FILM LIST
0 Adverts on Film (U) ()0 mins. A programme of recent award-winning commercials celebrating the art of the ad people and their uncany gift of presenting the unlikeliest of products (incontinence pants would you believe) in glossy. enticing sixty-second packages ofpersuasion. There are some surprising successes here including the nauseating British (‘aledonian Girls and a particularly sexist one for French furniture. but worthy winners include a hilarious series for a Texan airline and a hard-hitting condemnation ofthe fur coat brigade. Edinburgh: Filmhouse O AlloiMe (15) (Carl Reiner. 1984. US) Steve Martin. Lily Tomlin. Victoria Tennant. 91 mins. Eccentric heiress Lily Tomlin
decides to make amends for a life blighted by illness when she arranges l for the transmigration ofher soul
I:
mtot esrckeningly heat y an willing) frame ofVictoria Tennant. Enter humble attorney Steve Martin to legalise the deal and everything goes awry with Tomlin‘s soul. settling into the right hand of Martin's body and turning him into a one-man skirmish in the battle of the sexes.
All of Me is a frequently hilarious and engagineg silly madcap farce with a performance ofdexterous physicality from Martin that combines elements ofCary Grant. John Cleese and Jerry Lewis. Uneven. but spirited fun. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
0 Almost You ( 15) (Adam Brooks. US. 1984) Brooke Adams. Griffin Dunne. 98 mins. Unconventional romantic comedy about a young married couple and the various vicissitudes in their rocky relationship. LFF Director Derek Malcolm has described this as honest. outrageous. sad and funny. and the promise is there for some bittersweet scenes from a marriage. Edinburgh; Filmhouse
0 An American in Paris (PG) (Vincente Minnelli. US. 1951)Gene Kelly. Leslie Caron. Oscar levant. 113 mins. Kelly is an ex-GI studying painting in post-war Paris who finds love in this multi-Oscar-winning MGM musical. One ofthe surprisingly few peaks in Kelly‘s career this is a masterly summation ofhis contribution to the advancement ofdance on film. capped by a beautifully realised 17 minute ballet sequence.
Minelli lends his painterly eye to a stylised backlot evocation of the French capital and the Gershwin score includes S‘Wonderful. I Got Rhythm etc. Edinburgh: Filmhouse
o Arsenic and Old Lace (PG) (Frank Capra. US. 1944) Cary Grant. Josephine Hull. Jean Adair. Raymond Massey. Peter Lorre. 118 mins. Staunch bachelor about to tie the knot discovers that his two elderly aunts have been killing lonely old men with poisoned elderberry wine. the bodies beingvburicd in the cellar by their mad brother who is under the impression that he is Teddy Roosevelt working on the Panama Canal. Meanwhile a deranged maniac of a nephew turns up with a corpse of his own to dispose ofand things start getting really complicated. Perfect screen adaptation of the stage success. with incredulous Grant and demoniac Massey eclipsed by the two old dears in a gallant cast. Capra manages the mounting comic hysteria with some dexterity. Terrific. Glasgow; GET
0 Back to the Future (PG) (Robert Zemeckis. US. 1985) Michael J. Fox. Christopher Lloyd. Lea
0 Back to the Future (pg) (Robert Zemeckis, US. 1985) Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson. Crispin Glover. 116 mins. this is the big one, alright. America's biggest summer success linally winds its weary way into British distribution on a dollar-strewn path already lollowed by the likes of ET and Ghostbusters. Back to the Future looks lair set to plonk quite a lew bums on seats this side of the Big Puddle too. But again comes the question the British moviegoing public asks this time every year about such over-hyped moneyspinners — is all the fuss worth it? The answer in this case is a resounding ‘yes’. The premise is beautifully simple: 1985 teenager, with the help of mad inventor, travels back in time to 1955, before he had even been born, to meet his luture parents. There are complications however, lor the boy‘s mother gets the hots for him ratherthan his wimpy lather-to-be, and he then has to instruct the weakling in the line art of winning her heart. Or else he will cease to exist, as his parents will never have . . .well, you can imagine his consternation. Just to add to the lun, he only has a certain amount at time, and he also somehow has to repair his time machine (a nuclear-powered DeLorean) belore he can return to the present. Director Robert Zemeckis was
