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Film and Comedy

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Looking for Eric

Looking for Eric

(3 stars)11 Jun 2009

COMEDY/DRAMA Could Ken Loach finally be mellowing in his eighth decade? For years the socialist director has been British cinema’s most consistently political filmmaker, illuminating how the dreams of his working class characters are inevitably…

Gigantic

Gigantic

(3 stars)11 Jun 2009

ROMANCE/COMEDY Having done morose to such great comic effect as a mute Goth kid in Little Miss Sunshine and zealous to fine dramatic impact as the phoney preacher in There Will Be Blood, boyishly good looking American actor Paul Dano graduates from…

Blue Eyelids (Parpados Azules)

Blue Eyelids (Parpados Azules)

(3 stars)11 Jun 2009

Love, naivety and loneliness in a modern Mexican megalopolis are essayed in this charming and quirky bittersweet comedy. When factory worker Marina (Cecilia Suárez) wins an all-expenses-paid trip for two from her employer, she realises that, because of…

Miss March

Miss March

(1 star)11 Jun 2009

COMEDY 20th Century Fox’s recent decision to abandon their Fox Atomic subsidiary stemmed from the failure of such ghastly teenage fare as The Rocker and Miss March. This leaden buddy comedy features Eugene (Zach Cregger) and Tucker (Trevor Moore…

Capital - Edinburgh Festivals

Capital - Edinburgh Festivals

28 May 2009

Not for nothing has Edinburgh garnered a reputation for producing some of the finest festivals in the world. Although Manchester and Melbourne are coming hot on its heels, the Fringe continues to dominate the festival calendar as the self-styled…

Catholic Boys

Catholic Boys

(3 stars)28 May 2009

(15) 100min This is a lightweight study of teenage boys coping with the problems and pains of adolescence, kids equally burdened with the demands placed upon them by a Catholic education. Set in Brooklyn in the mid-60s, Catholic Boys stars Andrew…

Synecdoche, New York: Crisis of faith

Synecdoche, New York: Crisis of faith

14 May 2009

‘How many roads must a man walk down / before you call him a man?’ Is Bob Dylan’s most famous protest song really a surrealist riddle? What’s the road made out of, and will it hurt the tender soles of my feet? That’s the thing about the Jewish…

Tormented

Tormented

(1 star)14 May 2009

(15) 91min Director Jon Wright wants his secondary school comedy horror to be the favourite pupil of Professor Shaun of the Dead and Ms Heathers, but his failure to study film history or show a basic grasp of storytelling ensures that Tormented makes…

Night at the Museum 2

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

(2 stars)14 May 2009

Silly but enjoyable sequel to 2006 comedy. Ben Stiller’s night watchman joins characters from the earlier film in a battle to save the Smithsonian museum. General release from Thu 21 May.

O’Horten

O’Horten

(4 stars)30 Apr 2009

DRAMA/COMEDY Maturity, loneliness and the inherent freedoms of breaking with routine are investigated in delightful sixth feature from the gifted Norwegian filmmaker of Kitchen Stories and Factotum. Odd Horten (Baard Owe) is about to retire. After 40…

First Word: Chris Addison

First Word: Chris Addison

16 Apr 2009

First record you ever bought ‘You Can Call Me Al’, Paul Simon. Fall at my feet, ye tastemakers. Last time you were chatted up My wife was very complimentary when asking me to put the kettle on the other day. Is that the sort of thing? First…

In the Loop

In the Loop

(4 stars)16 Apr 2009

The special relationship gets a prick (or pricks) of Waughian satire in this hilarious political comedy by The Thick of It creator Armando Iannucci. When the US president and UK prime minister tout the desire for more war to quell insurrection (without…

Film - Also Released

16 Apr 2009

Crank 2: High Voltage (18) 95min ●●● Picking up where Crank ended, Chev Chelios (Jason Stratham) is kidnapped by a gang of Chinese medics who attempt to remove his organs. They get as far as replacing his heart with a temporary electronic one before he…

