Argus-Leader from Sioux Falls, South Dakota • Page 33

Argus Leader, Sioux Falls, S.D. Thursday, Dec. 29, 1994 5 MOVIES 'LHffle Women9 is a feed tor everyone sisters. Armstrong tosses Christian Bale into the mix as the lonely neighbor boy who becomes a brother to the girls. Gabriel Byrne is the older, wiser professor who pushes Jo to write from her heart.

Wickes appears as the imperious aunt who watches out for her nieces. With this movie, Armstrong gives us a model for families in any age. These gentle women and the men who love them treat each other and the world with care. They feed the poor, care for the sick, don't worry much about money and still manage to be quite part of the -everyday world. This is no saccharine story of girls who would rather be angels.

Instead it lets us into a home filled with love where four young women, completely different from each other, manage to grow up well. Come, ready to smile, to shed a few tears and to spend a delightful two hours with the March girls. In this quartet, no one's more important to any of the sisters than the others. With this movie, director Gillian Armstrong cements her place as a first rate story teller. With Geoffrey Simpson to bathe the scenes in a candlelight glow and Colleen Atwood to supply the dresses of another era, the movie swirls us into the March house where calm reigns only in moments.

Winona Ryder sparkles as the outspoken, boyish Jo who writes the stories to entertain her sisters and dreams of selling them to papers. She's the brave one who'll race down the creek with the boy next door and lead the procession to a neighbor's house with food, singing all the way. Jo will take on the world on her terms, and Ryder's performance adds spice to a show that could easily become too sweet. Sarandon gives Marmee an inner strength that's never in question whether she's lovingly sending her girls to bed, each with By ANN GRAUVOGL Argus Leader Staff Take an Australian director female. A 19th-century writer female.

A cast led by women Susan Sarandon, Winona Ryder, Trini Alvarado and Mary Wickes. Then you have "Little Women," a treat that celebrates growing up smart and strong whether you're a girl or a boy. Here's a mother in Sarandon who believes she must give her girls wings to fly and has the courage to encourage them to use them. Nothing breeds speculation faster than the site of a woman enjoying herself, says this very modern mom from the last century. "I only care what you think of yourself," she tells them.

Here are the sisters who create dramas in the attic, dream of becoming a writer, a painter, a wife. In this mix, no choice is wrong if a woman follows her heart and her talents. That, of course, is not quite the general sentiment in Civil War era Massachusetts. 'Little Women' (PG, adult themes). Carmike.

The movie with Susan Sarandon, Winona Ryder and Christian Bale celebrates growing up smart and strong whether you're a girl or a boy. Here's a mother who believes she must give her girls wings to fly and has the courage to encourage them to use them. Ryder sparkles as the outspoken, boyish Jo and adds spice to the show that keeps it from becoming overly sweet. Columbia Pictures. 115 minutes.

girls a more just world. As Meg, Alvarado is a sweetie who almost dreams of a lavish life but finds her happiness in more humble circumstance. Kirsten Dunst makes young Amy more than a match for the outspoken Jo; Samantha Mathis makes the older Amy a standoffish miss, but she knows what she wants and sets out to get it. As Beth, Claire Danes adopts a quiet, calm glow that puts her closer to the realms of angels than her more worldly I Culkin fast out-growing roles like 'Richie Rich' 'Street Fighter1 choppy, predictable violence Winona Ryder a candle and a song, pulling the fever down from the brain or mediating a fight that's left daughters in tears. She's calm, smart and dedicated to giving her Jean-Claude Van Damme battles his way through "Street Fighter." breakneck pace leaves one little time to savor what does work.

Van Damme seems distracted and not with the shaky program, which is OK because Julia, Wen, Chapa, Mann, Bush and Tuiasosopo are the real stars. Filmed in Australia, Thailand and British Columbia, the production is bathed in blues and reds by cinematographer William Fraker, vigorously costumed by Deborah La Gorce Kramer and commandingly scored by Graeme Revell. By JACK GARNER Gannett News Service Childhood ends, but it is seldom as public an occurrence as it is for a popular child star. Macaulay Culkin, for example, says au revoir, les enfant in "Richie Rich," a film in which the 14-year-old has been cast opposite some of the tallest character actors in the business, including John Larroquette and Edward Herrmann. The idea was to diminish the obvious: Macaulay's growing up.

