MARK S. DEROSA - MOVIE REVIEWS 2003

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CONTENTS

CLICK ON THE REVIEW YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE:

AN EXPLANATION OF WHAT THE COLORS MEAN:

TOP OF THE LINE (EXCELLENT,STELLAR)
(A+)

MUST SEE/REALLY GOOD
(A)

VERY GOOD (SOME FLAWS)
(B)

GOOD/AVERAGE
(C)

BORDERLINE OR BAD
(D)

*BOMB*/STINKO/
WASTE OF CELLULOID

SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE	HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG	GIRL WITH PEARL EARRING	BIG FISH	PETER PAN	MONSTER	THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE
THE BIG EMPTY	BAD SANTA	JAPANESE STORY	THE STATEMENT	LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING	COLD MOUNTAIN	MONA LISA SMILE
LOVE ACTUALLY	THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS	THE COOLER	MASTER AND COMMANDER	THE MISSING	IN AMERICA	THE LAST SAMURAI
BEYOND BORDERS	ELEPHANT	THE STATION AGENT	21 GRAMS	SHATTERED GLASS	RADIO	IN THE CUT
WONDERLAND	SCHOOL OF ROCK	PIECES OF APRIL	INTOLERABLE CRUELTY	MYSTIC RIVER	KILL BILL	VERONICA GUERIN
THIRTEEN	FINDING NEMO	ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO	CALENDAR GIRLS	LOST IN TRANSLATION	ANYTHING ELSE	UNDERWORLD
BAD BOYS II	SEABISCUIT	CAMP	THE MAGDALENE SISTERS	PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN	GIGLI	S.W.A.T.
RESPIRO	CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE	TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES	SWIMMING POOL	NORTHFORK	I CAPTURE THE CASTLE	DIRTY PRETTY THINGS
THE TRIP	CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS	HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE	HULK	WHALE RIDER	28 DAYS LATER	THE LEGEND OF SURIYOTHAI
DADDY DAY CARE	MATRIX RELOADED	DOWN WITH LOVE	WINGED MIGRATION	BRUCE ALMIGHTY	SWEET SIXTEEN	THE ITALIAN JOB
RAISING VICTOR VARGAS	IDENTITY	LAWLESS HEART	X2	BLUE CAR	BETTER LUCK TOMORROW	THE SHAPE OF THINGS
WILLARD	DREAMCATCHER	SPUN	BASIC	PHONE BOOTH	ANGER MANAGEMENT	A MIGHTY WIND
THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE	OLD SCHOOL	BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE	LAUREL CANYON	THE SAFETY OF OBJECTS	BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM	TEARS OF THE SUN
NATIONAL SECURITY	DARKNESS FALLS	THE GURU	O FANTASMA	ALL THE REAL GIRLS	DAREDEVIL	LOVE LIZA

THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE

Release: 11/26/03-(PG-13)-(1:18)-[SONY PICTURES CLASSICS/BBC WORLDWIDE/CANAL+]- CAST: (THE VOICES OF) MICHELE CAUCHETEUX, JEAN-CLAUDE DONDA, MICHEL ROBIN, MONICA VIEGAS: (fILM TO BE REVIEWED SOON). (A)

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MONSTER

Release: 12/26/03-(R)-(1:51)-[MDP WORLDWIDE/NEWMARKET FILM]- CAST: CHARLIZE THERON, CHRISTINA RICCI, BRUCE DERN, PRUITT TAYLOR VINCE: Sometimes it is hard to look at a film that covers the sort of territory that MONSTER covers. It isn't as though I could walk out of a film like this feeling as though my life were different... somehow changed or moved. It is about a serial killer... a white-trash one at that. It is the story of Aileen Carol Wuornos, a highway prostitute who was executed for killing seven men in the state of Florida during the 1980s. This is one nasty and confused woman. She's disturbed... she's hard... she's angry. Abused as a child Aileen grows up to sell her body to men and often finds herself the victim of the worst of them. What changes her life, according to MONSTER is meeting young Selby Wall, a wall-flower lesbian who has no real direction in her life. Together there seems to almost be a cohesive direction and goal for the future... but the communication levels are rather shallow and through her own weak attempts to 'go straight', Aileen finds herself back in the prostitution that was taking her to the depths of nearly committing suicide in the first place. When Aileen finds herself being brutally raped one night she snaps and fights back, shooting and killing the first of a string of men. At first it would seem to be somewhat related to defense... but as time goes on she is clouded in her judgment and killing in order to obtain money and cars to push the 'dreams' she has for herself and Selby... however misguided they are. Theron delivers a powerful performance that the Academy will undoubtedly notice due to the nature of the role (Awards shows love transformation and disease... Theron gained 40 pounds and 'uglified' her beautiful face in order to play the role.) This is not a happy holiday film. Be prepared for the depressing feel that MONSTER can provide the viewer... but it is a telling tale of a true-life figure and that, alone can make it worthwhile. (B)

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PETER PAN

Release: 12/25/03-(PG)-(1:53)-[UNIVERSAL PICTURES/COLUMBIA PICTURES/REVOLUTION STUDIOS]- CAST:JASON ISAACS, JEREMY SUMPTER, RACHEL HURD-WOOD, LYNN REDGRAVE, OLIVIA WILLIAMS: This latest re-telling of the classic J.M. Barrie play is a decent, if not clever standard with a fair and interesting set of modern day special-effects to make the upgrade worth the display. Set as all the others in turn of the (last) century London we have the coming of age of young Wendy Darling who is confronted in her bedroom by the boy who will never grow up, Peter Pan (played with an innocent sexuality by young Jeremy Sumpter). The tale is really no different than what we have seen before so the filmmakers are doing their best to make sure that the telling is a bit of a boost up from when last we encountered HOOK and the sprightly Pan. If memory serves that would be HOOK, the twist on the tale starring Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman and Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell. What seems to be different about this version of PETER PAN is in the longing... the 'sadness' that the main character is feeling about being the child that will never grow up. I do not recall any tellings in the past representing the loss of emotion or love that young Peter displays in his affections for Wendy in our latest PETER PAN. Because of this side to the story telling it is a surprise and not so much a child's feature as it is a different angle to the story we all know so well. This, combined with the magic of London and the flying scenes makes the P.J. Hogan version a very worthwhile romp for movie viewers. (B)

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BIG FISH

Release: 12/10/03-(PG-13)-(1:50)-[COLUMBIA PICTURES]- CAST: EWAN MCGREGOR, ALBERT FINNEY, BILLY CRUDUP, JESSICA LANGE, ALISON LOHMAN, HELENA BONHAM CARTER: A combination of simplicity and extravagance in a film about storytelling and the complexities of a relationship between father and son, BIG FISH is a Tim Burton fiesta gone as mainstream as you'll ever see him go. BIG FISH, so named because of one of it's central 'characters'... which could easily represent the elusive creature that continued to get away or very simply the father himself in the eyes of the son, is solemn and tender in all of its parts. It sings the praises of the imagination and steadfastly brings about the central focus of a key relationship in any of our lives through the characters of Will (Crudup) and his traveling salesman father Ed (played on his deathbed by the amazing Albert Finney and in youth by the gorgeous Ewan McGregor). Throughout his childhood Will heard the amazing stories of witches and mystery towns. When older they began to get old and led to a rift that took the younger bloom away with his new wife. When Ed's wife Sandra (Lange) calls with the news of Ed's ailment it is, however, time for Will and his wife (Marion Cotilard) to return. It is here that the real stories of BIG FISH unfold... and it is here that Will begins to learn the differences between fact and fiction in both the the stories themselves and the way he has always viewed his father. Burton has a knack for the absurd... but in BIG FISH he takes that knack and humanizes it all for the viewing audience and the characters within. It is charming and likable. It is family entertainment and a bit of the fantasy world for all ages. BIG FISH is the sort of film that makes you smile, laugh and think.... it is a rare and very sweet movie-going experience. (A)

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GIRL WITH PEARL EARRING

Release: 12/12/03-(R)-(1:35)-[LION'S GATE FILMS/PATHE DISTRIBUTION]- CAST: SCARLETT JOHANSSON, COLIN FIRTH, TOM WILKINSON, JUDY PARFITT, CILLIAN MURPHY: The most striking thing about the brand new masterpiece from filmmaker Peter Webber is in the lighting, sets, and cinematography. Throughout the entire film I was given the distinct feeling that I was viewing a moving oil painting from the period. In many different settings, each with their own darker toned lighting in shades of gray and brown I felt as though I were standing in front of a classic in a museum in Europe. That alone gave me the proper mood to both enjoy and remember GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING the way I expect was intended. Witness also the further star-making of young Scarlett Johansson and the expansion of the already very visible talents of Colin Firth and what you have in this period feature is a couple of hours of excellent storytelling in a world that is so well duplicated or remembered that I would swear I was actually there. The story revolves around the background that led to the famous painting heralded in the film's title. It is about 17th Century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer and the beautiful, lower class house maid that eventually becomes the model in his most famous work. It is a sad tale of poverty vs privelege and the live of servitude. Johansson is perfect as the young rosy-cheeked maid caught between a rock and a hardplace in that world of wealth when she is eventually part of a 'bargain' that forces her to pose with the earring that belongs to the painters very jealous wife. Whether or not the story has any basis to it seems almost irrelevant as the story resonates as a tale of history and curiosity. This is a very pretty film with a sad and lonely tale within.. but the sort of film that could easily be tapped for awards in the season to come. (A+)

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HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG

Release: 12/19/03-(R)-(2:05)-[DREAMWORKS SKG]- CAST: JENNIFER CONNELLY, BEN KINGSLEY, RON ELDARD, FRANCES FISHER, KIM DICKENS, SHOHREH AGHDASHLOO: Visually HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG has a great deal going for it. It is stark and appropriate to the story that we see this nice but meager home near the water somewhere in California with rolling mist and coastal trees. It is what goes on within the house that really tells this very depressing tale of cultures and personalities.... circumstance and timing. When Kathy's (Connolly) father dies he leaves her the house by the water... but within 8 months the recovering alcoholic house cleaner has emassed bills, lost a husband and hides unsuccessfully in bed as the city puts the house up for eviction for her failing to pay a tax... that shouldn't have been put upon her in the first place. Enter Colonel Behrani, who with his family has become a citizen of the United States after fleeing tyrany in Iran... under suspicious circumstances. Trying to make his American dream come true Behrani snatches up the home in an auction and moves his somewhat unwilling wife and son into it. What embroils from these events is the determination of Kathy to overcome the wrong done to her by the city, the personal fights of her new boyfriend who oversteps his bounds and duties in the police force to help her AND the stubborness and pride of the Colonel who is really only looking to make the profit off of the home and upgrade himself and his family. HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG twists and turns from one level of hell to the next as it winds its way down to a bitter end... that ruins or ends lives over the title home. I liked this film because of the supremely crafted performances of angst and fear. All involved in this film are magnificent... but the fact remains that when the film is over one either needs a drink or a trip to another theater to see something along the line of BAD SANTA or ELF in order to off-set its effects. HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG is worth the viewing going in with the right state of mind... be prepared. (B)

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SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE

Release: 12/12/03-(PG-13)-(1:40)-[COLUMBIA PICTURES/SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT]- CAST: JACK NICHOLSON, DIANE KEATON, AMANDA PEET, FRANCES MCDORMAND, KEANU REEVES, JON FAVREAU: There is a lot to enjoy with this end-of-year romantic comedy offering. For one, it is a stellar cast of well known and talented actors... for another it deals not only with love relationships that the movies normally deal with (May-September) and gives us a bit of the more realistic and often unheralded September-September variety. The film stars Jack Nicholson but is nearly, if not entirely dominated by the performance of Diane Keaton. Keaton's Erica Barry is a successful playright with a beautiful home on Long Island and a non-existent love-life. When Barry's daughter (Peet) brings home world-famous bachelor playboy Harry Langer (Nicholson), who proceeds to have a heart-attack, it is Erica who ends up having to watch and take care of the recovering man in her home. What happens, of course, is the budding of Erica's life and sexuality... all over again. Not only is she intriguing to the elder playboy... but she has also caught the eye of the hunky doctor who treated Langer for his ailment. SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE is a typical romantic comedy in many ways... filled with cliche comments and predictable (albeit somewhat far-fetched) scenarios that lead the audience to the obvious outcome. But the truth of the matter is there IS chemistry between Nicholson and Keaton... it is because of this chemistry and the rather decent (even if sometimes contrived) script that the film is worthy of a holiday trip to the theater. It is fun. (B)

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MONA LISA SMILE

Release: 12/19/03-(PG-13)-(1:45)-[COLUMBIA PICTURES/REVOLUTION STUDIOS/RED OM FILMS]- CAST: JULIA ROBERTS, KIRSTEN DUNST, JULIA STILES, MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL, GINNIFER GOODWIN, DOMINIC WEST, MARCIA GAY HARDIN: Each year it would seem the film world is supposed to give us a film about a teacher with radical ideas brought to a straight-laced school in order to change the lives of the students he or she touches... MONA LISA SMILE, it would seem, is this year's contribution to that formula. The difference this year, however, is in the manner by which the subject, its characters and the the script are handled. With care, intelligence, humor and as little of the cliched plot points or manipulative devices as would normally be part of the package. This go round queen of the movies Julia Roberts, plays an idealistic Californian transplant hired to teach Art History at Wellseley College in the 1953-54 school year. She is a fish out of water amongst the upper-crust young women attending the school but the process is, as would be expected, a learning experience for all involved. Lives are indeed changed in this tale that signifies the beginnings of change and equality for women in the U.S. Roberts is effective in the role of teacher but the plethora of up-and-coming talents (Dunst, Gyllenhaal, Stiles, Goodwin) is impressive. This is a movie about choices and individual growth. It is touching without hitting us over the head with a message or slamming us with the maudlin pushes and pulls of big studio fare. It is a worthy feel good contribution for the season. (A)

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COLD MOUNTAIN

Release: 12/25/03-(R)-(2:05)-[MIRAMAX FILMS]- CAST: JUDE LAW, NICOLE KIDMAN, RENEE ZELLWEGGER, NATALIE PORTMAN, PHILLIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN, GIOVANNI RIBISI, BRENDAN GLEESON, CHARLIE HUNNAM, RAY WINSTONE, DONALD SUTHERLAND, JENNA MALONE: Boy oh BOY has the Academy Award season arrived. COLD MOUNTAIN is in many ways the epitome of the sort of film that the Oscars love.. (of course that would be along with films this year like LAST SAMURAI, MASTER AND COMMANDER and LORD OF THE RINGS). It has all the ingredients the recipe requires... but in this case all rather wonderfully refined and well-directed ingredients. Directed by Anthony Minghella (The English Patient), COLD MOUNTAIN is a story of Civil War strife and its effects on a man and a woman in the south. Based on well-received novel the film takes an Australian actress (Kidman) and a British actor (Law) to heart as it's leads... and finds them delivering strong and potent performances (along with a wonderful supporting role by a native southerner in Zellwegger). COLD MOUNTAIN is a vivid recreation of wartime in the United States. It is volatile and romantic, sad and frighteningly bleak in how it portrays the hardships of life in pre-modern days... as well as the heartless and lawless land that we once lived in (and some would argue this is still the case in some places). There is a peaceful woebegone feel and a sweeping epic likability to COLD MOUNTAIN... a feel that Minghella won an Oscar for in English Patient... could this be repeated? It's possible... the film is out from Miramax. All in all... a wonderful couple of hours in the theater. (A)

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LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING

Release: 12/17/03-(PG-13)-(3:30)-[NEW LINE CINEMA]- CAST: ELIJAH WOOD, SIR IAN MCKELLAN, SEAN ASTIN, SEAN BEAN, ORLANDO BLOOM, VIGGO MORTENSEN, CATE BLANCHETT, LIV TYLER: Yes... like many other geeks around the world I was more excited about seeing this movie than any other I have anticipated in a very long time. I am here to tell you that not ONLY did it not disappoint... but it exceeded my expectations in spades. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING wraps the three film series based on the Tolkein books with such incredible fervor and spectacle that one has to wonder how the Academy can possibly not just give the conclusion and its director (Peter Jackson) awards for the sum of all the parts. It is senseless to tell the story of The Return of the King... for those of us who are geeks through and through (and all others who have had the pleasure of the books) there is so much story to be told in the final film. The film boasts powerful storytelling, maginificent filmwork and wonderful special effects and runs three and a half hours... but not to worry I did not flinch once throughout... it flowed through to the final moment. There is no doubt in my mind that THE LORD OF THE RINGS should forever set the standard for the word EPIC... my only complaint being that there will not be a new LOTR coming out at the end of 2004. This movie is outstanding! (A+)

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THE STATEMENT

Release: 12/12/03-(R)-(1:50)-[SONY PICTURES CLASSICS]- CAST: MICHAEL CAINE, TILDA SWINTON, CHARLOTTE RAMPLING, JEREMY NORTHAM, ALAN BATES: THE STATEMENT is superbly performed. It is another tale that derives its main story out of the atrocities of World War II and the holocaust. This time it deals with a French soldier and Nazi collaborator responsible for shooting and killing 7 French jews in 1944. Pierre Broussard, fled prosecution for his crimes after the war and remained elusive through nearly 5 decades with the help of the church. Through these years he has eluded every opportunity to catch him and in 1992 he remains in France. The statement is a document of execution put out by a small group (with ties to Broussard's past...) and is carried out in attempts by hit men hired by said group. Not only are the hit men after him, however, but the police in France as well. Led by a determined judge (Swinton) and a cop (Northam) they hunt the trail through the various religious homes and churches that have or continue to house the fugitive. Rounding out the cast is the magnificent Charlotte Rampling as Broussard's former wife, whom he visits for a short while for refuge. As always, Mr. Caine is a versatile and convincing actor in a role that fits and convinces. He is a killer with remorse... and an instinct that allows him to continue the killing in order to save his own skin. The Statement is quality work... directed by Norman Jewison with this stellar cast. It is the sort of film the Academy eats up and admires... but I couldn't help but to feel that I've seen this to some extent before. It is original... and it isn't original. (B)

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JAPANESE STORY

Release: 12/31/03-(R)-(1:50)-[SAMUEL GOLDWYN FILMS]- CAST: TONI COLLETTE, GOTARO TSUNASHIMA, MATTHEW DYKTINSKI, LYNETTE CURRAN, YUMIKO TANAKA, KATE ATKINSON: There is always a lot to say when an actor hones their craft and performs better and better with every role they take. Toni Collette is one of those performers. I remember when I first heard of her as the delightful and plump underdog in Muriel's Wedding... a movie that remains a favorite, but an actress that I might not have expected to grow as much as Toni has done. Ms. Collette plays a software partner for an Australian firm designated (much to her chagrin) to accompany a Japanese client on a 'tour' of the Australian desert. This, by all stretch of the imagination, is really a road movie of sorts. There are peripheral players that fill the screen... one inparticular towards the end of the film creates quite a memorable character. But it is Ms. Collette and actor Gotaro Tsunashima that dominate the film's interesting and touching odd couple moments... and Ms. Collette that owns it through and through. There is, in JAPANESE STORY, a twist that takes what any viewer might have considered the direction of the story and spins it on its head... it surprised me so thoroughly that I continued to expect something else to happen for a short while after it occurred. This brought a different level of emotion and experience to the end result... and most definitely puts Toni Collette in the league of Best Actress Academy Award possibilities for the year. I don't imagine JAPANESE STORY will be a huge box office hit... it doesn't seem to have that wide release sort of appeal. I only hope that enough can see it for Toni's performance. (B)

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BAD SANTA

Release: 11/28/03-(R)-(1:33)-[MIRAMAX FILMS/DIMENSION FILMS]- CAST: BILLY BOB THORNTON, TONY COX, BRETT KELLY, LAUREN GRAHAM, BERNIE MAC, JOHN RITTER, LAUREN TOM, CLORIS LEACHMAN: When I first heard that executives at Disney were shocked and insulted by BAD SANTA I knew it would be a film that I would enjoy. Anything that takes a studio like Disney by surprise and puts a dent in their shiny 'family friendly' armor is all right with me. This is just the movie to do that. Billy Bob Thornton was made to play this role. Picture this: Here we have a growling, snorting shell of a man, whose bad choices and alcoholism only enhance the irony of his taking a job each Christmas as a mall Santa along with his cynical midget sidekick playing an elf. But there is more. Each year they case the store they are working in and steal the money out of the safes as well as various items marked off throughout the store by the midget's girlfriend. Each year, it would seem, Willie (Thornton) is getting worse... so by the time they arrive in Phoenix to a store run by a timid, nerdy manager (the late John Ritter) and a overly cocky detective (Bernie Mac), much of what might have worked in the past is unraveling. Willie is constantly drunk, angrier than hell and shagging female customers in the oversized women's dressing room. Enter bartender Lois (Lauren Graham) and a sad, fat little boy (Brett Kelly) and the otherwise surly Willie seems to be having his shell cracked... Trust me, this is not a happy Christmas themed Walton's episode. There is enough cursing and holiday bashing to annoy or insult most stuck-up Americans. That is exactly why I really liked this film. More power to it and the magic of bashing holiday commercialism. RIGHT ON!! (A)

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THE BIG EMPTY

Release: 11/21/03-(R)-(1:34)-[AURA ENTERTAINMENT/ARTISAN ENTERTAINMENT]- CAST: JON FAVREAU, JOEY LAUREN ADAMS, RACHAEL LEIGH COOK, DARYL HANNAH, ADAM BEACH, BUD CORT, KELSEY GRAMMER: Personally I think this was a very apt title for the film. Although it is touted to some degree as a first time filmmaker's triumph of "cult" status... I wonder why anyone would need to see this more than once.. It isn't as though there is any redeeming quality. There are no fun lyrics that one can chant along with as they watch the film. There are very few (if any) memorable or stand out performances.... and the story is dull and prone to make an audience member want to sit and scratch their head while wondering what they need to be doing with the rest of their day. Apparently this is a story about aliens... it would seem there is an underlaying message about them coming down in some desert out in god knows where, California. Out of work and narcistic actor John is behind on rent and asking annoyingly voiced neighbor Grace which headshot is best when oddball neighbor brings a suitcase and offers John a weirdo courier type job for the exact amount of money that John is in debt. What follows is a bunch of boring and rather ridiculous mishaps that any normal person would have fled from immediately, but John sticks around for reasons unexplained. Soon he is met by a plethora of strange and stranger characters and, quite frankly, nothing else. I just don't get it... maybe there really is nothing to get? Maybe that is why they would label it a 'cult' film? No thanks... there are better ways to spend a couple of hours. (C)

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THE LAST SAMURAI

Release: 12/05/03-(R)-(2:24)-[WARNER BROS.]- CAST: TOM CRUISE, KEN WATANABE, BILLY CONNOLLY, TONY GOLDWYN, TIMOTHY SPALL, SHIN KOYAMADA, KOYUKI: Perhaps it is that I am jaded towards the overblown romantic hero type film. Perhaps it is just my disdain for the overblown personality of Tom Cruise (my apologies to those who still think the actor walks on water) but, in my opinion, THE LAST SAMURAI is nothing more than a big budget studio puff piece... a Braveheart set in Japan. Granted there are some obviously well executed cinematic themes and scenes to be witnessed. A battle with so many extras is definitely something worth checking out. But the case of THE LAST SAMURAI begs the question as to whether or not it is still necessary to portray this sort of 'adventure' or 'honorable man against all that is bad in the world' story by showing them to be larger than life and nearly indestructable at every turn. Do I believe that Cruise's Nathan Algren would have survived through half the things he is portrayed to accomplish or live through here? NO. Were he real he probably would have perished very early on. And was the love story a pertinent part of the story being told... some would argue YES... I refer to a much better epic film of this year in MASTER AND COMMANDER to point out that this sort of story does NOT require the manipulation of the audience through the entrance of an unlikely romantic bond... if for nothing but to prove further the masculinity of its egomaniacal star... There will be some that disagree with my take on this Christmas Oscar wannabe... but I stand by my review. Should it make it to top 5 in nominees for the best film of the year I will KNOW that the academy is being bought by big studio dollars... and will take my sword and happily commit hary kary, as I will have lost my honor as a film lover. (C)

