HANCOCK
THE WACKNESS
ITTY BITTY TITTY COMMITTEE
STARRING: WILL SMITH, CHARLIZE THERON, JASON BATEMAN
STARRING: JOSH PECK, BEN KINGSLEY, FAMKE JANSSEN
STARRING: MELONIE DIAZ, NICOLE VICIUS, GUINEVERE TURNER
DIRECTOR: PETER BERG
DIRECTOR: JONATHAN LEVINE
DIRECTOR: JAMIE BABBIT
RELEASE DATE: 1 DEC CERTIFICATE: 12
RELEASE DATE: 29 DEC CERTIFICATE: 15
RELEASE DATE: 8 DEC CERTIFICATE: 15
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The Spiderman films taught us that “with great power comes great responsibility”, but what if you chose to spurn your super powers in favour of cheap liquor and even cheaper girls? Smith is Hancock, an anti-hero who has fallen by the wayside, losing both his reputation and self-respect. In steps Bateman, a PR exec spying a golden opportunity. In a summer bookended by Iron Man and The Dark Knight, a comical play on the archetypal superhero traits promised to be an entertaining endeavour. Unfortunately, the film falls a Hulk-stride short of its promise, and feels like two separate movies. At first an enjoyable rites of passage action comedy in which Hancock attempts to become more super-man than super-bum, a second act shift takes the film in a completely unwarranted direction. Smith puts in a decent shift, and there’s enough to appease most families and superhero fans, but it still feels like an opportunity wasted. [Gavin Sturgeon]
One of the busiest men in showbiz – he appeared in 11 films in 2008/2009, according to imdb.com - Sir Ben Kingsley is usually a sign of quality in even the most mediocre cinematic offering. The Wackness, winner of the Audience Favourite award at 2007’s Sundance Festival, sees Kingsley as Dr Jeffrey Squires, prominent New York psychiatrist and customer of recreational drug dealer Luke (Peck). Having just left high school, Luke plans to soon go to college, only to find everything going (quite literally) to pot during the long, hot summer of 1994. With love, life and sex weighing heavy on the minds of the two men, the scene is set for their parallel journeys to unfold with fine performances and a consistently witty script. Although there are few belly laughs, this is worth seeing for Kingsley’s slow-burn performance alone, which eclipses memories of Sexy Beast and is something of a revelation. [Jonathan Melville]
With Obama soon to be in the White House and a renewed sense of hope amongst the American left, Jamie Babbit’s follow up to But I’m A Cheerleader may be the last of its kind. A punk romance, the film follows buttoned down receptionist Anna (Diaz), who joins radical feminist group Clits In Action (or CiA), less from a desire to change the world than to cosy up to ringleader Sadie (Vicius). Taking gleeful pot shots at breast enlargement surgery, marriage and raunch culture, the film plays like The Strawberry Statement re-written by Ariel Levy. In the end, however, it is a fairly conventional coming-of-age tale, structured like standard Robert McKee fare and packed with more music montages than your average Rocky. While it may not be as punk as it thinks, then, it still manages to be charming and disarming, with a finale involving the George Washington monument that will make you think twice about reading any more DH Lawrence.[Michael Gillespie]
CASS
THE LOVE GURU
MAN ON WIRE
STARRING: NONSO ANOZIE, NATHALIE PRESS, LEO GREGORY
STARRING: MIKE MYERS, JESSICA ALBA, JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
STARRING: PHILIPPE PETIT
DIRECTOR: JON S. BAIRD
DIRECTOR: MARCO SCHNABEL
DIRECTOR: JAMES MARSH
RELEASE DATE: 29 DEC CERTIFICATE: 18
RELEASE DATE: 26 DEC CERTIFICATE: 12
RELEASE DATE: 26 DEC CERTIFICATE: 12
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The 90s saw a new and still present cultural phenomenon emerge: the New Lad. As well as embracing binge drinking, football and pseudo-porn magazines, new lads were also quick to lionise gangsters and criminals. One such figure was notorious football hooligan Cass Pennant, who overcame the racism of 70s Britain to be both feared and admired on and off the terraces, and who would become a successful author after a spell in prison being shot three times. That this biopic manages to avoid exploitation or hagiography is testament to Scottish debut director Jon S. Baird. Shot on 16mm, the film has a washed-out palette preventing any risk of sexiness, and while the drama is entirely conventional, the characters are so well drawn it is hard not to engage with the still relevant issues the film addresses. Admittedly raw and at times awkwardly paced, Baird’s film nonetheless succeeds where his earlier production, the puerile Green Street (on which he was associate producer), did not. [Michael Gillespie]
Mike Myers has plunged to new depths for cheap laughs in his first onscreen performance since 2003. As well as playing the leading role, Myers is on writing duties, and plays it well and truly safe: knob gags are lazily in abundance. Did it really take him five years to concoct this absolute horror of a film? There is almost nothing of merit in this story which feels all too familiar, especially if you’ve seen 2002’s The Guru, in which self styled sex guru Jimi Mistry attempted to break Hollywood as a mixture of Hugh Hefner and Oprah. Pitched somewhere between Ace Ventura and Ghandi, this infantile outing doesn’t let you wait long for the first gag, but you certainly won’t be laughing. Speaking of Ghandi, not even he can save this one, and why Sir Ben Kingsley wanted to tarnish his CV with this outlandishly feeble exhibition is mind-boggling. [Gavin Sturgeon] WWW.LOVEGURUMOVIE.COM
Almost every American film made since September 2001 has been probed and prodded for a post-9/11 subtext. Directed by James Marsh, The King (2005) explored the rise of the Christian right in the Bush era, with a family drama of Old Testament proportions. With Man On Wire, Marsh has crafted a documentary about the World Trade Centre that never once mentions that day the earth stood still. Instead, it focuses on Philippe Petit, a French tightrope daredevil who, in 1974, danced on a wire strung between the Twin Towers. The film mixes new interviews with archive footage, home movies and reconstructions with tremendous flair, never resorting to documentary cliché: the film is structured in flashback; interviews are shot from high angles; and the reconstructions are modelled on silent comedies and thrillers. The whole amounts to a ripping perfect crime yarn, the charismatic Petit proving an irresistible narrator whose determination mirrors that of Elvis in The King, but without the bloodshed. [Michael Gillespie]
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DECEMBER 08
THE SKINNY 21
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