However, if they keep trying to cast Culkin as the resourceful little kid, his co-stars will have to be Patrick Ewing and Manute Bol. But the star's height isn't the only problem with "Richie Rich." Culkin simply seems a bit too mature and no longer innocent enough for his role. "Richie Rich" is based on a popular comic book series, and follows the adventures of the world's richest kid as he discovers what matters in life. Culkin plays the title character, a grade school Donald Trump in search of life's true values. Because his Dad (Herrmann) has a ton of money, the boy has been raised with all the benefits private tutors, baseball practice with Reggie Jackson, a huge mansion full of high-tech gizmos and fabulous toys, and a faithful man-servant (Jonathan Hyde).

'Richie Rich1 (PG, modest profanity, comic violence) Showing at West Mall 7. Based on a popular comic book series, Donald Petrie's film follows the. adventures of the world's richest kid as he discovers what matters in life. Macaulay Culkin plays the title character, a grade school Donald Trump. At 15, Culkin's outgrowing such parts, and the film retreads familiar themes, but most kids will still enjoy it.

Warner Bros. 95 mins. Richie also has problems most youngsters can't even imagine: His father's business manager (John Larroquette) is scheming to take over the family fortune. He even tries to blow up the family in an airplane. Thus, the film's two themes emerge a youngster trying to find the freedom to be a youngster, while simultaneously helping his father protect the family from unscrupulous operators.

"Richie Rich" works better on the more basic first theme. The more aggressive plot about corporate takeovers and betrayals is less appealing, and eventually resolves itself with some clumsy action on a makeshift mock-up of Mount Rushmore. By DAVID HUNTER The Hollywood Reporter Action-flick scribe Steven de Souza's feature directing debut, "Street Fighter," is a big-budget muddle of thrown-together generic plot elements and threadbare characters drawn from video game company Capcom's every-kid's-played-it mega-hit. Universal's counter programmer for the holidays is neither a satisfying martial arts exercise for star Jean-Claude Van Damme nor the irresistible mainstream diversion it strives for. The international cast and tie-ins with production company Capcom's on-going video and CD-ROM juggernaut point to a bountiful worldwide harvest, but domestic biz for the PG-13 film should fizzle quickly after an initial charge at the boxoffice.

Writer-director de Souza, with the help of five editors and 12 assistant editors, is unable to tell a coherant story or put together a decent fight sequence. There are likewise far too many characters to keep track of, undercutting what instant allegiances one forms for those heroes or villains that make a strong impression. The late Raul Julia as megalomaniacal Southeast Asian dictator Bison has the best lines, the best character and the best gizmos. His henchmen and cohorts including Wes Studi as 'Street Fighter (PG-13, violence, strong language) Showing at West Mall 7. Jean-Claude Van Damme is a U.N.

commando who sets out with a band of street fighters to rescue hostages from a power-happy warlord. Based on the video game Street Fighter II. Also starring Raul Julia, Wes Studi. Directed by Steven E. de Souza.

95 minutes. a one-eyed arms dealer and Indian thesp Roshan Seth as a captive bio-physicist are a predictably fickle bunch. Meanwhile, the good guys include revenge-minded Van Damme as the leader of an multinational commando force, a feisty newswoman (Ming-Na Wen), her beefy comrades (Peter Tuiasosopo, Grand Bush) and a pair of con men (Damian Chapa, Byron Mann) recruited by Van Damme to help infiltrate Bison's Several sequences promising big showdowns are red herrings, with de Souza and crew ably building up tension but failing to deliver the goods. The large-scale action scenes including a riverboat assault and the climactic clashes in Bison's high-tech lair have their moments, but de Souza has no new tricks to offer, while the choppy,.