FILM INDEX
FILM m2.-
Films screening this fortnight are listed below. with certilicate, credits. brief review and venue details. Full-length reviews of selected new releases can be found closeto the appropriate entry. Programme details appear in the Listings section which follows. Film index compiled by Alan Morrison.
I The Addams Family (PG) (Barry Sonnenfeld. US. 1991) Anjelica Huston. RaulJulia. Christopher Lloyd. Dan Hedaya. 100 mins. When long-lost Uncle Fester returns from 25 years in the Bermuda Triangle. it disrupts the idyllic lifestyle ofthe Addams clan. But is this Fester a fortune-grabbing imposter’.’ Big budget movie has all of the macabre sense of fun of the TV series and the original New Yorker cartoons. as well as sets and design that any self-respecting ghoulish household would die for. Literally. Central: MacRobert Arts Centre.
IAIIOI'I (18) (Ridley Scott. US. 1979) Sigourney Weaver. lan Holm. John Hurt. 116 mins. Agatha Christie in outer space as a freighter lands on a mysterious planet and is ingeniously invaded by a ravenous intruder which proceeds to chomp its way through the cast list. Edge-of-the-seat suspense thriller with a strong cast and ghastly special effects. Glasgow: Grosvenor. Edinburgh: UC1.
lAtlens ( 18) (James Cameron. US. 1986) Sigoumey Weaver. Michael Biehn. 137 mins. Revived from a 57-year snooze in deep space. Warrant Officer Weaver is cajoled into joining a marine rescue mission to the planet that is home for the original alien beastie. Unrelentingly paced with a terrifically gutsy performance from Weaver. this nerve-shredding sequel not only matches its predecessor but cannin surpasses it. An Oscar winner for special effects. Glasgow: Grosvcnor. Edinburgh: UC1.
I Basic Instinct ( 18) (Paul Verhoeven. US. 1992) Michael Douglas. Sharon Stone. George Dzundza. Jeanne Tripplehorn. 128 mins. On-the~edge 'Frisco cop Nick Curran (Douglas) becomes embroiled with a successful novelist and
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murder suspect (Stone); she. in turn. treats him to a series of psychological fomications while going along a similar path with his body. Easily the best. ice-pick-sharp thriller for several years. with steamy sex scenes that leave the screen dripping with sweat. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon. All UCls.
I Batman Returns ( 12) (Tim Burton. US. 1992) Michael Keaton. Michelle Pfeiffer. Danny De Vito. Christopher Walken. 127 mins. Unpredictable violence and aberrant psychology parading in the form of popular family entertainment — yes. the Caped Crusader is back.
brooding over the darkest recesses of Gotham City. De Vito‘s deformed penguin. Pfeiffer‘s whip
mistress by night and Walken‘s cadaverous tycoon make it clear director Burton favours the complexity of his villains to his schizo hero. Bigger. better and blacker than the original. General release.
I Summon (U) (Brian Levant. US. 1992) Charles Grodin. Bonnie Hunt. Dean Jones. 87 mins. A small St Bernard pup escapes from an evil vet and attaches itself to the Newton family. Soon it grows to enormous proportions and begins to wreck domestic havoc. Endless visual gags and good timing. particularly from Grodin. enliven what might have been a run-of-the-mill mutt movie. General release.
I Bernadette (PG) (Edean Delannoy. France. 1986) Sydney Penny. 119 mins. Simple ifnot simplistic account of the peasant girl who claimed to have seen a vision at Lourdes. Bernadette is gathering wood in the forest one day when a woman bathed in a heavenly glow appears before her. but when the girl brings her story back to town. scepticism is rife. No doubting where the veteran director's sympathies lie in this old-fashioned narrative. which might appear alarmingly naive and insipid to non-believers. Glasgow: GET.
