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Citizen Verdict

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OPENS SEPTEMBER 12, CERT 15, 98 MINS Following an upsurge in terrorism and violent crime, Florida's Governor Tyler (Roy Scheider) decides to greenlight a new TV concept dreamt up by producer Marty Rockman (Springer). Capital criminal cases are tried on TV, with viewers acting as jury. If the defend...

OPENS SEPTEMBER 12, CERT 15, 98 MINS

Following an upsurge in terrorism and violent crime, Florida’s Governor Tyler (Roy Scheider) decides to greenlight a new TV concept dreamt up by producer Marty Rockman (Springer). Capital criminal cases are tried on TV, with viewers acting as jury. If the defendant is found guilty, the execution will be televised on pay-per-view.

Armand Assante plays the liberal lawyer who mystifyingly goes along with this farce as counsel for the defence, only to suspect evidence is being doctored to ensure a ratings-grabbing outcome.

Could it happen? Of course it fucking couldn’t, as this grossly implausible movie incontrovertibly demonstrates. Citizen Verdict would have worked better as a black comedy, but writer/director Philippe Martinez opts for the melodramatic high ground instead. The d

Spirited Away

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OPENS SEPTEMBER 12, CERT U, 122 MINS Ten-year-old Chihiro and her parents are driving in their Audi to their new home in a new city. An ill-advised detour leads the family down a tunnel to a ghost town where a mysterious banquet waits. As her parents stuff themselves with so much food that they turn into pigs, a terrified Chihiro is forced to survive on her wits in a fantastical world of ghouls, talking frogs, wicked grandmothers and grotesque gods. The word "indescribable" is the last refuge of the punch-drunk hack, but Spirited Away lets its fingers run so deftly across the keys of dream, fantasy and memory that it's as much as you can do to keep from drowning (a fate that keeps rearing up in Chihiro's subconscious as she soars on the back of a flying river-dragon or travels across beautiful landscapes on a magic train). The film manages to quote from every myth you've ever known, from Alice In Wonderland to Cinderella and presumably their Japanese equivalents, but?thanks to cunning graphics and cartwheeling imaginative twists?it's ultimately like nothing you've ever seen.

OPENS SEPTEMBER 12, CERT U, 122 MINS

Ten-year-old Chihiro and her parents are driving in their Audi to their new home in a new city. An ill-advised detour leads the family down a tunnel to a ghost town where a mysterious banquet waits. As her parents stuff themselves with so much food that they turn into pigs, a terrified Chihiro is forced to survive on her wits in a fantastical world of ghouls, talking frogs, wicked grandmothers and grotesque gods.

The word “indescribable” is the last refuge of the punch-drunk hack, but Spirited Away lets its fingers run so deftly across the keys of dream, fantasy and memory that it’s as much as you can do to keep from drowning (a fate that keeps rearing up in Chihiro’s subconscious as she soars on the back of a flying river-dragon or travels across beautiful landscapes on a magic train). The film manages to quote from every myth you’ve ever known, from Alice In Wonderland to Cinderella and presumably their Japanese equivalents, but?thanks to cunning graphics and cartwheeling imaginative twists?it’s ultimately like nothing you’ve ever seen.

Massage In A Brothel

In this defiant anti-western from Robert Altman, searing desert sunshine has become thick mountain rain, Utah is swapped for British Columbia, the saloon is a brothel, the women are heroes, the men are cowards, and in gunfights you shoot to kill?in the back. In this shadowy world, lit mostly like a Dutch master by Vilmos Zsigmond, Warren Beatty's bumbling, insecure pimp is the perfect protagonist. His ambitions, his towering self-doubt, his coyly romantic relationship with brothel madam Julie Christie, and his final desperate showdown with three hired killers provide the movie's cool nihilism with a warm, resonating soul. It's impossible not to be moved by Beatty as McCabe, pre-gunfight, alone, utterly terrified, rehearsing a courtship speech he'll never give. "I got poetry in me!" he says to himself, voice cracking with emotion, "I do! I got poetry in me!" One of the best westerns, ever.

In this defiant anti-western from Robert Altman, searing desert sunshine has become thick mountain rain, Utah is swapped for British Columbia, the saloon is a brothel, the women are heroes, the men are cowards, and in gunfights you shoot to kill?in the back. In this shadowy world, lit mostly like a Dutch master by Vilmos Zsigmond, Warren Beatty’s bumbling, insecure pimp is the perfect protagonist. His ambitions, his towering self-doubt, his coyly romantic relationship with brothel madam Julie Christie, and his final desperate showdown with three hired killers provide the movie’s cool nihilism with a warm, resonating soul. It’s impossible not to be moved by Beatty as McCabe, pre-gunfight, alone, utterly terrified, rehearsing a courtship speech he’ll never give. “I got poetry in me!” he says to himself, voice cracking with emotion, “I do! I got poetry in me!” One of the best westerns, ever.

