New Films: Reviews
BLADE (18)
Director: Stephen Norrington
Starring: Wesley Snipes, Stephen Dorff
A techno soundtrack bumps and grinds behind this monotonous arcade-game thriller about a New York vampire-killer tackling a power-crazed new bloodsucker. Noise and martial-arts action mask its tinny pedigree. West End: Elephant & Castle Coronet, Hammersmith Virgin, Odeon Camden Town, Odeon Kensington, Odeon Marble Arch, Odeon Swiss Cottage, UCI Whiteleys, Virgin Chelsea, Virgin Trocadero, Warner Village West End
DESTINY (AL MASSIR - LE DESTIN) (NC)
Director: Youssef Chahine
Starring: Nour El Cherif
Chahine's flamboyant period fancy spins the yarn of a liberal sage and his battles with the rigid social order at large in medieval Spain. An implicit critique of Islamic oppression, Destiny takes wing with a burst of traditional dance and deep-colour visuals. West End: ICA Cinema
FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS (18)
Director: Terry Gilliam
Starring: Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro
Gilliam's adaptation tilts at Ralph Steadman cartoonery for its tale of a drug-fuelled journalistic assignment. Incident, caricature and lurid Seventies fashions are substituted for plot and character, and the film soon descends into narcotic lunacy. The one stand-out is Johnny Depp, who brings Hunter S Thompson to bald-headed, pigeon-toed life. West End: ABC Baker Street, Clapham Picture House, Empire Leicester Square, Rio Cinema, UCI Whiteleys, Virgin Fulham Road, Virgin Haymarket
FIRE (15)
Director: Deepa Mehta
Starring: Shabana Azmi, Jaaved Jaaferi, Nandita Das
Mehta's Indian-Canadian co-production mounts a vibrant, and at times potent, attack on the Indian family set-up, with its tale of a fractious New Delhi brood. Strong ensemble playing riffs nicely off Mehta's taboo- bucking script. West End: Curzon Soho
HENRY FOOL (18)
Director: Hal Hartley
Starring: James Urbaniak, Parker Posey
See The Independent Recommends, right. West End: Chelsea Cinema, Clapham Picture House, Curzon Soho, Renoir, Richmond Filmhouse, Ritzy Cinema
HOPE FLOATS (PG)
Director: Forest Whitaker
Starring: Sandra Bullock
Spoonfuls of sugar all round in Whitaker's romantic drama: a winsome piece that turns a loving eye on Sandra Bullock as a down-in-the-dumps ex-beauty queen. Cue Gena Rowlands as a feisty mum, Harry Connick Jr as a bashful handyman, and acre upon acre of bumper-sticker wisdom. West End: ABC Shaftesbury Avenue, Odeon Kensington, Odeon Swiss Cottage, Virgin Fulham Road, Virgin Trocadero, Warner Village West End
INSOMNIA (18)
Director: Erik Skjoldbjaerg
Starring: Stellan Skarsgard
Dubbed a "film blanc" by its creator, Insomnia transplants noir stylistics to the landscape of summertime Norway. Its cop hero (Skarsgard) drifts into mental meltdown as he probes a teenager's murder; it's his controlled performance that galvanises this otherwise underpowered thriller. West End: Metro
THE KNOWLEDGE OF HEALING (NC)
Director: Franz Reichle
Starring: Tenzin Choedrak
Reichle's documentary serves up a crash course in Tibetan medicine. The Dalai Lama and his personal doctor make for reliable sources, but the whole thing proves too info-heavy and indigestible. West End: Renoir
LEFT LUGGAGE (PG)
Director: Jeroen Krabbe
Starring: Isabella Rossellini, Maximilian Schell
Krabbe's first stab as a director results in an uncertain soap opera, focusing on the ebbs and flows within a Hasidic family in 1970s Holland. Fitful as drama, the film comes to life as a showcase for its high-profile performers (Topol, Schell, Rossellini, Krabbe) plus rising star Laura Fraser. West End: ABC Panton Street, Curzon Mayfair, Screen on the Hill
THE ODD COUPLE II (15)
Director: Howard Deutch
Starring: Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon
The follow-up to Neil Simon's Sixties flat-share favourite dispatches its mismatched couple off to a wedding and then strands them in the desert. From this set-up come all manner of comedy set pieces. The two stars work hard to keep it upright. West End: Plaza
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