THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (Directed by Frank Darabont. Starring Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, James Whitmore)
Wasn’t there a Michael Winterbottom film out just last Tuesday? I’m starting to believe this man sleeps while propped up behind a camera on set. Not that Winterbottom’s profuse output (Jude, Welcome To Sarajevo, 24 Hour Party People, In This World) and generic promiscuity has ever been to the detriment of his work, as this dreamy, low-key sci-fi quietly demonstrates.
Rogues’ Gallery – traditional sea songs, pirate ballads and chanteys, interpreted and performed by an eclectic mix of artists – is part high art, part punk aesthetic.
SHORT CUTS (Directed by Robert Altman. Starring Andie McDowell, Bruce Davison, Julianne Moore, Mathew Modine, Anne Archer, Fred Ward, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Chris Penn, Lili Taylor, Robert Downey Jr., Madeleine Stowe, Tim Robbins, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Frances McDormand, Peter Gallagher, Annie Ross, Lori Singer, Jack Lemmon, Lyle Lovett, Buck Henry, Huey Lewis)
THE BEST pure thriller I've seen in several years, Arlington Road practically gave me a heart attack, and I'm convinced it will hospitalise a few people before its run is up.
Their sombre, melancholy music has seen The National tagged as arch-moochers. Face to face though, frontman Matt Berninger turns out to be a stand-up fellow.
Commitments director Alan Parker and actress Laura Linney on their new movie, The Life Of David Gale, which explores the murky territory of the death penalty.
A THOROUGHLY B-movieish monster thriller which bears superficial resemblance to the likes of Godzilla and Deep Blue Sea, but possesses considerably more tongue-in-cheek humour than your standard no-brainer, Lake Placid is that strangest of creatures: a movie that only justifies its existence by virtue of its pure unredeemed awfulness.
What a fucking hoopla. Between Tom Cruise aggressively marketing his forthcoming merger with Katie Holmes and the furore surrounding Paramount’s preposterous (and frankly unethical) embargo on the appearance of film reviews prior to War Of The Worlds’ day-and-date planetary release, by now, odds are you’ve heard all about Mr. Spielberg’s latest venture.
The star of what s set to be the summer s hottest movie, High Fidelity, on love, obsession, movies, rock n roll, his pal Bruce Springsteen and the records he turns to when he s had his heart broken. With support from co-star Lisa Bonet and director Stephen Frears. Text: CRAIG FITZSIMONS
The thirteen tracks herein can be split roughly into two camps - the originals penned quick and recorded even quicker for soundtracks, and the covers dashed off as extra incentives on special edition albums, or just for pig iron
The future is here. Well, somehow it always is. And, as usual, it is both familiar and strange. Nothing seems to change, but one day you turn around, it is 1995, and you are cybersurfing on the internet, summer seems to last all winter, ambient-acid-techno is bubbling away on the radio, your fax machine shows up on the Antiques Roadshow and papa’s got a brand new drug.
John Noonan, who played a pivotal role in the IRA’s military campaign against the British occupation of Northern Ireland, gives a revealing interview to Jason O'Toole.
Prince may be content just to party but in a four-page special the Hot Press journalistic elite takes a look at everything 1999 has to offer. And then some.
Following atrick Chamusso's arrest and torture for a crime he did not commit, he joined the African National Congress to become a freedom fighter for the cause. Catch A Fire, a political thriller based on Chamusso’s story.
'Bring on the models, baby, let the magic begin!' intones the immortal Austin as his triumphant, shagadelic sequel begins to rev up - and who are we to argue?
