FILM LIST
snowy wastes of Lapland. the first film shot in the Lapp language followsa teenage boy Aigin (Gaup) as he returns from a hunting trip to find his family slaughtered by a gang ofmarauding warriors and vows to avenge their deaths. Familiar reworking of Good vs Evil. fascinatingly filmed as something akin to a Scandinavian Kurosawa movie. Edinburgh: Broughton Film Society.
I Peeping Tom (18) (Michael Powell. UK. 1960) Karl Boehm. Moira Shearer. Anna Massey. A movie studio focus puller equips his camera with a spike and sets out to murder young women while filming the fear on their faces. Utterly reviled upon its initial release. Powell‘s daring examination of voyeurism as a metaphor for the cinema itself is now regarded as one of the most intelligent British films ever made. Edinburgh University Film Society.
I Pet Sematary ( 18) (Mary Lambert. US. 1989) Dale Midkiff. Denise Crosby. Fred Gwynne. 102 mins. In a dark old house near an old lndian burial ground. strange things can happen. This comes in handy for Midkiff who. shattered by the death of his two year-old son. tries to bring him back to life through supernatural meddlings. But the lad comes back slightly changed and anyone in reach of the cutlery is at the sharp end of the youngster‘s tantrums. Well acted ifclumsily structured. and occasionally scary. Like most Stephen King books. this could have been a great movie: but like most Stephen King films. it isn't. Strathclyde: Motherwell Civic Theatre.
I Planes, Trains and Automobiles ( 15) (John Hughes. US. 1987) Steve Martin. John Candy. Laila Robbins. 92 mins. llughes relinquishes his position as the most pertinent commentator on teenage woes and graduates with honours in the side~splitting adult comedy stakes. Martin is a harrassed Chicago businessman desperate to return home from New York
. . N" R55"E . M HOME STREET-TOLLCROSS ‘TEL.O3l 228 4141 Hon: BOOK N63 11.; s-«ows ‘
Main Feature : From Fri 9 Feb : Donald Sutherland, Janet Suzman and
Marlon Brando in A DRY WHITE SEASON (15) 2.30, 4.40, 6.50,_§PM.
O Late Nights
at 11.15pm £2.80/£2
Frl 9: PLANES TBAINS 8. AUTOMOBILES (15) &
TNE NAKED GUN (15) Sat 10: B0Boc0P(18) 8 THE RUNNING MAN (18) Frl16:DROWNING BY NUNIBEBS (18) & TNE BELLY or AN ABCNITECT (15) Sat17: BAB TASTE (18) 8 THE Tox1c AVENGEB (18)
Sun Performances: All tlckets £2.
ROOFTOPS
- . a» .
"lb,
"" b
Rooftops (15) (Robert Wise, US, 1989) Jason Gedrick, Troy Beyer, Eddie Velez, Alexis Cruz. 90 mins. The essentials of a good musical drama are songs you want to listen to again and a plot you haven’t seen too many times before. Rooftops scores abysmally on both counts. Part of the time it's a performance film with a number of ‘combat dancing’ sequences-forcing your opponent to fall off a raised platform without touching him — providing the urban rhythm and hop, but mostly it’s a teen love story with anti-drug trimmings.
‘T’ (Gedrick) lives alone in a decrepit old water tower stuck on the top of a derelict New York tenement. He likes to go his own way, but soon finds himself involved with Elana (Beyer) the cousin of an over-acting crack dealer Lobo
M (Velez). Lobo has the usual movie
crook’s overbearing attitude to his female relations and also arbitrarily decides to set up shop under T’s tower. Then there’s ’Squeak’ (Cruz), 8 painfully enthusiastic little runt whose predictable demise is the spur to T’s moral crusade. Really there’s nothing to it. The locations are authentic East Side Big Apple and the script is authentic poverty of imagination. The Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart wrote most of the mediocre tunes and veteran director Robert Wise’s long list of credits include ‘West Side Story’ and the editing job on ‘Citizen Kane’. This is a career low point for them both. (Tom Tunney)
From Fri 9. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank, UCI East Kilbride.
forThanksgiving. After missing the last flight home he undergoes a series of fraught misadventures. reluctantly enduring the accident-prone Candy as travelling companion. Predictable and sentimental Odd Couple road movie which is nonetheless genuinely funny. Edinburgh: Cameo. I Platoon (Oliver Stone. US. 1987) Charlie Sheen. Willem Dafoe. Tom Berenger. 120 mins. Vietnam veteran writer/director Stone‘s movie won four deserved Oscars. vividly portraying the experience of the ordinary infantryman on combat duty around the turn of 1967—8. Private Sheen is a university dropout. who finds his ideals crushed by survival instinct in the sweat. blood and fear of battle. A highly uncomfortable and well crafted experience. which remains a landmark in grimy authenticity in an over-subscribed genre. Strathclyde: UCI Clydebank. I The Rainbow(15) (Ken Russell. UK. 1989) Sammi Davis. Paul McGann. Amanda Donohoe. Glenda Jackson. 104 mins. Davis‘ young country lass is anxious to see something of life. and tangles with both lusty bisexual teacher Donohoe and faithless soldier boy McGann en route to sexual awakening. An unusually polite literary adaptation from our Ken. which pales sadly in comparison to The Devils. Crimes Of Passion or Women In Lo ve. Edinburgh: ()deon. I Rain Man (15) (Barry Levinson. US. 1988) Dustin Hoffman. Tom Cruise. Valeria Golino. 114 mins. Small-time
hustler Cruise kidnaps his previously unknown autistic savant brother Hoffman when their father bequeaths his fortune to the latter. Their initially cold relationship warms as the two cross America by road. and they learn to value one another. The year‘s major Oscar winner is a warmhearted and touching buddy movie that scrupulously avoids sentimentality. and boasts a detailed and compassionate performance from Hoffman. Central: MacRobert Arts Centre.
