ARTS
Monday, December 2, 1985
The Michigan Daily
Page 7
'Dancers and detectives deck the halls
By Seth Flicker
T he closing of the Thanksgiving
season not only serves to ring in
Christmas cheer but also rings in the
new holiday movies. The holiday
season proves most profitable and
because of this the film companies are
exposing a myriad of "new and ex-
c0ng" films to capture viewer in-
terest.
Two of the most promising films are
produced by none other than Steven
Spielberg. Young Sherlock Holmes,
Vjjjch opens December 13th, is direc-
ted by Barry Levinson (The Natural).
Set in London, the film deals with
Holmes and Watson, played by
Nicolas Rowe and Alan Cox, as
children uncovering their first caper.
When some elderly Londoners, in-
Oiuding one of their professors, are
murdered, the duo attempts to unravel
the mystery with help of the
professor's niece, played by Sophia
Ward.
The Color Purple, which opens
6ecember 20, is not only produced by
also directed by Spielberg. Funny-
lady-turned-serious-actress Whoopi
Goldberg and Danny Glover (Places in
the Heart) star as Celie and "Mr." in
the film rendition of Alice Walkers
Pulitzer prize winning novel. It deals
with Celie, a mistreated and op-
pressed woman living in Georgia in
the early 1900's, who, through letters
to God or her sister, Nettie, expresses
her abuse. It is not until Shug
Margaret Avery), a lusty blues
singer, enters Celie's life, that Celie
starts to realize and relieve her op-
pression.
=*I began reading The Color Purple
c ually," Spielberg said, "and I
couldn't put it down, .I got angry, I
laughed, then I cried. I want the
audience to feel every color in Celie's
rainbow; the rainbow she makes for
herself and dives into headfirst."
The holiday movie season also
brings back a couple of sequels.
R*cky IV, which opened November
*th, is the latest movie in this
s' emingly unending series. Eight
y ears after Rocky entered the silver
screen, he has to face his most dif-
ficult opponent: Ivan Drago. Drago is
a; world heavyweight amateur cham-
pion from the USSR. "My name is
Dgrago," he says with a heavy Russian
December, has an all-star cast which
includes Eileen Brennen, Madeline
Kahn, Martin Mull, Christopher
Lloyd, Tim Curry and Michael
McKean and is directed by Jonathon
Lynn. The movie is based loosely on.
the popular board game.
REVOLUTION, which stars Al
Pacino, Nastassja Kinski and Donald
Sutherland, is directed by Hugh Hud-
son (Chariots of Fire). The historical
dramatization deals with the signing
of the Declaration of Independence
with an underlying theme of a father-
son relationship.
ted by Taylor Hackford (An Officer
and a Gentleman).
"I am interested in digging deep,"
said Hackford, "I want to make films
abut real people, working people. I
want audiences to get excited about
seeing characters representative of
themselves."
What movie season would not be
complete without a real Christmas
film. Santa Claus: The Movie stars
Dudley Moore as an elf and John
Lithgow and is directed by Jeannot
Szwarc (Jaws II, Somewhere in
Time).
According to Szwarc, "This film is a
deliberate attempt to get away from
the typical high adventure film.
There is no cruelty, no sadism or
cheap tricks. What there is in Santa
Claus: The Movie is emotion, heart,
pathos and humor."
This is only a partial list of all that is
opening this holiday season and it
looks to be a promising one. So
whether you're a movie buff, a fan, or
just plain bored, take in a movie
you can't go wrong.
Enemy Mine, which looks to be
very successful, opens December
11th. The time is 100 years from now
and the United State's new enemy is a
planet named Dracon. Dennis Quaid
plays the earth pilot who crashes on a
deserted planet. Tension rises when
Lou Gossett, an alien "Drac" also
crashes on the planet. The two
enemies learn about hatred,
prejudice, war but most of all, each
other.
Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling is
written, directed, produced and stars
Richard Pryor. It is essentially an
autobiographical story about a
comedian who almost loses his life to
a drug-related accident. It opens
December 13th.
Meryl Streep and Robert Redford
star in Out of Africa. It is a Danish
writer's account of her life on a
Kenyan coffee farm. Streep stars as
Karen Blixen, the Danish writer who
moved to Kenya in 1914 to work with
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Santa Claus (David Huddleston) does his best to convince Joe (Christian
Fitzpatrick) that Christmas will come after all.
accent, "I cannot be defeated." Can
Itocky ever win?
Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas
and Danny DeVito recreate their roles
from Romancing the Stone for the
new film Jewel of the Nile, opening
December 18. This time Joan Wilder,
novelist, and Jack Colton, adventurer,
m~ake their way to a nameless North
African country in seach of yet
another jewel.
* The season also brins two film
her cousin on the farm. Blixen grows
to love the people and the land of
Kenya and remains there for over 10
years. Redford plays Denys Finch
Hatton, Blixen's lover. The director is
Sydney Pollack (Tootsie, Absence of
Malice). Out of Africa opens Decem-
ber 22nd.
White Nights, which opened
November 27th, stars Mikhail
Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines as
Rrn-in afnsrc Tha film..irr
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