www.list.co.uk/film
INDEX Film
military career first, and the inevitable Dear John letter results in mutual heartbreak. Vue Ocean, Edinburgh. Despicable Me 2D (U) (Pierre Coffin/Chris Renaud, US, 2010) Voices of Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand. 94min. Universal’s latest offering is a good- humoured tale of a curmudgeonly aspiring supervillain (Carrell) whose wicked ways are transformed when the three orphaned girls he adopts to help him steal the moon end up capturing his heart instead. Engaging, if not quite a classic. Cineworld Parkhead, Glasgow; Cineworld Fountainpark, Edinburgh. The Dilemma (12A) ●●●●● (Ron Howard, US, 2011) Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Winona Ryder, Jennifer Connolly. 111min. When best friends and business partners Ronny (Vaughn) and happily married Nick (James) try to land a dream project that will launch their design company, their friendship is tested by secrets and lies. Mediocre and unfunny bromance that wastes the talents involved including Ryder and Connolly. Howard directs like a man distracted. Vue Ocean, Edinburgh. La Dolce Vita (15) ●●●●● (Federico Fellini, Italy/France, 1960) Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimee. 173min. Paparazzo Mastroianni mixes with the beautiful people of rich Roman society and is ambivalently shocked and fascinated by the vigour of their excessive decadence. Everything you ever wanted from a Fellini movie – black humour, grotesque sexuality, inspired visual imagination and the wonderful Marcello. VinCaffè, Edinburgh. Don’t Look Back (U) ●●●●● (D.A. Pennebaker, UK, 1967) Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Donovan. 96min. Dylan on tour in England in 1965, opening up to the camera and meeting up with the likes of Alan Price, Allen Ginsberg and a sycophantic Donovan. The songs – ‘The Times They Are A- Changing, Subterranean Homesick Blues’, etc – are excellent, and master documentarist Pennebaker has a good feel for the boredom of the road. This screening will be followed by a discussion about Bob Dylan’s lyrics. Part of Let's Get Lyrical season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Drive Angry 3D (18) ●●●●● (Patrick Lussier, US, 2011) Nicolas Cage, Amber Heard, Katy Mixon. 104min. A vengeful father (Cage) breaks out of hell and goes after the men who killed his daughter. See review at List.co.uk. Selected release. Dry Summer (15) ●●●●● (Metin Erksan, Turkey, 1964) Ulvi Dogan, Erol Tas, Hakki Haktan. 90min. Modern Turkish retelling of the Cain and Abel story, in which a cruel landowner attempts to take his brother’s wife while the latter serves time in prison for a crime committed by his sibling. Part of the Middle Eastern Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Dying at Hospital (PG) ●●●●● (Jun Ichikawa, Japan, 1993) Ittoku Kishibe. 100min. Austere pseudo-documentary that follows five cancer patients receiving treatment from the same doctor. Bleak but impressive film from the Ozu’s natural successor and the current guvnor of new Japanese cinema. Part of a season of Contemporary Japanese Films. Gilmorehill Centre, Glasgow. Eep! (PG) ●●●●● (Ellen Smits, Belgium/Netherlands, 2010) Ties Dekker, Kenadie Jourdin. 90min. A little girl has wings instead of arms and soon she attracts the attention of birdwatchers. Charming family film. Cineworld Parkhead, Glasgow. Exit Through the Gift Shop (15) ●●●●● (Banksy, UK, 2010) 85min. In his first foray into filmmaking, mysterious artist Banksy places the issue of identity at the centre of his pseudo-documentary on street art. It’s to his immense credit that he gives a potted history of the art form in an interesting and funny way, and most impressively, the questions about identity, society and life that the filmmaker posits over the course of this anarchically intelligent documentary feature mirror those found in his artwork. Paisley Arts Centre, Paisley.
