REVIEWS AND COMMENTS
All the media that's fit to analyze.
Greetings. This, as you can see, is my page of reviews and comments. Movies are my expensive habit, and lots of people know that they're my obsession. I could spend hours talking about my favorite movies, or my most hated movies. And if you've ever gone to see a movie with me in the theaters, you know that I can go a little crazy talking about what we've just seen. So instead of talking, I write down reviews of the films and my personal thoughts. Someone once told me that I see movies differently than most people do, so I took that as a compliment. Some have told me that it's a talent, but so far, it's just a hobby, so give my reviews a look. And have fun!
NEW REVIEWS
"Signs" (2002): Heavy on Suspense, Light on Acting
6-11-2003
“Signs,” from writer/director M. Night Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense”), is the ambitious filmmaker’s latest spooky movie, which pays homage to many other suspenseful, “War of The Worlds”-style alien movies. The “Psycho”-like score by James Newton Howard and the jumpy graphics make even the credits creepy, but most of the movie tends to favor more somber talking and more suspenseful, slow-moving pans than your average alien invasion thriller. Even with a few jumpy, genuinely scary moments involving some dogs, some kids, and some extra-terrestrials, “Signs” is more about an examination of faith and coincidences than about indiscriminately scaring the pants off the audience.
Mel Gibson stars as Graham Hess, who is a widowed ex-Reverend now living with his brother, Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix), and raising his two young children. After his wife’s death (hit by a driver who fell asleep at the wheel) some six months earlier, Graham has turned into a disbeliever who now seems disaffected by the entire world. Meanwhile, Merrill is an ex-minor league baseball player who moved onto Graham’s isolated farm in Pennsylvania to help his brother through the tough times.
The story jumps immediately into the plot, with Graham’s children stumbling across enormous, eerie crop circles in his farm’s fields. All four of the main characters stand in the cleared crop circles looking stunned, baffled, but strangely blanked-faced, and they all stay like that for much of the film. It was as if Shyamalan told the entire cast to act completely emotionally drained, which is the feeling I got especially from the kids, who seemed constantly bored and almost tortured, speaking in monotone voices.
As we are soon told from a few badly faked newscasts, these crop circles have been suddenly appearing in great numbers all over the world, and have been accompanied by strange lights in the sky. As they do in many alien-themed movies (unflattering comparisons to “Independence Day” can easily be made here), the characters all immediately assume that the aliens are here to kill us all and take over the planet.
Luckily, Shyamalan is great at taking his time in his plots to build up more and more suspense before anything shocking actually happens. The filmmakers here employ the standard practice of manipulating the subtle, building music, and the even creepier silence, to masterfully set the mood. Along with some fake-outs just to put the audience even more on-edge, Shyamalan pans across the dark fields as we wait for something to happen; but then it doesn’t, and it doesn’t, and it doesn’t, until we finally catch a glimpse of something that makes us instantly recoil. Sure, this may be formulaic, some would even say cheap, but those jumpy moments are what we pay for when we go to see a movie like “Signs.”
Still, suspense alone can’t hold a movie together, so “Signs” tries to give us something more. Unlike large-scale films like “Independence Day,” this film is kept extremely tightly focused on this one family and all of their internal and external struggles, which include arguing with each other and dealing with seeing Graham’s wife’s killer in town. The script goes emotionally over-the-top one or two times, forcing Gibson to try to cry, which may not be his strong suit. The film eventually, and unexpectedly, turns into the story of Graham’s struggle with his own faith, which gives “Signs” a much more thoughtful, humanistic, and grounded base than most other films about aliens (with the exception, of course, of “E.T.”).
That’s not to say, however, that this film is free of all of the conventional set-ups you’d expect to find in this genre. It turns out that the impossibly cute little girl, Bo (Abigail Breslin), is a touch psychic, has a strange quirk about water never tasting right, and says creepy things like “Are you in my dream, too?”. Graham’s son, Morgan (Rory Culkin), has a bad case of asthma, so you just know that will eventually come into play, because along with diabetes, kids are always given this ailment for some greater plot purpose. The young actors do a great job here, even if their acting and their creepiness aren’t quite at that instant classic-Haley Joel Osment-“I see dead people” level.
Also in the world of horror movie standards, Gibson’s night scene, alone in the cornfield, makes you wonder if all flashlights in scary movies are designed to go out just when you’d want them the most. And for such a pressing situation, everyone in “Signs” walks and speaks very slowly, and they all take huge pauses to survey the backyard or stare blankly at the television screen.
There are only a few points of comic relief in this film that almost always takes itself dead-seriously. One of those funny scenes comes when a girl working at the local pharmacy tries to confess her teenage sins to Graham, even after his insistent explanations that he’s no longer a Father.
In this film, Shyamalan creates an interesting, purposely disconcerting visual style, which includes the use of point of view shots and extreme close-ups. The point of view shots are used mostly to put us in a character’s shoes when something scary is happening, and the close-ups and bizarre low angles give us a real sense of claustrophobia, which Shyamalan builds throughout the film. Taking a major cue from Hitchcock’s “The Birds,” (and to a lesser extent, “Jurassic Park”) the climax of “Signs” finds the family members barricading themselves inside the house and eventually in their basement, hoping that the creatures won’t find their way in. The effect is like being buried alive with the characters, because Shyamalan keeps the camera constantly with the people inside the house, never allowing us even a peek outside. Because of this, we see only what the people in the film see, building our fear of the unknown, and giving us as much suspense as we can handle.
There’s a tense, classic scary scene there in the basement, which could be almost heart-pounding enough to forgive Shyamalan’s characters for their habits of staring off into space and delivering seemingly random soliloquies in the most unwieldy of situations. The director himself is guilty of this quirk, turning in a supporting role in his own film as the driver who hit Graham’s wife.
Like “The Sixth Sense,” this film comes together in the end through a series of well-edited flashbacks and sound-bytes that give us everything we need to make sense of the story and feel like we’ve solved a big puzzle. Some big questions about the aliens are left unanswered, but we’re ultimately given an intriguing, hopeful ending.
Shyamalan remains a great, suspenseful storyteller with “Signs,” which hints at much bigger issues than the standard alien invasion, but the one-note acting may hold it back from becoming a real classic.
****
The Formulaic But Beautiful World of "The Cider House Rules" (1999)
6-10-2003 Lasse Hallstrom’s beautiful New England epic is a perfect example of a movie that is just too broad and sprawling for its own good. On a journey to find himself, Homer Wells (Tobey Maguire) finds everything from lobsters to apples, from orphans to incest, and even finds the gorgeous Candy, played by Charlize Theron. “The Cider House Rules” tries to be a social commentary as well as a romance and a coming-of-age story, but its preaching about the morality of abortions gets old after nearly every female character in the film decides to terminate a pregnancy. The two-hour-plus film meanders from one setting to another, from one issue to the next, with little connecting it all except for Maguire’s persistent innocent-boy, awe-struck face. While the scenery is often postcard-quality, the story becomes painfully predictable, right down to the very last formulaic line of dialogue that you can see coming literally hours away.
Still, “Cider House” is a sweet-natured film adapted from a sweet-natured novel by the author himself, John Irving. The problem here is that a lengthy and sprawling book had to be cut down to a manageable-sized screenplay, and so naturally things get cut, condensed, and fudged a little, throwing the story more than a little off-balance.
The story follows Maguire’s character, Homer Wells, as he grows up at an orphanage/midwife/abortion clinic run by Dr. Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine, playing remarkably well with an American accent). The clinic is in the woods of Maine in the 1940s, and the combination of the setting and all the cute little kids will have most viewers “awww”ing so much that they’ll miss the set-up of the plot.
