Issue 661

Edinburgh Fringe 2010 comedy highlights for a fiver

The best comedy shows doing cheap previews

A Betrayal of Penguins The two young Irish jokers return with more sketchy nonsense in a show entitled Don’t Run with Scissors? Gilded Balloon Teviot, 4-6 Aug, 2.45pm. Adam Riches The man behind Rogues Males is back in the saddle as he…

South of the Border - Tariq Ali interview

The historian and commentator on making movies with Oliver Stone

The appearance of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez alongside Oliver Stone at the Venice Film Festival for the premiere of documentary South of the Border was one of the most surreal moments on any red carpet in recent memory. In the background making…

Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque)

(15) 121min Great songs, beautiful girls, lovely costumes and an artist in a constant state of flux are emphasised in Joann Sfar’s imaginative, beautiful and suitably bizarre musing on the life of Serge Gainsbourg. Starting off in conventional…

Toro Y Moi brings warped pop to Glasgow

Chaz Bundick brings chillwave to Captains Rest

Almost as enjoyable as the sound of a man tripping out in Yosemite Park at the sight of a double rainbow, (that viral YouTube hit of unbridled ecstasy has been causing no end of delight at The List) is the blissed-out, woozy, warm fuzz of Chaz Bundick’s…

Villa Amalia

Spare existential drama achieves memorably depiction

(PG) 94min The latest collaboration between Isabelle Huppert and director Benoit Jacquot is this spare existential drama, which begins with concert pianist and composer Anne Hidden (Huppert) discovering an infidelity committed by her partner of 15…

South of the Border

(15) 77min When Oliver Stone made a documentary for HBO about Fidel Castro, his American paymasters accused him of going too soft on the Cuban President and ordered him to go and try again. This time Stone stands firm, doesn’t even entertain the idea…

Folding Clouds And Hoovering Hills - interactive artworks for kids

Children's show brings music and installations to Glasgow Tramway

Given the amount of inclement weather Scotland ‘enjoys’, there are often times when we wish the great outdoors could be magically transported inside. Wandering through the new installation in Glasgow’s Tramway, you’d be forgiven for thinking it had…

Guiseppe Tornatore's Baaria is a flawed spectacular

Epic historical melodrama from director of Cinema Paradiso

(15) 150min Whereas Fellini had his hometown of Rimini from which to draw inspiration in the likes of Amarcord and I Vitelloni, Sicilian film-maker Guiseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso) has his birthplace of Baaria, near Palermo. (Baaria incidentally…

Five Great Serge Gainsbourg film soundtracks

A round-up of great film work by the French singer-songwriter

L’eau à la bouche Gainsbourg’s first work as a composer for cinema was on this minor New Wave romantic comedy of familial dysfunction, contested wills and lecherous intent. Gainsbourg’s languorous, yet risqué score, which includes the title track, set…

The A-Team

(12A) 118min ‘I love it when a plan comes together’ opines cigar-chewing black-ops manager Col John ‘Hannibal’ Smith (Liam Neeson) several times in Joe Smokin’ Aces Carnahan’s revamp of the 1980’s action series. Unfortunately Carnahan’s plan, which…

Beautiful Kate

Assured directorial debut from British actress Rachel Ward

(15) 101min The directorial debut of British actress Rachel Ward, Beautiful Kate is an assured adaptation of a novel by American writer Newton Thornburg, which was originally set in 1970s Idaho. The film-maker has transplanted the story to…

London River

(12A) 88min The 7/7 bombings serve as the backdrop to this clash of cultures tale. Guernsey-based Falklands War widow Elisabeth (Brenda Blethyn) is first seen listening to a church sermon about loving your neighbour. In Africa, Muslim Ousmane…

The Karate Kid

(PG) 139min Rocky director John G Avildsen’s 1984 hit The Karate Kid was no masterpiece, so the prospect of a two hour plus remake directed by Harald Zwart (Agent Cody Banks, The Pink Panther 2) and featuring Will Smith’s son Jaden promises as much…

