FILM LIST
original 1969 George Romero classic. instead this is a sequel/reprise to Dan O‘Bannon‘s 1984 horror-comic. The plot is pretty much the same as before. with frisky kids disturbing mysterious military gas cannistcrs. which the cause the local dead to rise from their graves. hungry for ‘More brainsl‘. Given the briefsynopsis.
The effects. like the movie as a whole. are efficient. if nothing new. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr.
I Road House (18) i? (Rowdy Herrington. US. 1989) Patrick Swayze. Ben Gazzara. Kelly Lynch. 114 mins. See review. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road Cannon Clarkston Road. Cannon The
Cannon. Kelburne. Odeon Ayr. Odeon Hamilton. UCl Clydebank 11).
I Roxanne (PG) (Fred Sehepisi. US. 1987) Steve Martin. Daryl Hannah. Shelley Duvall. 107 mins. Witty. tender and charming reworking of Cyrano de Bergerac deploying a range ofcomedy techniques as fire chief Martin ofthe enormous proboscis copes with life and lovestruck romance. Edinburgh: Cameo. I Running On Empty ( 15) (Sydney Lumet.
Judd Hirsch. Martha Plimpton. 117 mins. The family of a couple who bombed a napalm factory during the Vietnam war are forced to live on the run. changing names and hairstyles like socks. and sticking together. When Danny (Phoenix) starts growing up and wanting to go his own way. the family must confront permanent separation. Fine acting and restrained ifsentimental plotting make a remarkable, haunting film. which may not be Lumet‘s best. but demonstrates his determination and ability to engage the audience in questions ofsocial responsibility. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Salaam Bombay! ( 15) (Mira Nair. India/‘France/U K. 1988) Shafiq Syed. Raghubir Yadev. Aneeta Kanwar. 95 mins. Shot on location on the streetsof Bombay. the film records the lives ofthe city's thronging street urchins. focusingon young Krishna‘s (Syed) descent into a seedy underworld of prostitution and narcotics as he tries to earn enough money to return home to his native village. This auspicious debut from Indian woman film-maker Nair manages to avoid the obvious. and makes its moral points through its sympathy for the remarkable children whose indomitable spirit is convincingly captured by the former documentarist‘s camera. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Sex. Lies and Videotape (15) (Steven Soderbergh. US. 1989) Andie McDowell. Laura San Giacomo. James Spader, Peter Gallagher. 101 mins. The sex: John (Gallagher) is conducting a steamy affair with his sister-indaw Cynthia (San Giacomo). The lies: they neglect to tell his wife. Anne (McDowell). The videotape: John‘s black-clad buddy. looking like an undertaker for the arts world. Graham (Spader) gets his kicks by videoing women‘s sexualconfessions. Reducedto the bare bones. you may well wonder what all the fuss was about. Yet. 26 year old hotshot Soderbergh‘s first feature and winner ofthe Palme d‘Or is a strikingly assured piece of work. forcing us to examine our own attitudes toward scx. Glasgow: GFT. Edinburgh: Cameo. Strathclyde: Kelburne. I Shame ( 15) (Steve Jodrell. Australia. 1987) Deborra Lee Furness. Tony Barry. Simone Buchanan. 92 mins. Asta (Furness) is an independent barristerand a biker. whose motorcycle breaks down while she is travelling through the outback. She finds herself in a small town where a conspiracy of silence is covering up the gang-rape of a young girl. Asta takes on her case and becomes locked in a battle with the sheriff and the whole ofthe town‘s male community for recognition of the crime. Powerful companion piece to
you could probably write the rest yourself.
Forge. Odeon. Salon. Edinburgh: ()deon. Central: Allanpark. Cannon. Strathclyde:
US. 1988) Christine Lhati. River Phoenix.
The Rachel Papers (18) (Damien Harris, UK, 1989) Dexter Fletcher, lone Skye, Jonathan Pryce, James Spader. 93 mins. You’ve got to hand it to the iolks at Virgin because they’ve come up with a really zappy poster for this one. All bright colours and natty clothes, it has the look oi a iailed Face iashion spread or a particularly nauseating record sleeve, and as such will prove distressingly attractive to the kind oi nerdy teens (those who watch films about sex and parties rather than actually having them) among whom this perfectly resistible movie will find its prime audience.
