The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 690

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 18 1990 OD THE MIAMI HERALD INTERNATIONAL EDITION AT THE MOVIES life in Rocky round still Real estate bust almost Italian Stallion in latest sequel MOVIE REVIEW ROCKY (PG-13) Cast: Sylvester Stallone Talia Shire Burt Young Burgess Meredith Sage Stallone Tommy Morrison Director: John Avildsen Producer Irwin Winkler Robert Char-toff Screenwriter Sylvester Stallone Cinematographer Steven Poster Music: Bill Conti A United Artists release Running time: 1 04 minutes Violence vulgar language riches and has returned to the old neighborhood After a recount of the US-vs-USSR fight from Rocky IV Part picks up in the shower after the fight with Rocky battling brain damage Everything is appropriately bleak and for the first time in a long time Stallone has us interested even involved Things get worse when we discover that Paulie (Burt Young) bumbling brother-in-law has inadvertently signed over power of attorney to the accountant who blew it on a burgeoning real estate market That balloon as we know has popped So the set-up hooks us Rocky Balboa and Stallone the Italian Stallion and the Rambling Republican the symbols of little guys done good the all-American underdogs and in debt Because of a faltering economy And not paying taxes Yo say it so! It seems Stallone will even go so far as to indict the boxing industry his bread and butter through five films and boffo profits The very admittance of brain damage seems a swipe and at one point Rock says is a dirty business full of these thieves and Then at the family dinner table wife Adrian Talia Shire in her fifth film playing the Big Naysayer announces that trying to raise our son so he can handle his problems with his mind not his Could Rocky be renouncing violence? Hah! Good one Rocky meets an eager young fighter from Oklahoma named Tommy Gunn played as a lump of grunting muscle by real- YO POPI: Father-and-son Sly and Sage Stallone play you guessed complete with a New Age rediscovery it father and son in Rocky surprise Rocky was directed by John Avildsen who was behind the camera on the original Rocky then adapted the formula in his string of Karate Kid hits and Lean on Me Avildsen does his best to spark Home Alone has believable plot fun moments but could be better new life into Rocky but the only turns he can provide are flourishes of Martin Scorsese the black-and-white slow motion the frantic zooms apparently because Avildsen read that Jake Lamotta biopic Raging Bull MOVIE REVIEW HOME ALONE (PG) Cast: Macaulay Culkin Catherine John Heard Joe Pesci Daniel Stern John Candy Director: Chris Columbus Producer: John Hughes Screenwriter: John Hughes Cinematographer: Julia Macat Music: John Williams A 20th Century Fox release Running time: 107 minutes Mild vulgar language mock violence also produced the film) contrives a nearly plausible scenario by which the parents of little Kevin manage to board a plane from Chicago to Paris without him in midair before they realize he From there Home Alone ought to snowball happily from sight gag to sight gag in less than an hour and a half By JUAN CARLOS COTO Herald Entertainment Writer Let us tell you how it ends Nah you know that part talking Rocky here the underdog movie to end all of Sylvester come-from-behind flicks the sequel where he threatened to kill off Rocky Balboa his Philly-bred fighter with the heart but backed off opting instead for a New Age father-son rediscovery with real-life kid Sage starring as Rocky Jr Combine that with some of tried-and-true punchfests the best caricature performance in a while in what is still his most likable role and Rocky is not as awful as we had imagined There is more feeling in this one a relief from the steroid-pumped cartoons that were Rocky III and Rocky IV but the feeling is alas recycled Rocky keeps bowing to the altar of the original Rocky (1976) which everyone including Sly knows was the best one We realize in danger when Rocky starts quoting his tough-as-nails trainer Mickey (Burgess Meredith) who died in Rocky III But the strategy becomes more obvious when Mickey appears before Rocky as a spirit in the ring bathed in blue light egging him on like the Ghost of TKOs Past It also becomes obvious that the real soul of the Rocky movies has been Mickey and fine Rocky (who we also realize was the inspiration for Andrew Dice accent) finds the ghost at gym which he has inherited Rocky has lost all his other MOVIE CAPSULES Herald movie reviewers rate movies from zero to four stars Excellent Vary Good Good Worth Seeing Fair 'Below Average Poor V4 Terrible 0 Worthless The reviewers are: Herald movie critic Bill Cosford Doug Adnanson Hal Boe-deker Juan Carlos Coto Christine Arnold Doten Beth Dunlop Ryan Murphy and Mario Tarradell Unless otherwise Indicated movies are playing at multiple theaters throughout the area OPENING THIS WEEKEND Fools of Fortuno (PG-13) (unre-viewed): A peaceful Irish Protestant family falls victim to local fighting between the Irish Republicans and the British Army after World War I A man (lain Glen) vows to redeem his suffering while forging an ironic love affair