Film, Issue 696

Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth in Edinburgh to film The Railway Man

A true story about a British soldier’s experience of torture during WWII

After Brad Pitt’s stint in Glasgow and Scarlett Johansson’s visit to the Highlands, it’s nice to see Edinburgh getting some Hollywood love. Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard and Jeremy Irvine are among the stars who will be filming in and…

New Hope Springs trailer appeals to the older cinema-goer

Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones star in this romcom

There's been a shift in Hollywood in recent years towards films which appeal to the older cinema-goer - the likes of The Artist showed that the classic ways of filmmaking are still relevant; The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was teeming with venerable…

Seminal Souls - Antonioni and Bergman in the 21st century

A look at the significance of Michelangelo Antonioni and Ingmar Bergman

Dying within twenty four hours of each other, the demise of two great filmmakers in 2007 was clearly a loss, but though Ingmar Bergman came out of retirement to make Saraband in 2002, and Antonioni made one feature, Beyond the Clouds (and a later short…

2012: The year of the fairytale blockbuster

20 movies based on fairy tales heading to cinemas in the near future

Once upon a time there was a movie with an $85 million budget. It featured princes and princesses and took millions at the box office. The directors and producers of Hollywood rubbed their hands with glee; they'd found the magic potion that would help…

The Monk director Dominik Moll - interview

The French director discusses his dark and beautiful adaptation of Matthew Lewis’ Gothic horror

'Film has a lot to do with dreams and nightmares,' says Dominik Moll, 'and what I like about making films is that they allow you to show a surface and also what’s underneath. I’m attracted to this double-layer idea.' The German-born French filmmaker…

Little Miss Sunshine directors re-team for Ruby Sparks - trailer

The film features performances from Paul Dano, Elliot Gould and Steve Coogan

Directing partners Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris are re-uniting with Little Miss Sunshine star Paul Dano for new movie, Ruby Sparks. In it, Dano plays Calvin, an author who somehow manages to create his latest protagonist in real life. Big name…

Constance Marks, director of puppet doc Being Elmo - interview

The documentary shows the life of puppeteer Kevin Clash

‘I backed into it innocently,’ says Constance Marks of her project to illuminate the man behind the world’s most famous fuzzy red baby monster. Whilst working as a cameraman on Sesame Street, Marks’ husband brought home a personal recorded message from…

Marley

A comprehensive documentary on the singer that would have benefitted from delving a little deeper

(15) 145 mins Executive produced by Bob Marley’s son Ziggy and Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, Kevin Macdonald’s comprehensive, if overly reverential, documentary chronicles the life and times of the first musical superstar from the third world…

New Brave trailer showcases Emma Thompson and Billy Connolly's roles

A new trailer for Disney-Pixar's Brave is available, revealing a little more of the Highland-set story line. In it, we see a lot more of the dynamic between impetuous heroine Merida (Kelly Macdonald), her indulgent father King Fergus (Billy Connolly…

Safe

Guilty pleasure action flick starring Jason Statham

(15) 94mins You have to admire Jason Statham. An actor that knows his limitations but plays to his strengths, while you’re unlikely to ever find him starring as Hamlet, it’s hardly surprising he’s ascended the ranks of Hollywood’s tough guys with…

Piggy

Ultra-violent London-set thriller starring Martin Compston

(18) 106mins Fight Club meets Death Wish in this ultra-violent vigilante movie, one so gratuitous it will turn even the strongest of stomachs. Set in a modern-day London where hoodies wielding knives seem to lurk on every street corner, Martin…

Revisiting: The Bad and the Beautiful

Vincente Minnelli’s classic Hollywood melodrama still shines on the big screen

(PG) 118mins Vincente Minnelli’s momentous 1952 melodrama returns to the big screen and it’s as bewitching and stinging as ever. The Bad and the Beautiful is justifiably regarded as one of the finest films ever made about the filmmaking process…

Town of Runners

Touching but hesitant documentary about an Ethiopian town's knack for producing athletes

