The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • Page 53

Thartotte Observer Friday December 16 1988 ehe Thad( Friday DE BEST BETS Today When Dinosaurs Ruled WIN Section -I 1 I 4 '6toii: ection 4 11rFN: Ittt' 1' -11 rkt '--'''s I 41A--- 1 7 '4t5ifl'' ''1Ak qt" 404 i' ''ff N4! 'ti' '-it k'' 'I4: i-: -10' etki's t-- ''i itk'ek -1 'I 1 ''-i' siiii 1: Nk tt gc- ''l'''''''' A4 '-4 lyl-? 7 i Sr -'N 1: 4' 4: -11r 0'i' i ru7 4 44' '('''' 11 4-- 4 4 i': 4 el i 7 4 --t '14 fc '7' -7 )5-: 112 7: "--NL 1 4f -t --) 4- 4t Who says dinosaurs are dead? Through Feb 26 you can find them at Discovery Place science museum 301 Tryon St In "Return of the Dinosaurs" six dinosaur models range from half to life-size They even roar growl kick and move thanks to computers Museum hours are 9 am to 5 pm weekdays 9 am to 6 pm Saturdays and 1 to 6 pm Sundays Admission is $3 free for members and for children younger than 3 $1 for children 3 to 5 and $2 for students and senior citizens For group rates call 372-0471 9 am to 5 pm weekdays Music Late-Night Food Live music until 2 am every day The work of local artists on the walls A menu that puts rabbit with raspberry sauce side by side with burgers and exotic pizza Must be a club somewhere in Greenwich Village right? No Cafe de L'Artiste opens today at 901 Trade St in Charlotte's Gateway Center The Charlotte jazz group Faction performs tonight and Monday There'll be Celtic and traditional music by Maggie's Fancy Saturday and jazz by Billy Goodrum Sunday and Tuesday The club and restaurant is ppen 11 am to 3 am daily Food is served continuously no reservations Live music runs from 9:30 pm to 2 am No cover charge Details: 347-0700 during club hours Spicy Fusion Raleigh drummer Lee Venters plays a fusion ofjazz and rock spiced with Latin rhythms and funk He and his band will be at Jonathan's Jazz Cellar at 9 pm today and Saturday Cover charge is $6 Jonathan's is at 330 Tryon St Details: 332-3663 10 am to 10 pm today noon to 10 pm Saturday No Humbug Here This is your last weekend to go "A Christmas at Spirit Square's Performance Place 318 Tryon St Spirit Square and Cook-Loughlin Associates have teamed up to do a new version of the Charles Dickens classic at 8:15 tonight and 2 and 8:15 pm Saturday Tickets are $6 for children younger than 13 and $12 for others Details: 376-8883 9 am to 5:30 pm today noon to 5 pm Saturday Who Feb 26 Place st "Retur models even re compul pm wt and I IA free for than 3 student rates weekda MUS Live work ot that pu by side be a ck right? 901 Center perforr Celtic Fancy Sunda) restaur Food is reserva pm to 347-071 Spic Rale: fusiont rhythm at Jona and Sal Jonatk 332-36 to 10 No! This Christr Perforr Square have te Charle! 2 and 8 for chil others pm to United Artists Tom Cruise (left) and Dustin Hoffman are brothers In "Rain Man" i I i I 6- By LAWRENCE TOPPMAN movw Critic By LAWRENCE TOPIIMAN Movie Critic Saturday Movie: Rain Man Rating: REVIEW Excellent Medlocre Very Good Worthiess Good Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise explore the troubled side of brotherhood in one of the year's best films I i rlr1 You trseReK I distrust a moviedibsysay critics who "I laughed lwurge au eudl Li cried" If you hear that all you know is that they have a sense of humor however twisted it may be and waterworks that film tion I Nevertheless I'm going to recommend "Rain I Man" by telling you that as soon as it was over I rushed to a public phone at Columbus Circle Over the anguished howl of ambulances and the wail of fire engines I called my brother in Florida to bridge a gap between us 4 This movie demands to be shared Maybe with 4 siblings since it's about estranged brothers who I reach a kind of understanding after one tries to 4 swindle the other of an inheritance Maybe with 4 anyone you love since "Rain Man" reminds us how crucial it is to accept other people on terms they won't or can't alter 4 The terms in this case are defined by autism Raymond Babbitt underplayed with superb preciIsion by Dustin Hoffman is an autistic savant in a home for people with mental or emotional disorders He has wrapped himself in a protective mesh of rituals unable to understand or even venture into the world Into his life comes long-lost brother Charlie (Tom Cruise) a shady dealer in 4 Lamborghinis who'll drown in debt if he can't 4 raise $80000 Their father has died leaving all his money to Raymond's caretakers So Charlie moves his brother from Ohio to Los Angeles trying to strike a deal with the doctor overseeing the estate: He'll return Raymond for half the $3 million If the doc fights him however Charlie will stick Raymond in a home in Los Angeles and start a custody battle Writers Ronald Bass and Barry Morrow refuse to go for easy sympathy Charlie is clearly a Kick Up Your Heels You can eat dance and be merry Saturday when the Charlotte American Folk Dance group holds a potluck supper at 6 pm followed by a workshop in Appalachian-style square dance at 7:30 and an Appalachian square dance from 8 to midnight The dance and workshop take place at the Charlotte School of Ballet 1957 7th St the potluck supper will be nearby at 1928 Bay St The group welcomes beginners singles and families Admission to all three events is $5 Music will be by Bob Willoughby and Kevin Wimmer with calling by Fred Park Details: 