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IN AMERICA

Release: 11/14/03-(PG-13)-(1:43)-[20TH CENTURY FOX/FOX SEARCHLIGHT FILMS]- CAST: PADDY CONSIDINE, SAMANTHA MORTON, SARAH BOLGER, EMMA BOLGER, DJIMON HOUNSOU: IN AMERICA is turning out to be a definite candidate for my top 5 movies of 2003. It is a poignant, very personal and emotional story about immigration to the United States by an Irish family in the early 1980's. Directed and co-written by Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot), the story is told primarily through the eyes of eldest daughter Christy (Sarah Bolger) and her handheld camera. Sheridan's two daughters helped him write the screenplay, which not only examines the adventures of the family in a new land (they have come to New York City) but digs below the surface to relay how each parent and family member is dealing with the recent loss of a third child before the move to the new land. Parents Johnny (Paddy Considine) and Sarah (Samantha Morton) are haunting and colorful while the two little girls that play the children are magnificent in their wide-eyed innocence and exhiliration towards the new home they have discovered. Living in a run down tenament filled with drug addicts adds a bit to the scenery and a stoic and beautiful perf by Djimon Hounsou as an upstairs neighbor with troubles of his own round out the sort of film that allows you to examine your own emotions without feeling in any way manipulated by the film. (A+)

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THE MISSING

Release: 11/26/03-(R)-(2:10)-[REVOLUTION STUDIOS/IMAGINE ENTERTAINMENT/COLUMBIA PICTURES]- CAST: CATE BLANCHETT, TOMMY LEE JONES, EVAN RACHEL WOOD, JENNA BOYD, AARON ECKHART: Ron Howard shows another side of his vast filmmaking abilities with the beautfully shot and directed THE MISSING. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the film is also starring Cate Blanchett (arguably amongst the top rated actresses in the world today) and Academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones. THE MISSING revolves around Blanchett's "healer" character in 1885 Wild West backdrop. When oldest daughter (Wood) is kidnapped and dragged off by a voodoo magician and his men, Blanchett, her second daughter and estranged father (Jones) band together to fight the elements, natives and weather to retrieve the young girl. It is a heart-wrenching tale made magnificent by the top notch performances and a look at what could very well have been the time period's western USA, shot by cinematographer Salvatore Totino. This is a remarkable effort that brings back the western in a vein that empowers the strong and very american Blanchett character. Although I will admit that I have never been a big fan of the western, Howard has taken the genre and turned it on its ear. (A+)

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MASTER AND COMMANDER

Release: 11/14/03-(PG-13)-(2:18)-[20TH CENTURY FOX/MIRAMAX FILMS/UNIVERSAL FILMS/SAMUEL GOLDWYN FILMS]- CAST: RUSSELL CROWE, PAUL BETTANY, JAMES D'ARCY, EDWARD WOODALL, CHRIS LARKIN, MAX PIRKIS: If my predictions stand correct for the up-coming Oscar race it should (and probably will) be MASTER AND COMMANDER and THE LORD OF THE RINGS rounding out the top 5 film nominees as the choice EPIC films. MASTER AND COMMANDER further solidifies the intensity and movie star quality of Russell Crowe, already an AA winner for his turn as the GLADIATOR. This time he is the fearless and machismo Captain Jack Aubrey, the leader of a ship of men during the Napoleonic wars sailing away from and then in pursuit of a phantom ship that has found them a few too many times in battle. Complete with explicit battles scenes, treachery, bravery, lost limbs and almost barbaric surgery methods (Paul Bettany turns in an Oscar worthy performance as the ship's doctor) MASTER AND COMMANDER is ripe for the comparisons to such tales as MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY or CAPTAIN CORAGEOUS... albeit without the mutiny. Things are not good for the men aboard the vessell... but will be good for director Peter Wier, the two lead actors and the film's cinematography. Truly an epic worth the viewing... (A)

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THE COOLER

Release: 11/26/03-(R)-(1:41)-[LIONS GATE FILMS]- CAST: WILLIAM H. MACY, MARIA BELLO, ALEC BALDWIN, SHAWN HATOSY, RON LIVINGSTON, PAUL SORVINO, ESTELLA WARREN: In what could be billed as the seasons most unusual love story, William H. Macy turns in a distinguished perforance as a Las Vegas Hotel "cooler" whose normal life of bad luck turns around with the entrance of cocktail waitress Bello into the picture. A cooler, it would seem, is employed by a hotel merely to stand next to a winner that is costing the hotel too much money in winnings. With his bad energy and luck it isn't long before the hotel is winning it's money back. When Bernie (Macy) decides he is going to leave the hotel and move on to a different life, the hotel's larger than life bada bing owner/runner (Alec Baldwin in a role made for him) hires waitress Natalie (Bello) to "fall" for him and keep him around. But Natalie DOES fall for the loser and when this happens Bernie's luck begins to change. What transpires is the serio-comical resistance of Shelly (Baldwin), an interfering visit from Bernie's son & 'pregnant' wife (Shawn Hatosy and Estella Warren) and a string of events that mark the change of patterns for the forlorn cooler and the waitress that got attached to her work. Offbeat and warmhearted, THE COOLER can be a bit of a downer at times... but all in all is a worthwhile story to be told. (A)

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THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS

Release: 11/21/03-(R)-(1:31)-[MIRAMAX FILMS/ASTRAL PICTURES]- CAST: REMY GIRARD, STEPHANE ROUSSEAU, DOROTHEE BERRYMAN, LOUISE PORTAL, DOMINIQUE MICHEL, YVES JACQUE, PIERRE CURZI: From Canadian filmmaker Denys Arcand (Jesus of Montreal & The Decline of the American Empire) comes a likely foreign film Oscar contender in THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. A talkative, emotional, funny and somewhat bitter look at a changing world as a cynical teacher lies dying and his family and friends gather around INVASIONS is both smart and annoying (so much reading for those of us who don't understand French). It's lead Remy is a crusty former teacher who snipes at the world around him through his resentment towards what appears to be a somewhat blank slate being left as a legacy. His history of mistresses and somewhat estranged children along with the non-chalant, almost non-existent reaction from his students upon his exit further anger his sense of mortality until his son (reluctantly) gathers the ex-mistresses and friends to reminisce about the past and glory days of their lives together. A well written script and well intentioned cast provides a clever and genuine story of celebration and recovery in relationships as Remy slides towards his death with those he loves all around at a beautful cabin by the water. Barbarian is a thinking man's film... an investment in time and brain cell... but with reading glasses can be well worth the time spent. (B)

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LOVE ACTUALLY

Release: 11/07/03-(R)-(2:15)-[UNIVERSAL STUDIOS/WORKING TITLES FOOD/DNA FILMS]- CAST: BILL NIGHY, COLIN FIRTH, LIAM NEESON, EMMA THOMPSON, HUGH GRANT, MARTINE MCCUTCHEON, ALAN RICKMAN, ROWAN ATKINSON, LAURA LINNEY, RODRIGO SANTORO, KEIRA KNIGHTLEY, CHIWETEL EJIOFOR: Admittedly there is a reason that I enjoyed LOVE ACTUALLY as much as I did... it is set in London... need I really say anything more? The basic premise of this light, fluffy and very crowded managerie of love problems and solutions is that love is all around... and each and every one of us either deserves or should be able to find it. Practical, if not somewhat implausible, LOVE ACTUALLY deals with all manner of relationships in all stages of their being (or not being) by taking almost every known British actor and actress, throwing in a few yanks for good measure and creating a holiday snog fest that will make the love-sick and LONDON starved feel that emotional tug that a movie of this nature is setting out to provide. Therefore... and with all that said... LOVE ACTUALLY served its purpose in making me want EVEN MORE to move to the UK. After all, if I do I shall find the love of my life... right? (A)

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IN THE CUT

Release: 10/22/03-(R)-(1:59)-[SCREEN GEMS]- CAST: MEG RYAN, MARK RUFALLO, JENNIFER JASON LEIGH, NICK DAMICI: The biggest draw for me to IN THE CUT was the fact that our favorite sweetie Meg Ryan was going to be naked doing the nasty. I can't say that Mark Rufallo would be the one that I wanted to see her doing it with... but I didn't have much choice in the matter. IN THE CUT is somewhat lush and poetic in Jane Campion's filmmaking eye. It is a step below the slick thriller that studios normally produce but NOT in the sense of production value or even story telling. It's about the seediness of where we are taken... the withdrawn or sad natures of our characters and the pieces of solid gruesome effect... without having to actually see the murders being done. IN THE CUT is a good thriller... but not a great one. Seeing Meggy naked was not enough to take it above the quality of the genre. It is a decent film, but not one I would highly recommend to a friend in an overcrowded market of films. (B)

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RADIO

Release: 10/24/03-(PG)-(1:49)-[REVOLUTION STUDIOS/COLUMBIA PICTURES]- CAST: CUBA GOODING JR., ED HARRIS, S. EPATHA MERKERSON, BRENT SEXTON, DEBRA WINGER: This season's CHEESE factor comes from the underdog, underachiever makes good true life story about the young African American kid in the south that eventually is taken under the wings of a high school football team coach with a huge heart.... and eventually, of course, the hearts of the entire town. RADIO (Cuba Gooding jr.) is a slow capacity learner. His ailment never really diagnosed, he is simply around with his shopping cart in a small southern town until a time when a cruel joke by the football team brings him smack dab into the do-good sights of Coach Jones. Now don't get me wrong... it is a tender and touching story that excels because of the truth that it tells. In it there are roadblocks but many wonderful hurdles climbed as the young man slowly makes his mark on the high school sports teams (as a team 'mascot' of sorts...) and in the school itself as a helping hand. Years later the story continues with the success and endearing longevity of the man being biographed. RADIO is this years story of over-coming odds... every year has one of those... at least this year's wasn't as contrived as many of them have been. Decent performances by Gooding Jr. and Harris complete the picture. (B)

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SHATTERED GLASS

Release: 10/31/03-(PG-13)-(1:39)-[LION'S GATE FILMS]- CAST: HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN, PETER SARSGAARD, CHLOE SEVIGNY, MELANIE LYNSKEY, STEVE ZAHN, HANK AZARIA, ROSARIO DAWSON: There are many things to like about SHATTERED GLASS. It is a true story based on the journalist Steven Glass, who fabricated at least 14 of his stories for the New Independent back in the 90's. Lead Hayden Christiansen is magnificent as the pathological liar, playing people off with youthful charm and childlike self-depracation ("are you mad at me?"). Performances of Glass' supporters and co-workers, editors and former teachers all give a well-rounded and intense look at one of the better snow-jobs in modern journalism. It is a story worth telling and an entertaining piece of film in a crop of big budget overblowns. Capping it off is the underlying smirk that comes across your face to watch a kid like Glass come through the way he did without being caught for so long. SHATTERED GLASS is a film that I will remember at the end of the year... it is also, in my mind, the breakthrough for young Hayden... who up until now had not appealed to me as an actor. (A)

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21 GRAMS

Release: 11/21/03-(R)-(2:05)-[FOCUS FEATURES]- CAST: SEAN PENN, NAOMI WATTS, BENECIO DEL TORO, CLEA DUVALL: 21 GRAMS can be best described as intense. It is a story reminiscent of TRAFFIC in the way it is filmed... dark and dreary... with shades of gray and brown coloring the mood of the story itself as well as the lives of those being portrayed within. The film is edited in a style that at first comes out rather annoying as different times within the lives of the intertwining characters are melded back and forth to create a confusion until the viewer begins to grasp who is who and what all of this might actually mean in the big picture. It is a story about a dying man who needs a heart... a destitute man who cannot hold a job... and a former drug addict who loses her family. All of them come together in a moment through a series of events that take the lives of the woman's family when they are hit by the destitute man's truck, affording the dying man the heart he needs to remain alive. But, through this odd and jumbled sort of editing we see there is much more to the story both before and after the defining moments... and the sum of the parts equal a compelling and magnificently acted whole. Another breakthrough perf by Naomi Watts takes her higher in the Hollywood echelons... and with the double whammy of this and his perf in MYSTIC RIVER, Sean Penn would look like the man to beat come OSCAR time in February. (A)

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ELEPHANT

Release: 10/24/03-(R)-(1:21)-[HBO FILMS/BLUE RELIEF PRODUCTIONS]- CAST: ALEX FROST, ERIC DEULEN, JOHN ROBINSON, ELIAS MCCONNELL, JORDAN TAYLOR, CARRIE FINKLEA: Disturbing. Should I go on? There is, I suppose, a reason that films get made... we look at the world around us and we create stories based on truth or IN truth in order to show different ways that people live (and in some cases die) in our world. ELEPHANT is not a bad film... not by a long shot. In fact, by the standards of such a good filmmaker as Mr. Van Sant, I would say that the subject matter and the performances pulled out of the young, unknown actors here are quite stellar. The problem for me was in either re-living the memories of the senselessness of such acts (based undoubtedly on the Columbine school shootings) or simply that sometimes movie downers such as ELEPHANT are just not what I may have been looking to watch in the first place. I do, however, expect to see a couple of these fine young actors moving on in their careers based on the work they've done here. (B)

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THE STATION AGENT

Release: 10/03/03-(R)-(1:28)-[MIRAMAX FILMS / SENART FILMS]- CAST: PETER DINKLAGE, PATRICIA CLARKSON, BOBBY CANNAVALE, PAUL BENJAMIN, RAVEN GOODWIN, MICHELLE WILLIAMS: Sometimes simplicity in storytelling can make all the difference in the world. In the case of this light-hearted country bumpkin sort of comedy/drama, I would have to say that keeping it simple was the point AND it's reason for success. A darling at the Sundance film festival earlier this year, THE STATION AGENT centers around a private and solitary character who just happens to be a little person. Finbar (Fin) loves trains and works in a shop repairing toys and train set locomotives. When his friend and the stores owner passes away he finds himself with an inheritance of a train station in a remote part of New Jersey. There, although he attempts to live a private life, he finds himself somewhat involved with a group of oddballs and eccentrics and that is as simple as the story gets. Fine performances by the three main leads, Peter Dinklage as Fin, The wonderful Patricia Clarkson as Olivia and the scene stealing performance of Bobby Cannavale as Joe make the viewing all quite worth the time spent. (B)

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BEYOND BORDERS

Release: 10/24/03-(R)-(2:07)-[PARAMOUNT PICTURES/MANDALAY PICTURES/CAMELOT PICTURES]- CAST: ANGELINA JOLIE, CLIVE OWEN, LINUS ROACH, TERI POLO, YORICK VAN WAGENINGEN: Gosh I wish I could have liked this movie a bit more. When you read about what star Angelina Jolie got from it... you ask yourself whether or not there was something you missed. Ok... I DO. But the fact remains that for the most part BEYOND BORDERS is somewhat puffed up and a bit preachy regarding the plights of people around the world. Granted... all of these things and more are very real and should not be ignored... but as a backdrop for an improbable and somewhat mundane relationship between the do-gooder American living in London and the moody, pouting and very idealistic Doctor working in Africa, Cambodia and eventually Serbia... it almost seems a bit too epic and unrealistic. There are a load of good points to the film, cinematography for one pops to mind... but the film as a whole screamed "CHICK flick" and although sometimes that is exactly what the world sees... box office receipts for BEYOND BORDERS might suggest otherwise. (B)

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VERONICA GUERIN

Release: 10/17/03-(R)-(1:32)-[BUENA VISTA PICTURES/JERRY BRUCKHEIMER FILMS]- CAST: CATE BLANCHETT, GERARD MCSORLEY, CIARAND HINDS, BRENDA FRICKER: I wasn't going to see VERONICA GUERIN because it looked like so many of the other bleeding heart do-gooder films that have graced the cinema in the past. But, I thought, I LOVE Cate Blanchett in whatever she does and it could very well be that this is the role they decide to give her that Oscar for... so I went. What I found was a compelling story about a journalist up against the dregs of drug society in Dublin 1994-96. The story is engaging, the acting is excellent and the fact that it is based on a real journalist (who looked a great deal like Blanchett herself) was enough to win me over and prove that I should never judge a book by its cover. (A)

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KILL BILL

Release: 10/10/03-(R)-(1:50)-[MIRAMAX/A BAND APART]- CAST: UMA THURMAN, LUCY LIU, DARYL HANNAH, MICHAEL MADSEN, DAVID CARRADINE, VIVICA A. FOX: Unfortunately I would have to say that expectations cut down the full affect that I might have or wanted to achieve from the lastest film from eccentric director Quentin Tarantino. KILL BILL is a mish-mosh of styles and genre's thrown together to create a big-old (good) cheesy mix of blood, limbs and martial arts. Tarantino, one might say, is the KING of quirk... and I believe that this might have been a bit TOO quirky for my tastes. I highly doubt the film will win many awards at the end of the year... simply because it lacks some of the magnificent banter/dialogue that both Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction shined with. Uma Thurman is a wonderful lead and Lucy Liu is marvelous as one of the death squad... but KILL BILL is acquired taste personified... and a bit much of it at that. Thing is... I wouldn't have gone without seeing it and I WILL need to see the second half... go figure. (B)

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MYSTIC RIVER

Release: 10/10/03-(R)-(2:17)-[WARNER BROS./MALPASO PRODUCTIONS/VILLAGE ROADSHOW]- CAST: SEAN PENN, TIM ROBBINS, KEVIN BACON, LAURENCE FISHBURNE, MARCIA GAY HARDIN, LAURA LINNEY: Clint Eastwood, to read the reviews around town, has created a masterpiece / classic with MYSTIC RIVER. I wish I could agree with that but it just doesn't resonate the same with me. Personally I found the pluses were many... but the whole was something that simply did not warrant another viewing or a great deal of conversation after the film was finished. Sean Penn is an incredible actor... of this there is no doubt. Tim Robbins might very well snag himself an Academy Award for his dimly lit portrayal of Dave. Marcia Gay Hardin was so convincing that I wasn't even aware it was her until I read the credits. It is the story that didn't win me over. I wish I liked it more as I am aware that many out there are calling this the best work Eastwood has ever done. (B)

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INTOLERABLE CRUELTY

Release: 10/10/03-(PG-13)-(1:40)-[UNIVERSAL PICTURES/IMAGINATION ENTERTAINMENT]- CAST: GEORGE CLOONEY, CATHERINE ZETA-JONES, GEOFFREY RUSH, CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER, EDWARD HERRMANN: You know... I almost hate to say this but I was disappointed with the Coen Brother's latest effort. It isn't a BAD flick.. but it isn't a stellar one either. I've seen this movie before and there IS a decent chemistry with it's stars... but the fact remains that it isn't anything all that different and our Coen Brothers are usually a team that delivers. Granted Mr. Clooney has thoroughly proven himself as a marvelous leading man in the vein of Clark Gable or Cary Grant... but Zeta Jones seems to (sadly enough) merely be playing herself.... and that is sort of scary. CRUELTY is a DVD viewer for the winter months... (B)

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PIECES OF APRIL

Release: 10/17/03-(PG-13)-(1:21)-[IFC PRODUCTIONS/MGM DISTRIBUTION/UNITED ARTISTS]- CAST: KATIE HOLMES, PATRICIA CLARKSON, OLIVER PLATT, SEAN HAYES, DEREK LUKE, ALICE DRUMMOND: Independent films that don't rely on the puffed up magic that most studio films rely on are always going to find a soft spot in my heart. This little ditty starring DAWSON'S CREEK lovely Katie Holmes is a charming look at an eccentric young woman, estranged from her family and cancer-stricken mother (an always awesome Patricia Clarkson). The film centers completely around Thanksgiving, the families trip to the delapitated apartment of younger April and the young woman's struggles to find an oven and cook the turkey for the meal. All characters are well drawn and direction is spot on. This is a quick and very sweet look at family dysfunction for the up-coming holiday. (A)

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SCHOOL OF ROCK

Release: 10/03/03-(PG)-(1:48)-[PARAMOUNT PICTURES/SCOTT RUDIN PRODUCTIONS]- CAST: JACK BLACK, JOAN CUSACK, MIKE WHITE, SARAH SILVERMAN: If you're like me Jack Black is the sort of comic/musician that you can only take in doses. Therefore... when I read of SCHOOL OF ROCK as a headliner for the actor I wondered if I would be able to sit through a couple of hours of his over-the-top antics. Fortunately I did. If EVER there was a vehicle that fit an actor completely it is SCHOOL OF ROCK for Black. Excellent and enjoyable, the ultra-formulaic film proceeds to transcend said formula and charm with excess. Supporting cast is pleasant and fun. SCHOOL OF ROCK is a must see for those who enjoy a light, fluffy and yes, DIFFERENT predictable film. (A)

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WONDERLAND

Release: 10/03/03-(R)-(1:39)-[LIONS GATE FILMS]- CAST: VAL KILMER, LISA KUDROW, KATE BOSWORTH, DYLAN MCDERMOTT, JOSH LUCAS, FRANKY G, TIM BLAKE NELSON, CARRIE FISHER, ERIC BOGOSIAN: The pluses for WONDERLAND are the performances. Although I hesitate to say it... Val Kilmer seems to have been born to play John Holmes, legendary porn star and, if you watch and believe this film, all-around scumbag. Kilmer embodies the character... but the movie itself seems to take glee in glorifying the drugs and all they represent to the 'story' of the murders on Wonderland. This isn't a bad film at any stretch of the road. It is a piece of memorabilia loosely based on truth and given a dollop of era music and scenery to enhance believability. This might be something best kept for the video/DVD rental... but will be worth the view (B)

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UNDERWORLD

Release: 09/19/03-(R)-(2:01)-[SCREEN GEMS, LAKESHORE INTL]- CAST: KATE BECKINSALE, SCOTT SPEEDMAN, SHANE BROLLY, MICHAEL SHEEN, BILL NIGHY, SOPHIA MYLES: Dark, moody, bloody and a sci-fi lovers tapestry... UNDERWORLD is an upper-class adventure of war and an oddly bloody romance between a newly-created were-wolf and a gorgeous vampire. It is a world of dreary design that fits the title... and a film for a more specific genre lover. (B)

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ANYTHING ELSE

Release: 09/19/03-(R)-(1:48)-[DREAMWORKS SKG]- CAST: WOODY ALLEN, JASON BIGGS, STOCKARD CHANNING, DANNY DEVITO, JIMMY FALLON: Unfortunately... this one is a bit TOO Woody Allen... if that were to be a negative. Here we have Jason Biggs doing Woody... Woody doing Woody... in fact, it would seem that everyone is, to some extent, doing Woody. I wanted to slap Christina Ricci... but got too bored and fidgety to care. DIEHARD fans only please. (C)

