Film reviews: John Dies At The End

John Dies At The End (18)

* * *

Cult Bubba Ho-Tep filmmaker Don Coscarelli directs an energetic if incoherent horror comedy told to a newspaper reporter (Paul Giamatti). A mind-altering substance nicknamed soy sauce sends two twentysomethings on a trip that allows them to travel through time, meet monsters and try to save the world. The rest of the plot hardly matters, although one of the two slackers is indeed called John.

Glasgow Film Theatre, Friday, Cineworld, Glasgow, Saturday, as part of Glasgow Film Festival

Love, Marilyn (12)

* * *

With the help of never-before-seen diaries and letters, director Liz Garbus interviews actresses including Ellen Burstyn, Glenn Close, and Uma Thurman about the impact of Marilyn Monroe. It’s well-intentioned, and fine for die-hard devotees, but ultimately there’s nothing new here.

Glasgow Film Theatre, Friday, Cineworld, Glasgow, Thursday, as part of Glasgow Film Festival

Gimme The Loot (15)

* * *

Two streetwise Bronx teenagers try to raise the cash to pull off a major graffiti paint stunt, in a lively, loose and quite beguiling debut from director Adam Leon.

Glasgow Film Theatre, tomorrow, as part of Glasgow Youth Film Festival

Songs For Amy (U)

* *

In this limp comedy drama, an Irish musician (Sean Maguire) tries to win his girlfriend back by writing an album for her.

Glasgow Film Theatre, Friday, Cineworld, Glasgow, 17 February, as part of Glasgow Film Festival

Run For Your Wife (12A)

Ray Cooney’s long-running farce has been reshaped and updated to accommodate mobile phones and computers but laughter doesn’t seem to have survived the transition. Danny Dyer stars as a genial bigamist cabbie, trying to hide the truth from his wives (Sarah Harding and Denise van Outen). The cameo appearances from sitcom stars of the 1970s unfortunately reinforce the decrepitude of the whole enterprise in Britain’s answer to Movie 43.

Selected release from Thursday

Film reviews: John Dies At The End | Love, Marilyn