FILM | Reviews
HORROR MAGGIE (TBC) 95min ●●●●●
A zombie film that trades scares for sorrow, Maggie is the sensitively captured tale of a strong-oak father standing watch over his dying child. The casting of Arnold Schwarzenegger may indicate otherwise but it’s anything but action-packed, with the directorial debut of Henry Hobson playing like the anti World War Z. It’s set in an America learning to adjust after an outbreak of the ‘necroambulist’ virus. Stoic farmer Wade (Schwarzenegger) chooses to keep his infected daughter Maggie (Abigail Breslin) beside him, a helpless bystander to her grisly demise. The march of the disease is slow enough to prove agonising, yet gives them mere weeks to say goodbye.
We’ve seen zombie movies of all shades – from satires to splatterfests to rom-zom-coms – but rarely one which lingers so mournfully on the haemorrhaging of humanity. Arnie is stately in his heroism and heartache, while Breslin has a nice line in quiet terror. Those looking for traditional frights will be disappointed as this moody indie plays on our fears in a more subtle, sometimes chilling way. It doesn’t need outside aggressors because, as the film astutely observes, a family’s worst nightmare is a threat from within. (Emma Simmonds) ■ General release from Fri 17 Jul.
ROMANTIC DRAMA THE LONGEST RIDE (12A) 128min ●●●●●
Spurred on by the success of 2004’s The Notebook, the writings of Nicholas Sparks have spawned a string of drippy romances, with George Tillman Jr’s blandly photographed, unexceptionally acted film marking the tenth entry in the Sparks production line. Scott Eastwood plays Luke, a bull rider whose bravado hides his fragile physical health. His rugged good looks attract Sophia (Britt Robertson), an arts graduate about to take up a prestigious gallery position in New York. Pulled in different directions, Luke and Sophia’s chance rescue of Ira (Alan Alda) from a burning car leads Sophia to read through a box of the old man’s love letters.
Ira’s advice, that ‘love requires sacrifice’, is awarded a transformative power that strains credulity. Taking this revelatory philosophy on board, Sophia rejects both her own ambitions and the lure of the city. The sexual symbolism, notably Luke coaching Sophia to ride his mechanical bull, is truly risible, and the WWII flashbacks to Ira’s past feel like a welcome relief from the couple’s torrid lovemaking. Conventional, painfully slow and carrying some confusingly mixed messages about relationships, Tillman Jr’s film constitutes the worst kind of artificial bull. (Eddie Harrison) ■ General release from Fri 19 Jun.
ANIMATION INSIDE OUT (TBC) 102min ●●●●●
Pixar deliver the goods yet again with a delightful, poignant and hysterically funny animation taking us inside the mind of a troubled girl named Riley (voiced by Kaitlyn Dias). Her brain is imagined as a well-oiled factory hub, commanded by personified emotions: Joy, Fear, Sadness, Disgust and Anger – who appear as scrappy mini beings. This sharply observed, utterly magical coming-of-ager has a beautiful message for everyone, not just kids. In a similar manner to Up, Riley’s first 11 years hurtle by in a matter of minutes. We meet her again in a transitional period as things in the brain hub start to go awry prompted by a house move, leading Joy and Sadness to embark on a perilous mission to save the day.
Amy Poehler assumes her Parks and Recreation persona as she voices the super
positive and organised head of the group, Joy. When Riley’s mother (Diane Lane) asks her daughter to keep her chin up, Joy does not want to let her down, but in her determination forgets that each emotion is just as important as the others; something that Sadness (a perfectly cast Phyllis Smith, channelling Beetlejuice’s Lydia Deetz) constantly attempts to communicate. Elsewhere, Mindy Kaling as Disgust is straight outta Mean Girls, and hilarious to boot. Highlights include the introduction of imaginary friend Bing Bong (Richard Kind) who is
part elephant, cat and dolphin, and an abstract sequence which skips between modern art movements in a gloriously manic fashion. Co-director and writer Pete Docter has said he was inspired to make Inside Out after he witnessed his daughter going through a tough time. You can tell; every gag and sentiment rings entirely true. (Katherine McLaughlin) ■ General release from Fri 24 Jul.
SCREWBALL COMEDY SHE’S FUNNY THAT WAY (12A) 94min ●●●●●
Veteran director Peter Bogdanovich makes a welcome return to cinemas, some 14 years after his last narrative feature, The Cat’s Meow. Modern-day setting aside, his latest harks back to a bygone era and an almost forgotten sub-genre: the screwball comedy. It’s a breakneck style Bogdanovich has employed before, and no one can accuse him of getting rusty. Co-written with his ex-wife Louise Stratten, the dialogue flies by, with gags feeling organic and, almost entirely, sophisticated. Leading the story is Owen Wilson’s married
Broadway director Arnold. The night before the casting of his new play he calls up an escort agency. Arriving at his door is the lovely Izzy (Imogen Poots). Rather than have sex, he wines and dines her, offering her $30,000 to ditch the day job and follow her dream of becoming an actress. That’s just the beginning of an increasingly frenetic story that’s breathtaking and brilliantly cast – particularly Poots, who grounds the film emotionally, and Jennifer Aniston who plays a foul- tempered shrink and has rarely been funnier. It seems they can still make ’em like they used to. (James Mottram) ■ General release from Fri 26 Jun. 70 THE LIST 4 Jun–3 Sep 2015