It’s (abem) based on an early Seventies Martin Amis novel (been a bad year for Marty really) which has been updated to the happening late Eighties. Except that they‘ve cocked it up. Our hero Charles Higham, an obnoxious young penis-on-Iegs played by Dexter Fletcher, at one point in his interminable romancing oi lithe American bimbette lone Skye, is caught with the young lady at a lestival oi naturist films. on aye, loads of them on in London just now.
Anyway, I’ll spoil the plot for you and tell you that he gets to knob the lass protractedly, in a lengthy sequence notable ior an almost Japanese attention to the masking oi pubic hair (OK so let's play spot the strategically-placed loofah) beiore realising that yes, she pisses, shits and has an unbearable singing voice so he
doesn’t want her alter all. It’s a moral parable iorourtimes, innit.
There are compensations in the odd characteriul cameo from the likes oi Messrs Spader (a passing American cad), Pryce (cranky relative) and even Michael Gambon (an English tutorwith a stern eye ior prententious gull), but the nerve-shreddineg matey periormance irom young Dex in the central role deieats all comers. The movie is directed by Damien, son of Richard Harris, an actor whom we once saw being strung up by the nipples at the hands oi some playiul Redskins. It certainly set me thinking. Heh heh. (Trevor Johnston)
From Fri 17 Nov: Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street.
The Accused which manages to create a brooding atmosphere of male threat without resorting to explicit detail. Central: MacRobert Arts Centre.
I The Shining ( 18) (Stanley Kubrick. US. 198(1) Jack Nicholson. Shelly Duvall. Philip Stone. Kubrick's overwrought horror film dispenses with much ofthe psychic apparatus of Stephen King‘s novel to concentrate on the deeper horror ofa family turning in on itself. Nicholson. with all the stops out. is bug-eyed and demonic as the father bringing much aggression to bear against his son. and the final scenes are. literally. chilling. Edinburgh University Film Society.
I Shirley Valentine ( 15) (Lewis Gilbert. UK. 1989) Pauline Collins. Bernard Hill. Tom Conti. l 1() mins. Specialpreview screening of Gilbert‘s screen version ofthe celebrated Willy Russell play. now expanded from a monologue to include Bernard Hill as the insensitive hubby and Tom Conti as the Greek bit of stuffshe meets on a Mediterranean holiday that turn into a voyage ofsclf-(re )discovery. Pauline Collins is outstanding. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge. Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Salon. Edinburgh: Cannon. Central: Cannon. Strathclyde: Cannon. UCI Clydebank ll). WMR Film Centre. I Short Circuit || (PG) (Kenneth Johnson. US. 1988) Fisher Stevens. Michael McKean. Cynthia Gibb. ll()mins. lnnocuous sequel to a charming original has anthropomorphic android Number 5 trying to make it in the big city and coming into contact with would-be toymaker McKean. who‘s interested in the marketing potential of the robot's engaging capabilities. Passing character actor Jack Weston supplies the comic book villainry. Formula fodder aimed purely at the children‘s holiday market. but by no means the worst of its kind. Strathclyde: ()deon Ayr.
I A Short Film About Killing ( 18) fr (Krzysztof Kieslowski. Poland. 1987) Miroslaw Baka. Krzysztof Globisa. Jan
Tesarz. 84 mins. See review. Glasgow: GFT. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Silent Movie (Mel Brooks. US. 1976) Mel Brooks. Marty Feldman. Dom De Luise. 87 mins. A Boozy producer triesto assemble a star cast for this wizard scheme
' to re-live the heady. pre-talkie days 0L
Keaton et (11. Despite Brooks‘ dab-hand with the movie in-jokes. and game participation by the likes ofNewman. Reynolds and Minnelli. the slapstick is slapdash. and the belly laughs stick in the throat. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Spiderrnan (PG) (E.W. Swackhammer. US. 1977) Nicholas Hammond. Lisa Eilbacher. 94 mins. Passable screen incarnation of the Marvel Comics hero. Originally made as a TV pilot but released cinematically in Britain. it does however lack the budgetary resources that would have made the effects look a little more convincing. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Star Wars (PG) (Gorge Lucas. US. 1977) Mark Hamill. Carrie Fisher. Harrison Ford. Alec Guiness. 121 mins. A log time ago in a galaxy far away. a bandof young heoroes fight to rescue a princess and save her planet from destruction. Hugely influential and successful space epic. a modern fairytale with laser swords. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Star Trek V: The Final Frontier(PG) (William Shatner. US. 1989) William Shatner. Leonard Nimoy. DeForrest Kelley. James Doohan. 107 mins. Their mission to boldly go where no man has gone before. well where this lot have been four times before. This time Cap‘n James Tiberius Kirk makes his directorial debut. On the plus side most of the charactersare as well written and credible as they were in the TV series. albeit with rather more grey hairs. However. the plot turns out to be the normal formula hokum. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank 10.
