The Secret Of Roan lnish (PG) tttt (John Sayles. [IS/Ireland. 199-1) Jeni 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. Lumiere. Edinburgh.
Seven ( 18) *ttik (David Eincher. US. 1995) Brad Pitt. Morgan Freeman. Gwyneth Paltrow. 127 mins. The outline is familiar — two cops track down a serial killer — but Seven is a step ahead of its rivals. From its opening title sequence onwards. it's an extremely dark movie which winds through the most twisted recesses of human nature. Each death is a graphic interpretation of one of the seven deadly sins. giving Alien 3 director Fincher the material for an intense stylistic exercise in horror. l'GC Cinemas. Edinburgh.
Sexy 383“ l 18) *tt‘k (Jonathan Glazer. UK. 2000) Ray Winstone. Ben Kingsley. Ian McShane. 88 mins. When retired criminal Gary Dove (Winstone) gets a visit from East End headcase Don Logan (Kingsley). who's to persuade Dove to leave his Costa del Sol villa to do one last ‘job' for crime boss Teddy Bass lMcShanel. the sparks fiy. Dove stutters a nervous 'No thanks". Logan screams 'Yes. you c"t1'. At length. The back and forth between the hard man who's lost his bottle and the oflicious little psychopath is nothing short of Pinter-esque. alternately menacing. hilarioth and terrifying. Cast against type. the leads are superb. Glazer rigorously maintains content over style. and the result is a razor sharp drama that's no mere gangster film. Cameo. Edinburgh.
Shadow Of The Vampire ( (Si *ttt (E. Elias Merhige. 2001 ) Willem Dafoe. John Malkovich. Eddie lzzard. 91 mins. Illuminated by a remarkable performance from Dafoe. this sly horror follows the filming of E W. Murnau’s silent classic Nosferatu. Arriving in Eastern Europe for location shooting. Murnau (Malkovich) warns his crew that the man who is to play Nosferatu (Dafoe) is a method actor who inhabits his roles completely. What Murnau hasn't told them is the extent of his lead's familiarity with the ways of the undead. As the incident-filled shoot continues and Murnau becomes blindly obsessed with finishing the picture. the film ultimately becomes a tongue-in-cheek meditation on directors who will do anything to get the perfect shot. Selected release.
Shaft ( 18) *‘k‘k‘k (Gordon Parks.
1971 1 Richard Roundtree. Moses Gunn. Charles Cioffi. 100 mins. Male model Roundtree is the eponymous hero. whose job it is to find and rescue the daughter of black Mafia boss Bumpy Jonas (Gunnl. ()n his travels Shaft encounters the local black power movement. a handful of tiptight. doughnut- eating cops. and a number of shady hitmen up for what Shaft calls ‘kicking my black ass'. A huge commercial success in the CS. Shaft opened the eyes of American studio bosses to the potential black cinema market. which had relegated black actors to Uncle Tom roles. It may look dated. but it captured a moment in time and did so with style. Grosvenor. Glasgow.
Shock Corridor ( 18) *ttt (Samuel Euller. LS. 1963) Peter Breck. Constance Towers. Gene Evans. James Best. Hari Rhodes. 101 mins. Breck's heroic reporter allows himself to be committed to an asylum in order to investigate the murder of an inmate. As the slow process of obtaining reliable information from the deranged witnesses frustrates him. so the surroundings begin to wear down his own sanity. and his latent neuroses arise to speed his descent into madness. Slightly hard to believe. but it's an enthralling and stunningly photographed ride. Cameo. Edinburgh.
Showboat (L'i *ttt (George Sidney. 175. 1951 ) Kathryn Grayson. Ava Gardner. Howard Keel. 108 mins. Kern and Hammerstein's musical gets the MGM colour treatment. and it‘s one of the best. Set among Mississippi river folk. it contains a batch of favourites including “()1‘ Man River' and ‘Make Believe‘. St Bride's Centre. Edinburgh.
