15 Minutes (R) Robert De Niro and Ed Burns play a couple of pistol-packing Good Guys on the trail of a pair of mad dog killers with a mania for videotaping their crimes. Tough, exciting, smart and just off-kilter enough to keep us guessing, 15 Minutes is a thriller that manages to transcend the buddy movie genre and even say a few interesting things along the way about America's mania for celebrity and sordid reality TV. Also stars Kelsey Grammer and Avery Brooks.
3000 Miles to Graceland (R) A substandard heist flick with nothing going for it but glib style and a bunch of crooks dressed up as Elvis impersonators (late period, Fat Elvis), 3000 Miles to Graceland wears its quirkiness on its sleeve as if it actually meant something. Kevin Costner and Kurt Russell are the leaders of a gang who pull off a big Las Vegas casino heist and then wind up battling to the death over the loot.
Blow Dry (PG-13) Utilizing many of the same half quaint, half cartoony elements as he did in The Full Monty but wielding a much heavier hand, screenwriter Simon Beaufoy shows us what happens when a mob of foppish hairdressers invade a small, British town and butt heads with the local philistines. It's all likeable enough, but the movie seems to be straining to entertain, and many of the characters, situations and jokes feel slightly less than fresh this time around. Opens March 9 at local theaters.
A Boy's Life 3 (NR) This quintet of award-winning short gay films (that's short films by and about gays, not films by and about short gay people) is something of a mixed bag. The opening film, Majorettes in Space, is its best and its shortest; in fact, this wonderfully odd little French-produced essay may just be the funniest 6-minute and 13-second film I've ever seen, as well as the most touching (although those with weak hearts should beware the brief, full-on close-ups of a raging erection). The collection's most entertaining film (and, at 27 minutes, its longest), is Jason Gould's Inside Out, a beautifully made and very funny account of an eccentric and somewhat confused gay man whose life has been further complicated by the fact that his parents are both celebrities. Held over at Channelside. Call theater to confirm.
Cast Away (PG-13) Tom Hanks stars as a Fed Ex employee whose plane goes down, stranding him on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere. Cast Away makes us feel the physical suffering the central character endures, and there are some engaging sequences here, but most of the movie's pretty unsurprising, with a curiously formless ending that just seems to go on forever. Also stars Helen Hunt.
Chocolat (PG-13) Free-spirited Juliette Binoche opens a chocolate shop in a repressed village, setting up a didactic conflict of indulgence vs. denial. The French locales, food and faces are lovingly photographed (the disarming ensemble includes Judi Dench, Johnny Depp and Alfred Molina), but the film cannot equal the comparably themed but richer Babette's Feast. Chocolat melts in your hands, not in your heart.
—Curt Holman
Chunhyang (NR) A Korean Romeo and Juliet re-imagined as an opulent combination of folk tale, performance art and transmuted opera, Chunhyang is a timeless love story set in 18th century Korea, in which complications ensue when a young nobleman secretly marries the beautiful but low-born Chunhyang.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (PG) Ang Lee's poetic reinvention of the martial arts genre takes place in China in the early 19th century (although the look and feel are as magically timeless as the film's characters are eternal), where recently retired master warrior Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat) has agreed to take on one final mission to retrieve a prized sword and avenge the death of his master. Crouching Tiger is filled with marvelous archetypes, charismatic performances and, perhaps best of all, some of the most astonishing and lyrical action scenes ever filmed.
Down to Earth (PG-13) Chris Rock plays an amateur comedian whose dream is to play the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. After a traffic accident causes him to be taken off to heaven before his time, he's returned to Earth in the body of a wealthy old white man. The movie is inconsistent, the big laughs spotty. Rock is a talented comedian, but unfortunately Down to Earth does not advance the quality of his film career.
—Cooper Cruz
The Emperor's New Groove (G) David Spade provides the voice (and, to a problematic extent, the personality) for Emperor Kuzco, a self-centered young schmuck who gets himself turned into a llama by a scheming underling and her muscle-bound boy-toy.
Fantasia/2000 (G) A perfect choice for the new Channelside IMAX, Fantasia 2000 was designed for that format. The seven animated segments here are basically all over the stylistic map. The movie's two unmitigated success stories are depression-era fantasy set to Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," peopled with wonderfully stylized Al Hirschfield drawings, and a reprise of the original Fantasia's "Sorcercer's Apprentice" segment.