I Supreme Judgement (Hertz Franck. Latvia. 1987) 69 mins. Documentarist Franck offers a shattering look atcapital
punishment from the perspective of condemned double murderer Valery Dolgov. Glasgow: GFT. I Talk Radio ( 15) (Oliver Stone. US. 1988) Eric Bogosian. Ellen Greene. Leslie Hope. 110 mins. Fascists and racists. bigots and rapists. but above all the anonymous run riot over the airwaves every night. Barry Champion (Bogosian) is the DJ confessor pushing his listeners closer to the limits ofexcess. a masterof the put-down and the hang up button. ()ut of the world oflate-night radio shows where dangerous prejudices surface. Stone has conjured a taut and thrilling movie. spiced by Bogosian‘s napalm wit. Glasgow: Grosvenor. I Taxi Driver( 18) (Martin Scorsese. US. 1976) Robert de Niro. Cybill Shepherd. Jodie Foster. 114 mins. An alienated taxi driver in New York is so repelled by the squalor and the moral decay around him that he is driven to terrible violence. One ofthe key films ofthe Seventies with the Scorsese-dc Niro partnership at its peak. Edinburgh University Film Society. I Tequila Sunrise ( 15) (Robert 'I‘owne. US. 1988) Mel Gibson. Kurt Russell. Michelle Pfeiffer. 100 mins. Would-be ex-dope dealer Gibson finds that he can‘t quite shift his dark past. and his childhood friend Russell. now a narcotics cop becomes involved in trying to track him down. Meanwhile. Pfeiffer isthe glamorous restaurant owner romantically caught between the two ofthem. Disappointing second effort as director from renowned screenwriter Towne (Chinatown). which fails to surmount well-used narrative ingredients and winds down to a positively limp climax. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr. I The Thing ( 18) (John Carpenter. US. 1982) Jeff Bridges. E.G. Marshall. 96 mins. Scientists on an Antarctic research station thaw out an alien creature able to change its shape and horribly murder humans. Extraordinary effects in this tense shocker. which utilises the central gimmick from the original short story in the way that the 1950 version did not. Edinburgh University Film Society. I They Live ( 18) (John Carpenter. US. 1988) Roddy Piper. Keith David. Meg thster..94mins. Returning to his B-movie roots. the latest Carpenter is a spritely sci-fi satire with a decidedly Fifties feel. As recession grips America and the divide widens between rich and poor. drifter Frank (Roddy Piper) discovers that the unscrupulous yuppies controlling the economy are in fact aliens. and they're using subliminal advertising to keepthe mass of the populace docile. Although the serious and rather political premise beautifully set up by the first halfofthe film needs more of a follow-through. the knockabout action that follows in the latter sections is well handled in itself. Strathclyde: ()deon Ayr. I Tlrez Sur la Pianiste ( 15) (Francois Truffaut. France. 1960) Charles Aznavour. Marie Dubois. Nicole Berger. 8() mins. Ex-concert pianist Aznavour. now working seedy Parisian bars. gets involved with vengeful gangsters when he tries to help his two petty-crook brothers escape from the heat. Nouvelle Vague adaptation of David Goodis concentrates more on a breezy camera style than the despondency of the original source. Edinburgh Film Guild. I To Be Or Not To Re (PG) (AlanJohnson. US. 1983) Mel Brooks. Anne Bancroft. Charles Durning. 108 mins. Scene-for-scene remake ofErnst Lubitsch‘s classic 1942 comedy which has a group of Polish actors involved in both thespian and espionage activity during the Nazi occupation. Brooks and Bancroft are both superb. watch out for their Polish version of Sweet Georgia Brown. Glasgow: Grosvenor. ITwlns(15) (lvan Reitman. US. 1988) Danny De Vito, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Kelly Preston. Chloe Webb. 107 mins. In an effort to create the perfect human
24'l‘he List 10— 23 November 1989