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- <text id=90TT3249>
- <title>
- Dec. 03, 1990: Critics' Voices
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1990
- Dec. 03, 1990 The Lady Bows Out
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- CRITICS' VOICES, Page 38
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> MOVIES
- </p>
- <p> ROCKY V. In his last fight he beat up on the whole Soviet
- Union, and look what happened to them! This time Rocky Balboa's
- goal is more modest: to become the street-fighting champ of West
- Philly. Sylvester Stallone goes for the heartstrings, not the
- head butts, and the movie is sloppily good-hearted: primal
- schmaltz.
- </p>
- <p> THREE MEN AND A LITTLE LADY. The bachelor trio (Tom
- Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, Ted Danson) of the 1987 box-office
- champ Three Men and a Baby are now in charge of a six-year-old.
- The jokes and plot lines are way older, and everyone plays
- breathlessly cute. Pablum for the masses: it'll make zillions.
- </p>
- <p> TATIE DANIELLE. "She doesn't know you, and already she
- doesn't like you." That's how the French advertised this
- bracingly malicious comedy about an old auntie who upends every
- sentimental notion about the kindness of the aged. Now it comes
- to U.S. theaters. Will the Gray Panthers picket?
- </p>
- <p> BOOKS
- </p>
- <p> IN ALL HIS GLORY: THE LIFE OF WILLIAM S. PALEY by Sally
- Bedell Smith (Simon & Schuster; $29.95). An 800-page biography
- that flattens the image of the late self-inflating CBS founder
- and relentless socialite to 21-inch size and even smaller.
- </p>
- <p> THE HOUSE OF BARRYMORE by Margot Peters (Knopf; $29.95).
- The rollicking lives and boozy times of Lionel, Ethel and John
- Barrymore, the silver siblings of stage and screen whose
- character roles delighted millions but whose flawed characters
- inflicted havoc on their own lives and those of their children.
- </p>
- <p> TELEVISION
- </p>
- <p> A MOMENT WITHOUT TELEVISION (Cable, Dec. 1, 8 p.m. EST).
- Twenty-three cable networks will interrupt programming for one
- minute to dramatize the impact of AIDS. It's part of a two-day,
- 26-hour telethon, Unfinished Stories II: Artists and AIDS,
- sponsored by the Bravo channel.
- </p>
- <p> DECORATION DAY (NBC, Dec. 2, 9 p.m. EST). James Garner
- plays a retired judge in a Georgia town who encounters the
- bitterness of a black World War II vet in this languid, treacly
- slice of Americana from the Hallmark Hall of Fame.
- </p>
- <p> ART
- </p>
- <p> THE TECHNOLOGICAL MUSE, Katonah Museum of Art. Inaugurating
- its stylish new building by Edward Larrabee Barnes, the former
- Katonah Gallery, 45 miles north of New York City, offers a
- survey of technology's impact on art, from 19th century folk
- objects to contemporary computer images. Through Feb. 3.
- </p>
- <p> ANTHONY VAN DYCK, National Gallery of Art, Washington.
- Child prodigy, assistant to Rubens, Van Dyck rose to become a
- major artistic force in 17th century Europe and a potent
- influence on painters in the 18th century and beyond. Here are
- more than 100 examples of his bold virtuosity in portraits and
- religious and mythological scenes. Through Feb. 24.
- </p>
- <p> AGAINST NATURE: JAPANESE ART IN THE EIGHTIES, Contemporary
- Arts Museum, Houston. A reverence for nature has shaped Japanese
- art for centuries, but these 10 artists born since 1950 break
- from the tradition in video installations, performance art,
- conceptual sculpture and other radical, Western-influenced
- modes. Through Feb. 3.
- </p>
- <p> MUSIC
- </p>
- <p> CARLENE CARTER: I FELL IN LOVE (Reprise). Country without
- sentiment, autobiography without tears. Carter's first album in
- seven years is not only a welcome return but also a reminder
- that she's one of the best down-home singer-songwriters around.
- Nothing could be finer.
- </p>
- <p> SCHUMANN: CARNAVAL; PAPILLONS; TOCCATA (Sony Classical).
- Cecile Licad goes to the fair, tackling Schumann's greatest
- piano work, Carnaval, and finding goodies on almost every page.
- The Toccata also surges and sparkles. Only the tricky Papillons
- disappoints; she should float like a butterfly, but she stings
- like a bee.
- </p>
- <p> THEATER
- </p>
- <p> THE HOMECOMING. Harold Pinter's signature drama of menacing
- silences and family mistrust enjoys a shrewd 25th-anniversary
- revival at Harvard's American Repertory Theater, acted by
- esteemed-in-the-business veterans Jeremy Geidt and Christine
- Estabrook and up-and-comers Robert Stanton and Steven Skybell.
- </p>
- <p> CARNAL KNOWLEDGE. Before there was the astringent Jules
- Feiffer film about the war between men and women, there was his
- play--unproduced in New York until this off-Broadway staging.
- Instead of Jack Nicholson, Art Garfunkel, Candice Bergen and
- Ann-Margret, brat packers Judd Nelson, Jon Cryer and Justine
- Bateman are the stars.
- </p>
- <p> LETTICE AND LOVAGE. Maggie Smith earned a Tony this past
- season as a faded actress turned tour guide whose grand gestures
- bring only small triumphs. Now her contract is up and the show
- is leaving Broadway soon, so give yourself an early Christmas
- present and go.
- </p>
- <p> MARVIN'S ROOM. This loopy, brooding story of family battle,
- by Scott McPherson, is directed for Hartford Stage by David
- Petrarca, whose mounting of the Chicago premiere established him
- as a talent to watch.
- </p>
- <p> LIFE AFTER LAURA
- </p>
- <p> TWIN PEAKS (ABC, Saturdays, 10 p.m. EST). Who killed Laura
- Palmer? Viewers who had grown sick of the question were, if
- nothing else, relieved when it was apparently laid to rest two
- weeks ago, as Laura's father (animated by the evil spirit known
- as Bob) stepped forward and took the rap. Is there life after
- Laura for Peaks freaks? This season's inert, slowly paced
- premiere (directed with an uncharacteristic lack of flair by
- creator David Lynch) almost sank the ship before it left port.
- But things have picked up since then. Among the high points:
- Lynch himself in a hilarious cameo as Agent Cooper's half-deaf
- boss; Nadine, Big Ed's one-eyed wife, emerging from a coma with
- the mind of a 16-year-old and the strength of an ox; and one
- very spooky giant. Cut the hype, lower the expectations: Twin
- Peaks is not the second coming. But it is a damn fine TV show--playful, unnerving and, despite all the mystical mumbo jumbo,
- more involving than any soap opera since the early days of
- Dallas.
- </p>
- <p>By TIME's Reviewers. Compiled by Andrea Sachs.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
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-