Rabbit-Proof Fence

Philip Noyce's deceptively simple tale, describing the inspirational Disneyesque homeward journey of three headstrong aboriginal children, is accompanied by a stinging assault on the rarely explored genocidal project central to Australian nationhood, and in particular the crisis of the country's infamous "Stolen Generations". The result, simultaneously palatable and unnerving, is a contemporary cinematic anomaly?a politically provocative piece of mainstream film-making. DVD EXTRAS: Audio commentary, Making Of... documentary, trailer. Rating Star (KM)

Philip Noyce’s deceptively simple tale, describing the inspirational Disneyesque homeward journey of three headstrong aboriginal children, is accompanied by a stinging assault on the rarely explored genocidal project central to Australian nationhood, and in particular the crisis of the country’s infamous “Stolen Generations”. The result, simultaneously palatable and unnerving, is a contemporary cinematic anomaly?a politically provocative piece of mainstream film-making.

DVD EXTRAS: Audio commentary, Making Of… documentary, trailer. Rating Star

(KM)

A Touch Of Zen

Originally re-edited and released in two parts, King Hu's lengthy 1969 spiritual kung-fu masterpiece here appears as the director intended. The first half is slow, as an underachieving artist meets a beautiful damsel in a haunted fort. Then the fighting begins. Less concerned with special effects than the communication of "zen" through the feeling of the film, it's a truly beautiful piece. DVD EXTRAS: Filmographies, director's notes.Rating Star

Originally re-edited and released in two parts, King Hu’s lengthy 1969 spiritual kung-fu masterpiece here appears as the director intended. The first half is slow, as an underachieving artist meets a beautiful damsel in a haunted fort. Then the fighting begins. Less concerned with special effects than the communication of “zen” through the feeling of the film, it’s a truly beautiful piece.

DVD EXTRAS: Filmographies, director’s notes.Rating Star

The Life Of David Gale

Unfairly pilloried on its theatrical release for co-opting the dolefully serious subject of capital punishment into a twist-ending thriller, Alan Parker's depiction of the eponymous philosophy professor and death row defendant (Kevin Spacey?droll), gutsy crusading journalist Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet?er, enthusiastic), and their frenetic race to prove Gale's innocence is fundamentally competent?sometimes clinical?studio entertainment. DVD EXTRAS: Commentary from Parker, deleted scenes, Making Of..., music featurette, posters, trailers.

Unfairly pilloried on its theatrical release for co-opting the dolefully serious subject of capital punishment into a twist-ending thriller, Alan Parker’s depiction of the eponymous philosophy professor and death row defendant (Kevin Spacey?droll), gutsy crusading journalist Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet?er, enthusiastic), and their frenetic race to prove Gale’s innocence is fundamentally competent?sometimes clinical?studio entertainment.

DVD EXTRAS: Commentary from Parker, deleted scenes, Making Of…, music featurette, posters, trailers.

Bulletproof Monk

Comic book adaptation with Woo favourite Chow Yun-Fat as a kind of near-immortal arse-kicking Dalai Lama who's spent the last 60 years battling baddies for possession of the Scroll of the Ultimate. And now it's time to pass the baton to a younger chap. You could see it as a martial arts Raiders Of The Lost Ark, or a Crouching Tiger for nitwits. Or you could not see it at all. The choice is yours.

Comic book adaptation with Woo favourite Chow Yun-Fat as a kind of near-immortal arse-kicking Dalai Lama who’s spent the last 60 years battling baddies for possession of the Scroll of the Ultimate. And now it’s time to pass the baton to a younger chap. You could see it as a martial arts Raiders Of The Lost Ark, or a Crouching Tiger for nitwits. Or you could not see it at all. The choice is yours.

L’Homme Du Train

Patrice Leconte (Ridicule) brings a sombre poetic realism to this elegiac meditation on the nature of fate and the road less travelled. Johnny Hallyday, battered and craggy with gravitas, is awesomely iconic as the taciturn gangster who encounters Jean Rochefort's inquisitive retired schoolteacher. The two men are inexorably attracted, seeing in the other the tragedy of the life they never lived.

Patrice Leconte (Ridicule) brings a sombre poetic realism to this elegiac meditation on the nature of fate and the road less travelled. Johnny Hallyday, battered and craggy with gravitas, is awesomely iconic as the taciturn gangster who encounters Jean Rochefort’s inquisitive retired schoolteacher. The two men are inexorably attracted, seeing in the other the tragedy of the life they never lived.

The Rookie

Mining that fecund Field Of Dreams territory, where baseball and unresolved Oedipal complexes collide, The Rookie is a rousing real-life account of loyal Texan husband, science teacher and occasional 98mph pitcher Jim Morris (Dennis Quaid), whose small-town existence and lifelong battles with cantankerous pop (Brian Cox) are suddenly transformed by the offer of a place in the Major League.