The tiny town of Bekoji in Ethiopia has produced an astonishing number of champion long-distance runners. Jerry Rothwell’s pretty and thoughtful documentary frustratingly resists analysing exactly why this is – we’re left to guess at a lucky combination…

Review of Reviews - Mirror Mirror

What we said, and they said, about the new Julia Roberts-starring fairytale

What we said Singh drops in a few visual flourishes, but he’s weighed down by a script that relies heavily on Shrek-like modern snarkiness in period garb for its laughs, without any Shrek-like jokes. The List What they said The film sleepwalks…

Cannes Film Festival 2012 line-up revealed

Highlights include Cosmopolis, On the Road, The Paperboy and The Angels' Share

Cannes Film Festival has never been short on big names but this year’s event looks set to be positively swimming with stars after it unveiled a competition brimming with famous faces and with a heavy representation of American cinema. Of the 21 films…

Faust

Ill-defined version of story that emphasises the yuck factor

Shot in grimy browns and greens, heavy with tangled-up multi-character physical movement and overlapping conversations, Sokurov’s take on the oft-interpreted Faust legend is no pretty pageant. From its opening shot, which closes in from a romantic…

Irvine Welsh’s Ecstasy

An agonisingly watered-down imitation of Welsh's short story

Nothing dates faster than drug culture, and writer-director Rob Heydon’s Irvine Welsh adaptation arrives nearly two decades after the era of the dedicated pill-popper. Taken from Welsh’s story 'The Undefeated', part of the 1996 compilation that provides…

William Friedkin's Killer Joe to open EIFF

The Exorcist director's comic thriller to kick-off 66th Edinburgh International Film Festival

Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) organizers have announced today that comic noir thriller Killer Joe will be the Opening Gala on Wed 20 Jun 2012 in Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre. The film is directed by William Friedkin, best known for his…

Jeff, Who Lives at Home

The Duplass Brothers' slacker comedy bears too much resemblance to its underachieving protagonist

(15) 83mins No one would have believed in the last years of the 20th century that of all the stars to emerge from Judd Apatow’s extraordinary talent nursery Freaks and Geeks, the household name would end up being Jason Segel. He’s not as gorgeous as…

Albert Nobbs

Glenn Close's period drama passion project is a squandered opportunity of intriguing premise

(15) 113mins Fifteen years in development, Rodrigo Garcia’s adaptation of George Moore’s short story The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs arrives on the back of two deserved Oscar nominations for stars Glenn Close and Janet McTeer. And while it’s just…

William Boyd set to write next James Bond novel

As yet untitled book promises return to 'classic Bond'

Novelist William Boyd has revealed that he will be the third author to step into the shoes of Ian Fleming's to write the next 007 book, but says he won't be relying on gadgets to create his 'classic' Bond. The Glasgow University graduate will write a…

666: The Prophecy

By-the-numbers horror from Darren Lynn Bousman, inspired by calendar numerology

(15) 90mins The current public appetite for horror barely excuses the eventual, much delayed release of 666: The Prophecy, which was opportunistically released in the US in November last year on the date (and under the title) 11-11-11. The idea that…

North Sea Texas

Sensitive performances fail to make this predictable coming of age story engaging

(15) 98 mins Given how difficult we’re lead to believe it is to get an independent film distributed in cinemas in the UK, you’d be forgiven for wondering why some of those that do reach our screens seem so familiar. North Sea Texas, the story of…

Outside Bet

Low-budget British horse-racing comedy falls at the first hurdle

(12A) 101mins The cinematic equivalent of the clumps of horse dung that characters repeatedly step into for the cheapest of laughs, Outside Bet is strictly a non-runner in terms of light entertainment. In this painfully naïve British comedy, Bob…

Interview: Jason Segel on Jeff, Who Lives at Home

The Forgetting Sarah Marshall on new slacker comedy and future plans

Jason Segel may well look back on 2012 as his year. Already the 32-year-old actor-writer has seen The Muppets, his nostalgia-tinged feature film revival of the beloved TV show, gross $158m around the world. Even better, the film’s signature tune ‘Man or…