MAGAZINE
MARCH 2007 ISSUE 24 www.therexcinema.com
VENUS
WHAT’S ON IN MARCH...
“possibly Britain’s most beautiful cinema...” (BBC)
BOOKINGS & 01442 877759 INFORMATION Mon-Sat 10.30-6pm Sun 4.30-6.30pm To advertise email [email protected] Introduction
March Films 10-23 Gallery 5 Coming Soon 24 March Films at a glance 24 Dear Mrs Trellis 27, 29 SEAT PRICES: Circle £7.00 Members & Concessions £5.50 At Table £9.00 Members & Concessions £7.50 Royal Box (seats 6) £11.00 or for the Box £60.00 hen Colin Welland fat-faced onto the Oscars stage in 1981 for Box Office: 01442 877759 Mon to Sat 10.30am – 6.00pm Chariots Of Fire, repeatedly yelling: “The British are coming”, Sun 4.30pm – 6.30pm it marked the beginning of twenty six years of almost total (Credit/Debit card booking fee 50p) W absence! You call “Garrndhi” and A Fish Called Wanda “coming”? Disabled and flat access: by gate on High Okay, The Killing Fields. But Richard Attenborough, twice, doesn’t Street. Tel: 01442 877999 count. That’s like giving it to The Queen because it’s the Queen! Some of the girls and boys you see at the Box There is a palpable excitement, even euphoria at the thought of the Office and Bar: British winning anything, albeit some tennis player of dubious nationality, rowers or middle-aged Scottish women curling. Winning is celebrated Emily Doyle Linda Moss Christine Olivia Palmer more in shock than joy, at the long discarded hope of coming first. Fressineau Julian Paredes We’re good at losing. We should applaud it, as we did when we used to Jemma Gask Jeremy Read clap the better side. This spontaneous act of fairness was truly something Holly Gilbert Amberley Rose Rosa Gilbert Charlotte Stephens ‘to be proud of’. Olivia Glasser Tina Thorpe The British invented football, rugby, cricket and film. As invaders we Beth Hannaway Alex Tucker showed the ‘filthy wog’ how play-up-and-play-the-game in return for Sarah Holloway Olivia Wilson Eva Jaurena Marie-Francoise Wolff plunder and something to do on Sundays. Now they’re better than us. Jo Littlejohn Keymea Yazdanian What greater teaching and lessons learnt than to be beaten at our own Sally Thorpe In charge game? Alun Rees Chief projectionist (Original) Jon Waugh 1st assistant projectionist ot that Dames Judi or Helen will stretch the flimsy borders of Martin Coffill Part-time assistant projectionist Njingoism. Jacquie Rose Chief Box Office & Bar On the contrary, we overhear “Our Helen” in sweet support of her Greg Tomkins Film director nominations. Jane Clucas & Lynn Hendry Cloying though harmless, it is misplaced in the light of two better PR/Marketing/FoH performances up for the 2006/7 Oscars. Laurence Wiper Bar supervisor Without doubt, Penelope Cruz’s role in Volver is worth a thousand prizes. Ian Muirhead Accountant Judi Dench, so riveting and convincing - and so far against type, should Alan Lambourne Caretaker be a dead cert. Curiously, where she should be feted, there is no real talk Resident creative builders of her winning. The big headlines, are only for ‘Our Helen’! Darren Flindall In the interests of humility and balance, ‘we’ must hope no more vulgar Michael Glasheen accolades are foisted on The Queen. Artists Andrew Dixon Unfortunately, the Americans are bound to believe they are awarding Her Paul Rowbottom real Royal Majesty. Therefore will try to give ‘Her’ the lot; including a Advisors and Investors traversty of ‘Best Film’. Paul Fullagar “Oh look Philip, those nice Americans have sent us a thingumy-jig…” Alan Clooney As queen Helen herself has hinted at each relay race of gong events Ed Mauger Genius leading up to the Oscars: “It’s been the most incredible year for me, ever. Demiurge Design Designers 01582 791996 That’s been amazing at this end of my life. I’m so proud. Especially being Allison Nunn Publisher 07786 540418 a Brit.” (Standard 29 Jan). One can almost hear the Christmas message in James Hannaway CEO 01442 877999 her acceptance speech. Betty Patterson Company Secretary and So no “Annus Horribilis” for the ‘new queen’ then? THE ORIGINAL VISIONARY of The Rex. Ten years after that year portrayed in the film and quoted in Latin by HM The Rex High Street (Three Close Lane) Berkhamsted HP4 2FG The Queen (gleefully set-upon by the dirty press, who wouldn’t know www.therexcinema.com Latin from a nipple). GALLERY www.therexcinema.com 5
By an ironic twist of fate, ‘the pretender’ has turned her’s into a good year.
