26 Apr 2005 in Film, Reviews
ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies. TIGHTLY CONTROLLED and astutely observed, Mean Creek is one of those small, unassuming films that haunt the memory long after the blockbusters have been forgotten. A tender portrait of a defining moment in some young lives, it begins like an Enid Blyton adventure and gradually takes on the darker hue […]
25 Apr 2005 in Film, Reviews
ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies. LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES may have been published in 1782 but it retains a powerful fascination for modern filmmakers. Six years ago, Cruel Intentions set the story of sexual intrigue and scandal among jaded teenagers in contemporary America. Two years ago, Scotland provided the setting for a new French television […]
19 Apr 2005 in Film, Reviews
ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies. SYDNEY POLLACK is a past master of the intelligent mainstream thriller. The veteran Oscar-winner has been responsible for Three Days Of The Condor, Absence Of Malice and The Firm. Now, he boldly goes where even Alfred Hitchcock was denied access with The Interpreter, an absorbing conspiracy thriller set in the […]
11 Apr 2005 in Film, Reviews
ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies. MUSIC STARS rarely make the grade as actors. Even the semi-successful ones like Sting and Mick Jagger have become strangers to the screen. Ashley Walters might just be the exception. The former Asher D of So Solid Crew, Walters makes an impressive screen debut in ‘Bullet Boy’, revealing a […]
8 Apr 2005 in Film, Reviews
ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies. IS THERE ANYTHING left to say on the evil of Hitler and the collapse of the Third Reich? That might have seemed like a rhetorical question until the arrival of the Oscar-nominated epic Downfall. Based on vivid, first hand accounts of what truly happened in the Spring of 1945, this […]
28 Mar 2005 in Film, Reviews
ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies. IT HAS BEEN a long time coming, but Woody Allen is back on form with Melinda And Melinda. After a string of half-hearted attempts and half-baked ideas, Allen finally delivers a recognisable combination of his trademark wit and worldly wisdom. The snappy one-liners are matched by some sharp insights into […]
22 Mar 2005 in Film, Reviews
ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies. PENELOPE CRUZ returns to her European roots in Don’t Move, and is rewarded with one of her best roles in recent years. The star of disappointing Hollywood fare like Vanilla Sky and Gothika, Cruz abandons her natural beauty to portray a downtrodden, panda-eyed, working-class woman embroiled in a tragic affair […]
15 Mar 2005 in Film, Reviews
ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies. 9 SONGS is already guaranteed a degree of notoriety as the most sexually explicit mainstream film ever released in British cinemas. Highly respected director Michael Winterbottom portrays the arc of a love affair purely through the graphic sexual encounters of a young couple. Interludes are provided by the concerts they […]
7 Mar 2005 in Film, Reviews
ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies. ALFRED KINSEY taught America about sex. His bestselling behavioural studies in the 1940s dragged the country out of the dark ages towards a more sophisticated understanding of human sexuality. It is his life and pioneering achievements that provide the basis of this intelligent, immaculately crafted biography from Bill Condon, the […]
1 Mar 2005 in Features, Film, Highland
GEORGINA COBURN previews North of Hollywood, a touring roadshow of Canadian films due to visit Eden Court Theatre this month