Finding Forrester (PG-13) Director Gus Van Sant, back in territory not too far removed from his much admired Good Will Hunting, offers up this solid effort about a young inner city savant (Robert Brown) who stumbles into the life of a once-famous writer turned hermit (Sean Connery).
Hannibal (R) Screenwriters David Mamet and Steven Zaillian do a faithful and reasonably good job adapting this sensationalistic but uninspired sequel to The Silence of the Lambs. Most problematic of all is that we see so much of Dr. Lecter himself that he becomes infinitely less mysterious, interesting and frightening than he was in the original movie, finally coming off as simply routine — much like Hannibal itself. Also stars Ray Liotta and Giancarlo Giannini.
Head Over Heels (PG-13) An attractive but unlucky-in-love art restorer (Monica Potter) lives in a posh, Manhattan loft with four gorgeous models. She falls for the dreamy guy who lives in the next building over (Freddie Prinze Jr.), and he with her, but the cutesy romance is complicated when she accidentally catches a glimpse of dreamboat apparently hacking somebody to death.
In the Mood for Love (PG) Set in Hong Kong in the early '60s, director Wong Kar-wai's ravishing In the Mood for Love follows two characters, Mr. Chow (Tony Leung) and Mrs. Chang (Maggie Cheung), who discover that their respective spouses are having an affair with each other. That we never actually see either of the adulterous lovers is just one of the rich ironies in a film that's as much about what doesn't happen as what does. Held over at Channelside. Call theater to confirm.
Into the Deep (G) Into the Deep is an extremely well made 40-minute documentary on underwater creatures, but in IMAX 3-D, it becomes an absolutely breathtaking experience. Millions of mating, opalescent squid swarm all around your head, frisky sea lions drop right into your lap and sharks poke their noses directly in your face — whatever we're watching, we feel ourselves immersed in the image to the point where it literally becomes difficult to tell what's part of the movie and what's not. This is not your father's 3-D. At Channelside IMAX.
The Mexican (R) Another one of those discombobulated, self-consciously quirky comedies in which the humor hinges almost entirely on the premise that the gangsters in the film are just regular, slightly neurotic, middle-class guys. Brad Pitt plays a baby-faced, slightly klutzy bagman for the mob. He's got a nagging, psychobabbling girlfriend (Julia Roberts) who wants him to quit his job, but that doesn't stop him from heading down to Mexico to retrieve a valuable antique pistol for his bosses. The Mexican is a handsomely produced film with some oddly engaging little bits scattered throughout, although the whole is too shapeless to probably be remembered a few months from now.
The Million Dollar Hotel (R) The latest film from director Wim Wenders (Paris Texas, Wings of Desire) looks like a weird hybrid of Hollywood star power, art and the bored daydreams of a rock star. The script is based on some ideas by U2's Bono (who also produced) and Mel Gibson stars as a detective investigating a murder in a seedy hotel inhabited by colorful wackos. Also stars Milla Jovovich and Jeremy Davies.
Miss Congeniality (PG-13) This movie would have us believe that Sandra Bullock is ugly — so ugly that it's absolutely hysterical that she would be an undercover FBI agent masquerading as a contestant at a beauty pageant while investigating a bomb threat. And of course we are supposed to be so surprised when she gets a complete makeover from a has-been pageant consultant (Michael Caine) and turns out to be a total babe.
—Jacob Hensberry
Monkeybone (PG-13) A major disappointment from director Henry Selick, the animation visionary behind Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach. Brendan Fraser plays cartoonist and car crash victim Stu Miley, who falls into a coma that sends him straight to a nocturnal fantasyland where all his weirdest nightmares come to life.
O Brother Where Art Thou? (PG-13) The Coen Brothers' latest foray into the lunatic fringe is a much-mutated take on Homer's Odyssey by way of vintage Preston Sturges screwball comedy, liberally sprinkled with Three Stooges bonk-and-splat. George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson star as a dim-witted trio of escaped convicts taking the long route home while seeking some sort of treasure that may or may not exist.
Panic (R) William H. Macy delivers yet another remarkable performance as the resolutely middle-class, "normal" hit man, who (shades of The Sopranos) is in therapy, wrestling with a big, bad paternal demon and (shades of American Beauty) a mid-life crisis that lands him in the sway of a seriously intriguing young vixen (Neve Campbell). The movie sounds quirkier than it actually is; it's certainly funny enough, yes, but it's also surprisingly unaffected, straightforward stuff, thanks to some lean, smart writing and direction.