with his childhood playmate (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) Homs Alone (PG) At first it's funny then scary and finally it seems too long That's because writer-producer John Hughes and director Chris Columbus try to stretch a slight premise 8-year-old Kevin is left behind when his family goes on vacation into something Capra-esque No way Cosford (mild vulgar language mock violence) Old Explorer (PG) Paper-thin fantasy about two fuddy-duddies Jose Ferrer and James Whitmore who get together to imagine the great explorers A sort of geriatric Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure this movie unintentionally tells us that senior citizens should just get a hobby not a life Coto (some adult situations) The Reecuer Down Under (G) In their all-new action-packed adventure special mouse agents Ber- nard (voice of Bob Newhart) and Miss Bianca (voice of Eva Gabor) journey to the exotic Australian Outback to help a young boy protect a rare eagle from a crazed poacher Dunlop (no objectionable material) Rgcky (PG-13) Sly Stallone is back as the Italian Stallion forced into retirement by injuries and loss of riches He moves back to Philly where he agrees to tram the next Rocky a raw talent named Tommy Gunn (Tommy Morrison) This is a rehash of the original Rocky: there's a great set-up but Sly ends up throwing all the same old punches Talia Shire Burt Young and Burgess Meredith are back along with original Pocky director John Avildsen son Sage Stallone plays Rocky Jr Coto (violence vulgar language) FIRST RUN Avalon (PG) Director Barry Levinson (Diner Tin Men) concludes his trilogy on life in Baltimore with a of stunning confidence and depth of character It's a risky piece slow of foot and not about three generations in the life of an immigrant family (Levinson's) Few persons are lucky enough to be allowed to make feature films about their family tree fewer still could do the job quite this well Cosford (brief vulgar language) Chikf Play 2 (R) Chucky the killer doll is back and he's madder than ever No more interesting though this is routine slasher stuff the only difference being that the only a foot high Cosford (vulgar language violence gore) Desperate Hour (R) Humphrey Bogari starred the 1955 film now a boxing flick was voted the best film of the 1980s in a poll Meanwhile Rocky V's promise falls into a series of contrivances gimmicks seen before designed to get Rock-0 fighting again At the urging of boxing promoter George Washington Duke (Richard Gant) a sort of Don King without the Sequoia hairdo Tommy starts to strike out on his own and we instantly know where Rocky is headed But give credit where due Stallone remains a master of manipulation he knowns how to work a crowd and he has at least made Rocky watchable again He had the screening audience cheering by the end Of course much of the crowd also rose when the the punching was over and had to sit down for a tag scene with Sly and Sage (who is actually an OK actor) We know this reality In the real world Rocky have battled brain damage He would have ended up a mere talk show guest a remnant of another day a favorite character we remember as great who is only hanging on to triumphs of his past Or maybe this is reality But Home Alone is 107 minutes long I halfway into Home Alone and just beginning to wonder why the movie has slowed down before you realize what Hughes and director Chris Columbus are up to out to make a big soapy Holiday Perennial So Home Alone lumbers where it might have skated and winds up groaning under the cliche load I Too bad because the cast is fun Macaulay Culkin the little boy who plays Kevin (and hence is in nearly every scene) is a ham but an ingratiating ham and you figure entitled When going somewhere Home Alone is quite funny But Hughes and Columbus hung too much on the scene-setting slight idea the film brings too much baggage and the trip seems much too long cartoon is tops MOVIE REVIEW PRINCE AND THE PAUPER (G) jr-kitir Cafc Voices of William Allwine Bill Farmer Arthur Burghardt Tony Anselmo Director: George Scribner Producer: Dan Rounds Screenwriters: Gerrit Graham Samuel Graham Chris Hubbell Art director: Thom Enriquez Music: Nicholas Pike A Walt Disney Pictures release Running time: 25 minutes No objectionable material loved it laughing deep heartfelt chuckles at the right times even gasping a bit at the hairier moments It is in turns giddy and lovely the kind of film that reminds you absolutely of what childhood is really about to their particular comedic talents so The Rescuers Down Under has a wry edge to it John Candy has his funny moments as well and the script is punctuated with verbal twists and puns George Scott provides the voice for McLeach and he is plenty evil-sounding in the role MOVIE REVIEW THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER (G) ifkir Cat Voices of Bob Newhart Eva Gabor John Candy George Scott Tristan Rogers Adam Ryen Wayne Robson Director: Hendel Butoy Mike Gabriel Producer: Thomas Schumacher Screenwriter: Jim Cox Karey Kirkpatrick Byron Simpson Joe Ranft Art director: Maurice Hunt Music: Bruce Broughton A Walt Disney Pictures release Running time- 74 minutes No