Montage

James Bond, Licensed to Act! - by Keith Farnan

2008-11-04T14:09:00.004Z

As the latest adventure is released, comedian Keith Farnan, takes a look at the blond Bond's acting credentials.The Scene: A dark interior - dusty, sinister, without a single shaft of sunlight. Suddenly, a figure, dressed in black, smashes through the roof to the floor. Raising himself slowly, carefully - calling into play every actorly instinct - the imposing Daniel Craig stands up.

Interview: Mental health film and arts festival

2008-10-16T17:35:00.007+01:00

Emma Lennox talks to the festival's film programmer, Belinda Arthur, and discovers that film can have both damaging and therapeutic effects.It's the launch of the 2nd annual Mental Health Arts and Film festival and the sleek open spaces of Easterhouse performance centre, Platform, is buzzing with a milieu of people of different vocations. Usually when health care meets the arts it is for

Diana ain't The Duchess -by Carmody Wilson

2008-10-10T22:37:00.003+01:00

A society beauty born into the world of wealth, privilege and the very real possibility of an arranged marriage, Georgiana Spencer was just a regular girl of the upper class in Regency England. In her lifetime the war with Napoleon raged, England lost America to Independence, Jane Austen wrote (endlessly about garrisons of soldiers but nothing of the actual conflict, God forbid,) and the fifth

Nairn and the cinema of nightmares

2008-09-21T23:48:00.013+01:00

Standing bedraggled in an empty street in Nairn, 16 miles north of

Fictional Writers

2008-09-07T12:20:00.013+01:00

"All writers are vain, selfish and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives lies a mystery. Writing a book is a long, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand." George OrwellWriter's block should be a black hole for the arts but for movies it's when the

The X-Files: I Want To Believe - Review by Robert Duffin

2008-08-05T01:13:00.003+01:00

Director: Chris CarterScreenwriters: Chris Carter & Frank SpotnitzRunning Time: 104 minsCertificate: 12AReleased: 1st AugustIn the early 1990s writer Chris Carter, inspired by the report that 3.7 million Americans claimed to have been abducted by aliens, created the television phenomenon that was The X-Files. The rest as they say is history, and after nine seasons and one cinematic outing in 1998

WALL.E - Review by Robert Duffin

2008-08-05T01:10:00.003+01:00

Director: Andrew StantonScreenwriter: Andrew StantonRunning Time: 98 minsCertificate: UReleased: 18 JulyThe following review was originally published in the print edition of Montage at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2008.Some have split hairs over the inclusion of a film like WALL.E in the programme of a 'festival of discovery'; after all Pixar are hardly desperate for a distribution

Man On Wire - Review by Marjorie Gallagher

2008-08-05T01:06:00.003+01:00

Director: James MarshRunning Time: 118 minsCertificate: 12AReleased: 1st August The following review was originally published in the print edition of Montage at the Edinburgh Internation Film Festival 2008. Why would a man want to string a wire between two of the tallest buildings in New York City and walk across it? No safety net, no nothing. There is no why, it’s living on the very edge of life

Once Upon A Time In The West End

2008-07-31T22:06:00.005+01:00

In recent years the Western has returned from the hinterlands of cinema. In their re-issue of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, perhaps distribution pioneers Park Circus know why the Horse Opera is ready for another stampeding encore. Andrew McWhirter talks to John Letham, one of founders of the Park Circus, based in Glasgow’s West End.Italian maestro Sergio Leone’s 1966 final instalment of his

The Dark Knight - Review by Robert Duffin

2008-07-29T13:56:00.003+01:00

Director: Christopher NolanScreenwriter: Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan and David S. GoyerRunning Time: 152 minsCertificate: 12AReleased: Out NowIt’s a rivalry that has been raging since Batman Issue #1 (1940), and has since been waged across all the visual mediums, be it comics, television, films or video games. Now, Batman and The Joker have returned to the big screen for the first time

Top 10: Movie Villains - Part 3

2008-07-26T00:24:00.005+01:00

In honour of the arrival of Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight, in cinema’s now, Robert Duffin concludes the countdown of his top movie villains with the final three… 3. Sheriff of Nottingham (Alan Rickman) – Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)“Cancel the kitchen scraps for lepers and orphans, no more merciful beheadings, and call off Christmas!”More often praised for his Hans Gruber role

Top 10: Movie Villains - Part 2

2008-07-24T00:59:00.004+01:00

Robert Duffin continues the countdown of his top ten movie villains in honour of the arrival of Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight, which opens in theatres this weekend…7. Frank (Henry Fonda) - Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)“People scare better when they’re dying.”You can’t do a list of villains without someone from the Old West, and Fonda’s Frank just about pips all the others. One of

Top 10: Movie Villains - Part 1

2008-07-22T15:06:00.007+01:00

With the release of The Dark Knight imminent, and Heath Ledger’s Joker finally unleashed, it’s a good time to take stock and look back at some of cinema’s greatest villains. Robert Duffin has trawled through the evil, the camp, and the sinister to bring to you his top ten movie villains. The countdown begins today…10. Khan (Ricardo Montalban) - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) “From hell's

Mamma Mia! - Review by Carmody Wilson

2008-07-07T01:52:00.002+01:00

Director: Phyllida LloydScreenwriter: Catherine JohnsonRunning Time: 108 minsCertificate: PGReleased: July 11thMost musicals are plasteceine, detestable tripe-ridden journeys to a predictable ending, featuring transparent plot devices, insincere acting and alarming and unannounced bursts of idiotic song. Mamma Mia is really no different, but escapes the cheese of its predecessors sheerly by the

EIFF Winner: Somers Town- Review by Emma Lennox

2008-06-30T01:56:00.007+01:00

Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature FilmDirector: Shane MeadowsScreenwriter: Paul Fraser Runtime: 75 minsShane Meadows follows up the fiery This is England with a tale of two unlikely lads in this comical and endearing tale of misfit youth. Thomas Turgoose takes on his second role for the director, and although he's grown in height, he's still a cheeky wee bastard. Playing teen

