FILM
Paul Verhoeven‘s sardonic original puts more emphasis on mindless action as another tale of corporate corruption in let century Detroit violently unfolds. This time Robocop is caught up in the drug wars precipitated by the popularity of a new designer narcotic Nuke and faces an imposmg robotic foe cooked up by the unscrupulous multi-national Omni Consumer Products. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road, Cannon The Forge. Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon, UCI. Central: Allanpark, Cannon. Strathclyde: Cannon. UCI Clydebank. UCI East Kilbride.
I Bomuald and Juliette (Coline Serreau. France, 1989) Daniel Auteuil, Firmine Richard. 118 mins. Winning serio-comic love story in which hard-nosed business exec falls for his black cleaning lady Richard and as their affair breaks down both class and racial barriers. her shrewd insight into the absurdity of corporate power-broking helps him to discover a new set of more worthwhile values. Following on from her huge French hit Trois Hommes Er Un Couffin (successfully Americanised as Three Men And A Baby) Serreau comes up with another insightful and funny examination ofthe way we live now. though it does bear a highly coincidental resemblance to the outline of Pretty Woman! Edinburgh: Filmhousc.
I Rosemary's Baby (18) (Roman Polanski, US. 1968) Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes. Ruth Gordon. 137 mins. In this fastidious. frightening adaptation of Ira Levin‘s novel, young housewife Farrow moves into a new apartment block where she comes to believe that her neighbours are witches and her husband is the Devil. Polanski works at the ambiguity factor all the way through by contrasting the everyday surroundings with the extraordinary events (imagined or otherwise) taking place in and around them. while the cast all play it with some conviction. Glasgow: Grosvenor. Edinburgh University Film Society.
I She’s Gotta Have It (18) (Spike Lee, US. 1986) Tracy Camilla Johns. Redmond Hicks. Spike Lee. 85 mins. Spirited. sympathetic comedy of sexual manners. with a snappy script and a fluid technique that marked an auspicious debut for its young, gifted and black writer/director/star. Edinburgh University Film Society.
I Shirley Valentino (15) (Lewis Gilbert. UK. 1989) Pauline Collins, Bernard Hill. 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 ofself-(re)discovery. Collins is outstanding in the title role of frustrated Liverpudlian housewife. Glasgow: GFT. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr. I ehockmis) (Wes Craven, us. 1989) Peter Berg, Michael Murphy. Mitch Plleggi. 110 mins. In which the overworked Freddy Krueger is resurrected by his original creator in a new guise. that of Horace Pinker, electrical engineer and personal pal of Old Nick. whose spell in the electric chair only serves to increase his appetite and aptitude for gratuitous meat-cleaving activities. In a startlineg innovative twist to the genre. Craven has a teenage boy dream our Horace's murders before they occur. But with a positive plethora ofingenious blood-letting schemes and psychic leaps. there's no suggestion here of Mr Slice ‘n‘ Dice's batteries running low. Glasgow: GrosvenOr.
I A Short Film About Killing (l8) (Krzysztof Kieslowski. Poland. 1987) Miroslaw Baka, Krzysztof Globisa. Jan Tesarz. 84 mins. A brutal, intelligent exploration of the mechanics of murder and capital punishment. Kieslowski builds the tension to an unbearable pitch, his
YOUNG GUNS ll
1 i t. A e , . “$1.3ka so. ._ , 1 Young Guns ll (Geoff Murphy, 1990, US) Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Christian Slater, William Petersen, James Coburn, Balthazar Getty. 104 mins. Young Guns ll makes a very foolish mistake by starting in 1950 with a frail old-timer meeting up with a lawyer by the desert roadside and claiming to be Billythe Kid. The ensuing croaky voice-over and flashback structure is continually distracting and only emphasises that this is nothing more than a rambling rehash of history, legend, and the earlier box-office success with little to
, sustain it except Estevez's much
over-used manic laugh and the lumbering prospect of an ambiguous ending.
Billy (Estevez), Doc (Sutherland) and Chavez (Phillips) are the only survivors from the 1988 film: the sequel spends its first 30 minutes getting them back together and then puts them on a tedious long trail down to Mexico with the inevitable Pat Garrett (Petersen, replacing Patrick Wayne) in pursuit.
v Getty is the young impressionable kid
with a head full of dime novel fantasies, who comes along for the ride, while Slater is Dave Budabaugh, the fame-hungry rival for Billy’s
leadership of the gang. The script keeps having Billy talk ponderously about ‘linishing the game’, but whereas Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid functioned as a kind of grand elegy for the closing down of freedom by corrupt big business, Young Guns It never gets beyond the very superficial levei oislow motion shoot-outs to the strains of John Bon Jovi. The slick violence and loud guitars combination worked well in the original Young Guns because that was all about the exhilaration of being swept up by Billy’s mad charisma. But bringing the outlaw to Heaven’s door demands something more. The all too brief presence of James Coburn (Pat Garrett in the Peckinpah film), as rancherJohn Chisum, only serves to reinforce what’s absent: affecting emotion, a bonding between the principals and a persuasive sense of loss. Sam Peckinpah, we miss you! (Tom Tunney)
Glasgow: Cannon, Clarkston Road, Cannon, The Forge, Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon, UCI. Strathclyde: La Scala, Odeon Ayr, Odeon Hamilton, UCI
Clydebank, UCI East Kilbride.
documantarist‘s eye for physical detail focused unblinklingly on mortality. while his humanist's intelligence pleads for the right to life. A masterpiece. Edinburgh: Film Guild.
