The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 274

F8 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2000 LOS ANGELES TIMES: 1 Hik i il ilf ai Tilif Til I IXMd -f i itWil I 1 il i 1 1 4il fili 3 "HAUNTING AND UNFORGETTABLE. IT MARKS THE DEBUT OF A MAJOR NEW TALENT." Steve Wasserman, LOS ANGELES TIMES "QUIETLY ENTHRALLING, director ghobadi has taken the raw MATERIALS OF HIS HOMELAND AND FASHIONED A VISUAL POEM." Michael Agger, THE NEW YORKER "STARK AND HAUNTING, ITS' SKILL AND PASSION JuMLY BELONG TO AN ORIGINAL" 4. 1 Mi "A TRULY GREAT FILyi" UNVARNISHED STORYTELLING ffp gig'1' ir i mill nun 1 AT ITS BEST. IT REMINDS US WHY A TRULY WORLD CINEMA STILL MATTERS." Serena DETROIT METRO TIMES "ONE OF THE YEAR'S BEST FILMS' DON'T MISS IT!" Bob Denerstein, ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS New Line Cinema Jonathan Lipnickl, left, and Richard E. Grant have a pointed confrontation in "The Little Vampire." Lipnicki Mostly Mugs in 'Little Vampire' Mnvia RoviOW hunter named Rookery (Jim Carter) and the stuffy UlUflC Review Lord McAshton who employs Tony's dad.

If 'i A TIME FOR DRUNKEN HORSES a film by Bahman Ghcbadi 1 1 shooting gallery film series at loewa ctneplex entertainment A TIME FOR DRUNKEN HORSES a film written and directed by BAHMAN GHOBADI starring NEZHAD EKHT IAR-DINI, AMANEH EKHTIAR-DINI, MADI EKHTIAR-DINI, AYOUB AHMADI, JOUVIN YOUNESSI and the people of the villages ol SARDAB and BANE written and directed by BAHMAN GHOBADI director of photography SAED NIKZAT assistant director ALI REZA AMINI editor SAMAD TAVAZO I sound designers MORTEZA DEHNAVI and MEHDI DARABI sound mixer MASSOUD BEHMAN original music by H0SSEIN ALIZADEH produced by BAHMAN GHOBADI 2000 Bahman Ghobadi Productions One would love to know what sparked the decision to bring in "Last Exit to Brooklyn" director Uli Edel to film such a confection, but he approaches the material with a straightforward hand that is refreshingly free of hipness or camp. The movie's assertive naivety plays to kids Tony's age or younger, who will take comfort in the benign portrayal of vampires. Older kids and grown-ups looking for more sophisticated humor will have to content themselves with a running gag about vampire cows, which could have been funnier than Edel makes it here. As for the once-adorable Lipnicki, he is pressed into the service of mugging and shtick that would test the mettle of Roberto Benigni. As you bear witness to the disintegration of one child actor's charms, it may leave you in the sort of funk you haven't felt since Hayley Mills found herself in the family way.

MPAA rating: PG, for some mild peril. Times guidelines: Fright scenes might scare the youngest viewers. 'The Little Vampire' Jonathan Lipnicki Tony Thompson Richard E. Grant Frederick Jim Carter Rookery Alice Krige Freda A New Line Cinema and Cometstone Pictures presentation, released by New Line. Director Uli Edel.

Producer Richard Claus. Executive producers Alexander Buchman, Anthony Waller, Urry Wilson. Screenplay by Karey Kirkpatrick and Urry Wilson based on "The Little Vampire" novels by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg. Cin-ematographer Bernd Heinl. Editor Peter R.

Adam. Costume designer James Acheson. Music Nigel Clarke Michael Csanyi-Wills. Production designer Joseph Nemec III. Art director Nick Palmer.

Set decorator Jille Azis. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes. In general release. By JAN STUART F()Ji THE TIMES Poor child actors. They aren't allowed the same latitude for growth as regular kids.

