Weekend Film Scene with Bill Cunningham

Jul 2 2010 Dumfries Standard Friday

SHREK bows out on a high, the sex-crazed girls are back and, get ready to scream, Twilight: Eclipse has a midnight premier.

Odeon, DumfriesLonsdale, Annan

Shrek Forever After 3D (U) is fourth time lucky for the production team at Dreamworks.

This one puts Shrek firmly in the centre of the action which finds the big guy fed up with the strains of married life and bringing up the kids. He longs to be his old self and the crafty Rumpelstiltskin (voiced by Walt Dohrn a studio storyboard artist) offers him a deal that allows him to enter an alternative world where he never existed.

Fiona has become a revolutionary leader, donkey is a beast of burden for the witches and Puss-in-Boots has burst his breeks.

The voice cast of Mike Meyers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas, are so comfortably into their characters that it is like meeting old friends again. Of course by this time it is all a bit too familiar but with plenty of action and a witty script this final fling for the fairy tale folk leaves you content to see them living happily ever after. Stay for the brilliant end credits that reprise the whole series.

And for Twilight fans there is a midnight preview tomorrow night for the third one The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (12A).

Bella (Kristen Stewart) is still besotted with vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson) but is still stringing along werewolf, Jacob Black. Something has to give when a vampire, hell bent on revenge, is on a killing spree in Seattle.

Stephanie Meyer’s books have captured a whole new teenage readership and the films are now mega box office attractions. The new one promises some sort of resolution but the burning question is how often will the male stars take off their shirts and will Bella finally get to the church on time and for who?

Twilight: Eclipse is at the Odeon at midnight tomorrow night and at the Lonsdale in Annan on Saturday and Sunday. It opens for regular screenings next Friday.

Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre, Dumfries

Sex and the City 2 (15) moves in here for the next week. Now no one is going to pretend that this is the film of the year but if you are looking for a good night out with a film that simply offers a bit of a laugh, then this delivers the goods.

The four New Yorkers are variously two years into marriage, parenting, partners and the menopause. They all have frustrations but help is at hand thanks to a wealthy Arab businessman who offers them an all-expenses-paid trip to Abu Dhabi. The downside is that Arabian morality laws don’t take account of the girls’ rampant libidos.

The positive side of the film is that the characters are allowed to develop; there are some genuinely moving scenes where real emotions are explored; and plenty of witty one liners. It is all dressed up to kill but the clichéd attitude to Arab culture is juvenile.

Watch out for Liza Minelli in an outrageously camp gay wedding scene belting out Single Ladies – but I still can’t believe that she does the dance routine without some CGI assistance.

On Tuesday there is also the Austrian film Revanche (15), a measured but compelling study of how the lives of two unconnected couples are compromised by a violent act that leads to an emotional and redemptive conflict.

Alex, a brothel assistant, runs away with his Ukranian girlfriend who works as a prostitute. They decide to rob a bank in a country town but things go badly wrong with surprising consequences. With the focus on the interlinking personalities rather than action in the conventional sense this probes into the dark areas of human nature. The film was nominated for an Oscar last year.

Lonsdale, Annan

Rupert Grint proves that there is life after Harry Potter by appearing in the new British comedy Wild Target (15). He plays a delivery boy who gets caught up in the crazy lifestyle of professional assassin Bill Nighy. He baulks at a mission to kill con trickster Rose (Emily Blunt), falls for her but has the problem of his fellow assassins on his trail to complete his job.

Now all this sounds familiar after Killers and it is a remake of a 1993 French film.

There’s a terrific cast that includes Eileen Atkins, Rupert Everett, Martin Freeman and Gregor Fisher.

Still showing are Street Dance (PG) and Space Chimps 2 (U).