The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 20

C2 The Ottawa Citizen, Friday, July 23, 1993 Movies $7,060 film strikingly original Review El Mariachi ByTowne MOVIE 1 REVIEW THEATRE Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez back together as odd couple cops Another Stakeout staking out in Seattle, with Rosie O'Donnell as their inept boss. Script riddled Elgin, Gloucester, kk with fat lady, daffy dog, dumb cop jokes along with a few corpses and John Britannia, Promenades Badham's fierce directorial energy. AA Saturday Night Live alumnae Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin reprise Conehead Capitol Square, Coneheads irk roles as world-conquering invaders from far planet infiltrating suburban New Gloucester, Britannia, Jersey and raising 'normal' family. PG Promenades Total budget $7,000 but spaghetti Mexican by Texan Robert Rodriguez a El Mariachi triumph of shoestring film-making with Sam Peckinpah reminders. Bar guitarist is mistaken for Mafia hitman in small town, with bloody results in ByTowne craftily shot, wryly amusing movie.

Subtitled. Janet Jackson's acting debut only so-so, as beautician whose slow-burning Poetic Justice -k-k-k affair with amorous mailman survives F-words on road trip from L.A. to w' Oakland, in "street romance" by Boyz The Hood-maker John Singleton. AA rent' West9ate Sweet Emma Dear Hun9arian film-maker Istvan Szabo's most personal film yet, set in Budapest making transition from communism to capitalism where two women teachers ByTowne BODe kkkk eke out a living. Stylish, telling film about the new Hungary.

Subtitled. AA By Noel Taylor Citizen movies writer East Gloucester 5 1980 Ogilvie 745- 7995. 5 theatres. Orleans Cinemas 250 Centrum Orleans, 834-0666. 8 theatres.

St. Laurent Theatres Queensway at St. Laurent, 746- 8822. 5 theatres. Vanier Cinemas 150 Montreal Vanier, 749-4145.

7 theatres. Downtown Bytowne Cinema 325 Rideau Street, near King Edward, 230-3456. 1 theatre. Cinematheque Canada Theatre of the Museum of Civilization, 100 Laurier Hull 232-6727. Capitol Square Theatres 230 Queen 237-6655.

3 theatres. Elgin Theatres 216 Elgin 232- 0101. 2 theatres. Place de Ville Theatres 300 Sparks 235-9546. 2 theatres.

Rideau Centre Theatres 50 Rideau 234-3712. 3 theatres. Somerset Theatre Somerset at Bank, 1 theatre. 236-9528. World Exchange 111 Albert 233- 0209.

3 theatres. South Mayfair Theatre 1074 Bank at Sunnyside, 730-3403. 1 theatre. West Britannia Six Theatres 3090 Carling 828-8121. 6 theatres.

Elmdale Cinema Wellington and Parkdale, 728-2333. 2 theatres. Kanata Theatre Town Centre, 150 Katimavik 592-5970. 5 theatres. Westgate Theatre Westgate Shopping Centre, 1309 Carling 725-2229 3 theatres.

Gatineau Les Promenades Theatres 1100 Boul. Maloney, 568-1706. 4 theatres. It's an axiom of the business that reviewers shouldn't pay too much attention to what a film costs. Indeed, price has nothing to do with quality but if you're spending $50 million on a movie, you're awfully vulnerable.

Ask Arnold Schwarzenegger. To be fair, when the budget comes in below $1 million, that's certainly no guarantee of quality either. And then there's El Mariachi. It cost just $7,000 to make, though you'd never tell. For neophyte San Antonio filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, who calls his company Los Hooligans, it represents the key to Hollywood.

A major studio, Columbia Pictures, has signed him up for a two-year production deal, during which he'll have to do a $5-million English remake. But this El Mariachi is the original subtitled from Spanish, blown up from 16 mm with a spruced-up soundtrack. And it all belongs to Rodriguez, as writer, director, co-producer, photographer, editor, sound recorder and casting director. To raise nearly half the money he needed for El Mariachi, Rodriguez rented himself to a hospital as a "lab rat" for a month, then checked his assets. These consisted of a school bus, a motorcycle, two available bars, a pit bull and a ranch, "so I wrote the script around these elements." For a 23-year-old with his own camera, rambunctious ambition and overflowing talent, it sounds indecently easy.

All Rodriguez lacks is the lid to hold it all down. Never mind. Creative exuberance is its own reward and El Mariachi is strikingly original even with its constant reminders of Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone. Rodriguez snoots close and low. When you've got no money for sets, or for lighting and other tools of mood enhancement, the camera keeps its focus tight.

Filming low, from ground level, creates a menacing perspective. So does a soundtrack which throbs in a monotone. He's very big on slow-motion and probably overdoes it, especially when it comes to bullet-holing and shredded flesh, something he learned from Peckinpah. As for the snippets of frenzied fast-forward, only a free spirit would even think about it. If you're looking for labels, call El Mariachi a contemporary spaghetti Mexican Western.

