FILM listings
FILM LISTINGS continued
Mystery Men (PG) *** (Kinka Usher, US, 1999) Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, Janeane Garofalo. 122 mins. Although it's a spoof, Mystery Men is more knowing about the conventions of American comic book superheroes than other comic adaptations - that's largely down to Mystery Men ’5 origins in Bob Burden‘s Dark Horse Comic, Flaming Carrol. Caped crimefighter Captain Amazing has been kidnapped by super villain Casanova Frankenstein and it’s up to underachiever heroes: the Mystery Men to save the day. Edinburgh: Odeon. Ayr: Odeon.
Next Friday (15) *‘k‘k (Ice Cube, US, 2000) Ice Cube, Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister, Jr, Mike Epps. 98 mins. It's four years since Craig (Cube) beat up local bully Debo (Lister, Jr). When Debo breaks out ofjail Craig is sent to his uncle’s house in the suburbs to hide out., where he creates havoc in the life of cousin Day-Day (Epps). Next Friday has more of everything - villains, girls, fights, marijuana and comedy gags — than in the original. More is more. See review. Selected release.
October Sky (PG) *tt (Joe Johnston, US, 1999) Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Laura Dem. 108 mins. Encouraged by their teacher, a miner's son and his friends build miniature rockets for a science fair competition, but face opposition from the local authorities. Set in the working-class 505, this isn't your typical Hollywood eoming-of—age fiick. Part of the London Film Festival on tour. Kirkcaldy: Adam Smith.
Oliver! (U) tit (Carol Reed, UK, 1968) Ron Moody, Oliver Reed, Mark Lester, Jack Wild, Harry Secombe. 146 mins. A sparkling cast, great choreography and some dashed good tunes provide a handsome entertainment in Lionel Bart’s musical adaptation of Oliver Twist, but the grim satire of greed, poverty and corrupted innocence that Dickens wrote is almost entirely smothered. Stirling: MacRobert. Onegin (12) **** (Martha Fiennes, UK, 1999) Ralph Fiennes, Liv Tyler. 106 mins. Alexander Pushkin's epic poem, Evgeny Onegin, is the source of Fiennes’s impressive debut film, which hurls its characters through an intensity of passion, betrayal and unbearable loss within the thoroughly elegant and codified context of the Russian aristocracy of the 18205. Ralph Fiennes's Onegin is an initially arrogant, cynical man who learns his own heart when tragic circumstances force him to re- evaluate his feelings for a woman. Falkirk: FTH Cinema.
Open Your Eyes (15) the (Alejandro Amenbar, Spain, 2000) Eduardo Noriega, Penelope Cruz, Chete Lera. 117 mins. Smooth looking, three car owning, inheritance spending Cesar (Noriega) has the sort of Madrid life many would dream of. He even gets the best looking girl, the stunning Sofia (Cruz). Ilowever, schadenfraude demands a turn for the worst, and sure enough, there it is literally round the corner. Amen-bar's second feature seems caught between the light comic touch of Almodovar and the pensive subtleties of Medem. Glasgow: GET. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
The Opposite Of Sex (18) *** (Don Roos, US, 1998) Christina Ricci, Martin Donovan, Lisa Kudrow. 105 mins. Ricci plays Dedee Truitt, a sixteen-year-old super- bitch who runs away from Louisiana to live in Indiana with her half-brother Bill (Donovan), who is still grieving for his dead lover, Tom. Dedee swiftly steals Bill's new dishy-but-dim boyfriend, announces her pregnancy, and fiees the state with Tom's ashes and $10,000 of her brother‘s money. A dark comedy brimful of two-timing and double-crossing flawed by a wilfully un-PC treatment of sexual politics and unnecessary dallying with post-modern narration. Edinburgh: Cameo.