he third ‘Brit’, a much Toverlooked, Kate Winslet in her extraordinarily perceptive portrayal of a fed-up wife cannot be dismissed. Pity such a good performance was wasted on a trite, insignificant film - Little Children. If awards are for acting they should be given to actors whose acting can’t be seen. They belong to those magical faces where there is no actor, only some real person. Penelope Cruz is too gorgeous to be ignored, but at first sight and throughout, she was the down but James (Jimmy) Nesbitt with Paul and Cassie Fullagar after the not trodden, Raimunda in every premiere of Blessed at The Rex 19th January 2007. Thanks to Jimmy detail. There was no star on the and his family and Paul and his family and guests. It was a fantastic screen. evening, our first with crystal clear digital projection. Though don’t In Notes On A Scandal, Judi get too excited, this technology is ten years away from The Rex as Dench was forgotten beyond the part of permanent projection. credits. She was Barbara in every treacherous and vulnerable Our boys and girls with James Nesbitt and his daughter. L to R – gesture. Julian, Laurence, Jimmy and his daughter, Jemma and Greg in the s Mirren on the other hand, foyer after sucking all the helium out of the party balloons. Mwas immitating, mimmicking and flawlessly copying every movement of perhaps the most familiar face on earth. You could see all the acting joins throughout; to the point where: “oooh that was good” could be heard from an audience applauding the moment but nodding to the immitation. If the game was staight, it would be between Ms Cruz and Ms Dench. As it’s not, my heart is on Penelope snatching what she deserves from the clutches of silly, cross Atlantic duty. My real hope stays with Judi, but the easy money is on Helen… As for the preposterous United 93, it is pure 7/11 slush and, like The Queen, is winning for all the wrong reasons. It will be seen as hugely heroic and patriotic. Against Snakes on A Plane, it wouldn’t stand a chance! MARCH FILMS MARCH FILMS www.therexcinema.com 11
Miss Potter The History Boys Flushed Away Thu 1 7.30 Fri 2 7.30 Sat 3 2.00 Matinee Warning: May contain babies Director: Nicholas Hytner Starring: Stephen Campbell-Moore, Richard Griffiths, Frances de la Tour, Clive Merrison Certificate: 15 Duration: 109 mins Origin: UK 2006 By: Twentieth Century Fox It doesn’t matter anymore what this story is about, everybody is still Miss Potter is a magical biopic talking about it –play and/or film. following Beatrix Potter’s rise to It tells of a group of bright History being the most successful children’s students being pushed through author of all time. entrance exams for undergraduate Despite delighting generations of places at Oxbridge. There’s a young children with her books, she kept her history teacher, a squirming A pampered society mouse must own story carefully locked away. headmaster, a huge Richard Griffiths, fight his way back to the comforts The film reveals how she developed having fun as the all-groping, of Kensington after he is sent storytelling from a young age and irreverently, queer ‘General Studies’ spiralling into an underground rebelled against convention by refusing professor. The cast is extremely well world filled with scavenger rats to marry. Her first book, The Tale of marshalled by an albeit, lightweight and villainous toads. This “fun- Peter Rabbit, was a publishing director, Nicholas Hytner (so they filled family adventure produced by phenomenon and led to a captivating should be; the same boys have been DreamWorks and Aardman” has romance with her publisher Norman playing these roles for two years in Roddy (Jackman) living the high life Warne (Ewan). Beautifully performed; the West End. It is their show). when he first meets Sid the sewer rat possibly one of the most enchanting The teenage boys – horrible, faceless (Shane Richie). Not-to-be-trusted, tales of any year. and pubescent at first, remain Sid sends the hapless mouse down “ MISS POTTER wrenches the heart. horrible for most of it, then through the pipes and stealthily takes his Sure it’s shamelessly sentimental, but the writing, their faces start to grow place in the lap of luxury. Upon the inevitability of its tragedy and the on you. Inevitably, the grown-ups are meeting scavenger rat Rita (Winslet), manner in which it tramples over fab throughout, with the brilliant Ms Roddy hopes to get back to the Beatrix’s fantasy world makes this de la Tour shining. You can’t wait for surface in Rita’s boat, but her help otherwise middlebrow biopic strangely Fatty Griffiths to be back on the doesn’t come cheap. “FLUSHED moving” (Channel 4) screen with Clive Merrison’s AWAY is replete with a meticulous Or… Headmaster peeking over his attention to detail, beautiful “…the film barely scratches the shoulder for gorgeous comic characterisation and idiosyncratic Dickensian surface of true female moments. wit”. Look out for all-singing and repression. Zellweger tries to make up “The real strength of this appealing, all-dancing poo, with speaking for this with a performance that intelligent and enjoyable film is parts!! – Perfect for children of toilet bubbles over with coy mannerisms, Bennett’s writing…” (City Screens). humour age. squinty-eyed grimaces and outlandish The ‘words’ then…? A best line… Whitey the bruiser ‘period’ precision in studied gestures.” sewer rat (Bill Nighy): “I used to (Hollywood Reporter) work at a lab up top. I tested Judging from February’s sell out, you shampoo… dandruff’s gone”. have already decided.
Director: Chris Noonan Directors: David Bowers, Sam Fell Starring: Renee Zellweger, Ewan Starring: Hugh Jackman, Kate McGregor, Bill Paterson, Emily Watson Winslet, Andy Serkis, Bill Nighy Certificate: PG Certificate: U Duration: 93 mins Duration: 85 mins Origin: UK 2006 Origin: USA 2006 By: Momentum Pictures By: UIP 12 Box Office: 01442 877759 MARCH FILMS
