FILM LIST
enjoyable screen version of the stage musical. with funny foliage effects. and a beezer cameo from Martin as a biker dentist. Glasgow: Grosvenor. I A Man Called Flintstone (U) (William Hanna & Joseph Barbera. US. 1966)Fred Flintsone. Barney Rubble. Irma Flinstone. 87 mins. Spin-off feature from a TV series that thrived on anachronism. this is a stone-age spoofof a contemporary cycle of spy movies. Stupid but fun. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I The Man With Two Brains ( 15) (Carl Reiner. US. 1983) Steve Martin. Kathleen Turner. David Warner. 93 mins. Zany Martin-Reiner romp in which the great man plays a brilliant brain surgeon driven to the depths of despair when he weds Turner. a man-hungry murderess with a penchant for driving elderly husbands to early graves and pocketing their legacies. Deliriously delightful. Glasgow: Grosvenor. I Midnight Cowboy ( 18) (John Schlesinger. US. 1969) Jon Voight. Dustin Hoffman. Brenda Vaccaro. Sylvia Miles. 113 mins. Voight is the dim-witted Texan offering his services as a male prostitute for the rich ladies of New York. while Hoffman isthe tubercular conman he befriends and helps out over one cold winter in this seminal buddy movie. which helped both the protagonists to major stardom in the early Seventies. set Schlesinger off on an intermittently successful American career. and further shifted the censorship parameters of the mainstream American film. Edinburgh: Cameo. I Monty Python's Meaning Of Life (18) (Terry Jones. UK. 1983) John Cleese. Graham Chapman. Michael Palin. Eric Idle. 103 mins. Ragbag ofoccasionally gross Python sketches loosely following this mortal coil from womb to grave. Watch out for the exploding Mr Creosote. Glasgow: Grosvenor. I Mystery Train (15) it? (Jim Jarmusch. US. 1989) Masatoshi Nagasc. Nicoletta Braschi. Sreamin‘ Jay Hawkins. Joe Struinmer. 113 mins. See feature. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I The Naked Gun ( 15) (David Zucker, US. 1988) Leslie Nielsen. Priscilla Presley. Ricardo Montalban. 85 mins. Nielsen gets a crack at a leading comic role as Frank Drebin. a disaster prone LA cop assigned to find the men who shot his colleague in a drugs bust. and protect our dear Queen at the same time. while also finding room for romance with secretary Presley. The makers of Airplane here operate on a similar principle: keep it fast. keep it marvellously dumb. and the comic dividends will eventually flow. Watch out for a great beaver gag and comedy cameos from Arafat. Gaddafi, Gorbachev and the Queen. Where else would you get all these elements in the same movie? Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr. I Nine-And-A-llalf Weeks ( 18) (Adrian Lyne, US, 1985) Mickey Rourke. Kim Basingcr. 113 mins. Divorcee Basingcr becomes a slave to love when she succumbs to the stubbly charms of commodities broker Rourke. Empty-headed designer bonking. Strathclyde: UCI East Kilbride. I Olivorknd Company (U) a (George Scribner. US. 1989) With the voices of Joey Lawrence. Billy Joel. Dom DeLuise. Bette Midler. 74 mins. Disney studios' free adaptation of Charles Dickens‘ Oliver Twistis set in modern New York.with Oliver as a cute kitten hanging out with a bunch of Streetwise dogs. The Artful Dodger is played by pop-singer Joel. while La Midler turns in a pampered poodle. The usual Disney charm prevails. though Dickens' cutting edge is softened somewhat. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge, Odeon. Grosvenor. Central: Caledonian. Cannon. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr.UC1 Clydebank, UCI East Kilbride. I Paris, Texas (15) (Wim Wenders. US/W. Germany. 1984) Harry Dean Stanton, Natassja Kinski, Hunter Carson. 144 mins. Missing for four years,
ROSELYNE AND THE LIONS
Roselyne and the Lions (12) (Jean-Jacques Beineix, France, 1989) Isabelle Pasco, Gerard Sandoz, Wolf Harnisch. 130 mins. All style and no substance is a charge frequently levelled against the man who brought you Diva and Betty Blue. This film comprehensively answers that criticism: the style is the substance. Inside a circus cage the beautiful Roselyne (Pasco) confronts a half dozen big cats, cracks her whip, shouts out orders and goads them into doing all manner of dangerous things including leaping through a burning hoop and climbing up onto assorted bits of furniture. It's all done for real without cheating and it’s the sum total of what this film is about. Lion taming and nothing but lion taming is the single issue at stake, implicitly backed by the mildly absurd but completely seductive claim that the skill represents a superior and heightened level of being. The relationship between Roselyne and her human lover and fellow trainer Thierry (Sandoz) is of completely secondary importance, while the two characters themselves are very thinly drawn and the training-for-the-big-night plot strictly routine.
