Jack Nicholson

Sun Score 3-stars Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton are so good in Something's Gotta Give, it's a shame writer-director Nancy Meyers couldn't rein herself in a little more. At 90 minutes, this would have been a top-of-the-line romantic comedy, cleverly written, wonderfully acted and marvelously paced. At two hours, it's still wonderfully acted - Keaton hasn't been this appealing since Annie Hall - but displays a dangerous tendency to drag. Had Meyers done away with some of the twists and turns crammed into the last half-hour, as well as an ending that strains both credulity and patience, she would have had a classic.

The Bucket List is 98 minutes of mawkish sentiment, a stream of greeting-card moments made palatable only because they come out of the mouths of Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Of course, a plumber's manual would sound interesting if recited by these two men; Nicholson would make it seem subversive, while Freeman would make it seem comforting. But in the end, it would still do nothing more than tell you how to fix a leaky pipe. So it is with this movie; even with all this Hollywood star power, it's still a series of "Happiness is ... " cliches and cuddly moments.

Jerry Black is a beaten man. Although we're never told so outright, you can tell this within minutes of the opening of "The Pledge" through several clues: He begins the film talking to himself, his hair looks like a bed of nails and he's got a look on his face that's perpetually stuck halfway between wary and weary. Plus, he's played by Jack Nicholson, who in the good old days - before his full bore loony persona took over - specialized in playing characters who just aren't right for this world, and know it. Nicholson is terrific here, in a role that demands he act, rather than just be Jack.

The miraculous thing about Jack Nicholson is that he can make even schmaltz entertaining. Perhaps it's the deep-in-the-bone sense of mischief that courses through many of his performances. Some screw is permanently loose, leading to such whacked-out delights as The Shining, the nastiness in Five Easy Pieces, the raunchy rebelliousness of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Terms of Endearment, even the surly focus of Chinatown. He has the gift of being ironic and totally present at the same time.

Critic's Pick-- The Caped Crusader tries to beat The Joker (Jack Nicholson, above) to the punch line in Batman (8 p.m.-11 p.m., ABC Family).

The Bucket List is 98 minutes of mawkish sentiment, a stream of greeting-card moments made palatable only because they come out of the mouths of Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Of course, a plumber's manual would sound interesting if recited by these two men; Nicholson would make it seem subversive, while Freeman would make it seem comforting. But in the end, it would still do nothing more than tell you how to fix a leaky pipe. So it is with this movie; even with all this Hollywood star power, it's still a series of "Happiness is ... " cliches and cuddly moments.

Time to get out the fava beans.Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins star in one of the more worthy Oscar-winners of recent years, 1991's "Silence of the Lambs" (9 p.m.-11: 30 p.m., Lifetime). It became only the third film in history to win Best Actor, Actress, Picture and Director.Just about everything works in this film, but for a look at breakthrough greatness, watch Hopkins' performance as Dr. Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter. Wanna know how good his low-key, insidious performance is? Think of someone like Jack Nicholson, at his full-bore looniest, playing the role.

JOHN A. "Jake" JACOBSON, 58, Baltimore native son, died March 7, at his home in Los Angeles. John was the beloved son of Amelia R. Jacobson of Baltimore, brother of Lisa M. Jacobson of New York City, and husband of Anne Kurrasch Jacobson and father of Adam John Jacobson of Los Angeles. Jakes father was the late Lt. Col. Abraham Jacobson of the U.S. Army. Jake was a film and television producer and for several seasons worked on Barry Levinson's baltimore based NBC series "Homicide" : Life on the Street," and the CBS crime drama "The District.

Jack Nicholson as the president of the United States. Jack Nicholson as a Las Vegas hustler. Little green men who say "ack-ack," leer at Playboy centerfolds and turn the entire U.S. Congress to toast. Tom Jones as Tom Jones. Disembodied heads falling in love with each other. Songs by Slim Whitman."Mars Attacks!" has it all, and more. How could this movie not be a riot?Ask Tim Burton, who somehow has managed the impossible. Never has a movie so brimming with potential failed so utterly to deliver.

THE LAST-PLACE Washington Wizards look so awful, it seems only a messiah can save them. Lo and behold! Could that savior be on the way? Don't get too excited yet. The franchise that was once Baltimore's may or may not sign Michael Jordan as part-owner and key decision-maker. But speculation that His Airness might come to the Baltimore-Washington area is stirring plenty of optimism in local sports circles. For good reason. Mr. Jordan doesn't have to hover over mere humans or hit clutch jumpers anymore to make a difference.

