Film REVIEWS
ALSO RELEASED
Chalet Girl (12A) 96min ●●●●● Charmless Brit rom-com. Reviewed in full at www.list.co.uk General release from Wed 16 Mar. Les Diaboliques (12A) 113min ●●●●● New print of French thriller classic. Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Fri 18–Thu 24 Mar; GFT, Glasgow, Mon 28–Wed 30 Mar. Anuvahood (15) 88min ●●●●● Hoodie horror spoof comedy. Selected release from Fri 18 Mar.
Ironclad (15) 120min ●●●●● Knights Templar adventure. See full review and interview at www.list.co.uk General release from Fri 4 Mar. Patagonia (15) 118min ●●●●● Welsh road movie. Reviewed in full at www.list.co.uk Selected release from Fri 4 Mar. Rango (PG) 107min ●●●●● Johnny Depp in swashbuckling chameleon animated comedy. General release from Fri 4 Mar. Men on the Bridge (15) 90min ●●●●● Turkish drama. Reviewed in full at www.list.co.uk GFT, Glasgow Mon 7–Wed 9 Mar and selected release. The African Queen (PG) 105min ●●●●● New print of romantic adventure classic, starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn. Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Fri 4–Thu 10 Mar; GFT, Glasgow, Tue 22 & Wed 23 Mar. Walkabout (12A) 100min ●●●●● New print of 1971 outback drama. Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Fri 11–Mon 14 Mar; GFT, Glasgow, Fri 25–Sun 27 Mar. All American Orgy (18) 98min ●●●●● Dumb US sex comedy. General release from Fri 11 Mar. Battle: Los Angeles (12A) 117min ●●●●● Marine platoon fights off aliens. General release from Fri 11 Mar. The Company Men (15) 105min ●●●●● Corporate downsizing drama. General release from Fri 11 Mar. Hall Pass (15) 105min ●●●●● Farrelly bothers take on adultery in latest comedy starring Owen Wilson. General release from Fri 11 Mar. The Resident (15) 91min ●●●●● Women in danger in loft horror starring Hilary Swank. General release from Fri 11 Mar. His & Hers (U) 83min ●●●●● Couples documentary. See full review and profile at www.list.co.uk GFT, Glasgow, Fri 11–Thu 17 Mar. 68 THE LIST 3–31 March 2011
Ballast (15) 96min ●●●●● US suicide drama (pictured, below). Reviewed in full at www.list.co.uk Selected release from Fri 18 Mar. The Lincoln Lawyer (tbc) 120min ●●●●● Adequate adaptation of Michael Connelly thriller starring Matthew McConaughey. General release from Fri 18 Mar Route Irish (15) 109min ●●●●● Military thriller from Ken Loach and Paul Laverty. Reviewed in full at www.list.co.uk. See feature, page 64. Selected release from Fri 18 Mar. You Will Meet a Dark Stranger (12A) 98min ●●●●● Familial comedy from Woody Allen. Reviewed in full at www.list.co.uk Selected release from Fri 18 Mar. Limitless (tbc) tbcmin ●●●●● Interesting druggy thriller. General release from Wed 23 Mar. Country Strong (12A) 116min ●●●●● Country and Western music scene fable. General release from Fri 25 Mar. Faster (15) 97min ●●●●● Octaned thriller. Reviewed in full at www.list.co.uk General release from Fri 25 Mar. The Insatiable Moon (15) 100min ●●●●● Diverting New Zealand comedy drama. Reviewed in full at www.list.co.uk GFT, Glasgow, Fri 25–Sun 27 Mar. A Turtle’s Tale: Sammy’s Adventures (U) 85min ●●●●● Likeable animation with environmental message. General release from Fri 25 Mar. How Much Does Your Building Weigh Mr Foster? (12A) 78min ●●●●● Mildly engaging documentary about architect Norman Foster. Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Tue 29–Thu 31 Mar.
DOCUMENTARY CLIENT 9: THE RISE AND FALL OF ELIOT SPITZER (12A) 117min ●●●●●
This intriguing investigative documentary from Alex Gibney (Enron ..., Taxi to the Dark Side) chronicles the spectacular rise and fall of the American politician Eliot Spitzer. As the attorney general of New York in the late-1990s, Spitzer launched a crusade against high-level financial corruption; by 2006, he had been triumphantly elected governor of New York, and was considered a future Democratic presidential candidate. Yet within 13 months he was forced to resign from office when it emerged that this married father of three had been paying for female prostitutes from an upmarket Manhattan escort agency.
Gibney’s interviews with Spitzer reveal a man utterly commanding in discussing matters of politics and economics, yet faltering in explaining why he was prepared to risk his whole career for illicit sex. And if the slickly shot Client 9 can’t definitively prove there was an official conspiracy to bring down Spitzer, it does make us wonder why so many federal resources were devoted to investigating this particular prostitution ring and why Spitzer’s details were leaked by the Justice Department to the press. (Tom Dawson) ■ Selected release from Fri 4 Mar.
THRILLER UNKNOWN (12A) 113min ●●●●●
Liam Neeson has had a career revival as the star of mid-budget action thrillers in which he growls his way through various preposterous situations, while remaining muscularly watchable. Though comparable to his reactionary turn in 2008’s Taken, Unknown is more
The Return of Martin Guerre meets Memento. The Irish star plays Dr Martin Harris a biotech scientist in Berlin to attend a conference accompanied by his wife, played by Mad Men’s January Jones. Things go awry when the good doctor leaves his briefcase at the airport.
Director Jaume Collet-Serra showed, with his House of Wax remake (starring Paris Hilton), that he can make the best out of the preposterous and plenty of suspension of belief is required when Harris is whizzed to the airport in a taxi driven by a beautiful Bosnian immigrant Gina (Diane Kruger).
One car crash later and Harris is in a coma for four days, his identity has been stolen and no one believes that he is the man he purports to be. Luckily Gina is on hand and the duo kick ass in a thriller in which the Berlin location is pivotal to the mystery. (Kaleem Aftab) ■ General release from Fri 4 Mar. See Diane Kruger interview at www.list.co.uk