Review: The Last King of Scotland

UK release date: 12th January

Forest Whitaker delivers an electrifying career-best performance as 1970s Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in this powerful, true story-inspired thriller. Based on the novel by Giles Foden, the movie portrays the relationship between one of the 20th century’s most notorious despots and fictional Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy).

Switching effortlessly from eccentric charmer to brutal megalomaniac, Amin plunges his young protégé into an escalating nightmare after persuading him to become his personal physician. It’s a morally ambiguous turn that gives a daringly human face to Amin, but “Touching the Void” director Kevin Macdonald paints his entire picture in shades of grey, drawing on his documentary-making past to raise disturbing and deeply resonant questions about ethics and the corruption of the soul. Also, McAvoy’s naive yet self-centred Nicholas is not always sympathetically portrayed, which makes the horrific disintegration of his initially idyllic lifestyle all the more fascinating.

While some of the plot developments do stretch credibility, there’s a subtle tonal shift from vibrant excitement to claustrophobic terror that intensifies the overall emotional impact.

Radio Times rating:

****

UK cinema certificate 18
Running time 138mins

Review by Sloan Freer

News: James McAvoy

The star of this week’s tip-top The Last King of Scotland has has already completed work on Penelope, starring opposite Christina Ricci and Reese Witherspoon. From what we can tell, it sounds like a Tim Burton-esque fable with Ricci as a woman deformed by a family curse, desperately searching for love and acceptance.Coming up in the next year or so, McAvoy will continue to add to his enviable leading ladies opposite Keira Knightley in the film adaptation of Ian McEwan’s bestselling Atonement, following that up with a role in the Anne Hathaway-starring Becoming Jane, about the young Jane Austen’s tragic romance with Tom Lefroy – who else but McAvoy? – the man who helped inspire her novels.

Meanwhile, although McAvoy has claimed to have little interest in big Hollywood blockbusters, it looks like his first action role could also be on the cards. Set to star opposite Morgan Freeman, McAvoy will play the son of a super-powered assassin who takes on his father’s mantle in this big screen adaptation of Mark Millar’s comic series Wanted. Shooting is set to start this month for a 2008 release – and could well see McAvoy really hit the big time.

Review: Starter for Ten

UK release date: 10th November

TV’s University Challenge provides a hilarious framing device for debut director Tom Vaughan’s spirited coming-of-age comedy. Adapted by David Nicholls from his own bestselling novel, it stars a charismatic James McAvoy as a gawky, working-class student navigating through his chaotic fresher year at Bristol University in the mid-1980s.

Bittersweet lessons about life and love follow, precipitated by two headstrong girls (a chalk-and-cheese Alice Eve and Rebecca Hall) and a dream opportunity to compete in his favourite academic telly quiz (whose opening phrase gives the film its title).

With its smart, pop culture-infused dialogue and evocative period soundtrack, this campus charmer has all the buoyancy of a John Hughes teen caper. But it’s the sharp, distinctly British humour and nostalgic warmth that have most appeal. Adroitly combined, they enhance an otherwise conventional plot and bring out the best in a collectively fine cast — especially in the delicious, climactic recreation of University Challenge.

Radio Times rating:

****

UK cinema certificate 12A
Running time 96mins

Review by Sloan Freer

News: James McAvoy

The 27-year-old Shameless star may remain best known for his TV work, but the next year or so could well see him hit the big time, with this week’s Starter for Ten just the first of many films in which he’ll be taking the lead, rather than the supporting turns he’s mostly had to put up with to date. Next up is The Last King of Scotland, an adaptation of the Giles Foden novel about the relationship between Mentalist Ugandan dictator Idi Amin – a top-notch Forest Whittaker – and his scottish doctor, played by McAvoy, which received rave reviews at its London Film Festival screening, and is due for a nationwide release in the second week of January. He has also already completed work on Penelope, starring opposite Christina Ricci and Reese Witherspoon, a Tim Burtonesque fable with Ricci as a woman deformed by a family curse, desperately searching for love and acceptance.

Coming up in the next year or so, McAvoy will continue to add to his enviable leading ladies opposite Keira Knightley in the film adaptation of Ian McEwan’s bestselling Atonement, following that up with a role in the Anne Hathaway-starring Becoming Jane, about the young Jane Austen’s tragic romance with Tom Lefroy – who else but McAvoy? – the man who helped inspire her novels.

Meanwhile, although McAvoy has claimed to have little interest in big Hollywood blockbusters, it looks like his first action role could also be on the cards. Set to star opposite Morgan Freeman, McAvoy will play the son of a super-powered assassin who takes on his father’s mantle in this big screen adaptation of Mark Millar’s comic series Wanted. Shooting is set to start in January 2007 for a 2008 release – and could well see McAvoy really hit the big time.

News: Working Title Films

Britain’s favourite production company has got plenty more films in the works, following on from this week’s Sixty Six and its global success with the likes of the Bridget Jones films, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Billy Elliot, Love Actually and the rest.

The one most likely to make them truck-loads of money is the Rowan Atkinson-starring Mr Bean’s Holiday, due out in the UK in March 2007. It has been a decade since the last time the mute, bumbling Mr Bean saw the light of day – a blessed relief, in some people’s eyes – yet the 1997 movie spin-off of Atkinson’s TV series met with such unprecedented global success that it’s amazing that it’s taken them this long to get around to a sequel.

Much more promising, however, is another sequel to an altogether different nearly decade-old film: The Golden Age, a follow up to 1998’s superb Elizabeth that will reunite director Shekhar Kapur with almost all the original cast, from Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth I through to Geoffrey Rush as the wonderfully Machiavellian Sir Francis Walsingham, with new roles for the likes of Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh. For those history buffs among us it should very much be one to look forward to until its October 2007 release – even if the last movie took sizable liberties with the records…

Another promising new Working Title production is the adaptation of Ian McEwan’s bestseller Atonement, to star Keira Knightley and James McAvoy for a September 2007 release. But the real gem is bound to be Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg’s follow-up to the magnificent horror comedy Shaun of the Dead. With Pegg starring as a London supercop posted to the sleepy West Country, surrounded by a cast packed with British comedy talent, it looks all set to be version of Shaun using cop movies rather than zombie flicks as its inspiration – and should, from early reports, be truly brilliant. We’ll have to wait until 16th February 2007 to find out, though…

News: Anne Hathaway

The star of The Devil Wears Prada is doing a good job of proving herself as a serious actress as well as an adept comedienne. Following her supporting turn as one of the neglected wives of Brokeback Mountain, her next role is as 19th century novelist Jane Austen in Becoming Jane – a part she won over the likes of Kate Winslet, Natalie Portman and Keira Knightley. Part funded by the UK Film Council – which has been responsible for more misses than hits, yet sill has some quality movies like The Constant Gardener and the upcoming The Last King of Scotland to its credit – Hathaway’s co-stars will include James Cromwell, Julie Walters, Maggie Smith and rising star James McAvoy.