Film Index
Dog Day Afternoon (15) ●●●●● (Sidney Lumet, US, 1975) Al Pacino, John Cazale, Charles Durning. 130min. Pacino’s grandstanding as the anxiety-ridden New Yorker attempting to rob a bank to pay for his gay lover’s sex change operation confirmed his status as one of his generation’s leading actors. ‘Attica Attica!’ This is undoubtedly the greatest heist movie of the 1970s. Or is it? Judge for yourself. Grosvenor, Glasgow. Film Discussion Group Meet up with other film buffs to swap opinions and perceptions of both art house and big blockbuster recent releases. Held on the second Wednesday of every month. Glasgow Film Theatre. Follow Me. . . I’m Right Behind You (E) (Andy Glen, Scotland, 2010) 55min. Glen’s directorial debut follows piping legend Barry Donaldson as he puts together a band of complete beginners with a view to entering them in the 2009 World Pipe Band Championships. Glasgow Film Theatre. Future Shorts/Lights in the Dark (E) (Various) 90min. Aiming to develop a wider audience for short film, Future Shorts returns, with another excellent international programme. This screening will be preceeded by new local event Lights in the Dark, a new short film initiative showcasing Scotland’s most promising filmmakers. The Arches, Glasgow.
✽✽ Gainsbourg (15) ●●●●● (Joann Sfar, France/USA, 2010) Eric
Elmosnino, Lucy Gordon, Laetitia Casta. 135min. This depiction of Serge Gainsbourg’s life is a humorous, sad and bizarre identity crisis, more enjoyable in its abstract moments than when loitering in traditional biopic territory. While Sfar excels at eccentricity, the movie occasionally falters, particularly in its portrayal of Gainsbourg’s less hedonistic times. Nonetheless, a great introduction to the French singer. Selected release. Get Him to the Greek (15) ●●●●● (Nicholas Stoller, US, 2010) Jonah Hill, Russell Brand, Sean Combs. 108min. Brand is matched up with Superbad’s Hill for a raunchy bromance in this LA-set music industry satire. The bearded comic’s self- parody gives way to annoying narcissism, but not before the film has hit enough targets to pass muster as a sharp lampoon of celebrity culture. Vue Ocean, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Greenberg (15) ●●●●● (Noah Baumbach, US, 2010) Ben Stiller,
Rhys Ifans. 107min. Turning again to the withering, unacceptable and downright unpleasant face of educated America, Baumbach profiles Greenberg – an obnoxious and self-absorbed 40-year-old who has returned to Los Angeles after years away. Post Woody Allen’s comic acting heyday this is the most (squirming) fun you will ever have with a neurotic. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Gregory’s Girl (PG) ●●●●● (Bill Forsyth, UK, 1981) Gordon John Sinclair, Dee Hepburn, Clare Grogan. 91min. Winning comedy from Cumbernauld with Sinclair eventually finding romance after
Dorian Gray Letters To Juliet (PG) (15) Mon 9 Aug 14:30 Wed 4th Oct (baby friendly), 11am, 2pm, 19:30 7:30pm 106 THE LIST 5–12 Aug 2010
his heart is set aflame by the latest recruit to the school football team. This is a seminal piece of Scottish cinema, its universal appeal demonstrating that homegrown talent can compete with Hollywood’s finest in the entertainment stakes. Part of Great Scots season. Glasgow Film Theatre. Heartbreaker (L’Arnacoeur) (15) ●●●●● (Pascal Chaumeil, France/Monaco, 2010) Romain Duris, Vanessa Paradis, Julie Ferrier. 104min. Monte Carlo-set light-hearted romantic comedy about a man who is paid to break up couples by any means necessary. The heartbreaker’s cynical attitude to love is questioned when he’s employed to stop the impending nuptials of Juliette (Paradis) to a seemingly perfect Brit (Lincoln). Selected release. How to Train Your Dragon 2D (PG) ●●●●● (Dean DeBlois/Chris Sanders, US, 2010) Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera. 97min. Commendable new DreamWorks animation set in the mythical world of Vikings and dragons, and based on the book by Cressida Cowell. Hiccup, a Viking teenager, befriends a dragon. Cineworld Parkhead, Glasgow; Cineworld Fountainpark, Edinburgh. Hubble 3D (U) (Toni Meyers, Canada, 2010) 44min. Leonardo Di Caprio narrates the latest 3D IMAX space adventure. IMAX Theatre, Glasgow. I Know Where I’m Going! (U) ●●●●● (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, UK, 1945) Wendy Hiller, Roger Livesey, Finlay Currie, Pamela Brown, Nancy Price. 91min. Beautifully shot in black and white, this is an intriguing comedy romance with dark undertones, in which the young, confident Ms Hiller sets out to marry her rich, elderly fiancé in the Hebrides, but falls instead for Livesey’s sexy young naval officer. The visual symbols, all drawn from the islands’ natural landscape, underline the story’s deeper resonances. CCA, Glasgow. I Live in Fear (PG) ●●●●● (Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1955) Toshiru Mifune, Takashi Shimura. 104min. Very fine early Kurosawa movie, made between Seven Samurai and Throne Of Blood, I Live in Fear tells the intimate story of a Tokyo family facing the threat of nuclear war. The father (Mifune, uncomfortably playing a character twice his age) wants to emigrate
to a farm in Brazil, his family don’t want to and try to have him incarcerated. This is a little nugget of a movie, a time capsule from the Atomic Age. Part of Kurosawa season. Glasgow Film Theatre. Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (U) ●●●●● (Carlos Saldanha/ Mike Thurmeier, US, 2009) Voices of Simon Pegg, Seann William Scott, John Leguizamo. 93min. Life is changing for Scrat, Manny, Ellie and co in many different ways in this the latest installment of popular animated series. Empire, Clydebank. Ikiru (PG) ●●●●● (Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1952) Takasha Shimura, Nobuo Kaneko, Kyoko Seki. 140min. Gentle comedy about a terminally ill bureaucrat who seeks to give his dreary life vibrancy and meaning. Part of Kurosawa season. Glasgow Film Theatre.
