Film INDEX
Slaughter High (18) (George Dugdale, Mark Ezra, Peter Mackenzie Litten, UK/US, 1986) Caroline Munro, Simon Scuddamore, Carmine Iannaccone. 91min. A high school reunion gets out of hand as a schoolboy exacts his revenge on the bullies who left him burned and beaten. Glasgow Film Theatre. A Small Act (12) ●●●●● (Jennifer Arnold, US, 2010) 88min. An inspiring story of the power of charity, telling of the transformation in the fortunes of a young Kenyan boy when he won the sponsorship of a Swedish woman. The Hippodrome, Bo’ness. So Close to Life (12A) ●●●●● (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1958) Eva Dahlbeck, Ingrid Thulin, Bibi Andersson. 84min. Low-key drama contrasting the experiences of three patients at a Stockholm maternity hospital. Part of Bergmann season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Something Borrowed (12A) (Luke Greenfield, US, 2011) Kate Hudson, Ginnifer Goodwin, John Krasinski. 112min. New York-set love triangle about three well-to-do law graduates. General release. Source Code (12A) ●●●●● (Duncan Jones, US/France, 2011) Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga. 93min. Jones’ follow-up to dazzling debut Moon can’t quite match up, but it does ensure the director’s career remains on the right track. Source Code is an intriguing race against time thriller with sci-fi and philosophical elements. Vue Ocean, Edinburgh. The Space Between (15) (Tim Barrow, UK, 2010) Vivien Reid, Tim Barrow, David Whitney. 85min. Film made by (and starring) Tim Barrow (The Inheritance) on a mini-budget in Edinburgh and London, about two lonely people who find hope in one another. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Submarine (15) ●●●●● (Richard Ayoade, UK, 2010) Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige, Noah Taylor. 94min. A witty, poignant and hugely accomplished British comedy about a 15-year-old schoolboy (Roberts) struggling with a rich fantasy life in a Welsh village in the late 20th century. Debut director Ayoade (star of The IT Crowd) looks set for a glowing career. The Hippodrome, Bo’ness.
✽✽ Stake Land (15) ●●●●● (Jim Mickle, US, 2010) Connor Paolo,
Nick Damici, Kelly McGillis. 98min. See Also Released, page 86 and profile, page 82. General release. Stand By Me (15) ●●●●● (Rob Reiner, US, 1986) River Phoenix, Will Wheaton, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Conners, Keifer Sutherland. 88min. Based on a Stephen King short story, this film recalls a childhood adventure for four small-town boys who discover the whereabouts of the corpse of a missing child, and decide to get there before the local toughs. A charming rite of passage movie which Reiner directs with a sure touch, carefully evading sentimentality. Scotsman Screening Room, Edinburgh.
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92 THE LIST 26 May–23 Jun 2011
Stevenson College Edinburgh Degree Show (PG) (Various, UK, 2011) 120min. See what the SCE students have created for their final year. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Sunrise (PG) ●●●●● (FW Murnau, US, 1927) George O’ Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston, Bodil Rosing. 97min. After a fling with a beautiful broad from the big city, a country boy tries to murder his wife, but then repents and spends the rest of the movie making up with her. Lyrical silent love story, with superb monochrome imagery and some genuinely surprising twists. With live accompaniment by French guitarist Olivier Mellano. Glasgow Film Theatre. Sweetgrass (15) ●●●●● (Ilisa Barbash, Lucien Castaing-Taylor, France/UK/US, 2009) 101min. See Also Released, page 86. Filmhouse, Edinburgh; DCA, Dundee. Swinging with the Finkels (15) (Jonathan Newman, UK/US, 2011) Mandy Moore, Martin Freeman, Melissa George. 84min. Comedy about a couple who try to save their marriage with experimental sex. Selected release from Fri 17 Jun. TT3D: Closer to the Edge (E) ●●●●● (Richard de Aragues, UK, 2011) Guy Martin, Ian Hutchinson, John McGuinness. 103min. Impressively shot documentary about the Isle of Man’s annual dangerous and exhilarating motorcycling Tourist Trophy. Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee. Taxi Driver (18) ●●●●● (Martin Scorsese, US, 1976) Robert De Niro, Cybill Shepherd, Jodie Foster. 114min. Digital re-issue of the now classic story of an alienated taxi driver in New York so repelled by the squalor and the moral decay around him that he is driven to terrible violence. One of the key films of the 1970s, with the Scorsese-De Niro partnership at its peak. Cameo, Edinburgh; Glasgow Film Theatre; DCA, Dundee. 13 Assassins (15) ●●●●● (Takashi Miike, Japan/UK, 2010) Kôji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada, Yûsuke Iseya. 126min. Former bad boy of Japanese cinema surprises again with a tale inspired by samurai mythology. Having set the 19th- century scene and taken time to build up the characters, Miike closes the film with a giddy and gratuitous fight sequence that lasts for the whole final 40 minutes of the film. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Thor 2D (12A) ●●●●● (Kenneth Branagh, US, 2011) Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins. 114min. Enjoyable and entertainingly absurd new superhero adventure introducing the hammering god. Branagh Journeys of Courage
