FILM LIST
I Angel Dust ( 15) (Edouard Niermans. France. 1987) Bernard Giraudeau. Fanny Bastien. Fanny Cottencon. 94 mins. Distinctive Gallic thriller in which the unkempt Inspector Blount. desolated by his wife's departure. becomes involved with a mysterious and alluring girl wreaking havoc on those responsible for the long-ago death of her prostitute mother. Eschewing the flashierstylistics of recent French policiers. Niermans creates his own claustrophobic sense of repressed violence and all-pervading corruption whilst retaining a certain wry humour and is admirably assisted by the convincing red-rimmed peepers and shamble of M. Giraudeau. Glasgow Gl‘T. I Angel Heart (18) (Alan Parker. US. 1987) Mickey Rourke. Robert De Niro. Charlotte Rampling. 113 mins. Scruffy. unshaven private eye Harry Angel is hired by the mysterious Louis Cyphre to track down a missing Forties crooner who has reneged on a life-or-death deal. His investigations lead him to a seedy New Orleans dominated by voodoo cults and extremely dead bodies in this uncomfortable mating of visceral gore and moody film noir. Strathclyde UCl Clydebank.
I Batman (Tim Burton. US. 1989)]ack Nicholson. Michael Keaton. Kim Bassinger. 120 mins. In which Burton achieves the impossible by creating a product which lives up to perhaps the biggest hype job this century. Nicholson is on top form: psychotic. witty and zanier than you've ever seen him before; but the real triumph is Keaton‘s. With less screen time than the Great Upstager. he produces a performance ofunforgettable sublety and power. which gives a new credibility to the Bruce Wayne/Batman character. while remaining true to the comic strip.
With eerie angular design by Anton Furst. a terrific score by Danny Elfman. a suitably wacky script and a strong supporting cast. this is a long. movie which you won't want to end. See it. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road. Cannon Parkhead. Cannon Sauchiehall St. Salon. Edinburgh Cannon. Central: Allanpark. Caledonian. Cannon. Strathclyde: Cannon. Kelburne. La Scala. ()deon Ayr. Odeon Hamilton. UCl Clydebank. WMR Film Centre.
I Beaches ( 15) (Gary Marshall US. 1988) Bette Midler. Barbara Hershey.John Heard. Spalding Gray. 124 mins. Two eleven year old girls meet on a beach in Atlantic City and become lifelong friends despite jealous arguments and diverse lifestyles. C.C. Bloom is a loudmouthed actress/singer bound for stardom (not a
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Parents (18) a (Bob Balaban, US, 1988) Randy Duaid, Mary Beth Hurt. Sandy Dennis. 90 mins. An imaginative amalgam of ‘llairspray’, ‘Happy Days’ and ‘The Hills Have Eyes’, ‘Parents’ is the assured directing debut lrom ‘Close Encounters’ actor Bob Balaban. Set in 1958, Randy Duaid and Mary Beth llurt are the Laemles, an Ozzie and Harriet styled married couple, who act so suspiciously in their space-aged. suburban kitchen, their Pepsi Generation son is convinced they must be cannibals. Is it juvenile paranoid lantasy like his school sociologist. Sandy Dennis, seems to think? Or are the lrenzied lreezer orgies a bloody tact? And could those endless leftover meals really be barbecued innards body snatched lrom corpses Pop uses for pesticide experiments?
After an amusing hour at increasingly weird sit-com antics played against a backdrop of oft-centre apple pie normality ‘Parents’ impressively switches gear tor a distinctly grim
very taxing role for Midler). while Hershey‘s Hilary Whitney is a prim moneyed beauty trying hard to resist conformity. Midler makes good work of the star-vehicle script and is ably supported by Hershey. But make no mistake. this overlong female buddy movie is the schmalziest tearjerker you‘ll see in a while. Glasgow: Odeon. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank.
I Deetlejuice ( 15) (Tim Burton. US. 1988) Geena Davis. Alec Baldwin. Michael Keaton. 92 mins. Recently deceased. and very charming New England couple. the Maitlands. have difficulty in adjusting to the afterlife. Not the least of their worries is the tasteless refurbishment oftheir old home by a nasty New York yuppie family. and they eventually call on freelance bio-exorcist Betelgeuse (pronounced ‘Beetle-juice') to deal with the problem in his own inimitable fashion. Exuberantly eccentric cartoonish capers. a movie that creates its own comic cosmos where the unexpected is the norm. Great fun it all is too. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Rd.
