Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures
Mb Lm It tin asv caaadj “Fierce Cfwteres.”
Tierce Creatures' flops as Wanda' equal
FIERCE from page 12
members of the animal kingdom, thus
forcing all the peaceful animals out of
the zoo. The zoo keepers are aghast and
all seek to prove that their favorite ani
mals are, in fact, terribly vicious. The
zoo keepers feign massive wounds
from “fearsome” anteaters, brutal chip
munks and even lemurs that have been
known to devastate entire villages.
Sounds funny, doesnTit? Well, it
i-—
is the first couple times, but it is quickly
worn out. In fact, all the jokes are
quickly worn out.
When the animal humor falls flat,
Curtis* breasts are brought to center
stage (and, uh, they don't fall flat). Al
though such devices were utilized in
“A Fish Called Wanda,” they were not
the main substance of the film as they
are here.
These characters simply are not as
funny and the script not quite as intel
-.
ligent as “Wanda,” which hilariously
contrasted the stereotypes of low-class
stupid Americans with the uppity and
frequently equally stupid British.
“Fierce Creatures” is a half-baked
attempt to capitalize on the interna
tional hit “A Fish Called Wanda” but
fails miserably because of its complete
lack of imagination in character devel
opment and script. Save yourself a few
bucks and ,a lot of disappointment —
go rent “Wanda” instead.
In Love and War’
fails to spark magic
By Cliff Hicks
Film Critic
“Iir Love and War” may be
based on the life of author Ernest
Hemingway, but it somehow fails to
capture the magic that has made the
elusive author so fascinating.
As director Richard
- Attenborough points out at the be
ginning, “TTiis film is based on a
true story .” /
Hemingway is played by Chris
O’Donnell, who does a good job
embodying the devil-may-care atti
tude of young Hemingway.
In the last year of World War L
Hemingway served with the Red
Cross in Italy. Eager to get to the
front lines, he delivers cigarettes to
troops in the trenches and is
wounded carrying an Italian to
safety.
While m the hospital, he falls in
love with a young nurse named
Agnes, played by Sandra Bullock,
and eventually she falls in love with
him.
Anyone who knows much about
Ernest Hemingway’s life knows
how the story ends — it’s one of
the things that quite possibly made
Ernest Hemingway become a writer.
The problem with the film is that
there’s no spark.
O’Donnell’s performance of
Hemingway is solid and plausible.
From die suave charisma of early
Hemingway to the beginning of his
grouchy downfall, O’Donnell
doesn’t miss the mark.
_ _:_TumTiffl i- ^
I I-':
Film: “In Love andWar”
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Chris
O’Donnell
Director Richard Attenborough
Rating: PG-13
Grade: B
FlVe Words: “Love and War” miss
ingsomething
Bullock’s performance as the
shy and confused nurse, Agnes, is
also believable fhtough and
through. So, what’s the problem?
The two just dojh’t work to
gether. ^
When O’Donnell and Bullock
try their hand at the romantic na
ture between the two characters,
there’s no magic, no spark.
What should be a high point of
the film, when the two lovers finally
mix, fails to capture the essence of
a great epic. But they are trying re
ally hard.
At the end of the film, a sense of
tragedy lingers, but the effect isn’t
as profound as it would have been
if the relationship had been more
vibrant. , "
Instead, two good performances
can’t blend together to make a solid
one. “In Love and War” isn’t a bad
film, but Attenborough misses
something that’s essential to any
tragedy—magic.
Morissette, Braxton
multiple winners
at music awards
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Four months
after he was gunned down in a still unsolved
attack, Thpac Shakur was named favorite rap
hip hop artist at the American Music Awards
on Monday night.
Shania Twain, Brooks & Dunn, Toni
Braxton and New Edition also won major
honors at the 24th annual fan-selected awards
ceremony.
Actress and singer Brandy accepted the
award on behalf of Shakur.
Twain was country’s favorite female art
ist on a night when the American Music
Awards saluted “The Year of the Woman.”
“If anybody ever tells you this gets old—it
never does,” said Twain, who was the AMA’s *
favorite new artist last year.
With frequent winner Alabama not in the
running this year, Brooks & Dunn were hon
ored as country’s top band, duo or group.
Braxton, who sang the show’s opening
number and wore three different outfits in
about 15 minutes, won favorite female soul
R&B artist, ha- fourth career AMA trophy.
Later in the evening, her multi-platinum al
bum “Secrets” snagged top soul R&B album
honors. c ;
new cum on returned to tne winner s po
dium for the first time in 10 years, claiming
the favorite soul-R&B honor.
Last year’s Grammy darling, Alanis
Morissette, captured top female rock artist
honors, and Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill”
was named top rode album.
Young newcomer Jewel beat Donna
Lewis and No Doubt for favorite new pop
rock artist.
