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.

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.

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’.

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.

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.

The talk of tinsel town is of course the British actors Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham-Carter in the odd story of the “Kings Speech” (Dir. Tom Hooper).  It’s the remarkable true story of how King George VI 'Bertie', worked together with an Aussie speech therapist to cure his stammer. Bearing in mind that it was 1936 and Europe was very restless. The new King was under a lot of pressure to communicate impending change in the world and to reassure the people over the medium of radio. A great friendship developed between Bertie and Lionel Logue. Colin Firth is famous for appearing in such films as Main Street, St.Trinian’s, A Single Man, Easy Virtue and Mamma Mia!  To name but a few …  Meanwhile new in this month picked as worth seeing ...

Hereafter (Capitol) Dir. Clint Eastwood, Fantasy Drama, Matt Damon. Three people thrown together trying to understand life in the hereafter.

Welcome to the Riley's, Melodrama (Kultkino Atelier) Dir. Jake Scott. This is a tough story set in the atmospheric town of New Orleans. It stars James Gandolfini from the TV series “The Sopranos”, he’s Doug who on a business trip, visits a stripclub and meets a dancer Mallory played by the “Twilight” star, Kristen Stewart. This is the debut film from director Jake Scott, the son of Ridley Scott.

Morning Glory (Pathe Kuchlin) Dir. Roger Mitchell, comedy, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton. TV journalism.

The Dilema (Pathe Kuchlin) Dir. Ron Howard, best friends drama, Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Jennifer Connelly and Winona Ryder. A Ron Howard film is a must see, even if you only want to understand how a great director can throw together such a great cast and make them work their magic.

The Devil (Plaza) Dir. John Eric Dowdle, mystery thriller, Chris Messina, Logan-Marshall Green, scary, thriller with some people trapped in a broken lift and one of them is the devil and hell is a long way down.

Rubber (Kultkino Club) Dir. Quentin Dupieux, anarchic cinema thriller with David Bowie, Thomas Duffy. Robert is a motorcar tyre that was recycled in the Californian desert one day, but suddenly and inexplicably comes to life. As he makes his way across the landscape that Robert realizes he possesses telepathic powers. David's involved so there's some more magic than meets the eye in this weird cinematic offering. Think twice next time you check your spare tyre ...

Tron Legacy 3D (Rex) Dir. Joseph Kosinsky, Olivia Wilde, Jeff Bridges, stunning remake of the earlier cyberspace immersion, Disney romp this time round with excellent neon wire-diagram effects, great costumes and a superb cast with music by Daft Punk.

The Green Hornet 3D (Pathe Kuchlin) Dir. Michael Gordy, Cameron Diaz, Christopher Waltz. This action film is based on a famous radioshow that aired in America in the 1930s and is the definitive comic book hero.

Playing over at the Stadtkino month of February 2011 is a retrospective on the film director Louis Malle. With a virtually unknown theatre actress called Jeanne Moreau, Louis Malle as a fledgling film director plunged himself, in 1957, into the black heart of the film noir genre. He even included live improvisations from jazz trumpeter Miles Davis.  Most of his early works we’re not too familiar to us as he was part of the French Nouvelle Vague in the late 50s. He saw himself as different from his counterparts like Truffaut, Chabrol and Godard claiming them to be journalists or story tellers, he was more of a technician. Louis Malle wanted to and simply had to make films, it was his life and sole purpose. More We memorable work emerging from the late 70s onwards with Pretty Baby (1978) , Atlantic City (1980) and Vanya on 42^nd Street (1994). 

The Tourist

Meet the Parents - Little Fockers, Dir. Paul Weitz. Comedy starring Ben Stiller, Robert de Niro, Owen Wilson. When Gaylord Focker first met the Parents in Meet the Parents it was the year 2000, then followed Meet the Fockers which was about meeting his parents in 2004. Now its back to her parents in Little Fockers but with their young kids, who are under surveillance by Gaylords father-in-law, the ex-secret service agent Jay Burns (De Niro).

Love and Other Drugs, Dir. Edward Zwick, Love story starring Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhall. Maggie Murdoch is a crazy free spirit enjoying the single life, meets her dream partner. He’s  a successful, handsome charmer, however also not interested in settled relationships but working for a major Pharmaceutical company selling a block buster lifestyle drug. They meet and everything changes.

Last Night, Dir. Drama starring Keira, Knightley (more at home on the stage these days) and Sam Worthington. Michael and Joanna Reed are a young married couple and have every thing they need for a perfect life together, until Joanna, one moment at dinner party, sees her husband with his new work colleague Laura (Eva Mendes).

Stadtkino is now showing the following classic features ;-

Manhatten (1979), Dir. Woody Allen.

Fanny and Alexander (1982), Dir. Ingmar Bergman.

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Dir. Blake Edwards.

