ARTSSENTERTAINMENT agte
Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox
Marlee Matlin and D.B. Sweeney sign to one another in “Hear No EvH.”
Flick starring award winner
too predictable, humorless
‘Hear No Evil’
In a lame attempt at suspense, “Hear No
Evil” (Plaza 4,12th and P streets) has arrived.
This is not the typical “woman chased by
killer” plot, but a twist of the victim being deaf
is added for suspense purposes.
It doesn’t help.
Marlee Matlin (1987Oscar winner for “Chil
dren of a Lesser God”) plays Jillian, a hearing
impaired personal athletic trainer that unwit
tingly comes into possession of a Stolen coin
from one of her clients (John C. McGinley from
“Point Break”).
Jillian and her friend Ben (D.B. Sweeney
from “Fire in the Sky”) attempt to stay one step
ahead of Brock (Maitin Sheen), a corrupt police
lieutenant who has a penchant for listening to
opera music during an interrogation.
Everything culminates in Jillian turning her
handicap into an advantage while being stalked
by her masked assailant.
Hmmmmm. Will it work? I just do not
know!
It’s a shame to sec an Academy Award
winner like Matlin stuck in a mess like this, but
it seems to be required of every talented per
former to make at least one unforgettable piece
of crap (e.g. Dustin Hoffman in “Ishtar”).
Director Robert Greenwald (The Burning
Bed”) tries to give the moviegoer a sense of
suspense by giving us Jillian’s silent auditory
point of view during the tense sequences, but
everything here is just too predictable.;
No suspense, movie-of-the-week acting, and
extremely limited humor (signs for “orgasm,”
‘•breasts" and “asshole”) make “Hear No Evil”
a movie to pass on.
If you want to catch a great flick with a
handicapped woman attempting to turn the
tables on her captors, go rent“Wait Until Dark”
with Audrey Hepburn and Alan Arkin.
It is by far superior to “Hear No Evil.”
— Gerry Beltz
a
Ups, downs of marriage
are heart of good movie
'Married to It’
“Married to It” (The Lincoln, 12th and P
streets) suffers a mid-life crisis halfway through,
but pulls itself out in the end.
The movie is an ensemble piece, following
three couples, their interpersonal relationships
and the evolution of their unique friendships.
On a grander scale, it’s also about the tri
umphs and tribulations of married life. And
marriage is no picnic — well, maybe a picnic
with mucho ants perhaps.
Cybill Shepherd is Claire, a rich, self-indul
gent savvy businesswoman and step-mommy
to husband Leo’s (Ron Silver) spoiled daugh
ter, whose PTA meetings are the vehicles for
Claire to meet Iris (Stockard Channing) and
Nina (Mary Stuart Masterson).
Hippie-throwback Iris is the president of the
parentAeacher association, whose husband John
(Beau Bridges) spends his days as a social
worker still angry at the system that screwed up
with the Vietnam war.
Nina is the school counselor, her husband
Chuck (Robert Sean Leonard) is an investment
broker. They’re the requisite young, glucose
overdosed upwardly mobile couple.
The evolution of the group’s friendship is
funny and even occasionally touching. The
three pairs are all so different that the awkward
beginning is very humorous. But they find a
connection and hold onto it.
The characters’ individual relationships
present a fairly realistic look at contemporary
marital problems: the waning glow of newly
weds, the tarnished outlook of soulmates, and
the difficulty in balancing parenting with a new
spouse.
The entire ensemble is good. Masterson in
particular presents her naive Iowan waif with
amazing innocence. She’s a far cry from her
role in “Fried Green Tomatoes.” Channing, a
long-underused actress, is delightful as the
peacenik mom who cares about everything and
everyone.
The movie gets a little bogged down in the
middle, suffering from loo many stories and not
enough screen time for them all. But the sort-of
sappy ending pulls it all together, especially for
the sentimental fools in the audience.
, — Anne Steyer
It’s a busy week for video releases:
“Gas Food Lodging” is the critically
acclaimed character study about a family
coping with life in a small New Mexico
town.
The opportunity to see “Gas Food Lodg
ing” on the big screen has notyet passed.
UNL’s Mary Riepma Ross Theatre will
show it April Ml.
"The Player” is director Robert Altman’s
Oscar-nominated, brilliant Hollywood sat
ire filled with a bevy of Tinseltown’s best
and brightest.
“Under Siege” makes the giant leap to
video. Believe it or not, this is the third
Oscar-nominated film — for sound and
sound-effects editing.
All titles available Wednesday.