Richard Curtis

Interview - Richard Curtis

2 Apr 2009

Richard Curtis’s pirate radio romp The Boat That Rocked could be seen as a step into new territory for the Love Actually director, as it is noticeably free of his two main preoccupations up to this point: romantic love and Hugh Grant. But according to…

The Boat That Rocked

The Boat That Rocked

(2 stars)2 Apr 2009

COMEDY/DRAMA Richard Curtis’ return to the big screen after six years back working in television is not as rockin’ as it is rolling, loose, baggy and freewheeling. It feels like a very long musical montage with little structure or direction. Some…

Monsters VS Aliens

Monsters VS Aliens

(3 stars)2 Apr 2009

ANIMATION/SCI-FI As with the cheerfully vacuous Bolt, Monsters vs Aliens exemplifies the virtues of today’s 3D cinema – eye-popping to watch, leavened with self-referential humour that makes it easy to digest, but also playing things so painstakingly…

I Love You, Man

I Love You, Man

(3 stars)2 Apr 2009

COMEDY The brotherly-love or ‘bro-mance’ genre that Judd Apatow developed and mainstreamed with Knocked Up and Superbad shows no signs of running low on testosterone, with I Love You, Man picking up where last year’s equally acerbic Role Models left…

Bottle Shock

Bottle Shock

(3 stars)19 Mar 2009

COMEDY/DRAMA After the pleasing sideswipes featured in Alexander Payne’s Sideways, the comic possibilities of wine-snobbery are placed firmly at the centre of Randall Miller’s Bottle Shock, which purports to tell the true story behind the sudden rise…

Diminished Capacity

Diminished Capacity

(2 stars)19 Mar 2009

COMEDY With his feature debut, actor-turned-director Terry Kinney has gathered several generations of comic talent (without any good reason) to make a well meaning but painfully obvious life-lessons comedy. Matthew Broderick and Alan Alda star as a…

Meet the Mobsters

Meet the Mobsters

(3 stars)19 Mar 2009

CRIME/COMEDY ‘Missing The Sopranos?’ yells the blurb for this freewheeling crime caper. Well, just because Larry Blamire’s film features a gondola-full of the mob show’s cast either subverting or platforming their previous screen personae doesn’t…

The Baxter

The Baxter

5 Mar 2009

COMEDY This likeably old fashioned comedy showcasing the talents of comic actors Michael Showalter (who also writes and directs), Paul Judd, Justin Theroux and a pre-Brokeback Mountain Michelle Williams has taken four years to cross the pond. And yet…

Bruce Campbell

Bruce Campbell

19 Feb 2009

Bruce Campbell is the unrepentant king of the Bs. He burst onto the world of underground cinema with the ultimate video nasty, The Evil Dead, its two sequels, and a string of unacknowledged classics such as Maniac Cop, Crimewave, Man With the Screaming…

Anvil

Interview: Anvil - The Story of Anvil

19 Feb 2009

You’ve probably never heard of Anvil, but bands like Slayer, Metallica and Anthrax all cite them as an influence. Formed by childhood friends Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow (on vocals and guitar) and drummer Robb Reiner in 1973, they tasted success in the 80s with…

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Confessions of a Shopaholic

(1 star)19 Feb 2009

Meet Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher), an aspiring journalist who runs up a hefty seven-figure credit card bill while pursuing her dream in New York. With the pesky IRS on her trail, she tries to kick her plastic habit without losing the respect of her…

New in Town

New in Town

(1 star)19 Feb 2009

(12A) 96min ROMANCE/COMEDY Imagine Local Hero shorn of wit, poetry and atmosphere and you have New In Town, a cheeseball rom-com from Danish TV director Jonas Elmer. Renee Zellweger plays Lucy Hill, a corporate high-flier from sunny Miami who…

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