Mining that fecund Field Of Dreams territory, where baseball and unresolved Oedipal complexes collide, The Rookie is a rousing real-life account of loyal Texan husband, science teacher and occasional 98mph pitcher Jim Morris (Dennis Quaid), whose small-town existence and lifelong battles with cantankerous pop (Brian Cox) are suddenly transformed by the offer of a place in the Major League.

Analyze That

A rather contrived sequel to 1999's Billy Crystal/Robert De Niro buddy comedy (Analyze This), Analyze That nonetheless has enough sporadic wit and infectious Hope/Crosby chemistry to justify its existence. Here De Niro's neurotic mobster is released from prison into the protective custody of Crystal's wisecracking shrink (don't ask). Cue some 'fish out of water' shenanigans, a Sopranos parody, and a grand heist finale.

A rather contrived sequel to 1999’s Billy Crystal/Robert De Niro buddy comedy (Analyze This), Analyze That nonetheless has enough sporadic wit and infectious Hope/Crosby chemistry to justify its existence. Here De Niro’s neurotic mobster is released from prison into the protective custody of Crystal’s wisecracking shrink (don’t ask). Cue some ‘fish out of water’ shenanigans, a Sopranos parody, and a grand heist finale.

Thunderbolt And Lightfoot

Four years before The Deer Hunter, Michael Cimino made his debut as writer and director with this macho love story, starring Clint Eastwood as a typically crusty old bank robber and Oscar-nominated Jeff Bridges as his wide-eyed and adoring young sidekick. Excellent support from George Kennedy and Geoffrey Lewis as a couple of hoods after Clint's ass (as it were).

Four years before The Deer Hunter, Michael Cimino made his debut as writer and director with this macho love story, starring Clint Eastwood as a typically crusty old bank robber and Oscar-nominated Jeff Bridges as his wide-eyed and adoring young sidekick. Excellent support from George Kennedy and Geoffrey Lewis as a couple of hoods after Clint’s ass (as it were).

Othello

Filming in Venice and Morocco whenever funds permitted, Orson Welles shot this adaptation of The Bard's play in scraps over four years in the late 1940s. The circumstances?there were literally years between shots?inspired kaleidoscopic editing and audacious improvisation:when costumes failed to arrive for a critical murder, Welles restaged it half-naked in a Turkish bath. The result:the most vibrant slice of Shakespeare-noir ever filmed.

Filming in Venice and Morocco whenever funds permitted, Orson Welles shot this adaptation of The Bard’s play in scraps over four years in the late 1940s. The circumstances?there were literally years between shots?inspired kaleidoscopic editing and audacious improvisation:when costumes failed to arrive for a critical murder, Welles restaged it half-naked in a Turkish bath. The result:the most vibrant slice of Shakespeare-noir ever filmed.

The Daytrippers

The promising 1996 debut by Greg Mottola, The Daytrippers is the epitome of early-'90s Sundance syndrome, where fulsome character and sharp dialogue take precedence over narrative logic. Thus, on the whim of daughter Eliza (Hope Davis), the entire Malone family (including indie queen Parker Posey) take an entertaining but essentially unjustifiable day trip to Manhattan.

The promising 1996 debut by Greg Mottola, The Daytrippers is the epitome of early-’90s Sundance syndrome, where fulsome character and sharp dialogue take precedence over narrative logic. Thus, on the whim of daughter Eliza (Hope Davis), the entire Malone family (including indie queen Parker Posey) take an entertaining but essentially unjustifiable day trip to Manhattan.

Heaven

Miraculous, much underrated adaptation of posthumous Kieslowski screenplay by Run Lola Run director Tom Tykwer. Cate Blanchett is a British teacher in Turin who, as an act of vengeance, becomes an unlikely terrorist. Young policeman Giovanni Ribisi falls in love and joins her on the run, but it's more about magic realism and haunting, luminous beauty.

Miraculous, much underrated adaptation of posthumous Kieslowski screenplay by Run Lola Run director Tom Tykwer. Cate Blanchett is a British teacher in Turin who, as an act of vengeance, becomes an unlikely terrorist. Young policeman Giovanni Ribisi falls in love and joins her on the run, but it’s more about magic realism and haunting, luminous beauty.

The Swimmer

Based on a John Cheever story, this 1968 movie stars Burt Lancaster as a seemingly prosperous and urbane middle-aged man who decides to swim back to his suburban house via all the pools in the neighbourhood. But his journey turns out to be an expos...

