Video/DVD .
video@list.co.uk
HORROR
THE EXORCIST - THE VERSION YOU’VE NEVER SEEN
(18) 126 mins 00..
A little of the Original shock impact has been lost over the years. as director William Friedkin's techniques have been much imitated. All the same. we‘re left with a very deftly conceptualised movie. albeit a rather reactionary one. The extra six minutes in this version don't add much to the movie. though. We see the famous ‘spider walk' down the stairs. but it's hard to see why it was omitted for being too frightening. There's a few minutes of extra dialogue. and Blair's self-mutilation with a crucifix is a few seconds longer. but no more shocking than when it was indicated. not shown. Still a good movie. but these days you can see projectile vomiting any night on Lothian Road. (Warner
DRAMA CODE UNKNOWN
(15) 112 mins 00000
Michael Haneke is a genius; his secret (and it’s obvious when you think about it) is that he forces the audience to interact with his films. Here, directing his first film in France, the Austrian auteur shows us a loosely connected group of people living in Paris: Anne, an actress (played by Juliette Binoche), her newspaper photographer boyfriend Georges, his wayward teenage brother Jean, Romanian refugee Maria, and Amadou, the son of an African immigrant. Haneke shows, but he doesn’t tell.
Code Unknown starts thus: Jean visits Anne in Paris and on a busy street corner complains to her about his life. Walking away, he carelessly tosses a piece of rubbish into the lap of Maria, who
VHS and DVD retail) (Steve Cramer)
COMEDY BLOW DRY (15) 97 mins ee
Blow Dry looks
promising: a strong cast;
Full Monty writer Simon Beaufoy and the campest comedy material available — hairdressing. Set in Yorkshire (alarm bells already: accent nightmares). this is a small-town Brit-flick about a national hairdressing championship. Local hairdresser Phil (Alan Rickman). once the star
Video/ DVD
of the competition Circuit. meets his style- nemesis Ray (Bill Nighy) while dealing with the fact that his estranged wife (Natasha Richardson), who ran off with his model (Rachel Griffiths). is dying from cancer. Funny at times. there is comic potential here. but the juxtaposition of farce and tragic. grim reality. whilst harking back to Beaufoy‘s earlier success. is uncomfortable in the extreme. (Buena Vista VHS rental) (Olivia Wright)
ROMANTIC DRAMA COSTA BRAVA (15) 90 mins 00.
This is an odd little independent movie. first released in 1995. and amazingly shot in only fourteen days. It charts the love affair of two independent women. Anna (writer/director Marta Balletbo-Coll) who is a tour-guide in Barcelona. hankering to be a stand-up comedienne in San Francisco. and Monserrat (Desi del Valle). a Jewish American. working in a
A ilin by MII.’HJIIUKI‘
Eye
is begging. This callous act enrages Amadou, who is passing by. After taking issue with the boy, he is arrested by racist policemen. Thereafter, the characters go about their lives. Haneke provides the key pieces to a series of almost stand-alone scenes. It’s for the audience to fill in the gaps. Do these people increasingly appear to have something in common? Quite the opposite: they are connected by geography, but theirs are isolated lives. This is made clear during a scene in which Anne is alone in her flat, ironing. For a moment she turns the television volume down and hears the sound of a child being beaten in the next flat. It stops; she turns the volume up again. Later, she discovers the child is dead. Adding up parts such as these to form a whole makes for supremely
challenging and engrossing cinema. (Miles Fielder)
Prepare to interact
I Avar/ab/e from Mon 75 Oct through Art/'fi'cia/ Eye on VHS and DVD retail.
research lab. Costa Brava is deliberately non-naturalistic. disjointed. oddly cut and mixes voice-over, video techniques. and symbolism. Often it feels too theatrical. especially Anna's extracts of her monologue. Despite these reservations. it has its own idiosyncratic charm, funny lines aplenty. truthful observations and. between the two women. a real chemistry. (Millivres VHS retail) (John Binnie)
MARTIAL ARTS ENTER THE DRAGON - UNCUT SPECIAL EDITION
(18) 99 mins eeeee
It's hard to believe that the original 1973 version of Bruce Lee's final film could be bettered. but this newly released special edition is a vast improvement. Not only does it include the rare ‘monk scene'. previously cut because it was deemed too ‘philosophical' for Western audiences. it has also been fully restored. both visually and aurally; the soundtrack is slick and every one of those cute little whooping noises Lee makes are crystal clear. This is undoubtedly Lee's best film before his untimely death. and this edition (also available as a box set with extra goodies) is a fitting testament to the man and the legend. (Warner VHS and DVD retail) (Kirsty Knaggs)
BOXING DRAMA GIRLFIGHT (15) 106 mins .00.
Gi'r/fight introduces two talented new female contenders: director Karyn Kusama and star Michelle Rodriguez (recently seen, though underused in The Fast
And The Furious). Rodriguez plays a downtrodden young Puerto Rican living in
poverty with her abusive . father and nerdy brother ‘ in Brooklyn. When she
takes over her brother’s boxing lessons she's able to turn her enormous pent-up rage
to good use. battling her 1 way not so much out of
tary & music videos.
Edition
cast and crew.
taries.
Halloween
Pacino and De Niro
the ghetto but towards self-respect. What Kusama's film lacks in means (it's very low budget) it makes up for in raw energy; the fight scenes are dynamic. but Rodriguez's performance out of the ring packs just as much of a punch. (Columbia Tristar VHS and DVD rental) (Miles Fielder)
Amorea (Love’s A Bitch)
Released: 24th September 2001
A violent. powerful and controversial film (due to the dog fighting scenes). Critically acclaimed — taking almost 21m at the UK box office. Extras include additional scenes. a behind-the-scenes dOCumen-
From Dusk Till Dawn - 2 DVD Collectors
Released: 24th September 2001
Re-issue of the Robert Rodriguez thriller starring George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino. DVD 1 includes the film itself with outtakes; Hollywood Goes To Hell and Art Of Making The Movie fea- turettes. cast & crew biographies and music videos. DVD 2 includes a 'Full Tilt Boogie' - a feature length documentary and the j0urney of the film featuring
Superman - 2 DVD Box Set
Released: 24th September 2001
Considered by many to still be the best Super-Hero. with groundbreaking special effects. Some of the great features include added scenes and dOCUmen-
Game Of Death - Special Edition Released: 1st October 2001
A 2-disc special edition of Bruce Lee's final film. including the infamous ‘Nunchaku' fight seguence between Lee and Dan lnosanto.
Released: 1st October 2001
Re-release of the horror classic by Anchor Bay in a 2-DVD special edition. containing Wide Screen and Full Screen versions of the film. Extras include a ‘Halloween Unmasked 2000' historical documentary.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Released: 1 st October 2001
Disney‘s first classic film with extras including Barbara Streisand's recording of ‘Some Day My Prince Will Come'. the ‘Making Of...‘ featurette and a ‘Heigh Ho' sing-along.
Godfather Mlogy - Box Set
Released: 8th October 2001
This 5-disc set shows Coppola's epic tale of the Corleone family's rise to Mafia power brings together an impressive ensemble cast including Brando.
Planet of the Apes - Box Set
Released: 8th October 2001
The box set containing six discs. coincides with the new Tim Burton version. It also features the original film and all the sequels as well as ‘Behind the Planet of the Apes' - a two-hour documentary.
4-18 Oct 2001 THE LIST 111