01 Page 8 - The Michigan Daily - Weekend etc. - October 29, 1992 A guide to mining your manners by Michael Thompson As relatively unknown as director John Sayles is,. he certainly takes on large themes in his films. "City of Hope" showed the slices of almost 30 lives while still paying attention to important themes of community and morality. Sayles' earlier film "Matewan" is no exception. Matewan (1987). Directed and written by John Sayles; with Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones and Mary McDonnell Set in a small mining town in the late 1800s, the film tells the story of the local citizens trying to challenge the mining establishment. However typical the story sounds, Sayles deliv- ers a powerful film filled with believ- able characters and situations. lie capi- talizes on the idiosyncrasies of all small towns rather than exploiting them like David Lynch tries to. The story begins with the arrival of union man Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper) who struggles to bring all the different workers together to form a union. Unfortunately too many of these people want to fight for what's right instead of working for it. The film features fine perfor- mances from a group of mostly un- known actors. Mary McDonnell shows promise in her pre-"Dances with Wolves" days. Chris Cooper is totally convincing as a man trying to change things through work rather than violence. University graduate James Earl Jones delivers a strong performance and director Sayles has an amusing cameo as a town preacher. All of the film's characters have lives of their own. Several characters are strong enough to be the subjects of their own movies, but Sayles never lets any one person dominate the screen. There is no one main charac- ter in this film, no specific good guy. But you know who to like and who to hate. Sayles takes on the problems of unions, unfair and unethical treatment of workers, racial tension and the price of violent solutions. But he never lets any event overshadow another. In fact, Sayles seems to cover all the possible angles. While not out to make any specific conclusions or all encompassing state- ment, Sayles' Matewan, along with Barbara Kopple's "Harlan County, USA," are two great stories of the people who fought for union rights. MATEWAN is playing in MLB Lec. Rm. 2 tonight at 7:30 p.m. *! "I know it was you Fredo!" Whoops, wrong DeNiro movie. Trust us, if you have to go see "Night and the City," just close your eyes and think, "Godfather." When bad films happen to good actors 11 -,, . I is ammoomm ME by Alison Levy Oh, the pain. A long string of Mary McDonnell is a tad sweaty perhaps, but awfully,good in "Matewan." bombs (most recently evidenced by "Candyman," "Under Siege" and "Consenting Adults") has caused people to speculate about the decline and fall of the film industry. Butnot to worry, I've figured the whole thing Night and the City Directed by Irwin Winkler; written by Richard Price; with Robert De Niro, Jessica Lange, and Alan King. out. We are not witnessing the extinc- tion of quality motion pictures, but the advent of a whole new genre: Films that Suck. "Night in the City" is no exception. Its terrible acting, weak plot, and slow pacing are sure to make it a classic in its category. Irwin Wirikler's remake of the little-known 1950 film revolves around Harry Fabian, a small-time ambulance-chaser and barfly who Pi Poon Continued from page 1 a review of "The House at Pooh Cor- ner" that "Whimsy-the-Pooh," and particularly the word "hummy" made her throw up. Well what can you expect from a woman who had sex with her date during a party because she was bored? It is really not surpris- ing that Pooh would not entertain her.. Another critic, Roger Sale, criti- cizes Milne and all of his characters in dreams of making it to the big time as a boxing promoter with fighters like Jeff "Moshe Dayan" Katz. But things go wrong when he has a hard time raising the cash and big time pro- moter Boom Boom Grossman is out to get him. Somewhere in there is the love story between Harry and the lo- cal bartender's wife Helen. Well, that's the plot, I think, but it doesn't really matter because you'll never get that far before needing a nap. One of the biggest mistakes was turning the project over to producer, oops, I mean director, Irwin Winkler ("Guilty by Suspicion"). After hav- ing done such a fine job producing films like "Raging Bull" and "GoodFellas," Winkler should have left the