Orphans (15) **** (Peter Mullan, UK, 1999) Douglas Henshall, Gary Lewis, Stephen McCole, Rosemarie Stephenson. 105 mins. Four orphans of varying ages attempt to come to terms with the death of their beloved mother during one dark, stormy night in Glasgow. Mullan’s feature directing debut mixes emotional frankness
30 THE LIST 2—16 Mar 2000
with humour verging on the surreal to great effect. While individual set pieces and performances impress, the whole thing comes together remarkably. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Pat Labour 1 (PG) *** (Mamoru Oshii, Japan) 95 mins. Manga (actually Anime — Manga's the comics) animated movie prediction of the future (except its dated 1999 — whoops, there '5 the bug). Tokyo's mobile police has a new weapon to fight its war on crime: advanced robots called Labors which specialise in combating hi- tech criminals. Edinburgh: Cameo. Perfect Blue (18) tut (Satoshi Kan, Japan, 1998) 80 mins. The director of anime feature Roujin Z tells the story of a former pop star whose grip on reality starts to slip when she becomes an actress in a daytime soap opera. Meanwhile, a series of murders appear to be linked to her new, raunchy image. Edinburgh: Cameo.
The Princess Bride (PG) **** (Rob Reiner, US, 1987) Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Billy Crystal. 99 mins. The princess in question is one Buttercup, chosen by the nasty Prince Humperdinck to be his bride. Iler heart, however, belongs to Westley, a farm boy who has disappeared. The princess' kidnapping prompts the return of Westley, who has become a pirate, and launches a series of swashbuckling adventures, after which true love can prevail. William Goldman’s heavily ironic fairy tale is given a spirited treatment by the director of Stand By Me and an enthusiastic troupe. Glasgow:
Raging Bull (18) ***** (Martin Scorsese, US, 1980) Robert de Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci. 129 mins. Middleweight boxing champ Jake La Motta finds it difficult to sustain his early success and as his career fades, he declines into a travesty of his former self. De Niro‘s stunning physical presence dominates Scorsese 's savagely bleak study of self- destructive machismo. Falkirk: I’l‘ll Cinema.
Rebecca (PG) **~k* (Alfred Hitchcock, US, 1940) Laurence Olivier, Joan Fonlaine, Judith Anderson. 130 mins. Wonderfully atmospheric romance, made when Hitch was at his height. The young bride of rich widower Maxim de Winterjoins him at his grand mansion — Manderley — but everywhere she turns, there are memories of his first wife, whose death is surrounded by mystery. Anderson's overwrought Gothic housekeeper Mrs Danvcrs steals the show. Edinburgh: St Bride's.
A Room For Romeo Brass (15) ***** (Shane Meadows, UK, 2000) Paddy Considine, Andrew Shim, Ben Marshall. 90 mins. Meadows once more combines colourful regional characters with impish humour and kitchen sink drama to great effect, but adds to the mix a deeply personal autobiographical clement. And he elicits impressively naturalistic performances from a cast of newcomers for the story of young Nottingham lads Romeo (Shim) and Gavin (Marshall) who are best mates until the arrival of oddball Morell (the astonishingly dynamic Considine). Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Rosetta (15) ***** (Luc and Jean- Pierre Dardenne, Belgium/France, 1999) Emilie Dequenne, Anne Yernaux, Fabrizio Rongione. 91 mins. Rosetta (Dequenne) is seventeen and has one wish: to find a job that will enable her to move out of the caravan that she co-habits with her alcoholic mother (Yernaux). Despite continual disappointments in the job market Rosetta refuses to give up h0pe and battles on like a bull facing a matador. A marvellous exposition of the continuing importance of cinema in highlighting social barriers and conflict, Rosella was rewarded with the Cannes Palme d'Or. Glasgow: GI’I‘. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Round Midnight (15) **** (Bertrand
Tavernier, US/France, 1986) Dexter Gordon,
Francois Cluzet, Lonette McKee. 133 mins. Late 1950s Paris, and a young French jazz fan plays willing minder to bebop legend Dale Turner, engagingly played by real life maestro Gordon, lest he drink his weary body into the grave. Relentlessly touching character study with some fine music. Edinburgh: Cameo.