EIFF Winner: Good Dick- Review by Emma Lennox

2008-06-30T01:43:00.003+01:00

Skillset New Director AwardDirector: Marianna PalkaScreenwriter: Marianna PalkaRuntime: 86 mins A video store clerk falling in love with his porn obsessed customer, doesn't nearly sum up this quirky, bemusing and overall original feature which is written, directed and starring the same wonder woman, Marianna Palka. Her unnamed character is a moody, bitter and mysterious woman who only ventures

EIFF Winner: Encounters at the End of the World- Review by Emma Lennox

2008-06-30T01:01:00.006+01:00

Best Documentary AwardDirector: Werner HerzogProducer: Henry KaiserRuntime: 99 mins It sounds like the title of an H.G Wells sci-fi flick, and in reality, Werner Herzog's South pole documentary is just as sublimely fantastical. Herzog's narration-in his typically earnest, deutsch tones- is surreal enough; he even wisecracks about “fluffy penguins” and goat riding monkeys, but it is that

EIFF: A Film With Me In It- Review by Emma Lennox

2008-06-28T14:40:00.007+01:00

Director: Ian FitzgibbonWriter: Mark DohertyRunning Time: 88 minsScreening: 29 June, 19:00 CineworldIn the early 90s 'dark comedy' became a genre all of its own. It encompassed most Brit flicks like Shallow Grave, The Young Poisoner's Handbook (both 1995) to off beat American indies with a cavalier attitude to death such as Reservoir Dogs (1992) and American Beauty (1999). Yet there followed a

EIFF: The New Ten Commandments- review by Peter Gerard

2008-06-27T13:47:00.003+01:00

Directors: Kenny Glenaan, Douglas Gordon, Nick Higgins, Irvine Welsh, Mark Cousins, Sana Bilgrami, Alice Nelson, Tilda Swinton, Doug Aubrey, David Graham Scott, Anna JonesRunning Time: 105 minsScreening: Sat 28 Jun, 13:45/ Sun 29 Jun, 18:00 Filmhouse 1A collection of ten documentaries led by Glaswegian producer Nick Higgins, "The New Ten Commandments" examines the meaning and relevance of the

EIFF: Transsiberian- Review by Miriam Ross

2008-06-27T13:32:00.002+01:00

Director: Brad AndersonRunning time: 111 minsScreening: Fri 27 19:45 / Sat 28 14:30 / Sun 29 20:15CineworldAlthough the Trans-Siberian railway through Russia and China offers an important and straight forward transport route for many people, it has long been idealised as the last frontier for adventure back packing. It is with this in mind, that Brad Anderson’s Transsiberian introduces its

Wanted -Review by Carmody Wilson

2008-06-25T21:51:00.004+01:00

Director: Timur BekmambetovWriter: Derek Haas, Michael Brandt and Chris MorganRating:18Time: 110 minutesRelease: June 27Deep inside the mystical forests of time, (say around 1000 CE), a group of disgruntled weavers gathered together to form a fraternity of assassins. Who their targets were-perhaps evil shepherds who gave them inferior, dirty wool, or perhaps dishonest wholesalers “Did I say one

EIFF: Left Bank - Review by Becky Bartlett

2008-06-25T20:21:00.002+01:00

Director: Pieter Van HeesRunning Time: 102 minsFri 27 Jun, 21:45Filmhouse 2Combine the general story of Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby, the slow tension and gratuitous nudity of Arnold’s Red Road, the budget of Brides of Blood (1968) with a touch of 2001: A Space Odyssey and what do you get? The answer is Left Bank, Belgium’s confused (and confusing) suspense thriller. What starts encouragingly – a

EIFF: The Juche Idea - Review by Maria Velez-Serna

2008-06-25T20:19:00.002+01:00

Director: Jim FinnRunning Time: 62 minsA spoof documentary about the official aesthetics of North Korea’s autocratic regime, The Juche Idea is both hilarious and spooky for its verisimilitude. The montage (in the Eisenstenian sense) of archive footage, pop songs, Kim Jong Il’s treatise on cinema, and ‘art’ videos by a fictional new convert, is an adventure in re-contextualization. It’s propaganda

EIFF: Enlightened Blood - Review by Miriam Ross

2008-06-25T20:15:00.002+01:00

Director: Iván Ávila Dueñas Running Time: 107 minsThu 26 Jun, 21:45Cineworld 6There are a lot of things which happen in Enlightened Blood that do not appear to make sense. Characters in different parts of Mexico faint and wake up to find their bodies inhabited by someone else; lives are changed and interwoven together without obvious reason. Although there is a lot happening within this film, the

EIFF: The Third Pint - Review by Miriam Ross

2008-06-25T20:11:00.002+01:00

Director: Luciano Podcaminsky Running Time: 70 minsIt is quite disconcerting to see an Argentine man pass himself off as British with a terrible English accent but this is the core of Luciano Podcaminsky’s The Third Pint. With a straight face and quite obviously fake accent, protagonist David Maitt explains that he was born of British parents and spent most of his life in London before becoming

EIFF: With A Girl of Black Soil - Review by Marjorie Gallagher

2008-06-25T20:09:00.002+01:00

Dir: Jeon Soo-ilRunning Time: 88 minsA bleak mining town in rural South Korea is the setting for Jeon Soo-il’s clumsily titled With a Girl of Black Soil. The story follows schoolgirl Yeong-lim (Yu Yun-mi) as she helps care for her mentally handicapped brother, a father who has lost his job in the mines all while facing eviction from a home marked for demolition. Sadly Yun-mi’s cute face isn’t

EIFF: Very Young Girls - Review by Becky Bartlett

2008-06-25T19:51:00.002+01:00

Director: David SchisgallRunning Time: 85 minsThu 26 Jun, 20:00Filmhouse 2The average age of a sex worker entering "the life" in America is thirteen. A documentary using this statement as a starting point is almost guaranteed to be compulsive viewing. Yet it is the story, rather than the documentary, that is so gripping. As a film, Very Young Girls raises points that are mentioned but not

