The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 83

inyii ynmyy yi.ii 't ejus) ini1 1 CI)C3aTCttC, Montreal, Friday, June 23, 1989 wings clipped i hj Nicho son's soaring wit BATMAN Palace, Universite i Fairview, Greenfield, Laval nc Versailles, Jean Talon Cini-parc Chiteauguay By BILL BROWNSTEIN of The Gazette eyond the contractual obli There they are, honey, big as life, Rick Moranis tells co-star Marcia Strassman. Oops, this comedy is a little scary 1 1 -A" 'A it -i the reins on the normally manic Moranis, who is such a boot as the wimp in Ghostbusters 2. And almost anyone could have been inserted in the roles of Moranis's long-suffering wife (played by Marcia Strassman) and their two mail-order kids (Amy O'Neill and Robert Oliveri). Parents' Guide: for all. Guess who's back in the seven-minute cartoon that precedes Honey, I Shrunk the Kids? None other than Roger Rabbit, the terror of Toon Town and dim-witted star of last year's mega-hit feature Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

And it's a good bet the kids parents too will get more of a kick out of the cartoon than the main attraction. Reunited with the diapered and not-so-lovable Baby Herman, Roger is let loose in the harebrained hospital caper Tummy Trouble, a Walt Disney-Steven Spielberg co-venture. The cartoon is a return to roots for Disney Studios, which has been setting its sights on adult audiences of late. Tummy Trouble marks the company's first animated short in 25 years. By BILL BROWNSTEIN of The Gazette OK, it was an accident, but he really did it.

Mad sci-entist Rick Moranis shrunk his kids. But before parents flock to movie theatres for what sounds like the family fantasy-comedy of the decade, be advised that this flick isn't very funny. Apart from its title and the occasional image of the bespectacled Moranis trying to defy gravity in mad-scientist gear, Honey is fairly horrific, a Friday the 13th for the pre-pubescent set. After Moranis's electro-magnetic shrinking gizmo is inadvertently triggered off and reduces his two kids and his neighbor's to quarter-inch specks, the little ones spend the rest of the film running frantically for their lives. Innocuous backyard bugs become King Kong-like critters that try to devour them.

Puddles of water become raging seas. And the lawnmower wreaks terror as it threatens to make mulch of the mini-kids. Maybe the movie is designed to teach kids humility to make lacking in superhero stature. HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS Palace, Dorval them look at life from the perspective of prey. But no matter what kind of consciousness-raising posture its makers may take, Honey is more a triumph of special effects than a social statement Miniaturizing humans may not be a new movie theme does In-nerspace ring a bell? but neophyte director Joe Johnston does at least conquer new vistas in his odyssey.

Johnston, a former art director with George Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic and an Oscar winner for his visual effects in Raiders of the Lost Ark, has created an impressive jungle of oversized ants and twigs in which his minuscule kids become entangled. He will probably win more technical awards for this one. His actors won't win awards. Honey is not a star vehicle for humans. Director Johnston has tightened ago.

Even Burton's ghoulish Beetle-juice featuring Keaton on more familiar and steadier comedic terrain is Sunday-school stuff in comparison to Batman. Give the former Disney Studio animator his due. He is able to meet the challenge of Batman's sadism, special effects, superstar egos, $50-million mega-budget and attendant hype and emerge with a movie that will have the fans chomping on the bit all summer long. Parents' Guide: graphic violence, coarse language. 1 I "Irs So Perfect.

Its Like A Miracle I TiT" JURY PRIZE Wl 4 -a completely original ad 1989 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 1 rj I f-v visionary movie. 'Field of Dreams I I I LJ ECUMENICAL PRIZE hZSSk UUilUtMIMUUUM 4 BVV jay SCOTT FRANCO NUOVO BILL BROWNSTIIN mississipi burning r) I II movie about aanna to dream. globe.mah journaidemowssai 7hc gazette 1 1 1:00 4:00 7:00 9:30 I. -Roe Eb SISHX EBERT I- 1:05 3 s'os'' 7:05 'ft I DANS LEUENTREDU DRAGON (G) fif I C3 14 KEVIN COSTNER 5 BAGDAD CAFE (G) VtSM tf k- w- gations and his position atop 1 the Hollywood pecking order, there is another reason Jack Nicholson gets top billing in Bat-(pan. He deserves it.

Nicholson heists the film from under the cape of Batman pretender Michael Keaton. It's grand larceny. Keaton's Batman, for all his smooth-talking charm and physical prowess, is simply not imposing enough. He'd need a nuclear arsenal til plow Nicholson off the screen. JPJaying Batman's arch-adversary the Joker, Nicholson redefines standard concepts of villainy.

The tfro-time Oscar winner has gone ofer the edge before in such films as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the Shining and The Witches of Eastwick, but he is evil incarnate He's also wickedly funny. (Nicholson's unhinged brilliance sets Ihe tone for the much-bally-hdoetf Batman. It's nasty stuff. This is not the camp cartoon classic of comic books and TV that millions of kids have been weaned on. This is psycho-comedy in the purest sense.

IBatman may be based on the Bob Kane characters without the Caped Crusader's trusty sidekick, Kobin that first appeared in comic book form 50 years ago. But this Batman is really meant for the jad-ed thrill-seeker of the present, for Whom the Superman and Star Virs sagas were only appetizers. 'When first encountered, philanthropist playboy Bruce Wayne (Keaton) has little use for his secret Bat-ntan. identity or his batduds, Batmobile and Batwing. Crime is pretty much in check in Gotham CUyi: does make one serious mistake on one of his regular crime-basting gigs.

