The Akron Beacon Journal du lieu suivant : Akron, Ohio • Page 64

www.Ohio.com E4 Akron Beacon Journal Friday, September 8, 2000 "lev ATTHE MOVIES BARGAIN i ai y-j jM.IM:mJJTT7TIl6-1311 WHAT LIES BtNtATH SPACE COWBOYS 9:30 K-WMMHl CHAPPARELLS BINGO THE CELL 2:10 -i'' THE ORIGINAL KINGS OF COMEDY 40 1 1 55RsrffO -f ALL NfcW PROGRAM! HIGHLANDER: ENDGAME 10 1 1 5IBHI MIIHSF RrTmiM 4lir'" THE PERFECT STORM THE REPLACEMENTS 9 COYOTE UGLY BRING IT ON mmCTir.ri 90.7 90 9 20 MHM1 Door Prizes Nightly. Chance to grab at over $500 each session in our new CASH CUBE MONEY MACHINE or spin the wheel to win other prizes V'lu srfS i TURN IT UP 1:35 9:35 mar AUTUMN IN NEW YORK THE WATCHER Doors Open 4:00, Bingo Starts 6:30 STS. PETER PAUL 3532 Clark Mill Rd Norton ALL PAPER GAMES' I iriiMii t1 NOW PLAYING! FRIDAY DO 4:00 GS 6:30 SMALL HALL 140 CAP $1,000 Guaranteed MONTHLY DRAWING ADM. PKG. $12, NEXT $8, THIRD FREE ADDITIONAL $4.00 SECURITY LIGHTED PARKING We Reserve The Right To Make Changes Lie.

No 0580-45 ttGAl ONf MAS INDEPENDENCE 10 1210 INDtMNDENCI AYL fcJ3-764H OENfMl CINIMA 2000 Warner Bros. Keanu Reeves takes charge as quarterback in a scene from The Replacements. The actors went through three weeks of football training. Reeves rests up for 'Matrix' '1, VJ5 NOW PLAYING! NOW PLAYING MG4UCMWU KCJUONfMAS RHfWKEll HMINDCrtNrjUiaAtt. 914 VIII MWaiH) Cyber-thriller sequels -two at a time will keep star occupied starting in November By Jim Beckerman Knight Ridder Newspapers The eyelids are heavy, the beard is a patchy six-day growth and the hair stands on end, even though Keanu Reeves keeps pushing it back with his hand.

Press junket burnout? A hangover? Or just the Keanu Perhaps the weary expression is simply Reeves looking ahead to year and a half of nonstop work on two sequels to the cyber-thriller The Matrix. The shoot begins in November. In a move with few precedents (the original Superman, the in-production Lord of the Rings trilogy), the two Matrix sequels will be shot simultaneously. Reeves will have to put his life on hold for 17 months including four months of training to do his second and third go-rounds as Neo, the kickboxing savior out to rescue the human race from a cyber-dominated "I'm looking forward to playing the part again," he said, adding that the appeal of The Matrix went beyond its stunningly choreographed action scenes and its visuals. He believes the real hook was the human drama.

"What is interesting about The Matrix is that for all of its new-feeling cinema, you'll notice that after the first action sequence, you have drama and scenes for almost 20 minutes (where) ideas and dialogue and communication are going on," Reeves said. "It isn't just quick cuts and it isn't just iconograph-ic; it's about a discussion and relationships unfolding." The success of The Matrix last summer took Reeves by surprise. "I had no expectations," he said. "I didn't know how it was going to be received. When I saw it, I thought, 'It's better than the film I thought I'd made." Now that The Matrix seems to be the kind of long-term franchise for Reeves that James Bond was for Sean Connery, he's taking time out to change his pace while he can.

He'll be seen as a wife abuser in the upcoming The Gift, opposite Hilary Swank, and he'll appear with Charlize Theron in a remake of the old Sandy Dennis weeper, Sweet November. "I don't want to be one kind of actor playing one kind of part," he said. In his current film, The Replacements, he gets to show off his physical side as Shane Falco, a has-been football player who gets one more shot at the big time when a major-league team goes on strike. Gene Hackman is the maverick coach who recruits a Dirty Dozen assortment of characters to play on his scab team, including a sprinter (Orlando Jones), a violence-prone L.A. cop (Jon Fa-vreau), a chain-smoking Welsh soccer player (Rhys Ifans), a convict (Michael Jace) and a sumo wrestler (Ace Yonamine).

Brooke Langton, Jack Warden and football commentators John Madden and Pat Summer-all also appear in the film, directed by Howard Deutch (Pretty in Pink). The 35-year-old Reeves, who was born in Beirut and grew up in Canada, didn't play football as a youth, but he did watch it on TV. The Replacements gave him a chance to indulge in hero worship by patterning his Falco character on his favorite player, retired Denver Broncos quarter- back John Elway. "John Elway is the king," Reeves said. For The Replacements, Reeves blended elements of the Elway voice and swagger with characteristics of other players he studied on tape.

But Reeves had to do more than talk the talk. For The Replacements, he and his fellow actors went through three weeks of football training supervised by stunt coordinator Allan Graf, who did similar work with the actors in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday. The film is about the good sportsmanship that seems to be vanishing from an increasingly money-driven game. "Egalite," Reeves said. "That was the spirit of the film, with all the actors coming together." And there was a payoff.

