Film Index
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (PG) ●●●●● (Eric Darnell, US, 2008) Voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Sacha Baron Cohen. 89min. See review, page 44. General release. Max Payne (15) ●●●●● (John Moore, US, 2008) Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Beau Bridges. 99min. Moore’s abortive fantasy- thriller exemplifies everything that is wrong with console to big-screen crossovers. A bored-looking Wahlberg plays the haunted cop of the title, whose mourning over his dead wife and child is given focus when Max discovers corruption inside both the police force and the chemical-company where his wife worked. General release. Meet Dave (PG) ●●●●● (Brian Robbins, US, 2008) Eddie Murphy, Elizabeth Banks, Scott Caan. 90min. Eddie Murphy plays Dave Ming Chang, a spaceship made in the image of its miniature-sized captain (also Murphy) who has landed on Earth on a mission to save his planet. Now, one of the least eagerly anticipated reunions in cinema history - between Murphy and director Brian Robbins (Norbit) - invites us to Meet Dave. You really shouldn’t bother. Selected release. Merry XXXmas from The Magic Lantern (18) (Various) 113min. A programme of short films that explore the representation of sex on screen. Featuring Stephen Dwoskin’s single shot of a girl’s face before, during and after orgasm, Moment, Carolee Schneemann’s silent collage of sex sequences,Fuses, Larry Clark’s exploration of the porn industry, Impaled, and Jean Genet’s intensely physical vision of homosexual desire, Un Chant D’Amour. CCA, Glasgow.
✽ Modern Life (PG) ●●●●● (Raymond Depardon, France, 2008)
88min. Depardon’s final installment of his eight year trilogy documenting the life of low valley farmers in France. Media-shy participants regale tales of their daily lives and frustrations with their perpetual battles with the authorities. A slow-paced and moving documentation of a dying way of life. Part of Illuminations festival. See preview, page 43. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Muppet Christmas Carol (U) ●●●●● (Brian Henson, US, 1992) Michael Caine, Steven MacKintosh, Meredith Braun. 86min. See picture, page 53. Part of Weans' World. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. My Best Friend’s Girl (15) ●●●●● (Howard Deutch, US, 2008) Kate Hudson, Dane Cook, Jason Briggs. 99min. Cook delivers a repugnant performance as Tank, a lothario who makes repulsing women his business, in this 1980s throwback rom-com. Charging other guys to take their girlfriends on abusive dates, Tank’s life gets complicated when he falls for the girlfriend of his best friend Dustin (Biggs). Lamentably short of both love and laughter. General release. My Sweet Little Village ●●●●● (PG) (Jiri Menzel, Czechoslovakia, 1985) Janos Ban, Rudolf Hrusinsky. 100min. Vignette of rural Czechoslovakian life involving the misadventures of a burly truck driver and his simple-minded but good-natured assistant. Relentlessly charming stuff from a veteran film-maker, with a ramshackle plot the flimsiest of excuses for gathering together a
Heavy Metal In Baghdad Possibly the only chance to see Eddy Moretti and Suroosh Alvi’s documentary at the cinema in Edinburgh or Glasgow. Following the story
of Iraqi metal band Acrassicauda from the fall of Saddam to present day, this excellent film proves that real rockers never die, they just get their dreams dashed by bloody insurgency. This is a Vice magazine screening. ■ Cameo, Edinburgh, Thu 4 Dec
