FILM INDEX
L’nimaginative. sentimental tale with an insufferable Hollywood rrtix of group hugs and cute furballs. Strathclyde: Cannort.
I Mortal Komhat (15) (Paul Anderson. US. 1995) Christopher Lambert. Robin Shou. Linden Asltby. 101 mins. Three top Earth wan'iors are selected to battle against alien warriors in order to win the ultimate prize — the freedom of mankind. 1'rr1ike Strm'lfig/rti'r. Mnrrrt/ Kant/mt has a sense of humour aborrt itself. but the dramatic limitations are obvious. Pretty soon. it's caught in a rtrt ofendless. repetitive figltt sequences. There are arcade garrres with better plots. Glasgow: ()deon. Edinburgh: ()deon. Fife: New Picture House. Robin‘s. Strathclyde: WMR.
I Much Ado About Nothing (PG) (Kenneth Branagh. L'K/L'S. 1993) Denzel Washington. Kenneth Branaglr. Emma Thompson. Keanu Reeves. lll rrtirts. A ltrsty. lively version of Shakespeare's comedy of love and deceit. set in the sun-drenched Tuscan hills. Barbed witticisrn fly across the screen as British tltesps artd Arrrerican stars acquit themselves with honours. Erfe: New Picture llotrse.
I The Murderers Are Amongst Us ( IS) (Wolfgang Statrdte. East Germarty. 1946) 86 rrrirrs. The frrst film to be rttade irt arty part of Germany after WWII uses a mixture of dark expressionism artd a direct documentary approach to tell the story of a doctor whose remorse over the War rrrakes it impossible for him to continue working. Wlten he meets a former officer known to have committed atrocities in Poland. the doctor is determined justice should be dorte. Edinburgh: Film Guild. I Natural Born Killers ( 18) (Oliver Stone. US. 1994) Woody llarrelson. Juliette Lewis. Robert Downey Jr. 119 rrrirrs. Stone's visual and aural assault makes for one of the rtrost remarkable cinematic experiences in years; his attempts to rrtarry style with content. and provide a damning expose of the media adulation of serial killers is less successftrl. let down by his traderttark overstatertrent. Violent. nresmerising. hallucinatory and bold in its use of various film formats. .\’13K is a landmark itt MTV-influenced frlntmaking. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I The Neon Bible ( 12) (Terence Davies. UK. 1995) Gerta Rowlarrds. Jacob Tierney. Diana Scarwid. 92 turns. The setting may be different — the US Southern Bible Belt iii the l940s. lifted from the novel by John Kennedy Toole — bill the
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concerns are identical to Davies‘s previous works (Distant Voices: Still Lives, The Long Day C/orm ). A boy‘s memory is forever marked by his violent. absent father. his overly sensitive mother and his flamboyant night-club singer aunt. Strong women. weak men. pain and tiny rnorttents ofjoy: Davies has made the sartte film again. albeit beautifully. particularly on account of Mick C oulter's widescreen photography. Glasgow: GET. Edinburgh: Eilmhouse.
I The Net ( 12) (lrwirt Winkler. l’S. 1995) Sandra Bullock. Jeremy Northam. Dennis Miller. Lonesome software programmer Angela (Bullock) accidently comes across a disk that cart infiltrate any computer system without detection. and soon becortres the victim of a shadowy criminal group who erase her official identity and then try to do the sartte to her corporal one. Predictable dangers for a single white female are given the candy store thrills of the irtternet. Btrt there's a lack of suspense for which even the likeable presence of Bullock can't compensate. Glasgow: ()deon. Edinburgh: Odeon. UCI. Strathclyde: l’Cls.
I Nikita ( 18) (Luc Besson. France. 1990) Anne Parillaud. Tcheky Karyo.Jean-11ughes Anglade. Jeanne Moreau. 114 mins. The latest exercise in stylish tosh from Gallic nruestro Besson. Parillaud stars as a junkie waif resurrected frorn her dreary existence by the enigmatic Karyo. an agent for the government's most secretive undercover organistaion. and pretty soon she‘s a topnotch assassin. But does this make her any more fulfilled? Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Nine Months (12) (Chris Columbus. US. 1995) Ilugh Grant. Julianne Moore. Tom Arnold. 100 mins. Grant plays Sam (of course. lie really plays himself). a child psychologist who hates kids and who goes ape when his wife says she's pregnant. The ever-successful Chris Columbus has come up with a film that's impossible to bare. with flawless script and infectious performances. So it‘s still to early for the Ilrrgh Grant backlash. General release.
