FILM LIST
1 involving a brutal homosexual murder. Glasgow; Grosvenor
0 Dream Flights '(PG) (Roman
? Balayan, USSR, 1984) Oleg Yankovsky. 91 mins. The hale and
. hearty external ebullience of middle-aged Seryozha convincingly conceals a vulnerable human figure beset by insecurity and melancholy in this sensitive Soviet tragi-comedy. Edinburgh; Filmhouse o The Falcon and the Snowman ( 15) (John Schlesinger. US, 1985) Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn. Pat Hingle. 131 mins. Fuelled by diverse motivations two boyhood friends feed classified information to Soviet agents. Workmanlike recreation of true events. Edinburgh; Filmhouse o F/X-MurderBy Illusion (15) a (Robert Mandel. US. 1985) Bryan Brown. Brian Dennehy, Diane Verona. 108 mins. See Caption Review. Edinburgh; Odeon. Glasgow; Odeon. o The Goonies (PG) (Richard Donner. US. 1985) Sean Astin, Josh Brolin,JeffCohen. 114mins. A group of all-American kids discover a treasure map and undergo a perilous subterranean journey to uncover a lost pirate galleon.
Exasperatingly juvenile efforts
peopled by a cast of unnecessarily obnoxious pre-pubescents and ineffectually mugging baddies. coated with unpalatabley gooey sentimentality. A Spielberg turkey. Edinburgh; Filmhouse 0 Half Life (PG) (Denis O’Rourke, Australia. 1985) 84 mins. In 1954 fallout from the American A-bomb testings at Bikini Atoll drifted onto the Marshallese islands of Rongelap and Utirik, At the time officials blamed an un unexpected change in wind direction. Thirty years later O’Rourke’s damning documentary shows otherwise. Using contemporary newsreels, recently declassified US Defence film and testimony from the Marshallese, he set out to prove that the actions were premeditated; deliberately designed to study the effects of radiation on
g the human body. Edinburgh;
Filmhouse
. 0 Hannah and Her Sisters (15)
4 (Woody Allen. US. 1986) Woody
1 Allen, Michael Caine, Mia Farrow.
. 107 mins. A mellow. meaningful
' riposte to the gloom-ridden
. Interiors. Hannah is an upbeat
celebration of the cohesion and
l support within the family unit. Focusing on the romantic highs and lows of three sisters and their menfolk Allen concludes that life is worth living and if you have love you
should count your blessings.
Blessed with a terrific ensemble
2 cast. the film is achingly funny,
; touching and extremely perceptive
about the everyday joy and pain
inherent in the human condition. An
absolute must. Edinburgh;
Dominion, Odeon
Edinburgh; Dominion, Odeon.
Glasgow; Odeon. Rio, Salon.
Strathclyde; Odeon Hamilton
0 Heavenly Pursuits (15) 1% (Charles
Gormley, UK. 1986) Tom Conti, Helen Mirren. David Hayman. 92
18 The is? 1'9 sage: 0a" ' '
_ F/X MUBILERBY'LLU .. .. . ..
sf
Mandel, US, 1985) Bryan Brown, Brian Dennehy, Diane Verona. 109 mins. Don’t get overly excited but, with F/X, we may finally have a thriller worthy of the name; ingenious, humorous and intriguing enough to merit an approving nod from the master of the genre, Mr Hitchcock himself.
Bryan Brown plays Rollie Tyler, special-effects wizard and maestro of macabre masterworks like Vermin From Venus and I Dismember Mama. His very special skills are recruited by the Justice Departmentto assist in their Witness Relocation Programme. De Franco, a mafia bigwig, has turned informant on his erstwhile colleagues. While a new identity and address will provide a measure of protective covering for the turncoat, the ideal insurance against acts of recriminalion is to fake his demise. Rollie is to stage the man’s assassination in broad view of corroborating witnesses. Initially sceptical, Rollie is finally won overby an appeal to his professional vanity, and a fee 01830000 dispels any lingering qualms.
The slaying is superbly executed but everything else goes awry; De Franco is declared legitimately dead, the
mins. See Caption Review.
Edinburgh; Cameo. Glasgow; ABC
Clarkston Road, ABC Sauchiehall Street, Grosvenor. Lothian; ABC. Strathclyde; ABC Greenock, ABC Kilmarnock
0 Highlander(15) (Russell Mulcahy, Uk, 1986) Christopher Lambert. Sean Connery, Beatie Edney. 116 mins. A handful ofimmortals battle through the centuries to win a mythical prize. A curious mixture of romance in 16th century heather and car-chases in present-day New York, the film is inelegant, often ludicrous, but enjoyable daffy fantasy adventure.
Lambert seems more at home with the contemporary passages and only the ever-wonderful Connery has the requisite style for the kitsch Scottish scenes.