Little Miss Pan’s Labyrinth The Page Turner Sunshine Sun 4 6.00 Mon 5 7.30 Sat 3 7.00 Director: Denis Dercourt Starring: Catherine Frot, Déborah Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie François, Pascal Greggory Faris Certificate: 15 Starring: Toni Collette, Alan Arkin, Duration: 85 mins Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear, Abigail Origin: France 2006 Breslin, Paul Dano By: Artificial Eye Certificate: 15 Duration: 102 mins If revenge is a ‘dish best served cold’, Origin: USA 2006 it doesn’t get any cooler than this. By: Twentieth Century Fox “Dercourt has crafted an expert thriller…with attention to meticulous Every screening has sold out every detail…” since its first Bafta preview in A young girl, Mélanie Prouvost September. It is wettingly funny, This is one of the most unusual and (François), nervously undergoes a moving and will take you on an exciting film of the year and long awaited, make or break, piano unanticipated, emotional ride. already winning prizes. A fairytale audition. For her it is the climax of The characters are beautifully drawn, for adults inspired by the paintings of years of childhood practice and and unlike many recent films where Francisco Goya and rooted, like The sleepless nights. The examiner, famed you’re left empty, these will warm Devil’s Backbone, in war. This is del recitalist Ariane Fouchécourt (Frot), your heart immediately. Toro’s most accomplished work even is carelessly distracted in the middle It tells the story of the Hoovers, one of in his own opinion. It is 1940s of Mélanie’s audition… She fails. the most endearingly fractured Franco’s Spain. Finding her new life Uh oh, Mdme Fouchécourt; don’t families you’re ever likely to meet. terrifying, amid the cruel excesses of think you should have done that. To fulfil the dream-wish of seven- fascist inquisitors, Ofelia seeks Years later Mélanie works her way year-old Olive, the whole motley refuge in a labyrinth she discovers back into the examiner’s life. family, trek to the Little Miss Sunshine next to the house.The guardian of the “Vanity, deception, selfishness and pageant in California. Along the way labyrinth, reveals that Ofelia is the false liberal charity play their part in they must deal with crushed dreams, long-lost princess of a magical this beautifully observed film that heartbreaks and a broken-down van. kingdom. To discover the truth, she somehow works on the barest The family is made up of an will have to complete three perilous elements of both plot and character uncommonly natural little miss Olive, tasks armed only with a piece of development.” (City Screen). a silent, Nietzsche-reading teenager, chalk. “Del Toro’s startling vision For a small sub-titled film, it sold out a suicidal uncle, an embarrassingly rests on a profoundly moving story in no time in January and February. optimistic dad, a scatty mother, and a with universal appeal.” –Definitely It is a riveting, cool and stylish horny, cocaine-happy grandfather (the not for children. It’s not the thriller only the French can make… gorgeous Alan Arkin) with a penchant ‘monsters’ who are frightening, as Come, especially for Déborah for creative profanity. always it’s the men in uniform. François’ beautiful and unnerving This is a beautifully observed road “The special effects are breathtaking, lesson in exquisite stillness. movie, where sanity takes a back seat, and the ghastly portrait of this small bit while innocence and hope drive it of Franco’s Spain, equally repulsive”. every step of the way. Hitch a lift. “A major achievement, beautifully acted and shot with almost unerring certainty…...” (mixed crits).
Director: Guillermo Toro Starring: Doug Jones, Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Maribel Verdu, Sergi Lopez Certificate: 15 Duration: 119 mins Origin: Spain 2006 By: Optimum Releasing MARCH FILMS www.therexcinema.com 13
Director: Roger Michell Starring: Peter O’Toole, Jodie Whittaker, Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Griffiths, Leslie Phillips Certificate: 15 Venus Duration: 94 mins Tue 6 7.30 Wed 7 2.00, 7.30 Origin: UK 2006 Matinee Warning: May contain babies By: Buena Vista International
The plenty O’Toole of proper English with a voice to match every word, is back at 72. God, we have missed him. In this we miss him more. With the ultimate smoothie: the “Well Hellaire” Carry-On letch king - Leslie Phillips, they make an unexpectedly rich match. Here the serious actor with a hell-raising life, squandered between Lawrence, a Lion in Winter and Jeffrey Bernard – a mere thirty odd years, meets the comic actor who did little after Syd, Hattie, Joan, Williams and Hawtry stopped carrying on. In Venus they eke out a living ‘playing dead’. Leslie’s young niece arrives to ‘nurse’ them, played in perfect pitch by Jodie Whittaker. She is the new world. She hardly has to act. Lawrence Of Arabia and Carry On Nurse are as vacant from her real life as Henry II. As her part demands, she shows a complete absence of respect for the old (and status of her co-stars). Maurice O’Toole shows her the sights and sounds of London while trying to teach the ‘chav-child’ a thing or two about life. All does not go according to plan however… Do you trust Hanif Kureishi? It might be the up-himself about him. Like Howard Jacobson, never trust a writer, or anybody, who preaches they know all about love. They know the same fuck-all as the rest of us. They sound holy, like they are ‘chosen’, while we all know it’s just something that sticks to your clothes. “O’Toole and Phillips know exactly how to make the most of good lines and how to mask lesser dialogue. Both are excellent in completely different ways… with a sepulchral-looking O’Toole managing to be funny, pathetic and even rather novel… But even performances as good as these can’t totally transcend material that hovers between mere farce and tragi-comedy without ever landing on a convincing level...” Or “Sharply scripted by Hanif Kureishi, this is a funny and perceptive take on responsibility and growing old disgracefully…” (Standard. 25 Jan). Here’s hoping for Peter’s Oscar, if only for a bewildered speech, not quite thanking anyone but himself, in beautiful English, perfectly timed. 14 Box Office: 01442 877759 MARCH FILMS
Last King of Scotland Rocky Balbao Thu 8 7.30 Fri 9 7.30, Sat 10 7.00 Director: Kevin Macdonald Starring: Gillian Anderson, James As writer-director and star, McAvoy, Forest Whitaker, Kerry Stallone takes the film back to its Washington original Rocky roots in a study of Certificate: 15 determination to prove he can do Duration: 123 mins anything he likes. I remember Origin: UK 2006 applauding this tough guy who stood By: Twentieth Century Fox up to Hollywood to make the first one. They told him he and his film Out of the blue, James McAvoy has were non-starters. He went on to gone from Mr Tumnus to box office make them eat every word, beating heartthrob. Taxi Driver to the Oscar, make A good face and no mean performer, millions and become a Hollywood he excels here as the hapless white super star. In between, he squandered servant. such bravado to laughing-stock status This first semi-fictional feature from with Rambo’s and four too many Oscar-winning documentary director Rocky’s. That was1976. Good on him Macdonald (Touching The Void) is for thinking up more potential rooted in the reality of Idi Amin’s ridicule 30 years later, but perhaps brutal 1970’s Uganda. Wooed by the pulling it off. president’s generosity, charm