A Screaming Man

Mahamet-Saleh Haroun’s third cinematic feature, sparse and emotionally kinetic, tells the modern-day allegorical tale of a Chadian man, Adam (Youssouf Djaoro); once unchangeable by the world, and content in his life, while seemingly devoted to his family (but more so his past), who begins to disintegrate as a result of pressures outside his usually taut control; forces which jolt him out of his still-water complacency.

Insidious

Hoping to ride on the success of the bafflingly popular yet seemingly plot-less Paranormal Activity, and the relentlessly money-spinning blood-fest that is the Saw franchise, here comes yet another horror film centred on a demonic kid. Only, one gets the distinct impression that the makers wanted to take a well-worn horror concept to new heights of nightmarishness; sadly the result is pretty ridiculous.

My filmy film: Arthur

In this light-hearted remake of the 1981 film, Russell Brand takes on the taxing role of a flamboyant bachelor billionaire, Arthur, who is nanny-ed into unemployability by lifelong governess, Hobson (Helen Mirren). Arthur’s days spent cavorting around New York with his chauffer dressed as Batman and generally indulging in laddish pursuits are threatened when mummy (Geraldine James) delivers a crushing ultimatum: marry money hungry socialite Susan (Jennnifer Garner) and ensure the future of the family business or face a life of poverty. What seems like a solid business agreement is jeopardised via a chance encounter with a captivating writer from Queens, Naomi (Greta Gerwig), and Arthur must choose between his love of money and his love of a penniless enchantress whom his mother loathes.

Vincent Gallo plays a kind of art-house Rambo in Essential Killing

Jerzy Skolimowski (writer of Knife in the Water, writer-director of Deep End, actor in Before Night Falls) is clearly not a bad sort. His credits speak for themselves. And on top of writing one of Polanski’s greatest hits, he’s won a Golden Bear, Special Jury prizes galore and was even in Eastern Promises, which wasn’t such a farce either.

With Essential Killing he’s back in the fold-out director’s chair he seemingly carries around, popping it open when his mood so fits, and here he’s got the volatile talent of ‘Best Actor’ in Venice, Vincent Gallo , heading it all up quite confidently.

Hey, What’s Sawyer from “Lost” Doing in a Hobbit House?

A trim and sexy Peter Jackson leaks the first shots from the upcoming prequels on Facebook.

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger opens on a watery-eyed, newly divorced wallflower named Helena (Gemma Jones- Bridget Jones). Suddenly plunged into the world of singledom and unable to move on from her failed marriage, she seeks solace in the prophecies of ‘psychic’ Cristal (Pauline Collins), along with liberal measures of whisky. Her predicted tall, dark stranger, turns out to be rather more a strange, plump and follically challenged occultist, complete with a whole heap of ectoplasmic baggage. Meanwhile, her freshly Fake-Baked ex husband Alfie (Anthony Hopkins) seeks his succour in the money-grabbing arms of doe-eyed ditz Charmaine (Lucy Punch) whose wandering gaze falls on her unctuous personal trainer. Despite Alfie’s rather desperate attempts to stay young – cue Viagra jokes aplenty- cracks begin to appear as he realises his rash decisions may have cost him dear.

Is Route Irish the first honest film about Iraq?

Ken Loach’s take on Iraq was always going to be one to look out for. After In Our Name, Green Zone, The Hurt Locker and a slurry of others sent hot and steaming down the pipe of supposedly cantankerous cinema, Route Irish is a welcome return to veracity that has undoubtedly been amiss in previous war-film efforts. This isn’t to say that those other films aren’t sincere. Surely their respective producers think and believe the things they project up onto the screen, supposed wisdom in a blindfold, it’s just that no one as qualified or well-informed as Loach has bothered to make a mystery/thrillerama like this, until now.

Norwegian Wood

Anh Hung Tran’s adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s 1987 novel, Norwegian Wood, is one of those films that leaves you seeking out the source material. Perhaps that isn’t even a bad thing.

The Trainspotting Posters: Fifteen Years Later

Creative Review publishes an in-depth interview Mark Blamire and Rob O’Connor, the brains behind the iconic artwork.

Howl

As well as telling the story of the 1957 obscenity trial concerning City Lights Books’ publication of the seminal poem, Howl, Friedman and Epstein’s film attempts to navigate the murky juices of Allen Ginsberg’s life and work during the 1950s, with a little slick black and white reconstruction of some of 20th Century literature’s most seditious moments to boot. And it fails to do any of it convincingly.