http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/?service=Rss http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/brno-larry-charles-83-mins-18brthe-private-lives-of-pippa-lee-rebecca-miller-98-mins-15-1742368.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/brno-larry-charles-83-mins-18brthe-private-lives-of-pippa-lee-rebecca-miller-98-mins-15-1742368.html <p> Most people who watch Brüno will snort with laughter at the jokes, gawp in disbelief at the outrageous stunts, marvel at the star's physical comedy prowess and death-defying bravery ... and still leave the cinema disappointed that it wasn't done better. </p> Reviews Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/35-shots-of-rum-claire-denis-100-mins-12a-1742369.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/35-shots-of-rum-claire-denis-100-mins-12a-1742369.html ]]> <p> French director Claire Denis has a reputation for difficulty – at least, for making wayward, elliptical films that take the circuitous route to get under your skin. </p> Reviews Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/brno-18-1739708.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/brno-18-1739708.html ]]> <p>How far can you go? Put that question to Brüno, Sacha Baron Cohen's flamboyantly gay Austrian fashionista, and he would most likely provide you with an explicit demonstration involving sex toys and human orifices.</p> Reviews Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/cloud-nine-nc-1739710.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/cloud-nine-nc-1739710.html <p>No film this year is less likely to get a Hollywood remake, but that would be to praise Andreas Dresen's drama of passionate love in old age.</p> Reviews Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/mishima-a-life-in-four-chapters-15-1739717.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/mishima-a-life-in-four-chapters-15-1739717.html <p>Paul Schrader's 1985 biopic of the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima is a brave but flawed attempt to tell a sensational story in a formalist manner. The author's last day in November 1970 – when he committed ritual suicide after addressing an army garrison – is interspersed with black-and-white flashbacks to his painful boyhood and dramatic excerpts from his novels, remarkably visualised by the designer Eiko Ishioka. Yet the cerebral cool of Schrader's perspective sacrifices emotional connection to its subject: Mishima's life will always be a mystery, but the careful layerings don't give much of a clue as to why he became an object of cult worship to the Japanese.</p> Reviews Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/fired-up-12a-1739713.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/fired-up-12a-1739713.html <p>A puerile, remedial class version of Wedding Crashers. </p> Reviews Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/35-shots-of-rum-12a-1739721.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/35-shots-of-rum-12a-1739721.html <p> <preform><p>Claire Denis's film-making is so elliptical you sometimes feel at a loss to know what's going on, but the mood – cool, meditative, unhurried – beckons you along insistently. <p>This film takes a sidelong look at work, home, love, sympathy, and invites us to make the links between them. At its centre is a widowed Parisian train driver Lionel (Alex Descas) and his student daughter, Josephine (Mati Diop), who have lived companionably in the same flat for years. A kind of narrative ambles on – a rock concert is missed, a cat dies, a trip to Germany reveals a lost kinship – though it's the fleeting changes of facial expression and body language that carry whatever elusive meaning lurks within. Patience is required, and, in the end, is mysteriously rewarded. </p></preform> </p> Reviews Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/soul-power-12a-1739723.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/soul-power-12a-1739723.html <p>Kinshasa, Zaire, in 1974, will always be remembered for the Rumble in the Jungle, but six weeks before the Ali-Foreman fight another epic was in progress – a three-night concert that brought together Southern Africa's top musicians and America's leading black R&B acts. </p> Reviews Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-private-lives-of-pippa-lee-15-1739719.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-private-lives-of-pippa-lee-15-1739719.html ]]> <p>Robin Wright Penn ought to have been some great director's muse, like Catherine Deneuve or Liv Ullmann. </p> Reviews Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/first-night-harry-potter-and-the-halfblood-prince-odeon-leicester-square-1736209.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/first-night-harry-potter-and-the-halfblood-prince-odeon-leicester-square-1736209.html ]]> <p>Gone are the happy-go-lucky adventures of young Harry, Ron and Hermione; danger and darkness lie in wait in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The books, and correspondingly the films, have graduated in seriousness.</p> Reviews Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/ice-age-3-carlos-saldanha-96-mins-ubram-i-black-enough-for-you-goran-hugo-olsson-87-mins-12a-1731788.