| OCR Text |
Show MOVIES Standard-Examuner ‘A Timeto Kill’ not oneof your subtler movies C) Big-screen version of Review Grisham novel shamelessh aimed at audience arousal > THE FILM: ‘A Timeto Kill > STARRING: Matthew By KENNETH TURAN McConaughey, Samuel L Jackson, Kevin Spacey, Sandra Los Angeles Times Bullock, Donald Sutherland, Patrick McGoohan, Brenda Fricker, Charlies S. Dutton, Oliver he movie version of John Grisham's “A | Timeto Kill” is as | unstoppable as a furious river at flood tide. Oblivious to niceties like subtlety, plausibility and diseretion, it rushes heedlessly toward its destination of audience arousal. Like a flood, the impactis undeniable - but it’s not something everyone will want to get in the way of. The story of a young Southern lawyer whodefends a black man accused of murdering the white rapists of his 10-year-old daughter, “A Timeto Kill” was Grisham’s first novel and byhis own admission camefrom the heart:'‘As such he demanded, and received, considerable input into the film version, and it washis idea to put Joel Schumacher in charge. Asthe director of Grisham's previous “The Client” as well as “Batman Forever” (both of them co-scripted by “Time” screenwriter Akiva Goldsman), Schumacher always has had a knack for popular filmmaking and a passion fortotal manipulation, but his go-for-the-jugular approach gets taken to newheights here. With full throttle as his cruising speed of choice, Schumacherdirects like nuance is a Capital offense. Nottrusting even the best-selling novel's instincts, Schumacher and screenwriter Goldsman, determined to squeeze the maximum possible impact out of situations, have madeseveral small but critical changes in the plot; including putting a key closing speech in a different charaecter’s mouth. It’s hard to think. of another director who could make Grisham’s pulp fiction look restrained by comparison, but Schumacher manages. Still, being anything but bemused at “A Timeto Kill’s” | Platt, Kiefer Sutherland > BEHIND THE SCENES: Directed by Joel Schumacher > PLAYING: Motor-Vu Drive-in (with “Multiplicity”), Movies 10 Riverdale 4, Walker Cinemas 4 > MPAA RATING: R (violence, language and adult situations) antics is as pointless as getting angryat an infant who misbehaves. While the director’s relish for pushing every button within reach is excessive, you have to shake your head and admire the jaw-dropping effrontery of the attempt. If nothing else, Schumacher’s love for unalloyed shamelessness is sincere and that gives “A Time to Kill” a core watchability that manyother commercial projects lack. Despite what you've been reading,it’s not Matthew McConaughey, the hunky young actor with a profile like a Roman coin, whois the key to “A Time to Kill’s” success. McConaughey does an impeccable movie-star turn as Jake Brigance, the most ambitious and talented attorney in tiny Canton, Miss., and doubtless has a lucrative career ahead of him, but in the acting department heis the runner-up. No. | with a bullet, so to speak, is Samuel L. Jackson as Carl Lee Hailey, the black lumberyard worker whose young daughter Tonya (Raeven Larrymore Kelly) is brutally raped in an opening scene that in its Own wayis as much an assault on the audienceas it is on the victim. Not onlyis the act itself wrenchingly presented, with the Perpetrators shown as unwashed, tattooed Southern Gothic hellhounds reeking of stereotypical menace, but Tonya’s innocenceis emphasized, in a way the book avoided, by showing her Chnstne Loss photo ‘A TIME TO KILL’: Jake Brigance( jatthew McConaughey, left) questions Cari Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackso in), who is accused of murder ng two racist thugs whoraped his daughter, in this dramatic thriller. delicately choosing eggs one at a time at the local grocery store just before the attack. As the distraught, outraged father who decides to take justice into his own hands (after first sounding out Brigance about