The Salt Lake Tribune from Salt Lake City, Utah • 56

I D3 The Salt Lake Tribune ENTERTAITtlidENT Friday February 14 1992 Wayne's World': Wayne Garth's unexcellent adventure MMIEMMImimmill1011111 12 Wayne's World Wayne and Garth attempt to do their schtick for 90 minutes straight Do they pull it off? No way! crIcr 1- I- 0 'f 'I i lo i 1 i I 1 1 I i I ht 1 4 4 ir tA -111 VP rAL111'--441''''l AO 4 A-414rt: 1' 41" 4 1 4 -r-' i 1 4 1r 4 4 I 2 Wayne (Mike Myers left) and Garth (Dana Caney right) deal with Rob Lowe in "Wayne's World" I t-t 1 -10 a '-A1tr -4-k -e '44 ') 0 'Alkt lir A A i' A -4 '7 0 4 1' a-Ac -c I NA la -A 1 1 '14 1116 1 i 14 fr- I 12 1 1 and lovely The premise that these three people meet and engage in such high-minded conversation can be awkward and forced But if one can accept the premise and listen to what's being said "Windwalk" is a timely troubling and eventually enlightening journey Terry Orme A strong indictment of the death penalty pultirA001020 AIP 4 '44 Liv Ullmann John Heard and Sam Waterston (from left) discuss philosophy in the intellectual drama "Minthialk" Let Him Have It The riveting story of Derek Bentley a 19- year-old man whose execution forced London officials to re-evaluate the death penalty By Terry Orme THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE "Wayne's World" is an excellent and totally amazing movie (Translation: It's really good) Not! (No it isn't) "Wayne's World" is pail it's bucket! (Translation: It's really bad) No way! (Not true) Way! (True) Stretching a television sketch into a 90-minute movie is a dubious proposition Witness Pee-Wee Herman or "Wayne's World" cc star Dana Carvey who tried to parlay his "Saturday Night Live" impersonations into a movie career a couple of years ago with the misnamed "Opportunity Knocks" That said "Wayne's World" is perhaps the best movie possible based on the regular SNL skit about Wayne a heavy-metal head-banger created and played by Mike Myers and his techie sidekick Garth (Mr Carvey) Wayne and Garth are the co-hosts of "Wayne's World" a cable-access television show broadcast from the basement of Wayne's parents' house Directed by Penelope Spheeris "Wayne's World" has a nerdy nonchalance and hip self-consciousness that is amusing but soon wears out its novelty Written by Mr Myers and SNL staffers Bonnie Turner and Terry Turner the movie sets up a lame plot in which to plug Wayne and Garth's gags some of which are funny (There's a riotous take-off on "Terminator 2" and a supremely bizarre scene in which shock rocker Alice Cooper gives our two heroes a civics lesson) Other banter draws its humor from barf jokes and sexual stereotypes you were president you'd be Babe To call this offensive would be to take it seriously Big mistake The plot in a nutshell and that's plenty of room is about a slick television producer (Rob Lowe) out to exploit Wayne and Garth Over the course of this epic Wayne falls in love with an "excellent babe" named Cassandra (Tia Carrere) and ends up in a battle of macho wills to win and keep her The quibble with "Wayne's World" is that it celebrates numb brains and it lags for long stretches It won't make you hurl (translation: throw up) But it will bore you For die-hard fans only Thought-provoking meet''' of minds Derek Bentley (Chris Eeeleston) is jailed in "Let Him Have It" all his love and patience to a troubled son Paul Reynolds is the defiant Craig the killer who ironically was released from prison less than a decade after Derek was executed Mr Medak paints a vivid portrait of the times of lawmen intent on making a statement of Londoners who rallied behind Derek of a family powerless to save their son And of a confused boy who knew not was happening to him until he was suddenly rushed into an adjacent room and a noose was slipped over his neck Terry Orme Mouse Detective' an eager audience for them Nowhere near as ambitious as "The Little Mermaid" or "Beauty and the Beast" "The Great Mouse Detective" being re-released to theaters today is nonetheless a charmer Two of -Mouse Detective's" four directors John Musker and Ron Clements went on to direct "The Little Mermaid" The story is classic good vs evil about a young mouse in search of her kidnapped father of an evil rat out to abduct Great Britain's queen and rule all of mousedom And of a wise rodent with a deerstalker cap pipe and violin who figures it out and saves the day "The Great Mouse Detective" provides a dapper hero in Basil of Baker Street (His precise slightly