10 -The Michigan Daily - Monday, October 10, 1994
Stallone, Stone specialize in disaster
EVERY DOG HAS HER DAY
By PRASHANT TAMASKAR
What do you get when you com-
bie Sylvester Stallone and Sharon
Stone? Plenty of gratuitous action,
sex and several bare chests. Oh yeah,
you also get a terrible movie. At least
this is the case with "The Specialist,"
a film in which the premiere explo-
sion literally occurs within the opening
30 seconds of the movie and the first
nude shot a short time later.
The film begins with explosives
experts Ray Quick (Stallone) and Ned
Trent (James Woods) executing a CIA
mission that requires them to elimi-
nate a Colombian drug lord. Quick
realizes an innocentchild may bekilled
in the explosion and attempts to abort,
but Trent interferes. Their paths cross
several years later when Quick is hired
by May Munro (Stone) to help kill the
men who slew her parents. Although
D
Specialist
by Luis Losa;
with Sylvester
Stallone and
Sharon Stone.
he is, of course, a truly sensitive indi-
vidual who does not enjoy murder,
Quick is persuaded by the alluring
Munro to do the job. Trent, seeking
revenge against Quick, further compli-
cates the situation by also striking a
deal with May. When a love interest
amazingly develops between the two
big stars, we are left on the edge of our
seats, pondering what could possibly
happen next.
Of the dialogue, acting or direc-
tion, it's really hard to say what was
the worst part of the movie. The con-
versations between the characters are
simple, awkward, and rather idiotic.
It's difficult to believe that this script
was actually written by an educated
adult. It's equally difficult to believe
that the actors are considered to be
well-known professionals.
Stallone is his usual post-Rambo
self, calmly destroying everything in
his path. Stone cunningly teases her
male counterparts into submission.
Unfortunately, especially for the hero-
ine of a movie, she manages to alien-
ate the audience to the point that we
almost end up rooting against her.
Sadly, a horrible job of casting
was done in placing the very Ameri-
can Rod Steiger and Eric Roberts in
the roles of the father and son of a
Cuban-American crime family.
Steiger struggles immensely with his
accent, creating a laughable Cuban-
Italian-American dialect. At one point
he even refers to his Cuban son Tomas
as Thomas.
Roberts, while more convincing
than his fictional father, is too much
like an Eric or Thomas than an Enrique
or Tomas. With casting like this, it's
nearly impossible to take this movie
seriously.
Apparently, "The Specialist" at-
tempts to have a more complex plot
than other recent Stallone films, such
as "Demolition Man." While the
After her summer flop "Lassie," Lassie tried her paw at direction. The
result? Stallone and Stone's "The Specialist." On the strength of this effort,
she signed a deal to direct Jean-Claude Van Damme's next three flicks. She
is also shopping a sequel to "Reservoir Dogs," but Quentin Tarantino
refuses to return her calls. Hollywood has indeed gone to the dogs.
storyline does take several twists that
aren't necessarily predictable, they
simply do not work. In fact, they
merely augment the overall absurdity
of the movie.
Add to that an absolutely tasteless
scene involving a mixed-up funeral
and it's hard to find any redeeming
attributes at all. Then again, consider-
ing the overall quality of the more
recent works of Stallone and Stone
("Sliver," "Cliffhanger," and "Inter-
section") what else could you possi-
bly expect?,
THE SPECIALIST is playing at
Briarwood
The most eagerly-awaited sex scene since Harvey Keitel in "The Piano."
'Only You' searches for romance, discovers a cheese puff
V
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By FRED RICE
In attempting to recreate the senti-
ments of an old romantic comedy,
"Only You" searches for all the charm,
wit and enthusiasm that made some-
thing like "Roman Holiday" pleasantly
tolerable. Yet, it discovers nothing,
choosing to advertise Italy instead.
This cheese puff begins with Faith
(Marisa Tomei) fleeing her boring fi-
ancee - a podiatrist naturally -to go
find her soul mate in Italy. She has
dreamed about him since childhood,
having received his name, Damon Bra-
dley, from a Ouija board. She brings
Kate, who is stuck in a bad marriage to
Faith's brother. They search for ro-
mance and adventure. They find an
American shoes salesman and an Ital-
ian playboy. They
become happy,
become sad, and
become happy
again.
Perhaps melo- Direc
dramas like this Jewiso
call on their per-T
formers to over- / T
act a little, but
Marisa Tomei ap-
pears to have an allergic reaction to the
movie camera. Her excessive facial
contortions tend to suggest that she is
about to sneeze,
rather than look
distraught or up-
. vset.
only You
cted by Norman
,on; with Marisa
)mei and Robert
Downey Jr.
She might
have won an
Academy award,
but that was for a
comic perfor-
manceasabimbo.
This role calls for
I
Have a voice in Uof MPolitics
Run for office
Michigan Student Assembly Elections
held this November 16th & 17th
something more serious. What keeps
her going here are her drop-dead gor-
geous looks. Norman Jewison must
have been aware of her features. Look
out for the most gratuitous lingerie shot
since Janet Leigh in "Psycho."
Jewison must have been a little bit
confused when he started directing this
movie. His previous film, "Moon-
struck" was much more enjoyable. Yet
he references it with perpetual shots of
the moon on the horizon. In "Only
You," instead of developing interest-
ing scenes and ideas, he pays too much
attention to banalities.
Two extremely long montages of
Venice and Rome as well as shots of
Perhaps melodramas
like this call on their
performers to overact a
little, but Marisa Tomel
appears to have an
allergic reaction to the
movie camera.
mountains and the countryside indi-
cate that Jewison was a bit too happy to
be shooting in Italy. He, wound up
making a movie that resembles a tour-
ism commercial.
Jewison didn'texactly have the best
material to work from. Diane Drake's
script emphasizes the obvious. Her
characters plug the names of the restau-
rants and hotels that they pass through.
Kate (Bonnie Hunt) remembers all of
the celebrities who visited the same
locations from "Lifestyles of the Rich
and Famous." All of this fits well with
Jewison's tourism conspiracy.
The noteworthy attempts at acting
by Bonnie Hunt and Robert Downey
Jr., as Marisa Tomei's potential love
interest, can't stand up against the neg-
ligent writing and direction. However,
Billy Zane pulls off an amazing feat as
Damon Bradley, combining the heart
throb appeal of Fabio with the surfer
personality of Keanu Reeves and pro-
viding the movie with it's only truly
funny moments.
Save your bucks for the truly inter-
esting films premiering this fall. You
can find cheap romantic entertainment
like this on TV.
ONLY YOU is playing at Briarwood
and Showcase.
Y;
,
MSA Representatives In:
Business I LS&A 8
Dentistry I Medicine I
Education I Music I
Engineering 3 Public Health I
Kinesiology I Rackham 4
Social Work I
Y
Marisa Tomei, shown here in "The Paper," gets sentimental in "Only You."
'I
STOP BY THE MSA OFFICES
ON WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 12th
AT 3909 MICHIGAN UNION FOR AN ELECTION PACKET.
EVERYBODY IS ELIGIBLE
FILING DEADLINE IS 5:00 PM, OCTOBER 26TH
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Cor
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UAC's Soundstage Welcomes
TORI
AMOS
UNDER THE PINK TOUR
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For all you love-sick puppies-
SWEETEST DAY IS APPROACHING!
But this year, forget the flowers, the candy, the
card, the expensive & crowded restaurant.
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