“I know how little we can live with. I wait
from living in my car to this because you guys
bought my album. It’s because you guys
bought my album that I’m not stealing food,”
she told the cheering audience.
In all, 20 trophies were awarded in the
three-hour ceremony broadcast by ABC-TV
from the Shrine Auditorium.
The Bee Gees received the International
Artist honorary award, which recognizes
those artists whose popularity and impact
cross national boundaries. Piano-pounding
rocker Little Richard of “Good Golly, Miss
Molly” fame was presented the Award of
Merit.
The winners of the 24th
annual "American Music
Awards" were
announced Monday
night on ABC-TV.
Pop/Rock
Faverlte Male artist
Eric Clapton
Faverlte Female Artist
Alanis Morissette
faverlte laa«, Dae er Dreaa
Hootie & The Blowfish
Faverlte Sliam
"Jagged Little Pill"
(Alanis Morissette)
iitMl/lbnfta & SIMMS
Faisrlte Mala Artist
Keith Sweat
Faiarita Feaala Artist
Toni Braxton
mama Baai, laa ar Braaa
Klew Edition
Favorite Album
"Secrets"
(Toni Braxton)
•Oaiatry
Faiarita Mala Artist
Garth Brooks
Faiarita Female Artist
Shania Twain
Faiarita Baai, Baa ar Braaa
Brooks & Dunn
Favorite Alim
"Blue Clear Sky"
(Georae Strait)
New release H Postino’
By Gerry Beltz
Film Critic
Break out the hankies, folks. Three of the
four new releases this week will tug at your heart
like O.J. trying to maintain his innocence
(OUCH!).
“J1 Postino” (The Postman) — Nominated
for several Academy Awards last year, “II
Postino” was a pleasant surprise and worth ev
ery accolade it received.
A poor Italian man takes a job as a postmas
ter and learns of the infinite power and magic of
poetry from Pablo Neruda, and uses this knowl
edge to win the love of his life.
For some true appreciation of what the right
words and phrases can do in the world of love,
rent “II Postino,” and bring extra tissues as well.
“Bambi”—The Disney classic comes home.
It’s a great story for kids and adults; deer is
bom, deer loses mother to a bullet, deer grows
up with skunk and rabbit for best friends and
it’s all woven together with heartwarming mu
sic.
It’s a classic. No denying it.
“She’s the One” — Director/writer/actor
Edward Bums is back from the indie success of
his first film, the thoroughly wonderful “The
Brothers McMullen,” with this almost-as-good
follow-up.
Bums is back in his element as a hopeless
romantic (not hopelessly romantic, but hopeless
when it comes to romance) and some of the
major players from “McMullen,” along with
“Friends” star Jennifer Aniston, are there to help
him.
The fresh approach “McMullen” brought to
love and romance in the ’90s seems a little stale
here, but Bums’ wit — and a solid supporting
cast—make this film a better-than-average date
movie.
“The Fan” — No hankies here. Just great
suspense.
Bobby (Wesley Snipes) is a baseball player
on the way down, but an overly-obsessed fan
(Robert BeNiro) is determined to help Bobby
achieve greatness once again, even if it takes
killing a few people here and there.
The performances from Snipes and DeNiro
alone make the film worth renting as they‘take
their roles a step beyond the typical “obsessive
creep” flicks. Their characters are given a depth
along with length and breadth, which is a rare
breath of fresh air in this film genre. Definitely
worth hunting for.
Pawnshops peddle products of all sorts
PAWN from page 12__
“Ifwe can’t find it, we don’t take it,” Kushner
said, “because we don’t know the value of it.”
Although most every item has one specific
value from the catalog, the value of the item can
still vary one way or the other.
“If it’s in the box with the instructions,”
Kushner said, “that makes it worth more to me.”
in?Any specific items that aren’t worth Carting
“Sewing machines and turntables are passe,”
Kushner said, “and microwaves are a dime a
dozen.”'
Pawnshops have also had their fair share of
unusual stuff come across the counter tops.
“We’ve had a live snake here before,”
Bolkovac said, “we’ve also had an aquarium—
complete with fish —get traded in.”
“We just had a student pawn his $6000 bike
so he could go snowboarding in Colorado,”
Brown said, “We’ve also had national champi
onship watches, signed footballs and a violin
worth $10,000.”
As the 20th century draws to a close, pawn
shops show no signs of closing down.
“We’re computerizing all the Orion books
so we can get faster access and take up less
space,” Bolkovac said.
At least one store is taking their wares into
cyberspace by springtime.
“We’re getting on the World Wide Web,”
Brown said. “My son is going to do it for us.
“It should be done sometime this spring. It’ll
show some of our products, people can leave
requests for us to keep an eye out for, and leave
messages by e-mail and so on.”