Mar 26th
Oz The Great and Powerful** (PG)                  
(Cineworld Ipswich)

A travelling magician is sucked into the faraway land of Oz and grudgingly fulfills a prophecy to become its chief Wizard and overcome the wicked witch.
A precursor to The Wizard of Oz retaining some of its style and look, and although the central character becomes irritating he is also a sideline by the end in what is a very charmingly imaginative CGI fantasy by today's standards (the non-12A certificate is a blessing), with sympathetic sides to be found even in the villains, although something seems curiously missing from the film - a genuine sense of wonder perhaps, as the film seems permanently to remind us that it is all illusion.

d: Sam Raimi
s: James Franco, Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams, Rachel Weisz,  Zach Braff, Joey King, Bill Cobbs, Tony Cox, Bruce Campbell

Mar 23rd
Saboteur**                                          

(US 1942)

Universal. 108m. bw

An aircraft factory worker is wrongly accused of sabotage and goes on the run to find the real culprit.
Slightly stilted and contrived Trans-American Hitchcock thriller, not quite as sharp or as briskly entertaining as The 39 Steps, with pauses for propagandizing about American values, but still manages to fit in imaginative climaxes at Radio City Music Hall and the Statue of Liberty.

Written by: Peter Viertel, Joan Harrison, Dorothy Parker, from a story by Alfred Hitchcock.
Producers: Frank Lloyd, Jack H. Skirball.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock.
Starring: Robert Cummings, Priscilla Lane, Otto Kruger, Alan Baxter, Alma Kruger, Norman Lloyd, Vaughan Glaser, Ian Wolfe.
Photography: Joseph Valentine.
Music: Frank Skinner.

SABOTEUR. Robert Cummings as the archetypal Hitchcock wronged hero on the run, getting to grips with feisty Priscilla Lane.

Mar 21st
The Hunger Games*                                 

(US 2012)

In a Roman-style America of the future, teenagers are entered into reality show-style gladiator contests to the death. One girl volunteers in order to save her sister but also has to fight against a friend who has a crush on her.
Grotesque looking in parts but involving teenage angst drama with a twist, thanks mainly to the central performance of Jennifer Lawrence (even though much of her dialogue is unintelligible), based on another successful series of teen novels. Not badly done, with enough skill to appeal to adults as well.

Written by: Gary Ross, Billy Ray, Suzanne Collins, from her novel.
Producers: Nina Jacobson, Jon Kilik.
Director: Gary Ross.
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Lenny Kravitz, Wes Bentley, Toby Jones, Willow Shields, Amandla Stenberg.
Photography: Tom Stern.
Music: James Newton Howard.
Production Design: Philip Messina.

+ some Second Unit work was filmed by Steven Soderbergh

Mar 13th
New York, I Love You*              

(US 2009)                     


Follow-up to Paris Je T'aime and just as varied although slightly slicker with some of the slender vignettes spread among the other ones, with some occasional pleasant twists in the tales.


Producers: Emmanuel Benbihy, Marina Grasic.

Directors: Jiang Wen (starring: Hayden Christensen, Andy Garcia, Rachel Bilson);
Mira Nair (s: Natalie Portman, Irrfan Khan);
Shunji Iwai (s: Orlando Bloom, Christina Ricci);
Yvan Attal (s: Ethan Hawke, Maggie Q, Chris Cooper, Robin Wright Penn);
Brett Ratner (s: James Caan, Anton Yelchin, Olivia Thirlby, Blake Lively);
Allen Hughes (s: Bradley Cooper, Drea de Matteo);
Shekhar Kapur (s: Julie Christie, Shia LeBeouf, John Hurt);
Natalie Portman (s: Carlos Acosta, Taylor Geare, Jacinda Barrett);
Fatih Akin (s: Ugur Yucel, Shu Qi, Burt Young);
Joshua Marston (s: Eli Wallach, Cloris Leachman);
Randy Balsmayer (linking scenes) (s: Emilie Ohana)

Mar 8th
The Ghost of St. Michael's***              

(GB 1941)         
Ealing. 74m(DVD version). bw

An evacuated school in a castle on the Isle of Skye becomes the target of mysterious deaths. A seedy science teacher and his cleverer pupils investigate.
Splendid wartime reworking of Oh Mr Porter! of which the murder plot is not worth a great deal attention, but the fine supporting cast and some typical Hay malapropisms more than hold the attention.

Written by: Angus MacPhail, John Dighton.
Producers: Michael Balcon, Basil Dearden.
Director: Marcel Varnel.
Starring: Will Hay, Claude Hulbert,Charles Hawtrey, John Laurie, Felix Aylmer, Raymond Huntley, Derek Bromfield, Elliott Mason, Hay Petrie.
Photography: Derek Williams.
Musical Direction: Ernest Irving.