Direct to video
The sketchy biopic, Flynn (18), is a colourful account of the youthful experiences of Errol. Flynn, who was born in Tasmania in 1909. A brief prologue establishes the utter obsession of the boy's father, a biologist, with his work and his mother's sexual affairs in his absence, one of which is witnessed by the child. When the movie jumps forward to Sydney in 1962, our first sight of the teenage Flynn shows him passionately having sex.
The overcrowded narrative follows him to New Guinea, where he searches for gold and is befriended by a proto Nazi (Steven Berkoff) who later rapes him. Along the way, Flynn is depicted variously as a thief, a liar and a prostitute, and he is charged with murder, all before conning his way into his movie debut as Fletcher Christian in the 1932 In the Wake of the Bounty.
It's no wonder that Errol Flynn titled his autobiography My Wicked, Wicked Ways, and the young Australian actor, Guy Pearce, who graduated from Neighbours to Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, catches the actor's trademark spirit, personality and agility. Unfortunately, Frank Howson, who co wrote and directed Flynn squanders such sharp casting and such lively source material by saddling the movie with stilted dialogue, banal and superfluous narration, cringe inducing double entendres and a nasty streak of homophobia.
Henri Georges Clouzot's clever and gripping 1954 French thriller, Les Diaboliques, gets the American remake treatment from the director of Benny & Joon, Jeremiah Checkik, in Diabolique (18), which relocates the story to present day Pittsburgh. In the role originally played by Simone Signoret, Isabelle Adjani plays a school principal and former nun who conspires with a teacher (Sharon Stone) to drug Adjani's abusive husband (Chazz Palminteri) and drown him in the bath. What follows is so lamentably dull and essentially illogical that even Stone's firm, icy portrayal cannot rescue it.
Originally a 13 minute black and white short film, which was developed into a feature, Wes Anderson's Bottle Rocket (15) is the latest in a long line of US independent pictures concentrating on the quirky experiences of young American men getting caught up in crime. In this case, they are an inept Texan trio whose misadventures are detailed at a leisurely pace and with some throwaway humour - one of them is named Bob Mapplethorpe (ha, ha, ha). The movie is mildly diverting if you're feeling very laid back and undemanding. Otherwise, you may well find it patience stretching.
Cinema to video
Available in widescreen and full screen and for rental and retail, Independence Day (12), Roland Emmerich's hi tech but over extended yarn of malevolent aliens taking over our planet draws heavily on 1950s B movies - and on the Alien movies and Spielberg's pictures of benevolent extra terrestrials - for an action packed, special effects driven romp that has its tongue firmly in its cheek. Of the cardboard characters, Will Smith emerges strongest in a cast that includes Bill Pullman, Mary McDonnell, Margaret Colin and Jeff Goldblum.
Set during an uneasy ceasefire in Belfast in 1975, Thaddeus O'Sullivan's Nothing Personal (15) features John Lynch as a Catholic single father who becomes unwillingly caught up in the violence and is tortured by cold blooded loyalist thugs (Ian Hart and James Frain). Set over the course of an edgy 24 hours, this taut, well acted drama captures a mood of fear and desperation as it reflects on the endemic nature of the violence.
Directed by Ben Stiller, The Cable Guy (15), Jim Carrey's unexpectedly dark recent comedy vehicle, features the star at his most hyper active and self indulgent, playing an insecure, TYV obsessed cable TV technician who makes life hell for a mild mannered subscriber played by Matthew Broderick.
Last Man Standing (18) is Walter Hill's spin on Kurosawa's Yojimbo - which also served as the basis for A Fistful of Dollars. Set in a Texas town in the 1930s, it stars Bruce Willis as the stoic Man With No Name. Christopher Walken is underused in this violent yarn as Hill merely goes through the motions.
Heaven's Prisoners (15) is a dull and plodding would be thriller, directed by Phil Joanou and featuring Alec Baldwin at his most bland as a former New Orleans detective whose family is threatened by a gangster. Mary Stuart Masterson, Kelly Lynch, Eric Roberts and Teri Hatcher are in it too.
Yet another old television series gets the big screen treatment in Flipper (PG). This time the eponymous dolphin is joined in the cast by Paul Hogan and young Elijah Wood.
Sell through
Featuring 30 acts nominated for next Monday's awards ceremony.
BritAwards 97 is, at £12.99 (price may vary) a value for money compilation that ranges from such recent promos as the Lightning Seeds Sugar Coated Iceberg and the Manic Street Preachers' Australia to older material like Coolio's Gangsta's Paradise, Underworld's pounding Born Slippy and the Oasis classic Don't Look Back in Anger. The eclectic selection also features Ash, Fun Lovin' Criminals, REM, Toni Braxton, Robert Miles, Ocean Colour Scene, Mansun, Orbital and Boyzone.
Commendable feature films now available to buy include: Clint Eastwood's understated and underrated The Bridges of Madison County, with the wonderful Meryl Streep in one of her most memorable performances, and two Martin Scorsese movies now on widescreen, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and GoodFellas.
