CINEMA FILE

Rip It Up, Issue 179, 1 June 1992, Page 28

CINEMA FILE

That's the May school holidays done with — now for some real films... from the makers of A Room With A View comes HOWARDS END, a stunning adaption of the E.M. Forster novel. It follows the lives of two families first united by the romance of one couple and then the marriage of another. Any English period film must star HELENA BONHAM CARTER and this film is no exception... MY COUSIN VINNY sees the return of the Karate Kid's RALPH MACCHIO, albiet in a smaller role. JOE PESCI takes the title role in this comedy which also features The Munster's FRED GWYNNE. A most enjoyable romp... the prolific 808 HOSKINS joins TOM BERENGER and GRETA ("Is there a nude scene?'') SCACCHI in the erotic thriller SHATTERED. Tom emerges from a near fatal car crash with Trying to put his life back together it seems darling wife Greta may just

have done the dirty deed... the creator of The Big Chill, LAWRENCE KASDAN does it all again in THE

GRAND CANYON, but this time

without an accompanying soundtrack. An excellent cast (including DANNY GLOVER, KEVIN KLINE and STEVE MARTIN) in a drama about six LA city folk whose lives are intertwined by fate ... much in the vein of Fatal Attraction, but this time every woman's worst nightmare rather than every man's, THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE continues its run nationwide. A real chiller, starring REBECCA DE MORNAY as the psycho nanny... also continuing its run is THE MEDICINE MAN, starring SEAN CONNERY as the doctor who discovers the cure for cancer. Trouble is, the breakthrough came in the South American rainforest and to prove the cure scientifically he must beat the EVIL MULTI NATIONAL DEVELOPERS who are stripping the forest... if you ever wondered how violent a film has to be before it gets an RlB rating, check out THE LAST BOY SCOUT starring BRUCE WILLIS and DAMON WAYANS. Please

remember it's all just escapist fun

FAR AND AWAY sees husband and wife duo TOM CRUISE and NICOLE KIDMAN together again for director RON (Richie Cunningham) HOWARD'S latest effort. Its a sweeping saga set in Ireland and the US and quite good. Cruise meets Kidman when he tries to kill her father, so naturally they fall in 10ve... if you enjoyed SPINAL TAP then you'll love WAYNE'S WORLD. A most excellent film dudes, essential viewing for all musos, petrol heads, geeks, nerds, and babes. Get set for your friends to start saying "Not!"... due out in the States last Christmas, but pulled for re-editing, ALIEN 3 finally hits the big screen. SIGOURNEY WEAVER returns as Warrant Officer Ripley, the sole survivor of the first two films — unless you also count the alien. The bitch is back... ALIEN 3 The movie sequel is now established as an essential part of the Hollywood studio cashflow. A hit film can be (almost) guaranteed to pull 65 to 70 percent of the audience that saw the first one, thus guaranteeing a cash return. Considering the costs of making movies, it's no wonder the studios prefer not to take risks. There are few exceptions to the rule that no sequel is ever as good as the first, which is why first-time directors

usually get lumbered with the job — and the blame that follows. Alien 3, which opens nationwide July 3, has had its fair share of problems.

New Zealander Vincent Ward (acclaimed director of Vigil and Navigator} wrote the original story for Alien 3 and was to direct it. Problems arose when the studio wanted more action and less art, the sort of films

Ward is famous for. Ward parted company from the production, although still gets story credit for the film.

Alien 3 is less "high tech" than its predecessors, a conscious decision by the film's eventual director, David Fincher. As a first-time film director he claims to be wary of rehashing the previous films: "Some of the sets give the appearance of being many years in the past, not hundreds of years in the future. There are no state-of-the-art weapons — the characters are forced to rely on their courage and guile to defend themselves against the Alien, who is the ultimate killing machine." This may partly explain the nervousness of some studio bosses who prefer to go with the formula rather than try something new. Alien 3 differs somewhat from the first two films, although it is still subversely a feminist film. How many action films do you know that feature a woman as hero / saviour? This film is set on

Fiorina 161, a lice-infested planet on a distant solar system. Originally a subterranean mineral facility and maximum security penal colony, the planet is inhabited by a community of prisoners who found religion and stayed behind when the facility was evacuated. Into this male-dominated world crashes Warrant Officer Ripley. In this society of outcasts this woman is the ultimate outcast, someone to be feared rather than trusted. Especially when she babbles out her story about a deadly unstoppable enemy—the Alien. Ripley's worst fears turn into reality as the body count rises and there are no weapons to fight the Alien. SIMON LAAN