The Buffalo News from Buffalo, New York • 21

The Buffalo NewsThursday October 6t 1994 Lifestyles People In The News Page 3 A yuppie couple Continued from Page Bl ing to take care of itself Michael venomously dark and wit ty New though hasbeen a virtual orphan from the start Think of a Woody Allen film Subtract first a little gagwriting sparkle for the simple reason that in the comedy trade Woody is revered as a man who when he wants to be is one of the best pure gagwriters who ever lived Subtract also the core of emotional infantilism and senti mentality at the heart of all Allen films especially the success ful ones and Her Sis and even to some extent) Now add the hardest heart you can find In the place where writ erdirector Michael Tolkin ought to have an emotional center there is either a windswept vacancy or something made of purest chalced ony Tolkin is the fellow who wrote the novel and subsequent screen play of Robert and wrote and directed one of the gutsiest and looniest movies of recent days (It starts with a sex orgy and ends up in heaven) He is the son of the longtime TV gagwriter Mel Tolkin (of whom it is said find bits and pieces lying around the room of Van Dyke On his own he is as bilious and shrewd a satirist of folkways as find If you want to know how sex cult religion psychobabble and a telephone boiler room selling $149 personalized pens all come togeth er never have a better tour guide than Tolkin New is a decidedly witty portrait of a yuppie marriage in downscaled dissolution by the Pacific Peter Weller and Judy Da vis are superb as a couple who make the disastrous mistake of over thinking everything without having a real working brain be tween them Lest any of this seem too Californian for words I want to tell you met these people and talked to them every where not just by the Pacific This is a world where the forks road always lead to co de pendency on one side and self ac tualization on the other Either way jargon crushes the soul an adman who loses his job As he walks into the executive ambush they say unhelpfully an insult an His womanizing always an en Review The Shawshank Redemption Rating: ft ft ft ft Tim Robbins and Morgan ree man are lifers in Maine's Shaw shank prison Written and direct ed by rank Darabont Rated opening riday at the Maple Ridge Theater and on Oct 14 in other area theaters The New Age Rating: ft ft ft ft Peter Weller and Judy Davis are California yuppies who experi ment with sexual freedom and California religion Written and directed by Michael Tolkin Rated opening riday in the Amherst Theater thusiastic hobby now threatens to become a full time job At a party he throws with his wife he is attracted to a woman The se duction conversation goes as fol lows: are your of weak And find (I wanted to mail it off immediately to Tolstoy and Goethe in heaven to hear what they had to say about it all) Troubles escalate His inner child is coming through She wants space she says They declare sexu al independence even though they live together New Age religion follows After a particularly woolly bit of pseudo Oriental self actuality advice from a guru she says: know what saying! He wants us to open a So they do very upscale They call it where the slogan is not what looking for what you There is brilliance all through New in the writing and especially the performances of Peter Weller and Judy Davis two of the best and most perenially underrated around But a bril liance too pitiless and clear eyed to be lovable It seems to be curse His films should be seen anyway The Shawshank Redemption Not only is the title horrendous a 2'2 hour movie that takes place in prison Its stars Tim Rob bins and Morgan reeman in any gaudy sense of the word just fine actors par ticularly reeman who is one of the great resources of American movies The irony is that the length of Shawshank is exactly what makes it as good as it is After a while you start to get lost in its emotional world the way you might in a huge page turning novel you stay up to 4 am read ing In his first film directorwriter rank Darabont has the ancient storyteller's gift something that really be taught much more primitive than that the stuff of tribal campfires and glorious Celtic bards spinning nar ratives as if they were singing songs based on a Stephen King novella and if nothing else in the world King has long since proved that a gift he has Robbins plays Andy Dufresne sent up the river for murdering his wife and her lover in a drunken