1996_11 The Daily Collegian November 1996

              News Editor: Jim Ward
Telephone: (209) 278-2486
Weekend
THE DAILY
COLLEGIAN c
Friday, November 8, 1996        5
Restaurant Review
-   . Courtesy photo
Mel Gibson and Rene Russo star as Tom and Kate Mullen, who tace the unthinkable when their
young son is kidnapped in Touchstone Pictures' drama, "Ransom." y_>
Ransom: Don't pay for this one
By Jim Ward
The Daily Collegian
Unless you have been living
under a rock the last few months
you've seen you've seen the trailer
for "Ransom.".
It's exciting.
It's riveting.
It's probably one of the best trail¬
ers I've ever seen.
Unfortunately, the movie
doesn't live up to the trailer's ex¬
pectations. The trailer not only re¬
veals a major plot twist, but it shows
ALL the movie's good scenes.
In the movie. Mel Gibson plays
Tom Mullen, the owner of a multi-
million dollar airline. Mullen has all
the material trappings of a success¬
ful man: a beautiful, ■smart wife, a
great penthouse apartment on Fifth
Avenue and an adoring son.
But his perfect life comes crash¬
ing around his ears when his son is
kidnapped for $2 million.
At First. Mullen agrees .to work
with FBI investigators. But when
the first attempt to pay off the kid¬
napers is botched. Mullen decides
to handle things his own way.
Rather than pay the kidnappers he
offers, on live TV. a $2 million
bounty on the kidnapper's. The de¬
cision not to pay the kidnappers
doesn't go over too well with
Mullen's wife (played weepingly
by Rene Russo) or the FBI. But
Mullen is a man used to getting way
and won't back down.
The problem with the scene.
Which-is riveting, is that it's re¬
vealed in the trailer. In affect, the
marketing department for the film
blew its wad on the trailer. Which
is very odd. Most of the time only
comedies show the best scenes in
trailers. I can't remember how
many times when I've gone to a
comedy expecting a funny film
only to find they put all the funny
scenes in the trailer..
Another problem with the movie
is that the film's first 20 minutes are
sluggish. Director Ron Howard
spends too much time establishing
the "perfect" life of Mullen and his
family. And then there's a pointless
sub-plot thrown ii>about corrupt
union officials arid illegal pay-offs
that goes nowhere.
The movie does pick up after the
kidnapping, although you never re¬
ally get the feeling the kidnapped
boy is in any real danger. Unlike in
real life, kidnap victims are always
returned'in Hollywood movies.
This film doesn't have the courage
to break any Hollywood conven¬
tions.
Howard does handle the con¬
frontation scenes between Gibson
and the kidnappers over the phone
well. Gibson is wrenching in those
scenes. He suspects that if he pays
the ransom, his son will not be re¬
turned to him alive, so he decides
to play a high-stake game of poker
Ransom
H
Rated R
120 minutes
Directed by Ron Howard.
Starring: Mel Gibson.
Rene Russo. Gary Sinise.
Delroy Lindo and Lili
Taylor.
Opens tpday: Festival 6.
Fresno; UA Movies 8.
Clovis; Mader 6. Madera.
with the kidnappers. He's a man
that doesn't like lo lose in anything
and will risk almost everytfiiTfg^to
not to lose his son.
.The real strength of the movie
are the fine performances by the
cast. Delroy Lindo ("Get Shorty"
and'Clockcrs") is good as the FBI
agent in charge of the investigation.
Lili Taylor ("Dog Fight" and
"household Saints") is also fine as
one of the kidnappers. And Gary
Sinise (Captain Dan of "Forest
Gump") is wonderful as a shady
New York police detective.
But the film is oddly anti-cli¬
matic after seeing the great trailer
My advice i»;to stay home and
watch it on the boob tube rather
than forking out seven bucks to see
the whole thing in the theater
Butterfield's
scares up
good fare
By Todd McLeod
The Daily Collegian
Halloween.
My favorite time of the year.
Ghosts and Goblins and every¬
thing you aren't supposed to do —
too much candy to" eat — parties.
What fun we used to have. What
fun we still have. The fun isn't the
same but it's still fun and of course
you always have to be a little devi¬
ant. Just a little. Doctor McLeod s
course taught me that, if nothing
else.
I bagged accounting half-way
through. These night courses. I'm
telling you. There were haunts to
be visited, zombies to be danced
with, beers to be imbibed. Exit stage
right and M was waiting for me
outside, her car shiny clean from the
rain.
A brief pit-stop for our costumes
and we were on our way. Off to
the. Tower. Fresno's Castro and the
closest thing to culture you can find
in this city not by the bay. Olive
Avenue was packed, absolutely
packed, and we moved through the
throngs with some difficulty to¬
wards Butterfield's. Towards meet¬
ing our friends.
"We were wondering if you two
would show."
Carry was her normal jocular
self despite the leather. A whip in
one hand, she was The Queen Bitch
From Hell and Jeremy was her min¬
ion. Andy Warhol. Go figure.
Kinda sick, if you ask me. buy hey.
whatever. It was Halloween. Bran¬
don, of course, was a fly-boy.
"Fantasies: That's what Hallow¬
een is about, fantasies."
"Fantasies." Carry repeated.
Fantasies. I thougt. and the
strange currents of life. Our food
arrived along with another pitcher.
Butterfield's Black, or whatever it
was called. Their darkest beer. It
wasn'tGuiness but yada yada yada.
you've heard all of this before It
was still quite good. Quite fine
beer.
Things were bordering on the
philosophical as we chewed our
French fries, teriyaki beef skewers,
and beer steamed shrimp — all
quite good, Brandon was getting a
bit deep for me. but then Cat
Woman came in with an entourage
of friends and he suddenly disap¬
peared Poof Like that. Gone On
the prowl
Outside the costume contest be¬
gan. We staggered into the street
and whooped and hollered and
yelled. A guy on stilts won. Fran¬
kenstein. The same guy who'd won
the year before It didn't seem quite
right that the same guy could win
two years in a row with the same
costume — like create something
new you know — but that's the way
it was. My vote would have been
■ for Pooh and his Hunny.
Brandon slapped me on the
shoulder, back from the hunt, de¬
jected for the moment but not dis¬
couraged. A phone number in hand,
we had to celebrate. The next round
was on him. and we went back in
to where the party continued to
thrive.
"Buttcrfieliis." Jeremy said in
his best Andy Warhol. "Brunnnno.
I really like this place."
Butterfield s
Where: Fresno's Tower Distnct
What: Food and beer
Price Range: Reasonable
Entertainment: Live music Thursday. Fnday. and Saturday
Daily Collegian '
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