The soundtrack jarrs, like fingernails screaming across the surface of a blackboard, and his face contorts into an agonised grimace but the stringy sinew refuses to give way.

Again he tries, but to no avail.

Desperation rought on his face he tries a third time. The raw ligament stretches, the audience peek out from behind their fingers and snap, the blade frees him from the sandy prison.

Such an uncomfotable and uncompromising scene shows both the great strength and weakness of Trainspotting director Danny Boyle’s latest effort, 127 Hours.

The film is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston’s ill-fated 2003 trip through Blue John Canyon in Utah and his subsequent efforts to save himself after a fallen boulder crushes and traps his right arm for more than five days.

As the hours tick by and water runs short the mechanical engineer examines his life and recalls friends, lovers (Harry Potter’s Clemence Poesy), family, and the two hikers (Joan of Arcadia’s Amber Tamblyn and Transiberrian’s Kate Mara) he met before his accident.

Unfortunately, the inevitable, grisley amputation scene will put off many people from seeing what is a very, very good movie.

But for those sanguine few seconds – which those of a more squamish disposition can always close their eyes for – 127 Hours is actually a very positive, life affirming story.

That such a scene does not overpower the whole piece is in the main down to a fine performance from Californian actor James Franco, on who’s solitary shoulders almost the film’s entire running time rest.

Probably best known for playing Peter Parker’s best friend Harry Osborn in Sam Raimi’s Spiderman trilogy, Franco manages to convey a nuanced portrait of a cocksure adventurer, who in an instant goes from master of his surroundings to victim of his own bravado.

Such a “confident” individual could easily come across as arrogant and alienating, but the surely soon to be Oscar nominated 32-year-old manages to draw you in by showing the fragility of a man who doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry while staring death squarly in the face.

That dry sense of humour is helped by having a director who knows how to handle wit of the slightly dark and dreamlike variety.

Indeed the first time Ralston considers the surgical solution was met by a palpable gasp from critics at London Film Festival – followed immediately by broad laughter at the resulting surreal payoff.

As gut wrenching as it is inspirational 127 Hours clearly isn’t the mass market popcorn fare of Slumdog Millionaire, though it is shot through with a similar sense of pitch black humour and, at least in it’s early stages, some of the same impish fun.

Hopefully audiences can get past the inevitable blood-letting and discover one of the finest films of this decade – though it might be an idea to bypass the concessions stand on the way in.

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An abridged version of this review was published in the Lincolnshire Echo on Thursday January 6  2011.

Lifestyles of the rich and the famous, sang pop-punk rockers Good Charlotte, they’re always complaining.

And in Somewhere, the latest effort from director Sophia Coppola, we are presented with a languid moan by a member of Hollywood royalty about how hard life can be for an overpaid, overrated and oversexed movie star.

Actor Johnny Marco (Blade’s Stephen Dorff) drinks, parties and womanises to alleviate bordom between blockbusters, while being only an occassional father to 11-year-old Cleo (Dakota Fanning’s younger sister Elle).

But when Cleo’s mother dumps her on the doorstep of Johnny’s luxury hotel room residence and skips town, he’s forced to try and reconcile the youngster into his vapid world.

If that doesn’t immediately have you reaching for the hankies then don’t worry, that probably just means you live in the real world.

At a time when thousands are facing unemployment and everyone else is tightening their belts it’s not 100 percent clear why the audience should feel sorry for such a privileged playboy.

Yes, Marco is a man isolated by his own success and yes, a father turning his life round and taking his daughter to camp might be relatable – but not when he makes that supposedly emotional journey in a Ferrari and helicopter.

That sense of disconnection only serves to alienate the viewer, and when coupled to some rather inexplicable directing choices – the opening two minute sports car in desert shot and repeated, overly clinical pole dancing scenes stand out – could leave you both bored and slightly angry.

In fairness the warning signs that something might be amiss are there even before you enter the cinema.

When the first three names on your cast list are Stephen Dorff, Jackass’ Chris Pontius and one of the Fannings you know you’re in trouble.

Saying that, if anyone comes out of this with any credit it has to be the miss-cast youngster.

Though she’s 12, playing 11, Elle Fanning seems too old for the role, and someone like Chloe Moretz might have been better suited, but she shows enough promise to suggest she’ll avoid the “lovable poppet” roles which until recently were the staple of her elder sibling.

Undoubtedly Somewhere is, like the director’s previous film Lost in Translation, something of a Marmite affair – and while the critics at Venice clearly loved it, it’s difficult to see that anyone outside of the Hollywood sphere will ever connect with it’s characters enough to really care.

