The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 31

trntrsAjmn THE BOSTON GLOBE FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 1988 31 The following are the best current movies In the' Judgment oj the Globe critics. I-' 'V i v. By Michael Blowen Globe Staff ALIENS (Cinema 57 and suburbs) Even though It's too long, director; James Cameron's sequel to Ridley Scott's "Allen" is a worthy Slgourney Weaver, a veritable Rambette, cleans house In outer spare; with lasers and machine guns. FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF (Paris, Assembly Square, Circle, Revere Showcase) This farce from writer-director John Hughes is a' sparkling comedy that skips along on the strength of Matthew Broder-! ick's deceptively difficult performance. There's not much social com- mentary or art, but plenty of solid characterizations and old-fashioned laughs.

A ROOM WITH A VIEW (Nickelodeon, Harvard Square) Director James Ivory, producer Ismail Merchant, screenwriter Ruth Prawer. Jhabvala and composer Richard Robbins combine to create a brilliant adaptation of E. M. Forstcr's novel. The performances particularly by Maggie Smith, Helena Bonham Carter and Denholm Elliot are superbly wrought In this tale of conflicting cultures, embattled sexes and changing values.

Ivory's alchemic direction mixes humor and pathos with astute political and social commentary without resorting to preaching. 5 By Jay Carr Globe Staff A GREAT WALL (Nickelodeon) A wise, gentle, compassionate comedy of cultural collision that shrinks the distance between Peking and Silicon Valley as a Chinese-American computer engineer and his family visit the old country. Refreshing without dumb sitcom clangor, the film finds sweet, fresh ways to capture the energies and aspirations of the post-Mao generation. MONA LISA (Nickelodeon, Harvard Square) The best romantic gangster movie in years. Bob Hoskins is unforgettable as a sweet thug whose feelings go to his fists, and Cathy Tyson is a cold and lonely, lovely work of art as the statuesque black call girl he loves.

MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE (Copley Square, Harvard Square) -An English film of astonishing freshness and emotional urgency, about the collision of economically dispossessed working-class whites and culturally displaced Pakistani entrepreneurs in South London. RUTHLESS PEOPLE (Nickelodeon, Assembly Square, Circle, Revere Showcase) Bette Midler Is back as another funny Bel Air yenta. exceeding her performance in "Down and Out in Beverly Hills," especially when she Is kidnapped and learns that husband Danny De Vlto doesn't want to pay the ransom money. The summer's best vulgar Hollywood farce. DESERT BLOOM (Nickelodeon) This double-edged coming-of-age story about a 13-year-old girl growing up in Las Vegas on the eve of the first peacetime atomic bomb test In 1950 is one of the best American films of the year.

Annabeth Gish is a small atmic bomb herself when she finally releases a smile, and Jon Voight has his best role in years as her crabbed, tormented war veteran stepfather. HEARTBURN (Cheri, suburbs) Mike Nichols' film version of Nora Ephron's novel about the breakup of her marriage to Carl Bernstein will make you laugh in fact it redefines screwball comedy for the '80s but it won't nourish you. Meryl Streep Is a delight, uncorking a real flair for comedy. Jack Nicholson is fun, too, at least at the beginning. Lotsa Oscar timber here.

1' txtie Late Shows Taniaht A Tnmnrrnw at Ihm i7 C.nnlnu Ptnra. Nickelodeon, Somerville, Natick, Cinema City Danvets Liberty Tree Mall. Bargain Matinee First Show Only at Starred Features. Lea Thompson as Beverly Switzler, lead singer ol Cherry Bomb. They don't get much worse than 'Howard' NJ a m.

