CINEMAFILE VIDEO PHILE

Rip It Up, Issue 185, 1 December 1992, Page 35

CINEMAFILE VIDEO PHILE

The movie companies are doing their bit for melanoma prevention this summer by putting on some great films. Already screening nationwide is White Men Can’t Jump, starring Wesley Snipes from New Jack City, and Woody Harrelson from Cheers. The two are basketball hustlers playing suckers for money, but the film is stolen by Rosie Perez from Do The Right Thing and her game show performance on Jeopardy. .. also still on general release is the

comedy Sister Act starring Whoopi Goldberg as a '9os version of The Singing Nun.. . much has been made of Jack Nicholson

‘ruling’ Hollywood (he got squillions for Batman) but if you doubt the real power check out the credits for A Few Good Men. Top billing goes to Tom Cruise, reputedly great in the role of a Naval

Attorney reluctantly trying to nail Jack. The excellent cast includes Demi Moore and Kevin Bacon ... a few good women feature in A League of Their Own, the fun story of a Women’s Baseball League set up during WW2 when the guys were all ‘over there’. Geena Davis, Tom Hanks, and Madonna are all brilliant — go see it you’ll like it. . . Francis Ford Coppola's new film Dracula takes some

getting used to. That’s because it’s based on Bram Stoker’s original book and it’s quite unlike the Hammer Horrors we’re used to.

There’s still plenty of gory blood sucking from Gary Oldman as Dracula (pronounced ‘Dra-cool-R’), and Anthony Hopkins puts an almost comedic twist to the role of Van Helsing with the offhand way in which he plans to dispatch the Undead, but naturally the film belongs to Winona Ryder as the woman in love with a man who’s obviously no good. Love never dies . . . death of a different sort with Meryl Streep in Death Becomes Her, also starring Bruce Willis and Goldie Hawn, and opening on Boxing Day. And you thought Meryl was a straight actor?!!... if you’ve got nothing to do the day before, you can see Under Seige, the latest outing from action man Steven Segal- He just happens to be the Cook who saves the day when aUS warship is over-run by Terrorists. Also on board and pouting furiously throughout out is former Baywatch star Erica Eleniak, playing a Centrefold Model - which just happens to be what she was doing for Playboy in 1988! great action ...

Jeremy Irons has won the UK critics with his performance as the history teacher who ‘reaches’ the kids in the US film Waterland. the Australian movie Strictly Ballroom seems to have become a

world wide hit on the Festival circuit, and is now on general release around the country and starring Paul Mercurio. Billed as a romantic comedy, don’t let the ballroom dancing put you off - it’s a funny film full of teen rebellion ... Christmas is also the time you get lumbered with taking your siblings, nieces, and nephews to the , movies. Take your pick of the following: Fem Gully - The Last Rainforest is an animated tale of the environment and featuring . many famous voices .. . not quite animation, but animated none- , the-less is A Muppet Christmas Carol starring Gonzo, Miss Piggy, and the rest of the gang. If Kermit sounds a little different its only because he’s got a frog in throat... the superb Rick Moranis is back for Honey, I Blew up the Kid, the sequel to .../ Shrunk the Kids. Rather than smaller, the baby is now huge, and running amok in Las Vegas ... Michael Jackson's choice to play himself as a young a boy in the Jackson 5 Story, Macauley Culkin, is back for more in Home Alone 2 ■ Lost in New York. I managed to escape seeing the first one, will Ibe as lucky this year??? ‘ " NICK D'ANGELO

BATMAN RETURNS This is a must rent. Director Tim Burton gets free of studio restraint and make the dark, edgy Gotham City he wanted to the first time. Michael Keaton seems much more comfortable as Bruce Wayne/Batman and therefore more believable. Danny De Vito is exceptional as The Penguin, a side-show freak with a grudge against the world. The big surprise comes from Michelle Pfieffer, her transition from harried Office Manager to Catwoman is superb. ALIEN 3 Another must rent. Quite different from the preceeding Alien films, this one is set on a prison planet where everyone is more than just a little unstable. Until Sigourney Weaver (as Ripley) turns up there have been no women on the planet and her arrival creates quite a stir. So to does her claim that there is an evil Alien in the prison and they're all going to die. (This Alien is a hybrid of the others and even mo'nasty). Story in part by NZ's Vincent Ward it would have been nice to have seen him direct this, as was originally intended. WELCOME HOME ROXY CARMICHAEL Roxy Carmichael is coming back to visit her hometown of Clyde, Ohio. The only thing Roxy ever did of any consequence was to inspire someone to write a song about her, which became a number one hit. That alone has made her famous in the minds of the townsfolk and the red carpet is about to be rolled out. Winona Ryder is the teen misfit, the adopted daughter who hates her parents, the girl who becomes convinced Roxy is her real mother and coming back to Clyde to collect her. This is one of those nice 'small' films, well acted and worth renting.

