FILM INDEX
- FILM .1131-
Films screening this tortnight are listed below. with certificate. credits. brief review and venue details. Full-length reviews of selected new releases can be tound close to the appropriate entry. Programme details appear in the Listings section which tollows. 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 of the 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. Glasgow: GFT.
I The Adjuster ( 18) (Atom Egoyan. Canada. 1991) Elias Koteas. Arsinee Khanjian. Maury Chaykin. 102 mins. A disparate array of plot elements - an insurance adjuster. film censors. a kinky couple - combines with off-kilter Twin Peaks-15h humour and some bizarre visuals in Atom (Speaking Parts) Egoyan‘s most approachable movie to date. ‘A film about believable people doing believable things in an unbelievable way‘ is how he describes it. Wierd and. in its own way. wonderful. Fife: Adam Smith.
I The Adventures Of Milo And 0118 (U) (Masanori Hata. Japan. 1990) A cat. a dog. a bear.several chickens and the voice of Dudley Moore. 80mins. After early adventures on the farm . puppy Otis and kitten Milo get caught up in the adventure of their lives when the mischievous cat is accidently washed downstream. Cuter-than-cute school hols fodder. proving that even baby animals have their say in the buddy movie genre. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Allen (18) (Ridley Scott. US. 1979) Sigoumey Weaver. Ian 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. Strathclyde: UCI Clydebank. UCI East Kilbride.
IAllens (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. Strathclyde: UCI Clydebank. UCI East Kilbride.
I Alien 3 (18) (David Fincher. US. 1992) Sigoumey Weaver. Charles Dutton. Charles Dance. 114 mins. Forget the backlash and the woeful tales of production difficulties — pop promo wunderkind Fincher makes a brave attempt to bring something new to the series by placing a shaven-headed Ripley plus monster companion on a prison planet filled with religious nutcases. Okay. it‘s not Ridley Scott‘s classic sci-fi horror or James Cameron‘s Rambo In Space. but it is very dark. very atmospheric and very nearly worth the wait. General release.
I Les Amants dtt Pont-tieut(18) (Leos Carax. France. 1991) Juliette Binoche. Denis Lavant. 127 mins. An artist with a degenerative eye disease meets a fire-eating down-and-out. and they fall in love against the backdrop of Paris‘s Pont-Neuf. A stunningly visual movie. the most expensive ever to come out of France. See feature. Glasgow: GFT. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Apocalypse liowl (18) (Francis Coppola. US. 1980) Martin Sheen. Marlon Brando. Robert Duvall. Dennis HOpper. 153 mins. Vietnam as The Ultimate Trip. We follow US Army assassin Sheen downriver and deeper into the Hearrof Darkness ruled over by Brando's mad Colonel Kurtz. Altemately pretentious and visually overpowering (the Valkyries helicopter attack. for example). its grandiloquent folly somehow pierces right to the bone of the conflict. Fife: Adam Smith. IArchlplelago (18) (Pablo Perelman. Chile. 1992) Hector Noguerra. Ximena Rodrigue. Alicia Fuentes. 85 mins. On the run from the police. a political dissident loses consciousness and begins what is in effect a road journey of the imagination. between life and death. A powerful combination of myth and recent history. Glasgow: OH". I Bendldos (15) (Luis Estrada. Mexico. 1991) Pedro Armendariz. Jorge Russek. Daniel Gimenez. 95 mins. In 1913. a group ofdelinquent kids embark on a series of adventures in the desert while outwltting the law. A reckless rites of passage movie that leaves the Hollywood gloss of Young Guns well behind. Glasgow: GFT. 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 murder suspect (Stone); she. in turn. treats him to a series of psychological fornications 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. Edinburgh: ()deon. UCI. 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 (‘aped Crusader is back. brooding over the darkest recesses ofGotham 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. Fife: Glenrothes. I Beethoven (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 pmportions 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 Black Rain ( 18) (Ridley Scott. US. 1989) Michael Douglas. Andy Garcia. Ken Takakura. 125 mins. Not so much the land of the Rising Sun as the land of Shiny Surfaces as adman extraordinaire returns to a set not unlike Blade Runner. However. some promising ideas are shunted to the sidelines by Douglas‘s sour and rather uninspiring heroics as the New York cop sent to Osaka to counter a Counterfeiting ring. The whole perhaps confirms Scott as a master decorator hired to tart up a very obvious formula. Strathclyde: Paisley Arts Centre. I The Blues Brothers ( 15) (John Landis. US. 1980) John Belushi. Dan Aykroyd. Carrie Fisher. 130 mins. Bloated. overlong anarchic Chicago comedy with the two stars on a mission from God to salvage the imperilled fortunes ofan orphanage. Lots of guest stars. musical numbers
