Jean-Claude Donda, Eilidh Rankin, Jean- Claude Donda. 83min. Animated feature based on unfilmed script from Jacques Tati. The main character, is an ageing magician whose beloved act no longer interests the rock’n’rolling 1950s youth. Selected release. 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. General release. The Karate Kid (PG) ●●●●● (Harald Zwart, USA/China, 2010) Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith, Taraji P. Henson. 139min. Adequate remake of the 1984 hit. General release. The Killer Inside Me (18) ●●●●● (Michael Winterbottom, US, 2010) Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba. 109min. See feature, page 84. Hippodrome, Bo’ness. Knight and Day (12A) ●●●●● (James Mangold, USA, 2010) Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard. 109min. Cruise’s turn as madcap assassin Roy Miller is sadly nothing more than a reprise of his Mission Impossible persona, while his kidnapee, Diaz, flusters her way through the film. This pumped-up spy thriller is a mix of fake CGI and faker romance, allowing neither star to shine. General release. The Last Airbender (PG) ●●●●● (M Night Shyamalan, USA, 2010) Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz. 103min. Visually flashy but incomprehensible and joyless action adventure in which young Avatar Aang gets caught up in a tiff between the kingdoms of Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. Selected release. The Last Exorcism (15) ●●●●● (Daniel Stamm, US, 2010) Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Louis Herthum. 86min. See review, page 86. General release from Fri 3 Sep. The Last Song (PG) ●●●●● (Julie Anne Robinson, US, 2010) Miley Cyrus, Greg Kinnear, Bobby Coleman. 107min. Soppy adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ predictable story about malcontent Ronnie (Cyrus), who travels south to stay with absentee father Steve (Kinnear). For Montana die-hards only. Empire, Clydebank.
✽✽ The Leopard (PG) ●●●●● (Luchino Visconti, Italy, 1963) Burt
Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon. 187min. See Also Released, page 86. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Letters to Juliet (PG) ●●●●● (Gary Winick, US, 2010) Amanda Seyfried, Marcia DeBonis, Gael García Bernal. 105min. Airy, lightweight trifle which takes inspiration from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and, more peculiarly, the alleged phenomenon that many lovelorn people write letters to said Juliet. Cameo, Edinburgh.
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (PG) ●●●●● (Eric Darnell, US, 2008) Voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Sacha Baron Cohen. 89min. Alex the lion (voiced by Stiller), Gloria the hippo (Smith), Melman the giraffe (Schwimmer) and Marty the zebra (Rock) are put on an flight back to their zoo home, only to crash land in Africa. The going native theme is expanded, with good-time fascist lemur (Cohen) getting the best lines and the penguins the best laughs. With clever riffs and unexpected poetry, this is a welcome prospect. Empire, Clydebank. Marmaduke (U) ●●●●● (Tom Dey, USA, 2010) Voices of Owen Wilson, George Lopez, William H Macy. 88min. Crude and unfunny adaptation of popular cartoon strip about the adventures of a clumsy Great Dane dog. General release.