representing him), Jackson brings an anguish and anintegrity to the role that no one else matches. His focus and intensity make even the most implausible speeches sound reasonable, and the film stops deadfor all the right reasons when he’s on the screen. Uncertain about the possibilities for a fair trial, even in the NewSouth, and overmatched by aggressive district attorney Rufus Buckley(a fine spit and polish performance, all cockiness and malevolent self-assurance, from Kevin Spacey), Brigance has numerous other worries. The National Association for theAdvancement of Colored People and the Ku Klux Klan are eager to use the upcoming trial for their own purposes and, closer to home, his Ole Miss wife Carla (an uncomfortable Ashley Judd), is unnerved by the pressures of the situation. Not overly daunted, Brigance pulls together an unorthodox “Seven Samurai”-type legal team led by his mentor Lucien Wilbanks (Donald Sutherland), a legal whiz nowboth drunk and decertified. Other members include cynical divorce lawyer and pal Harry Rex Vonner (Oliver Platt), legal secretary Ethel Twitty (Brenda Fricker) and, the most photogenic member of the group, whip-smart lawstudent Ellen Roark. Given that Roark is played by viewer-friendly Sandra Bullock, it’s not surprising that this role is considerably beefed up from the book, with Roark given a resume that would impress a Supreme Court justice. Even thoughit takes Brigance about two minutes to agree to employ her in the novel, the movie, typically looking for every opportunity to pull the audience's chain, has Brigancepla the tease, turning d own her offer to workfor free again and n for what seems like weeks even though there is not a smidgenof doubt about his decision. With a scenario predetermined enough tosatisfy John Calvin, “A Time to Kill” is most problematical when it thinksit is saying something significant. Not content with its ability to make audiences jump and shout, the film insists it’s exploring weighty issues like the right or wrong of Hailey’s act. That's one case even Brigance couldn't win. ‘Georgia’ been on your mind? Now you can watchit at home C] Filn starring Mare Winningham and JenniferJason Leigh hits video stores this week By JOE BALTAKE Scripps-McCiatchy Westem Service Here are capsule reviews of films scheduled for release on video this week: “Georgia” Ula Grosbard's country-western psychodrama about the sibling rivalry between a professional singer (best supporting actress Oscar nominee Mare Winningham, in the title role), whohas it all together, and her sister, Sadie Flood (Jennifer Jason Leigh), whous irresponsible and seemingly has notalent - at least not the conventional kind, (R) “The City of Lost Children” This dark fantasy from France offers a tale of a strange land's evil villain whotries to steal children’s dreams to prevent his own aging. Moviegoers who venture out to see this one will feel a little lost themselves. The movie is one of those films that warms us against the dire possibility of losing our imaginations and then it goes out and doesall of the fantasizing for us. Spoken in French with English subtitles. (R) “Jack & Sarah” Richard E. Grant is oddly but successfully cast as Jack, a full-time attorney forced to single-handedly raise his baby daughter in this heart-warming comedy with an edge. Grant provides that edge. Samantha Mathis plays an American and likely to disappear from your mind as soon as you see it, this is the kind of movie that was once a reliable, beloved Hollywood staple - the small human-interest drama. Cast against type as an oldItalian septuagenarian and hidden under what seems to be pounds of pancake makeup and gray, thinning hair, Pacinois paying homage here to screen father Marlon Brandoin “The Godfather.” (PG-13) “Unforgettable” Another “gimmick” thriller this one about the transference of memories from one personto another, a sort of low-rent waitress Grant hires to look after the child. (R) “Strange