possible audience. Odeon, Dunfermline. Seven Samurai (PG) *tttt (Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1954) Toshiro Mifune, Takahashi Simura. 200 mins. A group of timid villagers seek protection against the excesses of a brutal warlord by hiring seven heroic samurai. Seminal Japanese action picture. with a slow-building dignity matching the best of John Ford. and in its stylishly aesthetic handling of screen violence a profound influence on the likes of Sam Peckinpah. Highly recommended. Cameo. Edinburgh.

Sexy Beast (18) **** (Jonathan Glazer, UK. 2000) Ray Winstone. Ben Kingsley. Ian McShane. 88 mins. When retired criminal Gary Dove (Winstone) gets a visit from East End headcase Don Logan (Kingsley), who's to persuade Dove to leave his Costa del Sol villa to do one last ‘job' for crime boss Teddy Bass (McShane), the sparks fly. Dove stutters a nervous ‘No thanks'; Logan screams ‘Yes, you c“t!'. At length. The back and forth between the hard man who's lost his bottle and the officious little psychopath is nothing short of Pinter-esque, altemately menacing, hilarious and terrifying. Cast against type, the leads are superb. Glazer rigorously maintains content over style, and the result is a razor sharp drama that's no mere gangster film. See preview and review. GFT, Glasgow; Filmhouse, Edinburgh.

Shanghai Noon (12) trunk (Tom Dey, US, 2000) Jackie Chan. Lucy Liu, Owen Wilson. 110 mins. The flimsy plot of this ‘East meets Western' is merely an excuse for gags and set-pieces, with Chan cast as Chon Wang, a 19th century Imperial Guard who travels to the States to rescue abducted princess Pei Pei (Liu) from the villainous Lo Fong. Things don't go smoothly, however, and Chong finds himself teaming up with an incompetent yet affable criminal, Roy O'Bannon (Wilson). Filmed in widescreen, Shanghai Noon affectionately sends up the characters and conventions of numerous Westerns, while the ever-smiling Chan's martial arts stunts are still a joy to behold. Cameo, Edinburgh.

The Gth Day (15) it (Roger Spottiswoode, US, 2000) Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tony Goldwyn, Robert Duvall. 123 mins. Synthetic blend of futuristic thriller and Bond-style action movie sees Schwarzenegger's average family man Adam Gibson returning home for a ‘secret' birthday party to find that he has been replaced by an identical clone. Kidnapped by the perpetrators of this scientific ‘mistake', he escapes and goes on the run, trying to unravel the mystery and recover the life. wife and children that have been stolen from him. Ham-fistedly directed by Spottiswoode, this is little more than a random series of shoot-outs. chase scenes and helicopter stunts. Most depressing of all, however. is the realisation that Arnold simply cannot hack it anymore as an Action Man. General release.

Small Time Crooks (PG) *** (Woody Allen, US. 2000) Woody Allen, Tracey Ullman, Hugh Grant. 92 mins. Allen's strike rate dips again with this slight tale of Ray (Allen). a bumbling, insecure thief who convinces his wife Frenchy (the splendidly shrill Ullman) that his next job is fool-proof. Ray's plan takes a while to get off the ground. Meantime, Frenchy's covering role as cookie-maker earns her celebrity status. So far, so fairly funny. Then. in drops Hugh Grant as a posh suitor given the task of making sophisticates out of the common pair. Pygmalion without so many laughs. Vikingar Cinema. Largs.

Some Like It Hot (PG) ****~k (Billy Wilder. US. 1959) Tony Curtis. Jack Lemmon. Marilyn Monroe. 120 mins. Two impecunious male musicians inadvertently witness the St Valentine's Day Massacre and take refuge in Florida with Sweet Sue and her Society Syncopators. an all-female band. Brilliant. brittle, crackerjack farce with all concerned at a peak in their careers. GF'T. Glasgow.

Stuart Little (U) tit (Rob Minkofi, US, 2000) Michael J. Fox. Geena Davis. Hugh Laurie. 92 mins. Live action with a computer generated talking mouse voiced by Michael J. Fox, Minkoff‘s adaptation of EB. White's classic childrens' book sees the sweet wee rodent orphan being adopted by

affluent Manhattanites the Little family. Stuart's problems begin with a new nemesis, the mean-spirited, inappropriately-named family cat Snowbell. The message of the film is clear little guy discovers the meaning of family. loyalty and friendship - but of more interest to viewers both small and large will be the Tom AndJerry-style antics. Odeon, Edinburgh.

Surviving Picasso (15) hit (James ivory. UK, 1996) Anthony Hopkins. Natascha McElhone, Julianne Moore. 122 mins. Merchant-Ivory"s film is less interested with the secrets of Picasso's craft than a portrait of the artist as lover. The argument is that the chauvinism he showed the women in his life was necessary to his genius, but there's no attempt to offer insight into his creativity. What almost redeems the film, however. is Hopkins's astonishing performance and physical transformation. MacRoben, Stirling. _.