Compared to the usual kiddie fodder that’s in multiplexes at this time of year Somewhere is certainly something different, but at the end of the day that doesn’t necessarily mean your money wouldn’t be better spent on a ticket for Harry Potter.

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Trailer

The 1980s revival roles on, whether you want it to or not! And so here is the latest phase; a big screen adaptation of teamtime tv series.

The A Team is one of three heavyweight action team-ups to emerge this summer. The first saw Watchmen’s Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) team up with the Human Torch (Chris Evans) and Stringer Bell from HBO’s The Wire (Idris Elba) in The Losers. The third will see Sylvester Stallone call on every action star in existence to make The Expendables.

The A Team certainly had the biggest budget and did not lack of an engaging cast. Liam Neeson is rarely poor, while Bradley Cooper and Sharlto Copley both made their names in unexpected hits last summer, and seemed good fits for their respective roles as ‘the Faceman’ and ‘Howling Mad’ Murdock. The only question mark seemed to hang over Quintin ‘Rampage’ Jackson, a professional cage fighter, who stepped into Mr T’s big boots as B.A. Baracus.

Yet despite this, unless The Expendables is dreadful, The A Team looks set to lose this triple-threat fire-fight.

The cast all do reasonable jobs, but only Patrick Wilson’s sleazeball CIA bad guy really excels. The action is often indecipherable and smothered in obvious CGI. The plot makes a modicum of sense, but that really doesn’t make up for the fact that the film lacks the charm of the TV series. All that’s left is a sub-Michael Bay explosion-fest littered with blockbuster clichés.

It would be unfair to describe The A Team as bad; everything is executed with a certain efficiency, but the whole affair seemed very lacklustre, lacking in any real inspiration.

It’s also quite inconsistent. The original show was always a family show; a little cartoonish, but warm-hearted and fun. The film, at times, touches on this spirit, yet then drops it. It’s as though the filmmakers vacillated between keeping that light atmosphere and trying re-imagine the concept as a gritty, realistic affair.

Considering its underperformance at the US box office, it seems unlikely a new franchise has been born and, on this evidence, that’s probably not a bad thing.

As anyone who’s been watching BBC3′s Mongrels can attest, foul mouthed animals are a mine of comedic potential.

Another offering from Chris and Ben Blaine for C film, Hallo Panda is a comedy of unrequited love and panda husbandry.

The film follows inept zoologist Mark (Stephen Beckingham), as he struggles with the two main problems in his life.

First, he is hopeless besotted with moth expert Sarah (Cariad Lloyd) – and secondly, he is totally failing to convince a panda (Benedict Wong) to mate in order to save its own species.

As with most Blaine Brother films, Hallo Panda is without much in the way of serious problems – It’s a good, solid, occasionally outrageous comedy that revels in its own ridiculousness.

It requires the viewer to accept that this isn’t meant to be our world, but a strange doppelganger of it where scientists always wear their lab coats to the pub and where a panda can talk – and at the end of the day you don’t need any explanation for it.

Though providing plenty of laughs, the lion’s share of them goes to Benedict Wong as Panda. Where most of the other characters are perfunctory, Panda is an absolutely wonderful antagonist, who refuses to mate to save his species because he’s not in the mood.

Sadly, he is also Mark’s only friend and some of the sweetest scenes in the film come when Panda offers Mark advice on his love life. These scenes are played almost straight, and it’s easy to forget you’re watching a panda and a zoologist rather than two mates down the pub.

Hallo Panda requires something of a suspension of disbelief but it’s well worth trying to catch if you’re passing C Soco this August.

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Hallo Panda will be shown weekly from the 3^rd to the 30^th of August at C soco urban garden. The screenings are free to the public.
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C FILM REVIEWS – Film at the Edinburgh Fringe, Hand Island, Thank You Skinhead Girl, Hip Hip Hooray, Knock Knock and The End of the Pier Show

Death of the Revolution is the creative fruit of company founders Chris and Ben Blaine and is as near to flawless as short films get.

The tale follows primary school student Tony as he gets in touch with his inner utopian socialist and decides that enough is enough and that the imperialist oppression of his class must end.

The film is utterly charming, and manages to make a few subtle political and psychological points as well.

Free Speech, another Blaine Brothers joint-project is another excellent comedic piece, that once again manages to hit upon a few psychological truths, this time through a conversation between two lovers sharing a bath.

Admitedly not one for the kids to watch, as it does border on voyeurism at times, but definitely one for anyone who’s ever made the mistake of being too forthcoming in ‘sharing’ with a partner.

Oh, and Danny Dyer is in it, playing his usual version of himself, but his cockney charm works well here.

Tell, a rare non-Blaine Brother film from Charlie Productions, is the debut of director Laura Brocken.