What lifts the film into the realms of the ‘must see’ however is the utter singlemindedness of Beineix’s commitment to make lion taming into a kind of psuedo-religious experience. Turning the cage self-consciously into a kind of lush pagan catheral with
Roselyne presented as a strange combination of sacrificial victim and mythic High Priestess, he succeeds in creating a privileged space where passion, art and instinct meet in the crack of a whip and King Leo's eyes. Glossy, glowing and wildly extravagant, it’s a riper letishistic male fantasy which can only be compared with the great Thirties achievements of Von Sternberg and Dietrich. Forget the eight out of ten critics who haven't expressed a preference, this is one sleek movie, whiskers and all. See it. (Tom Tunney)
From Sun 17. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
middle-aged loner Travis turns up in the Texan outback. and is later reunited with his son. The two embark on a trek across America to find his estranged wife. the young boy's mother. The coolly dislocating visual sense of Wim Wenders combines with playwright Sam Shepherd‘s version of America‘s desolate heartlands to produce a moving story of personal alienation. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I The Passion Of Joan Of Arc (PG) (Carl Dreyer. France. 1928) Renee Jeanne Falconetti. Eugene Silvain. Maurice Schutz. 80 mins. An acclaimed masterpiece. a landmark in cinematic history and one of the most intense films ever made. etc. etc. Dealing only with the last days of her trial and her subsequent execution. the (burning) passion and intensity is communicated almost exclusively through close-ups ofcrosses. bars. robes and faces. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Pet Sematary ( 18) (Mary Lambert. US. 1989) Dale Midkiff. Denise Crosby. Fred Gwynne. 102 mins. In a dark old house in Maine near an old Indian burial ground. strange things can happen. Handy really. for young Louis Creed (Midkiff). who. shattered by the death of his two year-old son. tries to bring him back to life by meddling in the old Indian plot. Strange to relate. the child comes back slightly changed and soon anyone in reach ofthe cutlery is at the sharp end ofthe youngster‘s tantrums. Despite its clumsy structure. it is at least well acted and occasionally scary. However. like most Stephen King books. this could make a great movie. though. like most Stephen King films. this is not it. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Strathclyde: UCI Clydebank. UCI East Kilbride.
I Predator ( 18) (John McTiernan. US. 1987) Arnold Schwarzenegger. Carl Weathers. Elpidia Carillo. 107 mins. Arnie and his dirty half-dozen are hired to
enter a dense South American jungle to free a kidnapped cabinet minister. but lurking unseen in the foliage is a chameleon-like being. waiting to skin alive any unsuspecting human to cross its path. Slow to build. but ultimately gripping macho mayhem with a real sense ofthreat. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I 01181 Des Drfevres (PG) (Henri-Georges Clouzot. France. 1947) Louis Jouvet. Suzy Delair. Bernard Blier. 105 mins. Clouzot‘s reputation rests squarely on Les Diaboliques and Wages of Fear but it's worth seeking out this earlier. more traditional French thriller. A quarrelling married couple implicated in a murder are on the run. with a cynical police inspector on their tail. Edinburgh University Film Society.
I Queen Christina (U) (Rouben Mamoulian. US. 1933) Greta Garbo. John Gilbert. Lewis Stone. 100 mins. A great performance from the girl Greta lifts this above the usual level ofhistorical romance. as she portrays the 17th century Swedish queen falling for Gilbert‘s Spanish Ambassador. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I The Rachel Papers ( 18) (Damien Harris. UK. 1989) Dexter Fletcher. lone Skye. Jonathan Pryce. James Spader. 95 mins. The hero of this adaptation of an early Seventies Martin Amis novel is Dexter Fletcher. an obnoxious young penis-on-legs. besotted by American bimbette lone Skye. After some interminable romancing he gets his paws on her which leads to interminable bonking. after which he loses interest. Though there are some compensations in the form of the odd cameo. thiseminently resistible will appeal to the kind ofnerdy teenager who watch films about sex and parties rather than actually having them. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Rain Man (15) (Barry Levinson 1'S 1988) Dustin Hoffman. Tom Cruise.
