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8DTHOmnibusThursday, April 6, 1989 Movie Review '1969' tells pathetic story of By RICHARD S&I1TH Staff writer . We lived 1969; now we can go see the movie. And if that sounds trite, its only an honest response to 1SS9, a trite film if ever there was one. Though 1969 was only 20 years ago, and we are still living the consequences of the "605, writer director Ernest Thompson moves the year so far away from us that the events in the film look like they could have happened during the Stone Age. Thompson makes the film seem removed and distant. It has no vitality and nothing to say to us here in 1989. The story concerns two college students, Scotty and Ralph (KJefer Sutherland and Robert Downey Jr. respectively), who have gone to college to avoid the draft. How Bad movies: Watch them, but don't tell your friends By AKD2EW LAWLER Staff Writer The Oscars have come and gone, celebrating the best in movies. Yet each year some of the most enjoyable movies are sadly ignored just because they have no class. Movies that aim for little more than fun are usually dismissed by the critics and often flop because of this. Yet the VCR allows us to resurrect these films and revel in their silliness. Here's a list of guilty 5 PYEWACKET RESTAURANT CONTINENTAL CUISINE IKAirRINCJ: Chilled Seafood h'rcsb Vast a International Specials VJenant Desserts 929-0297 THE COURTYARD CHAPEL in ever, Ralph is more intent on dabbling with the latest drugs than doing his homework, and flunks out, thus making himself eligible for the draft. Scotty's brother AJden, meanwhile, with whom he does not exactly share a cordial relationship even though Alden has given Scotty his car, has already enlisted and is already missing in action. The difficulty is in pinning down Scotty's and Ralph's characters. Ralph does drugs and Scotty is dying to get laid before he's 20. These things seem to matter more to them than the war or even their relationships with their parents. Everyone over the age of 30 walks around in this film with pained expressions on their faces, no one more than Bruce Dem, Scotty's father. Why are they all pleasures made for staying home with some pals and having fun. 1. "Bachelor Party" "Bachelor Party" is the quintes sential overdosing donkey movie. Tom Hanks is getting married and his pals (Adrian zmed and Michael Dudikoff of "American Ninja" fame) throw him a raucous, raunchy bachelor party complete "with chicks and guns and fire trucks." This is a tasteless romp chock-full of intoxicant and pharmaceutical irresponsibility, it is a classic party movie. 2. "Big Trouble in Little China" imagine if John Wayne had stumbled into a kung-fu movie. This hilarious satire of adventure flicks stars Kurt Russell as a trucker who stumbles into a mess of magic and martial arts in San Francisco's Chinatown. Great characters and special effects make this well worth renting. This film is not only funny, but is without question the best karate movie since "Enter the Dragon." The fights are wonders to watch and are free from gore. 3"Weird Science Two genius kids create Kelly Le CHJN65E RESmORAm' W. 790 Airport Road - "&FREE EGG ROLLS TUESDAY & THURSDAY FREE CHICKEN WINGS WEDNESDAY with Lunch Specials Cantonese Dim Sum Brunch Sat. & Sun. Only, 12 noon-z:30 pm OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK Weekly Dinner Specials! CALL 967-6133 for Reservations and Take-Out so miserable? Probably because they just read the script. There are things to like: a mov ing scene when Alden's mother shouts across the highway to her departing son, "Dont die," and a scene showing Scotty passing Vietnam-bound troops on his way to Canada to avoid the draft. But it's not enough. Mostly its just 60s music and a plethora of unnecessary images of the decade thrown in for the hell of it. Scotty, completely by chance, runs into a nudist colony on the beach; a small protest rally at school turns inex plicably violent; leading figures of the decade are discussed in mean ingless conversations (Scotty's "Cool Cats" include The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Kurt Vonnegut and the Kennedys); a poster from "The Brock (honest!) and are taken on the ride of their lives. Not only do they get to hang around with Le Brock, but they drive fast cars, turn bullies into slugs and save their true loves from intergalactic bad guys in front of the entire school. This is a brilliant movie that manages to fulfill just about every adolescent male fantasy in exist ence. John Hughes doesnt miss a trick in this, his best film. 4."Commando" This is classic Arnold. Schwarz enegger plays a retired com mando whose daughter is kid napped by Latin American bad guys who try to force him to kill