Reviews - A128 • Real World

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From the very first shot of snowflakes silently dancing against a dark sky there is something otherworldly and eerily beautiful about this film. Set in a frozen town in Sweden it tells a tale of the dispossessed, the lonely, and the left behind. Young Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) is being bullied at school and fantasises about stabbing his tormentors. Instead, he befriends Eli (Lina Leandersson) the strange young girl from...

THE LIFE BEFORE HER EYES

Taking as its focus a Columbine style massacre in a school (a la Elephant) the one feeling I wasn’t expecting to experience while watching The Life Before Her Eyes was fury - and that wasn’t even provoked by the subject matter, but by the way it is handled.

THE DAMNED UNITED

Is there anyone the amazingly talented Mr Michael Sheen cannot play? I only ask because following his pitch perfect performances as Tony Blair (twice), Kenneth Williams and David Frost, he's now nailed football manager extraordinaire Brian Clough. The film concentrates on the disastrous period in Clough's career when he took over from Don Revie as manager of Leeds United and promptly made a pig's ear out of the whole experience.

DUPLICITY

It’s been a few years since we’ve seen Julia Roberts and Clive Owen together on screen (in Closer), but they should make movies together more often because their pairing brings out the acting strengths in each of them.

LESBIAN VAMPIRE KILLERS

In which Matthew Horne and James Corden prove they really are no match for Simon Pegg. Whereas their TV series Gavin and Stacey is full of subtle nuance and truly moving moments LVKs really is just a title in search of a film.

BOTTLE SHOCK

Now here’s a film as tasty and refreshing as a well-chilled bottle of your favourite white - and the fact it is based on a true story makes it even more delicious. Way back in 1976, no one outside of California had heard of the Napa Valley and its wine growing community’s efforts to produce top quality Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

DIMINISHED CAPACITY

There haven’t been many comedies so far about Alzheimers and on the evidence of this film, there probably won’t be that many in the future. Suffering from the early onset of dementia is Rollie (Alan Alda), uncle of Cooper (Matthew Broderick), a man who is himself dealing with a bout of brain trouble after an accident.