Based on a John Cheever story, this 1968 movie stars Burt Lancaster as a seemingly prosperous and urbane middle-aged man who decides to swim back to his suburban house via all the pools in the neighbourhood. But his journey turns out to be an expos

One Take Only

Directed by Oxide Pang, this was re-edited after his success with The Eye?Pang presumably feeling he could now take more stylistic liberties. The movie concerns a drug dealer who courts disaster by upping the ante to keep his girlfriend from prostitution, and sees Pang grandly messing with timelines, colour and reality. An enjoyable dip in the seedy Bangkok underground.

Directed by Oxide Pang, this was re-edited after his success with The Eye?Pang presumably feeling he could now take more stylistic liberties. The movie concerns a drug dealer who courts disaster by upping the ante to keep his girlfriend from prostitution, and sees Pang grandly messing with timelines, colour and reality. An enjoyable dip in the seedy Bangkok underground.

The Name Of A River

Seven years in the making, this is Anup Singh's dreamy cinematic tone poem (lots of kites and rivers) based on the life and work of acclaimed Indian film-maker Ritwik Ghatak. Adopting a brave, artistic, and not entirely successful motif, Singh follows two symbolic protagonists, male and female, as they re-enact scenes and themes from Ghatak's seemingly sacred canon.

Seven years in the making, this is Anup Singh’s dreamy cinematic tone poem (lots of kites and rivers) based on the life and work of acclaimed Indian film-maker Ritwik Ghatak. Adopting a brave, artistic, and not entirely successful motif, Singh follows two symbolic protagonists, male and female, as they re-enact scenes and themes from Ghatak’s seemingly sacred canon.

Judge Dreads

November 1979. Bob Marley is already stricken with the cancer that will soon kill him. He's in the middle of a US tour that will take in 47 dates in 49 nights. By the time he reaches the Santa Barbara County Bowl, he's exhausted. He looks tired and has a cold he can't shake off. The throb in his cancerous toe is a constant reminder that he's dying. And yet he sounds magnificent. The bowl is a glorious natural open-air amphitheatre, and the sun is shining as he glides his way through a buoyant "I Shot The Sheriff", an atmospheric "Concrete Jungle"and a menacing "Crazy Baldhead". Then, as twilight falls, the Wailers break into a majestic version of "Exodus". It's followed by "Jamming", "Kinky Reggae"and "Stir It Up"as they build towards an insurrectionary climax with Toshs'"Get Up, Stand Up". Within six months he will be dead. But The Legend?Live, expertly re-edited by Don Letts, ensures that his music lives on.

November 1979. Bob Marley is already stricken with the cancer that will soon kill him. He’s in the middle of a US tour that will take in 47 dates in 49 nights. By the time he reaches the Santa Barbara County Bowl, he’s exhausted. He looks tired and has a cold he can’t shake off. The throb in his cancerous toe is a constant reminder that he’s dying.

And yet he sounds magnificent. The bowl is a glorious natural open-air amphitheatre, and the sun is shining as he glides his way through a buoyant “I Shot The Sheriff”, an atmospheric “Concrete Jungle”and a menacing “Crazy Baldhead”. Then, as twilight falls, the Wailers break into a majestic version of “Exodus”. It’s followed by “Jamming”, “Kinky Reggae”and “Stir It Up”as they build towards an insurrectionary climax with Toshs'”Get Up, Stand Up”. Within six months he will be dead. But The Legend?Live, expertly re-edited by Don Letts, ensures that his music lives on.

Rude Boy—The Special Edition

Made by Jack Hazan and David Mingay, this film follows Ray Gange as he packs in his job to roadie for The Clash. The sight of Strummer, Jones and co acting out scenes from their daily lives is strangely endearing, and as a record of pre-Thatcher Britain, it's fascinating.

Made by Jack Hazan and David Mingay, this film follows Ray Gange as he packs in his job to roadie for The Clash. The sight of Strummer, Jones and co acting out scenes from their daily lives is strangely endearing, and as a record of pre-Thatcher Britain, it’s fascinating.

Paul Weller—Live At Braehead

Trapped in a sweaty throng of beered-up blokes, Paul Weller live can be an endurance test. In the comfort of your own home, he's great. Recorded last October, you get all the fun of a night out in Glasgow without plastic glasses crunching underfoot as Weller trawls through 30 songs (a third of them from 2002's Illumination). Whether you prefer The Jam ("A Town Called Malice"), The Style Council ("Our Favourite Shop") or his solo work ("The Changing Man"), you're unlikely to be disappointed.

Trapped in a sweaty throng of beered-up blokes, Paul Weller live can be an endurance test. In the comfort of your own home, he’s great. Recorded last October, you get all the fun of a night out in Glasgow without plastic glasses crunching underfoot as Weller trawls through 30 songs (a third of them from 2002’s Illumination). Whether you prefer The Jam (“A Town Called Malice”), The Style Council (“Our Favourite Shop”) or his solo work (“The Changing Man”), you’re unlikely to be disappointed.