Though flawed, it shows a lot of promise as Ms. Brocken experiments with visually depicting her abstract feelings – Particularly effective is the image of her carrying her own heart down a high street.

Although not all of the visualisations are as successful as this, the film remains an interesting piece of work.

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These films will be shown from the 3^rd to the 30^th of August at C soco urban garden. The screenings are free to the public.
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C FILM REVIEWS – Hand Island, Thank You Skinhead Girl, Hip Hip Hooray, Knock Knock and The End of the Pier Show, Hallo Panda

Making their Fringe debut as part of the C Film festival, Hip Hip Hooray, Knock Knock and The End of the Pier Show are proof, if any were needed, that short films can be surprising, thoughtful and just plain weird.

Hip Hip Hooray is the brainchild of Lynsey Miller and follows the exploits of Pippa, who works in an old folks’ home.

In an interesting inversion of some of the issues presented in C film’s Bridging the Gap programme, she finds that it is her rather than the residents whose existence is all but forgotten.

While the film doesn’t really manage to distinguish itself until the end, where it makes a bold move in terms of audience expectations, it is well-made and moving, and the cinematography by Dominik Rippl deserves special mention for its use of subdued colour.

Knock Knock, made by CineFringe film festival director John Lynch, is a surrealist piece that examines jokes, expectations and punchlines.

A film that defies much in the way of explanation, it juxtaposes long-form and short-form jokes and differing styles of comedic delivery.

And for festival goers it’s worth a look – not just because it’s a film about the Fringe being shown on the Fringe, although that is something that certainly adds to its meta-textual meditation.

Finally, The End of the Pier Show is a short film from director Ash Parker (creator of the Hand Island series) and writer Michael Facherty.

Though not stellar in terms of cinematography, in less than five minutes it does manage to create its own little abstract world that provides a very final twist for pier-end mime artist Pierrot.

For the observant and fans of the director’s webseries, there is also the chance to spot most of the cast from Hand Island appearing as extras.

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Hip Hip Hooray, Knock Knock and The End of the Pier Show will be shown weekly from the 3^rd to the 30^th of August at C soco urban garden. The screenings are free to the public.
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C FILM FESTIVAL – Film at the Edinburgh Fringe, Hand Island, Thank You Skinhead Girl

Straight from being crowned Best Documentary at the 8th International Short Film Festival in Balchik, Bulgaria, and making it’s debut at the Edinburgh Fringe, Thank You Skinhead Girl is director Sharon Woodward’s examination of the skinhead subculture in Oxford in the 1970s and ‘80s.

Ms. Woodward grew up in care, and uses her own experiences, as well as archive material and interviews with other skinheads, to explain the role such gangs played for young people who felt lost and alone.

Though simple in their execution, the film’s straightforward, intimate interviews give the viewer a window into a world that many see as merely violent and delinquent.

And it is this charmingly unpretentious approach which must partly account for its popularity at film festivals around the country, considering its otherwise niche audience.

Otherwise, there are few real quibbles with the film. It tends to rely on a fairly limited soundtrack – ‘Skinhead Girl’ by The Oppressed is a catchy and undeservedly forgotten song, but is used perhaps a little too extensively.

And whilst probably a symptom of the documentary’s small budget it is a shame, especially considering the importance of music to the skinhead gangs.

The other main bugbear is the recitation of a poem at intervals throughout the documentary. Not only are these intervals annoyingly uneven, but the poem itself serves to jarringly break the flow of proceedings.

Though its subject matter will probably mean that Thank You Skinhead Girl won’t find a massive audience beyond critics and skinheads, anyone with an interest in ’70s and ‘80s culture would be well-advised to give this a gander.

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Thank You Skinhead Girl will be shown weekly from August 3^rd to 30th at C soco urban garden. The screenings are free to the public.
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C FILM FESTIVAL – Film at the Edinburgh Fringe, Hand Island, Hip Hip Hooray, Knock Knock and The End of the Pier Show

Films may be all well and good but the C film festival at the Edinburgh Fringe is also bridging the digital divide by showing the first five episodes of new British webseries Hand Island.

When cowardly Colin (Alex Robinson) is mistaken for the new manager of an exclusive-but-sinister island, he quickly finds his life at risk from the island’s ‘Advisor’ – a stuffed toy tiger.

As he runs for his life across the island, he finds (and begins to fall for) fellow castaway Vinny (Bex James), while receiving help from the mysterious decoy duck obsessed ‘native’ (Katherine Ellen-Kotz) and idiot chauffeur Wade (pronounced ‘waar-day’ and played by Ash Parker, who also directs and co-writes).

Hand Island won’t win any awards for sophistication, but it is a genuinely funny sitcom somewhere in between the cultish charms of The Mighty Boosh and Max and Paddy’s Road to Nowhere, and represents an ambitious attempt to produce a series on a budget of virtually nothing.

