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follow-up to the classic 79 film The
Muppet Movie. Go see it. (Tate)
The Parent Trap (PG) Disney con
tinues to perpetuate the belief in a
"happily ever after" in this ‘90s-
style remake of its own 1961 dys
functional family classic. Dennis
Quaid and Natasha Richardson play
the divorced parents of twins. (ML)
(Beechwood)
Saving Private Ryan (R)
Spielberg’s disturbing film depict
ing a very bloody D-Day at
Normandy and a small platoon's
search for a missing soldier behind
enemy lines. It's a shockingly real
istic film with extremely gory battle
scenes, tense, impersonal interac
tion between young and old sol
diers who deal with the horrors of
war in various ways, and a balance
of small human stories that biend
into one ciear message: war is a
horrible, horrible thing. Starring
Tom Hanks. Matt Damon and many
others. (Beechwood. Commerce
Drive-In)
Simon Birch (PG) See Movie Pick.
(Mall Inside)
Sliding Doors (R) Gwyneth Paltrow
stars in this entertaining British
romance about a young woman
who catches a train in one story,
but misses the train in the other.
The old "what if?" scenario is used
with positive results.
Recommended. (Alps)
Snake Eyes (R) Nicholas Cage and
Gary Sinise star in this convoluted
thriller from talented director Brian
DePalma. Despite some impressive
cinematic tricks and creative utiliza
tion of surveillance cameras, the
plot is wildly implausible :nd only
has one major twist. (Beechwood)
There’s Something About Mary (R)
While not quite as over-the-top as
thjir recent comedy Kingpin, this
Farrelly brothers romantic comedy
delivers big laughs. Ben Stiller stars
as the nerd who almost zips up a
high-school romance with Mary
(Cameron Diaz), but zips up some
thing else instead. Thirteen years
later, he hires a sleazy private eye
(Matt Dillon) to find Mary in Miami.
From there, things get yucky very
quickly. Co-starring Chris Elliot and
Jonathan Richman. (Beechwood,
Commerce Drive-In)
The Truman Show (PG) Jim Carrey
stars as the guy on TV in this bold
flick that attempts commentary on
our ’90s TV-obsessed culture.
Despite the daring concept, Carrey
almost ruins the serious tone with
his almost-annoying Carreyisms.
(Alps, Georgia Theatre)
Why Do Fools Fall In Love? (PG-
13) Larenz Tate stars as the ^Os
pop singer Frankie Lymon — a guy
who, for some reason, can’t stop
marrying women. His various
brides (Vivica A. Fox, Lela Rochon
and Halle Barry) are shocked to find
out the truth after Lymon’s untimely
passing, and battle over the spoils.
Weird film. Director Gregory Nava
improves on his hit-and-miss
Selena approach with a better cast
and story line. (Mall Inside)
MOVIE PICK
LITTLE WONDER
Simon Birch (PG) Early fall is down-time
in movieland, a lull in which we viewers are
treated to the most inane and boring of the
mid-year movie dregs.
This film, however, picks up the slack.
Simon Birch is a simple little film with a com
plicated spiritual theme, an amusing tear-
jerker with a dense underlying moral. Based
loosely on the novel A Prayer For Owen
Meany by American author John Irving, the
film follows two friends, Simon (played by
the remarkable newcomer Ian Michael Smith,
a three-foot-one-inch high 11-year-old
Chicagoan) and Jce (Joseph Mazzello of
Jurassic Park) through their twelfth year in
1964. The story is told in flashback by the
narrated voice of Joe as an adult (Jim Carrey,
who appears in the opening and closing
scene). As in the recent Sue's Bayou, vieweis
learn right away that the story ends in
tragedy: one
can only hope
that it is cou
pled with
some kind of
redemption or
resolution.
Simon, born
the smallest
baby in the
town’s history,
lives with his
impoverished,
unloving par
ents on the
edge of town.
Though they
regard him as
their “peculiar disappointment” and never
rare to take notice of his actions. Simon as
portrayed by Smith — with his strange voke,
odd posture, thick glasses and cumbersome
hearing aid — is immediately endearing.
Screenwriter/director Mark Steven
Johnson establishes a sentimental, sympa
thetic tone early in the film with scenes of
Simon’s early adolescence playing baseball,
joking around and ogling girls. The scenes in
which Simon interacts with his peers are
contrasted with many of the scenes involv
ing adults — most of whom fear or resent the
little guy: his indifferent parents we rarely
see, his bitter Sunday school teacher (played
to the hilt by “Saturday Night Live” vet Jan
Hooks), the by-the-book preacher at Joe’s
church (David Strathairn), Joe’s tight-lipped,
stem grandmother (Dana Ivey) and her old-
lady sidekick, Hildie (Beatrice Winde).
There are two significant adults who
embrace Simon, however —Joe’s beautiful,
single mother Rebecca (Ashley Judd of Kiss
The Girls), whom Simon regards as “the Mom
who smells the best,” and her portly new
boyfriend Ben (Bulworth's Oliver Platt).
These two see something in Simon that the
other adults seem to fear... his faith in both
God and the human spirit.
Although much of the story involves
Simon’s religious beliefs and run-ins with the
church, the film doesn’t simply crumble into
an infomercial promoting Christianity.
Instead, it gradually creates a unique oppor
tunity for viewers to consider their own feel
ings and beliefs about faith and destiny
while taking in what becomes at times an
incredibly sad story.
Much of Simon Birch is very amusing,
especially the interaction between Platt and
the two boys,
and between
the uptight
church folks
and the kids
(one hilarious
Christmas
pageant scene
came almost
straight out of
Parenthood).
Judd in particu
lar sparkles on
screen in her
performance as
Simon’s stand-
in mother. The
heartstrings are
pulled at a nice, even pace, too: you’ll find
yourself laughing at one moment and tearing
up moments later.
After a terrible accident involving Joe’s
mom, the film concentrates on both Simon’s
and Joe’s search for their individual purpos
es: Simon knows he’s destined to be a hero
while Joe becomes more obsessed with find
ing his real father (his mom never tells any
one the father’s identity). The two dilemmas
eventually collide in a surprising, if slightly
confusing conclusion.
Birch feels a bit like a holiday movie, with
a sort of Stand By Me or A Christmas Story
vibe, only thematically heavier. At a time
when the latest releases involve vampire
super-heroes and Hong Kong action dudes,
this film provides mu^h-needed spiritual
food for starving moviegoers.
Ballard Lesemann
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1120 Baxter St. • 354-1696
SEPTEMBER 9, 1998 FLAGPOLE 03