The Film Awards Again

Happy New year 2012 to you all,  - film season starts with Golden Globes and the Oscars in Feb. The Globes are hosted by Rickie Gervais again, the bedazzled and bejewelled Hollywood 'society' clearly gluttons for some good ol' puns. Look out for the more serious and genuine artistry, those clever cinematography awards all up for grabs very soon. Who are the Oscar winners? The Globes gives us a wee clue, more later on.

What's Showing in Basel now? - You can still see and enjoy Guy Ritchie’s ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’ with the antics of Robert Downy Jr. and Jude Law. There’s glossy action thriller ‘Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol’ with Tom Cruise now on the wrong side. George Clooney’s ticket for political nomination in ‘The Ides of March’ is playing too hard to get, at the Capitol Cinema. Remember that Roman Polanski has a film out called ‘Carnage’ starring Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly and the brilliant Christopher Waltz. My tip for a great action film is ‘Drive’ starring the ever present Ryan Gosling as the stunt driver crashing into the wrong gang along with the fetching Carey Mulligan, now at Pathe Kuchlin.  Let’s take a breather to talk about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Dir. David Fincher (the director behind ‘Fight Club’ and ‘Seven’. delivers a Hollywood version of Stieg Larsson’s bestseller. Larsson was a Swedish journalist who produced three novels and launched a modern trilogy. He died suddenly at 50 from a heart attack. The crime thrillers appeared after his death and have sold over 25 million copies worldwide. The story goes like this… Craig Daniel plays a journalist called Mikael Blomkvist and together with an IT hacker, Lisa Salander, played by Rooney Mara, they investigate a mysterious crime case, putting themselves in deadly danger. The novel was first filmed in 2009 in Sweden and it’s clear that  the sociopath Lisa Salander is central to the ‘Millennium Trilogy’. The film’s a polished, upmarket Hollywood version of the original blockbuster. The Descendants, Dir. Alexander Payne (‘About Schmid’, ‘Sideways’) starring George Clooney plays a father reconciling with his two daughters in a taught family drama.

Man on a Ledge, Dir. Asger Leth. An ex-police officer (Sam Worthington) climbs out of a window and stands on the ledge of a Manhatten hotel about to jump off. A police psychologist (Elizabeth Banks) attempts to prevent him. The question; - is this a suicide attempt or a very clever manoeuvre?  With Ed Harris and Jamie Bell.

Specials - Kult.Kino in collaboration with Theatre Basel, brings us Nosferatu, 29th Jan, Dir. Friedrich Murnau and made in 1922, starring Max Schrek. Scary Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new ‘crib’ and the estate agent's wife; the silent classic 'Dracula' story.

This year The Dark Knight Rises starring Christian Bale and Tom Hardy. Skyfall, new Bond film starring Daniel Craig as James with Javier Badem in pursuit. Craig’s signed up to deliver five new Bond films; will 007 prevail? Also this year we expect to see MIB III starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones again. The Hobbit is a fantasy fans of ‘The … Rings’ must see towards the end of the year, directed by Peter Jackson. We’ll have  to get used to Andrew Garfield  who stars as the new Peter Parker in The Amazing Spiderman. Incidentally Mission Impossible was dropped from top box office spot by the low budget, mockumentary horror ‘The Devil Inside’, more on that one next time.  Stadtkino Basel features Westerns set in wintertime, cowboys with hats, coats and scarves, such as Pale Rider, The Shootist, True Grit (1968 and 2010), McCabe and Mrs Miller.

Basel Cinema - Festive Season 2011

The Festive Season is upon us once again and as it's really all for the kids I will mention a few cartoon features and film matinees in Basel theatres to entertain us all over the holiday break. Christmas movies showing for the Kids include Happy Feet 2 (Pathe Kuchlin), Alvin and the Chipmunks, My Friend the Dolphin, Puss in Boots.  This years festive hit is Arthur Christmas, shortlisted in the best animated film category, - well done studio Aardman. Rivals to the prize include Cars 2 and The Adventures of Tintin.

Puss in Boots – Dir. Chris Miller (who directed Shrek the Third (2007). It stars the voices of Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris. It’s a spinoff prequel to the Shrek franchise, following the character Puss in Boots on his adventures before his first appearance in Shrek 2 in 2004. Accompanied by his sidekicks, Humpty Dumpty and Kitty Softpaws, Puss is pitted against Jack and Jill, two murderous outlaws who own magical beans which are rumoured to lead to great fortune. 

One Day (Pathe Kuchlin), Dir. Lone Scherfig  starring Anne Hathaway, Jim Sturgess and Patricia Clarkson, - Based on a best seller book of the same name. A true romance about the life and loves of Dex and Em, from the director of the typically English film ‘An Education’.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1, (Pather Kuchlin) Dir. Bill Condon starring Christine Stewart and Robert Pattinson a literary and cinematic phenomenon for serious vampire fans only, based on the novels by Stephanie Myer.

A Dangerous Method, (Kul.Kino Atelier) Dir. David Cronenberg written by Christopher Hampton. Starring Keira Knightly, Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender. An examination of how the intense relationships, between Sabina S., Emma, Carl and Sigmund gave birth to psychoanalysis. An extraordinary performance from Kiera as Sabina S. and a brilliantly controlled Viggo as Freud. Fassbender’s Carl, as a tormented genius, is rendered with pathos.

In Time, written and directed by Andrew Niccol a new 2011 science fiction thriller starring Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, and Olivia Wilde as Justin’s mum. In  2161 a genetic alteration allows humans to stop aging 25 years after birth. Due to over-population, so-called 'living time' replaced money as the standard currency. People acquire more time through work and commercial means after turning 25, or die within a year. Each social class lives in a different area called a 'Time Zone'. The poor live in the ghettos of Dayton and work each day to earn a few more hours of life and to pay for everyday necessities. The rich live in luxurious New Greenwich and can live for centuries based on how much time they have accrued. Generation X, Y and C have got a blueprint to change their future.

