Short reviews of movies playing throughout the Tampa Bay area.
A Beautiful Mind (PG-13) Russell Crowe is the main reason to see this atypically twisty Ron Howard production, the Academy Award winner for Best Picture, about an emotionally fragile genius whose life spins out of control in all sorts of unexpected ways. 
Big Trouble (PG-13) Barry Sonnenfeld's zany, dark-ish ensemble comedy is generally very funny, in a relentlessly quirky sort of way (just as you'd expect from a project closely based on a Dave Barry book). All of the sundry characters bounce around merrily during the movie's blessedly brief 80-some minute running time, with their life paths occasionally intersecting and eventually colliding en masse at the film's point of no return. Stars Tim Allen, Dennis Farina, Janeane Garofalo, Jason Lee, Rene Russo, Tom Sizemore, Stanley Tucci and Patrick Warburton.
Blade II (R) Wesley Snipes returns as Marvel Comics' hybrid human-vampire super-hero in a sequel that's decidedly scarier — and gorier — than the original. The story, while not exactly elaborate, boasts an interesting enough premise: Blade enters into an uneasy alliance with his arch foes in order to eliminate a deadly new mutant strain of uber-vampires.
The Cat's Meow (PG-13) "Welcome to Hollywood, just off the coast of planet Earth." So goes the apt introduction to this semi-successful comeback project for director Peter Bogdanovich (Paper Moon, The Last Picture Show) loosely based on actual events that took place late in 1924. The film is half-serious and half-humorous as it goes about the business of positing what might have happened during a curious weekend cruise aboard a yacht owned by William Randolph Hearst — a cruise in which one of the guests mysteriously died. Besides Hearst (Edward Hermann) and his young mistress Marion Davies (Kirsten Dunst), the guests include a virtual who's-who of 1920's Hollywood movers and shakers — movie stars, producers, studio heads, writers, professional gossips, wives, mistresses and assorted hangers-on — all cavorting, philandering and back-stabbing away with merry abandon. Screenwriter Steven Peros puts a goodly amount of clever, witty words in most everyone's mouth at one point or another, but there's really not much to the movie, and matters begin to noticeably drag less than half way in. Bogdanovich shoots the film in a workable but overly stodgy manner and, outside of Dunst's Davies and a wonderfully screwed-up Charlie Chaplin (played nicely by Eddie Izzard) there are few characters that fully engage us here. Also starring Cary Elwes, Jennifer Tilley and Joanna Lumley.
Changing Lanes (R) Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson star as two very different types of men who wind up literally crashing into each other in a fender bender that escalates into a cat and mouse game where each seeks nothing less than the other's destruction.
Clockstoppers (PG) Take the girls and boys after an afternoon at Limited II and the arcade to see this youthful entertainment; however, we're not saying for sure if you, the parents/babysitter/sucker, will enjoy it. The Nickelodeon film centers on teenager Zak (Jesse Bradford) who inadvertently freezes time. Also stars Paula Garces, Jonathan Frakes, French Stewart, Michael Biehn and Julia Sweeney.
(Not reviewed)
Death to Smoochy (R) Danny DeVito's noisy and very dark comedy stars Edward Norton as a new age-y rube with a "fetish for ethics," who dons a fuschia rhino suit and becomes a popular kiddie TV show host so sweetly innocuous he makes Barney look dangerous. The film is cleverly cast (Norton is spot-on and Williams' overacting actually makes sense in this context) and there are quite a few genuinely funny moments, but the story feels like an early draft that could have used some more work tying all the elements together. 
Festival in Cannes (PG-13) Although Festival in Cannes manages to qualify as one of Henry Jaglom's least irritating pictures (largely due to the fact that the perpetually whiny and self-obsessed filmmaker is not actually on screen in this one), the movie does little to negate the notion that Jaglom remains one of the worst filmmakers around. The setting this time out is the Cannes Film Festival, and Jaglom's mostly improvised scenes involve a series of romantic and business liaisons that emerge and entwine in a variety of awkward and unconvincing ways. As in most Jaglom films, there are a handful of honest and emotionally affecting moments, but the bulk of what transpires is depicted in a manner that's tedious, sloppy and often infuriatingly pretentious. The Charles Trenet soundtrack is by far the best thing about Festival in Cannes. Stars Anouk Aimee, Maximilian Schell, Greta Scacchi and many others. Opens April 26 at Tampa Theatre. Call theatre to confirm.
