Film - showing at a cinema near you
Margot at the Wedding 
Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale) returns with another impeccably observed tale of a combative family, this time shoved together in a house by the seaside over one weekend. We have Margot (Nicole Kidman), the successful, driven, New York novelist; Jim (John Turturro) her husband, whom she plans to leave for Dick (Ciaran Hinds); and Margot's sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who is troubled, altogether less highfalutin' and engaged to the equally aimless Malcom (Jack Black). The film works precisely as all family-under-one-roof dramas do - that is to say it's a pressure-cooker of a movie, eventually exploding in a burst of recriminations and shouting. Though we may be well-acquainted with the scenario, Baumbach is an intelligent and artful director who brings to his film a striking individuality.
15, 93 mins
The Accidental Husband
Emma Lloyd (Uma Thurman) is a relationship expert, doling out advice via her radio talk show and soon-to-be-published book. Things get a little sticky, however, when she advises a woman to ditch her fiance on the eve of her wedding. Hell-bent on revenge, the fiance, Patrick (Jeffery Dean Morgan), decides to mess up Emma's life by hacking into her computer and resetting things to show that she's married - to him. Thus, when Emma and her real fiance Richard (Colin Firth) apply for a marriage licence, they are declined. But then the darndest thing happens - despite utterly loathing one another, Emma and Patrick begin to fall in love. It's a thuddingly predictable romcom, but, for all that, not entirely unlikable.
12A, 91 mins
Be Kind Rewind
The latest from Michel Gondry, the hipster responsible for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and it's a mixed bag. In a dog-eared corner of New Jersey, video store worker Mike (Mos Def) is left to hold the fort (and see if he can revive the outlet's flagging fortunes) when the owner (Danny Glover) heads off on holiday. Mike, however, did not bargain on accident-prone regular Jerry (Jack Black), whose recent run-in with the local power plant has left him magnetised, resulting in the erasure of a lot of videotapes (Ghostbusters, Robocop and The Lion King among them). And so Mike and Jerry embark upon a plan to recreate the erased movies with the help of a video camera, fervently hoping that the customers won't notice. And certainly some of them - lonesome Miss Falewicz (Mia Farrow) for instance - do not. It's a fun premise, in a YouTube kind of way, but it's somewhat hindered by a nagging sense of improbability.
12A, 101 mins
The Bucket List
'A buddy movie with a difference' is probably the kindest way to describe this tale of two terminally ill cancer patients, Edward (Jack Nicholson) and Carter (Morgan Freeman), who meet in a shared hospital room and decide to live their last days to the fullest. The twist in the tale is that Edward is the billionaire who actually owns the hospital, and their cramped living conditions are the result of his ruthless cost-cutting. Still, it's proved a nice little earner that covers their private-jet escapades, sky-diving, tattoos and round-the-world jaunting. The more impoverished Carter offers only the riches of his wisdom. The problem here is that the plot feels tired, and we've seen Nicholson and Freeman play their respective parts so many times before that it all just seems a bit of a waste.
12A, 97 mins
The Bank Job
British heist movies began to look a little limp after Lock, Stock and all the copycats that tumbled in its wake. But The Bank Job, which owes more to Ocean's 11 than Snatch, could just re-invigorate the genre. It's based on a true story, the 1971 raid on the vaults of a Lloyds bank in London - a crime for which no one was ever arrested. The motive was not so much the money, but the sets of compromising photographs involving politicians and members of the royal family, kept for safe-keeping in the vault by a notorious criminal, which could prove marvellous blackmail-fodder. The gang orchestrating the heist is made up of little-league cons, led by Terry (Jason Statham), and with Saffron Burrows, Keeley Hawes and Stephen Campbell Moore among their number. None of them, of course, are aware of the implications of their raid, and the suggestion is that the entire scam was cooked up by MI5. It makes for a solid and impressive showcasing of British talent.
15, 111 mins
Rambo
Twenty years after the last Rambo and, by and large, the plot and the players remain the same. It's still John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) and he's still on a one-man mission for international justice. This time, however, we are in Burma (last time, if memory serves, it was Afghanistan), and Rambo is nudged out of semi-retirement by the plight of the Karen, Burma's long-persecuted ethnic minority, and the capture of some Western aid-workers, one of whom - the wide-eyed Sarah (Julie Benz) - becomes something like Rambo's muse as he embarks upon the decapitating, throttling, self-righteous blood-bathing we have come to expect from the, uh, oeuvre. No surprises here, then (other than the choice of Burma): just a helping of good old-fashioned, vest-wearing machismo.
18, 91 mins
There Will Be Blood
It's hard to know where to begin with There Will Be Blood. Paul Thomas Anderson's magnificent sprawl of American history is set amid the oil boom in southern California at the turn of the last century. Suffice to say, movies this ambitious and this towering don't come along that often, and it's even rarer when they succeed. Speculator Daniel Plainview (an extraordinary Daniel Day Lewis, expected by many to walk away with the Best Actor Oscar) strikes it lucky in the oil business, accumulating wealth and success. When he encounters the Sunday family, whose farm in the parched community of Little Boston sits atop 'an ocean of oil', he at first anticipates an easy deal. But he did not reckon on the fight of Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), a man with a spiritual frugality at odds with Plainview's avarice. The most monstrous yet astounding film - even if the last, melodramatic scenes seem at odds with all that's gone before. Still, terrific soundtrack, sensational cinematography - who could ask for anything more?