The Third Page (Ugiizncu safya) (15) (Zeki Demirkubuz, France/ItaIy/Turkey, ) 92 mins. A film dedicated to losers. Demirkubuz paints portraits of ‘little people'. those overlooked for dramatic purposes. The title refers to the making of a new start in life. Filmhouse. Edinburgh. This Is Spinal Tap (15) *tttt (Rob Reiner, US, 1983) Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, R.J. Parnell, Ed Beglcy 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. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.

Thomas And The Magic Railroad (U) it (Britt Allcroft, UK/US, 2000) Voices of Alec Baldwin. Peter Fonda, Michael E. 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 The 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 thisjuvenile! Odeon, Edinburgh.

The Tigger Movie (U) *‘k‘ki' (Jun Falkenstein, US. 2000) 77 mins. Identical in many ways to 1977's The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh, this new yarn based on A.A. Milne's characters finds Pooh, Piglet, Tigger et al still living a charmed life of tea parties and afternoon naps. Only this time, the wee stripy fella’s decided being one of a kind isn't quite as cool as he'd first thought and so a literal quest for the Tiger Family Tree ensues. A happy ending eventually makes its presence felt, because even Tiger is smart enough to recognise that with friends like Pooh. Piglet, R00 and Eeyore, who needs family? Grosvenor, Glasgow. 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 Satuminus (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. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.

Tom's Midnight Garden (PC) at: (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 Narnia. An old grandfather clock that chimes thirteen times at midnight is Tom's passport to the 19th century. where he befriends orphan girl Hattie. 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. Carlton, Stirling. Topsy-Turvy (12) tutti (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. Vikingar Cinema. Largs. Transition (15) iii (Andy Mackinnon. UK, 2000) 75 mins. Mackinnon's labour of love is an ambitious and technically brilliant project. Using specially developed time lapse photography as well as super 8 film. Transition aims to explore the changing Scottish landscape: contrasting the natural beauty of the country's wildest places with the industrial cityscape. Unfortunately, Transition will only reinforce the image of Scotland awash in its own sentiment. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.

Twin Dragons (12) at (Tsui Hark/Ringo Lam. Hong Kong. 1990) Jackie Chan. Maggie Cheung, Teddy Robin. 89 mins. Ropey Chan vehicle in which the lame gimmick is that Chan gets to play twins separated at birth. One baby is kidnapped by a gangster and grows up to become a Streetwise criminal; the other becomes a music composer, and of course they later meet up, team up and kick ass. It's even got shoddy fight scenes. No, Jackie, no. Cameo, Edinburgh.

Unbreakable (12) *tti (M. Night Shyamalan, US, 2000) Bruce Willis. Samuel L. Jackson, Robin Wright Penn. 106 mins. David Dunn (Willis) crawls from the wreckage of a train crash. the sole survivor of the 118 passengers. Dunn's miraculous escape is the catalyst for three events: him and his estranged wife Audrey (Penn) re- think their impending split; eccentric art collector and sufferer of a debilitating brittle bone condition Elijah Price (Jackson) pesters Dunn about his medical history; and Dunn's son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark) takes hero worship a little too far. Once again Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) takes a preposterous story full of crazy revelations and grounds it with low key plotting and a

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spare style. making a Hollywood blockbuster in the style of an art house film. General release.

Under Suspicion (15) tint (Stephen Hopkins, US, 2000) Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman. Monica Bellucci. 111 mins. Is it enough that two veteran actors submit a pair of sturdy performances? Does it matter not that. confined within a few interiors over a four hour period. the drama is highly theatrical? Is it a matter for concern that this film deviates from both John Wainwright's original source novel about the interrogation by two policemen of a man suspected of the rape and murder of three girls and the first. French film adaptation Garde d Vue? What we have here is a watchable if melodramatic murder mystery, which undermines itself by ironing out some of the original's ambiguous elements. Court adjourned. See review. Selected release.

What Lies Beneath (15) *ttiv (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 Pfeifi'er involves us in every stage of Claire 's mental unravelling. General release.

Yellow Submarine (U) **** (George Dunning, UK, 1967) The voices and music of the Beatles. 90 mins. The Fab Four save Pepperland from the Blue Meanies. A real period piece these days, this exercise in garish psychedelic animation still remains a colourful (and safely non-addictive) trip for the kiddies, while everyone can sing along with the tunes. Vikingar Cinema, Largs.

flims- F T‘ H '2;

Town |.i|kitk ( I'llllt tl

Sun 74th Jan

This Is Spinal Tap (15) 5:00pm

Age Of Innocence (PG) 7:00pm

Wed 77th Jan Dancer In The Dark (15)

7:30pm

Sun 20th Jan

Dinosaur (PG) 3:00pm

House Of Mirth (PG) 7:00pm

Mon 22nd Jan

House Of Mirth (PG) Cuppa at 77am for 77.30am & at 7:30pm

Tickets and further information from The Steeple Box office

(Tel: 01324 506850)

or on the day from the hall

SJan—18 Jan 2001 THE U8T45