Film
strategic position has made her part of a plot to assassinate the deputy director of homeland security. who Will be staying at her hotel the following day. Failure to co—operate Will threaten her father's life ~ an assassin is parked outside his house. Carl Ellsworth's clever script and Craven's tight direction exploit the complex chemistry between the
problem-solvrng Lisa and her ruthless
manipulator, creating an edge-of the
seat tension. which is exacerbated by
the pressurised cabin arr. The psychological mind-games are played to the hilt and the flight time rs gratifyineg short. (Nigel Floydi
I General release from Fri 2 Sop.
COMEDY THE HONEYMOONERS (PG) 89min 0.
Cedric the Entertainer plays bus driver and aspiring entrepreneur Ralph Kramden in tlrrs remake of lhe Horreymooner‘s. a (30s US lV comedy which starred Jackie Gleason. Created by the writers responsible for Big Momma's House and Police Academy 2. this new version features Kramden and his hapless neighbour Ed's (Mike T ppsi attempts to stop their spouses spotting their various moneyrnakrng schemes. which include pretending to be blind, greyhound racing and some basic sewer maintenance.
The reaction from critics and audiences in the US to this revision of Gleason's much-revered original was of such Violent loathing that The Honeymooners is already in the bottom 2:3 on the rmdb.com film ratings system. The Honeymooners isn't awful. but it is pure sitcom fodder. including such hoary routines as Kramden putting pepper on his mother-in law's dinner. only to have his Wife Alice (Regina Halli accidentally switch the plates. Oddly innocent. [)( ssibly out of respect to the original show. but completely lame as a conseuuence. it's like watching Richard Blackwood and Queen Latifah in a big screen remake of Faw/ty Towers. (deie Harrison)
I General release from l’r'r 2 Sop.
DRAMA COME DY WHISKY (15) 98min 0000
Every day Jacobo Koller (Andres Pa/osl opens up the metal shutter on his run down sock factory in MonteVIdeo and lets in his long trrne
28 THE LIST )5. [mg ‘1 f;»:;.
SCI l l MYSH HY PRIMER (12A) 77min on.
In suburban Texas, somewhere off the silicone valleys that leak onto its highways and byways, four friends muck about in their garages trying to invent something that will make them some money. Two of them, Aaron (Shane Carruth) and Abe (David Sullivan), are particularly dedicated. They nick stuff from their white-collar technology work places and tinker with various error checking devices with a geekish, if mundane, interest. When one of their primer boxes begins to have a very real personal and almost Twilight Zone effect, the two men try to grasp the potentials of commerce and outré science.
Carruth’s downbeat and unique debut feature is
something of an anomaly in the low budget US indie filmmaking scene. Played out like a deadpan, almost naturalistic political thriller a la Pakula’s All the President’s Men or Coppola’s The Conversation, the film is ultimately pushed into something more perverse and strange. In terms of ideas, the nearest comparison to this is Aronofsky’s Pi, but it’s a very slight one, for Primer is a less flashy, more original work which in all its challenging oddness bears witness to the birth of a major talent in Carruth. The film did, however, stiff in the States and may just do the same here, but as we all know and as Aaron and Abe will tell you - genius is rarely acknowledged in its time, that is until it opens the door on your worst nightmares. (Paul Dale)
I Selected release from Fri 2 Sop. See lllfOl'V/(BW. page 2:3.
; ssrstant Marta (Mrrella Pascuall. Theirs is Beckettran exrstence of repetition and non-(event. Jocobo is a tacrtui'n but polite miserablrst bachelor and Marta is a shy spinster. When Jacobo's brother Herman (Jorge Bolanr) announces that he is coming to town for the Jewrsh rnernorral service of their recently deceased mother. Jacobo asks Marta to pose as hrs Wife. to save him face in front of his sibling. But little does he know what change he is about to bring about in subservrent. harmless little Marta.
Uruguayan writer directors Juan Pablo Hebella and l’ablo Stoll's second feature (their first was the (Ill]()\/(’ll)l(} 2001 film 2:") lr't/atts) is something of an evasive. downbeat ]()\/. A peculiain sour poem of inislaid loyalty, grief and pessimism. Whisky
(so named after the local habit of saying the word instead of ‘cheese' when a photograph is taken. photos playing a major part in Jacobo and Maria's deception of Herman) is certainly against the grain of most of the South American product that is exported over here at the moment. Thernatrcally or psychologically. this could not be further away from Merrelles and Lund's City of God or Waissbluth's Los Debutantes. lts slow and slyly comic rhythm is reminiscent of Jarmusch at his best. while its lessons are half Whispered and opaque. This lovely little film seems to be saying that it is better to move as far away from your family as you possibly can. rather than to be smothered by the guilt of memory and circumstance. (Paul Dale)
I Fr/mhoirse. Edinburgh from Fri 2 Sep.
'i HRlLl {SR THE BUSINESS (18) 96min 0..
Writer director Nick Love takes the boy out of south London but he does not take south London out of the boy. As in Goodbye Char/re Bright and The Football Factory. the central protagonist in The Business is a (likeable) Cockney Wide boy who spends as much time as possible fighting, drinking. taking drugs and pulling birds. It's the 1980s and l-rankie (Danny Dyer) gurts his tower
block for a new life on Spain's Costa del Sol. He JOlllS a gang of criminals led by British gangster Charlie (Tamer Hassanl and finds la Vida loca. All Frankie has to do to keep life sweet rs not fool around With Carly (Georgina Chapman). the girlfriend of gang enforcer Sammy (Geoff Belll. Does he? Does he fuck.
The Busrness is at its best when it celebrates the fashion and music of the 80s. Love's passion for the era is clear and it's great seeing characters walk around in retro 80s casual gear looking cool. The plot is not always of the same standard. Told using a confessional first—person vorceover stolen from Goodfel/as. the rise of Frankie is told well. but does not hold form when dealing With his subsequent fall. (Kaleem Aftabl I General release from Fri 2 Sep. See feature. page (5.