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Fruitvale Station CERT 15 (85mins)
Starring Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz,
Octavia Spencer, Kevin Durand, Chad
Michael Murray
Directed by Ryan Coogler (USA)
Oscar Julius Grant III is not presented as an
honest man. In fact, he’s a fairly typical product
of his environment: an ex-con, petty drug dealer,
doting father and loving son, a streetwise
African-American brother from Oakland,
California, who is finding it hard to hold down a
job. As played by Michael B Jordan, he’s also
quite a charismatic character with an engaging
smile - if an occasionally incendiary temper.
You just don’t dis his mother or his girlfriend…
Although based on a true incident that
occurred in the early hours of New Year’s Day
in 2009, Fruitvale Station is actually a fairly
leisurely docudrama, a slice-of-life piece focusing
on a certain corner of America today. What
makes the film so compelling, though, is
Jordan’s performance and the authentic voice
of its debutant director, Ryan Coogler. Coogler
has managed to pinpoint the dynamic of his
subject matter with an honesty and integrity
that draws the viewer into his world, making its
outcome all the more affecting.
From
FRI
13JUNE
Released from Fri 13 June
A Perfect Plan CERT tbc
Starring Diane Kruger, Dany Boon, Alice Pol,
Robert Plagnol
Directed by Pascal Chaumeil (France)
Isabelle’s family has a very unusual curse: the
first marriage of every female ends in divorce.
So, although Isabelle (Kruger) adores her
boyfriend, Pierre, she
decides to sidestep
the jinx by marrying a
complete stranger
first… This is the sort
of French romcom
that looks as if it were
made to produce a
Hollywood remake.
Watch this space.
Devil’s Knot CERT 15 (114 mins)
Starring Colin Firth, Reese Witherspoon,
Dane DeHaan, Mireille Enos, Bruce
Greenwood, Elias Koteas, Alessandro Nivola
Directed by Atom Egoyan (USA)
Based on the book by Mara Leveritt, this is the
true story of three eight-year-old boys who went
missing in 1993 in
West Memphis. In the
event, the boys’
naked bodies were
found horrifically
beaten and sexually
mutilated. Colin Firth
plays the private
investigator on the
case.
Oculus CERT 15 (103mins)
Starring Karen Gillan, Brenton Thwaites, Rory
Cochrane, Katee Sackhoff
Directed by Mike Flanagan (USA)
Karen Gillan - Amy Pond in Doctor Who -
makes her American film debut in this slice of
supernatural horror. She plays Kaylie Russell,
whose brother is convicted of murdering their
own father. But Kaylie suspects the killer was
something entirely less human… These things
happen.
The Food Guide To Love CERT tbc
Starring Richard Coyle, Leonor Watling,
Lorcan Cranitch, Bronagh Gallagher
Directed by Dominic Harari and Teresa de
Pelegri (Spain/Ireland/France)
The cinema is littered with great films about
food, not least Babette's Feast, Ratatouille and
Ang Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman. This romantic
comedy about a food critic (Coyle) who uses
his recipes to win the hearts (and bodies) of
women, looks like a cordon bleu addition to the
genre. Filmed in Dublin.
The Young And Prodigious
T.S. Spivet CERT tbc
Starring Kyle Catlett, Helena Bonham
Carter, Judy Davis, Callum Keith Rennie,
Niamh Wilson Directed by Jean-Pierre
Jeunet (France/Canada)
With the films Delicatessen, The City of Lost
Children, Amélie and Micmacs, Jean-Pierre
Jeunet has proved to be one of the most
inventive of modern filmmakers. Here, he
journeys to Montana to tell the story of a tenyear-old
cartographer who sets across country
to receive a prize at the Smithsonian
Institute for his discovery of a perpetual
motion machine. Expect vivid characters and
lashings of charm. In 3D.
Released from Fri 20 June
Chinese Puzzle CERT 15 (117mins)
Starring Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Cécile
De France, Kelly Reilly, Sandrine Holt
Directed by Cédric Klapisch (France)
When the mother of his two children moves
from Paris to New York, Xavier Rousseau
(Duris) can’t bear to be away from them. So he
moves to New York, too. What’s not to like?
Duris is arguably the most charismatic actor
working in France today, and
Mlles Tautou, De France and
Reilly are not to be sniffed at
either. This completes the
romantic trilogy that started
with Pot Luck (2002) and
Russian Dolls (2005).
The Art Of The Steal CERT 15 (86mins)
Starring Kurt Russell, Jay Baruchel, Katheryn
Winnick, Chris Diamantopoulos, Terence
Stamp, Matt Dillon
Directed by Jonathan Sobol (Canada)
We’re back in the world of art heists, and Kurt
Russell plays an art thief called Crunch
Calhoun (no, seriously). After seven years in
prison he rounds up his old gang for one last
heist. Is it just us, or does this sound wildly
familiar?
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