Boxoffice-Febuary.1998

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— 56 (R-14) BoxoFnCE — — — — — REVIEWS FOR RICHER OR POORER • Starring: Tim Allen, Kirs tie Alley, Wayne Knight. Directed by Bryan Spicer. Written by Jana Howington, Steve LuKanic. Produced by Sid, Bill and Jon Sheinberg. A Universal release. Comedy. Rated PG-13for Richer or Poorer. PG-13 for some sexual innuendo and one use of strong language. Running time: 114 min. Super-builder Tim Allen and his wife Kirstie Alley flee the IRS to Pennsylvania in this humorless Amish-bashing fest in which every convention and conviction of these people are impaled by the childish antics of the leads. Screenwriters Jana Howington and Steve LuKanic found room in their script for every tired cliche in the book about farming, bam raising, baking, and shopping at Sears. Jon A. Walz HOME ALONE 3 y^^^1/2 Starring Alex D. Linz, Olek Krupa, David Thornton, Rya Kihlstedt and Lenny Von Dohlen. Directed by Raja Gosnell. Written by John Hughes. Produced by John Hughes and Hilton Green. A Fox release. Comedy. Rated PG for slapstick violence, language and mild sensuality. Running time: 103 min. Instead of simply relying on the slapstick humor from the first that became silly in the sequel, audiences are made to believe that the new villains—highly-trained spies seeking a stolen military computer chip are a real threat. But all of their training didn't prepare them for a school kid home sick ("One Fine Day's" Alex D. Linz) and his armory of plaster-filled balloons, a haircutting lawn mower and flying flower pots. Combining some old antics with a lot of new pranks, director Raja Gosnell revives a dying franchise. This refreshingly funny film produces more laughs than its predecessors.— Dwayne E. Leslie SCREAM 2 ^•^ Starring Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox. Directed by Wes Craven. Written by Kevin Williamson. Produced by Cathy Konrad and Marianne Maddalena. A Miramax release. Comedy/horror. Rated R for language and strong bloody violence. Running time: 120 min. A beautiful young girl is receiving disturbing calls from a psycho killer. "Hang up the phone and Star 69 his ass," Jada Pinkett advises the ill-fated character in "Stab," the movie-within-a-movie in the comically self-aware "Scream 2." But no one abides by logic in the horror flix, and our foolish heroine is, well, stabbed. Several times. Barely seconds later we see the flash of a knife again—only this time, it's a patron at the moviehouse who's on the receiving end. The copycat crime immediately brings the survivors of the original massacre together in hopes of putting a stop to the murders. A few new characters replace those butchered in the last film to recreate the same tensions, the same pacing, the same questioning of loyalties, the same chases. But the self-parody and some great one-liners make the familiarity fun as the audience is let in on the gag. For all the deja vu, there are some welcomely unexpected plot twists; you'll never guess whodunnit until it's revealed in the final frames. Christine James AMISTAD ifirifVZ Starring Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, Nigel Hawthorne, Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, David Paymer, Pete Postlethwaite and Stellan Skarsgard. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Written by David Franzoni. Produced by Steven Spielberg, Debbie Allen, Colin Wilson. A DreamWorks release. Period Drama. Rated Rfor some scenes ofstrong brutal violence and some related nudity. Running time: 152 min. Commercially and critically bookending 1997 as he did 1993, Steven Spielberg follows up his summer blockbuster "The Lost World" with the Oscar-tuned "Amistad," an epic telling of a remarkable 1 839 shipboard slave revolt whose subsequent legal and social ramifications helped shape and forever change the mechanics of the young American political system. The story begins at sea as a would-be slave named Cinque (Djimon Hounsou) frees himself from the hold of the Spanish slave ship La Amistad and leads his fellow prisoners in a bloody revolt. But they're soon intercepted by an American naval vessel and imprisoned on charges of murder and piracy. Fortunately for the Africans, the case is not nearly so simple as it seems. While the ensuing trip through the tenebrous early American judicial system is often exceptionally engaging, it is the friendship between young attorney Roger Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey) and Cinque that anchors the film's dramatic course. Despite its occasional imperfections, "Amistad" must be regarded as a monumentally impressive achievement and further proof of Spielberg's ongoing maturation as an artist. It is likewise noteworthy that from amid the star-laden cast, unknown West African native Hounsou emerges the standout. Wade Major ALIEN RESURRECTION •^^ 1/2 Starring Sigoumey Weaver and Winona Ryder. Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Written by Joss Whedon. Produced by Gordon Carroll, David Giler, Walter Hill and Bill Badalato. A Fox release. Action/thriller. Rated Rfor strong sci-fi violence and gore, some grotesque images and language. Running time: 108 min. Brought back to life through cloning, our bold Giger guerilla Ellen Ripley (Sigoumey Weaver) is just as tough as we remember. But now, with alien DNA co-mingled in her blood, she is eerily apathetic, or at least ambivalent, upon discovering that the creatures she risked her life to exterminate over the course of three harrowing movies have been bred by the same class of megalomaniac idiots who endangered her and the rest of the human race in the first place. With new instincts and possibly new allegiances, the reinvented Ripley is intriguing to watch as her true nature unfolds. Weaver renders the resurrected Ripley with relish, obviously enjoying the opportunity to play her trademark character m a whole new way. Her rivetingly creepy performance, along with some truly memorable monsters, frees this fourth film in the "Alien" franchise from the redundancy one might expect, instead engineering an entertaining, if excessively gory and goo-splattered, thriller. Christine James SPECIAL FORMATS: 3-D IMAX * THE NUTCRACKER •• Starring Miriam Margolyes, Heathcote Williams, Lotte Johnson and Benjamin Hall. Directed and written by Christine Edzard. Produced by Olivier Stockman and Ijjnie Orleans. An Imax release. Drama. Not rated. Running time: 37 min. "The Nutcracker" has remained one Christmas tradition in which dance is king—except in the new IMAX movie. 'The Nutcracker," which shows almost a contempt for dance, putting off the dance numbers until the last scene and using them merely as holiday trimming. Eliminating the dancing and retaining the visual elements of the (frankly) strange original ballet leaves nothing but the strangeness. The story is of a young girl who receives a nutcracker doll for Christmas from an eccentric uncle. The nutcracker leads a battalion of toy soldiers in a victorious fight against a group of mice and then leads the girl off to a fantasy land filled with more exotic characters. The staging in this production is' blocky, and that blocking is weird. The battle between the soldiers and mice is crowded and confused. A couple waltzes through. The action is close-up and adds to a general sense of '"Wliat the...?" Mechanical toys and circus acts at the delicious spun-sugar palace aic whimsical, but one wants to ci\, "'Brine on the dancing girls!" The cxpcciaiicin lor " Ihe Nutcracker" ballet elements is loo siiong to break without good reason. Without this element, the audience looks to character interplay, but the acting is often false. This ceremony is all spectacle. The stars arc inanimate objccts^the handsome costumes and properties that move across the camera. "The Nulcrackei" is onl\ a inuseuni come to life, perhaps due to having the direction and writing done by someone who also handles costume and production design. Ann Kwinn