Singin‘ In The Rain it» it it t t * (Gene Kelly (3; Stanley Donen. L‘S. 19501 Gene Kelly. Donald O'Connor. Debbie Reynolds. Cyd Charisse. 102 mins. Hollywood undergoes the transition from the silent era to the talkies and reputations rise and fall. Absolutely wonderful mUsical entertainment. with the slickest of snappy dialogue. endurmgly catchy numbers. a cast of genuine charisma. and an engaging picture of the industry in transition into the bargain. Quite splendid. Lumiere. Edinburgh.
The 6th Day ( 15) it (Roger Spottiswoode. CS. 2000) Arnold Schwarzenegger. Tony Goldwyn. Robert Duvall. 123 mins. Synthetic blend of futtiristic thriller and Bond-style action movie sees Schwarzenegger's average family man Adam Gibson returning home for a ‘secret' binhday party to find that he has been replaced by an identical clone. Kidnapped by the perpetrators of this scientific 'mistake'. he escapes and goes on the run. trying to unravel the mystery and recover the life. wife and children that have been stolen from him. llam- fistedly directed by Spottiswoode. this is little more than a random series of shoot-outs. chase scenes and helicopter stunts. Most depressing of all. however. is the realisation that Arnold simply cannot hack it anymore as an Action Man. Cameo. Edinburgh.
Small Time Crooks (P01 in (woody Allen. US. 20001 Woody Allen. Tracey L’llman. Hugh Grant. ()2 mins. Allen‘s strike rate dips again with this slight tale of Ray (Allen 1. a bumbling. insecure thief who convinces his wife l‘renchy (the splendidly shrill L'llman) that his next job is fool—proof. Ray's plan takes a while to get off the ground. Meantime. Frenchy's covering role as cookie- maker earns her celebrity statUs. So far. so fairly funny. Then. in drops Hugh Grant as a posh suitor given the task of making sophisticates out of the common pair. I’vgniulion without so many laughs. Adam Smith Theatre. Kirkcaldy‘.
Some Like It Hot (PG) ***** (Billy Wilder. CS. 1951)) Tony Curtis. Jack Lemmon. Marilyn Monroe. 120 mins. Two impecunious male mUsicians inadvertently witness the St Valentine's Day Massacre and take refuge in Florida with Sweet Sue and her Society Syncopators. an all-female band. Brilliant. brittle. crackerjack farce with all concemed at a peak in their careers. (irosvenor. Glasgow. Space Cowboys (PU) wk (Clint Eastwood. LS. 2000) Clint Eastwood. James Garner. Tommy Lee Jones. Donald Sutherland. 130 mins. The first half of Space Cowboys could be called Four Grumpy Old Men. as we're introduced gradually to each ageing member of Team Daedalus. an aborted space project in the 50s. Then halfway through the film Eastwood flicks a switch and it becomes
Apollo [3. except ftill of old folks. And a
million times more daft. The first part works better. Let’s face it. this acting combo has got a few miles on the clock. but not even this cast can salvage much respect from this lame duck of a film. ()deon. Dunfermline.
State And Main ( 15) was: (David Mamet. US. 2001 ) William H. Macy. Rebecca Pidgeon. Philip Seymour Hoffman. 102 mins. Given that irascible playwright/ filmmaker Mamet has never shied away from lambasting Hollywood. it's surprising that this satire on studio filmmaking is relatively gentle. This comic tale of what happens when a Hollywood film crew overruns a sleepy East Coast community is positively Capraesque in its whimsical admiration of small town life and the whimsy and satire don't sit well together. Hard~nosed Mamet is no Capra; he should stick to what he does best: tough Chicago gangsters and unscrupulous con men. See review. Selected release.
Sunshine ( (51 *t* llstvan Szaho. IIungary/Germany/Canada/Austria/l.’K. 2000) Ralph Fiennes. Jennifer Ehle and William Hurt. 179 mins. Great big pan of goulash of a movie from former European cinema darling Slitht) l.”¢’pl1l.\'l(’. Colonel Red/l. l‘ocUsing on lives defined and broken by history and politics. Sims/zine tells the stories of three generations of Hungarian Jews living in the 20th century. But it's predictable. clumsy and ultimately manipulative; a modern audience does not need themes of bigotry. family and patriotism .so obviously and chronologically underlined. ()deon. Kilmarnock.
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