superior voice is by British actor Barrie Ingham) But the real joy is the villain Ratigan with the voice of Vincent Price who revels in the role Not only is Ratigan a comic foil for Basil but he's genuinely threatening He sings "Goodbye So Soon" as he puts Basil and his Dr Watson-like sidekick Dawson into a giant mousetrap When one of his lackeys disappoints Ratigan he throws him to a large hungry cat The film's impressive climax takes place in the intricate wheels and gears behind Big Ben as villain and hero duel it out Terry Orme much matters This is a journey through philosophy religion science and politics Like "My Dinner With Andre" of which it often is compared this is a filmed UMversation We the audience are eavesdroppers Based on The Turning Point philosopher-physicist Fritjof Capra's treatise on politics science and the environment the film is a call for an evaluation of old ideas Mr Capra founder of the Green Party asserts that the 300- year-old theories of Newton and Descartes have brought the world to its present predicament that their principles of physics and mathematics have led the Western world to regard the planet and its resources as machinery to be used and discarded His book and the film is a call to revere the Earth as a living breathing organism Only then can we move back from the brink of nuclear annihilation and reverse the suffocation of ecological self-poisoning "Mindwalk" is set on the French island of Mont-St-Michel Over the course of a day three people a poet a politician and a physicist wander the ancient abbey There's Jack (Sam Waterston) whose campaign to become US president has just failed Thomas (John Heard) is his best friend and confidant an expatriate poet living in Europe who has grown leery and cynical of Jr -I's political ambitions and altruism Jack has come to France to escape the emotional fallout of a doomed campaign He hopes to find solace by visiting his old political comrade from the '60s Instead he gets a lecture about selling out As they walk through the ancient cloister they meet Sonia (Liv Ullmann) a physicist She too regards Jack with skepticism even disdain It was people like him who turned years of her research into developing the Strategic Defense Initiative another step in escalating the arms race Once an idealistic enthusiastic scientist she has resigned her prestigious job and dedicated herself to environmentalism She is Fritjof Capra's alter ego Directed by Bernt Capra Fritjols brother "Mindwalk" is a risky venture that breaks almost every rule of conventional filmmaking On the surface it is a static movie three people talking albeit in a place that is haunting grain of Idaho's Palouse What David Lynch did to the Pacific Northwest in "Twin Peaks" Englishman Philip Ridley attempts with America's farming heartland in "The Reflecting Skin" Whereas Mr Lynch revealed a perverse sense of humor writer-director Ridley refuses to crack even a hint of a smile in this self-conscious and arty portrait of the creepy goings-on in a rural community Exploding frogs aborted fetuses rampaging pedophiles these are the subjects of "The Reflecting Skin" Throw in the horrors of Hiroshima and homophobia and Mr Ridley's checklist is almost complete This American Gothic horror story of the nightmares of childhood is about young Seth Dove a boy whose loony parents leave him to his own devices Through conversations with Dad Seth believes in vampires and angels When Seth's young friends turn up dead he does not make the connection with the sleazy quartet cruising the country roads in the big black Cadillac He blames the young widow who makes a daily pilgrimage to her husband's grave And so people continue to die they are found floating in troughs or they literally go up in flames For one death is slower the effect of making snowballs out of radioactive sludge "The Reflecting Skin" opening today at the Tower is the first feature to be directed by Mr Ridley a novelist and painter who also wrote the effective screenplay for "The Krays" Ile proves to have an artist's eye with "The Reflecting Skin" composing the frame with stunning vistas and juxtapositions of the characters' pained faces and their awe-inspiring environment But his film is all style shock value and nihilism He makes one long for a deliverance that never comes on the again again 1111 In 1952 a 19-year-old man was executed in Great Britain for a crime he did not commit He was hanged even after a jury's recommendation for mercy "Let Him