Russell, US, 2010) Mark Wahlberg, ✽✽ The Fighter (15) ●●●●● (David O Christian Bale, Amy Adams. 115min. Based on the true story of half-brothers Micky Ward
(Wahlberg) and Dicky Eklund (Bale), David O Russell’s biopic charts their rise from a white trash neighbourhood in Massachusetts during the 1980s to world welterweight champion (Ward) and jail (Eklund). Featuring some seriously good performances, and a contender for seven Academy Awards. General release.
page 12. Various venues. ✽✽ Glasgow Film Festival See feature, Gnomeo & Juliet 2D (U) ●●●●● (Kelly Asbury, UK/US, 2011) James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine. 83min. Featuring a star-studded British voice cast (including McAvoy and Blunt as the eponymous lovers) and some fun visual jokes, this animated adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is ultimately undone by a few too many pop culture references and by the decision to concentrate on Elton John’s material rather than the bard’s. General release. Gnomeo & Juliet 3D (U) ●●●●● (Kelly Asbury, UK/US, 2011) James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine. 83min. See above. General release. The Green Hornet 2D (12A) ●●●●● (Michel Gondry, US, 2011) Seth Rogen, Cameron Diaz, Christoph Waltz. 118min. Gondry’s big budget take on George W Trendle and Fran Striker’s masked superhero is serviceable if very predictable. Vue Ocean, Edinburgh. The Green Hornet 3D (12A) ●●●●● (Michel Gondry, US, 2011) Seth Rogen, Cameron Diaz, Christoph Waltz. 118min. See above. Showcase Cinema, Paisley. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? (PG) ●●●●● (Stanley Kramer, US, 1967) Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn, Sidney Poitier. 112min. Liberal parents Tracy and Hepburn are shocked at their daughter’s plan to marry a black man. The oldies are on fine form, but the sentiments can appear a little patronising at times. VinCaffè, Edinburgh. Gulliver’s Travels 2D (PG) ●●●●● (Rob Letterman, US, 2010) Jack Black, Jason Segel, Chris O’Dowd. 87min. Tiresome ageing man-child Black plays himself in this film that doesn’t so much deviate from Swift’s landmark work of satire as transform it into a flimsy piece of pop culture-obsessed fluff. Gulliver becomes a mail clerk shipwrecked on an island of tiny folk who finds favour with the local royals but is troubled by the machinations of governor Edwardian (O’Dowd). Unfunny and lacking cohesion. Selected release. Gulliver’s Travels 3D (PG) ●●●●● (Rob Letterman, US, 2010) Jack Black, Jason Segel, Chris O’Dowd. 87min. See above. Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (12A) ●●●●● (David Yates, UK/US, 2010) Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint. 146min. The seventh installment of the wildly popular wizard franchise is an atmospheric but emotionally hollow and rather rushed take on Rowling’s original, with a strong performance from ever-dependable Grint but little else to recommend it other than as an appetiser for next summer’s grand finale. Selected release. Head On (18) ●●●●● (Fatih Akin, Germany, 2005) Birol Ünel, Sibel Kekilli, Catrin Striebeck. 120min. Akin’s ferocious, sexually-charged tale of the ill-fated ‘marriage of inconvenience’ between Cahit ( Ünel), a suicidal 40-year-old alcoholic, and Sibel (Sibel Kekilli), a suicidal 23-year-old hedonist, restores one’s faith in grown-up cinema. The deserving winner of this year’s European Film of the Year award. Cinema doesn’t get any more passionate or provocative than this. Part of the Middle Eastern Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Hercules (U) ●●●●● (John Musker & Ron Clements, US, 1997) Voices of Tate Donovan, James Woods, Danny DeVito. 91min. British cartoonist Gerald Scarfe’s designs marry his customary grotesquery with Uncle Walt’s softer characterisations. Hades (a magnificently splenetic Woods) wants to exact revenge on Zeus by destroying his son Hercules, but luckily our hero has Pegasus as his steed and Phil the grumpy satyr (DeVito) as his coach. Classical purists might grumble, but this is one of the studio’s most dynamic and entertaining features. Hippodrome, Bo’ness.
