FILM REVIEW BACARDI BLACK

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Already infamous as the film during which martial arts star Bruce Lee’s son Brandon was shot and killed with a detective stunt gun, The Crow is lent a creepy sub-text by this prior knowledge. In the film, which was ; virtually completed when Lee was shot, he plays a guitar-playing ‘mime from Hell’ who comes back from the . . . _ dead to wreak revenge on the low-life After halluc1nat1ng Christ in Abel gang members who raped and , , a t t , , . _ murdered his girlfriend before

Ferrara s Bad Lieutenant, Harvey throwing him through an uppersmey Keitel s on screen With Madonna in window.

the same director’s Dangerous Adam“ "W" Jamf’s "W’s °°,'"'°

. . . , book, the script by splatterpunk

Game. The LISI religiously rev1ews novelist David J, Sci.“ and this and all the other films opening ‘cibe'l’unk' “"“eihh'i Shil'ei is "‘9 ' . i . . most consistent attempt yet to re- But like most films derived from 1“ SCOUde Over the “em tormléht- create on film the distinctive feel and comic DOORS. this suffersfrcm the

look of a graphic novel. Often taking problem of poorly developed

‘The most consistent

attempt yet to recreate on film the distinctive

I Serial Mom (18lTuking in Wall-town Anterica' the point of view of a gliding crow l characters, episodic plotting and a feel and (oak of a lOVC l0 SC?llill‘l0, \N'rllcr‘dll‘CClQr a a i i gnprecedsentetd.extremes. Michael Elev lileatps cliche between the worlds of the dead and i Whatever its deficiencies in the :

CVCF y [HP in upon C it: C Will llS . . . , Chara teri (Kathleen Turner) feature debut. Childhood the livmg, director Alex Proyas s l c sa on department, though, I

'protects‘ her teenage kids beatings from an alcoholic camera glides 0"" the mom)” 0' a i this s.ucc.eeds bmlianuy in creating an by killing offjilting father. simple folk tuning Stylised lulu": (my balore swooping ' 'magmat've’ cons'smntly V'sua'ised

boyfriends and into soaps and radio down to the garbage~strewn streets i Gothic “than fantasy iMorld- (Nigel i unsympathetic teachers. phone-ins. insanity hidden and seedy rooms of a run-down inner Floyd) while unleashing her own behind heavy black- city slum. Ironically, the need to plug The Crow (18) (Alex Proyas, US, 1994) SCH-<9 of 0U" 1190 in Win?“ 8135595 ‘1'?“ =1 gaps left by Lee’s premature death - Brandon Lee, Ernie Hudson, Michael ’Tc‘ghbour‘ “I'l‘” “mid pti‘fsff’l‘l“;infrg‘f‘gft: by building background stories Wincott. 101 mins. From Fri 10. fpfifti‘”t 321?:c‘glifc‘xgrani’,‘in involving young street waif Hochelle i Glasgow: Odeon, MGM Parkhead. recycmg. ahéng:hclgc(t): surprisc*O-r intcrést. Davis and black copfirnie Hudson - \ Edinburgh: Odeon, UCI. Strathclyde: caught. however. She wmic (Robert flesh out the plot quite well. Odeon Ayr, trots. discovers that crime does Pastorelli). the abused boy indeed pay at least in of the opening sequence. | I 90s America where has grown up to run a _ - " ' h lucrative TV and small painting and

ublishin deals are the decoratin firm in rewards ogf notoriety. WiSCOllSligl. One member

JohnWaIm'S comedy of his man“ WCSIL‘Y (Will Vincent Eastman (Richard item) is a

melodrama is a sick, slick Patton), has the hots for

I successful architect who is torn

and brilliantl funn . He Willie's wife Mar aret . . . .

dwells on moymentsyof (Bebe Neuwirth, lg.ilith l bemeen smy'ng mm h_'s ""9 (Shawn cruelty and horrorjast from Cheers). but in the Stone) and mama" 0' '15 daughlerr 0" long enough for the scene course of dipping his starting atrBSh With his lover Olivia

to slip into slapstick. brush in another man's (Lolita Davidovlch). Both women are ensuring that individual gloss. discovers that bright, talented and beautiful; his wife

elements are exaggerated Willie's gifts 0f whisky ; provides security whilst his lover beyond offensiVCHCSS~ T0 “"d "CW Clothes for the I supplies the spark of passion which

Cl. I , _ _ .. ; _ _ . . . Say 36 ""1 MW" 1‘ “‘0” “W” d"“ n ““d 0”“ I has been missmg from hIS life. What is

a reachable than [he have a more sinister .

diiictor's early work is PUFPOSC- poor Vince to d0?

fairly obvious: sum “.8 Perhaps such a movie Unfortunately, arter about half an tamer than PM. amid be saved by a hour you really couldn’t care less if [qunzinxusv but Tut‘an is lunl front a 3th to bring more Of a maker. There are moments i shaving accident. The trouble With range to the role than of bizarre comedy intersection is that it is difficult to waters‘s previous screen conversations in the local feel at a" sympametic for any 0' the dim, DW'D‘C' {Ind ‘1 mains barb? “‘9” l“? . main characters: it could be a real [more comm buc than showdown \kllLl‘L paint- ‘ear-iemer d b t anything else winging its pots take the place of m t t yo." gave 8 am" a 0" way across the Atlantic. weapons but Taav rarely a u "re happmess 0' any at them'

. gim US pointers as [0 Hone of the three people in the love whether the pervading triangle is nasty enough to be

mood should be one of interesting - Vince is so weak that tension or humour. The evolution forgot to give him a spine, perior‘mnccs‘ “one 9f whilst his two love interests allow $33338; themselves to be trampled into the . and it becomes clear that firmgofofi'3mem with scarcely a Taav doesn‘t reall have '

much respect for tile Thankfully, fate resolves all the working-class community problems in the final reel, which is he’s immersing himself in. prohamy just as well since Vince

.Mfybhc “if?” Ca“ “me which side or bed to get out of, never any all?“ cmthIels":‘he: the” “trawl: ho a "’8' in o't e necessary mind who he should some do“ with. won e a we eye in e ouse. tear-[e or you gave wavelength, but . (Jonathan Trew) a damn about the othwlse. like (his Why this film got a cinema release ' t M I . paint... "can ( I 5, vim,“ you.“ be hm, and didn’t go straight onto video might intersection (15) (Mark Rydell, us, " “'9 "PM"? 0! Where John Waters pressed to remember remain one of life’s greater mysteries. 1994) Richard Gare, Sharon Stone, any °"‘ managed to breathe fresh being so bored for so The potential for a good weepie l3 Lolita oavidovlch. 99 mins. From Fri 3. life into the ‘serial killer long. (Alan Morrison) there but if you can’t empafliise with Genera ram.

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25 The List 3—!6 June I994