FILM INDEX
FILM
Films screening this fortnight are listed below with certificate, credits, brief review and venue details. Full length reviews of new releases can he found in the listings section wicli follows. Filrn index compiled by Alan Morrison.
I Accidental lien (15) (Stephen Frears. US. 1992) Dustin Hoffman. Geena Davis. Andy Garcia. 117 mins. Professional loser Bernie LaPlante (Hoffman) becomes a national hero when his fuzzy image is captured on TV while saving lives (and picking pockets) after a plane crash. But it's fellow bum John Bubber (Garcia) who finds fame. fortune and a guilty conscience. Consistently funny satire on heroism with a stand-out performance by Hoffman. Fife: New Picture House.
I Mn”. Je He Tai Pit-erai (PG) (Teno. Cameroon. 1992) 88 mins. An exploration of a country in political and economic turmoil. told through archive footage and personal recollections. with a particular focus on the role of literature in the anti-colonial struggle. African Film Festival. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Alive (15) (Frank Marshall. US. 1992) Ethan Hawke. Vincent Spano. Josh Hamilton. 126 mins. Based on the true story of a Uraguayan rugby team who survived a plane crash in the Andes by eating the ice-packed corpses of their fellow travellers. After a hair-raising crash sequence. the film loses its way with with too much ‘triumph of the spirit' TV movie stuff. Come back Cannibal Holrxtmst. all is forgiven. Glasgow: Cannon. MGM Parkhead. Edinburgh: UCI. Strathclyde: Kelbume.
I All! of W05) (Sam Raimi. US. 1992) Bruce Campbell. Embeth Davidtz. Marcus Gilbert. 109 mins. First the definitive video nasty. then the definite slapstick horror comedy. now the definitive disappointment. Picking up from where Evil Dead 2: left off. with Ash (Campbell) and chainsaw arm in the Middle Ages. it all runs out of steam as it tries its best to please. Glasgow: MGM Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: MGM. UCI. Strathclyde: Cannon. UCI Clydebank.
I Icing If Ilene Willi Claude (18) (Jean Beaudin. Canada. 1992) Roy Dupuis. Jacques Godin. Jean-Francois Pichette. 85 mins. Virtually a two-hander that pulsates with power. taking it well beyond its theatrical roots. A young gay hustler kills a lover. but hands himself in. and during the subsequent interrogation. reveals the emotional depths of love and desire. A film that refuses to be marginalised as New Queer Cinema. Glasgow: GFT. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Tb Belles of Sf Trinians (PG) (Frank Launder. UK. 1954) Alastair Sim. Joyce Grenfell. George Cole. 91 mins. The original of the girls' school series. with Sim in top pantomime dame form as the headmistress and George Cole as an ‘Arfur Daly' prototype spiv. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Betty Ill (18) (Jean-Jacques Beineix. France. 1986) Jean Hughes Anglade. Beatrice Dalle. 120 mins. Tempestuous love gone mad as an older handyman and a free-spirited woman embark on a passionate. peripatetic fling that ends in tragedy. Filmed with a dazzling technique and an irritating emptiness by the maker of Diva. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Blade Burner: The Director's Cut (15) (Ridley Scott. US. 1982/92) Harrison Ford. Sean Young. Rutger Hauer. 116 mins. Out go the pseudo-noir narration and the tacked-on happy ending: in comes a more defined sense that Deckard himself may be a replicant. The look and feel remain as powerful. and the acting is superb. A flawed masterpiece is now a restored masterpiece. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Blue Black Permanent (PG) (Margaret Tait. Scotland. 1992) Gerda Stevenson. Celia Irnrie. Jack Shepherd. 86 mins. Poetic but painfully obscure portrait of three generations of women. tied over the decades by love and death. As an art movie. 74-year-old Tait's feature debut has some beautiful images. based around water. sea and rain; but its muddled narrative is so distracting that much of the impact is lost. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Blue Velvet (18) (David Lynch. US. 1986) Kyle Macl.achlan. Dennis Ilopper. Isabella Rossellini. 120 mins. In small-town Middle America. would-be boy detective MacLachlan finds a severed car on some waste ground. When the police shoo him away he decides to do some investigating of his own. A singular fusion of the cosy and the terrifying which blends kitsch and nightmare. B-movie detection and brutal sex to deconstruct our complacent vision of normal society. This is filrnmaking of remarkable imagination and skill. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Born Yesterday (PG) (Luis Mandoki. US. 1993) Melanie Griffith. John Goodman. Don Johnson. Sheer indulgence as real life husband and wife team Griffith and Johnson try to find any excuse for on-screen snogging. She's the embarrasing dumb blonde married to a scrap metal man with political ambitions; he‘s the reporter hired to educate her in social graces. Born yesterday. forgotten tomorrow. General release.