a liberal leader. This has all the action we've come to expect from Mr. S, plus humor. Those who saw "Twins" were probably amazed that Schwarzenegger could be funny, yet his comic talent has been evident in all his films, espe cially "Commando." This Is one of the best fusions of action and quips ever made and boasts a strong performance by Rae Dawn Chong to boot 5."Caddyshack" next to Save-A-Center VISA college students Graduate" on Scotty's wall, a theater showing "Easy Rider" and "True Grit," which only give the audience examples by which to measure the nonsense they are watching. it emerges through all this junk that director Thompson, through Scotty, is asking the question, "What is freedom?" At first, his answer is naive and pathetic hitchhiking, having a good time, getting laid, etc But by the end of the movie, when his best friend has been arrested for trying to steal his draft papers from the town hall, when his brother has been located and found dead, when he has seen his father playing around with his best friend's mother, when he finally gets laid, Scotty's staggering reply to Thompson's question is that The funniest golf 'n' gopher movie ever made. The movie is a typical class-conflict country-club romp that features Bill Murray as a fanatical groundskeeper bent on gopher elimination. It's about a young caddie trying to get ahead, but who cares? The cast of comics in this flick is the reason to see it The most classless performance of all time is delivered by Rodney Dangerfield. Forget the sequel, this is the only "Caddyshack" worth seeing. 6."Action Jackson" This movie answers the ques tion, "Can Carl weathers (Apollo Creed in "Rocky I, II and III") really act?" The answer is no, but that doesn't stop this movie from being an extremely appealing and occasionally very witty action flick. Evil industrialist, Detroit auto magnate and karate expert Craig T. Nelson is up to no good, and tough cop, Harvard lawyer, and karate expert Carl weathers Is on the case. One of the few films to admit that its set in Detroit, It also features a sizzling performance by vanity. La Residence Outdoor Cafe open April 15 Casual Dining at moderate prices. 220 West Rosemary Chapel Hill -967-2506 iSfe I .. ... ipp '' ft " ' " ' ' f'' freedom means you can disagree. What a realization! What profun dity! What garbage! "1969" should have had some thing to say. Student radicalism, dodging the draft, the impact of the loss of a brother and a son all of these issues are valid and have dramatic possibilities, but you can be forgiven for thinking otherwise while watching this film. Thompson has chosen a ludicrous framework for it all, with unbelievable characters for whom there can be little sympathy. Above all, "1969" lacks credibility. It is a pathetic, inconsequential film. - 1S59 is showing at WMowdaile in Durham at 1, 3 and 5 pm Saturday and Sunday and nightiy at 7:20 and 9-.20. 7HBetter off Dead" This flick stars John Cusack as a high-school student whose life is falling apart. He's failing classes and is madly in love with the French exchange student across the street As if that weren't enough, cartoons keep talking to him. His attempts at suicide fail miserably. The imaginative use of animation in "Better Off Dead" is the real reason to see this film. 8 "The Last Dragon" This is def inetely the most charming, dumbest action film made in the last 10 years. Bruce Leroy aspires to become just like Bruce Lee, and in the process, wins the heart of Vanity. Nobody in this Motown-Qroduced movie seems to have to worry about intelli gence. The bad guys are idiots. Leroy is none too swift with anything but his hands and fists, and Vanity Is, well, Vanity. This is strictly comic-book filmmaking, but it retains a kind of sweetness that raises it above the normal stupid action flick. The fights are beautiful to watch as well. 9."The Beastmaster" Marc Singer stars in one of the only sword-and-sorcery movies that really work. Singer plays a man whose village is destroyed by bad guys. He vows revenge and, accompanied by an eagle, a black tiger, two weasels and the obliga tory escaped slave girl (Tanya Robards), he fights the forces of evil. Apart from never taking Itself too seriously, this film gives us the best performance by a weasel in a supporting role in years. 10. Any film by Schwarzenegger (except "Raw Dean, anything with Bill Murray; "Rocky" anything and "First Blood;" Chevy Chase's "Vaca tion" flicks and anything by Monty Python, but no Chuck Morris movies or. anything with 'Ninja' in the title. ' ' ",v ' ; , '. '.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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April 6, 1989, edition 1
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