FILM index
FILM INDEX continued
love's Labours Lost (U) *** (Kenneth Branagh, US, 2000) Kenneth Branagh, Alicia Silverstone, Adrian Lester. 93 mins. Branagh’s attempt to make Shakespeare multiplex-friendly will shock textual purists for he has taken the early, wordy, romantic comedy, cut 70 per cent of its dialogue and filled the holes with show tunes from the 305 and 405. Branagh's most audacious, and frankly maddest, Shakespeare adaptation to date proves to be a funny, engaging, and consistently entertaining trifle. See review. General release.
The Magic Sword (U) kink (Frederik Du Chau, US, 1998) With the voices of Gary Oldman, Jessalyn Gilsig, Cary Elwes. 88 mins. All is happy under King Arthur’s rule until evil bord Ruber tries to steal Excalibur. When the wondrous weapon becomes lost in the Forbidden Forest, plucky young Kayley reckons she's brave enough to save the day. This animated feature sticks to the Disney formula - action, bawled-out ballads, kooky Sidekicks - but the animation itself lacks Walt's grace. Greenock: Waterfront. Magnolia (18) *t** (Paul Thomas Anderson, US, 2000) Julianne Moore, William ll. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, John C. Reilly, Tom Cruise. 185 mins. P.T. Anderson's follow-up to his superb 705 LA porn industry flick, Boogie Nights is a snapshot of the lives of a dozen residents of LA’s San Fernando Valley . Their stories are sad, funny and moving without ever becoming overly-sentimental and Anderson's script is full of humble humanity and beautifully observed moments. And the quite stunning miraculous conclusion is audacious but it works — the same can be said of the whole film. General release. Mansfield Park (15) **** (Patricia Rozema, US, 2000) Frances O'Connor, Alessandro Nivola, Jonny Lee Miller.,112 mins. Rozema has supplemented her adaptation with extracts from Jane Austen‘s own letters and journals, turning the novel’s heroine - a poor girl who is adopted by wealthy relatives and taken to live in the grand house of the title — into a quick- witted, sharp-tongqu free spirit budding writer. The film may not be strictly faithful to the novel, but there‘s no mistaking its intelligence, vigour and wit. See feature and review. Glasgow: GET, Showcase.
Ministry Of Fear (PG) bud (Fritz Lang, US, 1944) Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds, Dan Duryea. 85 mins. Adapted from the Graham Greene novel, this is one of Lang’s most satisfying American movies with star Milland at the peak of his popularity. A tense tale of espionage in wartime London and the framing of an innocent man it is tautly constructed, atmospheric and suspenseful in the Ilitcheock tradition. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
The Miracle Maker (U) ** (Stanislav Sokolov, Derek llayes, UK, 2000) Ralph Ficnnes, Julie Christie, Richard E Grant. 91 mins. Miracles may never cease, undoubtedly the reasoning behind previous attempts to render the Easter Story palatable. The latest gimmick is to add puppets, which, although oddly dated, impresses on its own low tech level. Despite deftly tugging at the heartstrings, the puppetry can‘t disguise the fact that this is a Sunday school reading in a millennial medium. See review. Glasgow: Showcase. Edinburgh: UCl. East Kilbride: UCl. Muppets From Space (U) *** ('I‘im Hill 1999, US) Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Frank Oz. 88 mins. For their sixth big screen adventure, the focus of our Muppet attentions is Gonzo, that blue, hooked nosed . . . thing. No one is really sure what Gonzo is, so when he gets a message which he believes is from space, the race is on to make contact with his extra terrestrial brethren. Mappers From Space captures the spirit of the first movie and tltc original TV series where the subsequent films never did. Dunfermline: Robins Cinema. Kilrnarnock: Odeon. Stirling: MacRobert.
Music Of The Heart (PG) ink (Wes Craven, US, 1999) Meryl Streep, Aiden Quinn, Gloria Estefan. 130 rttins. Streep plays Roberta Guaspari who, after being left to bring up her two boys alone by her cheating husband, heads for New York where she takes a post leat‘ltirtt' tlte violirt to
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pre-teens at a Harlem school. While it's clear that this is material close to Craven’s heart, the film never rises above the level of a proficiently executed made-for-TV movie. It’s nice to see Craven finally moving outside the narrow confines of horror. lt's just a pity that his first effort is as ordinary as its protagonist. Edinburgh: Lumiere. Mystery Men (PG) *** (Kinka Usher, US, 1999) Ben Stiller, William 11. Macy, Janeane Garofalo. 122 mins. Although it's a spoof, Mystery Men is more knowing about the conventions of American comic book superheroes than other comic adaptations - that’s largely down to Mystery Men '5 origins in Bob Burden's Dark Horse Comic, Flaming Carrot. Caped crimefighter Captain Amazing has been kidnapped by super villain Casanova Frankenstein and it’s up to underachiever heroes: the Mystery Men to save the day. Edinburgh: Odeon. Ayr: Odeon. Dunfermline: Robins Cinema. Stirling: MacRobert.
