Lift to the Scaffold (PG) oooo (Louis Malle. France. 1957) Jeanne Moreau. Mattrice Ronet. Georges Potrjouly. 90min. Considered quite a gripping thriller in its day. Malle's first dramatic feature hinges on a perfect crime of tntrrder that does not go according to plan. The cool noir elements are still effective. the Miles Davis score still sets a decadent tone. and Moreau is still glowing on screen. Film/rouse. Edinburgh.
Looney Tunes - Back in Action (PG) .0 (Joe Dante. LS. 2003) Brendan Fraser. Jenna Elfman. Steve Martin. Timothy Dalton. Heather Locklear. 90min. Bugs Bunny and the gang return for this feature length mixture of live action and animation. Loads of in-jokes but no genuine laughs beleaguer the trsually reliable Dante's attempts to pay respect to the cartoon heroes and animators of yore. UCI Clydebank. Clyde/rank: U( '1 Edinburgh. Edinburgh.
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (12A) .0... (Peter Jackson. L‘S/NZ. 2003) Iilijah Wood. Billy Boyd. Ian McKellen. Cate Blanchett. ()rlando Bloom. Viggo Mortensen. Christopher Lee. 210min. A remarkable end to a remarkable series of films. the journey of Iirodo. Sam and (iollum is the piece de resistance of the trilogy. The tension-filled joumey forces both (iollum and Sam to show their true colours as Frodo suffers under the burden of the ring. All around is war as Aragorn fights to reclaim what is rightfully his. Jackson‘s vision is awesome. The Return of the King is some kind of beautifttl. sortie kind of masterpiece. L'nmissable. ()deorr. Edinburgh.
Magnolia ( 18) 0... (Paul Thomas Anderson. US. 2000) Julianne Moore. William H Macy. Philip Seymour Hoffman. John C Reilly. Tom Cruise. l85min. PT Anderson's follow-up to his superb 70s LA pom industry flick. Boogie Nights. is a snapshot of the lives of a dozen residents of LA's San Fernando Valley. Their stories are sad. funny and moving without ever becoming overly-sentimental and Anderson‘s script is full of humble humanity and beautifully observed moments. And the quite stunning miraculous conclusion is audacious but it works - the same can be said of the whole film. Eilrnhouse. Edinburgh.
Mean Girls (12A) .00 (Mark S Waters. US. 2004) Lindsay Lohan. Rachel McAdam. Lacey Chabert. Amanda Seyfried. Tina Fey. Lizzy Caplan. 97min. Raised in Africa by zoologist parents. Cady Heron (Lohan) thinks she knows about survival of the fittest. But the law of the jungle takes on a whole new meaning when the horne- schooled 15-year-old enters school for the first time and encounters the peculiar cliquey world of the girl teenager. Acerbic. clever teen drama written by Saturday Night Live's Tina Fey. ()deon City Centre. Glasgow. Glasgow:
A Mighty Wind ( 12A) 0.. (Christopher (iuest. US. 2003) Hum; Shearer. Michael McKean. Christopher (iuest. Eugene Levy. Bob Balaban. Marty Belafsky. ()lntin. When folk group agent Irving Steinbloom dies. his son Jonathan (Balaban) and the raggle taggle collection of bands his father looked after decide to hold a commemorative night for him at New York Town Hall. There‘s Mitch and Mickey (Levy and Catherine O'Hara). a dysfunctional folked out Sonny and Cher. there‘s the Folksmen ((iuest. McKean and Shearer) and the Main Street Singers (John Michael Higgins. Jane Lynch and Parker Posey). a new age folk regiment. When this for run into each other after all these years there is. of course. chaos. So so documentary spoof from the Spinal 721/) boys. Ster' Century Cinema. Edirtburglr.
