FILM
Henriksen. who dispatched his buddy. A rather formulaic revenge flick. but Hill makes good use of the New Orleans locations and has never forgotten how to put a good action scene together. Strathclyde: Cannon. ITtlB Krays (18) (Peter Medak. UK. 1990) Billie Whitelaw. Gary Kemp, Martin Kemp. 119 mins. The long planned biopic ofthe terrible twins: Ronnie and Reggie. comes crashing onto the screen. Director Medak opts to imbue their lives with the mythic qualities ofa fairytale and thereby ignores most of the grisly details oftheir reign of fear. Whether or not you believe that their sordid tale deserves such treatment. the Spandau siblings do turn in a passable impersonation. despite their love of gazing moodin at the camera. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge. Edinburgh: Odeon. Central: Cannon. I Last Exit To Brooklyn (18) (Ulrich Edel. W.Gennany. 1989) Stephen Lang. JenniferJason Leigh. Burt Young. 104 mins. Brutal. graphic and dynamic study ofthe steamy. seamy side of life in the dockland area of Brooklyn during the Fifties. Hubert Selby‘s once banned novel has made it to the screen more or less intact in a narrative strung together from his series of vignettes. A painful dissection. not for the faint-hearted. Glasgow: GFT. I Limit Up (12) (Richard Martini. US. 1989) Nancy Allen. Dean Stockwell. Danitra Vance. Ray Charles. 95 mins. Ambitious to break into the wheeler-dealer world of the Chicago commodities market. young businesswoman Allen is foiled by slimy rival Stockwell until help comes along in the shape of passing devil Vance. who offers her the secrets of success in return for her soul. Comic blend of Faust and Wall Street with the added bonus of environmental concern is amiably played by a willing cast (yes. that is Ray Charles as a beggar). but asks us to be a little more interested in the commodities market than we might usually care to be. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge. Cannon Sauchiehall Street. I Little Wizards From OzThrcc programmes compile some of the outstanding short films made in Australia during the 1980s. The firstselection showcases the early work that brought Jane Sweetie Campion to wider attention. while the second gathers together the innovative work of several other Antipodean women film-makers and includes Tracey Moffatt's experimental docu-drama on Aboriginal women Nice Coloured Girls. Among the highlights of the third programme is John Taylor's animated poot comedy The Huge Adventures of Trevor. A Cat. and Luigi Acquisto‘s Jarmuschian look at Italian immigrant life Spavemapasseri. Glasgow: GET. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Look Who's Talking (12) (Amy Heckerling. US. 1989) John Travolta. Kirstie Alley. Olympia Dukakis. 97 mins. ln Travolta‘s much-hyped comeback he plays stand-in papa to Alley‘s first baby. but is quicker to meet approval from the little brat. via the voiced-over musings of one Bruce Willis. than he is from its confused and binkered mama. Crass. lowbrow and thus extremely popular comedy whose sole redeeming feature is the natural charm of the trusty Travolta. But any movie whose idea of a comic setpiece means filmimg a foetus inside the womb with the dreary Willis intoning on the soundtrack just doesn‘t come near the ballpark. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge. Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon. Central: Cannon. Strathclyde: Cannon. UCl Clydebank. UCl East Kilbride. I MBIIhllflth(l8) (Michael Mann. US. 1987) William L. Petersen. Tom Noonan. Brian Cox. Kim Griest. 119 mins. FBI agent Petersen returns from psychiatric treatment to face another case. using his customary technique for tracking down
REVENGE
Revenge (18) (Tony Scott, US, 1990) Kevin Costner, Anthony Quinn, Madeleine Stowe. 124 mins. Before Top Gun and Beverly Hills Cop It took squllllons at the US box office. Brit adman/auteur supreme Tony (brother of Ridley) Scott made a perfectly excruciating lesbian vampire flick called The Hunger. New armed with a mega budget and star appeal in the shape oi our Kev, Bevenge does for Mexico what the earlier turkey did for blood-sucking. Scott piles on the decorative lighting effects, deadens the pace to a slow crawl that underlines the would-be seriousness of it all, and creates another film of such stunningly beautiful banality that one wonders why be bothered to put in so much effort in the first place.
Taken from a novella by cultish author and poet Jim Harrison, Revenge is the product of people who’ve read too much Malcolm Lowry and Hemingway and gotten a tad carried away with all that tired old macho gulf about Mexico, death, booze, duty etc. Although we open with a concession to the Top Gun crowd as crack pilot Costner illngs his jet fighter around a bit, it’s not long before he leaves to join enigmatic magnate buddy Anthony Quinn (in bespectacled Greek Tycoon mode) down on the tedium-lapped shores of La Vallarta and reflect upon the meaning of life.
Ponder indeed he does, because
we're laced with a good hour of portentous chat belore Kev decides to screw the male bonding scenario and shag his host’s lithe young wile instead. Ms Stowe stops fiddling with her suspender belt long enough for a cloakroom quickie that’s enough to convince the pair that they really ought to slope off to Kev’s isolated cabin and go lorthe whole candlellt fireside bonk routine. Needless to say hubby Buinn , has his honour to uphold and exacts a vicious punishment, but Costner is a man whose, er grand passion has given his existence a new purpose and he’s not prepared to take such rough treatment lying down.