obiectionable material fun thrills subtle message life Oklahoma boxer Tommy Morrison Tommy convinces Rocky to train him but we can instantly see that a bad seed a boxer in it for the pain and revenge The Tommy character is right out of a Karate Kid movie which is no Keaton makes a perfect villain in John Schlesinger's elegant thriller a yuppie nightmare about a deadbeat tenant who won't leave his landlords in peace Cosford (vulgar language violence) Quigley Down Under (PG-13) Tom Selleck stars as Matthew Quigley a turn-of-the-century sharpshooting American cowboy hired by a wealthy Australian rancher to rid his vast Outback of dingos Quigley befriends a young American beauty and together they are swept up in a deadly dull adventure Alan Rickman is the rancher Laura San Giacomo the love interest Murphy (violence) Th Return of Superfly (R) (unre-viewed): The ghetto hero first introduced in 1972 is brought back this time with Nathan Purdee in the role originally played by Ron Curtis Mayfield again does the music however Reversal of Fortune (R) Jeremy Irons and Ron Silver are excellent in Barbet Schroeder's story about Claus von Bulow and attorney Alan Dershow-itz who got von Bulow's conviction on attempted murder charges reversed on appeal Silver has all the fun of course the likable character whereas von Bulow in an icy tour de force by Irons is pale and detestable Still we root for him to beat the rap' if only for the sake of Dershowitz Where's the victim Sunny von Bulow? Alas Schroeder never gets us to care much about her a failing Cosford (vulgar language adult themes) Sibling Rivalry (PG-13) Carl Reiner directs Kirstie Alley who plays a sexually frustrated housewife whose infidelity causes problems when her lover dies Another problem: the movie gets rigor mortis halfway through Also stars Bill Pullman Carrie Fisher Jami Gertz Scott Bakula Sam Elliott and Ed O'Neill Coto (vulgar language sexual situations one scene of gore) State of Grace (R) Hollywood wunderkind Phil Joanou pulls all the tricks out of his haut-cinema bag for this gangster epic and pretty well ruins it in the process Too bad: Fascinating performances by Sean Penn and Gary Oldman are among the casualties Cosford (considerable vulgar language nudity sexual situations violence) Taking Care Of Business (R) James Belushi and Charles Grodin as an escaped con and a Malibu-bound businessman who switch identities Broad and not very well-wrought farce but Belushi makes it work Cosford (vulgar language brief nudity) Tun In Tomorrow (PG-13) Barbara Hershey and Keanu Reeves are hopelessly in love and hopelessly mismatched in this obnoxious adap- tation of Mario Vargas Aunt Juba and the Scriptwnter Peter Falk munches on scenery too Coto (adult situations language) Waiting for the Light (PG) Shirley MacLaine in a wackier version of her Postcards from the Edge role with Teri Gan as her niece in a drama-comedy set during the Cuban missile crisis of the early revolving around an innocent trick by two kids that is mistaken as a Sign from God Harmless manipulation Coto (mildly vulgar language) White Palace (R) Brooding pseudo-senous wrong-side-of-the-tracks love story with Susan Sarandon (Bub Durham) as an older woman and James Spader (sex bes and videotape) as a younger man They could have called it Gntty Woman Coto (vulgar language explicit sex nudity) version of the play about a treacherous escaped con who terrorizes a suburban family Michael Cimino directs Mickey Rourke in this uneven remake Anthony Hopkins Mimi Rogers Lindsay Crouse and Kelly Lynch round out the cast Cosford (vulgar language brief nudity violence) Graffiti Bridg (PG-13) Prince portrays The Kid a nightclub owner whose business is on the decline because of a rival who intends to put him out of business and take over his establishment With Morris Day and Ingrid Chavez Tarradell (vulgar language implicit sex adult themes) Henry Jun (NC-17) Philip gauzy soft-core ruminations on the three-way romance among Henry Miller Anais Nin and Miller's wife June was originally rated for its lesbian love scenes but the film is hardly erotic long and dull and entirely too pretty Cosford (vulgar language nudity implicit sex adult themes) Th Hof Spot (R) Jon Johnson is a drifter who wanders into a small Texas town and gets caught in a romantic tug-of-war between Virginia Madsen and Jennifer Connelly Dennis Hopper directs Murphy (vulgarity nudity) Jacob' Ladder (R) Adrian Lyn (Fatal Attraction) goes it alone without a knife-wielding Glenn Close and fails miserably in this thriller about a hallucinating Vietnam vet a nonhorrifying horror flick stacked with gimmicks nonsensical plot twists and other embarrassing stuff Coto (violence nudity gore vulgar language) King of New York (R) Christopher Walken plays the crime lord of the title in this bleak B-grade melodrama about the decline of Gotham It's trash but trash with an attitude Coto (violence vulgar language nudity gore) Th Kray (R) Pseudo-cerebral mob melodrama about real-life British crime kingpins Ronald and Reginald Kray played by Spandau Gary and Martin Kemp A mildly entertaining mixture of psychobabble and rat-a-tat-tat Coto (violence gore vulgar language brief