The Week in Film: 18 - 24 July 2008

WALL-E hits cinemas this week after huge success in America and sustained hype over here. And, for once, the hype is right. Set 700 years in the future, WALL-E is the last robot on Earth, his mission to ready the planet, one tin can at a time, for the return of the human race from its self-imposed exile. Humour, romance and stunning CGI combine to make this a modern animated classic – if you like Toy Story, you’ll love WALL-E.

Donkey Punch is about as far away from WALL-E as you could get. Meeting at a drink fuelled nightclub in Spain, seven people decide to carry on their “getting to know you” on a nearby yacht. When one of them dies, it’s a fight for survival for the remaining party animals.

The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan’s latest Batman epic, opens in many cinemas on Thursday. You’ve probably heard everything you need to know already, with Heath Ledger’s demented Joker apparently putting Jack Nicholson’s performance into the shade. Go see it.

The quirky and cute In Search of a Midnight Kiss returns to Edinburgh’s Filmhouse from Friday till Monday, alongside the usual eclectic mix of old and new movies. My pick of the flicks includes the gentle and poignant September (Tuesday), the tough Cross Life (Thursday) (both from the London Australian Film Season) the re-release of the classic Chet Baker documentary Let’s Get Lost (Friday – Sunday) and Polish biopic My Nikifor (Sunday).

The Cameo in Edinburgh also does its bit for the less well-publicised films as it shows the highly acclaimed documentary My Winnipeg from Friday. Blending local myth with tragedy, this looks like something quite special. Sunday sees a double bill of Son of Rambow and The Squid and the Whale while The Dark Knight opens on Thursday.

Championed by Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut, Glasgow’s GFT screens the 1956 drama Bigger than Life on Monday and Tuesday while the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival 2008 launches with Otto; or Up With Dead People on Wednesday and Thursday. Bra Boys, part of the London Australian Film Season, screens on Tuesday.

Up at the Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre, new film Savage Grace is on from Friday to Thursday while the classic David Lean movie Oliver Twist screens on Saturday and Sunday. Roger Corman’s The Man with X-Ray Eyes is also on this week, but only on Tuesday and Wednesday.