The Daily Times from Mamaroneck, New York • 76

I CAPSULE REVIEWS The mini review are provided by our likn critics. Movies are rated on a scale of 0 to 4 stars. A. poor; AA, fair good: AAAA, exceUeot TT Silent film the homeless. a spirited voice mm mm rnrfe Si NEW RELEASES- (Nerwle4 OEALEM (R).

Romantic drama about rival ataekbrahersL nabecca Da Momay stars. (No ravtaw) FORCED MARCH- (Not rated). A movie wiOiin a movie faaturaa Chria Sarandon aa an actor who plays a Hungarian poet who lived In Nazi-occupied Europe. (No review) PHANTOM OF THE OREM (R). Robert Engiund, beet known aa the evH Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare" (ilma.

atari in a horror movieaboutamurderallheParieop- Staff Writer "Sidewalk Stories" is the find of the season a small, rough diamond of great heart and humor in a season usually reserved for large projects of too-calculated social" 1, importance. (No review) SECOND SIGHT (PG) Bronson Pfnchct. of TVa Perfect Strangers. piayaa psychic datecbve in IMb comedy. (Ne review) STEPFATHER! (R).

Serial MUar sets Me MghM on a new family In this AAA SBEWALK STORES (R). A stuIHuily made silent comedy In black-and-white about the homaiese in New York. Starring Charles Lane. Nicole Alysia. Sandy WUson.

Directed by Charles Lane. 87 mine. Tim AiM (Chariee Lane) baManda an rtandonad chid Qfiooia Aiyaia) In 1 UFE (PG). Patricia Naal and Shelley Winters are two sisiers Neal a life- I aflirming spinster, Winisnashdowed bigot whoeeatabilltyislhreaianed by Ihercmanllc attentions ofaChlnaae American garage mechanic in this bie-l tantrip-otl of "The Whales olAugueL" fr w'J1 J' I-1 Vs" i V. Hf iHMHRmmMstaMMtaR JOpona tomorrow at Cinema Third mV Avenueand Quad Theater in Ctty.

Directed by Charles Lane. Starring Charles UnatNjcote Alysia. Williams and Sandy Wilson, Wand v.y'-1 Written, directed by and starring Charles Lane, "Sidewalk Stories" is like a Charlie Chaplin film for the 1990s. Filmed In blacks and-whita, this silent eomedy wordlessly captures the frustrations and the pluck of a homeless sketch artist in Greenwich Village who finds an abandoned baby. Lane works with great economy, conveying a message with intense clarity without overworking it There is anger and human spirit at work in this film about forgotten people who are Ignored by most of society.

Lane plays a character known only as The Artist, who tries to earn a living by kfhinf portraits of passers-by for money. Each night he returns to the abandoned building in which he lives, where he has set up a cozy but threadbare home. One evening he witnesses a killing in an alky; a young fother (Darnell Williams), who is shepherding his tiny daughter home, is waylaid by hoodlums to whom he owes gambling debts. They kill him and leave his body, ignoring the tiny child in the stroller nearby. The artist takes the child home, with the intention of taring to find her mother.

The rest of the film centers on the artiatt -struggle toeare for the cute little The artist also tries to cope with a burgeoning relationship with a well-heeled young woman, who has taken a foncy to him after he drew her portrait Even as he revels in her attention, he tries to distance himself from her so that she will not discover the economic distance between them. vl handed, both in comedy and tragedy- Bill Dill's photography is rich and evocative, capturing the Manhattan landscape in a variety of moods. Mare Harder's marvelous score is like an unseen character, musically telling the story as it unfolds. i Still, "Sidewalk Stories" needs trimming A subplot about a pair of hoodhnns plotting to kidnap the baby eould ha cut without homing the film. And Lane stays with some of the -visual gags a couple of minutes too long, diminishing their comic or emotional power.

LaneTtimself is a delightfiil figure, a soulftilly hinny guy who carries the weight of the world on his shoulders, yet isn't afraid to stand up for himself He has the scrappy earnestness of Chaplins Llttk Tramp, with large, limpid eyes and a wiry, resilient physicality. Little Nicole Alysia Is a beautiftil child with great charisma on camera. And the other supporting players, including Sandye Wilson as the rich young woman, handk the silent acting skillfully 7. "Sidewalk Stories" is A holiday treat the kind of film that will make you laugh while touching your conscience. Its a daring and dazzling debut for a young director.