The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Dir. John Huston.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Dir. Howard Hawk’s.

Some Like it Hot (1959), Dir. Prod. Billy Wilder . It’s that famous master comedy starring Lemmon and Curtis as unemployed musicians fleeing in drag from Miami gangsters with an all-girl band.  A wonderful roaring twenties atmosphere, clever script and Monroe’s most commercially successful film.

Clash By Night (1952), Dir. Fritz Lang. Clash is a kitchen sink triangle and the Californian version of William’s Streetcar Named Desire but Barbara Stanwyck’s Mae is tougher than  Blanche. Monroe’s first major film role as a young, refreshingly independent woman with a lot of steam.

The Seven Year Itch (1955), Dir. Billy Wilder. Best known Monroe film, with the scene in which a rush of air from a subway grating sends her skirt flying up around her shoulders. Monroe’s 23^rd picture and by then suffering from depression as her marriage to the boxer Joe DiMaggio was ending.

The Misfits (1961), Dir. John Huston. Modern cowboys with no purpose in a modern world, Clark Gable’s last film and Marilyn Monroe’s last completed feature film. An awkward and disturbing film, some say it’s a brilliant mood piece of a dying old West but now its arty performances are enough to make it a masterpiece.

Look out for The Green Hornet, a dark comic superhero from the 1930's. Dir. Michel Gondry, starring Seth Rogen,  Christopher Waltz and Cameron Diaz. 

1.      2001: A Space Odyssey, Dir. Stanley Kubrick and starring Kier Dullea

2.      Chinatown, Dir. Roman Polanski starring Jack Nicholas, Faye Dunaway and John Huston

3.      East of Eden, Dir. Elia Kazan, starring James Dean

4.      One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Milos Foreman, starring Jack Nicholas (1975)

5.      Paper Moon, Dir. Peter Bogdanovich,  starring Ryan O'Neal

6.      Seven Samurai (1954), Dir. Akira Kurasawa, starring Takashi Shimura, Toshiro Mifune, Yoshio Inaba

7.      To Be Or Not To Be(1942), Dir. Ernst Lubitsch starring Carole Lombard and Robert Stack (1942).

8.      Bonnie & Clyde (1967), Dir. Arthur Penn, starring Fay Dunaway

9.      Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Dir. Blake Edwards, starring Audrey Hepburn

And there’s still a chance to see ;

1.      Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Capitol , Dir. Daniel Yates, starring Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint.

2.      Somewhere - Kult.kino Atelier, Dir. Sophie Coppola. Johnny Marco a young , well-known Hollywood star living in the famous hotel Chateau Marmot in L.A. . Marco whiles away his time pursuing things that make him feel good, beautiful women, fast cars, alcohol and drugs. He does not want to believe that his life is actually boring. Then enters unannounced ‘Cleo’, his eleven year old daughter  from an earlier  relationship… winner of the Golden Lion Film Festival Venice.

3.      Exit Through the Gift Shop, Dir. Banksy - Kult.kino Atelier

4.      You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger - Kult.kino Atelier, Dir. Woody Allen

New and worthwhile making a special trip for ;-

Megamind Dir. Tom McGrath – Pathe Kuchline and Rex.  Tom McGrath, worked on the Madagascar movies.  It's a kids film that will entertain the adults too, as it’s a clever twist on the Superman story. It pokes fun at comic-book characters and superhero cliches. Will Ferrell is the perfect voice for Megamind, an evil genius with a big blue head. Megamind's arch enemy is Metroman brilliantly played by Brad Pitt, also a superhero but with a giant ego. The story;-  Megamind kidnaps Roxy Ritchi (a kind of Lois Lane) as bait to lure Megamind into a fatal trap. Without Metroman to safeguard Metrocity, Megamind is free to wreak havoc . This film reminds you of The Incredibles and Dispicable Me, similar stories about badddies and goodies, etc. It was scripted a while back by the Cohen Brothers, picked up by Ben Stiller's production company and finally ended up with Dreamworks. Now its another successful 3D animated kids movie.

The Road – Eldorado, Dir. John Hillcoat, based on the book by Cormac McCarthy who also wrote the Cohen brothers 'No Country for Old Men'. This film is a dark adventure, a drama in the Sci-Fi genre. A Post-apocalyptic story about a man, played by Viggo Mortensen and his son (Kodi Smit McVee) caught up an ecological disaster that has almost destroyed the world. The man seeks to protect his son and keep him safe form harms way, from extreme hunger the cold weather and especially the cannibals making the road unsafe.

Fair Game – Eldorado, Dir. Doug Liman Valerie played by Naomi Watts is a CIA Agent, her husband Joe played by Sean Penn is a Journalist. As the USA invade Iraq in 2003, the couple work at first together on an undercover assignment, the cover gets blown.  It’s based on events surrounding the attempts to discover weapons of mass destruction and how to end the war.

