really captures the struggle for stage glory that goes on at the High School of Performing Arts. Buzzing energy from musicians. dancers and comedians. with interspersed drama and straight-to-camera philosophising. 'Iliis one might live forever. Glasgow: (il’l‘.
Flubber (U) (Les Mayt‘ictd. US. 1997) Robin Williams. Marcia (iay Harden. Christopher McDonald. 93 mins. 'Ihis remake of l9ol Disney favourite 'I'lie Aliser Mim/m/ Professor casts a subdued Williams as a scientist who invents a gravity defying goo. btit may well lose his fiancee in the process. Combining many of the worst. most annoying attributes of films designed to have 'family appeal'. I-‘lub/u'r inerer flops when it should fly. General release.
Free Willy 3: The Rescue (U) (Sam Pillsbury. US. I997) Jason James Richter. August Schellenberg. Annie Corley. 86 mins. Boy and killer whale team up again to drive home an environmental message for the 9()s ss hen Willy the orca and family are threatened by the hunters on a whaling boat. Better than its bland predecessor, Free Willy .i’ develops the usual formula. and benefits from moulding the character of the main antagonist as an old-style hunter rather than the corporate villains of previous instalments. lidinburgh: City Centre ABC. ()deon. lialkirk: ABC. Motherwell: Moviehous‘e.
The Full Monty ( l5) (Peter Cattaneo. UK. I997) Robert Carlyle. Tom Wilkinson. Mark Addy. 92 mins. Carlyle plays (iary. 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 Iaugh-out~loud film comes from the same tradition as Iirrlsst'r/ (m. mixing comedy with a strong social conscience and showing unemployment as an emasculating experience. General release.
George Of The Jungle (U) (Sam Weisman. US. I997) Brendan l‘raser. Leslie Mann. Holland 'l'aonr. 9I mins. I.oincloth-clad hero (ieroge (liraser) saves San l‘r‘ansican socialite UrsuaI (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 punchy script is easily up with the best of modern Disney. General release.
G.l. Jane (IS) (Ridley Scott. US. 1997) Demi Moore. Viggo Mortensen. Anne Bancroft. I25 mins. Tough. smart Jordan O'Neil (Moore) becomes the first woman to be accepted for training by the US military’s elite commando unit. the Navy SliALs. but her arrival at camp is met with barely concealed hostility. Scott's overwrought movie purports to show that women have as much right as men to be dehumanised by the military and turned into killing machines. What it doesn't question is why anyone — male or female — should want to do so. Motherwell: Moviehouse.
Good Burger (PG) (Brian Robbins. US. I997) KeI Mitchell. Kenan 'I‘hompson. Sinbad. 95 mins. A spin-off from US cable channel Nickelodeon's daytime series All That. this kids comedy is likely to fail through unfamiliarity. Two blokes working in a burger joint fight off the advances of the fast-food chain across the road with their new sauce recipe. 'lhe next Big Night? I don‘t think so. General release.
La Habanerad’G) (Deltef Sierck. Germany. 1937) Yarah Leander. Karl Manell. Ferdinand Marian. 100 mins. The film that proved to be the passport for its director. Douglas Sirk. to Hollywood. tells of a Swede who falls in love with Puerto Rico and marries a rich landowner. A decade later. however. she yearns for her homeland. ()verly melodramatic in certain sections. it‘s saved by the director's obvious skills and ironic detachment. Glasgow: Gl’l‘. Iidinburgh: Filmhouse.
Hangmen Also Die (PG) (Fritz Lang. US. I943) Brian Donlevy. Anna lee. Walter Brennan. I3] mins. In wartime Czechoslovakia. the Nazis exact terrible punishment on brave partisans. Propaganda effort co-seripted by Bertolt Brecht. whose impassioned impact is sadly undercut by a
index FILM
phoney Hollywood idea of eastern litirope Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Hercules (U) (John Musker 8.: Ron Clements. US. I997) With the voices of 'I'ate Donovan. James Woods. Danny DeVito. 9| mins. 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 lttckily our hero has Pegasus as his steed and Phil the grumpy satyr (Danny DeVito) as his coach. (ilasgow: GI’I‘. UCI Clydebank. Iidinburgh; ()deon. UCI.
I Know What You Did Last Summer t It!) (Jim Gillespie. US. I997) Jennifer Love Hewitt. Sarah Michelle (iellar. Ryan Phillippe. l()l mins. Writer Kevin Williamson broke new horror ground with Scream. but this effort is the sort of stalk 'n' slash flick that's lucky not to go straight to video. The story follows four Iiiin school
Getting undressed for the Oscars: Robert Carler and the cast of The Full Monty
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.
Ayr: ()deon.
The Ice Storm ( 15) (Ang Lee. US. I997) Kevin Kline. Joan Allen. Sigourney
\‘(eav er II.7 mins. In Nixon era Connecticut. Kline's dy ing affair with neighbour Weaver pushes \s ife Allen further into a numbed frigidity. just as both families‘ teenage children are making their first sexual forays Lee‘s satiric eye may be acute but he has a compassionate vision of human weakness, and beneath the humour is a sense of profound unease. Scene after scene. tlt‘lll)‘ diluted and beautifully acted by the cast, sends a chill into the heart. (ilasgow: (il"I'. lidinburgh: Cameo. Paisley: Showtaa'.
Continued over page
“stunning ...registers on the moral scale like a social earthquake”
a.walker ~ evening standard
*irahk “utterly compelling”
d.matheou - marie claire
in the company of
me“18
written and directed by neil labute . . "Hit?!" STARTS FEB 20 Filmhouse Edinburgh 0131 228 2688 STARTS FEB 27 Glasgow Film Theatre 0141 332 6535
**** “a serious, brainyand highly entertaining film - the best kind of popular cinema”
**** “brilliantly predatory and shockingly uncompromising”
r. williams .- the guardian
x.brooks — big issue
PO Feb—S Mar 1998 THE LIST 31