FILM LIST
film cliches and sends up the movie-making process itself. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Planes, Trains and Automobiles (15) (John Hughes, US, 1987) Steve Martin, John Candy, Laila Robbins. 92 mins. Hughes 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 for Thanksgiving. 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. Glasgow: Grosvenor. I Point Blank ( 18) (John Boorman. US. 1967) Lee Marvin. Angie Dickinson. Keenan Wynn. 92 mins. Revenge-ridden Marvin is bent on justifying hisdreamlike existence and turning the tables on the mysterious criminal Organisation which employed him in this tense. well crafted thriller that boasts an imaginitive and influential treatment of time. Boorman‘s impressive first American feature is made memorable by Marvin’s brilliant portrayal of an outmoded gunman confusedly taking on a world overrun by technology. Edinburgh: Film Guild. I Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach (PG) (Alan Myerson. US. 1988) Bubba Smith. David Eraf. Michael Winslow. 90 mins. Yet another execrable dollop of comic ineptitude has as its ingredients a Police Chiefs‘ convention, a stolen bag of diamonds, and our loveable academy graduates on the loose in Miami. The production notes promise ‘high-speed boat chases across alligator-infested swamps‘. God help us all. Strathclyde: UCl East Kilbride. I Poltergeist (15) (Tobe Hooper, US. 1982) JoBeth Williams, CraigTNelson, Beatrice Straight. Dominique Dunne, Oliver Robbins. 114 mins. All American ghost story with the unmistakable stamp of Spielberg, though it‘s credited to Hooper. Deep within the familyteie there‘s a restless spirit trying to get out. Perhaps the scriptwriters came up with the idea of something hideous invading your sitting room through the TV after watching Beadle’s About. Superny crafted scarefest with the family unit trying to withstand the powers ofevil. Glasgow: Grosvenor. 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 hostage. 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 of threat. Glasgow: Grosvenor. I Radio Days (PG) (Woody Allen. US. 1987) Mia Farrow. Seth Green. Diane Keaton. 89 mins. Amiably laid-back family recollections of the early 19405 and the golden age of the wireless. Pot-pourri of modest charm held together by an armful of reliable performances from old lags and the usual flashes of wit and wisdom. A pleasant time-filler for both director and audience. Strathclyde: UCl East Kilbride. 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 Love. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Red Sorghum (15) (Xhang Yimou.
Tango and Cash (Andrei Konchalovsky, 1989 US) Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell, Jack Palance, Brion James. Stallone (Tango) wears glasses and an Armani suit and Russell (Cash) looks like a thinner version ol Michael Douglas in ‘Black Rain’. Los Angeles’ two toughest cops, they’re brought together into a muscular wise-cracking double-act when the local megalomaniac (Palance) irames them on corruption and homicide charges. The lirst hall oi the movie gets the duo into a comically unpleasant jail, the second gets them out of it and into a linal big confrontation involving huge earth moving trucks and an armoury ol bullets and explosions. A lormula movie ll ever there was one, ‘Tango and Cash’s humour is as still as the muscles in Stallone’s jaw, while the near plotless scenario (bad guy irames heroes, that’s it) moves lrom conventional buddy cops through to James Bond territory with a sublime disregard ol the boundaries between the two types oi lilm. This must surely be the only cop movie where the heroes drive oil to their linal battle in a futuristic armoured car armed with a 20mm six-barrelled cannon. Adding to this sense ol secret agenting. Palance’s villain belongs in an episode oi ‘The Man From Uncle’ and one stunt in particular involving the duo sliding down high voltage cables, demands a box of ‘Milk Tray’ and a little calling card at the very least.
With a whole range oi slick and spectacular set pieces, those old Sixties spy movies are what ‘Tango and Cash’ iinally most resembles. The violence, with no blood and pain, is completely lantastlc and played wholly for laughs, Stallone and Russell
TANGO AND cits)
throughout act out their heroics in a manner which suggest speech balloons above their heads and the overall jock and jocular interplay between them is accompanied by the most idiotlcally unlikely oi extreme predicaments (Sample joke: ‘Where did you learn to drive?’ ‘Stevie Wonder.)
This is lightweight garbage, but importantly it never seeks to be anything other than that. ‘Ask Not What The Critics Say,’ proclaims a signiiicant headline on the newspaper iront page which ends the movie and it’s true. Tango and Cash’s only ambition is to be completely mindless escapism and on those terms it succeeds. Atrociously edited, with scenes and would-be jokes which just hang in the air, it clunks along lrom one violent conlrontation to the next with all the sophistication of two iive-year-olds playing at tough guys. Somehow, or even maybe because oi its rough and ready superiiciality, it just about works. Brion James as the Cockney punk hit man plays a lake British accent for all the daitness it’s worth, Palance hasn’t sliced ham this thick lor a very longtime and there’s some real philosophical depth to the dialogue too: ‘Rambo’s a pussy,’ says the new model Stallone, pitching himsell somewhere between Victor Mature and Dean Martin’s Matt llelm. Awkward, awlul - and oddly enjoyable - only the songs are missing. (Tom Tunney)
From Fri 23. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road, Cannon The Forge, Cannon Sauchiehall Street, Grosvenor. Edinburgh: Cannon. Central: Cannon. Strathclyde: Cannon, Keiburne, Odeon Hamilton, UCl Clydebank, UCI East Kilbride.