EIFF: Vogelfrei - Review by Maria Velez-Serna

2008-06-25T19:48:00.002+01:00

Directors: Janis Kalejs, Gatis Smits, Janis Putnins, Anna VidulejaRunning Time: 95 minsFour young Latvian directors prove, with Vogelfrei, that a country doesn't need a film industry in order to make good films. Indeed, if other directors used collaboration more often than competition, maybe this film would not be such a rare wonder. Each of the four segments has its own theme and emotional

EIFF: The King of Ping Pong - Review by Maria Velez-Serna

2008-06-25T19:43:00.002+01:00

Director: Jens JonssonRunning Time: 107 minsThe King of Ping-PongDir. Jens Jonsson, Sweden, 2008.I had high expectations for The King of Ping-Pong, a family drama set in Ikealand and posing as a deadpan comedy in the vein of the excellent Du Levande (Roy Andersson, 2007). But even the full exploration of a thousand shades of beige fails to revitalize the stereotype of the miserable, overweight

EIFF: Alone in Four Walls - Review by Marjorie Gallagher

2008-06-25T19:41:00.001+01:00

Dir: Alexandra WestmeierRunning Time: 85 minAlexandra Westmeier explores Russia’s answer to the asbo in her affecting documentary Alone in Four Walls. Casting a non-judgmental eye over an unnamed reform school housing boys as young as 10 for crimes as ludicrous as jam thievery and as severe as murder, Westmeier exposes a judicial hot potato: rehabilitation – can it be done and what’s the best way

EIFF: Café de los Maestros - Review by Miriam Ross

2008-06-25T19:36:00.002+01:00

Director: Miguel KohanRunning Time: 98 minsThu 26 Jun, 22:15Cameo 1Tango is normally known for its fiery dance steps but any true Argentinean will be able to talk of the grand masters - singers and musicians - that give the music its soul. It is within this vein that Café de los Maestros portrays a number of the oldest and most successful maestros still working. One of the key points to emerge

EIFF: Stone of Destiny - Review by Miriam Ross

2008-06-25T19:31:00.002+01:00

Director: Charles Martin SmithRunning Time: 96 minsStone of Destiny lays on the patriotism more thickly in its opening scenes than any nationalist party broadcast could possibly manage. Set in 1950, every conversation from the pub to the family dinner table speaks of Scottish independence, the pride of the country, the great nation, freedom and that thing called pride again. Interspersing these

EIFF Preview: Super-8 Workshop - by Ryan Shand

2008-06-23T16:57:00.003+01:00

Ryan Shand takes a look at the Super-8 workshop taking place Tuesday 24th from 10am at the Lyceum Education Space, followed by a DJ set and screening incorporating the completed films in the EIFF Delegate Centre 19:00 ‘til late. For full details and ticket information click this link: http://www.edfilmfest.org.uk/films/super-8-workshop/Film festivals are about beginnings and endings, but very

EIFF: Life Track - Review by Guest Contributor Becky Bartlett

2008-06-22T21:14:00.002+01:00

Director: Jin Guang-HaoRunning Time: 99 minsMon 23 Jun, 20:15Filmhouse 3Wed 25 Jun, 19:15Filmhouse 3Feet, seen from the first-person, roll and light a cigarette, suggesting Life Track has some potential. However, as the same camera angle watches as the feet, attached to a man with no arms, playing guitar, picking plants, the view starts to wear thin. While Xiangshu's (Chui Jing-hu) feet are

EIFF: The Visitor - Review by Guest Contributor Eva Hoffman

2008-06-22T21:10:00.004+01:00

Director: Thomas McCarthyRunning Time: 108 minsWith his feature debut The Station Agent writer director Thomas McCarthy has set the mark very high for his second film The Visitor. He reaches it with exceptional ease. After his first hero, Finn, leaves the city and finds friends and meaning in the country, the new protagonist does the opposite. Walter Vale, lonely widower and desperately bored

EIFF: Standard Operating Procedure - Review by Guest Contributor Peter Gerard

2008-06-22T21:07:00.002+01:00

Director: Errol MorrisRunning Time: 116 minsWhen you have set the standard for epistemological debate in documentary as high as Errol Morris did with "The Thin Blue Line" it is always going to be hard to address similar issues to the same effect. Morris takes on Abu Ghraib in his inimitable style, juxtaposing the infamous photos of U.S. military torture with interviews with the soldiers

EIFF: Patti Smith: Dream of Life - Review by Carmody Wilson

2008-06-22T21:04:00.003+01:00

Director: Steven SebringRunning Time: 109 minsPatti Smith is at least the most legendary and known of a certain type of musician. Her music is a chugging train of punk, politics and poetry, but is less Clash and more Waylon Jennings meets the Rolling Stones via Allen Ginsberg. In this documentary, a ten year product of endless filming of Smith on the road and off, Steven Sebring finds the

EIFF: My Red Carpet - Carmody Wilson

2008-06-20T17:24:00.002+01:00

As a ginger-haired person, one might be inclined to believe that everyday is a red carpet experience for me. Not so, and if it were it would certainly not resemble the star-studded extravaganza that was held at Edinburgh’s Fountainpark Cineworld on Wednesday night in honour of the world premier of The Edge of Love. Jostling for position in the overcrowded press pens were journalists of all

EIFF: Mancora - Review by Guest Contributor Miriam Ross

2008-06-20T17:20:00.002+01:00

Director: Ricardo de MontreuilRunning Time: 93 minsSat 21 Jun, 20:00Filmhouse 2Sun 22 Jun, 22:20Filmhouse 2Máncora starts in a brutal manner. Santi’s father is seen committing suicide in the same instant that Santi is having sex in a nightclub, moments after Santi has refused to answer his father’s phone call. The coarseness of this moment is, however, overcome by a film that develops the subtle

