Romance

Goodbye First Love

Intimate but unenlightening romance populated with unlikeable characters

17 Apr 2012

(15) 110mins It’s supposed to be unbearably boring hearing about other people’s dreams. But often that’s not nearly as bad as hearing about other people’s formative love affairs. Watching vain, drippy, lugubrious teenager Camille (Lola Créton) fall…

This Means War

Unsuccessful mash-up of the rom-com and spy action genres

1 Mar 2012

(12A) 97min McG attempts to satisfy both sexes in This Means War – a testosterone-driven action meets girl-pleasing rom-com, that ends up not being good in either genre, despite featuring two of the hottest young actors around (Tom Hardy and Chris…

Bel Ami

Pretty but shallow romantic period drama starring Robert Pattinson, Uma Thurman and Christina Ricci

28 Feb 2012

(15) 102min A young man gains social and financial advancement via his irresistibility to women, but has trouble securing professional credibility. And then he gets cast in a film called Bel Ami! Yes, it’s hard to imagine that Robert Pattinson…

GFF 2012 - Day planner

Our highlights for each day of the Glasgow Film Festival

6 Feb 2012

It can be difficult, when any festival rolls around, to decide which events to skip in favour of others. Searching rigorously through the programme, referring back to the calendar, trying to fit in as much as possible - it's a painstaking piece of work…

Valentine's Day - where to take your date

Some seductive suggestions for what to do on or around February 14th

3 Feb 2012

Experience a May-December relationship ... or at least, vicariously experience someone else’s. Among the several films the Glasgow Film Theatre are screening to get you into the Valentines spirit on 14 Feb (including Brief Encounter and French…

Valentine's Day - date our readers

Need a date for February 14th? Ten eligible List readers are ready and waiting...

2 Feb 2012

Nicola Age: 24 Work: Arts marketing Where do you live: Stockbridge, Edinburgh Hobbies: Frequenting the cinema, gym-ing, watching live dance and opera, wandering around galleries and museums and dancing in my bedroom. Describe yourself in 5 words…

Like Crazy

Sundance-wowing romance starring Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones

24 Jan 2012

(12A) 89mins Winner of 2011’s Sundance Grand Jury prize, Like Crazy is a long-distance love story mired in the complications of modern-day living. Anna (Felicity Jones) is a British student living in Los Angeles who spends the perfect summer with…

Interview: Felicity Jones, star of Like Crazy

Young actress set to follow Sundance hit with films by Warren Beatty and Ralph Fiennes

17 Jan 2012

A year ago, Felicity Jones was asleep when she got a call from America. ‘I thought there’d been a terrible accident,’ she laughs. But this was no accident. On the line was the producer of her new film Like Crazy: the Sundance Film Festival had just…

Caroline Flack defends Harry romance

TV Gossip

6 Dec 2011

Caroline Flack has defended her romance with Harry Styles. The 'Xtra Factor' presenter and the One Direction heartthrob have recently started dating and she has attracted criticism because she is 15 years his senior. Caroline, 32, doesn't…

Gerard Butler is looking for lasting love

Celebrity Gossip

20 Nov 2011

Gerard Butler wants to find someone to spend the rest of his life with. The 'Machine Gun Preacher' star - who has previously been romantically linked to Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Aniston and most recently model Sarah Carroll - is ready to settle down…

Holly Valance praises 'fantastic' Artem

TV Gossip

22 Oct 2011

'Strictly Come Dancing' star Holly Valance wants to "hang out" with her partner Artem Chigvintsev after the show ends because he's such a "lovely guy". The former 'Neighbours' actress and Artem have developed a great friendship since they started…

Weekend

Poignant and captivating story of unexpected love cut short

20 Oct 2011

(18) 96min A casual one night stand unexpectedly blossoms into a much more meaningful connection in Weekend, a tender heartbreaker from writer/director Andrew Haigh that is easily one of the most impressive British independent features of the…