I The fBurbs (PG) (.loe Dante. US. 1989) Tom Hanks. Bruce Dern. Carrie Fisher.
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ending as Balaban comments on the Eisenhower era and the subsequent demise of the family unit. Although the first disorientating brutal murder will have you wincing and the live salami in the pantry will leave you laughing, the grisliest sights in ‘Parents’ are served up by Hurt as she minces, lrys and tenderises all manner at loathsome otlal in extreme close-up.
The dreamy design is all split-level kitsch, kidney coffee tables and stiletto heels. The deliciously camp soundtrack perfectly complements the sleek surrealism and everyone, especially crisply housedressed Hurt, acts at just the right pseudo-psychotic pitch to catch unsuspecting audiences oft-guard. Balaban isn’t David Lynch but he gamely tries to cover much the same subversive suburban territory within the well-worn straight-jacket ol hip horror conventions. Formica fear was never more functional or so much ton and the ‘Parents’ trap is well worth lalling into. (Alan Jones)
Rick Ducommun. 102 mins. When Ray Petersen (Hanks) takes a week off work to pester his wife (Fisher). he and his buddies Ducommun and Dern become obssessed with the activities of his new neighbours. the mysterious Klopeks. whom they hound mercilessly.
Dante's offbeat anti-racist satire is spoiled by overacting and underwriting. but Hanks“ ability with slim material is undeniable. and lends the movie acertain light-hearted charm. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall St. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank.
I The Burglar (PG) (Paul Wendkos. US. 1956) Dan Duryea. Jayne Mansfield. 80 mins. Brooding adaptation from his own novel by pulp stylist David Goodis has jewel thief Duryea on the run from the cops. hounded by ibusiness associates’. and facing complicated affections for childhood friend Mansfield. Atmospherically filmed on seedy Philadelphia locations. Glasgow GF’I‘.
I Colonel Redl (15) (lstvan Szabo. Hungary/WGermany, 1984) Klaus Maria Brandauer. Hans-Christian Blech. Armin Muller-Stahl. 149 mins. Railwayman’s son Brandauer works his way up to a position of some prestige in the Austro-Hungarian army. but his insecurities and homosexual guilt are to prove his downfalls. A brilliant central performance dominates this overlong but powerful portrait of class-based hypocrisy. Glasgow: GET.
I Crack In The Mirror ( 18) (Robby Benson, US. 1988) Robby Benson. Tawny Kitaen, Danny Aiello. 93 mins. Gangland New York, and the naive Scott (Benson) is hustled into looking after his friends crack business while the latter is in hiding from the drug barons. Soon however. the clean-cut Scott and his clean-cut girlfriend Vanessa (Kitaen), are descending into the pit of addiction and degeneracy.
Unconvincing anti-crack melodrama. with new-fangled narcotics decorating distinctly old-fashioned plotting and characterisation. Technobuffs may wish to note that this is the first drama release shot on Sony‘s high-definition video system. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall St.
I Die Hard (18) (John McTiernan. US. 1988) Bruce Willis. Alan Rickman. Bonnie Bedelia. 131 mins. On a Christmas visit to his estranged wife in California, New York cop Willis is trapped in a new tower block when the corporate party he is attending with his spouse is attacked by international terrorists after the millions in the company safe. So it‘s left to Willisto bump off the baddics and save the hostages while the LA PD and FBI languish ineptly on the sidelines. Unbearany tense actioner that gets good mileage out of yawning lift-shafts and flying bullets, while Willis is convincing as an ordinary guy trying to cope with it all. Watch out for the RSC’s Alan Rickman as a villain with a highly-developed sense of humour. Edinburgh: Cameo. Central: MacRobert Arts Centre.
I Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (PG) (Frank 02. US. 1988) Steve Martin. Michael Caine. Glenne lleadly. 110 mins. In this remake of Bedtime Story. which starred Niven and
66 The List 18 — 24 August 1989