European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 25, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Short takes tha at a form at Menefe Hun to. Adaption of Mark twin i classic with Elijah Wood m muck and Courtney b. Vance to Jim a runaway Ilac with a Price on his head. Him a Alt from to 1 j a comedy about an Afri can american playwright Samuel l. Jackson who settled into mansion prompting the locals to assume he it i burglar. Nicolas Gate and dub qty Cottman. Tow Hraf Paim k. Wesley Snipes is . Tret imry agent on the frail of two counterfeiters who have murdered his partner. Fit Attar Tea to. A crooked Rich Guy hires t journalist to Tutor Nis Young mistress who is cute yet Semi illiterate. Melanie Griffith ind John Goodman. Who Kyn few r. The Ston of three childhood friends from the Barrio of East los ant etes is an ambitious attempt to do godfather like took at Chicano culture. Jesse Bor Tejo rid Benjamin Bratt. Pm r. That s Short for cell Block 4. Chris Rock and Allen Payne. Tia Phi to 1 j. Robert Downeyjr. Don i a funny Mustache to play the silent film Star in this epic Bio pie directed by Richard Attenborough. Eitt Khanfar r. Sylvester Stallone is an expert Mountaineer who puts his skills to the test when a air plane crash lands in the Rockies. Tim in met r. When a 13-year old girl become obsessed with a television writer living in her parents Mousci his life is turned into a shamble. Cary Eryea and Alicia Silverstone. Cap anal half to. Burl Reynolds Tayl a burned out detective who must work with an 8-year-old to. Solve a crime. Normand Golden ii play the boy. Tow oar1� half r. Based on Stephen King s Best seller about an author and his murderous sub conscious. Timothy Mutton and Amy Madigan. Oava Po-13. Kevin Kline plays a look alike for the president who slept in when the real one is stricken. Is Toumey Weaver Frank , Charles Grodin veg Mamei and Kevin Dunn. Tom at Awn a Louis Gossett or. Tries to Rescue leg town from the corrupt clutches of Bruce dem. Al Hlll Daw r. A la Toff defense worker Michael Douglas estranged from his wife and daughter loses it one Day. A tit off Plaza to i j. Two teen ate friends Are forced into the wilderness by a gang of Wichert and undertake a Tojo mile trek across the Kalahari desert. Fir to tha bks r. Five Arizona loggers witness the temporary abduction of one of their own by a ufos. . Sweeney and Robert Patrick. Tow hem k. This Story focuses on the dilemma of a Young la yer who gets caught Between his firm and the Fri. Tom cruise and Gene Hackman.  a Po-13. Bill Murray Andie Mcdowell and Chris Elliott get together in this romantic comedy. Maarman Ivy r. Terror for a deaf woman. . Sweeney and Marlee Matlin. A Tofta k last i naw Var to. This sequel is an attempt to duplicate the original Home mama Wafe Ijas Jweid a Ina Faalata Vaa Mai o. Three pets become separated from their owners. Inala Cait. Prapa Aal r. Robert Redford plays a charismatic financier who offers the happily married couple Woody Harrelson and Demi Moore a Cool Mil lion if she will spend just one night with  my Una at fir h. This Supinie thriller pits Maverick secret service agent Frank Horrigan Clint Eastwood against an Assassin John Malkovich who has sworn to kill the president. Milan Inmar Po-13. Adults in their mid Jot re turn to their old summer Camp in Ontario for a reunion and to reminisce about their childhood. Alan Arkin and Vincent Spano. Taat Attol Nara pg-13. Austin o Brien plays a Young movie fan who joins his favorite movie hero Arnold Schwarzenegger on screen. Anthony Quinn and Mercedes Ruehie Matt oaf anal maty r. When the facetiously named mad dog Robert de Niro accidentally saves the life of local mobster Frank Milo Bill Murra Milo gives him glory Uma Thurman for one week. It Nacchia g. The Disney classic is Back on the big screen to let another generation in on the magical tale of the Little puppet who wants to become a real boy. Paint Artna Matirn r. Bridget Fonda plays a Young murderess who gets a reprieve from death Row to become a High level Assassin. Gabriel Byrne Anne Bancroft and Harvey Keitel. Til Sanal lat pm. Comedy that pits baseball playing kids against a mystery beyond the right Field Wall. Karen Allen and James Earl Jones. A Matheka to. Aaron Norm directs brother Chuck in a Flat fantasy about a super Chuck Norria fan who meets his idol. Joe Piscopo and Beau Bridget. Lara Lara if a Tatta to. Tom Hanks Start u a widower in Seattle whose Bright Young son Rossma linger goes to great lengths to find the perfect woman Meg Ryan for his dad. Invar k. Sharon Stone plays a successful single woman who moves into a High Rise Little knowing it it the Aile of mysterious death. William Baldwin. A it to Law to in. Pauly Shore mtg t syllable stretching Stoner Denizen of dudes Ville shocks South Dakota by showing up at the prospective husband of a local valedictorian turned la. Butterfly. Sputum hate pc-13. Comedy of mistaken identity Eric Idle plays the unfortunate soul who was switched at birth and deprived of his  in Lam r. An i cop goes against organized criminals trying to Start a gang War. Jeff Spe Junan and Christopher  a Mart. To. Bob Hoskins and John la Guilamo portray Nintendo s italian plumbers who go up against a villain played by Dennis Hopper. Waif pm r. German Icena who live for awing music must decide whether to join or fight the Rise of nudism in the Ufa 1930�. Frank a Rutley and Barbara ller Shey. Takanaga mutant Nln a Turtle ill to. A combination pirate picture and Samurai time travel epic with four wisecracking tunics As the heroes. M a Alava Lila r. The battleship Missouri it captured by terrorists intent on Selling nuclear warheads. Str a Seagal and Tommy Lee Jones. A a Una nasal Marl r. Christian Slater plays a shy Minneapolis Busboy who uses every ounce of hit unusual heart to win Over a Waitr St played by Mir in  Samla r. Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren Are dead but resurrected into ultimate fighting machines of the future who Battle each other Over a reporter who discover the situation and wants to release the Story. A Tkave Antenna r. When Kicfer. Sutherland1 girl fiend vanishes he becomes of tested with her whereabouts. A psychological thriller with Jeff Bridges and Nancy Travis. Ratings by atari1 writer Chuck Vinch. Walter Matthau usually reads the riot act to Mason Gamble with Ruff right behind in Dennis the menace. Wama Broa. Chuck Vinch staff writer on mov iks Dennis the menace rated pm must Tat Worth your Tom passable enter Talmant coming soon to a video Outt near you and you can wait the slavish Effort of the aging baby Boomers to recapture the Halcyon Days of their lost youth through the prism of pop culture nostalgia would be funny if it weren t so sad. One of the quirk Iest offshoots of this trend is the Market for old to shows resurrected As feature films. Sometimes they work Batman Batman returns. Sometimes they Don t. This one for the most part does t. As almost everyone knows Dennis the menace is cartoonist Hank Ket Cham s precocious preschooler with a penchant for getting into mischief most of which is directed at his Long suffering foil the inimitable or. Wil son. See Dennis appropriately adorable Mason Gamble use a Slingshot to fire an aspirin into the Mouth of a sleeping or. Wilson Walter Matthau. See Dennis fire a glob of paint at the Chick in cooking on or. Wilson s Barbecue. See Dennis fill or. Wilson s nasal Spray bottle with mouthwash and his mouthwash bottle with toilet bowl cleaner. Youngsters who weren t weaned on the original half hour to show might think some of this is amusing but parents can forget about finding anything new Here. Director Nick Castle and writer John Hughes use much the same ingredients As in the old show and Cook them according to much the same recipe. They make a Token attempt to up Date some aspects of the scenario. For example Dennis has to stay at the House of his Nemesis Margaret Amy Sakasitz during the Day because his Mother Alice a wasted Lea Thomp son is a working woman now. But by and Large imagination and originality Are sorely lacking. The creative void is so pronounced that at least one major plot element or. Wilson s Effort to Curry favor with his Garden club is lifted straight out of pne of the old to episodes. Yet the filmmakers Don t deserve All the blame because they Are forced to labor under the built in Handicap that often plagues this kind of retread concept. What moves us to go to films like this is not the Prospect of seeing some thing daring and different. The lure is the Chance to go Back to our childhood to what was presumably a More care free time. We Don t really want such memories to be Bent and twisted into new and unrecognizable shapes. When these resurrections work they almost always have a sufficiently unusual Hook to begin with something that can be built upon without having to reinvent the wheel like the dark and mysterious Batman or the Creepy and Kooky Addams family. Without such a Hook the initial Lus Ter of such films fades quickly. That s Why Dennis the menace which always had a premise As Bland As pablum. Never realty works As a movie. There in t much anyone could do to make such a concept seem fresh especially Over 90 minutes of screen time. I m willing to bet that the upcoming Bever to Hillbillies movie will fail for the same reason the concept of a hayseed family goofing off in la la land is not meaty enough to sustain viewer interest for an hour and a half. It was barely enough to sustain viewer interest Over the 30 minutes of the to show. Dennis the menace is saved from being a total washout by the Broad talents of such veterans As Matthau Joan Plowright As the kindly mrs. Wilson and Christopher Lloyd As the villain. Matthau with his rubbery face and bulbous nose is the perfect Choice to play George Wilson and he gleefully hams it up to the Hilt. He manages to give his character a depth that is unusual for a film by John Hughes who has raised Cinema superficiality to a Fine Art. Or. Wilson May Carp about the heartburn his pint sized neighbor gives him but he also makes it Clear that deep Down he really likes the Little Devil. The always animated Lloyd plays switchblade Sam who serves As the focal Point for what Little narrative drive the film has. Sam is a grungy a Grant who enjoys considerable Success robbing the Homes of the Placid suburban town until he runs into Dennis that is. Their big scene together in which Sam thinks he has kidnapped Dennis but soon comes to realize that he s the real victim is one of the film s highlights. It s just about the Only highlight. My 4-year-old daughter is easily enthralled at the movies and even she often seemed bored with Dennis the men Ace. It gets two stars from me and not much More from her. Of it i for Page 12 sunday july 25.1993