Cheyenne: This Must be the Place, a road movie drama directed by Paolo Sorrentino, written by Sorrentino and Umberto Contarello. It stars Sean Penn dressed up to look like the New York punk, Wayne County accompanied by Frances McDormand. It deals with a bored, middle-aged and retired rock star who takes on a quest to find his father's tormentor, a Nazi war criminal, now a refugee in the US. Filming took place in Ireland, Italy, as well as in the states of Michigan, New Mexico and New York and was in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

Anonymous, Dir. Roland Emmerich starring Rhys Ifans as the Earl of Oxford and Venessa Redgrave as Queen Elizabeth I. A political thriller set in 16th Century Elizabethan England suggesting  that Edward De Vere penned Shakespeare's plays; set against the backdrop of the succession of Queen Elizabeth I, and the Essex Rebellion against her. 

Look out for the following ;-

Melancholia (Kult.Kino Camera), Dir. Lars von Trier, starring Kirsten Dunst, John Hurt and Charlotte Gainsbourg. A reflection on death and the last day on Earth. A bit gloomy but a dark theme and very well played by a host of stars.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol,(Pathe Kuchlin, Rex) Dir. Brad Bird, the spy thriller and the fourth instalment in the Mission: Impossible series. Stars Tom Cruise, in  his role as IMF Agent, Ethan Hunt and it's director Brad Bird's first live-action film.  Brad is famous for the animation feature ‘The Incredibles’ a superhero family battling against Syndrome (who coincidently was modelled by the animator’ to look and behave like Brad).

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, (Pathe Kuchlin) Dir. Guy Richie starring Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law. A sequel but a standalone story with the same characters.  Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson try to outwit and bring down their most cunning adversary, Professor Moriarty, the new criminal mastermind  on the scene, played by Jared Harris. Moriarty's sheer evil and complete lack of conscience add to his advantage over the famous London detective. The Crown Prince of Austria is found dead, evidence points to suicide, but Holmes suspects murder. The clues of the puzzle lay on a track through an intriguing underground gentlemen's club and a Gypsy fortune teller who sees more than she's telling. As the investigation gets more dangerous we are led across England to France, Germany and Switzerland. If Moriarty succeeds he could change the course of history. 

War Horse, Dir. Steven Spielberg. This is a British-American First World War drama intended for release in January 2011. It is based on the book  called ‘War Horse’, a children's novel set during World War I, by British author Michael Morpurgo.  It was first published in the UK in 1982, and from 2007 it’s been a stage play and regarded as a masterpiece in large puppetry.

Drive, an American crime neo-noir drama film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, starring Ryan Gosling, with Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, and Albert Brooks. A film adaptation of the 2005 James Sallis novel of the same name.  Gosling plays a Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a getaway driver. Drive was praised at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and received a standing ovation as Winding Refn won the festival's Best Director Award. Critics have been positive with many drawing comparisons to work from previous eras and praise goes to Gosling's and Brooks' performances. The director has said influences came from Bullitt (1968) and The Day of the Locust (1975). 

The Ides of March is directed by George Clooney; an American political drama with screenplay written by Clooney among others. The film is an adaptation of Willimon's 2008 play Farragut North.  A host of stars including Ryan Gosling, George Clooney himself, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright and Evan Rachel Wood. It  was the big opener film at the 68th Venice International Film Festival this summer. Ryan Gosling is also included here for The Ides of March and he gets a second best actor for the romantic comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Restless, Dir. Gus van Sant starring Mia Wasikowska and Henry Hopper. A drama about a young unemployed man, Enoch, living with his aunt as his parents are dead. A ghost of a Japanese kamikaze pilot, who died in the Second World War, is his ‘ friend’. He attends funerals of strangers without invitation. One day he meets  a young woman, Annabel, she works in a hospital, in a cancer treatment ward, they start spending time together. Later she admits that she'd told a lie, she has cancer herself and only has three months to live

The English Show pays tribute to film director Ken Russell who died last week aged 84 after a life-long career in British and international Cinema. Russell was a magical film maker,  although eccentric yet with unparalleled imagination he managed to pull off extraordinary cinematographic feats with panache and huge artistic skill, -  to match even the best, even Italy’s master Federico Fellini. Russell explored such themes as art, artists, madness, life and loves. He made films about the dominant classical composers such as Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Liszt and Richard Strauss and also furnished grand operas to spectacular effect. He is most famous for the Rock Opera ‘Tommy’ (1974) a pop music sensation with the rock group ‘The  Who’ starring Roger Daltry and Elton John. He also managed to frighten the life out audiences with controversial pictures such as ‘The Devils’ (1970) and instil awe in ‘The Clouds of Glory’ (1978) about the romantic poets Wordsworth and Coleridge.

Abduction , directed by John Singleton, starring Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins, Sigourney Weaver, and Alfred Molina. American action thriller, about a teenager who finds out that his parents are not really his parents. He then sees a picture of his younger self on a missing persons website.  While searching in his basement he finds the same shirt that a young boy called Steven  is wearing in the picture and realizes that he and Steven are the same person; this is a special agent ‘sleeper hit’.

The Mill and the Cross (Kult.Kino Atelier), directed by Lech Majewski is a 2011 drama film  starring Rutger Hauer, Charlotte Rampling and Michael York. It is inspired by Pieter Bruegel the Elder's 1564 painting depicting the themes of Christ's suffering and religious persecution in Flanders The Way to Calvary. It is based on Michael Francis Gibson's book The Mill and the Cross. The film is a Polish-Swedish co-production and it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, 2011.The film actually focuses on a dozen of the 500 characters depicted in Bruegel's famous painting.

The Artist, Dir. Michael Hazanavicius is a funny, sweet, clever, romance says Peter Bradshaw as he can't get enough of this gemfrom The Guardian. Shot in black & white and it's  a silent film, that means ‘no dialogue’. Its sweeping the field at the 2012 Golden Globes and scores six nominations. The film is out now, is up for best musical and best comedy and stars Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo.

The Help (Pathe Eldorado) is a 1960s drama on the heels of The Artist along with the George Clooney film The Descendants, up for five prizes each. The actresses nominated for awards are Michelle Williams for best comedy actress, as is Kate Winslet for the Roman Polanski film Carnage (Rex) – sharing honours with co-star Jodie Foster.

