The Index-Journal from Greenwood, South Carolina • Page 28

SPOTUCHT L.J c. L-3 u.IlI Fl.3 L. BEAYIS CUTT-HLO CO AKZK1CA MTV gross, juvenile and stupid anti-heroes, 1994's hottest phenomenon, make a humorless trek to the big screen. (PG) THE IS2RRCR HAS TWO FACES Barbra Streisand directed and stars in this tired vani-ty production, a romantic comedy about a homely woman who resolves to settle for friendship when love with her colleague (Jeff Bridges) seems out of the question. Lauren Bacall also stars.

(PG-13) Th Rating System: i Vr ONE FINE DAY George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer play harried single parents who might fall in love if their jobs, kids and personalities don't get in the way. Two hot stars can save this romantic comedy from a sense of strained cuteness. (PG) DAYLIGHT Sly Stallone stars as a heroic emergency medical technician trying to -save people trapped in a traffic tunnel in New York in this disaster thriller. (PG-13) THE ENGLISH ivi 7 Film fcy Roger Moor 101 DALMATIANS Disney's live-action (real puppies) remake of an animated classic. Jeff Daniels, Joely Richardson and Glenn Close (as Cruella DeVil) are the humans out to either save or skin the lovable dogs in this spotty comedy.

(G) RANSOM Mel Gibson plays a wealthy executive whose son is kidnapped in this thriller from Ron Howard. Rene Russo and Delroy Lindo are also in the cast. (R) PATIENT Sumptuous, literate and engrossing World War II romantic Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche and Kristin Scott Thomas star in this lush adaptation, which is a bit too long and structurally shaky to stand with the great epics it harkens back to. (R) JERRY INQUIRE Tom Cruise plays a sports agent whose growing humanity changes the way he does his job and the way he deals with women in this winning romantic comedy. Renee Zellweger and Cuba Gooding Jr.

also star. (R) JINGLE ALL THE WAY Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad star as two dads vying for that one elusive toy that they need to make their kids happy in this occasionally anarchic comedy. (PG) 1 ROMEO JULIET Baz Lurhman boldly sets Shakespeare's masterpiece in modern times in the middle of a gangland feud in this assaultive, violent, often cartoonish treatment. Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes play the star-crossed lovers. (R) Diana Keaton (left) and Meryl Streep are mismatched sisters caring for bedridden father In "Marvin's Room." STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT )4 The new Enterprise is all that stands between Earth and the unbeatable Borg in this "Next Generation" big-screen adventure.

Patrick Stewart, Alfre Woodard, and James Cromwell are the stars. (PG-13) MARS ATTACKS! Jack Nicholson plays the president (and a Vegas hustler) in this woebegone farcical version of "Earth Vs. Flying Saucers." Nice special effects, but this is basically an unfunny "Independence (Baste) Review (3301303335 Kids fifct Keaton; Streep tackle tough roles messages GOODING from TV in powerful 'Marvin 's Room By Jonathan Oavles THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER By Duane Byrge BPI ENTERTAINMENT REPORT sweetly unnatural particles, but "Marvin's Room" is a stunningly vital story of human need and selfless sacrifice. Screenwriter Scott McPherson, who has adapted the work from his own play, has created a haunt-ingly identifiable family situation and peopled it with characters whose needs and imperfections are completely realistic. Characters truly struggle, some more successfully than others, in dealing with the harsh hands that life, and now death, have dealt them.

Jerry Zaks' direction, combining a sharp clinician's eye with a soft consoler's heart, brings to life the very marrow of this hard subject. The performances are very special, particularly those by Streep and Keaton. As the chain-smoking, hardened Lee, Streep's nervous mannerisms and domineering attitude show an insecure woman who lives in constant terror of her needs. Keaton's performance is similarly brilliant. The supporting players also reveal their characters' nerve endings, particularly Gwen Verdon and Robert De Niro.

Hal Scardino, as the younger son, attracts our attention while absorbing the frustrations of all his elders. Powered by subtlety "Marvin's Room" is a brilliantly constructed film, highlighted by Piotr Sobocinski's muted pastel colorings and invigorated by Rachel Portman's spare score. "jne only tactful answer that Bessie can give to queries about how her father, who has long been bedridden with a stroke, is doing is to muster "he's still with us." That's the mournful reality of "Marvin's Room," a powerful and sobering look into dying and death. Boasting superb perfor-. mances from Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton as two very different sisters who are brought together by a deadly disease, this film is a bracingly strong human drama.

As sisters, Lee (Streep) and Bessie (Keaton) couldn't be more different: Lee is vain and self-absorbed, while Bessie is plain and care-giving. They haven't seen each other in nearly 20 years single mother Lee has been raising two boys in Ohih, while Bessie has tended to their bedridden father (Hume Cronyn.) in Florida. Like most estranged relations who only get together at funerals and weddings, it's an overpowering personal occasion that brings (he two together. Bessie has been diagnosed with leukemia and needs a bone-marrow transplant, and only Lee or her offspring, as blood-related donors, can help. A surface diagnosis of such a story line might lead or suspect that the plot of this "disease" movie might be occluded by sugar, schmaltz and other you've gotta bring your 'quote' up.

