www.list.co.uk/film Index Film
Cemetery Junction (15) ●●●●● (Ricky Gervais/Stephen Merchant, UK, 2010) Jack Doolan, Tom Hughes, Christian Cooke. 95min. Largely free of the excruciating irony that has dominated their TV work, Gervais and Merchant’s story of three friends living in suburban England in the 1970s is a tender, touching tale that’s unashamedly feel good. Romance drives the plot but there are also lashings of teenage angst. Glasgow Film Theatre. Centurion (15) ●●●●● (Neil Marshall, UK, 2010) Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, David Morrissey. 97min. Marshall takes us back to the ancient world of 117AD as the Romans try to ‘civilise’ Britain. An entertaining action piece with some sturdy performances, sustained tension and vicious combat. Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow. Clash of the Titans 2D (12A) ●●●●● (Louis Leterrier, US, 2010) Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes. 105min. Classic Greek myth gets the modern special effects treatment. Selected release. Clash of the Titans 3D (12A) ●●●●● (Louis Leterrier, US, 2010) See above. Selected release. Cleo from 5 to 7 (PG) ●●●●● (Agnes Varda, Italy/France, 1962) Corinne Marchand, Antoine Bourseiller, Dominique Davray. 90min. Digital restoration of Varda’s second feature which follows French chanteuse Cleo (Marchand) in real time as she wanders around Paris before she gets the results of a medical test. Part of Varda season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2D (U) ●●●●● (Phil Lord, US, 2009) Voices of Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan. 90min. Vivid and likeable animated version of Judi and Ron Barrett’s 1978 children’s book set in the town of Chewandswallow, where the weather comes three times a day, at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Odeon at the Quay, Glasgow; Odeon Wester Hailes, Edinburgh. Co-operative Film Festival (PG) (Various, UK, 2009) 105min. Screening of films made by young people aged 8–22 which were entered into the Co-operative Film Festival in 2009. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Cop Out (15) ●●●●● (Kevin Smith, US, 2010) Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan, Juan Carlos Hernández. 107min. See review, page 44. General release from Fri 21 May. 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. Cineworld Parkhead, Glasgow; Cineworld Fountainpark, Edinburgh. Crazy Heart (15) ●●●●● (Scott Cooper, US, 2009) Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Keane. 111min. Based a novel by Thomas Cobb, leisurely southernfried character study Crazy Heart focuses on the travails of down-on-his-luck western singer-songwriter Bad Blake, played by the remarkable Bridges. Things begin to look up when he hooks up with a young music journalist and single mother (Gyllenhaal), but Bad is sadly on a one way ticket to rehab. Cameo, Edinburgh. The Cup (PG) ●●●●● (Khyentse Norbu, Australia, 1999) Orgyen Tobgyal, Neten Chokling, Jamyang Lodro. 93min. This simple, humorous and humane film scores a hat trick of firsts: first film directed by a lama, in the Tibetan language with a cast soley comprised of monks. And it’s about football, specifically the footy fever that grips the monks of Chokling Monastery during the 1998 World Cup. Part of Himalayan film and culture festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Dance House Presents Moves10: Framing Motion (E) (Various) 90min. Presentation of the moves10 touring programme, featuring the best films of the Liverpool festival which, under the theme ‘Framing Motion’, explored how practitioners framed movement. Introduced by Gala Pujol, Festival Director and followed up by a Q&A. CCA, Glasgow. Date Night (15) ●●●●● (Shawn Levy, US, 2010) Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg. 88min. Comedy royalty Carell and Fey play a couple from the ‘burbs who decide to escape the kids for an evening and head for a trendy Manhattan eatery. Problems start when they get mistaken for a pair of thieves being hunted down by two corrupt cops – a hit-and-miss adventure follows and a rather formulaic outlook ensures it’s all rather forgettable in the end. General release. Dear John (12A) ●●●●● (Lasse Hallström, US, 2010) Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Richard Jenkins. 108min. Seyfried plays Savannah, a student who strikes up a relationship with on leave soldier John Tyree (Tatum), but their romance is stymied when Tyree decides to put his military career first, and the inevitable Dear John letter results in mutual heartbreak. Selected release. Delamu (PG) (Tian Zhuangzhuang, China/Japan, 2004) 110min. Climbing from Western Yunnan through the Himalayas into Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan, this documentary introduces the various characters who live in remote villages along the way, including a Tibetan who shares his wife with his brother, and a 104-year-old Nua woman. Part of Himalayan film and culture festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Disappearance of Alice Creed (18) ●●●●● (J Blakeson, UK, 2009) Gemma Arterton, Martin Compston, Eddie Marsan. 100min. Two ex-cons kidnap the daughter of a wealthy businessman (Arterton), and keep her tied up at their bolt-hole whilst they demand a ransom. Alice, however, refuses to meekly accept her fate. A pared-down three-hander, restricted almost entirely to one stylized setting. Selected release. Dogtooth (18) ●●●●● (Giorgos Lanthimos, Greece, 2009) Christos Stergioglou, Michelle Valley, Aggeliki Papoulia. 97min. A dark fairytale for contemporary times, Dogtooth tells the story of three grown up children who have been brought up without venturing beyond the tall fence that surrounds their house. Lanthimos explores the logic and boundaries of what we deem to be right or wrong, in a situation where social norms have been removed or subverted – a deeply memorable, stylish, anarchic but assured piece of filmmaking. Glasgow Film Theatre; Cameo, Edinburgh. Double Take (12A) ●●●●● (Johan Grimonprez, UK, 2009) Alfred Hitchcock. 80min. Dazzling montage-based film which uses Alfred Hitchcock’s fascination with doubles as a springboard to re-examine the socio-political anxieties of Cold War-era America. Zapping between past and present, fiction and ‘reality’, cinema and television, the filmmaker interweaves a trio of narrative strands – Hitchcock’s mischievous screen persona, the escalating tension between USA and USSR and a fictional strand based on a Jorge Luis Borges story. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Edge of Darkness (15) ●●●●● (Martin Campbell, UK/US, 2010) Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston. 117min. With this taut adult revenge thriller, director Campbell returns with his usual studied energy to the scene of one of his early successes – the 1985 BBC television series that helped make his name. Gibson is entrancing as a Boston detective investigating the murder of his activist daughter, and as he grunts his way through conspiracies and cover-ups, he soon realises that the personal may just be about to become the apocryphal. Vue Ocean, Edinburgh. An Education (12A) ●●●●● (Lone Scherfig, UK, 2009) Peter Sarsgaard, Emma Thompson, Alfred Molina. 99min. Sarsgaard is on top form as seductive cad David, the older man responsible for educating bright but confused schoolgirl
13–27 May 2010 THE LIST 47