One day, after spending years as Dr. Larch’s apprentice and assistant, Homer decides that he’s too old to live at the orphanage anymore, and decides to set off on his own with Lt. Wally Worthington (Paul Rudd) and his fiancé, Candy, after they make a visit to the clinic. Wally, who is about to go fight in WWII, is extremely kind and sympathetic to Homer, and even gets him a job picking apples on his family’s orchard. There, along with having the obligatory fling with the lonely Candy, Homer meets another assortment of true “characters,” including the orchard crew boss, Arthur Rose (Delroy Lindo). Here, the story shoots off into too many different directions, with one crew member staging a mini-rebellion, and Arthur’s daughter, Rose Rose (Erykah Badu) revealing some shocking information that would conveniently connect back to Homer’s own story line.
Badu is a natural in her first big-screen role, and never seems to carry any of her diva-ness around with her in the part, so she doesn’t stick out like you’d think a recording star in an apple orchard would. Lindo makes a strong and convincing boss, but unfortunately (not to ruin the entire plot), his character is given one of the longest, most emotional, most implausible, and most conveniently timed death speeches in the history of movies. Like I said, this movie has it all, but it just doesn’t seem to know where to draw the line to stick to being just one solid, unified movie.
Even if Maguire plays the same character here that he plays in “The Ice Storm,” “Wonder Boys,” and everything else he’s made up to this point, he really is perfect as this young man who is unfamiliar with everything outside the world of the orphanage. Still, he’s somehow mature beyond his years, performing complicated medical procedures and taking care of dozens of children. Maguire’s man-child searches for his place in the world, and he eventually finds it with the help of Dr. Larch and through deep conversations he has with everyone he meets along his journey. John Irving seems to have a real knack for these kinds of conversations between young people (as in his other novel, “A Prayer For Owen Meany”), and one particularly insightful discussion in the film is between Homer and another orphan named Buster (Kieran Culkin). Buster says that he would want to meet his parents, but he also sometimes thinks about wanting to kill them, showing what emotionally complicated lives these kids lead.
As Dr. Larch, who often relaxes with a bottle of ether, Michael Caine brings both passion and compassion to the film, as he takes care of abandoned children and helps out anybody who needs help. He’s a real humanist, but Caine still lets us know that there is more to the man than just that, and he keeps the character’s loneliness just below the surface. Unfortunately, Caine is confined mostly to the first third of the film and to some voice-overs, and that’s too bad, because his father-son-like interactions with Maguire were the highlight of his character.
Charlize Theron’s model-like good looks match perfectly with the breath-taking New England-in-the-Fall settings, but Candy never feels like a good match for Homer. Of course, maybe that’s the whole point, but Theron remains stiff even when she’s grappling with her feelings about her family, Homer, and her absent fiancé.
The original music by Rachel Portman and cinematography by Oliver Stapleton both work perfectly to give the film a strong, classic, beautiful style; one that Hallstrom has mastered. The film is unarguably masterfully put-together, but the story drags it feet and pulls in too many different directions, only to finally end up right where you knew it would end up all along.
***1/2
"High Fidelity": Just another unromantic comedy
6-9-2003 Is there such a thing as a chick flick for guys? If such a genre exists, then John Cusack has come to specialize in it. In Stephen Frears’ “High Fidelity” (2000), Cusack plays the kind of character that he plays best; the unlucky in love, slightly goofy and slightly obsessive-compulsive sensitive guy- this time named Rob Gordon.
Rob owns a used record store and constantly compiles fantasy “Top 5” lists with his co-workers, and re-organizes his massive personal record collection when he gets depressed. The signature look of this film is that Rob addresses the audience directly, breaks the fourth wall, and painstakingly narrates us through his list of his Top 5 Break-Ups. This is a very nice set-up for the film that gets us to instantly relate to Rob’s situation, but unfortunately, by the end of the film, Rob has stopped being as candid with us, and we end up not knowing what he is really thinking.
The majority of the plot follows his rocky relationship with Laura, who is the latest woman to enter the Top 5 Break-Up list. But this time, he wants her back. Laura is played by Iben Hjejle, and she somehow becomes the most unlikable person in the entire film as she continues to confuse and manipulate Rob for no apparent reason. The two don’t seem to have much chemistry or much of a reason for their characters to be together at all, and for the first time ever, I found myself wishing for the ending of a film to find the two leads going their separate ways. It just didn’t work for me, and that ruined what was otherwise a pretty enjoyable movie.
Based on the often insightful novel by Nick Hornby, “High Fidelity” is a funny portrait of the sensitive guy who might just be too sensitive for his own good, wondering why each woman he’s been with has dumped him, and wondering what he should do differently. Over the course of the film, Rob has encounters with some of his past girlfriends from “the list,” including the pretentious Charlie (Catherine Zeta-Jones, similarly in just the kind of role you’d expect for Catherine Zeta-Jones) and the more reserved Sarah (Lili Taylor). Rob’s journey to try to improve himself and to try to fix his own mistakes would seem more plausible if he wasn’t so intent on continuing to pour salt on his wounds, some of which date back to junior high.
Lisa Bonet, best known for her role as Denise on “The Cosby Show,” is unfortunately wasted in an all-too-brief appearance as Marie DeSalle, a local recording artist that Rob has a fling with while in the middle of trying to patch things up with Laura. Bonet was probably the most laid-back actor in this world of tightly-wound people who were always concerned about every word that was being said. Case in point; Rob’s friend Liz, played by Joan Cusack, whose entire purpose in the film seems to be to throw curses at Rob after learning of all of the different ways he had mistreated Laura in the past. Again, after learning about all of these ourselves, how is this the relationship that we’re supposed to root for? As Rob even seems to acknowledge at one point, he’s not even in love with Laura, he’s just in love with the idea of being in love.
John Cusack’s familiarly neurotic performance is mixed with a similarly familiar performance of the depressed, puppy-dog-eyed hopeless romantic wandering through a rainy night. At one point, as he practically stalked Laura in the rain, I actually expected him to lift up a boom box to her, just as in “Say Anything.”
Like a good Cameron Crowe movie, this film seemed to be built around its soundtrack, which is only fitting for a movie set largely in a record store and starring a guy who knows more about music than is probably healthy to know. An original score by Howard Shore mixes well with an original tune by Liz Phair and old stand-bys from Bob Dylan and Elton John. This film is so involved with music that there’s even a cameo by Bruce Springsteen himself, appropriately in one of Rob’s fantasy sequences, where the Boss tries to coach Rob on his love life while picking out a song on his guitar.
Rob’s co-workers at his store, Dick and Barry, are two more guys who know way too much about music, and who also participate in making up Top 5 lists on such random topics as Top 5 songs for a Monday morning. Jack Black plays Barry as some kind of manic wind-up toy with scattered and snobbish tastes in music. He’s definitely the comic relief of this film, but if a script needs to rely on such broad comedy as Black dancing around and making out with thin air, maybe the rest of the script isn’t really as funny as it thinks it is. Todd Louiso plays Dick as the polar opposite of Barry. Dick is an amiable, laid-back, soft spoken and nerdy guy who only seems to connect with women when discussing music. These two characters both play off Rob’s self-absorbed nature well, and Black delivers a smile-inducing shocker near the end of the film with a surprisingly good rendition of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”
As a romantic comedy, “High Fidelity” feels painfully forced and unfocused, with a romantic lead who sleeps with somebody else when trying to win back his girlfriend, and then is outraged when she’s seeing somebody else as well. The movie’s strength is it’s often unconventional structure, which includes Rob’s talking directly to the camera and the clever use of fantasy sequences, of which the director never takes enough advantage. In the most outrageous moment of the film, Rob confronts Laura’s new beau, Ian (Tim Robbins, perfect here as a new-age poseur with a skunk hairdo), and imagines that he and his buddies attack Ian with an air conditioning unit. However, these hints at Rob’s actual feelings dissipate by the end of the film, which somehow finds him as a DJ and record producer who may or may not actually love Laura.
