Cinema to Video
"L.A. Confidential" (18)
Set over four months beginning at Christmas, 1952, Curtis Hanson's complex, intelligent and dynamic thriller based on James Ellroy's novel is a taut saga of duplicity, criminal ambitions and multiple murders. Directed with vibrant panache, it features a fine, astutely-chosen cast: Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, Danny DeVito, Kim Basinger and David Strathairn.
"Welcome To Sarajevo" (15)
A serious, heartfelt denunciation of the horrors of war, Michael Winterbottom's haunting film deals persuasively with the responsibilities and frustrations of war correspondents, one of whom (based on ITN reporter Michael Nicholson) impulsively decides to smuggle home and adopt a young orphan. Bristling with anger and energy, this moving drama features Stephen Dillane, Woody Harrelson, Marisa Tomei, Kerry Fo and Goran Visnjic.
"The Game" (15)
Director David Incher follows Seven with an often frustrating but finally satisfying psychodrama anchored in Michael Douglas's intense performance as a cynical and extremely wealthy San Francisco investment banker whose well-ordered life is turned upside down when he is drawn into a truly elaborate - and dangerous - game. With Sean Penn, Deborah Kara Unger and Carroll Baker.
"Temptress Moon" (15)
From Chen Kaige, the director of Farewell My Concubine, comes a lush and languorously developed classical melodrama set primarily in 1920s Shanghai with Leslie Cheung as a gigolo who blackmails his clients and Gong Li as the opium-addicted woman to whom he becomes attracted.
"Shooting Fish" (12)
Irish actor Stuart Townsend and American Dan Futterman make a solid double act as unemployed young men devising a scam to make them a fortune in London. Kate Beckinsale is the woman who comes into their lives in this witty but over-extended comedy directed by Stefan Schwartz.
"Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" (15)
Mike Myers plays the eponymous 1960s superhero who is cryogenically frozen and defrosted in the 1990s in this scattershot spoof of movie cliches which proves only intermittently amusing. Elizabeth Hurley co-stars and the cast also features Michael York and Robert Wagner, along with a slew of cameos. Jay Roach directs.
"Contact" (12)
Based on the Carl Sagan book and directed by Robert Zemeckis, this exploration of different responses to the prospect of extraterrestrial life stars Jodie Foster in a sturdy performance as a fiercely committed astronomer. However, the movie - which also features Matthew McConaughey, John Hurt and James Woods - is all too long-winded and heavy-handed.
"Palookaville" (15)
Alan Taylor's first feature is an amiable, good-natured and low-key movie set in New Jersey, inspired by three Italo Calvino stories and dealing with three male friends - Vincent Gallo, Adam Trese and William Forsythe - whose basic slacker ineptitude undermines their attempts at crime.
"Keep The Aspidistra Flying" (15)
Helena Bonham Carter and Richard E. Grant struggle vainly to breathe life into this insipid and misguided George Orwell adaptation, directed by Robert Bierman, in which she plays the long-suffering girlfriend of the hapless, idealistic poet, Gordon Comstock, played by Grant.
"Nothing to Lose" (15)
Yet another light caper movie which throws together two characters of different race and background only to have them bond in adversity, Steve Oedekerk's comedy-drama features Tim Robbins as an executive convinced his wife is cheating on him, and Martin Lawrence as a desperate black carjacker. Jaunty to start with, it unwisely turns sentimental in the later stages.
"Volcano" (15)
No better or worse than the other recent lava drama, Dante's Peak, Mick Jackson's predictable disaster movie puts the population of Los Angeles through the mill when a vent in the earth's crust unleashes a volcano which wreaks havoc. Trying to keep straight faces through it all are Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche, Don Cheadle and Gaby Hoffmann.
"A Simple Wish" (PG)
Mara Wilson plays a seven-year-old who wishes for a fairy godmother to help her father (Martin Short) fulfil his dream of becoming a Broadway actor in this routine yarn which co-stars Kathleen Turner and is directed by Michael Ritchie. One for younger audiences.
"The Chamber" (12)
This trite and tiresome John Grisham yarn features Gene Hackman as a racist on Death Row and Chris O'Donnell as his grandson, an idealistic young lawyer who appeals his death sentence. With Faye Dunaway. Directed by James Foley.
"The Leading Man" (15)
Directed by John Duigan, this rambling and implausible yarn of infidelity among London theatrical types features rock singer Jon Bon Jovi in the title role, with Anna Galiena, Lambert Wilson and Thandie Newton.
Videos to Buy
Warner Home Video releases 17 movies in its Classic Westerns series next Monday. The collection includes six John Wayne movies, among them two outstanding westerns, The Searchers and Rio Bravo, and three remarkable films starring and directed by Clint Eastwood - The Outlaw Josey Wales, Pale Rider and the Oscar-winning Unforgiven. Other notable titles in the collection include Tom Horn, Jeremiah Johnson, There Was A Crooked Man and the director's cut of Sam Peckinpah's magnificent The Wild Bunch. The videos are priced at £9.99 each.
Advance Vision stores in Dublin will donate £1 from every rental of Welcome To Sarajevo to Cradle, which aids children in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The participating stores are in Dun Laoghaire, Leopardstown, Blackrock, Rathmines, Bray, Malahide, Raheny and Sandyford.
