6:00 PM, 24th September, 2011
No Guests
Danny Ocean (George Clooney) rounds up the boys again, this time to raid the offices of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg). Amongst the new additions to the team is Nina (Natalie Portman), a former ballerina whose flexibility is an asset to heists but who may also be insane, and Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), a retired US Marshal who has one last score to settle with Zuckerberg...
Okay, sorry... Oceans is actually a nature documentary, from the creators of one of my favourite docos, Travelling Birds. This time around, they focus on fish, sea dragons, octopi, crabs, otters, walruses and seals, to mention but a few of the oceanic creatures on display.
'Big deal', you may say; 'I can see that on television most weeks'. Ah, but this stuff is well worth watching on the big screen. Even if you have seen some of it before, it looks so much more visually striking in a cinema. And there was certainly plenty of stuff that I hadn't seen before too, like opposing armies of spider crabs going into battle, or baby turtles frantically trying to elude some hungry frigate birds.
The only drawback with this particular version of the film is that it's not the twenty-minute-longer European version that, incidentally, also doesn't have Pierce Brosnan's irritatingly superfluous narration: 'Merely knowing these creatures exist isn't enough to tell the story of their lives' - oh, sod off please! Nevertheless, Oceans is still worth your time, at the very least for the beautiful visuals on offer.
Travis Cragg
8:00 PM, 24th September, 2011
Every year, eight close-knit thirty-something friends spend their coveted summer vacation together. This year, however, one of the friends Ludo (Jean Dujardin) has ended up badly injured after being hit by a truck. After a visit to the hospital, his friends decide to stick to their annual tradition and head off to the coast.
Wealthy restaurateur Max (Cluzet) plays host this year at his summer home, and is startled when chiropractor Vincent (Magimel) comes out of the closet and reveals that he is infatuated with him; an unwelcome surprise to the married and very straight Max. Meanwhile, Marie (Cotillard), Eric (Gilles Lellouche) and Antoine (Laurent Lafitte) find themselves all dealing with various forms of romantic disappointment. As the summer progresses, it becomes apparent that everyone has some skeletons in their closet.
Set against the magnificent backdrop of beaches on the French coast, this film from writer-director Guillaume Canet (Tell No One) provides encouragement to book a trip there as soon as possible. The beauty of this setting, along with the film’s classic-rock soundtrack, proves a fitting contrast to the main topics of discussion for the group of friends and the journey they all undertake in dealing with their various discoveries. A well-balanced mix of comedy and drama, Little White Lies is a fascinating look at the challenges faced by old friends as new aspects of their relationships with each other become clear.
Robert Bourke