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/ice-age-3-carlos-saldanha-96-mins-ubram-i-black-enough-for-you-goran-hugo-olsson-87-mins-12a-1731788.html ]]> <p> I can't believe that many eight-year-olds worry about how good they'll be as parents, or if they'll lose touch with their friends once they have families of their own. </p> Reviews Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/public-enemies-michael-mann-140-mins-15-1731925.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/public-enemies-michael-mann-140-mins-15-1731925.html ]]> <p>There's arguably no theme in cinema quite as fundamental, as primal, as Cops and Robbers – the genre that Michael Mann has always returned to. Mann loves gangsters, but not as Martin Scorsese does: for Mann, criminal and cop are inseparable, yin and yang, neither truly functioning unless both are edging towards their big showdown. </p> Reviews Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-marley--me-retail--rental-20th-century-fox-1732431.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-marley--me-retail--rental-20th-century-fox-1732431.html ]]> <p> This breezy comedy strolls through the happily uneventful married life of two Miami journalists, Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. </p> Reviews Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-three-monkeys-retail--rental-new-wave-film-1732432.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-three-monkeys-retail--rental-new-wave-film-1732432.html ]]> <p> A politician bribes his driver to take the fall for a hit'n'run; then conducts an affair with the dupe's wife while he's in chokey; then decides he wants nothing more to do with her. </p> Reviews Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-the-international-retail--rental-sony-1732430.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-the-international-retail--rental-sony-1732430.html ]]> <p> Corporate bankers as villains? At least there's one aspect of The International that feels contemporary; the rest of this conspiracy thriller could have been adapted from a 40-year-old spy novel. </p> Reviews Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/am-i-black-enough-for-you-12a-1729308.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/am-i-black-enough-for-you-12a-1729308.html <p>If you've heard of Billy Paul at all, it's almost certainly because of his one hit back in the early Seventies, "Me and Mrs. Jones": his next single, from which this documentary takes its title, was a flop and his career tumbled.</p> Reviews Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-blind-loves-pg-1729309.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-blind-loves-pg-1729309.html ]]> <p>In his documentary feature debut, Juraj Lehotsky reminds us what true love is. </p> Reviews Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-doubt-15-1729312.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-doubt-15-1729312.html ]]> <p>Set in early 1960s New York, this is a sombre account of a priest accused of child abuse who is hounded out of his parish by Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep), the dragon-like headmistress of the local Catholic school.</p> Reviews Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/embodiment-of-evil-18-1729314.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/embodiment-of-evil-18-1729314.html <p>Coffin Joe, hero of a series of cult Brazilian horror films in the Sixties, is revived for the 21st century. </p> Reviews Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-rachel-getting-married-15-1729326.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-rachel-getting-married-15-1729326.html ]]> <p>Anne Hathaway was deservedly Oscar-nominated for her vanity-bruising turn as Kym, an unlikeable drug addict who leaves rehab to attend her sister's wedding. </p> Reviews Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/strawberry-and-chocolate-fresa-y-chocolate-18-1729330.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/strawberry-and-chocolate-fresa-y-chocolate-18-1729330.html <p>An inexplicably delayed release for this Oscar-nominated Cuban drama from 1993, by the director of Memories of Underdevelopment. </p> Reviews Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/first-night-it-felt-like-a-kiss-manchester-international-festival-1729768.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/first-night-it-felt-like-a-kiss-manchester-international-festival-1729768.html <p>It begins even before you get inside the building. There is a big list of warnings to the audience. It will be a promenade production with stairs to climb and uneven surfaces. There will be strobes, smoke and loud noises. It won't be suitable for anyone with a heart condition or a nervous disposition. One woman in my group was so spooked that she turned around in the foyer and left before we even got in the lift of the empty office block where this multi-media piece was to begin.</p> Reviews Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-gran-torino-15-1729333.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-gran-torino-15-1729333.html ]]> <p>Clint Eastwood is one of the few figures in Hollywood able to play with his own iconography. </p> Reviews Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/red-mist-18-1729327.