Where we find wonder in each developmental change in ouj own kids, we tend to be dismayed when we see a once-adorable child star advance in years and lose that natural kid energy that made them so appealing from the start. Such is the case with Jonathan Lipnicki, that bespectacled 5-year-old boy who softened granite hearts as Renee Zellweger's son in "Jerry Maguire." His cuddly quotient began to melt in "Stuart Little," and he's skating on very thin ice in "The Little Vampire," in which he is called upon to carry a pleasant but unremarkable bedtime story on his shoulders. Based on characters from Angela Sommer-Boden-burg's novels and boasting a pedigree that includes screenwriters of "Chicken Run" (Karey Kirkpatrick) and "Beetlejuice" (Larry Wilson), "The Little Vampire" gives us Tony Thompson (Lipnicki), a 9-year-old San Diego boy who is transplanted to Scotland where his dad has taken a job designing a golf course. Tony is bullied and ostracized by the local kids, but wins the favor of a kid vampire named Rudolph (Rollo Weeks), who accidentally flies into his bedroom one evening. -Rudolph takes an ecstatic Tony on bat-flying adventures and Tony reciprocates by helping Rudolph arid his family (Richard E.

Grant, Alice Krige and Anna Popplewell) locate a missing amulet that would rescue them from the world of the undead. There are sundry complications courtesy of an inept vampire TM 2000 Shooting Gallery, Inc. All Rights Deserved. www.shootinggallery.com llWtltuij'jiu VnttitmiNamt EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT STARTS TODAY BEVERLY HILLS Beverly Center Cineplex (310) 777-FILM 172 Daily: 12:50 3:30 5:35 8:00 10:10 rjQLr "AN INTRIGUING I ft 1 I ROMANTIC COMEDY. It deserves notice because race isn't an issue, though the protagonist falls for 3 gins ot vanea etnmc DacKgrounas.

Maybe it is a sign of the future in film, one well worth keeping an i i eye on. I I idt r'w I fCs V. yP'' -Elvis Mitchell, THE NEW YORK TIMES 8 I i 'ill 1 i i HE DOESN'T LOVE EVERY WOMAN. JUST YOURS. (NC0E ENTEKTAMKCNT M.a,K1 WiJV'rs UlNCASTtR PHOOUCIIOK KWrN IA0ER 5 umts mmt HIU HHtm LAl'FI HM'l tA-H SStWINf HOIT DAVID MOSCOW -PHYLBIA KASIUD -kUYH0fWS SM-Ulill UMtH i MMK UWn FUMIirr UUWM iMaww-Mttw coii msomn wmm mmrt itftt MtVtN cmehan aiwjn bhssin MCAttDU iBEKscifffliiiSifii iHIfi TIMlffl EOlffll IllOlf Hl'SHS MM juBnnriiWiiin aiHiiiiama TODAY! 00a ram, 1 ciiipictuhe3 JV! FILMS WES1W00D CENTURY CrrV A BEVERLY HILLS UNIVERSAL CITY A SANTA MONICA lux 4 BALDWIN HILLS General Cinema Avco AMC Century 14 General Cinema Cineplex Orleon Mann Criterion 6 Magic Johnson Theatres 13101 nfllMBM (3101653-8900 Beverly Connection Universal Studios Cinema 13101 248-MANN 019 (323) 230-5900 riailv 11 505 (310) 777-HLM 019 (310) 777-flLM 171 Daily 12 45 300 0n2SctMin 7 35 10:05 Sal 8, Sun 1035 Dairy: 12:30 2 45 Daily 11 45 2 JO 5:00 5:30 8 00 1030 Daily: 12:30 130.300 no 12.55 320 5:50 "B20 5 00 7:15 9:30 7.4O10DO 4:20 5.40 7:00 20 Ihurs 1 00 3.20 Fn.

Sal Late Shew 1 1 50 9 30 10:40 6 40 But) .1020 Daily 11:10 AM 1:20 3:30 TORRANCE BREA Exclusive Los Angeles Engagement STARTS TODAY lVESTSIDE 9:55 PM nilllllAll Free rooftop parking off PAVILION CINEMAS 0veHand Avenuc Pico Overland (310) 475-0202 S'wSLSn OOS Erlwards Brea Stadium 22 (714I672-1OO0 BURBANK AMC Burbank 14 CHATSWORTH Pacific's Winnetka Stadium 21 (R1BIB86-3900 IRVINE Edwards 21 MegaRex 19491 450-4900 LONG BEACH Edwards Long Beach Stadium 26 15621 429-1219 ORANGE AMC 30 at the Block (7141 769-4AMC A PASADENA AMC Old Pasadona 8 Theatres (6261 5B5-B900 A SOUTH BAY Pacific's Beach Cities Stadium 16 (3101 607-0007 AMC Hulling Hills 20 APresented in (3101 326-551 1 rnrdTOT WOODLAND HILLS AMC Promenade 16 IWtedin 18191 883-2AMC mLseM (8181963-9800.