IRON MAN 2 JUNE - The Rex Berkhamsted
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M A G A Z I N E
IRON MAN 2
JUNE...
“possibly Britain’s most beautiful cinema...” (BBC)
JUNE 2010 Issue 63
www.therexberkhamsted.com
01442 877759
Mon-Sat 10.30-6pm Sun 4.30-6.30pm
To advertise email jameshannaway@therexberkhamsted.com INTRODUCTION
Gallery 4-6 BEST IN JUNE
May Evenings 7
Coming Soon 21
May Films at a glance 21
May Matinees 25
Rants and Pants 40-43
SEAT PRICES:
Circle £8.00
Concessions £6.50
At Table £10.00
Concessions £8.50
Royal Box (seats 6) £12.00 An exquisite story beautifully told. France 2007.
or for the Box £66.00
All matinees £5, £6.50, £10 (box) The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Tue 29 7.30
BOX OFFICE:
Mon to Sat
01442 877759
10.30 – 6.00
FILMS OF THE MONTH
Sun 4.30 – 6.30
Disabled and flat access: through the gate
on High Street (right of apartments)
Some of the girls and boys you see at the Box Office and Bar:
Rosie Abbott Helen Miller
Julia Childs Malcolm More
Nicola Darvell Liam Parker
Lindsey Davies Hannah Pedder
Holly Gilbert Izzi Robinson
Katie Golder Amberly Rose
Ollie Gower Georgia Rose
Beth Hannaway Diya Sagar
Lucy Hood Alice Spooner
Nonstop action, noise and comic violence.
Natalie Jones Liam Stephenson USA 2010. Iron Man 2
Amelia Kellett Tina Thorpe
Abbie Knight Jack Whiting
Thu 3 7.30 / Fri 4 7.30 / Sat 5 7.00
Bethany McKay Olivia Wilson
Simon Messenger Keymea Yazdanian
Ushers:
Abigail K, Ally, Billie, Charlotte, Ellie, Emma,
James, Kitty, Lucy, Luisa, Lydia K, Romy, Roz, Sid
Sally Thorpe In charge
Alun Rees Chief projectionist (Original)
Jon Waugh 1st assistant projectionist
Martin Coffill Part-time assistant projectionist
Jacquie Rose Chief Box Office & Bar
Oliver Hicks Best Boy
Becca Ross Best Girl A tense low-budget nail-biting thriller. UK 2009
Jemma Gask Key Grip Disappearance of Alice Creed
Michael Glasheen Gaffer
Thu 10 / Fri 11 7.30
Jane Clucas & Lynn Hendry PR/Marketing/FoH
Andrew Dixon Resident Artist
Darren Flindall Maintenance
Paul Fullagar, Alan Clooney Advisors and Investors
Ed Mauger Genius
Demiurge Design Designers 01296 632366
Lynn Hendry Advertising 01442 877999
James Hannaway CEO 01442 877999
Betty Patterson Company Secretary and THE ORIGINAL
VISIONARY of The Rex.
The Rex Passion caught. Passion charged. Passion
High Street (Three Close Lane) repeated. France 2006. The Beat that My
Berkhamsted HP4 2FG
www.therexberkhamsted.com Heart Skipped Wed 16 7.30
4 Box Office: 01442 877759 GALLERY
EVENING OF Comedy & Magic...
Phelim McDermott, Andy Smart and Phil Jupitus
O
ur second and last charity event of this or any year went swimmingly. The
Comedy Store Players started the evening with a bang. They were a hard act to
follow so it was a good job it was the remarkable Andy Hamilton who did. His
observational genius was in full stream.
Last act; magic-man Chris Dugdale had the hardest job, but conjured the audience back
to their seats and stole the hearts of the Rex children. Nigel Barden’s energetic auction
raised millions for Breakthrough Breast cancer. The evening was hosted by Hat Trick and
organized by their top shebang Debbie Manners, with an appearance by top, head
shebang Jimmy Mulville himself. There are some real comic geniuses on radio and TV.
They all seemed to be at the Rex on 1st May.
Chris Dugdale Andy Hamilton
GALLERY www.therexberkhamsted.com 5
Colin Sell
Phelim McDermott (front)
Colin Sell, Neil Mullarkey, Phil Jupitus
Andy Hamilton, Andy Smart and Phelim McDermott
The Comedy Store Players will be back later in the year for a gig of their own. So might
the magician (if he behaves himself). The biggest treat for me was meeting Colin Sell. He
was early and after wondering in and out with nobody there to say hello, introduced
himself to me as ‘the piano player” Something he was never accused of during 30 years
of I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue.
I was very chuffed. “and at the piano – Colin Sell”. He’ll be back too, accompanying an
evening of silent movies in the autumn.
Below. On our stage for the first time; the gorgeous Northchurch Womens Institute who
came to celebrate their 90th anniversary at a matinee screening of Glorious 39
6 Box Office: 01442 877759 GALLERY
THE CROWE FLIES OVER ASHRIDGE...
P
ictures by Rex regular
Paul Andermatur on
the set of Robin Hood
in Ashridge last year.
Apparently they constructed
the hut and steps (left) from
mostly natural materials
found in the beechwoods.
The ‘prefabs’ are mobile
stables, to save the horses
going home every night. Pity
they couldn’t leave those
huts built from bracken and
branches. Against the rules.
Some Robin Hood might set
up camp…?
THE FILM see page 18.
Paul Andermatur.
J U N E E V E N I N G S
8 Box Office: 01442 877759 JUNE EVENINGS
The Girl With The
Dragon Tattoo Iron Man 2
Tue 1 7.30, Wed 2 7.30 Thu 3 7.30, Fri 4 7.30,
Sat 5 7.00
Adventure 2 of Marvel Comics’ man-
in-a-can.
Now he’s a global plutocrat mega-
celebrity and adorable egomaniac,
whose hi-tech weaponry has cowed
America’s enemies into submission.
“I have successfully privatised world
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, whose peace!” he cheerfully hollers.
original and more potent title was Men But Rourke’s glowering Russian wannabe
Who Hate Women, a blunt but fitting iron man with the subtle word-play name
description of this angry, intelligent of Ivan Vanko is set to take him on.
Swedish thriller. It begins with Mikael Ms Paltrow is back as long-suffering
Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), an Pepper Potts, and Gorgeous Johansson
investigative journalist dedicated to enters our story as the absurdly sexy
exposing corporate crime, facing jail for martial-arts princess Nathalie.
libelling a wealthy tycoon. “Twitchy, talky, muscly Robert Downey
Racism, patriarchal misogyny, Jr strengthens his grip on the role that
globalization: director Niels Arden Opley made him a player in this spectacularly
gives all these hefty themes their due in efficient and efficiently spectacular
this largely faithful adaptation of the sequel to Iron Man.
popular trilogy by Stieg Larsson (whose There are some funny scenes and some
own death is veiled in mystery and great CGI exploding hardware; it never
rumour). looks a penny less than a million dollars,
Now down at heel and in hiding, Mikael nor Johansson a Celsius-degree less than
accepts a job from a rich industrialist to smokin’ hot.” (Guardian)
look into the disappearance of his beloved “It’s full of good banter and throwaway
niece more than 30 years before. grace notes. It’s funnier too.
