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- <text id=90TT0637>
- <title>
- Mar. 12, 1990: Critics' Voices
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1990
- Mar. 12, 1990 Soviet Disunion
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- CRITICS' VOICES, Page 11
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p>MOVIES
- </p>
- <p> THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER. The adaptation of Tom Clancy's
- best-selling nuclear-submarine saga (with sturdy Sean Connery)
- earns its thrills; it nicely balances human menace with
- technical gee-wizardry. But could this scenario happen in
- Gorbachev's navy?
- </p>
- <p> WHERE THE HEART IS. Can a spoiled Manhattan family find
- happiness squatting in a Brooklyn hovel? Why, sure. Can top
- director John Boorman (Hope and Glory) make a Disney comedy?
- Well, no. Dabney Coleman supplies the (few forced) laughs, Uma
- Thurman the redeeming prurient interest.
- </p>
- <p> CINEMA PARADISO. In this Oscar nominee for best foreign
- picture, a Sicilian boy of the 1950s sees movies as the whole
- world--a panorama of laughter, drama and forbidden dreams.
- </p>
- <p>MUSIC
- </p>
- <p> MICHAEL PENN: MARCH (RCA). Surprise. Here's a homage to the
- playful high seriousness of Beatles music that sounds workably
- modest, modern and personal. Penn (yes, he's got an actor
- brother named Sean) takes a while to find his footing, but once
- he does, tunes like Big House grab hold and don't let go.
- </p>
- <p> JAZZ MASTERPIECES (Columbia). The latest crop of reissues in
- this remarkable four-year-old project features classic
- performances by such legends as Miles Davis, Roy Eldridge and
- Billie Holiday. But the most welcome new arrival to the series
- is trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke, whose digitally remastered 1927
- sides capture the haunting tone and phrasing of the original
- "young man with a horn."
- </p>
- <p>BOOKS
- </p>
- <p> LONDON FIELDS by Martin Amis (Harmony; $19.95). The British
- author of Success and Money: A Suicide Note produces a
- murderously funny novel about a 1990s world that is tumbling
- inexorably toward a loveless void.
- </p>
- <p> WHAT I SAW AT THE REVOLUTION by Peggy Noonan (Random House;
- $19.95). From a former speechwriter for Presidents Ronald
- Reagan and George Bush, the most amusing and self-effacing
- political memoir likely to come out of the 1980s.
- </p>
- <p> MARY REILLY by Valerie Martin (Doubleday; $18.95). The
- Jekyll-Hyde saga from the point of view of a spunky, sensual
- servant girl.
- </p>
- <p>ART
- </p>
- <p> PHOTOGRAPHY UNTIL NOW, Museum of Modern Art, New York City.
- This idiosyncratic history of camera art culminates John Szarkow
- ski's 28 distinguished years as MOMA's chief photo curator.
- Szarkowski tells the familiar tale with many unfamiliar images,
- like an impish papa springing surprises throughout a bedtime
- story. Through May 29.
- </p>
- <p> SELECTIONS AND TRANSFORMATIONS: THE ART OF JOHN MARIN,
- National Gallery of Art, Washington. John Marin (1870-1953), a
- gifted painter whose dynamic, semi-abstract seascapes and urban
- scenes made him one of America's leading modernists, is surely
- due for a comeback. Perhaps this comprehensive sampling of his
- works could be the start of it. Through April 15.
- </p>
- <p>TELEVISION
- </p>
- <p> ELVIS (ABC, Sundays, 8:30 p.m. EST). ABC's new bio series
- offers two surprises. Rather than a cynical attempt to cash in
- on Elvismania, it is an unpretentious look at the King's early
- years. Surprise No. 2: despite glowing reviews and a good time
- slot, Elvis is walking on Lonely Street in the ratings.
- </p>
- <p> CHANGES: CONVERSATIONS WITH JANE PAULEY (NBC, March 13, 10
- p.m. EST). Jane Pauley interviews people who have gone through
- major personal or professional transitions in her first
- prime-time special since she left the Today show after 13 years.
- </p>
- <p>ETC.
- </p>
- <p> FELD BALLETS/NY, Joyce Theater, New York City.
- Choreographer Eliot Feld's renamed company has four new works.
- A standout is Ah Scarlatti, danced in jeans and featuring one
- of the sexiest pas de deux in recent years. Through April 1.
- </p>
- <p> DANCE THEATER OF HARLEM, John F. Kennedy Center,
- Washington. This intrepid group has financial troubles it
- doesn't deserve and will probably shut down for a few months
- after this run. Meanwhile, it mixes old favorites (John Taras'
- Firebird) with ambitious newer productions (a program of
- Bronislava Nijinska's works, including Les Noces). Through March
- 25.
- </p>
- <p> PORTEX. Fess up: a lot of what's so cool about personal
- computers--their speed, their unforgiving accuracy--is also
- what's so daunting. Here is an especially slick and simple piece
- of software that doesn't stint on wizardry and exudes a
- comforting, almost cozy familiarity. It turns any IBM or
- compatible machine (sorry, not Apple) into a fully functioning
- appointment calendar and phone directory--a Filofax on a
- monitor. Yuppie nirvana! But wait. Lots of software can do
- similar stunts. Portex actually prints out addresses and lunch
- dates on supplied paper that fits snugly into a Filofax diary or
- any standard loose-leaf organizer. A word-processing program is
- included for aspiring PC Pepyses, but the real fun of Portex is
- savoring the illusion of a well-ordered life. After all,
- neatness counts. (Available at $69.95 to $169.95 from Eurosoft
- International, Asheville, N.C.)
- </p>
- <p>Compiled by Andrea Sachs.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
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