Critics' Voices

By TIME''s Reviewers. Compiled by Andrea Sachs

MOVIES

ROCKY V. In his last fight he beat up on the whole Soviet Union, and look what happened to them! This time Rocky Balboa's goal is more modest: to become the street-fighting champ of West Philly. Sylvester Stallone goes for the heartstrings, not the head butts, and the movie is sloppily good-hearted: primal schmaltz.

THREE MEN AND A LITTLE LADY. The bachelor trio (Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, Ted Danson) of the 1987 box-office champ Three Men and a Baby are now in charge of a six-year-old. The jokes and plot lines are way older, and everyone plays breathlessly cute. Pablum for the masses: it'll make zillions.

TATIE DANIELLE. "She doesn't know you, and already she doesn't like you." That's how the French advertised this bracingly malicious comedy about an old auntie who upends every sentimental notion about the kindness of the aged. Now it comes to U.S. theaters. Will the Gray Panthers picket?

BOOKS

IN ALL HIS GLORY: THE LIFE OF WILLIAM S. PALEY by Sally Bedell Smith (Simon & Schuster; $29.95). An 800-page biography that flattens the image of the late self-inflating CBS founder and relentless socialite to 21-inch size and even smaller.

THE HOUSE OF BARRYMORE by Margot Peters (Knopf; $29.95). The rollicking lives and boozy times of Lionel, Ethel and John Barrymore, the silver siblings of stage and screen whose character roles delighted millions but whose flawed characters inflicted havoc on their own lives and those of their children.

TELEVISION

A MOMENT WITHOUT TELEVISION (Cable, Dec. 1, 8 p.m. EST). Twenty-three cable networks will interrupt programming for one minute to dramatize the impact of AIDS. It's part of a two-day, 26-hour telethon, Unfinished Stories II: Artists and AIDS, sponsored by the Bravo channel.

DECORATION DAY (NBC, Dec. 2, 9 p.m. EST). James Garner plays a retired judge in a Georgia town who encounters the bitterness of a black World War II vet in this languid, treacly slice of Americana from the Hallmark Hall of Fame.

ART

THE TECHNOLOGICAL MUSE, Katonah Museum of Art. Inaugurating its stylish new building by Edward Larrabee Barnes, the former Katonah Gallery, 45 miles north of New York City, offers a survey of technology's impact on art, from 19th century folk objects to contemporary computer images. Through Feb. 3.

ANTHONY VAN DYCK, National Gallery of Art, Washington. Child prodigy, assistant to Rubens, Van Dyck rose to become a major artistic force in 17th century Europe and a potent influence on painters in the 18th century and beyond. Here are more than 100 examples of his bold virtuosity in portraits and religious and mythological scenes. Through Feb. 24.

AGAINST NATURE: JAPANESE ART IN THE EIGHTIES, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston. A reverence for nature has shaped Japanese art for centuries, but these 10 artists born since 1950 break from the tradition in video installations, performance art, conceptual sculpture and other radical, Western-influenced modes. Through Feb. 3.

MUSIC

CARLENE CARTER: I FELL IN LOVE (Reprise). Country without sentiment, autobiography without tears. Carter's first album in seven years is not only a welcome return but also a reminder that she's one of the best down-home singer-songwriters around. Nothing could be finer.

SCHUMANN: CARNAVAL; PAPILLONS; TOCCATA (Sony Classical). Cecile Licad goes to the fair, tackling Schumann's greatest piano work, Carnaval, and finding goodies on almost every page. The Toccata also surges and sparkles. Only the tricky Papillons disappoints; she should float like a butterfly, but she stings like a bee.

THEATER

THE HOMECOMING. Harold Pinter's signature drama of menacing silences and family mistrust enjoys a shrewd 25th-anniversary revival at Harvard's American Repertory Theater, acted by esteemed-in-the-business veterans Jeremy Geidt and Christine Estabrook and up-and-comers Robert Stanton and Steven Skybell.

CARNAL KNOWLEDGE. Before there was the astringent Jules Feiffer film about the war between men and women, there was his play -- unproduced in New York until this off-Broadway staging. Instead of Jack Nicholson, Art Garfunkel, Candice Bergen and Ann-Margret, brat packers Judd Nelson, Jon Cryer and Justine Bateman are the stars.

LETTICE AND LOVAGE. Maggie Smith earned a Tony this past season as a faded actress turned tour guide whose grand gestures bring only small triumphs. Now her contract is up and the show is leaving Broadway soon, so give yourself an early Christmas present and go.

MARVIN'S ROOM. This loopy, brooding story of family battle, by Scott McPherson, is directed for Hartford Stage by David Petrarca, whose mounting of the Chicago premiere established him as a talent to watch.

LIFE AFTER LAURA

TWIN PEAKS (ABC, Saturdays, 10 p.m. EST). Who killed Laura Palmer? Viewers who had grown sick of the question were, if nothing else, relieved when it was apparently laid to rest two weeks ago, as Laura's father (animated by the evil spirit known as Bob) stepped forward and took the rap. Is there life after Laura for Peaks freaks? This season's inert, slowly paced premiere (directed with an uncharacteristic lack of flair by creator David Lynch) almost sank the ship before it left port. But things have picked up since then. Among the high points: Lynch himself in a hilarious cameo as Agent Cooper's half-deaf boss; Nadine, Big Ed's one-eyed wife, emerging from a coma with the mind of a 16- year-old and the strength of an ox; and one very spooky giant. Cut the hype, lower the expectations: Twin Peaks is not the second coming. But it is a damn fine TV show -- playful, unnerving and, despite all the mystical mumbo jumbo, more involving than any soap opera since the early days of Dallas.