Blomkvist is the putative hero, with a If it often borders on smug, it’s equally
lived-in face and weary dedication. He is happy to be only lightly reverent to the
superbly mis-matched with Salander, comics it’s based on”. (Telegraph)
mesmeringly played by Rapace, the “The single point of interest is to see if
goth/punk hacker. She’s a grim, spectral Robert D can rouse himself to carry the
presence in the opening scenes, until being movie, as he did first time around.
pushed too far. Revenge doesn’t get any With his just-toned-enough body he’s
better. Each actor all the better for being looking good. Hell, given his past record
unknown faces from a cold country. of addictions, drug busts and prison time,
“Still, wintry photography is consistently he’s looking great. Maybe they should
atmospheric, the sense of cultural scabs call him Irony Man.” (Independent)
being picked at interesting, and Rapace’s
Favreau’s entertaining and furiously brash
performance altogether more thrilling than
film takes the strangeness of the real-life
any known star chosen for the promised
incredible hulk that Rourke has become,
Hollywood remake.” (Telegraph)
then pushes it into the realm of comic-
Beware: Edge of seat, with some ouch,
strip magnification.
eye-watering moments. But don’t miss.
Continued on page 26
Director: Niels Oplev
Starring: Michael Nyqvist, Naomi Rapace,
Sven-Bertil Taube
Certificate: 18
Duration: 152 mins
Origin: Sweden 2009
By: Momentum Pictures
JUNE EVENINGS www.therexberkhamsted.com 9
Still Walking
Sun 6 6.00
Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
Starring: Yui Natsukawa, Kazuya Takahashi,
Hiroshi Abe, Shohei Tanaka
Certificate: U
Duration: 114 mins
Origin: Japan 2008
By: New Wave
A typically graceful turn from acclaimed
Japanese director Koreeda (After Life,
Nobody Knows), STILL WALKING
weaves together with great subtlety an
intricate and nuanced family drama,
inviting comparison with the work of
none less than the master of the genre,
Yasujiro Ozu. Taking place over one
Director: Jon Favreau summer’s day, the film follows a Yokohama
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Sam Rockwell, family as they reunite to celebrate the life
Mickey Rourke, Gwyneth Paltrow, of their eldest son, whose tragic death 15
Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson years ago left a painful mark not yet
Certificate: 12A healed. It is during this poignant
Duration: 125 mins remembrance, however, that the gaps and
Origin: USA 2010 tensions between family members become
By: Paramount International Pictures achingly apparent. Scooping a host of
awards across Asia since 2008, Still
Walking arrives in the West as an
emotionally charged tale of family, striking
in its immediate familiarity across cultures.
“Koreeda locates ideas in mundane
imagery, such as a drawer left slightly
open, a butterfly entering the house, or
cherry blossom blooming in the garden.”
(Time Out)
“Unlike family sagas in British, American
and European drama, there are no
crockery-smashing rows. Resentments and
anger are contained within the conventions
of politeness and respect. Impossible to
watch without a lump in the throat.”
(Guardian)
“Still Walking is an acutely observed and
tenderly rendered portrait of family,
mortality and remembering.” (Telegraph)
A beautiful film, back by request. Don’t
miss
10 Box Office: 01442 877759 JUNE EVENINGS
Dogtooth The Ghost
Mon 7 7.30 Tue 8 7.30, Wed 9 7.30
Director: Roman Polanski
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Ewan McGregor,
Kim Cattrall
Certificate: 15
Duration: 128 mins
Origin: France, Germany, USA 2010
By: Optimum Releasing
With the hysteria surrounding Roman
Polanski’s arrest in Switzerland last
Yorgos Lanthimos’ pitch black film,
year, it would have been easy to bury
both restrained and profoundly
“The Ghost” as a footnote in the
disturbing in equal measure, captured
director’s extraordinary life. However,
last year’s Prix Un Certain Regard at
luckily for us this is not the case.
Cannes where it polarised audiences,
Pierce Brosnan is Adam Lang, a smooth,
and will no doubt do the same here.
smug, former Prime Minister living in
An apparently average family unit; a pater
exile on an island off the perma-drizzly
familias, a submissive mother, and their
US eastern seaboard. Ewan McGregor
three late-teenage children, live on an
plays an un-named journalist, who is
isolated country estate on the outskirts of a
offered the opportunity of a lifetime to
Greek city. A large fence surrounds the
ghost write Lang’s memoirs.
property, and the children have apparently
As McGregor’s hack arrives in the States,
never been on the other side. Infantilised
news breaks of the former PM’s supposed
from birth; they have no conception of the
authorising of the rendition and torture of
outside world; mis-using everyday words
terrorist suspects whilst at Number 10.
having been taught incorrectly by their
As they begin work on Lang’s memoirs,
parents; believing aeroplanes regularly fall
it transpires that the previous ghost writer
from the sky in the form of their toys. This
was found drowned. What has he
hyper-sheltered existence is shaken by the
discovered about the former PM’s
arrival of an outsider; a woman brought in
shadowy links to the CIA? And what
to meet the son’s carnal urges. As she
secrets lie in the draft manuscript already
befriends the eldest daughter, things begin
prepared?
to fall apart…
It’s Polanski filtered through Hitchcock,
“A black-comic poem of dysfunction, a
and it’s fiercely compelling to watch.
veritable operetta of self-harm, this brilliant
Clearly Lang bears a striking resemblance
and bizarre film is superbly acted and icily
to a recently disgraced former PM,
controlled… a superlative example of
adding a hugely enjoyable subtext to what
absurdist cinema, or possibly the reverse –
is already a tense thriller.
a clinically, unsparingly intimate piece of
“Very involving movie…Polanski is far
psychological realism.” (Guardian)
from finished as a film-maker.”
“A stunningly provocative play on the
(Guardian)
inspirations that make us who we
Oh yes he is…
are…special and troubling” (Time Out)
Shame about Ewan’s silly Englishy
Dogooth or the ‘Josef Fritzl School of
accent. His native Scots would have been
Parenting’. (Simon Messenger)
fine. (research Simon Messenger)
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring: Anna Kalaitzidou, Christos
Stergioglou, Aggeliki Papoulia,
Michelle Valley
Certificate: 18
Duration: 96 mins
Origin: Greece 2009
By: Verve
JUNE EVENINGS www.therexberkhamsted.com 11
The Disappearance
of Alice Creed
Thu 10 7.30, Fri 11 7.30
The words ‘low-budget British film’
conjure digital, students and the
internet. It is something made for you-
Director: J Blakeson tube, theatre or television with delusions
Starring: Eddie Marsan, Gemma Arterton, of the big screen. The big screen was not
Martin Compston made to watch three people out acting
Certificate: 18 each other in one room. It was made for
Duration: 100 mins huge skies and car chases. However, this
Origin: UK 2009 thriller about a meticulously planned
By: Miracle Communications kidnapping, is the type of constricted
piece we’re traditionally good at: put
three actors in a bolt-fitted, soundproofed
flat, and watch the sparks fly.
“Eddie Marsan’s Vic is a little
disappointing. A snarling-heavy Marsan
is less compelling than Marsan in almost
any other mood. Gemma Arterton is fast
improving but there’s not enough detail to
the role. It feels too much like a rough-
me-up career move, a walk on the wild
side. It’s Martin Compston (Red Road)
who comes out best, shouldering the story
skillfully as the nervous, inexperienced
Danny” (Telegraph)
It is clever enough to fool us that they
might actually get away with it.