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/red-mist-18-1729327.html <p>An inadequate horror film about a coma patient who, thanks to an unwisely administered cocktail of brain-stimulating drugs, manages to leave his body, possess others, and punish the irresponsible medical students who put him in the coma to start with. </p> Reviews Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/public-enemies-15-1729325.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/public-enemies-15-1729325.html ]]> <p>All you need to make a film, according to Godard, is a girl and a gun: or, as it's been more succinctly put, kiss kiss bang bang. So it's odd how little attention most film-makers pay to the bangs, lazily reproducing whatever latest variation is in fashion – the rat-a-tat of tommy-guns in Thirties gangster movies, the pee-yowng of rifle ricochets in Fifties Westerns, the whoomph of pump-action shotguns in thrillers since the Eighties. One thing you have to concede to Michael Mann is that he really thinks about his guns: Hawkeye's longue carabine, with its almost lazy crash, in The Last of the Mohicans, the dry, tubercular rattle of the automatic rifles in the canyons of Los Angeles in Heat. </p> Reviews Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-prison-break-series-4-15-1729324.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-prison-break-series-4-15-1729324.html ]]> <p>Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) is back for one final time, in the last season of the US action-packed drama. </p> Reviews Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/ice-age-3-dawn-of-the-dinosaurs-u-1729317.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/ice-age-3-dawn-of-the-dinosaurs-u-1729317.html ]]> <p>The makers of this franchise clearly don't believe in messing with a successful formula. </p> Reviews Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/sunshine-cleaning-christine-jeffs-91-mins-15brmy-sisters-keeper-nick-cassavetes-109-mins-12a-1722131.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/sunshine-cleaning-christine-jeffs-91-mins-15brmy-sisters-keeper-nick-cassavetes-109-mins-12a-1722131.html <p> There's no shortage of films about middle-aged, middle-class men realising that adulthood hasn't turned out as spectacularly as they'd hoped (probably no surprise when you consider the lot of most screenwriters), but it's refreshing to see a film about a young working-class woman in the same position. </p> Reviews Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/edinburgh-international-film-festival-1722133.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/edinburgh-international-film-festival-1722133.html ]]> <p> Seeing films in Edinburgh in August used to be a thrill: you would also pick up the buzz of the city's other cultural events, whether it was a play staged in a car or the latest coming of The Lady Boys of Bangkok. </p> Reviews Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-che-parts--one--two-retail--rental-optimum-1722839.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-che-parts--one--two-retail--rental-optimum-1722839.html <p> Steven Soderbergh's four-hour Che Guevara biopic has been chopped into two halves, each of which concentrates on a guerrilla campaign. </p> Reviews Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-revolutionary-road-rental--retail-paramount-1722838.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-revolutionary-road-rental--retail-paramount-1722838.html ]]> <p> Sam Mendes' 1950s-set suburban drama doesn't quite work in these credit-crunched times. </p> Reviews Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-un-conte-de-no235l-retail--rental-drakes-avenue-1722840.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-un-conte-de-no235l-retail--rental-drakes-avenue-1722840.html <p> Arnaud Desplechin's yuletide drama might not feel like timely viewing, but its original French release date in May is a clue that this is anything but Hollywood-style seasonal fodder. </p> Reviews Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/lake-tahoe-12a-1719700.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/lake-tahoe-12a-1719700.html <p>A gentle, poetic rumination on death and grieving. </p> Reviews Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-last-thakur-15-1719701.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-last-thakur-15-1719701.html <p>This medical-ethics drama is like a sustained assault on the tear ducts. ,/p><p>Abigail Breslin plays Anna, an 11-year-old girl who's kept her leukaemic sister (Sofia Vassilieva) alive through lymphocytes and bone-marrow transplants. Her parents want Anna to donate her kidney, and she's not going to let them – indeed, she hires a lawyer (Alec Baldwin) to win her "medical emancipation". Based on a Jodi Picoult bestseller, this is all of a tremble with big issues and major confrontations, most of them centred on Cameron Diaz's control-freak mom, and I found myself not believing a minute of it.</p> Reviews Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/shirin-pg-1719707.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/shirin-pg-1719707.html <p>Now here's a real test of your mettle.</p> Reviews Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/rudo--cursi-15-1719705.