'P- hut/P
playing most of the main roles. all except Janet Jackson that is. She plays Professor Sherman Klump's love interest. Denise. who he can't tell how he feels because he is inhabited by an abnormal gene in the form of the wrsecracking Buddy Love. Sherman manages to remove Buddy only to start losing his intelligence during the development. and subsequent theft, of his new youth formula . This a very amusing film especially with Granny's one-liners and her attempted seduction of Buddy. (Universal €14.99) (Jane Hamilton)
SCIENCE FICTION THE 6TH DAY (15) 118 mins 00
Arnie's back! This time
tackling the topical subject of cloning. Cut to the near future: pets are being duplicated on a regular basis but human cloning is still illegal. However, Arnie returns home to find his clone is already there. and eating his birthday cake (of all the injustices). So it's time to kick some butt and get his life back. Schwarzenegger has been in some great films (Conan. Terminator. Commando). but this is shoddy sci-fi action fare. that even lacks decent action. What should have been another Total Recall is more like an overlong episode of The Outer Limits. Come on big man. we know you can do better than this. (Columbia Tristar rental;
$119.99 on DVD) (Henry Northmore)
COMEDY SMALL TIME CROOKS
(PG) 90mins 000
Hj.'.'~“vrir.i:i'.‘ 2'."
A planned bank robbery by hapless Pay (Woody Allen) accidentally turns his wife, Frenchy (Tracey Ullman). into a millionaire cookie magnate. Frenchy turns to art dealer David (Hugh Grant) to help her fit in ‘culturally' a la Pygma/ion. This is
another of Allen's caper
movies, and I do not mean of the edible variety. The wafer-thin plot has some good comedy patter between the partners in crime — a
formula previously
employed in Manhattan Murder Mystery — to limited success. These Nu Yoikers speedily descend into cliche and
despite enthusiastic overacting from Allen
and Ullman. Crooks is ultimately a little flat.
; (FilmFour/VCI rental)
(Mark Robertson)
COMEDY DRAMA SPLENDOR oo
(15) 89 mins
From the previously hip indie writer/director Gregg Araki (Doom Generation. Total/y F"'ed Up). comes this disappointing straight- to-video effon about an LA. actress and the two men she simultaneously shares a bed with. Poorly written and filmed against stock backdrops you would expect in any
Channel :3 late night mowe. SplendOr forsakes Originality. truth and inSight for an uninteresting straight-to- camera vomeover which robs the movie of tenSion. Kathleen Robertson in the lead role can act and her buff-bodied bedmates have the required pecs but are humourless and without appeal. Splendor makes Threesome — the 1994 commercial Hollywood effort — seem like a masterpiece by Visconti. (Fox Pathe rental) (John Binnie)
DRAMA/COMEDY SUGAR TOWN (18) 93 mins .00.
Rock ‘n' roll has never seemed as easily domesticated as here where Alison Gas, Food. Lodging Anders delves into the private lives of
four Los Angeles musos.
their families and friends. This partially improvised. Short Cuts-style multiple character, multiple narrative meander. is surprisingly engrossing.
. drny mocking the
environment it so perceptiver portrays. The ensemble cast is a stroke of genius with the ironic inclusion of Andy Taylor of Duran Duran and Martin Kemp of Spandau Ballet as two past-their-peak rockers. Only a rather abrupt conclusion reduces the film's easy charm. (FilmFour/VCI €12.99) (Mark Robertson)
ALSO RELEASED
Gun Shy (Warner rental; $19.99 On DVD) Sandra Bullock and Liam Neeson
play undercover copS.
unsuccessfully.
Hamlet (FilmFour/VCI $14.99; $319.99 on DVD) Ethan Hawke is the dithering Prince in this modern Shakespeare adaptation.
Hotel Splendide (FilmFour/VCI $312.99) Faw/ty Towers meets Gormenghast. unsuccessfully.
The Kid (Buena Vista rental; $19.99 on DVD) Bruce Willis meets himself as a child (ho. ho).
