THE ANTICS of four lads on holiday in Greece is proving irresistible; it’s the end of the road for the final destination gang or what’s left of them. The pain of loss, the pain of aging and the pain of survival are balanced by a 30-year-old adventure classic and Harry Potter is back again.
Odeon, Dumfries
Legions of fans are ensuring that The Inbetweeners (15) continues for another week.
This spin-off from the TV series takes the four school friends on holiday to Greece for sun, sand and sex if they can get it.
The girls are not all that impressed but the inevitable embarrassing moments are fun and the ensemble playing by the famous four is a polished act.
For a 3D feast of terror try Final Destination 3D (15), the last and best of the long running series where premonitions of disasters and death usually come true.
This one has terrific special effects and a climactic orgy of mayhem to end it in spectacular style.
At the weekend The Smurfs-3D (U) is the family choice for the wee ones.
Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre, Dumfries
The Tree (12A) tonight and tomorrow is based on the book Our Father Who Art In The Tree by Judy Pascoe that deals with intense grief and the consequences of psychological longing.
Charlotte Gainsbourg plays a widow with four children in the outback of Queensland who is grieving for the sudden death of her husband.
Her eight-year-old daughter becomes convinced that her dad’s spirit lives on in a huge fig tree in their garden.
Soon she too becomes obsessed with the feeling that the tree does offer some kind of solace and continuation but events begin to turn this into a threatening presence that will act as a barrier to moving on with their lives.
A pensive film of considerable beauty.
On Monday an old favourite returns for a 30th anniversary screening – Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark (PG).
This is Steven Spielberg’s classic big screen adventure with Harrison Ford as the action man archaeologist who always finds the elusive artefact only to lose it by the end credits.
Here it is the fabled lost Ark of the Covenant and the Nazis are after it too.
Thirty years on Ford is still game with another Indiana Jones in the planning and just watch him match Daniel Craig in Cowboys and Aliens.
At the Empire Big screen the film’s producer Robert Watts revealed that he was the first to run in front of that famous boulder during a test try out and that in the scary snake pit scene Steven Spielberg wanted more snakes.
They were all real and he had to import 2000 more from dealers in Holland.
Screening Tuesday and Thursday Treacle Jr (15) is an independent production self financed by director Jamie Thraves.
The title refers to a kitten and it does have some relevance well into the loose plot.
Tom, for no reason we know of, leaves his wife and children in Birmingham to move to London where he falls into trouble and the companionship of the free spirited Aidan.
Like the characters, this is a free-spirited comedy with shades of Withnail and I.
Its considerable charm comes from the improvised performances and the central role of Aidan played by Aidan Gillen with disarming craftsmanship.
Poetry (12A) on Wednesday is from South Korea in which a gentle woman in her 60s facing Alzheimers takes solace in an adult education poetry class when she is drawn into a controversy over a local tragedy.
Her personal progress to creating her final poem is a mirror of life and her personal journey to resolution.
Lonsdale, Annan
Final Destination 5 3D (15), The Inbetweeners Movie (15), Spy Kids4 (PG) and the talking animal comedy Zookeeper (PG) continue over the next week.
On Thursday the documentary Senna (12A) is a thrilling and absorbing tribute to the ill-fated Formula 1 racing driver brought to life through archive footage.
At the weekend Harry Potter just won’t go away with the final film Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (12A) now screened in the excellent 3D version to immerse you in the spectacular final confrontation with Ralf Fiennes’ chilling Voldemort.
