of Michael Jordan for his team. Lacking the class of Who Framed Roger Rabbit." and the pace of a real basketball game. Space Jam should divert the kids on Saturday mornings. Glasgow: Showcase. lidinburgh: ABC Wester Hailes. Odeon. liast Kilbride: UCl. Irvine: WMR. Motherwell: Moviehouse. Paisley: Showcase.
The Spiral Staircase (PG) (Robert Siodmak. US. l945) Dorothy McGuire. George Brent. lithel Barrymore. 83 mins. Someone has been murdering the town's disabled young women and mute Helen (McGuire) is likely to become the latest victim. This murder mystery element is less important than the sustained gotliic atmosphere and the visual means by which the twists of the killer‘s mind are represented on screen. See review. Edinburgh: l-‘ilmhousc.
Star Wars: Special Edition (U) (George Lucas. US. l977/97) Mark Hamill. Harrison Ford. Carrie Fisher. l26 mins. A screen legend returns. slightly souped-up for the modern audience: sound is suitably thunderous. the minimal extra footage of largely anorak interest. and the additional digital effects rather obviously paitited it). Set against today's blockbusters. it has become something of a period piece. However. for its conceptual imagination. its innocence of spirit and budget-stretching technical resource Lucas’s movie milestone remains just that. Stirling: MacRobert. Swingers (l5) (Doug l.iman. US. I996) Vince Vaughn. John l-‘avreau. Ron Livingston. 96 mins. Wannabe actor Mike and his pal Trent drive to Vegas to play the tables and pick tip some babes. Later. iii LA. the boys hangout with their friends. wandering the trendy bars. Which is just about all there is to Swingers — a heap of talking. the odd limiiuge (Scorsese and Tarantino) and lots of male bonding. A highly watchable. very funny and entertaining piece of low-budget filmmaking. Glasgow: ()deons. lidinburgh; Odeon.
Thinner ( l 8) (Tom Holland. US. 1997) Robert John Burke. Joe Mantegna. ()6 mins.
Another Stephen King (technically ‘Richard Bachman') adaptation to add to the pile. Holland's horror morality talc has fat lawyer Burke shedding the pounds when he comes under a gypsy curse. Lacks imagination. btit the effects are pretty good. l’aisley: Showcase.
Three Colours: Blue ( IS) (Kr/y s/ioi' Kieslowski. lirancc. l')‘)3i Juliette Binoche. Benoit Regent. ('harlotte Very. ll)() iiiiiis. A young woman tries to isolate herself from friends and any notion of affection following the death of her composer husband and child in a car crash. but she cannot escape from the fragments of his unfinished composition. in which she played a major part. An expressive and symbolic film that is also emotionally satisly ing. Edinburgh: liilmhouse.
Touch of Evil ( l 8) (( )t‘soii Welles. l ’5. I958) Orson Welles. (‘harltoii llesioii. Marlene Dietrich. Janet l.eigli. ltln‘ iiiiiis. Welles made a return to Holly wood studio employment after a decade iii the w ilderness with this classic baroque thriller. In a slea/y border town. the murder of a Mexican bigwig causes friction between corrupt local detective Haiik Quinlan (Welles himself) and upright Mexican narcotics agent Vargas (Heston). Amidst a gallery oi \Vellesiati grotesques and expressionist canietaw ork the dialogue between truth and justice becomes progressively more garbled lidinburgh: l-‘iliiihouse.
Toy Story (l’(i) (John l.;isseter. [8. I995) With the voices of Tom Hanks. ‘l‘im Allen. Don Rickles. 8| mins. It isn't just the state- of-the-art images that distinguish l)isiiey 's lirst computer-generated animation feature. it's got a cracking adyciiturc story too A tale of friendship and self-belief eotiibitied w itli ati exciting rescue and against-the-clock tension. 'on Stun is sprinkled w ill) comic asides. lidinburgh: l~iluilioiise
Tromeo And Juliet t lb’) W7 iiiiiis. Shakespeare done by ll‘i‘ltla Studies. the home ofcrap CXplwllitltwl‘. “it"s ies llll titles that promise what the rest or the tiliu can't delty er. This is better though. ii\ll!_t' the class diy ides of the loycrs to get into a subculture
of body -piercing and tattooing [hith splashed iii gore. Some of the acting is over- the-top. but worst of the worst is leminy from Motorheatl reciting the prologue. (ilasgow; (il’l'.