and Worth coming to cheer him on for apparent populist appeal, young making the laughable, plausible and Scottish doctor (McAvoy) agrees to be hold true, despite the absurdity of the Amin’s personal physician. Soon he is concept. appointed number-one advisor on all “Yes it’s the Italian stallion again this manner of things, from architecture to time persuaded at the age of 60 to go foreign policy. Director: Sylvester Stallone ten rounds with the world heavy Hugely flattered, he blocks out what is Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Burt weight champion. Stallone writes, going on around him. By the time he Young, Antonio Tarver directs and stars in a fairy tale that is faces Amin’s atrocities, it is too late. Certificate: 12A pure as the driven slush...” (Derek “A bold combination of comedy and Duration: 102 mins Malcolm). mind-numbing horror, balancing Origin: USA 2007 Warning: (Contains infrequent psychological insight and historical By: Twentieth Century Fox moderate boxing violence!!!). fact…” “Forest Whitaker gives a barnstorming performance in a bitter, juicy plum of a role… while McAvoy’s best performance yet, lifts the film from some unsteady early moments.” (Guardian/Time Out). MARCH FILMS www.therexcinema.com 15
Mon Oncle Everything is Ghosts Sat 10 2.00 Illuminated Mon 12 7.30 Matinee Warning: May contain babies Sun 11 6.00 Director: Nick Broomfield Director: Jacques Tati Starring: Ai Lin, Zhe Wei, Starring: Jacques Tati, Jean-Pierre Zhan Yu Zola, Adrienne Servantie, Alain Certificate: 15 Becourt, Yvonne Arnaud Duration: 96 mins Certificate: U Origin: UK 2006 Duration: 116 mins By: Tartan Films Origin: France 1958 By: British Film Institute Documentary maker, Broomfield’s second fiction feature (after Life Very silly, very clever, very French, and Death of a Serial Killer, 2003) very funny. Back because everybody must see is amongst the most poignant and Even children will laugh. it… impressive work of his long career. And its in colour. Come for Eugene Hutz’s perplexed Imbued with his longstanding interest Insane gadgets slam and roar, high Ukranian ‘guide’ and his gorgeous in human rights issues, the film is a heels click and even a depressed dog narration. (much of the haunting dramatised account of the events in a tartan overcoat obligingly filmscore is from him, played by his leading up to February 2004, when submits to Tati’s meticulous direction band‘Gogol Bordello’) 23 Chinese workers lost their lives in this - his first excursion from This extraordinary film was a lovely after being cut off by the tide while black and white into bright colours. surprise on its first outing here in picking cockles in Morecambe Bay. February last year. It is based on a The film directly addresses the true story adapted from Jonathan circumstances surrounding the whole Safran Foer best-seller about his sordid business of people-trafficking, journey. and pays special attention to the ‘Jonfen’ (Elijah) is an obsessive desperation of people willing to risk collector, who travels from America their lives for pennies. in search of the woman he believes Broomfield’s exhaustive research saved his grandfather when a small took him to the province in China Ukranian town was wiped-out by the where many of the workers Nazis. originated. Armed with a yellowing photograph, He then cast non-actors whose he begins his search with the unlikely migration experiences mirrored those Eugene, his grandad and the “seeing- of their characters. “An authentic, eye” dog. While Eugene’s butchery of vital and timely work, Ghosts bristles the English language and passion for with his trademark conviction…” all things American grates on Jonathan’s nerves, he wins the audience and, in the end Jonfen, with every word and gesture. It is an unanticipated and beautiful small film which will surprise and move you, with a warmth that will lift your heart, long after you leave.
Director: Liev Schreiber Starring: Eugene Hutz, Elijah Wood, Boris Leskin Certificate: 12A Duration: 105 mins Origin: USA 2005 By: Warner Brothers 16 Box Office: 01442 877759 MARCH FILMS
Leonard Cohen - I’m Your Man Tue 13 7.30 Babel
Director: Lian Lunson Wed 14 2.00, 7.30 Starring: Leonard Cohen Certificate: PG Thu 15 7.30 Duration: 103 mins Matinee Warning: May contain babies Origin: USA 2006 This, the third collaboration By: Lionsgate Films UK between González Iñárritu and Like a bird on a wire, Leonard writer Guillermo Arriaga. Cohen is free without trying and Alongside Amores Perros and 21 unique without caring. Some of the Grams, it continues the duo’s interest best songs of the second half of the in the consequences of random acts. twentieth century, belong to his voice. When two boys fire a rifle at a tourist Alongside Dylan’s, James Taylor’s bus in Morocco, the lives of four and Jackson Browne’s, his voice groups of people, across three remains majestic and uplifting to at continents, collide. least two generations. Like the others, Richard (Pitt) and Susan (Blanchett) his songs were never pop, will never are an American couple aboard the age and are untouched by fashion. bus; Amelia (Barraza) is their Received in rapture at Robert Mexican nanny who decides to take Redford’s Sundance Film Festival, their kids with her across the border it’s a January 2005 tribute concert so she can attend her son’s wedding; from the Sydney Opera House. and Chieko is a rebellious deaf-mute This might be the films downfall. student in Tokyo grappling with the However, he “touches us with his loss of her mother and adolescence. perfect mind/body” voice, talking us “A film of great immediacy and through a life loved by millions. authenticity in which the global Something he never courted, and setting highlights the difficulties of seems largely unaware. communication and trust across The stage is strewn with pop’s big- borders…” heads, eager to be loved. He lets the “Even if it edges towards the young pups have their way with his pretentious, the film-making is priceless songs. Thus leaves us superb and so is the cast…” wishing there was more of him. (Standard). However, when he does open his mouth to speak or sing, you hang on Director: Alejandro Inarritu to every breath. Starring: Koji Yakusho, Gael Garcia Hopefully this time there will be no Bernal, Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett high winds and power cuts. (During Certificate: 15 the January show there were two. Duration: 143 mins Nobody left). Origin: USA 2007 By: Paramount International Pictures MARCH FILMS www.therexcinema.com 17