IThe BIO Blue (15) (Luc Besson. France. 1988) Rosanna Arquette. Jean-Marc Barr. Jean Reno. 120 mins. Barr and Reno. friends since they were children. are divers competing to reach the greatest depths without the aid ofbreathing equipment. and also rivals for the romantic attentions of Ms Arquette. A commercial smash in its native France. Besson‘s film is a stunningly photographed visual experience in varying shades of blue. Even if the plot is a load of tosh. the dolphins are nice. Glasgow: GFT.
I Bill a Ted's Bogus Journey (PG) (Peter Hewitt. US. 1991) Keanu Reeves. Alex Winter. George Carlin.st Ackland. 93 mins. Evil robot versions of that most excellent duo totally kill our heroes. causing them to take on the Grim Reaper at party games. make a quick visit to Heaven and eventually win the day. A triumphant sequel. slightly more coherent than the bodacious original - in Bill and Ted terms. at least. Strathclyde: Magnum.
I Broadway Bound(15) (Paul Bogart. US. 1991) Anne Bancroft. Hume Cronyn. Corey Parker. 110 mins. The last segment of the Neil Simon trilogy which has already brought us Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues. Broadway Bound brings us to 1948. with Simon's alter-ego Eugene and his brother Stan trying to write a comedy sketch for CBS. More dialogue-based than its predecessors. it relies heavily on the playwright‘s turn of phrase and on wonderful performances by Bancroft and Cronyn. Even the name betrays its theatricality. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Bupsy ( 18) (Barry Levinson. US. 1991 ) Warren Beatty. Annette Bening. Harvey Keitel. Ben Kingsley. 135 mins. Levinson‘s version of the life of gangster Ben ‘Bugsy‘ Siegel is a glossy package that's rather empty when unwrapped. Beatty is adequate in the title role. but is outclassed on screen by the feisty Bening as his actress moll. A violent. ifglamourised. twist to the American
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I TM Bolton's Wife (12) (Terry Hughes. US. 1991) Demi Moore. Jeff Daniels. Mary Steenburgen. 104 mins. A lonely lass marriesa New York butcher and starts doling out clairvoyant advice with the pork chops to local lovelom women. Aiming for the gentle tone of a contemporary fairy tale. director Hughes overdoes the whimsicality to a degree that some might enjoy but others find irritating. Glasgow: Grosevenor.
I Cape Fear ( 18) (Martin Scorsese. US. 1991) Robert De Niro. Nick Nolte. Jessica Lange. Juliette Lewis. 127 mins. Scorsese's stunning remake of the 196
original leaves Silence of the Lambs pallid by comparison. De Niro is terrifying as white trash psycho Max Cady. out of prison and stalkingthe family of the lawyer who suppressed evidence to put him away. Disturbing sexual undertones. centring on 15-year-old Danny (Lewis). make this an even more uncomfortable. but unmissable. top-notch scare-fest. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Cinema Paradiso (PG) (Giuseppe Tomatore. Italy/France. 1988) Phillipe Noiret. Jacques Pcrrin. Salvatore Cascio. 123 mins. Told largely in flashback. the winner of the 1990 Oscar for Best Foreign Film traces young Salvatore‘s infatuation with his village cinema. and his growing friendship with its projectionist (played to perfection by Noiret). Essentially. it's Tomatorc's lament for the joyous movie-going experience of his youth and a recognition of the price we pay for our maturity. Strathclyde: UCI East Kilbride.
I The Commitments(15) (Alan Parker. UK. 1991) Robert Arkins. Michael Aherne. Angeline Ball. Maria Doyle. 118 mins. Sod U2 — when would-be manager Jimmy Rabbitte (Arkins) puts together The Commitments. soul comes to Dublin and the band become the force to really put Irish music on the map. Alan Parker delivers a hilarious. down-to-earth. close-to-homc movie. stuffed full of good music and with some relevent social comment to boot. Central: MacRobert.
