becoming a professional footballer. but the moment he hits the pitch his skill deserts him. Izverylhing changes when a tramp gives Jimmy an old pair of football boots, which turn him into a demon on the pitch and also affect everyone around him for the better. including his cowed Pli teacher (Carlyle). Despite a title which proclaims the uniqueness of its hero, there‘s nothing surprising or particularly individual about this cute urban fairy tale. Winter Garden. Rothesay.
This Is Spinal Tap (15) Martin: (Rob Reiner, US, 1983) Christopher (iuest. Michael McKean, Ilarry Shearer, R.J. Parnell. lid Begley Jr. 82 mins. Certainly the most ingenious, accurate and funny of all spoof rockumentaries, with wonderfully spontaneous dialogue, convincing fly-on- the-wall camera work, self-penned heavy metal parodies, and of course the amp that goes to 11.ABC. Kirkcaldy.
Thomas And The Magic Railroad (U) it (Britt Allcroft, UK/US, 2000) Voices ofAlec Baldwin, Peter Fonda, Michael Ii. Rodgers. 79 mins. This adaptation of the Reverend Wilbur Awdry books is aimed squarely at under tens. Whilst children will be lapping up the tale of Thomas The Tank Engine aiding 'I'he Conductor (Baldwin) against the evil Diesel train, accompanying guardians will be wondering what happened to Allcroft's classic series narrated by Ringo Starr. Surely it was never this juvenile! Selected release.
Those Who Love Me Can Take The Train (15) *tii (Patrice Chercau, France. 2000) Jean-lxiuis 'I‘rintignant, Pascal Gregory, Charles Berling. 122 mins. The minor painter, Jean-Baptiste Emmerich, has died. Despite living in Paris, his dying wish is to be buried in Limoges, and so catching the train to the funeral are a mixture of the dead man's friends, lovers, students and relatives. Chercau's first feature since La Reine Margot is a fiercely intense, yet cathartic melodrama which, with every character suffering sortie form of a personal crisis, keeps veering off in unexpected directions. Brilliantly shot, Those Who Love Me. . . is also marked by a host of vivid, heartfelt performances. MacRobert, Stirling.
Time Code (18) iii (Mike Figgis, US, 2000) Saffron Burrows, Salma llayek, Stellan Skarsgard, Jeanne Tripplehorn. 97 mins. Another audacious, experimental feature from Figgis, interweaving four improvised stories shot in real time and projected on to a split-screen simultaneously. The characters' lives criss- cross in time and space, as they enter and leave different locations, interact face-to- face or on the phone, and slowly converge upon the office of Indie film production company Red Mullet Inc., where a tyrannical director is in the final stages of casting his new movie. Intellectually invigorating, technologically bold and — perhaps most surprisingly given the technical nature of the project - always emotionally involving. Odeon, Edinburgh. Time Regained (18) Mitts: (Raul Ruiz, France, 1999) Marcello Mazzarella, Emmanuelle Beart, Catherine Deneuve. 162 mins. Ruiz's absolutely astonishing adaptation of Proust's until now unfilmable Remembrance Of Things Past, which moves with mesmerising grace between the past and present as a man recalls his love a beautiful woman and her mother. Lumiere, Edinburgh.
Titus (18) iii: (Julie Taymor, US, 2000) Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange, Alan Cumming. 162 mins. In this appropriately gruesome adaptation of Shakespeare’s bloodiest play, Titus Andronicus, Roman general Titus (Hopkins) returns home after conquering the Goths. But when playboy Emperor Saturninus (Cumming) takes the surviving Goth queen, Tamora (Lange), as his wife a series of tragic events are set in motion which wrecks havoc on the Andronicus lineage. Visually, the film looks great, though it tips crude cinematic snooks at everything from Romeo AndJuliet to The Matrix. Hopkins is brilliant and there‘s strong support from all of the cast to make this an absorbing, if derivative three hour ride. MacRobert, Stirling.
Tom's Midnight Garden (PG) * (Willard Carroll, UK, 2000) Anthony Way, Greta
Scacchi. James Wilby. 107 mins. Based on Philippa Pearce's 1959 novel, this adaptation is a mix of Back To The Future and Norma. An old grandfather clock that chimes thirteen times at midnight is Tom's passport to the 19th century, where he befriends orphan girl Ilattie. The storyline is
exciting enough, but with acting more
wooden than the trees in the garden, Joan
Plowright's five minute cameo is the film's only saving grace. GI’I‘, Glasgow.
Topsy-Turvy (12) *irnvvk (Mike Leigh.
UK, 2000) Jim Broadbent, Allan Corduner. Martin Savage. 159 mins. At the film's core
is the turbulent creative partnership between Victorian opera writer Gilbert (Broadbent) and playboy genius composer Sullivan (Corduner). But preparations for their greatest show, The Mikado, involve a whole cast who give flawless performances. This might be Leigh's first period drama, but it's another excellent ensemble piece engaging with his usual preoccupation: people at work, rest and play. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. True Romance (18) *‘k‘k‘k (Tony Scott. US, 1993) Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Ilopper. 119 mins. Comic bookstore assistant Clarence meets, sleeps with and marries novice hooker Alabama within a matter of hours, then the lovebirds find themselves on the run with an accidentally stolen case of cocaine. Limelight-stealing cameos and writer Quentin Tarantino's verbal set-pieces fire this excellent movie, the epitome of disposable pop culture for the fast-food generation. Grosvenor, Glasgow.
Urban Legends: Final Cut (15) ink (John Ottman, US, 2000) Jennifer Morrison, Loretta Devine, Matthew Davis. 98 mins. Substituting in-jokey references for plotting, character and suspense, Final Cut is only tenuously linked to the already tired original. Inspired by urban legend-related killings at Pendleton High, film student Amy abandons her documentary project in favour of a psychological thriller based on those murders. But competition for the prestigious Hitchcock Award is so fierce that members of Amy‘s crew start getting bumped off in ways that echo classic horror movies. See review. General release.