Even with its few out-of-the-ordinary quirks and sometimes over-the-top characters, “High Fidelity” ultimately plays out like every other romantic comedy. A shame, too, because with it’s painfully hip use of music and clever story-telling, it should have been so much better.
***
The Unsurprising "Altar Boys" (2002- Directed by Peter Care)
6-5-2003 “The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys” is an ambitious (and ambitiously creative) story about love, loss, and growing up, but its conflicting tones and often-awkward actors don’t live up to what the screenplay was trying to be. Of course, the screenplay, based on the book by Chris Fuhrman, isn’t all that perfect either. Blatantly borrowing from “American Beauty,” “Stand By Me,” and “My Girl,” this film, set in the 1960s, adds up to something of a “Wonder Years” gone wrong, with parents screaming at each other and kids smoking up after a day at their Catholic school.
The stand-out features of this film are its clever use of animated sequences, and its great use of the blooming actor inside Kieran Culkin. The four adolescent boys in this film (Culkin, along with Emile Hirsch, Jake Richardson, and Tyler Long), work on a comic book in their spare time; a project spear-headed by the artistic and thoughtful Francis (Hirsch) and featuring the alter-egos of the four friends.
This comic, called “The Atomic Trinity” despite the fact that there are four of them, is brought to life for us in the animated sequences that allow us to see inside of Francis’ creative mind as he lives out his fantasy of rescuing the object of his affection, Margie Flynn (Jena Malone), and doing battle with the boys’ Catholic school teacher, Sister Assumpta (Jodie Foster). The animation is done by comic-book legend Todd McFarlane, so no doubt anyone familiar with his work will love this. Like much of his work, some of the animation tends to be on the over-the-top gruesome and grotesque side, but it works here because this is how the middle-school-aged boys think.
The main focus of this film is on the exploits of the boys, mostly on Francis and Culkin’s character, Tim, as they try to pull off pranks on Foster’s nun with a fake leg, who they nickname “Nunzilla” in their comic book. The film is also about the changing friendship between these two boys as Francis is drawn to Margie, the prettiest and sweetest girl in class. Of course, Margie has a past that she’s reluctant to tell Francis about, but even when she does, this plot strand is ultimately left hanging and feels very forced, like we were just given one more twist that didn’t really need to be there.
Speaking of twists, this film takes an odd turn into the supernatural at one point, which leaves us with even more questions and an even more unclear idea of what exactly the film is trying to say.
“The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys” is very amusing at some points, especially when the boys are just hanging out and trading insults with each other a la “Stand By Me.” The boys also keep the story light and juvenile as they keep trying to hatch their half-assed scheme (which involved a cougar) to get revenge on the nun. The film starts to slip, though, when it tries to have a deep subtext mixed in with this buddy-caper movie. One scene involving mourning over a dead dog seems very out of place for this story and for these kids. Then, a very “American Beauty” scene between Francis and Margie finds her asking him about the most amazing thing he’s ever heard, as they lay on the floor together, gazing up at the fake stars on the ceiling. It’s hard to believe that this kind of talk comes from the same 14-year-old kids who spike their drinks with whatever they can find lying around.
As I said before, Culkin’s performance is a stand-out in this film. He plays the wise-cracking smart-ass type who comes up with all the crazy schemes, but we can still tell how intelligent he really is, like when he gets in trouble for reading a Robert Blake book. Hirsch plays Francis with a troubling stone-faced, wide-eyed seriousness. Granted, he is the dramatic focus of the film, but it’s as if he doesn’t know that everybody around him is in a funny, if bittersweet, story of some kids growing up. This character wants to be a hero in real life, but I kept getting the feeling that the film would have been better if the more compelling Culkin was in the lead role of Francis. As for the other two forgettable boys in the “Atomic Trinity,” they never seem to be that interested in what’s going on, and they really blend into the background, forcing us to focus more intensely on Francis and Tim.
Jena Malone seems to be type-cast as the not-so-innocent girl next door, after playing a very similar part in “Life As A House,” and she never seems to age very much from one year to the next. Even with a lot of baggage given to her young character, Malone doesn’t do anything special with the part, but that may be because she was never given the chance, since she appeared as an exaggerated cartoon character in probably half of her scenes.
The film also features Vincent D’Onofrio as the priest, Father Casey. He serves mostly as a satire of the church, however, because there’s something disconcerting about a Catholic leader who consults a Magic 8 Ball and screams “Jesus H. Christ!”. Jodie Foster gives a very subdued performance as the limping nun with an Irish accent. She may be strict, but we see that she really does care about the boys, even if they don’t know it. This role may have been done equally as well by almost any actress around, but Foster brings a nice combination of calm confidence and genuine frustration to the role.
“The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys” is trying to be more than just a story about a bunch of awkward middle school kids trying to flirt and deal with their teacher, but it tries too hard. Can a story about love, loss and growing up really be helped along by including what are arguably juvenile and chauvinistic animated interludes? It’s hard to say, but these comic book sequences may be the only original thing about this film, which follows the format of other, better coming-of-age movies to the minute.
**1/2
(Rated R for language, drug use and some sexuality.)
"Finding Nemo" (2003): An Underwater Adventure
6-2-2003 “Finding Nemo,” from the Pixar/Disney team, is more than a movie to which kids want to drag their parents; it’s the kind of film that parents should love to take their kids to as well. It’s cute, adventurous, and very beautiful to look at, filled with breathtaking colors found only in the sparkling underwater world of computer animation. This is the story of a fish named Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks) who is on a quest to find his young son, Nemo (voiced by Alexander Gould), who is taken away from his ocean home on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and put into a fish tank by a fish-collecting dentist. Along the way, Marlin meets all kinds of colorful creatures, both helpful and villainous, and Marlin does everything he can to rescue his son.
Nemo, like most of Disney’s title characters, is about the cutest thing in the ocean, and he doesn’t let his one undersized fin keep him from proving to his dad that he’s ready to grow up and swim on his own. He is voiced perfectly by the young Gould, and given real child-like qualities by the animators. Allowing the seemingly 3-D characters to move in the 3-D space of the ocean gives them even more expressions through their movements and interactions. We’ve seen under-water characters like this before in “The Little Mermaid,” but the computer animation allows the faces to be so much more expressive and realistic, and less cartoonish, than ever before.
The movie is surprisingly bright and colorful for being set almost entirely under the ocean, and the film really does a great job in bringing this whole world to life. And unlike “Shrek” or even “Monster’s Inc.”, “Finding Nemo” is refreshingly light on pop-culture references, which allows this fantasy world to exist all on its own. Aside from one mention of someone in Nemo’s fish tank coming from E-bay, and a shark doing his best impression of Jack Nicholson in “The Shining,” the film thankfully sticks to its own material. However, this isn’t to say that there aren’t any jokes for the parents or older members of the audience; some sharks Marlin meets early on are in an AA-like recovery program for fish-eaters, and some sea turtles later on give sky-diving-like instructions on how to properly get out of the current they’re riding on. As with all recent Disney films, the jokes run on two levels throughout the film, keeping a nice mix of quick, witty side-comments for the adults and the more slap-sticky, bodily-function type of humor for younger kids.
