Richmond Times-Dispatch from Richmond, Virginia • 23

W-W Richmond Tlmes-Dispatch Entertainment Saturday November 18 2000 B5 Big screens loses original charm simple drawings would match perfectly with Ms whimsical deceptively simple verse to create BY DANIEL NEMAN TmzaDBPATCH Star Warm differ Seiiss How the Grinch Side Christ-maa" has not been production-designed to within an inch of its fife it haa been pro-ductknhdeaigned several feet past its life Along the way all of the charm has been flogged out of it The filmmakers are so in- 'A of a steamroller and dropped the idea of simplicity altogether (tee gets the image of the usually dependable director Ron Howard cackling like a madman and saying mote give me more ha ha ha ha If read the book or seen the TV show you know the story Actually you don't know the story as it is presented in the movie and that's another problem Writers Jeffrey Price and Peter Seaman were presented with the challenge of how to turn a very short book and a 25-minute cartoon into a foil-length 100-minute movie They decided to add to the story and embellish it creating new situations and changing old ones until parts of it are no longer recognizable The point of the original is that the spirit of Christmas haa nothing to do with presents and the accouterments of celebration The point of the new movie is that it is important to be nice to everybody and that empowered little girls can change the world for the better An Carrey as you know stars the Grinch though he is hidden under pounds of expertly applied makeup In this version he is given a backstay of all the characters that do not need a backstory the Grinch needs one least of all about being picked on when he was a child and an unfolfilled grade-school crush He has been unhappy and alone ever since In an ill-considered attempt at satire the Whoa in Whoville are shown here to be greedy and mercenary trying only to out magical books for the leam-ing-to-read set The same was true of the MOVIE EEWEW DR HOW THE GRINCH STOLE captivating classic television cap CASTs Jkn Carrey Taylor Momm ATt Chester Chesterfield CkxmtaT RMge Southparii Vkgbrii Center FY1: 99 minutes Rated PG (a few ditly off-color jokes the kids wont get) toon version of the Grinch Stole But the makers of the movie version reached instead for the whimsy returns i NUNHAUIXIHff Jim Carrey tiara at The Crinch um RmcDon mnn or holday daatlc Schwarzenegger to his genre I cf i Sci-fi in film 6th is intriguing but action is not BY DANIEL NEMAN The filmmakers have consider- Tmzs-Dbpatch Star Warm able fun setting their picture in the near future with nacho- Arnold Schwarzenegger des- flavored bananas and where in-perately in need of a hit re- teractive dolls are advertised as turns to the genre that best friend money can made him a star the sdencfie- A lonely man can order upavir-tion action film in 6th tual woman who is not only beau- Here tiful she tapes all his favorite MOVIE REVIEW he finds par- sports shows and offers to watch Tr ti tial success them with him It is a time when THE OTH DAY or rather dead pets are successfully being mixed sue- cloned and so we soon realize cess are humans Schwarzenegger acts as well here as he does in any film which is to say he still has impressive muscles and a certain screen presence and the rest of the cast camps it up just enough The entire film ia flavored with humor and not just the lame wisecracks Schwarzenegger makes when he hurts or kills someone been myself he says borrowing a line from Norman Bates And when Schwarzenegger leaves a store without buying anything he says might be The film runs out of ideas before it ends which is where all the predictable action comes in and it pretends to get philosophical without taking the trouble of actually doing so The ethical quagmire of cloning only alluded to and the subject exists just to be the catalyst for the action as is so often the case with so many films Send in the cloned movies? bother here In SUh Day "Arnold Schwarzenegger ploys a man who comas horns from work one day to And dons has raptsood him tent on making sure that we have a good time that they fill every inch of every frame with something flashy or some bit of stage business It's heavyhanded lightheartedness and it is akin to being hammered about the head with wooden mallets of fun Watching it is exhausting Dr Seuss bless him knew that his whimsical deceptively its 10 pm news Ham Lane general sales manager are such today people are so active and busy they want their news Lane also pointed out that unlike competing 11 pjn newscasts which tend to attract the same viewers every night a 10 pjn newscast might attract a different set of viewers nightly For instance the viewers who tune in to at 10 pjn on Thursday might not find a 10 pjn show to their liking on another night and might watch Channel news instead Mark Neerman currently assistant news director at KFTV in Portland Ore will join WTVR- Saturdays is Tha Tiaiss-Dispatch CAlTi Antow The ad- Schwarzenegger stars as We learn many of these details SdNSReneggerJonir encefiction Adam a helicopter pilot who dis- from the villains themselves who Goktom part is fairly covers that he has been cloned have a bad case of explainitis AT: Camiks intriguing This turn of events does not where they stand around and ex-Oowrteaf Genito But the ao- make him happy especially when plain what is happening and what