevertheless. the films share a similar plot: An astronaut (little Mark Wahlberg taking the place of tnanly. be-loinclothed ('harlton Heston) is marooned on the planet and captured by the war-like apes. He meets a liberal female chimpanzee (Helena Bonham- (‘arter). who helps him escape. and leads a revolt against the simian oppressors. As you might expect. Burton‘s Apes exceeds the original film in make-up while paying respectful homage to it. However. the plot. tone and pacing is a mess and this is the least Burton-esque of Burton's films. (‘ameo. lidinburgh.
The Princess Diaries (PG) 0
((iarry Marshall. LS. 2001 ) Anne Hathaway. Julie Andrews. Heather Matara/zo. 1 15 mins. (ioofy teenager Mia Thermopolis (Hathaway) lives with her boho artist other in San Francisco. Although Mia gets the grades rather than the boys. she hreeles happily through life. l.'ntil her paternal grandmother Queen ('larisse (Andrews) arrives at her doorstep and tells Mia she's the heir to the throne of the liuropean principality of (ienovia. Thereafter. Mia suffers under the tutorledge of her stern royal granny as she is transformed froin ugly duckling into a
charming princess. Horrible. froin sappy wish-fulfilment premise to sugar-coated execution. See review. ()deon At The Quay. (ilasgow.
Quadrophenia ( )8) 000 (Frank Roddatn. L'K. 1979) Phil Daniels. Leslie Ash. Philip Davis. Sting. 120 mins. Mods and rockers live it up on Brighton beach by swapping buckets and spades for chains and sticks. Lively first half has enough energy. music. violence and period flavour to carry it along. but all too soon it degenerates into some sort of treatise on the morality of youth. set to tunes by The Who. (irosvenor. (ilasgow.
Recess: School’s Out (1') COO ((‘huck Sheetz. LS. 2001 ) Voices ofJames Woods. Dabney ('oleman. Dan (‘aslellaneta 82 mins. Disney plunders its own small screen programming for this feature length version of its cartoon series. Rt’t‘t'.\'.\ concerns the adventures of a gang of pre- adolescent kids. whose roll call includes a natural leader. brainy nerd. cute girl. tomboy and. ertn. a little boy who sings like a man. For the big screen school outing. the gang put their mischievous ways to good use when an evil ex-principal of their school. Mr Benedict (Arnold would that be?) hatches a scheme to end summer vacations by causing permanent winter. Selected release.
Riding In Cars With Boys ( )2)
0. (Penny Marshall. LS. 2001 ) Drew Barrymore. Steve Zahn. Mika Boorem. 131 mins. Drew Barrymore plays Bev. an acadetnically-inclined 15-year-old who falls for Zahn's deadbeat and becomes pregnant. an event that destroys her career plans. Bitter and frustrated. she spends the rest of the film blaming her growing son for every lost opportunity. Based as it is on a memoir. Riding In ('urs is delined by a series of emotional tips and downs that while true to life. make for unsatisfying irony free. episodic fiction. However. Barrytnore remains engaging in an ever-mutating part.
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38 THE LIST 13 Der; 2001—Ii Jan 2002