jealous rage He says he do it reeman plays the prison's un offical purchasing agent Whatever it is he says the guy who can get it for you Yessir a regular Sears and The movie spans years and then decades of the friendship in Shawshank Prison a tough place where the warden warns your trust in the Lord your ass belongs to a place where for a while Andy en dures constant homosexual assault (his buddy calls antagonists Among his friends are cons played by James Whit more and Bill Sadler Along with Jeff DeMunn then in an early scene that makes Shawshank a veritable convoca tion of acting talent from Buffalo Little bits of humanity come through the pleasures of prison ers watching Rita Hayworth in a moment where Andy plays Marriage of on the loudspeaker and talent to make them felt You feel the passage of time as you see pinup posters on the wall change Rita Hayworth in 1949 Marilyn Monroe in the Raquel Welch in 1966 And while it does the movie frequently outfoxes your guesses where going to go a movie with dignity and surprises and before it has fin ished it has acquired a good deal of power buy into a lot of the in spirational bilge that has been poured over this even in its ad campaign more like a solemn and very affecting version of a tale from an old comic book than it is some sort of self actualizing reli gious fantasy Ask Michael Tolkin tell you all about it Looking for revenge NEW YORK (AP) The real contestant who lost his title to a tipped off oppo nent returned to the scene of the crime Studio 6A and demanded a rematch Some 40 years after the fix on the show was exposed Herbert Stempel said he wants to play Charles Van Doren again He issued his challenge Tuesday on Night With Conan which is taped in the same studio where Stempel was set up to lose to Van Doren would like to play Charles Van Doren any where any time and any place for said Stempel who is played by John Turturro in would like to play him right here on your A rematch is unlikely Van Doren has kept a low profile since the scandal and has not cooper ated with filmmakers or writers If you got it flaunt it Knight Ridder Multi octave wailer Mariah Carey keeps step ping up in the world irst she snared her boss Sony Music President Tommy Mottola and now building a huge house to fit in all her music awards The manse in Bedford will include a re cording studio a ballroom two pools nine bed rooms seven fireplaces a conservatory and a pis tol range The 50 acre estate is expected to be completed by December Celebrity neighbors in clude Ralph Lauren Glenn Close and EG Mar shall Crosby awaiting transplant LOS ANGELES (AP) Crosby Stills and Nash are canceling the rest of their 25th anniver sary tour while David Crosby awaits a liver trans plant Doctors are evaluating him for the operation management company said Tuesday A spokeswoman said no further details were avail able but doctors give him a good chance for a complete recovery Crosby 53 is old Stephen Stills said And Graham Nash said they have every rea son to think the band will tour next summer The band has been on tour since early June and is releasing its first studio album in four years The tour was to have wrapped up this month Into the fray Knight Ridder ormer Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham calling herself the Gump of accepted the Courage in Journalism Award Tuesday from the International Media oundation often than not I stumbled onto the scene Do you think I would voluntarily take on the Pentagon Papers Watergate and a strike? Not on your Couples in the news Knight Ridder Melissa Gilbert 30 has split for the second time this year with Bruce Boxleitner 41 In March it was over kids he want any This time it appears to be his lack of attention to the actress star of Holly Robinson: with Mr Peete a 1 Jr Jr 14 Ml JMr Holly Robinson 28 of With Mr said yea to a marriage proposal by Dal las Cowboy Rodney Peete 27 Asked her right there on the set of the show with audience look ing on shouted the actress She had a fling with pro basketbailer Shaquille talk that Tori Spelling has left medium longtime guy Nicky Savalas for Jamie Walters who makes his debut on Hills next Wednesday Spending lots of time in her closed door dressing room Expanded show kisses even after the director cries: Wai ters 25 is no amateur to this dance having once been betrothed to Drew Barrymore Karim Aga Khan one of the richest men is seeking a London divorce from wife of 25 years Princess Salima once a Brit model