Movies on the Edge

By STEVE PERSALL

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 26, 2000

MYSTERIES OF EGYPT (G) (39 min.) - Who else should take viewers on a cinematic journey through Egypt than Omar Sharif? Such an elegant host with a distinctive voice that soothes as it informs about his glorious birthplace. Sharif is one of Egypt's modern national treasures, and this IMAX tour improves with his presence.

Sharif plays a doting grandfather answering questions from his granddaughter (Kate Maberly) about the 5,000-year-old legend of the mummy's curse. He tells her about the origins of mummification and Giza pyramid tombs loaded with treasures, all raided by thieves except one: the hidden mountainside tomb of Tutankhamun.

Only the IMAX process, especially the domed auditorium at Tampa's Museum of Science and Industry, can do justice to Egypt's beauty. The camera does everything expected from the genre's potential, skimming over the Nile and soaring through the jagged Valley of the Kings. National Geographic adds its accessible insight, which makes us feel as if we're not really learning but being entertained.

Best of all, Mysteries of Egypt overcomes a nagging problem with IMAX: that humans often come off mundane compared to the natural wonders around them. If you sat through T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous or Dolphins, you know how dull that can be. Huge scientists faking taking notes isn't fun. Unless it's an astronaut or Mt. Everest climber at risk, people just get in the way of IMAX enjoyment.

Sharif's suave appeal doesn't have a problem filling any screen. Maberly (The Secret Garden) is cute and curious enough to pass muster. Surprisingly, the flashbacks to Howard Carter's 1922 discovery of King Tut's tomb are equally interesting, with a hint of Indiana Jones. The film provides loving looks at Tut's grand wealth through Carter's amazed eyes, not a museum tour guide. Mysteries of Egypt makes actors count as much as history.

The 39-minute running time is short, even by IMAX standards. That means a lot of questions are raised that can't be fully explored while familiar ground is covered. This movie is a eye-popping suggestion to visit your local library or a Web site, nothing more. Several IMAX films have been much less.

Opens today and continues through Dec. 14 at Museum of Science and Industry, 4801 Fowler Ave. in Tampa. Call (813) 987-6100 for information. B+

THE BIG KAHUNA (R) (96 min.) - The Big Kahuna is a sturdy thespian piece, an adaptation of a stage play rarely straying from a one-room set. Under these circumstances, the play and actors bringing it to life are the thing. Roger Rueff's story of exasperated corporate lives has snappy dialogue and cagey character disintegrations to spare and to thrill temporarily.

Kevin Spacey plays Larry Mann, a dynamic jerk selling industrial lubricants to clients he despises as much as his own methods. A convention in Wichita affords a slim chance to meet a Midwestern manufacturer -- "the grand Kahuna" -- who would be quite a financial catch.

Larry's longtime friend is Phil Cooper (Danny DeVito), who brushes off his partner's hubris better than rookie conventioneer Bob Walker (Peter Facinelli). Phil has retirement in mind, sick of the glad-handing business routine. Bob is a minnow among sharks, a born-again Christian in a job that doesn't share many of those values.

The Big Kahuna could be viewed as another Glengarry Glen Ross because of its tough language and take-no-prisoners approach to business. The two stories have one major difference, though. In David Mamet's play, those real estate salesmen already sold their souls, they're just waiting to close the deals. The Big Kahuna is no less brutal, but much more optimistic and just as hard to sell.

Opens today at Beach Theater. Held over at Tampa Theatre and Woodlands Square 20 in Oldsmar. B