Film Reviews
DOCUMENTARY GONZO: THE LIFE AND WORK OF HUNTER S THOMPSON (15) 119min ●●●●●
Alex Gibney’s informative new documentary about the photojournalist and socio-political chronicler’s turbulent life and work obviously involved a lot of extra- curricular activity. Mapping a trajectory from young
Twain and Fitzgerald inspired Thompson through his dark dealings with the Hell’s angels, Richard Nixon and Americans politics in general all the way through to the day his toxin- riddled ashes were fired skywards in a rocket, Gibney has been thorough. Everyone from Tom Wolfe and Ralf Steadman to Johnny Depp are wheeled out to recall the mischievous outlaw journalist while Gibney utilises intimate, never-before-seen home videos, fancy split screen rostrum and animation work to paint a portrait more revealing than before of the comic American writer.
There’s some really interesting stuff here on Thompson’s attempt to be elected Sheriff of Aspen, the 1972 Campaign trail with Democrat senator George McGovern, the sexual promiscuity committed in the house he shared with his wife and children and the years of decline.
But there are also plenty of annoying bits – Depp reading out excerpts of Thompson’s Rolling Stone articles as if they were Shakespearean sonnets is just embarrassing and the many excerpts from the films adapted from his work are at best unnecessary. On the whole though, if you are new to Thompson’s work or just needing a refresher course, Gibney’s film is a testament to the objectional whirlwind of Thompson’s life. (Paul Dale) ■ Selected release from Fri 19 Dec.
EPIC/ROMANCE AUSTRALIA (12A) 165min ●●●●●
Baz Luhrmann (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo & Juliet and Moulin Rouge) gets more and more ambitious with each film he makes. With it’s sweeping vistas, debt to Gone With the Wind, World War II backdrop and romantic pairing of Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, Australia is his most ambitious film to date. It’s a shame that it’s also an idiosyncratic mess. Prissy English woman Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) heads to
Australia thinking she’s going to catch her husband cheating on her, only to find a country run by bigots. The only decent white man in the region is cattle driver called Drover (Hugh Jackman). The subsequent old-fashioned adventure strives for the scope of Around the World in 80 Days (1954). Nonetheless, what really strikes Lady Sarah about Oz is the poor treatment of the aborigines and Luhrmann soon drops the cheeky tone and goes walkabout with a seriously damning verdict on his country’s past. Insider information that Australia’s original unhappy ending was changed because test audiences didn’t like it tells us all we need to know about this compromised, occasionally mesmeric epic. The film’s problems are manifold but its real weaknesses lie in the poor editing and the toe-curling central romance between Kidman and Jackman. In moving the focus onto a group of aborigines and a half-caste kid (Brandon Walters) Luhrman wants to show the atrocities that are an important part of Australia’s heritage, but hard-hitting social commentary is not Luhrmann’s forte and while he strives for analogy and pertinence, all is lost in a dust cloud of galloping horses and magical realist swish. (Kaleem Aftab) ■ General release from Fri 26 Dec.
COMEDY ROLE MODELS (15) 91min ●●●●● How adults can benefit from relationships with children has been explored cinematically since before Charlie Chaplin met The Kid. One good recent example of this type of story was The School of Rock where Jack Black’s inner-child was flattered by a bunch of musical youths. A bad example is Role Models in which two excitable energy drinks reps, Danny (Paul Rudd) and Wheeler (Seann William Scott) are forced to mentor troubled youths or face jail for reckless driving. Danny, recently dumped by his lawyer girlfriend (the seemingly ubiquitous Elisabeth Banks), looks after a teenager who is into medieval role playing (Christopher Mintz-Plass regurgitates the gawky boy he essayed in Superbad). Wheeler has his fun with a foulmouthed 10- year-old Ronnie (Bobb’e J Thomson). Director David Wain wrongly seems to think that puerile, lewd behaviour is funny by default. Subtlety is not in his repertoire. The one bright spark is the performance of Jane Lynch as the former drug addict who runs a no-nonsense mentoring program. (Kaleem Aftab) ■ General release from Fri 2 Jan.
56 THE LIST 11 Dec 2008–8 Jan 2009
ALSO RELEASED White Christmas (U) 120min ●●●●● New digital print of song and dance troupe Christmas staple. GFT, Glasgow and Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Fri 12-Wed 24 Dec. North Face (12A) 121min ●●●●● Exciting historical adventure recounting the dangerous ascent of the Eiger in 1936 by two Bavarian soldiers. Think Touching the Void but with Nazis. Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Fri 12-Wed 24 Dec. Dean Spanley (U) 100min ●●●●● Interesting character driven drama set in Edwardian England about the relationship between a crusty old Boer War veteran, his good natured son and an eccentric Indian man. The excellent cast includes Peter O’Toole, Bryan Brown and Sam Neill. General release from Fri 12 Dec.
Bicycle Thieves (U) 88min ●●●●● Beautifully restored print of Vittoria De Sica’s 1948 Italian neo- realist masterpiece. Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Fri 19 Dec-Thu 1 Jan. La Boheme (PG) 114min ●●●●● Decent film version of classic opera. Selected release from Fri 19 Dec. The Tale of Despereaux (U) 93min ●●●●● British animated feature about the medieval adventures of a mouse, a rat and a servant girl. General release from Fri 19 Dec. Bedtime Stories (PG) 90min ●●●●● Adam Sandler family fantasy about a man who can make bedtime stories come to life. Better than the thematically similar Inkheart (see review) but only just. General release from Fri 26 Dec. Yes Man (12A) 104min ●●●●● Enjoyable if totally inane comedy based on British writer Danny Wallace’s book about a year spent saying ‘yes’ to everything. Jim Carrey stars, Peyton The Break-Up Reed directs. General release from Fri 26 Dec. Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 (12A) 117min ●●●●● The girls with the adaptable pair of jeans are back in unsurprising retread of first film. General release from Fri 2 Jan OSS 117: Cairo Nest of Spies (12A) 99min ●●●●● Silly and quite funny French James Bond spoof. GFT, Glasgow from Fri 2-Thu 8 Jan. Alexandra (PG) 95min ●●●●● Poignant Chechnyan tale from Alexandr Sokurov, Russia’s most feted living filmmaker. Filmhouse from Fri 26-Mon 29 Dec. GFT, Glasgow from Fri 2-Sun 4 Jan.