Mar 24th   
Wonderland*   
(US 2003)
Lions Gate Films/Flirt Pictures. 104m. 

Porn film star John Holmes becomes implicated in the Wonderland murders in July 1981 among the drug-fueled Los Angeles underworld.
Stylized in the manner of Rashomon to show different perspectives on an unsolved murder case, and hardly a good advertisement for LA justice, but carried along in a certain glitzy nostalgia to hold the attention, and also a barely cohesive plot.

Written by: James Cox, Captain Mauzaer, Todd Samovitz, D. Loriston Scott.
Producers: Michael Paseornek, Holly Wiersma.
Director: James Cox.
Starring: Val Kilmer, Kate Bosworth, Dylan McDermott, Lisa Kudrow, Josh Lucas, Christina Applegate, Eric Bogosian, Carrie Fisher, Ted Levine, Janeane Garofalo.
Photography: Michael Grady.
Music: Cliff Martinez.

Preceded by:
A Hole Lot of Trouble*
(GB 1969. Monarch Film. 27m.; Builders dig a hole in the wrong part of the road, in this weaker but almost as engaging variation on The Plank.; w: Ian Flintoff, Francis Searle; d: Francis Searle; s: Victor Maddern, Arthur Lowe, Bill Maynard, Ken Parry, Tim Barrett; ph: Terry Maher; m: Peter Jeffries.)

Mar 19th  
Mother's Pride**  (12A)
(Odeon Colchester)

(GB 2025)       
EFD/Circus/Media Finance Capital Founding/Flying Fish/Twickenham Film Studios. 93m. ws

A local boy returns to his home village and revives the family ale to help their threatened traditional old pub.
Heartwarming Ealing-style parochial British comedy in attractive surroundings, with most of the cliches firmly in place, some good performances, and fresh enough to make it above the average.

Written by: Meg Leonard, Nick Moorcroft.
Producer: James Spring.
Director: Nick Moorcroft.
Starring: Martin Clunes, Jonno Davies, James Buckley, Mark Addy, Gabriella Wilde, Luke Treadaway, Lana Moorcroft, Josie Lawrence, Miles Jupp.
Photography: Toby Moore.
Music: Simon Boswell.

+ filmed mainly around Norton St. Philip in Somerset

Mar 18th  
The Student of Prague*     
(Ger 1926)   
Sokal-Fiml Gmbh. 91m. bw. silent

An impoverished fencing student exchanges his other self for riches to a mysterious man in order to pursue his dream, but his doppelganger proves to be his undoing. 
Semi-supernatural drama with elements of Faust and Jekyll and Hyde, and some lapses in characterisation and variable Expressionistic performances, but some innovative camera trick work. The middle of three versions of this story, the others in 1913 and 1935.

Written by: Henrik Galeen, Hanns Heinz Ewers.
Producer: Henry Sokal.
Directror: Henrik Galeeb.
Starring: Conrad Veidt, Agnes Esterhazy, Elizza Le Porta, Werner Krauss, Ferdinand von Alten, Fritz Alberti.
Photogtaphy: Gunther Kramp.

THE STUDENT OF PRAGUE (1926). Seven years after The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919, above), Conrad Veidt is still under the control of Werner Krauss

Feb 24th   
Living in the Material World**    
aka. George Harrison: Living in the Material World

(US 2011)
Grove Street/Spitfire/Sikelia. 208m.

Scorsese's 3-hour documentary of The Beatles through the prism of George Harrison, with the collaboration of the family and therefore giving little in the way of an edge to what was admittedly the gentlest of the "Fab Four". Says nothing that other TV documentaries or films have not alrady said, but a useful record as a compendium with a wide variety of interesting contributors.

p: Olivia Harrison, Martin Scorsese, Nigel Sinclair
d: Martin Scorsese
contributions by: George Harrison(stock footage), Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, Phil Spector, Dhani Harrison, Olivia Harrison, George Martin, Ray Cooper, Jacekie Stewart, Eric Idle,Terry Gilliam, and others
ph: Robert Richardson, Martin Kenzie, Peter Susdchitzky, and others
m: George Harrison (and others)
ed: David Tedeschi, Tessa Schoonmaker

Feb 15th     
The Time Traveler's Wife*      

(US 2008 - released 2009)    
New Line/Plan B Entertainment. 107m. ws

A young girl meets a man who suffers from a genetic disorder of jumping back and forth in time; she later meets and marries him as an adult. 
Sentimental fantasy romance with too easily good-looking stars, and some interesting supporting characters and scenes are only mere incidentals. The time travel element itself works more as Cupid than as catalyst.