Moviet are rated onacaiof0lo4itar. poor; AA.talcAAA.OOOCtAAAAkcritant -v -V -t Lane never tries to ennobk this little man, who la just doing what he thinks he ihnuM Nor does he try to make a statement about all homeless one character. -Rather, be is trying to tell a story about the potential that exists In this singk character. The viewer can draw his own mnriiwhmy from there. Lane's command of the silent form is suiw- CONTINUING THE SEAR (PG).

A boar's-eye view otaconhontalion between grizzly and hunter, filmed with amazlnq beauty and real animal adore. Starring Wallace. Oirodad by Jean-JacqoeeAnnaud. nomine. SLACK RAM (R).

This lla-- shy thriller is alt thriHs and no sub- stance, with enough action to keep you hooked but not enough ideas to auetabi Ns fantastic visual approach. Starring Michael Douglas, Andy Garda, Kata Capehaw, Ken Takakura. Directed by Ridley Scott. 130 mins. AAAH CRIMES AND MtSOEMEA- I NORS(PG13) Woody Allan's new1- -film Is a Wilful Msnd of stark drama anddeUdauahumor.asHprobaathe questions ot guilt and redemption Inthe lives of two men.

Starring Alan Alda, WoodyAilen, Mia Farrow, Joanna Gleason, Anjeiica Huston, Martin Landau. Jerry Ohrbach, Sam Waiereion. Directed by Woody Allan. Orion Pictures. 100 mi ns.

AAA THE FABULOUS BAKER SOYS (R)i Atari, sharp comedy about chow business small-tl mete who Starring Jeff Bridges, Michelle Plelller, Beau Bridges. Directed by Steve Klovee. 100 mins. AH ERKTHEVRONG (PQ-13). A VlkitM spoof without jokes.

Starring Tim Robbins, John Cleese. Mickey Rooney by Terry Jones. 90 Unremarkable Life- is truly Unremarkable; century Out of date. Now she spends her time reading to kids in a library, but romance re-enters in the rather dumpy presence of Chineee-Ameriean garage mechankgrandfkther Max Chin, who dresses like Harpo lfarx, but isnt as ftinny. Punny, he doesnt look Chinese; but that may be because the actor who plays Mm, Mako, is Japanese.

Before you know It, Max and Frances are playing Monopoly and going to the flicks together, which has Evelyn all burned up, not only because she's jealous, but because she's nch a bigot that When a cute Uttte Korean girl, adopted by American parents, enters the neighborhood, she practically suffers from cardiac arrest Spinster schoolmans Frances had her uimrkabk Lifti." then, la the kind InalliiMof-AaUiniUftaUeLIV'lu Ihfe MSaigaml za. ii i WHe ik the musieal theme" Newhousa News Service "An Unremarkable Lift" cornea remarkably close to outright piagiarii of "The Whales of August," Itself a fhirly lifokm fiunily drama starring Lillian Gish and the late Bette Davis as two elderly sisters of vastly divergent temperaments the one lifo-affirming, the other lifc-denying whose stability is threatened by a late-blossoming romance with Don Amecfae. One wag at the time dubbed it "The Snails of August" But it was a firebrand of a movie compared to" An Unremarkable Life," dearly a vanity production by Amin Q. Chaudkri, who made the unspeakabk Tiger Warsaw." This time the sisters are manipulative Evelyn (Shelley Winters) and Frances (Patricia Neal), who have been sharing a cozy Victorian bouse ever since the death of Evelyn's husband 15 years agoThe house -belong to Frances. It has never occurred to Evelyn to get herself a RAH FAT MAN AND UT1U -BOV (PG 13) Asralchable but flat film about the man who made meHrst atomic bomb.

Starring Paul DwigM Schultz, John Cusack. Directed by Roland Jofto. 122 mina. -RAH GROSS ANAT- -OMV (PQI. Matthew Modi neataA -aaaflrsHmarniedlcal student In this comedylrania that azplorsa the proo- easol young men and woman findings -theyhavethostufllobedoctora.

Though well dl reeled by Thom Eber-hardt Irom an uneven script "Qroea Anatomy'' tails short in ik attempt to do formed school what "Paper dM lor law schoot On the hand.Moflere more honest drama and humor.and character davelopmant than Its rather lama title might auggsaLWHh Christine LaM and Daphne Zuniga. 101 mlna. We stare HALLOWEENS-- (R)MI-ohaoHsbacktromBiegraeeandrsady lo party. But iheclase of die original fsntMmins aaaodated with that the slightest hint of ebemistry between foem..