They steal a van, shop for tools, fit a
room with padlocks and sound-proofing,
all with no fuss and no mistakes.
“You’re more likely to admire its thrifty
resourcefulness than to be absorbed in its
story.” (Independent)
“A small but perfectly formed crime
drama. Without making a fuss, a proper
nail-biter.” (Empire)12 Box Office: 01442 877759 JUNE EVENINGS
Alice in Wonderland The Manchurian
Sat 12 7.00 Candidate Sun 13 6.00
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Helena Bonham Carter,
Christopher Lee, Johnny Depp,
Mia Wasikowska, Stephen Fry
Certificate: PG
Duration: 105 mins
Origin: USA 2010
By: Walt Disney Studio INTL
It is so fabulous on our big screen, it is
back for those who missed it. So don’t.
If Lewis Carol met Tim Burton, they
would either loathe or love each other, but I first saw this at the pictures as a kid of
each would have to agree on like minds. fifteen and have never forgotten it. They
This is Tim Burton’s Alice and it’s were well known faces, but didn’t seem
bonkers. It’s not Alice as you know it. like it. Sinatra was the most famous face
It has Johnny D, the ever nutty HB Carter on earth and Laurence Harvey, largely
and Matt Lucas as Tweedle Dums and forgotten, was exquisite in every cool dept.
At fifteen into girls and guitars, we knew
Dee. There are a thousand other misfits,
nothing of war, cold or hot. Yet this stuck.
some stars with voice-overs, others a
It failed at the box-office in 1962 at the
mischief of themselves, their children
height of the Americ-Anglo Cold War with
wouldn’t recognize. the USSR, and was banned behind ‘Iron
So don’t listen to critics or anyone who Curtain’ (Eastern bloc; Poland,
‘knows’. Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia etc) until the
Come for yourself, by yourself and enter Soviet Union finally collapsed in 1993.
a wonderland created in 1865 and read to It raises the same dangerous flags today.
every child since, now reinvented in 2010 It’s story of political intrigue and
by a different madman. assassination which came true. Following
It will always remain an oddity. the death of JFK (Nov 1963) the film
It doesn’t matter what anybody does to it disappeared.
in translation or interpretation. It remains a nightmarish tale of high-level
Burton is the perfect mischief maker to subterfuge and mental manipulation.
remind us just how odd was the reverend One of the first films to dare suggest the
Carroll’s invention. He has changed it. American system of power and privilege
So what? Come for the magic he brings was corrupt. It precedes not just the
to the big screen, not the bedtime story. Kennedy’s and Luther-King murders, but
Don’t listen to the noise, come and see Vietnam, Watergate and the entire ’70s
for yourself. “Start at the beginning and conspiracy boom.
when you get to the end, stop.” Frankenheimer’s prophetically tragic,
Best comment: “I want to go back in and chilling, brilliant, blackish (film-noirish)
thriller about brain-washing, conspiracy,
watch it all over again. Cancel tea…
the dangers of international assassination,
and political intrigue is as now as now gets.
He didn’t see the religious nuts coming,
but glimpses.
We’re promised a good print…?
Worth big-screen scratches not to miss.
Director: John Frankenheimer
Starring: Janet Leigh, Frank Sinatra,
Laurence Harvey
Certificate: 15
Duration: 121 mins
Origin: USA 1962
By: Park Circus FilmsJUNE EVENINGS www.therexberkhamsted.com 13
Samson and Delilah Date Night
Mon 14 7.30 Tue 15 7.30
Director: Shawn Levy
Starring: Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Mark
Wahlberg, Mila Kunis
Certificate: 15
Duration: 88 mins
Origin: USA 2010
By: Twentieth Century Fox
Claire Foster (Fey) and her husband
Phil (Carell) are the embodiment of
This first feature film by Australian (movie) suburbia. She’s in real estate;
director Warwick Thornton is a tender he’s an accountant. She wears a mouth
and tragic love story set against the guard at night; he wears a nasal strip.
bleak backdrop of the outback around She’s a control freak; he leaves open
Alice Springs. cupboard drawers into which she bangs.
Samson and Delilah are two young They love each other and their kids, but
Aborigines. He, partially deaf, there’s not much drama going on in their
unemployed and addicted to sniffing; she lives. Startled to hear that a friend (Mark
lives with her grandmother producing Ruffalo) has split up with his wife
native art in an attempt to get by. (Kristen Wiig) because they’re now just
Almost wordlessly, the two strike up a “excellent roommates”, they decide to
relationship and head for the city in a make a night of it in Manhattan. In a
stolen car. Living his life in a narcotic moment of unusual boldness, Phil takes a
haze, Samson is unable to truly care for table reserved for the mysterious
Delilah; acting in a sickeningly neglectful ‘Triplehorns’.
way at times, but does love conquer all..? “Date Night wants to be all things to all
“Thornton is brilliant at capturing the film goers: comedy, couples movie,
isolation that marks these kids’ lives and stonking thriller. But more isn’t always
inviting us into their bubble, a place more. The script - for the most part just
where we come to see tenderness behind endless variations on the sentiment, “But
rough exteriors and understand the we’re from the suburbs!’” (Telegraph)
prejudices they face…a sensitive and This dumb and mostly fun fish-out-of-
fearless commentator unafraid of water comedy would be more dumb and
revealing ugliness on all sides of the much less fun if it wasn’t for some
social divide but who also believes that amusing casting and a punchy running
love can endure most hardships.” (Time time that acknowledges the limits of its
Out) script.
“It becomes very bleak at times, and “The script is lowest-common-
requires a little patience to catch its drift, denominator stuff – mistaken identity, car
but nobody will mistake it for anything chases, strip clubs, boat rides – but the
other than remarkable.” (Independent) rapport between Carell and Fey is easy to
While desperately sad, it is a film that warm to…” (Time Out)
shouldn’t be missed. Take a deep breath Sounds like easy going fun.
and come. (research Simon Messenger)
Director: John Frankenheimer
Starring: Rowan McNamara, Scott
Thornton, Marissa Gibson,
Mitjili Gibson
Certificate: 15
Duration: 101 mins
Origin: Australia 2009
By: Trinity Films14 Box Office: 01442 877759 JUNE EVENINGS
The Beat That My Hot Tub Time
Heart Skipped Machine Thu 17 7.30
Wed 16 7.30 Director: Steve Pink
Starring: John Cusack, Chevy Chase,
Sebastian Stan, Clark Duke, Craig
Robinson, Rob Corddry
Certificate: 15
Duration: 99 mins
Origin: USA 2010
By: Twentieth Century Fox
Here is a comedy that has a goodish
We’ve had some stunning films. This is central idea, copious swear words and
one of them. It is back after four years, resounding number of crude jokes!
following Audiard’s latest cinematic Best friends in their mid-forties are so
triumph: A Prophet. disappointed with their lives they decide
He has an understanding of storytelling to go on holiday to a ski resort.
rivalling only Ken Loach’s genius. A malfunctioning hot tub becomes a
He lets his actors live and breathe the tale. portal in the space-time continuum.
“Romain Duris triumphs in Audiard’s By dint of some inexplicable magic it
French take on Fingers (US1978).” (Derek transports them back to their youth in
Malcolm) 1980s. They know what will become of
A remake can surpass its American them but now might have a chance to
original if in safe French hands! change things?
