Film
INTERVIEW
i' ‘1' r
KUNG FU KIDDETTE Kaleem Aftab meets Maggie Q, Bruce Willis’ toughest adversary so far In Die Hard 4.0 Maggie Q is described by Bruce Willis’ John McClane character as ‘The Asian kid that kicks people.’ Although, Maggie Q has become the first chick to kick John McClane’s behind, and was recently seen battling it out with Tom Cruise and Philip Seymour Hoffman in Mission: Impossible III, there’s more to her than karate chops. ‘l’ve never looked at myself, in that way.’ It’s easy to see why.
Maggie Denise Quigley was born and raised in Honolulu by her Vietnamese mother and American father. Feeling more Asian than American, aged 18 she decided to take a trip to Asia. ‘I felt like if I was going to make a move it would certainly be Asia. I never even thought of New York or LA. It wasn’t even in my scope.’ She took her backpack to Japan and China before a trip to Hong Kong changed her life when she was offered a modelling job and began working with singer Nicholas Tse on a series of commercials. A natural from the off, it was suggested she try her hand at acting. ‘It was another thing that just happened. I didn’t even embrace it until the third or fourth movie. I didn’t know that acting was what I liked and wanted to do. When you have no options and need to make money to go home, you'll try anything.’ In all she spent nine years in Hong Kong and her performances in Model From Hell (2000) and Jackie Chan’s Gen-Y Cops (2000), soon had Hollywood agents calling.
She’ll next be seen in a comedy Balls of Fury and then opposite Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams in The Tourist. She is, however, keen not to abandon her many fans in Asia who turned her into a star and so betwixt all her American work nipped over to China to star in the period epic Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon. Yet, nothing it seems has given her more satisfaction than beating up Willis, explaining, ‘Women love to beat up on men. No matter what they say.’
I Die Hard 4.0 is out on general release on Wed 4 Jul. See Also Released, right
Reviews
COMEDY/DRAMA MOLIERE (12A) 120min 00
Your familiarity with the work of France's most celebrated playwright may well dictate how much enjoyment you can glean from Laurent Tirard's populist fantasy about an unwritten (and untrue) episode in the life of the great Moliere. Played by Romain Duris. the king of sot)histicated comedy is introduced as a frustrated artist. desperate to have his travelling troupe play something more weighty than the kind of frivolous froth demanded by his regular commissions.
A visit to the deathbed of lost love Elmire (Laura Morante) provokes
Moliere into a lengthy flashback which.
Shakespeare in Love-style. details the circumstances which might have led him to create theatrical staples like Tartufle. The Misanthrope and The Bourgeois Gentleman.
it's a clever, but heavy-handed set- up which leads one to believe that Tirad. as both screenwriter and director will provide some insight into the great man's creative process. Yet. the notion that Moliere's base materials were handed to him on a plate by circumstance proves a demeaning one. A passable costume romp. this incarnation of Moliere comes over as little more than a sulky. grasping nobody. stitching up his bourgeoisie masters for no reason other than pettiness. and leaving the film as little more than a scribbled gloss on a great artists brilliant career. (Eddie Harrison) I Selected release from Fri 13 Jul.
DOCUMENTARY
ALSO RELEASED
Die Hard 4.0 (15) 128min 000 Renegade cop and one man destroyer of municipal property John McClane (Bruce Willis) steps up to the plate one more time. Older. but not much wiser this time out. he has to contend with a bunch of Liber geek terrorists. Good over the top action pieces and lots of reactionary guips make this a worthy inclusion in the franchise. See Maggie 0 interview. left. General release from Wed 4 Jul. Dead Silence (15) 89min
.0 When newlyweds Jamie (Ryan Kwanten) and Lisa Ashen discover an unmarked box containing an eerie lifelike ventriloguist's dummy in their new apartment. they get more than just a vaudeville act. Simple. low- key horror which uses gore with discretion to deliver some old- fashioned shocks. Saw team writer directors James Wan and Leigh Whannell's ambitious plans are. however. undone by some appalling acting and uneven characterization. Go rent 1945 horror portmanteau film Dead of Night for Brazilian filmmaker Alberto Cavalcanti's ‘The Ventriloguist's Dummy' section instead. General release from Fri 6 Jul.
Edmond (18) 82min .0.
More or less uncensored film version of David Mamet's controversial. vituperative. racial slur heavy 1982 one act play about white collar worker Edmond (William H Macy) who decides to leave his wife and embarks on an odyssey through New York's seedy underbelly with tragic conseguences. Directed by Stuart Re-Animator Gordon this. like the original play is powerful. rabid and uneven. See William H Macy interview. page 38. Ci'newor/d Renlrew Street. Glasgow from Fri 73 Jul.
DIXIE CHICKS: SHUT UP AND SING
(15) 100mm 00.
When the lead singer of the Dixie Chicks made an off-the-cuff remark at a
concert in Londoii in 2003 about the band being ashamed of President Bush coming from their home-state Texas. there's no way they could have foreseen themselves being subjected to a ViCious and sustained political attack for the next three years that culminated in a death threat. Veteran filmmaker Barbara Kopple (Havoc. Bearing Witnessl and her partner Cecilia (daughter of GregOry) Peck's rockumentary follows the Chicks over three tumultuous years that saw them berated by the media. blacklisted from country radio stations and ostracised by their core redneck fans. whose response to Natalie Maines' infamous remark prowdes the film with its title.
What happened to The Dixie Chicks is a searing indictment of a post-9M 1 America in which free speech was slammed by ignorant. hawkish patriotism. The American public's growing disillusionment With the war in Iraq. and the conCurrent decreasing popularity of President Bush. eventually ended the campaign against The Dixie Chicks. but it engendered an admirable and ongoing defiant spirit in the three musicians. Instead of heeding the advice of their former fans. The Dixie Chicks recorded an album of self-penned songs (including the single 'Not Ready to Make Nice') about the experience. went on to tour again and won a whole new audience. If there's an element of self-promotion in Kopple and Peck's film. that's no doubt part of The Dixie Chicks' strategy to triumph over adversity. Fair play to them. (Miles Fielder)
I GFT. Glasgow from Fri 13 Jul.
40 THE LIST :3-~19Jul 200/