“Finding Nemo” continues the current Disney trend of abandoning the old-fashioned formula where the characters break out in song every ten minutes in favor of the more straight-faced fable-like structure where a big lesson is taught subtly throughout the film. There is a bright musical score by Thomas Newman always present in the background, but there is sadly no memorable musical theme that is woven through the movie, and nothing that you will walk out of the theater humming. Some might think it’s a blessing not to have to listen to new Disney tunes relentlessly, but at more than one point during the film while looking at all the underwater excitement, I found myself wishing to hear those first few notes from “Under The Sea.”
Some scenes in “Finding Nemo” might be a little scary for young kids, especially when Nemo is taken by the diver, and when Nemo’s mom dies earlier. While not as shocking or graphic as Mufasa’s death in “The Lion King,” the sequence involving Nemo’s mom happens very quickly and with quite a surprising bit of terror and confusion for a Disney film. But, of course, this sets up the plot-point that Marlin is easily scared and very protective of his son. So ultimately, the death of Nemo’s mom serves as psychological motivation, Disney-style.
The film is very fast-paced, with characters coming and going all the time, and with the action cutting back and forth between Marlin’s search in the ocean and Nemo’s plans to escape from the fish tank. In the tank with him in the dentist’s office are a collection of creatures, including a wise, older fish named Gill (voiced by a more dignified sounding Willem Dafoe) and an excitable blowfish named Bloat (voiced by the very distinctive Brad Garrett). Other voices of characters in the tank include Allison Janney, Austin Pendleton, Stephen Root, and Vicki Lewis. Together, these fish all devise a plan to escape out the window, across the highway, and into the ocean before the dentist’s niece (with a history of being too rough with her pets) comes to take Nemo away. Their efforts are clever and exciting, and along the same lines as the involved escape at the end of “Toy Story.”
Albert Brooks keeps Marlin likable even when he goes through periods of depression and anger over the exhausting search for his son. Overshadowing Brooks’ performance, though, is Ellen DeGeneres’ fun, sweet turn as a forgetful but well-meaning blue fish named Dory. Dory gets a lot of great one-liners related to her memory loss, and she gets a majority of the laughs as well, proving that a goofy sidekick works in almost any circumstance. DeGeneres takes Dory past just being a goofy sidekick though, because she brings a smart, always-cheery performance to a kids’ movie that occasionally goes to some dark places. Dory grows to have a real concern for Marlin and his lost son, even if she doesn’t always remember it.
The story has its sentimental moments, but they’re in all the right places, and they don’t hold the story back from being the adventure it was made to be. Complete with surfer-dude turtles, covetous crabs, a school of fish that does impressions, and a flock of dim-witted seagulls, this film leaves no ocean creature untouched, and they all have their own fun personalities. Still, the heart of the film belongs to the father-son relationship of Marlin and Nemo, which should make everyone in the audience smile and want to pass this film on to their kids.
****
Too serious, but "Heaven"ly to look at...
"Far From Heaven" (2002)
5-29-2003 Writer/director Todd Haynes’ “Far From Heaven” is a 1950s melodrama in the truest sense of the word- complete with a rich score, dramatic lighting, and lots of crying on the part of lead actress Julianne Moore. Moore plays Cathy Whitaker, who takes care of her two young children while also handling the social life of her upper-class circle of friends and her ad executive husband, Frank (Dennis Quaid).
The film is set amongst the dream-like exaggerated colors of the fall trees in Hartford, Connecticut. The vibrant setting and the swooping camera movements, along with the elegant costumes of the period, give us a sense that this is the perfect city and the perfect year, but as the title suggests, Cathy’s life is not as perfect as it appears.
In this time where children still said “aw, shucks,” phrases like “acceptance of diversity” and “political correctness” were unheard of, so it is no wonder that Cathy is shocked and horrified to learn that her husband is having an affair with a man. It is also no wonder that the whole town starts to buzz about rumors regarding Cathy and a possible affair with her African-American gardener, Raymond Deagan (Dennis Haysbert).
“Far From Heaven” makes it very clear that these issues of homosexuality and race relations were still around back then, but they were simply just not spoken of. It comes as something of a shock to us to even see these issues being dealt with in a film set in the 1950s, because almost no films actually made in that time would have directly addressed those things. The themes of forbidden love, loss, and sacrifice are all still very applicable today, and it is disturbing to realize that maybe things really haven’t changed all that much in 50 years. Middle-aged men finally realizing their sexuality may no longer be encouraged to try shock therapy to correct this “disease,” but society still has a way of passing judgment on people and on their relationships, whether they are homosexual or interracial.
Some of Haynes’ themes and messages are a bit overstated and heavy-handed, especially in an extended sequence where a young black girl is chased and attacked. The film-makers want to be sure that we understand how bad this situation is, but I think it could have been more effectively and tastefully if the screenplay stuck with the adult characters and did not endanger a child just to get a bigger reaction. Also, it is ironic that the children chasing the girl are themselves stereotypes.
Dennis Quaid gives a very emotionally complex performance as Frank, and you can see that his character is really struggling between telling his wife the truth so he can finally be happy, or holding it all inside for the sake of his marriage and his family. Quaid has quite a few very moving scenes, both when Frank is angry and frustrated, and when he feels trapped and defeated. His performance really stands out in this film, and at times it’s almost shocking to see and hear the many sides that this man has.
Moore’s character holds the film together, as she is the woman whose life seems to be falling apart. However, her distraught 50s housewife may be confused with the similar character she played in 2002’s “The Hours.” Moore portrays Cathy as a strong woman who really can handle a lot, but needs someone to turn to when the person she always used to turn to becomes the source of her troubles. That new confidant turns out to Haysbert’s Raymond, and the two share many crucial scenes in the film. Theirs in an interesting yet tentative relationship that always seems to want to develop further, but the climate of 1950s Hartford just doesn’t allow it.
For some reason though, Moore and Haysbert never seem to match well together as actors, and I was left with the odd feeling that they were not meant to be together because they lacked any kind of chemistry. Haysbert (who may make an entire career out of playing the President on FOX’s “24”) gives a very low-key, almost one-note performance in this film, and although his character was not given as much emotional baggage as Quaid’s or Moore’s, I still felt like he was not at the same level as the other key players, which was disappointing.
The film has an abrupt ending, but a fitting one, and we are left to imagine what may happen next to Cathy and the others. This is the kind of film where a great deal is left unsaid, so some people may feel uncomfortable without a voice-over there to guide us along. Ultimately, the film says a lot through its visual language without having to say much in the dialogue, and the actors are forced to do as much acting with their faces and their body language as with their words, which is a rare treat to see in a film today.
Haynes uses color and light like a true filmmaker, allowing these things to set the moods and styles of the scenes. Many of the confrontations in the film take place in darkness or blue backlighting, giving a tense and eerie feel. The almost unreal colors of the Connecticut landscape match very well with the equally bright, unreal colors of some of the interior shots, and all of this adds us to a rich visual style. This style is further complemented by cinematographer Edward Lachman’s use of some interesting, expressive camera angles, such as the low, tilted angle seen after Cathy discovers her husband’s affair.
As colorful as this film is though, it is still a very dark, moody, and largely sad piece, and this is reflected by equally moody and intense score by Elmer Bernstein. The piano and orchestra fit perfectly with this artistic and thoughtful film. The score may be a bit over-cooked and over-serious at times, but then again, so is the acting. Still, this old-fashioned film about very current ideas and emotions is a work of art.
***1/2 for the screenplay and acting
****1/2 for the visuals
"Adaptation" (2002): Clever, but one in-joke too many?