Edinburgh; ABC. Glasgow; ABC Clarkston Road, ABC Sauchiehall Street, Cinema, Grosvenor. Lothian; Regal. Strathclyde; Kelburne, Odeon Hamilton, Rialto 0 House (15) (Steve Miner, US, 1986) William Katt, Kay Lenz,
F/X Murder By Illusion (15) (Robert
Justice Department officials are more diabolically devious than he had suspected and suddenly everyone wants Hollie dead. The only hopes for salvation are his own ingenuity and the independent enquiries of a doggedly suspicious detective (the ever reliable Brian Dennehy). '
Emulating classics like The 39 Steps and North By Northwest, F/X uses a well-worn Hitchcock device of plunging an ordinary man into extraordinary events and observing how he employs his native wit and cunning to extricate himself. Bryan Brown has the easy charm and charisma of a true screen star and his presence ensures maximum audience involvement. The ‘McGuffin’ of high-ranking duplicity and the movie-maker's art of make-believe are neatly dovetailed and integrated into a smart script that makes effective use of Bollie’s confession and still finds room for humour and a firm sense of charcterisation. Even the lesser figures are allowed to make an impression in their brief screen time.
All told, FIX is that comparatively rare creature - thoroughly satisfying, intelligent mainstream entertainment. (Allan Hunter)
George Wendt. 93 mins. Horror story writer Katt moves into the creepy, malevolent mansion formerly occupied by his dotty aunt who was convinced that the establishment had a mind and will of its own. . .
Tame and tacky low-budget horror with creatures on loan from the local joke shop and a script that wastes the once promising talents of the lead actors. Strathclyde; Odeon Hamilton 0 Jagged Edge (18) (Richard Marquand, US, 1985) Glenn Close, JeffBridges, Robert Loggia. 109 mins. The seemingly irresistible Bridges stands accused of the brutal slaying of his wealthy wife in this unremarkable, old-fashioned
courtroom melodrama. Glasgow; GFT, Grosvenor 0 Jewel of the Nile (PG) (Lewis
Teague, US. 1985) Kathleen Turner. Michael Douglas, Danny DeVito. 108 mins. More high adventure for romatic novelist Joan Wilder and dashing companion Jack Colton.
Overlong. mechanical. sequel-by-numbers to the altogether more enjoyable Romancing the Stone. De Vito supplies the lame I comic reliefand even the I considerable charisma and chemistry ofthe Turner-Douglas double-act , cannot overcome the deadening l obstacles ofa tired and contrived ' narrative and lazy direction. i Lothian; ABC; Strathclyde; ABC i Greenock, ABC Kilmarnock
O Judex (PG) (Georges Franju. France. 1967) 97 mins. Affectionatc l960s' remake of Louis Feuillade‘s early French silent thriller serials. The comic strip genre with goodie superhero v baddie supervillain is now a commonplace. but the French do this sort of thing with so much more visual inspiration. Edinburgh; Filmhouse o Karate Kid: Part II ( PG) Ralph Macchio. Noriyuki ‘i’at‘ Morita. 'l‘amlyn 'l‘omita. 113 mins. Set some six months after the 1984 box-office smash. this sequel takes young champion Daniel and his wisdom-dispensing mentor Miyagi to the latter's ancestral home in Okinawa. where the youngster discovers the rough-running course of true love and acquires an enemy in the shape of the vicious (‘hozen
With broad brush strokes ofgood and evil. love and hate. Avildsen creates a 'Manichean battle ground (Copyright 1986 A. Hunter) from which the good guys predictably emerge with honour and dignity intact to the cheering adulation of the whole community. A formula of such winning naively is easy to ; knock. but when allied to technical expertise. a decently developed script and good acting it is also hard to fault. Glasgow; ABC Sauchiehall Street. Rio. Strathclyde; Kelburne. Rialto 0 Kiss of the Spiderwoman ( 15) (Hector Babenco.US-Brazi1. 1985) William Hurt, Raul Julia, Sonia Braga. 119 mins. Two men share a ; prison cell. victims in their very . different ways. ofan unspecified fascist regime. One is a flamboyant homosexual. the other a macho revolutionary. The pain of their confinement ultimately provokes mutual understanding. love and a moving exchange ofroles. Glasgow; GET 0 Let’s Spend the Night Together (PG) 3 (Hal Ashby. US. 1982) 94 mins. Dreary concert movie culled from the Rolling Stones 1981 tour. Glasgow: Grosvenor 0 Lost in America ( 15) (Albert Brooks, US. 1985) Albert Brooks. Julie Hagerty. 91 mins. A go-gctting business executive drops out of the rat race and begins a nomadic existence with his wife. Mild Easy Rider-style comedy for the Yuppie generation. Edinburgh; Metro 0 Maidens in Uniform (PG) (Leontine Sagan, Germany. 1931) Dorothea Wieck. Ellen Schwannecke. 90mins. At a strict boarding school for girls, a 1 pupil falls in love with one of her female teachers. Known as the first i film to take lesbianism as its main . theme, this early melodrama is l inevitably dated today but still