Monte Carlo

Flat romcom vehicle for Justin Bieber's paramour Selena Gomez

12 Oct 2011

(PG) 108min The star of tween drama Wizards of Waverly Place, but better known as the current squeeze of Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez is being relentlessly packaged for fame. Her previous venture, last year’s Ramona and Beezus sank like a stone, and…

Downton's John and Anna to find love

TV Gossip

18 Sep 2011

Downton Abbey's John Bates and Anna Smith will share a passionate love scene in the new series. After a slow burning attraction formed between them during season one of the ITV1 period drama, Brendan Coyle and Joanne Froggatt, who play the couple…

Alesha Dixon hoping for Strictly romance

TV Gossip

18 Sep 2011

Alesha Dixon is hoping for a romance on this year's 'Strictly Come Dancing'. The 32-year-old singer - who is a judge on the BBC One show - thinks there will be a relationship between at least one celebrity and their professional dance partner like in…

Perfect Sense

Dark yet sentimental romance set in an apocalyptic world

14 Sep 2011

(15) 92min David Mackenzie’s seventh feature is, superficially, his most disturbing yet. That’s saying something given the Scottish filmmaker introduced himself and his penchant for dark psychosexual drama with his grim and gritty adaptation of…

Mademoiselle Chambon

Moving romantic drama from director Stéphane Brizé, starring Vincent Lindon and Sandrine Kiberlain

14 Sep 2011

(12A) 101min Mademoiselle Chambon is another bitter-sweet and elegantly orchestrated chamber drama from Stéphane Brizé, the French writer-director of Not Here to be Loved, which plays like a Gallic variation of Brief Encounter. Jean (Vincent Lindon…

Amy Childs leaves Lucien feeling like a 'muppet'

TV Gossip

7 Sep 2011

Lucien Laviscount feels like a "muppet" after Amy Childs told him she doesn't fancy him on 'Celebrity Big Brother'. The 19-year-old actor has fallen for the 'The Only Way is Essex' beauty after flirting with her on the Channel 5 reality TV show, but…

Lucien Laviscount's mum approves of Kerry

TV Gossip

6 Sep 2011

Lucien Laviscount's mother believes he and Kerry Katona would be "perfect together". The 19-year-old actor has been flirting with reality TV stars Kerry and Amy Childs in the 'Celebrity Big Brother' house, but his mother would prefer him to spark a…

Friends with Benefits

Sappy rom-com fails to deflate clichés of the genre

19 Aug 2011

(15) 109min The rom-com has been a moribund genre for years now, excepting Marc Webb’s acerbic and adventurous (500) Days of Summer. Despite promising a similarly caustic examination of the gap between real-life relationships and romantic clichés…

Agne Motiejunait won't date a co-star

TV Gossip

11 Aug 2011

Made in Chelsea's Agne Motiejunait would "never" date anyone from the show because they are not manly enough. The 26-year-old star - who was previously seen having an argument with model Fredrik Ferrier and her former boss Francis Boulle on the E4…

Zookeeper

Kevin James stars in woefully bad family rom-com

13 Jul 2011

(PG) 101min Part rom-com, part Doctor Dolittle style family comedy, Zookeeper, starring lardarse comic actor Kevin James (The Dilemma, Grown Ups), is a wholly unsatisfactory experience for all but the most juvenile minds. The latest offering from…

Potiche

Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu star in playful French comedy

23 May 2011

(15) 103 min Catherine Deneuve has a gift of a role in this deliciously subversive farce from the prolific François Ozon. Deneuve is Suzanne, the ‘potiche’ or trophy wife, blithely content to be a domestic goddess in the shadow of insufferable…

Glasvegas encourage fans to lose inhibitions

Music Gossip

6 May 2011

Glasvegas hope their songs will encourage fans to have a "romance with a stranger". James Allan - the lead singer of the Scottish indie rockers - explained for a year of the group's last performance run he was the "tour s**g" and used to indulge in…