Dirty Dancing James and the Rivers and Tides: Fri 16 7.30 Giant Peach Sun 18 6.00 Sat 17 7.00 Sat 17 2.00 Director: Thomas Riedelsheimer Matinee Warning: May contain babies Director: Emile Ardolino Certificate: U Starring: Jennifer Grey, Patrick Duration: 90 mins Swayze Origin: Germany/Scotland 2001 Certificate: 12A By: Cinefrance Duration: 101 mins Back by extraordinary demand… Origin: USA 1987 This breathtaking film is not to be Baring an uneasy resemblance to a missed. Written and shot by terrifying street hard-case from my Riedelsheimer, it is an extraordinary childhood, ‘Snake on a dancefloor’- journey into the world and mind of Patrick Slimeball, shmoozes sculptor Andy Goldsworthy. through this contrived piece of The artist lets us into his tough, hard- If you’re at a loose end, and can 1980s teen pulp in tight, nobody- graft world of natural, found find a child, take ‘it’ to the Roald over-fifteen jeans, where the teeny materials which he turns into magical Dahl museum on Great Missenden girl learns all she needs at the things, where the elements ‘last say’ High St. It is brilliant and, as I hands, feet and forthright groin of is part of the creation itself. remember – free. a grown man. Nothing written here His ingenious patterns of wood, Many of his hand-written (in pencil) will stop chicks of all ages having leaves, stone and ice, move and erode manuscripts are there including this “the time of their life” in frocks of all with tide, time, and weather. one. shapes, swooning and wetting the The camera follows him for over a James’s happy life at the English furniture – how delightful! year, intimately documenting his seaside is rudely ended when his “In many ways, a routine teen-flick improvised process and capturing the parents are killed by a rhinoceros. with its ‘60s setting, loud pop, sex, serene spectacle of his sculptures and He is forced to go and live with his and interfering parents…” their delicate changes. Goldsworthy’s two monsterous aunts – Spiker and Mercifully short, the ‘story’ so far… private and often ephemeral pieces Sponge. Daringly saving the life of a College-bound ‘Baby’ (Grey), on are well known. How, when they spider he comes into possession of holiday with her parents, meets the disappear, sometimes before they are magic boiled crocodile tongues, after resort’s resident lap dancer (Swayze) finished? His love for everything which an enormous peach starts to and ends up taking his injured around him is palpable and his voice grow in the garden. Venturing inside partner’s place in the final show. is the perfect guide. he meets not only the spider but a This means being “coached up to Come…”see something you never number of new friends including a standard” in just a few days. Cut to saw before… that was always there… ladybug and a centipede who help “movingly coy” scenes as the two ” him with his plan to try and get to glue into the sheets. Cancel everything. New York. “A safe combination of laughs, tears A fantastical story only Roald Dahl and an improbable happy ending… could tell. a burning rock’n’roll score and sleazy choreography carry the day.” (Time Out) Warning: (Contains moderate sex references and close thrusting)
Director: Henry Selick Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Jane Leeves, Joanna Lumley, Miriam Margolyes, Pete Postlethwaite, Simon Callow Certificate: U Duration: 79 mins Origin: USA 1996 By: Pathe Distribution 18 Box Office: 01442 877759 MARCH FILMS
Rebecca Bobby Black Book Mon 19 7.30 Tue 20 7.30 Wed 21 2.00, 7.30 Matinee Warning: May contain babies Director: Alfred Hitchcock Starring: Laurence Olivier, Joan Director: Paul Verhoeven Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Starring: Halina Rejin Anderson Certificate: 15 Certificate: PG Duration: 146 mins Duration: 130 mins Origin: Netherlands 2006 Origin: UK 1940 By: Tartan Films By: British Film Institute
“Last night I dreamt I went to Screening to great acclaim at the Manderley…” On 5 June 1968, as Robert F. Venice and London Film Festivals, This is the film we watched over Kennedy was making his way from BLACK BOOK is Verhoeven’s first again as children. Any time it was on, the Ambassador Hotel in Los film in 20 years to be made in his the whole family including my Nan Angeles to give a press conference native Dutch homeland. would sit in silence around the tiny after winning the California A fast-moving and heart-racing television. It will be eerie to see it Primary, he was shot and killed. World-War-II drama, it has all the again forty years on, blown up a This is a very silly Altman-esque high production values and slickness million-fold on the big screen. ensemble piece where every dull face of Verhoeven’s Hollywood movies Especially for Judith Anderson’s in Hollywood is paraded across the with the added intelligence of his deliciously scary Danvers, who steals screen to jostles for position. earlier European films. every scene. Definitely more Towering Inferno Set in German-occupied Holland This was Hitchcock’s first Hollywood than M.A.S.H. toward the end of the War, the film film, and the only one to win him Actor-turned-director-but-should- follows the fortunes of Rachel (van Best Picture. “His steady direction is have-stuck-to-bit-parts-Estevez, Houten), a young Jewish woman, surprisingly faithful to the novel and focuses less on Kennedy or the whose attempts to conceal her captures beautifully the utter despair assassination, and more on those who identity to escape the Nazis lead her of Joan Fontaine” (BBC) found themselves at the centre of the to join the Resistance before she It is Daphne Du Maurier’s bestselling last of the farcical lone-gunman embarks on a perilous affair with a small classic tale of the naïve new assassinations of the sixties. German Officer. bride, whose life is dominated by the Against the backdrop of typical “Epic in scale, the film excels in the first Mrs deWinter - Rebecca. Sixties issues - racism, sexual capturing the war action while As children we didn’t quite get the inequality and class, hotel staff remaining a drama of emotional secret cottage and Rebecca’s prepare for the big night, campaign integrity…” ‘visitors’, but remember it as the bit workers gee up the voters and guests “Verhoeven’s “flesh and blood” where my Nan would tut and Mum, get ready to party. approach to film-making makes a get up to make the tea… “The film boasts impeccable period welcome comeback in this rousing “Olivier’s performance is superb; detail bolstered by archive footage… Dutch war saga…Subtle it ain’t, but showing off some magnificent ” Period??? It was 1968 not 1698. there’s never a dull moment” (The tailoring …” (Peter Bradshaw, According to most critics, it is Guardian). Guardian). Kennedy himself, though largely absent, who steals the show in the dying moments, from the ridiculous cast of too many teeth.
