Lincoln Journal Star du lieu suivant : Lincoln, Nebraska • 13

T77 I 'Diabollu is faithful remake of French thriller 2D Lincoln Journal Star Friday, March 22, 1996 53 (TYiHIv Music fest brings out bands' best This The handicaps I 1 fa 'Vl5 fillip is Lincoln Journal Star The Journal Star's picks for mnauQiiiy nvvaiua inyiu. rsovui actor: Kate Wmslet. best supporting actress; Nicholas Caae. best actor: Susan baranaon, Dest actress; Mei Gibson, best director, a a a 0 0 0 0 0 career that includes both starring and supporting roles. He turned a technician into a courageous hero here, and his colleagues in the Screen Actors Guild already gave him their award.

1 Spacey was terrific as the storytelling criminal in "The Usual Suspects," for which he was nominated. But Spacey also delivered memorable performances in similar roles in "Seven" and I Kathleen Quinlan was nominated for her role as "Apollo 13" astronaut Jim Lovell's loyal wife a part that lacks the meat to merit a statuette. Mare Winningham plays a country singer dealing with her destructive sister in "Georgia," a movie nobody saw. Now the contenders all of whom could have been nominated for Best Actress: year, safe bet takes all BY KENT WOLGAMOTT Lincoln Journal Star Call these the politically safe Oscars. With America's favorite film critic Bob Dole wrapping up the GOP presidential nomination and the heat coming down on television violence, the Academy Awards took the easy way out That means two of the year's best films "Leaving Las Vegas" and "Dead Man Walking" were denied Best Picture nominations because of their dark subject matters.

Instead, voters chose more "wholesome," lightweight fare featuring talking pigs, kilt-wearing heroes, astronauts, stuffy romance and touching friendship. The industry's cave-in to political pressure makes it particularly difficult to predict this batch of Oscars. No "Schindler's favorite movie has emerged. That said, here's a handicapper's guide to the major awards. You can check out who wins Monday at 8 p.m.

on ABC (channels 7 and 8). Best Supporting Actor This one looks like a two-man race between Ed Harris and Kevin Spacey, with voters choosing to honor either a career or a year of brilliant work. First, the other contenders: James Cromwell plays friendly Farmer Hoggett in "Babe But he's unknown, and he gets upstaged by a pig. The longest of all long shots. Tim Roth is a supremely talented actor who was stunning as the vicious fop in "Rob Roy." But "Braveheart" is the Scottish epic of choice this year, and Roth's bad-guy act isn't enough to change that.

Pretty boy Brad Pitt plays the nuttiest character in Terry Gilliam's "12 Monkeys" with self-deprecating style. Even with the goofy haircut, however, that won't win him an Oscar. Now for the real race. Harris, nominated for his role as flight director Chris Craft in "Apollo 13," has had a long, distinguished The new BY DANIEL R. MOSER Lincoln Journal Star As the new kid on the electronic block, Steve Dant talks bullishly about KLKN's future in the Lincoln market, saying viewers for years have longed for a commercial television alternative.

Meantime, Frank Jonas, his counterpart at the long-established KOLNKGIN, adopts a distinctly "what, me worry?" tone, insisting that his station will continue to do just fine, thank you. There's surely a certain amount of bluff in the two general managers' proclamations as a new era in local television emerges. But outside observers agree on this: However the two stations' competition plays out, viewers will be the ultimate winners. The face-off is to begin April 1, when KLKN goes on the air on Channel 8. That's a delay, from next Monday, to allow the news staff more rehearsal lime.

Owned by Citadel Communications of New York which also owns stations in Des Moines and Sioux Iowa, and Rock Island, 111. KLKN will be an ABC affiliate. KOLNKGIN 1011, the other Lin-coin commercial station, is a CBS affiliate. Dant said his station plans a "very large advertising campaign" to market itself, and he expects KLKN to come out of the blocks quickly as a major player. "I don't think it's going to take very long here because there has been a real void I think there's a hunger out there for an alternative," he said in a reference to Lincoln's More on KLKN, Page 3B Journal Star entertainment writer Kent Wolgamott and sportswriter Steve Sipple compiled the following odds on contenders for the top Oscar categories.