It is for ‘Marilyn’  that Branagh gets a best supporting actor nomination, for playing Laurence Olivier opposite Michelle Williams' Marilyn Monroe. In the best comedy or musical category, The Artist faces competition from 50/50, Bridesmaids, Midnight in Paris and My Week with Marilyn. We Need to Talk About Kevin stars Tilda Swinton – mentioned for her sterling performance, and in the best dramatic actress category, as is Oscar favourite Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady otherwise known as Margaret Thatcher. Glenn Close, Viola Davis and Rooney Mara - for the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - complete the shortlist.

 Other nominees for the best actor awards in a comedy or musical prize include Dujardin for The Artist and Ireland's Brendan Gleeson for The Guard. In The Descendants Clooney is up for best dramatic actor, where his competition includes Shame's Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt for Moneyball and Leonardo DiCaprio for J Edgar, the FBI guy.

Basel Cinema - November Highlights

Capitol 1 - Killer Elite, Dir. Gary McKendry, starring Jason Stathan, Clive Owen and Robert De Nero. Macho action-adventure film, based on a lively story where an old ‘Con’ Hunter (De Niro) depends on Danny completing his mission or Hunter will be executed - old adversaries and it’s all about the money. Based on the novel ‘The Feather Men’ (a secret society) by Sir Ralph Fiennes … unreservedly non-refundable. 

Pathe Eldorado 1 - Contagion, Dir. Steven Soderbergh and a host of stars, including Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, Marion Cottilard, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow. Soderbergh’s end-of-the-world vision reflecting our current anxieties. Paltrow plays a business woman flying back from China to her family in Minneapolis carrying a lethal virus. The virus was picked up from a cook who'd been cutting up a pig that had been in contact with some dubious bats. On the way home she calls in on her lover in Chicago, inadvertently infecting a second city. The Centre for Disease Control in Atlanta is on the case forcing social-distancing (the opposite of social-networking) with Homeland Security stepping in suspecting terrorism. While the WHO dispatch their representative, Marion Cottilard to Hong Kong in San Francisco an Australian conspiracy-theory blogger, Jude Law, gets busy online … This film is shot all over the place like a fast moving pandemic with an all-star troupe and is every bit as watchable as the frightening 'Traffic'.

Pathe Eldorado 2 - Margin Call, Dir. J. C. Chandor, starring Kevin Spacy, Demi Moore, Paul Bettany and Jeremy Irons. Capital crisis drama and a lesson on how to be careful with a memory stick. Something to do with 8 trillion dollars riding on an 'equation', levels of market capitalization and selling things with no value. The film should be seen as a comment on Wall Street’s practice of employing data scientists and engineers to build and run complicated trading operations. Financiers Motto, Be First, Be Smart or Cheat ... read this instead, Paper Money Collapse by Detlev S. Schlichter to shed some light on our futures.

Pathe Kuchlin 4 - I Don`t Know How She Does It, Dir. Douglas McGrath, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear. An executive with kids keeps a Todo list, it's all about time-management and keeping your head above water. Everyone knows it's really about being 'effective' in these crazy days as demands on modern living ensures there’s never a dull moment. Now you can ask yourself, if those Margin Calls had been managed and the counterparty exposures monitored, would this film have been written, scripted, even shown ...

Rex 1 - The Adventures of Tin Tin, Dir. Steven Spielberg with Jamie Bell, Cary Elwes and Daniel Craig. A 3D comic book (motion capture) adventure-thriller with Herge’s  (George Remi’s) creation Tin Tin the intrepid reporter and dog Snowy, set to unlock a 400 year old secret buried at sea in an old ship. A race against evil in a world beyond imagination. Studying works of Tin Tin is called Tintinology!

Rex 2 - Real Steel (Premiere), Dir. Shawn Levy, starring Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly and Kevin Durand. A movie set in 2020 about fighting robots where a retired boxer teaches robot Atom (bot to watch) the winning boxing moves. Clever animatronic action like Transformers meets Iron Man.

Kult.kino Camera 2 – The Whistleblower (Premiere), Dir. Larysa Kondracki, starring Rachel Wiesz, Monica Bellucci and Vanessa Redgrave. A drama based on the real story of a Nebraska police officer who worked as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia. She exposes a dangerous reality of wide-scale corruption, cover-up and intrigue amid a world of private contractors and multi-national, diplomatic double-speak. Disturbing, violent, brutal and graphic.

Stadtkino – showing now and I repeat, Nicholas Ray features, i.e., James Dean in `Rebel Without a Cause` adopted from psychiatrist, R. Lindner’s 1944 book entitled ‘The Hypnoanalysis of a Criminal Psychopath’. `Bigger Than Life` with James Mason was popular with Cahiers du Cinema critics and Godard; `Knock on any Door` starring Humphrey Bogart, here’s where we hear the oft repeated credo spoken by the character Nick Romero ‘Live fast, die young and leave a good looking corpse’ a clarion call for a generation of disenfranchised youth; and the thriller `They Live by Night` with Farley Granger, a forerunner to Altman’s ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ from the novel ‘Thieves Like Us’.

Basel Cinema - Autumn update

Tribute - 80 JAHRE LE BON FILM DER ÄLTESTE FILMCLUB DER SCHWEIZ FEIERT SEIN RUNDES JUBILÄUM. This October it will be 80 years since the Le Bon Film Club set up their film institute. On 18. Oktober 1931 the Kino Palace show director Dziga Vertovs  „Die Donbass-Sinfonie: Enthusiasmus“  (Entuziazm: Simfoniya Donbassa.

Pick of the Best in Basel … Jane Eyre, Dir. Cary Joji Fukunaga starring Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell and Judie Dench (Kultkino Camera) The screenplay by Moira Buffini is based on the 1847 novel by Charlotte Brontë. The filmmakers decided to explore the Gothic elements of this classic novel. Fukunaga said that they had spent some time rereading the book trying to capture what Charlotte Brontë was feeling as she was writing; a spookiness plagues the entire story... there’s been many adaptations and it’s very rare that you see a version showing the darker side. 

Johnny English Reborn, Dir. Oliver Parker starring Rowan Atkinson, Gillian Anderson and Rosamund Pike. The best secret agent in the world and he's back. One man with a mission and absolutely no chance. This is the 2011 British action comedy film parodying the James Bond secret agent genre. The film is the sequel to Johnny English (2003) and stars Rowan Atkinson reprising his role as the title. Worth seeing just for Rowan Atkinson's characteristic flair for comedy (Capitol).

