ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES
***½
USA
A clever sequel, superior to its predecessor. The first sign of Christina Ricci's genius.
dir: Barry Sonnenfield
cast: Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd, Joan
Cusack, Christina Ricci, Carol Kane, Jimmy Workman, Peter MacNicol,
Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, Peter Graves
THE AGE OF INNOCENCE
****½
USA
In New York of the 1870s, a wealthy lawyer falls
in love with his fiancé's cousin, a notorious beauty with a scandalous
reputation.
A passionate romance as well as a meticulous study of a repressed society. Though
the director's flashiness doesn't belong here, the picture does ultimately
do justice to its powerful source material.
dir: Martin Scorsese
wr: Jay Cocks, Martin Scorsese
ph: Michael Ballhaus
m: Elmer Bernstein
ed: Thelma Schoonmaker
cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder,
Richard E. Grant, Alec McCowen, Geraldine Chaplin, MaryBeth Hurt, Stuart
Wilson, Miriam Margoyles, Alexis Smith
FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE
***½
China
The relationship between two boys trained at the
Peking opera, between the 30s and 60s.
A lush historical epic that on many occasions very nearly devolves into
soap opera. At all times though, it's striking to look at.
dir: Chen Kaige
ph: Gu Changwei
ad: Chen Huaikai
cast: Leslie Cheung, Zhang Fengyi, Gong Li
FLESH AND BONE
***
USA
A well-acted, understated but predictable melodrama.
wr/dir: Steve Kloves
cast: Dennis Quaid, Meg Ryan, James Caan, Gwyneth Paltrow
THE FUGITIVE
***
USA
A surgeon unjustly accused of his wife's murder
goes on the run.
A well-paced, improbable thriller, with a hero far less interesting than
the man who pursues him.
dir: Andrew Davis
cast: Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, Sela Ward, Joe
Pantoliano, Julianne Moore
GRIEF
*½
USA
Grade-Z queer bull, as tedious as the soap operas it parodies.
GROUNDHOG DAY
***½
USA
A cynical weatherman keeps reliving the same day
over and over again.
A clever, entertaining and almost profound star vehicle.
dir: Harold Ramis
cast: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott
JURASSIC PARK
**½
USA
The dinosaurs are striking, amazing, spectacular. But once the wow-factor
wears off, the story and its bland people grow frustrating.
KALIFORNIA
*
USA
A couple researching serial killers
cross-country for their thesis unwittingly take one on board.
Shallow, violent, excessive roadside pretence, poorly directed when at
all, and with at least one completely repulsive performance.
dir: Dominic Sena
cast: Brad Pitt, Juliette Lewis, David Duchovny, Michelle
Forbes
LOVE AND HUMAN REMAINS
***½
Canada
Odd, convoluted paranoia about sex in the 90s. Often blackly funny
and even affecting before it goes way off the rails with a ludicrous
and completely unnecessary serial killer subplot.
MAD DOG AND GLORY
**½
USA
A love story that tries hard to be quirky but still ends up forgettable.
dir: John McNaughton
cast: Robert De Niro, Uma Thurman, Bill Murray, David Caruso, Mike
Starr, Kathy Baker
MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY
***½
USA
To her husband's great concern, a woman decides
that their neighbour has murdered his wife.
Although it is in some ways the beginning of Allen's shallow phase, in
itself this is an entertaining, light mystery, with likable performances.
dir: Woody Allen
wr: Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman
cast: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Alan Alda, Anjelica Huston,
Jerry Adler, Lynn Cohen
MRS. DOUBTFIRE
**
USA
Robin Williams is usually funny when he's not misty-eyed, but here he gets
misty-eyed an awful lot and the kids are grating. THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
****
USA
Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, tries to
take over Christmas.
An original, witty and inventive stop-motion cartoon feature.
dir: Henry Selick
wr: Caroline Thompson
m: Danny Elfman
voices of: Chris Sarandon, Danny Elfman, Catherine O'Hara
PHILADELPHIA
*
USA
A recently fired gay lawyer suffering from AIDS
hires a temporarily homophobic one to sue his law firm.
Only Hollywood could turn an AIDS-courtroom-drama into a polished
feel-good vehicle for Tom Hanks and the conservatives. A simple-minded,
sugar-coated, self-serving and patronising prestige product with
a message.
dir: Jonathan Demme
cast: Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Antonio Banderas, Ron
Vawter, Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards, Robert Ridgely, Mary Steenburgen
THE PIANO
****½
Australia/New Zealand
A mute Scottish widow travels to New Zealand
with her young daughter for an arranged marriage, where she is forced to
leave her piano, her most treasured possession, on the beach.
A sensual, striking and haunting drama of a woman slowly shedding
years of repression.
wr/dir: Jane Campion
ph: Stuart Dryburgh
m: Michael Nyman
cast: Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, Anna
Paquin
|
THE RED SQUIRREL
***½
Spain
A suicidal ex-pop star discovers an amnesiac
girl and tells her he was her boyfriend.
The concept is both terribly hokey and
terribly clever. The picture has two ways to go - it can be a ludicrous
thriller or a character study. And it half-succeeds at being both: after
a while the implausible aspects start to seem almost witty, and at the
same time the persona the hero builds for his new girlfriend speaks
volumes about his own. Consequently even as the picture repeatedly loses whatever
loose grasp it had
over credibility and though it's constantly tempting to dismiss the whole
thing as just a ludicrous thriller, you choose to hold on to see what
happens next. It's fun.
wr/dir: Julio Medem
cast: Emma Suárez, Nancho Novo, María Barranco, Karra
Elejalde, Carmelo Gómez, Cristina Marcos
THE REMAINS OF THE DAY
***
USA
In the years leading up to World War II, a
butler suppresses his individuality to remain loyal to his master.