EIFF: Slingshot - Review by Robert Duffin

2008-06-20T17:17:00.002+01:00

Director: Brillante MendozaRunning Time: 86 minsSat 21 Jun, 19:00Cineworld 6Sun 22 Jun, 21:45Cineworld 6Filmed using handheld and hidden cameras, Brillante Mendoza's Philippines set urban drama is an urgent and visceral experience that grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go. Chronicling a few days in the life of an assortment of characters living in the slums of Manila, these disparate

EIFF: Married Like - Review by Becky Bartlett

2008-06-20T17:14:00.002+01:00

Director: Ira SachsRunning Time: 90 minsSat 21 Jun, 17:00Cineworld 3Tue 24 Jun, 19:45Cameo 1Narrated by Pierce Brosnan’s playboy Richard, Married Life is reminiscent of 1950s Hitchcock, from its plot, to its Herrmann-esque score dappled with upbeat jazz, via its techniques. The premise is a simple one – it’s 1949 and Harry (Chris Cooper) is trying to escape his marriage to naive but nice wife Pat

EIFF: sleep furiously - Review by Guest Contributor Maria Antonia Velez

2008-06-20T17:08:00.003+01:00

Director: Gideon KoppelRunning Time: 94 minsSun 22 Jun, 14:20Cineworld 6Apart from being inconveniently spelt in all lower case, there is nothing unconventional about sleep furiously, a well-meaning but meandering documentary about the rural community of Trefeurig in Wales. Given that director Gideon Koppel's previous experience has visited the fashion world and plastic arts, it is not

EIFF: The Kreutzer Sonata - Review by Guest Contributor Marjorie Gallagher

2008-06-20T17:05:00.003+01:00

Director: Bernard RoseRunning Time: 100minsFri 20 Jun, 20:00Cineworld 3Sun 22 Jun, 17:45Cineworld 3Love. Everyone needs it, everyone wants it. What happens when you get it? Edgar (Danny Houston) and Abby (Elisabeth Rohm) meet at a party. She’s attached, he’s not. They give in and go at it anyway. Lust, desire, sex, deception, obsession and jealousy are all part and parcel of relationships in

EIFF: God Man Dog - Review by Guest Contributor Maria Antiona Valez

2008-06-20T16:58:00.003+01:00

Director: Singing ChenRunning Time: 119 minsFri 20 Jun, 17:30Cameo 1Sat 21 Jun, 15:15Cameo 1God Man Dog inherits the potential and the weaknesses of the Amores Perros kind of 'multi-strand' structure, whilst also, of course, featuring dogs.As in Amores, a middle-class couple crumble under vacant-looking wife Ching's (Tarcy Su) depression. On the other side of the social spectrum, carefree '

EIFF: Spike - Review by Robert Duffin

2008-06-20T16:55:00.003+01:00

Director: Robert BeaucageRunning Time: 80 minsFri 20 Jun, 22:30Filmhouse 1The popularity of the Gothic in pop culture has been re-vamped in the last decade, and is frequently populated with non-threatening, misunderstood or simply misguided monsters just waiting to be tamed. Edward Scissorhands, Buffy's Angel and now you can add Spike (Edward Gusts) to the list. Not simply a monster, his attack

EIFF: Just Another Love Story - Review by Guest Contributor Eva Hoffman

2008-06-20T16:50:00.002+01:00

Director: Ole BornedalRunning Time: 100 minFri 20 Jun, 23:59Cameo 1Sun 22 Jun, 22:30Cameo 1Ah the wonderful self-indulgent world of Danish cinema. The unlucky translation of the original title spoils a lot, it is not Just Another Love Story that Ole Bornedal (Nightwatch) is telling, Kærlighed på film is love within, on and for film in one. In best Sunset Boulevard – manner, he frames his

EIFF: Milky Way Liberation Front - Review by Guest Contributor Miriam Ross

2008-06-20T16:47:00.002+01:00

Director:Yoon Seong-ho Running Time: 101 minsThu 26 Jun, 15:00Filmhouse 2 The Milky Way Liberation Front signals its quirky attitude from the beginning scene; young characters make monster noises in the forest for an oversized sound recording machine. After jumping in and out of different media - from the grainy black and white opening section to the oversaturated colour in an online television

EIFF: TimeCrimes - Review by Robert Duffin

2008-06-20T16:44:00.002+01:00

Director: Nacho VigalandoRunning Time: 88 minsSat 21 Jun, 22:25Cameo 1Perfectly programmed as a midnight screening, writer/director Nacho Vigalondo's time bending thriller sees the bumbling Hector (Karra Elejalde) stumble across what he thinks is a random murder, which results in him accidentally getting sent back in time. Quickly he realises the crime is somehow linked to his innocent

EIFF: Before The Rains - Review by Guest Contributor Eva Hoffmann

2008-06-20T16:40:00.002+01:00

Director:Santosh SivanRunning Time:98minFri 20 Jun, 17:15Cineworld 10Director and cinematographer Santosh Sivan's cinema is a visual one. Before the Rains bears no exception. It is the story of two very different men in a 1930s India. Henry Moores (Linus Roache) and TK Neelan (Rahul Bose). Whatever happens to anything or anyone around them will eventually happen to them. The broad strokes with

EIFF: A Complete History of My Sexual Failures - Review by Guest Contributor Peter Gerard

2008-06-20T16:36:00.003+01:00

Director: Chris WaittRunning Time: 89 minsSat 21 Jun, 20:15Cameo 1Miraculously edited from the mess that is Chris Waitt's life, this entertaining documentary follows Waitt on an unusual path of discovery. He sets out to ask all of his ex-girlfriends why they've dumped him. Despite the majority of them refusing to participate, Waitt manages to build a meandering story looking at his doubts about

