It's a critic's nightmare, of course that when you write something negative for print it will be wrong and you'll look like an idiot.
Examine this photo right here, to the left of these words. Do I look like an idiot? Don't answer that.In this case, it was one wrong word that got me in trouble. The wrong word was "best." Or, more correctly, "Best."
What I'm referring to is my review last week of "The Legend of Wolf Mountain," Craig Clyde's locally made movie about three kids on the run from a pair of bungling crooks in the fictional Wolf Mountain National Park.
One of my main complaints about the film was the performance of one of the three lead children, a performance I considered hammy and artificial. The child in question is one Matthew Lewis.
But in my review, in a second reference, I said the aforementioned performance came from "Best," which mistakenly implied young Jonathan Best. I should have typed "Lewis." A slip of the brain, for which I have no excuse.
That's especially aggravating, since I thought Best was one of the better things about the movie. And I apologize for the error.
- SO WHICH CHRISTMAS flicks will be the biggest hits? Variety, the show-biz trade paper, has made its predictions as follows:
1. "Home Alone 2," the sequel to the third biggest moneymaker of all time.
2. "Aladdin," Disney's latest animated feature.
3. "Distinguished Gentleman," Eddie Murphy's '90s version of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."
4. "A Few Good Men," a military courtroom drama with Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson.
5. "Hoffa," the story of Teamster union boss Jimmy Hoffa, with Nicholson and Danny DeVito.
6. "The Bodyguard," musical-thriller with Kevin Costner and (in her film debut) Whitney Houston.
7. "Malcolm X," the story of the controversial civil rights leader, directed by Spike Lee and starring Den-zel Washington.
8. "Bram Stoker's Dracula," Francis Ford Coppola's version of the vampire yarn.
9. "Toys," a comedy with Robin Williams as a toymaker.
10. "Trespass," an urban thriller with Ice-T and Ice Cube.
Further down Variety's projections are Mel Gibson's "Forever Young," "The Muppet Christmas Carol" and Richard Attenborough's biography of Charlie "Chaplin."
- SO, WHICH MOVIE STAR from Hollywood's golden era is the most requested and least represented on video?
It has to be Deanna Durbin.
Of all the '30s and '40s movie stars whose work remains in studio vaults, Durbin's films are the ones people seem to ask for most often.
Durbin was Hollywood's highest paid female star when she unexpectedly retired from films in 1948 at the age of 27. Before that she went from charming child actress (she landed an MGM contractat 14) to energetic teen (she shared a special Oscar in 1938 with Mickey Rooney for "bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth") to romantic leading lady.
Durbin was an international star and top box office draw, but MGM failed to support her with the best projects or co-stars, which seemed to go to that other studio adolescent, Judy Garland. Ultimately she left the business, after wise investments made her wealthy.
There is only one Durbin film on video at the moment, "It's a Date," a 1940 stage-family musical comedy.
But requests pour in frequently for her other films - "Three Smart Girls" (her first), "First Love," "Hers to Hold," "Lady on a Train" and "Up in Central Park," etc.
In the meantime, if you're a frustrated Durbin fan, watch the basic cable television channels, such as American Movie Classics, which show her films from time to time.
- QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Spike Lee, controversial co-writer/
director/producer of "Malcolm X":
"I'm not anti-white. I'm not anti-Semitic. I'm not anti-Catholic. I don't hate anybody's cracker (expletive). I just see myself as the filmmaker who should make `Malcolm X.' "
- QUOTE OF THE WEEK II: Joe Pesci, co-starring in "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York," with 12-year-old Macaulay Culkin, who reportedly received $5 million for the sequel:
"He's a little wiser, a lot richer, and he's pampered a lot by a lot of people - but not me. I think he likes that I don't pamper him. He said to me during one scene, `How come you never smile?' I said, `Shut up and think about what you have to do so I don't stay here all day.' I have a lot of fun with him on the set."
- QUOTE OF THE WEEK III: Brad Pitt, co-star of "A River Runs Through It," speaking of the film's director, Robert Redford:
"He's good people. I got the feeling when we spoke that this went way past just making a movie. It was something very personal that kept the man going. It was some great passion."