Machete -  Pathe Kuchlin , Dir. Robert Rodrigez. Machete is Grindhouse after Tarantino’s Planet Terror and Death Proof. Machete stars Danny Trejo, Jessica Alba, Robert De Niro. Machete has nothing left to lose. Drug baron ‘Torrez’ played by Steven Seagal has killed Machete’s entire family as he was middleman for the Mexican state police. Machete flees to Texas. There he awaits a further bloodbath.

My featured film director is the director that brought Australian Films to critical acclaim Bruce Beresford , famous for ‘Breaker Morant’ and ‘Driving Miss Daisy’. His latest production is Mao's Last Dancer - Pathe Kuchlin. Stars Kyle McClachlan and Bruce Greenwood.

There was a surprising list of war movies shown at Neues Kino, Klybeckstrasse 127, kino, it now appears open for punters in Klein Basel,  - featured war movies; -

1.      Apocalypse Now Redux, Dir. Francis Ford Coppola starring Martin Sheene, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall and Dennis Hopper

2.      Full Metal Jacket, Dir. Stanley Kibrick starring Matthew Modine and Adam Baldwin

3.      Green Berets, Dir. John Huston starring John Wayne, Davis Janssen, Jim Hutton



The American, (Eldorado, Rex) Dir. Anton Corbijn and starring George Clooney. Jack, a cool contract killer knows exactly what a perfect murder entails. The film opens across the crunchy snow in Sweden where a job goes unexpectedly wrong. Jack tells his contact that the next assignment will be his last. Set in stunning locations in Sweden and also beautifully shot in Abruzzio and Castel del Monte in the Apennines east of central Italy. Corbijn of course was also a photographic journalist and a video-maker before turning his hand to film, remember Control. Very European set, extremely underplayed, and up close and personal. There’s no car crashes but a scooter chase through pale yellow, catacomb, streets at night. It’s a character study of a anxious and lost man who wants nothing more than to find a way out but finds himself constantly on the run.

Eat, Pray, Love, (Capitol, Pathe) Dir. Ryan Murphy starring Julia Roberts and Javier Badem is based on the best seller written by Elizabeth Gilbert. Liz Gilbert has everything a woman dreams of, a great career, a nice house, a partner. Now divorced and despondent Liz travels through exotic locations in order to rediscover herself. Soul-searching love story played out from a grey New York through Italy, India and Bali. Some say the film focuses on “self-congratulations for self-indulgence as an act of courage”, however, everybody’s reading the book.

The Town, (Plaza) Dir. Ben Afleck, starring Ben Afleck and Catherine Hall. A crime thriller set in a blue-collar neighbourhood of Boston. Afleck plays a ruthless leader of a gang of successful bank robbers, he wants one last heist then he’s out. Not so easy as he falls for romantic involvement not far from the banks safes.

Tamara Drew, (Kult Kino) Dir. Stephen Frears and starring Gemma Arterton, one of the girls in St.Trinians farce. English comedy with a host of stars, a late summer romp set in rural England and based on a pen & ink cartoon strip by Posy Simmonds. Frears brings all the characters to life in this production. Some of us might not like the cute whimsical touches. However, lookout for Beth Hardiment played by Tamsin Grieg, brilliant pent up emotions and jeallousy. Frears is famous for such productions as Dangerous Liasons, The Grifters, My Beautiful Laundrette, High-Fidelity and the Queen.

Nowhere Boy, (Kult.Kino, Atelier 2)Dir. Sam Taylor Wood and starring Will Gregory who plays the young John Lennon brought up by his Aunt Mimi in Liverpool before the Beatles fame. It traces the source of John’s music to the bitter rivalry between his Mum Julia and her sister. Also stars Kirsten Scott-Thomas and there’s music from Goldfrapp.

Documentary (Kult. Kino, Camera 1) Cleveland vs Wall Street, Dir. Stephan Bron, is a stirring look at the consequences of the Credit Crunch. Link this to the new Hollywood film from Oliver Stone called Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps staring Michael Douglas as the recidivist Gordon Gekko and his new sidekick played by Shia LeBoeuf.

Look out for;- Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Dir. Edgar Wright. Billed as one of the most visually inventive films this year. Appealing to the youth of today its packed full of sub-cultural ideas in every shot. Wright made zombie send up hits such Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz a few years back. This a tale of young love threatened by nasty ex-boy friends. A young bass player brought up on video games, comics and text speak has to battle with the enemy when he drops his girl friend for a new love. This might make Tarantino’s stuff look dated. It brings to mind Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with its naturally played relationships amid novel special effects.

The other film of note is the Social Network, a fictionalized account of the rise and rise of the social media site called Facebook which in just six years has collected half a billion friends and 23 billion dollars for its inventor Zuckerberg.