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LOST IN TRANSLATION

Release: 09/12/03-(R)-(1:42)-[AMERICAN ZOETROPE/FOCUS FEATURES]- CAST: BILL MURRAY, SCARLETT JOHANSSON, GIOVANNI RIBISI, ANNA FARIS: If you asked me today what I felt was the best film of the year I would have to say LOST IN TRANSLATION. Sofia Coppola is coming of age and has risen beyond the quirky nuances of her previous work (The Virgin Suicides) to bring forth a magnificent, thoughtful and wonderfully entertaining piece of film. This is one of those rare cinematic treats that boggle the mind in simplicity combined with absolute intensity brought on by a thoroughly adept and classic theme and story, a stellar cast and a city that screams neon. Scarlett Johansson is in her element and will be remembered for this breakthrough role... but it is Bill Murray that I expect will find himself among the nominees at Academy Award time... as well as a winner for many critics. The lights, the music, the city, the script... Lost in Translation is the biggest winner I've seen this year thus far. (A+)

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CALENDAR GIRLS

Release: 12/19/03-(PG-13)-(1:48)-[BUENA VISTA PICTURES]- CAST: JULIE WALTERS, HELEN MIRREN, CELIA IMRIE, LINDA BASSETT, ANNETTE CROSBIE, JOHN ALDERTON, CIARAND HINDS: CALENDAR GIRLS is a story based on truth. It is this year's FULL MONTY... but with older women. It is a feel-good film that finds a quiet English countryside village embroiled in a world-wide news story as a couple of women organize a nude calendar for their women's club to bring in money and attention for the disease that has taken one of their's husbands lives. It is a story complete with the sort of nudity one doesn't necessarily want to see... and a trip to the Jay Leno show. It is fun, touching and another film that will be remembered with a smile at the end of the year. (A)

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ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO

Release: 09/12/03-(R)-(1:41)-[SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT/COLUMBIA PICTURES/DIMENSION FILMS/BUENA VISTA INTERNATIONAL]- CAST: ANTONIO BANDERAS, SALMA HAYEK, JOHNNY DEPP, MICKEY ROURKE, EVA MENDES: Filled with dark images and a great many close-up profiles, ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO is the third in the trilogy that brought DESPERADO and EL MARIACHI... directed by Robert Rodriguez. If there were one word to describe this latest shoot-em up Mexican styled Western it would be BLOODY. But that is the cinematic style that Rodriguez is shooting for. Depp is grand... spending half the film blind with eyes gouged out... and Banderas is the Desperado with flair. Another film that would be for an acquired taste... (B)

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FINDING NEMO

Release: 05/30/03-(G)-(1:40)-[WALT DISNEY PICTURES/BUENA VISTA PICTURES/PIXAR ANIMATION]- CAST: ALBERT BROOKS, ELLEN DEGENERES, ALEXANDER GOULD, WILLEM DAFOE, BRAD GARRETT, ALISON JANNEY: I waited long enough to see this Pixar delight. A children's movie through and through... FINDING NEMO is a story of letting go and the adventures that teach us how to live. It is voiced with expertise and Disney love with an excellent and thoroughly entertaining result that would allow both parents and children to enjoy the ride. (A)

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THIRTEEN

Release: 08/22/03-(R)-(1:40)-[FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES]- CAST: EVAN RACHEL WOOD, HOLLY HUNTER, NIKKI REED, JEREMY SISTO, BRADY CORBET, DEBORAH KARA UNGER: Thirteen is an unusually realistic and almost scary portrayal of just how easy the pressures of burgeoning teendom and peer pressures can be. The mere fact that this story is based on the real life experiences of one of its stars takes the levels of drama and angst up a couple of notches. However, it is the performances by nearly all members of this fine ensemble work that take THIRTEEN to a level that cannot be matched in the world of big studio fare. Add to that there really is NO underlying theme or message producers are trying to drop on an unsuspecting audience and you have an interesting ride of a movie. Tracy (Wood) plays an unassuming young girl, cute and unaffected by the world (except for maybe her mother's on-again-off-again relationship with ex-crackhead Brady, played by Sisto). Tracy is about to begin in a new middle-school already attended by her older brother Mason (Corbet) and is perfectly fine with her two little friends as this experience begins. Soon, however, it becomes apparent that Tracy wants to be more like the school hottie and most popular girl Evie (Nikki Reed... who co-wrote the screenplay.) At first Evie is more into teasing the young girl, much like a pledge in a sorority. She gives her a fake phone number after inviting her out to shop on Melrose and then laughs with another friend when Tracy finds them and shines them with her naivet�. Soon, however, Tracy finds the ingenuity to show Evie et al that she is suited for the girls and embarks in their world of petty crime, drugs and body piercing. THIRTEEN if nothing else is an expose at how fast this sort of transformation can actually take place. The rewards are the starkly realistic portrayals of daughter Tracy, whose mood swings and demeanor change almost over night into nothing short of a little hoodlum... and that of her mother, Melanie (Hunter), a recovering alcoholic pushing her way through life in a barely kept home by doing haircuts in the kitchen. In short order Evie has become a part of the family, her manipulations placing her where she feels the most comfortable while her own mother (Unger) is a bit of a crusty character herself. But just as easily as the two girls connect and become the closest of friends, signs of trouble and the recognition of the parents pushes the two apart... a realistic touch that doesn't necessarily take these characters to the happy-ever-after After School Special ending that might have been expected. It is a story of truth and possibility in a land that doesn't seem to be paying very close attention any longer... no... that is not an editorial as much as it is, in my opinion, the underlying theme of the film itself. Filmed with a great deal of shaky camera work and establishing shots in and around the Los Angeles Area, THIRTEEN is a film that should probably be viewed by teens and young adults as a precautionary tale of how things often can occur... it is possible, however, that there could be cause to avoid showing the kids under 13 how things turn out... is it too much? I liked THIRTEEN because of its honesty... there were moments I felt to be superfluous... but as a whole Catherine Hardwicke has put together an astounding piece of cinematic license. (A)

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S.W.A.T.

Release: 08/01/03-(R)-(1:57)-[SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT/COLUMBIA PICTURES]- CAST: SAMUEL L. JACKSON, COLIN FARRELL, MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ, LL COOL J, JOSH CHARLES, JEREMY RENNER, OLIVIER MARTINEZ: Overly pumped and heroic machismo comes alive in Los Angeles lead by the very familiar opening diatribe of Samuel L. Jackson pumping a team to its full potential. No... this isn't a bad film... not at all. Consider that this is a SUMMER flick in the midst of SUMMER action sequel mania. YES.... S.W.A.T is no sequel... but it may as well be when you consider that most every summer action movie is pretty much all about the explosions and can you top this mania of special effects and adrenalin rushes. Here we have a team of very apt and capable he-men (oh... yes, and one he-woman) out to rid the world of smarmy French-men and their public promises to pay exorbitant amounts of money to anyone who will get them free from the oppressions of the MAN and his prison system. Olivier Martinez of last year's Unfaithful is the smarmy French bad boy... having apparently killed his own father and then come all the way to lovely Los Angeles to kill his Uncle and make sure nobody else crosses him. He is the perennial bad guy... no doubt inflicted with the Napoleon concept (you know... the one where short people make up for their size by being extra nasty and egomaniacal?). Good guys... who, in order to be REALLY good must be somewhat bad (always getting in trouble with the boss etc) on the S.W.A.T. team include the leader and ACE wise-ass Hondo (Jackson), the rebellious and achingly handsome Jim Street (Farrell), the butch and snarling Sanchez (Rodriguez) and the ultra cool Deke (LL Cool J) who misses NO opportunity to lift his shirt and show off his chiseled abs. Together these men and women form an ELITE (somewhat overused term in summer fare) group of the best of the best of the baddies who are goodies.... and get out there and kick some bad guy butt... while bullets fly throughout all manner of civilian life and territory and the world suspends judgment because... let's face it... the bad guy must go. S.W.A.T. is a decent film. It is done well... it is an amiable script for the purpose and the stars are what they are supposed to be. That in and of itself should be the ONLY reason a film like this will succeed in the summer market (and then while released on DVD.) Not what I would rank in any of MY top lists... but not at all an insult to my intelligence. (B)

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GIGLI

Release: 08/01/03-(R)-(1:30)-[SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT/COLUMBIA PICTURES/REVOLUTION STUDIOS]- CAST: BEN AFFLECK, JENNIFER LOPEZ, CHRISTOPHER WALKEN, LAINE KAZAN, AL PACINO, JUSTIN BARTHA: I am not quite sure why I feel compelled to explain that I received this film on video cassette from my work... and didn't go to a theater to pay for it. Possibly because the thing to do in recent weeks seemed to be the panning of this film and everything surrounding it. NO, this is not by any means the worst film ever made. NO... the acting is not nearly as bad as one might believe after having read the litany of 'can-you-top-THIS' bad reviews that were flying out of word-processors across the land. But NO... this is not BY ANY MEANS a good movie either. It is, for the most part, stupid. It is, for the most part.... contrived. But it isn't awful. Jennifer Lopez, if you ask me, is not the best actress this country has going for her. She is mostly about hype and over saturation in the media. What have we learned from GIGLI? What goes up MUST come down. After WEEEEEEEKs of hearing non-stop stories about the engagement of the stars of GIGLI we, the public, could stand no more... so it stood to reason that their movie... that place where the golden couple of publicity met... should go down in flames and crash into the studio that filmed it. Granted... I have seen SO many films worse than this one. What struck me about GIGLI is how preposterous many of the lines delivered really were. First of all... I should preface that the story itself was ridiculous. Mobbish kind of galut Larry Gigli (rhymes with really) is not very good at what he does. One would believe that he doesn't actually like doing it very much by the reactions of his boss and the fact that he just doesn't seem all that happy in doing it. Boss wants Larry to kidnap a young man whose father is supposed to testify against an official... blah blah blah... same old plot. The kid, however, would seem to be somewhat mentally retarded... talking, acting and behaving much like Rain Man... and, if you ask me, doing so for TOO much of the screen time. Boss sends in the beautiful and tough Ricki to make sure that Larry gets the job done right. Sparks fly... or do they? Ricki, it seems is a lesbian (of the lipstick variety) and those sparks are the sort that fingernails on a blackboard would provide. This film comes complete with tender moments... bonding... life changing scenarios and a point that makes you almost believe that the lesbian is going to change just because Larry is a good looking guy. ARRRRGGGHHH!!! Gigli is a joke by many standards... but truthfully... I just don't think it would have done as bad as it did were it not for the press raising its stars to the status it has. Either way... you might want to sneak it out of a video store in the near future and discover the silliness of it for yourself. Why not? (C)

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PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN

Release: 06/28/03-(PG-13)-(2:23)-[WALT DISNEY PICTURES/BUENA VISTA PICTURES/JERRY BRUCKHEIMER PRODUCTIONS]- CAST: JOHNNY DEPP, GEOFFREY RUSH, ORLANDO BLOOM, KEIRA KNIGHTLY, JACK DAVENPORT, JOHNATHAN PRYCE: I didn't originally go to see this film because it was put out by Disney. YES, that could be construed as a stereotype... but the truth is most Disney features, especially ones that are modeled after something so staunchly Disney in the first place... are pretty lame and can wait for video if I am to see them at all. WELL... was I ever wrong about PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN. Johnny Depp alone takes this film and runs with it in the manner by which MOVIE STARS of days gone by would have done. This is an actor who epitomizes the CHARACTER genre and takes whatever he is given to the hilt. Jack Sparrow (Depp) is an over-the-top pirate complete with dark eye make-up and almost feminine swagger (I am told that the role was modeled after Keith Richards... and I can see that.) And along with the exciting and gorgeous support of both Orlando Bloom as Will Turner and Keira Knightly as Elizabeth Swann, the film takes off and does what the Disneyland ride has done for YEARS and beyond. What FUN it was to see the pieces of the ride that stand out in memory incorporated into the film. What fun it was to watch the many swashbuckling sword-fights and the damsel in distress scenarios. I loved the ghostly menace of the pirates on the Black Pearl and each and every character actor who took a role in this film. It is a dynamic and robust play on the world of whimsy and make-believe.... a throwback on the films that excited a different generation in the 40's and the 50's and a TON of fun in its wonderfully written script and adept portrayers. Enough said? Don't wait any longer to see this summer HIT... it is actually no wonder that the weekend box-office continually shows this film in the top numbers: They are coming back for more and more... There is no justice in the world that Mr. Depp has never been nominated for an Academy Award. He is a wonderfully playful and genius actor. His day will come.... and as for the careers of both Bloom and Knightly? To the MOON!! (A)

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THE MAGDALENE SISTERS

Release: 08/01/03-(R)-(1:59)-[MIRAMAX FILMS/FILM COUNCIL UK]- CAST: GERALDINE McEWAN, ANNE-MARIE DUFF, NORA-JANE NOONE, DOROTHY DUFFY, EILEEN WALSH: It is fair to say that THE MAGDALENE SISTERS will not be showing in any theater in Vatican City any time soon. In FACT... I would expect that its vital memory of the Irish Catholic religion in the 1960's... a searing and biting case that would undoubtedly give the religion yet another black eye... when it would seem they were out of eyes to blacken in the first place, would keep it from playing in quite a few places. Nonetheless, the film is a testimonial to a period in history that remains unexplained... a ward of slavery for reasons that amounted to shame within families that could, unfortunately be swept under rugs and ignored completely by simply throwing young ladies away. Margaret's 'crime' was having been raped by a cousin at a celebration only to tell family members of the incident. Berndadette, a young girl of high-school age at an orphanage was flirting with some local boys, Rose had a child out of wedlock... and all simply did not exist once these sins had been committed, off they went to the laundry of the Magdalene Sisterhood. What is more surprising... or perhaps disturbing about the Sisterhood is the behavior of the nuns that ran the 'asylum'. In it the spirits of these young women were repeatedly broken, shaken and often destroyed through harsh verbal and physical punishment inflicted to each and every convict for the slightest infraction. It is an indictment of the Catholic religion along the lines of this decades fervor regarding priests and molestation... and another example of the means by which "organized" religion, like so many in politics, have for years kept silent about the things that run hypocritically against the very basis of the religion itself. THE MAGDALENE SISTERS is a sad and dark film about the lives of women who were put to tests that shouldn't be given to any human being. It is the sort of film that reminds modern day viewers that their existence is a cake walk... and their problems often, if not always, miniscule and luxury. Director Peter Mullan takes a masterful jab at the Catholic religion while playing for the facts of the story... each character a real woman, each incident recorded and real. The girls are mindful of the characters and true to the damaged and broken spirits they are portraying. Most intense are the performances of Sister Bridget (McEwan), the harsh and tyrannical head of the Sisterhood; the fiery and rebellious Bernadette (Noone) and the pathetic and simple Crispina (Walsh). This is not light fare for a summer afternoon. It is a film that deserves the recognition if only to be reminded that the world is filled with ironies and danger in what would otherwise be considered a safe haven. Is this a documentary? Is it an exposition that further breaks down the credibility of an entire religion? That remains to be seen... and I am sure that the critics would argue thusly. It is, most definitely a film worth discussion and two hours worth the view. (A)

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CAMP

Release: 07/25/03-(R)-(1:54)-[JERSEY FILMS/IFC FILMS]- CAST: ANNA KENDRICK, DANIEL LETTERLE, DON DIXON, SASHA ALLEN, JOANNA CHILCOAT, ROBIN DE JESUS: Perhaps it is merely because I may have been expecting the second coming of the 1980 film FAME, but I left CAMP disappointed and unenthused. It isn't as though there weren't some genuine moments or interesting performances... there were. Unfortunately I felt that the movie as a whole was manipulative and far TOO staged to feel real, right or anywhere near believable even for the 'freaks' it so wanted us to get to know within. For one thing this camp of dramatic misfits seemed to lack any sort of cohesive structure... it moved haphazardly from stellar production to stellar production without the blood, sweat and tears even the most talented of the world's performers would need to experience. Sure... there were a few moments of practice and rehearsal... and I do mean moments, but for the most part all we saw was the finely polished finished product time and time again. Perhaps this is the underlying problem with CAMP in a nutshell.... it is too polished of a product with too raw of a script and cast. These kids are not THAT good... they couldn't be under real life circumstance.... they were just normal teenagers dealing with their drama du jours while lip-synching there way in fun costumes. Camp Ovation is a summer home for the misfits of the regular school year... the drama students, the gay boys who like to throw caution to the wind by wearing a gown to their junior prom, the girls who nobody wants to date and the children whose parents just don't understand them... it's all about the misfits with the hidden talents that nobody seems to see. Even the overly clich� one-time success turned failure writer/director come back to train the kiddies is a walking stereotype. If this man actually drank as much as it would seem he was doing he would have exploded and taken a few of the misfits with him were a lit match to be within 50 feet. From the handsome straight boy with teeth of death to the shy overweight black girl whose father wired her jaw shut, all of these children are normal but seem to desire instead to be the freaks... thus having a singing voice or a desire to create characters becomes the butt of the normal world's joke and the camp itself the modern version of a Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney movie where they put on the production in the barn. What was wrong with CAMP? Truthfully... it was in the storytelling. I couldn't get to know these characters anywhere near as much as I probably would have enjoyed. They were cardboard cut-outs of what we believe a young performer might be. They were boring for the most part and I can't help but to wonder if any of the performances were actually genuine or enhanced by the studio to create the perfect image on the film. When I first saw FAME (way back when) there was an enormous feeling that it was a film that was somehow defining my life. It had characters that I could identify with and others that I just wanted to get to know. In CAMP I felt like I was watching a musical PORKY's... and had I known that I might have simply watched FAME on DVD instead. (C)

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SEABISCUIT

Release: 07/25/03-(PG-13)-(2:21)-[UNIVERSAL STUDIOS/DREAMWORKS SKG/SPYGLASS ENTERTAINMENT]- CAST: TOBEY MAGUIRE, JEFF BRIDGES, CHRIS COOPER, ELIZABETH BANKS, WILLIAM H. MACY: SEABISCUIT has Academy Award film written all over it. After my first viewing I wanted to write a letter to the academy and tell them to polish off a best supporting actor Oscar for Jeff Bridges and have it waiting. I realize that the temptation (especially from me) to derail a big studio film such as this one is great... but for the most part SEABISCUIT is a triumph of filmmaking. It is hitting a target on all fronts and not only tells a wonderful story of success against all odds, but faithfully stays in line with the book that it is borrowed from. Possibly the best thing about SEABISCUIT is the absolutely phenomenal race sequences that show up throughout the over two hour run of the film. Each and every one of them is real to the core with camera shots from so many angles and editing as quick as the pace of the horses themselves. It is genius how we are racing along with the horses and feeling the very tensions that those standing on the sidelines are experiencing. SEABISCUIT is also an actor's movie. This is a film that takes some juicy roles... men who struggle through years in different ways and with different backgrounds and all come out against the odds and ready and willing to continue the ride at all costs. SEABISCUIT is the story of three men: a young man with a penchant for riding who, after the crash of 1929 is "sold" to a horse farmer to ride and handle the horses; an assembly line worker who learns the art of the salesman and makes himself millions; and the old loner mustang trainer eventually tapped to manage the horse and its rider. ALL of these men, whose paths cross because of a thrown-away horse at one time deemed to small, have experiences that transform them into champions. Young Johnny (Red) Pollard, blind in one eye from amateur boxing, is the hero who rides the hero. His is a life that mirrors the horse's own history... thrown away and eventually a winner until tragedy sidelines before the triumphant and unheralded return. Bridges Howard is a study in patience and quiet faith... his own loss of a son bringing him to the very successes that would create history. And the horse... a beautiful and underrated beast that only needed the love and caring that these three men provided it in order to fully meet its own potential... a lesson that could translate for nearly everyone man or animal. SEABISCUIT could be accused of a bit of heavy-handed tactics along the road to its climactic finishing scenes, but for the most part there is less of a clich�d feel to the story than in the greatest percentage of the films that come from the big studios heralding life-changing and lesson-doling themes. It is a film that will linger in large weeks (word of mouth) and pick up steam as the summer and fall continue. Expect nominations and fond memories as the Academy Awards next February... and they will all be well deserved. (A)

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BAD BOYS II

Release: 07/18/03-(R)-(2:30)-[COLUMBIA PICTURES/JERRY BRUCKHEIMER FILMS]- CAST: WILL SMITH, MARTIN LAWRENCE, GABRIEL UNION, JORDI MOLLA, PETER STORMARE, THERESA RANDLE, JOE PANTOLIANO: REVIEW COMING SOON.

