Top 7 Movies Not To Miss At Glasgow Film Festival

by Helen Earnshaw | 23 January 2016

The Glasgow Film Festival is one of the UK's most prestigious and the programme for his year's event was revealed earlier this week, and another exciting series of movies has been brought together.

Hail, Caesar!

There are some great homegrown movies and stars on the programmes as well as some of Hollywood biggest names set to grace the red carpet; it really is a terrific line-up of movies and acting talent.

We take a look at some of the films that we are looking forward to the most and those that you really cannot afford to miss.

- Hail, Caesar!

It is always exciting when a Joel and Ethan Coen movie is on the horizon and the filmmaking brothers are back with comedy Hail, Caesar! This is the first feature for Joel and Ethan Coen since the success of Inside Llewyn Davis and Hail, Caesar! will open the Glasgow Film Festival in fine style.

As well as being in the director's chair, the Coen brothers have also teamed up to pen the film's screenplay, which is set in Hollywood during the 1950s. The movie will follow a fixer who works for a movie studio trying to keep their major stars in line. His job gets more complicated when megastar Baird Whitlock (Clooney) is kidnapped; take in costume from the set of his new film Hail, Caesar!

Josh Brolin will take on the central role of fixer Eddie Mannix and is joined on the cast list by George Clooney, Channing Tatum, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, and Jonah Hill - it really is an impressive and incredibly talented cast list.

As well as opening the Glasgow Film Festival, this will be the UK Premiere for Hail, Caesar! and will be a great and very high profile way to kick off the 2016 festival.

There are a whole host of great ensemble casts on show during the festival, but Hail, Caesar! really does boast one of the most impressive. The film will hit the big screen in the UK on 4th March.

- Time Out Of Mind

Richard Gere is one of Hollywood's biggest stars and he will be gracing the red carpet in Glasgow to help promote his latest film Time Out Of Mind, which will receive its UK premiere.

Time Out of Mind will mark the return of Oren Moverman to the director's chair for the third feature film of his career. Moverman has already brought us Rampart and The Messenger and now he has teamed up with Gere for the first time. Moverman has also penned the film's screenplay as well as being in the director's chair.

Gere takes on the central role of George, a desperate man with faltering health who finds himself on the streets of New York, With nowhere else to go, he seeks refuge at Bellevue Hospital, Manhattan's largest intake centre for homeless men. Still struggling, George befriends seasoned shelter-dweller Dixon (Ben Vereen) and begins to hope that he can repair his broken relationship with his estranged daughter.

Gere leads a terrific cast as Ben Vereen, Jena Malone, Steve Buscemi, Jeremy Strong, and Kyra Sedgwick are all also on board. This looks set to be a deep and gritty role for Gere and I can't wait to see him sink his teeth into it. We haven't seen him on the big screen since the success of The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel last year.

- High-Rise

Director Ben Wheatley has already brought us movies such as Kill List and Sightseers and he is finally set to return with his latest film High-Rise. This is his first feature since a Field In England back in 2013 and High-Rise is a movie that I have been looking forward to for some time.

High-Rise is based on the novel of the same name by J.G. Ballard and has been adapted for the big screen by Amy Jump. The movie has already been playing well on the festival circuit, but this will be the Scottish premiere for the new film.

High-Rise will mark the return of Tom Hiddleston to the big screen and kick off what will be a very busy year for the actor. He is set to take on the central role of Dr. Robert Laing and is joined on the cast list by Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans, Elizabeth Moss, James Purefoy, and Keeley Hawes.

1975. Two miles west of London, Dr. Robert Laing moves into his new apartment seeking soulless anonymity, only to find that the building's residents have no intention of leaving him alone. Resigned to the complex social dynamics unfolding around him, Laing bites the bullet and becomes neighbourly.

As he struggles to establish his position, Laing's good manners and sanity disintegrate along with the building. The lights go out and the lifts fail but the party goes on. People are the problem. Booze is the currency. Sex is the panacea. Only much later, as he sits on his balcony eating the architect's dog, does Dr. Robert Laing finally feel at home...

High-Rise looks set to be one of the unmissable British movies on the programme in Glasgow this year and I cannot wait to see what Wheatley delivers this time around.

- Demolition

Another big American movie that I can't wait to see at Glasgow is Demolition, as Jean-Marc Vallée returns to the director's chair. Vallée has brought us and enjoyed huge success with Wild and Dallas Buyers Club in recent years and Demolition is being tipped to be another gem from the filmmaker.

