Film REVIEWS
ALSO RELEASED
Knuckle (15) 96min ●●●●● Documentary portrait of the world of Irish bare knuckle fighting. Selected release from Fri 5 Aug. Mr Popper’s Penguins (PG) 94min ●●●●● Family comedy starring Jim Carrey as Mr Popper, a humourless businessman who inherits six penguins. The penguins turn his posh New York apartment into a winter wonderland and they change his life in ways he never imagined. Controversially, this likeable adaptation of popular book was in part filmed on a refrigerated sound stage with real emperor penguins. General release from Fri 5 Aug.
The Smurfs in 3D (U) 102min ●●●●● Those blue French/Belgian woodland creatures make their first 3D trip to the big screen in this hybrid live-action and animated family comedy. When the evil wizard Gargamel chases the Smurfs out of their village, they’re forced through a portal, out of their world and into ours, landing in the middle of New York’s Central Park. Stuck in the Big Apple, they must find a way to get back to their village before the evil wizard finds them. Katy Perry and Alan Cumming are among the artists on voice duties. General release from Fri 5 Aug. 108 THE LIST 4–11 Aug 2011
SCI-FI/MYSTERY SUPER 8 (12A) 112min ●●●●●
Lost creator JJ Abrams’ Super 8 may be heavily inspired by the early films of Steven Spielberg but if you’re going to borrow from someone, why not make it a master? It’s a science fiction adventure that harks back to the character-driven values of the late 1970s and early 1980s; Abrams’ film provides a potent reminder of why Spielberg’s classics (Jaws, ET, Close Encounters . . . ) continue to stand the test of time.
Super 8 combines a scary but rarely seen monster
with a heightened sense of tension and a strong sense of character as evidenced by the strong emotional connection between its central players (akin to the Spielberg-penned The Goonies). It exhilarates and makes you care. Set in an Ohio steel town during the summer of ‘79,
the film follows 14-year-old Joe Lamb (newcomer Joel Courtney) as he struggles to cope with the death of his mother and an emotionally detached dad (Kyle
Chandler) while making a Super 8 zombie flick with his friends. At the same time, a rail accident may have released a mysterious creature into their midst. Abrams’ film may have been marketed around the
monster but it is primarily a coming-of-age story that places its young heroes front and centre. This proves a master-stroke, however, as they provide a tremendously endearing presence, whether through Elle Fanning’s innocent love interest or Riley Griffiths’ feisty young director.
Their camaraderie is so strong, in fact, that their
ensuing scrapes are all the more funny, exciting and moving. So, even if the big reveal involving the creature disappoints with its brevity, it doesn’t detract from the overall enjoyment of the piece, which is even capped off by a hilarious edit of the kids’ zombie film during the end credits.
Super 8 is a loving homage to the way blockbusters used to be, which carries its own lessons for Abrams’ contemporaries today. (Rob Carnevale) ■ General release from Fri 5 Aug.
DOCUMENTARY THE REFEREES (LES ARBITRES) (15) 77min ●●●●●
Following on from Fire in Babylon and Senna, The Referees is another impressive sports-related documentary. Belgian filmmaker Yves Hinant and his co-directors Eric Cardot and Lehericey Delphine were given full access by UEFA to the referees and their assistants at the 2008 European Football Championship Finals in Austria and Switzerland. The resulting fly-on-the wall film is no corporate puff piece, but a deceptively revealing study, which is likely to challenge one’s preconceptions of these much-maligned individuals. We witness the tension in the dressing rooms of the officials before kick-offs, and their mixture of relief and jubilation when a match passes without a controversial
decision, which could lead to their removal from the competition. We listen to the frenzied communications between the miked-up officials during the actual games, and see their decisions retrospectively scrutinised by assessors in lengthy debriefing sessions. England’s Howard Webb becomes a hate figure in the streets of Warsaw when he awards a late penalty against Poland, and his family back in England receives police protection. Eschewing any voice-over commentary or interviews, The Referees draws out the humanity and fallibility of its subjects. As Switzerland’s Massimo Busacca admits to a Greek player, ‘I am not God. We also make mistakes.’ (Tom Dawson) ■ Selected release from Fri 5 Aug. DVD released from Mon 22 Aug (Soda).