The Belleville News-Democrat from Belleville, Illinois • 121

Pag12 News-Democrat 8undayMagazina Sunday JunaRIMS Movie review leaves viewers up in air Mickey Mantle is hot By PETER LARSEN News-Democrat Tom Cruise gets top billing in Gun" but he really should share it with the Navy In this movie about dashing young men and their flying machines the screen time spent in the air with the F-14 fighters is much more interesting than anything that happens on the ground not that Cruise and his co-staro don't deliverfineperformancea Inostofthelndo in terms of the plot Boy meets girl suffers tragedy and guilt overcomes self-doubt to shine heroic and gets the girl again Not exactly the first time that story's been told The flying however will have yon on the edge of your seat The aerial dogfighting was filmed from cameras on board some of the Navy's jets and from a Lear jet carry ing director Tony Scott and crew Cruise plays Pete Mitchell a cocky young by-the-seat-of-the-nanis Navy flier He goes to the Navy's Top Gun training school near San Diego where the best pilots in the service are trained to get even better There Maverick and his radar officer Nick Bradshaw played by Anthony Edwards quickly establish themselves among the best of the best competing for top flier honors with the cool-tempered by-the-book pilot nicknamed Iceman played by Val Kilmer And on the ground Maverick pursues and finally wins the heart of his civilian instructor Charlie Blackwood played by Kelly McGillis Then tragedy strikes a flying accident and Maverick dives into self-doubt His romance and career are on the ropes until he summons up the strength to get back into the cockpit of first his fighter plane and then his romance The movie's writers were inspired by an article in California Magazine about the actual Kelly McGillis and Tom Cruise emote in Top Gun Hot videos Here are the top videoa in the Belleville area Salea lSLLaeii Card iaala: The Mavte 1 Back to the Fatara (MCA) 1 Mickey Maalle'i Baaeball Tape (CBSFox) i Jaae Near Warkaat (Karl-Lorimar) 5 Alice la Waaderiaad (Disney) Realala 1 Back to tke Fa tore (MCA) 1 Caccaaa (CBSFox) 1 Witness (Paramount) 4 A Charaa Uae (Embaaay) 5 lavaaiaa USA (MGMU A) minmnoiipnwiddiiSahnii Sound Ownbmon me Kelly McGillis who had a big hit as the quiet Amish widow in last year's provides an appealing performance as do Anthony Edwards and Val Kilmer But the real stars are the F-14s that the Navy was kind enough to let British director Tony Scott film On aircraft carriers in the air above the southwestern United States' deserts and sea Top Gun puts the viewer into the cockpit for several good looping twisting and diving dogfights only to crash land into a standard Hollywood story on the ground Top Gun it showing at the RAC Quad in Belleville Top Gun school near San Diego That may be why the movie often seems skimpy on the ground the school and the pilots actually exist but the writers had to improvise an outline of love and war on which to hang the story The love story features Cruise and McGinnis two attractive young acton but it's far from steamy And the concluding battle between the young stallions of the Navy and the forces of evil is completely Implausible Tom Cruise gets better with each movie he makes and looks like he's escaped for good from the realm of teen pics His Maverick comes across like Joel Grayson (his character in graduated from college and enlisted in the Navy On local screens OUR 5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY! BAC VIDEO MOVIE CLUB MEMBERSHIP! During Mw month of JUNE only come in and sign up with Southern Illinois' largest movio club absolutely FREE! NICKEL MOVIES! ivery Monday in June rent a movie A get the second for US' Details in the store Every '-'RENTALS! Hanks star in this Steven Spielberg comedy Petite 4 in Collinsville i Little Pony" (G) The long-haired children's toys come to life in this animated fea- tore BAC Quad in Belleville BAC Cottonwood III in Glen Carbon of (PG) Starring Meryl Streep i a i and Robert Bedford in the love story that took I seven Oscars BAC Fairview Twin in Fairview Heights BAC Cottonwood III in Glen Carbon 0 of PK" (R) BAC Ritz in Belleville (PG) The Freelings have spirited themselves away to start life anew but they brought their spooks with them from California At the Lincoln Theater in Belleville and the St Clair 10 Cine in Fairview Heights Deal" (R) At the St Clair 10 Cine in Fairview Heights BAC Skyview Drive In in Belleville BAC Cottonwood in Glen Carbon (PG) This year's is about a humanoid robot designed to be the perfect fighting machine who decides that war is immoral At Lincoln Theater in Belleville and St Clair 10 Cine in Fairview Heights (PG) At the BAC Quad in Belleville (PG) Writer-director Alan Alda is pushing this comedy about a writer who watches Hollywood turn his accurate historical novel into fluff Michael Caine and Lillian Gish co-star At the Unroln Theater in Belleville and St Clair 10 One in Fairview Heights At the St Clair 10 One in Fairview Heights Tom Cruise is a renegade pilot who is chosen to train with an elite Navy squadron His future however is clouded because of his by-lhe-seat of his pants flying techniques and because he falls in love with Kelly McGillis BAC Quad in Belleville (R) At the BAC Ritz in Belleville (R) the mob ever gets ahold of Dany DeVito and Joe Pisco po there will be hell to pay They are painting the town red on the mob's credit card At the Lincoln Theater In Belleville and the SL Clair 10 Cine in Fairview Heights Here is a listing and brief descriptions of the movies currently showing through Thursday in the area: (R) Sylvester Stallone plays a big-city police detective who specializes in cases nobody else wants In this Stallone-written flick he's hot on the trail of a serial killer who has marked fashion model Brigitte Nielsen for death BAC Quad in Belleville Petite 4 in Collinsville Color Steven Spielberg returns to making movies about people adapting Alice Walker's novel It's the story of a young woman's disappointments hardships and brutal treatment by her father and husband Starring Whoopie Goldberg BAC Ritz in Belleville (PG-1?) An intergalactic battle comes to the Browns' back yard Fairview Cinema in Fairview Heights BAC Cottonwood III in Glen Carbon And Out la Beverly (R) BAC Miners in Collinsville Skyview Twin Drive-In in Belleville ueller's Day Starts Wednesday atlheStClairlOCinein Fairview Heights (PG-13) A Run Howard Comedy about a quirk-thinking Pennsylvania auto plant foreman who saves the company by selling it to a Japanese rompany With Michael Keaton At the BAC Plaza Twin Cine in Cahokia aad Her (PG) Written and directed by Woody Allen details the personal lives and relationships of a group of sisters all of whom have Allenesque problems With Michael Caine and Mia Farrow Most reviewers have said it is one of Allen's best BAC Quad in Belleville from Mars" (PG) At the BAC Sky-view Drive In in Belleville St Clair 10 Cine in Fairview Heights Petite 4 InCollinsville Jo Dancer" (R) Richard Pryor brings home his personal lesson that chemical abuse and the good life don't mix Pryor is funny and raunchy vintage Pryor St Clair 10 Cine in Fairview Heights (R) A comedy starring Charles Grodin Petite 4 in Collinsville Money (PG) Shelley Long and Tom Thursday In June all movie rentals are SIT! Some limits may apply a BAC VIDEO NINE CONVENIENT LOCATIONS! BELLEVILLE (2 stores) SWANSEA O'FALLON FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS CAH0KIA EDWARDS VILLE GRANITE CITY EAST ALTON OPEN DAILY 10AM TO 10PM.