Director: Emilio Estevez Starring: Demi Moore, Elijah Wood, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, Martin Sheen, Sharon Stone, William Macy Certificate: 15 Duration: 119 mins Origin: USA 2007 By: Momentum Pictures MARCH FILMS www.therexcinema.com 19 Infamous Thu 22 7.30 Why? Why the ridiculous cast? Why Gwyneth as a night club singer? Why another film about a squirty, self- obsessed, socialite-queen of New York in the late 1950’s? ‘Capote’ was more than enough. His morbid, personal and commercial interest in the murders of the Clutter family was based on huge vanity. He should have rested on Breakfast at Tiffany’s as a one-hit-wonder. Is it a gay thing, a writer’s thing, an ‘artist’ thing, another thing? How many would turn up to watch Melvyn Bragg and Myra Hindley in the cells? Though potentially a great match, it doesn’t bare thinking about. The disgust level might be high, but we’d all come! Based on George Plimpton’s “Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career” it begins with Capote (a superb caricature from Jones) in his privileged Manhattan milieu. Key players are all here - Paley, Vreeland, Gore Vidal, Slim Keith, and Harper Lee (a career-best for Bullock). What starts as a humorous look at this gossipy ‘elegantia’, gets Director: Douglas Mcgrath darker when Capote becomes obsessed Starring: Daniel Craig, Sigourney with the murders. Thus, a sixties best- Weaver, Sandra Bullock, Toby Jones seller and film, ‘In Cold Blood’. Certificate: 15 The little bugger is still being feted for Duration: 118 mins his second hit, forty years on. Origin: USA 2007 Come for Daniel’s brilliant, pre-Bond, By: Warner Brothers killer. 20 Box Office: 01442 877759 MARCH FILMS
The General Blood Diamond Sat 24 2.00 Matinee Warning: May contain babies Fri 23 7.30, Sat 24 7.00, Sun 25 6.00
“A brave one for Hollywood, it Director: Edward Zwick depicts Sierra Leone as a beautiful Starring: Jennifer Connelly, country in the process of being Leonardo Di Caprio, destroyed by a civil war of Djimon Hounsou appalling ferocity in which children Certificate: 15 are forced to play their part, Duration: 144 mins civilians are slaughtered without Origin: USA 2006 mercy and limbs are lopped off By: Warner Brothers without a second thought…”. A South-African mercenary and a This is a full length Silent, albeit Mende fisherman find their fates only 75 minutes long. It is an locked together as they embark on a amazing feat of endurance and quest to recover a rare and priceless death-defying one-takes. pink diamond. Forced into labour It is startling for its daring. The film- (twice) in the sweltering diamond making is secondary. There are no fields, Solomon Vandy (Hounsou) tricks. discovers the pink stone. Danny What you see is what they really did, Archer (DiCaprio) is a hired gun who in real time with real bones – ready specialises in the sale of so-called to be broken. ‘blood diamonds’ used to finance It is said to be Keaton’s best, and rebellions and terrorism. Archer “arguably the greatest screen comedy learns that Vandy has safely hidden ever made”. Set against a the diamond in a place where no one “meticulously evoked Civil War would ever suspect. A disillusioned background”, Buster risks life and American journalist, played by the limb for love (but literally, for that improbably beautiful Jennifer one take). Connelly, tags along. In return for He chases after his beloved railway recovering the treasure Archer will engine – with his beloved on board. return Vandy to his family, thus It has been hijacked by Northern providing Leo’s desperate mercenary spies up to no good for the with a much-needed chance for Confederates. redemption. The result is everything: witty, “What remains is a comparatively dramatic, thrilling, visually stunning, honest effort from Hollywood, but full of subtlety, insight, and broken- one fatally weakened by compromise. leg-dangerous. The plus point is that it has caused those who might be thought guilty of the blood diamond trade to issue disclaimers…” (Standard 25 Jan).
Director: Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman Starring: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack,Glen Cavander Certificate: U Duration: 75 mins Origin: USA 1927 By: Park Circus Films MARCH FILMS www.therexcinema.com 21
Director: Francis Coppola Starring: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, The Godfather James Caan Certificate: 18 Mon 26 7.30 Duration: 175 mins Origin: USA 1972 By: Paramount International Pictures
This is not a gangster movie. It is one of the greatest family movies ever made. And I guess, the most complete story ever told on film. “Fredo, you’re my brother and I love you, but never take sides against the family again” is the chilliest reminder among the many warmer references of deep affection peppered throughout the film. Even in the gorgeous Sicilian episode, the ‘family’ is at the heart of the landscape. From the opening shot to that final closing door, it is all about a fiercely proud patriarchal family. The blood ties are strong but the extended family of solid henchmen and ‘torbedoes’ has an immovable loyalty code of its own. On every level, it is so well made, from the evolution of truly believable characters, through the brutal action scenes and exquisite dialogue, to the haunting music. “By almost any criterion, The Godfather is the most important American film of the 1970s, transforming a doorstop of pulp-fiction into an epic account of the ineradicable penetration of American life and institutions by organised crime… A