The Debt, Dir. John Madden staring Helen Mirren, Jessica Chastain, Tom Wilkinson, Sam Worthington, Ciaran Hinds. The film focuses on an Israeli-Mossad agent team who in 1965 captured a notorious Nazi doctor who had performed experiments on humans in a German extermination camp. When he escaped from their capture, the agents reported him as being shot once in the head and killed during his attempted escape. In the following years, the agents received numerous honours for their actions, with no one suspecting the truth. But in the late 1990s, they learn he may be alive, repentant, and likely to expose the truth of the events (Pathe Eldorado). 

A look at the Rest … Margin Call, Dir. J.C. Chandor starring Kevin spacey, Paul Bettany and Demi Moore. The film takes place over a 24 hour period at a large investment bank. The film follows the actions taken by a group of employees during the financial collapse 2007-2010. The film was shot in Manhattan's Financial District and premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. It was nominated at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival for the Golden Bear (Pathe Eldorado).

Contagion, Dir. Steven Soderbergh with Matt Damon, Kate Winslet and Jude Law. Virus thriller with an impressive cast that includes Marion Cotillard, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Bryan Cranston. Contagion follows the rapid progress of a lethal virus that kills within days. As the fast-moving pandemic grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the spreading panic. As the virus infects around the world, ordinary people struggle to survive in a society coming apart (Pathe Kuchlin).

Stadtkino features – director Nicholas Ray with film classics such as Born to be Bad, The True Story of Jesse James, On Dangerous Ground, etc. Chosen highlights are;-  The Lusty Men (1952), A rodeo sports/western starring Susan Heyward and Robert Mitchum. Offbeat, full of action and dangerous stunts; beautifully shot in glorious colour and with cameras on location with rodeo's in Tuscon Arizona, Spokane, Washington, Pendleton, Oregon and Livermore California using a host of real rodeo stars.

Johnny Guitar (1954), A highly entertaining western starring Joan Crawford and Sterling Heyden. This 'Mildred Pierce' in a cult classic and favourite of the Cahiers du Cinema and a thinly-veiled anti McCarthy diatribe. Joan stars as Vienna, owner of a saloon bar and plenty of land just waitin 'for the railroad to mozy in'. Great dialogue abounds as Vienna warns the funeral-garbed lynchers, "Down there I sell whisky and cards, all you can buy upstairs is a bullet in the head, now which do you want?".

Rebel Without a Cause (1955) A powerful drama and study of juvenile violence staring James Dean and Natalie Wood. Still regarded as the cult picture, it was originally seen as disturbing to adults. Did it really as promote violence, accuse parents for spoiling their children and dwell on madness and death. The  clean-cut juvenile ideal of the past moved into the adult world of film noir. It might have been merely a teenage exploitation film however REBEL elevates its expectations as it draws deservedly on the presence of the brooding and troubled Dean. The young actor's appearance excited audiences, and teenagers who identified with this powerful symbol of the alienated generation.

They Live by Night (1949) Ray's first feature film. A crime thriller starring Cathy O'Donnell and Farley Granger. A depression era saga about lovers on the run. Based on the novel 'Thieves Like Us' by Edward Anderson and later filmed by Robert Altman under that title. A sort of Bonnie and Clyde myth permeating cinema's image of lovers on the run. The opening scene was photographed from a helicopter, considered at that time a wholly unorthodox idea but now a standard camera set-up. Beautifully acted and stands as one of the most poignant noirs ever made.

The 68th Venice International Film Festival, organized by La Biennale di Venezia, ran at Venice Lido August 31st through to September 10th, this year. The festival raises awareness and promotes various aspects of international cinema in all its forms: as art, entertainment and as an industry, all in the spirit of freedom and tolerance. The Festival includes retrospectives and homages to major figures as a contribution towards raising awareness of the history of cinema.

Darren Aronofsky presides over show and remarked about the Golden Lion winner, ‘there are films that make you cry, there are films that make you laugh and there are films that change your life’, Faust (directed by Alexander Sokurow) changes your life for ever. My choice of the film entries for the ‘Golden Lion’ to watch out for in Basel Cinemas are;- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy starring Gary Oldman, Colin Firth and Tom Hardy leading a first class cast; Wuthering Heights; A Dangerous Method; 4:44 Last Day on Earth; Killer Joe; Shame; Carnage; Dark Horse.

Let’s not forget the Zurich Film Festival starts, Thursday 22 September and runs to Sunday, 2 October another visual treat. The Stadtkino (Klostergasse 5) this month is featuring the films of Catherine Deneuve and showing a selection from her stunning performances with actors such as Jean-Paul Belmondo, Marcello Mastroianni, Serge Gainsbourg, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Yves  Montand, Burt Reynolds and Philippe Noiret. This is a great retrospective including early classics, such as Polanski's Repulsion, and Belle de Jour, Hustle, and Indochine. There’s also little known films such as Liza, where Deneuve plays a dog, or in The Hunger as vampire alongside the thin, pale dude David Bowie.

Now playing at Basel Cinemas

Cowboys & Aliens, Dir. Jon Favreau starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde. In a desert town around 1875, ‘Absolution’ ruled by Colonel Dolarhyde, in the state of Arizona, things get weird as alien invaders start abducting the locals, - as townsfolk unite there’s an epic showdown (Pathe Kuchlin).

Chico & Rita, Dir. Fernando Trueba. Spanish animation feature for grownups. Film critics say it’s jazzy, nostalgic, romantic, short and wonderful (Kultkino Atelier 1).

The Guard, Dir. Martin McDonagh with Brendan Gleeson from the crime comedy 'In Bruges' 2008. Gleeson plays a small town policeman, Gerry Boyle with cool cynicism and dry humour. During a drug smuggling off the Irish coast the FBI send an agent, Wendell Everett, played by Don Cheadle to the Irish harbour. There then ensues a classic buddy movie in a western style with a grotesque showdown (Pathe).

The Three Musketeers, Dir. Paul Anderson Introduces elements of pre-victorian 'Steampunk*' - through a 3D reinterpretation of Alexandre Dumas classic 17th-century adventure novel.  The main characters are Athos, Parthos and Aramis and let’s not forget D’Artagnan. The film stars Christopher Waltz as the villainous, power-hungry Cardinal Richelieu, Orlando Bloom as the Duke of Buckingham and Milla Jovovich, the devilish M’lady de Winter (Eldorado 2).