If you're looking for a way to add some guilt and stress to your life, here's a suggestion: Take your 85-year-old mother to a movie that's totally inappropriate for her. This is what I did on a recent visit to my mom's, when she decided we needed to get out of the house. "Let's go to a movie," she said. "You pick which one." Well, there wasn't much playing at the movie theater in the small town where she lives. There was a gross-out (Jackass Number Two) and a martial-arts (Jet Li's Fearless)

JOHN A. "Jake" JACOBSON, 58, Baltimore native son, died March 7, at his home in Los Angeles. John was the beloved son of Amelia R. Jacobson of Baltimore, brother of Lisa M. Jacobson of New York City, and husband of Anne Kurrasch Jacobson and father of Adam John Jacobson of Los Angeles. Jakes father was the late Lt. Col. Abraham Jacobson of the U.S. Army. Jake was a film and television producer and for several seasons worked on Barry Levinson's baltimore based NBC series "Homicide" : Life on the Street," and the CBS crime drama "The District.

Critic's Pick-- The Caped Crusader tries to beat The Joker (Jack Nicholson, above) to the punch line in Batman (8 p.m.-11 p.m., ABC Family).

Sun Score 3-stars Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton are so good in Something's Gotta Give, it's a shame writer-director Nancy Meyers couldn't rein herself in a little more. At 90 minutes, this would have been a top-of-the-line romantic comedy, cleverly written, wonderfully acted and marvelously paced. At two hours, it's still wonderfully acted - Keaton hasn't been this appealing since Annie Hall - but displays a dangerous tendency to drag. Had Meyers done away with some of the twists and turns crammed into the last half-hour, as well as an ending that strains both credulity and patience, she would have had a classic.

His beloved NBA Lakers are wheezing, but Jack Nicholson is thriving. In basketball terms, the 65-year-old actor is in the fourth quarter of his career. Yet he seems to be handling it with the savvy of a veteran point guard: all the right moves to compensate for a lost step. Nicholson wisely resurrected his humility in his latest movie, About Schmidt, which opened Friday. It wasn't easy. Warren Schmidt, the title character, doesn't date beautiful women nearly four decades his junior. He doesn't flash self-conscious smirks.

The youth-trash conquest of summer moviegoing became complete in 1981. That's when it was decided that comic-book movies, coming-of-age comedies and shoot-'em-ups would constitute the daily bread of film fans from May to mid-September. Think back to the dark spring of 1981. One highly touted film after another, pushed out of its studio nest, swiftly flops. Paul Newman can't save "Fort Apache, the Bronx." Sigourney Weaver and William Hurt go down with "Eyewitness." The Jack Nicholson / Jessica Lange "Postman Always Rings Twice" fails to ring a bell at the box office.

"A Few Good Men" just goes to show: Military justice movies are to movies what military music is to music -- loud, showy, entertaining and utterly trivial.The film is certainly shrewdly constructed and commercial as all get out; it offers a couple of hotshot movie stars a platform for some of their slickest acting in years, and each guy -- Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson -- shoots for the moon. It's everything a movie should be, except thought-provoking. Sit back and enjoy the ride; just don't expect to get anywhere.

In the 1950s, Jack Nicholson toiled at a series of supporting roles on TV anthology dramas and episodic series. Now, in the '90s, he returns to television on his own terms, as the center-stage honoree of this year's American Film Institute Life Achievement Award. The one-hour special based on it, taped a week ago and shown tonight on CBS, is the evening's very best bet.* "Mad About You" (8-8:30 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- On this new episode, Paul (Paul Reiser) and Jamie (Helen Hunt) find a secret cache of letters written by a previous occupant -- a similar starting point to that presented, a few years ago, on an episode of "thirtysomething," when Hope (Mel Harris)

Jerry Black is a beaten man. Although we're never told so outright, you can tell this within minutes of the opening of "The Pledge" through several clues: He begins the film talking to himself, his hair looks like a bed of nails and he's got a look on his face that's perpetually stuck halfway between wary and weary. Plus, he's played by Jack Nicholson, who in the good old days - before his full bore loony persona took over - specialized in playing characters who just aren't right for this world, and know it. Nicholson is terrific here, in a role that demands he act, rather than just be Jack.

POTOMAC - Jack Nicholson was a lock to play the role of the curmudgeon who has a turn for the better in the Academy Award-winning film "As Good As It Gets," but PGA Tour veteran Bill Glasson wouldn't have been a half-bad second choice. Glasson, 40, has played on the tour for 17 years, won this tournament twice, and comes to the 2000 Kemper Insurance Open sporting a blond mustache and a grizzled outlook on life. Glasson, who frequently flies his own plane to tour events, has had surgery for a detached forearm muscle, numerous elbow operations, four sinus operations, four knee surgeries and lip surgery.