Check out the
Monsters, Inc ( l’) 000 (Pete [)octer. L'S. 2001 ) John (ioodman. Billy Crystal. Steve Buscemi. ()Zmin. The latest C(it animation from 'loy Story makers Pixar is set largely in Monstropolis. a city inhabited by the foulest of beasts. The monsters power their city by sending ‘scarers' through doors which teleport them into children's rooms. ()nce there. they pull faces at the kids. producing shrieks of terror. which are bottled back in Monstropolis and used as a source of energy. It's a neat idea. btrt what really lifts the film is the sense of fun that pervades the whole movie. Monster's. [he runs as smoothly as a fairground slide that no one is too big to enjoy. Ster Century Cinema. Edinburgh.
Mujhse Dosti Karoge! (t') In this Asian take on The Truth About Cats and Dogs. three friends meet in India and move to London. Btrt when friendship blossom into love. someone is sure to get hurt. ()deort at the Quay. Glasgow. Glasgow; L'CI Edinburgh. Edinburgh.
Mujshe Shaadi Karogi (PU) (David l)hawan. India. 2004) Salman Khan. Priyanka Chopra. Akshay Kumar.’l'wo guys. one girl. One question: Mttjhse shaadi karogi'.’ (ioa set spoof Bollywood romance film. that has been compared to Morn Noon Na. (Mean A! The Quay. (ilas’grrtt'. (ilasgott': UCI Edinburgh. Edinburgh. New York Minute (PG) oo
(Dennie (iordon. CS. 2004) Ashley Olsen. Mary-Kate Olsen. liugene Levy. 90min. Jane and Roxy Ryan (the ()lsens) are as different as night and day. Jane (Ashley) is a goody two-shoes who is trying to win a scholarship to study at Oxford t'niversity and Roxy is the bad seed more interested in rockng ottt than getting good grades. These ambitions take the tin-dynamic duo to New York City and in the course of one day. they fall in love. trap a gang of entertainment pirates. escape truant officer max Lomax (Eugene Levy). get ghetto fabulous in the House of Bling and. of cottrse. they learn to love one another again. Mediocrity is a poor replacement for talent and comic timing. (iertel'al release.
The Notebook ( IZA) 000 (Nick Cassavetes. CS. 2004) Rachel McAdams. Ryan (iosling. James (Earner. Joan Allen. l23min. A Hollywood weepy that would have ruade Frank Capra proud. (iarner's Noah tries to jolt Allie's (Row-lands) failing memory by recounting a tale of love from her youth. The story he recounts is set around WWII and is told in flashbacks with (iosling and McAdams both excellent in their roles as young lovers trying to break through class divides. Based on Nicholas Sparks' novel. the filth jumps between the two eras. cleverly using memory as the trigger to show how love can conquer all. Dominion. Edinburgh.
index Film
Things get emotional in The Last Victory
The Passion of the Christ ( 18)
0 (Mel (iibson. IS. 2004) James Cavie/el. Monica Bellucci. Maia Morgenstern. l2(imin. As subtle as a spear jabbed under the ribs. and more boring than a lifetime‘s worth of sanctimonious sermons. (iibson's sado-fetishistic account of the last [2 hours of Christ's life is a crtrde. unedifying mess. Featuring more gratuitous violence than the average ‘video nasty ‘. it presents a pick'u'ntix selection of the four gospels. plus a pedestrian stumble- through of The Stations of the (‘ross all in the baroque. blotxl-drenched style of a horror movie. ('(‘I Clyde/tank. ('lvdelurn/t': ('(‘I Edinburgh. Edinburgh. Performance ( 18) so... ( Nic Rocg & l)onald ('arumell. t'K. 1970) James Fox. Mick Jagger. Attila Pallenberg. 105mm. Chas (Fox never better than here) is a violent gangster who has to go into hiding to avoid retribution from Harry I-‘lowcrs‘ (Johnny Shartnon) mob. By chance he ends tip in the Notting Hill house of Turner (Jagger). Turner sees Chas as a sottrce of rekindlirtg his creatiy ity' and starts tormenting him with drug-induced mind games with the help of the beautiful Pherber (Pallenberg) and the androgynous Lucy (Michele Breton). Shot in two halves. one half gangster filth. one half a requiem to psychedelic enhancement. experimental film and the belief in the self. l’erj/orirurnee looks. feels and sounds like nothing else; it is a miraculous piece of cinema that will stand the march of time. Miss at your peril. ('arneo. Edinburgh.
