The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 32

32 Saturday, September 16,1989 The Sallna Journal Salina movie reviews The Abyss The last of the summer's big- budget adventure movies is a gigantic sea-monster of a film about marriage, death, nuclear war and alien life forms. New York'Times film critic Caryn James says it can be described as E.T. Underwater. It's spectacularly silly, with pretentious themes offset by luminous underwater photography and extraordinary special effects. An oil company has constructed a live-in rig on the ocean floor.

Lindsey Brigman (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) is the smart, tough engineer who designed it. Her estranged husband, Bud (Ed Harris), is its working-class foreman. When a U.S. nuclear submarine mysteriously loses power, a Navy team uses the rig as a base and enlists its crew in the rescue operation. The Navy leader, Coffey (Michael Biehn), is a Dr.

Strangelove kind of fanatic far from ideal for investigating the wreckage of the sub teetering on a ledge overhanging a black abyss and carrying destructive bombs. There are alien sea creatures that Coffey wants to nuke, brink-of- death situations and at least four endings that make you feel like you're on a demon roller coaster that keeps going after you're ready to get off, James says. Central Mall Cinema 4, Rated PG-13 Dead Poets Society Robin Williams is John Keating, the kind of teacher of which every student dreamed but rarely encountered. He tickles the ribs, fires the mind and preaches non; conformity. Obviously, he isn't going to last at a rock-ribbed New England prep school in the 1960s.

This is a wonderful movie, says Associated Press film critic Bob Thomas. It's that rare comedy-drama that stimulates the mind as well as the emotions. The title refers to when Keating was a student at the school and formed, with other free-thinkers, the society for reading poetry and plotting against the faculty. But unbeknownst to him, his students revive the custom in an obvious collision course with authorities. The central figures are Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard) and roommate Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke).

With their teacher's inspiration, Neil defies his authoritarian father and Todd comes out of his shell. The direction of the young actors is brilliant, Thomas says, and Williams is kept on a tight rein. But the ending may Jar some viewers. There is gorgeous photography of the New England scene. Central Mall Cinema 4, Rated PG Kickboxer This latest vehicle for self- proclaimed kickboxing champion Jean-Claude Van Damme is a competently made, if totally unoriginal, of entertainment, says Los Angeles Daily News film critic Tom Jacobs.

It is about half "Rocky II" and half "The Karate Kid," and never strays far from formula. Kickboxing, in which the use of feet is permitted, originated in Thailand where this film is set. Dennis Alexio, current International Karate Association heavyweight champion, stars as Eric Sloan, current American champion kickboxer. Van Damme plays his younger brother, Curt, who aspires to make the big time. The two fly to Bangkok, where Eric is set to fight the local champion, Tong Po.

He gets trounced so badly he ends up paralyzed in the hospital. An enraged Curt vows to take on Tong Po, and engages a wise, old martial-arts expert (Dennis Chan) to take him on as a student. The fight occurs after months of hard training, and the ending isn't exactly a surprise, says Jacobs. Sunset Plaza Cinema, Rated Lock Up Frank Leone (Sylvester Stallone), a model prisoner in a minimum- security prison, is spirited away in the middle of the night to the hellish Gateway, a maximum-security house of pain ruled by the sadistic Warden Drumgoole (Donald Sutherland). Leone is nearly killed several times in muddy prison-yard melees and beatings overseen by Drumgoole, who bears him a grudge.

Yet he never stays down for long, and his bruises miraculously vanish. Stallone plays a warmer character than in his "Rambo" series, but almost everything about this film defies credibility, says New York Times film critic Stephen Holden. The characters are too cartoonish, and far too much of the film is taken up worshiping Stallone's jawline and well-oiled torso. Vogue Theater, Rated Millenium Review unavailable. Mid State Cinema, Rated PG-13 Parenthood This bittersweet adult comedy by Ron Howard lays out an entire catalog of psychological stresses afflicting family life in white, middle- class America.

Sibling rivalry, the pressures of home vs. work and the effects of divorce and emotional illness are among the issues the heart- tugging movie confronts. It revolves around Gil Buckman (Steve Martin), a cheerful but harried businessman, his nearly perfect wife, Karen (Mary Steenburgen), and their three children, the oldest of whom, Kevin (Jasen Fisher), suffers form an emotional disturbance. Their extended family includes his crusty father, Frank (Jason Robards), two sisters, Helen (Dianne Wiest) and Susan (Harley Kozak), and their families, and Mary's video game-obsessed mother. Helen is divorced with two teen-age children.

The oldest, 16-year-old Julie (Martha limpton) is secretly sleeping with her drag-racer boyfriend, Tod (Keanu Reeves). Garry, 13, is a sullen skateboard fanatic who carries around pornographic videotapes. Susan's obnoxious husband, Nathan (Rick Moranis), is obsessed with raising perfect children. And Gil's ne'er-do-well brother, Larry (Tom Hulce), arrives with a black, illegitimate son. It's more characters than a two-hour movie could hope to handle comfortably, but it still concocts a rich evocation of the swirl of suburban family life, says New York Times film critic Stephen Holden.

Martin's winning portrayal of Gil is the key. Central Mall Cinema 4, Rated PG-13 Sea of Love Detective Frank Keller (Al Pacino) of the New York Police Department is a physical and emotional wreck. It doesn't help that his partner, Sherman (John Goodman), is married to his ex-wife. The plot revolves around a series of ghastly murders of men who have met women through a weekly personals column. Each is found nude, lying on a mattress.

