Starring: Christian Slater, Morgan Freeman, Randy Quaid & Minnie Driver
Directed by: Mikael Soloman
It's a flood!
Chalking off one more celluloid natural disaster, Hard Rain manages to distinguish itself by grafting a bonus plot into the mix. With the small town under threat and the dam about to burst, Slater's three-million-buck-loaded-Securicor-type van is stuck in a brand new river. But when "help" arrives in the shape of Freeman and three gun-toting cronies, things turn awful sour.
This is trash. Absolute trash. The screenplay (from Speed's Graham Yost) and acting are quite dire, and yet... it's damn fun. I don't know how these so-bad-they're-good action films started, or how seriously they take them whilst making them, but they're a hoot to watch. Hard Rain is also unusual in having a fine cast whom someone must have thoroughly drugged in order to get them to appear.
Not for one second are any of the plot developments or characters remotely believable - you never forget that you're watching a trashy movie. But along with Volcano, Twister, Congo, Anaconda or Dante's Peak, it's a helluva lot of fun if you go in knowing what you're gonna get. And, praise be, it's only 96 minutes. Rain has never been so entertaining...
Starring: Aidan Quinn, Kate Beckinsale & Anthony Andrews
Directed by: Lewis Gilbert
They don't make them like they used to, ay? Ah ha, that's just where you're wrong, 'cos Haunted is made exactly like they used to. A straight, old fashioned ghost story, it features no designer violence, no drugs and no slashing. In fact, would you believe it - no violence at all. Oh, alright, there is a bit of naked flesh, but that really is your lot as far as post-colour moviemaking goes.
Dashing surrogate Yank Psychologist Quinn returns to native England in the thirties with two aims: to pursue an academic career and the expose all who make others believe in a spirit world. He investigates the case of a mad old woman, whose house is supposedly haunted by her daughter and husband. Her three adult grandchildren are also in tow, including the alluring Christina (Beckinsale) - alluring enough to tempt at least one of her brothers and the new visitor. However, the ghosts of his own past - either real or imagined - start him doubting his own ability to rationally explore what is going on.
No cliche is left unturned - scratching at the bedroom door, banging windows, rocking rocking chairs and that huge, creepy old house - but it's all effectively eerie stuff thanks to legendary director Gilbert, using every trick in the book from the ever-reliable cotton thread to state of the art computer effects. The screenplay, adapted from a James Herriot book, often threatens dead-end repetition but just about manages to avoid it, and a very dashing bluer-than-ever-eyed Aidan Quinn heads the otherwise Brit cast - including John Gielgud as the family doctor - extremely well indeed.
It is his dilemma which makes this work. The ongoing family incest is obvious to us pretty much from the start, but by the time he notices you can believe that he is so disorientated by all the mighty odd goings on he suspects he is imagining things. Obviously I'm not going to tell you where this all leads, but at least it turns out to be somewhere. Only the very last tacked on scene seems gratuitous.
As to whether this kind of tale will cut any ice in a post-Kreuger age remains to be seen. If you want to escape from the 90's and like your shocks less bloody than Bosnia, meanwhile, this could be just the thing...
Starring: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer
Directed by: Michael Mann
The billing says it all - two of America's most heavyweight actors sell singlehandedly (er, doublehandedly?) this tale of oh, let's pull out all the stops, criminals in LA. If your doubts were aroused that this was nothing more than a huge clash of the egos, then consider yourself ahead of the game.
OK, so the film does have it's merits, but talk of a definitive classic is way, way off. Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer are part of a crack squad given to choice, high gain robberies - Al Pacino is the cop assigned to catch them - and that's where your three hours goes. The majority of this extended running time is spent exploring each of the character's situations and motivations, in particular coming to terms with the conflicting interests of needing to do their job and maintain any sort of domestic life. Quickly we see that hunter and hunted are not exactly a breed apart.
With such a large canvas for director Mann to wield his brush, disapointment is high when you consider that much of the detail is either less than convincing, contrived or downright dull. Selling itself as "a thriller for grown ups", logic takes every bit as much of a back seat as the plot unfolds as, say an episode of Mann's Miami Vice. De Niro's romantic entanglement is simply unbelievable for both parties involved and the protracted Pacino marriage fiasco begs the question of why the couple ever got involved with each other in the first place.
To counter this, there are several nice moments of human insight, the few major action scenes are excellent - immaculately executed and powerful stuff - and all performances are top grade, as you'd expect. This remains, however, an unwelcome surprise from director/scriptwriter Michael Mann, having impressed with the lean and mean Manhunter and Last of the Mohicans. Indulgence in actor's egos and running time have served to undermine, rather than strengthen the whole. The billing says it all.
Starring: Kate Winslet & Melanie Lynskey
Directed by: Peter Jackson
Who knows what made low budget king of hyper-gore turn to this fascinating, occasionally humorous but always disturbing true story, but we can all be grateful that the director of Bad Taste and Brain Dead has used is boundless energy in something a bit less... brain dead.
Having said that, this isn't Pinnochio, and it tells the tale of an intense friendship between two fourteen year old girls, one New Zealender (Lynskey) and one English (Winslet). Told entirely in flashback following their murder of the Antipodean's mother, Jackson traces the two's rapid move into their invented fantasy world. They write stories and letters, act out scenarios and try to escape the reality that their parents are making increasing efforts to keep them apart.