The Infidel, Dir. Josh Appignanesi with Omid Djalili the British star comedian with Iranian roots and  Archie Panjabi and Richard Schiff. A Muslim Taxi-driver, very comfortable with himself and his life finds out from his birth certificate that he was adopted, his name is Solly Shmishillewitz and he’s really Jewish (Studio Central).

Notes: Columbiana (Zoe Saldena), How much does your building weigh Mr. Foster? (Carlos Carcas and Lopez Amado), Captain America 3D, Conan the Barbarian 3D, Crazy, Stupid, Love, Friends with Benefits,Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Dir. Thomas Alfredson based on the Novel by John Le Carre … updated cold war spook thriller.

Wuthering Heights, Dir. Andrea Arnold based on the novel by Emily Bronte about the Earnshaws and the new boy Heathcliffe.

A Dangerous Method, Dir. David Cronenberg starring Viggo Mortenson, Kiera Knightley and Michael Fassbender about Freud, Jung and the birth of psychoanalysis.

 4:44 Last Day on Earth, Dir. Abel Ferrara starring William Defoe and Natasha Lyonne  ... she’s a painter and he’s an actor and it’s just after teatime on the last day of the world's end.

Killer Joe, Dir. William Friedkin with Matthew McConaughay and Tracy Welts ... An evil mother, her insurance, a hit man.

Shame, Dir. Steve McQueen with Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligen ... a thirthysomething man in NY, his sex life and how it all falls apart when his younger sister moves in.

Carnage, Dir. Roman Polanski starring Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet and Christopher Waltz ... two couples meet up to deal with their kids in a playground dispute.

Dark Horse, Dir. Todd Solondz with Justin Batha and Selma Blair  ... an 'arrested development' couple meet up to sort themselves out.

*Steampunk is a subgenre of speculative fiction, usually set in an anachronistic Victorian or quasi-Victorian alternative history. It could be described by the slogan "What the past would look like if the future had happened sooner." It includes fiction with science fiction, fantasy or horror themes.

The term denotes works set in a world where STEAM POWER is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often set in Victorian era England—but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne.

Medieval Steampunk: Speculative fiction set during the Middle Ages. Victorian Steampunk: A modern Science Fiction work (post-1930s) that is set in the early parts of the industrial revolution. Western Steampunk: Science fiction set in the American Old West. Industrial/Modern Steampunk: Science fiction taking place in the late industrial age, early modern age; i.e. World War 1, World War 2.

Examples of steampunk: Wild Wild West, Final Fantasy 7, Van Helsing, The Time Machine, Hellboy, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Prestige  

Basel Cinema News, - The Stadtkino Basel has a summer break now until 18 August, 2011. At the Kultkino there’s a film called ‘Howl’ a story set in 1957 about the Beat-Generation and counter culture poet Allen Ginsberg. Directed by Rob Epstein Jeffrey Friedmann starring Jeff Daniels and James Franco.

In ‘Bad Teacher’ Cameron Diaz plays Elizabeth a high school teacher with no scruples, a foul mouth and is clearly not suited to her job. She drinks heavily and gets high until one day it all changes ... (Capitol, Pathe Kuchlin) Dir. Jake Kasdan starring Cameron Diaz and Jason Segal.

Gump reprise ‘Larry Crowne’ takes downsized Larry who has worked as a supermarket manager and thinks he’s about to get manager of the month award, then one day he gets fired from his job. He believes he was let go because he did not have a college education. He sets out to complete his education by enrolling in classes and meets his new teacher.  (Capitol, Eldorado) Dir. Tom Hanks starring Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks.

Rich, gritty dialogue and more entertaining than Perry Mason delivered fast and slick in ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’. This is life lived low-down among a hierarchy of American legal eagles. A ‘Lincoln lawyer’ is a criminal defence attorney running his practice from a car in this setting , the county of Los Angeles, taking whatever work is available. Mickey Heller the tarnished hero is a fine-tuned, less-than-impressive side of the legal profession, although few can keep up with him as he knows all the ins and outs of the system and how and who to slip a back-hander. Mickey finds a way to move upmarket when taking on a wealthy young  client from Beverly Hills, arrested for assaulting a woman.  However Mickey isn't too surprised when the case goes sour as he learns that neither his client nor the victim in the case is quite what they seem to be, and soon there's a lot more at stake, his life's at risk and any reputation that goes with it. This lights up the shabby side of American legal practice, highly recommended!' Based on the best seller novel by Michael Connelly who also wrote, The Brass Verdict, Echo Park, The Closers, The Narrows, The Overlook, Chasing the Dime.  (Pathe Kuchlin,  Dir. Brad Furman, starring Matthew McConnaughy and Melisa Tomei.

‘Transformers 3: The Dark of the Moon’ crash, bang, whollop, here we go … back in 1969 on the dark side of our moon US astronauts come across a wrecked spaceship. Forty years later the successor to Cybertron, Shockwave is reactivated, his return starts a new war between the Autobots and the Decepticons. The film records the biggest ever 4th July opening at the US box office. If you liked the last two instalments then this is the best one for more loud and lengthy sequences of sci-fi action violence, crashing mayhem and total destruction. (Pathe Kuchlin), Dir. Michael Bay starring Shia LeBouef, John Malkovich, John Turturo, and the new comer Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

The Car Fetisch ‘I Drive Therefore I Am’ installation is running on overdrive at the Museum Tanguely, Basel until October, so fasten your seatbelts and check out those cult classic car movies. You get to sit in an Oldsmobile, A Dodge, a Buick, while watching a great film classic just like being at drive in!

Basel Cinemas go digital – Kult Kino has undergone refurbishment – with the film consortium Europa Cinemas there’s three OBJECTIVES : to increase the programming of European films on digital format in Europa Cinemas; to contribute to strengthening the offer of European films on digital by distributors and to and inform exhibitors about digital projection techniques and economic models. Check out the Basel cinema theatre websites for more on cinema going digital, this is a revolution.