Never vice versa. Though comparisons John Cusack is always being dumped by
with the original are inevitable, his precise his girlfriend, Rob Corddry is an
direction in tandem with the simmering, alcoholic who can’t find the party, Craig
complex performance from Duris means Robinson has a control-freak wife and
this film surpasses expectation. Tom is set Clarke Duke is a video game nerd. (No
to follow in his father’s footsteps in the clichés here then)
sleazy and sometimes violent world of “It’s passably funny in spasms, but in the
property ‘development’. Then a chance end the outright vulgarity palls and you
encounter leads him to his first passion – wonder what the two leading ladies in the
the piano. He finds a teacher, a virtuoso cast, Collette Wolfe and Lizzy Caplan
Chinese pianist (Pham). thought of it all. Not much I’d say.”
She doesn’t speak a word of French, he is (Standard)
fevered with anger, frustration and longing. “Gross-out comedy, buddies-bonding
So music is their only language, which movie, time-travel caper: there should be
breathes throughout to the beat of their a lot going on here. As most of it is filthy,
charged silence. Pressure from the ugly there isn’t. It’s left to Adam’s young,
world he inhabits, his father and the wife square-ish nephew (Clark Duke) and to
of a false friend, tears him in all directions. Robinson to add some charm to the
It is as stunning as it is disturbing as it is anarchy.” (Telegraph)
beautiful. It’s passion is caught indelibly in For some reason I thought this was a
two exquisite faces. good idea. It would loosen up the
It will stay with you. Cancel the rat-catcher programme and be fun. I was wrong.
but not the piano lessons. Don’t miss.
Director: Jacques Audiard
Starring: Romain Duris, Linh Dan Pham,
Emmanuelle Devos, Niels Arestrup
Certificate: 15
Duration: 107 mins
Origin: France 2006
By: Artificial EyeJUNE EVENINGS www.therexberkhamsted.com 15
Bad Lieutenant: Port
of Call New Orleans
Fri 18 7.30, Sat 19 7.00
Some critics are hailing Werner
Herzog’s remake of Abel Ferrara’s 1992
cult favourite Bad Lieutenant as a
masterpiece. Others suggest it is one of
the worst films ever committed to
celluloid. If so it’s in good company; Get
Director: Werner Herzog Carter and The Pink Panther for example.
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendez, Val The new film opens in New Orleans just
Kilmer, Fairuza Balk after Hurricane Katrina. Cage plays
Certificate: 18 Terrence McDonagh, a cop with an
Duration: 122 mins appetite for sex, drugs and blackmail.
Origin: USA 2009 His gambling has left him with huge debts.
By: Lionsgate Films UK His superiors tolerate his eccentricities
because … blah blah. His high-class
hooker girlfriend Frankie (Eva Mendes) is
likewise able to overlook his indulgences.
“Herzog’s version is flimsy and spurious,
while Cage delivers a haphazard, half-
hearted performance that never touches
Harvey Keitel’s anguish in the original.”
(D Thomson’s Biog of Film)
“He does not retread Bad Lieutenant so
much as reinvent it. But there’s something
wonky and dangerous about this
film…Herzog takes one of the oldest genre
cliches in the book, the maverick cop
snooze, and then sees how far he can twist
it before it snaps.” (Guardian)
“Cop patter and humdrum camerawork are
of the sort found in any trashy TV police
procedural.” (Time Out)
“An object lesson in how to take a routine
assignment and subvert it.” (Independent)
Did they all see the same film? You decide.16 Box Office: 01442 877759 JUNE EVENINGS
StreetDance 2D Revanche
Sun 20 6.00 Mon 21 7.30
Director: Gotz Spielmann
Starring: Johannes Krisch, Irina Potapenko
Certificate: 15
Duration: 121 mins
Origin: Austria 2008
By: Artificial Eye
Revanche is a meditation on its simple
title: Revenge.
This bright and enjoyable family- Intelligent and well-made, contrived and
friendly dance film is a bold and implausible; it has a distinctive Euro-
hardcore sheen, mainly due to the superbly
breezy British move to break into the
lucid, diamond-hard cinematography of
3D arena as yet untapped in terms of
Martin Gschlacht.
the successful street dance genre. The Alex (Krisch) is an ex-con working as a
film is likely to be a big hit with the kids. barman/henchman in a Viennanaise
The script follows the tried and trusted brothel where he falls for Ukrainian,
format (refined in films such as Step Tamara (the mesmerising Irina
Up, How She Move, Step Up 2 and Make Potapenko).
It Happen) of rough’n’ready street He visits his cantankerous grandfather
dancers coming up alongside classically (Thanheiser) in the country. The old man
trained performers and having to learn a gets taken to church by Susanne (Ursula
few life lessons before realising the two Strauss), wife of local cop Robert
styles can mesh. Plus adding in a little (Andreas Lust; not too apt as it turns out).
romance along the way. “Drawn together in a web of coincidence
Cue the expected clash of cultures as the and fate, there is something rickety and
two dance styles face off against each elaborate about Spielmann’s narrative
other. Naturally after a few minor structure, but first-class acting and
conflicts the two sides grudgingly come direction glue it all together tight.”
(Guardian)
to respect each other’s own ability to
An Oscar nominee in 2009, it starts like
perform spectacular moves…
most Austrian films: naked people
The young cast are all relative sprawling on beds in bare apartments, not
newcomers and are all suitably nimble- looking at each other??
footed, but not great actors. Britain’s Got There’s a squirmy boss, a ‘well
Talent winner George Sampson, role as a intentioned’ bank robbery, with no chance.
wannabe dancer was especially written The rest is intimate and desperate There’s
for him. a score to settle, a stray bullet and a crude
Wisely they keep the film fresh, bright contrast between the sexually potent
and frothy, making good use of the criminal and the morally upright
London locations and delivering a film policeman who’s ‘firing blanks’.
that is non-aggressive, Unfortunately, all “A steady grip without charging head-first
of the effort has gone into the dance into thriller territory: a cool, cosmic
routines and effects neglecting the script irony...” (Telegraph) ‘Whose fault is it if
and performances. life doesn’t go your way?’ We know the
Nevertheless its feel-good nature is answer. Come, in case we’re wrong…
again!
uplifting.
Director: Max & Dania
Starring: Flawless, Diversity, Charlotte
Rampling, Nichola Burley
Certificate: PG
Duration: 98 mins
Origin: UK 2010
By: Vertigo FilmsJUNE EVENINGS www.therexberkhamsted.com 17
Four Lions
Tue 22 7.30, Wed 23 7.30,
Thu 24 7.30
* Please delete as appropriate depending
on your familiarity with The Daily Mail.
“Four Lions” is the latest brilliant
black comedy/piece of offensive
claptrap* from satirical mastermind/
gross degenerate* Chris Morris.
It chronicles the story of four British
Jihadists whose intention is to attack the
London Marathon.
They are led by Omar (Riz Ahmed); the
outwardly sensible family man, complete
with wife and child. His fellow wannabe
bombers include Waj (Kayvan Novak), a
stupid thug whose vision of heaven is the
Alton Towers ‘rubber-dinghy rapids’ ride;
and Faisal (Adeel Akhtar), whose faux-
IRA approach to chemical purchasing is
comic genius/just not funny*
No-one doubts that it is brave/stupid* of
Morris, and “Peep Show” writers Sam
Bain and Jesse Armstrong, to approach
the topic, but their aim to highlight the
“Dad’s Army” side to a very real threat
also serves to question at what point is it
impossible to derive humour from such a
raw subject?
