Sep 17th
Jane and the Lost City
GB 1987. Blue Dolphin/Mercel-Robinson. 92m.

In 1940 feisty Jane races to beat the Nazis to some valuable diamonds.
Childish Raiders of the Lost Ark spoof - based on a lewd wartime 1940s comic strip for the lewder 1980s - which at least doesn't have any pretensions to by anything more than it is.

Written by: Mervyn Haisman.
Producer: Harry Robertson.
Director: Terry Marcel.
Starring: Kirsten Hughes, Sam J. Jones, Robin Bailey, Graham Stark, Maud Adams, Jasper Carrott, Ian Roberts, Elsa O'Toole, John Rapley.
Photography: Paul Beeson.
Music: Harry Robertson.

Sep 15th
Julie and Julia** (12A)
Odeon Colchester

In the 1950's would-be chef Julia Child struggles to write a recipe book for ordinary American housewives, and in 2002 a young would-be writer tries to emulate her online by cooking all her recipes and writing about them.
Quite fun cross-telling of two women's real-life exploits (like The Hours but wittier) where the modern story is commendably just as enjoyable as the Parisian one, with Streep's delightfully eccentric Julia Child only occasionally slipping into impersonation. Characteristically cliched and sentimental (for this writer/director) in places, but occasionally lets some of the harder edges creep in (eg. Julia Child herself disapproved of the fan blog.)

d: Nora Ephron
s: Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, Chris Messina

Sep 10th
Zelig**
US 1983. Warner Bros/Orion. 79m. bw

Spoof documentary charting the comic history of a human chameleon.
Beautifully authentic in its seamless transitions into the 1930s, although it sags in the middle when concentrating on psychoanalysis, interspersed with some characteristic Allen moments, and the subject is certainly a quirky one for such slick treatment.

Written and Directed by: Woody Allen.
Producer: Robert Greenhut.
Narrator: Patrick Horgan.
Starring: Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Susan Sontag, and others.
Photography: Gordon Willis.
Music: Dick Hyman.

Preceded by:
Bugs Bunny (and the Looney Tunes) in
Carrotblanca
(US 1995. Warner Bros. 8m.; d: Douglas McCarthy.)

Sep 3rd
Frozen*
GB 2004. Guerilla Films/RS/Shoreline/Freedonia Films. 90m.

A girl's sister disappears, but she sees a mysterious image of her in video surveillance footage; her friends and the local priest counselling her try to persuade otherwise.
Downbeat modern take on L'Avventura and Don't Look Now, with the supernatural elements sometimes sitting uneasily with the realistic setting, making atmospheric use of its grimy locations in Fleetwood and Morecambe Bay.

Written by: Juliet McKeon, Jayne Steel.
Producer: Mark Levender.
Director: Juliet McKeon.
Starring: Shirley Henderson, Roshan Seth, Richard Armitage, Ralf Little Ger Ryan, Jamie Sives, Shireen Shah.
Photography: Philip Robertson.
Music: Guy Michelmore.