Basel in August starts with the Orange Cinema open air experience which runs from 4th through till 28th August inclusive. Did you know that there’s more than 50 open air film festivals around Switzerland during the months of August and September. Fix zu Ihren Tix – by going online you can best guarantee your ticket, priced at CHF19.- including a free ice cream from Emmi. So einfach geht’s: It’s so simple you can also get 2 Tickets for the price of one and that happens every Tuesday as a special offer.  Just send a free SMS with OCINEBS to 241. Check out the Orange Cinema Program - Most of the films are from 2010 and 2011 so here’s your chance to see them again or catch up on those you missed. The exception is the blockbuster ‘The Gold Rush’ (Live Orchestra) made in 1925 starring and directed by Charlie Chaplin.

The Open air Running Order – Opening night featuring the master of psychological comedy’ Midnight in Paris’ Dir. Woody Allen romantic comedy. Extraordinarily good performances from Colin Firth and William Rush in ‘The King's Speech’,  comedy, Dir. Tom Hooper. Odd-ball spy thriller with Depp and ‘The Tourist’,  thriller, Dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. Mind bending psycho thriller, hell-bent on messing up your thoughts and hacking your dreams ‘Inception’, Action, Dir. Christopher Nolan.

Family action adventure pushing the kid out to settle old scores ‘Hanna’, Dir. Joe Wright.  The other side of mayhem ‘Barney's Version’. At his second wedding ceremony Barney Pernofski meets the greatest love of his life and puzzles over why the beautiful Miriam will be his third wife is a mystery to him. Barney’s a Canadian producer of bad a tv series, and a hardened drinker, cigar-smoking ice hockey fan. Based on the 1997 novel written by Canadian author Mordecai Richler. drama, Dir. Richard J. Lewis and worth going to see as it star Paul Giamatti.

Ballet psycho drama ‘Black Swan’, thriller, Dir. Darren Aronofksy. Depp does voice over for a chameleon lost in the desert in ‘Rango’, kid’s animation, Dir. Gore Verbinski. Lots of furry animals in ‘Rio’, kid’s animation, Dir. Carlos Saldanha (family night), It’s all about relationships and how they work and what methods you use.‘Love and Other Drugs’, comedy, Dir. Edward Zwick (ladies night).

Sequel to the first one, same old same old as they say except location moved to Bangkok for laughs. 'The Hangover 2’, comedy, Dir. Todd Phillips.  Some new blood with Penelope Cruz and Ian McShane and lashings of chopped up action fails to rejuvenate the high seas franchise whose muddled quest for the fountain of youth  adds up to a very little, yet it looks good. ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides’,  Action, Dir. Rob Marshall, 'Friends with Benefits', comedy, Dir. Will Gluck, 'The Social Network', drama, Dir. David Fincher, 'The Debt', espionage thriller, Dir. John Madden starring Helen Mirren.

In the actual covered over Basel cinemas the following films are still running and worth a visit;- ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II’, fantasy, Dir. David Yates (Capitol, Kuchlin, Plaza, Rex), ‘Green Lantern’, action,  Dir. Martin Campbell starring Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively (Kuchlin). Full of interplanetary travels and spectacular effects and but it feels like it’s just going through the motions.

‘Bridesmaids’, comedy,  Dir. Paul Feig starring Kristen Wiig, Terry Crews. Regarded as the best comedy film this year from numerous good reviews and the primary show case for Kristen Wiig. It’s anxious wedding planners leading a prenuptial comedy that’s much more than a woman’s hangover. It matches the male equivalent in the grossness stakes finding clever ways to make you laugh.  Wiig is a popular star of the US talkshow ‘Saturday Night Live’ and also played the disbelieving girlfriend in the cosmic Simon Peg Scifi comedy ‘Paul’.

‘Beginners’, drama, Dir. Mike Mills starring Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer (Eldorado). McGregor is an LA loner dealing with his widowed dad who comes out as gay and admits to hedonistic past few years. Smartly told story deals with the authentic drama sincerely, getting the emotional balance about right.

‘Zookeeper’, comedy, Dir. Franc Caraci starring Kevin James, Donnie Wahlberg (Capitol) Another talking animals film, that’s not fair to animals, they clearly can't talk like humans and they must get really fed up with this human take on their reality! Zookeeper is yet another family kids film from the Hollywood. Like the fascination for Shrek and the donkey actions this one jokes with wolf pee and monkey poo. Adam Sandler provides the voice for the monkey while also co-producing. I also read that the star Kevin James had to write his own lines. In some cinemas it was observed that six year olds were seen leading their families out of the film theatres after only five minutes into the zoo antics. So there you have it the family movie where kids know that animals should be, according to John Patterson from the Guardian guide 'smelt and not heard'.

‘Cars 2’ – 3D, animation,  Dir. John Lassiter (Kuchlin, Plaza, Rex). A Pixar animation with little red racer and mates in biofuel plot amid car smashing stunts. With voice overs from Owen Wilson and Michael Caine.

Oh and look out for ‘Insidious’, a horror from the makers of SAW, Dir. James Wan  (Kuchlin).

Plugs for the Future - ‘Super 8’, Dir. J.J. Abrams who made Mission Impossible and Startrek among other projects. This is a Scifi thriller produced by Steven Spielberg. It’s set in small town Ohio in 1979 and features a group of young kids with a Super 8 film camera making their first movie. They inadvertently become witnesses to a train crash and the local town Sheriff suspects there’s more to the kids funny filming – there’s aliens at work.

‘Rise of the Planet of Apes’, Dir. Rupert Wyatt and starring Will Rodman as Franco.  Had you ever wondered how the apes dominated the earth in the original remakes from 1968 ‘Planet of the Apes’ and in 2001, well this one explains it. In a lab in San Francisco a scientist (Franco) looks for a cure for Alzheimer's disease by testing cures on a chimp called Caesar. Caesar bonds with the researcher and as the medication proves successful there’s an unexpected reaction ...  The rapid development of animal intelligence starts a war for supremacy between human and ape.

Basel Kino after the Oscars; Cannes Festival update

Kultkino – Theatrestrasse 7, Basel

Kurz Filmnacht 2011 – Switzerland’s annual short film festival comes to Basel.  You have a choice of seeing the 'Best Short Film', the 'Best Animation' and the high points from the Swiss short film makers. Screening this coming Friday 8th April KultKino Atelier theatres 2 & 3, starting at 20:45.