5-28-2003 Put in the simplest terms (if that’s even possible with this often head-spinning film), “Adaptation” is a movie about a screenwriter writing the very movie that we’re watching. Nicholas Cage plays Charlie Kaufman, the real-life screenwriter of “Being John Malkovich” (which director Spike Jonze also directed), who is writing the film version of the real-life book The Orchid Thief, by real-life writer Susan Orlean. The rest, as the movie’s tagline suggests, blurs the line between fact and fiction.
Part of this fiction stems from the film’s creation of Charlie’s fictional brother, Donald Kaufman, who is also curiously given credit for the screenplay. Cage plays both brothers, and he gives each character his own mannerisms, speech pattern, and personality. Aside from a winking joke of a discussion the brothers have about using trick photography to shoot a film, there is virtually no reminder that Cage was probably talking to empty space for much of the filming. The characters interact in the frame and play off of each other seamlessly and perfectly, and it all looks so real that many people may not even notice what a great technical achievement it really is.
The film follows Charlie’s struggle to adapt the book into a screenplay, and it also jumps back and forth through time to see Orlean (played by Meryl Streep) writing that same book, and even interviewing the “Orchid Thief” himself, John Laroche (Chris Cooper). For much of the film, we live in Charlie’s world, and even in his head, as he battles writer’s block and has to put up with his brother, who quickly writes one of the most absurd screenplays ever. In the other time period, Cooper and Streep both give strong, versatile performances in a story that could have even been a film all its own.
When all of the characters finally meet up in the end, the story takes a huge jump as all hell breaks loose and the film ventures to strange places. But even though the ending might not seem to fit with the rest of the film, that was still intentional. Earlier in the film, Charlie talked about how he didn’t want to add in drugs, sex, guns, chases, or big life lessons into Orlean’s story, so the outrageous end of the movie serves as one big ironic in-joke, with Kaufman writing all about how he grew and changed.
Even with this final act that starts to match the absurdity of “Being John Malkovich,” the film and the screenplay are both very well done. Kaufman (the real screenwriter, not the character) uses a very round-about way to say some occasionally very profound things, and his smart screenplay connects its themes of change, love, and living life to all of its characters. The screenplay also uses witty, amusing voice-overs from Cage’s Charlie Kaufman, as well as some beautiful passages lifted right out of Orlean’s book.
The movie-inside-a-movie inside-a-movie idea is confusing at first, but very catchy, and even rewarding, as we get to see Charlie come up with lines for the film that we’ve actually already heard! One wonders how much of the screenplay could actually be real life, and one also may wonder about what Orlean thinks of the way her book has been adapted (the word is used loosely in this case since the film strays so far from the original text). However, these questions aren’t answered, and they don’t need to be, because taken by itself, outside of any greater context of a real screenwriter or a real book, this film stands on its own as a solid movie. It’s entertaining, very original, and you’ll never see where it’s going next.
Some scenes take place on the set of “Being John Malkovich,” including cameos by Malkovich, John Cusack, and Catherine Keener, so some of the jokes and references may be lost on people unfamiliar with that film. Parts of “Adaptation” may stray too far towards a self-referential in-joke for the casual movie-goer, so I think the film may have done itself a favor by not being quite so elitist or proud of its own wit.
All of the actors here are genuinely entertaining; especially Cage’s pitiable but still sympathetic Charlie. Cage portrays him as a paranoid, self-deprecating hypochondriac who is always nervous and antsy around pretty women, and the kind of guy who can let a screenplay literally take over his life. Donald, on the other hand, is the kind of laid-back person who seems to fall into success without really deserving it, but his own eccentricities still let us know that Charlie and Donald are twin brothers. Cage’s work here feels all the more impressive because he still created two distinct characters without having them be as opposite as night and day. Each has something of the other inside of him, even when they’re whining at each other about what will or will not work on film.
Cooper’s Laroche is an intelligent yet distinctly odd man with no front teeth. He’s the kind of man who can spend days wandering around a Florida swamp looking for a rare orchid and still call himself “the smartest guy I know.” Cooper makes this character fascinating to watch but still hard to understand, as he goes from raving lunatic, to sympathetic lost soul, and back again. His character’s relationship with Streep’s Orlean doesn’t seem to be the most natural one, but that might be because of Streep’s character, who seems completely incongruous from the beginning of the film to the end. Granted, these strange turns Orlean takes has a lot to do with the screenplay, but I still felt that the actress may have over-played this role that pokes fun at her usually serious parts.
This film about writing a film could have been in serious danger of only appealing to its own Hollywood in-crowd. However, “Adaptation” includes enough mass-marketable fare that it appeals to lots of people, while still staying original, fun, and thoughtful. Still, isn’t this mass-marketable Hollywood fare what “Adaptation” set out to mock in the first place? But then again, maybe that’s just my spinning head talking…
****
"Bend It Like Beckham" (2002): A Perfect Cultural Match
5-27-2003 “Bend It Like Beckham” focuses on a “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”-like generational and cultural clash, this time between an old-world Indian family and its 21st-century-minded youngest daughter, who dreams of playing professional soccer like her British hero, David Beckham. Heck, there’s even a wedding in this film too, even though it’s not the main character getting married. Like “Greek Wedding,” “Bend It Like Beckham” can ultimately be described as a fun, cute, feel-good movie that emphasizes acceptance and following your dreams. The difference between these two films, though, is that “Beckham”’s writer-director, Gurinder Chadha, grounds her film’s comedy more in realistic, everyday situations instead of in “Windex”-spraying running gags or mischievous fake translations.
The film is set in present-day London, where Jesminder Bhamra (Parminder Nagra) loves to play soccer in the park with the boys and has a veritable shrine to her idol, Beckham, in her bedroom. We see right away that she has a real talent, but because her older sister is about to get married, Jess’ parents feel that it’s time for her to stop being a tom boy and to start acting like a real Sikh woman. Even when her mother is trying to teach her to prepare traditional Indian meals, Jess (as her friends call her) is still happier dribbling a head of lettuce back and forth on her knees and heels. Obviously, this is leading to a conflict…
One day Jess is spotted in the park by an English girl named Jules (Keira Knightley), and gets recruited to a local girls’ soccer team. Jess decides that she cannot tell her parents, so she sneaks out to the games and practices. Of course, since this film is part-comedy as well, her parents catch her in almost every way imaginable, including seeing her photograph in a newspaper after she played a game in Germany.
Jess’ coach, Joe (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), pays an uncomfortable visit to her home in her defense after her parents forbid her to continue playing, and the change in the two sides of Jess are fascinating to both Joe and the audience. At home, Jess is passive, polite and obedient, the way she was taught to be, but on the field, she’s happy, aggressive, comfortable and confident. Nagra plays both of these sides of Jess very well, so that we still believe it is the same person.
Over the course of the film, Jess and the other characters all learn lessons about life, love and family, but not the type of capital-L “Lessons” that would have come from a script less in tune with teenagers. The conversations, arguments, soccer-field banter, and music all feel right for this age, and most of the comedy in this film comes from the kids just having fun with each other. However, the most imaginative joke that got the biggest laugh came when Jess imagined her relatives on the soccer field, blocking the goal, in the perfect fantasy-metaphor of what was really going on in Jess’s life.
“Beckham” crosses briefly into “Dawson’s Creek” territory with a love-triangle between Jess, Jules, and Joe, but the actors handle it all well enough so that their bickering with each other never goes over the top. More interesting than the love triangle, though, is the idea that Jess might be romantically drawn to someone her parents would most certainly object to. Can she play soccer, go to an American college, and be with an English boy, or should she make choices that would make her parents happy?
