Movies

Friday 8 August 2008

In tandem with Channel 4's Generation Next series of programmes, Film4 presents a short season of films from up-and-coming directors. Aaron Katz's second film after Dance Party USA , which is also showing as part of the season, is a quieter film about a simple, touching relationship. Jamie (Erin Fisher), a stranger in New York, has been stood up by the friend who promised her accommodation. She bumps into Charlie (Cris Lankenau) who offers to put her up and slowly, the pair begin to fall in love.

Thursday 7 August 2008

Hilary Swank stars in Clint Eastwood's film as Maggie Fitzgerald, a blue-collar woman who believes she can make it to the top in the female boxing ranks. Much against his will, she persuades ageing trainer Frankie Dunn (Eastwood) to take her on, and with his sidekick Eddie "Scrap-Iron" Dupris (Morgan Freeman), he takes her to the top and a title fight. Which is when the film takes a very different turn and Dunn faces guilt and doubts that conflict with his strict Catholic beliefs.

Wednesday 6 August 2008

In tandem with Channel 4's Generation Next series of programmes, Film4 presents a short season of films from up-and-coming directors. After the success of Funny Ha-Ha , which is also showing in the season tomorrow night, Andrew Bujalski's second film stars Justin Rice as Alan, an aspiring singer-songwriter who hopes to further his career in New York. Staying with his best friend Lawrence (Bujalski) and his girlfriend Ellie (Rachel Clift), who takes a shine to him, he tries to carve a career path while staying clear of distracting entanglements.

Tuesday 5 August 2008

In the Films to See Before You Die strand, Paul Kaye introduces Robert Altman's satire on Hollywood mores. Tim Robbins stars as Griffin Mill, a studio exec who commits the ultimate sin and forgets to call a writer back. Suddenly, threatening faxes and mail start arriving just as his job is under threat from slimy Larry Levy (Peter Gallagher) and girlfriend Bonnie Sherow (Cynthia Stevenson) is showing just a tad too much intelligence for the trophy wife he planned.

Monday 4 August 2008

Jared Hess's high-school comedy stars Jon Heder as the eponymous Napoleon Dynamite, who is on the lowest rung of the nerd ladder - even his best (and only) friend Pedro Sanchez (Efren Ramirez) beats him to a date for the high-school dance. But when Pedro asks Napoleon to be his campaign manager for the school election, how can he refuse?

Sunday 3 August 2008

The legendary Jackie Chan stars in this martial arts comedy thriller as a celebrity chef who is inadvertently dragged into the battle for incriminating evidence about a drugs deal. Chan rescues TV news reporter Diana (Gabrielle Fitzpatrick), who has footage of a major drugs deal led by crime boss Giancarlo (Richard Norton). The criminals think Jackie's got the film and, with the gang and their rivals both eager to get their hands on it, Jackie's girlfriend Miki (Miki Lee) in danger of kidnap and both sides after him, the scene is set for some of the most outrageous set-pieces of Chan's career.

Saturday 2 August 2008

Directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly making a film about conjoined twins sounds like a recipe for stomach-churning grossness, but Stuck on You gets its laughs from others, not the twins. Bo and Walt (played by Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear) run a diner in Martha's Vineyard, but Walt yearns for Hollywood stardom. Bo agrees to humour him and they hit LA, where Walt lands a part in a TV series starring Cher (herself): the shy Bo has to be hidden by scenery or "brushed out" from the scene.

Friday 8 August 2008

A powerful feature-length drama that questions the lack of effective measures in place to prevent convicted child sex offenders from reoffending after prison, and ultimately seeks to explore ways to best safeguard our children. Matthew Macfadyen ( Spooks, Pride and Prejudice ) plays Charlie. In his early thirties, Charlie is white, middle-class and a child sex offender who has served his prison sentence but who, by his own admission, continues to pose a significant danger to children. When the rehabilitation centre he has elected to attend is shut down he is cast adrift in the local community, without guidance or psychological treatment, to struggle alone with his compulsion to reoffend.

Monday 4 August 2008

This is the story of Charles Dickens - the greatest Victorian of them all - and the great hidden love of his life, Nelly Ternan. It explores how a man who was compared to Christ on his death was, in private, driven by adulterous passion for a woman 27 years his junior. This film is a quest to discover the truth behind the smokescreen set up by the Dickens industry to hide the secret love affair which continued for 13 years.

Saturday 2 August 2008

(2001) Loosely based on A Midsummer Night's Dream , Get Over It centres on Berke Landers (Ben Foster), a high school student down on his luck. After losing his girlfriend, he resolves to get her back by any means possible. Quitting his beloved basketball team and auditioning for the school play to be closer to his ex, Berke soon finds out that the path to true love doesn't run smoothly. As soon as he stops moping over his break-up, he begins to fall in love with his best friend's sister (Kirsten Dunst), and finds that romance is everywhere.

Saturday 26 July 2008

(1996) John Travolta and Christian Slater star in John Woo's crafty action movie hit.

Friday 1 August 2008

Bobby and Peter Farrelly's romcom stars Jimmy Fallon as Ben Wrightman, a teacher who meets high-powered business woman Lindsey Meeks (Drew Barrymore). They hit it off and their feelings grow for each other until she realises there's someone else in his life - the Boston Red Sox baseball team. Based on Nick Hornby's novel Fever Pitch and released in America under that title.

Thursday 31 July 2008

Amy Heckerling, who directed the superb Fast Times at Ridgemont High , scores again with this high-school take on Jane Austen's Emma . Alicia Silverstone plays Cher Horowitz who, thanks to her rich lawyer daddy, has it all. She and her school friend Dionne (Stacey Dash) decide to take new girl Tai (Brittany Murphy) under their wing and make sure she finds a date. They succeed, only to find they've created a monster...

Wednesday 30 July 2008

Trey Parker's film (which he co-wrote with Matt Stone) moves on from the animation of South Park to marionette puppets playing characters who save the world. But anyone expecting Stingray or Thunderbirds -type heroics will be sorely disappointed. Team America: World Police , led by Spottswoode (voiced by Daran Norris), recruit actor Gary Johnston (Trey Parker) to join their team and use his thespian skills to infiltrate the terrorist group planning "9/11 times 2,356" led by North Korean leader Kim Jong II.

Tuesday 29 July 2008

On the first anniversary of his death, Film4 presents a short season of films by Ingmar Bergman. One of cinema's seminal films, Ingmar Bergman's masterpiece passes the test of time. A knight and his squire (Max Von Sydow and Gunnar Bjornstrand), returning home from the Crusades through a plague-ridden land, meet Death (Bengt Ekerot) who engages the knight in a chess game as the pair debate the mysteries of life, faith and death itself.