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eve movle· news.· .movie news ... movie news There have been some complaints about my attacks on Tom Hanks and the multi Oscar winning movie Forrest Gump. Well tough.
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Stone's in trouble ' again. What for? Why, historical inaccuracy this time. His latest film Nixon has caused a bit of a storm in the States, not only is it a bum numbing three hours, but historians and friends of Nixon have been jumping up and down moaning at Stone. One person has come out with credit, and that's Welshman Tony Hopkins for his portrayal of Tricky Dicky. Do we hea.r Oscar calling? The latest club in Hollywood, which all the stars are trying to get into is the $20m movie club. Cu rrent members are Jim Carrey, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson , Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sly Stallone. The highest ranked females are Demi Moore and Julia Roberts on $12m , with poor ol' Johnny Depp on a meagre $5m - lower than even Charlie Sheen . Hey, movie moguls , what's going on? "We want the finest wines available to humanity", so said Richard E Grant in Withnai/ and /. To tie in with the tenth anniversary re-release , Odd bins are running various promotions to encourage you to take part in some of the best movie drinking games. If this classic has passed you by, then make up for that error - now! Top city cinema called , er, Cinema City will be showing Breakfast at , Tiffany's on Valentine's Day , for all you love birds out there . This top notch flick stars Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard in this tale of love, life and a ginger cat, and it's guaranteed to warm the cockles of your heart. So altogether now: "Moooon river, da de da de da .. ." '
And finally ... no sooner did The Event tip John Travolta and Emma Thompson for big things then it comes true! Both were winn ers at the Golden Globes, with Travolta winning the gong fo r comedy actor and Ems for t her screenplay of Sense and Sensibility. Good work fellas! Now, let's see if this will work: the next lottery numbers will be 3, 12, 26 , 31,
-~- 32 and 48 ... NESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1996
mere fifty films; three Oscars and ten nominations; countless other awards; bucket loads of critical acclaim; and a song by Bananarama, AI Pacino and Robert De Niro are two of Americas best-loved and most enduring 'great' screen actors . In careers spanning almost thirty years , they've enjoyed something very rare in cinema , both critical notoriety and popular attention . They've achieved this feat by proving their worth in typically bums on seats sorta genres. So where lies their success? Well , for one in thrillers erotic in the case of Pacino (The Sea of Love) , De Niro settling for psychotic (Cape Fear) . Comedy - the joke was on his critics when De Niro, not renowned for his comic appearances, turned up a brilliant performance in Scorsese's homage to Jerry Lewis, in the darkly funny King of Comedy and more recently in We 're No Angels , as an escaped convict trying to get across the Canadian border, disguised as a monk. The genre provided Pacino with two very different roles. On Oscar-winning form, in Scent of a Woman, playing a suicidal blind veteran, enjoying one last wild 'n' wicked
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weekend, having resolved to end it all military style; and virtually unrecognisable as mobster Big Boy, hamming it up in Dick Tracy. Which of course brings us onto the fami liar guise of the Gangster movie. Now here we 're talking a string of incredible performances , the likes of which include, GoodFelfas, The ~ Untouchables , Mean Streets, Scarface .. . of course, the Granddaddy of them all , The Godfather
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avoiding screen appearances together during The Godfather Part 1/, that the dynamic duo didn 't like each other. You would however, be sadly mistaken , since they've been long-time friends, finding 'brotherhood' in their ItalianAmerican origins . Both have been acclaimed for their 'method ' acting approach . In De Niro's case this may well have something to do with untold psychological damage caused through the childhood nickname 'Bobby Milk' (apparently due to his pale complexion). Born and raised in New York to rather 'a rty' parents , his father, an
abstract expressionist, his mother, a painter, De Niro studied at the 'Actors Studio'. Marrying Diahnne Abbot! in 1976, the relationship lasted only three years. Although some have interpreted his 'method' style as sheer "self-indulgence" and an opportunity to do some "weird accents", De Niro has only one thing to say, "lt's important not to indicate (not a reference to Taxi Driver). People don't try to show their feelings , they try to hide them." Just to prove this acting lark is profound stuff, De Niro set up the TriBeCa building in New York, home of his own production company, and consequently since 1989 has become a major player in film production . Pacino, is a fellow New Yorker, and also has a nickname, Sonny (presumably from his Godfather exploits) . Profound statements abound on this 'method ' acting business. According to AI , "lt's kinda like you put on a suit of some sort, and go into a box or something ... it's ephemeral, hard to figure ... ! don't get it." Hmm, okay! Anyway, despite working with the best in the industry, making reg ular appearances in De Palma and very regu lar appearances in Scorsese films, Pacino and De Niro have at times seemed like the terrible !winsome, making some decidedly dodgy films . Lets just say that with movies
Emma Thompson wouldn 't be in the Oscar-runn ings if Pacino or De Niro had played her leading man. Sense prevailed in their new movie. Heat is of a very different sensibility. Straight out of the Cagney/Bogart gangster movie tradition, De Niro plays cunning crook, Neil McCauley, ringleader of a ruthless and utterly professional gang whose speciality is the odd $12 million heist. Pacino (as good cop , Vincent Hanna) also heads an equally professional posse. Harbouring a grudging respect for his like-minded opposite, Hanna is less motivated by the increasing pile of corpses that line the trail , than the personal challenge McCauley offers. lt is from this friction that the heat emanates , and the screen promises to be electrifying when the actors finally clash in two all too brief scenes. Helped along by excellent direction from veteran Michael Mann (Manhunter, The Last ofthe Mohicans) and an intelligent script, the dueling duo have done it again. Providing a thought-provoking, but at the same time down right entertaining movie. Heat may well prove a little too hot to handle.
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