Virginia Canter West tion part is a he comes home and discovers their motivations are instead of Tower yawn Literal- someone who looks just like him killing the good guys FYI: 118 minutes i ly I yawned smooching with his wife Diacov- The chid bad guy is a phe-Ratad PG-13 (mucti once during ering this feet the cloning not nomenally wealthy businessman vioience brief nudity) the first car the smooching puts him at played by Tony Goldwyn bad chase and great risk because cloning ia file- guy No 2 ia the scientist who de- twke during the protracted di- gal and an extremely powerful veloped the cloning process mactic and it was an man will suffer if the truth conies played by Robert Duvall and afternoon screening out they are assisted by an assort i I i I I I i i I I I Christmas the others by buying the most presents or putting up the most lights The only Who who understands that Christmas is about more than that is little Cindy Lou Who (Taylor Mom-sen) a character actually created by Seuss but now given a much bigger role When he la not busy doing everything up too big Carrey is ca-pable of moments of wit though these are rarely related to the stray Like everyone rise though he tries too hard The decision to turn this movie into a live-action cartoon and to wring the life and excitement out of every scene turned what should have been a fun film into something to be endured an excess fra X-Mas Contact DinM Neman at (804) 64984M or dnamanttimesdtepitglixoiii Rapper Joe dies at age 26 Rap artist Joseph Calkja pro- fessionally known as Joe died in his sleep Thursday night at' home in Taylor Mich The popu- lar rapper and signature character with Kid Twisted Brown Trucker band had Celiac disease an Intestinal disorder since childhood He was 26 Joe made his recording de- but in 1998 on Kid multiplatinum Without a He also contributed a solo performance to the sound-' track album for Park: Big- ger Longer In a statement Kid Rock said and friends are every-' thing without them all of the1 feme and fortune means nothing: We have lost part of our family Joey gave us and the world his love He brought a smile to everyone who has ever known or seen him We will never forget you We love Compiled from wire services DAEWOO 11700 MkUoOlM TurupSre S200 Wot Bfired Street Two local TV stations make il i to I PHOENIX PICTURES ment of familiar henchmen who are given the unhappy burden of carrying the hackneyed action scenes Not only are the the action scenes dull rehashing of cliches but they are edited In such a way as to make the audience blink aa often and painfully as possible On the other hand the stray gives us the compelling ides of two Schwarzeneggers in the same movie only one of whom knows the other exists changes zek recently named the director of Raycom Partnerships to oversee news partnerships fra Fox stations WTVR is a CBS affiliate of Raycom Media Robert Lee Hines Jr Channel 6 as news director Dec 11 Neerman who haa served as executive producer at TV sta- tions in Miami Pittsburgh and Raleigh NC replaces Rob Ct Our Family Would Love To Have You Over For Thanksgiving Dinner We'd be pleated to have you join oa Thanksgiving Day slier II sju lor a complete turkey dinner with oven-roosted turkey sampling of country ham sweet potato casserole pumpkin pie and more Served while ft lasts S799 adult and MW child Antiques THOMAS-IUNES Interiors 3027 Wot Cuy Street Richmond Virginia 2322 1 to art pleased to announce our largest shipment ever of fine quality English and European furnishings Painted dnts table armoirei and benchei in all lias and liape Paintings barotnelera fcndcn tilver trey candleuicki and mirroti Sofa aettees and acta of dining chain Loti of English Oik Breutiful iecietaiics adeboanb console Pembrooke and tilt-top tsbie Porceiiin in Deiby Sevres Sampion Worchesfei Coalport and Stafibnfchirc Bow front cheats a wen a rtreight one hanging cupboank comer chain and Regency piece You are invited to view thn exceptional diipment oa Suntfay November 19 2000 from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pjn wwwcrackerbarrelcom WRLH to expand BY POUGIAB DURDEN TmesDbpatch Stait Wirrn WRLHChannel 35 likes its 10 pjn news ao much expanding the show to an hour beginning Jan 8 The newscast will continue to be produced by WWBT-Channel 12 for the Fox affiliate According to John Quigley general manager of the station people tune in to another show at l(h30 so it made sense to give them an hour's wrath of news in a single show Channel 35 currently carries the syndicated version of Drew Carey Show at 10:30 pjn having lost to Channel 12 this fell The expanded 10 pjn news is a response to lifestyles said Wil- Do-it-yoMissIf hosts and gardes tips OtSCHaySlM erects Sand (Idler Crettor hmt MtctoimM Creeks Sami MM lesaVkiWinNklS USSSBrefeJM (7387 MOM Ini) MSASRS4 CMttVA 23831-2343 HiLkltntllVA23HMl AWMVA13885J233 (SM) 748-4832 (884)534-2241 (884)748-1541 I Breni Ssr Mte 7Ww4 80sr tMIlim MireMsS MmMp Anne Thomas Hines VV ins I ID DUX Enjoy your Rift from Kroger and the Richmond Times-DUpatch Offer good 1 dap only November 2000 UMiUS UdaBoad am Kroner dare Ore res AaMpsds No CM NW UriU 8 Mat Register to wins 2000 Daewoo Lanos from Royal Daewoo and Richmond Daewoo and $2500 In free groceries from Krogerf Name Address dtp Stele Zip Daytime Phone It'S OUR anniversary but YOU get the presents! Jm et the presents! ma i eimcS'Dispatd) ompWeridebiJtoyjsQjtei.