Pollock (R) Long before Andy Warhol had his 15 minutes in the sun, Jackson Pollock was America's first Superstar Artist. Alternately sullen, exuberant, sensitive and piggish, the self-perpetuating enigma of Pollock's personality runs as deep as the mystery of his groundbreaking painting — and Pollock brings us up close and personal with them both. Sometimes too close for comfort. Ed Harris (who also directed) manages to convey the essence, warts and all, of this most notorious of 20th century splatter artists. Also stars Marcia Gay Harden and Amy Madigan.
Recess: School's Out (G) Kiddie animation in which a group of heroic tykes take on a power-mad ex-principal who's hatched a plan to do away with summer, so that the kids will — gasp — have to go school year-round! Featuring the voices of Andrew Lawrence and Ashley Johnson.
(Not Reviewed)
Requiem for a Dream (NC-17) Based on a decades-old novel by Last Exit to Brooklyn author Hubert Selby Jr., the film from Pi director Darren Aronofsky tells two parallel stories, one of a little old Jewish lady who becomes hooked on diet pills (Ellen Burstyn, in an amazing performance), and one detailing the misadventures of her son and his pals (Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans), junkies all. Every element on screen is executed with such blazing honesty and insight that the film transcends the despair and ugliness of what it's depicting and becomes that thing we least expect, something genuinely beautiful.
Save the Last Dance (PG-13) A love of dance bonds a 17-year-old, white, wannabe ballerina and her black boyfriend, but peer pressure twists their friendship in other directions. Stars Julie Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas.
(Not Reviewed)
Saving Silverman (PG-13) A haplessly stupid would-be comedy. The whiff of a plot finds Silverman (played with an astonishing lack of charisma by Jason Biggs) accepting a marriage proposal from a gorgeous psychologist who's a whip short of being a dominatrix (Amanda Peet). His two long-time pals (Steve Zahn and Jack Black) can't abide this, of course, so they set out to scuttle the relationship by — what? — kidnapping her.
—Eric Snider
See Spot Run (PG) Did you hear the one about the spaced-out mailman who inherits a cute little kid and a crime-fighting dog? Wish we hadn't. The mailman (David Arquette) walks into walls, does spit takes with chewed-up food and reprises his basic spazz routine. The little kid makes goo-goo eyes at everything in sight, and the crime-fighting dog learns how to loosen up and have fun. The movie's attempts at comedy are consistently dull and aggressively stupid.
Sweet November (PG-13) Based on the 1968 film of the same name, Sweet November offers up a fairly distinguished cast that doesn't come together. Charlize Theron (Cider House Rules) plays a cheery but secretly troubled young woman who takes in a new man every month in order to "help" him. Keanu Reaves, her November man, gives a predictably flat performance as the high-rolling advertising guru who turns shamelessly sappy under Theron's quirky guidance. —Dustin Dwyer
The Taste of Others (R) A romantic comedy with brains, subtlety and actual insight. Will wonders never cease? French director Agnes Jaoui's The Taste of Others (which is this year's Oscar nominee from France) follows a half-dozen or so characters as their lives intersect, blooming into a series of relationships that grow, fall apart and recombine. The film's wry, bone-dry wit and gentle, bittersweet humor creep up on us, illuminating the subtle dynamics of the characters' relationships without coming off as overly coy or contrived.
Thirteen Days (PG-13) Boomer King Kevin Costner is back in Camelot, as JFK's top political adviser, in this reasonably accurate but workmanlike re-creation of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.
Traffic (R) Traffic is a movie about drugs — one of the best you'll see — but it's not a "drug movie" in the sense of something like Trainspotting or Requiem for a Dream. With a sprawl that takes us from Washington political parties to Tijuana drug busts to prep school kids experimenting with whatever's handy, Traffic is a complex, hugely ambitious and deeply disturbing investigation.
What Women Want (PG-13) Mel Gibson plays advertising executive Nick Marshall, a world-class chauvinist who suffers a freak accident and finds that he's suddenly able to read the mind of every woman he sees. Gibson's performance is good enough to keep us watching even during the dullest parts. Also stars Marisa Tomei.
The Wedding Planner (PG-13) She's a wedding planner who's great at her job but lousy at managing her own romantic life. He's a folksy kiddie-doctor who knows all the right things to say. They meet, and sparks immediately fly.
—Reviewed entries by Lance Goldenberg unless otherwise noted.
This article appears in Feb 15-21, 2001.