FILM LIST
IAlien( ts) ( Rittley Scott. t 's‘. 1979) Sigourney Weaver. lan Holm. .lohn l lurt. 11b mins. Agatha ( ‘hristic in outerspace
as a freighter lands on a mystci iousplanct and is ingeniously invaded by a ravenous intruder which proceeds to chomp ilsway through the cast list. lidinburgh: ( ‘amco. IAmadeus ( PG) ( Milos l‘orman. l 'S. 19Ml'1‘om l lulee. 1".Murray' Abraham. lot) mins. A risiblc title light for a place in posterity between a God—fearing but mediocre talent and a musical genius. l'nconvincing but redeemed by strong visuals and a sumptuous soundtrack. Glasgow: Grosvenor.
I Annie Hall ( 15) ( \Vootly Allen. 1.5. 1977) Woody Allen. Diane Keatonfl'ony Roberts. 93 mins. Warm. wistful. wonderfully witty Woody discourseson love. death and life in the Big Apple inthis multi ()scar-w inning autobiographical comedy-romance. Glasgow: (i171. lidinburgh: (‘ameo
I Asterix in Britain ( t ' i 2': (Pino van [.amswecrde. l-rancc. 198M With the voices ofJack Beabcr. Bill Kearns. Graham Bushnell. 89 mins. The Romans have invaded Britain and only one village refuses to surrender. Their chiefsends a message to his distant cousin Asterix the Gaul who prepares a barrel of his special magic potion and rushes to the rescue with his sizeable colleague ()belix. Along the way. he acquires a bag of special herbs said to have remarkable revivifying powers and his ‘tea' proves immensely popular with the Brits.
Typical 211th anniversary Asterix production complete with plucky featsof derring-do. comic chases. slapstick humour and the triumph ofthe little Gallic warrior. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Au Bevoir Les Enlants (P(i) (Louis Malle. France ‘W. Germany. 1987) Gaspard Manesse. Raphael Fejto. Francine Racette. 104 mins. See caption review. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Baby Boom (PG) (Charles Shyer. US. 1987) Diane Keaton. Sam Shepard. Harold Ramis. 111 min. Fast rising. single-minded career woman Keaton is stopped in her tracks by the inheritance of a bouncing baby through the unfortunate
14The List 9— 22 December 1988
demise ofa cousin. (‘hoosing tomother the little mite. she ditches job and loverto move to the dubious delights of rustic contentment in Vermont. Brought down to earth by boredom and sexual frustration. her capitalistic juices flow again with the development of gourmet baby food and she tries anew to have a career. child and lover.
An intriguing premise for a modern feminist reworking of Frank (‘apra is largely squandered in this thoroughly predictable and rather icky damp squib of a comedy. lidinburgh: ('amco.
I Back to the Future (PG) ( Robert Zeriieckis.1'S. 1985) Michael .1. Fox. l.ea 'l‘hompson. ('rispin ( ilover. llomins. Deservcdly popular time-travelling fantasy adventure with strcetsmart 811's teenager whisked back in time for a little chicancry with his future parents. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Betty Blue ( 18) (Jean-Jacques Beincrx. France. 19%) Jean Hughes Anglade. Beatrice l)alle. 131) mins. 'l'cmpestuous love gone mad as an older handyman and a free spirited woman embark on a passionate. peripatetic lling that ends in tragedy. Filmed with a dazzling technique and an irritating emptiness by the maker of Him. lidinburgh: (’ameo.
I Big(PG) (Penny Marshall. LS. 1988) Tom Hanks. lilizabeth Perkins. Robert Loggia. Ill-1 mins. 12year-oldJosh(David Moscow) has no luck with the school beauty because of his diminutive stature. However. upon discovering a neglected fairground wishing machine. he jumps out ofbed the next morning to find his boyish self now wrapped in an adult packaging (Tom Hanks).
()fall the role-reversal movies out this year. Big is by far the most successful. because Tom Hanks offers a most appealing characterisation as the dopey innocent at large. and because it treats the situation with a little intelligence. Josh is at times lost and bewildered in the adult
world. for instance. but his unspoilt ideas triumph when he gets a job with atoy company. Good mainstream fare. Glasgow: ()deon. Edinburgh: ()deon. Strathclyde: AMC Clydebank 10.
I Bird (15) (Clint Eastwood. US, 1988) Forrest Whitaker. Diane Venora. Samuel E. Wright. Michael Zelinker. 161mins. Eastwood‘s labour of love manages effortlessly to blast away our misgivings about any Hollywood messing around
with jazz. for this is a bray e and moving attempt to bring to the screen some ofthe
cornplexitiesol (‘harlie ‘Yardbird' Parker.
whose improvisational dev clopmcnts on the alto saxophone mark him down asonc ol the century 's most significant musical presences.
il'hc skilled patchwork narrative combines with an excellent cast. among whom Forrest \Vhitaker's range of emotional expression in the title role must go down as a major achiey emcnt . and an evocative shadowy vision of the jazz underworld from cameraman .lack .\’. Green to create not just a milestone in the cincma‘s attempts to deal with the music scene. but a sombre. engrossing account that could well go down as one of lhcgrcat screen biographies. Glasgow : (‘annon Sauchiehall Street. lidinburgh: ( 'ameo. I The Blues Brothers ( 15 ) (John 1.;indis. LS. 1981)) John Belushi. Dan Aykroyd. Carrie Fisher. 131) mins. Bloated. overlong anarchic ('hicago comedy with the two stars on a mission from ( iod to financially salvage the imperilled fortunes ofan orphanage. 1.otsot guest stars. musical numbers and automotiv e destruction in a typical product of over-emphatic contemporary American humour. lidinburgh: lidinburgh l‘ilm (iuild.