EIFF: Mechanical Love - Review by Guest Contributor Peter Gerard

2008-06-19T22:02:00.003+01:00

Director: Phie AmboRunning Time: 79 minsSun 22 Jun, 20:40Filmhouse 3The Japanese believe that seeing your doppelgänger is an omen of death. Still, Japanese scientist Hiroshi Ishiguro built a life-like robot version of his four-year-old daughter and introduced her to herself. Four years later, Daddy convinces his daughter to meet the robot version of himself. When the robot asks the 8-year-old to

EIFF Q&A: Alex Orr - by Robert Duffin

2008-06-18T10:17:00.003+01:00

Alex Orr, Director of EIFF Under The Radar entry Blood Car talks to Robert Duffin about the cult film in the making that's about to take audiences for a ride like no other. Robert: What were the difficulties of getting the money together, selling the film etc for a project that was always going to be a 'cult film'?Alex: Getting the money together for the film wasn't hard at all because we really

Montage @ EIFF 2008

2008-06-17T18:49:00.003+01:00

The 62nd Edinburgh International Film Festival kicks off tomorrow with the Opening Night Gala screening of John Maybury's The Edge of Love, and Montage will be there every day bringing you the latest news, reviews and interviews! As well as our second year covering EIFF online, Montage branches out in 2008 with a daily print publication which you'll be able to find at various EIFF hot spots,

Sex & The City: The Movie - Review by Carmody Wilson

2008-06-06T00:48:00.001+01:00

Director: Michael Patrick KingScreenwriter: Michael Patrick KingRunning Time: 148 minsCertificate: 15Release Date: 30th MayConsidering the two big box-office bonfires about to burn their way through cinemas this summer, a lot is riding on the crowd’s reaction to Indiana Jones and the Badly Named George Lucas Project and that other titillating hushed awe-fest Sex and the City: The Movie. Ladies,

Remembering Ousmane Sembène- Xala Review- by Emma J Lennox

2008-06-03T16:57:00.010+01:00

In June last year the world said goodbye to one of the greatest film directors ever to be forgotten by the Bafta memorial list. Ousmane Sembène died at the age of 84 having laid the foundation of African cinema; altering both the perspectives of African people and perceptions of the outside world. Yet although there are many books dedicated to the man and his beliefs, politics and critical

Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Review by Robert Duffin

2008-05-27T01:04:00.006+01:00

Director: Steven SpielbergScreenwriter: David KoeppRunning Time: 121 minsCertificate: 12AReleased: May 23rdWe last saw Indiana Jones riding off into the sunset following his last crusade, a fitting final image for one of cinema’s greatest heroes. Yet George Lucas, the serial franchise spoiler that he is, decided to drag Indy back through development hell via scripts from the likes of M. Night

Cassandra's Dream - Review by Joseph Wren

2008-05-21T18:32:00.003+01:00

Director: Woody AllenScreenwriter: Woody AllenRunning Time: 108 minsCertificate: 12AReleased: 23 May The final film in Woody Allen’s London trilogy, Cassandra’s Dream is a dramatic piece about two blue-collar brothers looking for a big payday to clean up their financial troubles, but instead find themselves in a catastrophic mess. Ewan McGregor plays Ian, who reluctantly helps run the

On DVD: The Darjeeling Limited - Review by Emma J. Lennox

2008-05-13T23:51:00.001+01:00

Director: Wes AndersonScreenwriter: Wes Anderson & Roman CoppolaRunning Time: 91 minsCertificate: 15DVD Distributor: Fox Home EntertainmentPowder pinks, blues and yellow illuminate the dusty landscapes in Wes Anderson’s peculiar but pretty portrait of India in his travelling tale The Darjeeling Limited. The train is an intricately decorated beast which interweaves urban chaos, rural heat and

Return of the Vamp

2008-05-12T00:13:00.009+01:00

After a year in which fan boy filmmakers have sought to glorify bad taste cinema Emma J. Lennox turns her critical eye on the chick habits of Tarantino, Rodriguez et al and ponders the redefinition of the femme fatale. Standing lithely with an M4 Carbine assault rifle attached to the bloody stump of her leg, Planet Terror's poster girl, Cherry Darling, is a striking, disturbing, slighty

Guilty Pleasures of the Cinematic Kind

2008-05-09T22:53:00.008+01:00

In this instalment, Robert Duffin’s well stocked vault of guilty pleasures brings to you the film that children of the 80s have long been suppressing from their memories. Respect the Cox! It’s the question that every little group of cinephiles eventually get around to: what was the first film you ever saw in the cinema? When the merry band that is Montage first posed the question, the crop of

Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden? - Review by Joseph Wren

2008-05-09T02:41:00.002+01:00

Director: Morgan SpurlockScreenwriters: Moran Spurlock & Jeremy ChilnickRunning Time: 93 minsCertificate: 12AReleased: 9th MayFour years after Super-Sizing himself, documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock once again puts himself in harm’s way as the globe-trekking American in search of Public Enemy Number One, Osama Bin Laden. Leaving a pregnant partner at home, Spurlock grows a beard, hops on a

Iron Man - Review by Robert Duffin

2008-05-02T12:02:00.005+01:00

Director: Jon FavreauScreenwriters: Mark Fergus & Hawk Otsby and Art Marcum & Matt HollowayRunning Time: 126 minsCertificate: 12AReleased: 2nd May“I’m not really the superhero type, I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, most of you know all about that.” Is it quote from Tony Stark or the actor who portrays him, Robert Downey Jnr? Perhaps a little bit of both. Iron Man, after all, completes

Joy Division - Review by Joseph Wren

2008-05-02T12:00:00.002+01:00

Director: Grant GeeRunning Time: 93 minsCertificate: 15Release Date: 2 MayIt’s been 30 years since the first time anyone heard a Joy Division record, and 28 since the death of singer Ian Curtis. Yet those two years, 1978-1980, and the musical sparks coming out of the Manchester scene, have been covered in two very good films in the past few years - Michael Winterbottom’s 24 Hour Party People, and