Chloe Madeley dating Sam Attwater

TV Gossip

3 Apr 2011

Chloe Madeley is reportedly dating Sam Attwater. The 23-year-old presenter has called time on her five-month romance with Glenn Crickmar and she and her fellow 'Dancing On Ice' finalist are now regarded as "an item" by those working on the show's…

Farewell (L'Affaire Farewell) - a romantic thriller set in the midst of the Cold War

Starring Emir Kusterica and Guilliame Canet

28 Mar 2011

(12A) 113min Based loosely on the actions of high ranking KGB official and spy Vladimir Vetrov, Farewell is a complex but tender portrait of the Cold War in free fall, a place where a passionate eccentric like Vetrov (here renamed Grigoriev) can…

GFF blog: You Instead premiere creates perfect T in the Park vibe

Featured musician Jo Mango talked to us at the after-party

2 Mar 2011

Sigma Films – the Glasgow-based company behind the likes of Red Road, Hallam Foe and Young Adam – celebrated its 15th birthday with the premiere of You Instead on Friday night. The film tells the tale of two bickering rockstars – played by Luke…

Tess Daly reveals Strictly romances

TV Gossip

28 Feb 2011

Tess Daly has revealed there are lots of secret romances on 'Strictly Come Dancing'. The host of the BBC One show was glad when 2010 series winner Kara Tointon admitted she was dating her professional dance partner Artem Chigvintsev, and has hinted…

Film You Instead shot at music festival - David Mackenzie interview

Hallam Foe and Young Adam director on making a film at T in the Park

18 Feb 2011

David Mackenzie, director of Hallam Foe and Young Adam, discusses his new movie You Instead, a rock'n'roll romcom that aims to capture the excitement of T in the Park.

No Strings Attached - Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher in casual sexual relationship

Ivan Reitman's sweet-and-sour confection coasts by on personable leads

18 Feb 2011

(15) 107min The moribund romcom genre emits a shrill death-rattle in No Strings Attached, in which Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher play friends who find themselves in a casual sexual relationship, only to find that there are always strings…

People of Glasgow and Edinburgh talk frankly about their sex lives

The List's 2011 survey documents attitudes to sex in Scotland

1 Feb 2011

We asked 200 people – 100 in Glasgow and 100 in Edinburgh – to reveal all about their sex lives.

The people for whom sex is part of their job

The advisor, the sex toy manufacturer, the sex worker and the burlesque dancer

1 Feb 2011

We speak to four people for whom sex, and sexuality, play major roles in their daily lives

Scottish sex scandals throughout history

Scotland has had its fair share of cases involving illegal carnal pleasures

1 Feb 2011

History may be written by the victors but we all know the interesting stuff, the sex scandals, are chronicled by salacious gossips and gifted storytellers. From the blood red sauce of the Jacobean tragedies to the tabloid game, set and match of the…

Sex in art: Four examples of Scottish eroticism

The Wicker Man, Young Adam, Love Made Easy and The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania

1 Feb 2011

You can find good examples of Scottish eroticism without having to wallow through smut. The List picks four artworks that are worth seeking out for some homegrown, highbrow kicks

How to avoid writing bad sex scenes in fiction, by Ewan Morrison

'Avoid using medical words to describe genitalia'

1 Feb 2011

We’re talking literary sex, of course. Author Ewan Morrison explains how to avoid bad sex scenes in fiction

Some simple suggestions for a special Valentine's in Edinburgh and Glasgow

Poetry, song, food and hotel break options for February 14th 2011

1 Feb 2011

Special Valentine-themed events seem to fall around but not on the day in question this year: Club Noir (O2 Academy, Glasgow, Sun 11 Feb, below) have their sexy burlesque-y Valentines Masked Ball slightly early, while Aidan Moffat hosts his Valentine’s…

Alternative Valentine's Day presents and ideas

Four unique and romantic ways to celebrate this year

26 Jan 2011

Being a List reader you’ve had the infinite good taste to pick a partner who can’t be doing with the corny hearts, flowers and factory-line V-Day dining experience we’re sold as ‘romance’. All well and good, but how on earth do you celebrate February…

The List Sex Survey 2011

Good people of Glasgow and Edinburgh – let us into your bedrooms!

