Film Reviews round-up

The best of the rest hitting the big screen.

A Fantastic Fear Of Everything (15)

***

There are few films that conjure up both Roman Polanski and Oliver Postgate’s Pogles’ Wood as influences, but then again Simon Pegg and Kula Shaker frontman Crispian Mills also seem like odd bedfellows for this loose black comedy. Pegg plays a children’s author who tries to move up into the adult world by writing about Victorian serial killers. His research spooks him so badly that he is tormented by fears of murderers around every corner – a paranoid descent handled well by Mills and co-director Chris Hopewell. If the plotting had been less perfunctory, this scruffy, dada-ishly imaginative feature would have been closer to fantastic. Contains scenes of Pegg screaming in distressed underpants.

On general release from Friday

Red Tails (12A)

***

George Lucas executive-produced this vigorous account of the Tuskegee air squadron. The story of how an all-black squadron overcame bigotry and won their wings in the Second World War should be an inspiring one, and in the air there’s certainly spectacle worthy of a Star Wars dogfight. On the ground, however, the script seems to be as gung-ho as a corny John Ford war pic.

On general release from Wednesday

Beloved (15)

***

Catherine Deneuve and real life daughter Chiara Mastroianni play an upscale call girl and her daughter in a chic, if derivative musical. One for Francophiles – especially if you enjoy Jacques Demy.

Dundee Contemporary Arts until Thursday; Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Friday until 14 June; Glasgow Film Theatre, Friday until 10 June

Sing Your Song (12A)

**

Activist actor Harry Belafonte is clearly a good egg, but Susanne Rostock’s profile topples into hagiography. By omitting blemishes such as marital discord, this documentary is embarrassingly wild about Harry.

Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Friday until 14 June; Dundee Contemporary Arts, 15-21 June; Glasgow Film Theatre, 26-28 June

Casa De Mi Padre (15)

***

Will Ferrell stars in a good-natured but thin spoof of cheap Mexican soap opera, shot in Spanish with a cast including Y Tu Mama Tambien bad boys Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna. Contains large amounts of cheese and refried gags.

On selected release from Friday

The Pact (15)

**

Sisters return to their childhood home when their mother dies and find it haunted. There’s lots of flickering lights but it’s this chiller’s batteries that are on the wane.

On general release from Friday

Ill Manors (18)

**

Rapper Plan B directs a gritty musical set on the streets of East London. It’s ambitious and impassioned but so didactic that it feels like a Ken Loach snack.

On general release from Wednesday