Guilty Pleasures of the Cinematic Kind

2008-04-28T23:57:00.004+01:00

After trying, and failing, to write a sequel to Death Of A Salesman, Emma J. Lennox has returned to bestow upon faithful readers her deepest, darkest, and most shameful cinematic favorites. Enjoy!This guilty pleasure series has brought out a bizarre competitiveness in me. Looking at my esteemed colleagues choices I can’t help but think I can beat them with guiltier sins than hip indie Clerks or

Forgetting Sarah Marshall - Review by Joseph Wren

2008-04-26T00:02:00.003+01:00

Director: Nicholas StollerScreenwriter: Jason SegalCertificate: 15Running Time: 112 minsRelease Date: 25 AprilPutzy score composer Peter (Jason Segal) has been dating TV crime drama star Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell) for over five years. Sarah finally drops the schmuck for international rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand), leaving Peter to wallow on his couch eating vats of cereal before

Persepolis - Review by Joseph Wren

2008-04-25T13:32:00.001+01:00

Director: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent ParonnaudScreenwriters: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent ParonnaudCertificate: 12ARunning Time: 95 minsRelease Date: 25 AprilAn Oscar-nominated Cannes winner, Persepolis finally reaches the UK after oodles of accolades as one of 2007’s best features. This new English-dubbed version of Marjane Satrapi’s animated memoirs includes the voice work of Sean Penn, Gena

Stop-Loss - Review by Joseph Wren

2008-04-25T13:24:00.002+01:00

Director: Kimberly PeirceScreenwriters: Kimberly Peirce & Mark RichardCertificate: 15Running Time: 113 minsRelease Date: 25 AprilStop-Loss, another in a seemingly endless string of films about the Iraq War to come out of Hollywood, is an MTV production which tells the story of a war hero who rebels against a fine-print policy that forces him to go back to Iraq shortly after completing his

Botched - Review by Joseph Wren

2008-04-21T18:17:00.004+01:00

Director: Kit Ryan Screenwriters: Derek Boyle, Eamon Friel, Raymond Friel Running Time: 91 mins Certificate: 15 Release Date: Out Now Ivan the Terrible is on the loose and he's hunting down sad corporate media underlings with the aid of his bible-thumping twin sister in modern day Moscow! Well, it’s more interesting than the “jewel thief having a bad day” synopsis of Botched, a film

Awake - Review by Carmody Wilson

2008-04-16T18:15:00.003+01:00

Director: Joby HaroldScreenwriter: Joby HaroldRunning Time: 84 minsCertificate: 15Out NowI really wished I’d been asleep. Awake centres around Clay Beresford, (Hayden Christiansen), a wealthy philanthropist who has hidden his engagement to regular gal Sam (Jessica Alba) from his mother, Lilith (Lena Olin). But Clay is no ordinary millionaire –poor guy has a heart defect and is on a transplant

[REC] - Review by Sandra Dupuy

2008-04-11T18:01:00.020+01:00

Directors: Jaume Balagueró and Paco PlazaScreenplay: Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza and Luis BerdejoRunning Time: 78 minCertificate: 18Out now“[There are] corrupt perfumes, rich and triumphant – Possessing the expansiveness of infinite things – Like amber, musc, benzoin and incense…” Charles Baudelaire’s verses from "Correspondances"(Les Fleurs du Mal/ The Flowers of Evil, 1857) can be applied to

Trailer Trash: Montage Vs Summer '08....in 3D!

2008-04-10T21:28:00.003+01:00

Summer is fast approaching and after last year’s blockbuster malaise, will this years wonderful, weird and, in once case, wrinkly, offerings redeem Hollywood? Take a seat as the Montagers offer talk some trailer trash…Iron ManEmma J. Lennox: If you really need to protect yourself, Mr Downey Jr, I hear Charlton Heston is giving away his gun collection.Joseph Wren: DAAAAH DAAAAH DAH DAAH DAH....

Leatherheads - Review by Robert Duffin

2008-04-10T21:13:00.004+01:00

Director: George ClooneyScreenwriter: Duncan Brantley & Rick ReillyRunning Time: 114 minsCertificate: PGRelease Date: April 11thGeorge Clooney has clearly never heard of the phrase “once bitten, twice shy.” After the arduous 40s noir homage The Good German and the Hepburn/Tracy aping stinker Intolerable Cruelty, he once again feels the urge to revisit a genre from the Golden Age of Hollywood;

On DVD: Enchanted - Review by Joseph Wren

2008-04-10T17:52:00.003+01:00

Director: Kevin LimaScreenwriter: Bill KellyRunning Time: 103 minsCertificate: PGDVD Distributor: Walt Disney Studios Home EntertainmentWithout Pixar or Jerry Bruckheimer to keep the lights on at The Magic Kingdom, the conflicted and controversy-ridden Walt Disney Studios have suffered nearly a generation of stinkers and desperate straight-to-video sequels. It was a long and difficult road, and

In Bruges - Review by Joseph Wren

2008-04-07T23:28:00.004+01:00

Director: Martin McDonaghScreenwriter: Martin McDonaghRunning time: 107 minsCertificate: 18Released: 18 AprilIn the past ten years, the 38-year-old Irish playwright Martin McDonagh has racked up four Tony nominations and a Lawrence Olivier award for his work in theatre. In 2005, McDonagh tried his hand at filmmaking, and for his efforts was awarded the Oscar for Best Live Short. Next stop on the

Guilty Pleasures of the Cinematic Kind: "We were the customers so we probably deserved it."

