his tail. it doesn‘t get any more twee than this. The voices work well enough and the CGl animation is good. if not adventurous. The problem is that it's distinctly lacking in humour. for both kids and adults. General release.
The Sum of All Fears (12) 0.
(Phil Alden Robinson. US. 2002) Ben Af'fleck. Morgan Freeman. Alan Bates. min. In l994's Clear and Present Danger. Tom Clancy‘s heroic spook Jack Ryan was promoted to Deputy Director of the CIA. Eight years on. he has inexplicably been demoted to junior analyst. possibly because he's lost two decades off his age and is now embodied by hunky Affleck instead of haggard Harrison Ford. But if Ryan has gone backwards. the world has most definitely moved on. The setting is the present and a nuclear warhead has fallen into the hands of a group of terrorists funded by Bates‘ neo-Nazi industrialist. The Sum ()f/lll Fears" makers
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would like you to believe they have their fingers on today's geo-political pulse. but the film's evasions (the book's terrorists are Arabs) and various plotting implausibilities are fatal flaws. Selected release.
Sunshine State ( 15) .000 (John Sayles. CK. 2002) Edie Falco. Angela Bassett. Timothy Hutton. min. The Sunshine State is Florida. The fictional setting of John Sayles' new film is Delrona Beach. a community upon which change is being forced. Property developers are buying up land now seen as a prime location for building condominiums and golf courses for the incoming rich. Sayles takes a complicated subject - how little control everyday people have over change in their lives — and treats it intelligently. opting not for flashy spectacle or cheesy sentiment. but well-crafted storytelling and solid drama which he infuses with a great deal of wry humour. FTH Cinema. Falkirk.
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0 Sweet Sixteen (18) .000 Loach. L'K. 2002) Martin Compston. \‘l'illiamRuane. Gary McCormack. 106mm. Cheeky west coast Scotland ned Liam (Compston) is awaiting his mother's release from prison. Pa's not around. so Liam. determined to give his ma a new home and a better life. begins dealing drugs. Loach‘s no frills working method sits well with screenwriter Paul Laverty‘s straightforward storytelling. which prioritises character development over fancy plotting. In his first screen role (ireenock local Compston excels as the tough kid with a tender heart. and it's his performance which lifts the film. irnbuing it with both warmth and humour and countering the balance between worthy polemic and highly watchable drama. See feature and review. (ieneral release.
The Sweetest Thing ( 15) 0
(Roger Kumble. CS. 2002) Cameron Diaz. Christina Applegate. Selma Blair. 84min. So. okay. like. the plot already: Dial and Applegate are girls that jUst wanna have fun. Lots of it. with many men. Their fiatmate (Blair). however. likes to have her fun with jUst one man. but when she and her fella split. the distraught girl takes lessons in partying from her roommates. The tables are turned when Dial. meets Mr Right and has to figure out how to replace fucking with loving. What follows is a comedy of errors (or erroneoUs comedy). wherein Dial. and Jane pussy-foot around one another with friends and family and a wedding getting in the way of true love. The SMITH)” Thing turns out to be the closing credits. General release.
Swlmf®n ( 12A) 000 (John Polson. L'S. 2002) Jesse Bradford. [Erika Christensen. 90min. Swinifla n is part of the email address of ‘bunny boiler' and new girl in town. Madison (Christensen). who has found new hi-tech ways to stalk the object of her desire. high school swimming champ. Ben (Bradford). With a handy set of closet skeletons to serve. and a bland girlfriend he loves. Ben beds (or. rather. pools) the pretty.
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cello-playing Madison. and definitely gets more than he bargained for. It is handsomely mounted. shot as it is in a high- contrast. colour-muted style. but the film fails to live tip to early promise. as it stumbles to its rather routine and somewhat redictable conclusion. (ieneral release. Talk to Her ( IS) 00000 (Pedro Almodovar. Spain. 2002) Javier (‘ainara. Dario (irandinetti. Rosario Flores. Leonor Watling. l l2min. Benigno ((‘timarzn and Marco ((irandinetti) are in love with two women . . . both of whom are hospitalised in comatose states. Benigno became a nurse so that he could care full time for his beloved once aspiring ballerina Alicia (Walling). In the hospital room next door Marco visits Lydia (Flores). a female bullfighter who was butchered in the ring. Out of these tragic circumstances a friendship forms between the two men. 721/1. 10 Her is mature Almodovar; Spain's most famous filmmaker on top form. describing complex characters and complicated emotional states in expert storytelling fashion. From the gorgeous photography. design and music to the script and remarkable performances. 721/1. In Her is a flawless film and a treat for cinema lovers. Cameo. Edinburgh. 0 Ten (cert tbc) 00000 (Abbas Kiarostami. lran. 2002) 94min. What we have here are ten scenes of a beautiful career woman in Tehran driving various people from one place to another. In each instance their conversations become interrogative. or confessional. with the woman simultaneously learning about. and teaching others. aspects of life. Kiarostami films philosophy without negating real life. and films it in such a way that there's no intellectual hierarchy. just a number of problems each of its possess but that others can help Us to solve. for all the sense of apparent aesthetic informality. Ten is a remarkably fully achieved work. Filmhouse. Edinburgh.
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