Word: toneed
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Carolina have asked state school officials to ban the popular children's book series, claiming it promotes witchcraft and sorcery. According to one of the concerned parents, the volumes by British author J.K. Rowling, about an orphaned child who attends the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, contain a "tone of death, hate, lack of respect and sheer evil." State officials have said they will review the books and the recommendation. BUCKLE UP The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last week notified automakers that rear-seat side air bags pose a possible safety risk to children. The agency is concerned...
...Voss corrals kids back into the stands. "There are parents and alums who are always here, always in the same seats," she says. Then she pauses, looking out over the field. "The kids always say they can't wait to get away from here," she remarks, with the knowing tone of one who has seen generations seep through her school, "but they always end up coming back...
...directly into the inside of Malkovich's brain. He becomes famous Malkovich for fifteen minutes (get it?), and is then spit out onto the side of the New Jersey Turnpike. It is to the film's credit that this bizarre, supernatural turn of events doesn't jar the logical tone of the movie at all. Getting inside Malkovich's head isn't even the twistiest twist that Being John Malkovich has to offer...
...mood of the film doesn't help the matter. Defined by the triteness of the setting (a generic middle-America suburb/commercial center) and the over-exaggerated antics of the actors, the tone is downright campy, a far cry from the insightful and sharply satirical mood of the novel. Bruce Willis as Dwayne Hoover takes an unfortunate step backwards from his performance in The Sixth Sense by making a complete ass of himself. (Perhaps this is a sign that he should go back to doing Die Hard-type fare.) The rampant television commercials advertising Dwayne's cars? Mind-numbingly annoying...
...fairly tired plot, but then so did Deep Blue Sea, and I enjoyed every moment of that because it did such a good job of subverting its own genre. Director Damon Santostefano shows little creative flair, however, and spends most of his time desperately trying to find a comic tone, shifting between broad slapstick and homosexual farce...