Weekend Film Scene with Bill Cunningham

Jun 29 2012 by Sara Bain, Dumfries Standard Friday

THE ICE Age gang are back and they are fighting Ice Age pirates! Snow White is still around looking for a nice dress and some cheery songs and the new Spiderman swings into Annan.

Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre

Most of the week is taken up with Snow White and the Huntsman (12A) which has been doing the rounds recently.

Kristen Stewart is the glummest Snow White but here she is the warrior version of the Disney milk and honey one.

Charlize Theron is good value as the wicked queen sucking up the beauty of the local maidens like a Death-eater from Harry Potter.

On Wednesday there is an alternative with Even The Rain (15 ), a Mexican/ Spanish film set in Bolivia and tells of the personal and political conflicts involved in making a film about how Christopher Columbus abused the native population in his quest for gold.

Parallels are drawn with the film company exploiting the locals as extras and using Bolivia as a cheap location. Crucial to the local population is the threat to their water resources from a multi-national corporation.

Parallels with the last Bond film Quantum of Solace are interesting.

Odeon, DumfriesLonsdale, Annan

We are back in prehistoric times of sorts for Ice Age 4: The Continental Drift (U) in 3D and 2D.

Yes the original gang of Manny, the mammoth, Sid the sloth and Diego the sabre toothed tiger are back for a fourth outing.

The ubiquitous Scrat is still chasing the elusive acorn that has a treasure map written on it and in time-honoured fashion he provokes the break-up of the continents.

A few years on from the dinosaur episode the hapless trio are separated from Ellie, Manny’s mate and the rest of the herd by ice flows.

Using one as a makeshift ship they sail on into more adventures with sea creatures and pirates?

Well never mind the logistics just enjoy another 90 minutes with these appealing characters voiced as before by Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Dennis Leary and Queen Latifa.

Lonsdale, Annan

Considering that Sam Raimi’s three Spider-Man films are of recent memory – they started in 2002, it seems surprising that Sony/Columbia have come up with a new series so soon.

But Raimi opted out of Spider-Man 4 and now we have The Amazing Spider-Man (12A) filmed in 3D and with Andrew Garfield taking on the role of the high school nerd who gets bitten by a radioactive spider and gains super hero powers.

The new film is a reboot of the first Spidey film but with significant changes.

It is less maudlin, his new love interest is student Gwen Stacy played by Emma Stone and there is a back story about his parents and their fate.

The villain this time is Dr Kurt Connors aka The Lizard, fleshed out by Rhys Ifans, but there is no Daily Bugle.

Spectacularly filmed in a new 3D camera system and screened in both 3D and 2D, this is a brand new comic book movie to delight in.

Ken Loach's excellent The Angel’s Share (15) is a mix of gritty realism and Ealing-styled comedy set in the ganglands of Glasgow where the Courts are a daily performance of young lives wasted by drink, drugs and violence.

For local ned, Robbie (Paul Brannigan), there is the responsibility of parenthood and his nose for the delicate aromas of Malt Whiskey to inspire him to seek an escape.

It has strong language and violence tempered by a wicked sense of fun.

The comedy The Five Year Engagement (15) is a cautionary tale for engaged couples to avoid putting off the big day too long.