Film - showing at a cinema near you
Wanted
And so the summer blockbuster kerplunks into our laps. Adapted from Mark Millar's graphic novel, Wanted brings us the story of young Wes (James McAvoy) who has a dead-end job, is much-berated by his boss and largely ignored by his girlfriend. It seems, in short, that he will amount to very little. But meeting Angelina Jolie can have a strange effect on a fellow. Here, Jolie plays Fox, an assassin and member of The Fraternity - a secret society headed by the mysterious Sloan (Morgan Freeman) - which works to maintain civilisation by bumping off ne'er-do-wells. Fox recruits Wes when his estranged father (a top Fraternity assassin) is killed, and sets about transforming him into a well-honed, revenge-enacting machine. Wanted is actually tremendous fun and looks stunning, thanks to the art of Russian director Timur Bekmambetov. Jolie is here doing what she does best - smouldering and looking as if she might whup your sorry ass at any minute. And it's hard not to feel a rush of delight for McAvoy, who's cementing his big-league place in Hollywood with what amounts to a rather classy action thriller.
18, 110 mins
Female Agents
Director Jean-Paul Salome - accompanied by some of France's finest actresses - offers a rather nice antidote to all of those tedious manly war films in this tale of five female Resistance fighters who parachute into WWII France. Louise Desfontaine (Sophie Marceau) and her brother Pierre (Julien Boisselier) are rounding up recruits in the lead-up to D-Day, in a desperate effort to prevent Allied landing plans from falling into the hands of the Germans. They find a ragtag bunch, including a showgirl (Marie Gillain), a prostitute (Julie Depardieu), a feverishly religious girl (Deborah Francois) and a radio operator (Maria Sansa). They have two main objectives: to rescue a geologist from a Nazi hospital before he spills the beans, and get rid of the head of Nazi counter-intelligence (Moritz Bleibtreu). The women's characters, so potentially rich, could perhaps have done with a little more investment, there's an ounce too much in the way of melodrama, and you can almost hear the film straining - but not quite managing - to be a serious account of the role of women during the war. Still, it makes for a seriously swashbuckling adventure.
15, 120 mins
La Graine et le Mulet (Couscous)
In the southern French town of Sete, the elderly men of the substantial North African population still struggle to find their place in the community while their womenfolk establish themselves and their children drift away from them. Slimane (Habib Boufares) is one of them: in his 60s, recently made redundant, separated from his wife, Souad, and now living in a guesthouse run by his lover. Each Sunday, the family congregate at Souad's house to cook her speciality couscous: expect the usual kind of messiness heralded by a meal attended by many members of an extended family - the wrong things spoken aloud, and things left unsaid. Really though, this is the story of Slimane, and how he attempts to forge an identity for himself by refurbishing a boat in the harbour and turning it into a couscous restaurant with the aid of his family and, most notably, his lover's teenage daughter Rym (a brilliant Hafsia Herzi). There is a certain predictability to Couscous, and it reaches its close by a rather rambling route, but alongside its weary plot, it also carries an irresistible warmth.
TBC, 151 mins
Sex and the City
Whether the big screen return of Sex and the City fills you with unbridled glee or a sense of unremitting gloom (and I have to say, I'm in the latter camp), there has been an undeniable fanfare surrounding the whole event. But can this movie ever hope to live up to its unofficial title of 'the most important chick flick ever'? Well, it rather depends on what sort of chick you are. If you were the sort to revel in the televised tales of columnist Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and her cocktail chums - career-gal Miranda, sex-aholic Samantha and prim little Charlotte - then it's chocks away for you: a clattering of high heels, fancy drinks and mucho shagging. There is a plot, too, buried deep in the two-and-a-half hours of this film, and it involves Carrie planning her wedding to Mr Big (Chris Noth), things going wrong and things going right, and a trip to Mexico. But the plot's not really the point here: the point is that, gee, there's nothing so important as your best friends. And shoes. And a walk-in closet. And sex.
15, 148 mins
A Complete History of My Sexual Failures
Chris Waitt is a thirty-something Londoner and failed rock musician, with little else to recommend him on his CV apart from his lovely blonde hair. And when I say 'lovely', what I really mean is unkempt. Dumped by his girlfriend of three weeks, Waitt decides to go on a journey of self-discovery (recording this documentary in the process) by way of consulting all of his many, many former girlfriends to find out just what went wrong. Clue: a few problems in the boudoir, coupled with a fundamental immaturity. Aiding the process is Waitt's long-suffering mother who digs out sheaves of old love letters that her son never bothered to answer, while Waitt continues to trawl through past girlfriends and sets out online to meet potential new ones. He also heads off to see Vicki, the love of his life, who sadly turns out to be settled with a new man. And pregnant. This is a brilliantly self-effacing movie, at times quite magnificently funny - largely due to Waitt's unblinking willingness to be humiliated. Excellent stuff.
