Unbelievable plot, mistakes hurt movie
MISTAKES from B4
to run a play.
■ The endzone of the team’s
stadium alternates between
painted and unpainted, some
times in the same gamp.
■ The Thanksgiving game is
not played against Dallas in
Dallas but Washington. Uh-huh.
■ Reeves talks about quick
sand in reference to getting
sacked.
■ The movie suspends our
belief by allowing a former pro
to play while he’s still in prison.
Then, he gets arrested for a bar
brawl, which would be a viola
tion of his special furlough, but
he stays out. And though he’s a
former pro star, the announcers
seem befuddled by his pres
ence, generally unaware of who
_ ■
he is.
■ Fifty or so seconds are run
off the dock when a Washington
player recovers a onside kick,
which of course couldn’t hap
pen, because a recovered onside
is a dead ball.
Furthermore, Reeves’ char
acter wouldn’t need to call a
timeout to stop a clock that’s
already stopped.
■ In one scene, Washington
is on the 20. Then the 5. Then the
40. And a play hasn’t actually
been run.
■ In another play, Reeves is
on the sidelines and the huddle
at the same time.
■ This is professional foot
ball, but each team only has one
quarterback, so when the starter
crosses the picket line to play,
Reeves must simply quit and
retire to the boat.
■ Several players suddenly
switch from offense to defense
in the middle of one game.
■ There is a deaf and mute
player on the team. In one
scene, he is spotted having a
conversation with a teammate.
Must we go on? “The
Replacements” cares nothing
for simple details that could’ve
have been caught by a neophyte
in the film industry.
Never mind that the movie
has an endless number of shots
of the cheerleaders’ dancing,
and the players sing “I Will
Survive” three times.
To their credit, the three
scenes in which the song is
employed does deal, in fact,
with survival. For that, half a
star. Viif
.:si
lameraworK,
Ryder make
'Autumn7
worth seeing
BY SAMUEL MCKEWON
I was bom last week, not yes
terday. So when MGM asserts
that its movie “Autumn in New
York,” starring Winona Ryder and
Richard Gere, wasn’t screened for
critics so the ending wouldn't be
divulged, I smelled the rat
Typically, most screened
flicks belong in the trash bin of
the industry, the real tuikey.
“Autumn” is a turkey, though
not in the awful way that, say,
“Battlefield Earth” was. Rather, ids
cheap and manipulative, a bit
funny when it should be weepy.
And yet I sorta recommend it,
maybe because the emotional
carnage is built up so high by the
end that it’s engaging on some
Uni
KVCL
What do you judge a Him
upon - what you know it does or
doesn't do well, or how you feel
about it? I side with the latter phi
losophy, and this movie hits a few
of my soft spots, as I’m a sucker
for good shots of New York and
weU, the doe-eyed Ryder.
This is not one of her finer
performances - a young hat
designer named Charlotte who
falls for much, much older play
boy Will Keane (Gere) and tells
him the sad truth of her weird
heart tumor illness that leaves her
with little time to live.
But "Autumn” isn't her film to
cany and so she’s a wise choice to
cast in it The movie immediately
brightens the moment her
chewed-up crewcut enters the
screen.
Her cute peppiness in the face
of death balances Gere’s grimace
acting that he’s employed for as
long as I've seen him. He is a poor
emotional actor, incapable of get
ting angry or sad without its
seeming funny, and so the final
scenes, when Charlotte’s fate
hangs on a risky surgery, are not
the best.
Neither is the story, which
isn’t a whole lot different from
Gere’s other movies - Gere and
girl meet, Gere whispers sweet
nothings, Gere screws something
up because he’s still a playboy,
Gere makes up
The illness is a new twist, and
Ryder doesn’t exactly look sick,
well, ever. Her seizures, if that’s
what they're called, require her to
faint
inert? is one curve rail in me
script, a subplot of sorts. It's a
good one-it carries over the dead
spots ofWill and Charlotte’s rela
tionship. Considering Gere’s rep
utation, it ought to be a subject for
a smarter, more serious movie
than “Autumn in New York”
At least the title aptly fits, and
actress-turned-director Joan
Chen (the wife in “The Last
Emperor”) has an strong instinct
for the camera. Her talent almost
exceeds what this movie is capa
ble of, with fluid camera move
ments, and nice plays of shadows
and colors.
One shot looks curiously like
a Monet painting; another pres
ents one of the better shots of
water I’ve seen in some time.
As reviews have trickled out
about “Autumn in New York,“
they’ve expressed similar surprise
that the movie isn’t ridiculous,
though unapologetic about being
so shameless.
Fear of critical reprimands
was the distributor’s worry - love
stories about illness are a tough
sell in a cynical and savvy viewing
crowd. Love stories, period, are a
tough sell. Considering myself in
that category, this movie had to
work to make me buy.
I’d still probably pass. But
Ryder and the photography are
too easy on the eyes to entirely
hate “Autumn in New York.*
Turkey ain't bad once a year. ★★
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