so Fl/HORROR WAR OF THE WORLDS (12A) 116min coo
Don't expect War. . . of the Wells (HG's original 1898 novel) or Welles (Orson's infamous 1938 radio broadcast). Hollywood superpowers Spielberg and Cruise have updated the classic tale of alien attack on Earth to modern-day east coast US and launch their own hi- tech saturation bombardment on global multiplexes. Resistance is futile.
It's also. perhaps surprisingly,
Name Rachel McAdams.
Born 1976. Ontario. Canada. Background McAdams was brought up in a small town near London. Ontario. At the age of four, she took part in figure skating competitions. By the age of 13. she was performing in Shakespearean productions in summer theatre camp. Despite her obvious love of acting, during her early secondary school years she believed that studying theatre at university would be ‘a bit of a joke‘. It was. in fact. a drama teacher who ultimately encouraged her to choose this path of study. McAdams went on to York University in Toronto. where she appeared in many student films and stage productions. She landed her first professional on-screen job with an appearance on the Disney series The Famous Jet Jackson (1998) followed by a pilot for MTV. After a few more films, she hit it big after her appearance in the Lindsay Lohan vehicle Mean Girls and Nick Cassavettes' The Notebook. What Is she up to now“? She is currently shooting The Family Stone alongside Clare Danes and Sarah Jessica Parker.
What she says about the craziest thing she has done 'I stalked someone. I showed up at a restaurant where I knew the guy worked. and we were actually good friends and had lost touch. I pretended that I didn't know he worked there. It's the most manipulative thing I've done in my entire life. but it all worked out very well, so I have no regrets.“ Interesting fact McAdams worked at McDonalds for three summers in a row.
I Wedding Crashers is on general release from Fri 15 Jul.
48 THE LIST 7—21 Jul 2005
unwarranted. Deliberater opposing the overblown pyrotechnics of Independence Day. the entire invasion is seen through one family. that of divorced blue-collar dockworker Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) and his two estranged kids. The reduction in perspective is refreshing. No obliterated monuments. military heroics or Will Smith punching-out-the-alien wisecracks here: simply the blind panic of ordinary people trying to avoid utter annihilation.
The first hour. from the lightening storms triggering the release of giant tripods long buried underground (sleeper cells?) to a terrifying attack on a crowded ferry. is absolute white- knuckle stuff. The tripods. with their foghorn siren calls-to-arms and relentless. implacable waves of destruction. are truly nightmarish. If director Steven Spielberg's past close encounters with benevolent aliens seem w0rlds away. his habitual technical mastery hasn't deserted him.
Inevitably, given the constant cowering in basements. things flag somewhat in the second half and the ending's an ill- judged mesh of Wells' abruptness and old-fashioned Hollywood schmaltz. But it's not enough to erase the earlier craft and invention. The 9 1 1 parallels in particular are deftly handled and if this War of the Worlds is never less than a $150 million FX epic. it is still the only Summer blockbuster that effectively posits Tom Cruise as an insurgent SLiicide bOrnber. (Leigh Singer)
I Out now on general release.
THRILLER THE BOONDOCK SAINTS (18) 110min 00
Two years after being offered a dream deal by Miramax to direct his own script before being unceremoniously dumped and blacklisted (as detailed in the dOCumentary Overnight). bartender and wannabe filmmaker Troy Duffy got his film made. Finished back in 1999. it's 8 dated post-Tarantino thriller (which may explain what Miramax head Harvey Weinstein saw in Duffy). complete With eccentric characters. macho posturing. bizarre and gratuit0iis Violence. pop culture references. self-referential dialogue. non-chronological plotting and much
foul language — 246 uses of the word 'fuck'.
All that's hung on a very slight story about a pair of Irish Catholic brothers (Sean Patrick Flannery and Norman Reedus) who take it upon themselves to rid Boston of its organised criminals. instituting an international mob war and drawing themselves to the attention of Willem Dafoe's butch, gay FBI agent.
Evidently made on a much lower budget than originally envisioned (and without the participation of Robert De Niro. Patrick Swayze and Stephen Dorff, who were originally slated to appear in the film). The Boondock
DRAMA COMEDY FESTIVAL (18) 107min .00.
Saints has ended up a cheap looking B-movie that's pretentious. derivative and sorely lacking a sense of fun. (Miles Fielder)
I GF T. Glasgow on Sun 10 and Sat 76 Jul only. See also Tony Montana interview, page 47 and Overnight review, below.
DOCUMENTARY OVERNIGHT (15) 82min .0.
Co-documentarians Tony Montana and Mark Brian Smith have. with this thorny indictment of Hollywood. salvaged a drama from a crisis. Filmed over four
As the wide-eyed comedian, character actor and writer Marty Feldman noted shortly before his untimely death from food poisoning in 1982: ‘Comedy, like sodomy, is an unnatural act.’ Nobody seems to know this better than seasoned writer/director/performer and Edinburgh Festival veteran Annie Griffin (of C4’s The Book Group fame). Having become one of Scotland’s more cherished female media players based in Edinburgh (despite the fact that she is in fact originally from Buffalo, New York), she effectively throws away her imaginary keys to city with this, her feature debut.
Acidic, dyspeptic, darkly funny and filthin rude, Festival is that rare British
beast, a good ensemble drama.
Edinburgh in August is hell for some but nirvana for others. Ambitious actress Faith Myers (Lyndsey Marshal) this year gets the chance to put on her own one-women show about Dorothy Wordsworth. On arrival at the less than promising venue she is befriended by Brother Mike (Clive Russell), a kindly if warily disturbed Fringe player who has his own midday show about paedophile priests. Across town, posh, clueless New Towner Micheline is renting her flat out to some hideous Canadian avant garde performers, while down in the VIP circle comedians Sean Sullivan (Stephen Mangan) and his PA Petra (Raquel Cassidy) are dealing with the intricacies of being on the judging panel of the Comedian’s Award (read Perrier). On the stages and in the pub, star rating obsessed comedians Tommy O’Dwyer (Chris O’Dowd), Nicky (Lucy Punch) and Conor (Billy Carter) are moaning and feisty BBC Scotland reporter Joan Gerard (Daniela Nardini), who has long since grown tired of all the Festival egos, is on a collision course with the repellent, base and pretentious who gather in Auld Reekie every year.
Cutting like a bloodstained sheath across the Richard Curtis template for ensemble rom com, Griffin has fashioned something as embittered, spiteful and sour as cold revenge. Clearly influenced by Altman’s Nashville, Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show and Lee’s Do the Right Thing, Griffin orchestrates a bacchanalian countdown to disaster which is mean, ill advised and very funny. Not all the stories work but once you get past the archness of the dialogue (a given considering that we are talking about a very cloistered world here) there is enough going on to make this a hoot. With superb performances from nearly all concerned and a great fusion soundtrack by Scottish composer Jim Sutherland, this may just be the vaccine you need for
what lies ahead. (Paul Dale)
I General release from Fri 15 July. See feature. page 14.