Jess’ parents, played by Anupam Kher and Shaheen Khan, lean more towards caricatures than do any other characters in the film, and her father gets to give one of those familiar “I love you no matter what” speeches that come at the ends of these movies, but their performances are so touching and believable that this kind of speech barely feels forced.
Jules’ parents, on the other hand, (played by Frank Harper and Juliet Stevenson) balance out the straight-faced Kher and Khan with just the right flash of outrageousness that the film needed at parts to keep it light-hearted. Stevenson’s character constantly tries to get Jules to look and act more like a woman, but then becomes convinced through some hilarious farce-like coincidences that Jules and Jess are in love with each other.
Nagra and Knightley both look amazing whether they’re playing soccer or dressed up to go clubbing, and both actresses have that perfect mix of girl-next-door and supermodel that keeps your attention whenever they’re on screen. Nagra gets to display the widest range of emotions here, and while she didn’t get most of the laughs, she still seems to be as comfortable with comedy as with drama, as well with the more physical aspects of the film. Nagra has already been snatched up for the next season of NBC’s “ER,” but I wouldn’t be surprised to see her return to films as a big movie star.
The film’s visual style, thanks to cinematographer Jong Lin, is hyperactive on the chaotic soccer field, and plainer, yet still strong, off the field. The film’s intense focus on Jess made it easy to follow, but at the same time, it made me want to see more of the games themselves and learn more about some of the other players.
Even though the film’s cycle of Jess sneaking off and getting caught feels repetitive and very familiar to anyone who’s ever seen a movie about a rebelling teen, the writer-director ultimately redeems herself with an amazing ending. It lacks the kind of tense, dramatic climax you’d expect in a sports movie, but then again, this movie ultimately isn’t really about sports. By cutting back and forth between the “big game” and her sister’s traditional wedding, and by playing the Indian dance music over the energized soccer match, the film finds a perfect balance between the cultures. So if film can find it, so can Jess.
****1/2
OLD REVIEWS
"Catch" This Spielberg
5-23-2003 “Catch Me If You Can” (2002) is an appealing, middle-of-the-road instant classic from a man who specializes in instant classics. It may not have anything profound to say, like previous Spielberg efforts such as “Schindler’s List” or “Saving Private Ryan,” but luckily, it also stays away from the grotesque, dystopic future worlds of “A.I.” and “Minority Report” that were sure to scare away more children then they entranced. No, this is the crowd-pleasing Spielberg of “Jurassic Park” and “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” who is just out to tell a fun, interesting story that will have you hooked no matter which side of Spielberg you prefer.
Based on the autobiography of the same name by real-life con man Frank Abagnale, Jr., “Catch Me If You Can” has the right mix of crime caper, adventure, comedy and heart. It also could be in line to become one of those TNT “New Christmas Classics” (key scenes take place on Christmas Eve each year). In essence, it’s the kind of movie I could watch over and over again as a kid, or cling to comfort when I was home sick from school and just looking for a good, familiar movie.
There is definitely something familiar about this story, which cuts from Frank’s eventual capture in 1969, back to his parents’ divorce and crumbling home life, which lead him to hit the road in the first place in 1963, at the age of 16. Spielberg’s common theme of a boy with father issues is here, but so is the idea of the main character wanting more for his family than he can give them.
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Frank Jr, the young con man who eventually impersonates a pilot, a doctor and a lawyer before the FBI agent on his trail finally catches up with him. The agent, Carl Hanratty, is played by Tom Hanks, with glasses, a New England accent, and a few extra pounds. Hanks and Spielberg seem to have a way of continuing to meet up with each other, but they always do something new to transform Hanks, who is the perfect choice for this intelligent (if slightly goofy and cocky) agent and a sort-of father figure to Frank.
It may be a bit of stretch for DiCaprio, at 28, to play as young as 16, and his little-boy mannerisms and expressions go over the top in a few places, but I really liked how the film established the boy as a master of disguise almost immediately, as he took over the French class in his new school by pretending to be the substitute teacher. It also really says something about Frank’s relationship with his father, Frank Abagnale Sr. (played by Christopher Walken), that the older man can’t help but crack a smile when he learns of this absurd feat. Can he really punish the boy for teaching a class? Hardly, because Frank Sr. also has a bit of con man in him. It’s fascinating to see DiCaprio’s character look up to his father’s ways with schemes and charm, and then surpass them.
Some of Frank Jr.’s cons are truly genius, and the plot stays fresh and clever throughout, as Frank jumps from one profession to another at his convenience- becoming a pilot because it’s a good way to cash fake checks, a doctor because a pretty girl works at the hospital, and a lawyer because he wants to impress his future father-in-law, Roger Strong, played by Martin Sheen. Sheen’s southern-accented character is only around briefly, but has a great scene with DiCaprio that looks like it may turn into a confession, but Strong just doesn’t know as much about Frank as we do to understand his double-meanings.
The fun of this film lays in the fact that we’re in on all of these plots with Frank from the very beginning, and we root for him to succeed, even though we know he’s breaking some serious laws and even possibly putting people in danger. But his intentions are as golden as any good Spielberg protagonists’ ought to be: he just wants to give his family a comfortable life, and wants his parents to get back together. Even as an experienced, professional con man, DiCaprio still brings a childlike naïveté to Frank, constantly thinking that everything will eventually work out and get back to normal. Women, stewardesses and nurses come and go in Frank’s life, but at one point, he says he is genuinely ready to settle down and give up his lifestyle for Brenda Strong (played adorably by the similarly childlike Amy Adams), and we believe him.
Of all of Frank’s cons and plots, the only real leap out of plausibility that Spielberg and company take comes near the end of the film when Frank somehow escapes from the small bathroom of an airplane, inducing some pretty big “yeah, right!”s in the audience. But still, we want to believe that everything Frank does is possible, because it’s a charming film, and based on a true story, after all.
Walken gets to take a break from all of his psychotic characters and play a sentimental family man here, and his is a fascinating supporting performance that rightly earned him an Academy Award nomination. Frank Sr. protects his son, but always somehow knows that he’s up to something, and you can see this man’s life change from confident, to desperate, to defeated, but he never gives up on his son.
After such a long film, the ending may seem abrupt, but then, where do you cut off the life story of a man who’s still living? Any definitive ending point may have seemed artificial, so Spielberg made sure to include an epilogue about where Abagnale and Hanratty are now.
The original score by John Williams and the period music are both fun and bouncy and really help to move the film along, even when it briefly gets sidetracked to places like a pool party at a house that could have been taken straight out of “Boogie Nights”.
“Catch Me If You Can” may lean towards the over-sentimental at times, but Spielberg wants us to know that this a story about a boy growing up, and not just about a con man. However, the cons and the chases are the most fun, and this is the kind of appealing story telling that made Spielberg so popular in the first place.
****
Culkin Moves Up in "Igby Goes Down" (Burr Steers, 2002)
5-20-2003 We've seen this situation before: a teenager born into the "good life" but turned rebellious because of his upbringing. Still, there's something about Kieran Culkin's 17-year old Igby Slocumb that makes us want to root for him rather than sneer at everything he might be throwing away.
Written and directed by Burr Steers, "Igby Goes Down" follows the Catholic school dropout-turned military school dropout as he runs from the clutches of his narcissistic, pill-popping mother (Susan Sarandon) and into the upper-class New York City world of his godfather, D.H. Banes (Jeff Goldblum). Igby is looking for something to fulfill his young life, but even with his more permissive godfather, Igby is still bored with pretentious social events, until he meets a fellow lost soul, Sookie, played by Claire Danes. Igby commiserates with Sookie (perhaps only called this so she and Igby can trade jibes about their names) and the two build their relationship as they plan their hypothetical futures of California freedom. However, Igby is constantly dragged back into the real world by his manipulative older brother (Ryan Phillippe), his sick mother, and the memories of his now-institutionalized father (Bill Pullman).
