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THEHERALDOUTLOOKSiUnU December Entertainment Movie Review Havana misses the boat By GARRY J MURDOCK Herald Special Sydney Pollacks new film Havana brings Robert back to the big screen Also stair ing Lena OHn Alan and Raul Julia the movie is set in Cuba shortly before the revolution that saw the ousting of General Batista What Pollack has here is the opportunity for a great film both in plot and in relaying a time in history in which people were will ing to die for a cause But he falls short Way short plays Jack Weil com bination gambler drifter who seems to ease on into Havana Cuba at a period of heavy political unrest and fighting to have his friendhotel owner set up the biggest stake poker game of his life We can understand why Weil wants this game he been waiting for a shot at the big money for all his life Hes tired of the nickel and dime stuff But why does he have to play this game in Cuba And why now Lena plays Bobbie the wife of one of the head revolu tionary organizers Her per formance is spectacular She is an American citizen in love with a Cuban She is also driven like her husband to help free the coun try of the dictatorship that dominates it Unfortunately she like everyone else doesnt know that Castro would set up his own dictatorship once in power The problem lies in the fact that director Pollack has failed to tell the audience what exactly is going on If you didnt know that Batistas administration at the time was corrupt if you didnt know about the unbearable op pression the people of Cuba felt if you didnt know that Fidel Castro at that time was the revolu hero who led the over throw of Batista in 1959 then you had a good chance of not understanding the film That is unfortunate because if the film had provided this in formation one may begin to understand how the future of Cuba changed so drastically with Castros administration A change that had a lot of benefits for the people at the time but was still a dictatorship nonetheless A change that also led to a com munist government in 1960 with international ramifications that are still felt today However if one tries to stick to the basic premise of the film if one just accepts the fact that Bob bie is a revolutionary simply a revolutionary figure without rying about the historical con text and that Weil is the man who wastes no time in sweeping her off her feet after her bands execution then one may begin to understand the simple plot behind the film Gambler loves girl Girl is married Hus band dies Gambler moves in Girl is tormented but eventually succumbs Gambler does something noble in the end What one finds hard to believe however even in this single plot is how Weil at one point travels through the war weary Cuban countryside getting shot at and facing armed soldiers in order to find Bobbie One wonders that Weil must have fallen deeply in love with a lady he had only met 72 hours earlier or that he was quite crazy The film is also incredibly long Pollack really didnt need two- and a half hours to tell this tale In fact the movie would have probably fared far if some scenes were cut Out of ten Havana rates a Amazing Grace remarkable history Thomson News Service Amazing Grace a powerful song with its words of redemption and reconciliation has been played at everything from wed dings to funerals to civil rights demonstrations Ironically it was written by a man who was involved in the slave trade the captain of an century British slave ship Sunday Arts Entertainment with Veronica Tennant looks at the life of the man who wrote the song and his legacy Through dramatic and documentary sequences John Newtons transformation from slave trader to abolitionist is re counted The segment entitled Amazing Grace also features clips of various performers including Johnny Cash and Judy Collins singing Amazing Grace and then talking about the impact of the song This episode of CBC TV Sun day Arts Entertainment airs Dec m Martin Short portrays a stressedout supermarket clerk who unwittingly is drawn into the world of high tech international espionage in an up coming comedyadventure movie on CTV The clerk ends up carrying something he didnt expect the incorrigible Tuck Pendelton Dennis Pendelton agrees to participate in a top secret miniaturization expen Bob Spence When Robert Jordans fantasy novel Eye of the World was released last year it drew rave reviews from critics Now comes the second instalment in his Wheel of Time The Great Hunt Tor Books His colorful characters once more do battle against the powers of evil in a series that may be the best of its ilk since Tolkein Lord of the Rings ment But after being shrunk to a tiny fraction of his size he is ac injected into the backside of the poor clerk setting off a wild chain of events The movie airs at 30 m Dec CTV offers an encore presenta on Christmas Day of The Magic of Aladdin Prima ballerina Karen Kain and actor Ross Petty star in this version of the fable It airs at after you have recuperated from opening presents and before you set down to your fowl meal CBC producerdirector Harry Rasky offers a detailed look at the life of Robertson Davies Magic Season of Robertson Davies chronicles his many careers from actor to journalist to author and includes dramatic excerpts from several of his works including The Deptford Trilogy and a number of his plays In the film Davies talks about his Welsh background Canadian literature magic God and sex It airs at m Dec 27 on CBC TV The Wheel of Time has stopped long enough for some books to be offloaded cards save lives Buy cards Onlano3UEoiwn- Toronto OH 1WOK8KJ64 lOpe Jim OFFICE MAGIC FOR ALL YOUR OFFICE STATIONERY NEEDS Guelph St 26 Guelph St Georgetown Ont 8779896 Established HALTON HILLS COLLISION 1 ACTON ONT corners DISTRIBUTORS SPORTING GOODS CLOTHING SPECIALIZING IN CORPORA re WEAR 9730500 Main St Gar JAKES AUTO CLEAN Steam Cleaning Interior Shampoo Under Car Scotch St Dont Forget Our Address Change Fire Engine Shampoo Sheen Georgetown a GEORGETOWN CINEMAS STREET 8731999 CINEMA 1 mow mi mtmmtiihiuJuiu ISPS ISM Evenings 700 915 pm Except Dec 24th 700 pm Only iniimtn MATINEES Dec 21 pm Dec 22nd 23rd 2 4 pm Dec 24th 2 Only Dec 26th 2 4 p CINEMA 2 GREAT WEEK THE FUNNIEST MOVIE OF 1990r ITS I HI HOLIDAY MOVIE IN WARS- rum and row- NO HAM UU HOM1 A Family Family MATINEES Dec 4 pm Dec 22nd 23rd 4 pm Dec 24th 2 pm Only Dec 26th 27th 2 4 p NOW PLAYING LOOK WHOS TALKING TOO pit WARNING Mature Hum MATINEES Dec 21 4 pm Dec 22nd 23rd 2 pm Dec 24th 2 pm Only Dae 26th 27th 2 4 pm