Film
The Golden Compass ( 12A) eee ((‘hris Weitz. L'S/lfK. 2007) Nicole Kidman. Dakota Blue Richards. lan McKellen. Sam Elliot 105mm. Based on the novel by Phillip Pullman. this fantasy adventure follows Lyra (Richards). who has been entrUsted with the last remaining 'alethiometer'. or golden compass, which she inUst keep frorn the pow er-cra/ed Magisterrurn The world Weit/ has created is beautifully designed and fascinating. but choppily structured and lacking in much of what makes the book so complex and provocative. lt's Paradise Missed. General release.
Tit. Good Night ( 15) 0 (Jake Paltrow. UK/L'S/Germany. 2007) Penelope Cruz. Martin Freeman. Gwyneth Paltrow. 93min. See review. page 39. (‘inevi'orld Renjreiv Street. Ulavguw .' ('rneii'orld lidinburgh. Edinburgh.
Grizzly Man ( IS) 0... (Werner Herzog. US. 2005) l03min. Herzog's superb documentary about Timothy Treadwell. the troubled and eccentric environmentalist and former actor who sought redemption through dedicating himself to saving grizzly bears. filmed some incredible footage of them and was eventually killed by them. This (‘onradian portrait of a man coming apart in the middle of nature makes for astounding. disturbing viewing. Canter). Edinburgh. Haiia Bol (12A) (Rajkumar Santoshi. India. 2007) Ajay Devgan. Vidya Balan. Pankaj Kapoor. l45min. Bollywood movie about a small town boy (Devgan) who dreams of being a film star. and is corrupted by wealth and fame. ('i’neii-orld Renfrew' Street. Glasgow: (’inew‘orld Edinburgh. Edinburgh.
Happily H’Ever After (U) ee
(Paul J Bolger. Yvette Kaplan. US/Germany. 2007) Sarah Michelle (iellar. Freddie Prinze Jr. John Di Maggio. Sigourney Weaver. 86min. Two bumbling sorcerer's apprentices. a pig called Munck (Wallace Shawn) and a cat called Mambo
Faikirk Council
Faikirit Town Hall
Once (15)
plus short: Scene, with intro Mon 27 Jan
7:30pm
And When Did You Last See Your Father (12A)
Tues 22 Jan 1 1:00am, 1:30pm, 7:30pm
Special Event: The Scottish Screen
Archive Presents... Sun 27 Jan 3:00pm
The Counterfeiters (15) Mon 28 Jan 7:30pm
Control (15) Weds 30 Jan 7:30pm
Tickets and further iniormation from The Steeple Box Oflice or on
the door from FTH Cinema
0 1 324 506850
48 TH. LIST 17-31 Jan 2008
(Andy Dick) accidentally allow evil witch Frieda (Sigourney Weaver) to alter the balance of good and evil in the magic kingdom. Disappointineg familiar contemporary take on olde fairy tales (‘inew'orld Parkhead. Glasgow. ('(neworld Edinburgh. Edinburgh
I Am Legend ( l5) “0 (Francis Lawrence. [S 2007) Will Smith. Willow Smith. Darrell Foster. l00min Surprisingly solid adaptation of Richard Matheson's much-filmed novel about the possible last man on earth (Smith) and his attempts to find a cure for the man-made bacterial virus that has killed off everyone else. bar a few mutant vampires. General releave.
I’m Hot There ( IS) eeee (Todd Haynes. US/Germany. 2007) Cate Blanchett. Christian Bale. Richard (iere. Heath Ledger. l36min. Six actors play seven interpretations of Bob Dylan in Haynes‘ sleek. stylish. clever and wholly engrossing meditation on the life of the folk singing bard. Divided between black and white and colour. I'm Not There is a work of great emotion and rninstrelsy. A film of great playfulness and rare semiotic insight. ('ineii'orld Renfrevi' Street. Glasgow; Cameo. Edinburgh.
in the Valley of Blah ( )5) ea
(Paul Haggis. US. 2007) Tommy Lee Jones. Charlize Theron. Susan Sarandon. I2 l min. See review. page 38. Selected release. incident at Ogiala (PG) eee (Michael Apted. US. 199]) 89min. Apted's absorbing documentary. narrated by Robert Redford. examines the events surrounding the murder of two FBI agents at Wounded Knee in 1975 and the subsequent jailing of American Indian Movement activist Leonard Peltier. Because it lacks footage of certain key witnesses. however. the result is interesting but unsatisfying. ACE. Edinburgh.