“We might not agree with the cry ‘Let’s
bomb Boots!’, but ‘Fuck Mini Babybel!’
Director: Christopher Morris has an oddly rousing ring to it by the end
Starring: Riz Ahmed, Kayvan Novak, Arsher of this uneasy, surprising sort-of-comedy.”
Ali, Nigel Lindsay (Time Out)
Certificate: 15 Come and have an informed opinion/don’t
Duration: 101 mins come as it’s not in the least bit edifying.*
Origin: UK 2009 ‘I used to be a suicide bomber but wasn’t
By: Optimum Releasing any good.’ (research Simon Messenger)18 Box Office: 01442 877759 JUNE EVENINGS
Robin Hood
Fri 25 7.30, Sat 26 7.00,
Sun 27 6.00
Blanchett plays Marion with a kind of
elegant exhaustion that occasionally
flares into bad temper. The spark
between her and Crowe, however, seems
as hard to kindle as a stick of damp
greenwood. It doesn’t help that she
initially threatens him like a testy
medieval Lorena Bobbit: ‘If you so much
as touch me I will sever your manhood,
do you understand?’
Perhaps because of this, Robin’s
manhood is kept firmly under wraps
throughout, although there are hints that
his merry men are making whoopee with
Director: Ridley Scott
the local wenches in off-the-shoulder
Starring: Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett,
hessian.
William Hurt, Max Sydow, Mark
“Crowe, oddly for such a memorable
Strong
actor, gives a somewhat muted
Certificate: 12A
performance. It is none the less brilliantly
Duration: 140 mins
shot and there are moments – such as
Origin: UK, USA 2010
when old Sir Walter’s coffin is lowered
By: Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd
into the ground – when the visual poem
of olde England seems to flicker into
life.” (Telegraph)
“Scott orchestrates the sound and
fury with a seemingly effortless bravura:
unfussily pulling off a profusion of
tremendous action scenes and really quite
impressive period backdrops including
one CGI panorama of medieval London
that looks like a Wenceslaus Hollar
engraving come to life.” (Guardian)
You will have heard the crowing over
Russell’s accent and that it’s not the ‘real’
Robin Hood story! I say, steady on.
It looks fabulous on the big screen.
Come for that and a glimpse of Ashridge.JUNE EVENINGS www.therexberkhamsted.com 19
Vincere
Mon 28 7.30
They say that behind every great man,
there’s a great woman. But what does it
make the woman if, in this case, the
great man is dictator Benito Mussolini?
Marco Bellocchio’s operatic film seeks to
answer the question about Ida Dalser
Director: Marco Bellocchio (Giovanna Mezzogiorno; a flawless and
Starring: Filippo Timi, Giovanna heartbreaking performance) the mother of
Mezzogiorno Il Duce’s son, and according to some
Certificate: 15 sources, his first wife.
Duration: 124 mins She was besotted with the man who would
Origin: France, Italy 2009 later become Italy’s leader; Dalser and
By: Artificial Eye Mussolini’s son was born in 1915; the
same year Mussolini (Filippo Timi)
married Rachele Guidi. When he ascends
to the premiership, Dalser, his dirty little
secret, had to be silenced. She thrown into
an asylum unable to prove she was the
dictator’s ‘wife’ and mother of their child.
Bellocchio’s comment on Fascist Italy, and
the martyrs who stood against it is
legitimately impassioned, and historically
fascinating, but is let down by it’s a mildly
repetitive screenplay.
“It’s a film rife with ambiguities and
ellipses that will intrigue or infuriate
depending on taste.” (Time Out)
“Well played and sumptuously shot, but
once Mussolini disappears from view, to
be glimpsed solely in (genuine) newsreel
footage, it loses its motor.” (Times)
Vincere means ‘win’ and nobody does.
Ignore them. Come for the Italian style,
passion and melodrama.20 Box Office: 01442 877759 JUNE EVENINGS
Diving Bell & The Singing in the Rain
Butterfly Tue 29 7.30 Wed 30 7.30
Director: Gene Kelly
Starring: Debbie Reynolds, Donald
O'Connor, Gene Kelly
Certificate: U
Duration: 102 mins
Origin: USA 1952
By: British Film Institute
Singin’ in the Rain will be here forever
This is one of the best films you will and return to the Rex again and again,
ever see and one you will remember but months apart. So come and see it
even when you think it’s forgotten. now. Its 1927, Don Lockwood and Lina
It is beautiful in every way, from ‘being Lamont are the darlings of the silent
the camera’ to the faces and the seamless silver screen.
non-acting. The only disappointment – Off screen, Don, aided by his happy-go-
and it’s big: the best piece of music (Tom lucky friend, Cosmo Brown (the brilliant
Waits’ I’m Still Here) is only in the Donald O’Connor), has to dodge
trailer. It doesn’t make the final edit. Lina’s romantic overtures, especially
But that’s all and when you stop waiting when he falls for chorus girl Kathy
for it, the rest is exquisite. It is clear, real, Selden (sacchrine Debbie Reynolds).
absorbing and takes you with it every With the advent of the ‘talkies’, Don
moment - and you learn the alphabet in and Lina’s new film will be all singing,
french. There is no hint of manipulation. dancing and talking!
Schnabel recounts the remarkable true Unfortunately, Lina’s voice could scrape
story of Jean-Dominique Bauby a blackboard. Kathy is brought in to
(phenomenal Mathieu Amalric), the secretly dub her voice – seemed like a
horny, charismatic editor of French Elle good idea at the time. Don goes off
magazine, who in 1995 at only 43 awoke splashing policemen… But uh oh when
from a coma to find himself a victim of Lina finds out (about the dubbing not the
locked-in syndrome: mentally alert but splashing...!)
physically paralysed – except for one eye Come for her and of course Gene’s big
lid. Terrifyingly, his mind, wit, memory dance, for which they had to mix milk
and imagination are intact. with the rain so the cameras could
Through four devoted, beautiful and capture the detail of the downpour. Hope
unceasingly patient faces, he ‘blinks’ this it was only one take? Most of all come
profound story. “It’s a gorgeously for the warm innocence of it all and of
atmospheric and deeply affecting piece of course, Donald O’Connor’s unsurpassed
work” (Times) show-biz masterpiece ‘Make ‘em Laugh’.
The faces, the screenplay, the language, What better thing to do with the last day
the camera, will move you further than of June? Don’t hesitate.
you want to go. Come, lose yourself and
“fall back in love with life” (Edmund
White).
Director: Julian Schnabel
Starring: Marie-Josee Croze, Anne
Consigny, Emmanuelle Seigner,
Mathieu Amalric
Certificate: 12A
Duration: 112 mins
Origin: France 2007
By: Pathe DistributionJUNE LISTINGS AND COMING SOON 21
COMING SOON JUNE FILMS AT A GLANCE
Please check times carefully and watch out for early shows.
