Movie reviews – Sept 21 to Oct 11

Movie reviews – Sept 21 to Oct 11

THE CAMPAIGN Fulgor: Sept 21 - Oct 3   Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis star as two Southerners comically vying for a seat in Congress. ‘The election-year release is timely, but an all-star comedy cast can't save director Jay Roach's political satire.' (The Hollywood Reporter) ‘

bookmark
Thu 27 Sep 2012 12:00 AM

THE
CAMPAIGN

Fulgor:
Sept 21 – Oct 3

 

Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis star
as two Southerners comically vying for a seat in Congress. ‘The election-year
release is timely, but an all-star comedy cast can’t save director Jay Roach’s
political satire.’ (The Hollywood
Reporter) ‘Too soft and silly to be satire, too upbeat to be a cautionary
tale, the film…is a fun-house fable that both exaggerates and understates the
absurdities of our democracy.’ (The New
York Times)

 

WOODY
ALLEN: A DOCUMENTARY

Odeon:
Sept 21 -23, 28-30

 

A rare opportunity to go behind the
scenes of the famous filmmaker’s life and work. Over 18 months, Curb Your
Enthusiasm director Robert Weide tracks Allen at work and narrates with family
and friends the story of his life. ‘A must-see for any Allen aficionado and
just about anyone who craves an insight into the publicity-shy man’s glorious
career’ (Empire). ‘I watched this
engaging film with a great big smile on my face. I don’t think anyone with any
love for Allen, or the cinema, could fail to do anything else … This
documentary is a pleasure, though we don’t get too far beneath the surface’ (The Guardian). (Weide sidesteps the
great 1992 Soon-Yi scandal).

 

PROMETHEUS

Odeon:
Oct 1-3

 

The search for our beginning could lead
to our end. In Ridley Scott’s movie, a team of scientists travelling through
the universe on the spaceship Prometheus on a voyage to investigate alien life
forms becomes stranded on an alien world, and the horrors they experience there
are not just a threat to their survival, but to that of all mankind. ‘A
magnificent science-fiction film, all the more intriguing because it raises
questions about the origin of human life and doesn’t have the answers’ (Roger
Ebert). ‘This is jumbo-size science fiction, with a handsome, impermeable
titanium gleam-and a thick coating of creationism lite’ (Entertainment Weekly). ‘Buffeted by a lack of suspense, threadbare
characters, and a very poor script, the stunning visuals, gloopy madness, and
sterling Fassbenderiness can’t prevent Prometheus feeling like Alien’s poor
relation’ (Empire).

TED

Odeon:
Oct 8,9,11 Fulgor: Oct 4-17

 

Seth MacFarlanes’ teddy bear comedy is
not as cute and cuddly as it may seem. Ted comes to life for his owner John
Bennett and a certain amount of outrageous chaos ensues. ‘A fabulous first
live-action effort, combining R-rated hilarity with skilled storytelling as it
slips some real heart into the stuffing of a toy bear (Total Film). ‘This is no-holds-barred humor of the finest, grossest
kind, centered [on] the theme of arrested development’ (Time). ‘A predictably irreverent satire that’s sweeter and, sadly,
less funny than you might expect’ (Variety).
‘Eventually MacFarlane’s formula-consisting of filthy, ethnically offensive
jokes, scatological humor, tacky pop culture references and random
cameos-begins to wear thin’ (Washington
Post).

 

 

THE ELEPHANT MAN

Odeon:
Oct 9, free

 

John Hurt plays the hideously deformed
Victorian circus freak rescued by medical science but still not able, despite
intelligence and sensitivity, to take his rightful place as a socially
functioning human being. The black-and-white cinematography and David Lynch’s
peculiar obsessions make this a very watchable but disturbing experience. ‘I
kept asking myself what the film was really trying to say about the human
condition as reflected by John Merrick, and I kept drawing blanks’ (Roger
Ebert). ‘The picture itself is a strange trade-off between Lynch’s personal
themes-the night world of obscure, disturbing sexual obsessions-and the
requirements of a middlebrow message movie’ (Chicago Reader). ‘If there’s a
wrong note in this unique movie-in performance, production design,
cinematography or anywhere else-I must have missed it’ (Time Out).

 

 

 For showtimes, see the events listing.

 

Fulgor

via Maso Finiguerra – tel. 055/2381881

www.staseraalcinema.it

 

Odeon

Piazza Strozzi, 2 -tel. 055/295051

www.cinehall.it,
www.odeon.intoscana.it

 

 

The
new series of Talking Pictures focuses on the film work of the controversial,
maverick British director Ken Russell, who died last year, auteur of some of
the most outrageous films in cinema. Prepare to be shocked, disgusted,
horrified and amazed!

 

THE DEVILS

Wednesday, October 3, 8:00p

 

‘It is a true story, carefully
documented, historically accurate-a serious work by a distinguished film maker.
As such it is likely to be hailed as a masterpiece by many. But because it is
explicit and highly graphic in depicting the bizarre events that occurred in
France in 1634, others will find it visually shocking and deeply disturbing. We
feel a responsibility to alert you to this. It is our hope that only the
audience that will appreciate The Devils will come to see it’ (Warner Bros.).
Sets by Derek Jarman. Sexually repressed nun by Vanessa Redgrave. ‘I rank The
Devils as [one of the] chief works of genius in the postwar British cinema’
(Vanessa Redgrave). ‘A movie that carries its head (and its mind) tucked
underneath its arm. It’s a see-through movie composed of a lot of clanking,
silly, melodramatic effects that, like rib-tickling, exhaust you without
providing particular pleasure, to say nothing of enlightenment’ (New York Times).

 

THE BOY FRIEND

Wednesday, October 10, 8:00p

 

‘I never want to do a violent, disturbing
film like The Devils again. That’s why I did The Boy Friend. It’s pure escapism
and fun.’ No surprise then that in the same year Russell made this colourful
and deliciously entertaining musical, starring the inimitable Twiggy, wooden
but joyously budding. ‘In the original 1954 Broadway incarnation of The Boy
Friend (which starred Julie Andrews), writer Sandy Wilson satirized the
conventions of 1920s stage musicals. Russell offers a more affectionate and
personal homage in his version, however, to Hollywood musicals of the Thirties’
(Turner Classic Movies). ‘[S]upposed
to be a spoof on Berkeley-type 1930s musicals, of course, but after a while we
realize that Russell belongs on Berkeley’s side. Even when he’s not
deliberately doing Berkeley takeoffs, his camera is so joyless that it
undermines every scene…’ (Roger Ebert).

 

 

The British Institute

Lungarno
Guicciardini 9

tel.
055/267781

www.britishinstitute.it

Related articles

Lifestyle

Tomorrow’s Leonardos: the United States and Tuscany

The U.S. Consulate in Florence was established exactly 300 years after the death of Leonardo.

Lifestyle

Florence Cocktail Week is served

Building on the success of previous editions, Florence Cocktail Week returns this May with a celebration of dressed-up drinks. Organised by Paola Mencarelli and Lorenzo Nigro, the event, which runs from May 12, will feature masterclasses, roundtables and tasting sessions.

Lifestyle

The genuine Florentine article: Cuoiofficine

Cuoiofficine is a unique contemporary leather firm established in Florence by brothers Timothy and Tommaso Sabatini. Elevating their artisanal expertise to a leather business for modern customers, the siblings blend ...

LIGHT MODE
DARK MODE