Film - showing at a cinema near you
Mamma Mia!
Since it opened in 1999, Mamma Mia! has become one of the most successful and best-loved stage productions in the world, and its transfer to the screen has therefore been hotly anticipated. Blessedly, the cinematic version is an absolute gem, full of energy and gusto, and bolstered by a gung-ho cast and the writer, director and producer of the stage play. For those unfamiliar with the story, Mamma Mia! relates the tale of Donna Sheridan (Meryl Streep), the proprietor of a Greek taverna, who, having passed the 1970s somewhat promiscuously, has a daughter named Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), fathered potentially by one of three men. Now that Sophie is due to wed she wants to know which of these men should be walking her down the aisle - Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth or Stellan Skarsgard. One should add that - this being a musical - the story is told to the tune of Abba's greatest hits. The three paternal candidates all bring a certain disorientated charm to the screen, but it's the women who flourish here - not only Streep and Seyfried, but also Julie Walters and Christine Baranski in their supporting roles. Amid all the buffed-up action flicks and the chirpy-voiced animations haunting our screens this summer, Mamma Mia! provides the more voluptuous, womanly film choice.
12A, 108 mins
Memories of Underdevelopment
The director of Memories of Underdevelopment, Tomas Gutierrez Alea, would go on to make 1994's Strawberry and Chocolate, which was also set in - and critical of - Castro's Cuba. But in this 1968 film, his objections were perhaps more muted. Nonetheless, this was one of the first Cuban films to receive international acclaim following Castro's revolution - and rightly so. It begins in the wake of the Bay of Pigs invasion, as Sergio (Sergio Correri) watches his friends and family, including his wife and parents, flee Cuba for the glossy promise of America. Remaining in his native Havana, he does not seem especially forlorn about their going. Nor does he believe that the new government will truly bring mammoth change to his country. And anyway, he has other concerns, namely a ceaseless passion for women, who he observes as he strolls through the city or sometimes from his balcony through a telescope. When he encounters the beautiful, innocent Elena (Daisy Granados), she almost conquers him: his attempts to move on to other women are thwarted by her family, who publicly accuse him of rape. It's a truly magnificent piece of cinema: sophisticated and subtle and seductive.
15, 97 mins
Hancock
Cinema's infatuation with superheroes rolls ever onward with this story of John Hancock (Will Smith), the unwilling recipient of superhuman capabilities - flying, incredible strength, indestructibility... you know the drill. Rather than embracing his powers and the responsibilities they carry, Hancock hits the bottle and remains a perpetual grouch. When he saves the life of PR guru Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), however, he is presented with an opportunity to overhaul his image with a stint in jail, a stretch in rehab and a few anger management classes. There is a pretty fine premise behind Hancock, and it floats along quite satisfactorily for the first quarter before one realises that the jokes just ain't that funny, and the plot is staggering off in an unexpected - and uninteresting - direction. As for the love interest... well, Charlize Theron is a knockout, but there is, to me, a complete lack of sexual chemistry between her and Smith. Poor Charlize is left to smoulder on her own. The interesting thing with Hancock will be to see whether the sheer audience-wooing clout of Will Smith can counteract the thorough limpness of this movie.
12A, 92 mins
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 classy action thriller.
18, 110 mins
Savage Grace
Across decades and continents, from post-World War II America to 1960s London, we follow the shocking true story of Tony Baekeland (Eddie Redmayne) and his parents Brooks (Stephen Dillane) and Barbara (Julianne Moore). Brooks has inherited the family plastics empire but lacks ambition. Barbara is deeply pretentious and laden down with intellectual aspirations. Despite these blemishes, the Baekelands undoubtedly sit in a rather enviable position: rich, beautiful, feted. But the higher you sit, the harder you fall. And fall they do, into a mess of infidelities, incestuous relationships and murder. One rather expects Savage Grace to be tremendous - after all, the director is Tom Kalin, who debuted with the excellent Swoon, and the star and real centre of the film is the exceptional Julianne Moore. But there's something uneasy and unconvincing about this movie; for all its impeccable, lint-free appearance and studiously recreated period interiors, there is a lack of a heart, its emotions seemingly delivered from very far away, as if by semaphore.
15, 97 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
Female Agents
Director Jean-Paul Salome - accompanied by some of France's finest actresses - offers a rather nice antidote to all 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
Journey to the Centre of the Earth
This is the second screen adaptation of the Jules Verne novel of 1864, in which the science fiction author envisioned the centre of the earth to be a land of oceans and dinosaurs. The 1959 version starred Pat Boone, but this time, enjoying a modernised script, we have Brendan Fraser as Trevor Anderson, a university professor and expert in seismology who is still haunted by the disappearance of his brother Max some years earlier. When Max's stroppy teenage son Sean (Josh Hutcherson) comes to visit, he brings along some of Max's documents, including an annotated copy of the Verne novel in which he has floated his own theories about how to reach the earth's centre. Trevor and Sean promptly rush off to Iceland with Max's notes as their map, where they meet the frostily gorgeous tour guide Hannah (Anna Briem), and together they all go crashing into the earth. What follows is a science fiction film that is at once thrilling, tender and funny, and a glorious celebration of CGI. Indeed, the greatest achievement of this incarnation of Journey is perhaps the balance it strikes between big, splashy special effects and Fraser's thoroughly likable humour - it's a combination that saves this film from tumbling into true Vernian geekdom.
12A, 92 mins
The Visitor
Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins) occupies a half-hearted existence: a professor of economics at Connecticut University; a penchant for red wine; a distant relationship with his wife; life chugging by in a procession of recycled lectures and piano lessons. It's a trip to New York that shakes him from his slumber. On a rare excursion to an apartment he keeps there, he discovers that it has been sneakily sub-let to a Syrian drummer named Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and his Senegalese girlfriend Zainab (Danai Gurira). At first startled, he soon decides to let them stay, befriending the pair, taking up drumming, feeling the old vitality coursing through his veins once more. But when Tarek is hauled off by the police for being an illegal immigrant, and his mother Mouna (Hiam Abbass) arrives to help him, Walter's life shifts yet again. The Visitor could be one of those terribly smooth, sugary films - cinematic blancmange for liberals - but, while there are some flaws here, director Tom McCarthy (who previously gave us The Station Agent) has in fact created a movie that is challenging, surprising and extremely likable.
15, 103 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
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
My Winnipeg
Sitting somewhere between documentary and fantasy, My Winnipeg is Guy Maddin's tribute to the Canadian prairie city where he was raised. The young Maddin, played here by Darcy Fehr, lived above a hairdresser's shop with his mother, who is played by the grande dame of film noir, Ann Savage. Her casting alone speaks volumes about one of the film's central relationships - that of a son and his over-bearing, unceasingly dramatic mother. The real heart of this film, though, lies in the inextricable bond between Maddin and his hometown - a place where facts blur into fiction, where horses freeze in the river and streets are named after prostitutes. Maddin runs together archive footage and modern scenes, all shot in a similar monochromatic style, over which runs his voiceover, speaking of the city's architectural heritage, its geography and the scent of its beauty parlours. It makes for a touching, occasionally befuddling and always stunning film.
12A, 80 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
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 lovely - start to the summer.
15, 110 mins
Reviews by Laura Barton
FIRST POSTED
JULY 10, 2008