A TIME TO DIE Traci Lords, currently in Auckland filming The Tommyknockers, stars here as a solo mum fighting to support her five year old boy. When she takes a job as a photographer on assignment to the Police PR team she snaps a photo she shouldn't have. For some strange reason someone wants to kill her, probably because she's holding the only evidence to a Police murder cover-up. Like any mother of the 90's , Traci goes on the offensive when they take her kid — picking up a gun and wasting the bad guys. An interesting B-Grade morality tale about not being a victim. BRAINDEAD NZ film director Peter Jackson

returns to fine form in this excessively gory splatter film. Set in 1950 s Wellington, mummy's boy Timothy Balme meets a nice Spanish girl, Diana Penalver, that mother doesn't approve of. When mother gets bitten by a rat and turns into a zombie Balme has to lock her in the basement while he tries to figure out what to do. Mum escapes, other people are bitten, and suddenly Balme has a houseful of zombies on his hands. Not only a great splatter film, Jackson pays good attention to the period. The comic situations however are timeless, and the cast are all brilliant. Even if you saw this at the movies it's worth renting again. SIMON LAAN

CIVEITAWAY Christmas is coming and if you enter quickly you could be giving the gift of video to your loved ones. Answer any of the questions below on the back of an envelope and send to RIU Giveaways, PO Box 5689, Auckland 1. Be sure to include a stamped, self addressed (yours!) envelope inside.* BATMAN RETURNS (now renting at video stores nationwide): 3 copies of the video and 3 Batman T-shirts. Q 1 ] Name one of the actors who played either the Bat, the Cat, or the Penguin in the original 1968 movie version of Batman (ask Mummy if you weren’t born then) A TIME TO DIE (now renting at video stores nationwide): 5 copies of the video and a copy of Body Rhymes. Q2 ] Name another movie starring Traci Lords (the £jtcK.£t> ti/uJE, one with Johnny Depp) -Zz/fe/MgrzE

WICKED WILLIE —THE MOVIE (on sale for $29.95 at all leading book and department stores nationwide): 10 copies of the video ■ Q3] If Donald is a duck and Mickey is a mouse, what is Wicked Willie? BEASTMASTER 2 (renting nationally very soon): 5 copies of the video and 5 posters. Q4] Name the January. release date for this sequel to Beastmaster. ' ,

