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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 Accident (PG) (Joseph Losey, UK, 1967) Dirk Bogarde, Stanley Baker, Delphine Seyrig. 105min. Losey’s continuing collaboration with Harold Pinter produced this wry examination of an Oxford professor’s liaison with one of his students, notable for fine performances and perceptively witty dialogue. Part of Relationships Scotland season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. 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. Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow; Cineworld Fountainpark, Edinburgh. 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. Alphaville (15) ●●●●● (Jean-Luc Godard, France, 1965) Eddie Constantine, Anna Karina, Howard Vernon. 98min. Enjoyable mid-60s Godard caper which turns contemporary Paris into Alpha 60, a chilly city of the future from which such concepts as love and tenderness have been banned. Enter Constantine’s grizzled gumshoe Lemmy Caution and we’re set for
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The Yes Men Fix The World (12A) 86min ●●●●● Prankster duo Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum continue the work they started in 2004’s The Yes Men. This time they take on the capitalist fat cats and expose the people profiting from Hurricane Katrina and the folk behind the Bhopal disaster who have never been prosecuted. Your blood will boil, when you’re not laughing. GFT, Glasgow from Fri 21-Sun 23 Aug Shorts (PG) 88min ●●●●● Another year another enjoyable Robert Rodriguez children’s adventure film. Set in the suburb of Black Falls, where all the houses look the same and everyone works for Black Box Unlimited Worldwide Industries Incorporated, whose Black Box is the ultimate communication gadget that’s sweeping the nation. 11-year-old Toe Thompson (Jimmy Bennett) doesn’t care about any of that until one day a mysterious rainbow-coloured rock falls from the sky and hits him in the head. Soon the neighbourhood is swarming with tiny spaceships, crocodile armies and much more. Slyly anti-corporate kiddie caper with an able cast (including William H Macy and James Spader) and fun digital effects. General release from Fri 21 Aug.
Scarface (18) 169min ●●●●● Tony Montana is back and loving it in new digital print of oft misunderstood 80s gangster classic. See preview, page 23. selected release from Fri 21 Aug.
an extended and highly idiosyncratic homage to comic strip heroism. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. 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. Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow. Anvil! The Story of Anvil (15) ●●●●● (Sacha Gervasi, US, 2009) 80min. Go on a journey with the unluckiest, hardest working men in rock in this moving documentary. Odeon at the Quay, Glasgow. Around the World in 80 Days (PG) ●●●●● (Frank Coraci , USA, 2004) Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan, Jim Broadbent, Cecille De France. 120min. Slapstick, comic update of Jules Verne’s classic adventure story with an all star cast. Jules Verne’s Victorian novel is repackaged as a vehicle for East-West martial arts superstar Jackie Chan and British comedian Steve Coogan with terrible results. Fidelity to Verne is largely abandoned as many characters have been recast and, to put it bluntly, this action- comedy isn’t funny. A Take 2 screening. Cineworld Parkhead, Glasgow. 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. Part of Discovery of Spain season. Weston Link, Edinburgh. Bande a Part (PG) ●●●●● (Jean-Luc Godard, France, 1964) Anna Karina, Sami Frey, Claude Brasseur. 95min. Self- conscious take on the heist movie as Frey and Brasseur persuade Karina to help them break into her employer’s house. We’re turned not into knowing viewers so much as sensitive, unsure spectators, as Godard here creates a meaningful film out of undermining specific, easily consumable, slick meaning. Great stuff. Part of Truffaut/Godard season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Bandslam (PG) ●●●●● (Todd Graff, US, 2009) Vanessa Hudgens, Gaelan Connell, Lisa Kudrow. 110min. Tweeny pop, high school adventure chronicling budding impresario Will Burton (Connell) and his rock’n’roll band’s desperate attempts to win a battle-of-the-bands competition. General release. Before Midnight – a Portrait of India on Film 1899-1947 (E) (Various, India) 86min. A collection of films from the BFI archive exploring life in India during the early 20th century. Highlights include The Maharajah of Jodhpur’s home movies which provide a strong portrait of princely power in the 1940s. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Belles of St Trinians (PG) ●●●●● (Frank Launder, UK, 1954) Alastair Sim, Joyce Grenfell, George Cole. 91min. The original of the girls’ school series, with Sim in top pantomime dame form as the headmistress and George Cole as an ‘Arfur Daly’ prototype spiv. Part of Alastair Sim season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Blue Murder at St Trinians (U) ●●●●● (Frank Launder, UK, 1957) Alastair Sim, Terry Thomas, George Hall. 88min. The girls rig a contest and travel to Europe to meet a rich prince. With headmistress Miss Fritton in jail, Flash Harry (Cole) and his troupe blackmail a jewel thief (Jeffries) into dressing in drag and pretending to be their guardian. Part of Alastair Sim season. 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. Vue Ocean, Edinburgh. The Bridge at Remagen (PG) ●●●●● (John Guillermin, US, 1969) George Segal, Ben Gazzara, Robert Vaughn. 112min. Gritty war film about the battle for the eponymous bridge from German and American perspectives. Cameo, Edinburgh. 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. Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow; Vue Ocean, Edinburgh. Chéri (15) ●●●●● (Stephen Frears, UK/Germany, 2009) Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathy Bates, Rupert Friend. 92min. Adapted from Colette’s controversial 1920s novels Cheri and The Last of Cheri, which centres on a six-year love affair between a young man (Friend) and an aging courtesan (Pfeiffer) and its aftermath, Stephen Frears’ film is a complex and visually exquisite meditation on ageing and loss; themes that are effected on both a narrative and formal level. Grosvenor, Glasgow. The Class (15) ●●●●● (Laurent Cantet, France, 2008) François Bégaudeau, Esmerelda Ouertani, Franck Keita. 130min. One teacher, one class, one term and a whole load of problems. Remarkable social realist drama. Odeon Braehead. 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. The Constant Gardener (15) ●●●●● (Fernando Meirelles, US/UK, 2005) Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Hubert Kounde, Danny Huston. 128min. When Nairobi-based diplomat Justin Quayle’s (Fiennes) outspoken activist wife Tess (Weisz) is found murdered in a remote region of Northern Kenya, he begins to uncover a whole load of dirty secrets. Beautifully structured and shot, Mereilles’ film succeeds as both a polemical thriller and a retrospective love story, with Fiennes outstanding in the role of a man gradually opening up to the depth of his feelings for his wife only after her death. Part of Science and Film season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. 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 Check out the GreatOffers on page 4
Index Film 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. Cineworld Parkhead, Glasgow; Cineworld Fountainpark, Edinburgh. 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. Dance Flick (PG) ●●●●● (Damien Dante Wayans, UK, 2009) Shoshana Bush, Damon Wayans Jr, Essence Atkins. 82min. See review, page 24. General release. Derek Jarman Film Screening (E) (Derek Jarman, Various) 70min. Part of Tramway’s ongoing programme of artist curated screening events, Throbbing Gristle present collaborative works with Derek Jarman, In the Shadow of the Sun and TG: Psychic Rally in Heaven. Tramway, Glasgow. Eugene Onegin (PG) (Dmitri Tchernakov, France, 2008) Mariusz Kwiecien, Andrey Dunaev, Tatyana Monogarova. 165min. Stirring opera based on the novel in verse by Aleksandr Pushkin. Performed by the Bolshoi Theatre and filmed live in September 2008 at the Opera de Paris. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Flows of Capital: Bodies & Borders (E) (Ursula Biemann/Jesper Nordahl, Various, Various) 90min. Screening of video essays by artists Biemann and Nordahl. The films examine the relationship between co-dependent aspects of capital in the neo-liberal economic model; the way in which it constitutes freedom of movement across borders for some, and fixes others to restricted localities. CCA, Glasgow.
Last Chance Harvey (12A) Sat 22nd Aug 7:30pm Mon 24th Aug 11am, 7.30pm Wed 26th Aug 1.30pm, 7.30pm
Special Event: Laurel & Hardy (U) Sun 23rd Aug 6pm
20–27 Aug 2009 THE LIST 25