New releases 1 TUE NANNY MCPHEE 12.30
The Killer Inside Me
The Girl On The Train
1 TUE GIRL WITH DRAGON TATTOO 7.30
Whatever Works 2 WED IRON MAN 2 2.00
Shrek Forever After 2 WED GIRL WITH DRAGON TATTOO 7.30
Heartbreaker 3 THU CLASH OF THE TITANS 2D 2.00
Leaving 3 THU IRON MAN 2 7.30
4 FRI IRON MAN 2 7.30
Back by demand
5 SAT IRON MAN 2 2.00, 7.00
I Am Love
The Sea Inside 6 SUN STILL WALKING 6.00
Departures 7 MON STILL WALKING 2.00
Everything is Illuminated 7 MON DOGTOOTH 7.30
Kick Ass 8 TUE IRON MAN 2 12.30
The Girl With the Dragon 8 TUE THE GHOST 7.30
Tatoo
Father of my Children 9 WED THE GHOST 2.00
9 WED THE GHOST 7.30
10 THU THE DISAPPEARANCE OF
ALICE CREED 2.00, 7.30
11 FRI THE DISAPPEARANCE OF
ALICE CREED 7.30
12 SAT ALICE IN WONDERLAND 2.00, 7.00
13 SUN THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE 6.00
14 MON THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE 2.00
14 MON SAMSON & DELILAH 7.30
15 TUE DATE NIGHT 12.30, 7.30
Valhalla Rising 16 WED DATE NIGHT 2.00
16 WED THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED 7.30
17 THU HOT TUB TIME MACHINE 2.00, 7.30
18 FRI BAD LIEUTENANT 7.30
19 SAT STREETDANCE 2D 2.00
19 SAT BAD LIEUTENANT 7.00
20 SUN STREETDANCE 2D 6.00
21 MON BAD LIEUTENANT 2.00
21 MON REVANCHE 7.30
22 TUE FOUR LIONS 12.30, 7.30
23 WED CONVERS. WITH MY GARDENER 2.00
23 WED FOUR LIONS 7.30
Sex & The City 2 24 THU FATHER OF MY CHILDREN 2.00
24 THU FOUR LIONS 7.30
25 FRI ROBIN HOOD 7.30
26 SAT ROBIN HOOD 2.00, 7.00
27 SUN ROBIN HOOD 6.00
28 MON ROBIN HOOD 2.00
28 MON VINCERE 7.30
29 TUE DIVING BELL AND
THE BUTTERFLY 12.30, 7.30
Prince of Persia
30 WED SINGING IN THE RAIN 2.00, 7.30J U N E M A T I N E E S
ALL MATINEES: Balcony £5.00 • Table seats £6.50 • Royal Box seats £10.00
Matinee Warning: May contain babies26 Box Office: 01442 877759 JUNE MATINEES
Nanny McPhee & Iron Man 2
The Big Bang Wed 2 2.00, Sat 5 2.00,
Tue 1 12.30 Tue 8 12.30
Continued from page 8
Watch out for Downey Jr’s manic speech
patterns. His (literally) wired narcissist
hero is such a gabbler that everyone else
has to raise their game to talk around or
over him – notably Sam Rockwell,
playing a rival whose thoroughgoing
Thompson herself writes, produces and obnoxiousness is designed to make Stark
stars as the post-Poppins supernanny look slightly less of a blowhard.
who shows up in the midst of a chaotic What’s at stake is a battle not between
household, and as in the first one, gets good and evil but between those who can
less and less ugly as the kiddies get and who can’t shut up!
more and more beautifully behaved. By contrast, Rourke’s Vanko is a man of
Gyllenhaal has to deal with mutinous few words, barely audible. He grunts
children and a sinister brother-in-law occasionally or mutters in a wildly
(Rhys Ifans) while pining for her husband approximate Russian accent. Mostly he
(Ewan McGregor), who’s away fighting just smirks, toothpick between lips as
Adolf. bloated as the rest of him.
It’s a storybook version of the 1940s It’s barely an acting role, yet Rourke is
Blitz, without terror or rationing. The unmistakably the film’s star – so tough
movie punches out broad entertainment that he can even get away with wearing
for little kids effectively. The only spark dainty glasses. Also in the taciturn dept is
of real comedy is Bill Bailey’s relaxed Scarlett’s dirty, leathered spy who knows
cameo as a local farmer with a reverence a kick is worth a thousand words, and a
for his pigs. pout two thousand.
“The mix is similar to the first film, “Is the Iron Man suit a weapon or, as
naughtiness versus magic, but nimbler Stark claims, a ‘hi-tech prosthetic’?
this time as it shuttles from class warfare It’s hi-tech, all right, unfolding
to unscrupulous spivs and the prospect of automatically, as if Robert D were merely
enemy attack.” (Time Out) a hanger for a CGI wardrobe.
“This sequel is superior to the first Vanko, however, needs no armour.
Nanny McPhee. It is wittier, more When Micky R takes his shirt off, what
serious-minded and dramatic. This is a we‘re apparently seeing is his actual
shrewd, heartfelt piece of work.” minotaur-like body, battered, bulked up
(Telegraph) and battered again, swollen and shined till
“She’s Mary Poppins meets Gina Ford. it belongs in the leather department of
Just one whack of her magic stick and DFS. Rourke’s body is its own prosthetic,
she can sort out any problem. Full of icky as lo-tech as they come.
comedy, plenty of poo jokes, but all Iron Man 2 is flashy, trashy, strident.
heart. This is old-fashioned The script has dashes of authentic
entertainment.” (Times) screwball wit: “a bazooka capable of
You’ll love it. Bring your grandparents busting the bunker under the bunker you
and their street. just busted.” (Independent)
Director: Susanna White
Starring: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Emma
Thompson, Maggie Smith
Certificate: U
Duration: 109 mins
Origin: UK, USA 2010
By: Universal Pictures (UK) LtdJUNE MATINEES www.therexberkhamsted.com 27
Clash of The Titans
2D Thu 3 2.00
Director: Louis Leterrier
Starring: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes,
Sam Worthington
Certificate: 12A
Duration: 106 mins
Origin: UK, USA 2010
By: Warner Brothers
“A balderdash reimagining of the 1981
stop-motion classic; Clash of the Titans
follows Perseus’, the mortal son of
Zeus, on his perilous journey across
ancient Greece battling scorpions,
skeletons, snakes and eventually, a
giant sea monster.
The setting is mythical Ancient Greece,
Director: Jon Favreau
War is brewing between man and the
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Sam Rockwell,
Gods and a lowly fisherman named
Mickey Rourke, Gwyneth Paltrow,
Perseus (Worthington), who so happens to
Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson
be the son of Zeus, gets caught up in it all
Certificate: 12A
when his parents are inadvertently
Duration: 125 mins
bumped off by Hades (Fiennes).
Origin: USA 2010
Be thankful we’re showing it in 2D.”