18, 90 mins
Teeth
Teeth is a whipsmart movie - a kind of horror-comedy, Fifties B-movie pastiche, knowing teen flick, and, upon contemplation, perhaps a rare example of the feminist slasher movie too. Dawn O'Keefe (Jess Weixler, perfectly cast) is a member of The Promise - a Christian association that encourages teenagers to remain virgins before marriage. Through The Promise she meets the swoonsome Tobey (Hale Appleman) and the pair start dating in a chaste and Christian fashion until, one day, Tobey can contain himself no longer and forces himself upon his lovely girlfriend. It's at this point that Dawn is revealed to have - how shall one put this? - an anatomical aberration that explains the teeth of the movie's title. Needless to say, Tobey's first time is not quite what the lusty young fellow envisaged. From here on in, Dawn realises that she and her teeth possess the ability to wage some kind of vengeful campaign on the hormonal young men of her safe, suburban town. It's only at this point that Teeth becomes a smidge repetitive. The rest of the time it's a crisp, clever kind of movie.
18, 88 mins
Irina Palm
The magnificent Marianne Faithfull is Maggie: a safe, suburban housewife (now widowed) whose plans for a slow, dwindling retirement are suddenly thrown into disarray when her beloved grandson is diagnosed with a dreadful illness. With his family short of cash and the only treatment to be found in Australia, the prognosis does not look good. And so, in a resourceful effort to raise funds, Maggie heads to London and answers a job ad that leads her into the world of prostitution. It turns out Maggie (aka Irina Palm) is so skilled at her chosen profession that she is soon doing a roaring trade. And though she is undoubtedly in it for the money to begin with, Maggie soon finds a renewed confidence and a whole new social world through her work. There's something predictable about the plot of Irina Palm - it treads the same path as so many comedies from these shores do, offering a mixture of illegality and sturdy British humour. But what rescues the film from stodginess is Faithfull, who plays Maggie with immense charm and subtlety.
15, 103 mins
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
A couple of years on from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, we now have the second installment of Disney's adaptation of CS Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series. But a lot has changed in Narnia: while it's wartime in Blighty, in the land through the wardrobe door the creatures have all disappeared, the great hall lies ruined, and dour-faced men in body armour rumble about, fiendishly plotting. At the heart of the distress sits poor Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes) and his viperous uncle Miraz (Sergio Castellitto) who has taken the throne from Caspian's father. When Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley), Narnia's exiled kings and queens, are flung back into this world - all glorious manners and innocent faces - it seems the very least they can do is sort things out. The Chronicles take a darker, more ominous turn here, and all the glowering might prove a little too much for younger children. Yet for the older ones this is a smashing film - with war, political intrigue, a burgeoning romance between the Prince and Susan, and of course the full gamut of furry critters. It's perfect children's entertainment.
PG, 147 mins
The Escapist
In the tunnels that run beneath London, a group of convicts make their escape from prison, led by Frank Perry (Brian Cox) - a man intent upon rescuing his drug-addicted daughter before it's too late. Frank has hand-picked his raggle-taggle bunch of companions not because they will make for a fine band of merry men, but rather to increase the chances of a seamless escape. We have the jail's Mr Bigtime, Rizza (Damien Lewis) and his unpleasant brother Tony (Steven Mackintosh), not to mention the dour Lenny (Joseph Fiennes) and the young whippersnapper Lacey (Dominic Cooper). Made on a budget, Rupert Wyatt's writing-directing debut actually benefits from the lack of copious locations and wizardry that the extra bucks might have allowed. It makes for an intense, restless movie, in which Cox, one of Britain's oft-overlooked actors, is really able to shine.