I Blue Velvet( ts) ( 1);t\1t1 l.y rich. l ‘s. 19%) Kyle .‘slaclachlan. Dennis 1 loppcr. Isabella Rossellini. 1le mins. lumberton. niiddle-Amcrica. “httltl-bc‘ buy detective .lellrey Beaumont finds a severed earon some w astc ground and w hen the police shoo him away he decides to dosorne investigating of hisow n.
A singular fusion ot the cosy and the terrifying which blends kitsch and nightmare. B-movic detection and brutal sexual perversion to deconstruct our complacent vision of w hat passes for normal society . This is filrnmakingof remarkable imagination and skill that places its director in the front rank of contemporary American cinema. lidinburgh: ('ameo.
. Breathless A Ball! [)1’5'Ullfflt’f 15) (Jean-Luc Godard. France. 1959) Jean-Paul Belmondo. Jean Seberg. 90 mins. A chic Parisian petty criminal (Belmondo) and his American ex-patriate girlfriend (Seberg) drift through a world of stolen cars and aimless romance inexorably towards a downbeat finale.
Godard‘s debut feature provoked quite a stir in its day for the carefree arrogance with which it ignored the conventionsof filmic grammar. but today it stands asa casual love letter to the American B-movie crime picture. brimming with the kind ofcinematic freshness and charisma that the director seemed to lose during his later Marxist period. And the two stars are well iconic. Glasgow: GFI'.
I Buster(15) (David Green. UK. 1988) Phil Collins. Julie Walters. Larry Lamb. Stephanie Lawrence. 1(13mins. Low—budget biography of Great Train Robber Buster Edwards that manages to gloss over the planning. execution and violence of the heist itself to focus on his sentimental love affair with his wife.
A creditable starring debut for Collins and a subdued Walters help tocompensatc for an inadequate script and some crass moments. creating some of the affection of a working class couple who need each other and their own folk. Overall. the result is the trivialization of the realevents into a bland mix of Mills and Boon with Minder. lidinburgh: Dominion. Strathclyde: A.\l('(‘lydebank 11).
I Casablanca ( t’( i ) (Michael (mm. [15. 1942) l lumphrey Bogart. Ingrid Bergman. Dooley Wilson. 1112 mins. You must remember this. . . Bogart being impossibly noble. Bergman torn between two loy crs. (’laudc Rains playing both ends against the middle. devious Nazis. a togbound airport. a piano-player tinkling that tune . . A wonderful hill ofbeans. lzdinburgh: lidinburgh l‘niversity Film Society.
I Cry Freedom (P(i) (Richard Attenborough.l'S.1987)Dcnzel Washington. Kevin Kline. .lohn Thaw. 158 mins. Although not without its flaws. Attenborough's biographical re-creation of the friendship between black civil rights activist Steve Biko and white liberal newspaperman Donald Woods is his best film to date; an epic. moving drama that also stands as a vigorous condemnation of the obscenity ofapartheid. Edinburgh: l-‘ilmhouse.
I Day of the Dead ( is) (George A. Romero. LS. 1985) Lori ('ardille.’1’erry Alexander. Joseph Pilato. 1()()mins. The conclusion of Romero‘s zombie trilogy has the last people not infected by the virus holding out underground in a Florida
gov ernment bunker while the undead on the surface outnumber them by 4(X).()()(lto
At once an ultra black gross-out comedy and a very dark satire on the American public‘s ignorance of the nuclear threat. the film is sabotaged by shaky pacingand overheated performances. but benefits from sortie truly gut-wrenching effects. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I The Decameron ( tis') (Pier Paolo l’asolini.lta1y. 1972) Ninettol)avo1i. Franco ('itti. 111 mins. Boccaccio according to Pasolini means visually extraordinary Medieval production design and much naked romping. Edinburgh: ('ameo
I Desperately Seeking Susan ( 15) (Susan Seidelman. US. 1985) Rosanna Arquette. Madonna. Aidan Quinn. 104 mins. Fun and fizzy. role-swapping feminist fantasy comedy set in the Big Apple. Madonna and Arquette both shine as the streetwise floozy and demure housewife respectively. Central: Regal.
I Dirty Dancing ( 15) (Emile Ardolino. US. 1987) Jennifer Grey. Patrick Swayzc. Jerry ()rbach. 100 mins. Remarkably ordinary but staggerineg popular girl meets boy from the wrong side ofthe tracks musical set in an American summer camp in the year 1963. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. Strathclyde: AMCClydebank 11).
I Dogs in Space ( 18) (Richard [.owenstein. Australia. 1986) Michael Hutchence. Saskia Post. Chris Haywood.