GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL

It’s that time of year again when the UK’s brightest and most inclusive film festival returns, this time for its 12th edition.

Running for 12 days from Thursday February 17th, Glasgow Film Festival will present almost 200 films and events from across the cinema world, from the most intimate documentaries to the shiniest new blockbusters, proving once again that this is indeed cinema for all.

Festival co-directors Allison Gardner and Allan Hunter have pulled off a spectacular coup by securing the UK premiere of the latest film from Hollywood royalty the Coen brothers for their opening gala.

Hail, Caesar is an all-star comedy led by Coen regular George Clooney as a 1950s movie idol whose mysterious disappearance throws a studio’s new production into turmoil, with Josh Brolin, Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum joining in the fun.

Another UK premiere closes the festival in the shape of daring animation Anomalisa from the mind of Charlie Kaufman.

There’s something for everyone to discover across a wide variety of themed strands, from FrightFest’s horror to Stranger Than Fiction’s probing docs, to behind the scenes events, in person appearances and special screenings in imaginative locations from Kelvingrove Museum to the Grand Ole Opry.

Dream Teams on the Silver Screen is a chance to see the biggest stars of yesteryear as part of their most beloved cinematic double acts, from Newman and Redford to Tracy and Hepburn.

Every morning at 10.30 the Glasgow Film Theatre will screen a free classic featuring the greatest movie pairings of the 20th century, including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Big Sleep and Pillow Talk. And remember, it’s free!

Local Heroes provides the first opportunity to see the best talent from Scotland and across the UK, with stars such as Kate Dickie, Brian Cox and Juliet Stevenson in their latest roles.

From further afield there are a number of new films from Argentina, a country with a great cinematic track record in recent years, and there’s a wider exploration of world cinema in the Window on the World strand, where new movies from South America, Europe and beyond can be discovered.

Those looking for a preview of the finest new films that will be arriving in cinemas throughout the spring should check out the Gala strand.

Here you’ll find cult director Ben Wheatley’s incendiary High-Rise, based on the J.G. Ballard book and the equally provocative Green Room, with Patrick Stewart as you’ve never seen him before playing a white supremacist.

Stars such as Richard Gere, Jake Gyllenhaal and Ewan McGregor strut their stuff in films as exciting and diverse as Time Out of Mind, Demolition and Miles Ahead, Don Cheadle’s biopic of jazz legend Miles Davis.

First and second-time directors are the focus of the Pioneer strand, which aims to give an early look at what could be the brightest film talent of the future.

More established filmmakers return with CineMasters, where you’ll find new work from such luminaries as Peter Greenaway, Atom Egoyan and Rust and Bone director Jacques Audiard with the Palme d’Or winning Dheepan.

Anniversaries are celebrated at the Glasgow Science Centre IMAX, and with the likes of Aliens and Top Gun turning 30 this year, it’s a rare chance to see them again on Scotland’s biggest cinema screen.

Further geek delights lie in wait thanks to local writing stars Robert Florence and Mark Millar, who co-present the Nerdvana strand which offers treats from the worlds of video games and comic books. The return of Rab’s Video Game Empty is not to be missed, nor is a day devoted to the greatest action adventure ever made, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Every day of the festival will see at least one free event offered, including in the Modern Families strand. This offers children and families the chance to get involved with the festival, and to see animated delights from a free screening of Disney classic Lady and the Tramp, to their latest animated blockbuster Zootropolis.

A number of ticket deals are available, where online purchases mean even Gala screenings can be seen from as little as £5 per film. Tickets for all events go on sale from Monday January 25th and more details can be found at www.glasgowfilm.org/festival

THE BIG SHORT (15, 130 mins)

Director: Adam McKay

4 stars

The Big Short has netted itself five Oscar nominations for telling the story of why the 2008 economic crash happened and how no-one saw it coming because the property market was assumed to be rock solid.

No-one that is except a few savvy investors, including Christian Bale’s financial whizz who predicts the ticking time bomb and wants to bet against it, while all the Wall Street people he’s investing with think he’s crazy.

Steve Carell gets in on the action too and proceedings are smart and sharp thanks to the way the film explains as clearly as possible just what happened while packaging it in a very entertaining bow.

It’s a brilliant way to get this dense and confusing information across in as engaging and accessible a way possible, with sly interludes like Margot Robbie in a bubble bath explaining what sub-prime mortgages are.

Writer and director Adam McKay, previously best known for Will Ferrell comedies, skilfully juggles a variety of tones that make The Big Short hilarious and chilling simultaneously, going from high farce to anger. By exposing the fraudulence of the system, it’s the most savage and infuriating indictment yet of the banking world.

The nominated Bale is excellent, and Carell’s growing incredulity at the direness of the situation marks him out too. It’s not like these are the good guys though, and there are no heroes here, but at least the characters depicted have some notion of the mess that’s being left behind.

And the message is, eight years down the line, we may not be rich but at least we can feel better because we’re not these scumbags.

THE ASSASSIN (12A, 106 mins)

Director: Hsiao-Hsien Hou

2 stars

Political turmoil in 9th century China is the background for this lavish but narratively inert martial arts drama that inexplicably picked up the award for best director at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Qi Shu is inscrutable as a highly skilled assassin who is tasked by her master to take out a government official, at which point she comes to wrestle with whether or not she can carry out this mission.

Whether she does or not is of no consequence in a punishingly dull affair that utterly fails to establish stakes or motivations.

Most of it is comprised of characters of unknown provenance sucking the air out of the room by explaining the plot to each other, and when the action does finally kick off it mostly takes place behind a tree.

Fight scenes appear from nowhere without context or warning, only to end abruptly when one of the characters simply walks away.

Filling in the rest of the time are lingering static shots of not very much - it’s beautiful but there’s only so long you can look at the landscape and interiors generally look like they're shot through a pair of curtains.

Don’t be fooled by its action pretensions, because The Assassin is ponderous arthouse claptrap of the highest order.