CINEMAFILE

Rip It Up, Issue 191, 1 June 1993, Page 34

CINEMAFILE

With the school holidays out of the way there are some great films to look forward to, notably Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 111 on July 2. April O'Neil is timewarped back into 17th century Japan and the Awesome Foursome must find a way to go back and save her . . . Sylvester Stallone's non-stop stunt action Cliffhanger also opens nationwide July 2. The buzz around town from those who've seen it is that it really is that good. Sly plays a mountain rescue ranger forced out of self imposed retirement to save Northern Exposure's Janine Turner. Turns out she didn't get 'lost', someone wanted her dead - and they're back to finish the job... on limited release is last year's Film Festival hit City of Hope. Written and directed by John Sayles it succesfully interweaves four different stories into one. It features a great cast, including Vincent Spano, last seen flesheating in Alive .. .this year's Auckland Film Festival runs July 16 to 31st and features a charity premiere of Desperate Remedies starring Jennifer Ward Leland and superchunk Kevin Smith, more details on the festival next month . . .

coming soon is the comedy Made in America starring Whoopi Goldberg with Ted Danson as her unwanted (white) sperm doner. The two have also been signed for Jungle Fever 2, the musical comedy spoof of Spike Lee's original masterwork. Whoopi is presently tied upfilming Sister Act 2, for a fee of US$7 Million which makes herthe highest paid female actor in Hollywood . . another sequel on it's way is F//es, with Geena Davis reprising her role from The Fly. This film totally ignores The Fly 2, the sequel (flop) already made, and starts with Geena giving birth to twins. The film has been put together by Davis' own production company... Gabrielle Byrne makes a welcome return with Into The West, a modern Irish tale about a majestic white horse who turns up at a rundown estate to the delight of his kids. Shit happens and then Byrne and Ellen Barkin must chase after the boys who have run off with the horse to escape the bad guys. The grandfather is played by David Kelly, last seen as the one-armed dishwasher on TV's Robin's Nest... speaking of TV, on a recent Oprah Winfrey show most of the male audience said they'd be happy to let their wife sleep with a millionaire for a million bucks. This isthe same decision Woody Harrelson makes in Indecent Proposal when Robert Redford expresses a lusty interest in Demi Moore. Aside from posing some curly questions the film also casts aside all doubt as to whether Moore has had her breasts 'done' or not... Groundhog Day continues its run nationwide, with Bill Murray waking up every morning to find it's still February 2nd. It's a quietly funny film, providing food forthought for our nation's unemployed. Aside from romancing Andie McDowell every day, Murray learns piano, French poetry, the Hymlec Manoeuvre, and how to be nice ... no news on when we'll see Poet/cJust/ce here, the starring vehidefor Janet Jackson. She plays a hairdresser who writes peotry and falls for a Postal Worker. The film is directed by John Singleton, best known for Boyz In The H00d ... no news either on where my preview tickets to Jurassic Park and Last Action Hero are. Hopefully I can tell you more next month, in the meantime I strongly suggest you get dibs now on whatever young 'uns you can russle up for Aladdin. It opens August nationwide and, sure, it's supposed to be a 'kids' movie but Robin Williams steals the film as the voice of the Genie. His joke-a-minute one-liners more than make up forthose brief musical interludes. NICK D'ANGELO®