Monty Python meets JihadFour Lions (Kultkino), Dir. Christopher Morris directs a black comedy featuring four young British men who set out to fulfil a contract. Omar wants  to see the end of wars and Waj thinks this a good idea, has nothing else to do and besides Omar makes all his decisions for him. Barry converted to Islam and Faisal is worried because his Dad is sick.

Stadtkino, Klostergasse 5  – Featuring the films of Quentin Tarantino such as,-

Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Basterds, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2, From Dusk till Dawn (Robert Rodriguez), Grind House - Death Proof, Sin City (Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez).

A special screening on Saturday 2nd April presented, Vanishing Point - Richard Sarafian plays Kowalski, an ex-racing driver down on his luck. He accepts a wager to deliver a supercharged, Dodge Challenger from Denver to San Francisco within 15 hours. Flooring the gas pedal he begins his race against time and all west coast traffic regulations. Police report the chase as road blocks are smashed.  A blind radio DJ ‘Super Soul’ broadcasts the adventures of a new superhero, the highway outlaw that nobody can stop.

There's another special screening on Friday 29 April presenting Gattaca, Dir. Andrew Niccol, and starring Uma Thurman, Jude Law, Ethan Hawke in a SciFi thriller set in the future when your DNA and gene manipulation determines your destiny.

Mainstream Cinema is still showing , True Grit, The Tree, Winter's Bone, The Adjustment Bureau, 127 Hours, The Eagle, The Fighter, Unknown Identity,  Rango, I am Number Four, and Limitless.

New and out this Month of April

Conviction – Betty Ann Waters (Eldorado) , Dir. True story of Betty Anne Waters, a single mother who, with the help of an attorney freed her wrongfully convicted brother. While in law school she began investigating her brother's case. Kenneth "Kenny" Waters who was convicted of murdering Katharina Brow. Betty Anne uncovered biologival evidence and worked with the Innocence Project, a nonprofit organization devoted to overturning wrongful convictions, to obtain DNA evidence proving Waters' innocence leading to his exoneration.

The Mechanic (Rex), Dir. Simon West (Con Air), starring Jason Statham and Donald Sutherland. Action thriller in which Statham plays Arthur Bishop, a cool, sharp, hard as nails contract killer. When his mentor Harry played by Sutherland is murdered, he takes it personally and sets out to find the perpetrator’s. The mission gets complicated as Arthur teaches Harry's son, ... who seeks revenge.

Pina, (Kultkino Atelier) Dir. Wim Wenders. A Modern dance film paying homage to the dance choreographer Pina Bausch. Filmed in 3D on stage in Wuppertal, Germany.

Sucker Punch,  (Pathe Kuchlin) Dir. Zack Snyder. An epic fantasy adventure where the lead called Babydoll gathers four women together, Rocket, Blondie, Amber and Sweat Pea to release a captive from the Samurai and Fire Dragons.

Season of the Witch,  (Pathe Kuchlin) Dir. Domnic Sena starring Nichols Cage, Ron Perlman and Claire Foy. Medieval fantasy action set in 14th century about Knights returning from the Crusades finding their country ruined by the Black Death. A young girl is accused of being a witch and responsible for the destruction. Church elders command the knights to take the girl to a monastery so monks can exorcise the demons from the land.

Paul, Dir. Greg Mottola starring Simon Peg and Nick Frost in an Alien intergalactic adventure comedy. After their Zombie film 'Shaun of the Dead' came 'Hot Fuzz' a surreal police crime horror thriller. Paul is Peg and Frost's latest project based on an alien encounter from outer space with a short, small, green creature called Paul. This is US and English humour crashing over Nevada and into Area 51.

Red Riding Hood, Dir. Catherine Hardwicke starring Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman and Billy Burke. A tense, gruesome fairy tale made by the same director for 'Twilight'. Young Valerie stands between two men. She loves the free spirited Peter but her parents favour the successful Henry. Valerie and Peter plan to save their love for each other and run away together. Only recently Valerie's sister was killed by a werewolf in the woods.

Thor, Dir. Kenneth Branagh starring Chris Hensworth, Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins. Classic superhero epic based on the Norse legends of Asgard the Kingdom of God that is not reachable by mere mortals. Thor has made a great name for himself until his father Odin banishes him to live among the men on Earth in order for him to meet his match.

Water for Elephants, Dir. Francis Laurence, starring Reece Witherspoon, Robert Pattison and Christopher Waltz. Set in 1931 during the Great Depression, Jacob leaves his career as a Vet and joins the circus. There he meets Marlena and they fall head over heels in love. Marlena is already married to the Circus ring master, a charismatic and dangerous man.

Winnie the Pooh, Dir. Stephen J. Anderson. Animated feature from Walt Disney Studios and a new return to the screen after 35 years. E-Aw the donkey has lost his tale. Pooh and his friends from Hundred Morning Woods, Tigger, Rabbit, Kanga and Christopher Robin all offer to help.

World Invasion: Battle for Los Angeles, Dir. Jonathan Liebesman, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan. Alien invasion with the Earth once again overun by extra-terrestrials, this time Los Angeles is the last city armed to defend itself from impending doom.

Update on Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 17:34 by Rob

Terence Malick Generational Epic64^th Festival de Cannes, running through May 11^th to 22^nd, 2011 has Robert de Niro as head of the jury at Cannes this year, all of us will be casting eyes over the eagerly awaited films making their way to Basel.  A brief selection includes Pedro Almodovar, ‘The Skin I Live In’, Woody Allen’s, ‘Midnight in Paris’, and Lars von Trier with ‘Melancholia’, as well as a major favourite Tree of Life, Directed by Terrence Malick to name but a few. Other note worthy’s include ‘We Need to talk about Kevin’, by Lynne Ramsey, the Scottish film maker. A visionary piece starring Sean Penn as a tired rock star entitled ‘This Must Be The Place’, by director Paolo Sorrentino and ‘Restless’ the opening film from Gus van Sant. Look out for ‘The Beaver’, directed by Jodie Foster and ‘Sleeping Beauty’ by the young Australian director, Julia Leigh's first film, described as a haunting and erotic fairytale.

Egypt is the first country designated as the guest country at Cannes, chosen this year to begin this new tradition. Egypt is welcomed in 2011 because of its revolution of January 25 and by informing the world of its need to change the course of history for freedom and democracy. As a country with a strong history in film, its presence in Cannes is highly justified.

