LISTINGS TELEVISION
Alan Morrison rounds up the latest vns releases hitting the shelves round about now.
Rental
I light on Earth (15) More than snapshots of five taxi rides in five cities on the same night. Jim Jarmusch’s latest digs into the characters and the fleeting yet intimate nature of the cabbie/passenger relationship. A fascinating study. well acted and subtly photographed. (Electric)
I Dlist lievil (18) Richard Stanley‘s follow-up to Hardware tells of a shape- shifting serial killer who stalks the damned in the Namibian desert. As before. superb photography emerges victorious over dodgy script and bad acting. Contains about ten minutes more than the cut that showed at last year‘s Edinburgh lntemational Film Festival. (Polygram) I Single White Female (18) The List classified ads will never be the same again as Jennifer Jason Leigh shares an apartment. and then the lifestyle. of Bridget Fonda. (Columbia Tristar)
I Rapid Fire (18) The suspicious death by shooting of star Brandon (son of Bruce) Lee on his latest movie set might bring a little more interest to this standard action fare. (Fox)
I Sister Act (PG) Whoopi Goldberg is this nun on the run. a cabaret singer in hiding who turns an infernal convent choir into a heavenly gospel delight. (Buena Vista)
I Tous les Matlns Du Monde (15) Depardieu pére er [its star as younger and older versions of 17th century French court composer Marin Marais.
1 life of a proper Charlie
from David Mamet’s ‘ script and the movie
: (Fox) IAngel oi Fury(l8)
E I Almost Pregnant f (Columbia Tristar) : I The Great Diamond
An evocative study of the relationship between musician and music. with a delightful soundtrack. I (Electric) 3 I Chaplin (15) The kind
of biopic that would have I stumped critics if the l word ‘flawed' hadn‘t already been invented. Robert Downey J nr‘s award-winning performance makes this sanitised trawl through the
very watchable indeed. (Guild)
I olengarry Glen Ross (15) Take the ‘F’ word
would be half as long. Dishonour and intrigue in a real estate office. with one of the best ensemble acting performances ever put on celluloid. Or video- tape. for that matter. (20:20 Vision
I Buornerang (15) Eddie Murphy tries to pass off some outrageously sexist nonsense as acceptable comedy. (ClC)
I Juice (15) Ernest Dickerson, Spike Lee cameraman turned director. delivers a strong indictment of inner-city hopelessness and urban violence. Worth catching for the soundtrack alone.
(20:20 Vision)
I A Message From lioliy (PG) (Odyssey)
I Dirty Tricks (15) (Warner)
Robbery (15) (20:20 Vision)
I Citizen Conn (15) (Warner)
Sell-through
I Swiss Family Robinson I 20,000 leagues Ilnder the Sea
I 01d Yeller
I Robin Road
I Treasure island
I Kidnapped (U) Six titles released under the Walt Disney Adventure Classic banner. for those looking for wholesome thrills and spills of the non-animated variety (Buena Vista £10.99)
I The Rand That Rocks The Cradle (15) Psycho- nanny Rebecca de Momay infiltrates the home and affections of the family who indirectly caused the death of her husband. Cinema hit and video rental smash. it’ll probably complete the hat-trick here. even though the audience know the final twists and turns backwards. (Buena Vista £10.99)
I Shining Through (15) Knock off halfof a six- pack before viewing, and this ridiculous tale of Melanie Griffiths as a wartime spy becomes watchable for its crap dialogue alone. (Fox
£10.99)
a ’1'
I little Man Tate ( Jodie Foster makes a strong directorial debut. also starring as the single mother of a poor but incredibly gifted kid. Academic hothouse versus maternal instinct. (Columbia Tristar £10.99) I For The Boys (15) Fox Video does the double of misguided war movies this month. as James Caan and Bette Midler strike up their bickering song ’n’ dance act for three decades of US boys in battle. (Fox £10.99)
I The Legend oi lochnagar (U) Prince Charles (let’s see his Equity card. then) makes his acting debut in this animated version of his story for children. (Polygram £9.99)
I Vampire iiunter 0 (15) Better than average animated tale with a decent storyline. a fair amount of violence, and the usual cast of characters with unfeasibly large eyes. (Manga £12.99)
I Full Metal Jacket ( 18) The best and most neglected of the 808 spate of Vietnam movies (even if it was filmed in London), Stanley Kubrick shows the dehumanising effect of war on a young recruit as he undergoes training and combat. (Warner £10.99)
I The Burden at Front (15) Not quite up to the standard of Presumed Innocent. this US TV mini-series version of Scott Turow‘s other best- seller has similar ingredients — death. family strife and courtroom drama. (Odyssey £10.99)
I llrga (PG) (Curzon £15.99)
I Best oi the Blues Brothers (15) (Video Collection £12.99)
I The Whereabouts oi Jenny (PG) (Odyssey £10.99)
I She Said lo (15)
(Odyssey £10.99)
I Always Remember I love You (U) (Odyssey £10.99)
I Easy Rider (18) Widescreen (Columbia Tristar £10.99)
I The Freshman (PG)
(Columbia Tristar £7.99) I Renegades ( 18) (Columbia Tristar £7.99) I Karate Kid III (PG) (Columbia Tristar £7.99)
PG),.
TELEVISION
A selection oi television highlights,
listed by day, in chronological order. Television listings compiled by Tom lamin-
FRIDAY 7
I NC (Scottish) 7—7.30pm. Second instalment in this, the 17th series of the arts and entertainment guide. Tonight. music from Kirkcaldy wunderkinder Darlingheart.
