The best performance, howev-
er, is from Joe Mantegna as De-
tective Sgt. Joe Denillo, a decent
cop who has seen too much sense-
less tragedy. Mategna's red-
rimmed eyes are like an open
wound, swollen with sorrow for
victims and pity for the handcuffs
on the system.
It's ironic that the feds in this
film spend more time and mon-

ey on surveillance of a vigilante
group, which offers services for
bereaved parents seeking justice
outside the law, than they do tail-
ing repeat offenders.
Isn't it ludicrous that Field can
effortlessly track down and tail
Sutherland as he stalks his next
victim? Isn't it redundant that
Doob uses scare tactics right out
of Fatal Attraction, including

menacing the younger daughter,
threatening Field and breaking
into the family home one too
many times? Hopefully, there
won't be a sequel, but if there is,
you can be sure the title will be
A Tooth for a Tooth.

0 5,

4

1

/2

—Dick Rockwell

'12 Monkeys'

Rated R

meets psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn thence. Distinguishing the year
Rainy (Madeleine Stowe) and one and location becomes difficult.
ruce Willis is back in action of her patients, Jeffrey
Even more confusing is the
once again, and this time Goines (Brad Pitt).
raspy-voiced old man who
MOVIES
the future of all hu- Based on his absurd
guides Cole, and Dr. Rail-
mankind is in his hands. claims, Cole is diagnosed
ly's adaniant belief that she
In December 1996, a mysterious a madman by Dr. Railly. Howev- somehow knows Cole from her
virus wipes out 99 percent of the er, as their relationship grows past. Cole eventually begins to
world's population, leaving be- and parts of the mystery start to question his own sanity, trying to
hind a desolate planet. The year come together, Dr. Railly begins decipher fantasy from reality.
is now 2035, and the remaining to wonder if Cole's prediction of
The acting in this film is su-
1 percent of the
perb. Brad Pitt does a
world's inhabitants
fabulous job with an
are forced to leave the
atypical role, and the
earth's surface behind
Stowe-Willis duo will
for a murky under-
also impress the audi-
ground world; their
ence with their corn-
plex characters. In
only hope for survival
is to use time travel as
addition, smaller roles,
means to reshape his-
played by Frank Gor-
tory.
shin and Christopher
Willis stars in this
Plummer, add mature
sci-fi thriller as James
talent to the screen.
Cole, the time travel-
The magnificent set-
er whose mission is to
tings, such as the de-
gather information re-
caying Philadelphia,
garding the eradica-
also add to the movie's
tion of the human
appeal. Science fiction,
race. He embarks on
action, love and
the dangerous mis- Brad Pitt (right) is the son of a renowned scientist whose
tragedy combine in one
sion not only to help involvement with 12 monkeys may provide Bruce Willis with clues
drama to make 12
himself and the sur- that could reverse mankind's future.
Monkeys a success. The
vivors, but also to
suspenseful; surprise
solve a mystery of his own — an apocalypse may actually be ending will leave the audience
flashes of a recurring childhood near.
speculating long afterward. This
memory, somehow connected
Throughout the rest of the film, movie is indeed puzzling. It will
with the whole catastrophe, are Cole travels back and forth be- make you want to see it again to
constantly torturing him.
tween the 20th and 21st cen- piece everything together.
In the beginning, Cole is acci- turies, spending most of his
dently sent back to the wrong journeys in Baltimore and
time — a few years before the Philadelphia. Much of the time-
—Erin R. Schwartz
1996 catastrophe — where he traveling is confusing to the au-

13

'Dead Man Walking'

m

urder, rape, execution,
hatred and revenge.
These are not topics
that make for an es-
capist evening at the theater. If
you are looking for light-hearted
entertainment, don't include
Dead Man Walking on your list
of films to see. This is a dark, dis-
turbing movie.
Based on a novel by Sister He-
len Prejean, Dead Man Walking
tells the story of a nun (Susan
Sarandon) who becomes spiritu-

showing the killer a lit-
al adviser to death-row in-
mate Matthew Poncelet
tle compassion.
MOVIES
(Sean Penn) as his execu-
What ensues is a
study in faith-crisis man-
tion date nears.
Approaching the task with agement, with Sister Helen grop-
undefined expectations, Sister ing and grasping along, like
Helen finds herself in a crossfire someone in a blackout, certain
of turbulent emotions, and she that a flashlight must be nearby.
learns how complicated spiritu-
Both Sarandon and Penn give
al faith can be. Not only must compelling, textured perfor-
she deal with the desolate void mances, gradually exposing the
in her befriended killer's soul, a mounting anguish in their char-
hole that seems to go all the way acters as Poncelet's judgement
to China, but she must also cope day draws closer. Director Tim
with the anger that his victims' Robbins effectively uses a
families direct toward her for straightforward style, mostly al-

Sean Penn is death-row inmate Matthew Poncelet.

lowing the subject matter to car-
ry the freight, unfettered by tech-
nique. There are some occasional
lapses into forced symbolism near
the end of the film, but these in-
stances are minimal and hardly
distract from the tension of the
moment.
The film is also aided by an un-
derstated, downbeat soundtrack,
including contributions by Bruce
Springsteen, Ry Cooder and Ed-
die Vedder. The soundtrack
works well, reflecting mood, in-
stead of manipulating it

Although Robbins probably in-
tended Dead Man Walking to be
a statement against capital pun-
ishment, it really isn't a message
movie. It shows that brutal vio-
lence can affect more than just
murderer and victim; and that,
in the aftermath, with or without
capital punishment as a solution,
there are no winners or easy an-
swers.
..Z*.

— Richard Halprin

Album Review

QUINCY JONES: Q's Jook
Joint (Q WestAVarner Bros.)
Quincy Jones shoots big. When
he and Michael Jackson made
Thriller, they had every intention
for it to become the top-sell-
ing album of all time. They
even tried to top it a few
years later with Bad.
Jones' last effort, 1989's Back on
the Block, won multiple Gram-
mys for its sweeping survey of
black American music. Now, on
Q's Jook Joint, he tries to_convey
the spirit of the drinking and so-
cial clubs that popped up in rur-
al America after the Civil War.
It's a high-minded concept
that's definitely more about that
spirit than musical authenticity.
There's a bit of jook joint brass
and blues here — as well as songs
_made famous by Duke Ellington
and Louis Jordan — but there's
lots of hip-hop and synthesizers,
too. Jones also assembles anoth-
er of his awesome all-star casts,
a gamut of talent that the pro-
ducer forms into head-spinning
combinations: Stevie Wonder,
Ray Charles and Bono on Jor-
dan's "Let the Good Times Roll,"
for instance; or rappers Tone Loc
and Queen Latifah with jazz
great Nancy Wilson on "Cool Joe,

Mean Joe (Killer Joe)." Shaquille
O'Neal and Marlon Brando pop
up on the album, too; talk about
shooting really big.
This joint has its contemporary
edge, too, with a new R.
Kelly song ("Heaven's
Girl"), a new version of
Jackson's hit "Rock With
You", — Brandy sings, Heavy D
raps — and the pounding,
polyrhythmic "Stomp," inspired
by the theater piece of the same
name. We haven't even begun to
mention the instrumentalists —
Joshua Redman, Jerry Hey and
James Moody, to drop a few
names. Suffice it to say that Q's
Jook Joint is one hot spot that's
worth hanging in 'til last call.

csoi

— Gary Graff

Bagel Barometer
Outstanding
ck) ct
,
Very Good
10()

Good

Fair

og