FILM index
FILM INDEX continued
The Full Monty (15) (Peter Cattaneo. UK. 1997) Robert Carlyle. Torrt Wilkinson. Mark Addy. 92 mins. Carlyle plays Gary. an unemployed Sheffield steelworker who. along with an odd mix of former colleagues. decides to go one better than the Chippendale troupes that fill the local halls. Cattaneo's laugh-out-loud film comes from the same tradition as [Jrasser/ Off. mixing comedy with a strong social conscience and showing unemployment as an entasculating experience. General release. The Gambler(15) (Karoly Makk. UK. 1997) Michael (iambon. Jodhi May. Polly Walker. 97 rttins. Dostoyevsky (Gambon). a man in failing health. is persuaded by his weasely publisher into completing his latest novel within a set deadline in order to have all his gambling debts cancelled. Contrasting these circumstances with a fictional tale set in 19th century Russia. Hungarian director Makk gives insight into the creative process while subtly commenting upon the eternal qualities of love zutd human relations. Stirling: MacRobert. Gandhi (PG) (Richard Attenborough. UK. 1982) Ben Kingsley. Candice Bergen. Edward Fox. Trevor Howard. John Mills. 188 mins. Oscar-laden biopic of the great lndian leader and man of peace chronicles and clarifies the country's birth pains. Although the choice attracted some flak. Kingsley gives an outstanding perfomtance in the title role. and packed out by star cameos the film has the feel of an old- fashioned epic. But a good one. Falkirk: Arts Centre. George Of The Jungle (U) (Sam Weisntan. US. 1997) Brendan Fraser. Leslie Mann. Holland Taylor. 91 mins. Loincloth-clad hero Geroge (Fraser) saves San Fransican socialite Ursual (Mann). but his trip to the urban jungle is shortlived when he hears of the kidnap of his hairy sidekick. Ape (voiced by John Cleese). The plot is the usual blend of humour. action. slapstick. adventure and. of course. romance. while the knowing and
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42 THE LIST 23 Jan-S Feb 1998
punchy script is easily up with the best of modern Disney. General release. The Harder They Fall (15) (Mark Robson. US. 1956) Humphrey Bogart. Rod Steiger. Jan Sterling. 109 mins. A down-on-his-luck sports reporter becomes publicity man for a mafia-linked boxer in this tough expose of the dirty end of the fight game. Bogart‘s still able to convey weary cynicism like no other. even though this was his last film before nis death from cancer. Edinburgh: St Bride's. Henry James Study Day 300 mins. Dents Flannery (Leeds University) and David Goldie (Strathclyde University) head a day exploring the work of Henry James. in writing and on film. The basis for the discussion will be a screening of The Innocents. the 1961 film based on The Tum Of The Screw and starring Deborah Kerr as a Victorian governess convinced that her wards are possessed by the spirits of dead servants. Glasgow: GFT. Hercules (U) (John Musker & Ron Clements. US. 1997) With the voices of Tate Donovan, James Woods. Danny DcVito. 91 ntins. British cartoonist Gerald Scarfe's designs marry his customary grotesquery with Uncle Walt's softer characterisations. Hades (a magnificently splenetic James Woods) wants to exact revenge on Zeus by destroying his son Hercules. but luckily our hero has Pegasus as his steed and Phil the grumpy satyr (Danny Dthto) as his coach. Glasgow: Showcase. UCl Clydebank. Edinburgh: Odeon. UCl. East Kilbride: UCl. Irvine: Magnum. Paisley: Showcase. His Girl Friday (U) (Howard Hawks. US. 1940) cary Grant. Rosalind Russell. Ralph Bellamy. 92 mins. Hawks's dynamic comedy is one of the best Hollywood ever made. Grant and Russell are simply fantastic as the sparring newspaper editor and top reporter drawing battle line sin their professional and personal lives. Hecht artd MacArthur's script front their original play The ant Page. spits out a series of rapid- fine quips and cross-cuting gags. but allows the supporting characters to have thier scene-stealing moments too. Don't miss it. Glasgow: GFT. Falkirk: Arts Centre. Home Alone 3 (PG) (Raja Gosnell. US. 1997) Alex D. Linz. Olek Krupa. Rya Kihlstedt. 