www.list.co.uk/film www.list.co.uk/film 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
The A-Team (12A) ●●●●● (Joe Carnahan, US, 2010) Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel. 118min. Just like the 80s TV show that spawned it, The A-Team is over the top, macho fun. Now based in Iraq, the old team reunites to retrieve stolen printing plates used for counterfeiting money. But for all its exuberance, this is an overly flashy endeavour and ends up feeling calculated, uncomfortable and empty. Selected release. Adelheid (15) ●●●●● (Frantisek Vlácil, Czechoslovakia, 1970) Petr Cepek, Emma Cerná, Jana Krupicková. 98min. A romance develops between a Czech ex-airman who is assigned a large mansion in the Sudetenland in the aftermath of World War Two, and the daughter of its previous Nazi owner. Part of Frantisek Vlácil season. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Alamar (U) ●●●●● (Pedro González-Rubio, Mexico, 2009) Jorge
Machado, Natan Machado Palombini, Nestor Marín ‘Matraca’. 73min. See review, page 54. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Alvin and the Chipmunks 2: The Squeakquel (U) ●●●●● (Betty Thomas, US, 2009) Voices of Justin Long, Anna Faris, Jason Lee. 88min. The singing chipmunk trio contend with the pressures of high school, celebrity and rival female band The Chipettes. Empire, Clydebank. Asterix in Britain (U) (Pino Van Lamsweerde, France, 1986) With the voices of Jack Beaber, Bill Kearns, Graham Bushnell. 89min. The Romans have invaded Britain and only one village refuses to surrender. Their chief sends a message to his distant cousin Asterix the Gaul, who rushes to the rescue with his sizeable colleague Obelix and a bottle of secret potion. Along the way, he acquires a bag of special herbs said to have remarkable revivifying powers and this ‘tea’ proves immensely popular with the Brits. Hippodrome, Bo’ness. Astro Boy (PG) ●●●●● (David Bowers, US, 2009) Voices of Nicolas Cage, Kristen Bell, Freddie Highmore. 93min. A popular manga in Japan since 1952, and a cult TV show in the US since the early 1980s, Astro Boy makes a bid for worldwide domination in this flashy but flatly realised animation. A robot child cloned by Dr Tenma (voiced by Cage) from the DNA of his dead son, the titular space age Pinocchio (Highmore), is rejected by his father and banished to the robot graveyard that surrounds the city. Cineworld Parkhead, Glasgow; Cineworld Fountainpark, Edinburgh. Avatar 3D (12A) ●●●●● (James Cameron, US, 2009) Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez. 166min. Set in 2154, Cameron’s much- hyped Avatar focuses on a paraplegic marine named Jake Sully (Worthington), who arrives on the distant moon of Pandora with a mission to help displace its indigenous population. But, after winning their trust, Jake finds his allegiances gradually shifting. High on technical flair but short on storytelling ambition, this visually stunning sci-fi epic sadly remains deeply flawed. IMAX Theatre, Glasgow. Avatar 3D: Special Edition (12A) ●●●●● (James Cameron, US, 2009) Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez. 170min. See above. Now with nine minutes of extra footage. Selected release. The Battle of the Sexes (U) ●●●●● (Charles Crichton, UK, 1959) Peter Sellers, Robert Morley, Constance Cummings. 80min. Edinburgh-made film after the style of the Ealing comedies. An accountant’s (Sellers) quiet existence is disturbed by the arrival of an American ‘Efficiency Expert’ (Cummings). A Made in Edinburgh screening. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Big Lebowski (18) ●●●●● (Joel Coen, US, 1997) Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi. 113min. The
Coen brothers give their unique twist to a Chandler-esque LA noir, as 70s hippy throwback Jeff ‘The Dude’ Lebowski (Bridges) is drawn into the sordid affairs of his millionaire namesake. Suddenly he has to sleuth his way through disorganised crime. Trademark oddball characters, surreal imagery and excellent performances grace this virtuoso comedy. Grosvenor, Glasgow. Black Dynamite (15) ●●●●● (Scott Sanders, US, 2009) Michael Jai White, Obba Babatundé, Kevin Chapman. 84min. Gutsy and enjoyably silly spoof of 1970s blaxploitation films like Shaft and Superfly. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Bonded by Blood (18) ●●●●● (Sacha Bennett, UK, 2010) Dave Legeno, Vincent Regan, Tamer Hassan. 