A convoluted period melodrama of manners, with a gallery of
underdeveloped subplots. A haunting score and moody lighting schemes keep
it afloat as the protagonist's icily civil veneer is established and
re-established in overbearing highbrow fashion.
dir: James Ivory
wr: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
cast: Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, James Fox, Christopher
Reeve, Peter Vaughan, Hugh Grant
SCHINDLER'S LIST
*****
USA
In World War II, a businessman persuades the
Nazis to let him employ Jewish slave labour in his factory.
Probably the most compelling and moving account of the Holocaust.
Harrowing and flawlessly crafted. Only the sentimental ending hints at the
fact that it's a Spielberg picture, and this one feels more earned than
the others.
dir: Steven Spielberg
wr: Steven Zaillian
ph: Janusz Kaminski
ed: Michael Kahn, Bill Kimberlin
m: John Williams
cast: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Caroline
Goodall, Jonathan Sagalle, Embeth Davidtz
SHORT CUTS
****½
USA
In Los Angeles, the lives of nine unhappy
couples intertwine.
An incisive, influential and impeccably assembled multi-storyline
melodrama, with excellent ensemble acting. It has been much imitated: you
could safely say it set the pattern for things like Paul Thomas Anderson's
"Magnolia" (1999). It's based on a selection of Raymond
Carver short stories.
dir: Robert Altman
wr: Robert Altman, Frank Barhydt
ed: Geraldine Peroni
cast: Andie MacDowell, Bruce Davison, Jack Lemmon, Lyle Lovett,
Matthew Modine, Julianne Moore, Anne Archer, Fred Ward, Madeline
Stowe, Tim Robbins, Frances McDormand, Peter Gallagher, Jennifer Jason
Leigh, Chris Penn, Robert Downey Jnr, Lily Taylor, Lily Tomlin, Tom
Waits, Lori Singer, Annie Ross, Zane Cassidy, Buck Henry, Huey Lewis
SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION
***½
USA
A young man convinces a rich and sophisticated
New York couple that he is a friend of their children and the son of
Sidney Poitier.
Though it refuses to address a few of the issues it raises, this very
stagy stage adaptation still makes for a witty, stylish and perceptive satire of the
bourgeoisie.
dir: Fred Schepisi
wr: John Guare
cast: Stockard Channing, Will Smith, Donald Sutherland,
Mary Beth Hurt, Bruce Davison, Heather Graham, Anthony Michael Hall
THREE
COLOURS: BLUE
****
France/Poland/Switzerland
After her husband and child are killed in a car
crash, an enigmatic woman sets out to rebuild her life.
The
first installment of what was to prove a landmark trilogy based (loosely)
on the French tricolour. This one is about Liberty - in a decidedly
oblique, presumably emotional sense - and can be viewed apart from the
others quite comfortably. But that would be missing out, particularly
since, although very accomplished, it isn't as lovable as "White"
or as revelatory as "Red". There are a few ponderous
patches early on in this picture that are too similar to every other
photogenic study of grief. This isn't typical of Kieslowski. He is
generally too wise and his vision too idiosyncratic to allow for cliché.
You'd know this even if you haven't seen any of his other films because
his wisdom, his humanity, his feel for transcendent moments in small
things still dominate in improbably poignant scenes like the one where an
elderly lady is struggling to reach a trashcan. As the tortured heroine,
Juliette Binoche discovers more nuance in looking forlorn than most people
ever could. And the score is entrancing.
dir: Krzysztof Kieslowski
wr: Krzysztof Piesiewicz
ph: Slawomir Idziak
m: Zbigniew Preisner
cast: Juliette Binoche, Benoît Régent, Florence Pernel,
Charlotte Véry, Hélène Vincent
TOTALLY F***ED UP
**
USA
Queer, confused kids whine repeatedly.
Episodic, relentless self-pity.
wr/dir/ph/ed: Gregg Araki
cast: James Duval, Roko Belic, Susan Behshid, Jenee Gill, Gilbert
Luna
TRUE ROMANCE
**½
USA
A shop assistant and a call girl go on the run
from gangsters.
If Tarantino directed instead of writing this misguided, self-involved
mess, it maybe would have been more likable. The monologues are
well-delivered but there's always the sense that these guys are just
trying too hard to be truly cool.
dir: Tony Scott
wr: Quentin Tarantino
cast: Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis
Hopper, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, Christopher Walken,
Bronson Pinchot, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Rapaport
THE WEDDING BANQUET
***½
Taiwan/USA
A gay Asian-American businessman marries a
Chinese woman to fool his parents.
A light-hearted but observant comedy of cultural clashes, even though it continually opts for the easy way out.
dir: Ang Lee
cast: Winston Chao, May Chin, Ah-Leh Gua, Sihung Lung, Mitchell
Lichtenstein
WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE?
**½
USA
A small-town grocery clerk struggles to support
his family, including a mentally retarded younger brother and an obese
mother.
Downbeat, good-natured, predictable drama.
dir: Lasse Hallstrom
cast: Johnny Depp, Juliette Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Darlene
Cates, Mary Steenburgen
WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT
**½
USA
The life of Tina Turner.
A well-acted but otherwise unremarkable, by-the-numbers biopic.
dir: Brian Gibson
cast: Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne
|