Into the Wild ( l5) 0... (Sean Penn. US. 2007) Marcia Gay Harden. William Hurt. Emile Hirsch. l48min. Robust yet freewheeling adaptation of John Krakauer's non-fiction book about the extraordinary experiences of young American college graduate and society dropout (‘hristopher McCandless (Hirsch). who traded his privileged future for a life on the road. Penn‘s portrait of McCandless' travels is a poetic and rornanticised one. beautifully photographed by French cinematographer Eric Gautier and unspooling as a series of largely life-affirming encounters with nature and fellow travellers. Cameo. Edinburgh.
The laland Tapes Four silent documentaries from the Scottish Screen Archive form the backdrop for live scores from David Allison. Allan Neave. [an Melrose and Alyth McCormack. Glasgow Film Theatre. Glasgow.
K2 ( l2) 0... (Rex Bloomstein. UK. 2005) 97min. Filmed over five weeks at the Austrian concentration camp. Mauthausen. KZ follows tour guides and tourists around the site. Focusing on the small-scale and immediate reactions Bloornstein suggests that just accepting the presence of such a place is 'an attack on the mind'. Part of Holocaust Memorial Day. Film/rouse. Edinburgh.
The Killing of Slater George ( )8) 0.. (Robert Aldrich. US. 1968) Beryl Reid. Susannah York. Coral Browne. 138mm. Reid plays an ageing actress fired from TV soap. and finding her life in general and her relationship with her girlfriend (York). in particular. collapsing around her. Aldrich. the master of ‘Grand Guignol' excess like Whatever Happened To Baby' Jane”. was entirely the wrong director for this screen version of Frank Marcus’s celebrated play. and the result is a leering piece of grotesquerie that lacks compassion or understanding of the central characters. A Psychotronic Cinema presentation. Glasgow Film Theatre. Glasgow: Film/rouse. Edinburgh.
The Kite Runner ( 12A) eeee
(Marc Forster. US. 2007) Khalid Abdalla. Ehsan Aman. Vsevolod Bardashev. l28min. Gripping and moving adaptation of the novel by Khaled Hosseini. about two boys whose ordinary lives become caught up in Afghanistan's tumultuous politics.
Spanning three decades and two continents. The Kite Runner is a saga of guilt. regret and redemption As a meditation on Afghanistan. it will always have to stand in line with Siddiq Barrnak‘s disturbing ()xania and Samira Makhmalbaf ’s A: I‘ll! in the sitter—noon. but that is fine company (0 keep. Selet .‘c‘tl I’r'lt'u’u'
Lady Godiva ( l2Ai O (Vicky
Jew son. LR. 2008) Phoebe Thomas. Matthew (‘hambers 05min See review. page 39. Selet ted release from [rt 35 .Ian Laat Tango in Paris ( ts. eeee (Bernardo Bertolucci. France/Italy. l‘FZ) Marlon Brando. Maria Schneider 130mm A young Parisienne meets a middle aged man with whom she develops an increasingly violent and purely sexual relationship. ()ne of the key films of its decade. Bertolucci's powerful drama is a meditation on the expression and communication of personal identity through intense sexual contact. (ilasgovt l-ilm Theatre. (ilasgovi.
