FILM index
FILM INDEX continued
A Bug's Life (U) *it* (John Lasseter, US, 1998) Voices of: Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey, David Hyde Pierce, Denis Leary. 95 mins. Made by Pixar Animation Studios (Toy Story), A Bug '3 Life takes us to Ant Island, where the colony is being oppressed by a gang of menacing grasshOppers. When inventive but clumsy worker ant Flik incurs the wrath of gang leader Hopper, he heads off to find help heavyweight help in the battle against his oppressors. Glasgow: Odeon At The Quay.
Burnt By The Sun (15) ***** (Nikita Mikhalkov, Russia, 1994) Nikita Mikhalkov, Oleg Menchikov, lngeborga Dapkounaite. 134 mins. Mikhalkov’s Oscar-winner is a genuine masterpiece. The gradual slide from the glory of the Revolution into the terror of the Stalin dictatorship is concentrated into the events of a single summer's day in 305 Russia, as the country household of a popular Soviet officer is disrupted by the return of his wife’s former lover, now a government informer. The sense of tragedy is immense, as the sunny, idyllic opening gives way to a darker, more uncertain reality. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Carry On Up The Khyber (U) *iri (Gerald 'Ihomas, UK, 1968) Kenneth Williams, Sid James, Charles Hawtrey, et al. 87 mins. The usual team showing their part (ooh-er!) in the end (titter!) of the British Empire. An embarrassing British entry (nudge, nudge) in the width and breadth of world cinema. Glasgow: Grosvenor.
A Cherry Orchard (PG) 11* (Michael Cacoyannis, UK, 1998) Alan Bates, Charlotte Rampling, Katrin Cartlidgc. 137 mins. A distinguished cast do justice to Chekov's classic text in which various personal dramas revolve around the bleak prospects faced by a family forced to auction off heir looms in order to save their estate. Edinburgh: Lumiere.
Chicken Run (U) **** (Nick Park/Peter Lord, UK, 2000) Voices of Mel Gibson, Julia Sawalha, Miranda Richardson. 85 mins. For their first feature Aardman studios have re-written the World War 11 P.O.W. experience as an Orwellian satire, albeit with laughs. So, Stalag 17 becomes a battery farm and the camp commandant farmer Tweedy’s domineering wife, while in the hutchcs, Ginger rallies her fellow hens to fly their coop. Though the characters aren’t as established as Wallace and Gromit and the feature length running time slows the action, Aardman continue to work real wonders with their familiar Plasticine animation. See review. General release.
Chill Factor (15) *** (Hugh Johnson, US, 2000) Skeet Ulrich, Cuba Gooding Jr. 101 mins. Regularjoe Mason (Ulrich) teams up with ice-cream delivery driver Arlo (Gooding Jr) to deliver ‘Elvis‘, a highly volatile frozen chemical compound capable of blowing a hole through next week, to a military base. Sounds dumb, but Johnson pulls it off. Despite no great originality in theme and execution, Chill Factor is a thoroughly entertaining action romp that fuses witty repartee of the buddy movie with the race against time white-knuckle ride. See review. Glasgow: Odeon At The Quay, Showcase, UCl. Edinburgh: UCI.
. 'l The . Small Wonders Production Award Scheme
£2000 to make your film! Supported by FVA filmmaker- in—residence: Amy Hardie
Encouraging new talent - Documentary/Animation/ performance/ Fiction
contact: The Film and Video Access Centre on: 0131 220 0220 deadline: July 20th 2000
THE SCOTTISH-MUS COUNCIL . .
MWUWW
30 THE LIST 22 Jun—6 Jul 2000
Dunfermline: Odeon. Paisley: Showcase. Deception (15) ** (John Frankenheimer, US. 2000) Ben Affleck, Charlize Theron, Gary Sinese. 105 mins. Like Frankenheimer's absurdly overrated Ront'n, this feels like a film from the mid-60$, with a 50s ‘8' noir script that’s been tricked out with 905-51er post-modern irony. Wide screen. deep focus compositions give free rein to the actors, who respond by giving credible performances that are curiously at odds with the arch clever-cleverness of Ehren (Scream 3) Kruger’s serpentine screenplay that involves an ex-con, a white trash woman and a casino heist. Sec feature and review. General release.
Double Indemnity (PG) ***** (Billy Wilder, US, 1944) Barbara Stanwyck, Fred McMurray, Edward G. Robinson. 106 mins. Cracking adaptation by Wilder and Raymond Chandler of the James M. Cain novel has insurance man McMurray attracted by the alluring Stanwyck, who talks him into murdering her spouse. All goes well until his boss Edward G. begins to suspect foul play. Sexual chemistry, labyrinthine plotting, tart wordplay, it's all here. Edinburgh: The Filmhouse.
