The Replacement Killers ( I 8) (Antoine Fuqua. US. I998) Chow Yuri-Fat. Mira Sorvino. Michael Rooker. 87 mins. Hong Kong action star Chow Ytin-Fat’s US debut delivers most of the thrills of his past work. btit is still less than totally satisfying. He plays a professional assassin who becomes a marked man when he finds he can't pull the trigger on his last job. Glossy. well mounted but exceptionally routine stuff. Edinburgh: Cameo.
Romeo And Juliet (I2) (Baz Luhrmann. Australia/US. I996) Leonardo DiCaprio. Claire Danes. Pete Postlethwaite. l20 mins. The Strictly Ballroom 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. Luhrmann 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 sttidiedly cool. Edinburgh: Cameo. Stirling: MacRobert. Scream 2 (I8) (Wes Craven. US. I998) Neve Campbell. Courtney Cox. Leiv Schreiber. I20 mins. Two years after the Woodsboro murders. Sidney Prescott (Campbell) is now a college student. trying to piece her life back together. But when an audience member is slashed to death during the premiere of horror movie Stab. the nightmare begins again. The film fails to fully integrate the many iii-jokey references to horror sequel conventions. btit it's still streets ahead of what passes for horror nowadays. Glasgow: Showcase. UCI Clydebank. Edinburgh: UCI. Cumbernauld: Theatre. East Kilbride: UCI. Paisley: Showcase.
Serial Mom (I8) (John Waters. US. I994) Kathleen Turner. Sam Waterston. Ricki Lake. 93 mins. Underneath the apple-pie ideals of the Stitphins' model suburban home. mom Beverly is going to deadly extremes to keep her family nest feathered. The sickest. funniest American comedy to hop the Atlantic for ages. Waters latest adds a zesty twist of cruelty to satire on family values. political correctness and America's adulation of criminals in the media. Glasgow: (il’l'.
Seven Samurai (PG) (Akira Kurosawa. Japan. I954) Toshiro Miftine. 'l'akahashi Simura. 200 mins. A group of timid villagers seek protection against the excesses of a brutal warlord by hiring seven heroic samurai. Seminal Japanese action picture. with a slow-building dignity matching the best ofJohn Ford. and in its stylishly aesthetic handling of screen violence a profound influence on the likes of Sam Peckinpah. Highly recommended. Edinburgh: FiInihouse.
Shall We Dance? (PG) (Masaytiki Suo. Japan. I997) Koji Yakusho. Tamiyo Kusakari. I35 mins. The biggest Japanese hit ever at the US box office. this upbeat movie might grab some of the mainstream crowd in the same way as ll Postino. Shoei leads a predictable life at work and at home until he is transformed by his new hobby — ballroom dancing. A real charmer. with a hidden sense ofemotional maturity. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Six Days. Seven Nights (I2) (Ivan Reitman. US. I998) Harrison Ford. Anne Heche. David Schwimmer. l02 mins. Ford is a dissolute pilot. content with island- Iiopping jobs in the south Pacific; Heche is the single-minded magazine editor with whom he unexpectedly ends tip stranded on a desert island. Will bitchy comments and knockabout humour lead to romance? The stars make a winning screen couple. although the film itself settles for easier comedic options and light-hearted adventure. General release.
Sliding Doors ( I 5) (Peter Howiit. UK. I998) Gwyneth Paltrow. John Hannah. John Lynch. 99 mins. Motisy-haired PR executive Helen gets fired and discovers her handsome Irish boyfriend is a two-timer. Blonde PR woman Helen is more successful and dates a handsome Scot. This sharply observed romantic comedy splits Helen‘s life in two when she misses/catches a tube train. Utterly entertaining. and one of the best British movies of I998. General release. Sling Blade ( l 5) (Billy Bob Thornton. US. I996) Billy Bob Thornton. Dwight Yoakum. J .T. Walsh. I35 mins. Writer-director-star
Thornton's Oscar-winning (for Best Screenplay) is nowhere near as mawkish as Rain Man or Forrest Gum/i. Thornton plays a slightly retarded man just out of prison. who returns to his small Southern hometown only to witness the same pattern of abuse that triggered his earlier murderous attack. Moving without being sentimental. with a morality that's far from simple-minded. See review. Glasgow: GFT. Edinburgh; Cameo. Space Jam (U) (Joe Pytka. US. I996) Michael Jordan. Bugs Bunny. Wayne Knight. 87 mins. Nasty alien cartoons have captured Bugs Bunny and are going to enslave the Looney Tunes in their amusement park on Moron Mountain. btit Bugs has the brainwave of challenging them to a basketball game and enlisting the talents of Michael Jordan for his team. Lacking the class of Who Framed Roger Rabbit." and the pace of a real basketball game. Spare Jain should divert the kids on Saturday mornings. even though the jokes and effects are tired from over-use. Ayr: ()deon. SpiceWorld: The Movie (PG) (Bob Spiers. UK. I997) The Spice Girls. Richard E. Grant. Alan Cumming. 93 mins. ‘A 90s Hard Davis Night. with a pinch of Spinal 72:): and a little Speed thrown in.‘ says the publicity material. The story chronicles the hectic five days iii the lead-up to the girls‘ first live concert at the Royal Albert Hall and. on the way. crams in so many celebrity cameos. you get the sense this could be the big screen equivalent of Noel is Home Party. Of course. plenty of hit songs are included too. Cumbernauld: Theatre.