Lightning Over Water (PU) eeee (Nicholas Ray ac \k'im Wenders. West Geriiiany/Sweden. l980) 9| min. As .i final project before dying of cancer. Nicholas Ray wanted to create a film about a painter who sailed to (‘hina in search of a cure for cancer. Filmmaker Wiin \N'enders JtHilL‘sl Ray to help with his work. but their ultimate product turns out to be this haunting documentary about the stages of Ray's death. Part of Wenders season. Film/rouse. Edinburgh.
Lunacy ( 18) 0... (Jan Svankmater. (‘zech Republic. 2005) Pavel l,iska. Jan Triska. Anna Geislerova. l23min. l.ive action. stop-motion. sex. violence and gallows humour as Jean travels through modern day (‘Iech Republic and meets the Marquis who lives as if it's the fifth century. Based on two short stories by Edgar Allan Poe and the works of the Marquis de Sade. Part of An Introduction to European ('inema. I'ilttthottve. Iidinbrrrg/r. Luat, Caution (18).... (Ang Lee. USA/China/liiiwan/Hong Kong. 2007) Tony Leung (‘hiu Wai. Wei Tang. Joen Chen. Lee-Horn Wang. l58min. Lee's newest outing is an espionage thriller. lii WWII Shanghai. Wong ('hia (‘hi (Wei Tang). under the tutelage of Ktiang Yu Min (Lee-Horn Wang). goes undercover to ferret out Japanese collaborator Mr Yee (Leung). Lushly designed and full of excellent performances this is the kind of mature historical thriller we've come to expect of Lee and co-writer James Schamus. Selected release.
M'A'S'i‘i ( l5) (Robert Altman. L'S. l‘)70) Donald Sutherland. Toni Skerritt. lilliot Gould. l lbmin. In the film that preceded the long-running TV show. ('aptain Benjamin Franklin ‘Haw key'e' Pierce (Sutherland) and (‘aptain Augustus Bedford ‘Duke' Forrest (Skerritt) arrive at the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Korea and get up to mischief rather than surgery or fighting in this groundbreaking satirical anti-war comedy. Edinburgh I‘ilm (Ira/d. Edinburgh.
The Mad Fox (Koiya koi naauna koi) ( l5) .0. (Tomu L'chida. Japan. l962) Hashi/o ()kawa. Michiko Saga. Ryunosuke Tsukigata. 109mm. A traditional tale of love told from beyond the grave. as a fox takes human form after falling in love with a court diviner. Part of Uchida season. l’ilnihouse. Edinburgh. Madame DuBarry (E) eee (tirnsi Lubitsch. Gennany. I919) Pola Negri. Emil Jannings. 85min. A historical epic charting the rise of Madame DuBarry (Negri) from shop girl to the tttlsiress of Louis XV of France during the time of the French Revolution. Edinburgh Film Gui/d. Edinburgh.
The Magic Flute (PG) eee
(Kenneth Branagh. L'K/France. 2006) Joseph Kaiser. Amy Carson. Rene Pape. l38min. This risky cinematic venture transfers Mozart‘s opera to the battlefields of WW1. The film‘s concepts hold strong. creating a dreamlike world in which soldier Tamino (Kaiser) mUst bring peace by finding love in the midst of death. But while the singing is wonderful. the acting is weak. and Branagh's visual imagination
ultimately falls short (has. .. 1.": ’12:..."( The Maltese Falcon .l'( .. eeee (John Huston. l S. l"~3i i ll'aiiiplitcy
Bogart. \lary -\stor. Sidney trrccnsticct Peter I one llllll‘lli quintessential. c laustiophobic film iioii Bogart is caught in a web of vls‘ss‘ll and
(i... v\‘( '~'.