12A, 158 mins
The Boss of it All
Lars von Trier's latest offering is something of a stride away from his last two films, Manderlay and Dogville. For starters, it's rather zingy in tone - indeed, more reminiscent of his film The Idiots. It's the delightful story of company director Ravn (Peter Gantzler), who has long led the employees in his IT firm to believe that the real head honcho is another man who is forever absent but responsible for all the unpopular company rulings. When Ravn decides to sell the firm, he employs an actor, Kristoffer (Jens Albinus), to play the role of the company's fictional boss in negotiations with the potential buyer. Alas, the plan backfires and Kristoffer becomes increasingly embroiled in company politics without any knowledge of, well, anything. The Boss of it All is a quite delicious farce, and as the story tumbles and contorts, it brings to mind some kind of glorious, feature-length episode of The Office or Curb Your Enthusiasm.
15, 99 mins
My Blueberry Nights
Wong Kar-Wai summons the intensely sensual roll-call of Norah Jones, Natalie Portman, Rachel Weisz and Jude Law for his first English-language film. It's the story of the heartbroken Elizabeth (Jones), who embarks upon a restorative road trip across America, picking up waitressing jobs en route. She encounters a series of characters who bring a fresh perspective to her own troubles, such as the adulterous wife of an alcoholic cop (Weisz) and a wily gambler (Portman). There's a strong flavour of In the Mood for Love here - not least in Elizabeth's late-night dessert-sampling interludes with diner owner Jeremy (Law) - and in many ways it proves a similarly seductive movie. The hiccough comes in the blankness of the characters and the emptiness of their dialogue. Still, bland though it may ultimately be, it's enormously lovely to look at.
12A, 111 mins
Jumper
It's high time teleporting was put to better use in action movies, and if any director was going to do it justice, it was surely Doug Liman (we're overlooking his dreadful Mr & Mrs Smith here, and staring only at Swingers and the first Bourne movie). David (Hayden Christensen) is a teenager with a genetic anomaly that allows him to teleport, or 'jump', from place to place. When he flees his abusive home he encounters another jumper, Griffin (Jamie Bell), who tells of a dark organisation called the Paladins, intent on destroying all jumpers, not least because of the 'jumpscars' - rips in the fabric of time - that they leave behind. There'll be plenty who knock Jumper, but for fans of The Matrix and The Bourne Identity it's a genuinely exciting movie.
12A, 88 mins
River Queen
In 19th century New Zealand an Irish colony lives in relative harmony with the Maori. Things become more complicated, though, when the Irish doctor's daughter Sarah (Samantha Morton) discovers she is pregnant by the Maori chief's son. When their child is kidnapped by the Maori, Sarah spends years searching for him and strikes a deal with a Maori warrior named Wiremu (Cliff Curtis) to find him in exchange for medical aid. This Wiremu does, and Sarah now finds herself torn between her growing love for Wiremu and the affections of a soldier (Kiefer Sutherland) back in the Irish colony. There are shades of epic glory here, and Morton is a true force, but largely River Queen remains emotionally distant and unengaging.
15, 114 mins
The Edge of Heaven
This is a well-sewn and involving film about several lives that overlap and entwine across countries and generations. The plot is intricate, though never to the point of befuddlement: Turkish seventy-something Ali (Tuncel Kurtiz) convinces prostitute Yeter (Nursel Kose) to come and live with him - a situation which ruffles the lives of his son Nejat (Baki Davrak) and Yeter's daughter, Ayten (Nurgel Yesilgay). When Ali accidentally kills Yeter, Nejat tries to locate Ayten, hoping to fund her education as a way to make amends. Ayten, however, has run to Germany, fleeing persecution for her involvement with an underground political movement, and soon finds solace in the arms of the middle-class Lotte. When she is returned to Turkey and imprisoned, Lotte follows and finds lodging with Nejat, with neither of them aware of their common link. Director Fatih Akin (Head-On) is a tremendous talent who brings a vivid and sober intensity to this tale of fragile human connections.
18, 122 mins
Juno
A surprise hit and simply one of the most delightful films of recent times, Juno is the story of a wise-cracking, 16-year-old slacker girl (Ellen Page) who finds herself pregnant by her geeky best friend Bleeker (Michael Cera). She briefly contemplates a termination, but ultimately decides to have the child adopted by a local yuppie couple (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman) who seem capable of offering her baby all that she cannot. Inevitably the situation grows more complicated than it initially seems. There are some fabulous performances here from Oscar nominee Page, Cera, and JK Simmons and Allison Janney as Juno's parents, all bolstered by a perfect soundtrack and a whip-smart script. Probably the most charming film you'll see all year.
12A, 96 mins
Reviews by Laura Barton
FIRST POSTED
FEBRUARY 28, 2008