SMUWi AI COP! fc PLACt ON SUNDAYS ALL htA TUHt "COPLEY PLACE 266-1300A FLIGHT OF THE "f's noi AuD n'c THE KARATE KID LEGAL EAGLES (PC) NAVIGATOR IPG! PART II IPG) 10.1& 12:30 2 5.00- 30 2 45 5 15-7 30 9 4512m(0 171 10 0012 15 2 30 5 00 7 10 10 00 LETTER TO THE UhtAT MUUbL BI DESERT HEARTS R) DETECTIVE 2:30 10 00 12 00 2 00 4 0O O0 74b 1000 12m MV Rl AIITIHII IADVDIUTU VAGABOND 7 30 8 45 l2mld THREE MEN A CRADLE (Rl 10.1S 2.45-5-11 7 4SI0 0Q.12mi(J PSYCHO III IDl limU a LAUNDRETTEiRI 10.15 (PGI I 7 t19Ai 12mii) 6W COMMONWEALTH AVi BOS70W P4SSPOHT 7CK7S HOT VALID AT THt CKLOOtON DESERT BLOOM IPG) V15-3 40-5 50 8 00-10 MONA LISA R) I 1:10 00 12mld RUTHLESS PEOPLE 1:30 3 30 5 30 7-45 9 45 11:45 A GREAT WALL fOl 1 5:15 7:30 9:40 11:40 ROOM WITH A VIEW 1:05 3 9:56 120111) EXTRA LATE SHOWS TONIGHT 4 TOMORROW AT ALL FEATURES LISTED. "ONE OF THE YEAR'S BEST FILMS!" -Jay Carr, BOSTON GLOBE "JON VOIGHT MIGHT JUST FIND HIMSELF ON THE RECEIVING END OF ANOTHER OSCAR NOMINATION FOR HIS PERFORMANCE." Jim Vernlere, BOSTON HERALD HICHARLESsCl EZZJCHERIZZ3t (BEACON HILL A lALlGNSl OPP SHERATON BOS S3bi7L hi mm HEARTBURN (R) 30 1 BfiCON AT THFMOVT OUT OF BOUNDS R) 0O CAVB ST Nf Aft GOVT CTR 227 -13 JO -msesHOWARD THE DUCK 1:00 3-15 10 00 (PGI NOTHING IN COMMON 4 30 7 IPG I (PC) TOP GUN l-00 JO-7'45-10 00 ABOUT LAST NIGHT IRI 1 00 00 HAUNTED HONEYMOON IPG) VAMP 12-45-3 00. 5-15-7-30 9 45 BACK TO SCHOOL IPG 131 1-30-330 5 30 7 45-945 PI ALLEYS "7CINEMA 5Zq Ml BOYLSTQN SJ. OPP. PHU.

CTP 26Tgl SVAPT ST NFR PARK SO 8 1222 FRIDAY THE 13TH PART RUNNING SCARED IRI 1 45 10:00 40 st in) I FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF ho mid (PG-13) 1 MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE (Rl ALIENS IRI 1 30-4 307-30-10 10 IS HJDANVERSaCFa 7SOMERV1LLEA HNATICKaZZI rite mi au (lu WW NO PUSSfS HOWARD THE DUCK Directed by Willard Huyck. written by Huyck and Gloria Katz, based on the Marvel Comics character cremated by Steve Gerber. Starring Lea Thompson, Jeffrey Jones. Tim Robbins. Ed Gale, Chip Zien, Tim Rose, Steve Sleap, Pater Balrd, Mary Wells, Lisa Sturz, Jordan Prentice, Paul Gutlfoyle.

At the Charles and suburbs, rated PG. By Jay Carr Globe Staff "Howard the Duck" isn't a duck. It's a turkey, and not a golden turkey either. It's one of the worst movies MOVIE ever made, but REVIEW without the en- ergy of the -kind of bad movies that are fun to watch. From start to finish, "Howard the Duck" plays like something stuffed, starting with the minds of Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, who made It.

The word is that this film cost between $40 and $50 million to make. If so, it's the world's most expensive exercise In taxidermy. There are a lot of sets and special effects, especially when the duck moves into a lab to save the world from yet another pack of slimy aliens, but the Recounting is the only part of this project with any chance of being thought creative. Essentially, "Howard the Duck" is a series of little actors who take turns walking around in a duck suit with a rubber bill and plastic eyes, looking like dazed employees of Disneyland. They In no way resemble the lively, scuzzy comic strip character the film is supposed to be about.