I Cries and Whispers ( 18) Ingmar Bergman. Sweeden. 1972) Harriet Anderson. lngridThulin. Liv Ullmann. 91 mins. At the turn of the century. a middle-aged spinster lies dying of cancer. Her two sisters. one frigid. one suicidal. come to watch over her. Mounted in the style of Edvard Munch. Bergman‘s bleak and harrowing vision of suffering and Sven Nykvist's Oscar winning photography in various tones of red combine seamlessly to form a quite hypnotic confrontation with mortality. Glasgow: GFT.
I Cyrano De Bergerac (U) (Jean-Paul Rappeneau. France. 1990) Gerard Depardieu. Jacques Weber. Anne Brochet. Vincent Perez. 135 mins. A stirring adaptation of Rostand‘s classic. romantic tragi-comedy. Full of grandly mounted. bustling crowd scenes. it revolves around typically superb performance from Depardieu as the large-nosed hero. Although performed in rhyming verse throughout (with subtitles by Anthony Burgess). and a touch overlong. the film‘s dramatic and cinematic qualities are outstanding. Glasgow: GFT.
I Dead Again (15) (Kenneth Branagh. US. 1991) Kenneth Branagh. Emma Thomson. Andy Garcia. 101 mins. A notable shift away from the Bard for the golden boy of British theatre in his first Hollywood outing. Branagh plays cynical. Los Angeles-based private detective Mike Church. an expert at tracing heirs and missing persons. His latest case involves discovering the identity of a beautiful young woman who has no memory of her own. but relives the nightmares of a murdered woman. Old-fashioned Hitchcockian thriller. carried off with much style. Glasgow: OH”.
I Death Ill WM“ ( 15) (John Ruane. Australia. 1991) Sam Neill. Zoe Carides. John Clarke. 105 mins. Carl. a cook in a sleazy Melbourne dive. gets involved in a crazy mix of sex'n‘drugs‘n‘rock'n‘roll when he falls for a fellow waitress. Falsely suspected of murder and arson. he ends up on the run in what has to be the strangest. blackest . most hilarious oddity to come from Down Under in recent years. Glasgow: GFT.
I Europe (15) (Lars von Trier. Den/Fra/Ger/Swe. 1991 ) Jean-Marc Barr. Barbara Sukowa. 107 mins. A young American visits post-war Germany and fails in love with an enigmatic woman . . . but forget all that. because Europa exists purely for the sake of its visuals. The images are indeed stunning but. given that von Trier freely admits he is ‘a simple masturbator of the silver screen'. thisis simply an exercise in cinematic she “ pretentious and unfulfilling. See preview. Glasgow: GET.
I Fanny and Alexander (PG) (lngrnar Bergman. Sweden. 1982) Gunn Wallgren. Jarl Kulle. Erland Josephson. 189 mins. Many ofthose familiar Bergman themes — religious doubt. a puritanical father. the materialisation of God — are present in this tum-of-the-century family saga. which was 300 minutes long in its original TV format. The harsher semi-autobiographical references are
softened by the fact that it captures some of the childish joy of its young protagonist. particularly in the dazzling Christmas scenes. Glasgow: GFT. I Forked Away (12) (Ron Howard. US. 1992) Tom Cruise. Nicole Kidman. Thomas Gibson. 140 mins. "you‘ve seen the trailer. you‘ll know the story of the plucky duo fighting adversity to gain their place in the American Dream. Oirish accents. suppressed lust. bare knuckle fights. alb looking sumptuous in Panavision Super 70mm wide-screen format. Other than that. it‘s sentimental tosh. as corny as they come. General release. I FemGully: The Last flatntorest (U) (Bill Kroyer. US. 1992) With the voices of Tim Curry. Samantha Mathis. Jonathan Ward. Robin Williams. Christian Slater. 76 mins. 1n asecret forest world touched by magic. a young fairy shrinks a human lumberjack. who then has to help save the rainforest from destruction. Eco-edged animation has a lot to recommend it other than its well-meaning intentions: lush colour. sweeping computer-aided cameras. and a decent set of songs. One for the grown-ups as well as the kids. General release. I FinalAnaiysts ( 15) (Phil Joanou. US. 1992) Richard Gere. Kim Basinger. Uma’lhurman. Eric Roberts. 