AUCKLAND ' ’J~ Which American superstar is back in town and rumoured to be buying a villa in Ponsonby? None other than Anthony Keidis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He’s back here after getting lost in the Indonesian jungle for five days and is apparently looking rather emaciated . . . American ex-porn-star Traci Lords, who is in the country on location, is being escorted around town by one MCOJ of the famous singing duo... Bailter Space are going to live in the US next year and are .. doing a Peel session in London this month. Expect their new album Robot i World after their European tour, in \ January or February... Lung played 65 gigs in Europe and recorded a new album in Stuttgart before coming home. A four song seven inch called Paralysis will be released by five different record companies and should be available in New Zealand now on vinyl. Melody Maker continues to give Lung • .rave reviews ... New Plymouth’s Tension have recorded five songs with an eye to getting on the Roadrunner compilation of Australasian bands due out ‘early next year. Tension say the new . . .student radio station has been thrashing their tape along with Nefarious, . Sticky Filth and the Nod . . . Frisbee band Rainy Daze (semi-acoustic hardcore thrash) were thrown off the roof of Liquor King when management mis- . interpreted the words to 'Pump Gas’. . . Killing Joke’s Jazz Coleman (who | lives on Waiheke Island) is planning to • open his Parnell recording studio with a big bash in January. He hopes his studio will become a mecca for musicians and is planning workshops. The studio is already booked until June by, amongst others, Mr Jimmy Page! Jazz has also set up a northern hemisphere . distribution network called Zeal .. .. Seven Dials are,planning a north island summer resort tour,' followed by a single release in January and a move to ’• Melbourne at the end of next year... Port Chalmers’ Dead C will be supporting Sonic Youth here next year . . . . Straitjacket Fits’ Shayne Carter took to . the stage for a half hour of guitar antics with King Loser at the Boardwalk Bar last month. Two-thirds of King Loser have relocated to Dunedin after a triumphal farewell gig (with guest saxophonist) at K Rd’s infamous Las Vegas strip club, the red plush velvet, gilt mirrors and strippers, , providing a ■ sympatico backdrop for the local kings ■ ' of sleazy listening ... Dribbling Darts of Love have received a NZ On Air video grant for their new single ‘Hey Judith’ and Karyn Hay will direct it. They are also working on a new album at the Lab... IN THE STUDIOS: Cilla and Figure 60 are doing mini-albums at Progressive; currently at the Lab, Leaders of Style are doing something, Push Push are doing demos, the Warners are mastering and Straitjacket Fits are in LA . recording an album; and at Airforce, Rattle Records are recording a violin/ cello piece, and Shadowplay and My Conviction are both doing singles. Flying Nun are starting a spo-ken-word label next year — first release, a seven inch by David Merritt.. . Headless Chickens release their single ‘Juice’ (recorded with Prince’s Paisley Park engineer) in January but Flying Nun’s first single release for ’93 will be . the Renderers’ ‘A Touch of,Evil’. New FREE fanzine Desperate Deal is out Dec 18 - interviews with Straitjacket Fits, Acid Dread, Second Child and more . DONNA YUZWALK CHRISTCHURCH Emily Hakaraia has joined Running Promotions who are now Flex Promos tions offering bookings, management etc (03 3663735). SOS is a newish venture offering PA hire, rehearsal room, demo record-ings at 166 Cumnor Terrace whilst Alan Whally is setting up a demo studio in the central . city... TMA-1 have a new sixty minute cassette out entitled 5. They are also threatening' to release a movie and various other TMA-1 products in the new year... Passage Tapes have their Xmas releases in the shops: Scuzzbuckets with. the seven inch track ‘Bottom of the Barrel’ and ambient music from hell from Cute Robots . who bring us 'Violent Wallpaper’ ... Propoganda have been busy with the mainland metal awards, a five track EP release from Prestidigitator and planning an industrial/ techno New Year’s Eve party amongst other things . . . whilst Cinematic are searching for a drummer, Jeremy Taylor is doing a few one-off projects including a Glen Campbell tribute with Steve Birse . . . after a year of threats, debates, fires and trying to organise , everyone to - stop in one place for longer than ten ’ • minutes, Into The Void are now set to ■ shake the walls of Warners on the 29th of December. . . Chris from Royce T. ; Doyster has left to plug his guitar into • the Suspenders . /. Demise have a new guitarist Phil Gemmel who also plays in the metal cover band ' Deadlights ... new around town are 200 Proof, Hot Tamalis and K-Tel 911. JOHN GREENFIELD .

NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS, THE CRUEL SEA Town Hall, December 8 ;' • ' Nick Cave may have been wearing a little silver crucifix around his neck,but it wasn’t enough to ward off the sin of idolatory. The earnest teenagers who seem to pass for fucked-up bohemians in these parts were there to consume their hero, and they wanted all of him, now. They weren’t, for instance,' interested in the Cruel Sea and their curious ambient-country-blues thing, however much Tex Perkins’ stage moves and Dukes Of Hazard lyrical scenarios seemed like an affectionate parody of Cave’s own. They’re a strange band because they’re working in just about the most uniformly obvious genre out there, but somehow the songs still found deceptive, ambivalent directions to go off in. When the Star and his friends finally appeared the first thing the front row tried to do was to pull him down to them by the legs, arms, hair oranyhting else they could grab. ,When that failed they tried to join him . on stage. Cave resisted with admirable violence and big boots, but he played up to the adulation too, looking into the eyes of those who “just had to touch him” (I actually heard three different people say that!) then leaping away as they stretched out their sorry hands. In fact he had as much stage presence as a fan could have hoped for, repeatedly throwing himself across the floor and onto his knees, appearing so strongly to suffer that the tired question of whether or not he actually does disappeared from view, (hopefully never to return). Meanwhile Mick Harvey and new bassist Martin P. Casey appeared vastly amused by the proceedings, the latter sometimes resorting to high kicks, and Blixa Bargeld looked bored and/or impossibly cool, standing still, smoking and occasionally striking a guitar with breathtaking disdain, summoning up a sound that may have been the incarnation of the Birthday Party’s “Six Inch Gold Blade”. They played most of Henry’s Dream, with edited highlights of The Good Son, Tender Prey and Your Funeral . . . plus ‘Tupelo’ and ‘From Her To Eternity’. Despite all the showmanship there was an edge of (drunken) chaos, of potential public disaster that kept away the spectre of “professionalism” (an industry euphemism for “rigor mortis”). So if, as someone suggested, this was effectively a Nick Cave covers band, they’d be perfect for your funeral reception. MATTHEW HYLAND

