Ludlow Assembly Rooms boldly goes into a new season of top films (From Ludlow Advertiser)

Ludlow Assembly Rooms boldly goes into a new season of top films

8:00am Thursday 6th August 2009

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AUGUST brings another great crop of movies from Ludlow Assembly Rooms, with the expected mix of classics and crowd pleasers, family and foreign movies, ensuring that there’s a film for everyone this summer.

Friday to Sunday, August 7-9 at 2pm; Coraline (PG).

Coraline is thrilled when she finds a door into an attractive alternative world. At first everything is perfect, but soon the wonderful mirrorimage world turns terrifying, and Coraline has to use all her resources to escape back to the real world.

Brilliant stop-motion animation.

Tuesday to Thursday, August 11 to 13 at 7.30pm and 2pm on Thursday, August 13; Star Trek (12A).

It’s time to boldly go back in time to find out how Cap’n Kirk and Spock got to be the way we know and love them. A prequel, starring Chris Pine and Zachar y Quinto (Heroes) – pictured above – which is enjoyable for newcomers and hardened Trekkies.

Saturday to Thursday, August 22 to 27 at 2pm; Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (U).

The further adventures of Scrat (still holding on to that acorn), Manny, Ellie, Diego and Sid – whose lives have become a lot more exciting now that dinosaurs are roaming the earth.

Friday and Saturday, August 7 and 8 at 7.30pm; Is Anybody There? (12A).

Ten-year-old Edward’s mum and dad run a retirement home. Left to his own devices, Edward is developing some decidedly odd ideas, but when The Amazing Clarence (Michael Caine), an anarchic retired magician, arrives at the home, the pair strike up a genuine friendship.

Also starring David Morrissey, Anne-Marie Duff and Bill Milner (Son of Rambow), with Leslie Phillips, Elizabeth Spriggs, Peter Vaughan and Sylvia Syms.

Monday, August 10 at 7.30pm; Encounters at the End of the World (U).

Directed by Werner Herzog, this is a marvellous and quirky Oscarnominated documentary from a master filmmaker, who interviews the extraordinary people who live and work at the South Pole, interspersed with images of stunning beauty. Scientists discuss climate change and there are penguins – including one individual that you will find hard to forget.

The film won the best documentary award at the Edinburgh Film Festival.

Friday and Saturday, August 14 and 15 at 7.30pm; Fugitive Pieces (15).

Jakob, a young Polish boy, is the horrified witness of his parents’ murder, and he escapes the Nazis himself only by the skin of his teeth.

Growing up in Greece and Canada he continues to be haunted by the past, and especially the mystery of what happened to his beloved sister Bella. Based on the Orange prizewinning novel by Canadian Anne Michaels, this is a deeply moving story of love, loss and redemption.

Monday, August 17 at 7.30pm; Kes (PG).

David Bradley is marvellous as Billy, his pinched, pale face perfectly conveying his response to hisdeadend lifein Barnsley – until the day he finds a kestrel. At last he finds a sense of purpose, as he trains the bird with patience and tenacity.

Tuesday to Thursday, August 18 to 20 at 7.30pm; Last Chance Harvey (12A).

Things are not going well for Harvey. His job is on the line, and his daughter has just announced that she wants her stepfather to give her away (even though Harvey has crossed the Atlantic to attend her London wedding). When he runs into Kate – harassed and somewhat cynical – the omens are not good.

Surely these two will never get together. Or is it never too late for romance? A touching romcom, starring Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson.

Saturday, August 22 at 7.30pm; O’Horten (12A) What do you do when you retire?

67-year-old O’Horten has been driving trains around Norway for 40 years, and retirement leaves him perplexed and disoriented.

Everything keeps going slightly wrong, landing him in increasingly bizarre situations.

Deadpan Scandinavian humour suffuses O’Horten’s journey in search of life after retirement.

Monday and Tuesday, August 24 and 25 at 7.30pm; Sleep Furiously (U).

A portrait of Trefeurig, a tiny Welsh farming community where the director’s parents (both refugees) found a home. Without comment, Koppel follows the day-by-day life of the villagers and the farms; as the seasons pass there is birth and death, ploughing and harvest, and a momentous event that illustrates that we are witnessing a disappearing way of life.

Wed 26 & Thurs 27 Aug, 7.30pm; Looking for Eric (15).

The story of Eric, a Manchesterbased postman struggling to cope with his chaotic family and nursing a broken heart. He is, of course, a fanatical Manchester United supporter – so who better to give him some life coaching than the famously philosophical French footballer Eric Cantona?

Friday, August 28 and Monday, August 31 at 7.30pm; The Grocer’s Son (Le fils de l’epicier) (12A).

When his dad is taken ill, Antoine reluctantly leaves Paris for Provence to help his mum run their grocery business. The beautiful Claire (with whom he’s somewhat smitten) joins him to revise for her exams; maybe life in the countryside will turn out not to be so bad, after all.

Saturday, August 29 at 8pm; DVD screening in Oscars; The End of the Line (cert PG).

Scientists predict that current fishing practices could spell the end of most seafood by 2048. This film chronicles how demand for cod off the coast of Newfoundland in the early 1990s led to the decimation of the most abundant cod population in the world, how hi-tech fishing vessels leave no escape routes for fish populations and how farmed fish as a solution is a myth.

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