I Silent Scream ( 18) (David Ilayman. UK. 1990) lain Glen. Anne Kirsten.Tom Watson. John Murtagh. 86 mins. Basedon the writings of Barlinnie Special Unit inmate and convicted murderer. Larry Winters. David Hayman‘s impressive feature debut as director is an audacious and passionate attempt to get inside the head of a very complex individual. With an electric. award-winning performance by Iain Glen at its core. the film‘s formal clan and unfussy emotional poignancy demonstrate that huge financial resources
. are no substitute for a clear conception of
the material at hand and the artistry to know how to best present it. A massive boost for film production in Scotland. Glasgow: GF'I‘. Edinburgh: (‘ameo
: I Someone to Watch Over Me ( 15) ( Ridley Scott. US. 1987) Tom Berenger. Mimi
Rogers. Lorraine Bracco. lilfimins.
Watchable. glossy thriller in which 1 Berenger‘s recentlypromoteddetective falls in love with a trial witness and her seductive lifestyle. Although sluggishiy . paced and ()verlong. the film delivers a few
crisp jolts and is held together by Scott‘s wallow in Manhattan chic and the very creditable central performances.
Tentative proof that a human heart beats
beneath this director's iii-tech glitz.
Strathclyde: UCI East Kilbride/East Kilbride Film Society.
I Spaced Invaders (PG) (Patrick Read Johnson. US. 1990) Douglas Barr. Royal Dano. Ariana Richards. 90 mins. Onthe 50th anniversary of Orson Welles‘ original War Of The Worlds radio broadcast a gang of cuddly aliens land on Earth to begin their quest for world domination from the unlikely base of Big Bean. Illinois. Only the intervention of Sheriff Barr and curmudgeonly farmer Royal Dano can save the planet from Lieutenant Blaznec (a fashionable ‘Jack Nicholson in space‘ it says here) and his pumpkin-headed mob ofextraterrestrials. Edinburgh: UCI. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr.
I Stanley and Iris ( 15) (Martin Ritt. US. 1989) Robert De Niro. Jane Fonda. Swoosie Kurtz. 105 mins. Pat Barker‘s north of England novel Union Street gets transposed across the Atlantic and loses much of its plot in the process to turn into the story of adult literacy tutor Fonda taking fortysomething unfortunate De Niro under her wing. As he learns to read and write. they both discover something new about human relationships. Rather old-fashioned liberal sentiments. every bit as mawkish as the synopsis suggests despite the star's powerful performances. Edinburgh: Filmhousc.
I Star Wars (PG) (Gorge Lucas. US. 1977) Mark Hamill. Carrie Fisher. Harrison Ford. Alec Guinness. 121 mins. A long time ago in a galaxy far away. aand of young heroes fight to rescue a princess and save her planet from destruction. Hugely influential and successful space epic: a modern fairytale with laser swords. Edinburgh: UCI.
I Stop Making Sense (PG) (Jonathan Demme. US. 1984) Talking Heads. 88 mins. Dynamic concert movie with David Byrne and Co‘s arresting live show brought to the screen intact by Jonathan Demme‘s fluid camerawork. Glasgow: Grosvenor.
I Sweetie (15) (Jane Campion. Australia. 1989) Genevieve Lemon. Karen Colston, 'I‘om Lycos. 100 mins. Controversial debut feature from New Zealand born Campion follows the fortunes oftwo sisters. the quiet. nervy Kay(Karen Colston) and the unpredictably psychotic Sweetie (Genevieve Lemon). whose behavioural eccentricities involve eating china ornaments and painting herself blue. as the pair try to resolve their emotional and familial conflicts. Boldly scripted and composed. Campion‘s film brings a dreamlike quality to the everyday. but beneath all the freakish behaviour and self-consciously challenging camerawork. there breathes a very simple tale ofcommon humanity. Edinburgh: Filmhousc. (.‘entral: MacRobert Arts Centre.
I Talk Badio(15) (Oliver Stone. US. 1988) Eric Bogosian. Ellen Greene. Leslie Hope. 110 mins. Fascists and racists. bigots and rapists. but above all the anonymous run riot over the airwaves
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