China. 1988) Gong Li. Jian Weng, JiuJi. 90 mins. This completely startling piece of New Chinese Cinema is a family saga set in a rural community during the 19305. and follows a young woman‘s adventures: finding a husband. setting up a brewery and repelling barbaric Japanese invaders. Conceived on a gloriously broad palette. Yimou's film controversially explores the stirrings of female sexuality. and includes some endearing knockabout comedy before the tone darkens for the final cataclysm. With a marvellously rich red colour scheme. this a magnificent debut. Edinburgh: Film Guild.
I Les Rendez-vous d’Anna (18) (Chantal Akerman. France. 1978) Aurore Clement. Helmut Griem. Magali Noel. Lea Massari. 127 mins. A quiet travelogue following Anna Silver (C lement). a young film-maker from Belgium on a promotional campaign for her latest work.
as she drifts into encounters with old and new lovers while criss-crossing the country. The moody silences and placid came rawork make this evocative study of human emotions a film of casual. almost simplistic elegance. Edinburgh: French Institute.
I Renegades (15) (Jack Sholder. US. 1989) Keifer Sutherland. Lou Diamond Phillips, Jami Gertz. 105 mins. Sutherland and Phillips resume their Young Guns screen partnership in this action adventure under the slick direction ofJack (The Hidden) Sholder. Despite the Red Indian ritual element it‘s pretty much formula stuff: rip-roaring car chase. neatly done tough guy routines and strong performances from both stars. Though as stencil produced movies go it doesn‘t fare too badly. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank.
I The Rescuers (U) (Wolfgang
Reitherman. John Lounsberry and Art Stevens, US, 1977) With the voices of Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor. Geraldine Page. 77 mins. Technically expert and sporadically enthralling cartoon adventure from the latterday Disney studios. which lacks the inventiveness and lustre of the man himself’s work. The story concerns two members of the Mouse Rescue Aid Society, who. with the help of Orville the albatross, set out to save an orphan girl from the wicked Medusa’s home in a Louisiana swamp. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge. Central: Cannon. I Roselyne And The Lions ( 12) (Jean-Jacques Beineix, France. 1989) lsabelle Pasco, Gerard Sandoz, Philippe Clevenot. 130 mins. Several years after Betty Blue, Beineix returns with typically stylish and obsessive exercise charting young lsabelle Pasco‘s progress as a lion tamer. Forget the eight out of ten critics who haven‘t expressed a preference, this is one sleek movie, whiskers and all. Central: MacRobert Arts Centre. I Sea Of Love (18) (Harold Becker. US. 1989) Al Pacino, Ellen Barkin, John Goodman, Michael Rooker. 118mins. Pacino, a homicide detective in search of a murderer whose crimes seem to be connected with the personal ads, sets upa date with single mother Barkin, and. although attracted to her. begins to suspect that she is the killer. The plot may be on the creaky side, but the performances from both leads are spot-on. the dialogue and the sex scenes are remarkably realistic. However, the film is more likely to be remembered for its humour than for its tension. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Cannon. Dominion. Central: Regal. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr. UCl Clydebank, UCl East Kilbride. I The Secret Garden (PC) (Fred M. Wilcox, US, 1949) Margaret O‘Brien. Helen Marshall, Gladys Cooper. 92 mins. Sumptuous MGM adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic novel about a young orphan girl staying with her crotchety uncle. Director Wilcox‘later went on to make Forbidden Planet. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Sex, Lies and Videotape (15) (Steven Soderbergh, US, 1989) Andie McDowell. Laura San Giacomo. James Spader, Peter Gallagher. 101 mins. The sex: John (Gallagher) is conducting a steamy affair with his sister-in-law Cynthia (San Giacomo). The lies: they neglect to tell his wife. Anne (McDowell). The videotape: John‘s buddy Graham (Spader) gets his kicks by filming women‘s sexual confessions. 26-year-old Sodcrbergh‘s first feature is a strikingly assured. funny and thoughtful piece of work, forcing usto examine our own attitudes toward sex. and won the Palmc d‘Or at Cannes. Central: MacRobert Arts Centre. I Shirley Valentine (15) (Lewis Gilbert. UK. 1989) Pauline Collins. Bernard Hi”. Tom Conti. 110 mins. Gilbert's screen version of the celebrated Willy Russell play. now expanded from a monologue to include Hill as the insensitive hubby and Conti as the Greek bit of stuffShirley meets on a Mediterranean holiday that turns into a voyage ofsclf-(re)discovery. Collins is outstanding in the title role of frustrated Liverpudiian housewife. Edinburgh: Dominion. Central: Calcdonian. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank. UCl East Kilbride. I Singin’ In The Rain (U) (Gene Kelly& Stanley Donen. US. 1950) Gene Kelly. Donald O'Connor. Debbie Reynolds. Cyd Charisse. 102 mins. Hollywood undergoes the transition from the silent era to the talkies and reputations rise and fall. Absolutely wonderful musical entertainment. with the slickest ofsnappy dialogue. endurineg catchy numbers. a cast of genuine charisma. and an engaging picture of the industry in transition into the bargain. Quite splendid. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
The List 23 March — 5 April 1990 21