It works like horse-racing odds. For example, in the first category, Ed Harris and Kevin Spacey are co-favorites (you'd have to bet $5 to win $3); James Cromwell is the long, long shot. Best Supporting Actor Ed Harris 3-5 Kevin Spacey 3-5 Tim Roth 10-1 Brad Pitt 10-1 James Cromwell 50-1 Best Supporting Actress Kate Winslet 2-1 Joan Allen 3-1 Mira Sorvino 5-1 Kathleen Quintan 15-1 Mare Winningham 33-1 Best Actor Nicholas Cage 3-5 Sean Penn 3-1 Richard Dreyfuss 15-1 Anthony Hopkins 20-1 Massimo Troisi 50-1 Best Actress Susan Sarandon Even Elizabeth Shue 8-5 Meryl Streep 12-1 Emma Thompson 1 2-1 Best Director Mel Gibson 2-1 Tim Robbins 3-1 Chris Noonan 5-1 Michael Radford 5-1 Mike Figgis 5-1 Best Picture "Apollo 13" 2-1, 3-t "Sense and Sensibility" 7-1 "Babe" 12-1 "The Postman" 20-1 Broadway actress Joan Allen stepped to the big screen to give a very sympathetic performance as Pat Nixon in Oliver Stone's "Nixon." While the film was far from an Academy or audience favorite, Allen gave it heart and put a soul in the long-suffering "Plastic Pat." Mira Sorvino put on a squeaky voice and some miniskirts and stole More on OSCARS, Page 2B to air In front of and behind the cameras, KLKN newspeople have been practicing on two nightly "newscasts" for almost two weeks. with more local content than any previous everything from a show-opening hard-news report on property tax debate at the Legislature to a closing, leave-'em-smiling feature on painting with a wheelchair attachment. "It felt like a real newscast," Bandur said.

All things considered, Lombardo told the staff, "We were 98 percent there today. "The difference just between last night and tonight was dramatic But we're not there yet." And as if to underline that, Lombardo's last words at the meeting were: "OK, let's gear up for the 10 o'clock," AUSTIN, Texas There's always a single defining moment for South By Southwest, the music conference that takes over the Texas capital every March. This year, the flash came on opening day: Elvis' drummer, D.J. Fontana, took the stage to play a couple of the King's classics with the Texas Tornados, the Lone Star supergroup featuring Freddy "The Mexican Elvis" Fender. That magic moment occurred last Thursday at an invitation-only party thrown by Reprise Records, which will release the Tornados' new album next month.

It was defining for two reasons: The pairing of Fontana and the Tornados could have happened only in Texas, and it happened at a label party. With the demise of New York's New Music Seminar, SxSW has become the country's only major music conference. So during the three-day affair, every record company of note throws an afternoon or after-hours party, showcasing their artists for industry insiders. Meanwhile, hundreds of unsigned bands play in clubs at night, hoping the right person will see them and make them stars. "I'd hate to be doing this as a career move.

That'd be suicide," said Dan Baird, the former Georgia Satellites leader now working as a solo artist. "There may be one band out of 300 signed this week. Those aren't good odds." The highlights A few other observations from 1 four days of music, barbecue and beer: The Best Panel: "Tales from the Front Modern Music's Trailblazers" was a hilarious storytelling session featuring Sir Douglas Sahm, the truly crazy Arthur Brown, the always entertaining Al Kooper and KinksWho producer Shel Talmy. But the star of the show was Fontana, who told some great Elvis stories. His best quip was about the young Elvis' live performances: The band couldn't hear itself or see the singer.