Hereafter (12A) ●●●●● (Clint Eastwood, US, 2010) Matt Damon, Cecile de France, Thierry Neuvic. 128min. Damon gives an understated performance as shy medium George Lonegan, whose gift seems to be sabotaging his chances at human happiness until he moves to London and a chance encounter at a book signing opens up an opportunity for him to use his powers for good. Uncomfortable and over-sentimental. Grosvenor, Glasgow. I Am Number Four (12A) ●●●●● (DJ Caruso, US, 2011) Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, Teresa Palmer. 109min. See Also Released, page 46. General release. I Was A Male War Bride (PG) ●●●●● (Howard Hawks, US, 1949) Cary Grant, Ann Sheridan, Marion Marshall. 106min. Grant plays a priggish French army officer who discovers – to his dismay and increasing frustration – that to follow his American lieutenant back to the States, he has to battle all the forces of bureaucracy, a struggle that is eventually to lead him into disguise by cross-dressing. Rumbustious Hawksian romantic comedy set against realistic backgrounds. Part of Hawks season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (U) ●●●●● (Carlos Saldanha, US, 2006) Voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Seann William Scott. 90min. Enjoyable follow-up to the Canadian 2002 animated feature. Larry Sanders and Simpsons scribe Jon Vitti picks up the writing reins with aplomb as Manfred, Sid and Diego face their biggest challenge to date – the end of the Ice Age. St Bride’s Centre, Edinburgh. In The Mood for Love (PG) ●●●●● (Wong Kar-Wai, Hong Kong, 2000) Maggie Cheung, Tong Leung. 97min. In 60s Hong Kong, an adulterous romance is happening elsewhere. Kar-wai’s interest lies with the cuckolded, and the way that something even more intense, personal and fortuitous develops out of their shared ‘adulteree’ status. Kar-Wai offers a seductive surface
texture that’s undercut by his trademark emphasis of the accidental over the clearly intentional. Subtly stunning filmmaking. Part of Takeaway China festival. Metropolitan Bar, Glasgow.
Ferguson, US, 2010) Matt Damon, ✽✽ Inside Job (12A) ●●●●● (Charles William Ackman, Daniel Alpert. 108min. See feature, page 44 and review, page 45. Cameo, Edinburgh. Italian for Beginners (15) ●●●●● (Lone Scherfig, Italy, 2001) 112min. The first outright comedy from the Dogme school of filmmaking. Six Copenhagen-ites fall in love with one another and cross the barriers of class, temperament, even language. Think Mike Leigh crossed with Lars von Trier, if that’s possible. Part of An Introductton to European Cinema course. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Just Go with It (12A) ●●●●● (Dennis Dugan, US, 2011) Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston, Nicole Kidman. 116min. Aniston and Sandler team up for this pretty diverting romantic comedy about an ageing lothario plastic surgeon and his loyal assistant, who get dragged in to a web of lies and deceit when he falls for a young schoolteacher. General release. Justin Bieber: Never Say Never 2D (U) ●●●●● (Jon Chu, US, 2011) Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Jaden Smith. 105min. See Also Released, page 46. Selected release. Justin Bieber: Never Say Never 3D (U) ●●●●● (Jon Chu, US, 2011) Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Jaden Smith. 105min. See above. General release. The Karate Kid (PG) ●●●●● (Harald Zwart, USA/China, 2010) Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith, Taraji P Henson. 139min. The remake of the 1984 hit in which a bullied boy becomes a karate master delivers a half- decent punch, despite Smith’s lazy performance. The training scenes and a downbeat performance from Jackie Chan playing Mr Han lend the film unmerited but welcome pizzazz and charm. Empire, Clydebank.
17 Feb–3 Mar 2011 THE LIST 49