By: Paramount International Pictures
(Jack Whiting)
“Whatever the flaws in the script, there’s
no faulting director Louis Leterrier’s
visual ambition: this is a film of mighty
vistas, beautifully designed beasts and
intense, well-structured combat
sequences, all rendered in eye-popping,
though still rather fake-looking computer
effects.” (Time Out)
“So much state of the art technology and
A list talent has been thrown at this sword
and sandals epic some of the shit is
bound to stick. And the 3D looks a
hurried after thought and the story a bit
of a greek salad. There’s always another
giant scorpion or some unintentional
campness to liven things up.” (Guardian)
More a clash of complete tits. Junk but
fun. Come for both.28 Box Office: 01442 877759 JUNE MATINEES
Still Walking The Ghost
Mon 7 2.00 Wed 9 2.00
Director: Roman Polanski
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Ewan McGregor,
Kim Cattrall
Certificate: 15
Duration: 128 mins
Origin: France, Germany, USA 2010
By: Optimum Releasing
A typically graceful turn from With the hysteria surrounding Roman
acclaimed Japanese director Koreeda Polanski’s arrest in Switzerland last
(After Life, Nobody Knows), STILL year, it would have been easy to bury
WALKING weaves together with great “The Ghost” as a footnote in the
subtlety an intricate and nuanced family director’s extraordinary life. However,
drama, inviting comparison with the luckily for us this is not the case.
work of none less than the master of the Pierce Brosnan is Adam Lang, a smooth,
genre, Yasujiro Ozu. Taking place over smug, former Prime Minister living in
one summer’s day, the film follows a exile on an island off the perma-drizzly
Yokohama family as they reunite to US eastern seaboard. Ewan McGregor
celebrate the life of their eldest son, whose plays an un-named journalist, who is
tragic death 15 years ago left a painful offered the opportunity of a lifetime to
mark not yet healed. It is during this ghost write Lang’s memoirs.
poignant remembrance, however, that the As McGregor’s hack arrives in the States,
gaps and tensions between family news breaks of the former PM’s supposed
members become achingly apparent. authorising of the rendition and torture of
Scooping a host of awards across Asia terrorist suspects whilst at Number 10.
since 2008, Still Walking arrives in the As they begin work on Lang’s memoirs,
West as an emotionally charged tale of it transpires that the previous ghost writer
family, striking in its immediate familiarity was found drowned. What has he
across cultures. discovered about the former PM’s
“Koreeda locates ideas in mundane shadowy links to the CIA? And what
imagery, such as a drawer left slightly secrets lie in the draft manuscript already
open, a butterfly entering the house, or prepared?
cherry blossom blooming in the garden.” It’s Polanski filtered through Hitchcock,
(Time Out) and it’s fiercely compelling to watch.
“Unlike family sagas in British, American Clearly Lang bears a striking resemblance
and European drama, there are no to a recently disgraced former PM,
crockery-smashing rows. Resentments and adding a hugely enjoyable subtext to what
anger are contained within the conventions is already a tense thriller.
of politeness and respect. Impossible to “Very involving movie…Polanski is far
watch without a lump in the throat.” from finished as a film-maker.”
(Guardian) (Guardian)
“Still Walking is an acutely observed and Oh yes he is…
tenderly rendered portrait of family, Shame about Ewan’s silly Englishy
mortality and remembering.” (Telegraph) accent. His native Scots would have been
A beautiful film, back by request. Don’t fine. (research Simon Messenger)
miss
Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
Starring: Yui Natsukawa, Kazuya Takahashi,
Hiroshi Abe, Shohei Tanaka
Certificate: U
Duration: 114 mins
Origin: Japan 2008
By: New WaveJUNE MATINEES www.therexberkhamsted.com 29
The Disappearance Alice in Wonderland
of Alice Creed Sat 12 2.00
Thu 10 2.00 Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Helena Bonham Carter,
Christopher Lee, Johnny Depp,
Mia Wasikowska, Stephen Fry
Certificate: PG
Duration: 108 mins
Origin: USA 2010
By: Walt Disney Studio INTL
It is so fabulous on our big screen, it is
back for those who missed it. So don’t.
The words ‘low-budget British film’ If Lewis Carol met Tim Burton, they
conjure digital, students and the would either loathe or love each other, but
internet. It is something made for you- each would have to agree on like minds.
tube, theatre or television with delusions This is Tim Burton’s Alice and it’s
of the big screen. The big screen was not bonkers. It’s not Alice as you know it.
made to watch three people out acting It has Johnny D, the ever nutty HB Carter
each other in one room. It was made for and Matt Lucas as Tweedle Dums and
huge skies and car chases. However, this Dee. There are a thousand other misfits,
thriller about a meticulously planned some stars with voice-overs, others a
kidnapping, is the type of constricted mischief of themselves, their children
piece we’re traditionally good at: put wouldn’t recognize.
three actors in a bolt-fitted, soundproofed So don’t listen to critics or anyone who
flat, and watch the sparks fly. ‘knows’.
“Eddie Marsan’s Vic is a little Come for yourself, by yourself and enter
disappointing. A snarling-heavy Marsan a wonderland created in 1865 and read to
is less compelling than Marsan in almost every child since, now reinvented in 2010
any other mood. Gemma Arterton is fast by a different madman.
improving but there’s not enough detail to It will always remain an oddity.
the role. It feels too much like a rough- It doesn’t matter what anybody does to it
me-up career move, a walk on the wild in translation or interpretation.
side. It’s Martin Compston (Red Road) Burton is the perfect mischief maker to
who comes out best, shouldering the remind us just how odd was the reverend
story skillfully as the nervous, Carroll’s invention. He has changed it.
inexperienced Danny” (Telegraph) So what? Come for the magic he brings
It is clever enough to fool us that they to the big screen, not the bedtime story.
might actually get away with it. Don’t listen to the noise, come and see
They steal a van, shop for tools, fit a for yourself. “Start at the beginning and
room with padlocks and sound-proofing, when you get to the end, stop.”
all with no fuss and no mistakes. Best comment: “I want to go back in and
“You’re more likely to admire its thrifty watch it all over again. Cancel tea…
resourcefulness than to be absorbed in its
story.” (Independent)
“A small but perfectly formed crime
drama. Without making a fuss, a proper
nail-biter.” (Empire)
Director: J Blakeson
Starring: Eddie Marsan, Gemma Arterton,
Martin Compston
Certificate: 18
Duration: 100 mins
Origin: UK 2009
By: Miracle Communications30 Box Office: 01442 877759 JUNE MATINEES
The Manchurian Date Night
Candidate Mon 14 2.00 Tue 15 12.30, Wed 16 2.00
Director: Shawn Levy
Starring: Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Mark
Wahlberg, Mila Kunis
Certificate: 15
Duration: 88 mins
Origin: USA 2010
By: Twentieth Century Fox
Claire Foster (Fey) and her husband
Phil (Carell) are the embodiment of
(movie) suburbia. She’s in real estate;
he’s an accountant. She wears a mouth
I first saw this at the pictures as a kid of guard at night; he wears a nasal strip.
fifteen and have never forgotten it. They She’s a control freak; he leaves open
were well known faces, but didn’t seem cupboard drawers into which she bangs.
like it. Sinatra was the most famous face They love each other and their kids, but
on earth and Laurence Harvey, largely
there’s not much drama going on in their
forgotten, was exquisite in every cool dept.
lives. Startled to hear that a friend (Mark
At fifteen into girls and guitars, we knew
Ruffalo) has split up with his wife
nothing of war, cold or hot. Yet this stuck.
It failed at the box-office in 1962 at the (Kristen Wiig) because they’re now just
height of the Americ-Anglo Cold War with “excellent roommates”, they decide to
the USSR, and was banned behind ‘Iron make a night of it in Manhattan. In a
Curtain’ (Eastern bloc; Poland, moment of unusual boldness, Phil takes a
Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia etc) until the table reserved for the mysterious
Soviet Union finally collapsed in 1993. ‘Triplehorns’.