There's a bitter darkness in the script, and Igby is sarcastic and jaded, even towards notions of family, death, and love. Igby is clearly an intelligent young man who is just struggling to find his place, or as he says, his "whatever." He's that street smart, good-looking slacker who everybody hates and is jealous of. The script is fast and witty enough so you never feel too bogged down in Igby's cynicism, but one wonders if Igby notices that he often speaks just as pretentiously as the people he's mocking and rebelling against. In Steers' stylish world though, a 17-year old, bushy-haired high school dropout holding a cocktail and referencing literature and politics feels perfectly natural. Culkin pulls off the role by going back and forth between a wise old soul who wants nothing more to do with the world, and a confused, smart-ass kid who's making it all up as he goes along.
The plot gets sidetracked easily, but some detours work better than others. Banes' affair with a struggling NYC artist named Rachel (Amanda Peet) was a natural way to establish his character's slime-ball side, but Rachel's odd conquest of Igby seemed forced and unrelated to any of Igby's other drives (except for the fact that it bluntly and graphically showed that he was growing up). Peet is one actress in this perfectly cast film that seems to be left behind and never has enough to say or do.
Culkin's most passionate scene in this otherwise laid-back role comes when he pleads with Sookie through a locked door to come away with him and leave their old lives for good. Both knew that their idealized plans were only dreams, but to suddenly see Igby wanting to have them and Sookie ready to give them up is a heartbreaking moment. All of those emotions in that one scene alone were probably enough to get Culkin his first Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor. Danes is always likable, and she seems to glow onscreen even when overacting a bit, rolling a joint, or eating an ice cream sundae. But here, with the focus on Culkin, her character becomes another bittersweet roadblock in Igby's journey.
Sarandon's fierce mother may feel like a stereotype at first, but both the script and her performance eventually allow her more room to round out the character. Phillippe's Oliver Slocumb often serves only as a caretaker for Igby or their mother, but he works as a snobby contrast to his free-spirited younger brother.
One of the darker, less-explored points of "Igby Goes Down" is Igby's relationship with his schizophrenic father. As a younger child, Igby witnesses his father's breakdown from the mental illness, which Steers suggests that Igby fears will eventually consume him as well. Pullman is only in the film as the father briefly, but parallels between Igby and his father keep popping up in the film, and Igby even repeats some of his dad's dialogue. Steers hints to us that Igby is desperate to escape this fate, but is still convinced that he's doomed to it even as he tries to find his own new life.
The coming-of-age theme is a familiar one, but still something that almost everybody can relate to. The film would appeal to high school and college students, but for some reason it was never initially marketed to them, perhaps because the director felt that he had gone over their heads. Admittedly, the film is a bit pretentious itself at times, making super-obscure pop culture references and name-drops, but I think that the younger audience should be given more credit. This is a flawed, confused, occasionally scared protagonist that people can relate to, no matter what old movie star he says he loves.
The film's soundtrack, featuring Coldplay, Travis, Badly Drawn Boy, and The Dandy Warhols, keeps the mood dark and pensive, but also makes everything feel very rich and cultured. The music is kept mostly in the tastefully done montages and transitions, and the sound of the entire film is very clear and unified.
The structure of "Igby Goes Down" uses its main dramatic event as bookends to the film, but of course, the context and significance only becomes clear at the end. This is a narrative technique that may confuse or frustrate some people, but like all films, the pay-off is to see how the characters change from the beginning to the end. Igby does grow up, but in both some sad and unexpectedly optimistic ways.
I'd compare this film to Curtis Hanson's "Wonder Boys" because of its style and the similar young protagonists on journeys to find what they really want. The dark-comic mood and failing family life are also in the same vein as Sam Mendes' "American Beauty".
Culkin has moved up in Hollywood, and broken away from playing "the little brother" with this perfectly-cast role and excellent performance, but hopefully now he won't be forever pegged as the sad, MTV generation Holden Caufield.
Some people might write off "Igby Goes Down" as trying to be too witty for its own good or too eccentric for the serious subject matter, but Steers' style and his message are so strong that people should be paying attention to this filmmaker and this film.
*****
(Rated R for language, brief violence, drug use, sex, and nudity.)
REVIEW RE-CAPS
These are pretty much all the movies I've seen in the theater since 1996. (I've seen a ton more on TV and video too!) Here are some tidbits about the films and brief reviews.
All ratings are out of ***** (5 stars being the best), and all are strictly my own opinions.
2003
"Bend It Like Beckham"- ****1/2 Indian girl clashes with her old-fashioned parents when wanting to play pro soccer. Fun, uplifting. With good-looking, talented British-Indian cast including future-star Parminder Nagra.
"X2: X-Men United"- **** Second film about mutant super-heroes against mutant anti-heroes. More complex, more satisfying, but still leaves it wide open for the next sequel.
"Chicago"- ***** High-energy, faithful adaptation of the musical with big-name cast in Zellweger, Gere, Latifah, Reilly, and Zeta-Jones, who steals the show. Fun, great staging and lighting, made me want to applaud.
"The Hours"- ***1/2 Great acting by Kidman, Streep, and Moore, but some big over-acting by Ed Harris. The Virginia Woolf plot connecting the time periods is overrun by depression, repression, and suicide, making for a long, bummer of a movie.
"About Schmidt"- *** Jack Nicholson finally ages a little, playing a retired widower who travels across the county in a mobile home to get to his daughter's wedding. Funny, touching, but at times very odd. Too much of Kathy Bates. Seriously...
"25th Hour"- **** Stylish Spike Lee film with Edward Norton and Philip Seymour Hoffman about Norton's last day of freedom. Thoughtful, colorful, tense, but the ending doesn't hold up to the rest of it.
"Adaptation"- **** Movie about a Charlie Kaufman writing the very movie that we’re watching. Nicholas Cage plays twin brothers, and Cooper and Streep are a great supporting cast. Very original, but still head-spinning.
"Catch Me If You Can"- **** Leonardo DiCaprio as a young con-man, Tom Hanks on his trail, and Christopher Walken as his father. Entertaining, Speilberg doing what he does best, if a bit over-sentimental at times.
2002
"Gangs Of New York"
"Far From Heaven"
"Bowling For Columbine"
"Star Trek: Nemesis"
"The Santa Clause 2"
"8 Mile"
"The Royal Tennenbaums"
"My Big Fat Greek Wedding"
"Signs"
"Road To Perdition"
"Men In Black 2"
"Insomnia"
About A Boy"- **** Funny, cute, British. Hugh Grant in adaptation of Nick Hornby's novel. Possibly Grant's first non-love story. Cool accents.
"Star Wars- Episode 2: Attack of the Clones"- **1/2 Long title, long, confusing movie. Some cool chases/fights, but too cartoonish, CGI Yoda is a let-down.
"Moulin Rouge"- ***1/2 Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor sing and dance in exciting, stylish, predictable musical love story. Chick flick gone berserk.
"Ali"- *** A buff Will Smith bleeding and screaming. Powerful, but long, unfocused, and a bit pretentious.
"A Beautiful Mind"- ***** Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly. Entertaining, interesting, very surprising. Here come the Oscars.
"In The Bedroom"- **** Great acting, great script. Very stylized, moody, depressing. Definitely not for everyone.
2001
"Ocean's Eleven"- **** Soderbergh directs Clooney, Pitt, Damon to bust into big casinos. Fun. "Out Of Sight" meets "Mission Impossible."
