Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 84

On Screen YOUR WEEKLY LOOK AT THE LATEST AND GREATEST MOVES, TELEVISION AND VIDEO PERSALL'S TOP 5 Recent releases recommended by Times film critic Steve Persall Short Cuts Robert Altman's incisive slice of L.A. life is marvelous. The latest Altman classic, but hopefully not the last. vJ4' V. 4 2 The Piano Holly Hunter is extraordinary as a mute mailorder bride torn between priggish husband Sam Neill and Har- vey Keitel's erotic danger.

The Pelican Brief Top-notch political intrigue from the pen of John Grisham (The Firm). Co-stars Julia Roberts and Den- zel Washington. The Remains of the Day Oscar winners Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson share a hidden, unrequited love before World War II. 5 Mrs. Doubtfire Robin Williams is anything but a drag when he impersonates a female housekeeper to be with his estranged children.

COMEBACK ROLE: Julia Roberts plays law student Darby Shaw in The Pelican Brief. WamwBro. Vtfkm low By STEVE PERSALL Times Film Critic AT THE BOX OFFICE Movie earnings compiled for most recent week and for complete run of films nationwide. 1 Wayne's World 2, Paramount Last week: 2,400 locations, $5,632 per location, 1 week. 2 Mrs.

Doubtfire, Twentieth Century Fox Last week: 1,959 locations, $5,185 per location, 3 weeks. 3 Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, Disney Last week: 2,132 locations, $3,550 per location, 1 week. 4Geronimo: An American Legend, Columbia Last week: $4-million, 1,605 locations, $2,504 per location, $4-million, 1 week. 5 A Perfect World, Warner Bros. Last week: 1,964 locations, $1,433 per location, 3 weeks.

6 The Three Musketeers, Disney Last week: $2-million, 1,951 locations, $1,012 per location, $41.1 -million, 5 weeks. 7Addams Family Values, Paramount Last week: 2,001 locations, $945 per location, $39-mtllion, 4 weeks. SCarlito's Way, Universal Last week: $1 1,266 locations, $1,060 per location, $31.1 -million, 5 weeks. The Piano, Miramax Last week: $1 274 locations, $4,703 per location, 5 weeks. fMyLife, Columbia VLast week: $1.1 -million, 1,130 locations, $975 per location, $24-million, 5 weeks.

Julia Roberts' return to the big screen and director Alan J. Pakula's way with suspense make for good holiday fare. MOVIE REVIEW The Pelican Brief Grade: Director Alan J. Pakula Cash Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington, Sam Shepard, Tony Goldwyn, Robert Culp, John Lithgow Rating: PG-13; violence, profanity Running time: 141 min. Brief is a worthwhile comeback for her.

But she isn't the factor that pushes The Pelican Brief 'to its admirable level of competency as a thriller. Praise for that goes to director Alan J. Pakula, whose best films have concerned this movie's central theme of absolute corruption in high places. Pakula knows how to tighten a cinematic noose around the necks of innocents, as evidenced by his taut 1971 breakthrough Klute and continuing through such touchstones of the genre as All the President's Men, The Parallax View and, to a lesser extent, Presumed Innocent. Cinematographer Stephen Goldblatt relays Pakula's paranoid vision here in one shot after another designed to show Darby Shaw's fear and lonely flight from the conspirators.

As a screenwriter, though, Pakula's shorthand of Grisham includes too many key clues that magically drop into the laps of Darby and investigative reporter Gray Grantham (Denzel Washington in a fine, well-researched performance) as they follow the criminal path to the steps of the White House. Half the fun of Tke Pelican Brief 'is the way Pakula (by way of Grisham) withholds information from the audience, not even explaining the title until we're waist-deep in the drama. But when enlightenment comes, ifs in pages of expository dialogue that impede but don't ruin the open-throttle pace of the film. The Pelican Brief 'is the same sort of hypnotic, yet disposable entertainment as any beach or travel reading that you can't put down; Grisham surely doesn't have a monopoly on such diversions. 'Pakula's film ably fits our holiday movie wishes for a nail-biter and hints at the promise that The Firm (and director Sydney Pollack) fumbled away.

Perhaps the next one, The Client, due in 1994, will have that golden Grisham formula down pat As long as authorlawyer John Grisham keeps churning out serpentine suspense novels, Hollywood will rely upon a solid formula to adapt them for the silver screen. Nail down a sure-fire, charismatic star for the heroic lead role, surround himher with an all-star team of recognizable actors and open the theater doors for millions of Grisham readers eager to see what develops. It certainly worked last summer financially speaking for The Firm, which rode Tom Cruise's dazzling smile to a box-office take of more than $160-million. And it will likely-succeed with The Pelican Brief and America's sweetheart, Julia Roberts. Comparisons between the two films are inevitable, especially among Grisham fans who can probably recite the page numbers where each movie scene occurs in the books.

Speaking on behalf of the seemingly few people who haven't read Grisham, I must declare that The Pelican Brief 'works better as a film than The Firm, which mistook confusion for complexity and was a puddle of tension that never quite jelled. The Pelican Brief 'is a flawed but thoroughly engrossing enactment of one of Grisham's incredible yarns, this one about a Tulane University law student who stumbles upon a conspiracy to assassinate two Supreme Court justices. Roberts plays that amateur sleuth, Darby Shaw, and she's mostly credible in the role. Marriage and a two-year layoff from the screen seem to have agreed with Roberts, and The Pelican PERIPHERAL VISIONS THE BALLAD OF LITTLE JO For every Annie Oakley or Belle Starr that became Western legends, there were dozens of women who survived on the frontier with their wits instead of a weapon. Jo Monaghan was one of them, and directorscreenwriter Maggie Greenwald does an admirable job of bringing her fascinating story to the screen.

Suzy Amis is quietly outstanding as Jo, who cut her hair, sliced her face and changed her life to pass as a man in a Montana mining town. Bo Hopkins turns in the best performance of his underrated career as Jo's unknowing friend. A unique sort of western movie; one that substitutes the eternal male vs. female conflict for the usual game of cowboys and Indians. Just like its subject, The Ballad of Little Jo doesn't adhere to Western conventions; it's not especially violent and there's no slam-bang climactic victory over the guys in black hats.

But Greenwald makes the most of her chance to reveal a side of the Old West that is typically ignored. Opens today at the Beach Theater in St. Petersburg Beach. -STEVE PERSALL 6 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1993 TIMES.