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and automotive destruction in a typical product of over-emphatic contemporary American humour. Edinburgh: Cameo. I The Body (18) (Jose Antonio Garcia. Brazil. 1992) Antonio Fagundes. Marieta Severo. Claudia Gimenez. 85 mins. A middle-aged man is happily involved in a menage-a-trois until he begins an affair with a cabaret singer. and his two lovers conspire together to bring him to justice. An amusing swipe at Latin machismo with more than a hint of Almodovar campness. Glasgow: GF’T. I Boy Meets Gltl ( l8) (Leos Carax . France. 1984) Denis Lavant. Mireille Perrier. Carroll Brooks. 104 mins. Moody and surreal love story. in which the focus wanders like its main characters through an ill lit demi-monde of Paris by night. filled with incidental characters and unsettling images. Patience may be demanded. but is rewarded with a poetically charged meditation on the failure of human communication. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Catch 22 ( 18) (Mike Nichols. US. 1970) Allan Arkin. Art Garfunkel. Orson Welles. Martin Balsam. 121 mins. Expensive screen version of Joseph Heller‘s million-selling masterpiece has Arkin as a fine Yossarian attempting to get out of the Airforce as WWII explodes around him. but coming up against the idiosyncracies ofmilitary bureaucracy. The events are all here. and for some that may be enough. but someone along the line should have realised that the novel‘s dazzling wit is primarily a verbal one. Strathclyde: Paisley Arts Centre. I Christopher Columbus: The Discovery ( PG) (John Glen. US. 1992) George Corraface. Marlon Brando. Tom Selleck. Plenty of period detail and a convincing performance from newcomer Corraface doesn‘t quite save the first of this year‘s Columbus epics. Part swashbuckler. part portrait of a man obsessed. it contains some of the worst examples of screen acting (Rachel Ward's Oueen Isabella has to be seen to be disbelieved) witnessed in recent years. One to look back on and reassess when the hype dies down. General release. I Cinema Paradiso (PG) (Giuseppe Tornatore. Italy/France. 1988) Phillipe Noiret . Jacques Perrin. Salvatore Cascio. 123 mins. Told largely it flashback. the winner of the 1990 Oscar for Best Foreign Film traces young Salvatore‘s infatuation with his village cinema. and his growing friendshij with its projectionist (played to perfection by Noiret). Essentially. it's Tornatore's lament for the joyous movie-going experience of his youth and a recognition of the price we pay for our maturity. Edinburgh: UCI. I City of the Blind (18) (Alberto Cortes. Mexico. 1991)Gabricl Roel. Juan Ibarra. Carmen Salinas. 87 mins. A single apartment in Mexico City isthe setting for a series of vignettes about its inhabitants from the 1940s until the present day. A stylish and idiosyncratic portrait of a society constantly undergoing change. Glasgow: GFT. IThe 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 musicon the map. Alan Parker delivers a hilarious. down-to-earth. close-to-home movie. stuffed full of good music and with some relevent social comment to boot. Edinburgh: Cameo. I The Cook. The Thlet. lils Wile And Her Lover(18) (Peter Greenaway. UK. 1989) Michael Gambon. Helen Mirren. Alan Howard. Richard Bohringer Tim Roth. 120 mins. A superb film which nonetheless contains something to offend everybody. Beautifully photographed. directed. written. acted and art-directed (with lavish costumes by Jean Paul Gaultier). its subject matter is at once bizarre. repulsive. romantic and compelling. Centring on Greenaway'sobsessions with food. decay and infidelity. it's an unforgettably stylish tale of forbidden love and brutal revenge. Glasgow: GF'I‘. I The Cutting Edge (PG) (Paul Michael Glaser. US. 1992) DB. Sweeney. Moire Kelly. Roy Dotrice. 95 mins. ‘A love story set on ice with the dishy D. B. Sweeney as the injured ice hockey player who finds himself figure skating with an ice bitch partner.‘ Honest. that‘s what the press release says. Duff. but enjoyably duff. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge. Strathclyde: Cannon. All UCls. I Delicatessen (15) (Jean-PierreJeunet/Marc Caro. France. 1991) Dominique Pinon. Marie-Laure Dougnac. Jean-Claude Dreyfus. 99 mins. In a sepia wasteland somewhere in the future. a butcher feeds his neighbours with the juicy joints ofhis lodgers. But when former clown Louison (Pinon) arrives and falls for his daughter. an underground vegetarian resistance group comt to the rescue. Hilarious blend ofbizarre characters. slapstick and comic tension makes for the first true cult item of the Glasgow: GFI‘. Edinburgh: Cameo. I The Discreet Charm oi the Bourgeoisie ( 15) (Luis Bunuel. France. 1972) Fernando Rey. Delphine Seyrig. Stephane Audran. 105 mins. A groupof