I The Return Of Martin Guerra ( 15) (Daniel Vigne. France. 1982) Gerard Dcpardieu. Nathalie Baye. Stephane Peau. 123 mins. In the sixteenth century. a young man leaves his village. to return from war nine years later. He is welcomed home by his wife. but rumours begin to insist that he is an impostor. Fascinating and engagineg muddy realisation of traditional French myth. which culminates in a gripping courtroom scene and a twist in the tail. Glasgow: French Cine-club.
I Robocop (18) (Paul Verhoeven. US. 1987) Peter Weller. Nancy Allen. Ronny Cox. 103 mins. Slick and stomach-churnineg violent futuristic thriller blending elements of Dirty Harry. Frankenstein and The Six Million Dollar Man. When diligent policeman Weller is shot to pieces by vicious hoods. his remains are mechanically reconstructed into a hi-tech law enforcement officer. but the human desire for revenge still beats beneath his mechanical exterior. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I The Rocky Horror Picture Show ( 18) (if: Sharman. UK. 1975) Tim Curry. Susan Sarandon. Barry Bostwick. Meat Loaf. 100 mins. The cult film to end all others. this rock spoof on old horror movies has created a breed of Rocky Horror crazies. and packs them in at late shows everywhere. The film has its moments. and Curry is splendidly camp as the bisexual Frank N. Furter. Glasgow: Grosvenor.
I The Rolling Stones: Let's Spend The Night Together ( 15)(Hal Ashby. US. 1982) Mick Jagger. Keith Richards. Charlie Watts. Bill Wyman. Ron Wood. 94 mins. Solid concert movie (1981 vintage). in which the boys come up with the goods as per. and if that‘s what you like you won‘t be disappointed; though the war and peace atrocities thrown in for good measure are irrelevant and intrusive. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge.
I Rooftops (15) a (Robert Wise. US. 1989) Jason Gedrick. Troy Beyer. Eddie Velez. Tisha Campbell. Alexis Cruz. 95 mins. See review. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank. UCI East Kilbride.
I Rosalie Goes Shopping ( IS) a (Percy Aldon. France. 1989) Marieanne Sagebrecht. Brad Davis. Judge Reinhold. 94 mins. See feature. Glasgow: GFT. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Roselyne And The Lions ( 12) (Jean-Jacques Beineix. France. 1989) Isabelle Pasco. Gerard Sandoz. Philippe Clevenot. 130 mins. Several years after Betty Blue. Beineix returns with typically stylish and obsessive exercise charting young Isabelle Pasco‘s progress as a lion tamer. Forget the eight out often critics who haven‘t expressed a preference. thisis one sleek movie. whiskers and all. Glasgow: GFT.
I The Running Man ( 18) (Paul Michael Glaser. US. 1988) Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yaphet Kotto. Maria Conchita Alonso. 97 mins. In a totalitarian future. television is used by the authorities to pacify the disgruntled masses. and Running Man is a deadly pursuit show which tops the ratings. Enter Arnie as a framed cop. the latest fodderto be hunted down and killed for the punters‘ entertainment. Except that our man Schwarzenegger has other plans. Rather nasty and exploitative sci-fi. a kind of mindless Robocop. which pretends to have something to say about the Media. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Sanjuro (15) (Akira Kurosawa.Japan. 1962) Toshiro Mifune. Tatsuya Nakadai. Yuzo Kayama. 96 mins. A sequel to Yojimbo Kurosawa has the eponymous hero dancing a jig round the big would-be samuri boys and cleverly taking the mickey out of the action adventure movies of the time. A stunning climax however. Edinburgh: Film Guild.
I Saturday Night Fever ( 18) (John Badham. US. 1977) John Travolta. Karen Lynn Gorney. Julie Bovasso. 119 mins. Remember the Bee Gees music. the white suits. the days when Travolta was a promising young talent'.’ Nostalgia rules again with the revival of this rather ordinary teen rebellion/dance mini-classic in which an ordinary working-class youth finds the only meaning in his life during his energetic peregrinations on the weekend dance floor. Edinburgh University Film Society.
I Scanners ( 18) (David Cronenberg. Canada. 1980) Jennifer O‘Neill. Stephen Lack. Patrick McGoohan. 103 mins. Cronenberg's most coherent film so far. which let's face it isn‘t really saying very much. In his dark vision ofthe future. big business plays around with human conception in a bid to produce ever-more powerful telapathic warriors. who then follow England to the World cup finals. actually they battle it out in set pieces. which come to think of it is much the same thing. Excellent cameo appearance from Patrick McGoohan. Edinburgh University Film Society. J
20 The List 9 — 22 February 1990