Days.” It’s been made by people (director John Dahl, stars Ray Liotta and Linda “Two Bits” James Foley directs Al Pacino in a Depression-eratale ofa lovable, feisty Philly grandpa whosets his grandson onthe right path in life. Sweet, slight Fiorentino) who obviously don’t buy this premise for a second. (R) Feb. 17. (PG-13) “Andersonville” Other videos scheduled for release this week: “America’s Dream” 1996. Directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan, Bill Duke and Paris Barclay. Starring Danny Glover, Tate Donovan, Wesley Snipes, Norman D. Golden II, Jasmine Guy, Bennet Guillory, Carl Lumbly and Susanna Thompson. Three 20-minute programsdepict the conflicts of a man whodiscovers his wife is having an affair, a small-town principal who faces jeopardizing his career if he stands behind a student's portrait of Christ as a black man, and a jazz pianist who must confront prejudices that have haunted her since childhood. Premiered on HBO 1996. Directed by John Frankenheimer. Starring Jarrod Emick, Frederic Forrest, Ted Marcoux, Tom Aldredge, Carmen Argenziano and Cliff DeYoung. A nearly three-hour dramatization of inhuman conditions experienced by prisoners of war at a Civil War prison camp. Premiered on the TNTcable network March 3. (not rated) “The Dogfighters” 1996. Directed by Barry Zetlin. Starring Robert Davi Alexander Godunov, Ben Gazzara and Lara Harris. An ex-Air Force pilot is recruited bs the CIA to help thwart a nuclear attack being mounted by a AL OPEN: Mon. Thurs, 11-10-30 p m.; Fi. 1) om.-1 am: Friday & Saturday re)he Rreels: Ome CRIThe EeeCees s o/ ae I Dianne Reeves ee Ue Bae SPSTEmsfdt CONTENDERS welcomes iit e te RAT CHARLES—legent 71 (all 155.4075 OBEY MCFERRIN 77 (af 15-4075 WEST S04 STORYSeptember |) 77 (a8 355 ANTS me S55 6 5 oe. UPS BAESERABLES |4-Septecnbor 7 (ail 355 ANTS TED MUGENT & BAD COMPANY |5 Col 447 TT sacs GearerteSector ? (all 155-0 eeRTANS Three misfit couples marooned on an oil rig discover a secret lab in which a hideous monster - who looks at them as food — was created. (R) A eeAe Le,keue ** BING IN TMS COUPON FOR* # #8 e8eee business. © Master Gandeners to answer yourgardening question's at the USU Botanical Ganden's-Ogden River Parkway. * CARES Children’s art work on sale at Botanical Ganden's. © Saturday entertainment at Botanical Garden's © Your donation gives at-risk children a safe, wholesome environment after school, through the CRRES program in local Ogden & Weber Elementary Schools. Ticket prices will be $3.00 each or 2 for $5.00. These will ill be sold at all Kar Kwik/Th Marts, USU Extension Fairgrounds, USU Extension Comme swing tolive Rockabilly Music a STV AMD KAMSAS—Aegest 2 (al 447 TOC Bradley and Ricco Ross. © Each yard sponsored by a localgarden store or landscape aoe CR aur ales aS arti eae oe from Salt Lake City Sesh | Starring C raig Fairbrass, Doug © Light beautifully landscaped yards. Peeae Ea BY offers 2 Giant Screen TVs plus 7 Other TVs to watch the Olympics. We have Darts, Pennie nitty “Proteus” 1996. Directed by Bob Keen, Come aud see some of Uorthern Utak"s best landscaped yards. Feast on a Juicy Picnmiiaaies great-grandmother’s dude ranch from being turned into a theme park by her greedy son. (Not August 2 & 3, 1996 Sal. Noan-t am Come In and Enjoy... reve which they try to save their OGDEU/WEBER CARES GARDEU TOUR ih fron rey ween 593-9052 Otis Rush Chris Duarte 1996; Directed Sy Stuart Margolin. Starring Mary-Kate Olsen, Ashley Olsen, Martin Mull and Michele Greene. The Olsen twins star in this 93-minute direct-to-video adventure in 1996 THE GATHERING PLACE 4 physicist. (R) “How the West Was Fun” NPC a Cool Of With Ogden River Parkway, USU Extension Angham City, localgarden Stores and the CARESoffice at 2444 Adams, room 207. Sponsors: The Amalgamated Sugar Co., Jack B. Parson s, Me Hospital, Dougias Interiors, Valley Nursery Ferry s Ni Sm Ganden s, Smitty s, Willand Bay Garden's & Planned Ow i} ‘ ' ; i: |