— — s — — REVIEWS FLUBBER iridic Starring Robin Williams. Directed by Les Mayfield. Written by John Hughes and BUI Walsh. Produced by John Hughes and Ricardo Mestres. A Buena Vista release. Comedy. Rated PG for slapstick action and mild language. Running time: 94 min. "Flubber" is a charming remake of Walt Disney's 1961 classic "The Absent-Minded Professor." Although Flubber' humor may be a little too slapstick for some adults to appreciate, children will love it. The interactions between the professor (Robin Williams) and his anthropomorphized invention are well timed and convincing, and the animation is impressive. Lisa Osborne JOHN GRISHAM'S THE RAINMAKER ••^1/2 Starring Matt Damon. Directed and written by Francis Ford Coppola. Produced by Michael Douglas, Steven Reuther and Fred Fuchs. A Paramount release. Drama. Rated PG- 13for a strong beating and elements of domestic abuse. Running time: 137 min. "Rainmaker" is the latest legal thriller based on John Grisham's books. Unlike its predecessors, this one drops the solemn self-regard—indeed, at times it's broadly comic—and adds a mosaic of distinctive character parts. "Rainmaker" balances two separate stories, both elements in the life of Rudy (Matt Damon), a green Memphis lawyer. The primary one and the most involving is his prosecution of a rich insurance company that rejected the claims of a poor family whose son is dying of leukemia. Mary Kay Place plays the dying boy's mother and is a no-nonsense, but at times heartbreaking, presence. The insurance company is defended by Jon Voight's Leo Dmmmond; Voight's overfed- Pekinese features help make him a uniquely venal addition to the nasty-lawyer character archive. The second part of the story is less successful: Rudy's befriending of Kelly (Claire Danes), a battered young wife. But wisely this plot part is minimized in favor of the one that is more garish, more pitiful, and much more fun to watch. Melissa Morrison MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL ••* Starring Kevin Spacey and John Cusack. Directed by Clint Eastwood. Written by John Lee Hancock. Produced by Arnold Stiefel. A Warner release. Drama. Rated R for language and briefviolence. Running time: 155 mins. John Kelso (John Cusack)'s description of Savannah sums up the movie: it's "'Gone With The Wind' on mescaline." Based on John Berendt's best-selling novel, "Midnight" chronicles Kelso's trip to Savannah to cover Jim Williams (Kevin Spacey)'s Christmas party for Town and Country magazine. The tempo of the movie changes dramatically when Williams shoots and kills his lover Billy Hanson ("Gattaca's" Jude Law) later that night. There are some great character studies in this movie, but, although relatively long, the film seems to mn out oftime and has an abrupt and rather twee ending. Lisa Osborne MORTAL KOMBAT ANNIHILATION ^^ Starring Robin Shou . Directed by John R. Leonetti. Written by Brent V. Friedman & Bryce ZabeL Produced by Lawrence Kasanoff. A New Line release. Action. Rated PG-13 for nonstop martial arts violence. Running time: 98 min. TTiis special-effect drenched sequel jam-packs 50 percent more martial arts fights than the original "Mortal Kombat," as well as several morphing scenes, which should delight the pre-teenage boy contingent the film is obviously banking on. There are some new characters (Cyrax, Smoke, and Jax) that are enjoyable to watch, while others could have been left out (Nightwolf, Baraka, and especially the wasted Sheeva). As far as the plot, the repetitive bombardment of similar scenarios makes the film seem very long and painfully drawn out. In all probability, the continuing struggle to keep the portal between Earth and the Outworld closed will end here. Dwayne E. Leslie < a. Genre key: (Ac) Action; (Ad) Adventure; (An) Animated; (C) Comedy; (D) Drama; (Doc) Documentary; (F) Fantasy; (Hor) Horror; (M) Musical; (My) Mystery; (R) Romance; (Sat) Satire; (SF) Science Fiction; (Sus) Suspense; (Th) Thriller; (W) Western. S J O t 2 w > C £ W ^ r«^ H H a o -3S 11
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Page 5 and 6: SPECIAL REPORT: CINEMA SOUND 1998 I
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Page 19 and 20: February, 1998 19 66. FAST, CHEAP &
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Page 23 and 24: ' Fphmarv 1 00« '>'« talked about
Page 25 and 26: 5 The SioFe of Sound R E n T E C Ci
Page 27 and 28: . February. 1998 27 I FORWARD PLANN
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Page 41 and 42: February, 1998 41 POV: PERSPECTIVES
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Page 47 and 48: INTERNATIONAL NEWS BRIEFS NORTHERN
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Page 53 and 54: — — — — REVIEWS OSCAR AND L
Page 55: — — REVIEWS TOMORROW NEVER DIES
Page 59 and 60: STUDIO FEATURE CHART — FEBRUARY 1
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Boxoffice-Febuary.1998

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