The comic strip was no Zippy, but It had an iconoclastic vigor about It, with Its cigar-chomping duck who somehow seemed to need a shave and spouted knuckle-sandwich talk. The Howard we get here is cute and cuddly, but never anything that seems alive, despite the fact that it gets the chance to snuggle with Lea Thompson for a moment or two under the covers. Thompson, the, wayward mother of "Back to the Future," plays the lead singer of a punk group known as the Cherry Bomb. She and the duck meet when the latter is whisked out of his parallel universe, streaks through the skies like a comet, and is plunked down in an alley behind a punk club In Cleveland. The parallel universe stuff is -embarrassing -the duck reads Rolling Egg, has a poster advertising Mae West and W.C.

Fowls in "My Little Chickadee," and carries a credit card for Bloomingduck's. Scientist Jeffrey Jones gets hold of Howard, and wants to send him home. But before he can press the button, Jones' body is taken over by the invaders. Steam comes out of Jones' ears, lasers come out of his eyes, blue electricity comes out of his fingertips, and he wrecks a diner serving cajun sushi before the big showdown in the lab. But then the wreckage is widespread in "Howard the Duck." Huyck and Katz may have begun by wanting to bring the comic strip tohe screen, but on the way they seem to have been unfortunately divert- ed by the success of "Back to the Future," which they ape with painful Ineptness.

"Howard the Duck'" should have been turned Into duck soup. It's vacancy with feathers. HOWARD THE DUCKPG NOTHING IN COMMON 1215am. Ipl HOWARD THE DUCK IPG! 12 30 2 lOMssrs HEARTBURN IRI VIS 3 30 5 4L' 8 (30 1 0 1 0-12 20a FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI lr 12 45 2 55 5.00 7-10 9 25 11:30 5 -12mld. Exclusive USA CINEMAS Fnnanpmont 1 'MCKELODEOX "-llyoyClllwlll 606 Comm Ae Boston 424-1500 STARTS TODAY NOTHING IN COMMON HAUNTED THEKARATEi HONEYMOON KID PART II NOTHING IN COMMON 30 4:50 7:10 45 PG i ii 3 55 FLIGHT OF THE PGI FERRIS BUELLER'S iop.ssis DAY OFF IPG-131 5 20 7.10 9 40 11 45 PIM VIUM I UK ABOUT LAST NIGHT IRI 12-15 2-25-4-50 7:00 9 20-11-30 i I BACK TO SCHOOLIPC 131 ABOUT LAST NIGHT IRI I AOVD.kl-ru UAIIhJTkn .1 00 3 10- lpclHONEyMOON 1:10 30-7 40 9 50 12ml0 12 45-3 00 05 5 10 15 11 "it it it it A WORK OF ART! Jay Carr, BOSTON GLOBE BACK TO SCHOOL (PG-13) 1:20 3:20 25-9 30 RUNNING SCARED 10:10 BACK TO 11:45 tJBROCKTONM RUTHLESS PEOPLE IR) 45 11:45 LJDANVERSaCJ I THE GREAT HOUSE MAXIMUM BOB CATHY MICHAEL HOSKINS TYSON CAINE Hit 27 AUJ lUbHING HUS1IAL 58H 4ti50 963 W10 NOTHING IN COMMON 5.20-7:30 9:40 (PGI UBEHTV TREE MALL Til 181589-3122 vomshs ALIENS IRi 1:00 4 O0-7-0O 9 4 ui.ici.iivc OVERDRIVE ABOUT LAST NIGHT IRI 1:00 RUTHLESS PEOPLE 1:20 12mld.

MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE 5:15 7:15 9:20 (Rl SIHE KARATE KID, HAUNTED PC PART II IPGI HONEYMOON WLEXINGTONJLfi HAIlNTFn ipri RAK Tn HONEYMOON SCHOOL 1794 M4SS AVE 862 3260 DESERT HEARTS (Rl 1-in 51c iru-iji 110 5.1? 3:10 7 30 9 30 ALIENS ID) 1-30 4-15-7-15 10 O0 12 30a ferrIs bUELlER's h4p4sh! day off (p013i 12 45 7 30-9-45 11 45 ABOUT LAST NIGHT IRI 9:30 ROOM WITH A VIEW 12 30.2-30.5:007:00-9:10 WSALEMi FJQT IM1IA MAIL 741 1 0tHViQ 700 FLIGHT OF THE P1f FlNfSTm MOTION PH-Wm AND EIECTHCVIC VIOfO fNTEPTAINMENT 3 FN TEP TA WW II TOP GUN iHSlTHI CRtAT MOUSE I too 3 OSS DETECTIVE IG 10-? 304 10 a 10 NAVIGATOR IPG) I mMAimunri UVLKUKIVL 9'00 fi i "SSiig 9.mmm,Kr'mfmmn'ammm PKIU6ES 1:10,3:20, 5:30,7:50,10:00 Fri Sat Late Show 12 mid NO PASSES USA Cinemas NICKELODEON 606 COMM. AVI. IOSTON 424-1500 HARVARD SQ. THEATRE I0CHUDCH St. CAMBRIDGE 864-4580 12:45,3:00,5:15, 7:45, 10:00 Everyone's talldng about "One of the best American films of the year." Kroll.

