reviews
RENTAL Boogie Nights
(18) 148 mins t 1% at 1» fr
What Goodfe//as drd for organrsed cnme, Boogre Nights does for the porn rndustry' makes ;t look lrke fun But beyond the coke and come shots, thrs IS an porgnant eprc o‘ soCral satrre What could have been a quvck-frx cartoonrsh rnovre, becomes a plea for tolerance and moderatron, Paul Thomas Anderson creatrng characters of paradoxrcal rnnocence Maste".. (Entertarnment) (PR)
The Ice Storm
(15) 108 mins r 1? + r
Ang Lee delrcately takes apart the traque tres that hold together a group of famrlres rn Amerrca m the early I970s Srgourney Weaver and Kevrn Klrne are excellent as adulterous lovers whose affarr rs on the rocks, whrle Chrrstrna RICCI, EIleI) Wood and Adam Harm-Byrd prove that chrId actors can hold therr own wrth Oscar-wmnrng adults any day. Lee shows compassron for the characters' weaknesses and allows a sense of unease to escalate throughout. A truly mature prece of frlmmakrng. (Buena Vrsta) (AM)
The Ages Of Lqu
(18) 99 mins 3% t-
'A steamy mosarc of passron and desrre' rs the taglrne for Brgas Luna's adaptatron of Alurnundena Grandes' tale of a frfteen-year-old grrl’s sexual awakenrng, experrmentatron, betrayal and eventual S&M nrghtmare. 'Stultrfyrngly tedrous medrum-core porn’ rs how we are havrng rt. Repetrtrve and ultrrnately dull, the closrng brutalrty should make you tlrnch rt merer makes you yawn. (Tartan, also retarl £1599) (BD)
Paws
(U) 83 mins as * at
Brlly Connolly rs barkrng. Not barkrng mad, but barkrng woof-woof because he's provrdrng the v0rc;e of a dog rn thrs entertarnrng krds movre PC the Jack Russell has a computer drsc: to delrver, so he teams up wrth computer whrz/ krd Zac and trres to outwrt the bad guy on hrs tari. Human and canrne heroes bond (Wrthout the usual teenage
VIDEOS
crrnge f'actor and there are plenty o‘ laughs Somehow, however, It's hard to equate that partrcu§ar vo'ce wth thus partrcular rnutt rPolyCJrann r‘Atyl
Lucie Aubrac
(12) 111 mins 1* + s +
Claude Berr.'s evocatve tale rs t"e true story of one woman and the 'er*g‘.I‘s she goes to for undyrng love lrke concoctrng a darrng plot to rescue l‘e' man ‘rom the clutches of some
part:c ularly nasty Na/rs rn WWZ-torn France Carole Bouquet and Darrel Auteur! head the cast :n the kmd of ‘r"r) whrc'h shows French rrirrrrrtakrng at tts rrr'esrstrble best movzvrg and memorable and rts worst slow and staggerrng (Pathe, also retarl {IS 99 (80‘
The End Of Violence (15) 117 mins wk * tr
Unlrke the benevolent angels of Wrngs Of Des/re, the eyes rn the sky :n Wzm Wenders' new movre are much more hostrle The botched krdnapprnq of Hollywood producer BrII Pullman r’ancl hrs subsequent escape from hrs captors) rs Wrtnessed on sur‘verllance camera by screntrst Cnabrrel Byrne But the aston'shrng murders he has seen are only the trp ot a consp'racy Iceberg that brvngs to rnrnd those paranora thrrllers of the 70s (The Para/lax V/ew, The Conversation). Themes of broken- down communrcatron are rntrrgurng, but the knowrneg European style ensures the set-prec es don’t lrnk together. (Artrhcral Fye) (AM)
Paradise Road
(15) 114 mins
War rnovres are full of drarnatrc stor'es about people showrng exceptronal human sprrrt agarnst the odds Unfortunater Bruce (Drrvr'ng Mrss Darsy) Beresford’s latest comes over lrke a prlot eprsode of Ten/co crossed Wrth Songs Of Prarse. Glenn Close, Frances McDormand and Paulrne Collrns are among the female prrsoners held m a Japanese camp durrng World War ll who form a vocal orchestra to keep therr rnrnds off the constant threat of rape and exec utron. CIrc_hc'>d and at trrnes laughable, bartrc'ularly grven the horrors behrnd thrs ’true story‘.