The Cannes Film Festival is the spring media event. Films are shown inside the theatres whilst the stars parade themselves out in the open air at the seaside town. Cinema tries hard to remember it’s an art form, but Hollywood drives the rushes through a massive industry. The best of the stars know what the public needs, they show off a little, stop, strike a pose, smile and wave. It was the French minister of education that set up the first festival to rival the Venice festival in 1939 but the timing was inappropriate. By 1946 the first official festival was held at the old casino then it moved to spring time in the early 50s, it was soon awarding films with the Golden Palme (Palme d’Or). In 1962 the French Union of Film Critics showed film works from emerging directors and setup two selection committees in 1970, one for French films and other for films from abroad. The grand Palais de Festivals et des Congres was built in 1983 to host the festival and by 2002 the name of the event was shortened to Festival de Cannes. 

Check this one out … there’s a special screening at Cannes of a refurbished print of Kubrick’s ‘Clockwork Orange’, released 40 years ago! As an aside The Edinburgh Festival next month, in June, instead of an artistic director has appointed guest curators, including film notables such as Isabella Rossellini and Gus Van Sant ... check the websites there will be surprises. 

Selected films now showing in Basel include:- Tree of Life, Dir. Terence Malick starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn. The delayed fifth feature film, now on general release ahead of screening at the Cannes Film Festival. This is a film referred to as a multi-generational drama. Malick’s films are considered as masterpieces and critics hailed his films as the greatest ever made. He was nominated for Academy Award for Best adapted screenplay and Best Director for the WWII film 'The Thin Red Line'. Harvard University educated, he was into philosophy big time and even fell out with his tutor Gilbert Ryle on his thesis ‘The Essence of Reasons’. Whilst doing freelance work revising scripts he got to know Jack Nicholson and film agents and worked on screenplays, including ‘Dirty Harry’. His first notable work was ‘Badlands’ (1973) a brilliantly crafted independent film with Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek as a young couple indulging on a crime spree in the 50s midwest. The release of ‘Days of Heaven’ about a love triangle set in the croplands of the Texas panhandle won him fame and critical acclaim as a director. He went on to work with Soderbergh on a film about ‘Che Guevara’ and then directed 'The New World' a romantic story of John Smith and Pocahontas in the early colonization of the Americas. He’s working on his sixth feature film that will be released soon but it’s under wraps for now.

Water for Elephants (Rex), Dir. Francis Laurence, starring Reece Witherspoon, Robert Pattison and Christopher Waltz. Set in 1931 during the Great Depression, Jacob leaves his career as a vetinary surgeon and joins the circus. There he meets Marlena and they fall head over heels in love. Marlena is already married to the Circus ring master, a charismatic and dangerous man.

Loosely based on the fairy tales ‘Le Petit Chaperon Rouge’ and the Brothers Grim RotKaeppchen’ but for a more grown up audience is Red Riding Hood (Plaza), Dir. Catherine Hardwicke starring Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman and Billy Burke. A tense, gruesome fairy tale made by the same director as 'Twilight'.

Thor (Pathe Kuchkin), Dir. Kenneth Branagh, starring Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins and Stellan Skarsgard. It's well known that Kenneth Branagh brought Shakespeare to the big screen as actor-director of Henry V and Hamlet. Hopkins plays Norse God Odin in this film, based on the comic book called The Mighty Thor and created by Marvel Comics back in 1962. It’s a sword and sorcery tale set in the mythical world of Asgard, the frozen land of Jotenheim inhabited by ancient Norse Gods. It dramatically turns into a sci-fi thriller in the human world, the Midgard of the northern gods. Basically Thor is banished to Midgard where he tries to find out where he is among the natives puzzling over the stranger from a strange land ... where magic and science are one and the same … Philip French in his revew mentions Jose Louis Borges, a Norse expert and also a film critic who once remarked ‘I think nowadays, while literary men seem to have neglected their epic duties, the epic has been saved for us by the Westerns … and saved for the world by the film industry.

Over at the Stadtkino there's plenty to see that will inspire including one of Woody Allen’s best Manhatten (1979). However, if you admire everything Meryl Streep has ever done, head for Stadtkino at Kunsthallengarten, Kostergarten 5 and check out the two times Oscar winner’s extraordinary portfolio. The Deer Hunter (1978), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1981), Sophie’s Choice (1982), Silkwood (1983), Out of Africa (1985), Ironweed (1987), Postcards from The Edge (1990), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Mama Mia! (2008).

Still playing and worth seeing;-

Paul (Capitol), Dir. Greg Mottola starring Simon Peg and Nick Frost in an Alien intergalactic adventure comedy. Latest project based on an alien encounter from outer space with a short, small, green creature called Paul. This is US and English humour crashing over Nevada and into Area 51.

Limitless (Capitol), Dir. Niel Burger starring Bradley Cooper, Robert de Niro, Abbie Cornish. Very entertaing as it surprises and visually stretches you from the grungy beginning to glitzy end. With clever graphic touches, mind-bending images, good use of continuous zooming and fish-eye shots, the film recreates for us the drug-induced brain rush from NZT that enables Eddie to experience astonishing enhanced clarity of perception and enormous amounts of energy. It’s use of graphics is dead cool and with rapid shifts in attitude, Bradley Cooper shows off his great acting in a film he dominates from start to finish. Other critics compared the technical look and fee of Limitless to time-shifter Déjà Vu (2006).

Winter's Bone (Kult.Kino Camera), Dir. Debra Granik, starring Jennifer Lawrence and set in the Ozark mountains in the US. It’s about family and relationships and how they can be broken by poverty and impacted by the pervasive underworld of drugs.

New Release in May

Hanna, Dir. Joe Wright (Atonement), stars Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett. Hanna is a young, sweet innocent yet a deadly sort of girl. Brought up by her exCIA father among the wilds of Finland. Hanna has been taught to hunt and defend herself and was educated using  only an encyclopaedia and a collection of fairy tales.  Her training has one objective: to make her the perfect assassin. Out in the wider world there is some unfinished business for Hanna’s family . Hanna sets off on a mission she was destined for, discovering unfamiliar landscapes as she nears her target. The music is by the Chemical Brothers …