The Rugrats Movie (U) H"): (Norton Virgien/lgor Kovalyov, US, 1998) Voices of: EU. Daily, Christine Cavanaugh, Kath Soucie. 80 mins. The weekly animated adventures of the un-cutesy, irritatingly voiced Pickles family is big among kiddies and adults in the States, but the movie is definitely more of a junior entertainment. The film's message is well intentioned, and it might keep the little ones quiet for a while. Glasgow: UCI. East Kilbride: UCI. Run Lola Run (15) ban (Tom Twyker, Germany, 1999) Franka I’otente, Moritz Bleibtreu. 80 mins. Young Berlin punk Lola (Potentc) has twenty minutes to raise 100,000 marks to save her stupid, but beloved boyfriend from murderous drug dealers. Not an easy task, but writer/director Tom Twyker gives bola three chances and helps her pound the streets with a thumping, self-composed techno soundtrack. Using every style trick in the book, 'I'wyker astounds with an adrenaline rush ofa movie. Edinburgh: Virgin Megaplex.
Scarface (PG) **** (Howard Hawks, US, 1932) Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, George Raft. 90 mins. The subtitle ‘Shame Of The Nation‘ and a tagged on morality ending is evidence that, on its release, Hawks‘s fictionalisation of the Al Capone story hit a chord with the campaigners who through the burst of gangster movies coming out of Hollywood were too violent for their own good. Ilowcver, this is a fine piece of filmmaking, with a classic plot structure, dark themes and a great look. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
A Scene By The Sea (PG) hint (Takeshi Kitano, Japan, 1991) Kuroko Maki, Hiroko Oshima. 101 mitts. A semi deaf boy working on a garbage truck in a seaside town finds a broken surfboard and repairs it. That's all your plot, but Kitano, better known for his ironic violent films such as .S'onimine, provides humour and truth about human
' nature in abundance. Glasgow:
(iilmorehillGlZ. The Secret Of Roan lnish (PG) **~k* (John Sayles, US Ireland, 1994) Jeni
s. “5
Small town romance: Show Me Love
Courtney, Eileen Colgan, John Lynch. 103 mins. Master filmmaker Sayles delivers a wonderfully wistful Celtic fantasy that should appeal to older and younger viewers alike. Capturing the mood of rural Ireland and the legend of the half-human, half-seal selkies, he spins a rich tale of everyday magic which taps into the cultural identity of the setting without a hint of condescension. Edinburgh: Lumiere. Sense And Sensibility (U) ***** (Ang Lee, US/U K, 1995) Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant. 135 mins. Denied their inheritance when the father of the household dies, the female members of the Dashwood family face a precarious future which complicates the romances of sensible Elinor (Thompson) and emotive Marianne (Winslet). Thompson’s adaptation keeps the wordplay engagineg tart and sharp-witted, but never loses sight of the powerful frustrations simmering beneath the surface. Infinitely more satisfying than your typical fluffy period piece. Edinburgh: St Bride’s.
Show Me Love (15) the (Lukus Moodysson, Sweden, 2000) Rebecca Liljeberg, Alexandra Dahlstrom. 89 mins. A slight tale of two teenage girls falling in love in the small Swedish town of mal, Moodysson's film combines a cinema veritc eye with some stock situations and characters. Creating tension and turmoil out of the rite of passage movie gets harder and harder, but Moodysson manages a modicum of freshness, and there are enough variables at work to keep the film going for an engaging hour and a half. See review. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
The Sixth Sense (15) **** (M. Night Shyamalan, US, 1999) Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Olivia Williams, Toni Collette. 107 mins. Nine-year-old Cole Sear (Osment) has a terrible secret. He can see the dead walking the earth; they‘re around him all the time and it's scary as hell. Child psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Willis) takes his case and spends all of his time, at the expense of his marriage to Anna (Olivia Williams), attempting to help the boy. Shyamalan's clever script suggests much and explains little, keeping the audience guessing. General release.
Sleepy Hollow (15) *~k** (Tim Burton, US, 1999) Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Christopher Walken. 105 mins. During the final days of 1799 ambitious young policeman Ichabod Crane (Depp) is sent to the fog-shrouded village of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of decapitations, but his scientific beliefs are shaken when he comes face to space with the Headless Horseman. Burton gives Washington Irving’s Gothic folktale a distinctly British colouring, as he borrows merrily from the Hammer films of the 50s and 60s, while Depp brings the right note of comedy to the dark proceedings. Edinburgh: Virgin Megaplex.
Star Wars Episode 1:The Phantom Menace (U) *** (George Lucas, US, 1999) Ewan MeGregor, Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman. 132 mins. On the surface, the plot structure isn‘t a million light years away from the original Star Wars. In visual