(Fox Pathe) (AM)
Monkey business: Robbie Coltrane and Alan Cumming (no, they're not in the
picture) join Rene Russo in family adventure Buddy (U, 80 mins, 1: *t). Available to
rent from Mon 27 Jul.
RENTAL Trial And Error (12) 94 mins a *
reviews VIDEOS
Court disaster: Charlize Theron in Trial And Error
Courtroom comedies are few and far between and this film is the best argument for maintaining their rarity. Jeff Daniels plays Charles Tuttle, a soon to be married lawyer who is sent to Hicksville to conduct what should be a routine case. Temporarily incapacitated by an unplanned piss-up, Tuttle finds his place in court taken by his well-meaning but buffoonish pal Richard Rietti, an out-of-work actor played by Michael Richards. Charlize Theron is the love interest who has an illicit hankering for the lawyer’s
briefs.
Limp farce follows slapstick, as director Jonathan Lynn strives to stretch the switched identity plot device to the requisite 90 minutes. There's the occasional guffaw but if you hold your breath between them, you'll suffocate. The inevitable happy ending is truly barfsome. One to watch with your overly sentimental spinster aunt. (Jonathan Trew)
fl Available to rent now.
RETAIL
Century Of Cinema: France. Germany and Scandinavia
(E) 156 mins « :4 s
The latest rnstalment rn the ongorng (and exemplary) Century Of (frnerna serres takes rn a tr‘ro of European trlm rncIustrres, whose .hrgh pornts have made rndelrble marks on world crnerna Jean-Luc Ciodar‘d’s 2x50 Year Of frenc h C/nerna takes the somewhat pessrrnrstrc vrew that the best of the country’s trlm output rs over In Nrght Of The Fr/rnrnakers, Edgar Rert/ assembles drrec tors as d'verse as Wrm Wenders and [em Rrefenstahl for personal comments on German crnema Strg B;orkman's lArn Currous, Fr/m collects together contrrbutrons from Swedrsh, Danrsh, Norwegran, IrrtnrsI) and lceIa'rrIrc crnema to (Irscover‘ a coherent Nordrc tradrtron The wealth of :mages and vrewpornts gathered here rs breath-takrng rn rts drversrty (Academy {15 99) (AM)
Bruce Lee: The Man And The Legend (18) as s: #-
Martral arts superstar Bruce Lee dred on 20 July t973 and, 25 years on, thrs boxed set rs a frttrng trrbute to a man whose rrnpact on the ac tron genre can strll be felt lt rnc ludes the Wrdesc reen versron of Bruce Lee The Man And The Legend, whrc h rnc ludes rare rntervrew
footage, trght scenes never seen on the brg screen and frve orrgrnal Chrnese trarfers for lee's rnovres Add to that a booklet, poster and collec tor's postcards, and you've got a package that's a must for dre-hard fans, but maybe a lrttle spec ralrsed for casual kung fu watchers (Hong Kong Classrcs {.19 99) (AM)
Out Of The Past
(PG) 97 mins 1* tr t t
In the movre that almost srnglehancledly detrned the post-World War II fr/rn norr genre, Robert Mrtchum plays an rnvestrgator who double- crosses Krrk Douglas when he falls for hrs clrent's grrlfrrend, Jane Greer Shadows encroach on every frame, the harcI-brtten hero can't escape hrs fate and the dralogue rs sharp and trght lwelve other trtles rn the ‘Golden Classrcs' serres are released rn August, rnc luclrng Hrtc hcock's comedy Mr 8/ Mrs Smrth, Orson Welles’ Journey Into Fear and the delrc'rously dark duo Cross Frre and Farewel/ My Lovely, (4Front £5.99 each) (AM)
REVIEWERS THIS ISSUE: Brran Donaldson, Alan Morrrson, Peter Ross
STAR RATINGS
a t t t * Unmrssable
r i t s Very gOOd
w a « Worth a shot
v . Below average
t You’ve been warned
23 lat—6 Aug 7998 THE “ST 107