✽✽ Mon Oncle (PG) ●●●●● (Jacques Tati, France, 1958) Jacques Tati, Jean-
Pierre Zola, Adrienne Servatie. 116min. Working in colour for the first time, Tati presents Monsieur Hulot befuddled by the modern factory where his brother-in-law has given him a job, and by the all-mod-cons apartment where he visits his young nephew. Superb catalogue of sight gags centring around the dehumanising effect of the new technology. Matinees only. Cameo, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Mother (Madeo) (15) ●●●●● (Joon-ho Bong, South Korea, 2009)
Hye-ja Kim, Bin Won, Yoon Jae-Moon. 123min. This South Korean thriller is a mad mix of ‘obsessive mother’ drama and intricately realised whodunit. Seek it before Hollywood remakes it. Cameo, Edinburgh. Mother Joan of the Angels (PG) ●●●●● (Jerzy Kawalerowicz, Poland, 1961) Lucyna Winnicka, Mieczyslaw Voit, Anna Ciepielewska. 101min. A convent of nuns is supposed possessed by demons and a priest is sent to save them in this 16th- century-set religious thriller. CCA, Glasgow. My Generation (12A) (Craig Gillespie, US, 2010) Julian Morris, Kelli Garner, Daniella Alonso. 45min. Pilot episode of a new US mockumentary, which revisits a group of high school classmates ten years after graduation to see how their lives are progressing. Part of Big Screen TV season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Mystic Pizza (15) ●●●●● (Daniel Petri, US, 1988) Annabeth Gish, Julia Roberts, Vincent Philiop D’Onosrio. 104min. A rather slight romance set in the Connecticut resort of Mystic, where three pizza parlour waitresses dream and drool over their customers. Part of Gourmet Glasgow. Grosvenor, Glasgow. 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
Film Index
Nyqvist, Sofia Ledarp. 129min. See review, page 86. Selected release. Give Me Your Hand (Donne-moi la main) (15) ●●●●● (Pascal-Alex Vincent, France, 2008) Alexandre Carril, Victor Carril, Anaïs Demoustier. 80min. Twin brothers hitch-hike to the funeral of the mother they never knew and learn a thing or two about brotherly love and independence along the way. Part of London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival on Tour. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Grown Ups (12A) ●●●●● (Dennis Dugan, USA, 2010) Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Salma Hayek. 102min. Five school friends reunite 30 years after graduating on the fourth of July weekend and much high jinks ensue. Regrettably predictable buddy comedy featuring almost the entire Saturday Night Live early 1990s cast. General release. The Halfway House (U) ●●●●● (Basil Dearden, UK, 1944) Mervyn Johns, Glynis Johns, Richard Bird. 95min. Ealing Studios fantasy drama in which a group of trouble- stricken people arrive at a remote country inn and are told they have a year off from real life in which to resolve their difficulties. Part of Projecting the Archive season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Hawaii Five-O (12A) (Len Wiseman, US, 2010) Alex O’Loughlin, Scott Caan, Daniel Dae Kim. 45min. Pilot episode of a new remake of the classic TV series, featuring O’Loughlin as a hard-nosed cop charged with the task of eliminating crime from the paradise shores of the 50th state. Part of Big Screen TV season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. 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). Cameo, Edinburgh. Hell is for Heroes (12) ●●●●● (Don Siegel, USA, 1962) Steve McQueen, Bobby Darin, James Coburn. 86min. Intense and powerful war film, focusing on the tensions within a platoon of American soldiers during World War Two. Part of McQueen season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Home (12A) ●●●●● (Yann Arthus- Bertrand, France, 2009) 92min. Glenn Close narrates Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s moving documentary on the state of the planet. Shot from the air, filmmaker Arthus-Bertrand navigates the viewer over more than 50 countries. The screening is followed by a discussion with Yann Arthus-Bertrand. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. 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 Fountainpark, Edinburgh.