lltistoii's first film is a
betrayal .is the lat \lan uses every means including murder. to get his hands on the elusive ornament of the title forget the twists and turns of l).tslllc‘ll llaiiiriictt's plot. enroy instead the darkly ct‘llllv world peopled by Sam Spade and Joel (‘aiio
St otvniar: \t It urine Room blitz/“titer: The Man Who Wasn't There ls. .... (Joel (Kiel). l \. .‘lNll litlly limb 'l'hornton. l'l.lich‘\ \lclioriiiand. .lamcs (iandolfiiii lltimin Set in the (Lilitoiiiian backwater town of Santa Rosa slls.t the I‘lJt)s_ Ih. \lar: ll no llavr: .' llrr ’( takes its cue from the cynical world of pulp sllllit‘ writers like James M ('an) lhc tale turns on a regular fella. l'hointon's mild iiiaiincicd barber ltd ('iane. who is unw ittmgly the catalyst lot a spiralling series of events beginning with infidelity and estoition and ending with. well. maybe you \.lll guess \ w ry-humouied. retro styled. “It kedly plotted. moody gem Part of ('oeii brothers season l'lltttltrttlu'. [thiamine/i Mee-Shee: The Water Giant l Hi) (John llendeison. l'K/’(ieiiiiaiiy. 200*) Bruce (iieenwood. l)amcl \lagdci. locl ’l‘obeck “5min A young boy is devastated when the planned vacation with his father is cancelled due to .iii emergency salvage mission at a remote ('anadian lakc But when lit' (llscoyets the lake ts known as tltr' home of a iiiythrcal creature. \lat makes it his llilssltlf) it) ptm t‘ lllt'lt'K ll)(ilt' lo lltt‘ story that) |ttst folklore (incisor/d Par/(head. (i/avgow ('itu'nor/t/ l (llHl’H/tfll. Iidrnbuigh
Miller’s Crossing ( Is) eeee (Jot-I ('oen. l'S. l‘l‘)0) (iabiicl Byine. .‘\ll‘t'll Finney. Marcia (iay llaideii. John llll'llllli). Jort Polito. Jl: l'recmaii ll5iiiin 'l he (‘ocn Brothers‘ latest opus is .i predictably quirky-but-sty lisli reworking of genre material in this case the gangster flick Set in an unnamed liast ('oast city iii the l‘Hlls. it centres on tltc falling out between mob leader l-inney and his right hand man Byrne when both take .i shine to the same broad (Harden). Part of (‘oeii brothers season I-rlniliouye. lzdinburgli
Mr Magorium’a Wonder Emporium (l') O. (/.ach llelm. IS. 2007) Natalie Portriian. /.ach Mills. l)ustin Hoffman. ‘Mmin Molly Mahoney (Portman) is the awkward and insecure manager of Mr Magoriurii's “tinder liinporium. the strangest .iiid iiiost l.fill.l\lis toy store in the world But when \lr Magorium bequeaths the store to her. a dark and ominous change comes over the liinporium. Besides the irresistible high of seeing Portman finding her witchcraft. nothing has much resonance here It‘s all bright surfaces with nothing behind them. and the result is flat and inciinscquential Selected I‘eli'avr'
Nancy Drew ( f’(‘.) e (Andrew Fleming. LS. 2007) lzmma Roberts. Josh Hitter. Max 'l‘hieriot. Rachael Leigh (‘ook 99min. Hasty update of the venerable teenage gumshoe franchise. in w liicli Fleming unwiser attempts to ramp up the charm of ('arolyn Keene's old fashioned gal by throwing her into glit/y modern-day LA. Despllc the perks of a polished \ltl(llii production. Nani \ Drew feels (informed. hollow and vacuous. lite lzdoibu/eli ()r urn. Edinburgh.
Hell Young: Heart of Gold (no) 0.. (Jonathan Deinme. l'S. 200m Neil Young. Larry ('ragg. l'.ll|ll)_\l()U Harris. 103mm. A concert movie depicting the two nights Young played at Nashv ille‘s legendary Ryrnan auditorium in August 2005 jmt a few short months after he was diagnosed with a potentially fatal brain aneurism. The interviews and audience perspective performance footage show him to be in rude health in this nicely contrasting companion piece to Jim JarmUsch's 1997 concert tour documentary. Year n) the Horse (irosi'enor. (i/ayerm.