They say that's what will impress the studio when you try to get your next role." "A director once said to me, 'Cuba, you have talent and you could have longevity in this he recalls. be careful not to focus just on the money. If you don't, the money will Gooding's career has been built on strong supporting roles in popular films that were also critically well-received. He debuted in John Singleton's "Boyz the Hood" (1991), then worked opposite Cruise in Rob Reiner's "A Few Good Men" (1992). Most recently, he starred with Dustin Hoffman in last year's blockbuster plague thriller, "Outbreak," "When an actor or an athlete finds success, you start to experience that rush of fame," Gooding says.

"You walk down the street and people grab you and want to kiss you or whatever. It's easy to start to think, 'Well, maybe I am a national Ironically, in making two films with Tom Cruise, whose fame and fortune are legendary, Good-, ing has found him to be amazingly unaffected by the hype which surrounds him. "Tom is one of the most famous actors there is, but he doesn't seem to buy into it," he says. "After we met on this movie, he came to play ice hockey with me. He just got on the ice and a lot of people didn't even realize it was him.

There was this film icon, taking his knocks in the game like everybody else. "Afterward, he would be getting naked with us in the locker room, taking off his sweaty he recalls. "He was really just one of us, and that really impressed me. Continued From Page SI scene is thrown high by a vicious tackle and lands on his head, apparently suffering a severe injury. "I almost did it," Gooding says with a laugh.

"The shot was set up using a trampoline from which a stunt man was going to jump as if he been tackled. I have a trampoline at home, so I said, 'Let me give that a I jumped up, did a flip and everybody cheered. "The next day," he continues, "some studio executives came and they had their doubts about whether I could pull it off So I suited up, put on my helmet and took another leap off the trampoline. "It's a good thing I was wearing my helmet because I landed smack on my head," he says. "I really felt numb.

The nurse on the set thought I had a pinched nerve. I got up and said, 'OK, I'm done. No more stunt The big-bucks world of professional sports comes in for some not-too-subtle parody in the film, but Gooding found it not all that different from Hollywood. "There's a level of absurdity in sports that I guess we were having fun with," he explains. "It's like all these pros do the endorsement thing, and their image becomes bigger than their talent on the field.

How much you're making can be as important as how well you're playing. You get caught up in trying to make the most money to show that you're the best athlete. "But it can be the same for a movie star," he says. "Your worth is often determined by your fee. You hear people telling you that LOS ANGELES Three out of four network shows in prime-time's "family hour" contain sexual content, but fewer than one in 10 address the repercussions of sexual activity, according to a study released recently by advocacy group Children Now and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

"There are hundreds of thousands of unplanned pregnancies and millions of cases of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV and AIDS, occurring among teen-agers every year," said Victoria Rideout, director of the Children the Media Program at Children Now. "With statistics like these, it's clear that all of us need to pay attention to the kinds of messages we're sending kids about sex including the entertainment industry." ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox all declined comment on the report without examining it. The survey concentrated on network television because of the large number of children who watch during the period, according to a spokeswoman for the Kaiser Foundation. Researchers estimate that an average of 6 million children ages 2-11 watch the four major networks during the time period in question. Sexual topics in the family hour, 8-9 p.m.

in most parts of the country, were four times greater than 1976, the study found. The consequences of sex, however, grew from 4 percent in 1976 to only 9 percent this year, the researchers said. But unlike a three-year survey of television violence under way with' funding from the major networks, the study did not weigh occurrences depending on their context. "We're going into this in much greater, depth than anyone has ever done before. We felt this was as much sophistication as we could expect on the first time out," said Tina Hoff, a spokeswoman for the Kaiser Communications and Media Program.

The survey was done by University of California, Santa Barbara Professor Dale Kunkel; Princeton Survey Research; and Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin and Associates. Jordan considers branching into music business with label FROM THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER Michael Jordan may hit the backbdards with his own record label, sources report. Fellow hoopster Shaquille O'Neal has his own label, but Shaq is also a muiiipiaiinum r-jn rapper. Though AnrAan nnlv Dave Navarro will reportedly still do outside projects while remaining Peppers; both performed on Alanis Morissette's hit album. Flea is working on new records from Jewel and Jimmy Scott.

The rumors of the band's demise had been a hot item since lead singer Anthony Kei-dis went into rehab, from which he has successfully emerged, according to sources. Latin Band Feted: Los Lobos is being honored by the National Council of La Raza for their positive portrayal of Latinos in film and television. fld-Vantage THE INDEX M.NMfUMl.M Atlantic Records, which handled "Space Jam," might distribute the label. Highest Honor: The National Academy of Recording Arts Sciences has announced the recipients of its 1996-97 lifetime achievement awards: Bobby; Blue Bland, the Everly Brothers, Judy Garland, Stephane Grappelli, Buddy Holly, Charles Mingus, Oscar Peterson and Frank Zappa. Records co-founders Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss and legendary song collaborators Burt Bacharach and Hal David have been nominated The honorees will be acknowledged during Grammy week in February.

Still Chili: Contrary to widespread speculation, the Red Hot Chili Peppers have apparently not broken up and are scheduled to work on their new album next month. Bassist Flea and guitarist, perfomsonthe court (and maybe the golf course), he is the star of Warner film "Space Jam," whose soundtrack, is in the Billboard top 10 and MICHAEL JORDAN v- Published by PEOPLE SERVING iik PEOPLE would certainly be a magnet for talent. Running the boutique label would be producer Bryce Wilson, who handled some music for "Space Jam" and who has also produced for Toni Braxton, En-Vogue, Mary J. Blige, Des'ree, Salt-N-Pepa and his own group, Groove Theory. THE INDEX-JOURNAL CO.

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