Of course, this budget means that sometimes, you really can’t ignore that the main villain of the piece is stuffed tiger toy – but while this can to some extent be considered part of the joke, director Ash Parker has gone to such extraordinary lengths to often successfully make the tiger seem animate, that when it fails it just seems a bit of a shame.

Fortunately, the voicing and characterisation of the tiger are so much fun, you’re generally willing to let things slide – even when some of the actors’ comic timing is occasionally off as well.

Parker and co-writer Alex Robinson rely on a good story with likeable characters to keep the audience interested, making the first three episodes, which broadly form a single story arc, the most successful of the series so far. Episodes 4 and 5 lose a little pace, but are worth keeping up with for some amusing moments.

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An episode of Hand Island will be screened every weekday from the 3^rd to the 30^th of August at C soco urban garden. The screenings are free to the public.
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C FILM FESTIVAL – Film at the Edinburgh Fringe, Thank You Skinhead Girl, Hip Hip Hooray, Knock Knock and The End of the Pier Show

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, being one of the biggest arts festivals in the world, has always been curiously underserved by film.

After the Edinburgh International Film Festival separated itself from the other Edinburgh Festivals a few years ago, no one really stepped into the filmic breach, despite the opportunities it offered.

This year however, two film festivals are having a crack at putting film back on the Fringe; CineFringe and C film.

CineFringe aims to provide the Fringe with what some believe it desperately needs – a traditional film festival to showcase independent film.

Based in the city’s Surgeons Hall, it’s set to provide regular screenings of films made especially for the Fringe – Though as yet, with only a fortnight or so to go, there is still no list of films available.

But if CineFringe’s directors can really provide a cinematic programme tailored for the Fringe, it could be something truly exciting – and that’s even before you consider the added bonus of a programme of practical filmmaking workshops.

C film meanwhile, has been knocking about on the Fringe for around four years now, going through various permutations.

This lack of continuity may, in fact, have prevented it from emerging as an established film festival but this year, they’ve opted for a more low-key mode than before, screening a selection of independent short films in a converted mobile office container in C soco urban garden.

Such an informal cinema will allow punters to come and go as they please – for free – giving them opportunity to enjoy any other events happening in the garden.

But unlike CineFringe, C film seems to be concentrating on providing a more eclectic experience, with a specific interest in supporting emerging talent.

With both CineFringe and C film in a position to really distinguish themselves, this could be a great year for film on the Fringe. Of course, this entirely depends on the films they screen – and you’ll have to wait for August to make your own mind up on those.

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CineFringe Film Festival 2010 runs from the 11^th to the 28^th of August. Tickets are available fro the Edinburgh Festival Fringe office.

C film runs from the 3^rd of August to the 30^th of August and is non-ticketed.
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C FILM REVIEWS – Hand Island, Thank You Skinhead Girl, Hip Hip Hooray, Knock Knock and The End of the Pier Show, Hallo Panda, Charlie Productions at the Edinburgh Fringe

It’s a little bit startling to realise that it’s been fifteen years since the release of the original Toy Story.

Now Pixar, the reigning and undisputed CG animation champions, have released the third in the series, and it feels like the toys have never been away.

Toy Story 2 gave us a brief glimpse of the toys life post-childhood and it didn’t take a genius to work out that would be explored more in this third, and most probably, final instalment.

A warning to any adult entering a screening of this film: You Will Cry!

The atmosphere is thick and melancholy from the word go, as we find Woody, Buzz and their few surviving friends shut away in a chest, about to make one last desperate play for their owner Andy’s attention. He’s soon away to college and their future is uncertain.

However, thankfully, the film is still jam-packed with adventure and avoids becoming a morose meditation on decay that might scar young tots as easily as entertaining them.

Finding themselves in a day-care centre, the film soon switches gears and picks up speed under the framework of a prison breakout. The inevitability of growing up forms a constant backdrop that gives the movie an undercurrent of last-chance desperation and this really comes through in a garbage-pile finale that resembles a vision of hell.

Yet, despite all this, there are laughs aplenty, thrills for the kids and rye jokes for the adults.

The visuals are as eye-catching as ever, enhanced very nicely in 3D, a format that has not yet won my heart; but just as in all Pixar films, that isn’t the point. The heart of these films is beautiful – what other studio would portray a damaged and understandably angry villain in a so-called kids’ film? Or create such a heartfelt rumination on mortality? And still make a rip-roaring spectacle to delight young and old? I can’t think of one.

If there is anything to complain about, it’s perhaps that we’ve seen this all before, but to be perfectly honest, Woody and co are still some of the most watchable characters around.