EXPONENTS DEAD FLOWERS, ANDREW FAGAN Powerstation, December 2 Everyone has some sort of plan for when they win Lotto. Well, when I win I would like to make Andrew Fagan a megastar. , Performing solo in front of a large crowd who were there for the headliners, NZ’s resident oddball pop genius careered madly between song and poem with sparkling wit and no little amount of positive crowd response. , ’ The songs would possibly sound better with a band, but for the meantime we'll make do with the best one man show in the country. At the very least he should have his own TV show. I've had a fairly major change of opinion over Dead Flowers. Last time I saw them was at a packed Boardwalk Bar and it was all a bit claustrophobic. In a bigger venue and with a much better sound they appear very much the genuine article. Okay so it's all based on a Guns plus Crowes equals Stones equation, but it's actually a good thing that this country has a band that can play that game and get away with it. They look the part, play well and have a couple of real good 'uns

in 'Love Myself (Plastic)' and 'Walking In The Sun'. The fact that the Exponents are possibly the uncoolest band in the world does not seem to bother them one bit. They know that this review matters little so I could tell you that they were a crock of shit or that they are currently pushing back the boundaries of modern music. Neither would be the truth. It's very much your standard Exponents gig where beers are drunk, backs are slapped, Jordan takes his shirt off and we all sing along to the favourites. New songs are played but these are tolerated rather than encouraged. It's hits the punters want and given their rather astounding popularity, the Exponents probably have a few years left in them yet. I just wish they would occasionally do something different. AL CAIN TORI AMOS, TED BROWN Ak Town Hall, December 1 Ex-Tunneller Ted Brown opened proceedings early accompanied by press-ganged keyboardist Martin. I was seriously underwhelmed by Brown's new single 'Swerve' but tonight's set showcased him as an extremely

talented songwriter. At times reminiscent of Paul Kelly, the sparse, twelve-string guitar and keyboard arrangements allowed the listener to hear directly into the heart of carefully crafted tunes such as the atmospheric 'Lost In Winter' and set closer ‘Love Explodes'. In such an intimate setting a performer stands or falls on the quality of their songs and tonight Ted Brown remained steadfastly vertical.

Resplendent in Judy Garland red-spangled shoes and Bevery Hillbillies dungarees, Tori Amos is something of a walkin', talkin' livin' contradiction. On the last date of a long world tour, Amos belted out a consumate performance under the guise of a soulbaring confessional, which in turn confounded, delighted, annoyed and enthralled. Drawing on much of her recent Litf/e Earthquakes album, Amos prefaced many of the songs with well-rehearsed spiels on her childhood, family rifts and burgeoning sexuality. The family backgrounds were mostly funny but it's an altogether more unnerving affair to have a total stranger describe her sexual awakening to a room full of peo-

pie. Too unnerving for one heckler who piped up as Amos was beginning to describe her first kiss. She stopped — reflected for an instant and without batting an eyelid cut the interjector down, accepted the resulting applause and slipped fluidly back into her patter ("that was like my first kiss — it sucked"). After that we were all eating out of the palm of her hand. As a performer Amos was not above sending up the earnestness of some of her songs with a self-deprecating knowing glance or wry smile. Her mid-set cover of the ultimate cock-rock anthem, Led Zep's 'Whole Lotta Love' twisted the whole genre on its proverbial head. A mutated version of Nirvana's'Smells Like Teen Spirit' was similarly taken from a fresh perspective but perhaps the most telling musical moment was an emotional slap in the face from Little Earthquakes, 'Me And A Gun'. Sung acapella, the impact of this song was so powerful that I could see tears running down the face of someone nearby. And I've yet to see that happen while someone sings 'Wuthering Heights' in a Karaoke bar.

MARTIN BELL