Doug's 1st Movie (U) about (Maurice Joyce, US, 1999) 77 mins. The animated adventures of quirky adolescent Doug Funnie graduates from its popular Saturday morning slot on American television to big screen glory, courtesy of Disney. Movie no. 1 sees the twelve-year-old torn between taking action against environmental pollution and taking his beloved Patti Mayonnaise to the high school dance. Glasgow: UCI. East Kilbride: UCl.
Down To You (12) iii (Kris lsacsson, US, 2000) Freddie Prinze Jr, Julia Styles , Henry Winkler. 96 mins. This summer rom- com partners pretty young things Prinze Jr and Styles as New York college students, Al (a trainee chef) and Imogen (an artist). Love begins to take priority over their career plans, but various obstacles threaten their flowering relationship: a seductive vixen, an anxiety-ridden friend, a crazy roomate, and a guy who thinks he‘s Jim Morrison. Galashiels: Pavilion. Wishaw: Arrow Multiplex.
Drifting Clouds (15) **** (Aki Kaurismaki, Finland, 1996) Kati Outinen, Kari Vaananen. 96 mins. The Scandinavian director’s most sumptuous work to date (warm blues, lush reds and deep greens) tells the tale of a couple and their struggle against stagnation both economic and emotional. While Kaurismaki may not come across as the partying kind, his films continue to offer warmth, wit and subtlety. Edinburgh: Cameo.
Drive Me Crazy (12) 1M (John Schultz, US, 2000) Melissa Joan Hart, Adrian Grenier, Stephen Collins. 91 mins. High school fashion victim Nicole (Hart) and earnest protest-loving Chase (Grcnier) are dumped by their respective other halves. Though Nicole and Chase are polar opposites, they agree to date each other in order to arouse jealously in their exes. For a time they, yep, drive each other crazy, but then, surprise, surprise, they find that the true dream boats were closer than they‘d ever imagined. Yawn. General release. Edinburgh College Of Art Degree Show Within these graduation films from the Art College you're likely to find tomorrow’s top filmmaking talent. Last year, graduate Adrian J. McDowell went on to win a BAF'TA prize for his film, Who's My Favourite Girl?. See review next issue. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Erin Brockovich (15) **** (Steven Soderbergh, US, 2000) Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart. 133 mins. Unemployed single mother Erin (Roberts) shoehorns her way into a filing clerk position with Finney's California law firm. There she accidentally uncovers a conspiracy to conceal the poisoning of the local community, which leads to the largest direct action lawsuit in American history. This might sound like a cliched John Grisham thriller, but it's based on a true story and Soderbergh‘s direction and Roberts' performance are faultless — together they prove that mainstream American cinema can be something truly
great. Edinburgh: ABC, Dominion, Lumiere.
ET (U) *itt (Steven Spielberg, US,
c»: Aria.“ “he:
Speed with an ice cream van: Skeet Ulrich and Cuba Gooding Jr must deliver volatile frozen chemical weapon to the nearest army base - as you do — in The Chill Factor
1982) Dec Wallace, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote. 115 mins. An alien creature gets stranded on earth (the opening sequence of threatening legs and flashing torches is beautifully done), where he is adopted by some kids, who help him construct a communication device to summon back his spaceship. All the little guy wanted to do was go home, but Spielberg made sure he had lots of cute and agreeable adventures first, and slipped in the most tear-jerking psuedo-death since Baloo the Bear in The Jungle Boo/(2 for good measure. F alkirk.‘ FTH Cinema.
Extreme Screen: Everest and The Living Sea (U) ** 40 mins each. Although the lwerks experience impresses on a technical level, neither of these films transcend entertainment as lumbering fairground attraction. Everest is a dry-as-sand account ofa recent expedition up the big yin. Filmed in the style of a Sunday afternoon docudrama, it also has the dubious honour of rendering a remarkable adventure mundane. A much better bet is the visually wondrous The Living Sea, an ‘edutaining’ look at mankind's relationship with the sea (with voice-over from Meryl Streep). Edinburgh: UGC Cinemas.