"The Majestic"- *** Jim Carrey goes Capra. Long film about memories, movies, love, family, communism? and Carrey being sad.
"The Man Who Wasn't There"- **** Stylish Coen brothers black and white with Billy Bob Thornton as a barber turned murderer
"Amelie"- ****1/2 Chick flick from France. Great characters, clever narrations, and an original, bright and fun look.
"Life As A House"- **** Kevin Kline, Hayden Christensen. Family bonding, life lessons, showers, carpentry and death all in one.
"Serendipity"- ** Poor John Cusack in another standard "boy meets girl, loses girl, finds girl again" romantic-comedy.
"America's Sweethearts"- **** Billy Crystal, Julia Roberts, John Cusack, Catherine Zeta-Jones. Clever writing, enjoyable.
"Jurassic Park 3"- ***1/2 More dinosaurs eat more people. Fun to watch with a group, William H Macy making a fool of himself.
"Swordfish"- * Twisted, unbelievable, over-the-top, disturbing. And that's just John Travolta's character...
"With A Friend Like Harry"- ***1/2 Dark, strange Hitchcock-like French suspense film. Those crazy French.
"Shrek"- **** Fun, witty, Disney-mocking computer animation. Voices of Mike Meyers, Cameron Diaz, and Eddie Murphy, naturally.
"Memento"- ***** Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss. Amazing backwards plot, exciting, often funny, and very rewarding. Best of the year.
"Thirteen Days"- *** Historical yet forgettable look at the Cuban Missle Crisis from inside the White House. Kevin Costner.
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"- **** Flying people on wires and long, epic-like love and war plots. Great fights. (In Mandarin)
"Traffic"- ***** Soderbergh's super-stylish, tense, realistic look into the drug war in America and Mexico. Benicio Del Toro.
"The Emperor's New Groove"- *** Disney's best writing since "Aladdin." Funny to all ages, not even any annoying songs.
2000
"The Family Man"- ***1/2 Nicolas Cage goes "It's A Wonderful Life." Mostly predictable holiday movie about family over money.
"Cast Away"- **** Not your average blockbuster. Character study of Tom Hanks alone on an island. Unfortunate love story tacked on.
"The Grinch"- *1/2 Jim Carrey as a psycho, hairy Grinch that'll give kids nightmares at Christmas. A bit too trippy for Dr Suess.
"Book Of Shadows- Blair Witch 2"- 0 Pointless, story-less, dumb. Worst sequel ever. Makes "The Lost World" look like a good idea.
"Pay It Forward"- *** Tries to be uplifting, but ultimately depressing. Haley Joel Osment trying to do good with Spacey's help.
"What Lies Beneath"- **** Predictable supernatual thriller, still exciting with some good scares. Harrison Ford, creepy bathtubs.
"X-Men"- **** Patrick Stewart's team of mutants kick evil's butt. Cool effects, nice style. Ian McKellan, Anna Paquin, Hugh Jackman.
"The Patriot"- *** Your standard Mel-Gibson-covered-in-blood war movie. Basically "Braveheart" comes to the American Revolution.
"The Perfect Storm"- *** George Clooney and Marky Mark get upstaged by giant fake waves, big ugly fish, and Clooney freaky beard.
"Chicken Run"- **** Nick Park's ("Wallace and Gromit") claymation chicken escape movie with Mel Gibson. "Braveheart" for poultry.
"Frequency"- ***1/2 Clever plot (with a few holes) of father and son talking through time on a radio and solving crimes.
"Keeping The Faith"- ****1/2 Jenna Elfman, Ed Norton and Ben Stiller as Preist and a Rabbi. No, seriously. Funny, serious, religious.
"U-571"- ** Matthew McConaughey in ultimately forgettable submarine movie trying to be "The Hunt For Red October"
"Final Destination"- * Ridiculous, so bad it was funny. Death stalking kids after they escape plane explosion. The "mack-daddy"?
"The Cider House Rules"- ***1/2 Tobey Maguire in a long one about orphans, apples and incest. Michael Caine plays American.
"Almost Famous"- ***** Best Screenplay Oscar. Young writer travels with band, learns a lot. Really funny too. One of my favs.
"Wonder Boys"- ***** Another favorite. Michael Douglas and Tobey Maguire as prof and student, both w/ problems and one crazy weekend.
"The Green Mile"- *** Super-long, depressing Stephen King story of Tom Hanks as death row officer and innocent Michael Clarke Duncan.
1999
"Sleepy Hollow"- ** Tim Burton's adaptation of headless horseman (Christopher Walken). Starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci's chest.
"Dogma"- *** Kevin Smith's poke at all organized religion. Damon and Affleck. A bit odd at times, w/ Alanis Morissette as God.
"The Insider"- *** Russell Crowe and Al Pacino in real-life-based, long, confusing story of a man who knew too much about cigarettes.
"American Beauty"- ***** Best Picture winner. Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening. Original, powerful, funny, thoughtful. My favorite movie.
"The Sixth Sense"- ***** Haley Joel Osment sees dead people in supernatural thriller with great ending. Saved Bruce Willis's career.
"Teaching Mrs. Tingle"- * Plot? No plot, just funny. Barry Watson and Katie Holmes go after one of their teachers (and get some.)
"The Blair Witch Project"- **** Creepy, original (fake) documentary of three young filmmakers lost in the woods. Camping, anyone?
"Muppets From Space"- **** Newest and funniest Muppet movie, with Gonzo finding his alien family. Lots of twisted jokes and references.
"Summer Of Sam"- ** Disturbing, bizarre, violent Spike Lee film about a serial killer in NYC in the the 70s. w/ John Leguizamo.
"The General's Daughter"- ** Disturbing, bizarre, violent film starring John Travolta and James Cromwell as good vs. evil. Again.
"Star Wars- Episode 1: The Phantom Menace"- *** First "episode" of the story doesn't live up to its reputation. Kill Jar-Jar. Please.
"Election"- **1/2 Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon as teacher and student in moslty off-the-wall, odd, sexed-up comedy.
"10 Things I Hate About You"- **** A "Taming Of The Shrew" for modern times. Funny stuff, great cast. Stiles, Oleynik, Gordon-Levitt.
"A Simple Plan"- **** Dark, snowy, psychological suspense-thriller. Bill Paxton and slow brother Billy Bob Thornton find money in plane.
"Babe 2: Pig In The City"- * Woah. Horribly disturbing sequel to cute kiddie movie. Drug busts? Strip searches? Babe turns trippy.
"A Civil Action"- ** Forgettable, predictable film w/ Travolta again as friendly lawyer who wants to sue everybody to save the children.
1998
"The Prince Of Egypt"
"Star Trek: Insurrection"
"Meet Joe Black"
"Pleasantville"
"Shakespeare In Love"
"Saving Private Ryan"
"Simon Birch"
"Snake Eyes"
"Armageddon"
"Out Of Sight"
"The Truman Show"
"Godzilla"
"Deep Impact"
"The Big Hit"
"Grease"
"Primary Colors"
"Sphere"
"Titanic"
1997
"Men In Black"
"Seven Years In Tibet"
"In And Out"
"Hercules"
"Conspiracy Theory"
"Picture Perfect"
"Air Force One"
"Contact"
"Con Air"
"The Lost World: Jurassic Park"
"Volcano"
"Star Wars," "The Empire Strikes Back," "Return Of The Jedi"
"Anaconda"
1996
"Michael"
"Romeo And Juliet"
"Star Trek: First Contact"
"Ransom"
"Fly Away Home"
"Jack"
"The Rock"
"Phenomenon"
"Spy Hard"
"Twister"
"Jumanji"
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