reviews
RENTAL
Dad Savage
(18) 100 mins v- ~
When Quentrn Tar'antrno uses flashbarks rn hrs (r‘rme rnovres, there's always a pornt more tensron, a perfe< tly trrned (har‘at ter' revelatron, (omedrr (ounterpornt. Betsan Morris Evans does It be<ause it looks (ool lwo friends of the son of tulrp farmer Patr‘rt k Stewart det rde to run off with the old bloke's (r'rmrnal earnrngs lhe trme-frame jumps batk and forward as the body (ount grows and the double— dealrngs are worked out It's as messy and rntonsrstent as Joe IVl( i adden’s a((ent. Thankfully hrs fellow Stot, Kevrn M( Krdd, rs murh better (PolyGr'am) (AM)
Deep Impact
(12) 115 mins 1! w
look to the skres' there’s a meteor headrng for Earth and we're all doomed [)eep Impatt made rt rnto the (rnemas before Armageddon, but drdn't have the same box offr< e (lout 011((’ the spe( ral effet ts are lt‘vt‘llt‘tl out by the small s( reen fat tor, however, the earlrer‘ effort manages to hold rts own betause rts l()( us rs people, not loose brts of spaterotk Who Will sur'vrve rf plat es rn the bunkers have to be ratroned out through a lottery draw? (CIC i (AM)
Scream 2
(18) 115 mins » w
Needless to say, the Kevrn Williamson s( rrpted follow-up to .S( ream has fun Wrth the (onventrons surrounding horror sequels. It's (lever and jokey lrke before, but the post-modern rronres aren't Integrated rn su( h a way as to make thrs as rrnportant a frlm as rts prede<essor Mrnd you, none of thrs rs at all relevant If ail you want rs a funny, s(ary slasher movre that keeps ahead of the opposrtron. (Buena Vrsta) (AM)
Tomorrow Never Dies (12, 115 mins,
122 THE LIST 5 19m). 1998
Headline‘news: Jonathan Pryce is a mad media mogul up against James Bond in ). Available to buy from Mon 9 Nov, priced
VIDEOS
Martha — Meet Frank,
Daniel And Laurence (l5)84 mins ..
The Brrtrsh (Ollidliilt (omedy that wasn't S/rdrng Doors plays too many games mth rts multr-per‘spet trve narrative to work properly save that krnd of stuff for Ras/romon or lhe Usua/ Suspet ts lhree male frrends all fall for Martha, who has Just llo\‘.n rn from Amerrta, but as they grve therr amount of events, therr skrll at berng 'etonomrtal wrth the truth' I)(‘(()lll("s all too (lear Arnerr(an (K tress Monrta Potter rs the one to \‘Jdl( h (Trlm four) (AM)
RETAIL
LA Confidential
(18) 132 mins 9 «- ~
Every ( r'rme frlm (omrng out now gets tagged \‘.rth the ‘norr' label, but thrs James I llr'oy adaptatron at tually deserves It Perrod detail surreptrtrously slrps rnto the I)d( kgr'ound, leavrng a fast rnatrng set of (omplex (har'at ter's (entre-stage The plot rs drop-dead brrilrant, but us the attrr‘.g that leaves you breathless and not just ()star \‘.rnner Krm Basrnger' former Ne/ghbou/s star (ruy Pearte and New Zealander Russell C l()\.‘.(‘ show the llolly‘.‘.ood stars how to do rt (Warner {14 99 lulls( reen/f 1‘.) 99 \‘.I(l(‘8( reen) (AM!
Western (15) 130 mins a
When Russran th:ef Nrno nabs Spanish shoe salesman Pam's motor, the last thrng you'd expe<t rs for them to go on the frenr h roads together llavrng adrnrnrstered a vengeful beatrng upon Nrno, l’ato's gurlt and ]()l) loss allows them to do just that, In sear‘( h of love and sense of self funny and i()tl( hrng, thrs rs an uplrftrng tale with lessons for” losers that perse\./er‘an(e :s all It takes for fortunes to (hange (Artrfrt ral Eye Li?) 991(81):
£15.99 fullscreenI£16.99 widescreen.
RENTAL U-Turn (18) 119 mins t t a a:
Taking something of a U-turn himself, Oliver Stone has honed down the excesses of his previous films — JFK’s length, Nixon’s self- indulgence and NBK's visual stylistics — to produce a stylish, witty homage to the golden age of B-movies.