Eye Of The Beholder (18) tint (Stephan Elliott, US, 2000) Ewan McGregor, Ashley Judd, Jason Priestly. 109 mins. McGregor is a lonely, obsessive British intelligence agent tracking a woman (Judd) across America, hooked on the belief that her experience has something in common with his own. But she is a ruthless killer without need for human contact. What could they possibly share? it’s a tired old set-up, and despite a lot of emphasis placed on the psychological dimension, the film never shakes itself free of cliches. Edinburgh: ABC, UGC Cinemas. Ayr: Odeon. Dunfermline: Odeon. Falkirk: ABC. Kilmarnock: Odeon. Kirkcaldy: ABC. Fantasia 2000 (U) *i* (Various, US, 2000) Voices of Steve Martin, Bette Midler, Quincy Jones. 75 mins. When Walt Disney first came up with the idea of turning classical music pops into an animated pot pourri, he originally envisioned that Fantasia would continue to be renewed by additional material. Sixty years on, his dream has at last came to fruition with this new collection of musical highlights. The star of the show is the one segment retained from the original, the Dukas ‘Sorcerer's Apprentice' set-piece with Mickey Mouse in a pointy wizard’s hat and lots of buckets of water. Glasgow: UCl. Edinburgh: UCl. East Kilbride: UCI. Paisley: Showcase. St Andrews: New Picture House.
Felix The Cat: The Movie (U) *** (Tibor Hemadi, US, 1990) 90 mins. From his 1919 debut onwards, Felix the Cat became a cartoon superstar before Mickey Mouse had even been thought of. Now at the age of over seventy, but still in peak condition, Felix limbers up for his first feature length adventure when he's called in to help the Princess of the happy kingdom of Oriana fend off a malevolent attack from the unscrupulous Duke of Zill. Stirling: MacRobcrt.
Final Destination (15) *** (James Wong, US, 2000) Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith. 98 mins. After a premonition Alex (Devon Sawa) manages to save a bunch of his classmates from a plane crash. As the survivors gruesomely pop their clogs
onc-by-one, it becomes apparent that death is playing catch-up. Disposable horror hokum, but the pace, irreverence and sick, black humour ensure the most entertaining teen slasher since the original Scream. General release.
A Fistful Of Dynamite (15) *** (Sergio Leone, ltaly/US, 1971) James Coburn, Rod Steiger. 133 mins. In this late entry into the Spaghetti Western cycle, former IRA explosives expert Sean (Coburn) teams up with peasant thief (Steiger) to take sides in the Mexican revolution. The emphasis on politics supposedly reflects Leone’s growing disillusionment with Italian politics. Glasgow: GFT.
For Love Of The Game (12) *** (Sam Raimi, US, 2000) Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston, John C. Reilly. 138 mins. Costner’s third baseball film (see also Bull Durham and Field OfDreams) opens with legendary pitcher Billy Chapel about to play what may well become his last game. Chapcl's got plenty on his mind: an injury to his arm, the impending sale of his team and his girlfriend (Kelly Preston) is about to move to London. So Chapel looks back over his career and love life and we get The Big Flashback. There's much to like in For Love Of The Game, which is resoundingly sentimental. Glasgow: Odeon At The Quay, Showcase. Edinburgh: UCI, UGC Cinemas. Dunfermline: Odeon. Paisley: Showcase. Wishaw: Arrow Multiplex.
Frequency (15) tint (Gregory Hoblit, US, 2000) Dennis Quaid, Jim Caviezel, Elizabeth Mitchell. 118 mins. A film of two innings: first, the sentimental story of a long-dead, baseball-loving New York fireman (Quaid) and his 36-year-old cop son (Caviezel), who due to freak weather conditions are somehow able to communicate via ham radio across a time- span of 30 years; second, an over-heated murder mystery involving the brutal slayings of young women in 1969. Scriptwriter Toby Emmerich's intriguing concept opens up all sorts of fascinating possibilities, then plumps for the least interesting. General release.
Frog (no cert) (Steven Morrison, UK, 1999) Harriet Hunter, lan Hanmore, Sheila Donald. 40 mins. Morrison and his gang of local filmmakers invite you to enter a dark world of giant frogs and clockwork eyes in this short(ish) film that pushes the boundaries of the fairytale experience. See review next issue. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. Galaxy Quest (PG) **** (Dean Parisot, US, 2000) Sigoumey Weaver, Tim Allen, Alan Rickman. 102 mins. In the film, Galaxy Quest is a Star Trek-style series which ran for a short time years ago and has subsequently developed cult status. To earn a crust the miserable cast make personal appearances at conventions and shopping mall openings. But a naive bunch of aliens mistake them for real heroes and enlist the cast's help in battling a real-life evil enemy. What follows is, on the surface, an entertaining display of straightfonvard, fish- out-of—water comedy, but underlying it is a gently scathing attack on fan culture, and America’s pathological need for heroes. Glasgow: ABC, Odeon At The Quay. Falkirk: ABC. Galashiels: Pavilion. Grccnock: Waterfront. Kirkcaldy: ABC. Paisley: Showcase.
Gangster No 1 (18) *** (Paul