James Mottram

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James Mottram

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Nick Hamm's rock'n'roll comedy Killing Bono fails to hit its targets

Ben Barnes, Martin McCann and Pete Postlethwaite star in U2-envy film

18 Mar 2011

(15) 113min Killing Bono – it’s probably a thought more than a few have entertained over the years. Whether Neil McCormick ever did is another matter. Author of the exuberant rock memoir I Was Bono’s Doppelgänger, aspiring musician McCormick grew up…

Oranges and Sunshine, the directorial debut from Jim Loach, is a worthy follower in dad Ken's footsteps

Jim Loach's Oranges and Sunshine a worthy follower in dad Ken's footsteps

Emily Watson, Hugo Weaving and David Wenham solid in social drama

18 Mar 2011

(15) 104min Jim Loach, son of Ken, was always going to be on a hiding to nothing with his debut feature. Bringing a worthier-than-thou tale to the screen, the comparisons to his father’s immense body of work are inevitable, even more so given how…

Ironclad

Medieval seige movie starring Paul Giamatti, James Purefoy and Brian Cox

2 Mar 2011

(15) 120min If you’re partial to a bit of medieval madness, then Jonathan English’s Ironclad has it all. Set in 1215, this bawdy, bloody and brutal history lesson tells of what happened in the months following the creation of the Magna Carta, the…

Somewhere is Sofia Coppola's take on a city she lived in during her 20s - interview

Sofia Coppola's minimalist masterpiece Somewhere explores LA hedonism

Sofia Coppola on Californian hedonism, buddy movies and working with family

30 Nov 2010

To describe Sofia Coppola’s career as one of extremes is no exaggeration. Lambasted as an actress when she appeared in her father’s lamentable The Godfather Part III, she’s been celebrated as a director – not least for 2003’s Lost in Translation, which…

Eat Pray Love

22 Sep 2010

(PG) 139min From Nip/Tuck to Glee, director Ryan Murphy has the golden touch when it comes to television. Not so, however, with film. His 2006 adaptation of Augusten Burroughs’ memoir Running With Scissors was a middle-of-the-road misfire and much…

Takers

17 Sep 2010

(12A) 106min From its unsophisticated title onwards, Takers is a most basic heist movie. Frenetic action, headache-inducing score, minimal characterisation and a napkin-sized plot, if you’re looking for the new Heat then this certainly isn’t it.

Going The Distance

7 Sep 2010

(15) 102min Whisper it quietly, but Drew Barrymore is beginning to lose her touch. Her early likeable films Never Been Kissed and The Wedding Singer meant we cut her a lot of slack as the girl-next-door. But after Music and Lyrics, 50 First Dates…

The Runaways

7 Sep 2010

(15) 106min For all its rock’n’roll rebellion and punk power, there’s something quite conventional about music promo director Floria Sigismondi’s biopic about The Runaways, the ’70s all-girl group that gave the world the Joan Jett. Perhaps it’s that…

The Girl Who Played With Fire

22 Aug 2010

(15) 129min Since the UK release of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo last summer, it’s fair to say the cult surrounding the late Stieg Larsson’s ‘Millennium’ books – of which Dragon Tattoo was the first in the trilogy – went over ground. Few films…

The Last Exorcism

Distinctly underwhelming faux-documentary

22 Aug 2010

(15) 87min From 1999’s The Blair Witch Project to last year’s phenomenon Paranormal Activity, the faux-documentary has become a frequent staple of the horror genre in the last decade. Produced by Hostel’s Eli Roth, Daniel Stamm’s effort is the latest…

Salt

12 Aug 2010

(12A) 99min ‘Who is Salt?’ asks the poster’s tagline. ‘Who cares?’ should be the reply. Phillip Noyce’s espionage caper, starring Angelina Jolie at her most proficient and humourless, has been dubbed a ‘Bourne with boobs’. But compared to that…

Trash Humpers - Harmony Korine interview

7 Jul 2010

As idiosyncratic as he is impish, director Harmony Korine may have long since shaken off the media tag of enfant terrible. But with a CV that includes such fiercely independent films as Gummo, Julien Donkey-Boy and Mister Lonely – the latter about a…

Trash Humpers

2 Jul 2010

Returning Harmony Korine to the downbeat Nashville locations of his 1997 debut feature Gummo, in some ways his new effort, Trash Humpers, has its roots in films like The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity. Like those, Korine wants you to think…

Robin Hood

12 May 2010

(12A) 140min Marking his fifth film with Russell Crowe, Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood seems determined to conjure up the magic of their first collaboration, Gladiator. After all, both are historical dramas featuring a hero facing insurmountable odds. Yet…

Cemetery Junction

29 Mar 2010

(15) 95min Having co-directed The Office and Extras, it was only a matter of time before Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant brought their combined talents to the big screen. The result, however, may surprise. Cemetery Junction is largely free of the…

Date Night

29 Mar 2010

(15) 88min Not since Bruce Willis and Kim Basinger hooked up in Blake Edwards’ 1987 comedy Blind Date has there been such a disastrous romantic night out as the one seen in Shawn Levy’s new film. Comedy royalty Steve Carell and Tina Fey play Phil and…

Shutter Island

25 Feb 2010

Just as he followed his gangland classic Goodfellas with his pulpy remake of Cape Fear, so Martin Scorsese’s first feature film proper since The Departed is thriller Shutter Island. Based on the 1954-set novel by Dennis Lehane, like Cape Fear, it’s…

Glasgow Film Festival hosts UK premiere of The Greatest - Carey Mulligan interview

17 Feb 2010

In just a few years Brit actress Carey Mulligan has gone from guesting in Doctor Who to winning an Oscar nomination for her role in An Education. As her film, The Greatest, hits the Glasgow Film Festival, she tells James Mottram how she’s learning to…

Youth in Revolt

1 Feb 2010

(15) 90min Alongside Adventureland star Jesse Eisenberg, Michael Cera has cornered the market over the last few years when it comes to playing the thoughtful, mildly nerdish boy-next-door. Be it in juvenile comedy (Superbad), adolescent angst-drama…

It's Complicated

6 Jan 2010

(15) 118min Eschewing Hollywood’s usual tendency towards ageism Something’s Gotta Give and The Holiday writer/director Nancy Meyers’ new film is a farce of revived lust. Alec Baldwin and Meryl Streep play ex-husband and wife who suddenly get the hots…

Up In The Air

5 Jan 2010

(15) 109min Rarely has a film felt so timely. After his satirical study of an unscrupulous tobacco lobbyist in Thank You For Smoking and the charming teen angst tale Juno, director Jason Reitman delivers an absorbing examination of our recession-hit…

Bunny and The Bull - Edward Hogg interview

Star of Mighty Boosh-affiliated feature film

18 Nov 2009

As the star of White Lightnin’ and now Mighty Boosh-affiliated feature Bunny and the Bull, Ed Hogg has become one of UK film’s hottest properties. James Mottram meets the man with the Midas touch

A Serious Man

13 Nov 2009

(15) 105min If the Coen brothers’ last film, CIA comedy Burn After Reading, was as empty as Brad Pitt’s bubble-headed gym-bunny, this latest effort is as rich as anything they’ve produced in their 25 years of filmmaking. While Fargo took them back to…

Profile: Demetri Martin

30 Oct 2009

Name Demetri Martin Born 25 May 1973, New York City Background A stand-up comic by trade, Martin’s 2003 show If I won the Perrier award at the Edinburgh Fringe. He’s written for such US staples as Late Night With Conan O’Brien and The…

Taking Woodstock