Film Index PROFILE
Films screening this fortnight are listed below with certificate, star rating, credits, brief review and venue details. Film index compiled by Paul Dale ✽✽ Indicates Hitlist entry
Adam (12A) ●●●●● (Max Mayer, US, 2009) Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne, Peter Gallagher. 100min. Quirky romantic drama about the relationship between a neurologically different young man and a beautiful young cosmopolitan. Great performances by leads Byrne and Dancy are undone by fairly uninspired execution by director Mayer. Selected release. Aliens in the Attic (PG) ●●●●● (John Schultz, UK, 2009) Ashley Tisdale, Robert Hoffman, Austin Robert Butler. 85min. Likeably frenetic animated adventure about a family’s attempt to fight off knee high alien invaders. General release.
✽✽ Antichrist (18) ●●●●● (Lars von Trier, Denmark, 2009) Willem Dafoe,
Charlotte Gainsbourg. 108min. When middle class couple Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Defoe’s son dies in a freak accident they retreat to their woodland cabin to heal. But soon guilt, confusion and some undefined eschatological force puts them in a very different place. A fine slice of unbridled and unpleasant pantheistic horror that’s underlined by themes of grief and guilt. Selected release. The Art of Spain (E) (UK, 2008) Andrew Graham-Dixon. 60min. Weekly screenings of the acclaimed BBC Four series, in which art historian and critic Andrew Graham-Dixon argues that the influence of Spanish art across Europe, from the golden age of El Greco and Velázquez to Picasso and Dali in the 20th century, is even greater than that of its traditionally more celebrated Italian counterparts. Weston Link, Edinburgh. Bandslam (PG) ●●●●● (Todd Graff, US, 2009) Vanessa Hudgens, Gaelan Connell, Lisa Kudrow. 110min. See review, page 23. General release. Bill Douglas Trilogy (12) ●●●●● (Bill Douglas, UK, 1972) Stephen Archibald, Hughie Restorick, Jean Taylor- Smith. 48/55/78min. This trio of films about a boy growing up in a harsh mining
ALY MICHALKA Born 1989 Torrance, California Background Having already had top 20 singles in the UK and US with her sister Amanda as AJ and Aly, and opened for Hannah Montana/Miles Cyrus, rising star Michalka has got the right qualifications to play Charlotte, a high-school senior in Todd Graff’s Bandslam. Michalka lists her own favourites as Aimee Mann, Tori Amos, Radiohead and Coldplay as well as The Police, Van Halen, Heart and other retro-influences.
What’s it like to appear in a teen movie ‘Charlotte’s such a great character for me to play, I was so freaked-out when I found out I’d got the role. She’s a really sharp person, she shows Will (Gaelan Connell) how to relate to girls, and shows him that there’s more to life than just dealing with life at home with his mom. But Charlotte’s got problems as well, and that’s where the drama comes from. I think Bandslam will surprise people in having more depth than they might expect from a teen film. The movies I really love are 80s classics like The Breakfast Club, Footloose or Valley Girl. These films touch you in a better way than more shallow films do.’ Is that David Bowie in Bandslam? ‘Knowing that David was in the film really attracted me. David loved the script, he wanted to help out with the choices of music on the soundtrack, and he gave it the seal of approval, which was really awesome for all of us . . .’
What’s Michalka doing next? Two more features, Will Gluck’s Easy A with Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson and Cam Gigandet, and thriller The Roommate, also with Gigandet, as well as touring with her band, now renamed 78violet. ‘I’m so grateful for who I am, I can’t believe people complain so much about paparazzi, they’re the least of my worries, they can’t take away my happiness. I’ve got a great team behind me, and just feel that I’ve been so lucky to get this chance’ (Eddie Harrison) ■ Bandslam is out now on general release. See review, page 23.
