n Big Night (15) (Columbia Tristar, available to rent/buy - #12.99 - from Monday)
Set in New Jersey in the Eisenhower years, this gentle, melancholic comedy tells the story of two Italian immigrant brothers, Primo (Tony Shalhoub) and Secondo (Stanley Tucci), struggling to make their restaurant a going concern. Primo, a great cook, wants to return to Italy where food is appreciated; Secondo (the minor who thinks he takes the major decisions) has dreams of success and the good life, and is never leaving the land of opportunity.
Other storm clouds are gathering: the bank is threatening to foreclose. Rival restaurateur, Pascal (Ian Holm, with the craziest fake Italian accent I've ever heard) refuses Secondo a loan, but says he'll get jazz genius Louis Prima to visit the restaurant instead: the big night.
Tucci's directorial debut lingers a little too long at points, but this affectionate study of the way our dreams can wither, and of how family can stifle as well as support, is tenderly filmed, with a sympathetic eye on what it means to struggle but know success is for others. A treat.
n The People vs Larry Flynt (18) (Columbia Tristar, available to rent/buy - #12.99 - from Monday)
Larry Flynt's great offence seems to have been to make pornography not for the Hefner jet-set but for the blue-collar worker, and he paid dearly for it - not just in his endless defence of his right to free speech but also in an assassination attempt which left him crippled (he arrived at the 1997 Oscars in his usual gold-plated wheelchair - now, that's bad taste) and, temporarily, not a little insane.
This biopic is a success on several levels - it tells the American Dream of Flynt's white-trash-made-good life with zing and makes the ins-and-outs of his court cases interesting (no mean feat for such a recondite field), and it also imbues Flynt with something of the heroic - he may have been a self-confessed scumbag but he had a cussed determination to say what he liked, how he liked, to anyone he liked.
Courtney Love is great as Flynt's wife Althea, but Woody Harrelson easily steals the show as Flynt - chewing over his dialogue like it was prime rib. Althea's young death from Aids gives the film its most poignant scene, which left me moist-eyed. A film unexpectedly as intoxicating as best bonded.
n The Simpsons Against the Rest of the World (PG) (Fox, to buy - #12.99 - from May 26)
Has a cartoon series ever referred to the evacuation of Saigon before? And been so confident as barely to draw attention to it? From the spoof socialist-realist poster cover (Sugar Beet Production Is Up 5%, Comrades - that kind of thing) to the Aboriginal styling of the theme music on the final episode (about Bart offending Australia and being forced to apologise), here are four great pieces of Simpsoniana which shoot ideas like a Catherine wheel shoots sparks. All are good, but the best are Marge vs the Monorail, where Springfield is tempted to squander a windfall on a dodgy public transport scheme, and Bart vs Australia, a satire on America's world leader status. Serious fun, and seriously funny.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article