Carlos Gallardo is El Mariachi, the strolling musician, who wonders out loud: "What happened to the days when guitarists were gods?" He arrives in town the same day as the hoodlum Azul, who has just escaped from jail. Both are carrying guitar cases. El Mariachi's holds a guitar, Azul's a whole armory of weapons. Moco, the local Mafia boss, has a contract out on Azul and an army of thugs on the loose to execute it Because the musician and the jailbreak-er are both dressed in black, there's a lot of mistaken identity incidents and a lot of blood. El Mariachi is an innocent who learns fast how to survive.

Rodriguez relies on some editing wizardry to capture the pace and suggest tension. What he's wrung from his actors amateurs all, working for free, and few of them Spanish-speaking is one of the film's more intriguing accomplishments. It's amazing where $7,000 will get you. MOVIE REVIEW THEATRE Die Hard 2-maker Rennie Harlin tops himself with stunningly-stunted Cliffhannor mountain-top action flick about aerial hijackers, lost loot and Stallone, the Ulirrnanger climber who outwits them. Stupid story with acting to match saved by vanier spectacular camerawork and non-stop action.

Note for violence. Capra-style charmer, gracefully directed by Ivan Reitman, with Kevin Kline Dave excellent as presidential look-alike recruited to sit in for The Chief, who comes Vanier to like the job (and First Lady Sigourney Weaver) too much. PG Dennis The Menace pPular comic striP brought to screen in mind-numbing cross between Home Gloucester, Alone and Problem Child. Walter Matthau provides a few bright moments as Promenades, Mr. Wilson, the long-suffering neighbor.

PG Britannia, Orleans John Grisham's 1991 bestseller has been added to, taken away from and Place de Ville The Firm otherwise tampered with in this trendy, star-studded thriller. Tom Cruise is the Rideau, Gloucester, rookie lawyer seduced into a legal firm fronting for the Mafia. Look for Gene Britannia, Hackman, Holly Hunter and more in top-notch cast. AA Promenades, Orleans Willy's a whale, scooped into aquarium, who makes friends with street kid Free Willy who helps him escape, in environmentally correct crowd-pleaser. Britannia0 KarTf' Boy-meets-whale moments a treat for kids wholesome family fare.

Disney froth about three Salem witches, headed by buck-toothed Bette HOCUS POCUS Midler, pitched into the 1990s. Raucous, witless fare with special effects to Pitol Square, I match. PG Gloucester, Britannia Clint Eastwood creaks his way through efficient thriller by Wolfgang Petersen In The Line Of Fire (Das Boot), as presidential security guard haunted by Kennedy assassination Exchange, kkkk 30 years ago. This time he plays cat-and-mouse with gloating villain John Elmdale Laurerrt' Malkovich. AA Steven Spielberg's big one for summer, based on Michael Crichton bestseller 1 raccV Dnk iiix about mayhem in a dinosaur theme park is a technological coup.

Ethical Somerset, Orleans, Jurassic KarK angst gjves way tQ Spieberg actjon whch know when tQ stQp Westga tet Laurent, Capable cast upstaged by dinosaurs. Frightening for under-8s. PG Arnold Schwarzenegger switches from screen life to reality and back as I act Actinn Horn movie crime fighter joined by young fan with help of magic ticket! PG-rated Lasi ACTion nero vi0ence doesn't miss a trick, with Die Hard director John McTiernan in Vanler charge. PG Like Water For Magical charmer from Mexico (subtitled) about daughter in early-1 900s 1 family, frustrated in her private rebellion by a haridan mother, who brews Capitol Square Chocolate magic jnt0 ner meaS t0 win her true 0ve AA First-rate adaptation by director Martha Coolidge of Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers Pulitzer-winning play about growing up with a formidable grandma and a kkkkk dippy aunt (Irene Worth and Mercedes Ruehl, both superb) in Yonkers. By far Vanler the best, and the deepest, of Simon's childhood memoirs, PG Sandlot pitcher develops 160 km-h toss, is signed by Chicago Cubs to win Rookie of the Year them pennant.

Thomas Ian Nicholas stays a likable brat through pro ball st. Laurent, Orleans, kkk chicanery, exploitation, etc. His antics on the diamond highlight nice summer Kanata, Westgate flick for kids and parents. Sleepless in Seattle Old-fashioned romance from writer-director Nora Ephron, about lonely World Exchange, widower Tom Hanks and career woman Meg Ryan obsessed with man she's Orleans, St. Laurent, never met, perfect fare for summer evening.

PG Kanata, Elmdale More sex than psycho in this "psyche-sexual" thriller set in Manhattan Sliver apartment block where newcomer Sharon Stone fends off owner William Baldwin and author Tom Berenger. Voyeurism's the theme but Stone gets Vanler sidetracked into some non-erotic coupling and a clumsy climax. White witn new improved print of Disney masterwork from 1937. On its Rideau, Gloucester, last appearance in 1987 it broke all records for Disney re-release. Britannia Son In Law s''c'er Pauly Shore spends Thanksgiving with girl friend's family down on oon in Law he farm and spreads havoe a0ng wilh tne manure PG Vanler Weekend at Bernie'S Bernie Lomax is dead.

