BACARDI BLACK REVIEW FILM
_ run when he learns of his iather’s _ desperate attempts to secure the "00K Fm" small legacy he has been left by his THE DARK HALF
, Bad and mother. :mzugzgmfige?zgiorm Taking flight with runaway slave Jim,
lluckleberry Finn - like all classics - ""c" at "'3‘ resolves to turn him in is one oi those stories that can stand but cannot lllllte manage it, and being to“ and “Hold without losing together they encounter a series oi an, of its mi. and iwm_ adventures as they head down river
mi." this version scores heavily is beiore a suspenseiul and exciting in being a iaithiul adaptation oi the “I'm”-
book. its “my casting, which it may well be ior kids, but this Huck
includes our liobbie Coltrane as a Fm" '3 knowing enough 10 Please
,iysriioai simian and mum, audiences oi all ages, and in an age oi
periorrnances irom the leads also give Windlass “minder games and not)
the iilm an immediate appeal to "do" cum"? “new” as 3 mm 0' me : What is it with movie
audiences young and old. gepth and sum,“ onloymem' (“war l versions of Stephen King Eliiah Wood, surely the most mu) * novels? A lot of great
versatile and gifted oi the current "Wk Fin" (PG) (Stephen Sonnets. US, crop oi child actors, is a convincing 1992) Ema" “00‘. Courtney 3- Vance. Huck: ,mmceiui’ at times Robbie Coltrane, Jason liobards, lion conscience stricken, a product oi his Peflman- ‘03 mlfls- From May 27-
wild environment - forced to go on the
directors have tried their hands — Kubrick. De Palma. Hooper — but with only a couple of
. exceptions (Reiner‘s
Misery and Cronenberg‘s The Dead Zone). none has
Byrne’s insouciant Irishman and builds '
I l _ . . _ . _ really delivered anything ; I to a climax in which simmering _ a,- good as (he hmks i‘ _ passions iinally boil over into themselves. Hopes will be :7" A violence. raised by the glut of There’s an earnest ieel ior the cellulmd King about to : Alter Paris Trout and Waterland, here’s dilemmas and disappointments oi me | descend upon us - The i 5 WWW" Vague” ambitious: Vague” everyday here, but the script and the Shawr'mnk.Rcdcmnuon wk d I nsaiisfacmr Needful Things. Dolores a war i V39"? V II V ‘ star seem overly determined to take Claiborne W] ,1 us Ci ,h[_ V, V. i oiiering irom director Cyllenhaal. It i the c|ichéd line (hat mad people hour “fingerith "in: I. " otters so Sh?“ a cemm' to"? to Debra ! aren’t many mental at a", they i“St Stand — but nothing could . _ I Winger that It "8V9? Stops WIN a 5 see through to the ultimate truths oi excite the fan more than ' Showcase long enough to become a" ! our lives in a way that the rest oi us the thought of King. the
aiiecting drama. ller Martha is an don't, All this is classic middiebmw man who redefined the
emotional "list". a woman WI"! mental , ieelgood terrain irom intelligent - "ii’dcmhi’m’r "OWL _
problems and terrible dress sense who i people who might have resisted such glnbnnag his whims With
- r t in ‘he rest o - COTgC omero. i it} man
_ namely i an easy om'on' 0" yes’ and Winger m - who redefined the modern
her big-iramed glasses looks a lot like horror film may [hm
alcobonc Sister Frances (“95"”). i a dowdier version oi Dustin lloiiman’s was [he igc Cumics- who’s involved with a married Tootsie, a resemblance that tends to inspired Creepshow more POPUIatiOD; local Slimeba" “830 stymie the film’s gestures towards : than a decade ago. but (Strathairn, in good, greasy iorrn), With pmbing psychomgical insight. (flavor I surely if anyone can whom Martha is continually tussling, Johnston) i capture the essence of . V and new arrival Mackey, an itinerant A Dangerous Woman (15) (Stephen King at {cailer-lcnglh. It 8 handyman/smouldering Celtic love-god Gyllenhaal, US, 1993) Debra Winger, Q :39 Eugfwg‘fl’lri’figm "8 played by a distinctly unconvincing Barbara Hershey, Gabriel Byrne, Chloe D‘cid‘ “ “‘ “"4 Dyrne. Against a backdrop oi Martha’s Webb, David Strathairn. 110 mins. Dcicmnncd i0 kin Off irustration with her life, the scenario From Fri 27. Glasgow: CFT. Edinburgh: ; George swig, the pen- iS COMPlicated by an mic“ fling With Filmhouse. name who has brought
him fame and fortune
t. _ h .5 i 1 ‘ through violent
bestsellers. author Thad
Beaumont goes through
, the charade ofburying his
f alter-ego in the local
graveyard for the benefit of a tacky tabloid. George.
5 however. doesn’t like
1 -; being consigned to
literary limbo. and soon
the physical manifestation
of this malevolent
; pseudonym starts stalking
the Beaumont household.
: Genre fans should lap
up the excessive nature of
the special effects and
~ share the fun Timothy
7 Hutton seems to be having
THE NAKED GUN 33 ‘A
Subtitled ‘The Final Insult’, this can only be reierring to our intelligence. Actually, it’s not as bad as that. Fresh oii the iorce, but with marriage to Jane (Priscilla Presley) going through a sticky patch, Frank Drebin (Leslie liielsen) is persuaded to go undercover and get pally with a bomber who’s ready to blow the Academy Awards sky-high. Meanwhile the parodies, inspired sight gags and lame one-liners also come out oi retirement ior one last bow.
The whole shebang has descended in his dual roles. Those into a sort oi 903 American version oi with less forgiving the Old Carry On risque routine, imaginations, however,
complete with an endless line oi needless double-takes to underline every gag. Amusing, but side-splitting no more, it should take note oi its sequel number and remember that vinyl, too, eventually became obsolete. (AM)
will have problems accepting the literalness of this twist on the Jekyll and Hyde scenario. Go with the flow of the narrative. and you'll probably find yourself
. g _ 1'4 a _\ enjoying one of the better llaked Gun 33 ‘I‘ (12) (Peter 3093', us. “ W in i ii ‘ ‘ “J” ' mainstream horror movies 1994) Leslie lllelsen, Priscilla Presley, The Naked our 33 ‘A 'oos American version at the old Carry Drrs ‘0 have made it [0 local Fred Ward. 87 mins. From Fri 20: cinemas for quite some acne,” nm_ time. (Alan Morrison)
.S‘/)()II.S‘()I‘(’(] by BACARDI BLACK
The List 20 May—2 June 1994 21