The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 16

The Cincinnati Enquirer Wednesday, November 22, 1995 B5 ENTERTAINMENT Spftrcpcp maW fQl hAt 'Fruit' video engages children's imaginations kJVkjV A All JL. k5 KJhJk Htl Knight-Ridder News Service Stage Fright's Close Up and senting six categories, such ai senting six categories, such as 'Casino' loses with unlikeable characters, technical flaws MOVIE REVIEW "citrus," "tropical" and "berries." There's no narrator, so parents should help out by explaining the terms as they appear. (Hint: Have a dictionary handy for "pomes" apples and pears and "drupes" peaches, apricots.) Fruit is available in bookstores and video stores, or can be ordered directly from Stage Fright Productions, P.O. Box 373, Geneva, 111. 60134; 1-800-979-6800.

Shipping and handling is $3 additional. Afternoon TV shows such as Sesame Street do an admirable job of introducing spelling, counting and other basic concepts. But no program has a monopoly on reaching out to youngsters. In the home-video field, a small independent company called Stage Fright Productions has been turning out terrific half-hour cassettes on topics with huge kid appeal, including farm animals, tractor-trailers and locomotives. Very Personal tapes are pure visual experiences.

They have no narrator, cute cartoon character or other authority figure to "explain" the material. Instead, the producers assemble their footage (of trucks, trains, chickens or whatever) into compelling montages. The newest title, Fruit, (30 minutes; $14.95) departs slightly from the formula by being more overtly educational. Words appear along with drawings of fruit repre Casino (R; harsh language, graphic violence) Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci, James Woods, Don Rickles, Alan King. 178 minutes.

At National Amusements. "A Rambunctious Comedy!" IVot Tw.m, ROLLING STONE -HOME FORTttE -HOLIDAYS IHDIAN IN THE CUPBOARD (K) BaSE(C) BY MARGARET A. McGURK The Cincinnati Enquirer Director Martin Scorsese said he wanted to make "an urban western" out of Casino, his hotly anticipated Las Vegas saga. Sad to admit and I can hardly believe I'm saying this about America's most brilliant director he blew it. The story follows Ace Rothstein (Robert De Niro), a low-level hood chosen by the mob to run a casino because of his gambling skills and ability to spot cheats.

He does well until two complications bring him down. He marries Ginger (Sharon Stone), a faithless, greedy hustler who makes no pretense about wanting him only for his money. Then his boyhood friend, a violent mobster named Nicky Santoro Qoe Pesci), comes to town and embarks on a reckless crime spree. The crime bosses and corrupt local officials eventually are offended, many people are gruesomely murdered, the rug is yanked out from under Ace and faceless corporations take over the casinos. That's not material to grab the hearts and minds of moviegoers; and Scorsese's choices don't do her fall apart.

Nicky is just plain repugnant. More surprising are the film's obvious technical flaws, including inexplicable switches between day and night and mismatched shots of the same event. In a couple of scenes, cinematographer Robert Richardson turns his signature hot-white halo lights onto the characters' hands. The effect is incoherent; they seem to be wearing fluorescent gloves. Nicholas Pileggi's non-fiction book Casino and this movie were made simultaneously, both under aggressive legal scrutiny.

Maybe Scorsese didn't have enough distance from the book to cut the factual excess and stick to weaving drama from dialogue and action. Maybe the story was simply lawyered away. Why else would we need to be told four or five times that the mob bosses wanted only to wring money out of the casinos? In any event, something went terribly wrong. Scorsese made an ambitious bid with Casino. But he seems to have been overpowered by his material.

If he really wanted to make a western, he would have done better to heed the genre's grand tradition say less. MORIAl KOMBAT (K1 3) 1135 2J0 4:20 MO 9:15 1130125440 759:10 1120 120 4J07J0 MS I12512OU0MSWI5 iioo mm ioo 75 9:1 5 WATERWORLD (PG13) 1:154:006:459:25 CLUELESS (PG13) 12:50 3:105:207:359:30 POCAHONTAS (G) 1:003:005:00 NINE MONTHS (PG13) 7:2010:00 T0W0NG 7:009:45 INDIAN IN THE CUPBOARD (PQ) POCAHONTAS (G) T0W0NCF00IKI3) SOMETHIWTOMaBOUT(I) BKtKEN(K) OPERATIC WJMB0C30P(KU) MWEEN6tl 1110 2J5U5 11151154:157:159:20 1105110425 7:309:30 anything to make it work. A key problem here is that Scorsese, a master at crafting epic tragedy out of unlikely subjects, ignores the basic rule of "Show, don't tell" with wall-to-wall voice-over narration. So much of the three-hour film is spent on explanation that the audience never has a chance to become engaged in the action or the characters much less to decipher the point of it all. Not that the characters offer much to care about.

De Niro's Ace is perfectly credible, but makes such pointlessly stupid choices it's hard to feel sorry for him when things fall apart. Stone does a fine job of rendering Ginger's descent into self-destruction, but she's such a grasping self-absorbed witch it seems only natural to see PolyGram HALLOWEEN 6 (RJ 1:10 3:10 5:10 7:109:10 MORTAL K0MBATIPG13) 12:45 3:009:05 7:159:25 TOWONGFOO(PG13) 1:30 4:05 7:05 9.40 THE BIG GREEN IPG) 12:55 3:45 6:55 BABEJG) 12:50 2:50 4:50 7:00 9:00 SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT (R) 1:20 3:307:20 9:30 WATERWORLD (PG13) 1:003:606:45 9:20 APOLL0 13 IPG) 1:004:006:509:30 OPERATION DUMBO DROP PG) 12:45 3:00 5:10 7:25 9:35 INDIAN IN THE CUPBOARD IPG) 1:25 3:25 5:20 7:209:20 POCAHONTAS IG 1:15 3:15 5:05 7:15 9:10 CLUELESS 1:05 3:15 5:20 7:309:40 i io MORTAL KOMBAT (PG13) 1:103:307:15 9:40 ffiW 1: 4 HH h'MLir'Kfl 351-2238 791-g24 5a5-B400 THE BIG GREEN IPG) 1:15 3J0 520 7:20 125330 515 BIG Wit EN POCAHONTAS () 11:50,2:15. 11:00,1:15, 4:35, 7:00, 3:30, 5:45, 9:20 6:00, 10:20 T0WON6fO0(PGI3) 11:30,2:20, 5:00, 7:35, 9:50 mm I 574-7777 OPERATION DUMBO WOP (K) SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT ffl CUJEUSS(KI3) INDIAN IN THE CUPBOASD (PC) 1:05 3:20 5:30 I Ml APOLL0 13 IPG) 12:55 3:406:309:15 SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT (R) 12:45 3:005:157:309:45 BABE (G) 12:45 3:10 5:15 7:209:30 OPERATION DUMBO DROP (PG) 1:30 3:45 6:30 9:05 1:103:155:20 7:259.30 I 05 3:155.25 7:35 9:45 1:00 Hill 7:1010 1:003:00500 700 940 1:203255307:259.40 1:101105:107:309:35 APOUOI3(PC) 11:40,2:15, 11:20,1:50, 3:00, 5:15,7:50, 4:15,6:45, 5:20,7:45, 10:15 9:05 10:00 SKQK ENGAGEMENT HO WSSES OR BSCOUHT TICKETS ACCEPTED MORTAL KOMBAT (Ptl 3) BABE () TIMES CHANGE ON FRIDAY mm WMMmmw ft -M KIRSTIE ALLEY OTJ STEVE GUTTENBERG iV 15 s. When comet to making the perfect match. Two headtM better than one! Eipecufir if they look exacliT alike.

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