I Obsessive Becoming (15) 60 mins. Based in Scotland now. American-born video artist Daniel Reeves presents a programme of his work. which uses photographs. multi-image techniques and historical archive footage to create an impressionistic and fragmented autobiography. Followed by a discussion forum with the filmmaker. Glasgow: GET.
I October (PG) (Sergei Eisenstein. USSR. 1928) Nikandrov. Vladimir Popov. Boris
Livanov. 164 mins. Commissioned to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution. Eisenstein's film is a pulsating expression of the power of montage. with a succession of dazzling images and the elaborate use of visual metaphor marking this out as one of the Soviet cinema's great classics. Even if it is all a bit too rnuclt. Edinburgh: Film Guild.
I One False Move ( 18) (Carl Franklin. US. 1992) Bill Paxton. Cyrtda Williams. Billy Bob Thornton. 106 mins. Tight li'l crime thriller in the Jim Thomson mould begins with a brutal set ofdrtrgs-related slayings. btrt soon becomes a fascinating character study as a trio of crooks head towards a small town in Arkansas and the cops who await them. Excellent performances al' round. particularly Paxton as the over-zealous. but not wholly innocent. Southern sheriff holding his own against the boys frortr LA. With an episode of cult TV series The Pe‘l‘.\'1ltltft’l‘5. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Orphee (15) (Jean Cocteau. France. 1950) Jean Marais. Marie Dea. Maria Casares. 95 rttins. Cocteau creates an unrivalled cinema fantasy irt this stunning modern version of the Orpheus legend. replete with surprising technical tricks and the director's personal brand of poetry. Edinburgh: I-‘ilm Guild.
I Pocahontas (U) (Mike Gabriel/Eric Goldberg. US. 1995) With the voices of Mel Gibson. Irene Bedard. Billy Connolly. 81 mins. The true story of Pocahontas is given a splash of Disney colour. reducing her from heroine to lovesick bimbo as she frills madly in love with white settler Captain John Smith. Tire cliched beauty of the leads. the cutesy animals and talking tree make it a travesy. and even the songs are turteless warbling ballads. Only the artirnation is worth a mention. General release.
I Poltergeist (15) (Tobe Hooper. US. 1982) JoBeth Williams. Craig T Nelson. Beatrice Straight. Dominique Dunne. Oliver Robbins. 114 mins. All American ghost story with the unmistakable stamp of Spielberg. though it's credited to Hooper. Deep within the farttily tele there‘s a restless spirit trying to get out. Superny crafted scarefest with the family trnit trying to withstand the powers of evil. Borders: Pavilion. I II Postino (U) (Michael Radford. Italy. 1995) Massimo Troisi. Philippe Noiret. Maria Grazia Cucinotta. 108 mins. When exiled Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (Noiret) arrives on a remote island off the Neapolitan coast. he aids local postman Mario (Troisi) to woo the village barmaid. Gently paced and ftrll of Mediterranean sun. Radford's film is nicely unserrtimental. Sadly. Troisi died the day after shooting was completed. btrt he couldn't have left a finer legacy. See review. Glasgow: (1171‘. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Pulp Fiction ( 18) (Quentin Tarantino. US. 1994) John Travolta. Samuel Jackson. Uma Thurman. Bruce Willis. 150 mins. Much more ambitious than Reservoir Dogs. the most awaited second feature of the 90s has rrrarty scenes that crackle with Tarantino wit. and a few others that fall flat as the writer-director bravely experiments. Interlocking stories in the pulp crime manner concern hitmen. ailing boxers. gang bosses and their molls. drug fiends. arid assorted riff-raff. A surprise Cannes Palrrte d'Or winner is a trip. all the way. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I The Red Shoes (PG) (Michael Powell & Ertteric Pressburger. UK. 1948) Anton Wallbrook. Marius Goring. Moira Shearer. 133 mins. Ballerina Shearer is torn between an autocratic irnpressario and a starving young composer as she dances her way towards madness. Remarkany serious treatment of the subject rrtatter is helped by superlative design and cinematography in this classic piece of Powell/Pr'essbur'ger expressionism Glasgow: (117T.
I Reservoir 0095(18HQuentrn 'I'ararttino. LS. 1992) Harvey Keitel. Tim Roth. Michael Madsen. 100 mins. A gartg of hoods. known only to each other by colour-coded nicknames. meets at an abandoned warehouse to figure how out their rigorously planned heist went so drastically wrong. The best debut in years from writer-director Tarantino. whose stylish violence seduces the audience into complicity. Brilliant in every sertse of the word. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I The Rightsmfl (15) (Philip Kaufman. US. 1983) Sam Shepard. Scott Glenn. Ed Harris. Dennis Quaid. 193 mins. Tom Wolfe's book about the early days of space flight treats the frrst test pilots-cum-astronauts as modern day cowboys crossing a new frontier. The myriad plot-lines are well dove-tailed and the flying scenes are memorably impressive. but for all the film's expansiveness its abrupt swings of mood somehow militate against the kind of involvement that would have made it a truly great movie (instead ofjtrst a rather good one). Fife: Adam Smith.
