OUTSIDE THE
FESTIVALS
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
Apocalypse Now (18) ●●●●● (Francis Coppola, US, 1980) Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper. 153min. Vietnam as ‘the ultimate trip’. We follow US Army assassin Sheen downriver and deeper into the Heart of Darkness ruled over by Brando’s mad Colonel Kurtz. Alternately pretentious and visually overpowering (the Valkyries helicopter attack, for example), the film’s grandiloquent folly pierces right to the bone of the conflict. Macrobert, Stirling. The Aristocats (U) ●●●●● (Wolfgang Reitherman, US, 1970) With the voices of Phil Harris, Eva Gabor, Sterling Holloway. 78min. A streetwise alley cat woos an upper-class feline against the backdrop of turn-of-the-century Paris. Loads of loveable cats, dogs, mice detectives and human adversaries, alongside some of Disney’s more underrated songs. Eastwood Park Theatre, Glasgow.
✽✽ Arrietty (U) ●●●●● (Hiromasa Yonebayashi, Japan,
2010) Mirai Shida, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Shinobu Otake. 94min. Fourteen year old Arrietty (voiced by Shida) and the tiny Clock family live under the floorboards of a suburban home, exploring and borrowing from the human world above. Arrietty may not have the scope of Studio Ghibli’s earliest works, but the result is a beautifully realised small-scale drama. Selected release. The Battleship Potemkin (PG) ●●●●● (Sergei Eisenstein, USSR, 1925) A Antonov, Vladimir Barski, Grigori Alexandrov. 75min. Made for the 20th anniversary of the 1905 revolution, Eisenstein’s all-time classic follows the mutiny by the crew of the Prince Potemkin and the support given by the local civilian population, who are mown down by the Czar’s troops in the famous Odessa Steps sequence. Expressive camera technique and a grasp of editing that wrote the textbooks are just some of the innovations that first put Eisenstein and Soviet cinema firmly on the map. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow.
✽✽ Beginners (15) ●●●●● (Mike Mills, US, 2010) Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Mélanie Laurent. 104min. McGregor is Oliver, whose father Hal (Plummer) has recently died from cancer, having at the age of 75 come out as gay and enthusiastically embraced the life he had long denied himself. Whimsicality runs through every frame and incurable romantics will clutch it to their hearts. General release. A Better Life (12A) ●●●●● (Chris Weitz, US, 2011) Demián Bichir, Eddie ‘Piolin’ Sotelo, Joaquín Cosio. 97min. A Better Life is the simple tale of illegal Mexican immigrant Carlos’ (Bichir) attempt to make a better life for his son Luis (Julián) in Los Angeles. When Carlos’ pick up van and tools are stolen the pair know they must find them to survive. Morally commendable and mildly successful. Filmhouse, Edinburgh; Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow.
✽✽ The Big Picture (L’homme qui voulait vivre sa vie) (15)
●●●●● (Eric Lartigau, France, 2010) Romain Duris, Marina Foïs, Niels Arestrup. 115min. Duris plays an anti-hero deep in emotional crisis. His wife is having an affair and when he confronts the object of her affections his problems really begin. Director Lartigau’s control of atmospherics is impressive and Duris proves that he is always more watchable when playing tormented souls. Selected release. The Breakfast Club (15) ●●●●● (John Hughes, US, 1985) Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald. 97min. The film that helped launch the Brat Pack, which ain’t a compliment. Five American teenagers – punk, swot, nut case, etc – spend a Saturday afternoon in school
INDEX Film
detention, where they go through a tribal bonding experience while spewing all manner of teen angst: it’s all my parents fault and other old chestnuts. Sloans, Glasgow. Bridesmaids (15) ●●●●● (Paul Feig, US, 2011) Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne. 125min. When her newly- engaged best friend Lillian (Rudolph) asks her to be chief bridesmaid, Annie (Wiig) is delighted, until she meets Lillian’s new best friend; a beautiful, rich bitch. The cast list overflows with comedy talent and the jokes are very funny. General release. Captain America: The First Avenger 2D (12A) ●●●●● (Joe Johnston, US, 2011) Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan. 123min. Joe Johnston, director of The Wolfman and The Rocketeer, takes us back to the early days of the Marvel with the archetypal superhero. When Steve Rogers (Evans) volunteers to participate in an experimental program, it turns him into
super soldier Captain America. As the Captain, Rogers joins forces with Bucky Barnes (Stan) and Peggy Carter (Atwell) to wage war on the evil HYDRA organization, led by the villainous Red Skull (Weaving). See review
at List.co.uk. General release. Captain America: The First
Avenger 3D (12A) ●●●●● (Joe Johnston, US, 2011) Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan. 123min. See above. See review at List.co.uk. General release. Cars 2 2D (U) ●●●●● (John Lasseter, Brad Lewis, US, 2011) Larry the Cable Guy, Owen Wilson, Michael Caine. 106min. Pixar’s charmless sequel replaces the homespun values of the original with impressive racetrack backdrops, violent guns- and-missile action, and juvenile comedy from the belching, flatulent Mater. A mechanical slew of pop-culture gags indicate a considerable drop in the level of invention from Finding Nemo or Up. General release. Cars 2 3D (U) ●●●●● (John Lasseter, Brad Lewis, US, 2011) Larry the Cable Guy, Owen Wilson, Michael Caine. 106min. See above. General release. Cave of Forgotten Dreams 3D (15) ●●●●● (Werner Herzog, Canada/US/France/Germany/UK, 2010) 95min. Immersive documentary examining the Chauvet-Pont-d-’Arc caves in France’s Ardèche region that contain the oldest ever paintings created by humans, dating back 35,000 years. Despite working under severe restrictions in terms of access and lighting, Herzog’s images instill a sense of awe. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. Cell 211 (18) ●●●●● (Daniel Monzón, Spain/France, 2009) Luis Tosar, Alberto Ammann, Antonio Resines. 113min. Juan (Ammann) is shown around a prison prior to starting work as a new guard when a riot erupts. This award-winning Spanish hit takes a clever premise and moulds it into an intense cat-and-mouse tale that combines strong characters and sweaty suspense. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Daisies (Sedmikrasky) (15) ●●●●● (Vera Chytilova, Czech, 1966) 76min. A pair of bored girls decide to play a series of pranks on whom they perceive as victims of consumer society. But what begins with scamming a couple of free meals snowballs with devastating effect. Part of Fringe@Summerhall. Summerhall, Edinburgh. Detective Story (U) ●●●●● (William Wyler, US, 1951) Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Parker, William Bendix. 103min. Twenty four hours in the life of a New York police precinct with Douglas playing the detective who is driven over the edge by the corruption and vice around him. Stagey (and based on Sidney Kingsley’s play Dead End), but the performances are fine and the sets and suits right handsome. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (U) ●●●●● (David Bowers, US, 2011) Zachary Gordon, Devon Bostick, Rachael Harris. 99min. Anaemic sequel to last year’s adaptation of Jeff Kinney’s best- selling books. Macrobert, Stirling; Vue Ocean, Edinburgh.
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Arts, Entertainment,Tourism and Leisure Publicity Nationwide DIRECT DISTRIBUTION 0141 429 3838 0 1 4 1 4 4 5 8 8 3 8
4–11 Aug 2011 THE LIST 109