As well as the musical path of the great man, Marley covers many other angles: the background of Jamaican music that began with ska, Jamaica’s politics, the poverty in which Bob was raised, his family and of course, his many affairs. The slection of footage is impressive, and every care seems to have been taken to restore and revamp old clips and photographs.

There’s plenty of music too, starting with Bob’s ska records from the ‘60s, right until the end, with some fantastic live concert footage and many interviews with Marley himself. Marley is also a well informed documentary, featuring the most important people in Bob’s life (who are still alive), including Bunny Wailer, Rita Marley, Lee Scratch Perry, his old friends and even his primary school teacher!

And although it tackles many varying themes and stories, Marley flows beautifully with a strong narrative. Marley will appeal to anyone with even the remotest interest in music, as well as Marley fans.

Marley is showing at Exeter Picturehouse 3 times a day, up to and including Thursday May 3rd.
www.picturehouses.co.uk

Words: Arash Torabi

Avengers Assemble sees shadowy government agency S.H.I.E.L.D enlist Earth’s mightiest heroes in an attempt to prevent an alien invasion led by Norse god Loki. Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth reprise their title roles of Iron Man, Captain America and Thor respectively, while Mark Ruffalo becomes the latest actor to take up the mantle of The Incredible Hulk. Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner round up the team as mercenaries Black Widow and Hawkeye, and it is up to Samuel L. Jackson’s enigmatic Nick Fury to handle the individual egos of the supersquad and get them in shape to save the Earth.

Let us just review: Norse gods, space aliens, cryogenically frozen super-soldiers from WWII, flying robo-suits, people named Hawkeye – looked at objectively, Avengers Assemble is insane. In comic books this is all well and good, but cinema has never really seen anything like this, and as such it is entirely possible to envision an alternate reality wherein Avengers Assemble is a camp, tonally uneven toy advert. Fortunately, Marvel wisely enlisted Joss Whedon to re-write and direct the film, and it is a testament to his ability that Avengers Assemble is actually a stellar action movie – funny, entertaining and emotionally satisfying – and apt to be enjoyed by comic book fans and regular moviegoers alike. That Whedon can pull in so many disparate elements and make it work is no mean feat, but he does so with a flair and style that makes Avengers Assemble one of the most outrightly enjoyable action films of recent memory.

An already proven master of the ensemble, Whedon gives each larger-than-life main character time to shine, both through dialogue and within the film’s many action sequences, and his focus on the interpersonal relationships of the characters provides an emotional core that rings true throughout all the superpowered fist-fights – and let there be no mistake, there are plenty. As you would expect, the action is lavish, exhilarating and near-constant, but most importantly works to advance the plot rather than detract from it. It is telling that the film’s 142 minute running time feels like no time at all: the film is lean, economically told and never dull, with Whedon’s sense of humour providing much-needed levity in a film to which dead seriousness would mean certain death.

It is certain (and fitting) that Avengers Assemble is by far the best of all Marvel’s movie output. Leaner and funnier than Iron Man, more fantastic than Thor and more satisfying and self-contained than all of them put together, Avengers Assemble is a superpowered, technicolour joyride that moves beyond sheer spectacle into something more substantial. What is perhaps most remarkable of all, however, is that we now live in a world where a film such as this – one in which the Hulk and Thor punch space aliens in the face together – can not only exist but can flourish. It’s a good time to be a comic book fan, and an even better one at the movies.

Words: Josh Hicks

Tim Francis, who is currently in the second year of his Film Arts Foundation Degree, has just received news that his short-film ‘Sinews of Peace’ has been accepted into the official ‘Shorts’ programme of the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival in New York. This is the first time a student from Plymouth College of Art has received this tremendous accolade.

The Tribeca Film Festival was founded by Robert deNiro with the aim of regenerating the cultural landscape following the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Over the past decade it has grown in stature and is now regarded as one of the most prestigious independent film festivals.

The shorts programme at the festival comprises of 50 short-form films drawn from more than 2,800 submissions from across the world responding to themes set by Tribeca each year. Tim’s film will playing in the ‘Journeys Across Cultural Landscapes’ programme and will be premiering on Thursday 19 April at Chelsea Clearview Cinema. The film is advertised under Tim’s professional name, Timo Franc.

For the fifth year running a group of students from Plymouth College of Art will be making the trip over to New York City in April for the festival. Dan Paolantonio, Programme Leader for Film Arts, says: “Tim consistently produces challenging abstract film work and it is hugely exciting that his short-film will be seen by audiences, including a group of our very own students, at such a prominent independent film festival.”

Speaking about the inspiration behind the film, Dan said: “This year I worked closely with author and cultural theorist Nicholas Rombes and designed a project for my students which would allow them to contribute to his ‘Ceremony’ global documentary project. ‘Sinews of Peace’ was Tim’s response to this project, exploring individual and cultural ‘memories’ of French Resistance fighters during World War II.”

Earlier this year Alex Blackwood, who graduated with a first class BA (Hons) in Film Arts last year, won the regional Royal Television Society Student Awards in the Drama category with his film ‘Grade’. He then went on to win the overall ‘Best Student Film’ award at the Professional RTS Awards. Alex’s impressive film ‘Grade’ follows a student who is struggling to revise for his exams until he develops the uncanny ability to absorb information by placing books under his pillow at night. The film has now been shortlisted for the 2012 Celtic Media Festival Student Awards which is a fantastic achievement for Alex and for the Film Department at Plymouth College of Art.

More information about both festivals can be found at www.tribecafilm.com and www.celticmediafestival.co.uk

A reboot of the eighties TV show of the same name, 21 Jump Street sees Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum cast as a pair of underachieving cops, tasked with disguising themselves as teenagers in order to infiltrate a high-school drug ring. The film takes an outright comedic approach to the earnest and somewhat hammy source material, and the result is a surprisingly absurdist action-comedy that belies its big budget studio status.