"We were conducted by an ass," Fontana said. The Hot Sound: For critics bored with the alternative buzz, the do-it-yourself country of the Bottle Rockets and friends and its polished-up big brother, now called Americana, was the ticket last weekend. It was that way with the masses, too. A Saturday night showcase topped by Knickerbockers regulars Blue Mountain drew a full house to the Split Rail. Friday night, Lucinda Williams, Kelly Willis and Junior Brown drew 3,000 to the Austin Music Hall.

The Coolest Gathering: A Saturday afternoon recording session by New York's Diesel Only Records found the Skeletons, Lucinda's bassist and producer Gurf Morlix and a LeRoi Brother backing yodeler Don Walser and Austin's sweethearts Rosie Flores, Willis and Toni Price on white hot versions of "Truck Drivin Man" and "Six Days on the Road." Look for the cuts on a Diesel Only disc to hit record stores in the summer. The Transcendent Performances: I saw three shows that took me to another world. They were Thursday night's loud, dumb fun from The Yahoos Baird, former Del-Lord Eric "Roscoe" Ambel, songwriter drummer Terry Anderson and over-the-top bassist Keith Christopher, who was resplendent in his silver dress. A reminder that rock 'n' roll is about the as well as the brain, The ahoos were a blast Sun Volt showed why it is the buzz band of the moment, stealing the Friday night Music Hall show from Junior and Lucinda. Going from loud to soft better than any band in the business, Son Volt's rural contemporary music connects even stronger live than on record.

Saturday nlehL Perfect. Tommy Stinson's new band, lived up to Its name. Stlnson, who has learned to sing, reclaims the Replacements mantle with hooks, harmonies and just the right amount of sloppiness. kid on the block, ELKN "Vi. i L.

Wjuraimr rrrwiBTiffl- Sx i i -w Z' "Swimming With Sharks," making him the breakthrough actor of the year. In a bit of an upset, I'm picking Spacey. But Harris very easily could win. Best Supporting Actress In the most wide-open category, three actresses have an excellent shot at taking Oscar home. First, the also-rans: avoid: He analyzed camera angles and the jerkiness of some shots; he ordered some cords placed under the carpet that threatened to trip weathercaster Dean Wysocki; he observed that the front of the anchor desk would be a good place for a station logo.

Lombardo even assured weathercaster Wysocki and sports director Larry Punteney both "vertically challenged" compared with co-anchors Rod Fowler and Michelle Bandur that the phone books they're now sitting on during newscasts will be replaced by cushions. "That's just one of the millions of little things that didn't occur to us Stanley said with a laugh. But it 0 1 I ...4 111 'ii imiimiio-W -( 'Letter perfect' is the goal By the time KLKN goes on the air, its news team's performance should so polished that it "looks like we've been on the air for years," the station owner says. That's why the staff has been gathering news and conducting two nightly newscasts for nearly two weeks even though those broadcasts go no farther than the station walls. "When we go on the air, we're going to be letter perfect," promised Philip Lombardo, president of New York-based Citadel Communications, which owns the new ABC affiliate.

On Thursday, general manager Steve Dant said, that air date is April 1, another one-week delay to allow time for more rehearsals. Lombardo made his comments after Tuesday night's 6 p.m. rehearsal and a half-hour postmortem in which staff ers dissected their performance in considerable detail. Although Steve Dant is the station's general manager and Randal Stanley its news director, Lombardo conducted the staff meeting. Indeed, throughout the evening, Lombardo immersed himself in the kind of details executives at his level usually QERIK PARMELE Uneom JoumH Star was obvious the first night the four took their seats at the anchor desk that the height difference had to be addressed.

But enough is enough, Wysocki said. "I don't know about Larry, but my butt still feels numb from sitting on that phone book," he said at Tuesday's staff meeting. Tuesday night's newscast passed an unofficial, but critical, test It came off even though the staff was shorthanded. Producer Leslie Rupiper was out sick, so assignment manager Linda Van Hoosen filled in. "We were down one person, and we still got a show on," Stanley said.

His staff also made all of Its deadlines, resulting in a newscast 1,.