Neighbourhood (15) **** (Fernando Leon, Spain, 1998) Crispula Cabezas, Timy, Eloi Yebra. 99 mins. Three young lads from a rundown block of flats spend all their time thinking and talking about girls, but are rarely with them. And with nothing better to do with their time, the youngsters spend it getting into trouble in this double Goya (the Spanish Oscars) award-winning film. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
Next Friday (15) *‘k* (Ice Cube, US, 2000) Ice Cube, Tommy "l'iny' Lister, Jr, Mike Epps. 98 mins. It’s four years since Craig (Cube) beat up local bully Debo (Lister, Jr). When Debo breaks out ofjail Craig is sent to his uncle’s house in the suburbs to hide out, where he creates havoc in the life of cousin Day-Day (Epps). Next Friday has more of everything — villains, girls, fights, marijuana and comedy gags — than in the original. More is more. Glasgow: Showcase. Paisley: Showcase.
Night On Earth (15) **** (Jim Jarmusch, US, 1992) Winona Ryder, Beatrice Dalle, Gena Rowlands, Giancarlo Esposito. 129 mins. Los Angeles. New York. Paris. Rome. llclsinki. Five cities, five taxi rides, five chance encounters. The director of Mystery Train and Down By Law pushes aside narrative and goes instead for visual uniformity in a claustrophobic setting. Character studies with a mildly philosophical aftertaste. Edinburgh: Cameo. 101 Dalmatians (U) *** (Stephen llerek, US, 1996) Glenn Close, Joely Richardson, Jeff Daniels. 103 mins. Disney turns one of its favourite animated films into a live action pantomime with spodges ofHomeAlone buffoonery, making sure there are plenty of dogs to make the kids go ‘aaahhh'. The story remains pretty much untouched - vile villaincss Cruella De Vil (Close) kidnaps enough spotty pups to make a stunning coat, but the animal world gets the better of her - and so does the old-fashioned morality, which stresses the sanctity of marriage and that a woman's place is by her man’s side. Glasgow: ABC.
Onegin (12) **** (Martha Fiennes, UK, 1999) Ralph Fiennes, Liv Tyler. 106 ntins. Alexander Pushkin's epic poem, lit-gen)- Ortegin, is the source of Fiennes's impressive debut film, which hurls its characters through an intensity of passion, betrayal and unbearable loss within the thoroughly elegant and codified context of the Russian aristocracy of the 1820s. Ralph Fiennes’s Onegin is an initially arrogant, cynical man who learns his own heart when tragic circumstances force him to re- evaluate his feelings for a woman. Glasgow: Odeon.
Ordinary Decent Criminal (15) ** ('lhaddeus O'Sullivan, UK, 2000) Kevin Spacey, Linda Fiorcntino, Peter Mullan. 93 mins. Since Irish gangster Martirt Cahill‘s life and crimes have been filmed twice already, as John Boorman‘s The General and David Blair's superior TV movie Vicious Circle, this third version is at best belated and at worst superfluous. Spacey is ludicrously miscast here as he struggles with both the Irish character and the local lingo and the tone is pitched somewhere between a cartoon caper and a knockabout farce. Glasgow: Odeon At The Quay. Edinburgh: ABC, Dominion, Virgin Megaplex. Greenock: Waterfront.
Os Mutantes (The Mutants) (IS) ('l'eresa
Belgian surrealist cinema meets Belgian realist cinema in Benoit Mariage's Les Convoyeurs Attendent
Villaverde, Portugal, 1998) 113 mins. These mutants are the homeless children of Lisbon. As Villaverde says, ‘Perhaps the world would like for them not to exist, but they do. They are survivors. Throughout the film they dream, they cry, they laugh, they have children, they die, they flee.’ Part of Sea Changes: New Portuguese Cinema. Glasgow: GFI‘.
Ossos (Bones) (15) (Pedro Costa, Portugal, 1999) 94 mins. Costa's exploration of Lisbon's shanty town dwellers pairtts a pretty bleak picture; the wasteland is botlt physical and emotional. But by focusing on the story of a couple, their new born baby and the relationship between mother and daughter, Costa's film is also deeply humane. Part of Sea Changes: New Portuguese Cinema. Glasgow: Gl’l‘.
The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie (U) **** (Ronald Neame, UK, 1969) Maggie Smith, Celia Johnson. Robert Stephens, Gordon Jackson. 116 ntirts. The big screen adaptation of Murial Spark's tale of art eccentric Edinburgh schoolteacher in the 1930s shows sharp cltaracterisations and interesting period flavour. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Film Guild at the l-‘ilrtthouse. Pygmalion (PG) **** (Anthony Asquith, Leslie lloward, UK, 1938) Leslie lloward, Wendy lliller, Wilfred Lawson. 96 mins. George Bernard Shaw won an Oscar to go with his Nobel Prize for his sparkling adaptation of his own play. The memorable lines are delivered with wit by the cast, all of which proves that the addition of songs in the remake, My Fair Lady, was wholly unwarranted. Edinburgh: Edinburgh l’ilm Guild at the Filmhouse.