2008-04-05T15:12:00.007+01:00

In this week's confessional, Joseph Wren admits his honest appreciation for the films of slacker doyenne Kevin Smith. Dudes, for real.Clerks 2 was the last film that I saw at the cinema in the US in 2006 before moving to the UK, and the film was immediately one of my favourites of that year. A few months later, the sequel managed to follow me across the pond, and I attempted to seize the

Son of Rambow - Review by Robert Duffin

2008-04-05T00:07:00.001+01:00

Director: Garth JenningsScreenwriter: Garth JenningsRunning Time: 96 minsCertificate: 12AReleased: April 4thWith the real Rambo currently blasting Burma to bits, it’s hard to remember a time when the Vietnam vet wasn’t the brunt of pop culture jokes. Heck, in the world of media overload it’s hard to imagine a time when a twelve-year-old boy could possibly have been prevented from getting near a

On DVD: The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - Review by Robert Duffin

2008-04-02T17:38:00.005+01:00

Director: Andrew DominikScreenwriter: Andrew DominikRunning Time: 160Certificate: 15DVD Distributor: Warner Home VideoLong considered dead, the Western has seen somewhat of a revival in the last few years. While many see Unforgiven as the eulogy to a departed genre, we have been afforded such classics recently as The Three Burials of Melquiedas Estrada and The Proposition to confirm that there’s

Guilty Pleasures of the Cinematic Kind

2008-03-30T19:51:00.008+01:00

In this second instalment of the series "Guilty Pleasures", in which Montagers reveal their deepest, darkest cinematic favourites, Sandra Dupuy reveals her punchy pleasures of the guilty kind. Incidentally fact fans, Chuck Norris is so fast he can run around the world and punch himself in the back of the head. It’s true! Behind all the bling, I’m a tomboy. While dedicated to promoting so-called

Lars & The Real Girl - Review by Joseph Wren

2008-03-25T13:49:00.004Z

Director: Craig GillespieScreenwriter: Nancy OliverRunning Time: 106 minsCertificate: 12ARelease Date: Out nowLars and the Real Girl is not a comedy. Sure, Lars is played by former “Young Hercules” pin-up boy Ryan Gosling, and it’s about his relationship with a life-sized sex doll. Primed for hilarity, right? Wrong.Lars Lindstrom lives in the garage apartment next door to his childhood home, a

The Orphanage - Review by Joseph Wren

2008-03-20T14:03:00.005Z

Director: Juan Antonio BayonaScreewriter: Sergio G. SanchezRunning Time: 105 mins.Certificate: 15Released: 21 MarchThere’s an interesting trend emerging with contemporary horror films. The ones made for adults feature children, and the ones made for teens predominately feature other teens and 20-somethings. I couldn’t give a toss about the Hostel gobbledygook, but a ghastly brood in a big spooky

Guilty Pleasures of the Cinematic Kind

2008-03-19T13:47:00.008Z

In the first installment in the series "Guilty Pleasures", in which Montagers reveal their deepest, darkest cinematic favourites, Carmody Wilson unveils some rather embarrassing tastes. Film-wise, that is. An instructor, marking a lovingly crafted paper I had written on my favourite films, remarked in his notes that I had “a taste for bad taste.” He wrote this in a chummy sort of way, as if

Anthony Minghella, 1954-2008 by Carmody Wilson

2008-03-18T14:47:00.004Z

Anthony Minghella, the Oscar-winning director of such films as The English Patient and Cold Mountain, has died. No cause of death has been revealed, but the shockwave reeling around the cinema world tells of the suddenness of his passing. Minghella had just finished shooting The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, co-written with Richard Curtis, and had two other projects on the go when he died.It’

Love In The Time Of Cholera - Review by Robert Duffin

2008-03-17T23:19:00.003Z

Director: Mike NewellScreenwriter: Ronald HarwoodRunning Time: 139 minsCertificate: 18Released: 21st MarchThere’s no sorrier sight than a would be awards picture sneaking out from the shadows post-Oscars hoping no one notices. Love In The Time of Cholera should have been a serious contender to Atonement for the throne of prestige period film of the year. It has the literary calibre, being based

On DVD: Beowulf - Review by Robert Duffin

2008-03-17T23:09:00.003Z

Director: Robert ZemeckisScreenwriters: Roger Avary & Neil GaimanRunning Time: 112 minsCertificate: 12DVD Distributor: Warner Brothers Home Entertainment When you get your DVD copy of last autumn’s blockbuster Beowulf, you’ll be sad to discover there are no 3D specs included. Unlike the Robert Rodriguez’s messy Spy Kids 3D: Game Over, we’re not afforded the opportunity of reliving the experience

Children of Glory - Review by Joseph Wren

2008-03-16T00:57:00.003Z

Director: Krisztina GodaScreenwriters: Joe Eszterhas, Eva Gardos, Geza Beremenyi, Reka DivinyiCertificate: 15Running Time: 123 mins Released: Out NowI had a hard time getting a date for Children of Glory. Surprisingly, nobody was responsive to my offer of a free ticket to see a Hungarian film about water polo and communism. Perhaps I would have had more responses if I knew more about the film –

Redacted - Review by Joseph Wren

2008-03-14T13:09:00.004Z

Director: Brian De PalmaScreenwriter: Brian De PalmaRunning Time: 90 minsCertificate: 18Release Date: 14 MarchIn March 2006, a 14-year-old Iraqi girl was gang-raped and murdered in her home. The U.S. soldiers responsible for this act also killed the rest of her family that night. The Mahmudiyah killings are re-created in Redacted, with little mercy spared on the viewer. Aside from rape and

Rambo - Review by Carmody Wilson

2008-03-14T13:05:00.004Z

Director: Sylvester StalloneScreenwriter: Sylvester StalloneRunning Time: 91 minsCertificate: 18Released: Out Now There will be blood. There will be decapitation. There will be disembowelment. There will be people cut in half, blown to bits, grabbed, have their necks broken, and thrown to the floor, lifeless eyes bulging. And through it all (and responsible for it all,) is Rambo.After the

Vantage Point - Review by Robert Duffin

2008-03-11T21:03:00.001Z

Director: Pete TravisScreenwriter: Barry L. LevyRunning Time: 90 minsCertificate: 12ARelease Date: Out Now.For a narrative device as famous as the multiple perspectives in Rashomon, it’s surprising how few times it’s been used in the fifty-eight years since it’s innovation. Tarantino employed it briefly in Jackie Brown and to an extent in Reservoir Dogs, and then of course there was The Usual