100min. Second attempt (see 2000’s Essex Boys) to dramatise the events that led up to the murders of drug dealers Tony Tucker, Patrick Tate and Craig Rolfe in 1995 in Rettendon in Essex. Decent, solid and unsurprising Brit crime flick. Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow; Cineworld Fountainpark, Edinburgh. Brazil (15) ●●●●● (Terry Gilliam, US, 1985) Jonathan Pryce, Kim Griest, Robert De Niro, Peter Vaughan. 142min. Extravagantly designed and blackly humorous Orwellian vision of the future, as modest bureaucrat Pryce battles the forces of totalitarianism and fights for his dream girl, feisty trucker Griest. Overlong and ramshackle fantasia, with moments of sheer creative adrenalin and a classic ending. Glasgow Film Theatre. Bread and Roses (15) ●●●●● (Ken Loach, UK, 2001) Pilar Padilla, Adrien Brody, Elpidia Carrillo. 110min. Bread And Roses bravely dramatises the daily struggle of Los Angeles’ immigrant Hispanic population. Maya (Padilla) is a gorgeous, gutsy young Mexican, who escapes kidnapping by smugglers to toil alongside her sister, Rosa (Carrillo), cleaning offices. In a downtown office block, she meets passionate white activist, Sam (Brody), who is running the Janitors For Justice campaign. Loach has forsaken neither of his trademark concerns – the drama within the mundane, the indomitable spirit of the oppressed. This is essentially a film about victory, and the tone is surprisingly upbeat. Part of Take One Action season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Budrus (E) (Julia Bacha, Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territory/US, 2009) 70min. Documentary about Palestinian community leader Ayed Morrar, who managed to unite Israelis and Palestinians in the fight to save his village’s olive groves from being destroyed by the Israeli Separation Fence. Part of Take One Action season. Glasgow Film Theatre. Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (PG) ●●●●● (Craig McCall, UK, 2010) 90min. Documentary spanning the industrious career of cinematographer Jack Cardiff, comprising behind the scenes footage and contributions from Martin Scorsese, Kirk Douglas and Charlton Heston. Hippodrome, Bo’ness. Casablanca (PG) ●●●●● (Michael Curtiz, US, 1942) Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Dooley Wilson. 102min. You must remember this . . . Bogart being impossibly noble, Bergman torn between two lovers, Claude Rains playing both ends against the middle, devious Nazis, a fogbound airport, a piano-player tinkling that tune. A wonderful hill of beans. Eastwood Park Theatre, Glasgow. Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore 2D (U) ●●●●● (Brad Peyton, USA/Australia, 2010) Voices of James Marsden, Nick Nolte, Christina Applegate. 82min. Hairless sphinx cat Kitty decides to enslave humans. Likeable but instantly forgettable sequel to 2001’s live action adventure Cats & Dogs. Empire, Clydebank.
✽✽ Certified Copy (12A) ●●●●● (Abbas Kiarostami, France/Italy/Iran,
2010) Juliette Binoche, William Shimell, Jean-Claude Carrière. 106min. Kiarostami steers away from the experimentation of recent work, bringing a holiday feel to this quasi-romantic comedy. Shimell as author
James Miller is pleasingly dry, while Binoche demonstrates why she deserved her Best Actress Prize at Cannes for her role in this intriguing enigma of a film. Selected release. Cherry Tree Lane (18) ●●●●● (Paul Andrew Williams, UK, 2010) Rachael Blake, Tom Butcher, Jumayn Hunter. 77min. Real-time home-invasion horror that aims for brutal reality but ends up just brutal. It’s immaculately constructed and well acted, but substitutes shocks and tension for decent characterisation. Cameo, Edinburgh. Chocolat (12) ●●●●● (Lasse Hallström, US, 2001) Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp, Judi Dench. 121min. Adapted from Joanne Harris’ novel, Chocolat unfolds ‘once upon a time’ in a tranquil French village where sexy unwed single mother Vianne (Binoche) opens up a chocolaterie during Lent. Her magical confections are soon having a liberating effect on various locals, though her actions incur the wrath of the reigning count (Alfred Molina), who fears that the traditional order may be irrevocably damaged. Unfortunately, Hallström’s (The Cider House Rules) feelgood fairytale relies on its calculatedly cosmopolitan cast and glossy production values to disguise its lack of substance. Grosvenor, Glasgow. A Clockwork Orange (18) ●●●●● (Stanley Kubrick, UK, 1971) Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Warren Clarke. 