The Way Of The Gun (18) **** (Christopher McQuarrie, US, 2000) Ryan Philippe, Benicio del 'I‘oro, James Caan. 119 mins. Parker (Philippe) and Longbaugh (del Toro) are a couple of drifters who kidnap a heavily pregnant woman, Robin (Juliette Lewis), who is acting as a surrogate mother for the millionaire tycoon, who promptly dispatches veteran ‘adjudicator‘ Samo (Caan), to retrieve Robin from her captors. As the kidnappers head down into Mexico, the stage is set for a fatal showdown, allowing McQuarrie (writer of The Usual Suspects) to reveal the ambiguity of his characters' motivations and the dcceptiveness of their personal agendas. Peckinpah appears to be a key influence. General release.
What Lies Beneath (15) **** (Robert Zemeckis, US, 2000) Michelle Pfeiffer, Harrison Ford, Miranda Otto, James Remar. 129 mins. A suspense thriller that plays teasingly between genres, though soon everything becomes clear: the film is haunted by the ghost of Alfred Hitchcock. Pfeiffer's Claire Spencer lives with her genetics professor husband Norman (Ford) in an idyllic lakeside house in Vermont. But all is not well in their ideal home; where she’s troubled by things that go bump in the night. Zemeckis turns the screw of suspense with an expert hand, building tension with a canny mix of Alan Silvestri's eerie score and even more ominous silences, while Pfeiffer involves us in every stage of Claire's mental unravelling. General release.
Where The Heart Is (12) *** (Matt Williams, US, 2000) Natalie Portman, Ashley Judd, Stockard Charming. 119 mins. Get these names for symbolic weight: seventeen-year-old Novalee Nation (Portman) hasn’t got a home to go to, so she spends the last week of her pregnancy living in a Wal-Mart, and it is here that baby Americus is born. Portentiousness aside, Where The Heart Is is something of a Midwestern fairtytale with neigh on every one of its characters a walking talking embodiment of triumph over adversity. This is not what most of us know as reality, but
it's not fake either. Bucket loads of warmth
and charm ensure that the simple tale of a girl finding home touches its audience.
Selected release.
Wonder Boys ( 15) *ttak (Curtis Hanson. US, 2000) Michael Douglas, I‘obey Maguire. Robert Downey Jr. 111 mins.
Grady Tripp (Douglas), one time celebrated novelist, now cynical creative writing
professor is having a rough weekend. His
third wife has just left him, his mistress.
who also happens to be the College
Chancellor's wife. is pregnant, manic depressive pupil James leer (Maguire) has
latched onto him and Tripp's perverse agent.
Terry Crabtree (Downey Jr), is coming with the sole aim of proofing Tripp‘s (unfinished) new novel. Douglas is a revelation in this sophisticated comedy examining the chaos that ensues when intellectually stifled lives begin to move on again. Yet again Hanson (LA Confidential) proves himself to be a dynamic filmmaker with powerful feeling for pace, style, rhythm and form. Selected release.
The Yards (15) *‘kti (James Gray, US. 2000) Mark Wahlberg. Joaquin Phoenix. James Caan. 116 mins. lxto (Wahlberg) is just out of prison and welcimied back into the fold in his old neighbourhood in Queens, New York. Longtime friend Willie (Phoenix) gets uncle Frank (Caan), who wields influence in the New York City subway yards, to get Leo a job, but business ain't what it used to be. Business is pay-offs, sabotage and murder, and when Leo don‘t play ball this time round he incurs the wrath of his powerful and corrupt family. A top class thriller that's less about chases and shoot-outs, instead drawing its thrills and suspense from the shifting family allegiances. Cameo, Edinburgh.
Zoe (18) (Maren—Kea Freese, Germany, 1999) 79 mins. In this raw emotional drama the eponymous homeless girl, who scrapes through life earning money as a DJ, is shocked into reassessing her life following the death of the mother she barely knew. Pan of the German Film Festival. GI’I‘, Glasgow.
\\lll//
USHER HALL
listings FILM
FTH H
Falkirk Town Hall l-alktrk taunt-a
Mon 7 7th Dec 0 Brother Where Art Thou? (12)
7:30pm
Wed 73th Dec Keeping The Faith (12) 7:30pm
Tues 79th Dec La Veuve de Saint-Pierre (15)
7:30pm
Wed 20th Dec Billy Elliot (15) 7:30pm
Thurs 2 (st Dec A Matter of Life or Death (PG)
7:30pm
Tickets and further information from
The Steeple Box office
(Tel: 01324 506850)
or on the day from the hall
Highlights
December 2000 -
THE SAS BAND
Blinded By The Light Paul Young (ex Q Tips) Fish (ex Marillion)
Tickets £13.50
Thursday 14 December at 7.30pm
Five fantastic vocalists from the 605, 705, 80s and C205 together for one night in Edinburgh:
Madeline Bell (ex Blue Mink) Chris Thompson (ex Manfred Mann’s Earth band)
Backed by super-group Spike Edney’s All Stars, including Edney, some-time keyboard player with Queen, and Queen drummer Roger Taylor. Soulfull roots mixed with liberal helpings of Queen anthems, and lashings of rock classics.
Wherever I Lay My Hat Kayleigh Mark Shaw (ex Then Jericho)
January 2001
MeltingPot
Big Area
For your FREE copy of the full December/ January 2001 Programme call 0131 529 7902/3
° €DINBVRGH°
THE CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL
30 Nov—14 Dec 2000 THE llST 39