Film Focus - Jul '06
Published 22nd Jun 2006 by Brad Brasier

If the World Cup is having a negative effect on your blood pressure, Brighton Life prescribes a trip to the movies for a slightly more relaxing way to spend 90 minutes.

At The Odeon & Cineworld

The pick of releases currently gracing our multiplexes has to be the critically acclaimed American thriller ?Hard Candy?. Starring relatively unknown actors Patrick Wilson and Ellen Page (the latter proving a real talent to watch out for), director David Slade creates an unbearably tense atmosphere as a 14 year old girl exacts revenge on a supposed paedophile she meets through the internet. If fast cars and dodgy acting flick your switch then check out ?Fast & The Furious 3: Tokyo Drift? for some mindless, testosterone fuelled action that does exactly what it says on the tin.

At The Duke of York?s

Set in 1919, Cillian Murphy (?Batman Begins?, ?Redeye?) and Patrick Delaney star as two brothers whose allegiances become opposed during Irelands bid for independence in Ken Loach?s ?The Wind That Shakes The Barley?. Mongolian Docu-drama ?Cave Of The Yellow Dog? offers a slow paced yet surprisingly heart warming look at the life of an isolated family and a young girl who forms a bond with a stray dog she refuses to turn away.

For a chance to enjoy the best in short films from across the globe, don?t forget ?Future Shorts? which screens at the Dukes on the last Sunday of every month!

On the Small Screen

?Traffic? screenwriter Steven Gaghan brings us another spralling yet intricately structured story, this time focusing on the oil industry in the excellent ?Syriana?. With some top class performances from an ensemble cast (George Clooney and Jeffrey Wright are particularly impressive), it?s a film that requires your full concentration throughout but will open your eyes to a world utterly drenched in political corruption. For something entirely different, The Special Edition release of ?Airplane? offers another chance to enjoy one of the most consistently funny movies of all time. Now 16 years on from its theatrical release, it?s still guaranteed to have you in stitches no matter how times you?ve sat through it.

Future Releases

There are few directors who combine intelligence and style quite as effortlessly as Michael Mann. With films like ?Heat?, ?The Insider? and ?Collateral? under his belt, mouths are now positively watering at the thought of his modern day take on ?Miami Vice?, the hugely successful TV series he executively produced back in the 80?s. Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx (in his third collaboration with Mann) play undercover cops Crockett and Tubbs infiltrating the Florida drug world in what looks set to be the coolest film of the year when its released at the end of July. For another take on the cop movie formula, news is slowly beginning to emerge of Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright?s ?Hot Fuzz?, their action comedy follow up to 2004?s quite brilliant ?Shaun of the Dead?. With the inclusion of Nick Frost as Pegg?s cop partner completing the dream team line-up, fans of ?Shaun? and the TV series ?Spaced? await its release next February with baited breath.

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