as director brings a Shakespearean grandeur to proceedings. General release. Thor 3D (12A) ●●●●● (Kenneth Branagh, US, 2011) Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins. 114min. See above. General release. Trainspotting (18) ●●●●● (Danny Boyle, UK, 1995) Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller. 93min. John Hodge’s screenplay perfectly captures the desperate humour of Irvine Welsh’s novel, keeping the episodic structure of junkie scenes for the first half before concentrating on Renton in London in the later stages. Fast and stylish direction, with a creative soundtrack and acting that’s off-the-rails excellent this cinematic blast from beginning to end shows a complex – and true – understanding of the lure and fatal consequences of drug-taking. Sofi’s, Edinburgh. A Turtle’s Tale: Sammy’s Adventures 2D (U) ●●●●● (Ben Stassen, Belgium, 2010) Voices of Melanie Griffith, Isabelle Fuhrman, Yuri Lowenthal. 85min. Likeable animation with an environmental message. Macrobert, Stirling; The Hippodrome, Bo’ness. V for Vendetta (15) ●●●●● (James McTeigue, US/Germany, 2005) Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, John Hurt. 132min. Messy storytelling and muddled action in which a near-future Britain is subjugated by an Orwellian fascist government. However, grimy backstreets are intercut with images of shiny new London, and the political thrust is lost. Utterly incoherent and virtually unwatchable. Glasgow Film Theatre. Vidal Sassoon: The Movie (PG) ●●●●● (Craig Teper, US, 2010) 90min. Made in conjunction with a coffee-table book charting Sassoon’s life by executive producer Michael Gordon, this is very much a glossy, rose-tinted cinematic portrait from director Craig Teper. A shame it doesn’t probe deeper into Sassoon’s inner world. Glasgow Film Theatre; DCA, Dundee. Wallander: Tjuven (15) (Leif Magnusson, Sweden, 2009) Krister Henriksson, Lena Endre, Stina Ekblad. 90min. Scottish Swedish Society screening of an episode of the popular crime thriller series. In this installment, the neighbourhood watch scheme takes matters into its own hands when a spate of break- ins occurs. Sofi’s, Edinburgh. War of the Buttons (PG) ●●●●● (John Roberts, UK, 1994) Colm Meaney, Gregg Fitzgerald, John Coffey. 94min. The rivalry between two villages in the south west of Ireland is played out in skirmishes between local school children, but soon
This short season of features and shorts, a spin-off of sorts of the Refugee Week Film Festival 2011, explores the history of refugees in cinema. The many highlights include Argentinean film about ‘the disappeared’ Captive, Kurdish road movie Half Moon and powerfully intimate Congolese documentary Pushing the Elephant (pictured). All screenings will be introduced by experts or followed by panel discussions. Ticket deals available. ■ GFT, Glasgow from Mon 20-Sun 26 Jun.
their battles escalate. Colin Welland’s script oozes Irish charm and a love of childhood, but the repetitive structure begins to wear thin. Glasgow Film Theatre. Water for Elephants (12A) ●●●●● (Francis Lawrence, US, 2011) Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, Christoph Waltz. 120min. R-Patz plays a veterinary student who runs away with the circus, where he meets a particularly beguiling horse trainer (Witherspoon). General release. Watership Down (U) ●●●●● (Martin Rosen, UK, 1978) Voices of John Hurt, Richard Briers, Ralph Richardson, Roy Kinnear. 92min. Richard Adam’s bestseller is transformed into this pretty animation adventure that lacks most of the tension and unique viewpoint of the book. When their warren is threatened by man, a group of rabbits decide to find a new home many miles away. Remembered (unfortunately) for Art Garfunkel’s No 1 hit, ‘Bright Eyes’. Cameo, Edinburgh. The Way (12A) ●●●●● (Emilio Estevez, US, 2010) Martin Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Deborah Kara Unger. 128min. Estevez’s second film, following the impressive Altman-like Bobby, is a wholesome piece about faith, grief and mortality starring Sheen as an American doctor who arrives in the Pyrenees following the death of his adult son (Estevez). He meets a plethora of characters in this quiet, contemplative film. Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow; Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee. The Way Back (12A) ●●●●● (Peter Weir, US, 2010) Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, Dejan Angelov. 132min. Bluntly heroic prison-escape drama relating the story of an epic break-out from a Siberian gulag and their subsequent trek home. Scenic and powerful, but poorly scripted and light on characterisation. Macrobert, Stirling. Wedding Belles (E) ●●●●● (Irvine Welsh/Dean Cavanagh, UK) 90min. Welsh’s funny TV drama about the lives and loves of four Leithers. Sofi’s, Edinburgh. Westfront 1918 (15) ●●●●● (GW Pabst, Germany, 1930) Fritz Kampers, Gustav Diessl, Hans-Joachim Moebis. 75min. An early talkie detailing the horrors of trench warfare. Introduced by Jim Dunnigan, Chair of Edinburgh Film Guild and Film Studies tutor at Edinburgh University Office of Lifelong Learning. Part of The New Objectivity: Realism in Weimar Cinema season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Win Win (15) ●●●●● (Thomas McCarthy, US, 2011) Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Alex Shaffer. 106min. An expertly shaken comedy/drama cocktail, Win Win tells of small-town attorney Mike Flaherty (Giamatti), who spends most of his spare time coaching his local school’s wrestling team. Giamatti is his usual flawless self, and his relationship with newcomer Schaffer is to be treasured. General release. Winnie the Pooh (U) ●●●●● (Stephen J Anderson/Don Hall, US, 2011) Voices: Jim Cummings, Craig Ferguson, John Cleese. 73min. Disney returns to the Hundred Acre Wood with pleasing results. Selected release. The Wizard of Oz (U) ●●●●● (Victor Fleming, US, 1939) Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Margaret Hamilton, Toto. 102min. Classic stuff indeed, just chockful of great songs, characters and memorably garish design. Perhaps marginally less enjoyable for the curmudgeonly element rooting for the Wicked Witch of the West, though. Eastwood Park Theatre, Glasgow. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (12A) ●●●●● (Woody Allen, UK, 2011) Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones. 98min. Allen returns to London with an amusing if slight comedy about failed ambitions and illicit passions. There’s pleasure to be found in Allen’s ability to expertly weave storylines together but despite its impressive cast, the characters and relationships feel like tired parodies. Macrobert, Stirling.