Frailty (R) Bill Paxton directs and stars in this atmospheric thriller about a rural Texas family of serial killers who believe they're getting their orders from God himself. For the most part, Frailty is an engrossing experience, a Southern Gothic creepfest obviously colored by the events of 9-11, in which the real horror show lies in the depiction of ordinary folks justifying the most abominable actions in the name of something holy. Frailty tosses in a few sizable twists toward the end that, though clever enough, ultimately shortchange the movie's moody slow burn. Also stars Matthew McConaughy and Powers Boothe.
Gosford Park (PG-13) Gosford Park is Robert Altman's spin on one of those English dramas where a bunch of well-heeled types congregate at someone's swanky country estate for the weekend and, eventually, someone gets murdered. 
High Crimes (PG-13) Everything's coming up roses for successful, attractive, happily married yuppie lawyer Claire (Ashley Judd) — that is, until she discovers that her sweet, reliable hubby (Jim Caviezel) has been leading a double life and now finds himself on trial for participating in a military massacre in El Salvador many years ago. There are way too many implausible plot points and predictable turns in this atypically ham-fisted effort from director Carl Franklin (One False Move), but the film's really no worse than your standard made-for-cable thriller. 
Ice Age (PG) Not many surprises await but there are pleasures enough in this good-looking, pleasantly slapsticky animation about a band of mismatched animals on a trek to return an abandoned human infant to its rightful guardians.
Iris (R) A flawed but beautifully acted memory piece about, among other things, how memory betrayed a brilliant woman. Based on a true story, Iris is the tale of the 40-year relationship between eccentric English intellectuals John Bayley and Iris Murdoch, a writer whose exceptional mind eventually surrendered to the ravages of Alzheimer's.
Jason X (R) Trashy, gruesomely bloody, self-mocking fun, if you go in for this sort of thing. Jason X takes the iconic, hockey mask-wearing maniac from Friday the 13th and jettisons him (and the series) into the distant future — the year 2455, to be exact — where Jason is revived aboard a spaceship where no one apparently has any use for electricity, and most of the female crew members look and behave like fashion models in heat. Unsurprisingly, there's virtually no plot here — the unkillable Jason simply lumbers about the ship graphically chopping up the crew one by one — although the movie is surprisingly stylish and contains its share of darkly funny moments that keep things watchable. The whole thing is a big-time guilty pleasure, bookended by a nice inside-joke of a scene where a slumming David Cronenberg is offed in fine style, and another where the titular psycho does battle with a wisecracking, kung-fu kicking android. Stars Lexa Doig, Lisa Ryder and Chuck Campbell. Opens April 26 at local theaters.
Kissing Jessica Stein (R) This highly touted but extremely airy date movie begins by detailing the efforts of nice Jewish girl Jessica Stein (Jennifer Westfeldt) in finding the right guy. When poor Jessica can't seem to locate Mr. Right, she adjusts the parameters of her search and leaps into a quest for Ms. Right. Kissing Jessica Stein is semi-solid material for one-shot appearances at gay/lesbian film festivals, but not really much more.
Monsoon Wedding (PG-13) Mira Nair's new film takes all the exuberance and exotic color of a big budget Bollywood spectacle and combines it with the layered, multiple story lines and witty social observations of a Robert Altman film. The event around which all the various story strands whirl is an upper-middle class wedding, although the director leaves herself enough room around the edges to examine a variety of different social strata, attitudes and ethnicities. 
Monster's Ball (R) The film is essentially about two very different people whose lives happen to intersect at a given moment when both are very much in need of something that the other is able to give. That one of the characters is black and the other white (and a bigot to boot), just makes the film all the more interesting, although by the end Monster's Ball winds up coming a little too close to simply being a morality play about the redemption of a racist.
Murder by Numbers (R) A pair of too-smart-for-their-own-good, Nietzche-worshiping rich kids attempt to pull off the perfect crime — or, more accurately, a perfect "philosophical crime" — but may just have met their match in a brilliant but emotionally damaged homicide detective (Sandra Bullock). The movie gets in some good licks on the kinky relationship between sex, violence and incipient fascism, but by its last act Murder by Numbers just can't help but reveal itself as a fairly ordinary thriller. Also stars Ryan Gosling, Michael Pitt and Ben Chaplin.
