eIN Entertainment

'Jack'

'Escape from L.A.'

sheltered from the world by his first proposed in Dead Poets So-
well-meaning, protective par- ciety, seizing the day.
ents. In their loving home, filled
Now, who should see this fun-
ack be nimble. Jack be with all the amenities, Jack ny, predictable, semi-sappy but
quick. Jack's too big to is tutored by Mr. Woodruff cute movie? Ten-year-olds and
jump over the schtick.
(Bill Cosby). But it isn't good older, absolutely (boys, espe-
But, if you're Robin enough.
cially); people still wanting to be
Williams, you can get away with
10 years old; parents and kids
"It's not fair to let a whole life
just about anything — and he pass him by," Jack's tu-
together, so that par-
does just that as the title char- tor urges the Powells in
ents can truly validate
acter in Hollywood Pictures' his Jello Pudding Pop
that, yes, kids do the
Jack.
darnedest things (pay
mentor-kind of way.
On a wild Halloween night, "Mom, am I a giant?"
particular attention to
Karen Powell goes into prema- asks Jack. "Is that why
Robin Williams and his
ture — or so she thinks — labor, I don't go to school?"
new buddies in a clas-
and Jack is born. But while Jack
sic male-bonding tree-
Fifth grade: the real
may be early calendar-wise, he world. "Ordinary" kids.
house
scene); and
JULIE YOLLES
pops out as a full 9-month-old And what ordinary kids
anybody else who
AR TS &
shayna punim. Diagnosed with do to unordinary people
wants to be inspired to
ENTERT AINMENT
an aging disorder (similar to — especially hairy, shav-
be a fulfilled, better
ED ITOR
real-life progeria, Werner's syn- ing, 6-foot titans. Oh no.
person.
drome or agrogeria), but purely
Francis Ford Coppo-
What follows is a hu-
fictitious for the film (this
morous and touching ex- la directs an A-plus ensemble. As
is a kid flick, after all),
ploration of human Jack, Robin Williams gives a very
MOVIES
Jack will physically grow
character and emotions: believable, moving and not-as-
four times faster than his
fitting in; being accepted frenetic-as-usual performance.
actual age.
and loved; living life to the The fifth-graders act like, well,
Flash forward. We now find fullest; appreciating what you fifth-graders are supposed to —
the 10-year-old Jack, looking like have; and, as Robin Williams but each with clever, distinct per-
a 40-year-old Robin Williams,
sonalities. Of partic-
ular note, making
his film debut, is
Adam Zolotin, who
plays Louis, the
tough but vulnerable
boy who first be-
friends Jack.
In her trademark
whiny way, Fran
Drescher delivers
some scene-stealing
funny and poignant
moments as Louis'
mom. Jennifer Lopez
as Jack's fifth-grade
teacher captures
schoolroom and stu-
dent dynamics per-
fectly. And, lastly,
pulling off being
Robin Williams' par-
ents while keeping
straight faces, Diane
Lane and Brian
Kerwin are just the
way parents ought to
be.
Jack should pro-
vide a giant warm
and fuzzy in your
heart. Or, if nothing
else, give new mean-
ing to, "Kids, don't
try this at home."

Rated R

Rated PG-13

PHOTO BY MERRICK MORTON

-

PHOTO BY R OBERT ZUCKERMAN

PHOTO BY MIRAMAX FILMS

uses Los Angeles' tourist attrac-
tions as a demolished theme park
n Escape from L.A. , legendary for Snake to play in. Snake takes
one-eyed outlaw Snake a one-man submarine ride
Plissken (Kurt Russell) gets a through the San Fernando "Sea"
new wardrobe — black noir to L.A. Island. Snake surfs a
leather — and a new impossible tsunami wave through Wilshire
mission.
"Boulevard" with Pipeline
The president's daugh-
(Peter Fonda). Snake
MOVIES
ter, Utopia (A.J. Langer),
checks into the Surgeon
has been brainwashed by an in- General's new clinic at the Bev-
sidious virtual reality program. erly Hills Hotel. All these earth-
Under the hypnotic in-
fluence of imprisoned
revolutionary Cuervo
Jones (George Cor-
raface), she steals a
mysterious black box
that controls a squadron
of satellites that can
globally shut down tech-
nology.
It's the year 2013,
and a new political and
religiously right regime,
headed by a God-fear-
ing, morally bankrupt
president (Cliff Robert-
son), has gained power
in the good old United
States. Except, this new
president's main task is
to serve as warden-in-
chief, imprisoning ordi-
nary citizens for
criminal (read "im-
moral") acts like smok-
ing, eating red meat,
exercising freedom of re- First, he escaped from New York in 1981; now Kurt
ligion, or entering into Russell reprises his role of Snake Plissken, the
an unapproved mar- outlaw biker, in Paramount Pictures' new film that he
riage. Snake, its safe to also co-wrote and produced.
say, voted the other
ticket.
quake-distressed locations are
Fortuitously, a perfect deten- vividly imagined by the produc-
tion center has been created by tion designer, Lawrence G. Paull.
a natural disaster. You see, the
But John Carpenter's tepid re-
mother of all earthquakes has tread Escape from L.A. lacks bite.
rocked Los Angeles' block off. Ly- His alienated hero does little
ing off the coast of California, more than saunter through LA's
there now sits Los Angeles Is- desolate, rubble-strewn land-
land, new home for the morally scape. If scenery can substitute
wretched, walled off and guard- for story, then we've been sold a
ed by the American Police Force. bottle of Snake oil.
Guess where Utopia is head-
ed with the black box? That's
right — L.A. Island. But as luck
—Dick Rockwell
would have it, the morality po-
lice just happened to capture
Snake Plissken. The president
wants the black box back at any
cost. "What about your daugh-
Outstanding
ter?" Snake asks him. "Kill her,"
snarls our moral leader. So
Very Good
much for character delineation.
'c*-)
If you want to see a big-screen
Good
comic book, Escape From L.A. suc- ®
ceeds as a retooled version, not a
Fair
sequel, of the 1981 cult hit Escape

I

j

Robin Williams brings
out the child in all of us.

from New York. Escape from LA

Bagel Barometer

95