nudity) Listen Up: Th Live of Quincy Jon (PG-13) Documentary about the musician arranger composer and producer as seen through the eyes of the many artists with whom he has worked Adrianson (brief rude language) Marked for Death (R) Martial arts-meister Steven Seagal who from certain angles looks like a pony-tailed Bart Simpson plays a retired DEA agent and anti-drug superhero fighting a Jamaican posse This flick is outlandish and hilarious with gore galore and bones cracking everywhere Coto (violence vulgar language nudity gore) Memphis Bell (PG-13) Rah-rah drama about young American airmen who flew a B-17 bomber called the Memphis Belle during World War IL Stars Matthew Modine Eric Stoltz John Lithgow David Strathaim DB Sweeney Sean Astin Billy Zane Adrianson (rude language violence gore) Mr Destiny (PG-13) Michael Caine in the title role giving James Belu-shi another shot at winning a baseball game he blew back in high school It's generic predictable and magc-less like sucking on a Tootsie Pop for two hours and never tasting the fudgy center Linda Hamilton and Jon Lovitz also star Coto (some vulgar language adult themes) Pacific Haights (R) Michael By BILL COSFORD Herald Movie Critic You're home alone Christmas Eve fed up with your brothers sisters cousins uncles aunts and not incidentally parents and you have recently wished that they would all simply disappear And this they seem to have done Freedom! Suddenly there is no bedtime there are no food groups (beyond pizza and marshmallows) Suddenly there is the chance to go through your big stuff On the other hand there are things that go bump in the night There is the old man next door who is well known to be spooky and probably a snow-shovel killer And you are 8 This is perfectly swell about Home Alone a comedy about being young free and scared out of your PJs The script by John Hughes (who Rescuers has By BETH DUNLOP Herald Arts Writer The Rescuers Down Under is a cartoon ode to adventure movies at once suspenseful and silly It takes place primarily in the Australian Outback where the terrain is vast and challenging: Walt Disney meets Crocodile Dundee Of course more Disney than Dundee Its stars are two improbably plucky mice known as Bernard and Miss Bianca (the voices of Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor who originated the roles in the first Rescuers originally released in 1977) The initial Rescuers was a bit of a parable showing how with courage and persistence even the smallest of the small could prevail over evil This one The Rescuers Down Under is a much less introspective movie expansive and swift The score is lush and bold the backdrops are rugged and desolate animators traveled 4000 miles across Australia with sketchbooks to grasp the nature of the land They also looked at classic movies by Orson Welles Alfred Hitchcock and David Lean as well as lithographs by Paul Gustave Dord as they developed the look of the movie The landscape is depicted as stark and almost monochromatic The most dramatic sequence comes in the opening scenes when Cody a little Australian boy who spends his days in the wild helping stranded animals rides through the sky on the back of the eagle he has just rescued from a trap on top of a cliff The ride is breathtaking and almost epic like a scene from mythology Then Cody is ensnared and snatched away by the villainous poacher Percival McLeach and his lizard cohort Joanna McLeach wants to know where the nest of a rare eagle is but Cody cooperate Enter the Rescuers Bernard and Miss Bianca are members of the Rescue Aid Society an international animal-kingdom organization that is a cross between the United Nations and the Red New Mickey The Rescuers Down Under is preceded by a new Mickey Mouse cartoon a 25-minute version of The Prince and the Pauper classic Disney at its best The Prince and the Pauper is an adaptation of the Mark Twain novel and it also stars Pluto Goofy and Donald This is the first such Mickey Mouse to appear in movie theaters since 1983 when Christmas Carol was produced This time Mickey has twin roles as the Pauper and his lookalike Prince The animation here is splendid drawings are truly evocative The story unfolds with a fanfare formally as if it were springing from the pages of a story book but it has its great moments of buffoonery as well The Prince and the Pauper is truly admirable I can only add that the children in the audience Cross But they must outsmart their enemies not outfight them Across the continents the word goes out and Bernard and Miss Bianca head for Australia flying on the back of a wide-bodied Albatross named Wilbur (the voice of John Candy) a befuddled bird who has taken over the transport business from his even more bumbling brother Orville In Australia they meet up with a kangaroo mouse named Jake a true outback character and set out to rescue Cody which of course they do Along the way Jake falls for the winsome Miss Bianca and that leaves Bernard literally dangling and gives the film some of its more farcical moments Bernard of course saves the day as heroes are supposed to Newhart and Gabor are truly delightful as Bernard and Miss Bianca The characters are tailored i I I.