Star Kid (PG) (Manny Coto. US. I997) Joseph Mazzello. Richard Gilliland. Corinne Bohrer. IOO mins. Shy. bullied Spencer (Jurassic Park's Mazzello) discovers an alien Cybersuit a voice and personality of its own. Climbing inside. he gets back at his school nemisis. but finds himself tip against a deadlier foe when he faces intergalactic tough nuts. the Broodwarriors. Clearly aimed at pre-adolescent boys who want to fill out their underdog fantasies. Star Kid is a better than average kids movie. General release.
Starship Troopers (15) (Paul Verhoeven. US. I997) Casper Van Dien. Dina Meyer. Denise Richards. |29 mins. Way in the future. Earth is run by a crypto-fascist regime. and the members of the Galactic Armed Forces are sent itito space to fight a race of alien bugs hell-bent on wiping otit humanity. The computer animation work is first rate and. despite its gory slice 'n' dice violence. one reading of the movie‘s sub- text is decidedly anti-militaristic. Glasgow: Gl’l'.
The Suspended Step Of The Stork (18) (Theo Angelopoulos. Greece. I99I) ISI mins. Marcello Mastroianni stars in one of Angelopoulos' most beguiling works about the mystery surrounding an elderly refugee whom a young TV reporter believes is a Greek politician who disappeared years before. Glasgow: GFI‘.
That‘s Cricket (U) 80 mins. This selection of rare films from the National i'lllll and Television Archive includes newsreels. amateur films and documentaries. with an emphasis on the pre-war Golden Age. Don Bradman and Denis Compton are two of the men donning the whites. Glasgow: GI’I‘. Titanic (l2) (James Cameron. US. I997) Leonardo DiCaprio. Kate Winslet. Billy Zane. I94 mins. Cameron tackles the story of the doomed ocean liner through a touching love story that isn't overwhelmed by the awesome special effects. Rich girl Rose (Winslet) is unhappily engaged to arrogant Cal (Zane) but falls for third~class passenger Jack (DiCaprio): love blossoms as the ship hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic. In all its on-screen glory. litattit' does indeed look like the most expensive film ever made. conveying both the scale of the disaster and the feeling of clatistrophobia as the water rises. Glasgow: ()deon Quay. Showcase. Edinburgh: UCI. Irvine: WMR. Motherwell: Moviehouse. Paisley; Showcase. Stirling: MacRobert.
Touch (l5) (Paul Schrader. US. I997) Skeet Ulrich. Christopher Walken. Bridget Fonda. 97 mins. Elmore Leonard's quirkin comic novel is relocated from Detroit to LA. inviting comparison with Get Shorty. although this is a more low-key affair. Walken is a sharp-suited evangelical
listings FILM
Upwardly mobile: Christopher Walken in Touch
entrepreneur who‘s out to use a young man (Ulrich) whose touch can cure illness and disability. btit others also want a slice of the action. l’artly successful in recreating Leonard's milieu of very secular saints and hustlers. See rev iew, (ilasgow; Showcase. Edinburgh; LCI. l’aisley: Showcase.
A Touch of Zen ( l8, (King llu. llong Kong.
I969) llsu l‘eng. Shih (him. I’m Ying. l8l) mins. lipic tale of a young couple on the run and their various ruses to keep the enemy at bay. which include the simulated haunting of a mysterious fortress. before a group of Zen Buddhist monks turn the situation into a final. highly stylised conflict. Variously mystical. esciting. and decorative costume saga. whose breathtakingly chorcographcd mid-air fight sequences are the mark of a highly skilled director at work and won a lll‘i/e at the (‘annes film festival for 'stipei'ioi' technical acliiescment'. Edinburgh. liilmliouse.