chorus of comic country bumpkins. Part of Winter Festival of Central and East European Film. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The New Ten Commandments (15) (Various, UK, 2008) 105min. Feature documentary made collectively by Scottish filmmakers and artists, including Kenny Glenaan, Douglas Gordon, Irvine Welsh and Tilda Swinton, in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Part of Universal Declaration of Human Rights Film Series. CCA, Glasgow. Nim’s Island (U) ●●●●● (Jennifer Flackett, US, 2008) Abigail Breslin, Jodie Foster, Gerard Butler. 95min. Adapted from Wendy Orr’s popular book about what happens when agoraphobic authoress Alexandra Ryder (Foster) is contacted by winsome brat Nim (Breslin), whose scientist father Jack (Butler) has gone missing. Breslin and Butler adapt well to the frothy postmodern adventure but Foster’s attempts at slapstick are embarrassingly crude and obvious, lessening any emotional impact. Selected release. Outlanders (15) ●●●●● (Dominic Lees, UK, 2007) Kakub Tolak, Przemyslaw Sadowski, Alexis Raben. 98min. When his father dies, young Pole Adam (Tolak) sets off to find his older brother Jan, who was last heard of in England. The journey brings him face to face with the UK’s itinerant illegal labour market, a Russian girl called Anna (Raban) and some shocking family secrets. Solid social thriller steeped in interesting polemic. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow. Pan Tadeusz (PG) (Andrzej Wajda, Poland/France, 1999) Marek Konodrat, Michal Zebrowski, Andrzej Seweryn, Boguslow Linda. 125min. Andrzej Wajda’s screen adaptation of Adam Mickiewicz’s epic Polish poem is a simple love story of the inhabitants of a Polish countryside mansion. While the characters go about their daily lives, they are silently waiting for Napoleon to invade Russia and regain the lost hope of independence for Poland. Lavish widescreen period drama. Edinburgh Film Guild, Edinburgh. Pride and Glory (15) ●●●●● (Gavin O’Conner, US, 2008) Colin Farrel, Edward Norton, Jon Voigt. 130min. Hackneyed New York set police procedural about a good cop Ray Tierney (Norton) torn between duty to his family (a long line of cops) and his duty to uphold the law. A top notch cast fail to bring anything to this tedious and underdeveloped thriller from writer Joe Smokin’ Aces Carnahan. Selected release. Quantum of Solace (12A) ●●●●● (Marc Forster, UK/US, 2008) Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric. 105min. Quantum of Solace starts with a trademark action sequence involving cars burning rubber around narrow roads and then proceeds to jump from one thrill to another, while moving through locations like pages in a travel brochure. A major plus is Amalric’s turn as the villain Dominic Greene, head of an organisation which exploits energy
resources for financial and political gain who are behind an American approved coup in Bolivia. Although the overarching themes are intriguing, some of the plot points don’t make much sense. General release. Quarantine (18) ●●●●● (John Erick Dowdle, US, 2008) Johnathon Schaech, Jennifer Carpenter, Jay Hernandez. 89min. Grimly effective Spanish zombie movie [REC] gets the Hollywood treatment in this scene-by-scene remake. Quarantine purports to be the surviving document of what happens when journalist Angela Vidal (Carpenter) and some Los Angeles firefighters become trapped inside an apartment building where a strain of rabies is transforming its inhabitants into cannibals. General release. Quiet Chaos (15) ●●●●● (Antonio Luigi Grimaldi, Italy/UK, 2008) Nanni Moretti, Blu Yoshimi, Alessandro Gassman. 105min. See interview, page 44 and review 45. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Rebel without a Cause (18) ●●●●● (Nicholas Ray, US, 1956) James Dean, Natalie Wood, Jim Backus, Sal Mineo. 111min. In this seminal youth movie, Dean is a sensitive but misunderstood kid battling to communicate with his parents and caught in the violent struggle for self-definition. Though now irrevocably dated, this is still notable as the film that articulated the until- then unrecognised experiences and aspirations of a whole generation and does
★★★★ film of the week “warm beguiling human drama”DAILY EXPRESS TIME OUT
nanni moretti
“moretti gives a fine
performance” DEREK MALCOLM, EVENING STANDARD
In Competition Berlin Film Festival
2008
QUIET CHAOS (CAOS CALMO) a film by antonello grimaldi
15 CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE AND SEX
“dryly humorous” “striking and funny”
NICK JAMES, THE OBSERVER THE INDEPENDENT
“casts an affecting spell” DAILY TELEGRAPH A New Wave Films release
STARTS FRIDAY 28 50 THE LIST 27 Nov–11 Dec 2008
★★★★
THE TIMES ★★★★
METRO
★★★★
MAIL ON SUNDAY ★★★★
DAILY EXPRESS