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DIRTY PRETTY THINGS

Release: 07/18/03-(R)-(1:47)-[MIRAMAX PICTURES/BBC FILMS]- CAST: CHIWETEL EJIOFOR, AUDREY TATTOU, SERGI LOPEZ, SOPHIE OKONEDO, BENEDICT WONG, ZLATKO BURIC: There is a dark, brooding feel to the wonderfully original thriller DIRTY PRETTY THINGS. It is a unique perspective on the world underneath the one that is often portrayed in the movies (or even in the news) about London (and it could be certain cities in the United States as well..) Built around the topical and almost scary theme of asylum seekers and the world they are forced to inhabit as they slink and shadow through the city to avoid being caught and sent back to wherever it is they have come from, DIRTY PRETTY THINGS captures its story and plays it out in tones that can almost depress or frighten a viewer to the realities of another side of living in this world. Okwe (Ejiofor) is a Nigerian immigrant who works at the front desk of the Baltic Hotel in London during the wee hours of the morning while also working as a driver picking up stranded airline passengers who have been let down by the system (there car didn't show up...) He eats a strange root in order to stay awake and when he does actually get a few moments to lie down it is on the couch of Senay, a Turkish refugee who works unbeknownst to the British Government as a maid at the Baltic Hotel, stating each morning at 5 AM. It is this relationship... and the slow reveal of Senay's feelings for the stoic and secretive Nigerian that give a background to the story that unfolds in DIRTY PRETTY THINGS, but it is the main thrust of what is happening in the hotel that creates the mood that dominates the film itself. One night Okwe discovers a human heart stopping up the commode in one of the hotel rooms (I do have to wonder where the body had gone and why the heart hadn't gone with it...) This organ starts to reveal an underground organ donor 'bank' run out of the hotel by it's seedy owner, aptly named Sneaky (Lopez). It seems that the asylum seekers will come to the hotel and give up their liver in exchange for a visa and citizenship. Everyone gets what they want... except these operations are hardly professional and the whole situation is highly unethical. Soon Sneaky learns that his graveyard shift front desk man was a doctor in Nigeria and is keen on recruiting him into the hotel's underworld business. Okwe holds the offer with contempt but finds himself further wrapped up in the scheme when Senay is suddenly on the run and finds herself offering up her kidney in order to get herself a passport to go to her mythical fantasyland, New York. What follows is truly a decent thriller twist that merits up there with the best... aided by a stellar cast including Ejiofor, Tattou, Lopez, Sophie Okonedo (as the hooker with a heart) and Benedict Wong (as the dryly comical coroner). DIRTY PRETTY THINGS is another film that those looking for all the expected clich�s of summer entertainment might steer away from... but for those who like a genuine original that discovers a piece of the world yet uncharted... this is the one for you. (A)

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I CAPTURE THE CASTLE

Release: 07/11/03-(R)-(1:47)-[SAMUEL GOLDWYN FILMS/50 CANNON ENTERTAINMENT]- CAST: ROMOLA GARAI, HENRY THOMAS, ROSE BYRNE, MARC BLUCAS, BILL NIGHY, TARA FITZGERALD: How lucky could I have been to have actually seen two wonderfully unique and entertaining films amidst the slew of summer fluff both in the same weekend? I CAPTURE THE CASTLE is a glorious, picturesque period piece that speaks of love and the collision of European and American sensibilities in the early 20th century Britain. Featuring a cast of marvelously talented fresh faces perfectly cast in their roles I CAPTURE THE CASTLE follows the story of Cassandra Mortmain, a simple English girl with an eccentric family living out in the middle of nowhere in a beautiful castle. With Cassandra narrating throughout the story follows the travails of two sisters, their author father, free-spirited step mother and a younger brother. The castle is a treasure they moved into upon the success of father James (Nighy) first novel... a tome that then turns to be all that the tall, lanky Peter O'Toolesque man can muster up over the next decade. With money short and the family living on borrowed time and a short amount of biscuits, many months of rent in arrears, thoughts of marriage to a rich man and escape from poverty and isolation fill the head of Rose (Byrne). The castle, as it turns out, is owned by an American family that includes two close brothers of eligible ages. When they first arrive to the castle they encounter a naked Topaz (Fitzgerald) posing in the yard, Cassandra in the bath and Rose nearly falling down the stairs into the waiting arms of Neil (Blucas), the more boisterous of the brothers. Simon (Thomas) is the buttoned down brother and turns out to be the object of both the sisters affections over time. I CAPTURE THE CASTLE is a love story that examines the era in a beautiful style of dress and culture... each displaying the levels of poverty, normalcy, wealth and society that marked the time. When Rose and Simon become enamored with each other it is Cassandra that discovers that Rose is not really in love. The story twists slightly into an unrequited love that would seem to be moving towards a logical conclusion but finds both Simon and Cassandra in a place that both satisfies logic but saddens the heart. Important to the film is the fleshing out of all characters involved, including the brilliantly eccentric writer/father, the outlandishly bohemian Topaz, the strikingly handsome family friend and servant Stephen (ultra handsome Henry Cavill), the beautifully structured Rose, the stoic and reserved Thomas and the centerpiece of them all, the strikingly talented Romola Garai (Cassandra). I CAPTURE THE CASTLE is a delightful respite for the summer season... a romp through the beauty of the English countryside... and a well-structured script based on a well-respected book. It is a breath of fresh air that I suggest with aplomb. (A)

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NORTHFORK

Release: 07/11/03-(PG-13)-(1:43)-[PARAMOUNT CLASSICS]- CAST: JAMES WOODS, NICK NOLTE, DARRYL HANNAH, MARK POLISH, ANTHONY EDWARDS, CLAIRE FORLANI: The Polish Brothers come back with style and, in a word, quirkiness. NORTHFORK, the tale of a town in the middle of a Montana valley about to be turned into a lake in the 1950's is a delight in it's odd eccentricities and off-kilter characters and dialogue. It's a breath of intensely unusual... but stunningly fresh air in a summer of stale and mindless remakes and action extravaganzas. Walter (Woods) and his partner Willis (Mark Polish) are part of an 'elite' team of messengers sent out to meet their quotas in convincing the last folks of this small church village to move to the new chosen spot for them to live... a place up a bit higher with the appropriate Lake view. These men set out in their black vehicles like detectives, each dispatched to different locales of assorted loonies to add to their tally... the groups who meet their quota will themselves be rewarded with that lakefront property. NORTHFORK, however is also famous for its being a home of angels... there is the famous cemetery that each and every body had to be excavated from in order for the move to be completed... In one of the homes, as a matter of fact, live a group of unlikely residents, themselves angels, on a quest for a new soul that they will bring with them. This group, consisting of Flower (Hannah), Happy (Edwards), Cup of Tea (Sachs) and Cod (Foster) is there... but not there... as they wait for the right clues and live in the one home that Walter and Willis have not yet been into. Also in NORTHFORK there is a priest (Nolte) who himself is holding an angel, a young boy named Irwin who has been abandoned by foster parents who couldn't handle the boy's 'sickness'. There is a correlation in NORTHFORK between the boy and his transition and the town and theirs. It is soft... somewhat nuanced and FILLED to the brim with odd pieces of anything from off-the-wall head scratchers to pop culture tidbits that wouldn't have even appeared in this Montana landscape for years to come. NORTHFORK is a mixture of dark and light... a story of life and an allegory for death. It is built around this town that is coming to its end... but truly about this boy and his transitioning. Irwin believes he is an angel. He lies in the bed at the dying church while mixing between reality and his dream state where he tries in vain to convince the angel posse that he is himself an angel (he has the wing scars on his back and carries around a suitcase with the feathers). It is, as I said, quirky... it is bizarre... it is funny and it is touching. It is a well-put together jaunt into a land of the interpretive. That, in my humble opinion, makes for the best movie-going experiences. (A)

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SWIMMING POOL

Release: 07/03/03-(R)-(1:42)-[FOCUS FEATURES/CANAL +]- CAST: CHARLOTTE RAMPLING, LUDIVINE SAGNIER, CHARLES DANCE, MARK FAYOLE: In an excellent mix between a Hitchcockian styled mystery and a psychological mind piece SWIMMING POOL takes a dive into the interpretive end of the pool by offering up a food for thought thriller with bits and pieces given to us along the way that could even warrant a second viewing. Charlotte Rampling is superb in what could be the very first mention for Academy Award consideration at the end of the year. Rampling portrays Sarah Morton, a mystery writer so burned out on career that she starts off the film by snubbing a fan in the tube as she heads towards her publisher for a bit of a complaint that she isn't being taken care of the way she used to. She is tired, and bitter... a bit of an old maid and a lot of the stereotypical prudish English woman. It is her publisher, no doubt not willing to lose the money maker to apathy or distrust, who suggests that Sarah take some time and stay at his home in the South of France. She readily agrees and the story gets under way. Sarah is much pleased with the beauty, silence and serenity of the home in France. It is out in the middle of nowhere with space and a beautiful swimming pool. For part of the film we are introduced to Sarah's routine as she gets her act together and falls into the mode by which she will once again start to write another book. It is as though France and this home have inspired her, given her some new found energy to create. Suddenly, however, that peace and quiet is disturbed by the entrance of Julie, the French daughter of Sarah's publisher, whom, it would seem, has never been mentioned. At once the two women are at odds... Sarah acting like the girl is intruding and Julie acting the typical teenager coupled with an oozing sensuality. Julie does what she can to perpetuate the moods and robust appetite of the young, and very beautiful woman... all of which irritates but somewhat fascinates the seemingly opposite Sarah. Soon Julie is bringing home men of every size, shape and age in her sexual exploits and Sarah, based on the increased awareness is finding herself drawn into the girl's life. When Julie brings home a local waiter from a cafe that Sarah frequents for her lunch it would almost seem that he is brought, to some degree, because he fancies the older woman. It is that night that the two women become intrinsically intertwined when Julie kills the waiter by the pool and they eventually dispose of the body and cover up that the man ever existed in that space at all. As a mystery it would seem that we are living out one of Sarah's books... but on the other hand there is a psychological twist by which we might be led to believe that this is something entirely different... so much so that it isn's fair in the least to continue to speculate or answer what this film divulges or how. Suffice it to say that whatever occurs brings out a sensuality in Sarah that rivals or mimics that of the young French girl and provides the writer with the substance and fodder for a book that she will bring back to London. There is a lot of stark imagery and beautiful shots of France and the bodies of both of the lead women in SWIMMING POOL. It is the sort of film that takes you out of the theater and into your own thoughts and conversations while trying to piece together the possibilities of what you have just seen. It is a film worth seeing at least once for the performances alone. (A)

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TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES

Release: 07/02/03-(R)-(1:52)-[WARNER BROS./SONY PICTURES INTERNATIONAL]- CAST: ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, NICK STAHL, CLAIRE DANES, KRISTANNA LOKEN, DAVID ANDREWS, MARK FAMIGLIETTI : Welcome to the summer movie to beat. Arnold is back as the TERMINATOR in TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES and he brings with him a genuinely fun film with a cast that accentuates and raises the level of the aging franchise. This time around Nick Stahl is the now 23 John Connor, a young man who's future is to lead the rebels against the machines in an apocalyptic war that occurs after judgment day. This is no easy role to be saddled with, as Connor has dealt with in past TERMINATOR segments... but this time around he is greeted with the reality once again when not ONLY is he chased (along with several of his officers who are now students) by an ultimate robot in T-X (Kristanna Loken in a stellar debut). But just in time the Terminator (Schwarzanegger) is back himself in order to protect and save John Connor and his future wife and second in command, one Kate Brewster (Danes.) TERMINATOR 3:RISE OF THE MACHINES is a thrill packed action-adventure that takes us through the streets of Los Angeles in revved up chase sequences and all-out battles pitting old and new models of the Terminator robots against each other as the mere humans try in vain to make it to the sources of trouble before 6:18 that very evening when the judgment day nuclear bombs are supposed to detonate. With only hours left to go the trio makes their way, with T-X in hot pursuit, to the headquarters of the SKYNET, an online software created for the eventuality of this judgment day... but not perfected or sufficiently tested before the time in which it is forced into play. Created and run by kate's father, Robert Brewster (David Andrews), it unleashes the line of machines that quickly begin to anihilate the crews and employees of the labs while moving out into the world to deal with the rest of society. But it remains that Connor and Brewster are the ones that will take this battle to the future... The TERMINATOR series, it would seem, is not finished. It is alive and well and revitalizing the career of its action-hero star while taking the names of Nick Stahl, Kristanna Loken and Claire Danes along for a high-charged ride. In what could have been just another over-done summer shoot-em-up ride through the cineplex... TERMINATOR manages to stimulate the eyes and the mind with an above average showing of how summer fare is done. Will there be another terminator? That remains to be seen... I suppose it might depend on one action star's political ambitions. (A)

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CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE

Release: 06/27/03-(PG-13)-(1:45)-[COLUMBIA PICTURES/SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT]- CAST: DREW BARRYMORE, CAMERON DIAZ, LUCY LIU, DEMI MOORE, BERNIE MAC, CRISPIN GLOVER, JUSTIN THEROUX, ROBERT PATRICK: There are a few different ways to look at a film like CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE. One would be to understand that the filmmakers, stars, writers and pretty much everyone involved is well aware (and was from the beginning) that the film is all about silly, silly fun. Another would be to take the movie and actually review it as if there were an actual reason to tear apart the pieces for art's sake. Be real... this is CHARLIE'S ANGELS we're talking about. SILLY is the name of the game and with that in mind it is an easy review: Mission accomplished. Granted there is an argument that could say this film is out there for the median age of 14. After all... just how silly can a film be with adult themes before we, the adult viewers, become somewhat embarrassed at having seen it (or been seen seeing it.) In all honesty this sort of silliness will be very well suited to the world of video and DVD rentals... not to mention the captive audience that is flying from one destination to another. In it's defense I should say that the film is cleverly written with pun after pun and innuendo after innuendo. There is no end to the self-deprecation or the sheer in-your-face acknowledgement that this is basically a bunch of grown-ups acting retarded. The girls are perfect in the roles that they popularized two years ago in the original film CHARLIE'S ANGELS. Cameron Diaz especially seems to be having the time of her life bouncing from stunt to stunt and dance floor to dance floor. There are loads of cameos that will keep the roving eye at attention and a plot that is about as interesting as the ones that the original series came up with a couple or more decades ago. Publicity machine Demi Moore sparks up the baddy role as Madison... the fallen angel set up to destroy the three current hotties (in one running gag Dylan (Barrymore) becomes concerned that Natalie (Diaz) might marry and leave the trio, thus giving her pause with Liu to wonder who would replace her...my vote being the Olson Twins.) Crispin Glover returns as the Thin Man... (is it possible for this man to be any creepier?) and newcomer Justin Theroux plays the nasty head of an Irish Mafia... while looking like someone put him on a crash diet and painted a six-pack on his stomach. There is a plethora of outrageous CGI, bombs a bursting and the world in constant danger... all put to a non-stop who's who in the world of 70's and on up music. All is put together in a tight and jam-packed package and summarized with the theme of the film, written and performed by PINK... "Have a good time"... Suffice it to say, there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE... it is a movie that doesn't try to be anything BUT the silly film that it is. If it makes any difference, it really does look like everyone involved had a good time. Further... I would hesitate to say that this is probably the last of the franchise based on a fall in the status from the first go round. But who knows? The girls could still come back for another party in a couple of years... any other brat packers looking to rejuvenate their careers? (B)

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RESPIRO

Release: 05/23/03-(PG-13)-(1:30)-[SONY PICTURES CLASSICS]- CAST: VALERIA GOLINO, VINCENZO AMATO, FRANCESCO CASISA, VERONICA D'AGOSTINO, FILIPPO PUCILLO: RESPIRO is a touching story of simplicity in differences. Here we deal with the smallest of villages, a close-knit Italian fisherman town that rarely moves away from the seaside poverty and drudgery of day to day living. Grazia (Golina) is a free-spirited beauty with three children who works by day packing the fish that the men catch. It is she that is the focus of those who will talk in the neighborhood, because she is the sort that doesn't allow the world to stranglehold her. The film draws the fine line between a soul that lives by her own rules in a structured society and the brushes with illness, depression, or even bi-polar personalities that are suggested. Grazia is subdued on several occasions for her erratic behavior with a shot of something that isn't really explained. But it is her behavior that creates the divide between a wary Pietro (her husband) and the gossipy women of the village as Grazia's outbursts and erratic strokes of eccentricity tend to frighten or irritate them. At one point Pietro is forced to accept that there might be something wrong with Grazia and admit that there is a reason that she should be sent away to a hospital in Milan, a fate that Grazia not only disagrees with but struggles against to the best of her ability. It is within this storyline that we see the full bloom of what RESPIRO represents in her oldest son Pasquale (Francesco Cassisa). Pasquale is in tuned to his mother's behavior and does not see her or what she is doing in the same sort of vein as the fearful or stoic villagers. When Grazia runs away from the impending trip to Milan (and the hospital) it is Pasquale that comes to her aid and hides her out in an unknown cave in order to help her avoid the trip to Milan. Pasquale brings his mother food and clothing and sets up a scheme by which his father and the townspeople will eventually find themselves believing that the woman has drowned and start to mourn. Grazia, however, is convinced that her hiding is only temporary and that her husband is still looking for her. This is a touching tale of behavior perceived as dangerous only out of difference and the love of a son for his mother. The tale is told with stark realism and an ideal contrast to the storytelling of the United States and most coming-of-age or fish out of water tales. Set in the beauty of coastal Italy RESPIRO is an interesting and worthy change of pace. The film is subtitled. (A)

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THE LEGEND OF SURIYOTHAI

Release: 06/20/03-(R)-(2:22)-[SONY PICTURES CLASSICS/AMERICAN ZOETROPE]- CAST: M.L. PIYAPAS BHIROMBHAKDI, JOHNNY ENFONE, SARUNYU WONGKRACHANG: Technically this feature of epic proportions is a taut and somewhat precise vision of bountiful set and scenery... had it been made years ago it would be revered as a classic today because of the very nature by which is was made mixed with the larger than life tale that it is telling. Based on the life of a princess who gradually came to 'power' and saved her people, The Legend of Suriyothai is a grand-scaled tale of heroism, fate, treachery and deceit in the 16th Century kingdoms of Siam (later to become Thailand). It boasts magnificent sets and an enormous cast of extras that remind the epic viewer of such tales as The Greatest Story Ever Told or The Ten Commandments. This, however, is legend of a different culture, one that examines and explores the strength of a woman and a dynasty through many years as Suriyothai grows up from young girl to wise and brave warrior and Queen of the land. THE LEGEND OF SURIYOTHAI is a story based on truths in the history of Thailand... the only trouble being that they are trying to cover so much within the frame of time that the film unfolds. Rapt attention is required and the many characters kept in accord in order to fully be able to get a grasp of the intricacies of life for these people and the power that the young Princess turned Queen actually accumulated over the years. It is essential to know that the young woman is a symbol for what the country survived and for woman of that culture in general. She is a power that derived itself from kindness, honesty, strength and integrity... amidst a plethora of regimes that lied and killed their way into ultimate power. THE LEGEND OF SURIYOTHAI should not be watched on the small screen, although if that is how the viewing is to be done... be sure to avoid all manner of interruption or have remote in hand in order to be able to keep up with all that the story is trying to tell. It would be very easy to lose track of who is who and what Chinese astrological year we are now viewing. The film might best be packaged as a PBS documentary (ish) format that can be viewed over a period of days in order to be able to download the information and time periods one has just encountered before moving on to the next phase of the film. It is an extraordinary sight to behold... but lengthy and somewhat hard to follow. (B)

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28 DAYS LATER

Release: 06/27/03-(PG-13)-(1:52)-[FOX SEARCHLIGHT/DNA FILMS/UK FILM COUNCIL]- CAST: CILLIAN MURPHY, NAOMIE HARRIS, BRENDAN GLEESON, MEGAN BURNS, NOAH HUNTLEY, STUART McQUARRIE : Danny Boyle is a favorite of mine... irreverent and cutting edge, the director who gave us SHALLOW GRAVE and an all time favorite TRAINSPOTTING is again taking a genre and turning it on its ears. 28 DAYS LATER, a film that kicked ass in Europe is a tale of survival and unique horror played out in the city of London, England and the surrounding countryside. It plays out on our fears of disease and contagious infection, a subject that reigns supreme in an age of AIDS, SARS and even Monkey Pox. This infection deals with something that the world our media plays out with aplomb minute by minute in our 24-hour-a-day news environment: a human race filled with rage. When a group of activists (yet another of the oft viewed nightly news staples) storms a science lab filled with captive monkeys used in experiments they have every intention of taking these poor creatures and freeing them into the world. Without paying attention to the horrified scientist babbling on about their infection the monkeys attack viciously instead of the gratitude that might have been expected by the do-gooder bunch. Thus the infection is begun and rage takes over the world person by person. 28 days later we see a naked young man waking up on a table in an abandoned hospital in London only to wander around without knowing why the world around him has seemingly disappeared. He stumbles about yelling "Hello" and trying to figure out what sort of nightmare he has awakened to. He visits a church only to be nearly attacked by an infected priest and his first encounter with the "undead"... those who have become infected but were not killed. They are horrible zombie like creatures who hiss and spew bloody messes as they attempt to feed upon the remaining humans that have 'survived' in this post-rage infected world. Jim (Murphy) is soon rescued from this first encounter by two survivors who hide him out in a convenience store for the time being. Serena (Harris) is a gun-toting rebel bent on her own survival and Mark (Huntley) is a doomed co-hort out to find the cure. Soon Serena and Jim are on the run through London until they encounter father and daughter survivors Frank (Gleeson) and Hannah (Burns). It is with them, in an old and sturdy cab that they are able to escape the city and move towards Manchester and towards a group they've heard on the radio that offers shelter and the cure to the infection. 28 DAYS LATER takes the horror genre a step forward by moving it a step back to prime examples like NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and DAY OF THE DEAD. It is marvelous in its caustic scenes of quick editing and choppy hand-held motions with grainy surrealism and creepy pre-CGI creatures with glowing red eyes. It is simplicity in a world gone mad with special effects. It is a fantasy escapist tool exercising the worst case scenario in our media's coverage of disease and threat of infection... of course here there is no more media and we are left with hungry zombies and the lofty task of re-populating the Earth. Although I don't really believe I was as horrified as I might have expected to be in 28 DAYS LATER... I have found myself appreciating all that it represented more and more with each passing day. (A)

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WHALE RIDER

Release: 06/06/03-(PG-13)-(1:45)-[APOLLO MEDIA/NEW ZEALAND FILM COMMISSION/NEWMARKET]- CAST: KEISHA CASTLE-HUGHES, RAWIRI PARATENE, VICKY HAUGHTON, CLIFF CURTIS: The film world, it would seem, has a couple of tried and true storylines that will forever be worked over and over. We the audience are often subject to that deja vu feeling while watching and knowing exactly what is going to happen next even though the names, places and situations have been changed. Fortunately... WHALE RIDER, which borrows from the most classic of stories, does so in a manner that might ring familiar... but also plays out in a magnificent and original way. The story revolves around young Pai, the only child of a wayward artist whose father has been looking and expecting a male-offspring to save the culture and heritage of their people. When Koro, the grandfather's expectations are not met (his son's wife dies giving birth to twins, the male of which has died as well) he turns his back on both his son and the female grandchild that is left with him and his wife. Through the years Pai grows into a resilient and lively young girl eager to please her grandfather and anxious to learn the ways of her people and help Koro to find the means to bring their people back together with ancestors through a new leader... a whale rider. Tradition, as is often the case with cultures steeped in the past, is held high by Koro, who searches among the boys in his village for the rightful leader to take them to the ancestral land. He trains and tests the boys, all along not allowing his grandchild to participate. This is a film that takes the age-old and throws it in your face. All along you know that the fact that Pai is a girl will not be the be all and end all of her claiming the right to what she is supposed to be all along. It is about destiny and growth for all who do not open their eyes to the changing world. It is about keeping the traditions and allowing the destiny of a human to shine through. Koro sees the signs that Pai is a strong and different individual... but she is a girl. It isn't until the end of the story that there is every reason for him to believe that there can and SHOULD be a different way to look at the young girl. It is an uplifting tale in every sense of the word. It is a non-Hollywood feel that shows us another side of the way the world lives and delights in its fine portrayals (especially in young Keisha Castle-Hughes). Yes, it is a film that once again gives us triumph over adversity and, in this case, tradition, but it is more than that... WHALE RIDER is about succeeding and becoming what you are meant to be. It is about persistence and honesty in the face of those who do not believe. It is a warm and heartfelt cinematic experience that would be a ripe choice for all age groups and a welcome respite from the normal over-produced summer fare. (A)

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HULK

Release: 06/20/03-(PG-13)-(2:18)-[UNIVERSAL PICTURES/MARVEL ENTERPRISES/VALHALLA MOTION PICTURES/GOOD MACHINE PRODUCTIONS]- CAST: ERIC BANA, JENNIFER CONNELLY, NICK NOLTE, SAM ELLIOTT, JOSH LUCAS: Admittedly my first impressions of HULK were not very good. Trailers I had seen showed me something that appeared to be overly exaggerated with a monster far too large, compared to what I had known the Hulk to be in the past. Another silly summer film? As it turns out there is much more to HULK than originally anticipated... and it is all due to the filmmaking of Ang Lee. Based on the marvel comic strip we all pretty much know because of the 70's TV show, HULK is a monstrous undertaking about the monster called anger within a young man with repressed memories of his mother's murder by his father's hands. This film, in affect, is far more tame than the premise would have you believe... and even borders (sometimes a bit inanely) on a love story between the shy and inwardly angry Bruce Banner (Eric Bana) and his intelligent and lovely lab partner Betty Ross (Academy Award winner Jennifer Connelly). When an experiment goes awry in the lab and Bruce is pelted with gamma rays his anger starts to show itself in... well... big ways. Of course there are the fair share of bad guys in HULK... there is the nefarious businessman (and ex of Betty natch) Talbot (Josh Lucas) who wants the secrets that Bruce and Betty have been working on and plans to get them by any means possible. There is Betty's father... a mix of bad and good as the high ranking army official estranged from his daughter and set in charge of the eventual need to capture and annihilate the HULK before it does the same elsewhere. And in the most over-the-top performance so far this year (not to mention the scariest hair in some time) Nick Nolte plays the still living and rather eccentric father (thought to have been dead) to Bruce, David Banner. Mix all these elements and the fact that our mild mannered lab rat is now turning into this raging, oversized green thing whenever someone is ticking him off and the end result is actually a fun and entertaining, although somewhat overblown couple of hours (plus) at the movies. The high points are Lee's direction. His style and film work are excellent utilizing methods of fades and screen frames that keep the viewer's eyes busy at all times with tricks of the camera and a flare for artistry. The CGI is also quite good... from the monstrous effects of the oversized green man to the 'follow the bouncing hulk' effect as he makes his way across the Southwest of the United States on his journey back to San Francisco to the wonderfully Wizard of Oz reminiscent scene that has the monster "melting" down to human form in front of Betty and hundreds of S.W.A.T team members in the streets of S.F. This is a film that might have been better suited without a great many superfluous scenes of Connelly's eyes and preparation scenes as armies� band together to squash the green menace. Ending scenes are slightly long... but not without the absolute necessity of preparing us for the inevitable HULK 2. I enjoyed the experience and suggest it to you all. (B)