directing to Scorsese. But then again, Marty would never have di- rected this abysmal script. Since he doesn't have the real thing, Winkler attempts to imitate his mentor every once in a while and the results are annoying and obvious. There are a few clever cuts, but they are so few and far between that they scream "Scorsese-wanna-be!" The slow-paced editing enhances the bore- dom felt by the audience. Almost all of the shots are close-ups, but the scenes last forever. All genres have certain elements in common. In the Western it's guns, and in the musical, it's songs. One of the strongest motifs in the Films that Suck genre is good actors giving bad performances. In this case the honors go to Robert DeNiro ("Taxi Driver"), Jessica Lange ("Tootsie"), and Alan King. DeNiro's Harry isn't that bad, it's just that he's not great. And Lange as Helen is so fake with her New York accent and trashy waitress act that you want to slap her. Thank God in the film someone does. The relationship between the two princi- pals has about as much warmth as their relationship in "Cape Fear." And Alan King has a hard time pulling off the evil menacing role; I kept waiting I - " VCR AND ST1REO SERVICE " SPEAKER REPAIRS AND COMPONENTS " PIONO SERVICE AND NEEDLES CARTRIDGES *VCR CLEANING SPECIAL.- $22.50/ H I FI STUDIO USED DEPT. Audio-1 O's of items, VCRs, TVs, etcj Ancient ooh just is, but everywhe for him to -crack a joke. Another common thread in the Films that Suck genre is a weak and predictable screenplay. In this case it's a real disappointment and tragedy because the movie was penned by Richard Price ("Sea of Love," "Mad Dog and Glory"). None of the charac- ters or relationships are interesting or fully developed. There is a lot of unexploited comic potential but it is buried under a load of pointless plot garbage. Then again, Pricejust might be a brilliant pioneer in this emerging cinematic movement. Let's hope not. Only Regis Philbin's comic cameo and Tak Fujimoto's ("Silence of the Lambs") gritty cinematography lend any redeeming value to the film. I can only await the next entry in the ever- popular genre that is taking over the film industry. Pray for "Bram Stoker's Dracula." NIGHT AND THE CITY is playing at Showcase. re are intrigued by him, or grown ups who have not really grown up remi- niscing about days gone by, the fact is, for some reason he fascinates a lot of people and just makes a lot of others happy. As Hoff puts it in the "Tao of Pooh, "Pooh just is" and it seems that he will continue to be for a long, long time. CONVERSATION Continued from page 4 mumbled, you aren't going to hear it because you aren't supposed to. You and Harry have to wait until Coppola wants you to know what's going on. It's frustrating, but never tiring. "The Conversation" has some strong messages about privacy and paranoia, but Coppola manages to entertain you with these ideas, rather than cram them down your throat (see Stone, Oliver). Besides, it's a great way to satisfy your Coppola fix while waiting for "Bram Stoker's Dracula." Formula Health Conscious Foods - Health foods - Herbs . Vitamins s - Sports ." "- -Cosmetics , Books 1677 Plymouth Rd. - 665-7688 Located in the Courtyard Shops at North Campus Plaza "Fairy Tales and After: From Snow White to E.B. White" (1978). Sale himself admits that he loved the sto- ries as a child, but now finds them too disturbing, "I loved the Christopher Robin books, but find only intermit- tent pleasure in them now, and when they fail to cast their old magic spell, I am not just bored but offended." He suggests that the Winnie-the- Pooh stories are hierarchical, with nasty old Christopher Robin domi- nating Pooh and Piglet. He goes on to say that he now enjoys seeing Rabbit the "neofascist" get told what is what by Eeyore. Don't we all. These are very adult definitions and interpreta- tions placed on a children's story. Everyone seems to be in agree- ment about the success of Milne's stories as children's literature. The criticisms of Milne's stories, ironi- cally come out of adult interpreta- tions and expectations. Whether it is children who simply love Winnie-the-Pooh, or adults who RENTALS N~s {including big screens), camcorders, VCRs, sound systems 215 S. Ashley 1/2 black N. of Liberty Downtown 769-0342 pick-up and delivery available - / IF YOU'RE CONSIDERING GRADUATE OR PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL, MARK YOUR CALENDAR! 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