137min. The night of ‘ultra-violence’ committed by Alex (McDowell) and his gang of ‘droogs’, gave this film its notoriety. But his subsequent victimisation by the state still provides much food for thought. This fable of law and disorder, crime and punishment might easily be recast in 21st century Britain. So, it’s about time the British public got to see the late master’s most infamous film. This screening is followed by a discussion with Dr Tillman Vierkant, lecturer in the Philosophy of Mind at Edinburgh University about the philosophical and ethical issues raised by the film. A Science and Film screening. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Le Concert (15) (Radu Mihaileanu, France/Italy/Romania/Belgium, 2009) Aleksei Guskov, Mélanie Laurent, Dmitri Nazarov. 123min. A comedy following the escapades of an unemployed conductor who, in 1980 in Brezhnev, Russia, was fired for refusing to exclude Jewish musicians. We meet Andrei Filipov (Guscov) 25 years later as he attempts to make his comeback in Paris under false pretences. Cameo, Edinburgh. Cosi Fan Tutte (12A) (Claus Guth, Austria, 2009) Miah Persson, Isabel Leonard, Bo Skovhus. 300min. Live production of Mozart’s classic from The Royal Opera. Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow. The Counterfeiters (Die Fälscher) (15) ●●●●● (Stefan Ruzowitzky, Germany/Austria, 2006) Karl Markovics, August Diehl, Devid Striesow. 98min. Wartime thriller based on real events, about a Russian Jew, forced to spend his days in a concentration camp manufacturing fake currency with which the Nazis attempted to flood the British and American economies – the largest counterfeiting operation in history. This is a compelling exploration of what men will do to keep themselves alive. Brunton Theatre, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Cyrus (15) ●●●●● (Jay Duplass/Mark Duplass, US, 2010)
John C Reilly, Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei. 102min. See review, page 55. General release. Dabangg (Fearless) (15) (Abhinav Kashyap, India, 2010) Salman Khan, Dimple Kapadia, Vinod Khanna. Bollywood action film set in Uttar Pradesh telling the story of Chulbul Pandey (Salman Khan) a fearless but corrupt police officer who just don’t play by the rules. Hindi with English subtitles. Selected release. Devil (15) ●●●●● (Drew Dowdle/John Erick Dowdle, US, 2010) Geoffrey Arend, Bojana Novakovic, Logan Marshall-Green. 80min. See Also Released, page 56. General release.
Index Film PROFILE
JEAN VAN HAMME Born Brussels, Belgium, January 6 ,1939. Background Van Hamme studied business at university before becoming a journalist and a marketer, but from 1968 he began his professional writing career working around his day job. Eight years later Van Hamme quit his day job to pen comics, novels and film scripts. A heroic fantasy comic book series about a Viking named Thorgal gave Van Hamme his big break in 1977 and in the years since he has gone on to become one of Europe’s bestselling comic creators, collaborating with various artists and producing a number of ongoing series, some of which have been continued by other writers. Largo Winch, which was co-created with artist Philippe Francq, is one of Van Hamme’s most popular and profitable franchises with 16 comic volumes to date in print, a handful of novels (also written by Van Hamme), a television series and now a film and its forthcoming sequel.
What he’s up to now? Having declared he was scaling back his comics work to focus on writing films, Van Hamme appears to have backtracked and is currently as busy as he ever was producing comics. Along with Largo Winch, Van Hamme is also authoring the Jason Bourne-alike XIII and Blake and Mortimer, a 1950-set espionage and science fiction strip originated by Van Hamme’s fellow countryman Edgar P Jacobs and first published in Tintin magazine in 1946.
On the film adaptation of his comic ‘I loved the movie 95%. Tomer Sisley doesn’t look like Largo Winch from the comics, but he is how I imagined him in the novels. And, the cherry on the cake is the second opus, which is presently being shot in Belgium with Sharon Stone and Tomer again. It will be even better.’ Interesting fact Van Hamme wrote the script for Diva, the celebrated cult 1981 French thriller directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix who would go on to make Betty Blue. (Miles Fielder) ■ Largo Winch – Deadly Revenge DVD out now (Optimum).
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