As with most comedies, many of the jokes live or die by the main performances. Comedy stalwart Hill is, as always, dependably funny, but Tatum comes as a big surprise, displaying true comic chops and bouncing of Hill perfectly. Particularly impressive is some genuinely inspired physical work, especially during an extended sequence wherein the two leads experience the side-effects of the very drug they are trying to stop. The supporting cast, including Brie Larson, Ice Cube and former Youtube cringe phenomenon Dax Flame, all turn in some funny work and help carry the film to success. Quick cameos from stars of the original show don’t hurt either, though one of them is such a big name that the appearance will be baffling to anyone unaware of their context. Basically, Jonny Depp is in the movie for a bit.

In all, 21 Jump Street is a film that, in the wrong hands, could have easily been a hackneyed and forgettable affair. It’s fortunate, then, that what we are left with is a sharp buddy comedy that, alongside David Wain’s similarly absurd Wanderlust, is one of the first successful comedies of the year. 2011 wasn’t a particularly good year for comedy in film, but if 21 Jump Street is anything to go by, 2012 should be a far sight better.

Words: Josh Hicks

Sargent commented: “We are really disappointed to have to postpone the tour but I have tonsillitis and cannot do much talking at the moment! We are delighted to have been able to schedule later dates, so hopefully everyone who has bought tickets will still be able to come along in April / May and the fans will still have the chance to see the film in a live environment.”

These unique music venue screenings will still take place and we are pleased to announce a partnership with the local club nights to screen the films at their events. The dates will coincide with the general release of the film on DVD which is 30 April. Those who have bought tickets for the tour screenings will be offered entry into these events with a £2 refund on their original ticket price. They also have the opportunity of a full refund.

It means the Bristol O2 Academy screening will now take place on May 4 instead of tonight.

Released this week, the psychological thriller stars Dyer and Anna Walton is set in today’s London; Deviation takes viewers on a fearful ride in the knowledge that despite the city supposedly being awake 24/7, the same situation could happen to anyone. Everyone living and working in the capital is just as vulnerable.

When Frankie (Danny Dyer), a dangerous psychopath on the run, car-jacks young nurse Amber (Anna Walton) and takes her hostage to aid his escape out of the country, it’s the start of a long night. Stuck in the car with a madman, Amber is forced to play a deadly game of cat and mouse with Frankie as, by morning, only one of them will be left alive…

Told in one night, Deviation is a taut, tense thriller that grabs urban legend and runs with it: the deep-seated, subconscious yet very human fear of being abducted by a stranger. To be in with a chance of winning a copy, please fill your details on the form below putting DEVIATION in the subject line. Closing date April 1, 2012.[contact-form-7]

Young Adult is a bold movie: asking the audience to identify with someone whose primary objective is to break up a family could not have been an easy choice, but Theron does a lot to help this process along. Her pampered city-girl is just the right amount of unlikable, all the while being cliché free and honest enough to garner at least a little audience empathy. When Theron’s Mavis first returns home she visits a local bar, and unexpectedly meets Matt, an old classmate who was crippled in a hate-crime by jocks who had falsely believed him to be gay.

Comedian Patton Oswalt plays Matt to perfection, turning in a layered, pathos-heavy performance, and the two have undeniable chemistry. Matt spends most of the movie as someone to whom Mavis can actually speak on a human level, and as a pair they represent two entirely different people who are both unable to get past their high school years. While Mavis writes scores of books about teenage romance and constantly reminisces over the period that she considers her best, Matt lives in his family’s house, painting action figures in his bedroom, distilling home-made bourbon in his basement and lamenting the high school experiences that ruined his life forever.

Anchored by these two characters, the film progresses as a darkly comic journey in which Mavis attempts to pull her old lover away from his family while struggling to come to terms with her own problems. Depressed and likely alcoholic, Mavis could not have been an easy character to write, and it’s telling that Diablo Cody, writer of teen-centric movies Juno and Jennifer’s Body, cast the protagonist as a writer of books about teenagers. It’s her best script yet; emotionally truthful and punctuated with her specific brand of humour, yet not bogged down with the level of idiosyncrasy that some detractors took issue with in her previous work. Likewise director Jason Reitman – also of Juno, as well as Thank You for Smoking and Up in the Air – directs with his usual flair, crafting a film that masterfully wavers between the comic and the tragic.

Ultimately, though, Young Adult offers no real satisfying conclusion; Mavis’ emotional realisation at the end of the film hardly even begins to solve her myriad problems, and Oswalt’s Matt looks doomed to a life of distilling bourbon alone in his dimly-lit garage, but perhaps this is the point. Though its lead character may not be entirely likable, she is something that is harder to find in modern cinema – interesting – and in the end Young Adult excels as a candid and honest study of a deeply flawed but highly sympathetic individual.

Words: Josh Hicks

To celebrate the launch of the film and chocolate, Hotel Chocolat is staging a chocolate tasting session before a special Valentine’s Day screening of the film at the Exeter Picturehouse on 14 February at 6.30. Melissa Shackleton at Hotel Chocolat said, “Love and chocolate have been intertwined for centuries – just ask Casanova! But we just fell in love with Romantics Anonymous because it’s a funny, sensitive film that shares our passion for chocolate. I think anyone who attends the screening will find that tasting our chocolate immediately before will greatly enhance their experience!”

Book for the Valentine’s day screening and chocolate tasting by calling 0871 902 5730 or on line at www.picturehouses.co.uk

For further information ring 01392 285960 or e mail exe...@picturehouses.co.uk