The high point of The Replacements shoot was a 9V2-minute stretch where Reeves and the other actors played football in front of a cheering stadium crowd of 65,000. It was during halftime at a Baltimore Ravens game, when key moments of the film's climax were hurriedly shot. "That was really exciting," Reeves said. "That was the closest I came to playing football. We had to go on the field and execute (nine plays).

If we didn't, I didn't get a Take 2 -they had to move on to another play. So that was the closest I came, and it was a lot of fun." CINEMAS WML CINEMAS 1 NlWl CINIMA I NOW BfTERSTATf PAB118 M0NTB8SE MOVIES CUftlJIflllif I AUNOION0 or INTltSTATl WRT MMtMT WUMi ITti. 111,77 AT CHMl Hl IKmj inNW jnUWINlli 644.0414 666-9373 I 933-9093 fin REGAL CINEMAS MONTROSE MOVIES MARKET SQUSHf at Hits. II 77 666-9373 GENERAL CINEMA the PLAZA 8 AT CHAPEL HILL. HOWE AVENUE 923-9093 Now Playing! 1 i 1 i vrsf Las Vegas Mites i I RAM RAM I September 7,8,9 10 Thursday-Sunday, 5pm-? North Hawkins Armory 414 N.

Hawkins, Akron 330-864-3885 CyD Blackjack Iff I i 3 cyD Pofcer yawi'MftF- Hold 'Em r' or 592-2859 Reg. Blackjack Push Tiei 'Til 9 P.M. Balance of time Push 19, 20, 21 The Armory Is Located North Of Market St. HEALTH SERVICES1 '-SKiX Utll is-. N-: Ride 2272 S.

Arlington Rd. 724-3004 tic 001935 I 01 sWiniiinM.nBOtW!!!!, Thursday Friday Only Coupon: 5 $5 match Play on Blackjack iZhtS Poker Player Buy $50 Get $55 In Chips f'2-rr By $100 Cet $110 in Chips i counon mr person dava- GS Fri 6:45, Sat. 6:30 $1,350 JACKPOT $400 X-Game Concessions Security TV Monitors 0 Lighted Parking Non Smokers Room Universal Studios James Spader is a cop who has been tracking a serial killer played by Kenau Reeves in The Watcher. AIR-CONDITIONED gARE THE MAGIC OF AMERICA' SBIGTOP DETAILS actually seems more psychotic when he's trying to be conversational than when he's killing people (he talks a little like Christopher Walken). There's also a lot of unanswered questions about his modus operandi -Reeves stalks his potential victims 24 hours a day for several consecutive weeks, yet somehow seems to be mildly affluent Perhaps being a serial killer pays better than one would suspect.

Movie: The Watcher Stars: Keanu Reeves, James Spader and Marisa Tomei Director: Joe Charbanic Studio: Universal Running time: 1 hour, 33 minutes Theaters: Tinseltown USA, Plaza 8 at Chapel Hill, Carnation Cinema, Lake Cinemas 8, Hickory Ridge, Canton Centre, Interstate Park Cinemas 18, Hudson Cinema 10, Huntington Street Cinema 16, University Plaza, Montrose 12, Wooster Movies 10, Cinemark 15, Valley View 24 Rating: (violence, mild language) What's ultimately most frustrating about The Watcher is the way it takes a scenario that's genuinely frightening and makes it seem implausible. The explanation for Reeves' anti-social behavior is so shallow and unexplained that it makes serial killing seem like a random joke. Reeves Shallow explanation for killer's behavior Continued from Page El understatements. Reeves tries to play this role like he's a hip Hannibal Lecter, and it comes across as an avalanche of absurdity. Even when he's strangling women with piano wire, he's not very scary.

The cop who's chasing Reeves is James Spader, the only person in The Watcher who seems to belong. He's been tracking Reeves for years and almost had a nervous breakdown, forcing him to take bushels of medication and to get therapy from the world's worst psychiatrist (Marisa Tomei). We are told through exposition that Spader had worked on Reeves' case when Reeves was night prowling in Los Angeles, but the pressure of chasing a criminal mastermind destroyed Spader's emotional equihbrium. He relocated to Chicago to mentally recover, but Reeves followed him; it seems that "the hunter has become the hunted" (or something like that). Reeves resumes his killing in Chi-town We're marching to a different drummer Parade Magazine Only in Sunday's Beacon Journal Ifs worth looking into httpyAvww.0hio.com Earlier this year, social critics attacked the film American Psycho, and movies like The Warmer make me realize why: Cinematic murder is disturbing when its motivations are understandable.

Potential reality is what upsets people. Suffice it to say that The Watcher won't disturb so that Spader will notice he's there. In theory, that's the crux of the film: Reeves kills innocent young women, but he's really just trying to get closer to Spader (the noble adversary who becomes his soul mate). The point is that they both need a nemesis to feel alive; there is a certain ho-moerotic vibe to this relationship, but that might be unintentional. One assumes Reeves is supposed to be a Ted Bundy-like assassin: Handsome, diarming and overtly likeable.

Ironically, he Chuck Klosterman can be reached at or by phone at 330-996-3758. lrlT.