95 mins. Instead of Macaulay Culkin. here comes Alex D. Linz (Michelle Pfeiffer's kid in One Fine Day). but this film is not a patch on the un-PC slapstick and reckless stunting of the original. Stuck at home with the chicken pox. Alex discovers a gang of hi-tech international criminals trying to locate a top secret microchip. so he sets up increasingly elaborate and sadistic traps. General release. The Honeymoon Killers (18) (Leonard Kastle. US. 1969) Shirley Stoler. Tony Lo Bianco. Mary Jane Higby. 108 ntins. Surely one of the most unusual entries in the serial killer genre. An overweight nurse and her Latin gigolo bump off a succession of spinsters and widows. Based on a true story and filmed in shady black and white. it is a bleak. but overlooked. oddity. Glasgow: Gilmorehill. I Know What You Did Last Summer (18) (Jim Gillespie. US. 1997) Jennifer Love Hewitt. Sarah Michelle Gellar. Ryan Phillippe. 101 mins. Writer Kevin Williamson broke new horror ground with Scream. but this effort is the sort of stalk ‘tt' slash flick that's lucky not to go straight to video. The story follows four high school friends plagued by a murderer exactly one year after they accidentally ran over a man and ditched the seemingly dead body. Scottish first-time director Jim Gillespie joins the dots and piles on the horror cliches. General release. I Went Down (15) (Paddy Breathnach. Ireland. 1997) Brendan Gleeson. Peter McDonald. Peter Caffey. 108 mins. Recently out of choky. Git falls in with Dublin's finest hoods. but when he is assigned to cowboy-novel consuming crook Bunny. things go downhill quickly and comically. The film’s glories are many. chief among them the interplay of the leads. an eclectic soundtrack and the odd moment of slapstick surrealism. A gem. See preview and review. Glasgow: Odeon Quay. Edinburgh: Cameo. UCI. It's A Wonderful Life (U) (Frank Capra. US. 1946) James Stewart. Donna Reed.
Henry Travers. 129 mins. On its release.
Open doors: Helena Bonham Carter in K
Capra's salute to small town values was overlooked at the Oscars and only scraped by at the box office; 50 years down the line. however. it's as ntuch a part of Christmas as Bing Crosby's crooning. Stewart plays dispairing family man George Bailey. saved at the point of suicide by a caring angel. Sentiment wins the day. bttt tltat doesn't outweigh the film's genuine warrttth and hint of darkness. Irvine: WMR. The Jackal (18) (Michael Carton-Jones. US. 1997) Bruce Willis. Richard (iere. Sidttey Poitier. 128 tttins. Scottish director Caton- Jones gives 70s thriller The 1)a_v ()f'l‘he Jackal a contemporary makeover artd ettds up instead with a meandering wigfest low on thrills and high in tourist information. Willis plays a top hitntan hired by the Russian Mafia to kill someone ltiglt up iii the US Government. but only Gere's loveable lRA terrorist knows what the assassin really looks like. ()vcrlong attd overblown. General release. Keep The Aspidistra Flying (12) (Robert Bierrttan. UK. 1997) Richard 15. Grant. Helena Bonitam Carter. Julian Wadham. 101 ntins. Advertising copywriter Gordon Contstock (Grant) feels stifled by the bourgeois nature of hisjob and impulsively decides to quit and follow his own poetic muse amongst the working class. A cosy. comfortable film that works as a whimsical romantic comedy. although any Orwellian satire on the iniquities of the class system is lost. East Kilbride: Arts Centre. King And Country ( 18) (Joseph Losey. UK. 1964) Tom Courtenay. Dirk Bogarde. 86 mins. Not a million miles away frortt Losey‘s own film The Servant. this WW1 movie also plays the class card. Courtenay is a working-class deserter whose dilemma compromises the liberal officer (Bogarde) assigned to defend hittt at his court martial. A little too un-cinetttatic. Glasgow: (il’l‘. Kissed (l8) (Lynne Stopkewicz. Canada. 1996) Molly Parker. Peter ()uterbridge. Jay Brazeau. 