MEWNWKKK WrV'l Vi fir USA CINEMAST "REWARDING! A Wise, Gentle, Compassionate Comedy." Jay Carr, BOSTON GLOBE EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT "She look. prelly intellectual. Don't fri me wron. That's not always a bad thing in a broad." "Sure he's gorgeous. But ran Fri Sat 11:40 p.m.

he pimAIU.U-IIWJJUIMWJWUJWWJW it ilWI llr fa 'ill riffmwd Sgirroa twi tww -Jay Carr, BOSTON GLOBE "Cooking Thanksgiving polsand pans. It's official. I've become "Who says I can't make a commitment? I offered her a drawer in mv mv mother!" apartment!" 7 Mm NOV PLAYING (opmS(ifBISE US Ci.nmt COPIET PLACE 366-1300 RX)B I Ml 1MlS IU.4BFTH LOWE (VIOORE BELLSHI PERK1MS "About Isist THI-STAR PRKSKNTri ARNOLD STIEFtt RKHT IIKI PHIIIH (T10N OF A FILM Bi K0WARDZW MOORE J.LMES BHI'SHI F1.IZABKTH PKRKLNS tS ARNOLOKTIEFH. DAVID MAMET RINSKViiDE.NISKIW I'JASON BKETTItSTI ARTOKEN EDWARD ZWR ROBERT REDFORD DEBRA WINGER DARYL HANNAH LEGAL EAGLES 1 66. irwrnoT TiXiWo 11T di i i iwidh i uu.r.Tn I.

I T.7 TPtiCTIR IRi: j(P1 IMMwMi IK lU.W.IIn iJUa' It itui' tuitUU NOW PLAYING USA CINEMAS SOMERVILLE at ASSIMILT SO III 628-7000 USA CINEMAS CHERI UltM II Off IRtlimi Mt. 536-2870 GENERAL CINEMA CHESTNUT KILL Rlf. 9 at HAMMOND SI. 277-2500 THE NEW COMEDY FROM THE DIRECTOR OF CHOSTBt STERS. Ilxjlety stefptoI aTT1 USfi Cinema If USA If USA Cmemji If USA C.ne--'J CHARLES SOftf.ERVULE NATICK DANVERS SI Niil GOi I Ct oi iifnBiT 1Q )j 'l 0O' ZIH ttQt.n Bit i Id J4 277-1330 628-7000 153 5005 237-SS40J 777-JSS5 S91-3I00 SHOWCASE CINEUaslfSHOWCaSE ClNEMASfSMOWCASE Ci'JtMASl fSMOWCASE NtMAS ALLSTON CINEMA DEDHAM W0BURN REVERE 114 HARV10 Av tit 111 KIT III .1 11 1 I'l Jl Nil I' IOU BI 877-3140 Jt Jl 933-5330 Jl 3B6-I660 KLtCTEDn.r15 USA CINEMAS NATICK Iff Of JHOF'iil WOIID 653-5005237-5840 GENERAL CINEMA BURLINGTON MALL ROUTI 111 JtIT 42 272-4410 GENERAL CINEMA BRAINTREE SOUTH SMOm PLAXA 848-1070 USA CINEMAS DANVERS 111.

138 1X11 34 W-1SSS MMIOO Exclusive USA Cinsmsi COPLEY PLACE 266 1300 Fri-Sat 12:00 mid. (Suno 10:15 Show) Engagement Extra Li9 Shows Tonight and Tomorrow In Somervllla. Nallck, and Danvers Late Show Toniqht All Theaters ExcAtt Charles.