Ratcatcher (15) ***** (Lynne Ramsay, UK, 1999) William Eadie, 'l‘omnty Flanagan, Mandy Matthews. 93 mins. Seen through the eyes of twelve-year-old James Gillespie, a sensitive boy haunted by the drowning of a neighbour's son, Ratcatc/xer paints a bleakly realistic picture of Glasgow family life. Ramsay uses meticulous frartting, unusual carttcra angles and atmospheric images to capture the subtle textures of everyday life, as well as complex inner feelings. Stirling: MacRobert. Romance (18) * (Catherine Breillat. France, 1999) Caroline Ducey, Rocco Siffredi, l-‘rancois Berleattd. 95 rttirts. ()ur female protagonist is very young artd wears either nothing or a white frock throughout. She weeps constantly and nags her boyfriend for attention; denied tltis, slte embarks upon a small-scale sexual odyssey. Long, static shots show a series of sterile, joyless physical encounters, while a ntorose artd pretentious monologue describes her feelings. She Concludes that the only true fulfilment contcs front motherhood. The great Bill Hicks dismissed the controversy around Basic Instinct with the observation that said film rtterited no such kerfuflle, being a ‘piece ofshit'. Indeed. This is worse. Stirling: Carlton.
Run Lola Run (15) that ('l'om 'l'wyker. Germany, 1999) 1-‘ranka l’otertte, Moritz Bleibtrcu. 80 rttins. Young Berlin punk Lola (l’otcnte) has twenty rttirtutes to raise ltltltltitl marks to \‘l\'t‘ lter stupid. but
beloved boyfriend frottt rtturderous drug dealers. Not art easy task, but writer, director Tom 'l’wykcr gives Lola tltree cltances artd helps her pourtd the streets witlt a thumping. self-corttposed tccltrto soundtrack. Using every style trick irt the book, 'l'wy ker astourtds with art adrenaline rush of a movie. Stirling: MacRobert.
Scream 3 (18) *** (Wes Craven, LS, 2000) Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette. 116 rttirts. Premiere of the third irtstalrttertt. It doesn't have Kevin Williamson ortboard writing. but Craven plays up the series' self—referential elerttertt as the cast artd crew of the tltird Stab filrtt are stalked by yotr know which ntasked slasltcr. A filrtt witltirt a filrtt about other films. Part of Dead By Dawn. See feature. Edinburgh: IdIilliltHlSC.
Show Me Love (15) *** (Lukus Moodysson, Sweden. 211111)) Rcbceca Liljebcrg, Alexandra Dahlstr‘nt. 8‘) rrtirts. A slight tale of two teenage girls falling irt love in the small Swedish towrt of {\tl1tli. Moodysson's filttt corrtbines a cinema verite eye witlt sortte stock situatiorts artd characters. Creating tension artd turtttoil ottt of the rite of passage rttovie gets harder artd harder, but Moodysson rttartagcs a modicum of freshness, and tltere are ertouglt variables at work to keep the filrtt going for art engaging hour and a half. Glasgow: (il’l‘. The Sixth Sense (15) **** (M. Night Shyantalart, US, 1999) Bruce Willis, llaley Joel Osntcrtt, Olivia Williams, Toni Collette. 107 ntirts. Nine-year-old Cole Sear (Osntent) ltas a terrible secret. lle cart see the dead walking the earth; they're around hint all the time arid it's scary as hell. Cltild psychologist Malcolm (.‘rowe (Willis) takes his case and spends all of his time, at the cxpertse of his marriage to Anna (Olivia Williams), attcrttptirtg to help the boy. Shyarttalan's clever script suggests rttuch and explains little. keeping the audience guessing. Glasgow: Showcase. Edinburgh: Cameo, UCl. I‘alkirk: I’l'll Cirtertta. Paisley: Showcase.
Sleepy Hollow (15) iii * (lint Burton. US, 1999) Johnny llepp, Cltristirta Ricci. Christopher Walkert. 1115 tttirts. During the firtal days of 1799 arttbitious yorrrtg policcrttart Ichabod Cratte (Depp) is scrtt to the fog—shrouded village of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of decapitatiorts, but his scientific beliefs are sltakert when he corttcs face to space with the “endless llorserttart. Btrrtort gives Washington Irving's (iotltic folktale a distinctly Br itislt colouring. as lte borrows rtter rily from the llarttrttcr filrtts of the 50s and (dis, while Depp brirtgs the rigltt note of corttedy to the dark proceedings. Edinburgh: Cameo. Space Jam (U) ti (Joe I’ytka. is. 1996) Michael Jordan. Bugs Bunny. Wayne Knight. S7 rttitts. Nasty alien cartoons have captured Bugs Bunny and are going to enslave the l.ooney ‘l'unes irt their amusement park on Moron .\1-~rrrrl.tilt. brtl Bugs has the brainwave of clitlltngirm them to a basketball gartte arid enlisting the talents of Micltacl Jordart for his learn. Lacking the class of Who Framed Roger Rah/tit." artd the [‘Ilt‘t‘ ofa real I"1\I\'t‘lI‘ Ill «write. \..'~1valrr/’r