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/rudo--cursi-15-1719705.html <p>This tale of two brothers seems to be a comic satire on ambition, but the laughs are desperately hard to come by. </p> Reviews Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/my-sisters-keeper-12a-1719708.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/my-sisters-keeper-12a-1719708.html <p>This medical-ethics drama is like a sustained assault on the tear ducts. </p> Reviews Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/tenderness-15-1719710.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/tenderness-15-1719710.html <p>This odd psychodrama is notable for Russell Crowe's low-key performance as a cop obsessed by the case of a young man named Eric (Jon Foster). </p> Reviews Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/year-one--12a-1719715.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/year-one--12a-1719715.html <p>In the beginning was the nerd, and the nerd was good – actually the nerd is the best thing in the knockabout Primitive Man comedy Year One. </p> Reviews Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/sunshine-cleaning--15-1719709.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/sunshine-cleaning--15-1719709.html <p>Despite its title, Sunshine Cleaning rumbles with heavy storm clouds. </p> Reviews Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-girlfriend-experience-edinburgh-film-festival-edinburgh-1717789.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-girlfriend-experience-edinburgh-film-festival-edinburgh-1717789.html ]]> <p>Two decades since winning the Palme d'Or for Sex, Lies and Videotape, Steven Soderbergh returns with another film dissecting the sexual mores of the American middle classes. If you count his recent Che double bill as two separate films, The Girlfriend Experience is his 20th movie in as many years – a remarkable achievement by anyone's standards. Such a prolific output has not always brought stellar results – whether it's the two Ocean's Eleven sequels or the Second World War noir The Good German. Not so The Girlfriend Experience, one of the most engaging and astute works of Soderbergh's career.</p> Reviews Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/le-donk--scorzayzee-edinburgh-international-film-festival-edinburgh-1715673.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/le-donk--scorzayzee-edinburgh-international-film-festival-edinburgh-1715673.html ]]> <p>Following his beautiful miniature movie Somers Town, Shane Meadows returns with Le Donk & Scorz-Ayz-Ee, another short-and-sweet tale that once again proves that less can often be more. A mock documentary, improvised by Meadows and frequent collaborator, actor Paddy Considine, it marks Meadows's first appearance on camera. Playing himself, he's making a film about Le Donk (Considine) – or Nicholas as he doesn't like to be called – a rock roadie who's something of a legend in his own living room.</p> Reviews Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-september-issue-edinburgh-international-film-festival-edinburgh-1713971.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-september-issue-edinburgh-international-film-festival-edinburgh-1713971.html <p>Already the reputed inspiration for the monstrous Meryl Streep character in The Devil Wears Prada, Anna Wintour, the legendary British-born editor-in-chief of American Vogue, now gets a documentary all to herself. Based around the creation of the September 2007 issue of the magazine – weighing nearly 5lbs, it's the single largest magazine ever published – Wintour takes centre stage in what feels like an attempt to rescue her post-Prada reputation. "Is she the high priestess of fashion?" asks director R J Cutler, early on. "I would say Pope," comes the reply from one of her minions.</p> Reviews Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/moon-edinburgh-international-film-festival-1712245.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/moon-edinburgh-international-film-festival-1712245.html ]]> <p>Don't be fooled by the generic-sounding title: Moon is one of the most original sci-fi films in years. Better still, it's British and made for the sort of budget – $5m – that wouldn't pay for half a Transformer in Hollywood. </p> Reviews Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/transformers-revenge-of-the-fallen-michael-bay-147-mins-12abrgigantic-matt-aselton-97-mins-15-1711232.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/transformers-revenge-of-the-fallen-michael-bay-147-mins-12abrgigantic-matt-aselton-97-mins-15-1711232.html <p>Not wishing to overstate the case, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is the pretentious, nonsensical, sexist, jingoistic, militaristic, CGI-dependent, product-placement-packed, hectically edited, punishingly loud, wearyingly long, eye-wateringly expensive, and, I predict, phenomenally profitable exemplar of everything that is most repulsive about Hollywood today.</p> Reviews Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/telstar-nick-moran-118-mins-15-1711233.