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HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE

Release: 06/13/03-(PG-13)-(1:51)-[COLUMBIA PICTURES/REVOLUTION STUDIOS]- CAST: HARRISON FORD, JOSH HARTNETT, LENA OLIN, BRUCE GREENWOOD, ISAIAH WASHINGTON, LOLITA DAVIDOVICH, GLADYS KNIGHT, MASTER P, KEITH DAVID, DWIGHT YOAKAM, LOU DIAMOND PHILLIPS, MARTIN LANDAU: For the most part I have to say that this is simply one of the MANY fluffy features that roll in and out of the theaters during this time of the year. It is interesting to see Box office titan Harrison Ford taking on such a weak and flaccid script... all I can think is that he must have owed someone a favor or had that extra film written into one of his contracts and couldn't get out of it. Another theory would be that the pairing of Ford and young heartthrob Josh Hartnett might have been fortuitous because if you look closely... Hartnett could be Ford's son. They are both sort of that looming loner sort, beautiful with the appearance that there might not always be something going on behind those pretty eyes. Look at Josh Hartnett and tell me he couldn't have played Hans Solo in Star Wars back in the 70's... But I digress, because HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE is most definitely a film of the newer decade. Based around the stereotypes of Hollywood and the age-old tough as nails senior cop matched with flaky but ultimately tough as nails newbie cop storyline, HOMICIDE takes the ever-popular rap scene and sets it as the background to this tepid copy comedy... I dare not use the word drama here. Ford is a frustrated older detective trying to pay off debts, deal with alimony and work against a department (specifically one other detective) that seem to have it out for him. Both he and his younger partner (Hartnett) both have second jobs, Ford's Joe Gavilan sells real-estate (the running gag being his trying to unload a home on Mount Olympus) and Hartnett's K.C. Calden is a yoga-instructor and wannabe actor in search of representation (not THAT'S Hollywood). The case that HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE is working on is the deaths of several in the dangerous world of the music industry and RAP. Mix together a few of the artists that make the genre tick, some character roles of streetwise thugs and shady business managers combined with ruthless record company executives and a psychic thrown in for that female touch and you've got the mess that is HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE. If I weren't paying attention I would have thought this to be the latest episode from some innocuous prime time offering. Alas... it was a light bit of fluff soon to be in your local video and DVD rental store. Better luck next time Mr. Ford. (C)

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CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS

Release: 06/13/03-(R)-(1:47)-[HBO DOCUMENTARY/MAGNOLIA PICTURES]- CAST: ARNOLD FRIEDMAN, ELAINE FRIEDMAN, DAVID FRIEDMAN, JESSE FRIEDMAN: The tagline pretty much says it all for this odd and somewhat disturbing look into pedophilia in places you wouldn't expect it to be: "Who do you believe?" CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS is just as much an expose on the possibilities of crime committed in an upper-middle class Jewish home in Great Neck, Long Island as it is a statement on the herd mentality of both the media and the 'good people' in American families. Who IS right? Who IS the criminal? It would definitely appear on one aspect that there is NO doubt that Arnold Friedman, a school teacher who taught courses in computer for young school children, was a pedophile. Sure... on the outside there was the family man, father of 3 sons, loving husband of Elaine and success in the suburbs. But there was also the secret and underlying desire to look at pictures of young boys... the admitted homosexual predilections that plagued him as a boy and the investigations of magazine porn being delivered to the man at his home. But what followed was, to an extent, a witch hunt by a town filled with competitive families� hell bent on punishing a man out of the fears that develop from a swirling and over-emphasized media blitz. Was the case bent to hide inaccuracies? Was their proof enough to say that the timid and otherwise well-revered teacher actually had done some of the heinous things he was being charged with? Were the children that allegedly were starting to come forward with stories of abuse and sexual contact during or after the classes in the Friedman basement telling the truth? Were the media's glorification of guilt and pressures from do-gooder families persuading people to say things that may not have actually occurred? Anything could and would seem to be possible in this story of a man stuck in a lie that snowballed out of control throwing him into a place that would end up killing him and destroying all that he had and knew. Was this man a sex-offender? Was his 18-year-old son part of the act? All and more are discussed through family interviews, footage of the 'crime' scenes and discussions with all manner of people, professional and otherwise, that had anything to do with the case of the times. CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS is not necessarily a sympathetic look at a victim accused as it is a question of the means by which our media and the snap judgments built in fear and religion work. There is no answer here... The Friedman�s both ended up pleading guilty and going to prison... but the fact remains that there is no solid evidence in the home that would have pointed to their guilt... of course some might say there was. An intriguing look at life shattered mixed with that adrenalin rush of real life story telling helped to make this documentary something worth the watch... no matter HOW you feel when you leave the theater. (B)

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THE TRIP

Release: 06/06/03-(R)-(1:35)-[FALCON LAIR FILMS/TLA RELEASING]- CAST: LARRY SULLIVAN, STEVE BRAUN, ALEXIS ARQUETTE, SIRENA IRWIN, RAY BAKER, JILL ST. JOHN: There is a lot to like about the light and fluffy gay love story called THE TRIP. It is, after all, another in a series of cinematic looks at coming out and the gay experience. The only problem with the story is the path it takes and its reverting to the sort of clich� that early gay themed films took: the AIDS death. Granted... I don't want to pretend that the AIDS death is no longer prevalent or worthy of a film plot device... but in this case it takes an otherwise off-the-cuff comedy and turns it into a maudlin lesson in love and loss.. a place I personally had wished it hadn't gone. Otherwise THE TRIP is a funny film. Here is a story about a young closeted gay Republican scared to death of himself, his feelings, his world and the things he was writing about. One day he is invited to a late night extension of a party by his lawyer (himself a gay man, although it would seem that Alan, the Republican, is too naive to pick up these things) where he meets the free-wheeling GAY rights activist Tommy. Both of these men have typically horrendous haircuts over styled to remind us at every step of the way that this is a farce of sorts taking place in the 1970's. Although the beginning of this relationship is rocky at best... Alan and Tommy eventually become lovers and actually stay together as a couple for over four years before all hell breaks loose. It seems that the book that Alan had been writing during his closeted Republican days was an expose on the inside of the gay world shattering myths and throwing out fodder for right wing radio hosts across America. What follows is the shattering of the happy couple's existence and the shift of focus in the life of the young, no longer closeted or Republican Alan. There are some comical performances in THE TRIP, all seemingly taking the roles handed to them and making them all that much more inane (in a good way) through camp. Jill St. John is a stitch as Alan's all-understanding mother out to fight the fight for her son (and against her staunch military type husband). Alexis Arquette is funny as the over-the-top (even for him) gay roommate of Tommy... one wonders if he could have been any nellier... and Sirena Irwin as the ex-girlfriend of Alan is funny in her many shifts of personality and persona over the years. THE TRIP is a tolerable small budget gay circuit ditty that will make a wonderful rental (getting stoned is a riot in the film) that might be best viewed all the way UP TO the end to keep the buzz going in the right way. (B)

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THE ITALIAN JOB

Release: 05/30/03-(PG-13)-(1:44)-[PARAMOUNT PICTURES/WORKING TITLES]- CAST: MARK WAHLBERG, CHARLIZE THERON, EDWARD NORTON, SETH GREEN, JASON STATHAM, MOS DEF, DONALD SUTHERLAND: Going to movies is often (and rightly so) an experience for the open-mind and the imagination. Sometimes, however, I find that this limit can be pushed making the 'action' and situations that are being viewed become almost comical and sublime in their ridiculousness... and the line in the sand between imaginative and stupid is hard to see. THE ITALIAN JOB is a commercial... a big huge testosterone driven and stunningly inaccurate vision of the way the world... or at least filmmakers... view the perfect crime, the perfect betrayal and the perfect retaliation. Take any character that has ever inhabited the celluloid image of a "con", "master thief", "career criminal" or "safe-cracker" and then exaggerate times 10 and you will begin to see the cartoonish nature of the lives of our principal players here. Throw them together in magnificent commercial sets for Mini-Coopers, Dell Computers, Pepsi-Cola and even Graumman's Chinese Theater and you have yourselves the basic time spent in this film. Donald Sutherland is the seasoned veteran master of master criminals on this 'one last gig' in Venice, Italy (hey... if you're going to do it, why not do it in a beautiful setting?) With him is the ace-team of individuals who are (of course) the very best at what they do. There is Charlie (Wahlberg), the soft-hearted but imaginative successor to the Master thrown held by Bridger (Sutherland), Napster (Green) the computer specialist that could probably control the tides with a couple of key strokes; Handsome Rob (Stratham) the Brit who can get this team out of any predicament and still remain as cocky as ever; Left Ear (Def), the brother able to detonate bombs like nobody else and Steve (Norton), the snarky dude... a loner... a rebel. Well, as luck would have it the perfect caper is blown wide open by that backstabbing bad guy Steve (grrrrr) and all in the team are left for dead beneath the cool waters of a neighboring Italian mountain range... all except for Bridger who actually IS dead. One year later the boys all resurface to play that ultimate caper and get back the gold that Steve took from them. Ok... so the last caper was supposed to be the ultimate one.... this one will be better. This time they are taking the stunning (and bitter) daughter of the late Master con. Stella never really knew her daddy (and gosh darn if he didn't regret that every time he did one of his excellent adventures) but she just felt like a little revenge today... probably because Steve has a mustache (and we all know that makes a bad guy even BADDER.) There is an absolutely inane and over-the-top car chase through Hollywood (and supposedly downtown LA... but if you live here you would know otherwise) and twice we get the obligatory champagne toasts of criminals over the 'success' of getting what is due. If you like a nice big commercial with every single pat line and clich� thought that ever existed in film... ITALIAN JOB is the movie for you. Sure... the chase is a good one... sure... they are having fun and I am sure it is not meant to be serious... but REALLY... could it be any more like ALL the other movies that do these things? YIKES. (C)

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SWEET SIXTEEN

Release: 05/23/03-(R)-(1:46)-[LIONS GATE FILMS/BBC]- CAST: MARTIN COMPSTON, ANNMARIE FULTON, WILLIAM RUANE, MICHELLE ABERCROMBY, MICHELLE COULTER, GARY McCORMACK: Out of Scotland and the dark and somewhat dreary world of Ken Loach comes a well-done and perfectly formulated film about a teen wanting a normal life. Liam is a fifteen-year-old living in squalor. His mother is in prison and her boyfriend is trying to get him to pass joints to her to sell to other inmates. Liam isn't all that fond of Stan in the first place... and wants nothing more than to get his mother out of that prison and into a 'fantasy' home that he has in his head. Liam, along with his sister Chantelle, were abandoned by their mother years prior... but Liam feels that she has changed and is willing to go to any length to make sure that once she gets out of that prison cell, one day before his sixteenth birthday, there is a home to go to. Along with his best pal Pinball, Liam builds a small business selling "Gear" to people around town... his talents are noticed and eventually he is taken under the wing of a local thug who sees the boy's potential. None of this is without its problems, however, as Pinball becomes somewhat reckless and the new boss isn't too keen on his sticking around. Liam�s first thought for the home he will move his mother into is a trailer near the water. He manages to put up enough money for a deposit and a down payment and all looks to be on the right track until the trailer is burnt to the ground. There are a lot of hard lessons to be learned by this angry lad with esteem that doesn't allow him to care at all what happens to himself. It is a life that doesn't look at all enviable and an end that doesn't look all too hopeful. Sweet Sixteen, an award winner (Best British Independent Film in 2002 and Best Screenplay at Cannes in 2002) is a dreary and dismal look at the life of a child turning into a man in Scotland. It is a subtitled film that smacks of realism and so much raw talent that it isn't something I would suggest be missed. For some this is not going to be a choice because it deals with harsher topics... for others it is a rare look at the way a film should be made... free of pretense and clich�. This is also a wonderful debut for the stunning young actor Martin Compston. (A)

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BRUCE ALMIGHTY

Release: 05/23/03-(PG-13)-(1:38)-[UNIVERSAL/BUENA VISTA INTERNATIONAL/SPYGLASS ENTERTAINMENT]- CAST: JIM CARREY, JENNIFER ANISTON, MORGAN FREEMAN, PHILIP BAKER HALL, CATHERINE BELL, LISA ANN WALTER: OH... how I desperately wanted to have BRUCE ALMIGHTY be that comic genius film that sticks with me forever like the days of yore (Young Frankenstein anyone?). OH... how I wanted to laugh throughout and leave the theater wiping tears out of my eyes and smiling that half-cocked smile that knows all is really OK with the world. It's too bad, in a way, that we have a film here that had that potential... anything with Jim Carrey in it has that potential... and what we got was a pretty funny movie with a glaring and melodramatic message for the ages. GEEEEZZZZ... just because God is in the movie (the Morgan Freeman version) doesn't mean we have to teach the world how to sing in perfect harmony. Get a grip. BRUCE is not a bad film... it just needed to stick with the humor. But the humor IS plentiful in this story that finds Bruce Nolan, ace-comic reporter and aspiring News Anchorman wondering just what is going wrong in his life. He's got a great job, he's possibly UP for that anchor position... but it would seem that everything is going wrong. EVERYTHING. So, naturally... as we humans do... Bruce blames God for all of his current woes and BLAM... God contacts him to take over the job while he goes away for a week. Now.... in normal hands this sort of awesome responsibility could either be a complete disaster... or a work of art and beauty. In the hands of the very capable (and amazingly funny) Jim Carrey, there is no doubt which direction BRUCE is going to take. Topped by a magnificent scene with his arch rival and competition for the anchor position, BRUCE relies mostly on the shenanigans, facial contortions and limber joints of the master of physical comedy. He is ably supported by our very own "Friend" Jennifer Aniston as his put out and put upon girlfriend, Morgan Freeman's God and Steven Carrell as the 'other' anchor. So what is the problem? Heavy handed shmaltz. Why is it that good comedy has to slam sappy messages into our faces? Why couldn't we see the comic genius of Carrey without being introduced to moments of "It's A Wonderful Life"? It seems a shame that a movie that had THIS much potential would end up being some funny moments and a great deal of fluff. Oh well.... I will say that were it not for the man in the lead... Bruce himself... this would more than likely have become a half-baked and completely thrown away concept. Bravo, Jim Carrey... thumbs down, Hollywood cheese! (B)

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WINGED MIGRATION

Release: 04/18/03-(G)-(1:38)-[SONY PICTURES CLASSICS]- CAST: NARRATED BY JACQUES PERRIN: For those in love with the visual sense and a film that has no plot devices or cookie-cutter mentality... have I got a documentary for you. WINGED MIGRATION is simple in its tone and somewhat magnificent in its feel. It is the beauty of birds in flight from its opening moments until its dedications at the closing. There is a minimal narrative and a understated score that tends to ride sidecar to the splendor of the filmed sequences, but there truly is very little need for much more than what the eyes behold... the lives and some deaths of so many different birds of flight and foot... moving back and forth from their point A to B and vice versa, year after year after year. WINGED MIGRATION takes the viewer on trips from Central America to the Artic Circle, from the Southern United States to the Northern regions of Canada, in the Amazon and parts of Europe, to Africa and the many bodies of water that connect all of the preceding masses of land. It is a rare look at the flight of these beautiful creatures. It details patterns, hardships, conditions and all manner of life and death situations that these birds come to and across on their beaten paths of fall and spring flight. They fly through country-side, through cities and over masses of water (looking for anything to perch upon to ease exhaustion). They work through weather conditions, hunters and their own mortality to move to and fro through the same paths that they have taken so many times before. It is an interesting film, almost appearing to be something that artists would render through the magic of computer generated technologies. The precision and reality of what we are seeing makes one wonder how the filmmakers were able to get into the positions that were filmed in order to see these birds in flight and formation in all these places. It is a breathtaking hour and a half of simple acts of nature and real life. A respite from the packaged and fabricated world of the matinee that is predominantly experienced. Do yourself a favor and take a break from the world of make believe and discover a natural beauty in filmmaking. Heighten your senses and enjoy the world of WINGED MIGRATION. (A)

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DOWN WITH LOVE

Release: 05/16/03-(PG-13)-(1:40)-[FOX 2000/REGENCY ENTERPRISES]- CAST: RENE ZELLWEGGER, EWAN MCGREGOR, DAVID HYDE PIERCE, SARAH PAULSON, TONY RANDALL: So how many of us either remember or have had the privilege to see any of the Doris Day / Rock Hudson movies of the 60's? Let's see... there was PILLOW TALK, LOVER COME BACK and SEND ME NO FLOWERS... ring any bells? DOWN WITH LOVE is a story that spoofs... rather delightfully... the genre that lived in the late 50's and into the 60's with the memorable pairing. DOWN WITH LOVE is rich in design and color giving us a wonderful look at the early 60's in New York City where successful man-about-town, man's man and woman's man Catcher Block (Mcgregor) is the star writer for KNOW magazine... for men in the know. It is world built for men... men are successes in the boardroom and, in the case of Block, the bedroom as well. Women, however, are still not up to the equality in any way shape or form. That is... until writer Barbara Novak (Zellwegger) makes her way to the big city from a small town in Maine to sell her book to Banner Publishing. The book, championed by Novak's friend and Editor Vicki Hiller (Paulson) is called DOWN WITH LOVE and the topic is about how a woman can have sex without love and end up as successful as a man in the business world. When KNOW's editor Peter MacMannus (Hyde Pierce doing the sidekick role done in the earlier films by Tony Randall) wants Catcher to do a cover story about the novelist for the magazine, the playboy not only resents it but postpones it several times as he 'dates' one stewardess after another. Soon the book is an international success and suddenly Catch is able to see that the author is no spinster but a beautiful young woman... and then the game begins. DOWN WITH LOVE plays along the lines of deception for the sake of romance or spite... or both the same way that the early DAY/HUDSON films did to such corny perfection. It is a light romp that twists and turns as you would expect it to along with a few little places you weren't quite aware it would go. As spoof's go it is a pleasant and all-consuming romp that gives us sets that make you wish you could have lived in that period and costumes that scream of innocence and grandiosity.... Zellwegger alone must have changed 100 times throughout the film. All in all this is a fun, spirited romp through sex farces and much different times in the world, topped off with a light-hearted (if not somewhat overbearing at times) soundtrack that oozes the 60's romp. An unfortunate opening against the mega MATRIX might keep this cute number from the highest of its potential... but word of mouth should give it a life that goes on for weeks to come and a DVD field day later in the year. GREAT fun. (A)

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MATRIX RELOADED

Release: 05/15/03-(R)-(2:18)-[WARNER BROTHERS/VILLAGE ROADSHOW PRODUCTIONS/SILVER PRODUCTIONS]- CAST: KEANU REEVES, LAURENCE FISHBURNE, CARRIE-ANNE MOSS, JADA PINKETT SMITH, HUGO WEAVING, MONICA BELLUCCI, HAROLD PERRINEAU: I must say that I found the second of three MATRIX movies to be an entertaining and visually stunning adventure for a Saturday morning matinee. Granted I was hesitant because I had been inundated with a plethora of hype and couldn't be sure that I cared enough to be one of the flock of (many) sheep that would go out to the thousands of theaters and pay the extra money to see the sequel.... but I did. In it I found pretty much what I had heard would be available and decided, to myself, that this mix of special effects and continuing story was worthy of MOST of that hype. First and foremost I had read that there really wasn't much story involved in this sequel... and, to an extent, I can see where that assessment would have been reached. The truth is that there IS a story there; it would just seem that it did not play the dominant role in the purpose of this film. It would also seem that the story behind the MATRIX RELOADED could very well be something that some people (who sort of live and breathe this stuff) would truly "get" and others (who follow like sheep to make sure that they are not missing out on this cultural phenomenon that is the MATRIX. I sort of live half-way in-between each of the afore prescribed types of humans on planet USA. I flocked because I didn't want to miss out on some of the conversations that would invariably be happening as the weekend came to an end... but I also remember enjoying the first feature quite a bit and looked forward to the special effects AND possibly learning a bit more about why certain aspects of the first story were what they were. In MATRIX RELOADED there is a love story and the need to protect the city of Zion from inevitable doom and destruction by finding the oracle, the key maker and making sure that the prophecy was followed and the destruction was thwarted. Of course these sorts of missions do not come without their doom, gloom, animosity, death and all manner of competition and slow motion, stop-frame martial arts action. The special effects certainly ARE a grand epic in this sequel. In many, if not all of the many Special shots that were throughout the structure of the film there is much to behold and a good deal of fun to be had. In the case of the might duplicating Agent Smith (Weaving), however, it could be said that too much was... well... too much. Some aspects of special effects can be appreciated without having to drum them into our sheep-like brains endlessly. All in all the people at Warner Brothers have themselves a mighty large hit on their hands. It is crafted to make us want for more... and by November the audiences will be looking forward in anticipation to the culmination of events... the continuation of Agents Smiths and the outcome of the end of Zion. The question for some might also be in the relationship between Neo (the always monotone Reeves) and Trinity (Moss)... an unlikely couple that I know many of the hardcore sci-fiers really couldn't care less about. All in all an awesome attempt at entertainment... the bar has risen and the WB boys and girls are currently riding high. (A)

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DADDY DAY CARE

Release: 05/15/03-(PG)-(1:33)-[COLUMBIA PICTURES/REVOLUTION STUDIOS]- CAST: EDDIE MURPHY, JEFF GARLIN, STEVE ZAHN, ANGELICA HUSTON, REGINA KING: What do you really expect DADDY DAY CARE to be? Is it that you expect it could win awards at the end of the year or invite something that is wholeheartedly new and unusual onto the film landscape? Hopefully not. BUT... the film, from Revolution Studios, does mark a return (of sorts) for the very familiar and ultimately successful Eddie Murphy silly-factor... something that was somewhat lost in last year's releases of both Pluto Nash and I Spy. Let's get something straight right out front: this is a formula movie, we have seen it many times before. Sometime it works and sometimes it doesn't. In the case of DADDY DAY CARE I can honestly say that the tried-and-true formula is something that gels... and the families of America do have an option in the theaters as a result. Take a highly successful man in advertising and marketing and see what happens when he is suddenly out of a job. Granted it is much easier to take make lemonade out of lemon when the wife is going back to work as a corporate lawyer, but... I digress. Here we have the inimitable Murphy (as Charlie Hinton) falling into that abyss of low-self worth with his good friend Phil (Garlin) who has also been fired, falling... NAY... stumbling into an idea to create their own day care center as a result of the one and only center being too expensive and out of the normal parents league. This Day care facility, owned by the somewhat starched and evil Mrs. Harridan, is an almost military styled boot camp for pre-schoolers in uniform. She has the monopoly and she knows it. Of course, as formulas would have it, the daddy's in charge of the newly created Daddy Day Care facility are not all that experienced and we have a range of serious to mildly humorous 'situations' that crop up throughout the earliest days of their venture. They seem to be able to get themselves in and out of the corners that are either naturally thrust upon them or sneakily shoved onto their plates through a series of inspections called in by the embittered competition. As luck and formula would have it all obstacles are encountered with grace, finesse and success and the DADDY DAY CARE facility... once run out of Hinton's home, eventually runs the competition out of business entirely. Alls well that ends well and everyone gets to keep the Beamer. For those out there who might not be into the extremes of comic book heroes or the intensity in the world of the Matrix.... the shenanigans of Eddie Murphy and gang is a viable and pleasant means by which one can take all ages to enjoy. Another success story from the Revolutions studios and a reprieve in career momentum for the (almost) always funny Murphy. (B)