I The Real McCoy (BBC2) 9-9.30pm. New run for ‘the seriously funny black comedy series‘. Sprinter Linford 'meat ’n' two veg' Christie is the first special guest. I Cheers (Channel 4) 9.30—10pm. The fiercely loyal men of Cheers risk it all with a wager that could result in their singing in a rival bar. Naked.
I Roseanne (Channel 4) 10—10.30pm. First of a two-parter in which our eponymous heroine discovers the ‘shocking secrets' of teenage romance. via her daughter’s relationship with her boyfriend.
I Olive Anderson Talks Back (Channel 4) 1030—1 1. 10pm. Entrenching his dug-deep Friday night Channel 4 slot. the barracking banister moves straight from marshalling various wits and half-wits on Whose Line. . . to. . . more of the same. Where other such shows fumble along after the PR gravy train (‘Yes Terry. 1 do have a new Sega game based on my memoirs in the sh0ps next week. Can 1 bore the viewers’ pants off now?’). Anderson’s is chat without the chit. talk without the tack. mainly because he doesn‘t let his guests get a word in edgeways. Seventh series. seventh heaven. if that’s not too hyperbolic.
I Movie Nightmares: Maximum overdrive (Channel 4) l 1.10pm-lam. After so many balls-ups of his novels. Stephen King took the bull by the horns. writing, directing and giving an AC/DC soundtrack to this .so-called ‘shocker' from 1986. There’s a comet passing by. there’s strange electromagnetic waves a-pulsing. there’s malevolent machines on the loose. Suffice it to say that mechanical objects come to life and there’s a gang of killer trucks on the loose. Aieeee. Death by DAF(tness). I later With Jools Holland (BBC2) 11.20pm—midnight. The second series of this successfully friil-free live music show. Keeping up the chirpin eclectic tenor set by last autumn's debut, Holland tonight features the inspirationally gospel Sounds Of Blackness, country dude Vince Gill and the debut UK television performance from those smacked-out metal muthas from Seattle, Alice In Chains.
SATURDAY 8
I Tales Of Rock ’N’ Roll: liighivay 61 Revisited (BBC2) 8.30—9.30pm. Dylan’s classic dissected. in the process offering an insight into the aspirational psyche of America of which the highway is the jugular. ‘lf you wanted to go to the Bright Lights and the Big City.’ says the editor of Dylan’s hometown’s paper. ‘you had to go down Highway 61.’
I Cinema Cinemal: Time 0i Miracles (Channel 4) 10.30pm—12.25am. With strangely morbid timing. this is the first time on British telly for a Yugoslav film (pre-intemecine carnage) centred on the conflict between communism and religion in a small Balkan village in 1945. Serbo- Croat with English subtitles.
I The Driver (BBCl) ll.40pm—l.l0am. Ryan O’Neal is the best getaway man there is; Bruce Dem is the tough cop out to get him. Wham-bang. gritty tension from director Walter Hill.
SUNDAY 9
I Cat Ballou (BBC 1) 3—4.30pm. Jane Fonda is feisty and Lee Marvin has a tin nose. Great comedy western with Marvin playing two parts and winning an Oscar for his trouble.
I liamesslng Peacocks (Scottish)
9—1 1pm. New. light. romantic drama. following on from the lush adaptation of another Mary Wesley novel. The Camomile Lawn. See preview.
I Robin Williams Acting Funny: Seize The liay (Channel 4) 9—10.50pm. Based on Saul Bellow‘s novel. Williams plays a Willy Loman-type figure undergoing a mega mid-life crisis. One of his more. er. minor movies.
I Comedians (BBC2) 10.30pm—12.05am. The Richard Eyre season continues with this 1979 play following six aspiring funnymen on the tangled path to comedic greatness. Jonathan Pryce stars.
I Red Empire (Channel 4) 10.50—11.55pm. The monumental history of the Soviet Union this week looks at Stalin‘s Great Terror of the 1950s. Mass purges resulted in as many as 20 million deaths and the deportation and exile of whole peoples - sowing deadly seeds. the offshoous of which are still laying waste to Europe and the former Soviet republics today.
I ilidden Assets: Outward Bound (BBCl) 11.10—11.40pm. Adult Leamers' Week kicks off with this documentary examining methods of empowering and liberating housewives and women in the workplace.
MONDAY 10
I Peak Practice (Scottish) 8.30—10pm. Kevin Whately escapes Morse to star as a doctor newly returned from Africa to the Peak D'strict in this new drama.
I iiaked Sport Home 0i The Brave (Channel 4) 9—10pm. A look at America’s national sport, baseball, driven by money and ego-led problems.
I Tender Mercies (BBC2) 9-10.30pm. Hollywood directing debut by Bruce Driving Miss Daisy Beresford has Oscar- winning performance from Robert Duvall as a destitute country singer trying to rebuild his life.
I Panorama: Pack 0i lies (BBC2) 9.30-10. 15pm. An investigation into the reaction of tobacco companies to the growing anti-smoking health lobby: the suppression of research results which laid bare the link between smoking and disease and the abandonment of ‘safer’ cigarettes.
I Northern Exposure (Channel 4)
10—1 1pm. Japanese tourists. having exhausted all the tartan ‘n' tack shops in Edinburgh, turn up in Cicely.
The List 7—20 May 1993 79