f706j 543-2516 • We Deliver! • Five Points
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WE OELIUER!
706-543-2516 •
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Tues. Sun. llnnwmtif
In Fabulous Five Points
Servine Greek and Italian Foods
1/2 OFF
ANV PIZZA
with purchase of any
•-bottle of wine!
(Offer expires 2/15/00)
ireir
The Beft Thing (join' Today!
Serving
Damn Good
lunch & Dinner
Dally
Brings You IHvfa
Every Wed. Night
from
York family. As he settles into “family"
life, he runs into trouble with the family
cat. Snowbeil (voiced by Nathan Lane).
Based on the children* book written by
E. B. White. (Beechwood. Carmike.
Commerce Drive-In)
SUPERNOVA (PG-13) James Spader.
Angela Bassett. Lou Diamond Phillips
and Vincent D’Onofrio star in this
familiar-looking “demonic’ sci-
fi/adventure flick from director Walter
Hill (Last Man Standing. (Carmike)
THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (R) A
visually stunning, Hitchcockian thriller
set in Italy during the 1950s that follows
a smooth but amoral impostor named
Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) as he slides
deeper into a cnminal career Director
Anthony Mingheila's (The English
Patient) attention to detail in the setting
creates an authentic feel and tone that
oftentimes contrast with the nightmarish
elements of the story. With Jude Law.
Gwyneth Paltrow. Philip Seymore
Hoffman and Cate Blanchett. Highly rec
ommended. (Beechwood Carmike)
TAXI DRIVER (R) 1976. Martin
Scorsese* tour de force of alienation
and urban catharsis. Robert DeNiro*
performance as the psychotic taxi driver
who tries to “save* a child prostitute is
unforgettable. With Jodie Foster. Harvey
Keitel. Peter Boyle, Cybill Shepherd and
Albert Brooks. (Tate)
THREE KINGS (R) Screenwriter and
director David 0. Russell* engrossing
war film settles into elements of drama
and black comedy that explore the hor-
rors of modem global warfare. This is a
surprisingly exciting and disturbing film
with serious political views that raises
important questions about the nature of
war. Starring George Clooney. Mark
Wahlberg, Ice Cube and Spike Jonze.
Highly recommended. (Mall Outside)
TOY STORY 2 (G) Disney* amazing,
all-computer animated follow-up to the
1995 hit. When Woody (voiced by Tom
Hanks) gets kidnapped by a greedy toy
collector. Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Tim
Allen) leads the toys on a rescue aoven-
ture down the street to the teg city. They
find Woody in the collector* office,
where he* kickin’ up dust with his long-
lost Round Up Gang. Expect some daz
zling animation, and fun one-liners
(Beechwood. Carmike)
Fill MR All Til TIME
ON BAIOWIN STREET ACROSS FROM DIA1AMERICA • 548-3442
TFE HURRICANE (R) Dilector Ncrman Jewison's
emotional biopic of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter,
the New Jersey middleweight boxer—played
with power and grace by Denzel Washington—
who spent nearly 20 years in prison for a triple
murder he didn't commit, is a strong film filled
with strong performances and strong notions
about hope, survival and self-worth. Based on
Carter's life story, the film is good intentioned,
but is concerned more with portraying grand tri
umphs and tragedies than with accuracy and
details.
The film was adapted (by the screenwriters
Armyan Bernstein and Dan Gordon) from two
books: Carter's 1974 prison autobiography, The
16th Round, and Sam Chaiton and Terry
Swintoris 1991 book, Lazarus And The Hurricane,
which describes Carter's relationship with Lesra
Martin (Vicellous Reon Shannon), a teen who
becomes an important ally after reading The
16th Round, dedicating himself to the boxer's
cause. The film attempts to tell these stories
(and five or six others) all at once. Fortunately,
Washington's and Shannon's amazing perfor
mances keep things on track enough to gradu
ally merge into an effective message.
Carter's story, told mostly in flashbacks,
depicts him as a gifted boxer who overcomes a
rough childhood in Patterson, NJ, in which ne
suffers abuse at the hands of his family and the
local authorities. His early run-ins with a racist
cop named Della Fesca (Dan Hedaya, still
wearing the same frown from his recent role in
Dick)—a villain who vows to "take his blade ass
down"—are particularly disturbing and sow
trouble for Carter at every turn in his adult life
After laying out the murky events sur
rounding the 1966 murders for which Carta was
framed, the film skips back and forth in Carter's
life. As a youth, he escapes from reform school,
joins the Army and ultimately learns the ait an**
discipline of boxing (a 1964 tide match is shown
in naturalistic black and white sequences closer
in resemblance to Raging Bull than, say, Rocky).
In the most effective scenes, Carter suffers
and battles tluough his situation in federal
prison where he refuses to wear prison clothing
and learns to separate himself mentally from his
condition. In one early scene, Carter is in isola
tion for 90 days and is portrayed as two dif
ferent personalities; one is violent and self
destructive and the other is determined and self-
disciplined. The "evil/good" opponents slug it
out in Carter's mind. At his worst. Carter
"doesn't even speak English, [he] speaks Hate."
In his clearest moments, he "transcends the
place that holds him."
Then young LesTa (Shannon) enters the pic
ture. The 15-year-old African-American boy
spends 25 cents to buy his first book, the auto
biography of the boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter.
As he reads it, he becomes determined to meet
the boxer and support his fight for freedom. He
enlists his Canadian foster family (Liev
Schreiber, John Hannah, Deborah K. Unger) to
help Carter, now in his 40s. They meet with him
and, despite Carter's objections (various sports
and musical celebrities and political activists
tried and failed in the years prior), they all move
near the New Jersey prison. They meet with his
lead defense attorneys (David Paymer and Harris
Yulin) and make it their mission to take the case
to the New Jersey Supreme Court (presided over
by an ominous judge played by Rod Steiger) in a
do-or-die strategy.
Despite the familiar set-up and clumsy story
telling in the final acts of the film, its core mes
sage successfully proffers ‘he power of human
connection, hope and redemption. Underneath
all the elevated literary ammunition and trap
pings of The Hurricane lies an absorbing story
about two people who might seem to be without
hope, but find it in each other.
Ballard Losamann
OF
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JANUARY 19, 2000 PLACPOLE IB
