list.co.uk/film
Films screening in the next four weeks are listed below with certificate, star rating, credits, brief review and venue details. See list.co.uk for the most up-to- date list of films screening. Film index is compiled by Laura Ennor. ✽✽ Indicates Hitlist entry
The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn (PG) ●●●●● (Steven Spielberg, US/New Zealand, 2011) Andy Serkis, Jamie Bell, Simon Pegg. 107min. After buying a replica model ship at a flea market, Tintin (Bell) is embroiled in a world of subterfuge. Not since Indy’s third outing has Spielberg felt so fresh and unshackled. General release. Aguirre, Wrath Of God (15) ●●●●● (Werner Herzog, West Germany, 1972) Klaus Kinski, Cecilia Rivera, Helena Rojo. 93min. Seventeenth-century conquistadors, on a mission to explore the Amazon, court disaster when the zeal of their leader remains undampened after a number of encounters with hostile Indians. Excellent location work in this moving portrayal of tragic ambition. See preview, page 88. Part of Herzog + Kinski. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (U) (Mike Mitchell, US, 2011) Anna Faris, Christina Applegate, Matthew Gray Gubler. 87min. The singing chipmunk trio and their friends the Chipettes find themselves marooned on a desert island. Which is probably for the best. General release. Amélie (15) ●●●●● (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, France, 2001) Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Serge Merlin. 120min. Within Jeunet’s fantastical world – a reimagining of Paris’ oldest quarter, Montmartre – the eccentric adventures of his eponymous heroine unfold in a manner as complex as a Swiss timepiece when Amélie decides to bring happiness to deserving people by playing elaborately benevolent practical jokes on them. Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee. An American In Paris (U) (Vincente Minnelli, US, 1951) Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant, Nina Foch. 113min. Splendid – if sometimes garish – romantic musical, with Kelly on top form as a would-be artist kicking up a storm in ‘la belle cité’. Filmhouse, Edinburgh; Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee.
✽✽ Another Earth (12A) ●●●●● (Mike Cahill, US, 2011) Brit
Marling, William Mapother, Matthew-Lee Erlbach. 92min. Sombre indie romance involving a planet beyond the sun which is an exact mirror of our own, even down to the lives of its inhabitants. Despite the loopy premise, the startling script by actress Marling and director Cahill is more interested in human interaction than space travel, leading up to an effective double- whammy ending. Selected release. The Apartment (PG) ●●●●● (Billy Wilder, US, 1960) Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray. 125min. Wilder’s corrosive 1960 lampoon of corporate America tells the story of spineless insurance statistician CC Baxter (Lemmon). Having fallen into the practice of leasing his apartment to his superiors for illicit liaisons, Baxter is rewarded with high-speed promotion. All of which suits him fine until he realises that one of the ladies being taken back is the girl of his dreams. Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee. Arthur Christmas (U) ●●●●● (Sarah Smith, UK/US, 2011) Voices of James McAvoy, Bill Nighy, Hugh Laurie.
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97min. Arthur Christmas (McAvoy) is the overlooked star of the Santa team, but when it looks like a small girl’s present may not get delivered, he enlists the help of his curmudgeonly grandfather (Nighy). With characters boringly reflecting different degrees of niceness, this contrived family feud lacks the wit that made Aardman’s name. General release.
✽✽ The Artist (PG) ●●●●● (Michel Hazanavicius, France, 2011) Jean
Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman. 100min. See review, page 83. Selected release from Fri 30 Dec. 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). Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Billy Budd (PG) (Peter Ustinov, UK, 1962) Terence Stamp, Robert Ryan, Peter Ustinov, Melvyn Douglas. 119min. During the 1797 war between England and France, young Billy (Stamp) is a sailor who appears to be too good to be true. Master-at-arms Claggert tries to sully his reputation with an accusation of mutiny. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Bishop’s Wife (U) ●●●●● (Henry Koster, US, 1947) Cary Grant, Loretta Young, David Niven. 105min. An almost classic holiday film about a bishop (Niven) who neglects his wife and parishioners to save his cathedral, until an angel (Grant) intervenes. Sloans, Glasgow. Black Christmas (18) (Bob Clark, US, 1974) Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder. 98min. Yuletide stalk’n’slash fun as a group of sorority girls are picked off by a mysterious killer. Dundead double bill with Saint – see preview, page 87. Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee.
