TED
Odeon:
Oct 11
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 around [sic] 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).
BLADE
RUNNER
Odeon:
Oct 16, 8:30pm, free
Ridley Scott’s 1982
masterpiece remains one of contemporary cinema’s greatest works and firmly
holds its place in the sci-fi canon. Loosely adapted from Philip K. Dick’s
novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Scott’s bladerunner is Rick
Deckard (Harrison Ford) in pursuit of replicants returned to earth from the
off-world colonies. A brilliant blend of dystopian futurism, retro-design noir
detective fiction and existential enquiry in a gloomy rain-soaked L.A. a few
years from now. ‘This is perhaps the only science-fiction film that can be
called transcendental’ (Entertainment Weekly). ‘Blade Runner impresses
with its inquiry into the nature of memory, identity, and what it means to be
human … fully and richly deserves its reputation. It is simply one of the most
extraordinary films ever made’ (BBC).
HOPE SPRINGS
Odeon:
Oct 18-19, 21-24
Meryl
Streep and Tommy Lee Jones are Kay and Arnold, married 30 years and in need of
counselling in David Frankel’s comedy drama. ‘Hope Springs dares viewers to
look closely at the remarkable sight of naked adult intimacy and its
discontents’ (Entertainment Weekly). ‘A genuinely sweet, perfectly acted,
remarkably brave little movie that should make audiences swoon for something
they thought was gone-a smart dramedy for grown-ups’ (New York Daily News).
‘The movie is an awkward cross between a domestic comedy and a marital tragedy
that’s laced with laughs, soggy with tears and burdened by a booming, blunt
soundtrack that amplifies every narrative beat’ (New York Times).
TOTAL RECALL
Fulgor: Oct 11-17
Len
Wiseman’s remake of the 1990 Paul Verhoeven version of Philip K. Dick’s story
is probably unnecessary, although, as reviewers have pointed out, at least
there’s an actor in the title role. The dumb testosterone of the Schwarzenegger
original is given a credible gloss by Colin Farrell, but Dick’s philosophical
musings escape the filmmakers in their quest for box office success through as
much gratuitous explosive action as can possible be crammed into two hours.
‘The remake has no grace notes, or grace, no nuance, no humanity, no character
quirks, no surprises in the dialogue and no humor’ (Wall Street Journal).
‘Since the new Recall is totally witless, don’t expect laughs. Originality and
coherence are also notably MIA’ (Rolling Stone).
For showtimes, see the events listing.
KILLING
THEM SOFTLY
Fulgor: Oct 18-24
New Zealander Andrew
Dominik’s follow-up to his brilliant 2007 The Assassination of Jesse James
again stars Brad Pitt but in a crime thriller of a completely different sort.
In the New Orleans underworld, Jackie Cogan is the enforcer investigating a
heist. ‘The film is terribly smart in every respect, with ne’er-a-false note
performances and superb craft work from top to bottom’ (Hollywood Reporter).
‘This is an unrepentantly cynical take on the hope-and-change promised to the
US in 2008; this year’s election race makes it look even bleaker, an icily confident
black comedy of continued disillusion’ (The Guardian). ‘Tough, stylish,
violent and studded with stars-but like so many of its American gangsters,
Killing Them Softly doesn’t quite get the job done’ (Total Film).
SAVAGE MESSIAH
The British Institute: Wed, Oct 17, 8pm
‘I
want to take the ‘mystique’ away from art and show that success is usually 5
percent inspiration and 95 percent perspiration and hard slog’ (Ken Russell).
Russell’s film of the life of the Vorticist sculptor Henri Gaudier, ended at
the age of 24 on the Western Front, captures the energy and passion of
engagements both artistic and sexual (or platonic, in the case of Gaudier’s
muse Sophie Brzeska.) ‘Derek Jarman’s sets (whether for grotty ateliers or
Helen Mirren’s naughty suffragette cabaret act) underline an important factor
that cultic Russell auteurists might note: the production teams who made his
mad orchestrations pop, including then-wife Shirley, costume designer.’ (Village
Voice) ‘Henri’s interesting relationship with the ageing authoress Sophie
Brzeska is lost in the director’s overriding credo that both art and films are
a matter of how much energy you exert’ (Time Out).
MAHLER
The British Institute: Wed, Oct 24, 8pm
The
life and work of the tortured Austrian composer Gustav Mahler is given the full
Ken Russell treatment: the genius of the music visualised with kaleidoscopic
frenzy and passionate intensity. ‘This musical biography, Russell-style, comes
over like a cross between a comic strip and Life with the Mahlers (or the
trials of bringing up and living with a genius). All the usual brashness and
obsessions are there, which may well offend the purists, especially as the film
is very much a reply to Visconti’s Death in Venice. What he gives us is in fact
one of the more successful excursions into the cinema of pantheism, a series of
tableaux interpreting Mahler’s music. Powell is suitably impressive as the
composer’ (Time Out). ‘When Mr. Russell isn’t playing campy games his
jangling work gives a real sense of the tight-nerved consciousness of a
composer to whom all the world was a minefield of noises he had to tread
through to pick out a perilous line of music’ (New York Times).