15, 102 mins
The Happening
With The Sixth Sense, M Night Shyamalan introduced cinema-goers to a new kind of thriller; one that was slow, subtle, sinister - and subsequently much-imitated. His work since then, however, has lacked sophistication, and sadly The Happening falls at the same hurdle. It stars Mark Wahlberg as a Philadelphia science teacher named Elliot Moore who flees to the farmland of Pennsylvania with his wife (Zooey Deschanel), best friend (John Leguizamo) and young daughter (Ashlyn Sanchez) when things start turning a bit strange in the city: glowering skies, people keeling over dead, mass suicides. As they hunt for a place to hide, Elliot first tries to work out what the heck is going on, and second to mend his marriage - the former often seeming less complex than the latter, and ultimately attributable to Nature's long-overdue revolt against mankind. It's not a bad idea for a movie; it's just that, despite the pedigree cast, The Happening is played out with such heavy-footed tedium that it's rather hard to care.
15, 91 mins
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Anyone pining for the rip-roaring Indy films of yore may find themselves a little disappointed by this fourth instalment, shrouded as it is with a sense of flagging enthusiasm. However, while it may seem a little short of breath at times, it still has much to offer. Nearly 20 years after his last outing, it's now 1957 and our archaeological hero Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is attempting to locate a highly prized crystal skull before those dastardly Soviets (including the peerless Cate Blanchett as evil Russian operative Irina Spalko). Joining him are a young hopeful who might just be his son (Shia LaBeouf) and Karen Allen, who returns as his ladylove Marion Ravenwood. The film thrives when in familiar territory and only really goes awry when attempting to introduce fancy new elements - the biggest dampener being director Steven Spielberg and producer George Lucas's penchant for computer-generated foes which just can't compete with those wriggling insects and writhing snakes of the past.
12A, 124 mins
The Edge of Love
This much-awaited Dylan Thomas biopic starring Sienna Miller and Keira Knightley (with a screenplay by Knightley's mother, Sharman MacDonald) had the potential to be a puffy and over-trumpeted exercise in movie-star indulgence. But in fact it triumphs as a film of great beauty and Britishness. The film focuses less on Thomas's poetry and more on the women in his life (they are, after all, more photogenic): his wife Caitlin (Miller) and the lovely Vera (Knightley), his childhood sweetheart. It's 1941, and Vera has established a nice line in entertaining the troops, winning the heart of a captain named William Killick (Cillian Murphy). But when William trots off to war, Vera embarks upon a kind of windswept love triangle with Caitlin and Thomas (Matthew Rhys). The most startling revelation in The Edge of Love is surely Miller, who, after all the canoodling and boho-ing about, suddenly reveals herself to be an actress of some clout. The movie makes for a surprising - and rather lovely - start to the summer.
15, 110 mins
The Incredible Hulk
Hark! The sound of cinema cash registers ringing across the land! Yes, everyone's favourite raging man-monster is back. The story goes that nuclear physicist Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) has been irradiated in a lab - an event that means every time he gets a little cross he turns green and transforms into The Hulk. As exciting as this is for General Thunderbolt Ross (William Hurt), who foresees a way of gathering The Hulk's DNA to spawn a generation of super-soldiers, it's less thrilling for his daughter and Banner's girlfriend, Betty (Liv Tyler), who soon gets a little weary of her boyfriend's fancy new tantrums. While Banner is on the run seeking a cure for his condition, a biochemical experiment is turning power-crazed soldier Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) into a malevolent force named The Abominator - which only The Hulk stands a chance of defeating. The Incredible Hulk is precisely how comic hero movies ought to be - the pace is whip-smart and zingy, the effects suitably zappy and the cast unarguably impressive. What's more it makes a fine companion piece for Ang Lee's Hulk (2003), and a worthy stable mate for Iron Man.
12A, 114 mins
Gone Baby Gone
For his directorial debut, Ben Affleck strikes a pose about as far-flung from his chisel-jawed hunk days as he could get. Gone Baby Gone is an adaptation of Dennis Lehane's novel about a missing four-year-old girl named Amanda McCready who has disappeared from her Boston neighbourhood. As the search spreads wide and the media frenzy grows, Amanda's aunt Bea (Amy Madigan) turns in desperation to local private investigator Patrick Kenzie (a phenomenal Casey Affleck) - an unlikeable, underdressed sort who raises as many suspicions as he unearths. But this film is much more than a whodunnit. Rather, it's a portrait of a community and a class that is largely dismissed by Hollywood: the welfare mother (an equally impressive Amy Ryan) who is druggy and wayward but not easy to dismiss, the run-down streets, the dejected and the down-and-out. And it's here that Affleck's direction shines - his portrait is never patronising or trite, but sensitive and somehow dignified. Excellent stuff.
15, 114 mins
Reviews by Laura Barton
FIRST POSTED
JUNE 26, 2008