I Boxing lielena ( 18) (Jennifer Chambers Lynch. US. 1992) Sherilyn Fenn. Julian Sands. Bill Paxton. 105 mins. An obsessive young surgeon hides the object of his desires in his house and dismembers her in an attempt to win her love. Bizarre subject matter. as you would expect from the daughter of David. suffers from debut jitters and the ever-wooden Sands. but has some interesting things to say about male fantasies and the power in sexual relationships. See feature. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon. All UCIs.
I Braindead (18) (Peter Jackson. New Zealand. 1992) Timothy Balme. Diana Penalver. Elizabeth Moody. 104 mins. You won‘t believe the fun that can be had with a rotary blade lawnmower. a cast of slobbering zombies and several hundred gallons of blood. Peter (Bad Taste) Jackson wrenches the King of Gore title away from Sam Raimi with this outrageous slapstick classic in which our nerdy heroes battles it out with the undead population of Wellington. Tremendous. Glasgow: Grosvenor. Central: Allanpark.
I Bran Stoker's Dracula (18) (Francis Ford Coppola. US. 1992) Gary Oldman. Winona Ryder. Anthony Hopkins. 128 mins. More gothic love story than out-and-out horror. Coppola's version is not the strict Stoker adaptation that many had hoped for. but is a visual feast nonetheless. ()ldrnan taps his own dark. sexy. stormy self to create a powerful but sympathetic monster. while the rest of the cast range from the ineffectual to the overbearing. A rich and substantial vampire movie for our times. Edinburgh: Cameo. Strathclyde: WMR.
I Charlotte's Web (L’) (Charles A. Nichols. LS. 1972) Voices of Debbie Reynolds. Henry Gibson. 85 mins. Animated version of the EB. White classic in which a fannyard spider befriends a shy piglet. Not badly done by the llanna-Barbera studio. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I cum (18) (Renny Harlin. US. 1993) Sylvester Stallone. John Lithgow. Michael Rooker. Stallone returns to top form as a guilt- ridden mountain rescue pro battling it out amongst the peaks in Colorado with a gang of hijackers. Spectacular vistas and stunt sequences ensure a white-knuckle. vertiginous experience from the comfort of your cinema seat. See preview. General release.
I [In Coeur En Illver A Heart In Winter (12) (Claude Sautet. France. 1992) Daniel Auteuil. Emmanuelle Bean. Andre Dussolier. 105 mins. A withdrawn violin maker becomes the object of desire for a young violinist who herself is the amour of the former‘s business partner. An elegantly trenchant chronicle of triangular relationships which moves with such graceful fluidity that it's easy to miss the toughness at its core. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I The Comfort 0f Strangers (18) (Paul Schrader. US. 1990) Rupert Everett. Natasha Richardson. Christopher Walken. Helen Mirren. 105 mins. Ian McEwan's short novel of sexual power games and the perception-warping possibilities of culture shock is inherently hard to film. Schrader and his excellent cast give it their best shot. the Venetian locations and sets are luscious and Harol Pinter's screenplay is surprisingly faithful. Brit the narrative tension and pace on which the novel relies are conspicuously absent. Glasgow: GF'T.
I Cop and a Half (PG) (Henry Winkler. US. 1993) Burt Reynolds. Normal D. Golden 11. Ruby Dee. 97 mins. A kid who's a material witness in an important case demands to live out his TV fantasies before he agrees to co-operate. So give him a badge. cuffs and Reyolds as a partner. Soggy programme filler that. if anything. is worse than the synopsis sounds. General release.
I The Crying Saute (15) (Neil Jordan. UK. 1992) Stephen Rea. Forest Whitaker. Jaye Davidson. 112 mins. A disillusioned IRA terrorist strikes up a friendship with the black British soldier he has kidnapped. and subsequently finds himself in London and in love with the latter’s girlfriend. A bold. unpredictable film that has plenty to say about notions of personal and sexual identity. If only all British movies were as good as this. Glasgow: GI’I‘. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Enchanted April (U) (Mike Newell. UK.
1991 ) Josie Lawrence. Miranda Richardson. Polly Walker. Joan Plowright. Alfred Molina. 95 mins. More repressed middle-class Brits head off to the ‘charming' Italian countryside in order to find themselves. This time it's housewives Richardson and Lawrence teaming up with other dissatisfied compatriots and reassessing past. present and future lives in the comfort of Portofino. As an anagram of the title. ‘Crap Linen Death' really says it all. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Falling Down (18) (Joel Schumacher. US. 1992) Michael Douglas. Robert Duvall. Barbara Hershey. I 12 mins. A sacked defence worker abandons his car in a traffic jam and goes on an escalating rampage across Los Angeles. No mere vigilante movie this. but the zeitgeist movie of the 90s. drinking deep of White Middle-Class America's fears about its future. Actor Douglas and director Schumacher deliver their finest work to date. General release.
