Dec 30th
The Right Stuff** US 1983. Warner Bros/The Ladd Company. 192m.

The development of the NASA Mercury Space Program, told in tandem with one non-astronaut's attempts to break the sound barrier.
Commendable adaptation of Tom Wolfe's epic character study of the test pilots and their families in the course of making history, well crafted to capture the period with some epic moments and good performances, yet somehow the magnitude of the real life events seems a little blunted and not quite so well captured as the amusing training scenes are. Perhaps each historic achievement was more evenly covered in one book than in a 3-hour film.

Written and Directed by: Philip Kaufman, from the novel by Tom Wolfe.
Producers: Robert Chartoff, Irwin Winkler.
Starring: Scott Shepard (Chuck Yeager), Scott Glenn (Alan Shepherd), Ed Harris (John Glenn), Dennis Quaid (Gordon Cooper), Fred Ward (Gus Grissom), Barbara Hershey, Pamela Reed, Veronica Cartwright, Kim Stanley, Mary Jo Deschanel, Scott Paulin, Charles Frank, Lance Henriksen, Donald Moffat (as Lyndon B. Johnson), Jeff Goldblum, Harry Shearer, Levon Helm.
Photography: Caleb Deschanel.
Music: Bill Conti.
Production Design: Geoffrey Kirkland.

Dec 28thNaked Gun 33 and a Third: The Final Insult*
US 1994. Paramount. 82m.

Impotent married cop Frank Drebin comes out of retirement to foil a terrorist bomb plot at the Academy Awards.
Third zany outing of this series, sending up White Heat, Thelma and Louise, The Bodyguard and others, without too many knowing references and plenty of funny moments, although the plot is largely an irrelevance. Given the story, and some of the participants involved, the film has a rather curious echo of events to come about it.

Written by: Pat Proft, David Zucker, Robert LoCash.
Producers: Robert K. Weiss, David Zucker.
Director: Peter Segal.
Starring: Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, Fred Ward, Kathleen Freeman, George Kennedy, O.J. Simpson, Anna Nicole Smith, Ellen Greene, Raquel Welch, Pia Zadora, Elliott Gould, Meriel Hemingway, James Earl Jones, Olympia Dukakis, R. Lee Ermey.
Photography: Robert Stevens.
Music: Ira Newborn.
Production Design: Lawrence G. Paull.

Dec 26th 
The Thief and the Cobbler**  
aka: The Princess and the Cobbler; Arabian Knight
GB/US 1993. Richard Williams. 97m.

In a faraway land a compulsive petty thief steals three golden balls from the top of a minaret, which spells the destruction of the city, unless a simple cobbler can save the day.
The "Recobbled" cut of Richard Williams' magnum opus animated fantasy (taken away from him and remade by Miramax as a Disneyesque cartoon musical) is, like last year's Richard Donner Cut of Superman II (Dec 10th 2006), very much an impression of the original film rather than the finished product, with several draft sketches in place of missing scenes and some small use of the Miramax version, but that which fully remains is spellbinding (if frightfully over-indulgent) and the animator's sardonic visual imagination still survives.

Written by: Richard Williams, Margaret French.
Producers: Imogen Sutton, Richard Williams.
Director: Richard Williams.
Voices of Vincent Price, Anthony Quayle, Hilary Pritchard, Paul Matthews, Windsor Davies, Joan Sims, Kenneth Williams, Stanley Baxter, Felix Aylmer (narrator), Sean Connery.
Music: various classical pieces, Robert Folk.

Restoration: Garrett Gilchrist.

+ production began in 1965, under the title of Nasrudin, until the author of the original Nasrudin tales sued for copyright, and the character was subsequently written out of the script. Most of the actors including Vincent Price (in the main role of the evil Grand Vizier) recorded their lines 28 years before the eventual release, with occasional further scenes recorded as the years went by. During this time Richard Williams, struggling with his own money, funded the further production with his animations for several TV commercials and films such as The Charge of the Light Brigade, The Return of the Pink Panther, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The latter's success enabled Williams to persuade a major studio to give him the remaining funds to finish the movie up to a certain date, after which The Completion Bond Company took charge of the film out of Williams' hands.

Dec 19th
Angels with Dirty Faces***
US 1938. Warner Bros. 97m. bw

Two back street kids grow up to become a priest and a notorious gangster respectively. The latter agrees to act like a coward on his execution, for the sake of the other back street kids who admire him.
A typical example of Warner Brothers trying to have their cake and eat it, and largely succeeding: an action-packed gangster melodrama with an added superficial moral element, and also a top-notch vehicle for Cagney, with all the right ingredients in place, including the as-usual second-string Humphrey Bogart (who nonetheless relishes it), and The Dead End Kids, whom in spite of the film's poignantly optimistic ending, went back to their thieving ways (of course) in other films.