— Anne Stayer
‘Unforgiven’ sweeps Oscars
The 65th annual Academy Awards pre
sentation was overwhelmingly disappoint
ing. The too-long, three and one half hour
program was overwrought with bad jokes,
bad singing, requisite bad production num
bers and technical glitches, not to mention
the shocking upset in the best supporting
actress category.
There were some bright spots however,
among them: the opening montage saluting
women; the special awards for Humanitar
ian Achievement presented to Elizabeth
Taylor and the late Audrey Hepburn; accep
tance speeches by Emma Thompson and A1
Pacino; and the end of the program.
The winners in the major categories were:
Best Supporting Actress: Marisa Tomei,
“My Cousin Vinny”
Best Supporting Actor: Gene Hackman,
“Unforgiven”
Best Actress: Emma Thompson, “Howards
End”
Best Actor: A1 Pacino, “Scent of a Woman”
Best Director: Clint Eastwood,
“Unforgiven”
Best Picture: “Unforgiven”
Best Foreign Language Film: “Indochine”
(France)
Best Original Song: “A Whole New World”
from “Alladin”
Best Original Score: “Alladin,” Alan
Menken composer
Best Costume Design: Bram Stoker’s
“Dracula"
Turtles out of the sewers,
off to Japan in third film
Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles 3: Turtles In
Time’
Although the third time isn’t exactly the
charm, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3:
Turtles In Time” (Edgewood 3, Lincoln 3) still
works.
The amphibious? foursome of Raphael,
Michaelangelo, Donatello, and Leonardo are
back, along with their rat sensei Splinter, and
their human friends April O’Neal (Paige Turco)
and the athletically-inclined Casey (Elias
Koteas, from the first ‘Turtles” movie).
Instead of facing the mondo-evil Shredder,
this installment in the “TMNT” series has April
getting sucked into a time-travel thingy, and
those terrific turtles must go back in time to
save her (before the time-space connection
dissipates, as required in a time-travel flick).
“Dudes! Check it out! We’re in Shogun!”
says Donatello upon arrival amid a huge battle.
The fight scenes are much more infrequent
than in the first two films, but they are still
wonderfully choreographed and should pro
vide enjoyment for the little ones.
In place of some of the fighting, director
Stuart Gillard gives some screentime to devel
oping the personalities of the turtles, with par
ticular attention to Raphael, the hothead of the
group.
The best part of the movie (next to the
martial arts choreography) are the turtlSs them
selves.
Nonviolent enough to take your Turtle
watching kids to and fun enough for the adults
to watch, this one may be worth a look.
— Gerry Qeltz
David Badders/DN
American remake offers
female Rambo-type action
‘Point of No Return’
“Point of No Return ,” (Stuart, 13th and P
streets) Hollywood’s remake of the highly ac
claimed “U Femme Nikita” is a direct hit.
Bridget Fonda stars as Maggie, a heroin
addict who gets the death sentence for murder
ing an officer during a drugstore robbery.
Just when she thinks she’s met her maker,
Maggie is offered an option by a CIA-type
operative. Bob (Gabriel Byrne) tells her he will
let her live if she will train as a government
assassin.
So Maggie becomes polished, loses the black
hair, gray skin and teeth, needle tracks and
unruly behavior. She learns the intricacies of a
.22-caliber rifle and pistol.
She leaves the East Coast for California to
carve out a new life for herself, receiving the
occasional assignment as the operative, code
named Nina.
What she didn’t bank on was a beachfront
love affair with a sensitive, gorgeous photogra
pher (Dermot Mulroney).
■ ■ As directed by John Badham (“Bird on a
* /
Wire’’), this movie is replete with Adrenalin
pumping action sequences, some beyond be
lief, but exciting nonetheless.
Fonda, as always, is wonderful. She gives
Magg ie a vulncrabi I ity that causes the audience
to support her new life, sans killing, and hope
she comes out on top.
Byrne is not really smarmy enough for the
government agent role, but Bob is supposed to
e sympathetic to Maggie’s plight. Byrne trans
lates that well on screen. -
Anne Bancroft (the famed seductress, Mrs.
Robinson) does a nice turn as the woman who
transforms Maggie from ugly duckling to stun
ning assassin.
Perhaps it should be celebrated that here is
a female character who kicks serious butt with
out losing her edge as a woman. Sure, Fonda
handles all the action with aplomb and rises
above the gun-toting cardboard assassin role,
but does the world need a female Rambo?
Philosophic ramblingsand bloody gore aside,
“Point of No Return” offers an interesting idea,
despite the finality of its title: A person can
always start over, regardless of the mess made
of his or her life. That alone makes it worth
seeing.
— Anne Steyer