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■ FOLK MUSIC
Referred to as country’s version of the Grateful Dead by "USA
Today, Asleep At The Wheel will be performing at the Georgia
Theatre Friday, Jan. 26 at 9 p.m. Advance tickets are available
at Wuxtry and Downtown Records.
The Red and Black • Wednesday, January 24, 1990 • S
SCREEN
‘Internal Affairs’ succeeds
Richard Gere advises William Baldwin in “Internal Affairs"
By CARY DICRISTINA
Contributing Writer
A review of ‘Internal Affaire" di
rected by Mike Figgis, Jr. A Par-
amont Pictures release rated R.
Now playing at The Georgia
Square Mall.
"Internal Affaire’ is the beBt
"cop” movie in years.
It has an original approach to
what could be the same-old-cop-
movie story. The cast is unique and
the film shows some great work in
the field of film direction.
What do you do if you’vejust
been promoted in Internal Affairs
Division of the LAPD, and your
first case has to deal with a manip
ulative street cop, Dennis Peck
(Richard Gere), who has some il
legal business connections on the
side?
If you’re Sergeant Raymond
Avila (Andy Garcia), you investi
gate the cop in any way possible,
even if that means putting your
marriage on the line (with Nancy
Travis), jeopardizing the life of
your new partner (Laurie Metcalf),
and risking your sanity.
These are the basic ideas of the
plot. It’s not quite perfect, but it’s
interesting and exciting enough to
distract you from its fiawB. What
makes this film a cut above the av
erage "cop” picture is the
relationship of the two adversaries.
Sgt. Avila is so consumed with
bringing Peck to justice that he
eventually finds himself resulting
to Peck’s same manipulative tech
niques. The twist in this plot is
that the villian, Peck, understands
Avila and knows just which but
tons to push.
Richard Gere (The Cotton Club,
An Officer and A Gentleman)
makes his role the first comeback
of the nineties. He plays the role ot
the villain with cool abrasiveness
and manages to make his world
look glamorous while also exposing
the underside. However, the film
belongs to Andy Garcia (The Un
touchables). He shows us the fine
line between being a good cop, who
wants justice, and an obsessive
cop, who is just the flip side of the
criminal. Nancy Travis (Three Men
and a Baby) does an expert job in
the thankless role as Garcia’s long-
suffering wife.
The real “star” of this film is di
rector Michael Figgis (“Stormy
Monday"). His revolutionary di
recting techniques enable him to
tell a story as well as dazzle the au
dience with interesting visuals.
For example, the scene showing a
drunk hallucinating is particularly
involving. His interjections of mas
sive violence and sex don’t hurt ei
ther.
‘Tango and Cash’ can’t deliver;
‘Buddy’ stereotype has lost luster
By ANDREW LAWLER
Entertainment Writer
A review of ‘Tango and Cash"
starring Kurt Russel and Syl
vester Styllone. Directed by An
drei Konchalovsky. A Warner
Brothers release rated R. Now
playing at the Lefont Cinema 4.
'Tango and Cash” is a weak at
tempt to capitalize on the success
of "Lethal Weapon 2”.
Ray Tango (Sylvester Stallone)
looks more like an investment
banker than one of L.A.’s most
successful cops. Gabriel Cash
(Kurt Russell) is the antithesis of
Tango, a slovenly rules-breaking
gent who is also one of L.A.’s top
cops. They run afoul of crimelord
Yves Perret (Jack Palance), who
frames the two for various nasty
crimes. They are sent to a max
imum security prison, where they
decide (big surprise) to team up
to clear their names.
'Tango and Cash” is the old
standard “buddy” movie. The for
mula is simple. Two people with
opposing personalities are tossed
into a crisis. Despising each other
at first, they gain a grudging mu
tual respect by the end of the
film.
’Tango” goes right by the num
bers, but unlike more successful
buddy films (such as “Lethal
Weapon 2” and “Midnight Run”),
it lacks a strong story and effec
tive villians. The writing is lack
luster, the characters are shallow
with their relationship weakly
defined and the plot meanders all
over the place. Perhaps the worst
element Is the cardboard villians
who are worse than cardboard or
even soggy cardboard. We’re ex
pected to be impressed by Jack
Palance, who appears in a re
tread of his “Batman” role. Pal
ance rambles confusingly
throughout the film, torturing
mice far no apparent reason. Pal
ance is no DeNiro, and unfortu
nately no outside help is given.
The chemistry between Rus
sell and Stallone is a bit strained
as well. The two try really hard,
quipping throughout the movie,
but they are never allowed to
really click. Stallone and Russell
spend a good deal of the film
apart and they spend the time
they do have together shooting
something. Their relationship is
never given the chance to develop
realistically.
Stallone is desperately trying
to break free of his Rambo/Rocky
image but has had little success.
To his credit he performs fairly
credibly, but he lacks the lines to
really shine. At times he seems to
be trying too hard.
Kurt Russell is as good as he
can be, given the material. He re
laxes into the role perfectly, un
like Stallone, and is more
natural. He strikes some sparks
as well in his romance with
Tangos’ sister. Russell alBO ends
up with the best lines in the pic
ture.
The action scenes tend to de
generate rather quickly into
boring weapon fasts. However,
the prison scenes are quite good,
with real tension and excitement.
Only in these scenes does it seem
our heroes have anything to
worry about. The fights are well
filmed and choreographed, and
the escape fa extremely well
done.
Unfortunately, the rest of the
film fails to come up to that stan
dard. What could’ve been an en
joyable action flick ends up as a
big disappointment.
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