Film
Millions (12A) 0... (Danny Boyle. L'K/L'S. 2004) Alexander Nathan Etel. Lewis Owen McGibbon. James Nesbitt. Daisy Donovan. 98min. Preview screening of Boyle and writer Frank Cottrell Boyce‘s great kiddies' film about two brothers who find a bunch of sterling ten days before the euro is brought in to the UK. Reviewed next issue. UGC Renfrew Street. Glasgow. Glasgow; UGC Cinemas Edinburgh.
Edinburgh. Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (l2A) S (John Pasquin.
US. 2004) Sandra Bullock. Regina King. Enrique Murciano. William Shatner.
1 15min. Tepid sequel to 2000‘s cute comedy thriller vehicle which temporarily stemmed Bullock's declining career. Showcase C inema. Paisley. Paisley. Mommle Dearest (15) eee (Frank Perry. US. 1981) Faye Dunaway. Diana Scarwid. Steve Forest. 129min. An eyebrow-raising account of the private life of Hollywood star Joan Crawford (here played by Dunaway) as seen through the eyes of adopted daughter Christina. Fans of Ms Crawford won‘t be happy with the portrayal of her as an abusive mother. Still. that's the way she was. Glasgow Film Theatre. Glasgow.
Monster In Law (12A) (Robert Luketic. LS. 2005) Jennifer Lopez. Jane Fonda. Michael Vartan. Wanda Sykes. lOlmin. When Charlotte Honeywell (Lopez) finally meets her perfect man. Kevin (Vartan). she has tojump one last hurdle — his merciless. overprotective mother (Fonda). who will do anything to destroy their relationship. Clichéd comedy. See picture caption. Selected release.
Mrs MInIver (L') 0.. (William Wyler. US. 1942) Greer Garson. Walter Pidgeon. l34min. Multi-Oscar winning film about family life experiences in WWII Britain. Vin Miniver courts the granddaughter of local nobility before joining the RAF. father Clem takes part in the evacuation of Dunkirk. while Mrs Miniver faces life on the home front. Glasgow Film Theatre. Glasgow.
>2: Mysterious Skin (18) eeee (Gregg Araki. LS. 2004) Brady Corbet. J0seph Gordon-Levitt. Elisabeth Shue. Mary Lynn Rajskub. Michelle Trachtenberg 105min. See interview. page 49. and review. page 50.
Napoleon Dynamite (PG) eee
(Jared Hess. US. 2004) John Heder. John Gries. Aaron Ruell. 90min. Napoleon (Heder) is a quirky teenage geek who believes he has the potential to rule the universe through the most oddball means but when his grandmother cracks her coccyx in a motorbike accident. sleazy L'ncle Rico (Gries) is called in as babysitter. Funny if uneven misfit comedy which feels like it could have been made at any point between 1979 and now. See picture caption. Glasgow Film Theatre. Glasgow:
>§= Nashville (15) eeeee (Robert Altman. US. 1975) Ned Beatty. Karen Black. Keith Carradine. lélmin. See review. page 49. Glasgow Film Theatre. Glasgow.
FTH
Thursday 12th May
SIDEWAYS (15) 70.30am and
7.30pm
Tickets and further information from The Steeple Box office
(Tel: 01324 506850)
or on the day from the hall
58 TH! LIST 12—26 May 2005
Ong-Bak ( 18) O. (Prachya Pinkaew. Thailand. 2003) Tony Jaa. Petchtai Wongkamlao. Petchthai Wongkamlao. l05min. See review. page 49. UGC Rea/rew- Street. Glasgow. Glasgow; L'GC Cinemas Edinburgh. Edinburgh.
Orange Love Story ( 15) (Tom Cowan . Australia. 2004) Ellen Rossi. John Merkel. 83min. A rural romance about a heroine who braves love. loss. longing and lust. Made tip of improvised love narratives by non- professional actors from the New South Wales town of Orange and woven together by writer Adam Bowen. this is an experimental and poignant film. Part of the Australian Film Festival. Film/rouse. Edinburgh.