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/telstar-nick-moran-118-mins-15-1711233.html <p>British record producer Joe Meek did not inherit the earth, although he did have a No 1 hit on both sides of the Atlantic with the Tornados' instrumental "Telstar". (You know the one – oo-OO-wee-oo twang twang ...) Meek is often hailed as a pioneer of sound recording, but he could also be seen as British pop's quintessential yesterday man, a figure entirely of his brief moment, whose style went out overnight when the Beatles – whose demos he notoriously rejected – came in. </p> Reviews Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-the-pink-panther-2-retail-and-rental-20th-century-fox-1711840.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-the-pink-panther-2-retail-and-rental-20th-century-fox-1711840.html <p> As Rowan Atkinson demonstrated in his second Mr Bean film, buffoonish man-children are only funny up to a certain age, at which point they become creepy. </p> Reviews Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-vicky-cristina-barcelona-rental-and-retail-optimum-1711839.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-vicky-cristina-barcelona-rental-and-retail-optimum-1711839.html <p> This breezy tale of two American tourists (Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall) who have their hormones and preconceptions shaken by two Spanish artists (Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz) is the return to form Woody Allen fans had given up hoping for. </p> Reviews Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-anvil-the--story-of-anvil-retail-and-rental-universal-1711841.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-anvil-the--story-of-anvil-retail-and-rental-universal-1711841.html ]]> <p> 'The real-life Spinal Tap' description is apposite and there are indeed many moments of unintentional hilarity in Sacha Gervasi's documentary about a metal band still chasing the dream long after the dream has left them for dead. </p> Reviews Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-12-1709429.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-12-1709429.html <p> Nick (Michael Cera) is pining over his ex-girlfriend, hoping that the rad mix CDs he makes for her will win her back. </p> Reviews Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:01:59 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-nototious-15-1709432.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-nototious-15-1709432.html <p> Feeling nostalgic for the heyday of gangster rap, when East Coast versus West Coast adversarial hip-hop was at its acme? </p> Reviews Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:01:57 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-che-parts-one-and-two-15-1709427.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-che-parts-one-and-two-15-1709427.html <p> If you ever wanted to know what the blow-by-blow run-up to the 1959 Cuban Revolution was like, then here it is. In part one of this four-hour effort, Steven Soderbergh tells the definitive account of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro's painstaking campaign through the Cuban undergrowth, culminating in their assault on Havana, in all its regime-busting glory. </p> Reviews Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:01:53 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-vicky-cristina-barcelona-12-1709430.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-vicky-cristina-barcelona-12-1709430.html <p> Better than Match Point but far from the heights of Manhattan, this Spanish romance is a welcome return to form for Woody Allen. </p> Reviews Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:01:51 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-franklyn-15-1709450.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-franklyn-15-1709450.html <p> Flitting between modern, angsty London and a futuristic dystopia riven by religious fervour, the impressive cast help this bipolar debut feature from the writer-director Gerald McMorrow carry off its lofty ambitions. </p> Reviews Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:01:47 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/telstar-nick-moran-119-mins-15-1709334.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/telstar-nick-moran-119-mins-15-1709334.html <p> Joe Meek was the pioneering pop producer best remembered for the ghostly early Sixties twanger &quot;Telstar&quot;, the inspiration of a troubled genius, according to the first-time director Nick Moran. </p> Reviews Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:53 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/gigantic-matt-aselton-98-mins-15-1709341.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/gigantic-matt-aselton-98-mins-15-1709341.html <p> It's kooky, it's quirky, it's dippy, it's trippy, it's loopy, it's screwy – it's indie, and boy, it's annoying. Matt Aselton's directorial debut puts Paul Dano's mattress salesman together with poor little rich girl Zooey Deschanel, though their feelings for one another are dwarfed by the determined (and hugely self-conscious) eccentricity looming around them. </p> Reviews Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:49 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/beyond-the-fire-maeve-murphy-77-mins-15-1709347.