Twin Town ( ls) (Kevin Allen. t'K. I996) Rhy s lfans. l.lyr livans. l)ougray Scott. ()9 units. The quaint ll'ttl‘ l'lii' Ifngine image of Wales is seriously derailed by Allen‘s anarchic comedy. When their father is refused compensation fora work accident. the badly behaved l.ew is twins start an escalation of
\ ioleiice that blows open a drugs deal and leads. ultimately. to mass murder. The darkening plot structure pulls the film away from its farcical early scenes into a brilliant combination of Name comedy. nasty brutality atid poetic justice. Kirkcaldy: Adam Smith. Stirling: \lacRobett.
Unhook The Stars ( l5) (Nick (‘as-savetes. llS/l"i';iiicc. 19%) (icon Row-lands. Marisa 'l'omei. (iei'ai'd l)epardieu. l()~l mins. l-‘ollowing in the footsteps of his famous father :\iiiericati indie godfather John — ('assayetes casts his mother. Gena
Row lands as a Huddle-aged widow who starts to reconsider her ow u life through the changes happening to others around her. Row lands. tiiatcrnal yct isolated. capable yet y uliiei‘ablc. is absolutely wonderful. (ilasgow: (il’l‘.
Vertigo (l’(i) (Alfred Hitchcock. US. 1958) James Stewart. Kim Novak. Barbara Bel (ieddes, llo’ mins. Detective Stewart. a than with a fear of heights. falls in loye with a woman who apparently commits suicide. When he meets her double. he becomes obsessed w tilt the possibility that she is still aliyc. list-.iot‘ditiary plotting iti this uiitleryaltietl Hitchcock study of romantic mania. with Stewart memorably cast against type as the distinctly oii-the-cdge cop. 'lhe Bertiaid llt‘l’t'lllttllll score is siiiitiltaneously lush and disturbing. (ilasgow. (il7l‘. Warriors 0f Virtue il’t‘ii (Ronny in. US. l‘Noi Angus .‘ylacl’ady'en. Mario Yedidia. \larlcy Shelton. ll): lllllls. \Vliisked ofro a parallel world. young Ryan is threatened by L‘\ tl l l‘ltl Kl‘llltttlt) (lint) ('lIt't/I'I.\
.‘yla. l-adyeti) but protected by live ktiiig fti
index FILM
fighting kangaroos. A dodgy script that rips off The Neverending Story. Power Rangers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is lifted by an entertaining combination of great production design. Hong Kong martial arts skills and decent Hollywood special effects. See preview. General release.
Watership Down (U) (Martin Rosen. UK. 1978) With the voices of John Hurt. Richard Briers. Ralph Richardson. Roy Kinnear. 92 mins. Richard Adam's best-seller is transformed into this pretty animation adventure that lacks most of the tension and unique vieWpoint of the book. When their warren is threatened by man. a group of rabbits decide to find a new home many miles away._Glasgow: Gl’l‘.
When We Were Kings (U) (Leon Gast. US/Africa. I996) Muhammad Ali. George l-‘orman. Norman Mailer. 84 mins. An Oscar-winner in the Best Documentary category. this splendid account of the historic ‘Rumble in the Jungle' boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George l-‘orman gets beyond the punches thrown in the ring to convey the sense of black pride being born. Amazingly dramatic. Edinburgh: Cameo. Kirkcaldy: Adatn Smith.
The Wicker Man (18) (Robin Hardy. UK. I973) lidward Woodward. Britt Ekland. Diane Cilento. lngn’d Pitt. Christopher Lee. 102 mins. A devoutly celibate policeman (Woodward) arrives at a remote Scottish island to investigate a schoolgirl disappearance and becomes involved in local pagan rituals. A classic. with some extremely scary and erotic moments. With the 'l‘artan Short Initiation. Glasgow: GFT. Wild Target (15) (Pierre Salvadori. France. 1993) Jean Rochefort. Marie Trintignant. Guillaume Depardieu. 88 mins. A professional killer is spotted by a delivery boy as he carries out a hit. but instead of adding another body to the pile. he takes on the youngster as an apprentice. Fumblings. accidental corpses. some supposedly bad taste comedy. and self-parody ensue. At least Guillaume Depardieu. as the hitman‘s pupil. manages to look sexier than his old man ever was. Glasgow: GFT.
arm's»
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SCREEN
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10-2411
01- H ' :
:Retros active : Ed ar G Ulmer Kin of the B’s
“Ulmer made - dashed off — more cheap movies than anyone this side of Roger Corman; he is the prince of under noir”
The Amazing Transparent Man
Babes in Bagdad
Beyond the Time Barrier
The Black Cat Bluebeard
The Daughter of Dr Jekyll
Detour Girls In Chains Hannibal
The Man From Planet X Murder is My Beat The Singing Blacksmith
Strange Illusion The Strange Woman
The “life of Monte Cristo
- Barry Gifford, scriptwriter, David Lynch’s The Lost Highway
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25 Jul—7 Aug 1997 TIIEUST45