I Ritchie Rich (PG) (Donald Petrie. US. 1995) Macaulay Culkin. Jonathan Hyde. John
Larroquette. 95 mins. The world's wealthiest child played by the world's wealthiest child actor — this comic strip turned movie has enough krrockabotrt mayhem to keep the kids happy. Crrlkin is more confident and appealing than in his sortie of his other work. btrt it's llyde's sarcastic butler who brings a better comic touch to the proceedirtgs. Glasgow: MGM Parkhead.
I Rob Roy ( 15) (Michael (‘atorrJones. l'S/l ‘K. 1995) Liam Neeson. Jessica Lange. Tim Roth. 130rrrins. When Ire is betrayed by the Marquis of Monlr'ose (John Hurt) and a rrtalicrously psychopathic Englishman (Roth). Rob Roy MacGregor is determined to win back the honour of his name. Alan Sharp‘s script rs rich. w itty and literate: Caron-Jones's direction injects a little action. but doesrrt pander to llollywmxl: and all the performances are wonderful. A stirring epic which refuses to corrrprorttisc. rttakirrg it one of the best films about Scotland and the Scottish psycltc ever made. Strathclyde: liasl Kilbridc Arts Centre.
I Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (t’(tr (Stephen Sommers. LS. 1994) Jason Scott l.ec. Lena lleadey. Sam .\'cill. 112 mins. Disney 's new live action version of Krplirrg's well-lov ed stories doesn't have the appealing talking animals or songs of the 1%? anrrnated version. btrt it's a great rttatinee-style w heezc -‘ irrtagirte art early 'l‘ar‘zart movie crossed with an lrrdrarta Jones adventtrre. Jungle boy Mowin rrtects up again with the British army regiment for whom his father was a guide. but finds himself forced to reveal to a group of soldier cads the whereabouts of some hidden treasure. Great fun. l‘ife: MGM.
I La Separation (PG) (Christian Vincent. l‘t‘ance. 1994) Daniel Atrtetril. Isabelle lluppert. Jerome Descharrtps. SS mrrrs. A lirench couple can‘t quite cope with the fact that they've grown emotionally apart in this simmering cocktail of jealousy. insecurity. artger and recrirttination. llupper't and Atrtetril create characters that are compellineg real. and the result is a feelbad movie of real qtrality. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Shallow Grave ( 18) (Danny Boyle. L'K. 199-1) Kerry Fox. Ewart McGregor. Christopher Eccleston. 90 mins. Three Edinburgh flatmates find their new co-habitant (lead with a stack of money under his bed. so after performing a little DIY on the corpse. they reckon all their wort res are over. But the cops are closing irt. there are two thugs after the tnorrey. and the psyclrologrcal tension is beginning to show. l’illcd w itlr dark hurttour arid cynical one—liners. this Scottish thriller is bloody and intelligent enough to please the cult audience while remaining accessible enough to be a mainstream hit. Edinburgh: MGM.
I Smiles 01A Summer Night (PU) (lngrttar Bergman. Sweden. 1955) Gunnar Bjornstrand. Eva Dahlbeck. l'na Jacobson. 105 mins. The ex— mistress of a provincial lawyer bumps rrtto lret old flame after a number of years artd invites both hint and his new young wife to her mother's country hortte for a weekend. Elegant corttedy of genteel period manners. which although not of the genre one associates with Bergman is nevertheless handled with a good deal of detached wit and sophistication. It was. of course. the rttodel for Woody Allen's Mir/summer Night's SKI Currier/y. Glasgow: GET. I Spanking The Monkey (18) (David 0. Russell. LS. 1994) Jeremy Davies. Alberta Watson. Benjamin llendr'ickson. 98 mins. Ertrotionally blackrttailed into looking after his bed-ridden mother during college vacation. Ray‘s life begins to tip over the edge as annoying crrcurnstarrces escalate and sexual tension begins to take its roll. The subject matter isn't sensatronalrsed. btrt played out in psychologically realistic terms; the performartces. too. tend not so rttuch to be offbeat as understandably awkward and uncomfortable as they would in real life.
Central: MacRobert. l-‘rfe: Adam Srrrrth.
I Species ( t8) (Roger Donaldson. t'S. t995)
28 The. List 3-lfi Nnv IQQS