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/beyond-the-fire-maeve-murphy-77-mins-15-1709347.html <p> Surviving rape is the underlying theme of Maeve Murphy's romantic drama. Katie (Cara Seymour) and Sheamy (Scot Williams) meet one night at a London folk club, but their mutual attraction is stymied by memories, near and distant, of traumatic sexual violence. </p> Reviews Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:35 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/katyn--andrzej-wajda-118-mins-15-1709287.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/katyn--andrzej-wajda-118-mins-15-1709287.html ]]> Reviews Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:29 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/transformers-revenge-of-the-fallen-michael-bay--147-mins-12a-1709327.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/transformers-revenge-of-the-fallen-michael-bay--147-mins-12a-1709327.html <p> Second time out for the action vehicle about cars that turn into oversize Tonka toys, blowing stuff up and threatening world domination. They'd be welcome to it if only they'd turn the noise down. </p> Reviews Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:10 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/north-by-northwest-alfred-hitchcock-131-mins-pg-1709368.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/north-by-northwest-alfred-hitchcock-131-mins-pg-1709368.html <p> The title is from Hamlet (&quot;I am but mad north-north-west...&quot;) but everything else in this loop-the-loop thriller is pure Hitchcock. Is it, in fact, a thriller at all? </p> Reviews Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:02 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/away-we-go-edinburgh-international-film-festival-edinburgh-1707759.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/away-we-go-edinburgh-international-film-festival-edinburgh-1707759.html ]]> <p>From American Beauty to this year's Revolutionary Road, Sam Mendes has made it his business to explore the trials and tribulations of domesticity. As the curtain-raiser for this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival, his new movie, Away We Go, continues this obsession, albeit with Mendes shifting down a gear to deliver a comic travelogue that finally gets him out of the suburbs. Forget Two Lane Blacktop and the like; what follows is probably the most right-on road movie ever made.</p> Reviews Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/first-night-brno-empire-leicester-square-1707889.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/first-night-brno-empire-leicester-square-1707889.html ]]> <p> If intimate waxing, full-frontal nudity, Mexican &quot;chair-people&quot;, jokes about Hitler and pygmy sex involving an exercise bike, a champagne bottle and a dustbuster make you uncomfortable, then Bruno makes for a pretty uncomfortable 90 minutes. So for most people, this will be less a popcorn movie, more an open-mouthed, watching-from-behind-your-hands movie. </p> Reviews Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/looking-for-eric-ken-loach-116-mins-15brsoi-cowboy-thomas-clay-117-mins-15-1704551.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/looking-for-eric-ken-loach-116-mins-15brsoi-cowboy-thomas-clay-117-mins-15-1704551.html ]]> <p> I'm beginning to think I misjudged Ken Loach. I used to think he didn't really have a style, that he wasn't that interested in making films – films that felt like films, that is, rather than like Ken Loach films. </p> Reviews Sun, 14 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/red-cliff-john-woo-148-mins-15brthe-hangover-todd-phillips-100-mins-15-1704553.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/red-cliff-john-woo-148-mins-15brthe-hangover-todd-phillips-100-mins-15-1704553.html ]]> <p> From his Hong Kong cop films to his best Hollywood venture, the splendidly bonkers thriller Face/Off, John Woo has been one of cinema's most extrovert and determined stylists, a fella for whom no plot can be too convoluted, no shoot-out too elaborate, no interior complete unless a flock of doves can slow-mo through the window. </p> Reviews Sun, 14 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/bolt-for-retail-and-rental-walt-disney-1704999.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/bolt-for-retail-and-rental-walt-disney-1704999.html ]]> <p> This joyful animated yarn tells the story of Bolt, a TV-star dog who believes he has superpowers. </p> Reviews Sun, 14 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-the-class-for-retail-and-rental-artificial-eye-1705000.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-the-class-for-retail-and-rental-artificial-eye-1705000.html ]]> <p> Fran&ccedil;ois Bégaudeau plays the teacher he used to be in Laurent Cantet's Palme d'Or-winning adaptation of his own autobiography. </p> Reviews Sun, 14 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-woodstock-40th-anniversary-for-retail-warner-1705001.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-woodstock-40th-anniversary-for-retail-warner-1705001.html ]]> <p> The world may not be particularly &quot;stardust&quot; or &quot;golden&quot; any more, but Michael Wadleigh's seminal take on the defining moment of the 1960s still delivers more than merely nostalgia. </p> Reviews Sun, 14 Jun 2009 00:00:01 +0100