It goes on and on in this vein to numbingly dull effect, but if you bring along pencil and paper you can while away the hours with an exciting game of Spot The Stylistic Flourish. You get five points for billowing while gauze curtains. ten points for neatly patterned diagonal shafts of light. fifteen points for any shot that gets a ceiling fan in the frame, and a big twenty-live points for the stroking of a white dove. Such is the cliche count you can expect a three figure total. (Trevor Johnston)
From Fri 22. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge, Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr. Odeon Hamilton, UCI Clydebank, UCI East Kilbrlde.
serial killers by recreating their train of thought. In the past this has proved all too wearing on his own mental state . and when faced with evidence ofa killer who slays whole families every lunar cycle. he finds himself back on the brink. Convincing and disturbing adult thriller with effortlessly stylish use of the wide screen. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Midnight Bun ( 15) (Martin Brest. US. 1988) Robert De Niro. Charles Grodin. Yaphet Kotto. 122 mins. De Niro is charming and surprisingly straightforward as a bounty hunter bringing Grodin back from New York to Los Angelcs to face charges of embezzling Mafia money. Unfortunately the FBI. the mob. the cops. and another bounty hunter all want their hands on him too. Focusing on the growing friendship between the two leads as they rely on each other to escape their pursuers. this is an amiable buddy movie that’s also an unpredictable road movie and a quite smart cop movie too. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Midnight Express ( 18) (Alan Parker. UK. 1978) Brad Davis. John Hurt. Mike
Kellin. 121 mins. Dealing economically with the truth this is still a riveting storyof the nightmare that befell American Billy Hayes when he was incarcerated in a hellish Turkish jail on a charge of drug-smuggling. Brutal. viscerally powerful filmmaking that won an ()scar for Oliver Stone‘s script. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I The Missouri Breaks (15) (Arthur Penn. US. 1976) Jack Nicholson. Marlon Brando. Randy Quaid. 126 mins. Thematically rather similar to Michael Cimino‘s Heaven's Gare. this earlier Arthur Penn/Thomas MeGuane collaboration details the effects ofthe arrival of capitalism in the frontier community. Nicholson heads a group of rustlers who are slowly brought under control by Brando (in one of his most extraordinary performances) as the ‘Regulator‘. a chameleon-like hitman hired by the monied cattle barons to stamp them out. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Monkey Shines (18) (George A. Romero. US. 1989) Jason Beghe. John Pankow. Kate McNeil. 113 mins.
Bankrolled by a major studio for the first time. zombie maestro Romero adapts Michael Stewart's Oxford-set blend of mad doctors and killer simians. Experiments on a monkey produce monstrous results when the little blighter becomes a trained home-help for Beghe‘s quadriplegic student. The creature forms a strong psychic link with its master. a bond that is to cause mayhem when ihc primate picks tip on the young man‘s frustrated violent urges. Slow development helps generate narrative excitement. and there's a thrilling finale as the wheelchair-bound hero fights for his life. unable to move anything but his mouth. Central: MacRobert ArtsCentre. I Mountains Of The Moon ( 15) ( Bob Rafelson. US. 1989) Patrick Bergin. Iain Glen. Fiona Shaw. Richard 1i. Grant. 135 mins. His early 1971is career saw Rafelson as a man at home with the murkicrdepths of the American psyche, but hcrc he is with an ambitious African adventure. that centres on the expeditions of Sir Richard Burton (Bergin) and John l fanning Speke (Glen) in search of the source of the Nile as a barometer of the Victorian age. where tremendous scientific and intellectual energy nestled with racist attitudes and moral repressiveness. While the ccmm] relationship isn't as moving as it might be. there‘s still a wealth ofincident and intelligence to grab the attention. Glasgow: Grosvenor.
I My Left Foot ( 15) (Jim Sheridan. Eire/L'K. l989) Daniel Day Lewis. Ray McAnally. Brenda l-‘ricker. 90 mins. The life story of paralysed painter and writer Christy Brown. lovingly adapted from his autobiography of the same name. Sheridan and screenplay writer Shane (‘onnaughton have portrayed Brown warts and all to create a funny. touching and thoroughly absorbing movie with four quite excellent central performances. and a celebration of a remarkable person. Central:(‘annon.Strathclyde:17(‘l Clydebank.
I National Lampoon's Winter Holiday ( PU) (John Hughes. LIS. l99ll) ('hevyChase. Beverley D'Angelo. Randy ()uaid. 93 mins. Wacko winter japes with the same ol‘ crew and the same ol' sense ofhumor. Give it a rest. lads. eh'.’ Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr.
I New York Stories ( 15) (Martin Scorsese/Francis (‘oppola Woody Allen. US. 1989) Rosanna Arquette. Nick Nolte. Giancarlo Giannini. Woody Allen. Mia Farrow. 1 l8 mins. Three of New York's finest film directors provide a mixed bagof tales from the Big Apple. Allen comes out on top with Oedipus Wrecks. a short. Jewish momma comedy in the mannerof his less sophisticated early output. Scorcese and (‘oppola disappoint badly. Glasgow: Gl’l‘.
I A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child ( l8) (Stephen Hopkins. L78. 1989) Robert Englund. Lisa Wilcox. Danny llassel. 91) mins. Latest instalment ofthe interminable .N’ightmure series doesn‘t quite sink to the level of the trulydreary Part Two." Freddy's Revenge btit has little to recommend it. The plot. such as it is. centres on Freddy Krueger's appearances in the dreams on an unborn child asthe means to slicing tip much ofthe cast inthe usual lavish manner. This time even the fearsome post-slaughter wisecracks are down in number. as if the film-makers themselves were too aware of flogginga dead horse. Strathclyde: L'Cl Clydebank. I Nuns on the Run ( 12) (Jonathon Lynn. US. 1989) Eric ldle. Robbie Coltrane. Janet Suzman. 95 mins. There's little more to this slapstick comedy than the title suggests. idle and Coltrane. both in poor form. two small time crooks who bungle their final big heist up and soon find themselves taking refuge disguised as nuns in a convent. The predictable gags that follow sadly don‘t even live up to the dubious standards of the average Carry On film. yet despite the tedium it has
20 The List 15 — 28 June 1991)