Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 120

Friday Section 7 Chicago Tribune. Friday, January 1, 1999 Siskel this a very expensive moviegoing experience. R. JACK FROST. A pointless exercise in basically a single special effect a jolly three-sphere snow man who is a life-size puppet and, it turns out, the reincarnation of a boy's dead father.

Their adventures are a method of making up for lost emotion through declarations of their love for each other. But the desired emotionality is never achieved because it's hard to get worked up over one character who resembles the Pillsbury Dough-Boy. I kept waiting for him to take his head off. pa MEET JOE BLACK. Brad Pitt stars in one of the year's most romantic and entertaining pictures, playing the angel of Death in an update of the 1934 fantasy "Death Takes a Holiday." Hoping to learn more about mortal life, Pitt takes as his tutor a billionaire businessman (Anthony Hopkins), and also finds himself falling for the man's daughtei (Claire Forlani).

Both stories work well, making "Meet Joe Black" an unusually rich entertainment thyat poses the thought- But that cheapThe psychoanalysis is a minor element in the success of this film. The photography is crisp, highlighting the craggy face and icy demeanor of McKellen as he stalks the object of his affection and presides over his manor, himself observed by his caretaker (Lynn Redgrave). "Gods and Monsters" is based on a speculative novel by Christopher Bram. No MPAA rating. I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER.

In this movie we follow a killer in a dark slicker, rainhat and hook on one arm, as he attacks the vacationers at a Bahamian resort where a couple of college kids are enjoying a weekend vacation they've won in a radio station trivia contest The killer is a hoot with his slicker and hook. I suppose you could say he's put the gore in Gorton's. But his attacks are utterly pre-, dictable. Typically, there are two false scares before each real attack, which is accompanied by a thunderous musical chord that could cause you to toss your popcorn and force you back to the candy counter, making sabotage a congressman's (Jason Robards Jr.) attempt to protect the privacy of American citizens. The tug-of-war is played for lethal stakes, as a National Security Agency administrator (Jon Voight) squares off against an ex-NSA operative (Gene Hackman), who forms a reluctant partnership with Smith.

But even with this high-powered cast, this is not a fHm about characters. It's about action and high-tech images. R. GODS AND MONSTERS. A superbly acted and beautifully filmed drama about the demons and decay that, late In his life, beset James Whale, director of three of the greatest horror films in Hollywood history: "Frankenstein," "The Invisible Man" and "The Bride of Frankenstein." Director Whale, played as a haunted soul by the great Ian McKellen, was homosexual in an era when other gay directors such as George Cukor took pains to conceal their sexual orientation.

Whale was bolder, and in the film courts a beautiful young man played by Brendan Fraser, who is hred as the new gardener at the Whale household. We are left to conclude that Whale's desire to transform this young man is reflective of the Frankenstein pictures that he made, in some way mirroring the desire of Dr. Frankenstein to animate the monster. DANCING AT LUGHNASA. A lethargic adaptation of Bnan Friers play about a retired Ihsh pnest (Michael Gambon) who in 1936 has returned to his village from 25 years in Africa to live with his unmarried sisters, an assortment of just-too-colorful characters, including Meryl Sweep as the oldest and most responsible, Cathenne McCormack as the youngest who has had a child out of wedlock, and Sophie Thompson as the flakiest, who has become involved with a married man.

The trajectory of all of their lives seems pre-ordained from the opening titles, removing any tension in the matenal. pa DOWN IN THE DELTA. A measured, emotional drama about a drug-addicted Chicago woman (Alfre Woodard) with terribly low self-esteem who gets her life together when she goes back to her ancestral Mississippi home and becomes wrapped in the healing safety net of her relatives. Director Maya Angelou, the celebrated author, makes an impressive filmmaking debut by pacing her story slowly enough to make Woodard's transformation credible. PG-13.

ENEMY Of THE STATE. A frantic techno-thriller in which a Washington labor attorney (played by Will Smith) is unknowingly caught up in the plot of rogue government agents to "BEAUTIFULLY CRAFTED. STREEP'S BEST PART IN SEVERAL YEARS." ftilmmpon, HK I RIBl Sf "MERYL STREEP HAS MADE MANY A GRAND ACTING GESTURE IN HER 'LUGHNASA' RANKS WITH THE BEST!" -Jjnci Muslin, 1 IIF NtTX YORK TIMI-i Luflhnasa VO.VT W.VtWM (7.AYSM fine arts evanston Chicago 3 1 2939-3700 F.vanjion 847864-4900 IVVnRaiJIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHaHBnHBMBBH GOLDEN GLOBE W0M1WATI0HS BEST PICTURE) 1 BEST ACTRESS, BEST DIRECTOR CArEBLANCHETT1 SHEMKAPIIR Continued From Page A wright Tom Stoppard. R. A BUG'S UFE.

Once more into the grass, where there is more warfare than splendor as a colony of animated ants fends off an attack from vicious grasshoppers, angry that the ants haven't provided their usual amount of food. "A Bug's Life," which I think is geared more toward children, has an even more striking visual style thanks to the unique, ceramic-shell look provided by the Pixar animation studio, creators of "Toy Story." G. BABE: PIG IN THE CITY. An enormously inventive sequel and technical marvel, which follows our favorite porker from the sheep-herding country hills to fantastic urban locations where he saves a bunch of animal outcasts from possible destruction. All of our favonte supporting animals are back from the original picture, including the neurotic duck and the loyal dogs.

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