friends find their dinner gathering interrupted by a series of bizarre. mostly dreamt-up events. Not as savage a satire as Bunuel‘s earlier work . but he is certainly more assured as he fires at hisconstant targets— the church. the state and the army. Glasgow: GFI‘. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Do The BightThlng(18) (Spike Lee. US. 1989) Spike Lee. Danny Aiello. Ossie Davis.John Turturro. 119 mins. New York‘s deprived Bedford-Stuyvesant district on the hottest day of the summer. and racial tension escalates between Italian-American Sal (Aiello). his two sons and the mainly black local community who make up the bulk of his customers. A forceful exploration of the socio-economic and cultural causes behind white racism. Lee‘s film also operates as a tightly controlled multi-character drama. Edinburgh: Cameo. I Double Impact( 18) (Sheldon Lettich. US. 1991) Jean-Claude Van Damme. Geoffrey Lewis. Alan Scarfe. Alonna Shaw. 108 mins. ()ur favourite kick boxer is back. this time as identical twins— one nice. one nasty -— who team up after having been separated for 25 years in order to beat the living crap out of the killer of their parents. Highlight is a tightly edited sequence when Jean-Claude the First takes on Jean-Claude the Second. but even then it only amounts toa predictable whole interrupted by choreographed violence. Strathclyde: UCI East Kilbride. I Dream oi the Abyss ( 18) (()scar Lucien. Venezuela. 1992) Erich Wildpret. Frank Spano. Sonya Smith. 98 mins. Two young men struggle to win national interest in their project toclimb Mount Everest. Lucien builds a portrait ofa country eaten up by its own cynicism. where those who desire more than is expected of them are frequently repressed. Glasgow: GFI‘. I Drugstore Cowboy( 18) (Gus Van Sant Jr. . US. 1989) Matt Dillon. Kelly Lynch. James Remar. William S. Burroughs. 100 mins. A gang ofdope fiends. headed by our Matt. blithely rip off a series of drugstores in Gus Van Sant‘s recreation of 1971 Oregon. Complete with its halucinatory visions of flying cows. the film created a stir stateside for presenting the theft and use of narcotics as an alluring pastime. It marks a new and more creditable milestone in Hollywood drug movies. Strathclyde: UCI East Kilbride. I Edward Scissorhands (PG) (Tim Burton. US. 1991 ) Johnny Depp. Winona Ryder. Dianne Wiest. Vincent Price. 105 mins. Burton follows up the excesses of Batman with this fairy tale forthe 90s. which works as a welcome return to the darker side of the genre. Depp is the unfinished creation ofThe Inventor (Price). who lives alone in a crumbling mansion. unable to even scratch his nose without needing stitches. Discoverd by a friendly Avon lady. his talent for coiffure and topiary makes him a neighbourhood favourite until tragedy strikes. Beautifully shot. tenderly acted and full of hidden depths. Glasgow: GFT. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Element of Crime ( 15) (Lars von Trier. Denmark. 1984) Michael Elphick. Esmond Knight. Me Me Lai. 1(1-1mins. Enigmatic. self-reflexive meditation on obsession from Denmark. shot in English in a strangelytinted black and yellow. In a vaguely futuristic. crumbling SOCICI)‘. Elphick plays a policeman who is drawn deeper and deeper into a mysterious underworld in pursuit of a criminal called Harry Gray. until he makes a startling discovery. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Excess Baggage ( 15) (Gabriel Retes. Mexico. 1991 ) Gabriel Retes. Hector Bonilla. Lourdes Elizarraras. 114 mins. During a student demonstration. a young photo-journalist is beaten and left in a coma by a police special unit.Twenty years later he awakens to find a world and a family he does not recognise. A more politicised slant on ground covered by Hollywood in A wakenr'ngs and Regarding Henry. Glasgow: GET. I The Exorcist (18) (William Friedkin. US. 1973) Linda Blair. Ellen Burstyn. Max Von Sydow. 110 mins. Earnest priest Von Sydow steps in to save poor little possessed girl in this hugely effective scarefest. Dead good. dead scarey. dead priest. Edinburgh: Cameo. UCI. I Exorcist 2: The Heretic ( 18) (John Boorman. US. 1977) Richard Burton. Louise Fletcher. Linda Blair. 110 mins. The horror film that once turned heads receives an unworthy sequel in this silly mumbo-jumbo about priest Burton trying to understand the demons still lurking within the hapless Ms Blair. Edinburgh: Cameo. I For And Away ( 12) (Ron Howard. US.1992) Tom Cruise. Nicole Kidman. Thomas Gibson. 140 mins. If 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. all looking sumptuous in Panavision Super 70mm wide-screen format. Other than that. it's sentimental tosh. as corny as they come. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Strathclyde: Kelburne. All UCls. I FemGully: The Last Balntorest (U) (Bill Kroyer. US. 1992) With the voices of Tim Curry. Samantha Mathis. Jonathan Ward. Robin
16 The List 11— 24 September 1992