named Sarah rances Croker Poole Khan is leader of 15 million Shiite Isihaili Muslims and his horse breed ing line is famed worldwide His father was jetset charter member Aly Khan who died at the wheel of his Italian sports car in 1959 Joan Kennedy delays divorce hearing BOSTON (AP) Joan Kennedy has post poned court action aimed at reopening her divorce settlement with Sen Edward Kennedy until af ter the November election She would not say why but Kennedy is facing a tough fight in his bid for re election to the Senate Her lawyer Monroe Inker would not say if she had met with her former husband recently or if he! asked her to delay the court action have been sworn to silence by my client much as I would like not to have that injunction against Inker said Tuesday In court papers filed earlier Joan Kennedy said she intended to challenge the financial settlement 3 of the 1982 divorce The settlement was sealed at the time The senator and Joan Kennedy were married for 24 years He has since remarried His office declined to comment on the postponement saying it was private family He had said Joan Kennedy met twice with her former husband and his lawyer last May before she decided to go to court i' I A family encounters a wild ride down the river By JANE HORWITZ Special to The News River (PG 13 108 minutes) Cross amily with and you have this adventure for the in The amily ilmgoer which a nuclear family must face down roiling river rapids a couple of nasty villains and their own emotional estrangement Occasion al profanity and a few sudden acts of frightening though technical ly not so graphic violence ren der the PG 13 appropriate Many younger kids may relish the rocky roller coaster that powers River but for parents a question of how seriously their children tend to take movie vil lains and how involved they be come when characters they like face mortal danger (PG 13 102 min utes) How will kids respond to a baseball comedy in large part about mental illness a flick in which the humor kind of peters out and the psychodrama takes over? Barring one or two flurries of standard profanity noth ing rough in but its subtleties may put off younger sports buffs and appeal to teens who enjoy sentimental character driven stories PS for teens: or a more seri ous drama about baseball and mental illness rent Strikes (1957) about real life major leaguer Jimmy Piersall heavy duty New (R 112 min utes) Taking aim at the spiritual emptiness of high style yuppie liv ing this sophisticated satire is so dry chic and brittle it nearly be comes that which it parodies Ex plicit emotionally empty sex scenes nudity and strong language along with the esoteric subject matter make this film inappropri ate for all but older teens a fairly tough rating Beyond the ratings game ine for most kids (say 6 and Up): Little PG (awful ly nice) PG (girl seal dance a soft flipper) Meryl Streep and David Strathaim in River I ine for slightly older kids (say 8 and Up): Next Karate PG (ka rate helps teen find herself fight scene bullies may scare youngest): PG (house keeper helps sad fatherdaughter enjoy life touches on racial prejudice) air (great way to introduce movie musicals un der lOs may not get the whole sto ry) ine for kids 10 and up: PG (low born girl passes for royalty in 19th century England nifty social satire) The middle ground (13 ish): PG 13 fool foils KGB plot vul gar language sexual innuendo) PG 13 Original Sin peek at culture some profanity crude language or thoughtful kids) in October Shawshank (uplifting lyrical prison drama moments of brutality implied gang rapes Mature teens) (lovers threat ened by inner city violence senti mental predictable extreme vio lence explicit sex strong profanity Older teens) (martial arts goes time traveling bone crunching profanity rapeassault seen from distance sexual situations nudity Older teens) I 10 30 i i "A Cherokee Hush Puppies XX srtts (TOPS CENTER) 2085 ELMWOOD AVI BUALO Ny 1207 877 5194 7 Hurry Sale I ends Wednesday jjjg (OeOet JASMIN" Dfflte LORSHEIM NUNN BUSH Entire Stock amily Dress Casual 'ambus ootwear iw a a pranumme anoes lor mess NIAGARA ACTORY (ORMER BURUHGTON NORTHTOWN PLAZA MCKINLEY MALL LOCKPORT MALL UNION CONSUMER SQUARE IROOmIlHAWWAD 1881 RIDGE ROAD 3133 35 SHERIDAN DRIVE 3701 McMNLEY PKWY 5737 TRANSIT ROAD 3755 UNION ROAD NIAGARA ALLS NV 14304 WEST SENECA NY 14224 AMHERST NY 14226 BUALO NY 14219 LOCKPORT NY 14094 CHEEKTOWAGA NY 14225 297 4242 674 7185 833 6467 827 8616 438 2527 685 5094 Vt 1 I 5.