That's the ghoulish gag behind mindless sequel in which young executives, Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman, spend Elgin, Britannia another weekend with boss's corpse. No more fun than it sounds. PG Tina Turner's story, with all the private abuse and the eventual fame, brought What's Love Got to to life in empathetic portrait by Angela Bassett, and Laurence Fishburne Do With It compellingly cast as her abusive husband. Film piles on the misery, needs 9 ByTowne: Tonight-July 26, Sweet Emma Dear Bobe, El Mariachi; also July 24-25, Howards End; July 27, The Lover, Visions of Light; July 28, Visions of Light, Bad Lieutenant; July 29, Ascenseur pour I'echafaud, Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Mayfair: Tonight, Dragon, Scent of a Woman; July 24-25, The Crying Game, Strictly Ballroom; July 26, IP5, Damage; July 27, Map of the Human Heart, Wide Sargossa Sea; July 28, Map of the Human Heart, Peter's Friends; July 29, Sliver, Indecent Proposal.

Cinematheque Canada: Tonight, Easy Rider, Gloria; July 24, Bocaccio 70; July 29, Modern Times. Excellent: Good: Average: Poor: Awful: No stars: not yet reviewed Bill Provick's Video column will return soon time to reflect. KIWANIS CLUB SOUTH OTTAWA INC. SUPER SUMMER BUFFET ISSX WINNERS lT7 DRAW SAT. 4 SUN.

EVENING A 5 P.M. to 9:30 P.M. 9i 95 Bank of Montreal presents USAGE'S STEAK Tuesday, July 20, 1993 iinmi ivn Carl! 4- Roaat Rout Ontario Pork, Roast Leg of Lamb, Chicken Wings, Seafood, Spanish Rice, Italian Meatballs, Soup Kitchen, Seasonal vegetables Potatoes. Baskets of Garlic Bread, French Bread with Sweet Whipped Butter and our Full harvest Salad Bar with over 30 Ingredients, and our famous Help Yourself Dessert Bar consisting of: Black Forest Cake. Fresh Strawberry Shortcake, Boston Cream Pie, Pastries Fresh Fruit of the Season.

A La Carta manu alto avaUabh. SUNDAY ONTARIO LICENCE 759318 $500 No. 602 Donald Stoodley $300 No. 847 Dr. Don Cherry $200 No.

223 Dorothy Thompson $200 No. 1226 Scott Bamngton $200 No. 506 David Potterton 1 BRUNCH to 2:30 P.M. 1 Red Brand Canadian Roast Hip of Beef, Baked Ham. Roast Turkey.

Roast leg of Lamb, Roast Ontario Pork, Rock Shrimps, Breakfast Sausage, Farmers Sausage, Quiche Lorraine, Eggs Benedict, Pancakes and Flambe French Toast prepared before your eyes by our chef owner (Joe). Italian Home Fried Potatoes, Croissants, Pure Orange Juice from our help yoursetf Wine Barrel, Desserts: Strawberry Tarts, French Pastries, Black Forest Cake, Boston Cream Pie and Fresh Pickings from our Fruit Tree, Lots of Freshly Perked Coffee and Much, Much Morel QTTflWfl INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FEXTIUAL JULY 16 25 win Friendship at work. The Big Sisters Association of Ottawa-Carleton. 729-2242. rata Susannah McCorkle Trio Tonight, 10:30 p.m.

National Arts Centre (Studio) ni 45th ANNIVERSARY REPUBLIC CLASSICS -iJ On Touch of Mr. Paabody and Tha MarmaU LartartromAn Unknown Woman VIM I V.5.W. LHaCUUNT WAREHOUSE ONLY" I I 1000 OF RE-STOCKED VIDEOS 4.95-1 1 .95 2nd FLOOR NEXT DOOR Rob McConnell Boss Brass Saturday, July 24, 8:30 p.m. Confederation Park Let fhe RA Centre put TK MORE THAN 100 CONCERTS THROUGHOUT 10 MUSIC-FILLED DAYS NIGHTS! Passports available at all official Jazz '93 sites and Jazz Boutiques for $13 Children 14 and under admitted free of charge For information call 721-1990 Code "BEAT" (2328) the finishing touches on your special day. Brian Hughes Sunday, July 25, 6:30 p.m.

Confederation Park Ideally located Attentive service Excellent cuisine We would like the opportunity to make your reception one to remember, lo reserve, call our food Beverage department, 733-5100 fipeemis JTHE Ottawa sfKr USA citizen JJL, of Jazz 93 TheWestin Hotel I Mir kflm with hw JtSEH ALL YOU WANT US TO BE a fYllYt 2451 Riverside Drive. Ottawa K1H7X7 Serving federal public servants for over 50 years..