steven@ism70.UUCP (04/22/85)
Just catching up: CAT'S EYE Starring Drew Barrymore, James Woods and Robert Hays. Also starring Alan King, Kenneth McMillan, Candy Clark and James Naughton. Directed by Lewis Teague. Written by Stephen King. Based on his stories "Quitters, Inc." and "The Ledge." Produced by Martha Schumacher. Photographed by Jack Cardiff. Production Designed by Giorgio Postiglione. Edited by Scott Conrad. Music by Alan Silvestri. Visual Effects Supervision by Barry Nolan. Creatures created by Carlo Rambaldi. From Metro Goldwyn Mayer (1985). Watchable, but nothing really special. _C_a_t_'_s_ _E_y_e is an (another?) anthology movie of little horror tales. The running thread is a tabby that follows the ghostly voice of young Drew Barrymore through two moderately creepy tales to a house desperately in need of a good troll exterminator. James Woods, in the first story, goes to a mighty odd clinic, Quitters, Inc., to try to quit smoking. In the second tale, gambler/mafioso Kenneth McMillan blackmails Robert Hays into accepting a wager that he can't walk a 5-inch wide ledge around McMillan's penthouse suite. In the concluding segment, Drew Barrymore is terrorized in her bedroom by a little troll. The cat is Drew's only protection. These might make good episodes for Steven Spielberg's upcoming NBC series _A_m_a_z_i_n_g_ _S_t_o_r_i_e_s, but nothing more than that. King has mastered the art of giving the reader the initial twist, but not the art of providing the socko-turnaround ending that these short tales would benefit from. Lewis Teague gives you some mighty slick direction, though. The Ledge is the best of the three and it's pretty good. Such hackneyed stuff as waving your arms as you are just about to fall down the abyss to the streets below actually works, for some reason. Two stars out of four. MASK Starring Eric Stoltz, Cher and Sam Elliot. Also starring Estelle Getty, Richard Dysart and Laura Dern. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich. Written by Anna Hamilton Phelan. Produced by Martin Starger. Photographed by Laszlo Kovacs. Art Direction by Norman Newberry. Edited by Barbara Ford. Makeup Design by Michael Westmore. From Universal Pictures. (1985) Some fine, understated filmmaking about what could be a very maudlin subject: the life of Rocky Dennis, a victim of a disfiguring disease. Cher is very good; so is Eric Stoltz as Rocky. He really creates a character under the makeup (which is good enough to pass muster in many closeups). One of the nice things about this flick is in the very beginning; there is no huge revelation scene where we the audience have Rocky's mask-like face revealed to us. The camera goes puttering about its normal business of showing us a teenage kid, and we buy it completely. Nice slice-of-life involving not your typical household (bikers and such hanging around) and how moving the small, typical things can be (family fights and friction). They don't make Rocky a real saint. He gets pissed off, Cher gets pissed off and they fight like real people. Nobody that knows Rocky treats him any better in their bad moments just because he's disabled. Moral of the story comes across gently enough: don't judge people by their exteriors. Three stars out of four. DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN Starring Rosanna Arquette and Madonna. Also starring Aidan Quinn and Robert Joy. Directed by Susan Seidelman. Written by Leora Barish. Produced by Sarah Pillsbury and Midge Sanford. Photographed by Ed Lachman. Production Designed by Santo Loquasto. Edited by Andrew Mondshein. Music by Thomas Newman. From Orion Pictures. (1985) I like women with _s_t_y_l_e. Two and a half stars out of four.