It raises the same dangerous flags today. “Date Night wants to be all things to all
It’s story of political intrigue and film goers: comedy, couples movie,
assassination which came true. Following stonking thriller. But more isn’t always
the death of JFK (Nov 1963) the film more. The script - for the most part just
disappeared. endless variations on the sentiment, “But
It remains a nightmarish tale of high-level we’re from the suburbs!’” (Telegraph)
subterfuge and mental manipulation. This dumb and mostly fun fish-out-of-
One of the first films to dare suggest the water comedy would be more dumb and
American system of power and privilege much less fun if it wasn’t for some
was corrupt. It precedes not just the amusing casting and a punchy running
Kennedy’s and Luther-King murders, but time that acknowledges the limits of its
Vietnam, Watergate and the entire ’70s script.
conspiracy boom. “The script is lowest-common-
Frankenheimer’s prophetically tragic,
denominator stuff – mistaken identity, car
chilling, brilliant, blackish (film-noirish)
chases, strip clubs, boat rides – but the
thriller about brain-washing, conspiracy,
the dangers of international assassination, rapport between Carell and Fey is easy to
and political intrigue is as now as now gets. warm to…” (Time Out)
He didn’t see the religious nuts coming, Sounds like easy going fun.
but glimpses.
We’re promised a good print…?
Worth big-screen scratches not to miss.
Director: John Frankenheimer
Starring: Janet Leigh, Frank Sinatra,
Laurence Harvey
Certificate: 15
Duration: 121 mins
Origin: USA 1962
By: Park Circus FilmsJUNE MATINEES www.therexberkhamsted.com 31
Hot Tub Time StreetDance 2D
Machine Thu 17 2.00 Sat 19 2.00
Director: Max & Dania
Starring: Flawless, Diversity, Charlotte
Rampling, Nichola Burley
Certificate: PG
Duration: 98 mins
Origin: UK 2010
By: Vertigo Films
This bright and enjoyable family-
friendly dance film is a bold and
Here is a comedy that has a goodish breezy British move to break into the
central idea, copious swear words and 3D arena as yet untapped in terms of
resounding number of crude jokes! the successful street dance genre. The
Best friends in their mid-forties are so film is likely to be a big hit with the kids.
disappointed with their lives they decide The script follows the tried and trusted
to go on holiday to a ski resort. format (refined in films such as Step
A malfunctioning hot tub becomes a Up, How She Move, Step Up 2 and Make
portal in the space-time continuum. It Happen) of rough’n’ready street
By dint of some inexplicable magic it dancers coming up alongside classically
transports them back to their youth in trained performers and having to learn a
1980s. They know what will become of few life lessons before realising the two
them but now might have a chance to styles can mesh. Plus adding in a little
change things? romance along the way.
John Cusack is always being dumped by Cue the expected clash of cultures as the
his girlfriend, Rob Corddry is an two dance styles face off against each
alcoholic who can’t find the party, Craig other. Naturally after a few minor
Robinson has a control-freak wife and conflicts the two sides grudgingly come
Clarke Duke is a video game nerd. (No to respect each other’s own ability to
clichés here then) perform spectacular moves…
“It’s passably funny in spasms, but in the The young cast are all relative
end the outright vulgarity palls and you newcomers and are all suitably nimble-
wonder what the two leading ladies in the footed, but not great actors. Britain’s Got
cast, Collette Wolfe and Lizzy Caplan Talent winner George Sampson, role as a
thought of it all. Not much I’d say.” wannabe dancer was especially written
(Standard) for him.
“Gross-out comedy, buddies-bonding Wisely they keep the film fresh, bright
movie, time-travel caper: there should be and frothy, making good use of the
a lot going on here. As most of it is filthy, London locations and delivering a film
there isn’t. It’s left to Adam’s young, that is non-aggressive, Unfortunately, all
square-ish nephew (Clark Duke) and to of the effort has gone into the dance
Robinson to add some charm to the routines and effects neglecting the script
anarchy.” (Telegraph) and performances.
For some reason I thought this was a Nevertheless its feel-good nature is
good idea. It would loosen up the uplifting.
programme and be fun. I was wrong.
Director: Steve Pink
Starring: John Cusack, Chevy Chase,
Sebastian Stan, Clark Duke, Craig
Robinson, Rob Corddry
Certificate: 15
Duration: 99 mins
Origin: USA 2010
By: Twentieth Century Fox32 Box Office: 01442 877759 JUNE MATINEES
Bad Lieutenant: Port Four Lions
of Call New Orleans Tue 22 12.30
Mon 21 2.00 Director: Christopher Morris
Starring: Riz Ahmed, Kayvan Novak, Arsher
Ali, Nigel Lindsay
Certificate: 15
Duration: 101 mins
Origin: UK 2009
By: Optimum Releasing
* Please delete as appropriate depending
on your familiarity with The Daily Mail.
“Four Lions” is the latest brilliant black
Some critics are hailing Werner Herzog’s comedy/piece of offensive claptrap*
remake of Abel Ferrara’s 1992 cult from satirical mastermind/ gross
favourite Bad Lieutenant as a degenerate* Chris Morris.
masterpiece. Others suggest it is one of It chronicles the story of four British
the worst films ever committed to Jihadists whose intention is to attack the
celluloid. If so it’s in good company; Get London Marathon.
Carter and The Pink Panther for example. They are led by Omar (Riz Ahmed); the
The new film opens in New Orleans just outwardly sensible family man, complete
after Hurricane Katrina. Cage plays with wife and child. His fellow wannabe
Terrence McDonagh, a cop with an bombers include Waj (Kayvan Novak), a
appetite for sex, drugs and blackmail. stupid thug whose vision of heaven is the
His gambling has left him with huge debts. Alton Towers ‘rubber-dinghy rapids’ ride;
His superiors tolerate his eccentricities and Faisal (Adeel Akhtar), whose faux-
because … blah blah. His high-class IRA approach to chemical purchasing is
hooker girlfriend Frankie (Eva Mendes) is comic genius/just not funny*
likewise able to overlook his indulgences. No-one doubts that it is brave/stupid* of
“Herzog’s version is flimsy and spurious, Morris, and “Peep Show” writers Sam
while Cage delivers a haphazard, half- Bain and Jesse Armstrong, to approach
hearted performance that never touches the topic, but their aim to highlight the
Harvey Keitel’s anguish in the original.” “Dad’s Army” side to a very real threat
(D Thomson’s Biog of Film) also serves to question at what point is it
“He does not retread Bad Lieutenant so impossible to derive humour from such a
much as reinvent it. But there’s something raw subject?
wonky and dangerous about this “We might not agree with the cry ‘Let’s
film…Herzog takes one of the oldest genre bomb Boots!’, but ‘Fuck Mini Babybel!’
cliches in the book, the maverick cop has an oddly rousing ring to it by the end
snooze, and then sees how far he can twist of this uneasy, surprising sort-of-comedy.”
it before it snaps.” (Guardian) (Time Out)
“Cop patter and humdrum camerawork are Come and have an informed opinion/don’t
of the sort found in any trashy TV police come as it’s not in the least bit edifying.*
procedural.” (Time Out) ‘I used to be a suicide bomber but wasn’t
“An object lesson in how to take a routine any good.’ (research Simon Messenger
assignment and subvert it.” (Independent)
Did they all see the same film? You decide
Director: Werner Herzog
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendez, Val
Kilmer, Fairuza Balk
Certificate: 18
Duration: 122 mins
Origin: USA 2009
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