Empire UK

Dane DeHaan as

James Dean with

Robert Pattinson’s

looky-likey

photographer.

Life

★★★

OUT SEPTEMBER 25 / CERT. 15 / 111 MINS.

DIRECTOR Anton Corbijn

CAST Dane DeHaan Robert Pattinson

Joel Edgerton Sir Ben Kingsley

PLOT Ambitious freelance photographer

Dennis Stock (Robert Pattinson) tries to

secure a photo shoot with 1955’s most

promising new actor: James Dean

(Dane DeHaan).

DD TO SAY GIVEN

his vociferous

fanbase but Robert

Pattinson is quietly

becoming one of our

most interesting

young actors. Those

of us who dismissed the Twilight

heartthrob as a pair of cheekbones who

got lucky should now guiltily rescind

the snark as he’s not only growing as

a performer but is unabashedly using

his star status to pursue interesting

off -kilter work that may not otherwise

get made. The wan vampire is on the

side of the cinematic angels.

That’s not saying the fi lms are

entirely successful or that playing

ambitious young men who feel out of

their depth should be considered on

the face of it much of a stretch for him.

But here he shows sides of fragility and

frustrated tenderness — for his character’s

son sidelined by his father’s professional

desires — that are deftly aff ecting.

It’s not hard to see why the story

may have appealed to him given it’s

about a young actor both drawn to

and appalled by success. Or at least

its corollary: fame. He’s ostensibly the

Miss You Already
★★★
OUT SEPTEMBER 25 / CERT. 12A / 112 MINS.
DIRECTOR Catherine Hardwicke
CAST Drew Barrymore Toni Collette
Paddy Considine Dominic Cooper

➞ Written directed and toplined by
women — how often can you say that?
— Miss You Already is a valiant if flawed
attempt to make a candid fi lm about living
with breast cancer through the prism of
the lifelong friendship of Jess (Barrymore)
and Milly (Collette). Juxtaposing Milly’s
deterioration with Jess’ pregnancy it has
good moments (a wig fi tting with Frances
de la Tour is a hoot) and it doesn’t leave
its male characters (Considine Cooper)
completely hanging but the central
friendship fails to convince. It’s a sad
emotive important subject but it deserves
a more detailed heartfelt fi lm than this. IF

American Ultra

★★★

OUT NOW / CERT. 15 / 96 MINS.

DIRECTOR Nima Nourizadeh

CAST Jesse Eisenberg Kristen Stewart

Topher Grace

➞ A kind of Bourne with a bong this

pitches Eisenberg and Stewart as a stoner

couple the twist being that Eisenberg is

actually a brainwashed super-soldier who

can improvise murder with any implement

and is now facing a termination order.

It’s ragged and messy but it has more

energy and ideas than more coherent

so-called successful fi lms. Nourizadeh

stages exaggerated bone-crunching

action with cackle and glee but this gets

by on Eisenberg and Stewart — he is

a master of zero-degree humour; so

is she but adds a warm centre and

something else up her sleeve. IF

Howl

★★★

OUT OCTOBER 16 / CERT. 18 / 89 MINS.

DIRECTOR Paul Hyett

CAST Ed Speleers Holly Weston

Elliott Cowan

➞ A late-night train is stranded in the

countryside and the crew are terrorised

by werewolves while guard Speleers

tries to keep the passengers safe.

Hyett’s second fi lm as director (after The

Seasoning House) is an old-fashioned

British horror with a group of disparate

types menaced on a drab down-at-heel

British train. Screenwriters Mark Huckerby

and Nick Ostler — who have previous

Thomas The Tank Engine credits so

probably count as train-spotters — go

for a mix of soap and comedy and the

creatures have a different shaggy-human

look. An unashamed B picture but fun. KN

DID

YOU

KNOW?

Jesse

Eisenberg

and Kristen

Stewart will

both star in

the new as-

yet untitled

Woody Allen

fi lm along

with Blake

Lively and

Steve Carell.