✽✽ The Illusionist (12A) ●●●●● (Sylvain Chomet, UK/France, 2010)
Dorian Gray Went The Day Well? (PG) (15) Wed 1 Sep Wed 4th Oct 11:00 (cuppa), 11am, 2pm, 19:30 7:30pm 90 THE LIST 26 Aug–9 Sep 2010
insufferably posh evacuee cousins about to arrive on their farm. Vue Omni, Edinburgh. Night at the Museum (PG) ●●●●● (Shawn Levy, US, 2006) Ben Stiller, Carla Gugino, Robin Williams. 108min. Broad, imaginative and fun adventure comedy about a bumbling security guard (Stiller) who lets loose an ancient curse at a Natural History Museum, which makes the exhibits to come to life. Grosvenor, Glasgow. No Impact Man (15) ●●●●● (Laura Gabbert/Justin Schein, US, 2009) 91min. See Also Released, page 86. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Pianomania (E) (Robert Cibis/Lilian Franck, Austria/Germany, 2009) 93min. Documentary following professional piano tuner Stefan Knüpfer as he tours the world’s great concert halls, maintaining the instruments of maestros. Cameo, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Piranha 3D (18) ●●●●● (Alexandre Aja, US, 2010) Richard Dreyfuss, Ving Rhames, Elisabeth Shue. 88min. Aja’s remake of 1978 frat comedy horror Piranha is not as cheap, fun, camp or generically incisive as the original but it is a lot of fun. Aja is all too clearly channelling Spielberg’s Jaws rather than Dante’s B movie but the 3D really helps and the stars are clearly all in on the joke. General release. Planet 51 (U) ●●●●● (Jorge Blanco/Javier Abad, US, 2009) Voices of Dwayne Johnson, Jessica Beil, Gary Oldman. 90min. Dull, mildly offensive Spanish animated feature about one astronaut’s adventures as an illegal alien on a far-flung planet. Cineworld Parkhead, Glasgow; Cineworld Fountainpark, Edinburgh. Please Give (15) ●●●●● (Nicole Holofcener, US, 2010) Elizabeth Keener, Rebecca Hall, Elise Ivy. 90min. Oddly saccharine comedy of bad manners in which Keener plays a morally bankrupt New Yorker who makes no secret of the fact that she wants her neighbour dead so she can make her apartment bigger. Glasgow Film Theatre. Ponyo (U) ●●●●● (Hayao Myazki, Japan, 2008) Voices of Noah Cyrus, Liam Neeson, Frankie Jonas. 101min. Delightful animated feature from the Studio Ghibli brand about a five-year-old boy who falls for a goldfish princess. Cineworld Parkhead, Glasgow; Cineworld Fountainpark, Edinburgh. The Rebound (15) ●●●●● (Bart Freundlich, USA, 2009) Catherine Zeta- Jones, Justin Bartha, Kelly Gould. 95min. Zeta-Jones plays a newly separated woman in her 40s who takes up with seemingly perfect younger man Aram (Justin Bartha) for a bit of fun. Hippodrome, Bo’ness. Robin Hood (12A) ●●●●● (Ridley Scott, USA/UK, 2010) Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Matthew MacFadyen. 140min. Ridley Scott’s fifth film with Crowe never quite musters up the epic power of its predecessor Gladiator, yet still, with Scott going for a gritty take on the legend of the outlaw who robbed the rich to give to the poor, at least Crowe lends the character a level of credability Kevin Costner never attained. Vue Ocean, Edinburgh. Salt (12A) ●●●●● (Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, US, 2010) Phillip Noyce. 100min. Dubbed ‘Bourne with boobs’ but a mere faded facsimile of that groundbreaking franchise, this chase thriller stars Jolie on proficient, humourless, butt- kicking form as CIA agent/possible Russian mole Evelyn Salt. It’s all competently enough done, but bland in the extreme. General release. Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute and Screen Academy Scotland(Various, India) 90min. A special screening of the best work to come out of the film school set up by Bengali director Satyajit Ray 15 years ago. CCA, Glasgow.
✽✽ Scott Pilgrim Vs The World (12A) ●●●●● (Edgar Wright, US,
The Edge of Dreaming Having received a good reaction at this year’s Edinburgh International Film
Festival, Scotland-based filmmaker Amy Hardie’s documentary feature contemplation of life, hope and death will screen for a few dates in Glasgow. A Q&A with Hardie will follow the first screening. ■ GFT, Glasgow, Mon 6, Sat 18, Tue 28 & Wed 29 Sep.
2010) Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin. 112min. The first big-budget blockbuster from serial subverter Edgar Wright (Spaced, Shaun of the Dead) doesn’t disappoint. Typecast geek Cera plays Scott, an unemployed musician who falls hard for Ramona Flowers (Winstead) only to find he must defeat a succession of evil ex- boyfriends in fights to the death based on video games ranging from Rock Band to Street Fighter. General release.