FREEZE FRAMES

A weekly update of film releases

ANOTHER YOU - Richard Pryor and Gene Hackman, definitely down on their luck, star in this leaden comedy about a con man and a crazy man in cahoots with each other. Directed by Maurice Phillips. (Rated R)MOBSTERS - The heroes are notorious American crooks: Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, and Bugsy Siegel. We meet them as young thugs at the beginning of their violent careers, and watch them create a criminal empire that escapes domination by Mafia families already in place. This might have been an absorbing tale if it had been cleverly written and directed, but most of the going is utterly unconvincing under Michael Karbelnikoff's heavy-handed direction. Worst of all is the ending, which shows t he mobsters overcoming their internal disputes and agreeing to murder, pillage, and terrorize only their innocent victims instead of each other. We are supposed to leave the theater with a warm feeling about this! (Rated R) PRISONERS OF THE SUN - Shortly after World War II, the Australian military puts Japanese officers on trial for war crimes, and find that truth is hard to discover when the confusions of warfare and the differences between Eastern and Western cultures are involved. This courtroom drama is reasonably involving and very well acted by a mixed Asian and Australasian cast, but the screenplay doesn't manage to sustain its tensions all the way to the end. Stephen Wallace directed. (Rated R)

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