subversive saga of family values…” (synops) It dramatises that period of the twentieth century, just after the Second World War and into the early 1950’s when a younger Mafia generation followed political, economic and cultural trends to become ‘legitimate’. “Keep your friends close… your enemies, closer” As the Don, Vito Corleone, Brando is truly majestic in this role-of-all-roles to mark one of Hollywood’s greatest comebacks. Curiously, Last Tango in Paris came out in the same year! As for Pacino, it was not only a star-making performance, he carries every unanticipated step of Michael’s education into the ‘family business’ with such natural presence and extraordinary ease, we can see and feel every second of his reluctant coming-of-age. For my money, apart from ‘Scarface’ and ‘Dogday Afternoon’; okay ‘Insomnia’ and well okay, Shylock, he should have stopped here. As a small, family indulgence it is showing today to celebrate my brother’s birthday. 22 Box Office: 01442 877759 MARCH FILMS
Into Great Silence Tue 27 7.30 Motorcycle Diaries Wed 28 2.00, 7.30 Matinee Warning: May contain babies
“This is not a tale of heroic feats… Director: Walter Salles It is about two lives running Exec Producer: Robert Redford parallel for a while…” Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, A beautiful, moving and heart-lifting Rodrigo De la Serna film with unexpected comic Certificate: 15 moments. Duration: 126 mins I defy you not to fall in love with Origin: Argentina, UK 2004 Alberto. Gael Garcia Bernal’s By: Pathe Distribution “INTO GREAT SILENCE is the Ernesto ‘Che’ is beautiful, passionate first ever film about life inside the and as earnest as his name but it is Grande Chartreuse, the head newcomer Rodrigo De La Serna’s monastery of the legendary Alberto who will steal your heart. Carthusian Order of monks based It tells a true story of their journey in the French Alps. from Argentina to Peru on an old A near-silent meditation on monastic 600cc Norton “The Mighty One” and life in a very pure form, the film how it changed their lives… and contains no music except the chants consequently the rest of the world. in the monastery, no interviews or Not only unmissable but worth not commentaries. missing again… and again. The gentle rhythm of the monastic This remarkable piece of world prayers and rituals give the film a cinema has had its own momentum. beautiful cadence, and the passing of Since we opened in Dec 2004, it has time and the change of seasons are been screened nearly every month. captured by Gröning’s stunning Every show sold out - all by word of cinematography. mouth. Over 7,000 people. A sublime experience… We boasted the impossible, to run it Come and listen to something we until everybody had seen it. So that a don’t hear any more… and love it. few more can, here it is back for one more ride.
Director: Philip Gröning Certificate: U Duration: 169 mins Origin: Germany 2006 By: Soda Pictures MARCH FILMS www.therexcinema.com 23
Arthur and the Notes on a Scandal Invisibles Thu 29 7.30 Fri 30 7.30 Sat 31 7.00 Sat 31 2.00 Matinee Warning: May contain babies Acclaimed writer and director Eyre teams up with screenwriter Patrick Marber (who must never be Director: Luc Besson forgiven for CLOSER) to adapt Starring: Freddie Highmore, Mia author Zoe Heller’s novel of the Farrow, Penny Balfour, Doug Rand same name. When the new art Certificate: U teacher (Kate) at the prestigious St. Duration: 93 mins George’s School enters into a torrid Origin: France 2007 affair with one of the boys, the By: Momentum Pictures ageing History teacher (Judi), who On the heels of his first foray into senses a kindred spirit in the beautiful romantic comedy (Angel-A), younger woman, uses her knowledge French filmmaker Luc Besson of the transgression to wield an breaks new ground again with this obsessive power that soon threatens computer-animated, family-friendly tragedy for all involved. Brilliantly adaptation of his own children’s performed, the tension between book - Arthur and the Minimoys. Dench and Blanchett is palpable. A Ten-year-old Arthur’s (the forever gripping thriller. Neverland boy, Freddie Highmore) “Whether Judi Dench, Helen Mirren vivid imagination is fuelled by the or Kate Winslet, or none of them, colourful bedtime stories his wins this year’s Oscar, Dench’s grandmother reads to him. performance in this exceptional film His dreams are filled with African deserves to be accounted one of her tribes and the remarkable inventions best on screen… It is this refusal to detailed in the enigmatic book his play some kind of latterday Lady grandfather left behind after Macbeth that makes this portrait so mysteriously disappearing four years subtle and so powerful… earlier. Arthur and his family are in She is not just an ordinary villain. danger of losing their home to an We see her vulnerability, her unscrupulous developer – (surely loneliness and her desperation to be not!). However, if there is any truth in loved…” the tales of a treasure hidden deep (Derek Malcolm Standard 29 Jan). beneath their garden, and with the help of the tiny, fairy-like creatures from his grandmother’s sketchbook, there may still be hope… Children, bring the whole family - especially your grandparents.
Director: Richard Eyre Starring: Dame Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett, Bill Nighy, Alice Bird Certificate: 15 Duration: 92 mins Origin: UK 2006 By: Twentieth Century Fox 24 Box Office: 01442 877759 MARCH FILMS
Coming Soon MARCH FILMS AT A GLANCE Please check times carefully and watch out for early shows.