Have It" is a chilling and scrupulous retelling of the life and death of Derek Bentley a troubled epileptic who despite the love of his family fell in with a tough crowd that emulated American gangsters Directed by Peter Medak whose last film told the true story of the violent Kray brothers who terrorized London in the early 60s "Let Him Have It" is an equally riveting tale of London's gangs and of a boy who paid the price of a judicial system intent on cracking down on crime The story begins in the early '40s as Derek survives the London blitz His illness makes him an outcast and easy prey for the hard boys of the neighborhood At first he's a willing accomplice to vandalism Later he sees a mobster in the company of a beautiful woman and makes a connection between gangs and sexual magnetism The James Cagney film at the cinema reinforces the idea "Let Him Have It" takes its title from the fateful statement Derek made during a shootout with police When police commanded Chris Craig a young hood who recruited Derek to hand over his gun Derek yelled "Let him have it" The police allege that Derek was telling Craig to shoot Derek said he meant for the gunman to hand over his weapon "Let Him Have It" boasts a first-rate cast Chris Eccleston wins sympathy as Derek: Tom Courtenay is the father who gave The Adventures of the Great Mouse Detective An urbane mouse with striking similarities to Sherlock Holmes battles a rat with a voice like Vincent Price 'Reflecting Skin' is too arty to be good Released in 1986 "The Adventures of the Great Mouse Detective" was made before Disney Studios recent re-emergence as the king of animation In fact it was released the year after Disney's darkest hour "The Black Caldron" an expensive bomb that led many to wonder if the studio had completely lost its ability to produce movies for young people The heir apparent to Uncle Walt seemed to be Steven Spielberg However "The Great Mouse Detective" provided hope that Disney could rebound The fanciful treatment of Sherlock Holmes revealed a knack for churning out clever films for the young and young at heart and that there was 12 The Reflecting Skin Creepy goings-on in the wheat fields of Idaho bring new meaning to American Gothic And to pretentiousness 12 IVIindwalk A politician a poet and a physicist discuss the Earths fate in this compelling conversation Art plus Angst equals Pretentious So it goes with "The Reflecting Skin" set in the 1950s in an isolated community in the waves of As its title suggests "Mind-walk" is a film about ideas Plot character story none of that Terry Ornze I Il IT 1 I 66111195 Ski I Joel Siegel GOOD MORNING AMERICA WALT DISNEY PICTURES ADVENTuRES OF THE GREAT MOUSE VER SCREEN PARTNERS AumNcti 11TUS-PAUL GALDONE HENRY MANCINI ciarfA-w IMMO NM NOM Mar Ms ma 010111111 Cwt CVO A "SPECTACULARLY THRILLING 'MEDICINE MAN' IS A FLESH COMPELLING MOVING TALE WITH REAL PEOPLE AND REAL CONFLICTS IT'S A WONDER AS FOR CONNERY WELL HE IS SIMPLY THE GRIATEST ACTOR ALIVE" thases Mt WASKINGTOtt POST SEAN CONNERY edicke IVLcth LORRAINE BRACCO dAh vaefooftimalm loiteerkk aleo ysL i 1 1 I ri 4 1 A 1 'vl' A 1 ei i 1 I -'-f trit 1 in ti- -) it Matt 41 I I WilAGIr Pv) Joel Siegel GOOD MORNING AMERICA "SPECTACULARLY THRILLING A 6)Atzirsgetto PICTURES presentl A- 1 i 'MEDICINE MAN' IS A FRESH COMPELLING MOVING TALE t-lizeJeldreittztE4 of 7 tlt Vt'ITH REAL nortE AND HAL CONFLICTS 1 4 I IT'S A WONDER AS FOR CONNERY WELL 1 '''') 1 A Ars- I At 'IA HE IS SIMPLY THE GREATEST ACTOR ALIVE" 1 4 a A 4e 0 -Kai Memo nit WASHINGTON POST e-' NA 41 1 t'l) "-R4v te I 'i i' 4 0 i '40 1 -4 A- A v-43 I -I' 4m 4- 1 1 1 SEAN LORRAINE I N'' Ilk 's A Al 1 P4 if' It 1014 -0 It '14 4114: 1t CONNERY BRACCO 'ofi li I 44' 441 1 7 1 I 'N A 0 Ir 4 41 it: IL 414 Vi 1 ed icille 11 TA 1:1 ''1: 141 11 I A tri 7ft-11 1 -''I- -lit -7kaineilmaistiV t220M1b2somoissentict '''-4 1 71164Aal 1- Al 1 s- rkv -stis -i-- I A li I C' A 1 'It 1 7 1 -14-'ts: :1 a 4 1 -e- i' -i- os I ri 1 i 'I 13 Pi -rm------f 1 at 4 I 1 tio-75-1 -c- J-' 6 4 ''1 I 'f' i Ar 4- I P-'N l'i I I 1 1 1 '''5--ovo---9 WALT DISNEY PICTURES ADVENTuRES OF THE GREAT MOUSE SCREEN PAKINERS rt---tb-itrAL AumNati 4-- --EvE irruS- PAUL CALDONE HENRY MANDINi clarfAlte I I im ommootomosomocloas mmornso ime iw so bow wommt nonnerm ammo or oduomot roar nesmocatong i P''NetAik n'' r-------'" I 1 1 2:00 4:00 iimmetagametioni 6:00 8:00 cartommack outal 4 STEREO SPECIAL soo ouGHLAND Ot 21114 7 11 OMNI 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