Pokemon 2000 (Warner rental; $19.99 on DVD) The Japanese animation phenomenon returns. and there's a third in the works.
tv@list.co.uk
DOCUMENTAPY TIMEWATCH 8802. Fri 11 May. 9pm 0...
Picture the scene: yodre a Japanese soldier fighting in World War II. posted on an island hundreds of miles from the mainland. When leaflets are dropped to yoo in 19/15 telling you that the war is over and it's time to surrender, you dismiss it as an enemy ruse and decide to keep on fighting. For 29 years. It SOUlldS lll()r()(ili)|f: but it's the true story of Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda. a man revered as a hero in Japan.
This programme features; his first interwew With Western press about his experience. Mixing
interview footage With wartime documentary
material and
reconstructions. we're
taken through the events and also into the psyche of a man who could not
accept that Japan would
surrender. Hearing the story of dedication to his country but also brutality
against the islanders. Onoda seems to have teetered on the fine line between madness and military discipline. It makes for unsettling but intriguing viewing. (Louisa Pearson)
SITCOM
SAM’S GAME Scottish. Mon 14 May, 9pm 00.
Just what the world really needed. another dodgy ITV sitcom. Except. Sam's Game
has a couple of genuinely amusing
moments. I mean. bits where you actually find yourself smiling. quite literally on the verge of laughter. And this is the last thing you expect after five minutes in. Kicking off in the ‘classic'
UK f§ltl"7"‘ . i‘ Apnea. i1_ f“i55tlll(ifrftaitt'Xli"il a". l hilarious csnse:iiier‘bes. Sam (Davina McCall accidentall. ervis .n hed .‘.’IIil ‘Iatri‘atv; (Ed Bane.
the plot. ex’ e; t the
Ale- All) “‘4‘. rerruunder it the sti. sees Barri rifte'riiiti'.ri‘_, explain The tor} LI; 1 her llr,i.?iieril an i fw- trying tr keep tln- "fruit?" from his girlfriend N l’: (filth Iii HIV!" i‘d’ftrl ill“) ii the charade for the benefit of the latirilui l Which is when: the ‘latlghs' collie lll. Naturally. rniirl‘. attenti r‘ on the slios.’ '.‘./lH he spent on Davina McCall's actinri r tel iut la more restrained .‘rl‘Jl in of her sassy r,eleliiit .i and Ed Byine illlillll, making his lithe way into a sitcom this l)(?l’l()rlll(lllfif: is a heightened template of his stage personal. I“ give it three weeks. (EStan McCorinicki
SKI lfjll SI If)\.r’.r’
TV TO GO BBC2, Mon 14 May. 10.35pm 000
After haying seemineg run through every permutation possible. where cart the post modern tahleau that is the TV sketch show go from here? Back to work of course. to thro.v in some rnirthsorne antics to Sll alongside those that occur in the home. Trying to prove there's more to her than Mrs Doyle front lat/rel led. Pauline Mcl ynn heads the ensemble along v/ith Hugh Dennis and their painfully hackneyed ‘technolear' premise (Aarrgh! I can't operate a fax machine!) is thankfully dispensed ‘.‘/llil early on.
There are actually a few genuine laugh-out loud
TV
GARY A'ND MIKE Sky One. Thu 17 May. 10pm 00.
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l 0 l.. l ' f/1'.L".‘ ' ' ' (til’iill‘ it‘ oral: i. if rir il“"»‘).lr. wIwI' lil“,'ill"’ii7|"ll/;"ii [)l‘li‘fln' l.’r " '.i.)""llf ‘u itll’lil'lllil' Hit: ' the. uric/rel, {3‘ l" HI‘-":Jt":il .I IV“ rteiitirw'. i'ii. 'li row" il‘:f‘:rli'"lt urn-wt i,T'ltl7-." ‘ .' .f I 'M *-’ l theariiinatr-llilwv Hrilrierfmrrii/l' at l Harli- llr“, nihii'l‘i'l‘d, t~’iilrti'itri"fi",‘i l‘irr'i' [lurid/l" 'i
Another dodgy sitcom
.-'.'.‘:.. 'THE LIST 115