Intelligence held hostage
In "Ransom," Mel Gibson takes an unbelievable turn as airline tycoon Tom Mullen, who lives a picture-perfect life until some maniacal creep swipes his beloved son from Central Park. With the same virile audacity he used to tackle the bad guys in "Mad Max" or "Lethal Weapon," Gibson calls the kidnappers' bluff, offering the demanded $2 million ransom as a bounty on THEIR heads.
Eric Bogosian wakes up, muses on society
Eric Bogosian is backstage, calmly packing up his props after Saturday night's show. He has spent the past 75 minutes tearing an already hoarse voice to shreds. He looks tired and almost ... mortal. He asks with a cracking but composed voice: "Did the hoarseness take away from the show?" Hardly.
Murray, elephant connect for a heart-warming adventure
As literally the biggest thing to hit theaters this week, "Larger Than Life" will charm audiences with its delightful tale about the journey of a man and an elephant. Bill Murray stars as Jack Corcoran, a small-time motivational speaker whose long-lost clown father has bequeathed him a $35,000 debt and a circus elephant. The only solution for his massive problem is to sell Vera, the elephant, to either an animal-rights activist (Janeane Garofalo) or a circus queen (Linda Fiorentino) to pay off the debt. For Corcoran, the problem is that the prospective buyers both live thousands of miles away in California. Soon a wild adventure ensues, as Corcoran must get Vera to California within five days using any means possible.
Big Head Todd energizes Michigan
Tapping your foot at a concert is usually a good thing. But when your foot goes numb from lack of musical variety it's a bad sign. Although Friday's Big Head Todd and the Monsters show had a few redeeming moments of clarity and inventive musicality, the majority of the show was just boring, droning noise.
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