Intimate Relations (IS) (Philip Goodhew. UK. I997) Julie Walters. Rupert Graves. Laura Sadler. 99 mins. With an appropriate choice of title fora tale about sidestepping the offensive. this black comedy charts the dangers of keeping up appearances. Middle- aged Walters's strict adherence to family values begins to falter when she takes in the handsome Graves. Stealing the screen. Walters is perfect as a manipulative woman who unwittingly whips up a domestic cocktail of repressed emotions. Claustrophobic and dark. but laced with a humorous frill. Glasgow: UCI Clydebank. Edinburgh: UCl.
It Takes Two (PG) (Andy Tennant. US. 1997) Kirstie Alley. Steve Guttenberg. 100 mins. The potentially cloying combination of romantic comedy and orphaned kids are strongly to the fore as case worker Diane (Kirstie Alley) and millionaire widower Roger (Steve Guttenberg) are matchmade by identical girls. ()n paper. it all sounds very manufactured. with two stars who aren't exactly in the premiere league. Glenrothes. James And The Giant Peach (U) (Henry Selick. US. 1996) Paul Terry. Susan Sarandon. Simon Callow. 79 mins. From the director of Tim Burton Is The Nightmare Balm-c Christmas comes a wonderfully colourful adaptation of Roald Dahl's much- loved novel. Live action tops and tails the story. but for the most part. it‘s fun times with stop-motion puppets. By turns funny and scary. it stays true to Dahl's surreal and whimsical vision. Edinburgh: l"'i1ntli()tise. Jerry Maguire (15) (Cameron Crowe. US. l996)'1'om Cruise. Cuba Gooding Jr. Renee Vellweger. 138 mins. Cruise is perfect as sports agent Maguire. who suddenly finds himself out of a job when he writes a Mission Statement calling for his colleagues to rediscover the sincerity of their business. With only one client on his books (Gooding) and the loyal Dorothy (Yellweger) for affection and support. he soldiers on. Crowe’s picture of an America crippled by a lack of genuine intimacy gives the film a maturity that's rarely seen in feelgood star vehicles. Stirling: MacRobert.
Johns (18) (Seott Silver. US. 1996) David Arquette. Lukas Haas. Elliot Gotild. 96 mins. Male prostitute John (Arquette) wakes to find his money stolen. then attempts to hustle the money he needs with the help of his friend Donner (Haas). Johns- owes a certain amount to Mir/night Coir/my and My Own Private Ir/a/m. but has neither the relentlessness of the former nor the lyricism of the latter. Nevertheless the leads imbue the film with moments of real poignancy. Edinburgh: l-‘ilmhouse.
Jude ( 18) (Michael Winterbottom. UK. 1996) Christopher liccleston. Kate Winslet. Rachel Griffiths. 120 mins. Based on Thomas Hardy's tincompromisingly bitter final novel. this tremendously powerful adaptation shares the novel‘s romantic tragedy between its two central characters. Determined and honest Jude (liccleston) is snubbed by Victorian society as he strives fora university education. but worse is in store when he falls in love with his cousin (Winslet). Hard-hitting acting. a director and writer who truly understand Hardy's themes. and stunning photography elevate this to classic status. Stirling: MacRobert.
Jungle 2 Jungle (PG) (John I’asquin. US. I997) Tim Allen. Sam Huntingdon. Martin Short. 105 mins. 'lliis Hollywood remake of French comedy Un Indian Dans La Ville tells of a workaholic businessman unexpectedly reunited with his thirteen- year-old son — who has been living amongst tribesmen in the Amazon jungle. Bttt this is no Emerald Forest; instead the mood is CIOser to (.‘I'm'm/ilt' [Jam/('4' as the eyes of an innocent adjust to the urban jungle. General release.
Kama Sutra (18) (Mira Nair. India/UK. I997) Indira Varma. Sarita Choudhury. Naveen Andrews 1 14 mins. Kama Sutra does have some intensely erotic moments. btit it’s by no means a position-by-position dramatisation of the infamous ancient text; rather it shows love in all its contrasting litres as I61h century servant girl Maya tantalises the powerful king Raj Singh. A richly atmospheric film — full of sensuality. vibrant colours. traditional music and alluring dances — that encourages female empowerment. See review. Glasgow: (il’l‘.
Odeon Quay. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. Kansas City (15) (Robert Altman. US. 1996) Jennifer Jason Leigh. Miranda Richardson. Harry Belafonte. “8 mins. What he did for country music in Nashville. Altman doesn‘t quite do forjazz in Kansas City. although the musical elements of this nostalgicjourney to the director's childhood are its strongest. What lets the film down are the overplayed performances by Leigh and Richardson as. respectively. kidnapper and politician‘s wife in the dramatic plot that lies over a richly atmospheric portrait of the city of swing in the l930s. Glasgow: GFl‘
Lady And The Tramp (U) (Hamilton Luske. US. 1955) With the voices of Peggy Lee and Bill Thompson. 75 mins. Disney‘s first animated feature in cinemascope has mongrel Tramp helping pedigree pooch Lady out of a sticky situation and falling in lurve along the way. Richly drawn with hummable tunes and endearing characterisations. this is the classic Disney mix as before. Lover spaghetti-eating sequence. General release.