21 Jan 2011

On 2 Feb 2011 The List is printing a special Sex Issue to coincide with Valentine's Day. As part of this we've commissioned a survey into the sex lives of folks in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Want to represent your city? To build up a good impression of…

Romance rife in Dancing On Ice camp

TV Gossip

14 Jan 2011

Romance is rife among the 'Dancing On Ice' contestants and their professional partners. Chloe Madeley - who is appearing in the ITV1 show alongside skating champ Michael Zenezini - admitted there is "no hope" relationships can remain purely…

Cheryl Cole shares new year kiss with Derek

Celebrity Gossip

2 Jan 2011

Cheryl Cole sealed her romance with Derek Hough by sharing a public kiss with him on New Year's Eve (31.12.10). The 'Promise This' singer - who has always refused to confirm whether she is dating dancer Derek despite constantly being linked to him…

Tinchy Stryder gives romantic gifts

Music Gossip

2 Jan 2011

Tinchy Stryder says the best way to win a girl's heart is to lavish them with gifts. The 'In My System' rapper revealed his top tip for bedding a babe is to spoil them, because all ladies love to be pampered. He said: "Women love getting lots of…

Felicity Kendal understands Strictly romance

TV Gossip

12 Nov 2010

Felicity Kendal understands how marriages break down because of 'Strictly Come Dancing'. The 'Good Life' actress - who is in a long-term relationship with her ex-husband Michael Rudman following their divorce in 1990 - admitted while there is nothing…

Joe Thomas confirms Hannah Tointon romance

TV Gossip

12 Nov 2010

Joe Thomas has confirmed he is dating his 'The Inbetweeners' co-star Hannah Tointon. The 27-year-old actor - who plays unlucky-in-love Simon Cooper in the E4 teen comedy - admitted while he thinks the brunette beauty is "amazing", he doesn't…

The Passion Within

Period detail and good-looking actors in an unremarkable film

17 Aug 2010

‘You f**k like a boy’, reads the message that an actress leaves smeared in red lipstick across the bedroom mirror of a famous bullfighter in this 1940s Spain-set biopic that focuses on the tempestuous romance between Lupe Sino (Penelope Cruz) and…

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

3 Aug 2010

The combination of big-budget producer Jerry Bruckheimer and deep-pocketed studio Disney bore attractive if banal fruit with the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, but the muddle-headed fantasy The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is more likely to make audiences…

Toy Story 3 and The Illusionist among Edinburgh International Film Festival 2010 highlights

5 May 2010

With The Edinburgh Film Festival 2010, which runs between 16-27 June, only a matter of weeks away, the red carpets are getting waterproofed and the popcorn machines are getting serviced. Now in its 64th year, the twelve day festival, packed with…

My Last Five Girlfriends

22 Mar 2010

(12A) 87min Frothy, above average British romcom based on a novel by philosopher Alain de Botton. Brendan Patricks, Naomie Harris and Michael Sheen star. General release from Fri 19 Mar.

Glasgow wedding boutique Melle Cloche aims for tasteful end of the market

Some sweet alternatives to the big knitted toilet-roll holder look

1 Feb 2010

Once the big question has been popped, a wedding outfit needs thought out. Anna Burnside discovers some sweet alternatives to the big knitted toilet-roll holder look

(500) Days of Summer

Back to front story romantic comedy

21 Aug 2009

(500) Days of Summer promises more than it delivers, regrettably. This factory made YouTube generation rom-com kicks off at breakneck speed delivering a drole reconstruction of young man Tom’s (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) unruly love affair with young girl…

Film: Also Released

This week's other cinematic offerings

10 Aug 2009

A Perfect Getaway, Imagine That, The Time Traveler's Wife, Sin Nombre