364-5433 anytime (recording) Sweet Sounds Of Soul Bubble bubble toil and soulful GM Productions will open a production of the hit Broadway musical "Bubbling Brown Sugar" a revue of songs from the '20s and '305 on Saturday for a run through Jan 8 Showtimes are 8:15 pm Saturday Dec 23 Dec 30 and Jan 6 through 7 and 3:15 pm Sunday and Jan 8 in the Afro-American Cultural Center 401 Myers St Tickets are $8 $6 for students and senior citizens Details 374-1565 9 am to 5 pm weekdays Kick You Saturth Folk at 6 pr Appala an App midnig place a 1957 nearby WC1COTT AdMis will be Witrtro Details Swel Bubt Produc hit Bro Sugar' '30s or Showti 23 Det pm Si Afro-A Myers and ser am to callous conniver Raymond an unreachable man who doesn't display emotions But the cross-country journey transforms Charlie as he tries to wheedle bully and charm Raymond out of his fortune and his emotional cage he starts to respect his brother When Charlie learns that Raymond has astonishing mathematical abilities he can calculate at computer speed he uses that gift to benefit both of them Director Barry Levinson and editor Stu Linder push the movie along at top speed There's virtually no flab no slackening of pace over two hours and 20 minutes In fact we need to see more of one character Charlie's girlfriend Valeria Go lino fleshes out the woman as best she can but she's a walking conscience with no motive for sticking by this cold self-centered boor Levinson and the writers find humor in Raymond's naivete but not his disability Everything in life is new to him from "Don't walk" signs to toaster ovens When he finds a new way to screw up situations we react as we would to an inquisitive child Hoffman enters Raymond's world completely taking us with him as far as an outsider can go He rocks back and forth to an internal rhythm his eyes blank and his head cocked as attentively as a bird's His walk hands straight at his sides head bent eyes flicking about is the tired shuffle of an institutionalized man He's helped by the perfect costume: high-water pants showing white socks T-shirt peeping out from under his shirt See RAIN Page 5C I 1 4 4 1 I Upcoming Director Made Tough Project Come Together "Rain i' t'') '34 :4 1 40k 44 "Raj By LAWRENCE TOPPMAN Movie Wilier Li YORK When Barry Levinson i became director of "Rain Man" he must Nigi have felt like Richard Nixon ascending to the presidency during the Vietnam War In the first Place three battle-scarred Hollywood veterans had already been unseated by the conflict-laden project In the second place Levinson had been elected on a platform of promises: "I can make Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise work together I can pull off a movie that has already taken 20 months to plan I can get us out of this thing with dignity and honor" And by heaven he did Levinson and writers Ronald Bass and Barry Morrow turned "Rain Man" from a chummy road caper about an ill-suited pair to a movie about the tenuous bonds between estranged brothers one a con man one autistic The humor survived as you'd expect from the guy who directed "Tin Men" and "Good Morning Vietnam" but the film goes deeper than situational comedy Levinson's movies always do From "Diner" to "The Natural" and even to "Young Sherlock Holmes" his films have the same theme: Outsiders condemned to solitude by physical disability or social position or fate try to find a place in structured society They never succeed Unfortunately Levinson doesn't go in for self-analysis Ask about the thread connecting his work and he shrugs: "Lack of communications runs through all the movies but that's not a conscious thing "I'm just pleased to make the kinds of movies I enjoy When I saw this script I thought 'Here's a good idea the brothers traveling together' I didn't like the external stuff motorcycle gangs and things that happened along the way I started from characters rather than a mechanical plot" He sat in a director's chair warmed by the keisters of Martin Brest Hills Steven Spielberg and Sydney Pollack According to a recent article in GQ magazine See LEVINSON Page 9C The Love Machine They made a name for themselves with evocative instrumentals with an occasional vocal track thrown in for good measure But with the release of Love Tractor's "This Ain't No Outerspace Ship" album last year the Georgia rock group made singing as well as playing a full-time passion The group performs at I I pm Wednesday at the Pterodactyl Club 1600 Freedom Dr The opening act Odd Job starts at 9:30 Tickets are in advance $6 at the door Details: 342-3400 anytime (recording) Double Door Turns 15 Quick: What's Charlotte's longest-lasting live music club that has had the same name and same ownership since opening day? The Double Door Inn you knew it all along At 9:45 pm Thursday the Double Door celebrates its I 5th anniversary with a show by Atlanta group Bill Sheffield and the Ultimates Cover charge is $7 The Double Door is at 218 Independence Blvd Details: 376-1446 II am to I am weekdays 8 pm to 1 am Saturdays and Sundays The The) evocati occasic measut Tracto: album made passior Wedne starts a at the (record Dou Quic live mt and sat The El( along Door show and till Doublt Blvd I weekth Sunda! Mae" director Barry Levinson Mae" director Coming Sunday: Interviews With Cruise And Hoffman Section 1.