Written by: John Wexley, Warren Duff, from a story by Rowland Brown.
Producer: Sam Bischoff.
Director: Michael Curtiz.
Starring: James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, George Bancroft, The Dead End Kids (Billy Halop, Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, Gabriel Dell, Huntz Hall, Bernard Punsley), Frankie Burke (an uncanny impersonation of a young Cagney), William Tracey, Marilyn Knowlden.
Photography: Sol Polito.
Music: Max Steiner.
Art Direction: Robert Haas.

Preceded by:
News of the Day (1938)
MGM. 2m. bw
("Peace" Pact Signed at Munich – America Rallies for Tolerance – America Re-arms Against Tyranny!)

Out Where the Stars Begin*
(US 1938. 20m.; A make-up man helps a Broadway dancer to sneak into the studio.; w: Crane Wilbur; d: Bobby Connolly; s: Evelyn Thawl, Jeffrey Lynn, Fritz Feld (an amusing take-off of Michael Curtiz), Charley Foy, Pat O'Brien, Ann Sheridan; ph: Ray Renahan; m: M.K. Jerome, Jack Scholl; for Vitaphone/Warner Bros.)

Porky and Daffy**
(US 1938. Warner Bros. 8m. bw; Enjoyably absurd boxing cartoon short.; p: Leon Schlesinger; anim: Robert Cannon, John Carey; voices: Mel Blanc.)

Dec 18th
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (U)
Vue Romford

A magical toy store owner hands his legacy over to a brilliant young pianist who has lost her sparkle.
Forcibly sentimental fantasy comedy, with "magic" created through special effects rather than characterisation - most of the sub-plots don't amount to much ultimately. As much of a novelty as the average toy really: fun to begin with, but soon becoming tiresome.

d: Zach Helm
s: Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Jason Bateman, Zach Mills, Ted Ludzik

Dec 13th
In the Shadow of the Moon** (U)
Hollywood Film Theatre, Ipswich

GB/US 2007. Film Four/Passion Pictures. 100m.

Documentary interviews with the dozen or so US astronauts who stepped onto the Moon between 1968 and 1972.
Another semi-celebratory flagwaver about the Apollo Space program, relying much on the individual accounts of the people themselves (the reclusive Neil Armstrong excepted) as well as a trove of sometimes irrelevant archive material. A little more of the technical details of the missions would have helped, as the global impact is already pretty well known (and covered in other films), but the power of the Moon landings themselves, still compel.

Producer: Duncan Copp.
Director: David Sington.
Starring: Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean, Gene Cernan, Mike Collins, Charlie Duke, Jim Lovell, Edgar Mitchell, Dave Scott, Jack Schmitt, John Young.
Music: Philip Sheppard.
Editing: David Fairhead.

Dec 9th
The Golden Compass** (PG)
Flicks Clacton























In a parallel world similar to England, a girl travels North to rescue her friend from Magisteriums who are trying to separate children from their consciences.
Slickly packaged CGI adaptation of the first of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, "Northern Lights", with the controversial Godless element removed (but remaining as an obvious subtext), and a heroine who drops her T's a lot. I find the world it creates a little impenetrable and hard to engage with, but with some impressive individual characterisation and a good, measured Lord of the Rings-style climax (for whom the studio clearly hopes this will emulate.)

d: Chris Weitz
s: Dakota Blue Fanning, Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Sam Elliott, Eva Green, Ben Walker, Jim Carter, Tom Courtenay, Derek Jacobi, Christopher Lee, Simon McBurney, Clare Higgins, Jack Shepherd; voices of Ian McKellen, Freddie Highmore, Ian McShane, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Kathy Bates

Dec 5th
Carlton-Browne of the F.O. GB 1958. British Lion/Charter Films. 88m. bw

A foppish civil servant is given the responsibility of negotiating the safe conduct of a remote former island colony also being sought by the Russians.
Eccentric but not particularly biting satire, with a drab romantic sub-plot and a script that slightly wastes the comic talents on display.

Written and Directed by: Roy Boulting, Jeffrey Dell.
Producer: John Boulting.
Starring: Terry-Thomas, Peter Sellers, Ian Bannen, Luciana Paluzzi, John Le Mesurier, Thorley Walters, Raymond Huntley, Miles Malleson, Marie Lohr, Kynaston Reeves, Ronald Adam, John Van Eyssen, Nicholas Parsons, Kenneth Griffith.
Photography: Max Greeene.
Music: John Addison.

Nov 30th
Good Luck Chuck (15)
Odeon Colchester

US 2007. Lionsgate/Karz. 96m.

A dentist who is cursed to date women just before they find their true love, tries to break the spell when he finds his own.
Gross-out romantic comedy with quite a few familiar elements for the genre. Some bright moments but the jokes are mostly overdone.

Written by: Josh Stolberg, from a story by Steve Glenn.
Producers: Barry Katz, Brian York-Weiss.
Director: Mark Helfrich.
Starring: Dane Cook, Jessica Alba, Dan Fogler, Ellia English, Lonny Ross.
Photography: Anthony B. Richmond.
Music: Aaron Zigman.

+ staple joke:

hero to best friend: "What is sex without love?"
friend: "SEX...!"