Red Dog (PG)
HHH
Dir: Kriv Stenders
With: Josh Lucas, Rachael Taylor
Running time: 92 minutes
FOR mutt lovers of all ages here's a dose of pure catnip). As ruthlessly manipulative as the Lassie films, more tearjerking than Bambi, the true story of the mongrel (inset below) that crossed northern Australia, Greyfriars Bobby-style, looking for its master has been an Aussie box office smash.
Set in an Outback mining community, the tale of the dog loved by everyone who knew him is funny, wise, supremely daft at times, but it's got a heart as big as the Northern Territory.
Warning: contains scenes of hairy-bottomed Aussie blokes wearing extremely short shorts, and is likely to make animal-loving types blub in public like right Sheilas.
Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow, and Vue Edinburgh Ocean.
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance 3D (12A)
HH
Dirs: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
With: Nicolas Cage, Idris Elba
Running time: 95 minutes
AFTER years of trouble trying to manage a receding hairline, Nicolas Cage seems to have settled on the solution of setting his head on fire.
Whatever, he has found a snug fit in the character of the Ghost Rider, a former stunt rider who once did a deal with the devil and who now wanders the Earth, skull ablaze, sucking out the souls of bad guys. It's a living. Here, the Ghost Rider/Johnny Blaze gets the chance to play the good guy when a blessed child is in danger. Idris Elba (The Wire) and Ciaran Hinds valiantly do battle with a script that gives nonsense a good name, but if you like flaming skulls and big bikes, Nic's your man.
The Woman in the Fifth (15)
HHH
Dir: Pawel Pawlikowski
With: Kristin Scott Thomas, Ethan Hawke
Running time: 83 minutes
WRITER-actor Ethan Hawke plays a novelist who washes up in Paris to see his estranged daughter in Pawel Pawlikowski's classy if defiantly strange drama. Tom Ricks has the opposite of the Midas touch, with trouble dogging him everywhere he goes.
When he connects with the infinitely poised Margit (Kristin Scott Thomas) at a party, his run of bad luck seems to be over. Pawlikowski and his cast take things slowly, ensuring a certain distance from the audience, the better to maintain the peculiarity of the piece.
Hawke and Scott Thomas make a convincing pair of lost and damaged souls.
From February 27-March 1, Glasgow Film Theatre, and Filmhouse Edinburgh
Blood Car (18)
HH
Dir: Alex Orr
With: Mike Brune, Anna Chlumsky
Running time: 75 minutes
IT'S the future, and with petrol prices sky high (yes, just like the present), some devilish mind hits on a replacement fuel.
Alex Orr's Grindhouse horror is cheap, shoddy, wilfully shocking and strictly for aficionados of such schlocky fare. Everyone else, steer clear.
Showcase Paisley
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