The whole tooth: dinosaur frenzy in The Lost World
LA. Confidential (I8) (Curtis Hanson. US. 1997) Kevin Spacey. Guy Pearce. Russell Crowe. Kim Basinger. I35 mins. Adapted from James Ellroy's neo—noir novel. the best American film of I997 evokes a glitzy post- WW2 Los Angeles underpinned by an all- pervasive. festering corruption. An intricate. drop-dead brilliant plot links bent cops. good cops. Hollywood star lookalike prostitutes and the mob. The dialogue crackles and the actors burn up the screen: one of the few films one would dare mention in the same breath as the definitive Chinatown. General release. Lawn Dogs (I5) (John Duigan. US. I997) Sam Rockwell. Mischa Barton. Kathleen Quinlan. lOl mins. When ten-year-old Devon (Barton) ignores her parents' advice and heads straight for the nearby woods. she befriends local gardener and fellow outsider Trent (Rockwell). Adult prejudice taints their friendship in this contemporary fairytale with an ending that is both magical and inspiring. One of the most unexpectedly delightful films of the year. East Kilbride: Arts Centre. Looking For Richard (I5) (Al Pacino. US. I996) Al pacino. Winona Ryder. Alec Baldwin. ll2 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 to enact some scenes from Richard I] however. his offbeat film goes sadly off the rails and resembles a Higher English lesson. A noble effort that's too self-indulgen to secure a new audience or further enlighten Shakespeare fans. Edinburgh: Film Guild. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (PG) (Steven Spielberg. US. l997) Jeff Goldblum. Julianne Moore. Pete l’ostlethwaite. 129 mins. Goldblum and Co drop onto a second dinosaur-filled island. which is disrupted by a mixed bunch of capitalists and safari hunters. sending the carnavores on a rampage. The story is far better than Jurassic Park. making for a thrilling adventure with impeccible effects that renders the original as good as extinct. Watch out for the certificate though: sustained scenes of terror suggest it should have been a 'l2'. Stirling: MacRobert. Lucie Aubrac ( l 2) (Claude Berri. France. I997) Carole Bouquet. Daniel Auteuil. ll5 mins. Based on the real-life story of a Resistance fighter who rescued her husband from the clutches of the Gestapo. Berri's film is a tale of quiet heroism in a tempestuous time. of love on the edge. It could possibly use a few more dramatic thrills to give it some pace. but as a picture of occupied France where the over-riding emotion among the people was a desire to get their ordinary lives back. Lucie Aubruc is a gentle and touching success. See preview and review. Glasgow: GFT. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. The Madness Of King George (PG) (Nicholas Hytner. UK. I994) Nigel Hawthorne. Helen Mirren. Rupert Everett. “0 mins. Alan Bennett's adaption of his own stage play is a great British film in its own right with no lingering sense of theatricality. Nigel Hawthorne‘s excellent
portrayal of the King. his demented behaviour threatening the stability of the nation. gives the film an emotional core. while the script‘s themes are intelligently handled throughout. Edinburgh: Cameo. The Magnificent Ambersons (PG) (Orson Welles. US. I942) 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. Even studio tinkering can't lessen its impact. as the director takes an ambivolent view on how American life was changed by the industrial age. Unmissable. Glasgow: GFI‘.
Magnificent Obsession (PG) (Douglas Sirk. US. I954) Rock Hudson. Jane Wyman. Barbara Rush. 108 mins. Driven by guilt. Hudson gives up his playboy lifestyle to study medicine and operate on the widow he indirectly blinded. Love also blossoms. although he must assume another identity. Classic melodrama from the master of the genre. See Sirk review. Glasgow: GFI'. Gilmorehill.
Mortal Kombat:: Annihilation ( 12) (John Leonetti. US. l997) Robin Shou. Talisa Soto. Brian 'lhompson. 9I mins. A no- nonsense. no-plot excuse to combine a deafening soundtrack with martial arts set- pieces. the original Moria! Kain/mi was the best of the films inspired by video games. Mind you. that's not saying much.
Expect more of the same from the sequel. at least in the fight department. as our heroes take on another batch of deadly warriors ordered around by the evil Emperor of Outworld. See review. Glasgow: Odeon Quay. UCl Clydebank. Edinburgh: UCI. Irvine: Magnum.
Mrs Brown (PG) (John Madden. UK. l997) Judi Dench. Billy Connolly. Antony Sher. l03 mins. Queen Victoria’s obsessive mourning for Prince Albert is casting gloom over the entire country. so Highland ghillie John Brown is called down from Balmoral to shake up the stuffy English court. Madden's film can't match the comic brio and visual panache of The Madness 0/ K ing George. but his understated direction undeniably suits the story. The performances are uniformly splendid. with Bench and Connolly (both perfectly cast) giving the film a surprising emotional depth. Glasgow: Odeon Quay. UCI Clydebank. Edinburgh: UCI. East Kilbride: UCI. Largs: Barrfield.