✽✽ Black Swan (15) ●●●●● (Darren Aronofsky, US, 2010)
Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis. Aronofsky’s follow-up to The Wrestler is an intense and gripping portrayal of psychological meltdown. Young ballerina Nina (Portman) finds herself thrown into a maelstrom of conflict, backstabbing and mental manipulation when she is cast as both the
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white and black swans in a lavish production of Swan Lake. Dark and powerful. See preview, below. Part of Ten for 11. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
✽✽ A Blonde in Love (Lasky Jedne Plavovlasky) (PG)
●●●●● (Milos Forman, Czech Republic, 1965) Hana Brejchova, Vladamir Pucholt, Vladamir Mensik. 82min. Forman’s first international breakthrough hit is a near perfect, wonderful, sweet and funny sex comedy about a girl who takes a one night stand a little too seriously, with farcical results. See preview, page 89. Part of Mad Love. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. The Bolshoi Ballet: The Nutcracker (E) (Russia, 2011) 124min. Tchaikovsky’s music brings to life this Christmas favourite in which the toys come to life (and about 200 years before Toy Story at that). Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee; Glasgow Film Theatre, 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 chum: a beautiful, rich bitch. The cast list overflows with comedy talent and the jokes are very funny. macrobert, Stirling. Bugsy Malone (U) ●●●●● (Alan Parker, UK, 1976) Scott Baio, Jodie Foster, Martin Lev. 93min. Musical spoof of Prohibition-era gangster films, with an all-child cast. Family entertainment pure and simple, and a true original with it. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. Captain Horatio Hornblower RN (PG) (Raoul Walsh, UK, 1951) Gregory Peck, Virginia Mayo, Robert Beatty. 117min. Based on CS Forester’s novel, the titular seaman must deliver weapons to a Latin American rebel to usurp the Spanish. But by the time he arrives, the political tide has turned and this former ally has become the enemy. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. A Christmas Carol (PG) ●●●●● (Robert Zemeckis, US, 2009) Voices of Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth. 95min. Soulless computer animated version of Dickens’ classic. IMAX Theatre, Glasgow; The Hippodrome, Bo’ness. Cinderella (E) (David Bintley, UK,
INDEX INDEX Film
2010) Elisha Willis, Gaylene Cummerfield, Carol-Anne Millar, Ian Mackay. 109min. Spellbinding Christmas production recorded live in 2010 at the Birmingham Royal Ballet. The Hippodrome, Bo’ness. Comfort and Joy (PG) (Bill Forsyth, UK, 1984) Bill Paterson, Eleanor David, Clare Grogan. 106min. After his wife leaves him over Christmas, a DJ ends up mediating in an ice-cream war between two local factions, a process which helps rebuild his self-esteem. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. The Deep Blue Sea (12A) ●●●●● (Terence Davies, US/UK, 2011) Rachel Weisz, Tom Hiddleston, Simon Russell Beale. 98min. Hester (Weisz) is torn between her respectable marriage to a kindly High Court judge (Beale, excellent) and a failing affair with dashing but boorish and callow RAF pilot Freddie (Hiddleston). Admirers of director Davies will be thrilled: his adaptation of Rattigan’s 1952 play is unashamedly old- fashioned but luscious and masterly. The Hippodrome, Bo’ness. Desi Boyz (12A) (Rohit Dhawan, India, 2011) Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, Deepika Padukone. 120min. Bollywood comedy in which a couple of modern-day yuppies find their world turned upside down by the recession and their comfortable life in a London pad swapped for one of pole dancing for a living, and bitter rivalry. Odeon at the Quay, Glasgow. Don 2 (tbc) (Farhan Akhtar, India, 2011) Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Om Puri. Moving from Kuala Lumpur to Berlin, Don must evade assassination and arrest in his quest to conquer the European underworld. Selected release from Fri 23 Dec. Dream House (15) ●●●●● (Jim Sheridan, US, 2011) Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts. 91min. Publisher Will (Craig) relocates to the suburbs with his wife (Weisz) and daughters, but when their house turns out to be the scene of a massacre, the dream is left in tatters. Best remembered as the movie that saw Craig and Weisz get together, because their chemistry can’t save the clunky script and inert direction. Empire, Clydebank; Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow.
Handily taking place around the time you might be compiling your ‘Films of 2011’ list (see ours on page 44 if you need some inspiration), the Filmhouse presents some of the finest flicks of 2011. The series kicks off with TrollHunter on Tue 27 Dec, and goes on to include Drive, Black Swan, True Grit, We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Tree of Life, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, A Separation, Tomboy and Le Quattro Volte. ■ Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Tue 27 Dec–Thu 5 Jan. See full listings at list.co.uk 15 Dec 2011–5 Jan 2012 THE LIST 85