Frank and Sherman decide to put their own ads in the personals column to see what happens. The chief suspect turns out to be the beautiful Helen (Ellen Bar kin), manager of a chic Manhattan shoe store, who has dated each of the dead men. But Frank is swept off his feet by her sheer sexuality, and they make what the movie would have us think is wild, passionate love. This really is a bad Abilene plans Chisholm Trail Festival ABILENE The Arts Council of Dickinson County's Trail Days arts and crafts fair and fine arts exhibition, and the Dickinson County Historical Society's Heritage Day exhibit and Fall Tour of Homes have been combined this year. The result is the 1st annual Chisholm Trail Days Festival, scheduled for Oct.

7-6. It will be held each year on the first consecutive Saturday and Sunday in October. The free arts and crafts fair will feature area artists and craft persons who will exhibit their handiwork in booths located throughout Old Abilene Town. Food booths will feature and specialty foods. Entertainment also is scheduled.

The fine arts exhibit will be mounted in the front gallery of the Heritage Center Museum. Selected works by local artists will be shown. Heritage Day will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct.

7 at the Heritage Center, adjacent to Old Abilene Town. It will feature heritage crafts activities presented in living history form. There will be entertainment and refreshments. Admission is $2.50 for adults, with all under age 16 admitted free. Thirty-two activities will be presented during Heritage Day.

They include cider pressing, bread baking, butter churning, sorghum cane squeezing, molasses cooking, bee keeping, coffee grinding, butchering and sausage stuffing, canning and preserving, blacksmithing, a sawmill, log hewing, quilting, trappers and traders, a doll show, sheep shearing, carding, spinning and dyeing, a gunsmith, rope making, Indian cooking, a Civil War soldier portrayal, an old-time telephone office and line truck, china and glass painting, a railroad collection, lye soap, baby chicks and apple bobbing. Horse and buggy and wagon rides will be offered, and the C.W. Parker Carousel will operate under steam throughout the day. A melodrama will be performed by the Abilene Repertoire Group at 11 a.m. and 1 and 3 p.m.

in the Prichard Barn. The Fall Tour of Homes will spotlight the homes of Jon and Joan Thayer; Doug and Marnie Jolley; Dave and Bette Oeltjen; the recent renovation by Wayne and Jane Baird, furnished for the day by Kansas Home Furnishings; Victorian Reflections, a bed and breakfast inn owned by Don and Diana McBride and Nanc and William Scholl; and the renovated law office of Dee James. The Thayer home is a classic prairie four-square built in 1908 by John Flack in a style popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright. The Jolly and Oeltjen homes were built during the late 1880s by prominent Abilene citizens. The tour will be held from 1 to 5 p.m.

Oct. 8. Tickets are $10 and may be purchased at Genny's Country Cupboard and the Heritage Center Museum, or by mailing a self- addressed, stamped envelope to the Dickinson County Historical Society, P.O. Box 506, Abilene, Kan. 67410.

Ticket sales are limited to 500. If any are still available on the day of the tour, they can be purchased at the museum after 1p.m. Proceeds from the tour will benefit the Dickinson County Historical Society. Do you another employee? Hundreds of readers are looking through the classified ads every day. Phone 823-6363 and an ad-taker will help you.

"The Marseilles" Grey Laquer Waterbed BUNK BEDS While quantities last Reg. $699.00 Lowest Prices Guaranteed BEDROOM SHOWPLACE KWRA 10-i. Sunday movie, says New York Times film critic Vincent Canby. It's an imitation of a second-rate TV movie, overproduced and over-cast. The film is supposed to be a'star vehicle, Canby says, but it's more like a leaky radiator from which steam escapes without delivering heat.

Central Mall Cinema 4, Rated Turner and Hooch This is yet another mismatched- buddy movie, only this time the fussy partner is played by Tom Hanks and the slobby partner by someone who truly slobbers. Scott Turner is a small-town police investigator and Hooch is a dog from whose jowls run great rivers of foamy white drool the film's central gross joke in this mild children's comedy. Turner and his human partner, played by Reginald VelJohnson, investigate a murder. Hooch's original owner (John Mclntire) is killed and Hooch witnesses the crime. So Turner takes the mangy dog home.

But the investigation is put on hold while the film makers haul out the old home- destroying dog routine. Wedged in is a half-hearted romance plot in which Turner falls for a veterinarian, played by Mare Winningham. It's no surprise that Hooch turns out to have a sweet soul and becomes a daring hero. Hanks is a brilliant comedian, 'SHELTER INSURANCE' LIFE HEALTH HOME CAR says New York Times film critic Caryn James, but even he has trouble rising above such weak material. Mid State Cinema, Rated PG Uncle Buck Uncle Buck (John Candy) is the sort of character that no American suburb should be without, says New York Times film critic Vincent Canby.

Everything about him offends middle-class manners, fashions and aspirations. He's a breath of fresh air. He doesn't believe in work, favors cigars that reek and wears clothes that don't match. In this movie he's placed in the middle of an ideal suburb and an average Ameri- can "family. The results are sometimes funny and perfectly predict able.

Uncle Buck is called from his slobbish existence in Chicago to care for two nieces and a nephew (Macauly Culkin, Gaby Hoffman and Jean Kelly). The two younger ones first are shocked and then delighted by his unconventional ways, while the older one is furious at his meddling with her romance with a boy who's up to no good. Candy is at his best when he's being crafty and nasty, says Canby. But when he goes sweet, it's downhill for both him and the film. Amy Madigan plays Uncle Buck's impatient female friend.

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