ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 5, 1996 TAG: 9601050027
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
The movies don't operate on a strict timetable. Even though Academy Award nominations are determined by the release dates of films in the largest markets, those same titles often don't reach the rest of the world until much later.
A recent New York Times review of the 1995 film business, for example, mentioned 33 titles. A third of those have not played commercially in this area. (One, ``Kids," had special showings at Hollins College.)
The following lists of the year's best and worst are based on the Roanoke Valley marketplace. All of them were shown in this area during the past 12 months, though some are considered 1994 releases. Current releases that haven't made it here yet are not considered.
The 10 best
``Apollo 13'': Director Ron Howard uses an all-star cast and restrained special effects to tell an old-fashioned adventure story.
``Babe'': The summer's sleeper is a children's film that became so popular some theaters added more evening and night screenings.
``The Brothers McMullen'': Low-budget, crowd-pleasing romance at film festivals did just as well with mainstream audiences.
``Devil in a Blue Dress'': Director Carl Franklin, star Denzel Washington (and co-star Don Cheadle) do justice to Walter Mosley's fine detective novel.
``Get Shorty'': Finally, someone understands Elmore Leonard's dry sense of humor i:wq! on a sharp Hollywood crime comedy.
``Heavenly Creatures'': Fact-based New Zealand psychological mystery about two girls who commit a murder is one of the year's most original and disturbing films.
``Hoop Dreams'': This documentary, partially funded by public television and meant for broadcast there, is a touching biography of two young men who use basketball as a way out of poverty, and are themselves used by the game.
``Nobody's Fool'': Paul Newman is at his incomparable best in a snowbound story of family, love and forgiveness.
``Shallow Grave'': A Scottish thriller about three roommates who get more than they bargain for when they advertise for a fourth is gruesomely funny and shocking all the way through.
``Wild Bill'': Don't be surprised when Jeff Bridges gets an Oscar nomination for his work in Walter Hill's tale of myth-building in the Old West.
And the 10 worst
``Billy Madison'': Comedian Adam Sandler makes the most irritating big screen debut since Pauly Shore.
``Jade'': Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas tries to rehash "Basic Instinct" with a profound lack of chemistry or passion.
``Jerky Boys'': Comedians Johnny Brennan and Kamal Ahmed make the most irritating big screen debut since Adam Sandler.
``Judge Dredd'': Comic book adaptation is humorless, slowly paced and unoriginal, and star Sylvester Stallone is even worse.
``Jury Duty'': Comedian Pauly Shore proves that Sandler, Brennan and Ahmed still have a long way to go before they can make a movie as bad as this one.
``The Money Train'': Such a sloppy, poorly made action flick would deserve a place on any worst list, even without politicians' complaints about it.
``The Scarlet Letter'': Demi Moore as Nathaniel Hawthorne's Hester Prynne? Yeah, right.
``Seven'': The year's grimiest-looking hit also features a conclusion that's simply stupefying.
The Sequels: "Father of the Bride II," "Free Willy II," "Under Siege II" and "It Takes Two," which is not really a sequel but does contain the word "Two" in the title and stars the irritating Olsen twins.
``A Walk in the Clouds'': It's difficult to believe that this shameless romantic mush came from the director who made "Like Water for Chocolate," but, alas, it did.
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: The best: 1. ``Hoop Dreams,'' 2.``Shallow Grave,'' 3.by CNB``Heavenly Creatures,'' 4. ``Devil in a Blue Dress.'' The worst: 5.
"The Scarlet Letter," 6. "Father of the Bride II," 7. "Jerky Boys."
color.
From the sublime ... to the silly