My Best Friend's Wedding ( I 2) (PJ. Hogan. US. I997) Julia Roberts. Dermot Mulroney. Cameron Diaz. 105 mins. The director ofAustralian hit Muriel's Wedding takes Julia Roberts out of her usual. wide- eyed role of irritating innocence and re-casts her as a two-faced career girl who tries to scupper the wedding of a former boyfriend whom she suddenly realises she is still very much in love with. A wonderfully scripted film with a fun performances all round. it ultimately affimis the enduring nature of friendship. Kirkcaldy: Adam Smith.
The Near Room (18) (David Hayman. UK. I995) 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. Cumbernauld: Theatre.
Nil By Mouth ( 18) (Gary Oldman. UK. l997) Ray Winstone. Kathy Burke. Charlie Creed-Miles. l39 mins. Oldman's directorial debut is an account of alcoholism and marital abuse which stalks smoky East End pubs. smog-ridden council estates and cheap-rate lives with an itchy amphetamine energy. In a flawless ensemble cast. Burke (whose performance won her the Best Actress award at Cannes) is heroic as the put-upon wife. while Winstone dominates the screen. This is simply one of the best British movies of the 90s — shocking. funny. heartfelt and honest. Stirling: MacRobert. Paws (PG) (Karl Zwicky. Australia/UK. I997) Nathan Cavaleri. Emilie Francois. voice of Billy Connolly. 83 mins. Clever doggie PC is on a mission to deliver a computer disc. but is being tracked down by the unpleasant baddie who killed his master. Befriending computer whizz kid Zac. the mutt links up to a voice simulator and starts talking with the broad twang of Billy Connolly. Some genuinely funny moments allow for a whole range of teenage crises to be dealt with in an uncringeworthy fashion. See review. Edinburgh: ABCs. UCI.
Peggy Sul (l2) 9| mins. Writer Kevin Wong introduces this special screening of a romantic comedy set in the Liverpool of 1962. A nineteen-year-old woman travels from Hong Kong to work in her brother's laundry and sets out to find a man despite her father's attempts to arrange a marriage. Glasgow: GFI‘.
Picture Perfect (l2) (Glen Gordon Caron. US. l997) Jennifer Aniston. Kevin Bacon. Jay Mohr. 101 mins. Advertising exec Kate (Aniston) fancies office hunk Sam (Bacon). but he's only interested in women who are spoken for. She then invents a fictional
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fiancé based on a guy in a Polaroid (Mohr). but things get complicated when he turns up and genuinely falls for her. Aniston plays close to type (ie Friends) but that's perfect for this light-hearted romantic comedy. Glasgow: ABC Film Centre. Odeon Quay. Galashiels: Pavilion.
Prince Valient (PG) (Anthony Hickox. UK. l997) Stephen Moyer. Joanna Lumley. Katherine Heigl. 92 mins. A hokey attempt at the sword and sorcery genre which plays havoc with Arthurian legend. Sir Gawain's squire does battle with the evil Morgan Le Fey (Lumley) for the stolen sword Excalibur and imperilled Lady Ilene (Heigl). Too much awful dialogue and ripe aCting bring laughs but no respect. Edinburgh: Odeon. Regeneration (15) (Gillies Mackinnon. UK/Canada. 1997) Jonathan Pryce. James Wilby. Jonny Lee Miller. II3 minutes. Faithful to Pat Barker's source novel. Mackinnon's film touches on trench life during WW I. but is mostly confined within the walls of Edinburgh's Craiglockhan Hospital. where psychiatrist Dr Rivers (Pryce) nurses the shell~shocked back to mental fitness. It's a sober. mournful work. and most of the fireworks comes from the actors. all of whom excel. Edinburgh: Cameo. Dominion.
Romeo And Juliet (I2) (Baz Luhrmann. Australia/US. I996) Leonardo DiCaprio. Claire Danes. Pete Postlethwaite. I20 mins. The Strictly Bullmnm director‘s treatment of the Shakespeare tragedy is a magnificent riot of colour. action and sexy teen romance. without any need to sacrifice the text. To call it ‘MTV filmmaking' misses the point that the camera tricks and in-jokes don‘t in any way distract from the fact that Luhnnann has completely grasped the issues at the centre of the play. An intoxicating. breathtaking mix of Catholic iconography. high camp and street violence that's both deliciously feverish and studiedly cool. Glasgow: Odeon Quay. Edinburgh: Cameo.
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“cool, clever, insightful, stylish and funny”
time out
in the company of
men18
february 20
23 Jan-5 Feb 1998 TIIE [13135