Film

Salo

18 Sep 2008

DVD (18) 112min (BFI DVD retail) Pier Paolo Pasolini’s loose 1975 adaptation of the Marquis De Sade’s The 120 Days of Sodom gets an excellent two disc DVD (and Blu-ray) makeover with a ton of fantastic extras. Pasolini transposed De Sade’s tale…

The Banishment

4 Sep 2008

Fledgling master Russian filmmaker Andrei The Return Zvyagintsev’s flawed second feature is a nonetheless interesting fusion of British gangster flick Sexy Beast, Ingmar Bergman’s Persona and (thematically at least) Scenes from a Marriage as created by…

DVD roundup

4 Sep 2008

We start this horror round-up with a trio of box sets. The John Carpenter Collection, The Roger Corman Collection, Blacula

Physical graffiti as The Wackness comes to Edinburgh International Film Festival

23 Jun 2008

Friday 20th June 2008 saw Festival Square, Edinburgh transformed into an enormous technicolor homage to graffiti, breakdancing and hip hop culture to mark the UK premiere of film The Wackness at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Edinburgh International Film Festival - Jeanne Moreau

5 Jun 2008

Born between the wars to an English chorus girl mother and a French restaurateur father, Jeanne Moreau was born to play what feminist film critic Molly Haskell called ‘the glorious fantasy, appealing to both sexes, to men as eternal mistress, to women…

PS I Love You

4 Jan 2008

COMEDY/ROMANCE (12A) 126min As the well-connected daughter of the current Taoiseach, author Cecilia Ahern could surely have pulled a few strings to ensure her novel PS I Love You avoided the abhorrent adaptation offered here by…

American Gangster

15 Nov 2007

Ridley Scott’s American Gangster opens with callous urban cruelty as a man is tied to a chair, doused with petrol and set on fire. But the reasons behind this violent act are less to do with anarchy than with good business, or at least that’s the lesson…

Half Nelson - Ryan Gosling interview

Faculty high

11 Apr 2007

The versatile, chameleon-like Canadian actor Ryan Gosling has consistently been drawn to dark, emotionally troubling roles. He has played a Jewish neo-Nazi in The Believer, a teenage killer who flirts with the investigating policewoman in Murder by…

Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny

The devil plays guitar

13 Nov 2006

Tearing modesty a new asshole, Tenacious D describe themselves as ‘the world’s greatest rock band’. The D’s two members, Jack Black (vocals and rhythm guitar) and Kyle Gass (lead guitar and backing vocals), name check among their inspirations Kiss, Dio…

Casa de mi Padre

Will Ferrell's Spanish-language comedy is at once unfunny and too silly to take seriously

11 May 2012

Funnyman Will Ferrell as a tough rancher in a violent Spanish-language Western? It could only be a joke, and that’s exactly what Case de mi Padre is, a ragged, silly spoof in the Airplane/Naked Gun mode. Unfortunately, as jokes go, it’s a not…

New trailer for Danish comedy Klown

Filthy, funny antics that diverge from Scandinavia's current reputation for serious TV drama

10 May 2012

Every now and then, something comes along that makes you laugh, wince and sneeze coffee through your nostrils, in that order. Today, that experience comes courtesy of the trailer for Danish comedy Klown. The film follows Frank (Frank Hvam) and Casper…

Northern Lights: A film about Scotland made by you

Scots nationwide invited to contribute to country's first mass-input film project

9 May 2012

How would you like to see your work as part of a unique and exciting feature-length documentary film? Got a camera and something you’re eager to share? Then you’re all set to get involved and be in with a chance of winning one of many awards from the…

Juan Of The Dead

Cuban zombie comedy features cheerful mixture of political comment and splatter

4 May 2012

Another zombie film. Really? It sounds like the last thing anyone would want to encourage but Juan Of The Dead overcomes any zombie fatigue with a cheerfully anarchic mixture of splatter and political comment. If that just brought the early films of…

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

27 Apr 2012

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…

Safe

Guilty pleasure action flick starring Jason Statham

23 Apr 2012

(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…

Faust

Ill-defined version of story that emphasises the yuck factor

20 Apr 2012

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

19 Apr 2012

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…

Simon Pegg stars in new trailer for A Fantastic Fear of Everything

Pegg plays a hyper-phobic children's author in the new comedy

10 Apr 2012

After high profile action appearances in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol and JJ Abrams' rebooted Star Trek (not to mention the forthcoming sequel), it's nice to see Simon Pegg still has time to nurture his comedy roots. While we eagerly await the…

Woody Allen's To Rome with Love - trailer

The director delivers another Europe-set ensemble piece, with Alec Baldwin, Ellen Page and more

4 Apr 2012

Woody Allen looks set to continue his love affair with Europe (following on from Midnight in Paris and Vicky Cristina Barcelona) with his latest release, To Rome With Love. The Eternal City forms a backdrop to various intersecting comedic tales…

The trailer for Lovely Molly, the new film from Blair Witch director Eduardo Sánchez

More close-up crying from the found footage pioneer

3 Apr 2012

Since pretty much inventing the found footage horror genre with The Blair Witch Project back in 1999, Eduardo Sánchez has been keeping kind of a low profile, with only a couple of (poorly-received) horrors to his name. The trailer for his newest…

Colin Farrell kicks ass in new Total Recall trailer

Updated CGI, a Biel v Beckinsale punch-up and Bill Nighy among the trailer highlights

2 Apr 2012

Fans of 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle Total Recall have had little reason to be impressed by the forthcoming remake of Arnie's second best film (it’s not a patch on T2): casting Colin Farrell in the lead alongside almost forgotten female leads…

The Divide

A nasty and nihilistic portrait of rapid decline of civilisation

19 Mar 2012

(18) 108mins Rarely will you see a film as nasty and nihilistic as Xavier Gens’ The Divide. The Frenchman scored a cult hit with 2007’s Frontier(s) before making his first foray into the studio system with the by numbers video game adaptation Hitman.

Guy Pearce delivers futuristic TED talk for Ridley Scott's Prometheus

Pearce stars as the founder of Weyland Industries

29 Feb 2012

We appreciate a well-thought out viral online campaign here at List HQ. We're also fans of the inspirational TED talks, where the leading lights of culture, technology and industry come together to deliver talks based on their chosen field of expertise.

The Raven

Thriller hypothesing final days of Edgar Allan Poe falls prey to genre cliches

17 Feb 2012

(15) 111min As the opening titles to The Raven tell us, until he was found near death on a park bench in October 1849, Edgar Allan Poe’s final days remain a mystery. Spinning a macabre tale that might feel at home in one of Poe’s stories, this…

Hollywood film productions boost Glasgow's economy by £20m

Cloud Atlas, Under The Skin and World War Z all shot in Scotland

16 Feb 2012

Big-budget films starring the Hollywood elite helped generate more than £20m for Glasgow's economy in 2011, with several film production companies choosing the city as a location. A-listers Brad Pitt, Halle Berry and Scarlett Johansson have all…