As a study of adolescent psychological illness, it's disturbing but fascinating stuff - where does a strong friendship turn into a damaging illness? Jackson makes inventive use of incredible costumes, camerawork, design and digital effects to get inside the minds of the nubiles, and both are effectively portrayed by the young leads. The film bravely doesn't shrink from the inevitable lesbian undertones - although it hardly aids the advancement of positive portrayal of gays in movies.
Belonging in the camp of the terminally weird, it is a film which stays in the memory long after the closing credits. It offers no pat solutions or explanations, forcing you to deal with the whole messy thing - it will probably alarm parents of teenage girls the world over. And for this, full marks go to the master of excess for issuing the greatest of restraint.
Documentary
Directed by Steve James
Not many three hour documentaries get a theatrical release to be sure, so what is so special about a film which follows four years in the lives of two aspiring professional baskeball players? Simply that sometimes a dose of real life can make for more poignant, moving and at times exciting drama than... drama.
It seems strange reviewing what is in essence two young people, so let's think about what sort of shape director James gives to the hundreds of hours of coverage he shot. We meet William Gates and Arthur Agee at Chicago high schools, both aged fourteen, as they are picked up by a part time talent scout recruiting for the local sports oriented school. Thereafter we follow the independant stories of both them and their families, as various events and crisis affect their playing and own sense of direction.
It seems remarkbably candid - over the years the participants must have got used to the crews, and there is no attempt to hide the darker side of unfolding events. Both William and Arthur seem very likeable, so the various crucial matches and incidents sometimes produce almost unbearable tension - we care about what happens to them, particularly when we see the fortunes of their less gifted comemporaries.
It is is film (technically shot on video) which raises big questions about the American educational system and the motives of those working in the fanatically competative sports colleges. Assuming you don't have a passionate hatred of the game, you don't have to know anything about basketball to get involved - although fifteen minutes ruthlessly shaved off the running time would probably have heightened the dramatic intensity even further. The most enlighentening thing though, is catching yourself second guessing each plot twist. The only scriptwriter here is the good Lord above...
Starring: Olivier Martinez and Juliette Binoche
Directed by: Jean Paul Rappeneau
Anyone who thinks that the French do nothing but churn out small movies with intellectuals arguing about the meaning of love in tabacs are, of course, broadly correct. Occasionally, however, all the stops are pulled out, and here the director of Cyrano de Bergerac pulls them way, way out in a nineteenth century romp set against the backdrop of a cholera epedemic in rural Francais.
Martinez is an exiled Italian nobleman involved in a revolutionary plot to overthrow the Austrians, who hold his homeland under their rule. All is not well when the plan is discovered, and he hoofs it off to seek his comrades nearer the border as his oppressors close in. His journey is interrupted by a village full of barking mad men and women, who are given to accusing every third person of poisoning their water-supply and being the source of the unprecedented cholera outbreak. Being one of these third people, he hides in the house of Binoche, alone and in a fetching ball-gown, and they soon head onwards and southwards...
And so we have swordfights, charging horses, vast crowds and much writhing and fitting from the diseased, giving the film bone fide historical epic status. Unfortuanately the narrative is a tad confused and occasionally bizzare resulting in an uneven tone - by turns harrowing, gory and exciting, but then absurd - Martinez's fearless exploits sometimes resemble those of Cary Elwes in The Princess Bride. Both leads are attractive enough though, and the film looks and sounds fabulous, making good use of period sets and breathtaking locations.
The central relationship between the married aristocrat Binoche and single, driven soldier Martinez is, however, less than compelling - the potential fires between them never quite seem to ignite. If you love epics, this should do you fine, but if on the other hand you prefer an absorbing story and some meaty characters, then you may stand more of a chance with a movie set down the local tabac.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame ****
Featuring the voices of: Demi Moore, Tom Hulce and Kevin Kline
Directed by: GaryTrousdale and Kirk Wise
Ten minutes in, and we seem destined for disaster. Disneyland Paris or not, the Great Mouse Company's characters seem to have wandered onto the wrong cel - politically correct historic America is one thing, literary classic historic Paris is another. But just when you think they've lost their way and must be storyboarding The Black Cauldron II right now, the ever-reliable Disney Machine graunches into gear.
Three wisecracking gargoyles are the lonesome Hunchback's only companions, until megababe Esmarelda (Moore) befriends him. This unlikely coupling is not necessarily set for happiness however, since the Chippendale wanabee lone-good soldier (Kline) is also interested in the green eyed femme fatale. Will this uneasy love triangle survive the unwelcome attentions of the evil city mogul?
Lessons are learned on the way about acceptance of different people and so on, and the animation contains several spectacular set pieces. The songs are lively, Esmerelda finally gives Jessica Rabbit some competition for the most lust-inducing drawing in toon history, and the story mor(r)e or less survives it's Disneyfication intact.
More fun the Pocahontas, it is however a while since we've had a feature suitable for really young children - even Aladdin was pretty scary in places. But that as it may, Disney are weathering the post Katzenberg storm (the boss behind their phenomenal success), and now not only still rule traditional animation, but now the innovative stuff (Toy Story) as well. Mickey, ring them bells.
All reviews / articles copyright Guy Rowland (1998).