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30 - "WEEKEND STAR" FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2000 Redford film lovely to look at, but a tad tedious From page 9 the look of the picture. The man loves landscapes, and is able to create stunning beautiful sequences, which capture the sheer beauty of America, merging it with the wounded souls of the char- acters in his films. In his best works as a director, Ordinary People (1980) and The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), Redford has captured the emotions of his characters to utter perfection and with that, their environment. Remember the almost anti- septic feel to the Jarretts' home in Ordinary People? Or the wonderful Mexican landscape full of ghosts, mystery and fables in The Milagro Beanfield War? With his 1992 film A River Runs Through It, he superbly caught the feel of the countryside, the rush of the river as the men practice their fly fishing, but never really tapped into the char- acters. The same was true of The Horse Whisperer (1998) which despite a great per- formance from Redford, never quite seemed at home with the merging of performance and land- scape. His new film is some- thing of a major disappoint- ment because he seems to have actually sacrificed per- formance and character building for the look of the picture. Originally Redford was going to star in the film with the great Morgan Freeman, but instead chose Matt Damon and Will Smith to essay the roles of emo- tionally tortured golfer, and his mysterious caddy. Can you imagine a film with Redford and Freeman? My God, | would have lined up to see that! The Legend of Bagger Vance fails because far too much time is devoted to stunningly beautiful shots of post war countryside, and of course, golf greens. Now in faimess, not being a golfer (at all) perhaps there are elements of the screenplay | did not understand. But with that said, the film is certainly less about golf than using the sport as metaphor for the battle of life, so what could I be miss- ing? What I knew very quickly OXFORD * . Report Covers with Fasteners 78787-5254 Laohenile. Avalioble In various coloues. ORPORD SFr Formas a 11 pt. stock. Double ply sobs. Mona. 188 MARY ST. RRO, an gS BLUELINE Cojumnar Books TE Ae nd. recess 18.00 WWW.pO PORT PERRY - (905) 985-7383 Sale Ends Nov. 30/00 acs % % re) A N : yw y PY \ rrystar.com YOUR #1 SOURCE FOR LOCAL INFORMATION was that the actors looked good, were speaking strong dialogue, but lacking in an emotional connection to the material. Matt Damon is one of the five best young actors in the business, richly deserving of the Oscar nom- ination he got for Good Will Hunting (1997) and more deserving for one he did not get in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). Here his good looks are used to fine advantage, but the charac- ter never becomes anything other than a wounded cliche of post war stress. His years in the First World War have left him a shattered wreck of what he once was, but a series of incredible circum- stances allow him to begin his rise back to the top of the golf ranks, and re-attach himself to his life. A guardian angel named Bagger Vance comes into his life spouting gentle advice in a southern voice about "getting his swing back." Apparently if Damon's character finds his way back to his swing, his life will fall into place, allow- ing him to become the man he once was, restoring him to his life. If Bagger were not played by the immensely likeable and talented Will Smith, then our hero Damon would bend a golf club around his throat and throttle him. The annoying, . self-righteous advice doled out by the angelic Vance becomes out and out unwatchable despite the fine presence of Smith. His performance reminded me of Glenn Close as the angelic Sarah in The Natural (1984) which starred, not co-incidentally, Redford. Close spoke about everyone having two lives, "the one we're born with and the one we choose to live," which fits in nicely with the theme of this film. Had Will Smith broken char- acter and began talking about Damon finding the "eye of the tiger", it might have given the film some energy. Redford as an actor was always better than he was given credit for, particularly in his talent for elevating pompous pieces of film making like The Natural to greater heights. As a direc- tor 1 think he is rock solid, one of the better actors who direct, but also a tad over rated. Consider that his Academy Award for best director in 1980 defeated Martin Scorsese for the stunning Raging Bull (1980)! I think his strength a director is the generosity he has for his actors, though his last two films have moved away from that in favour of capturing the beauty of nature. The Legend of Bagger Vance is quality film making but something of a bore, and more than a little tedious. LITTLE NICKY Directed by ... oh does it really matter? Now in theatres (BOMB!) I do not get Adam Sandler. I do not get his baby talk humour, that stupid voice he puts on, or the rants he suddenly breaks into. I do not get the success of a dreadful film like The Waterboy (1998), or how this moron keeps getting work doing what is essentially the same thing over and over. He commands $20 million dollars a movie! Robert Duvall, arguably the great- est actor on the planet, gets maybe $5 million! ... There's something wrong here. Adam Sandler gave a good performance once in a sweet-natured love story called The Wedding Singer (1997) with the lovely Drew Barrymore. In that picture he actually played a charac- ter as opposed to the idiots he usually creates and pass- es off as comedy. Why not return to that? He has the power in the business to do that, but instead makes films like Little Nicky. Why would the great method actor, Harvey Keitel, lower himself to be cast in this? This cannot be the pick of the scripts he is getting these days. Keitel is Satan. Sandler is his son, born of an angel but daddy is the devil ... bear with me. So idiot boy is sent to earth to save a couple of souls ... oh, man ... does it matter? This film makes it tough to be a critic, because | know how hard it is to get a film made. I know how many independent film makers out there are selling their blood, trying to raise a few thousand bucks to make a film 'on digital video that might get them into a film festival. I know their struggles, and it sickens me that Adam Sandler gets paid millions for acting like a fool, and somehow draws audiences into his films. Again, | don't get it. Oh yes: The movie stinks. WHO ARE THEY? ..This photo was brought into the Star office this week by Lou Lunney who's trying to identify the women in this group. At left is Joanna Lunney, but the other four are unknown at this time. Photo is believed to have been taken between 1955 and 1961. If you have any idea who they are, please contact Mr. Lunney at 705-277-1081. HC SNL 1 ar aE ai" aa ali SR afi oo a SI al sar a