Rubadub records celebrate 18th birthday with Jeff Mills at the Sub Club

Pivotal Glasgow record shop brings Detroit techno legend to Sub Club

‘In any city that has an important musical movement happening, there’s always a hub, like a really influential record shop or club or something like that,’ says Jack Revill. ‘As far as shops go, Berlin’s got Hardwax, Detroit has Submerge and Glasgow’s…

Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival 2010 - Curtis Stigers interview

The 'jazz warbler' on sex, lies and ballet recitals

In Edinburgh for the Jazz & Blues Festival, Curtis Stigers talks to The List about sex, lies and ballet recitals First record you ever bought ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’, by Elton John. First film you saw that really moved you I remember…

City Island: Dominik Garcia-Lorido profile

New York-set family comedy drama family

Name: Dominik Garcia-Lorido Born: 16 August 1983 Birthplace: Los Angeles, America Background: The daughter of the actor Andy Garcia, Dominik grew up in LA and appeared as an extra in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather: Part III, when she was…

Fabio heads up dance acts at Wickerman 2010

Dr Huxtable and Big Toe’s HiFi also set for Dumfries and Galloway festival

While the likes of The Charlatans, Tony Christie and The Futureheads will be playing across the weekend, the Wickerman Festival has a very strong dance presence with the Axis Sound System Reggae Tent (featuring the likes of Dr Huxtable and Big Toe’s…

The Men Who Jump off Buildings - Base jumping

Channel Hopper

‘I think I might die, every time’. When base jumper Dan Witchalls tells his Danish girlfriend how he feels before launching himself from one of London’s many landmark buildings, it looks like she might knock him out flat. ‘Is it worth it?’ she scowls.

Liquid Liquid headline the Electric Frog Street Carnival

New York post-punk top bill at Glasgow electronic festival

The ‘end of Optimo’ we called it when DJs and promoters JD Twitch and JG Wilkes finished their Sunday night Sub Club residency in April this year. And yet here they are, curating one of the line-ups of the year for the Optimo (Espacio) marquee stage at…

And the Land Lay Still - James Robertson

‘I’ve always had it in mind that I wanted to write a big, sprawling novel about Scottish politics and culture in the second half of the 20th century,’ explains James Robertson. ‘When I sat down to write my last book, The Testament of Gideon Mack, I…

Phobia and His Name Was Jason release on DVD

Horror DVD round-up

For this issue’s delve into the world of summer horror we’re taking a trip around the globe. Starting in the US with one for real horror aficionados, His Name Was Jason (Stax) ●●●● is an exhaustive look at the history of everyone’s favourite…

London River - Rachid Bouchareb profile

Director of film set in aftermath of 7/7 London bombings

Name Rachid Bouchareb Born September 1st 1959 Background Born near Paris, Rachid Bouchareb started his career working as an assistant director for French TV. In 1985 he made his debut feature Baton Rouge. In 1995 he received an Academy…

Susan Calman, Stephen K Amos and Bette/Cavett at Fringe 2010

LGBT Edinburgh Fringe Highlights

The List’s LGBT section is about to take a well-earned break (returning in September, folks), but before we head off on our holidays, there’s just time to let you know about some of the gay-friendly stuff that’s appearing at a Fringe Festival near you…

Toy Story 3

Pixar's third instalment reaches satisfying resolution

(U) 108min Sooner or later, everyone grows out of their toys. It’s been over a decade since the world fell for Pixar’s much loved Toy Story and the superior Toy Story 2, so a third instalment, arriving long after its audience has grown up, seems, at…

Lizzard Lounge back for Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival 2010

Fred Wesley and Rumba Caliente Afro Latin Soul Orchestra head up club's return

Toby Shippey, the founder of the Lizzard Lounge club night and later Scots fusion group Salsa Celtica, is waxing nostalgic about the good old days. ‘We used to bring bands over from Cuba and New York,’ he tells, ‘and they would say: “This is the best…