Film - Nov.qxp_Layout 1 27/10/2014 12:49 Page 4
My Old Lady CERT 12a (107 mins) Starring Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Dominique Pinon, Stéphane Freiss Directed by Israel Horovitz (UK/USA/France)
This is all a bit of a reunion for Kristin Scott Thomas as she has previously starred alongside both Kevin Kline and Maggie Smith. Here, she plays the old lady’s daughter, her mother being the sole occupant of a Parisian apartment inherited by a New Yorker (Kline). The comedy-drama marks the film directorial debut of the American playwright Israel Horovitz.
No Good Deed CERT 15 (84 mins) Starring Idris Elba, Taraji P. Henson, Leslie Bibb, Kate del Castillo Directed by Sam Miller (USA)
Having tucked Nelson Mandela onto his cv, Idris Elba now plays a jailbird convicted of the manslaughter of a man and five women. When he escapes, he moves in on a mother (Taraji P Henson) with two young children. In case you’d forgotten, Ms Henson was nominated for an Oscar for The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button.
From
FRI 2 NOV 8
Horrible Bosses 2 CERT 15 (108 mins)
Paddington CERT tbc
Starring Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Jamie Foxx, Chris Pine, Christoph Waltz, Kevin Spacey Directed by Sean Anders (USA)
Starring Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Peter Capaldi, Nicole Kidman and the voice of Ben Whishaw Directed by Paul King (UK)
When Dale, Kurt and Nick decide to start up their own business, an investor appears to have two-timed them. So they decide to get the upper hand by kidnapping his son. What a cast.
The Homesman CERT 15 (123 mins) Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Hilary Swank, Hailee Steinfeld, William Fichtner, Meryl Streep Directed by Tommy Lee Jones (USA)
An unlikely Western, this, in which a man and woman team up to escort three mentally impaired women from Nebraska to Iowa. From the 1988 novel by Glendon Swarthout.
Stations Of The Cross CERT 15 (110 mins)
Starring Lea van Acken, Hanns Zischler, Birge Schade, Florian Stetter, Franziska Weisz Directed by Dietrich Brüggemann (Germany)
Released from Fri 28 November
I Am Ali CERT PG (111 mins) With Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, George Foreman, Tom Jones, Jim Brown Directed by Clare Lewins (UK/USA)
Just when you thought there couldn’t be another film about Muhammad Ali, along comes another one. This documentary purports to have had unprecedented access to the boxer’s personal audio diaries, as well as testimonials from his closest family and friends.
Divided into fourteen chapters to mirror the number of stages of Christ’s judgement up to his burial, this is probably one of the year’s most unusual films. Winner of the best script award at Berlin, it focuses on the fourteen-yearold Maria (van Acken) who follows the aforementioned fourteen stages in which to reach her nirvana per the dictates of the fundamentalist Catholic community in which she’s raised. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the whole film was shot in fourteen takes.
Frozen CERT PG (108 mins)
For a film about the loveable bear with a penchant for marmalade, it has trailed a surprising amount of controversy in its wake. The first anybody knew about it was that Colin Firth was voicing the polite creature from Peru. Then, once the film was almost completed, it was decided that Firth’s voice just ‘didn’t fit.’ He was replaced by Ben Whishaw. Then Nicole Kidman, who plays the villainous taxidermist Millicent Clyde, decided the movie was too disturbing for her children to see. Let’s just hope, then, that there’s a little bit of charm left over. Incidentally, it’s a live-action rendering, with Paddington himself created via CGI and animatronics. Queen), catchy songs (you may already be familiar with the Oscar-winning Let It Go) and a very funny sidekick in the form of a snowman with a penchant for non sequiturs. It is perhaps fashionable to knock the sentimentality and professional efficiency of Disney’s more recent output, but the studio has always been sentimental and here provides us with a whirlwind of emotions: heartbreak, romance, humour, action, thrills and, yes, OK, schmaltz. And as with every noteworthy cartoon, it’s packed with enthralling background detail, which rewards its audience with repeated viewings. Furthermore, as the freckled heroine at the heart of this beguiling tale, Anna is a captivating protagonist, a lost soul full of hope and spirit yet also endearingly innocent and vulnerable. Only the introduction of a Transformers-like snow monster sounds a truly false note.
Featuring the voices of Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, Santino Fontana, Alan Tudyk, Jack Whitehall Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee (USA)
Should you have missed Disney’s fifty-third animated feature (in their so-called Animated Classics series), here’s your chance to catch up with what is now the highest-grossing cartoon of all time. It’s a predictably ravishing treat for the eyes as well as boasting a strong story (inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow www.whatsonlive.co.uk 47