Piglet’s Big Movie (1‘) (Francis (ilebas. LS. 2003) 75min. Cartoon. The gang from llttndred Acre Wood are back with another enchanting tale of adventure. When Piglet vanishes into the woods after not being allowed to participate in one of Winnie the Pooh's adventures. the gang become worried and set off on a mission to find him using his scrapbook of memories. iividently to adults the underlying message is appreciate your friends and ensure they know you love them. For children. perhaps Megan Lehmann‘s (New York I’m!) qtrote is particularly apt: ‘When the world gets too big and scary. the Hundred Acre Wood remains a clearly delineated comfort mine". (,'('I Clyde/rank. Clyde/with: ('(‘I Edinburgh. Edinburgh.
The Prince and Me (PG) .0
(Martha Coolidge. l'SA/(‘zcch Republic. 2004) Jtilia Stiles. Miaranda Richardson. Iiddie Irvine. Bert Miller. l07min. Paige Morgan (Stiles) meets playboy prince liddie (Mably) at university. mttch to his parents' dismay. Will her medical ambitions suffer if she accepts his offer to go back to Denmark and become his queen'.’ The Prime and Me is a glibbest of royalty themed romantic comedies. offering very little in the way of compensation. (iener'al release.
Shallow Grave ( l8) 0.. (Danny Boyle. l'K. l‘)‘)4) Kerry I-‘ox. liwan Mc(iregor. Christopher liccleston. 90min. Three lidinburgh flatmates find their new cohabitant dead with a stack of money under his bed. so after performing a little l)lY on the corpse. they reckon all their worries are over. But the cops are closing in. there are two thttgs after the money. and the psychological tension is beginning to show. filled with dark humour and cynical one-liners. this Scottish thriller is bloody and intelligent enough to please the cult audience while remaining accessible enough to be a mainstream hit. ((24. (ilaxgorr. Shrek 2 (l') .0. (Andrew Adamson. Kelly Asbury. Conrad Vernon . LS. 2004) Mike Myers. Iiddie Murphy. Cameron Dial. Julie Andrews. Antonio Banderas. John Cleese. Rupert liverett. Jennifer Saunders. 92min. Patchy. episodic sequel to l)ream\\'orks' inspired. satirical riff on Disney fairy tales. this fails to replicate the magic of the original. Back froru honeymtxin. swamp-dwelling Shrek and his bride. Princess l'iona are invited to visit his in-laws. King Harold and Queen Lillian. rulers of the kingdom of Far liar Away. Zorro-like assassin Pttss in Boots (Balttleras) is hired to do away with the ogre interloper and restore the natural order. Bttt the plotters have underestimated l’iona's love. Shrek's sense of self-worth and the loyalty of their asinine sidekick. [)onkey (Murphy). More contrived than clever. the in-jokey movie parodies are fttnny btrt la/y. The slapdash selection of music is often smeared on to disguise the erratic pacing. Nevertheless. the dazzling fairytale ball finale will probably blind viewers to these many imrx‘rfections. (Ierrer'u/ release.
[1,31%qu W" .n' -'-l' 1
Our words of wisdom from the last 500 issues
Spotty British bum
‘Think of the worst film you've seen recently. Multiply that by ten. Now you're getting close to the sheer incompetence. Embarrassingly unfunny, with gratingly obnoxious characters. this is a pimple on the buttocks of British filmmaking.‘ Alan Morrison on Bring Me the Head of Mavis Davis, issue 232, January 7998.
5—12 Aug 2004 THE LIST 21