Written by: Bruce Joel Rubin, from the novel by AudreyNiffenegger.
Producers: Nick Wechsler, Dede Gardner.
Director: Robert Schwentke.
Starring: Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams, Arliss Howard, Michelle Nolden, Stephen Tobolowsky, Ron Livingston, Hailey McCann, Brooklyn Proulx.
Photography: Florian Ballhaus.
Music: Michael Danna.
Editing: Thom Noble.

 Feb 10th    
Faust**     
(Ger 1926)    
UFA. 106m. bw. silent

Aged physician Faust sells his soul to try and cure plague victims, but is corrupted instead by the Devil.
Wonderfully visual if typically overstated Murnau supernatural drama, not long before his Hollywood transfer with Sunrise.

Written by: Hans Kyser.
Producer: Erich Pommer.
Director: F.W. Murnau.
Starring: Gosta Ekmann, Emil Jannings, Camilla Horn, Frida Richard, William Dieterle, Yvette Gilbert, Werner Fuetterer.
Photography: Carl Hoffmann.

Preceded by:
Under the Roses    
(GB 2025. 10m.; Two railway workers trapped underground start to discover each others' secrets.; w, p, d: Jim Burke; s: George Penny, Lester Pearce; ph: Noah Grant; m: Harvey O'Sullivan.)

Feb 8th       
Batman**      
(Eventim Apollo Hammersmith - former Odeon)   

(US 1989)
Warner Bros. 125m.

A mysterious caped crusader stalks the streets of a Gotham City ruled by gangsters and thugs, with Bruce Wayne as his alter ego. In the process of fighting crime, he inadvertently helps to create a new adversary: The Joker.
Live concert performance of Danny Elfman's soundtrack to this flawed but entertaining blockbuster, with dramatic sets and a perfectly cast villain having a whale of a time, to make up for some gaping holes in an otherwise interesting plot. Considered at the time to be quite dark in tone (in contrast to the earlier 1960s TV series), it is still more enjoyable than the much "darker" comic book films made today.

Written by: Sam Hamm, Warren Skaaren, based on the comic book created by Bob Kane.
Producers: John Peters, Peter Guber.
Director: Tim Burton.
Starring: Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl, Michael Gough, Jack Palance, Jerry Hall, Pat Hingle, Billy Dee Williams, William Hootkins, Tracey Walter, Garrick Hagon.
Photography: Roger Pratt.
Music: Danny Elfman (performed live).
Make-up: Paul Engelen (Joker make-up by Nick Dudman).
Production Design: Anton Furst.

100 Favourite Films: Batman

Feb 8th   
Saipan*  (15)            
(Odeon Camden)   


(Ireland/Northern Ireland 2025)   
Wild Atlantic.Fine Point Films/others. 90m. ws

The bust-up before the 2002 FIFA World Cup between Irish manager Mick McCarthy and his loose cannon star player Roy Keane, made as a pop video docudrama celebrating the era as much as it is also a study of male versus alpha-male. Unlike The Damned United , a brief disclaimer about the historical veracity of it all appears at the beginning of the film rather than at the end.

w: Paul Fraser
p: Macdara Kelleher, John Kruille, Trevor Birney, Oliver Butler
d: Glenn Leyburn, Lisa Barros D'Sa
s: Eanna Hardwicke, Steve Coogan, Harriet Cains, Alice Lowe, Jack Hickey
ph: Piers McGrall
m: David Holmes
ed: Gavin Buckley, John Murphy

                     SAIPAN. Another double act featuring Steve Coogan, although one far less harmonious than Laurel and Hardy