Valeria Golino. 114 mins. Impecunious smalltime hustler Charlie Babbitt (Cruise) ends up kidnapping his previously unknown autistic savant brother Raymond (Hoffman). when theirlate father leaves his $3 million fortune to the latter. Howe ver. as the two cross America by road genuine feelings offraternal affection well up between them. The 1989 major Oscar winner is a warmhearted and touching buddy movie that scrupulously avoids sentimentality. and boasts a detailed performance from Hoffman that skilfully elicits both compassion and frustration. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Relum 01 The Living Dead ( 18) (Dan O‘Bannon.11S.l984)(‘lu Gulager.James Karen. Don ('alfa. Thom Mathews. 91 mins. Some meddling kids disturb some mysterious military gas cannisters. causing the local dead to rise from their graves. demanding ‘More brainsl‘. Whether this cry is directed at the scriptwriters. the director or the audience is unclear. Packed with bad-taste gags. the film concludes somewhat lamely. with the end of civilised life as we know it. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge.
I The Right Stuff ( 15) (Philip Kaufman. US. 1983) Sam Shepard. Scott Glenn. Ed Harris. Dennis Quaid. 193 mins. Tom Wolfe's book about the early days ofspace flight treats the first test pilots-cum-astronauts as modern day cowboys crossing a new frontier. The myriad plot-lines are well dove-tailed and the flying scenes are memorably impressive. but for all the film‘s expansiveness its abrupt swings ofmood somehow militate against the kind of involvement that would have made it a truly great movie (instead ofjust a rather goodone). Edinburgh University Film Society.
I River's Edge ( 18) (Tim Hunter. US. 1986) (‘rispin Glover. Keanu Reeves. Dennis Hopper. 99mins. A motivelcss murder is the catalyst for a moral crisis among a group of teenage buddies. Challenging exploration ofalicnated youth and their attempts to forge a value system in a society of numbing moral blankness. Glasgow: GI’I'.
I Road House ( 18) (Rowdy l lerrington. US. 1989) Patrick Swayze. Ben Gauara. Kelly Lynch. 1 14 mins. Swayzc moves from Dirty Dancing to dirtily dunting— pcople‘s heads off tables. His new job isto clear up the Double Deuce. a violent dump. only marginally preferable to the Black Ilole of (‘alcutta as a place to go for a drink. There. as top bouncer. he takes on the scumbags who like to preface social interaction by inquiring as to the object of your gaze. Though graced with precious few moments of originality. the movie is full of satisfying cheap thrills as Swayze demonstrates his commitment to philosophy by battering the stuffing outof people he dislikes. Glasgow: (‘annon The Forge. ()deon. Edinburgh: Dominion. (.‘entral: Caledonian. Cannon. Strathclyde: ('annon. U(‘I Clydebank. UCI East Kilbride.
I A Room Willi a View ( PG) (James Ivory. UK. 1985) Helena Bonham (‘arter. Maggie Smith. Julian Sands. Denholm Elliot. 117 mins. ('lass‘y adaptation ofthe EM. Forster novel about a prissy young English girl w ho falls in love in romantic Italy. but with an unconventional young man who seems not quite the right thingat all. Respectful but funny adaptation dissecting the emotional paucity ofthe English middle classes. Glasgow: Grosvenor.
I Roselyne And The Lions ( 12) ‘fr (Jean-Jacques Beineix. France. 1989) Isabelle l’asco. Gerard Sandoz. Philippe (‘levenot 1311 mins. See review. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Rouget 15) (Stanley Kwan. llong Kong. 1987) Anita .‘vlui. Leslie (‘heung limin (‘hu. .‘vlan 'I'sz-leung 93 mins. The ghost of a love-lorn 193th courtesan meetsa young man in 19811s11ong Kong who. with his jealous. yuppie girlfriend. helps her
The Lis18-— 21 December 198919