FFF 2008: Bled Number One - review by Sandra Dupuy

2008-03-11T15:22:00.026Z

Director: Rabah Ameur-ZaïmecheScreenplay : Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche, Louise ThermesRunning time: 100 minCertificate: 12Released in 2006, Bled Number One justly gathered awards worldwide as well as the “Prix de la Jeunesse” (Youth Award) in the section “Un Certain Regard” (A Certain Outlook) at Cannes the same year. Algerian director Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche’s second film is an interesting example of how

FFF Preview: In Your Wake/Nos Retrouvailles – by Joseph Wren

2008-03-09T13:15:00.008Z

Director: David OelhoeffenScreenwriters: David Oelhoeffen & Antoine LacomblezCertificate: 18Running Time: 99 mins French Film Festival Screening Times: Cardiff Cineworld: 9 March – 1, 3, & 7pmBirmingham Cineworld: 12 March – 1, 3, & 7pmAberdeen The Belmont: 16 March – 3:45 & 8:45pmGlasgow GFT: 18 March – 3:15 & 8:15pm For his first feature-length film, writer/director David

FFF Preview: Boxes - by Robert Duffin

2008-03-07T23:45:00.000Z

Director: Jane BirkinScreenwriter: Jane BirkinCertificate: TBCRunning Time:95 minsFrench Film Festival Screening Times:Glasgow GFT 8th March 6pmEdinburgh Filmhouse 9th March 6pmLondon Cineworld 12th March 1,3,7pmJane Birkin, swingin’ 60s London icon, celebrates her 60th year by making her directorial debut with Boxes. Birkin first appeared as a model in Antonioni’s masterful Blowup, and then

Families, Feuds and Fun: French Film Festival 2008

2008-03-07T13:44:00.009Z

Glasgow francophones and cinephiles, get thee to the GFT. The French Film Festival is in town. Sandra Dupuy gives us the shakedown on the best of the fest.The French Film Festival currently taking place all over the UK is coming to our Glasgow screens this afternoon. The 29 films shown at the GFT over two weeks have been split into three main categories, Preview for

Once, twice, three times an Irishman- by guest contributor Keith Farnan

2008-02-26T16:05:00.006Z

Comedian Keith Farnan gives the Irish perspective on the Once Oscars night victoryIt was simple. Turn up. Sing. Win.In fairness, not even the occupants of the furthest corner of Never Never Land, or in the corner of the Far Far Away Pub, (right next to the career of that Greys Anatomy Guy) really believed that Enchanted was going to sweep the Best Song Oscar. Ireland finally had it in the bag. We

Oscars 2008: The Roundup

2008-02-26T13:18:00.002Z

The 80th Annual Academy Awards have come and gone, and Carmody Wilson has had a chance to stew over the results.After a day of reflection upon the mantled recipients of the Academy Awards, I am obliged to say that…I feel relatively nothing about the winners, the losers, the whole lot. Daniel Day Lewis capped off a triumphant awards season run with the win for Best Actor, adding a mark of surety

GFF - To Each Her Own Cinema

2008-02-24T19:48:00.039Z

To celebrate Cannes 60th birthday, the festival has commissioned a cavalcade of world class directors to create their own homage to the enigmatic art form of cinema itself. But don't think To Each His Own Cinema is all sobbing into light projected memories, although some of it is exactly that. There is also a cynical and ironic response to the 'moving' image. Sandra Dupuy and Emma Lennox pick out

GFF Review: Special People – by Joseph Wren

2008-02-24T15:50:00.002Z

Director: Justin EdgarScreenwriter: Justin EdgarRunning Time: 78 mins Going into a film called Special People, about a trio of wheelchair-bound teenagers in London trying to make a film, one might get the impression that they’re in for a weep-tastic tale of the triumph of the will over monumental adversity. Luckily, that’s not the case, and the film’s title proves more apt as sarcasm than

The Oscars Can Be Adjusted- by Emma Lennox

2008-02-24T14:48:00.004Z

Why do we care? That's the ugly question that pops up every year as we watch the rich and ridiculously pampered stride around the red carpet, back slapping each other and picking off media hounds trying to get just one more bland comment. It's embarrassing every time a sycophantic media nobody shouts out another 'you look beautiful!' to the chosen elite, or 'you were wonderful in (insert worthy

Oscars 2008: Regretful and Forgetful Performances

2008-02-24T11:30:00.002Z

The big names are out for Oscar again this year. What's the big deal?, asks Robert Duffin. “Who is this French harlot sporting two pillow covers for a frock?!” I’m pretty sure that’s what most people were thinking when they watched Marion Cotillard take the Best Actress BAFTA home for her turn as French warbler Edith Piaf. Olivier Dahan’s La Vie En Rose did modest business after a careful

GFF Review: Irina Palm-by Carmody Wilson

2008-02-24T11:00:00.003Z

Director: Sam GarbarskiRunning Time: 103 minutesCertificate: 15 Marianne Faithfulli s a better actor than singer. That said, she doesn’t appear to give very good handjobs. And that is what Ms Faithfull spends the majority of her time doing in the film, greasing up and jerking off until she can afford to pay for her grandson’s medical treatment. Faitfhull’s performance as Maggie is very slow

GFF Review: Crazy Love-by Carmody Wilson

2008-02-24T10:32:00.003Z

Director: Dan KloresRunning Time: 92 minutesCertificate:12A Got an ex-boyfriend who just won’t leave you alone? What a yold. Engaged to someone new? That’s a mitzvah. Your old boyfriend hears about it and has acid thrown in your face? Oy vey. That’s the gist of the story behind director Dan Klores’ nutso documentary, Crazy Love. Only, dear reader, she married him. Not the original fiancée,