New releases THU 1 MISS POTTER 7.30 Dreamgirls The Science of Sleep FRI 2 THE HISTORY BOYS 7.30 Charlotte’s Web SAT 3 FLUSHED AWAY 2.00 Music and Lyrics SAT 3 LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE 7.00 The Good Shepherd Old Joy SUN 4 PAN'S LABYRINTH 6.00 Becoming Jane MON 5 THE PAGE TURNER 7.30 Letters from Iwo Jima TUE 6 VENUS 7.30 Back by demand WED 7 VENUS 2.00, 7.30 Perfume THU 8 THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND 7.30 Notes on a Scandal Last King of Scotland FRI 9 ROCKY BALBOA 7.30 Venus SAT 10 MON ONCLE 2.00 SAT 10 ROCKY BALBOA 7.00 SUN 11 EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED 6.00 MON 12 GHOSTS 7.30 TUE 13 LEONARD COHEN 7.30 WED 14 BABEL 2.00, 7.30 Dreamgirls THU 15 BABEL 7.30 FRI 16 DIRTY DANCING 7.30 SAT 17 JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH 2.00 SAT 17 DIRTY DANCING 7.00 SUN 18 RIVERS AND TIDES 6.00 MON 19 REBECCA 7.30 TUE 20 BOBBY 7.30 The Science of Sleep WED 21 BLACK BOOK 2.00, 7.30 THU 22 INFAMOUS 7.30 FRI 23 BLOOD DIAMOND 7.30 SAT 24 THE GENERAL 2.00 SAT 24 BLOOD DIAMOND 7.00 SUN 25 BLOOD DIAMOND 6.00 Letters from Iwo Jima MON 26 THE GODFATHER 7.30 TUE 27 INTO GREAT SILENCE 7.30 WED 28 MOTORCYCLE DIARIES 2.00, 7.30 THU 29 NOTES ON A SCANDAL 7.30 FRI 30 NOTES ON A SCANDAL 7.30 SAT 31 ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES 2.00 The Good Shepherd SAT 31 NOTES ON A SCANDAL 7.00 DEAR MRS TRELLIS... www.therexcinema.com 27 Rants and Pants
ear James, 18/12/06 Andrew Dixon at work on our Having just read the “brass plaque” – available on article on Waitrose in the D 07801 144962 December REX mag. I felt I had to drop you a line. Did you think you were the only one who could not find their way around the new lay-out? Believe me there were hundreds of us? Have you never been to a different supermarket where you can’t find anything there either? It only takes a few visits until the aisles become familiar. You will simply have to resign yourself to the “Grumpy Old Men” club, while the rest of us secretly enjoy our LOVELY new Waitrose. From a regular (and disabled) customer. Mrs JDR of Northchurch. cinema based themes, and merchandise. As for mugs, I Thank you, Mrs JDR. Glad you 2) Posters on the wall, that aren’t hope you can bear the like it. The doors too? – From posters but paintings: these are disappointment. three entrances and exits, they so “real” that I had to go up to James have left you with one. We would them and check that “yes” even love more entrances and exits at the sellotape, was, in fact painted Visitors’ book the Rex. We are confined by the on. Is this the work of a design council-approved developers’ company, or of a talented “Quality cinema. Good to get layout of multiple steps and one individual who works at the Rex? away from the commercial long shared pathway. Waitrose Whoever it is, the result is multiscreen and something more could have built as many as they startling and really adds to the personal!!” liked. They chose one; a much experience of the Foyer. Dean White from Whetstone reduced door. I’d have thought [We did buy Christmas cards (28/12/06) disabled customers would have from the Rex and people who complained. Tut tut. Such is the received them commented on “Perfume – odious shite! – But power of being… Never how unusual they were. I shall be keep up the good work.” knowingly… underestimated. buying some of the new cards Charles Gray from Berkhamsted (and there are also T shirts and (05/01/07) Dear Sir or Madam: umbrellas,) but have you thought Who is it who is responsible for about mugs?] “Came for the building and well all the wonderful art work Whoever it is deserves worth the train journey. Thanks.” around the cinema? Over the congratulations. Velma Plummer from Cornwall Christmas period we were quite (05/01/07) lax in coming to the cinema but Yours Sincerely when we came in January we, The Beesleys “Very cool – wish they had (not the Royal we, but “my something like this at home.” husband and I” we,) noticed two Dear The Beesley’s, Alastair Crouch from Brisbane things. Thank you, the artist is Andrew Australia (06/01/07) 1) On sale were an amazing Dixon, who as you have noticed selection of cards that were is very talented indeed. “Hi I am Amy and I came here to available to buy, featuring movie/ Well done for buying all our see Step Up which is a brill film. DEAR MRS TRELLIS... www.therexcinema.com 29 Rants and Pants
The seats were the best part though. THE REX ROCKS! I came here on the 3rd of Jan 2005 a few days after the day you opened. I think it was the 1st ever party! Luv Amy (with a drawn smiley face) Amy Proudfoot (Sat 13/01/2007) Nb. All her friends also wrote little notes.
“ I think you need to pay the box office staff double for today – they remained as cheerful and helpful as ever. Despite crashed computer and a massive queue” Ruth Adams from Wigginton (20/01/2007 – release Saturday)
“Please come to St Albans. aturday 20th January 2007 9:30am. This is the queue for February This is a wonderful cinema. tickets, by-passing the Gatsby, up Three Close Lane, up the steps Thank you very much.” Sand into the foyer. It is the longest queue we’ve had. We’re very Mark and Judy Sutton from St happy that you like it here so much you are willing to queue to get in, Albans (23/01/07) but we apologise for the two hour wait. We’re constantly working on ways to ensure fair ticket release. Hopefully you will get what you want “The Refugees from Essex after queuing. The Box Office has suggested if you are able to pay by Enjoyed the film and the cinema cheque it will be much quicker. You will have plenty of time in the queue and its ambience very much!! to write the date and The Rex Cinema. Tea, coffee and water is free in Will be back…..” the foyer. One of us will keep the queue informed of any sell-outs. (04/02/07) “Us 2 from Essex had a lovely Waitrose 2 and Tescos since he was 19. evening. Enjoyed the Casablanca To help you in future, he is tall trailer.” This week a 37 year old, a 24 and lanky with too much hair, (04/02/07) year old and a 21 year old went and is very hard to miss. shopping for The Rex. Oddly the Thank you for caring for our “Great Atmosphere… 21 year old was in charge. At the staff in the sharp objects comfortable. Wish there were check-out he was asked for ID, department. more cinemas renovated from the not for hard liquor (that had 1930s era! Beautifully presented already gone through), instead he in art deco? Incl the café area, was stopped for trying to buy thanks for the experience! cork replacement bottle stoppers PLEASE try and do this in St (the kind you put in a wine bottle Albans! Even the introduction at and pull a lever to tighten it into the beginning of the film was a the neck). On having no ID the great personal touch, so nice in check-out girl told our 21 year this day and age of mass old that he couldn’t buy the production and less quality! stoppers as they are as they were Sionaidh Craigen and Chianna too sharp! and Jude (07/02/07) Perhaps Waitrose should take note that this trusted 21 year old Emmanuelle Béart – look out “Beeeautiful!” does most of our shopping and for her in Spring. Dawn Streeter (08/02/07) has been doing so in Waitrose