✽✽ Inception (12A) ●●●●● (Christopher Nolan, US, 2010)
Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Ellen Page. 147min. DiCaprio stars as Don Cobb, a thief who is the master of the art of extraction, stealing secrets from the minds of the unconscious. The business is risky and has resulted the loss of everything he once held dear. Now he is being offered a chance of redemption, but at a cost, and up against a dangerous enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming. See review at list.co.uk. General release. The Karate Kid (PG) ●●●●● (Harald Zwart, USA/China, 2010) Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith, Taraji P. Henson. 139min. The remake of the 1984 hit in which a bullied boy becomes a karate master delivers a half- decent punch, despite Smith’s lazy performance. The training scenes and a downbeat performance from Jackie Chan playing Mr Han lend the film unmerited but welcome pizzazz and charm. General release. Knight and Day (12A) ●●●●● (James Mangold, USA, 2010) Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard. 109min. See Also Released, page 104. General release. The Last Airbender 2D (PG) (M Night Shyamalan, USA, 2010) Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz. 103min. Young Avatar Aang gets caught up in a tiff between the kingdoms of Earth, Wind, Fire and Water in the latest offering from Sixth Sense director Shyamalan. Previews only. Selected release.
The Last Airbender 3D (PG) (M Night Shyamalan, USA, 2010) Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz. 103min. See above. Previews only. General release. Leaving (15) ●●●●● (Catherine Corsini, France, 2009) Kristin Scott Thomas, Sergi López, Yvan Attal. 86min. Bored housewife (Scott) pursues a builder as a way out of her ennui and away from her controlling husband (unlikely romantic lead Lopez). Corsini tries to take an even-handed approach to each character by showing how confusion leads to selfishness, but nothing new is added to this predictable genre. Cameo, Edinburgh. London River (15) ●●●●● (Rachid Bouchareb, UK, 2009) Brenda Blethyn, Sotigui Kouyaté, Marc Baylis. 87min. This clash of cultures tale depicts two separate parents who travel to London after their children go missing in the wake of the 7/7 bombings. While the conclusion is full of pathos and drama, the lack of discussion on terrorism is a fatal flaw. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Man in The White Suit (PG) ●●●●● (Alexander Mackendrick, UK, 1951) Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker. 85min. A dishwasher in a textile mill invents a fabric that never wears out or gets dirty. Mackendrick adds a touch of acidity to the Ealing comedy formula and Guinness is spectacularly good, exploiting his trademark smarminess to great effect. Glasgow Film Theatre. Marmaduke (U) (Tom Dey, USA, 2010) Voices of Owen Wilson, George Lopez, William H Macy. 88min. Family film chronicling the adventures of a family with a rather accident-prone Great Dane. Previews only. General release.
✽✽ My Night with Maud (Ma Nuit Chez Maud) (PG) ●●●●● (Eric
Rohmer, France, 1969) Jean-Louis Trintignant, Francois Fabian, Marie- Christine Barrault. 101min. See Also Released, page 104. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Nanny McPhee & The Big Bang (U) ●●●●● (Susanna White, US, 2010) Emma Thompson, Ralph Fiennes, Maggie Gyllenhaal. 109min. Sequel to the popular 2005 family film. This time Gyllenhaal is single mum Isabel Green (hubbie is off to fight the Hun in WW2) with three out of control nippers to contend with and two insufferably posh evacuee cousins about to arrive on their farm. Selected release.
The Brain Machine Hughes’ 1954 thriller is weird and compelling enough to make it worthy of rediscovery. ■ Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Mon 9 Aug. Showing as part of a new initiative to revive and reassess lesser known films from the British Film Institute’s National Archive, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang director Ken