Oyster Farmer ( 18) (Anna Reeves. Australia. 2004) Jack Thompson. Kerry Armstrong. David Field. Jim Norton. 91min. A smouldering drama with a comic touch. Jack steals money to help his sick sister. mails it to himself at a remote oyster- farming town. but it goes missing when the postman has a heart attack and dies on his round. Pan of the Australian Film Festival. Film/rouse. Edinburgh.
>3: Palindromee (15) eeee (Todd Solondz. LS. 2004) Steven Adly-Guirgis. Ellen Barkin. Walter Bobbie. Sharon Wilkins. Jennifer Jason Leigh. 99min. This the fourth feature film by Solond'l. was supposed to be a sequel to his superb 1995 debut film Welcome to the Dollhouse. but Heather Matarazzo. the actress who played the troubled. unattractive schoolgirl Dawn Weiner in that film understandably refused to have anything to do with it. And so it is that Palindromes uses Dawn's funeral to kick off the winding tale of her cousin Aviva (played by several different markedly different looking actresses including Wilkinson. and Leigh). Thirteen-year—old Aviva gets pregnant and her uptight mother Joyce (Barkin) forces her to have an abortion. Devastated. Aviva takes off on the road. determined to get pregnant again but fate brings her to Mama Sunshine's religiotis commune. Hilariously disgraceful satire of pro and anti abortionists. Glasgow I-‘ilm Theatre. Glasgow: Cameo. Edinburgh. Peaches ( 15) 0. (Nick Grosso. UK. 2001) Matthew Rhys. Matthew Dunster. Kelly Reilly. 82min. lt’s summer in Camden Town. Frank (Rhys) has dropped out of college. and he's living rent-free with his mate Pete (Dunster). The lodgcr's in no hurry to get ajob though. and anyway. he‘d much prefer to be out chasing women. His equilibrium is disrupted when Cherry (Reilly) confesses that she's had a crush on
4‘
him for several years. Shot for budgetary reasons in Dublin. this London-set slacker picture was adapted for the screen by writer- director Grosso from his original play. The cinematic model is American indies like .S‘wingers. although this is an uninvolving and stagily mounted effort. which trudges along through a cloud of misogyny. Part of the Australian Film Festival. l'llltlltouse. Edinburgh.
Pooh’s Heflalump Movie (Li)
0. (Frank Nissen. CS. 2005) David ()gden Stiers. Jim Cummings (voices). 68min. Another camp adventure from Thousand Acre Woods. Tigger gets all the best lines again. L'GC Ren/rew Street. Glasgow. Glasgow:
The President versus David chka (l5) (Curtis Levy. Atistralia. 2004) 82min. Levy charts the trial of David Hicks. incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay for two years and refused a normal trial or access to his family. The documentary attempts to understand what led the Aussie to become a Taliban fighter. Part of the Australian Film Festival. Film/louse. Edinburgh.
=3: Private ( 18) eeee (Saverio Costanlo. Italy. 2004) Hend Ayoub. Mohammad Bakri. Lior .Miller. 94min. See review. page 48. and interview. page 51. Film/louse. Edinburgh.
Racing Stripes (t') eee (Frederik Du Chau. South Africa/LS. 2004) Voices of Frankie Muniz. Mandy Moore. Hayden Panettiere. l0lmin. Orphaned zebra (Muniz) is adopted by wannabe jockey Channing (Panettierre). ()nce Stripes gets a load of the racecourse next door. the cocky young animal's desire to compete alongside them outstrips Channing's urge to ride him. but the odds are stacked against him. This innocuous family comedy set on a farm in Kentucky wrangles live action animals to cute effect. (Irosvenoi; Glasgow:
The Ring Not15)oooo (Hideo Nakata. CS. 2005) Naomi Watts. Kelly Stables. 109mm. Filmmaker Nakata directs the American Ring sequel. Fans of Nakata will be pleased to learn that he‘s replaced plot consistency with his own brilliant brand of sUspense that makes it almost impossible to guess what. when or where the scares will come. He's changed the conundrum that faces returning heroine Rachel Keller (Watts). The challenge now is whether she will kill her own son to get rid of Samara (Stables). Samara is also a much more powerful foe. able to possess bodies. Ring 2 works because Nakata concentrates on what he knows best without trying to adapt his style to fit Hollywood. For once a L'S
.‘ fly. .1 My
S Lovely new print of Tarkovsky’s 1979 sci-fi film about a
shaven headed sherpa guide who leads three very different pilgrims into the treacherous ‘Zone’. A work rich with complex allegory. I GFII Glasgow (Wed 78 and Thu 79 only).