Liar Liar ( I 2) (Tom Shadyac. US. 1997) Jim Carrey. Jennifer Tilly. Amanda Donohoe. 87 mins. After the bewilderineg ill-focused Cable Guy. Jim Carrey delivers a likeable. effective. but decidedly mainstream comedy with a set-up that's blissfully simple — a birthday wish by Carrey‘s son means lawyer dad must stop telling lies for a single day. A very workable springboard for Jim Carrey's usual repertoire of pIay-doh facial tics and energetic slapstick. General release. Looking For Richard (15) (Al Pacino. US. I996) Al Pacino. Winona Ryder. Alec Baldwin. 112 mins. Pacino investigates his passion for Shakespeare by scurrying around New York. interviewing ordinary people and famous thespians about the Bard‘s appeal. When he gets together his chums to chew over the text and enact some scenes from Richard III however. his offbeat film goes sadly off the rails and resembles a Higher English lesson. A noble effort that‘s too self-indulgent to secure an new audience or further enlighten Shakespeare fans. Glasgow: GET.
love jones ( l 5) ('lheodore Witcher. US. 1996) Larenz Tate. Nia Long. Isaiah Washington. 109 mins. Darius (Tate) is immediately smitten with struggling photographer Nina (Long) when he meets her in a bar that specialises in performance poetry. When a relationship begins. however. he masks his true feelings with a pretence of distance and smoothness. A witty and perceptive account of human relations. that makes fora sweetly entertaining film. See review. Glasgow: Showcase.
Mars Attacks! (13) (Tim Burton. US. 1996) Jack Nicholson. Glenn Close. Annette Bening. 105 mins. Take some 50s alien invasion films. add the star bodycount of 70s disaster movies. round it off with the ' weird imagination of'lim Burton. and you have this expensive sci-ft spoof. The [51‘s literally are little green men. wrecking havoc on Earth while disparate bunches of humans fight back. Good gags. great design and eye-popping computer animation. but it doesn‘t really connect as a complete film. Kirkcaldy: Adam Smith.
Marvin's Room (I2) (Jerry Yaks. US. I996) Leonardo DiCaprio. Meryl Streep. Diane Keaton. Robert De Niro. 98 mitts. Bessie (Keaton) and lee (Streep) are reunited for the first time in twenty years when the former is diagnosed with leukemia. but the rift between them is healed when she forms a relationship with her sister‘s disturbed son (DiCaprio). The tragedy here does not make you feel manipulated. but genuiner sad. due to the subtlety of the characters and the effectiveness with which they are portrayed. Glasgow: Gl’l‘. Edinburgh: Cameo.
Mean Streets ( 18) (Martin Scorsese. US. 1973) Harvey Keitel. Robert de Niro. David l’roval. I 10mins. Tony's Bar is the base for four young Italian-Americans. whose increasingly illegal activities lead to tragedy. Vividly observed character study which combines breathtaking technique with a pervasive sense of corruption. Keitel and de Niro give of their very best. Glasgow: (irosvenor.
Merci La Vie (I8) (Bertrand Blier. France. 1990) Charlotte Gainsbourg. Anouk Grinberg. Gerard Depardieu. Michel Blanc.
I I7 mins. Two French teenagers embark on a road journey that takes them back to the Occupation as well as across the country. Blier‘s ferocious wit takes on big themes like AIDS and the Holocaust. creating an effective but self-conscious blend of buffoonery and sobriety. Edinburgh: Cameo. The Near Room (l8) (David Hayman. UK. 1995) Adrian Dunbar. David O‘Hara. Julie Graham. 89 mins. Enter a vision of Glasgow where Mr Happy never smiles better and washed-up newspaper hack Charlie (Dunbar) realises that the young girl he is searching for in a sewer of corruption and child pornography is his own long-lost daughter. Robert Murphy's screenplay throws a tight net over the characters. creating a world where the past hunts everyone down with a relentless. merciless inevitability. The film's unstoppable descent into the dark underbelly of life makes The Near Roam the Scottish equivalent of Seven. With Peter Mullan's magnificent short. Fridge. Glasgow: GF'I‘.
One Fine Day (PG) (Michael Hoffman. US. 1996) Michelle Pfeiffer. George Clooney. Charles Durning. 109 mins. An ambitious architect/single mother and a wisecracking newspaper columnist/every-other-weekend father spend a hectic day together when their kids miss their school's field trip ferry cruise. Despite modern trappings like cellular phones. One Fine Day is a defiantly old-fashioned film. but Clooney’s cocky charm and Pfeiffer's comic skills are so beguiling that it will charm all but the most cynical of viewers. See preview and review. General release.
101 Dalmatians (U) (Stephen Herek. US. I996) Glenn Close. Joely Richardson. Jeff Daniels. 103 mins. Disney turns one of its favourite animated films into a live action pantomime with spodges of Hume Alone buffoonery. making sure there are plenty of dogs to make the kids go ‘aaahhh'. The story remains pretty much untouched — vile villainess Cruella De Vil (Close) kidnaps enough spotty pups to make a stunning coat. but the animal world gets the better of her — but so does the old-fashioned morality. which stresses the sanctity of marriage and
index FM
Killer instinct: John Malkovich in Con Air
that a woman's place is by her man‘s side. Glasgow: GET.
The People vs Larry Flynt (18) (Milos Forman. US. 1996) Woody Hanelson. Courtney Love. Edward Norton. 130 mins. Following the rise of pornography publisher Larry Flynt from humble beginnings through court cases and an assassination attempt. The People vs Larry F I'vnt is about a lot more than politics. That's not to dismiss the film's central argument — that the right of free speech is absolute — but it is Courtney Love as Flynt'sjunkie wife Althea that you won‘t be able to take your eyes off. Edinburgh: Cameo. East Kilbride: Arts Centre. Stirling: MacRobert.
Continued over page
A “GENA ROWLANDS is MCNIFICEN’W
A Film by NICK CASSA) ETES
FROM FRI 4 JULY
EDINBURGH FILMHOUSE FROM FRI 18 JULY GLASGOW FILM THEATRE
27 Jun-10 Jul 1997 THE LIST 29