BACK TO THE FU ” {gigging
responsible for last year's Romancing the Stone which lar outclassed Spielberg's own Indiana Jones, and here he supplies a similar adeptness at maintaining the pace, while not losing his eye lor all the telling little details that make the present lilm such a delight. Especially in the comparison between the mid-titties and eighties— 1955 is a time before Diet Pepsi and rock ‘n‘ roll (best scene in the movie is when our hero accidentally invents it), a time when the local cinema is showing Ronald Reagan in Cattle Queen at Montana. And the ingeniously
ENCUAH‘
'g -
structured script allows tor a veritable parade of increasingly tense climaxes. Michael J. Fox is an amiable lead, Christopher Lloyd (Rev Jim in Taxi) suitably crazed as the inventor, but acting honours go to Crispin Glover for his comic translormation lrom all-round jerk to streetwise hepcat. Even so it’s Zemeckis' movie, and it he continues like this he’ll soon take over lrom Spielberg as Hollywood’s leading purveyor ol last-moving action. On the level of sheer entertainment, this is the popular film of the year. Stan queueing! (TrevorJohnston)
Thompson. 116 mins. See caption revnew. EdinburgthBC. Glasgow: ABC (Clarkston Road). ABC (Sauchiehall Street). Grosvenor. Rio. Lothian: ABC. Regal. Strathclyde; ABC (Greenock). ABC(Kilmarnock). Kelburne. Odeon (Hamilton). La Scala 0 Beverly Hills Cop(15)(Martin Brest.US.1985)Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold. John Ashton. 105 mins. A downtown streetwise Chicago cop is out of his element but never out of his depth investigating a friend’s murder in up-market Los Angeles. Murphy reigns supreme in this well-paced slice of entertainment. StrathclydczABC (Greenoek) 0 Blade Runner ( 15) (Ridley Scott, US, 1982) Harrison Ford. Rutger Hauer. 117 mins. LA. AD 2019, a tough cop tracks down a group of sophisticated androids gone haywire which are killing people. Stunning sets and special effects outweigh the human interest in this hi-tech retread of Chandler. Ford and Hauer suitably gritty. Filmhouse O The Bride ( 15) (Franc Roddam. UK. 1985) Sting. Jennifer Beals. David Rappaport. Clancy Brown. 108 mins. See caption review. Edinburgh: Odeon. Glasgow; Salor 0 Broadway Danny Rose (PG) (Woody Allen. US. 1984) Woody Allen. Mia Farrow. Nick Apollo Forte. 8-1 mins. A small-time theatrical agent for no-hoper artistes gets his big chance with a singer of sentimental ballads. whose girlfriend‘s ex-husband is involved with the Mafia. The ever-unfortunate agent. nicknamed ‘Broadway Danny Rose‘. is mistaken for her lover by the still insanely jealous Mafiosi. and the two are forced to flee across country to avoid the hit men he sends after them. Hilarious evocation of New York‘s seedier theatrical milieu and its misbegotten performers. the stuttering ventriloquists and one-legged tap dancers ofthis world. combines with Allen‘s own role of considerable pathos. and the result is a funny-sad shaggy dog story. Allen‘s most touching film. Glasgow; GFI~ 0 Cal (15) (Pat O‘Connor, UK, 1984) Helen Mirren, John Lynch, Donal McCann. 102 mins. A futile hope ofimpossible love between librarian Mirren and callow youth Lynch provides the focus to explore the confusion and moral ambiguities of day-to—day living for ordinary people in a troubled land. Cal is a commendable small-scale attempt to deal with the Irish troubles in human terms. although more a romantic
=film than a Northern Ireland film.
r Edinburgh; Playhouse
0 Caravan of Courage (U) (John Korty, US. 1984) Eric Walker. Warwick Davis. Fionnula Flanagan. 97 mins. When a family crashland on the forest moon ofEndor the parents are captured by a giant Gorak while the children are rescued and befriended by a cuddly tribe of Ewoks who help them conquer all the obstacles en route to a happy
25 The List 29 Nov — 12 Dec