Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 65

Variety Friday DECEMBER 19, 1997 SECTION orau INDEX Dear Abby, Ann Landers Page E20 Movie listings Page Ell Comics Pages E22-23 Isaac Asimov's Super Quiz PageE23 This Weekend calendar Pages E14-15 Television Page E24 Tech Today PageE25 TODAY'S QUOTE "I stole everything I ever heard, but mostly I stole from the horns." Ella Fitzgerald StarTribune 45 7 Onebusyweekend James Bond films have been with us since 1962. 'Tomorrow Never Dies' proves that life begins at 35. MOVIES ijimui wiwl wMWt 1 iwi.iwwiKwwPwiiii.NN 1 By Colin Covert Star Tribune Staff Writer The wit is drier, the drama more heartfelt, the villain more detestable, the gadgets cooler, the scale bigger, the escapes narrower, the explosions hotter. And this time we get two heroic secret agents for the price of one. "Tomorrow Never Dies," the 18th outing for 007, is the best of them all.

i 'i -V i V. 11; -lffKttttHmmmWftmlKKmm flSJfcfciMKP flWV" Tttmmmwrnm tWWW- Photo provided by Dreamworks When Jeffrey Katzenberg left Disney to launch Dreamworks, we wondered how long it would be before he made a Disney-like movie. "Mouse Hunt" fits the bill sort of. But this family-oriented comedy falls short of what makes the grade at the other studio represented by a mouse out of five stars, review on page E7). Also opening: the Cuban satire "Guantanamera" (VS, page E7).

Welcome to theThunderdome: Minnesota's first stadium-style multiplex, the Coon Rapids Show-Place 16, equipped with state-of-the-art seating and sound systems, is being opened today by the Chicago-based Kerasotes chain. The 16-screen theater, Minnesota's largest, is the first of four new "megaplexes" under construction in the Twin Cities. Huy. 10 and Foley Coon Rapids; 757-6608. For a look at the new wave of cinemas, see Sunday's Entertainment section.

Updating the trademark elements of the James Bond series while staying true to the basic form, "Tomorrow Never Dies" gives us what we expect in unexpected ways. There must be a scene in which (Judi Dench) briefs Bond (Pierce Brosnan) about the world's peril. This time it's set in her limousine, screaming through city traffic with a motorcycle escort. Tradition demands exotic locations, but now they're photographed in the hyper-realistic style of a Tom Clancy techno-thriller rather than tourist bureau glamour shots. Of course, there must be a Bond girl.

And this time what a woman she is. Her name is Lin, Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh), a Chinese agent every bit as brave Movie review Tomorrow Never Dies Out of a possible five stars Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Michelle Yeoh and Jonathan Pryce. Director: Roger Spottiswoode. Review: Bigger, bolder, brasher, the best of them all. From its stunning credits sequence through the final fadeout (the most satisfying Bond smooch ever), the film winks at every 007 cliche it encounters but remains true to the basic form.

Rating: violence and adult situations. FA I LY 7X1 and resourceful as our hero. Above all, Bond needs a worthy adversary, a criminal genius bent on global domination. The nuclear blackmailers and drug kingpins of old pale beside Bond's new nemesis, a ruthless media emperor who wants nothing less than control of the world's minds. JJk Radio Disney; hosts a holiday variety show with theacappella group Tonic-Sol-Fa (pictured), Will the Magician, clowns, games, prizes and a holiday elf.

Brian of Photo provided by United Artists Pictures Turn to TOMORROW on E16 And on E17 Michelle Yeoh isn't the typical Bond woman. Pierce Brosnan as 007 and costar Michelle Yeoh bring down the curtain on another cliffhanger. rmnmm File photo KSTP-Ch. 9 hosts. Each show seats 400; pick up free tickets at LifeTime Fitness clubs in Woodbury, Plymouth and Bloomington, or at the door if they're still available.

11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday, Camp Snoopy, Mall of America. 886-3277. Leonardo DiCaprloand KateWbislet keep a love story afloat, but that plays second fiddle to the "unslnkable" ship in "Titanic." CLASSICAL MUSI Home for the holidays? Take a trip through time at the Christmas Revels, a pageant of early music, the-' ater and dance that celebrates the winter solstice, I this weekend at Central Presbyterian Church in St; Paul.

See story on page E25. Or join baritone Bradley Greenwald and the Rose Ensemble for Early Music for a concert of Advent music by 18th-century composers, played on instruments of the Baroque period. 8 p. m. today, University Lutheran Church of Hope, 601 13th Av.

SE, Mpls. 8p.m Saturday, St. Luke's Catholic Church, 1079 Summit. St. Paul.

$8 students and seniors; others $15, at the door only. 647-4903. POP MUSIC i 4k Movement's next CD, "The Rise and Fall of Ms. Show Biz," will be released March 24 on' Sire Records. But the ever-popular Ms.

Show Biz, the hard-; est-working singer in, well, the Twin Cities, and her band will preview the made-in- yL Photo provided by Electra Records Cannon Falls album (which features guests Me'Shell Ndegeocello and Gary Louris) this weekend. Marlee MacLeod opens. 7 p.m. First Avenue, 701 IstAv. $10 in advance, $12 at the door, 338-8388.

Photo provided by Paramount Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox THEATER vimm. yiiiiwuiiiliii 1 -M I I I Fm--- trimming I i -1 1 1 I On Sunday, 40 years after Meredith Willson's "The Music Man" opened on Broadway, the curtain goes up on the Ordway'sown production of the musical favorite about a charismatic con man who turns a small Iowa town on its ear. Story on page E2. Movie review Titanic Out of a possible five stars Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates and Bill Paxton. Director: James Cameron.

Review: Two movies rolled into one: A so-so love story and a bang-up disaster movie. Rating: PG-13. "Titanic" garners eight Golden Globe nominations to lead all movies. Story on page E18. By Jeff Strickler Star Tribune Staff Writer With "Titanic, filmmaker James Cameron revives the notion of the double feature, except in this case he combines the two shows into one movie.

Coming in at a record cost officially $200 million, but rumored to have reached $230 million the movie boasts a length to match. It's 3 hours, 14 minutes long, a span divided equally into a love story and a disaster movie. Visually, the movie is undeniably impressive; there's no question where all the money went. As love stories go, this one is solid, but it's a long way short of special. None of which is surprising.

Special-effects-driven action is the forte" of Cameron, who with "The Terminator" went from ah unknown Roger Corman apprentice to one of Hollywood's highest rollers. The instant the notorious ship hits the iceberg and starts to sink, you almost can feel the adrenaline surge. Everything gets kicked up a notch: the pacing, the acting, the camera work. Yes the ship hits an iceberg. There's no avoiding the fact that everyone knows how this story turns out.

Realizing that the film's payoff can't come from the ending, Cameron confronts it from the start. Star Trbune photo by Bruce Bisprig COMMENTS If you have comments about this section, call Susie Eaton Hopper and Randy Miranda at 9087, or e-mail varletygw.startrlbune.com. For inquiries or complaints, call Lou Gelfand at 673-4450 or e-mail readerrepgw.startrlbune.com. Set a course for adventure for romance. 'Titanic' promises something for everyone.

Turn to TITANIC on E18 0t.jmm..m m.Mmjf m.m mt rn.rn.mjmm m.m mum m. m.m m.m A A 10 jg m-m i4tt 0 AH A A itt AA ff JLm-m.