Voyage To Cythera (18) (Then Angelopoulos. (ireece/l'K/(lermany/ltaly. I984) Art and life merge as only it can in an Atigelopotilos movie. as a director follows an actor to Piraeus. Here the filmmaker is due to meet his father. a resistance fighter returning home to Greece after 32 years in Russia. Glasgow: (ii-'l'.
Wallace And Gromit (U) ()0 mins. Britain's plasticiiie heroes enjoy a trilogy of award- winningadventures -- A Grand Day Out. The Hiring 77‘t)!l\t’l'.\ and A (love Sliai'e. (ilasgow: (il’li
The Wedding Singer ( l2) (l-‘raiik (brat-i. L’S. I997) Drew Barry more. Adam Sandler. Christine 'l‘aylor. 97 mins. After his bride dtiiiips him at the altar. Robbie (Sandler) ptits on a happy face at his day job — singing at other people's weddings When his waitress friend (Barry more) also suffers ntiptual disappointment. an unexpected romance blossoms. Packed with a sublime 80s soundtrack. and featuring some of the most amusing fashions since Boogie Nights. this is a genuine out-of-now here delight. General release.
Welcome To Sarajevo ( I 5) (Michael \s'interbottom. UK. I997) Steven Dillane. Woody Harrelson. Emira Nusevic. I()7 mins. The horror of the conflict in Bosnia breaks down the professional detachment of reporter Michael Henderson (Dillane) who decides to smuggle an orphan otit of the country. Based on the true story of l'l'N journalist Michael Nicholson. \k'interbottom's film gains further authenticity by being shot on location. An angry. polemical film that barely manages to
contain its makers' shame and righteous fury
at the West's complacent response to Bosnia's suffering. Glasgow: Gl-T. Edinburgh: Filmhotise.
i i l
Western ( l 5) (Manuel Poirier. France. I997) Sergi Lopez. Sacha Botirdo. I36 mins. ()utsiders within their current environment. Spanish shoe salesman Paco and scruffy Russian Nino become unlikely friends when they drive from village to
s illage in Brittany. Combining the attractive countryside with a flamenco guitar soundtrack. I’oirier has created an amtisingly cross-cultural backdrop for this dryly comic buddy movie. Like a French ll’itlinail & [tilt the road. btit less eventful. Edinburgh: l’ilmhouse.
Wild Man Blues ( l 2) (Barbara Kopple. US. I997) Woody Allen. Soon-Yi l’revin Allen. HIS mins. Kopple's back-stage documentary of Woody Allen's jazz band‘s European tour features some hot Dixie. btit the subject's ulterior motive is clearly to repair something of his good name with respect to the unsavoury publicity surrounding his break- up with Mia Farrow. The most fun. however. in this reverential portrait is in watching Allen's ever-evident grotichiness and his flashing one-liners. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. Wild Things ( l8) (John McNaughton. US. I997) Neve Campbell. Denise Richards. Matt Dillon. llI mins. An ‘erotic thriller' that crams in more plot twists than the Everglades has water courses. this effort from Henry: Portrait ()f/l Serial Killer director McNaughton has little to recommend it. Spoilt schoolgirl and goth outsider accuse teacher of rape. but the frame is revealed iii court — and further complications follow. This is commercial western cinema at its worst: glossy and crude. Edinburgh: Cameo.
The Wind In The Willows (U) (Terry Jones. UK. I996) Terry Jones. Eric Idle. Steve Coogan. 88 mins. When Mole‘s home is destroyed by weasel property developers. he enlists the help of Rat. Badger and egotistical Toad to uncover a conspiracy. Jones's l’ython-for-kids adaptation ofthe classic novel is a tad self-indulgent. with some awful songs and lacklustre pacing. However. the characters and atmosphere will probably charm a younger audience not yet into their more cynical teens. Glasgow: Grosvenor.
Wishmaster ( l8) (Robert Kurtzman. US. I998) Tammy latiren. Andrew Divoff. Robert Englund. 90 mins. ‘Be careful what you wiin for.’ the saying goes. ‘for that wish might come true.’ And that's not what you want if the evil Djinn has come out of the bottle. It's ancient monster versus wide- eyed. all-American girl in a horror throwaway that falls short of edge-of-the- seat excitement. although the over-the-top nature of it all suggests a long and popular video life. Glasgow: UCI Clydebank. Edinburgh: UCI. Paisley: Showcase.
9-23 Jul 1998 THE UST 33