24 THE LIST 13–20 Aug 2009
community represents perhaps the peak of Scottish filmmaking. Bare narrative, stark images, painful memories – the distillation of feeling on screen is as close to poetry as cinema gets. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Boat That Rocked (15) ●●●●● (Richard Curtis, UK, 2009) Gemma Arterton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy. 134min. Life onboard the fictional 1966 pirate radio ship Radio Rock resembles a two-hour sketch show held together by popular songs of the era. Curtis clearly isn’t aiming for realism, but his return to the big screen isn’t exactly rockin’, with a wasted cast of character actors and only Chris O’Dowd (The IT Crowd) shining in a rare moment of emotional depth. Odeon, Edinburgh. Bolt (PG) ●●●●● (Byron Howard/ Chris Williams, US, 2009) Voices of Miley Cyrus, John Travolta, Susie Essman. 103min. Heart-tugging Disney animation about child actress Penny (voiced by Cyrus) and dog Bolt (Travolta) who star in a hit TV series. The dog believes it’s all real, so when he escapes from his trailer and ends up the other side of the country he is in for a few rude surprises. Odeon: Braehead, Renfrew.
✽✽ Brüno (18) ●●●●● (Larry Charles, US, 2009) Sacha Baron Cohen, Gustaf
Hammarsten. 82min. Baron Cohen’s much anticipated 19-year-old Austrian TV presenter has been ‘schwarzlisted’ following an unfortunate incident involving his all-Velcro suit at a Milan catwalk event. Leaving behind his pygmy Asian flight- attendant boyfriend, Diesel, Bruno heads to America to become the ‘the biggest gay movie star since Arnold Schwarzenegger’ and the world’s most famous Austrian since Hitler. Crude, politically incorrect, shocking, outrageous, vulgar, and very, very funny. Selected release. Class of Nuke ‘em High (18) ●●●●● (Richard W Haines, Michael Herz, Lloyd Kaufman, US, 1986) Janelle Brady, Gil Brenton, Robert Prichard. 86min. Radioactive waste starts to mutate the kids at a local high school in this irreverent, gory nonsense from the kings of trash Troma. Features a Q&A with Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman. Cameo, Edinburgh. Cloud 9 (15) ●●●●● (Andreas Dresen, Germany, 2008) Ursula Werner, Horst Rehberg, Horst Westphal. 100min. Brave,
raw and intimate portrait of romance and sex amongst the over 60s. German filmmaker Dresen’s remarkable, powerful and darkly humorous film bears comparison to the work of Mike Leigh at his very best. Cameo, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Coco Before Chanel (12A) ●●●●● (Anne Fontaine, France,
2009) Audrey Tautou, Benoît Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola. 110min. This sumptuously dressed biopic of the early years of Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel faithfully charts the rising hemlines and torn bustiers of a passionate woman repressed by society, with emotion-driven montages of dressmaking as Coco uses sewing machine and scissors to direct her restless energies into clothing. There’s nothing experimental or innovative here, but it provides undeniably classy entertainment. Selected release. Coraline 2D (PG) ●●●●● (Henry Selick, US, 2009) Voices of Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman. 100min. After her family moves to Pink Mansions, Coraline (voiced by Fanning) quickly becomes bored with the large dusty house, and in particular with her hardworking parents (Hatcher and Hodgman). The fantasy kicks into top gear when she discovers a secret door that leads her into an alternate version of her home. A lush, visually imaginative and freshly entertaining stop-motion adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s children’s novel. Vue Edinburgh Ocean. Cyberworld 3D (PG) (Various, US, 2000) Jenna Elfman, Matt Frewer, Woody Allen. 44min. Jenna Elfman is the cyber- host who introduces us to various unrelated segments of cyber animation. The Simpsons and Antz, make 3D appearances in a spectacular display of today’s most impressive graphic technology. IMAX Theatre, Glasgow. The Damned United (15) ●●●●● (Tom Hooper, UK, 2009) Michael Sheen, Jim Broadbent, Timothy Spall. 97min. Broadly entertaining if highly sanitised adaptation of David Peace’s justly acclaimed novel The Damned United, which allows us to see the world from the tormented perspective of football manager Brian Clough during his 44 turbulent days in charge of Leeds United during 1974. Cameo, Edinburgh.
The Hide Don’t miss this all-too brief chance to catch Marek Losey’s minimalist, claustrophobic and tense debut set in the rarefied world of advanced bird watching. Inside a bird-hide on the Suffolk
mudflats sits Roy Tunt (Alex MacQueen). His solitude is shattered by the arrival of bedraggled stranger Dave (Phil Campbell). What follows is a powerful two-handed thriller reminiscent of Rope and Sleuth. Showing as part of the Tribute to Joseph Losey season (director Marek is his grandson). ■ GFT, Glasgow, Sat 15 & Sun 16 Aug.