Demolition sees the director team up with Oscar-nominated actor - and FemaleFirst favourite - Jake Gyllenhaal for the first time as he takes on the central role of Davis Mitchell, who struggles after the loss of his wife in a car crash.

Naomi Watts and Chris Cooper join Gyllenhaal on the cast list and we are going to be introduced to the acting talents of Judah Lewis, who befriends Gyllenhaal's character.

Davis (Gyllenhaal), a successful investment banker, struggles after losing his wife in a tragic car crash. Despite pressure from his father in law Phil (Cooper) to pull it together, Davis continues to unravel. What starts as a complaint letter to a vending machine company turns into a series of letters revealing startling personal admissions.

Davis' letters catch the attention of customer service rep Karen (Watts) and, amidst emotional and financial burdens of her own, the two form an unlikely connection. With the help of Karen and her son Chris (Lewis), Davis starts to rebuild, beginning with the demolition of the life he once knew.

Demolition is set to be another of the big UK premieres at this year's festival.

- Truth

Cate Blanchett and Robert Redford are two of the best actors around and Truth sees the two Oscar winners unite for an exciting new biopic film.

Writer and filmmaker James Vanderbilt is set to make his feature film directorial debut with the newsroom drama, which is based on the book by Mary Mapes.

Redford and Blanchett take on the roles of news anchor Dan Rather and producer Mary Mapes who caused a controversy in 2004 when they ran a story about then-President George W. Bush.

Another fantastic cast has been assembled as Blanchett and Redford are joined by Topher Grace, Dennis Quaid, Elisabeth Moss, Bruce Greenwood, Stacy Keach, and Dermot Mulroney.

The film chronicles the story Mapes and Rather (Blanchett & Redford) uncovered that a sitting US president may have been AWOL from the United States National Guard for over a year during the Vietnam War.

When the story blew up in their face, the ensuing scandal ruined Dan Rather's career, nearly changed a US Presidential election, and almost took down all of CBS News in the process.

Truth will play at the Glasgow Film Festival ahead of its UK release on 4th March.

- Miles Ahead

Don Cheadle has made a name for himself in front of the camera with movies such as Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, and Hotel Rwanda under his belt. He is set to make the leap into the director's chair for the first time in 2016 with his debut Miles Ahead.

As well as being in the director's chair for the first time, Cheadle has also penned the screenplay and will take on the central role of musician Miles Davis in the new biopic about his life and career.

Miles Ahead has been a labour of love for Cheadle and it sees him star alongside and direct Ewan McGregor and Emayatzy Corinealdi.

All Rolling Stone reporter Dave Brill (McGregor) wants is an exclusive interview with the jazz legend himself, Miles Davis (Cheadle). What he gets instead is a wild and dangerous ride-along with a recording artist living at his edge, rife with shootouts, car-chases, and a tale of lost love to the singer Frances (Corinealdi).

We are treated to a whole host of biopic movies every year and Miles Ahead looks set to be one not to miss in 2016. I am looking forward to seeing Cheadle take on this musical icon but I can't wait to see what he delivers as a first-time filmmaker.

- Anomalisa

Anomalisa is already one of the most talked about animation films of the year and is in the running for the Best Animation Oscar. The movie will close the Glasgow Film Festival, receive its UK premiere, and it is the latest offering from filmmaker Charlie Kaufman.

Kaufman has written screenplays for movies such as Being John Malkovich and adaptation but this is only his second feature as a director; he made his debut with Synecdoche, New York back in 2008. Kaufman has teamed up with Duke Johnson as he tackles the animation genre for the first time.

I love the stop-motion animation genre and it is one that we don't see anywhere near enough on the big screen in my opinion. And Anomalisa is a movie that really has been whipping up a storm on the festival circuit over the past few months.

Michael Stone (David Thewlis) is a successful motivational speaker with fans across the country, but inside him sits a knot of anxiety that renders much of his daily life meaningless. Everything and everyone just seems the same to him. But then Michael meets Lisa (Jennifer Jason Leigh) on a speaking-tour stop in Cincinnati. Lisa is an anomaly.

Michael and Lisa begin with prickly, cautious conversations and then move towards love. But, unlike in a conventional Hollywood romance, that romantic arc is neither simple nor obvious. The love scene at the heart of Anomalisa should instantly rocket up the list of cinema's greatest. It's intimate, awkward, heartbreaking and deeply erotic despite the fact that the lovers are made of felt.