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Ah, it's summer and the sweet smeU of the BoUywood doUar is in the movie theatres again. Simon McCallum takes a look at
what we•u be watching when it starts raining outside...
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s, it's that time again, folks. The un's hotting up (sort of), everyone's wearing shorts (why?), and the film world is pre~aring to let rip with its customary bout of summer blockbusters. This phenomenon can be viewed with weary cynicism, as is often the case with high-brow 'film as art' critics, or taken with a pinch of salt and appreciated for the Hollywood dollar-spree that it increasingly seems to be. With the ever-expanding array of technological gizmos available to those producers with bottomless cash pits, the special effects, or 'high-concept' movie has come to define the blockbuster - in other words, the actors perform in front of blue screens, the script, such as it is, has a 'wisecrack quota', and the computers do the donkey work. The studios write the cheques, cross their fingers, and come release time, pray for that, "Frivolous fun ... mind-blowing visuals,"
the summer stretching before us, you ask? Well, besides a certain George Lucas production that might, perhaps, cause a bit of excitement, there's an unusually eclectic mix to choose from in the coming weeks, which should please both those looking for the classic guns/ explosions/ goodies/ baddies formula, and those fed up with America saves the world from asteroids! aliens/ natural disasters scenarios. So, without further ado, here is a small selection of this summer's most promising offerings, big and small. Enjoy.
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sort of quote in the reviews, which they can then plaster with glee all over their publicity material. Each year sees a new, more hyped batch of these ultra high-concept creations, but once the advertising blitz has cleared, we are often left with, well, a pile of crap. Last summer the unholy trio of Lost In Space (Lost Up Its Own Arse), Godzilfa (Godawful), and The Avengers (Davit's Spawn) appeared on our screens, while summer '97 will be forever marred by the memory of the abhorrent Batman and Robin. Featuring a miscast George Clooney, Schwarzenegger in ultra-crap mode, hideous headache-inducing Con Aitish sets and SFX that made you want to exterminate the production designer, Batman and Robin made you wish that you'd never even heard of the cinema. Still, it hasn't all been one turkey after another. 1996 saw Twister, Mission: Impossible, and Independence Day clean up at the box office. Vacuous, confusing, and cheesy respectively, yes, but great entertainment nonetheless, and mindless in the best possible way. But what, then, of
Ravenous Dlr: Antonla Bird Released: July 2 During a battle of the Mexican-American War, a soldier named John Boyd (LA Confidentiafs Guy Pearce) captures an enemy outpost, and is promoted to Captain. But because he played dead like a coward beneath a pile of his comrade's corpses, he is stationed at the isolated Fort Spencer in the Sierra Nevadas. There, he discovers a motley crew of dispossessed men, which includes Commanding Officer Hart (Jeffrey Jones), a Priest named Tofffer, the fort's doctor Knox, a couple of Indians, and a batty cook called Cleaves (David Arquette). Before long, a strange Scotsman named Colquhoun (The Full Mont}ls Robert Carlyle) turns up, tired and frost-bitten, and proceeds to tell the men how he and a group of settlers, snowbound in a cave with no food, had resorted to eating those that died of starvation. Despite the warnings of the Indians, Hart demands that they go and check the cave for survivors. Inspired by the Donner Pass incident of 1847, this intriguing horror-thriller plays on the ancient Indian myth of Weendigo, which states that eating human flesh not only infuses you with that person's spirit and strength, but also gives you an insatiable hunger for more. This is undeniably controversial subject matter ("You Are What You Eat," leers the tag line), with large helpings of gore and blackly comic undertones. Ravenous provoked both disgusted and very positive reviews in the States, where it debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. Although likely to divide audiences in a similar way over here, this· is definitely one to catch if you have slightly darker tastes.
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me Dlr: Jay Roach Released: July 10 Dr. Evil is back! With a new time machine that allows him to travel back to the '60s he steals Austin Powers' mojo (his 'life force' and the secret to his amazing libido), thus rendering him 'shagless'. Mike Myers, who also wrote and produced, again stars as Powers, who has to leave his new wife Vanessa Kensington (Elizabeth Hurley) to travel back thirty years in a customised VW Beetle to 1969, in order to find his mojo and foil Evil's plan of world domination. Many of the stars of the original are here, including Hurley, Michael York, Robert Wagner, Seth Green as Evil's angsty son, and Mindy Sterling as Frau Fabissima, as well as new faces including Rob Lowe (remember him?), 3rd Rock From the Sun's Kristin Thompson as Russian spy lvana Humpalot, Gia Carrides as sexy assassin Robin Swallows, and best of all, Heather Graham (Boogie Nights) as CIA agent Felicity Shagwell. There are, of course, plenty of cameos, which include Jerry Springer, Tim Robbins and Woody Harrelson. All this and a miniature Or Evil clone called Mini-Me! Myers' first 007 spoof went down a treat (if you'll excuse the appalling pun) and if it's extreme hilarity you're looking for this summer, this is definitely your best bet.
Smith, the always entertaining Kline, and an added bonus of Satma Hayek as the fiery love interest, this looks set to be the biggest hit in the post-Star Wars holocaust.
Eyes Wide Shut Dlr: Stanley Kubrlck Released: August 27 Completed just five days before the legendary director's death, and repeatedly delayed due to his famous perfectionism, this adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's Traumnovelle will be under intense scrutiny on its release. Cruise and Kidman play married psychologists who have . affairs with their patients. We've had a taster of the steamy scenes between the two, but they don't tell us much, and information on the film is sketchy to say the least. The supporting cast includes Sydney Pollack, and was to feature Jennifer Jason Leigh until she was fired after being unable to re-shoot a scene due to her schedule for David Cronenberg's eXistenZ. Though something of an unknown quantity, this final work from the great Kubrick, whose last film was Full Metal Jacket in 1987, is without doubt a not-to-be missed release.
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Wild Wild West
Dlr: Barry Sonnenfield Released: August 1
In this $90m Action/Sci-Fi/Comedy hybrid based on the '60s TV series, Will Smith plays James West, a Civil War hero, and Kevin Kline is Artemus Gordon, a US Marshal and disguise expert. The pair are sent to the wild West to deal with mad Confederate inventor Arliss Loveless (Kenneth Branagh, without legs!) who wants to assassinate President Ulysses Grant (Robert Conrad). This may all sound a tad strange, but with the talents of Men In Black director Sonnenfeld, the ever-popular
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