He fails to eliminate thug Jack Napier (Nicholson). He gives Napier a bath in a vat of acid, hood survives and re-emerges as the grotesque Joker with white face, green hair, scarlet lips and a menacing smile permanently etched on his mug. The Joker aims to be the world's "first fully functional homicidal art- AUDITIONS For La Belle Epoque in July. Singers Dancers Wanted. Please forward C.V.

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available for Private Partes of any sk. 3224 Bishop 863-0312 ACCUSED OF A body has been discovered. Will you be accused of murder? in the intrique. I BURNING BRIDGES EVERY FRIDAY FROM i pm. $35 per person Dinner and show package AUBERGE LEVIEUX I ST-GABRIEL Si-Gabriel Montreal Michael Keaton's Batman: ist" and he can't resist a good one-liner in pursuing this line of infamy.

"You're insane," says WayneBatman moll Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) after being abducted by the Joker. "And I thought I was a Pisces," the leering Joker retorts. The burghers of Gotham City are not particularly after the Joker poisons the city's cosmetics supply and leaves a rash of dead bodies in the process. It's hard to believe that Batman director Tim Burton first cut his teeth in film on the benign Pee-wee's Big Adventure four years flELD OF DREAMS (G) Dolby Slereo THX 1:00 3:10 5:20 7:30 9:45 SCANDAL (14 yrs) Dolby Slereo THX 2:00 4:30 7:00 9:30 RENEGADES (14 yrs) Dolby Slereo Etc. June 27 and 29: 1:00 3:10 515 9:40 Eic June 28 EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY (G) Dolby Slereo GHOSTBUSTERS (G) Oolby Slereo 12:30 2.45 5:00 7:15 9:30 Lale show: Fri.

and NO HOLDS BARRED (14 yrs) Dolby Stereo 1:00 3:00 5:10 740 900 Eic June 28 and 29: 1:00 3:00 5:10 9 15 OUTSIDE CHANCE OF MAXIMILLIAN (G) 1:20 3:20 5:20 7:25 9:35 JESUS OF MONTREAL (14 yrs) Dolby Slereo (o.v. with enqltsh subtitles) Sat. and Sun. 12:00 2:10 4:30 7:00 9:2 Weekdays 2:00 5:10 7:20 9:30 GHOSTBUSTERS (G) Oolby Slereo 12:30 -2 4S- 5:00 7:15 9:30 GHOSTBUSTERS (G) Dolby Stereo 12:30 2:45 5:00 7:15 9:30 SUJf-i GHOSTBUSTERS (G) Oolby Stereo 12:30 2:45 5:00 7:15 9:30 GHOSTBUSTERS (G) Dolby Stereo 12:30 2:45 5:00 7:15 9:30 FIERRO. ETE DES SECRETS (G) NO HOLDS BARRED (14 yrs) Dolby Slereo 1:00 3:10 5:00 7:00 9:00 Ec.

June 29 1:00 3:10 5:00 30 JESUS OF MONTREAL (14 yrs) Dolby Slereo (o.v. with english subtitles) 2:00 5:10 7:20 9:30 K-9 (G) Sun. 2 00 4:15 7:00 9:15 Sat, and WeeHdays: 7:00 9:15 NO HOLDS BARRED (14 yrs) Sun. 1:30 3:30 5:30 7:30 9 30 Sal. and Weekdays 7:30 9:30 LA WHENCE OF ARABIA (G) Oolby Stereo SR 70MM Sal.

and Sun. 1:30 7:30 Weekday! 7:30 awiliw.iJ,lli"PI!HniiilJ i'ii'' I itol.i.Mllii.aJ I i I iPPpapiMVMmna 1 3 DANGEROUS LIAISONS (14 yrs) HX, fBSStBSTB A UNIVERSAL RELEASE ki 1:20 4:05 7:05 9:35 JJ gjjjl? i i l.ji l.jljl iejlj i i ii kLaru i uviiv i iifiiiiiii Msfti Sat. and ryrTTyi--r UBlJUoJ Ul IIIUIIUUUI -JL I ltlT'mi Urn Strif SSS ft Xijjr Weekdays. 7.00-9:15 ZSi'Z I Wm WSOt CA1HRI mm tHWLM Kl OIMUD KfTt'nTJffTn'Tf "1 rniLa'il3iSVeV NCV" I mimuptsi Giusriufia msjwus feWWSBP'' 1 C2ll4Vi I Sit! I I O.V. WITH ENGUSH 5UBII1LE5 ffriTlri -mTi miv i g- X9Afl il wo P4SSS OR msg-p k-9(G) (French .) "tj.

1 Lsl 1 cntinoNt 12:30 -MO K.V IfYIijIll. t. 3jiIl.li5Hf 1 fc- JESUS DE MONTREAL (14 yra) Dolby Slereo Wii I ft II J.llll I li I I 12:00 2:10 4:30 7:10 9:40 Mf-H lull III IM III ir It alT COMBAT A FINIR (14 yrs) j-TTl 'K'" -ajw ijgi BEAUBiEM IBEftVILLE -2I0 a30 AUt PES tAWWIPES 688-3684 1:15 -im-x ffcjj gTTTTf il Irl.l.'Mf ST-JEROME, JOUETTE, SOREL, "1 I i. GHOSTBUSTERjSIG) Dolby Stareo RI1 "il'tJllim i "JjJJ Jakf- XlUS IMI 8T-JEAN, DRUMMONDVULE I Wft'. SI JAMES BELUSHll "-vve haven't witnessed this fcA GHOSTBUSTERS (G) Dolby stereo t3jj av sort of exhilarating silliness since WJ i IUIMUc L7 -v Ti LrFos 3 I y-" The Rocky Horror Picture Show." -l yrchance of I secrc, 4 JIM CARREY DAMON WAYANS gIV1Qick WHATHEl 5 i 3 ano JEFF COLDBLUM fT WANTED i 1 I 2 sw.

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