list.co.uk/film Cell 211 (18) ●●●●● (Daniel Monzón, Spain/France, 2009) Luis Tosar, Alberto Ammann, Antonio Resines. 113min. Juan (Ammann) is shown around a prison prior to starting work as a new guard when a riot erupts. This award-winning Spanish hit takes a clever premise and moulds it into an intense cat-and-mouse tale that combines strong characters and sweaty suspense. The Hippodrome, Bo’ness. The Change-Up (15) (David Dobkin, US, 2011) Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman, Leslie Mann. 112min. See Also Released, page 99. General release. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (PG) ●●●●● (Tim Burton, US/UK, 2005) Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore, David Kelly, Helena Bonham Carter, Noah Taylor. 115min. Excellent and faithful adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic 1964 book. Bizarre and beautiful to look at, this is Burton at the top of his game. Eastwood Park Theatre, Glasgow. Colombiana (tbc) ●●●●● (Olivier Megaton, US/France, 2011) Zoe Saldana, Michael Vartan, Cliff Curtis. 107min. See review, page 99. General release. Come Closer (15) (Peter Mackie Burns, UK, 2010) 76min. Intimate portrait of Glasgow and the lives of its citizens, soundtracked by the ambient, evocative music of Sigur Rós. Followed by a Q&A with director Burns. Glasgow Film Theatre. Conan the Barbarian 2D (15) (Marcus Nispel, US, 2011) Jason Momoa, Rachel Nichols, Stephen Lang. 112min. Cimmerian warrior Conan (Momoa) is on a quest for revenge. He must fight man and monsters to destroy a supernatural evil. Update of comic book legend made popular by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1980s. See review at list.co.uk/film General release. Conan the Barbarian 3D (15) (Marcus Nispel, US, 2011) Jason Momoa, Rachel Nichols, Stephen Lang. 112min. See above. General release. The Cost of Love (18) (Carl Medland, UK, 2011) Christopher Kelham, Valmike
Rampersad, Michael Joyce. 85min. A gay male escort’s increasingly reckless behaviour begins to worry his friends in this debut feature from Medland. Part of POUT film festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Countdown to Zero (E) ●●●●● (Lucy Walker, US, 2010) 91min. Featuring a range of high profile talking heads, this fast-paced and absorbing polemic against nuclear armament recalls terrifying moments in recent history when the world was seconds away from nuclear war. At times though, it veers worryingly close to fear-mongering. The Hippodrome, Bo’ness. Cowboys and Aliens (12A) ●●●●● (Jon Favreau, US, 2011) Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde. 118min. Drunk and trouble maker Jake (Craig) is broken out of jail and forced to help grumpy old Arizona lawman Percy (Ford) when aliens start to attack. Dull, humourless and over written sci fi western from Iron Man director Favreau. General release. Das Boot: Director’s Cut (15) (Wolfgang Petersen, Germany, 1981) Jurgen Prochnow, Herbert Grunmeyer, Klaus Wennemann. 207min. A hunter-killer sub is unleashed on Allied shipping in the North Atlantic, but the captain shares few of the Nazi ideals of his superiors. This visceral, twisty action drama redefined the ensemble realism. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Days of Heaven (PG) ●●●●● (Terrence Malick, US, 1978) Richard
Gere, Sam Shepard, Brooke Adams. 94min. Malick is one of the great wayward talents of the contemporary American cinema and this is an exquisite triangular love story, now digitally restored, set against the wheat farming Midwest at the turn of the century. You can almost feel the sweat of labour and smell the soil, such is the power of undoubtedly majestic filmmaking. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Delicatessen (15) ●●●●● (Jean-Pierre Jeunet/Marc Caro, France, 1991) Dominique Pinon, Marie-Laure Dougnac, Jean-Claude Dreyfus. 99min. In a sepia wasteland
somewhere in the future, a butcher feeds his neighbours with the juicy joints of his lodgers. Sloans, Glasgow. The Devil’s Double (18) ●●●●● (Lee Tamahori, Belgium, 2011) Dominic Cooper, Ludivine Sagnier, Raad Rawi. 108min. Cooper turns in a career-changing performance as the rampaging son of Saddam Hussein and his body double Latif Yahia (who wrote the source novel). A gripping thriller by Tamahori, here playing very much to his melodramatic strengths and telling this egomaniacal tale with tongue firmly in cheek. Selected release. Earthlings (E) (Shaun Monson, US, 2005) 95min. Documentary narrated by Joaquin Phoenix which tracks the daily practices of food production industries and their exploitation of animals. ACE, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Edindocs Short festival of new independent short and feature-length
documentaries. Church Hill Theatre, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Even the Rain (12) ●●●●● (Iciar Bollain, Spain/France/Mexico, 2010)
Gael Garcia Bernal, Luis Tosar, Karra Elejalde. 103min. A filmmaker (Bernal) is caught up in protests against the privatisation of the national water company while working in Bolivia. Followed by a Q&A session with screenwriter Paul Laverty. Part of Take One Action Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh; Glasgow Film Theatre. Final Destination 5 (15) (Steven Quale, US, 2011) Nicholas D’Agosto, Emma Bell, Miles Fisher. 91min. More premonitions and struggles to beat death’s cold and inevitable hand in the fifth installment of the popular franchise. See Also Released, page 99. General release. Forbidden Planet (PG) ●●●●● (Fred M Wilcox, US, 1956) Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Warren Stevens. 98min. A classic sci-fi version of The Tempest in deep space. Followed by a discussion of the physics in the film Dr Alex Murphy of the University of Edinburgh. Part of SciScreen season. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
INDEX Film
The Fox and the Child (U) ●●●●● (Luc Jacquet, France, 2007) Voice of Kate Winslet, Bertille Noel-Bruneau, Thomas Laliberte. 92min. A giggly eight-year-old French child (Noël-Bruneau) strikes up a friendship with a fox she meets on the way home from school. Glasgow Film Theatre. French Cancan (PG) (Jean Renoir, France/Italy, 1954) Jean Gabin, Francoise Arnoul, Maria Felix. 104min. An impresario (Gabin) is about to open a new club, with the centrepiece of the entertainment a fresh and saucy new version of the cancan. That the dance is to star his brand new discovery, a humble laundress, can only excite jealousy among the chorus line. A loving tribute to Paris and beautiful early foray into the world of colour filmmaking. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Friends with Benefits (15) ●●●●● (Will Gluck, US, 2011) Mila Kunis, Justin Timberlake, Patricia Clarkson. 109min. See review, page 96. General release. Fright Night (15) (Craig Gillespie, UK/US, 2011) Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell. 105min. See Also Released, page 99. General release. General Nil (15) (Ryszard Bugajski, Poland, 2009) Olgierd Lukaszewicz, Alicja Jachiewicz, Magdalena Emilianowicz. 125min. A film about the last few years of Polish resistance leader General Emil ‘Nil’ Fieldorf, who was a national hero but whose nationalism was deemed a threat by the Communist government that came after the war and marked him for assassination. Part of Play Poland Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Get Carter (18) ●●●●● (Mike Hodges, UK, 1971) Michael Caine, Britt Ekland, John Osborne. 112min. Get Carter stands out as a highlight in the artist formerly known as Micklewhite’s career. His superbly controlled performance as the relentless avenger on a score-settling trip to the North East of England only makes you wish Caine had played more villains. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
25 Aug–22 Sep 2011 THE LIST 101