125 mins. Top psycho-analyst comes into contact with traumatised woman and her attractive sister. Affair follows. her husband dies. psycho-analyst finds himself prime suspect. Hollywood‘s formulaic approach to replicating the Hitchcockian thriller falls flat with a movie that is totally signposted and utterly dumb. Final analysis? It'sa stiff. Strathclyde: Magnum. IThe FleherKlnp (15) (Terry Gilliam. US. 1991) Robin Williams. Jeff Bridges. Amanda Plummer. Mercedes Ruehl. 137 mins. A suicidal former radio DJ (Bridges) and a drop-out former professor of medieval history go in search of the Holy Grail in contemporary New York. The visual splendour of Gilliam's previous movies — Time Bandits and Baron Munchausen — is more restrained here. but the blend of myth. satire and romance is strong. Unfortunately. the wonderful central performances by Williams and Bridges are let down by a cop-out. up-beat ending. Central: MacRobert. I The Gritters(15) (Stephen Frears. US. 1990) Anjelica Huston. John Cusack. Annette Bening. 119 mins. Hugely satisfying noir melodrama. centring on the relationship between three Streetwise ‘grifters' — mob moll Lily (Huston). her estranged son. injured con man Roy (Cusack). and Roy‘s ambitious girl Myra (Bening). When Lily decides to visit Roy in hospital. skeletons start tumbling from closets. and their loose grip on security begins to weaken. Rich. dark and very substantial. Edinburgh: Cameo. lThe iiand That Rocks The Cradle ( 15) (Curtis Hanson. US. 1991) Rebecca De Mornay. Annabella Sciorra. Matt McCoy. 110 mins. Nanny manages to con her way into the home of the family who inadvertantly caused her husband's suicide and her own miscarriage. and soon begins to show psychotic tendencies. Despite implausible plotting. director Hanson cranks up the tension and delivers a slap-bang finale. In other words. beautifully crafted mainstream trash. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: UC1. I Homeworh(18)(laimc Humberto Hermosilla. Mexico. 1990) Maria Rojo. Jose Alonso. 85 mins. A young woman invites her ex-lover to her flat for a romantic evening. but keeps from him the fact that their subsequent romps are being filmed by a hidden camera in order to complete the home movie she is working on as a class project. Shot from a single camera angle. Hermosillo's film cocks a snoot at the more serious examination of sexuality and voyeurism in sex. lies and videotape. Glasgow: GFT. I itooh (PG) (Steven Spielberg. US. 1991) Robin Williams. Dustin Hoffman. Julia Roberts. Bob Hoskins. 135 mins. The combination of Robin Williams. Steven Spielberg and Peter Pan proves to be as successful in practice as it appears in theory. ifthe film is watched in the proper childish frame of mind. The story of a grown-up Peter rediscovering his true identity allows for some fortysomething pondering. but primarily it‘s an excuse for a magical journey around pirate ships. lost islands and colourful fights. Sure. it's formulaic; but Spielberg‘s ingredients are richer and more wonderfully cinematic than anyone else‘s. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr. I In The Realm Of The Senses Ai No Corrida(18) (Nagisa Oshima. Japan. 1976) Tatsuya Fuji. Eiko Matsuda. 105 mins. At last deemed fit for certification. Oshima‘s shockingly erotic film can now be publicly screened. 1n the militaristJapan of 1936. a couple enclose themselves in their own sensual world. their passion escalating until only death can provide the next orgasm. Masterly though necessarily extremely explicit look at the power of sexual arousal. which has attracted controversy throughout the world. Glasgow: GFT. I Jean De Florette (PG) (Claude Berri. France, 1986) Gerard Depardieu. Yves Montand. Daniel Auteuil. 121 mins. Provence. during the 19205.
78 The List 14— 20 August 1992