remake of a classic Asian horror film proves itsle to be a furtive work of fusion. .S'howcase Cinema. Paisley. Paisley. Robots (L') 0. (Chris Wedge. Carlos Saldhana. LS. 2005) Voices of Robin Williams. Halle Berry. Greg Kinnear. Ewan McGregor. 91min. New animated adventure frotn the makers of Ice Age. Rodney Copperbottom (McGregor) is a working class robot whose dreams of becoming an inventor are dashed when he discovers that Bigwelt. the largest corporation in the city. has been overtaken by Ratchet (Kinnear). a ruthless capitalist who makes Rupert Murdoch look like Karl Marx. ()n this showing the CG] formula is desperately in need of an upgrade. General release.
Rope ( 15) 0... (Alfred Hitchcock. LS. 1948) James Stewart. John Dall. Farley Granger. 8 l min. Just as the two young gay protagonists play an intellectual game of murder to prove their superiority. Hitchcock shows off his skills by constructing the movie in uncut 10-minute takes. Some of the dialogue is a little philosophically heavy. which weighs down the parlour fun of the concept. but it does provide another example of the strangely perverse fascinations of the director. See picture caption. Glasgow Film Theatre. Glasgow.
Sahara (12A) .0 (Breck Eisner. CS. 2005) Matthew McConaughey. Penelope Cruz. Steve Zahn. 125mm. Functional action-adventure thriller. based on the novel by Clive Cttssler. which tries and fails to revive the spirit of Indiana Jones. While director Eisner ensures that the story moves along at a decent clip. the film doesn't even manage to match the 2004 modern-day scavenger hunt National Treasure for excitement. General release.
Seed of Chucky ( 15) .0. (Don Mancini. LS. 2004) Jennifer Tilly. Billy Boyd. Hannah Spearritt. John Waters. Redman. 86min. See profile. page 50. and review. page 51. Selected release. Shattered Glass (12A) eee (Billy Ray. LS. 2003) Hayden Christensen. Peter Sarsgaard. Chloe Sevigny. Rosario Dawson. Melanie Lynskey. 94min. Tom Cruise produced this singularly intelligent L'S indie that details the highs and lows of the journalistic career of real life fabulist Stephen Glass. a young man who was found to have made up half of his groundbreaking investigative stories in the late l990s. A fascinating cautionary tale that offers real insight into the machinations of the CS small press world. Christiensen and Sarsgaard shine in the lead roles. Part of Media Season. l-‘ilmhouse. Edinburgh. Short and Sweet (L') (Various. 2002—2004 ) A selection ofdelightful short animated films frotn around the world. including Cracking Contraptimts. starring Wallace and Gromit. The shorts are in English or without dialogue. and suitable for the youngest of film fans. Film/rouse. Edinburgh.
Shrek 2 (L') .0. (Andrew Adamson. Kelly Asbury. Conrad Vernon . LS. 2004) Mike Myers. Eddie Murphy. Cameron Diaz. Julie Andrews. Antonio Banderas. John Cleese. Rupert Everett. Jennifer Saunders. 92min. Patchy. episodic sequel to DreamWorks‘ inspired. satirical riff on Disney fairy tales. this fails to replicate the magic of the original. Back from honeymoon. swamp-dwelling Shrek and his bride. Princess Fiona are invited to visit his in-laws. King Harold and Queen Lillian. rulers of the kingdom of Far Far Away. Zorro-like assassin Puss in Boots (Banderas) is hired to do away with the ogre interloper and restore the natural order. But the plotters have underestimated Fiona's love. Shrek‘s sense of self-worth and the loyalty of their asinine sidekick. Donkey (Murphy). Grosi'enot: Glasgow:
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