For
showtimes, see the events listing.
Odeon
Piazza
Strozzi, 2
tel. +39
055 295051
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE-GHOST PROTOCOL
February
2,6
In MI4
the IMF is shut down when it is implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin,
causing Ethan Hunt and his new team to go rogue to clear their organization’s
name. Tom Cruise reprises his role as the action man par excellence in one of
the more exciting outings of this underwhelming franchise. ‘Ghost Protocol
brims with scenes that are exciting and amazing at the same time; they’re
brought off with such casual aplomb that they’re funny, too’ (Entertainment Weekly). ‘A terrific
thriller with action sequences that function as a kind of action poetry’ (Roger
Ebert). ‘Still not an essential series like Bourne or Bond, but this entry has
a refreshingly light touch and some of the best action of 2011′ (Empire). ‘Well, Ghost Protocol
ultimately ends up as an eye-rollingly towering totem to L. Ron’s favorite son,
complete with treacly music cues and longing glances-bromantic and
otherwise-that will send you screaming into the thetan-stealing clutches of
Lord Xenu’ (Time Out New York).
THE IRON LADY
February
3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15
‘One’s
life must matter, Denis.’ Nominated for two Oscars and four BAFTAs, The Iron Lady has not made as many
waves as might have been thought, but Meryl Streep’s Margaret Thatcher will
surely go down as one of the great performances, regardless of opinions on the
politics of Britain’s first female prime minister or the movie’s approach to
her life on and off the world stage. ‘A biopic that values character over
context'(Hollywood Reporter).
‘Nothing is examined or analysed, little is illuminated in any revealing way,
and because everything is seen from [Thatcher’s] distorted perspective there is
no countervailing moral, political, historical force or argument . . .
Breathtaking in its detail and nuance, its subtle gestures and inflections,
this multifaceted jewel of a portrait is altogether grander than the
commonplace setting of the film'(The
Observer). ‘The Iron Lady is, to put it kindly, a shambles'(Slate).
THE MUPPETS
February
9, 16
Only one
Oscar nomination (for music), but nothing should detract from this delightful
Muppet reunion. The plot may seem superfluous but suffice to say that a greedy
oil company threatens the future of the Muppet Theatre and fans do their utmost
to reassemble the characters, who have gone their separate ways, to save it. Nostalgia
and sweetness and, of course, laughter all the way. ‘An unexpected treat.
Bright and perky, cheeky but never mean-spirited'(Variety). ‘It’s hard not to be both heartened and a little wistful
about the fact that The Muppets is probably as good a Muppet project as it’s
possible to make without Jim Henson'(NPR).
‘Terrified of alienating those who were raised on the originals, The Muppets
panders to them instead, constantly blasting or restaging Top 40 hits from the
past three-plus decades, continuing the cheap strategy that worked well on
YouTube two years ago with the Muppets’ cover of “Bohemian Rhapsody”‘(Village Voice).
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
February
13, 14
David
Fincher’s remake of the Swedish adaptation of the first of Stieg Larssen’s Millennium
series follows the investigation into an old murder by journalist Blomqvist and
Goth hacker Lisbeth Salander. ‘It moves like a mad dog, looks like a hi-def
dream and is deliciously cast from top to bottom. Go and bask in the lushly
photographed luridness'(Time Out New York).
‘This is a bleak but mesmerizing piece of filmmaking; it offers a glancing,
chilled view of a world in which brief moments of loyalty flicker between
repeated acts of betrayal'(New Yorker).
‘Seeing Fincher’s version is like getting a Christmas gift of a book you
already have. This edition has a nicer binding and prettier illustrations than
your beloved old paperback, but it’s essentially a reproduction of the same old
dragon. Dragon Tat-two’ (Time).
Nominated for five Oscars.
THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE
February
14
Award-winning
documentary following Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and the magazine’s
preparations for the 2007 fall issue. ‘A splendid study of the forces and
passions behind the world’s biggest fashion magazine'(Empire). ‘Subversively entertaining’ (Rolling Stone). ‘Lusciously revealing fly-on-the-wall portrait of
Anna Wintour'(Entertainment Weekly).
‘This entertaining, glib movie is about the maintenance of a brand that Ms.
Wintour has brilliantly cultivated since she assumed her place at the top of
the editorial masthead in 1988 and which the documentary’s director, R. J.
Cutler, has helped polish with a take so flattering he might as well work
there'(New York Times). Fashion as
business rather than art.
Special Event at The British Institute
Lungarno
Guicciardini 9
tel.
055/267781
FITZCARRALDO: CONQUEST OF THE USELESS
February
8, 8pm
For
almost three years the acclaimed German director Werner Herzog and his crew
endured the logistical complications and hardships of working in the jungles of
South America to film what for many seemed an impossible dream. In the same way
that the fictional character in the film struggled against all odds to create
an opera house in the jungle, so Herzog’s objective was to drag a ship up one
side of a mountain and down the other and film it in the obsessive pursuit of
his ambition to tell this story. Uli Bergfelder, production designer for the
resulting film, Fitzcarraldo, a long-time collaborator on many Herzog films,
appears in conversation with James Douglas, giving a first-hand account of the
production: the departure of Mick Jagger from the project, the manic behaviour
of the star Klaus Kinski, the war situation that threatened to engulf everyone
involved and the inevitable problems of financing such a risky venture. This is
an illustrated conversation, with excerpts from Les Blank’s documentary Burden
of Dreams and Herzog’s published record of the experience, Conquest of the
Useless, followed by a buffet and then a screening of the movie. It is a
ticket-only event. Tickets 8 euro available from the Harold Acton Library.
Places limited. In German with English subtitles.
NICHOLAS NICKLEBY
February
15, 8pm
Continuing
the Dickens 200 season with a recent adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby.
‘Happiness is a gift and the trick is not to expect it, but to delight in it
when it comes.’ ‘In trimming down “Nicholas Nickleby,” Mr. McGrath has
unavoidably left some bulges and seams. The love stories and genealogical
mysteries that are trademarks of Dickens’s narrative architecture are treated
rather perfunctorily here, so the plot feels more linear than it should, and
the climactic revelations seem insufficiently prepared for. But the director
has produced a colorful, affecting collage of Dickensian moods and motifs'(New York Times). ‘Now and then McGrath’s
film feels a bit rushed and breathless, but mostly you sink gratefully into its
handsomely staged plenitude'(Time). But
can young Charlie Hunnam hold his own amongst this stellar cast?
