Snitch

When a young man’s first drug offence lands him with a 10 year minimum sentence, his father (The Rock) enlists an ambitious judge (Susan Sarandon) to help take down a local drug dealer in exchange for his son’s reduced sentence. Any high profile film willing to point a finger at the slaughterhouse ethos of America’s drug laws deserves credit but Snitch seems lost in its naiveties; Indeed, when a desperate leading man on the verge of vigilantism types ‘Drug Cartel’ into Wikipedia we know what sort of film we’re in for. 

Freiluft Season

Freiluft season kicks up a few gears this month with the prolific folk in Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain, Rehberge and Mitte all screening movies on a daily basis. Freiluft Kino Mitte will continue their stroll through the vaults with a wonderful selection from cinema’s greatest moments; the startling Americana of Wenders’ Paris Texas(02 Jun, 21:30), the chilling neo noir of Polanski’s Chinatown(21 Jun, 21:30) and the stark Neo-Realism of On the Waterfront (26 Jun, 21:30) look to be the picks of the bunch. Over in the idyllic surroundings of Volkspark Friedrichshain’s seated amphitheatre there is a bunch of this year’s best on show with Hitchcock’s shocker classic  Psycho(9 Jun,21.30) thrown in for good measure. Freiluftkino Kreuzberg in cooperation with Exberliner will show Wenders’ documentary Pina (15 Jun, 21.45), cult classic The Big Lebowski (18 Jun, 21:45) and Chaplin’s The Great Dictator (26 Jun, 21:45) amidst their packed out program. A little further out under the trees at Volkspark Rehberge there will be a chance to catch the screwball comedy of Silver Linings (21 Jun, 21:45) alongside Soderbergh’s big-pharma swansong Side Effects (26 Jun, 21:45). Ben Wheatley’s horror-in-the-great-outdoors, Sightseers takes itself to the great outdoors as it hits Cassiopeia’s open air screen (27 Jun, 22:15); and Yorck cinemas begin their summer program in Potsdamer Platz with the latest Ryan Gosling/Derek Cianfrance combo,  The Place Beyond the Pines (12 Jun, 21:45). 

Oz The Great and Powerful

I wonder how that wizard ever ended up in Oz. Said no one ever. None the less, Sam Raimi decided it was something to look into so here we have Oz the Great and Powerful; a decent if somewhat unnecessary prequel to the 1939 classic.

We begin in black and white 4:3 ratio Kansas with the titular wizard (played by the ever present James Franco) doing his thing on the fairground circuit. Oz dreams of greatness but his silver tongue and his wild ambitions seem to only be getting him into hot water. An air ballooned getaway from one such incident sends Oz into the path of an oncoming tornado which transports him to the Land of Oz and blows the film into lush wide-screen colour. From here he encounters two witches (played by Mila Kunis and Rachel Weiss) who inform him of his prophesised arrival. The tale goes that a great Wizard will fall from the sky and slay the evil witch so Oz enlists a monkey sidekick (head-meltingly voiced by Zach Braff) and an exquisitely animated porcelain girl (Joey King) and heads out to do just that.

It’s tough to shake that whiff of insignificance but some of Oz still works. Aside from a rather tame Wicked Witch there are still glimpses of Raimi’s horror chops- Bruce Campbell even pops up for a brief cameo- but perhaps the best part is Franco’s dozy performance which provides a nice reminder of how affable he can be when he isn't trying so bloody hard.

Oslo, August 31st 

Having taken leave of rehabilitation for a job interview, Anders (Anders Danielson Lie) embarks on a 24 hour odyssey of old friends, parties, rejection and regret through the streets of the Norwegian capitol, gradually observing the extent with which the city has left him behind. Shot in the crisp Scandinavian autumn light and anchored by Danielson’s wonderfully reserved and sombre performance, Oslo triumphs as a young man’s efforts to confront the affliction his friends and family seem so hopeless to acknowledge.

G.I. JOE: Retaliation

While on a mission to confiscate some nukes from the usual bunch of pesky Arabs, an elite group of U.S. commandos called The JOEs are forced to go rogue when a man disguised as their president (Jonathon Pryce) turns the U.S. military against them and obliterates most of their team. It seems even bigger things are afoot too as the Cobra commander- the JOE’s arch nemesis- escapes from his underground prison and begins to hatch his evil plans. The JOEs must regroup and reload before the Cobra has the chance to unleash the mysterious Project Zeus and rule the world etc.

Expectations were never going to be too high for this one. The Rock stars as someone called Roadblock and there’s a serious amount of “AMERICA, FUCK YEAH” going around… and yet… it’s not so bad. Director Jon M. Chu, the man apparently behind the Step Up sequels, whips up some solid high-stakes action sequences; The RZA shows up briefly to do his quaint Shao Lin thing and Jonathon Pryce gives a seductively slimy turn as a villainous U.S. prez who even squeezes in a decent Bono gag.

All that said, we shouldn’t be getting too far ahead of ourselves- after all, it’s still the sequel to a film based on some fairly unremarkable toys - but maybe don’t go running for the hills just yet. 

Sehsüchte Festival

Now in its 42^nd year, the biggest film festival for the students- and by the students- in Europe returns to Potsdam’s Konrad Wolf University for its annual festivities, screening hundreds of films from around the globe on both the University campus and the grounds of Potsdam’s world famous Babelsberg studios. In Berlin film Captain Oscar, two friends make a deal to share a bed but then must cope with their ever increasing affections. Also screening will be Through the lens of inkedKenny in which A Montreal photographer seeks to capture the city’s gay bear community. Outside of the festival’s sizeable core program there will be plenty of room for copious networking as well as some tasty sounding retrospectives. The Retro/Futuro section will be examining the evolution of narrative forms and technical innovations in the past and present including a special screening of the silent expressionist classic The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari with live accompaniment from electronica band ALP. The Schreibsüchte contest to find the best script will see participants pitching their story to a live audience and jury of experts as well as having their dialogue read out by a group of voice actors. While the Current and Controversial section will be focusing on defining excess, both social and financial, in the cinematic world.