Ocean Men (PG) As beautiful and bombastic as a Wagner opera, this latest IMAX documentary tells the story of the friendly (and sometimes not-so-friendly) competition between two world-class athletes, each striving to dive to unimaginable depths without the aid of any sort of breathing apparatus. At IMAX Channelside.
The Other Side of Heaven (PG) Beautifully photographed but curiously uninvolving account of the trials and tribulations of an Iowa farm boy adjusting to life as a missionary in the Tongan Islands.
Panic Room (R) The latest from David Fincher (Seven, Fight Club) is a modern riff on such classic home-invasion exploitation films as Wait Until Dark and Lady in a Cage. A newly divorced mother (Jodie Foster) and her young daughter (Kristen Stewart) awaken to discover armed intruders lurking just outside their bedroom doors. Foster turns in another finely nuanced performance as the imperiled heroine, as does Forest Whitaker as the intruder with a conscience.
Resident Evil (R) Another based-on-a-videogame project, this one starring Milla Jovovich and Michelle Rodriguez as a pair of butt-kickin' bad girls with only hours to stop a deadly virus from turning the entire world into a bunch of drooling, undead zombies.
(Not Reviewed)
The Rookie (G) An inspirational sports movie with a local hook, The Rookie is a slight but absolutely sincere sort of tall tale that also happens to be true. The local hook in the story of The Rookie is that the film's hero, Jimmy Morris (Dennis Quaid), makes good on his childhood dream and, at the relatively advanced age of thirtysomething, finds himself playing major league baseball for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Rookie is filled with handsome production values and serviceable performances; it's all uplifting but not terribly interesting or authentic.
The Scorpion King (PG-13) Dying to see The Rock in a loincloth, with a crazy mullet, festooned with all manner of groovy cutlery, opening up one can of whupass after another? Then by all means hurry to your nearest megaplex and catch The Scorpion King. This blatant attempt to turn The Rock (who has acting chops of stone) into the next Arnold or Sly is based in a time "before the pyramids" when a really nasty guy named Memnon was trying to take over the known world. It falls to Mathayus (The Rock), who comes from a nearly extinct race of assassin/mercenaries, to stop him. Chuck Russell directs this inane "epic" with a sledgehammer, and trots out every action/adventure cliche imaginable.
—Eric Snider 
Scotland PA (R) A solid cast of familiar faces from the indie film world and a great soundtrack (Beethoven and Bad Company) are among the primary pluses in this clever updating of Shakespeare's Macbeth, in which the action takes place in the 1970s and revolves around a bunch of lowlifes in a greasy spoon in a small, blue-collar town.
Showtime (PG-13) This lazily scripted, cookie cutter project teams Eddie Murphy and Robert De Niro as a pair of squabbling, mismatched cops who become the stars of a new reality TV show. Showtime throws in a sprinkling of lame jokes, a big car chase or two, and a routine subplot having something to do with an Eastern European baddie with a new armor-piercing gun, but the movie basically just seems to be treading water for its entire running time.
Sorority Boys (R) Bosom Buddies/Some Like it Hot for the American Pie generation: Three guys get kicked out of their dorm and dress up in drag so they can live in a female sorority house. Stars Barry Watson, Harland Williams and Michael Rosenbaum.
(Not reviewed)
The Sweetest Thing (R) Even Cameron Diaz's considerable charm can't save this disjointed and extremely unappealing effort about a commitment-phobic party girl who meets Mr. Right. The Sweetest Thing awkwardly straddles the line between standard romantic comedy fluff and quasi-edgy American Pie-styled gross-out humor, and isn't particularly convincing at either.
Y Tu Mama Tambien (NR) Alternately exuberant, wry and bittersweet, this blatantly sexual Mexican import is something of a road-trip movie as well as a coming of age film. To be sure, quite a bit of it is about just plain cumming. Best pals Tenoch and Julio (Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna from Amores Perros) are typical happy-go-lucky, hormone- crazed, teen party animals, who can barely believe their luck when an attractive older woman (Maribel Verdu), impulsively agrees to come with them on a trip to the beach. Y Tu Mama Tambien trades in material that in Hollywood would most likely translate into another variation on American Pie. Here it makes for one hell of a movie.
—Reviewed entries by Lance Goldenberg unless otherwise noted
This article appears in Apr 24-30, 2002.