I Fire in the Sky (15) (Robert Lieberman. US. 1993) DB. Sweeney. Robert Patrick. Craig Sheffer. 110 mins. In November 1975. Arizona logger Travis Walton was abducted by aliens and disapperared for five days. during which time his co-workers were almost lynched by local townsfolk who suspected them of murder. Close your eyes to the fact that this is ‘based on a true story‘ and you have a decent enough science 'iction adventure. Otherwise. the film's
embellishments of Walton's published account stretch credibility too far. See review. Glasgow: GMGs. Fife: Robins. All UCIs.
I Grease (PG) (Randal Kleiser. US. 1978) John Travolta. Stockard Channing. Olivia Newton John. 110 mins. The long-running broadway show arrives on screen dripping with Fifties' nostalgia. cheery tunes. a high camp value and the winsome charms of the plastic Newton-John and the toothy Travolta. A nice collection of old timers enhance the cast. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Grornrltog Day (PG) (Harold Ramis. US. 1993) Bill Murray. Andie MacDowell. Chris Elliot. TV weatherman Phil Conners (Murray) finds himself in the back of beyond. trapped in an ever-repeating single day. Partying and babe- chasing leads to serious romancing as he goes after his producer (MacDoweIl). Murray's cuddly sarcasm stops the movie from becoming the kind of moralising mush that surrounds so many of his contemporaries. At last. a Hollywood comedy that is really funny. General release.
I Green For liarrger (PG) (Sidney Gilliat. UK. 1946) Alastair Sim. Sally Gray. Trevor Howard. 9| mins. Murder myster with splashes of black humour as two murders in a cottage hospital throw suspicion on the staff. Sim is in fine form out of his St Trinians dresses and into the attire of an eccentrically unsuccessful detective. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I hardware (18) (Richard Stanley. US. 1990) Dylan McDemiott. Stacey Travis. John Lynch. William Hootkins. 95 mins. When Mo (McDennott) takes a broken robot home as a present for his girlfriend Jill (Travis). he little suspects that it will rebuild itself from their electrical appliances and declare war on humanity. Stanley's debut is a massively over- the-top. plagiaristic fantasy of machine versus man. but no less enjoyable or imaginative for it. Mental metal madness. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I fleathers(15) (Michael Lehman. US. 1989) Winona Ryder. Christian Slater. Lisanne Falk. 102 mins. An ultrablack parody of the high school teenflick. Lehman's first feature film manages to combine box office success with artistic merit. This cult hip hit of its year has Slater and Ryder starting a suicide craze to muscle in on the cliquey Heathers running the joint. Tune in. tum on. drop dead. Glasgow: Grosvenor.
I lligll Heels (15) (Pedro Almodovar. Spain. 1991) Victoria Abril. Miguel Bose. Marisa Paredes. 115 mins. More melodramatic frolics from Spain's finest. this time in the shape ofa murderous triangle between a mother. her daughter and the latter's husband. While Alrnodovar isn‘t quite at his best. Abril excels as the TV news presenter who admits on air to her hubby's killing. Glasgow: GI’T.
I lllfll Plains Drifter (18) (Clint Eastwood. US. 1973) Clint Eastwood. Verna Bloom. 102 mins. A mysterious stranger rides into town. and (literally) turns it into Hell. Intriguing stuff from Eastwood the star and director. harnessing the Man With No Name formula to the demands of this enigmatic fable. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I iloffa (15) (Danny DeVito. US. 1992) Jack Nicholson. Danny DeVito. J.T. Walsh. 135 mins. At long last Jack gets a decent leading role that lets him act instead of overact. A biopic of the US Teamster Union boss. it presents the historical facts about his mafia connections without ever really revealing what exactly kept him so faithful to the labour movement. DeVito's direction is at times showy. but there is a genuine attempt to get at the man behind the myth . . . provided you care about who he was in the first place. Central: MacRobert. I Ilene Alone 2: lost in flow York (U) (Chris Columbus. US. 1992) Macaulay Culkin. Joe
Pesci. Daniel Stem. The McCallister family head
From I] am till 11pm, only one thing's f0
Rib and Bib Nigltt, Lite Nite, Birthday'Nigltt, Taste the World.
Where will it all end?
(Finnish Night?)
fil’W’W'W"‘D/\WWVWWVVV‘WW #J
will be buzzing. For lunch or dinner. there's a two-coll than £10. Plus. in the evening...well. it all dep On [\Ionda‘y's you can diet your heair Cholesterol. low calorie buffet. On \Vednet
plays some interesting tunes on internationa
On Fridays, eat as many ribs as youi.
16 The List 18 June-I July 1993