En route to Las Vegas to pay off an overdue debt, Sean Penn‘s small time gambler finds himself stranded in the backwater town of Superior, Arizona. Waiting for his car to be fixed, the gambler’s luck turns from bad to worse as he becomes entangled with various weird and wild members of the community. A femme fatale and her scheming husband, a flirtatious teenager and her jealous boyfriend, an unscrupulous car mechanic, a sinister sheriff and a wily blind
L
Road to nowhere: Sean Penn in U-Turn
beggar are played by a cast to-die-for including Jennifer Lopez, Nick Nolte
and Billy Bob Thornton.
The recurring joke - the gambler's unimaginany bad luck - is constantly amusing and provides U-Turn with its superbly plotted twists and diabolical humour. It's difficult to predict, but enormously enjoyable to behold just what befalls the hapless gambler next. U-Turn is unmistakably an Oliver Stone movie — loud and abrasive - but here he reigns in control and proves himself to be the master of the dark side of Americana. (Miles Fielder)
s21 U-Turn Is now avar/(‘rb/e to rent.
Boogie Nights (l8)148mins a r w 1- 9
Martin St orsese rs the obvrous refer‘ente pornt here" not Just rn terms of style, but also rn the way Paul Thomas Anderson throws open the (ur‘tarn on a hrdden world With rts own (ode of behavrour The hedonrstrt, (oke-fuelled porn rndustry of the 70s makes [)rr‘k Drggler (Mark Wahlberg) rts brggest star (In pretty mu( h every sense), but when the hangover tomes, boy, It (rashes down One ()f the year's few masterpre<es (Entertarnment
£14 99 fullst r‘een/E 1 r5.99 Wrdes( r'een) (AM)
Ugetsu Monogatari (PG) 93 mins a .s n t
Regularly set near the top of many (rrtr(s' all-trme-best lrsts, thrs frlm by Japanese drr’e( tor Kf‘lljl Mr/ogu(hr exemplrfres one of hrs key runnrng themes rn thrs harsh moral unrver‘se, for a man to suueed, a woman must suffer When rn the brg (:ty, a potter and hrs frrend fulfrl therr fantasres one, (onsumed by greed, has an affair Wrth a ghostly arrstot rat, the other be<omes a samurar lhe mood shrfts from tragedy to farte to supernatural (hrlls (onvey the breadth of human lrfe, although the two men's adventures don't gel as perfer tly as the frlm's reputatron would suggest (Bil {15 99) (AM)
Sansho The Bailiff (PG) 120 mins 1: ’ x: t t
lhe other Mr/ogut hr frlm released thrs month tells of the son and daughter of a governor exrled for hrs enlightened attrtude to peasants who are sold to a (lllt‘l barlrlf Whrle the beauty of the photography and eprr gualrty of the
story (an be appret rated on a more
Intellet tual level, the vrewer Is l()ll( hed
by the depth of ernotron suffered by each (harat ter, The (lll’(‘( tor also strrs up feelrng by takrng the srde of the underdog, usrng 11th (entury feudal Japan for Wrder (rrtrt rrns of sorral rnjustrte. (BFI {15 99) (AM)
Stomp Out Loud (E)6O mins 9 a
Seen lrve, Stomp whrp up a symphony of rndustr‘ral rhythm usrng ever’ythrng from brns to body parts as their drum kit. Here the norse terrorrsts are frlmed playrng ()ut p(‘f'( ussron madness agarnst batkdrops that range from Manhattan skylrne to rnovrng vehicle. Carefully (horeographed and lovrngly frlrned, thrs generates some stunnrng rrnages, but Wrthout a brg str'een and de(ent sound system, Out loud lacks the rmpart to keep you glued to your sofa. (VCI £9 99) (EC)
La Maman Et La Putain (18) 215 mins iv v *-
Bleaker than the mur'krest mrd-wrnter‘, Jean Eusta( he's mono<hromatr< Nouvelle Vague rnrsery has a (harn- srnokrng, jobless and over-talkatrve rntelle<tual jumprng rn and out of bed Wlilr two (ra/y ladres (the Mother and Whore frgures of the trtlel In between, there rs ltltK h phrlosophrsrng about love and revolution, Wrthout the rnerest hope of a tar-chase rn srght A gr'rm sleeper. (Ar'trfrtral Eye {‘15 99) (81))
REVIEWERS THIS ISSUE: f‘llre ( arr, Br’ran Donaldson, Mrles lrelder‘, Alan Morrison
STAR RATINGS
Unmrssable
. n . : Very good
~ - 9 Worth a shot
~ - Below average
9 You've been warned