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THE SHAPE OF THINGS

Release: 05/09/03-(R)-(1:36)-[FOCUS FEATURES/USA FILMS/UNIVERSAL/WORKING TITLE]- CAST: GRETCHEN MOL, PAUL RUDD, RACHEL WEISZ, FRED WELLER: I have all manner of conflicting feelings regarding the new Neil Labute feature THE SHAPE OF THINGS. One part of me applauds the intelligence of such an 'expose' of thought process and the human condition and modern day mentality, another finds the flip-flopped story of Pygmalion to have transferred and been updated with finesse and aplomb, and still one more tells me that this movie was like going to a Mensa meeting stoned off my gourd and not being able to stay up to the standards of those I was forced to listen to. Combining all of these thoughts to achieve an ultimate goal was difficult. I had to soak in the values and the meaning behind the story and its characters, add a touch of understanding for this stage like ensemble and remember that Labute is famous for his commentary on life before finally deciding that this was a good film... but not a great one. In the big picture I found the concept of the changing of one's outward appearance to be a pro and con situation. On one hand, living in the world that I do I find it to be almost natural to want to change one's appearance. The darker side being the reasons we might come up with the desires. Society is different today than it was in the times of Pygmalion... on the surface of things it wasn't about the need to change Eliza Doolittle from fat to thin and from normal to GQ or VOGUE. In that game it was about CLASS, upper and lower society... the way she talked, walked and behaved towards others in her surroundings. Some might argue that Labute's film does much the same: Adam (Rudd), for instance was, in a sense, a different class of person based solely on how he viewed himself, which in turn could be a direct result of the way the world portrays humans in the media. Here was this shy, dorky sort of character with extra weight and a nose (that I didn't quite see as something that needed fixing) waiting for the right reason to change. Along comes the convincing and somewhat sultry art student, Evelyn (Weisz) and suddenly who he is changes entirely. Whereas I do not find this preposterous... people will believe what they see in front of them if for no other reason than the need to live something they didn't think possible otherwise. What I didn't like about THE SHAPE OF THINGS was the cold-hearted means by which Evelyn reveals herself to the "much-improved" Adam towards the end of the film. Although the Evelyn character might well be thought of as in the same vein as the upper-crust Higgins character in Pygmalion, it just seems to me that this sort of 'experiment' would not work as well in today�s world. But then... that may be entirely off base. SO... what we have here is not necessarily a case of whether or not THE SHAPE OF THINGS is believable... but the fact that it is a full-on debatable topic that movie-goers could easily discuss endlessly over cocktails after the film has finished. Do we change to fit in? Do we need to change? Do the media tell us what is beautiful? Do we believe the media? Was Adam a sucker? Was Evelyn a bitch? All in all the cases are made and any one of the characters could be real. The problem then, I suppose, is not the subject matter so much as the long drawn out conversation scenes that had my mind beginning to wander to the lists of things that I needed to do once the film had ended. Perhaps a tad too chatty. This, however, is the Labute style... and that being the case I would have to say that he is playing his game with finesse. (B)

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BETTER LUCK TOMORROW

Release: 04/11/03-(R)-(1:41)-[MTV FILMS/PARAMOUNT PICTURES]- CAST: PARRY SHEN, JASON J. TOBIN, SUNG KANG, ROGER FAN, JOHN CHOE, KARIN ANNA CHEUNG: BETTER LUCK TOMORROW is the sort of film that I looked at and wondered if it might be something I could wait to see on video based on its MTV film background and what looked to be a violent and somewhat overdone storyline of youth acting out. After several weeks of hearing good things about it I took the plunge and found myself pleasantly surprised by the freshness of its script and the quality of the young actors that graced the roles. Set in what looked to be Los Angeles it is the story of a High School over-achiever that seemed more willing to break out of the goodie-two-shoes mode than to move gracefully towards the college phase of life. Ben (Shen) is an honor student with a goofy best friend (since childhood) named Virgil. The two of them both excel at the intelligence game and take part in all the school activities and clubs that deal with the furthering of academic goals and challenges. The problem, it would seem, is that it isn't enough. For one thing Ben is interested in the beautiful cheerleader Stephanie, who dates a rich boy (Steve) from a local college. When Ben is added to the basketball team he becomes a mini-celebrity of sorts when Daric, the school's president of all clubs writes an article about his being a token Asian and never actually playing the game. Soon, as a result, Daric and Ben begin a 'business' creating cheat cards for the tests in school and gradually begin to set up other scams and challenges to ease the boredom and predictability of being the smartest and 'least likely to' in the school. BETTER LUCK TOMORROW chronicles the out-of-hand style by which Ben succumbs to various pleasures and addictions in the quest to be something more than he feels he is already. He grows weary of the study-buddy role he plays with Stephanie when he becomes aware that her boyfriend not only cheats on her but is also setting up that Ben and his gang (Virgil, Daric and Virgil's cousin Han) to come and give his parents a "wake up call" by robbing their house. Soon things all spiral out of control and there are dire consequences for more than one of the group involved. BETTER LUCK TOMORROW is a study of the students that you wouldn't think are getting in trouble. It is about isolation from the world in places that you wouldn't expect that isolation to exist. These are students that have every reason to move swiftly and gracefully into the next powerful phases of their lives... but find the challenges dull and lifeless. It is a powerful film featuring excellent performances by a group of young unknown actors. MTV has tapped into a youth culture that underlies the other kids that go to high school. With films like this it is a sure bet that the world of teen angst and instability will grow immensely in the feature film world.... and the MTV audience PLUS will be watching. (A)

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BLUE CAR

Release: 05/02/03-(R)-(1:40)-[MIRAMAX FILMS]- CAST: AGNES BRUCKNER, DAVID STRATHAIRN, MARGARET COLIN, FRANCES FISHER, A.J. BUCKLEY, REGAN ARNOLD: What stands out most in this coming of age story is the stunning performance by its lead. Welcome, Agnes Bruckner. BLUE CAR is, on the outside, a story about a teenaged girl living in a world of negatives. Her father has left the small family and driven off in his blue car, her mother is working 12-hour shifts and going to school at night to try to make ends meet. As a result Meg (Bruckner) is left to take care of her younger sister in the afternoons and evenings, a girl whose increased psychological state has her cutting herself and going on hunger strikes. Meg channels these energies through her poetry and has won over the attention of her high school English teacher Mr. Auster with the angst-ridden prose that distinguishes her talents for the beauty that poetry can bring to the tortured soul. Although Meg is increasingly acerbic with her somewhat bitter mother (Colin) and their relationship suffers as a result, it would seem that the momentum is with her for future education and the possibility of a trip to Florida for a final competition for poetry writing, made possible with the efforts and encouragement of the teacher that has championed her to dig deeper and deeper. What is also key to Blue Car is the increasing isolation that Meg feels. There is a loneliness she struggles with in the midst of a lonely family. When she cannot connect with her missing father and fights with her mother over the expectations of her elder-sister status and the state of the shattered family's finances, there would seem no other person to talk to but the friendly, sincere and fatherly Mr. Auster (Strathairn). With time it would seem that Meg is growing increasingly fond of the straight-laced and somewhat stoic man, and, although there would seem to be more of a sense of responsibility in this sort of character, it would seem that Mr. Auster is having his own dilemma of feelings as well. Although life, poor-choices and a cast of reckless characters tend to get into the way of Meg's progress towards a trip to Florida, she is a determined soul and does make her way to the beach town that the contest is held in. There she finds the man that has afforded her the power to know she belongs, but there is where she is also confronted with some secrets and misrepresentations that move her to recreate the poetry she is to present. BLUE CAR is a marvelous showcase for the human heart. It is a magical representation of the modern-day nucleus family and the shattered psyches of children of divorced homes. Meg is a grand example of growing up with responsibilities and trials that represent adulthood long before it should be necessary to go to those places. Ms. Bruckner's portrayal of the fears, motivations, anger and simple depressions of Meg... along with the beauty that radiates throughout any and all of these emotions, is amazing and well crafted. BLUE CAR is a study of deep thought and well-intentioned motives. It is a well-crafted vessel in the independent market and should be viewed for its plethora of masterful performances, its direction, and its gentle and meaningful script. (A)

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X2

Release: 05/02/03-(PG-13)-(2:13)-[20TH CENTURY FOX/MARVEL ENTERPRISES]- CAST: PATRICK STEWART, IAN MCKELLAN, HUGH JACKMAN, HALLE BERRY, FAMKE JANSSEN, REBECCA ROMIJIN-STAMOS, BRIAN COX, ALAN CUMMING, BRUCE DAVISON: Each summer we can be sure that several, if not TOO MANY grand epic, super-human, science-fiction save the world type films will be crossing our paths in every sense of the word. They will (and often) do come in all shapes and sizes, assorted colors and a plethora of hidden personas and super talents. NO... I am not speaking of the actors with 25 million dollar salaries... I speak of the SUPER HEROES. The X-Men, possibly the best known and loved franchise of the super-variety beyond the staples of yester-year (Superman and Batman) and the biggest box-office hero of all time (Spider-Man) are the X-Men... a group of mutants residing in a rustic old 'school' in upstate New York. What is fun about this group of characters is that their super-powers are not always intended to save the world and God knows they aren't always the conventional sort of powers to begin with. We met most of these unsavory lot a couple of years ago as the good mutants fought difficult battles with the bad mutants and the pathetic humans often interfered or simply got in the way (to dire consequence). This time around things are not all that much different... but the villain, much like in real life, is a disgruntled parent not pleased with the way a school handled his son. WHOOPS, I guess we will always have to have someone to blame, won't we? But since General William Stryker is a touch imbalanced and not quite in acceptance regarding his now somewhat catatonic mutant son it would make SENSE that he would want to get all the information necessary to build his own CEREBRO and lure the original contraption's brains and power into his trap in order to kill all the mutants on the planet. A lofty goal perhaps... but it would seem that as diabolical characters go, Mr. Stryker is up there in the top echelon of baddies. BUT... the fact remains that he is also up AGAINST some pretty crafty mutants. Back are the ever snarly and sarcastic Wolverine (Jackman), who in X2 learns about a bit of his own past with the bad General, the beautiful Storm (Berry), the crafty Dr. Grey (Janssen), the lovelorn Cyclops (Marsden), the wise professor Xavier (Stewart), the evil but helpful Magneto (Mckellan), the vicious and stunning shape shifter Mystique (Romijn-Stamos), the adorable but lethal Rogue (Paquin), the cuddly but frigid Iceman (Ashmore), the angry pyro (Stanford) and the magnificently German circus act Nightcrawler (Cummings) a teleporter. Quite frankly not much more needs to be said about this rip-roaring fun summer fare. There is a HUGE amount of very likable special effects, eliciting surges of yelping approval from a hardcore audience (and deservedly so). This is pure and utter fantasy fare with the unusual and out-of-the-norm personas being the good guys. Chalk one up for smashing stereotypes. X2 is what summer movies are all about and based on what I saw in this film... there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this franchise will be back to dish out some more mutant fun in summers to come... although one of those mutants will not be returning.... Get out there and have fun in the theaters... (A)

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LAWLESS HEART

Release: 04/25/03-(R)-(1:27)-[OCTOBER/BRITISH FILM COUNCIL/BSKYB]- CAST: BILLY NIGHY, TOM HOLLANDER, DOUGLAS HENSHALL, CLEMENTINE CELARIE, STUART LAING, JOSEPHINE BUTLER, ELLIE HADINGTON: LAWLESS HEART provides one of the years first real and touching scripts dealing head on and flawlessly with a group of characters and a piece of life that intertwines magnificently amongst them. In cinematic history there is always room for the film that takes a topic or time period and presents it in different ways and through different perspectives. We learn from this style that there is a means of telling a story with bits and parts that we may not have been able to see by showing it through the eyes of a sole character. In LAWLESS HEART we open with the quick home movie shot of Stuart, a lovely man in his early 40's on a dock. The camera cuts to a headstone or announcement of Stuart's death and there we are at the funeral and meeting the key characters. What follows is a three-pronged storyline of events that will follow in the lives of three very separate, very different men... all tied in some manner to the deceased... and the people around them, predominantly the women who in some manner, shape or form are pivotal in how their lives are shaping after this one solitary opening event. First we see what is happening with Dan (Nighy), a man in his early 50's, married to the sister of Stuart (the deceased). Here is a man happily and comfortably married and yet tempted by those needs and questions by a pretty and friendly florist named Corrine (Celarie). His is a story of semi-isolation and simple temptations. He is in a fog and trying to figure out his way back to the normalcy that seems so out of place at the present time. His wife wants to give the money left by her brother, who didn't have a will, to Stuart�s lover Nick (Hollander) but Dan is not happy with that idea because they have money problems of their own. His is a story that deals with a quiet sadness... Next we see the events through the eyes of Nick, the lover left behind. His is a story of solitude and grief. Where is he going and what does he do from here. When Tim (Henshall), one of Stuart's old friends from years ago, shows up at the funeral he asks for a place to stay and Nick offers a room thinking this could be helpful to his transition. What follows is an odyssey of confusion and parties that the quiet and sullen Nick isn't really up for. One of those parties produces the whacky and interesting Charlie, a woman who is shagged in Nick's bed and passes out there afterwards. Soon Charlie is incorporated into Nick's life to the point that Nick himself would almost question if his path is about to change. Events with and around Charlie and the misunderstandings of people towards this situation lead to the eventual conclusions that lead Nick to discover the things that lead him towards the eventual conclusion of the grief surrounding his lover's death. Third in the perspectives is Tim, a prodigal son of the town, gone for eight years and returned for Stuart's funeral. He is the wild-child, the ne'er-do-well that turns out to have a bit of a heart-struggle himself with the likes of leah (Butler), a local shop girl that he courts. The problem is that Leah is still not quite over a married man that she has dumped... who turns out to be Tim's good friend David... who is no longer married. All three perspectives are interesting and well paced. The information is real and each character is wonderfully drawn. By the time I left the theater I was very much a part of their lives as well as the beautiful and quaint British town they all lived in. This was the perfect film for a Sunday. (A)

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IDENTITY

Release: 04/25/03-(R)-(1:27)-[COLUMBIA PICTURES]- CAST: JOHN CUSACK, RAY LIOTTA, AMANDA PEET, ALFRED MOLINA, CLEA DUVALL, REBECCA DEMORNAY, JOHN C. MCGINLEY, WILLIAM C. SCOTT, PRUITT TAYLOR VINCE: IDENTITY is not the average, run of the mill slasher film. That in and of itself should tell you that there isn't the normal cookie-cutter mentality put into this big budget "horror" styled flick. Instead what I found with IDENTITY was a twist on the norm with a splendid psychological flair that almost makes the screen happenings feel real and... yes, even possible. IDENTITY is the story of a convicted killer... a man who murdered several people in cold-blood some six years prior to the setting of the film and who is about to be executed for these murders. The killer (Pruitt Taylor Vince) is being transported to a conference room where his psychiatrist (Molina) is going to conduct an 'experiment' that will prove at this late date that the killer was not in control of the personality that was responsible for the murders that took place those years ago. The crux of the film deals with a group of isolated people at the creepiest hotel since the Bates Motel in PSYCHO. A storm and a series of coincidental events have stranded them all at this place for one reason or another and suddenly, one by one, they are being picked off either by murder or by chance. Each time one of them is killed a hotel key is found on their body or in their midst.... counting down in a creepy "Ten Little Indian's" (Agatha Christie) fashion. The main character in this group is the bewildered chauffer/ex-cop Ed (Cusack), who was a taking movie star to Los Angeles. Also in the group is a hooker on her way to Florida to set up a different kind of life in an Orange Grove (Peet); a cop and a convict he is transporting (Liotta and Busey); a newlywed man and woman (Duvall and Scott); a family with their son (McGinley, Kenzel and Bret Loehr) and the skuzzy hotel owner (Hawkes). IDENTITY might possibly be a disappointment to those who go for the intense mindlessness of your run-of-the-mill slasher picture... but for those who actually enjoy a twist on the play of the genre this might be a good bet. The film evokes moments of clich�d spook tactics and is also reminiscent in some parts of different pieces of classic horror flicks of the past... but the parts are well-drawn and the cast fits their roles wonderfully thus making this theater experience one that did not cause regret. Not to mention that I really didn't have an idea how this film was going to turn out... it is a surprise. (A)

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RAISING VICTOR VARGAS

Release: 04/18/03-(R)-(1:28)-[FORENSIC FILMS/SAMUEL GOLDWYN FILMS]- CAST: VICTOR RASUK, JUDY MARTE, MELONIE DIAZ, ALTAGRACIA GUZMAN, SILVESTRE RASUK, KRYSTAL RODRIGUEZ, KEVIN RIVERA: Every so often magic occurs in the cinema. The combination of a winning script, a wonderful cast and a simple production can create a story that makes you want to laugh... takes you to heights of interest and even can promote a tear or two in the right spots for the right reasons. RAISING VICTOR VARGAS has done this for me. The fact that the entire cast is a group of unknowns powers this coming of age story about the eldest of three children being raised by their grandmother in a New York City apartment. Victor is a slight boy of 16, a beautiful creature with the hint of attitude and arrogance that accompanies the knowledge of such beauty. But even that arrogance is somewhat understated... Victor is, in many ways, an innocent. He is a man forced to be so by the circumstance of his home life and a boy on the outskirts of a new found introduction to the world of women beyond that of a simple conquest to satisfy his younger curiosities. Along with his friend Harold, Victor is a champion and a leader... and at home he is the role model to a younger brother (an equally beautiful younger brother to Victor in real life), a bane of existence to a younger sister and the devil incarnate bad influence to an over-the-top old world grandmother determined to keep her 'children' as babies under her control. Enter the ravishing Latin beauty of Judy, whom we first encounter at a local pool hanging with her sidekick Melonie. Victor is determined to get to know Judy... call it the 16-year-old's conquest (and some good publicity after being rumored to be fat Donna's girl). Judy is a hard nut to crack, she is a beauty in a land of personal beasts. She is unable to trust in a neighborhood where the likelihood is there IS nobody to trust. Soon she picks Victor (undoubtedly for his tenacity) as a foil to keep all the other wolves at bay. What develops is the start of the real thing between two young people who are very, very human and very much like any one of us watching the film. The family dynamic of RAISING VICTOR VARGAS is extraordinary. It is a marvel to watch people with little or no film experience tell a story with such reality that when one leaves the theater they want to know more about both the characters and the actors who play them. Excellent work from director Peter Sollet, whose only other directorial work is a 2000 film called "Five Feet High and Rising", using many of the cast seen in VICTOR VARGAS. This is a must see. (A)

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A MIGHTY WIND

Release: 04/16/03-(PG-13)-(1:27)-[WARNER BROS/CASTLE ROCK ENTERTAINMENT]- CAST: CHRISTOPHER GUEST, EUGENE LEVY, MICHAEL MCKEAN, CATHERINE O'HARA, HARRY SHEARER, BOB BALABAN, JENNIFER COOLIDGE, JOHN MICHAEL HIGGINS, PARKER POSEY, FRED WILLARD, ED BEGLEY JR., LARRY MILLER, JANE LYNCH: From the people who are already remembered for a slew of wonderfully entertaining "mockumentaries" comes the latest in that stellar line. These people know how to skew a topic. These people know how to have a good time. These people know how to write.... and GOD knows these people know how to improvise. Christopher Guest, at one time a cast member on Saturday Night Live, has further cemented his reputation along with the absolutely incredible supporting funny man Eugene Levy in the annals of film comedy. A MIGHTY WIND is a film about a topic that nearly nobody would find the time to view in a theater if it were actually a DOCumentary... and yet they take this cornball (but very real in and of itself) music genre of the 60's and take if for a hilarious ride down memory lanes that skewer most politely and stab irreverently. The silliness begins with the death of legendary folk manager Irving Steinbloom, the man who brought such huge folk talents as The Main Street Singers, The Folksmen and the Beatles of folk music, Mitch and Mickey. In honor of Sidney's death his son Jonathan (Balaban) has put together the Woodstock of folk reunions by inviting the three groups back to honor his father's memory. A MIGHTY WIND is the preparations around and up to the performances of the stalwarts of the bygone era (with the Main Street Singers being represented by a group of their offspring in the NEW Main Street Singers.) A MIGHTY WIND as the word mockumentary would suggest is a smorgasbord of moments that highlight all of these rather off-center characters talking about the good old days and working through the highs and lows of meeting again in preparation for the big event. Classic comics create more than memorable characters like the burned out Mitch (the ultra-hilarious Levy), the aging flower child Mickey (O'Hara), all three of the dippy ultra nerd Folksmen (Guest, McKean and Shearer), the goofy manager for the New Main Street Singers (Willard) and the small but hysterical role of PR person Amber Cole (Jennifer Coolidge). Trust me when I tell you this film is not as much about Folk Music as it is about a group of extraordinarily talented and funny improvisationalists getting together to do their thing one more time. I almost want to send in ideas for their next project together... whatever it is, I will be there to see it. A MIGHTY WIND is a MIGHTY funny achievement. (A)

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ANGER MANAGEMENT

Release: 04/11/03-(PG-13)-(1:41)-[COLUMBIA PICTURES/REVOLUTION STUDIOS/HAPPY MADISON]- CAST: ADAM SANDLER, JACK NICHOLSON, MARISA TOMEI, HEATHER GRAHAM, LYNNE THIGPEN, JOHN TURTURRO, LUIZ GUZMAN, JOHN C. REILLY: All in all this is not a bad film. Despite its gregarious studio feel and the cookie-cutter, situation-comedy feel where everything turns out just rosy for all characters, it is a film well worth the time and the effort of those involved and those who will be watching. This is a film that pretty much belongs to the enormous star quality of Jack Nicholson. Adam Sandler is a star (in his own right) but might never have been able to pull off the potential for this film were it not for the 3-time winning and oft-nominated Academy Award actor. Sandler, you see, is pretty much playing any and every character he has EVER played in any movie he has done. It's all really rather one note. Aside from the fact that I believe it would behoove him to diversify his shtick a bit and branch out into some characters that aren't all so one note... the fact that Nicholson plays a role that is delightfully fiendish and such a good foil for the regular schnook that Sandler does, makes the familiarity of Sandler's role acceptable. ANGER MANAGEMENT is one of those films with the twists and turns of clever people who are royally connected to make every twist and turn work like clockwork. In each and every scene we are introduced to situations that would more than likely result in dire if not morbid consequences were any one of us normal humans try to do it in real life. Ahhh... that, I suppose, is the magic of the movies, at the very least the magic of the movies brought to you by the big and powerful studio system. Don't get me wrong... the script for ANGER MANAGEMENT is not a bomb. There are some clever and fun bits that both the leads carry off in a pleasant chemistry. It really is an enjoyable comedy on the level of the more sophisticated brand that you might find folks like Jim Carrey or even Eddie Murphy doing (in other words... not your usual Sandler idiocy.) The truth about ANGER MANAGEMENT is that it is a good idea. It is well-constructed as preposterous as it may appear for most of the film's exaggerated moments. What that means, I suppose is that it is a funny film if you are able to suspend the hold on real life long enough to remember that this is by far and wide a very made up world that we are watching. Of course... any world with a character like the one that Jack is playing in this film is bound to be a bit of a stretch. ANGER MANAGMENT is worth the watch and WILL, undoubtedly be the first big hit for SONY in 2003. Well done silliness. (B)