79 mins. A young ttecropltiliac works iii a funeral home where she is able to fulfil her sexual desires. Stopkewicz's brave examination of female sexuality is no perverse ltorror piece bttt a tender attd often poetic film. Likewise. the lead character is not a freak. but a confident woman. strong in her convictions. Challenging irt its morality. perhaps. but romantic at the core. Glasgow: Gl’l‘. LA. Confidential (18) (Curtis Hanson. US. 1997) Kevin Spacey. Guy Pearce. Russell Crowe. Kim Basinger. 135 ntins. Adapted from James Ellroy's neo-noir novel. the best American film of 1997 evokes a glitzy post- WW2 Los Angeles underpinned by an all- pervasive. festering corruption. Art intricate. drop-dead brilliant plot links bent cops. good cops. Hollywood star lookalike prostitutes and the mob. 'lhe dialogue crackles and the actors burn up the screen: one of the few films one would dare mention in the sante breath as the definitive Chinatown. Glasgow: ABC Film Centre. Odeon Quay. Showcase. Stirling: MacRobert. Lawn Dogs (15) (John Duigan. US. 1997) Sam Rockwell. Mischa Barton. Kathleen
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Quinlan. 101 mitts. When ten-year-old Devon (Barton) ignores her parents' advice and heads straight for the nearby woods. she befriends local gardener artd fellow outsider Trent (Rockwell). Adult prejudice taints their friendship itt this contemporary fairytale with attending that is botlt magical arid inspiring. ()tte of the most unexpectedly delightful films of the year. Glasgow: Grosvenor. Leaving Las Vegas (18) (Mike Figgis. US. 1995) Nicolas Cage. Elisabeth Shue. Julian Sands. 110 tttitts. Sacked front his job. Bett (Cage) drives to l.as Vegas with the sole intention of drinking ltitttself to deatlt. but durirtg ltis descent comes across hooker Sera (Sltue). another lost soul. l-‘iggis‘s neon- drenclted tttovie captures the irresponsible euphoria attd mental pairt of alcoholism from a subjective viewpoint. while the astonishing perfortttattces by the leads help it transcend the surface tawdriness and delve deep ittto underlying emotions. Edinburgh: Canteo. A Life Less Ordinary (15) (Danny Boyle. UK. 1997) [Ewan McGregor. Canteron Diaz. lan Holm. 101 tttitts. The follow-up to Trainspotting is sorttething else entirely — an original script that boldly plays with the conventions of the romantic contedy. McGregor is a young Scot who kidnaps his boss‘s daughter when lte gets the sack. only to find his hostage turns the tables attd uses events to get back at her dad. Not everything works. bttt it's brilliantly designed. funny. romantic artd tttore irtvetttive than rttost of Hollywood‘s output combined. Stirling: MacRobert. Lone Star ( 15) (John Sayles. US. 1996) Chris Cooper. lilizabetlt Pena. Kris Kristofferson. 135 rttitts. When a modern- day Texan slteriff investigates a decades-old murder. past clasltes with present and local mythologies ltave to be re-exarttined. Sayles's various sub-plots don't distract front eaclt other: itt fact. they re-ittforce attd counterpoint. building a complex social. historical attd political backdrop to the rivetting tltriller on the surface. Another masterpiece frottt America's greatest independent director. lidittburglt: Film Guild. M (15) (Fritz l.ang. Germany. 1931) Peter Lorre. Otto Wernicke. Gustav Grundgens. An undoubted classic filled with stunning sequences that build to a ltarrowirtg climax. A child murderer (Lorre) evades the police only to be caught and tried by his fellow criminals. Sordid subject matter treated with stunning artistic vision. with Lorre at his most chilling. yet strangely sympathetic. best. Glasgow: GET. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. The Magnificent Ambersons (PG) (Orson Welles. US. 1942) Joseph Cotton. Dolores Costello. Agnes Moorehead. 88 mins. The decline and fall of an American family told when Welles was at the peak of his cinematic power. liven studio tinkering can't lessen its impact. as the director takes an antbivolent view on how American life was changed by the industrial age. Unntissable. Stirling: MacRobert. The Magnificent Seven (PG) (John Sturges. US. 1960) Yul Brynner. Steve