BYW BONNIE jAT
CARY? WE'LL GIVE YOU SCARY.
Every movie coming out this
month is about a cop or an ex-
cop. Besides that, there was a
strange fit of guerrilla filmmak-
ing, with strange groupings of direc-
tors and actors (RuPaul, Roseanne
and Lily Tomlin?). And don't forget
Halloween XLVI (we didn't bother
previewing it - you know the deal).
People are strange.
Never
Talk to
Strangers
Rebecca DeMornay's
cradle-rocking days are
over, but she's back into
risky business. Now she plays a criminal psycholo-
gist on the trail of a serial rapist. But somreone's on
her trail, too. Antonio Banderas (Desperado) plays
the handsome stranger you shouldn't talk to. Or
sleep with.
Heaven's
Prisoners;
Alec Baldwin (The
Shadow) plays a
Litiisiana cop whi,
bogged down by the
job, quits the for e to ive a peaceful life on the
bayou. But when his fainly is threatened, he gets
sucked back in and has to swim through mysteries
and mysterious women to get ustice.
Screamers
It's not about sex.
It's about people mak-
ing creatures to figh t a
their battles on a war-
to rn plan er. T his race
of killing machines is
called Screamers. Nut
tio b e confused wivth
Terminators. Or ,
Replicants. Peter
Weller plays the leader
of the good guys, who now need todestroy the
wartitors to stop the wars.
Four Rooms
Four geatdirectors
(Allison Anders, Alexan
die Rockwell, Robert
Rodrigu e z Que ititn
Tarantino), four story
lines, one ho tel and one poo r bellhop (played by
Stev e Buscmi, Reservoir Dogs) to tierit all together.
Bruce Willis, Madonna and Antonio Banderas are
among Ite guests.
Empire
Records
akei the weird
characters and person
al crises o f Clerks' day
in a convenience sto re
tip the budget, set it in a record store and you
have Emp irer Records. Debi Mazar (who
"spiced" up Batman) and Liv t'Iyler (one of the
"crazy" Aerosmith girls) star. And h y, the
music should be good.
Things to
Do in
Denver
When You're
Dead
Andy Garcia plays a
nice-guy ex-gangster
who's called back into the life by The Man With
the Plan, his former boss (Christopher Walken,
Pulp Fiction). He recruits a few of the old cohorts,
and they botch the job. So essentially, they're dead
- what to do?
Vampire in Brooklyn
Paramount
Director Wes Craven (Nightmare on Elm Street)
is no stranger to horror. What's strange is that
Eddie Murphy is cast as the vampire. Angela Bassett
(What's Love Got to Do With I) plays a New York
cop he wants to neck with. See this if only to find
out what that laugh sounds like on the undead.
Dead
Presidents
Hol/ywood/Caravan Pictures
The Walking Dead
didn t knock em dead.
But now Albert and
Allen Hughes, who did
somse knocking with
Menace // Socety, take their twi swing at the black
Vietnamatexperince. AitthotityCurtis (IarenzTilate,
Menace) plays a 22-year-old who - guess what? _
gets warped by his war experience.
Get Shorty
Au, lil
If you thought Vincent Vega was out of place in
shorts and a "UC Santa Cruz" I -shirt, get a load of
John TIravolta as Chili Palmer. Chili, a loan shark,
comes to Hollywood to collect a gambling debt and
gets tangled up in the movie biz. lTsk. Always a
shame when the good ores get corrupted'
Screen Saver
Tie-Died: Rock 'n Roll's
Most Deadicated Fans
Be grateful there's a movie. Even if you never fol-
lowed the Dead - or thought Wavy Gravy was just a
Ben & Jerry's flavor - you'll like the documentary
Tie-Died.
Filmmaker Andrew Behar spent the summer of
'94 traveling with Deadheads and capturing the phe-
nomenon of a culture fused by music but elevated to
spiritual status by the dedication of its followers. And
considering the August death of founder Jerry Gar-
cia, he has ensured that - on film at least - it will
survive .
The interviews are colorful, the pace is lively, the
film work itself is incredible - Tie-Died is just fun to
watch. Yet it's amazingly thorough: There are the pot
smokers and the Wharf Rats (drug- and alcohol-free
Deadheads); vendors and concert security; people
who make a life out of following the Dead and Dead
culture scholars; and a lot of talk about peace, love
and respect.
Tie-Died had a limited release in late September,
but it will be truckin' on a spring college tour (sorry
-not in a psychedelic VW microbus).
The Reel
Deal
Mallrats
You remember the '80s.
Hanging out at the mall.
Maybe - ifyougot really
motivated - catching a
movie. The Breakfast Club,
Sixteen Candles, Ferris
Buefler's Day Off.
Mallratswillremind you
of those days, saysdirector
Kevin Smith, who rocked
Cannes last yearwithhis low-
budget first effort, Clerks.
"My intention was to
make a John Hughes
movie, but through my
eyes," Smith says. "Mall-
ratstakes shots at the John
Hughes angst."
You know, the day-to-
day traumas of those crazy
kids - not getting along
with parents, breaking up,
getting mistaken for a
would-be assassin.... But
there's always the mall.
Former zip coder Shan-
nen Doherty stars, as does
Dazed and Confuseds Jere-
my London. But Smith's
Clerks friends still make
appearances, including
motor mouth Jay (Jason
Mewes) and his sidekick
Silent Bob (played by Smith).
The language in Clerks,
particularly Mewes', did
some rocking of its own.
How is it in Mallrats, Kevin?
"It's toned down, but it's
still there. It's 'R'enough for
Seventeen magazine not to
do anything with us."
But it's no Kids
(whose ratings controver-
sy made Clerks' look like
child's play)?
"Kids was like being
locked in a room with 20
Jason Meweses. A little
Jason goes a long way."
Strange Days
20th Cenlw7 fox
Ralph Fiennes (Quiz Show) plays Lenny Nero,
an ex-cop who knows what you want and knows
how to get it - via virtual reality. But when what
soateone wants is death, Lenny {finds that virtual
reality bites. Meanwhile, real reality isn't that great,
either. If Nero doesn't stop fiddling around, the
whole world will burn.
Blue in the
Face
Mu,,, xs
Smoke has not even
faded, and directors
Wayne Wang and Paul
Auster have already
fired up a sequel. They were having so much fun,
they decided to keep the cameras rolling and let
the sparks fly. Stars flew, too: Harvey Keitel,
Roseanne, Michael J. Fox, RiuPaul, Lily Tomlin
and more.
October 1995 - U. Magazine 35