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PHONE BOOTH

Release: 04/04/03-(R)-(1:30)-[FOX 2000 PICTURES]- CAST: COLIN FARRELL, KIEFER SUTHERLAND, FOREST WHITAKER, RADHA MITCHELL, KATIE HOLMES: I love movies done in real time. PHONE BOOTH is just that... a high speed chase through a day in the life of an atypical publicist on his rise up the corrupted ladder of the business. It is a film about lies and restitution for sin. It is a tale of morals and accounting for the sins of the sinner. It is a twisted tale of snipers and victims mixed with the irony of good vs. bad when the line is somewhat muddled. In real time it is hard to get bored. Something is always happening and Joel Schumacher�s excellent direction and film work is testament to the power of the media to keep an audience busy while a single setting is used for the bulk (if not all) of the movie. In this story we meet Stuart Shepherd (prefers to be called Stu). He is moving briskly down a Manhattan street next to his green and smiling non-paid assistant Adam. They are conducting the business of the day through a series of lies and half-truths pinning one goal against the next in order to achieve the final result that is desired... basically the life of a publicist in a nutshell. Stu, however, is possibly the epitome of what we would picture this sort of person to be. He is dressed to the nines in an dark Italian suit and brimming with confidence, arrogance and success. Once business is completed for that moment he sends off the assistant and jumps into a phone booth to make a call to Pam, a young actress and waitress that Stu, it would seem, is having a relationship with. But why is this man calling Pam in a phone booth when he has a oft-used cell phone in his pocket? That is the question posed by the man who is on the other end of the phone in the booth as it rings and Stu picks it up. It seems that Stu makes this call from this booth daily and now his judge and jury sits in a window somewhere in the vicinity and threatens to kill him if he hangs up. What results is a twirling thrill-ride of emotions, fears, accusations and admissions as we discover that Stu is married to Kelly (Mitchell) and has been lying all along. Soon there is a problem out of the booth that leads to the shooting death (from our friendly sniper) of a local peep show owner who is demanding that Stu leave the booth as a result of his screaming 'girls' of the business. Cops are now everywhere and there is no reason for them to believe anything but Stu's involvement in the shooting death. The tale of morality and tension ensues with all involved gathered in the street around this phone booth. It is a vivid character portrayal played out swiftly and distinctly through Stu, Kelly, Pam and the Captain in charge of the problem at hand (Whitaker). The only flaw of the film is the reasons behind the sniper's (wonderfully voiced by Sutherland) focus on Stu. Does he know him? Is it truly random? What does he gain from this? We learn that the sniper had a few other victims prior to Stu... but none of them had the option to talk their way out of the situation. PHONE BOOTH is a quick and easy must see. It is a fun ride without a dull moment. (A)

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BASIC

Release: 03/28/03-(R)-(2:05)-[SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT/PHOENIX PICTURES/INTERMEDIA]- CAST: JOHN TRAVOLTA, CONNIE NIELSEN, SAMUEL L. JACKSON, TIMOTHY DALY, GIOVANNI RIBISI, BRIAN VAN HOLT, TAYE DIGGS: So why do you suppose they named this movie BASIC? Did it have something to do with a reference to its army themed basic camp beginnings? Is it possible that it is insinuating that crime and motive when sought out is always to be found in the most basic of places... for the most basic of motives? OR... could it be that they had the foresight to see and KNOW that this is one of the more BASIC themes done in the cinema... complete with your basic writing, basic filmmaking and basic run of the mill performances. John Travolta, for instance is about as basic as it gets these days as he continues to perpetuate the uber-hetero role in film. He is brash, he is wise, he is at the top of his game, he is angry and yet has that kind heart.... stop me please. in BASIC the premise is that the hard drinking policeman Tom Hardy (a basic name if ever I heard one) is in New Orleans on suspension for allegedly taking bribes when he gets a call from old army pal Col. Bill Styles (Daly) to come out and help a situation that Hardy is expert at. Hardy comes down instantly to the ire of Julia Osborne, an officer who has been on the job prior to his entrance. Osborne is the requisite female lead that proves again that Travolta is the leading man and very much a heterosexual. BASIC revolves around a secret training mission lead by the uber-evil Nathan West (who Hardy, of course, once trained under himself) that disappears in a jungle and, apparently, turns up predominantly dead. Coming back are two soldiers, one of which has been shot, that tell drastically different tales of the events that occurred in the jungle leading to the 'deaths' of all the others (including West). So what continues is a BASIC cat and mouse game of good cop/bad cop and pretty unconvincing sexual tensions that lead us, the basic viewer, through a plethora of scenarios that would, it seem, be the puzzle pieces that would lead us to the final and satisfying story about what the hell this movie is about in the first place. Twist after out of nowhere twist we start coming to conclusions that we never would have been able to figure out on our own because there wasn't a single clue to allow that to happen. Soon we are at an unchallenging end and lo and behold even IT isn't what it is supposed to be. A basic mess. Needless to say the final outcome of the movie had me rolling my eyes into the back of my head because of its contrived EASE and arrogance to its players. Another day on the job... let's have a beer and laugh coyishly at those who are only now discovering the greatness of us. YUCK. Perhaps John Travolta would do well to give us a film about what happened to Tony Manero in Brooklyn and cut down on these superhuman action figure roles... although they do provide humor. (C)

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SPUN

Release: 03/21/03-(R)-(1:41)-[NEWMARKET/MUSE PRODUCTIONS]- CAST: JASON SCHWARTZMAN, JOHN LEGUIZAMO, MICKEY ROARKE, BRITTANY MURPHY, MENA SUVARI, PATRICK FUGIT, DEBORAH HARRY: I think the tagline for SPUN says it all: "The Ultimate speed freaks tale". SPUN is a trip... the sort of trip that would do well to be a mix of comic tale and warning film for the idiocies and foibles of addiction to meth-amphetamine. Personally... based on my own experiences with the drug and many like it... I would have to say there is a good deal of accuracy to the film. Granted it is amped up a notch or ten in order to maximize the EFFECT of the drug itself (one of my favorite aspects) but the truth is on the screen. These are a bunch of pretty young, successful actors dirtied up to portray the likes of the speed freaks you WILL find in various parts of your neighborhood or life. They exist... I have seen them... I have been them. My favorite part of spun has to be the editing and film work done to exemplify the drug itself. Every time one of the actors takes a hit, snort or needle of this stuff there is a dizzying pop and a close-up of a dilating pupil in order to make sure that we, the audience, is going along for the ride. And it IS a ride, indeed. We are introduced to characters like Ross (Schwartzman of Rushmore), a young and almost idealistic addict in denial. He is pining for girlfriend Amy, who has moved to the 'city' (downtown Los Angeles), undoubtedly to get away from him. He is 'dating' a stripper named April who he shares his stash with, has wild sex and then proceeds to tie and gag to his bed when he is out for days running errands for "the COOK" (Roarke) and his girlfriend Nikki (Murphy sounding OH-so much like her louanne voiceover on "King of the Hill.") The Cook is basically a dirty (literally and figuratively) old man with a cowboy hat who makes the meta-amphetamines in hotel rooms and Nikki is a sexy little addict with dreams. Over in another residence we have the ever-amped Spider Mike (Leguizamo) and his constantly bickering girlfriend Cookie (Suvari without the American Beauty roses) and a pimple-faced and lost Frisbee (fugit, the wide-eyed lead in Almost Famous). All of these and a great many peripheral players are an exercise in patience for the viewer... and a test at just how much one really wants to see or know about. They are all displaying firm and hard-evidenced reasons why meth-amphetamine is definitely NOT a drug that one would want to tangle with. Cameos by the likes of Deborah Harry as a lesbian next door neighbor to Ross' dilapidated apartment and Eric Roberts as a super-homo moneybags... complete with two muscle-studs and over-the-top wig, are a plus. SPUN is a ride to say the least. There are fantasy snippets in animation when Ross takes various hits throughout the film. These and the ramped up, quick motion moments and close-ups on empty eyes and parched mouths say all there is to say about the three to four day adventure in the lives of these tweaked individuals. NOT a film that would be enjoyed by the common crowd... but indeed an experience to be viewed by those who have tasted or lived the style of life represented. Granted... it is much safer than doing the real thing. (B)

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DREAMCATCHER

Release: 03/21/03-(R)-(2:16)-[WARNER BROS/CASTLEROCK ENTERTAINMENT/ VILLAGE ROADSHOW]- CAST: MORGAN FREEMAN, TOM SIZEMORE, THOMAS JANE, DAMIAN LEWIS, JASON LEE, TIMOTHY OLYPHANT, DONNIE WAHLBERG: It is actually a bit difficult for me to gauge whether or not Stephen King's DREAMCATCHER is a worthy adaptation from his story. I never read it. From what I understand it is a book of 800+ pages... which might have been the reason the commitment was never made. Nevertheless I should say that although there were more than a few moments that I thought the film version was slightly dragging, I did enjoy the scares that it provided AND felt that it offered me the need to continue watching if, for anything, to figure out what the hell was going to happen next. The dreamcatcher, it seems is a piece of hanging art that was created by five boys 20 years ago as a representation of friendship and some deep dark secret that one of the boys was holding. It would seem that young Douglas (portrayed as an adult by former New Kid on the Block Donnie Wahlberg), a retarded youth, was rescued by Henry, Beaver, Jonesy and Pete on one of their youthful treks into the back woods of wherever the hell they were. As a result Duditz (he couldn't say Douglas and thus got the nickname) gave each the power to read minds. Not bad, eh? We move forward twenty years and to a cabin in the deep woods where the four guys meet yearly to do manly things and make fun of each other. 6 months earlier Henry had almost attempted suicide and Jonesy, thinking he had seen the youthful Duditz across a busy street had walked into traffic and nearly gotten himself killed. All of the guys, as a matter of fact, had been having troubles... and now they would be finding out why. There in the woods Jonesy and Beaver stumble across a man lost on a hunting trip. He has a mysterious red mark and, oddly enough, his stomach is growing. The next thing we know the animals are all escaping the forest, the helicopters are yelling down something about a quarantine and the gentleman they found has had an "Alien" experience in the bathroom and a slimy and rather menacing creature has escaped as a result. DREAMCATCHER has a lot of twists and turns, not the least of which causes the deaths of two of the four friends in pretty horrific (and fortunately rather quick) fashion... At the other end of this outer space invasion is the loopy alien chaser (Freeman) determined to get this creep from outer space and his worm-like weasels and the crack group of trained pilots that will shoot to kill and take down the source. But it is a character named Mr. Gray that seems to be at the hub of all of this mess and, it would seem as time reveals; this is the guy that our little friend Duditz (you know... the one with the special powers) has been waiting for all these years. So DREAMCATCHER is about the world being saved by these four friends (well... two of them) and the young retarded kid they helped 20 years prior. I guess it is a story of some odd kind of destiny coming from the overly twisted mind of Stephen King. Fortunately the cast is adept and the storytelling is not all that contrived (considering the topic). As stated earlier there are a number of parts of the film that I found to be somewhat non-essential and almost boring BUT for the first time in a film in years there are a few scenes that literally had me jumping out of my seat. For that reason I am suggesting the film. (B)

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WILLARD

Release: 03/14/03-(PG-13)-(1:40)-[NEW LINE CINEMA/HARD EIGHT PICTURES]- CAST: CRISPIN GLOVER, R. LEE ERMEY, LAURA ELENA HARRING, JACKIE BURROUGHS: Aside from the obvious advantage to special effects (I honestly cannot imagine any animal trainer coming up with THAT many trained rats) I would have to say the most inspiring move of this remake of the 1971 film was the obvious casting of Crispin Glover. In the original Bruce Davison played the creepy young man (and seems to have been graduated in picture only to play Willard's father in the remake). The film lacks a bit of the oddly placed social message that MAY have been provided in the first undertaking. If memory recalls there was a sense of injustice in the first time round. Young Willard was the target of pretty much all that was around him. He was the social misfit and nobody spared him. His actions were direct results of their abuse and as such it almost felt that we were rooting for the strange young man with the furry friends as a result. This time around Glover's relationship with the rats is played out a bit differently... or so it would seem. He is just plain creepy and the graduation to using pet rats as attacking killers seems more motivated out of boredom and shock value rather than the final straw being broken... Part of me misses the classic characterizations of the smaller roles in the first feature. Who could forget the magnificent Elsa Lancaster playing the loony, needy and haggered old mother that hangs on to Willard thus stalling any chances of his own life? And Ernest Borgnine's raucous and booming business partner to the now-deceased Mr. Stiles (Willard's poor pop)? In the current feature the roles are adequate and played to proper camp effect... but things just don't seem to be the same. What is most effective, as mentioned earlier, is the use of technology and CGI to create the most realistic of rodents to be found anywhere.... and OH so many of them to boot. From the friendly and wise Socrates (who probably actually was a trained rodent) to the massively large and menacing BEN (oh my GOD... they actually re-used the Michael Jackson theme music reminding us of THAT part of his creep factor) there is a strong presence of the little creatures... and in the scenes that highlight the ins and outs of briefcases and elevators as well as the intensity of attack modes (virtual swarms of the buggers) one must remind themselves that this is NOT real... and that is effective. For the most part I would have to say that Willard is light-fun, whereas the first time around I believe it may have given me nightmares. This could be in direct correlation to my age now and then... but it could also be the result of an originality factor. Back then it was something quite unique... today it is just one of many creepy CGI films. (C)

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TEARS OF THE SUN

Release: 03/07/03-(R)-(1:58)-[COLUMBIA PICTURES/REVOLUTION STUDIOS]- CAST: BRUCE WILLIS, MONICA BELLUCCI, COLE HAUSER, EAMONN WALKER, TOM SKERRITT: TEARS OF THE SUN is a movie we've all seen before... and in this time of history it is also the type of movie that could easily be mistaken as a political rhetoric to help push the Republican government's push to war. After all... with Bruce Willis running the show why WOULDN'T the United States become the ultimate in peace-"keepers" and saviors of all the poor huddled masses no matter where they might be on this Earth? Thank god for us, eh? So here we have a movie with an underlying arrogance and a WHOLE lot of blood. As I watched it I wondered why we in entertainment find the need to create false wars and battles when all they do is to glorify the real ones that are occurring with increased regularity around the globe. Is it necessary? Oh wait... this wasn't about war at all, was it... it's like all other big budget monstrosities, all about making the money back at the box office. Fortunately (in my humble opinion) this film came out with a certain referenced point being made at a time when so many oppose what is happening in the REAL world, thus they were simply not interested in the rhetoric or were out protesting the real thing instead of going to the movies. It's funny that out of the plastic all-too-heterosexual action heroes that have come out of motion pictures Bruce Willis is actually one of the more likable (or at least tolerable) of the bunch. It is a shame that he doesn't know how to smile and has that wicked bout of constipation going on... but at least we weren't dealing with Arnold Schwarzenegger here. The story is predictable... Willis is the brave as heck Special Ops leader taking his brave as heck crew into the jungles of mean and hostile Nigeria in order to save the beautiful and grumpy Italian Doctor. But Bruce has a heart... although he sure as heck isn't going to show it without being stoic and controlling. The "mission" to save the doctor becomes a full-scaled bloody battle with the militants in order to save the refugees sexy Italian doctor lady worked with in the jungles. Sorry... am I being sarcastic? Do you sense a bitter tone or a negative view of studio fare? Well kids... being that Bruce Willis is actually a decent actor and Monica Bellucci has a promising film future... I am giving this standard propaganda a fair mark. There actually ARE some people out there who might enjoy this sort of war-mongering piffle. Personally I am not that much into films that try to realistically take the touchiest of subjects like WAR and trivialize it as though it were just a.... oh wait... it IS just a movie. Hey, what do I care? I watched on tape!! (C)

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BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM

Release: 03/14/03-(PG-13)-(1:52)-[KINTOP PICTURES/BENDIT FILMS/ROC MEDIA/ROAD PICTURES/FOX SEARCHLIGHT]- CAST: PARMINDER NAGRA, KEIRA KNIGHTLEY, JONATHAN RHYS MEYERS, ANUPAM KHER, ARCHIE PANJABI, JULIET STEVENSON: What, you may ask, does it mean to "BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM"? Better yet.. what is a Beckham at all? Ahhh... for those who have spent ANY time in Britain you would know that David Beckham is HUGE like Michael Jordan in the United States. He is a STAR Soccer (Football) player (and he is also married to former Spice Girl POSH). In the film named (sort of) after this star, BEND IT is about a young Indian girl from a traditional family who has the knack to kick a soccer ball and play the game like a star. The trouble is that her family would NEVER allow her to be a part of this man's sport... and this obviously non-traditional fare. It's hard enough for a teenager to adapt to the world around her without being from a strict background and a family that hails from another country altogether. This smart and likable dramatic comedy takes a delightful lead in Parminder Nagra and a familiar formula blended adroitly into a mix of fun and pathos... that works! There is something about BEND IT that rings real. It is light and real in the determination of the young girl to play the sport that her parents vehemently oppose. Although there isn't a great deal in this story that hasn't been used before... it is also written so sweetly and performed with a British sensibility that takes it to another level of the formula. It is believable and as such it becomes a story that rings true for any country and with any sport that would be involved. After all... even though the story revolves primarily around the sport of soccer and the girl who wants to play despite the odds against her from many different angles... it is also a story about family traditions and growing up. So here we have a film with a story about following, living, believing and then capturing your dreams. In essence it is a story that should be told and can be enjoyed by any age group in any country. I first saw BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM on Virgin Atlantic on the way back from my last holiday in London. It was semi-sweet as I had just left this wonderful place I shall someday call home and as such I was sort of sad to have watched it while traveling back to my reality. If you want my opinion it is a film that could truly make its mark on word of mouth... watch it, enjoy it... soak it in for what it is worth. (B)

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THE SAFETY OF OBJECTS

Release: 03/07/03-(R)-(1:58)-[IFC FILMS/CLEAR BLUE SKY PRODUCTIONS/RENAISSANCE FILMS]- CAST: GLENN CLOSE, DERMOT MULRONEY, MARY KAY PLACE, PATRICIA CLARKSON, TIMOTHY OLYPHANT, JESSICA CAMPBELL: There are so many places a movie can go when examining how humans deal with life... quite frankly it would undoubtedly be the core of the theme of pretty much every drama film made. Be that as it may... it is good to know that a study of human nature, families, neighbors and an assortment of life situations dealing with everything from looking for a sense of purpose to grief about the loss of a family member can still exist. THE SAFETY OF OBJECTS is that study. Finely written and woven steadily and often feverishly with excellent direction and editing, OBJECTS pulls some undertoned performances from some stellar character actors with a structured script that covers all characters but doesn't seem to deal directly with one core story. Central to the story is the Gold family, thrown into a state of flux as a result of an unexplained (until the film's completion) accident that has rendered oldest son Paul (Joshua Jackson) comatose. Esther (Close) deals with her son like a nursemaid while daughter Julie feels the damage of being the only child left. The Train family hasn't lived in the neighborhood all that long. Husband Jim (Mulrooney) is a lawyer who works so many hours as to lose sight of the importance of his family. while wife Susan struggles to maintain the house and son Jack carries on secret conversations with a Barbie doll. Annette Jennings is a mother struggling with divorce who has a tomboy daughter named Sam as well as an emotionally disabled daughter. Helen Christianson is a middle-aged mother and wife who is trying to figure out what her life is all about... and what direction it should take. All these families and a few other well-drawn characters (Olyphant as a local gardener distraught with the death of his younger brother stands out.) Throughout OBJECTS there is a story that moves like a river on its course... smoothly, effectively, without any interruption. It is a story that builds and leads towards resolution in all of its cases... although not in the manner of being tightly wrapped for a market-researched audience. In life there are situations, dilemmas and problems that families and groups will deal with... and in the end... if effective they are going to come to some form of conclusion. Thus the story-telling and fine performances of OBJECTS worked for me. A surprise through and through... for those who like to think and for those who enjoy a good thinking movie. (A)

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LAUREL CANYON

Release: 03/07/03-(R)-(1:41)-[SONY PICTURES CLASSICS/GOOD MACHINE INTERNATIONAL/ANTIDOTE PICTURES PRODUCTIONS]- CAST: FRANCES MCDORMAND, CHRISTIAN BALE, KATE BECKINSALE, NATASCHA MCELHONE, ALESSANDRO NIVOLA: LAUREL CANYON is a wonderful piece of ensemble acting, a sweet and realistic study of a relationship that never quite went where it could have. Written and directed by Lisa Cholodenko (the magnificent HIGH ART) LAUREL CANYON is the story of a smart, uptight and straight-laced Sam and his fianc� Alex. Newly graduated from Harvard the couple is coming to Los Angeles, he to work a residency and she to finish writing her master thesis dissertation. Sam's mother is his polar opposite, a record producer and lively free-spirit, she is currently producing a band whose lead singer, Ian (Nivola) also doubles as her lover. Sam and Alex were to have stayed in the house on Laurel Canyon when they arrived in Los Angeles but found that Jane (McDormand) and the band were still in residence. What follows is the slow unraveling of the relationship between the two graduates and the caustic build-up of every past issue that Sam has ever had with his mother. Along the way Alex becomes fascinated with and intrigued by the sexy and flirtatious Ian and the easy going and no-nonsense Jane while Sam is finding the attractions of a hospital resident (McElhone) a bit tempting himself. The core of the story is about all these relationships... and not necessarily where they go, but instead where they lead the characters back to. The script is charming and very real. McDormand is wonderful as Jane and Christian Bale gives a convincing portrait of a son embarrassed by his mother's personality and being. Nivola is beguiling and quite believable as the English-accented rock star with charm to spare and Beckinsale gives a breakthrough performance as the upper-crust and intensely educated Alex, a woman who finds that the mother Sam resents is someone that she admires and rock star is a world she has never experienced. Colored with beautiful scenes and familiar landmarks LAUREL CANYON is indeed a gem in a cinema filled with cookie-cutter puff pieces. If for no other reason, one must see this film for McDormand alone. (A)

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BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE

Release: 03/07/03-(PG-13)-(1:41)-[TOUCHSTONE PICTURES]- CAST: STEVE MARTIN, QUEEN LATIFAH, EUGENE LEVY, JEAN SMART, STEVE HARRIS, JOAN PLOWRIGHT, KIMBERLY J. BROWN: I think the most important thing to remember about BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE is that it is a SPOOF. First and foremost I should say that the teaming of Steve Martin and the red hot Queen Latifah was a stroke of genius. We have all known for many years about the comic talents Martin gives us in his put-upon average white guy shtick, but it is Latifah that is coming out of the gate this year as a bonafide movie-star and personality. Did we know this already? I mean... after all... she did have a television series and at least 12 other feature film roles, not to mention that little Academy Award nomination that is currently on her resume. What troubles me about the role that Latifah takes on in BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE is just how much of the spoofing seems to be at her (and, I suppose, the African American heritage and population at large's) expense. The big question is within the individual viewer... and as such I am not sure that it is really necessary to find complaint in the product. Is it that we have gone beyond that which would be termed politically correct within racial barriers? Perhaps... and if that be the case I suppose that the formulaic sensibilities that BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE provide would make it simply a step into the future of the same ol' same ol' in romantic comedy pairings. It is all about the situation, isn't it? And the situation here pits our favorite mid-American uncomfortable white guy picking out the wrong gal in a picture after a lengthy online chatting experience for a romantic blind date. WHOOPS... in walks Ms. Hip thang with her raggedy hair and street wise smarts. Unfortunately she's just escaped from the slammer and needs to spend the night while she talks lawyer boy (Ok... so he mis-represented himself a little... he's a tax attorney). what ensues of course is the re-education of Peter Sanderson (Martin) with the unlikely life teacher of one Charlene Morton (Latifah). BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE's subplot revolves around Sanderson's law firm trying to get the business of a very rich and snooty heiress (Plowright). Ladies and gentlemen... I don't think it would hurt your movie going experience to let you know that everything works out for the best in this film. What else would you expect? The points that should be most noted are that Martin is FUNNY and Latifah is a worthy match to his physical humor. This IS a funny film... if you can get by the moments of in your face spoofing (Betty White seems to be channeling her old Sue Anne Niven's character) and understand it is JUST a silly film. (B)

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OLD SCHOOL

Release: 02/21/03-(R)-(1:31)-[DREAMWORKS SKG/MONTECITO PICTURES]- CAST: WILL FERRELL, LUKE WILSON, VINCE VAUGHN, ELLEN POMPEO, JULIETTE LEWIS, LEAH REMINI: Perhaps I am showing my age... (did I say that?) But I am not sure that I found a great deal of OLD SCHOOL to be truly funny. Sometimes I suppose it is best to remember that the world is filled with individuals each with their own definition of funny. Consider this small review my definition. OLD SCHOOL has some spirited comedic performances in its fold. Will Ferrell, the class clown for many seasons of the perennial Saturday Night Live is, it would seem, in his element. Ferrell plays a man engaged to be married who decides to create a fraternity along with two friends Wilson, as a man who comes home to find his wife involved in an orgy and Vaughn as the married man of the group. Oh the old ball and chain... what happened to youth? What happened to the all-nighters and those lazy, hazy, crazy days of... college? If you really want to know you might be better off renting Animal House and smoking a joint in the privacy of your home. The trouble with this movie is in its low-brow style of humor... granted some of it is chuckle material but then I wonder if by laughing at this sort of humor I am, in essence, lowering myself to the moronic level that (it would seem) Director Todd Phillips meant it to be at. Then I question whether or not that is so bad. All this questioning lowers my initial opinion of the film ONLY because I have to trust my initial impressions. Do I walk out still laughing or wishing I had gone to another one of the theaters in the Cineplex? Do I feel that the movie has stolen a few more of the valuable brain cells that I lost so many of during my own college years? Am I resentful that my college years weren't this effortless and flatulent? Oh wait... they aren't REALLY in college at all, are they? No matter... OLD SCHOOL should be looked upon for what it is... silly and freshman (pardon the pun). It is exactly what you would expect it to be. It is an overblown male fantasy and a concept clearly out of a Saturday Night Live skit (lets be honest... some of the skits on SNL are about this long anyway...) I am beginning to wonder what the big deal is about Luke Wilson, by the way. Will Ferrell has a good future in fart joke comedies and Vince Vaughn... well I guess he's ok (now that's commitment�) I guess OLD SCHOOL, all in all, is something that I probably wouldn't have spent the money or the time to see if there were actually something else worthy of seeing in the theaters. Alas... slow weekend. Call me old fashioned, call me anxious for something a bit more original... but I highly suggest this one wait for that rental. (C)

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THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE

Release: 02/21/03-(R)-(1:30)-[UNIVERSAL PICTURES/SATURN PICTURES/DIRTY HANDS PRODUCTIONS]- CAST: KEVIN SPACEY, KATE WINSLETT, LAURA LINNEY, GABRIEL MANN, MATT CRAVEN: THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE is one of those movies that makes you think. Now... for the most part that would be the type of movie that I am inclined to want to sit through and tantalize the brain cells. AND... I should say that I did leave the theater liking the film a bit better having figured out why this was done and how that thing had happened. The trouble with the movie, however, was in taking a look at the final picture and wondering how filmmakers and writers alike could take a subject matter like this and make it entirely believable. In other words... I may have figured out the twists and turns... but I still cannot get myself to believe the story. THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE would seem to be a film entirely built to serve as a protest against capital punishment and the death penalty. Whereas there are many points that are truly valid... and many that will continue to be fought throughout the land (particularly in Texas, where GALE takes place), the film is preposterous in its entirety... primarily because I don't see some of the key elements either working in the real world and I am not convinced that some people would go to the lengths displayed here to prove their points. David Gale is a professor whose life is 'ruined' by a rape charge leveled on him by a student after a party and a few too many cocktails. Although the film clearly paints the picture of Gale's innocence of the charges brought upon him it becomes more clear that this is not about the charges themselves but the devastating effect that sort of condemnation can have on a man even IF acquitted. In the case of Gale, it would seem that is what occurs. He loses his wife and child, his job and succumbs to heavy drinking and a loss of himself. He is marked and that plays a pivotal part of this story. Enter fellow death row activist Constance... a woman who has given her life to the fight AND, it would seem losing her life to Leukemia. When Constance turns up dead in her home, handcuffed and suffocated by a plastic bag around her head all evidence at the murder points to Gale and he is imprisoned and eventually placed on death row, the very place he had spent so many years fighting to save lives from. Enter Bitsey Bloom (Winslet), ace reporter and her trusty intern Zack (the very cute Gabriel Mann). Off they go, at the request of Gale's representation to interview Gale, who is about to be put to death. The story becomes a cat and mouse game with the prescribed twists and turns all ironed out and spoon-fed to reach a pulsating conclusion that highlights the very plan put together by key players to spell out a point that needs to be made. Does it work? On some level I suppose so... on many levels there are TOO many holes to fill. Although David Gale is somewhat of an original story it also finds itself being too full of itself (as does Spacey, if you ask me) to the point of being slightly annoying and condescending to its audience. I mean really... did they really think they could pull this sort of thing off? And... can I believe that they really DID? Not a terrible film in a year that thus far has brought far worse. (B)

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LOVE LIZA

Release: 02/21/03-(R)-(1:33)-[SONY PICTURES CLASSICS]- CAST: PHILLIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN, KATHY BATES, SARAH KOSKOFF, STEPHEN TOBOLOWSKY: There really is no denying that Phillip Seymour Hoffman is an actor to be reckoned with. I wouldn't doubt that we will someday see him standing at a podium accepting either an Emmy, Tony or Oscar for the work that he is capable of. Unfortunately it doesn't spare us from this character. Wilson is one of the less likable and more annoying creatures on God's good earth. He is grating and nebbishy, loud and abrasive and there are parts of me that wonder what on EARTH attracted Liza to him in the first place. But the truth here is that we are seeing and experiencing an intense and eccentric character being created to an extreme. Hoffman delivers Wilson with a strength and intensity that could only, I imagine, give the poor guy headaches or sleepless nights in having done so. What Wilson contends with in LOVE LIZA is no picnic. Liza, his young wife, has killed herself... unfortunately there is no explanation for why she has done this. She does, however, leave a letter addressed to Wilson, a letter he can not get himself to open and doesn't throughout the entirety of the film. Grief and its stages begin to take their toll. In fact, it is easy to say that he is swiftly folded into a downward spiral of all manner of odd behavior as he tries to "cope" with the devastation of his loss. Wilson, a website designer, is soon habitually snorting gas fumes regularly and with the offbeat guidance of the friend of a friend finds himself heavily in tuned to the world of model-plane flying and competition. Also key to his pain and trouble is the equally grief-stricken mother-in-law (Bates) who wants explanation for her daughter's death as well as to be able to "help" her son-in-law... but cannot get anywhere with Wilson, who has moved steadily away from any form of reality or normalcy in his life. LOVE LIZA takes the topic of mourning sudden and unexpected death and twists it around to allow us to examine the grey lines attached to HOW we, as humans, handle these situations. Hoffman's bravura performance could be called anything from a fine example of the craziness of loss to an outlandish and exaggerated portrayal of a personality that obviously couldn't have had all too much of a handle on life before this all happened. Either way LOVE LIZA is a mix of fine film-making, an interesting and extreme script and a plethora of quirky and effectual performances (including Jack Kehler's Denny and Stephen Tobolowsky's Tom Baily.) To see LOVE LIZA is to enlist in another of the feel-bad films that come so often from independent film companies. It is a slice of real-life that often isn't what we want to see... but will always remain a good balance from the manufactured crud released religiously from big budget studios. (B)

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DAREDEVIL

Release: 02/14/03-(PG-13)-(1:48)-[20TH CENTURY FOX/MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT]- CAST: BEN AFFLECK, JENNIFER GARNER, COLIN FARRELL, MICHAEL CLARKE DUNCAN, JON FAVREAU, JOE NAPOLITANO: I should ask myself why I go to certain films knowing full well beforehand that I probably will walk out of them wishing I could have my time back. Now... I should say that DAREDEVIL, by NO means is the worst film that I have seen and by some respects was a good deal better than most I have seen previous (from big studio/big budget ventures). But the fact remains that I am growing weary of the genre of super-powered "this by day and that by night" heroes who look splendid in leotards and tight shirts... (Does Ben Affleck REALLY have a 6-pack?) Wouldn't it be nice if we could wrap up this genre once and for all by declaring a super-power above and beyond ALL super-powers... a man (or woman) who would finally, once and for all, wipe out the namby-pamby kick-boxers and web-slingers once and for all? Just how many mysterious super beings does this world NEED after all? And another thing... I had accidents when I was a kid... why is it that I couldn't have been given super powers that make me irresistable to others and damned good looking in a pair of tights? Ok... you caught me... I'm jealous of Daredevil (aka lawyer Matt Murdock)... granted I am not jealous of his blindness. Who wouldn't want to be suave and successful AND lead a double life? DAREDEVIL does sport a well-rounded cast of colorful characters that exemplify the genre with enough good and bad, ugly and beautiful to make this Gotham-like city a whirlwind of events and excitement that the normal city just might not be able to survive. What's good about DAREDEVIL? Well for starters... even though I don't REALLY buy the super-hero bit Affleck is not totally wrong for the lead part. What REALLY works is the marvelous, sexy and always appealing Jennifer Garner... who, unfortunately is not in the movie anywhere NEAR what the television commercials would lead you to believe. Also fun is Colin Farrell's Bullseye and Clarke Duncan's Kingpin, although both seem to be fabricated bad guys with no real credibility... not out of the school of villains that Batman's Riddler, Joker or even Spidey's Green Goblin fit into. All in all DAREDEVIL is like a television spin-off on a rival network that is trying to repeat the success of a much better original. It is a good-hearted attempt. It is light, fun to watch and good matinee fodder for the masses. It is NOT, however, good enough for me to see a second time, that sort of super-human power it does NOT possess. (B)

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ALL THE REAL GIRLS

Release: 02/14/03-(R)-(1:48)-[SONY PICTURES CLASSICS]- CAST: PAUL SCHNEIDER, ZOOEY DESCHANEL, PATRICIA CLARKSON, BENJAMIN MOUTON, SHEA WINGHAM: I wanted to like ALL THE REAL GIRLS more than I did. I should say that the film is actually an excellent portrayal of a relationship from its beginning to... whatever we see it being as the movie completes. What bothered me about the film was how it rambled on and on within AND without of that key relationship. And when it wasn't in it... I, unfortunately wasn't all that interested. SO... the key here is to focus on the relationship and so that is what I will do. ALL THE REAL GIRLS focuses predominantly on the hometown world of Paul and his group of friends going nowhere fast in a small Southern town (a theme that isn't delegated to SMALL towns only but seems to resonate well in that type of environment). The mood brings up memories of all manner of films about youth and growing up in small town, USA (films like DINER, LAST PICTURE SHOW and BREAKING AWAY spring to mind.) Paul is drifting aimlessly, as are Tip and... well... pretty much everyone when Tip's sister Noel returns from college a woman... and not the little girl that had left. This catches Paul's attention as the film opens with the obviously blossoming relationship between the two. Tip, however, is not all that pleased with the notion as Paul is, like pretty much every guy in this small town, a womanizer with no committable ties to anyone he's "been with". Love em and leave em seems to be the way these boys live their lives. With Noel Paul is seeing a sudden maturity within himself. He finds her to be someone that he wants to fall in love with... someone to stay with and become a couple. Noel is a virgin as the relationship begins and Paul is not worried by this... if anything it is Noel that is the aggressor in their relationship as Paul is finding her to be more a model of decency as compared to the 'type' of woman he has dealt with in the past. The film twists when Noel goes to visit a friend from college for the weekend and meets a guy (a friend of a friend) and sleeps with him. She returns to the sleepy little town (with a new haircut) and tells Paul right away... and creates a rift of confusion and betrayal that puts a wedge between the young couple for the rest of the film. The ups and downs... the feelings on both sides of the fence are so very real that you GET what they are saying and doing. It is understandable in any language and in any setting. The characters are pumping out the angst and drowning in their own perspective sorrows up until the end of the film that might (or might not) signal a second chance for their relationship. I suppose I like the idea that this is not exactly spelled out completely. ALL THE REAL GIRLS does represent a breakthrough performance by the wonderfully engaging and self-assured Zoey Deschanel (The Good Girl). Paul Schneider is also effective as the aimless and somewhat dim Paul. Patricia Clarkson creates a small and stunning character with Paul's mother... a woman lost in life and opportunity who spends a good deal of her time dressed up as a clown to entertain local children in a hospital. ALL THE REAL GIRLS was a Sundance favorite and I can definitely see where it would be. I liked what I saw for the most part but found pieces of it to move as aimlessly as the lives of the characters within. (B)

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O FANTASMA

Release: 02/14/03-(UNRATED)-(1:30)-[RADIOTELEVISAO PORTUGUESA/ PICTURE THIS!/ROSA FILMES]- CAST: RICARDO MENESES, BEATRIZ TORCATO, ANDRE BARBOSA: What can I say about this incredibly odd and almost disturbing portrayal of a lonely life? At least I think it was a lonely life... O Fantasma (Phantom) is a dark (in many ways) film about a VERY handsome young Hispanic man (OK... I admit it... that IS why I went to the film in the first place) coming to terms with his sexuality and, it would seem, his loneliness. Here is a 20-something who lives alone in a very small crowded apartment with seemingly no friends or family (except a dog that stays at the garbage company's office) to speak of and works for a waste management company (he's a garbage man.) Sergio is a gay man who skulks around finding his 'partners' anonymously in bathrooms and outdoor areas. On one occasion as the film is in its early stages there is a scene in which he finds a policeman tied up and gagged in a car and instead of letting him go proceeds to open his zipper and give the man a hand job. This speaks of the nature of his being... a dark and brooding young man who often acts like a dog and doesn't seem to be fully comprehend who or what he is (as demonstrated by an odd relationship with Fatima, a co-worker.) As the film goes on Sergio seems to be slipping further into a state of confusion, loneliness and perhaps even illusion... mixing sex with the fantasies and obsessions that he knows as all there is. The turning point in his world of anonymity, however, happens when he encounters a young man at a home that he is picking up items from while working. From that point he is obsessed with the young man and pretty much begins stalking him throughout the film. There comes a point, however, that the man confronts him and makes it clear that there is NO return interest. Sergio runs off and this is where the film turns into a dark and literally voiceless study of a man turning into what would appear to be an animal. Sergio dons a latex 'suit... a cross between a desire to be superhuman and the kinkiness of deviant sexual desires. After pulling the object of his affections out of his bed gagged and tied and leaving him in the middle of a street we see Sergio making his way through the town like an animal... and then the film is over. O FANTASMA is a character study that doesn't tell us anywhere NEAR enough about the character we are looking at. Where is he from? Who is his family? Where are his friends and if there aren't any why not? Another problem is the film takes place predominantly in the dark... a mood to be sure... but a difficult one to SEE. This is a first time film from Portugal originally released in the United States in 2000. It's interesting to say the least... but odd. (C)

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THE GURU

Release: 01/31/03-(PG-13)-(1:34)-[UNIVERSAL PICTURES/STUDIO CANAL/WORKING TITLE FILMS]- CAST: JIMI MISTRY, HEATHER GRAHAM, MARISA TOMEI, MICHAEL MCKEAN, DASH MIHOK, CHRISTINE BARANSKI: The first movie I would suggest seeing in 2003. The Guru, which was playing in London when I was there last September, is light and simple fun. It is a well-worn theme wrapped in a blanket of familiarity and sprinkled with a touch of Bollywood imagination. Throw in a charming and amiable lead with a rare smile of fun mixed with innocence and a slew of lively and enjoyable familiar faces in supporting roles and you have an enjoyable romp through the world of romantic comedy, the streets of New York and the lessons of sex and the secret porn star. The GURU is the story of a young and impressionable dance instructor in India brought up with the traditional Bollywood musical and dreaming of the Hollywood connection (displayed aptly as the young Ramu sticks his head into the theater during the climax scene of Grease as John and Olivia sing "You're the One That I Want". Soon Ramu is on his way to America to live with his successful cousin Vijay. As circumstance would have it, however, Vijay isn't the success that he had portrayed and Ramu, like his father predicted is left to wait on tables in a traditional Indian restaurant. That doesn't last long and Ramu gets himself a job as the lead in a porno film (without actually knowing that's what it is) opposite Sharonna, a successful porn star hiding her profession from her intended husband. The porn industry doesn't suit 'Rammy' and he finds himself at a party thrown for spoiled rich girl Lexie in a wealthy penthouse. When the guru (a theme hired by the woman's mother Baranski) passes out, Rammy assumes the role and ends up wowing Lexie. Soon he is her personal guru and she is selling him around town as an expert on sex. The trouble is Rammy doesn't know enough tidbits of sexual spirituality to make the grade and enlists Sharonna to 'train' him for what SHE believes is the porn industry. Meanwhile Rammy and Sharonna are falling in love. THE GURU is light and contagious. It's smatterings of silly dance numbers (a la Bollywood) and the pieces of GREASE make it the perfect matinee, date movie or simple getaway from the reality of the day. THE GURU is very simply FUN. (A)

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DARKNESS FALLS

Release: 01/24/03-(PG-13)-(1:25)-[DISTANT CORNERS/BLUE STAR PICTURES/COLUMBIA PICTURES/REVOLUTION STUDIOS]- CAST: CHANEY KLEY, EMMA CAULFIELD, LEE CORMIE, GRANT PIRO, SULLIVAN STAPLETON: DARKNESS FALLS was formerly called THE TOOTH FAIRY. Unfortunately last fall's RED DRAGON used the name for their mass murderer and thus... DARKNESS FALLS, which is also the name of the setting in this release, became the title. The film is, much like the title would represent it, rather dark. It is filmed predominantly in shadows and dim to funneled lighting. One of the main plots of the story would have the protagonist unable to attack in light... and that being said it would only make sense to be sure and have an appropriate amount of dark in order for the scares to ring true. As far as those scares go DARKNESS FALLS has a fair amount of jolts and starts. The very fact that there is so little to SEE in the dark gives us the heightened jump factor when something (or someone) emerges from it. SO... is this a good film? Yes and no. The truth is that DARKNESS FALLS, like most of the films that will be released in the beginning of the year, is a bit of a throwaway. It is a genre that rarely scares without absolute ridiculousness any longer. Our collective sensibilities need more and more to actually feel the jolt of fright on the big screen. Intimated moments and 'images' no longer really do the trick on the big screen and therefore the focus has to be on the death, decapitation or some manner of horrible dismemberment (much like this weekend's release of FINAL DESTINATION 2). In DARKNESS FALLS there isn't as much of the blood and gore that seems to sell the tickets... but the SCARE is something a bit other worldly... and perhaps pushes the envelope a step too far in the WRONG direction even for something as silly as a horror flick. To the children of Darkness Falls there is a tale of a woman who used to give the boys and girls a quarter for their tooth when it came out... thus giving her the name of the Tooth Fairy. The woman unfortunately is burned horribly in a fire and wears a mask giving her a sort of pariah existence. When two young children disappear the townsfolk blame her and hang her one day before the kids show up alive. Not, however, before she curses the town's children. DARKNESS FALLS is about this curse and how it caught up to Kyle... who saw the 'creature' as a kid after having lost his last tooth. Needless to say the experience has messed up his life appropriately and now, years later, he returns to aid his old childhood 'girlfriend' as her young brother experiences the same problems with the masked demon. Nobody believes Kyle until it is too late. Evil masked lady flies around willy nilly and murders unsuspecting and unbelieving people who happen to be unlucky enough to see her. NOT a bad film... but hardly something that I would expect anyone to lose any sleep over as the result of a nightmare (too preposterous..) Although this was #1 in its first weekend... expect this one to make a quick turn to video/DVD. (B)

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NATIONAL SECURITY

Release: 01/17/03-(PG-13)-(1:30)-[OUTLAW/INTERMEDIA/FIRM FILMS/COLUMBIA FILMS]- CAST: MARTIN LAWRENCE, STEVE ZAHN, COLM FEORE, BILL DUKE, ERIC ROBERTS: In defense of those who made NATIONAL SECURITY I would have to suppose that this is on film EXACTLY what it was intended to be on paper. The question in my mind would have to remain whether that is a positive or a negative. The question taken further would beg to wonder WHY silly preposterous fodder such as this is made in the first place. Intelligent police films DO exist... and GOD knows that the police that protect us in our prospective cities and towns are not all inept, renegade or corrupt. However, to watch the film industry's endless parade of smart-ass, tough guy acrobat bozos chasing perps and bending (if not breaking) all the rules in the name of warped justice one would have to think that is ALL the police departments in our country were made of. In what alternate universe would ANY police department OR security group hire and use a moron like Martin Lawrence? On what planet would his 'style' win over anything but a lower-intelligence being desperate for attention? I believe you are getting the idea of how I feel about the film NATIONAL SECURITY. Fortunately I grabbed the tape from the office and didn't pay a dime. It is a light, simple and absolutely STUPID film about a love-hate buddy team of inept security guards who end up saving the day... naturally. Lawrence's Earl Montgomery is a police wannabe with attitude to spare. He is, after acting the fool, dumped by the police department in training and lands a job with National Security. It is there that he ends up teamed with a marine-like copy busted down to the security level for being caught on tape in what LOOKS like the beating of a black man. It just so happens that the incident was Rafferty's (Zahn) attempt to kill a bee and the 'victim' is Montgomery (Lawrence). What follows is a wild caper of chases, gun-shots, fights, women, more chases, bad guys with white hair and a slew of stunts that would kill an average person instantly but they seem to bounce up shooting from instantly. Could a film possibly be more retarded? Oh... yea... most of them are. Suffice it to say that no matter what these guys do wrong they will end up in front of a grateful city being offered jobs and badges while the women who were angry at them smile and swoon. They get the bad guys and that, in the end, is what the police work is all about. I don't know about anyone else but I have to believe that Martin Lawrence is slightly mental or just a little slow upstairs. Every movie I see him in I wonder if he just goes off the meds for a bit to create the 'characters' he does. I can only hope they are characters... If you like the silly and innane buddy-cop film genre this one could be right up your alley. If you like good movies... don't bother. (D)

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