Outtakes

NEW THIS WEEK:

GUNNER PALACE (PG-13) A rambling and pleasantly chaotic documentary whose very shapelessness seems nicely suited to its subject matter – the day-to-day life of American soldiers stationed in Iraq. In September 2003, four months after Bush's infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech, filmmakers Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein hooked up with a U.S. Field Artillery Unit headquartered in one of Uday's bombed-out pleasure palaces, and then proceeded to document what they saw. Gunner Palace gives us a grunts' eye view of life on the mean streets of Baghdad, as we follow the soldiers on what they mockingly refer to as "minor combat" missions ("major combat" having been officially declared over some months back). In between the scary night patrols, tussles with hostile natives and false alarms, Tucker and Epperlein turn the cameras on the G.I.s in more relaxed moments as they float around in Uday's pool or engage in a little frank talk about the blessing and curse of trying to save the Arab-Islamic World from its own follies. The movie lurches about in lots of different directions, with numerous loose ends resulting and a central focus that seems to keep shifting, but the nearly unmediated sense of authenticity alone makes Gunner Palace a valuable experience. There's a soundtrack of sorts, a homegrown blend of hip-hop and metal supplied by the soldiers themselves that makes the whole thing even more engaging. Opens April 1 at local theaters. 1/2

OSCAR SHORTS 2005 (NR) Shorter doesn't necessarily mean lighter and fluffier in this program of short films that were nominated for Academy Awards in 2005. Wasp, the UK short that wound up taking home the Oscar, is a blistering, unblinking life-slice that tells us more than we might have wanted to know about a young, unmarried mom saddled with too many kids and not enough ideas or options. Another rough 'n' tumble work, the brilliantly imagined Canadian animation Ryan, puts us up close and personal with a once-important artist now reduced to alcoholic dementia. The films get a bit sunnier from there – The New Zealand short Two Cars, One Night is a tender glimpse of young kids getting acquainted in a parking lot, while the homegrown animations Gopher Broke and Rex Steele: Nazi Smasher are both thoroughly silly and entirely suitable for kiddies – but there's generally a dark undercurrent shooting through most of this material that helps keep things interesting. One film, 7:35 in the Morning from Spain, even turns a suicidal stalker's desperation into an all-singing, all-dancing musical. Opens April 1 at Tampa Theatre. 1/2

RECENT RELEASES:

ALONE IN THE DARK (R) All that's missing is Shaggy and Scooby, in this based-on-a-video-game spookfest about a "detective of the paranormal" (Christian Slater) and his cute girlfriend (Tara Reid) investigating zombie shenanigans at – wait for it now – Shadow Island. Also stars Stephen Dorff. (Not Reviewed)

THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON (R) Forget Jamie Foxx in Ray. The best actor in a film from last year was Sean Penn in this quietly intense portrait of a disillusioned man being pushed farther and farther to the fringes of society. Penn stars as Sam Bicke, a Travis Bickle-like loser unlucky in love and increasingly agitated by the injustices he sees all around him. The film's Taxi Driver connections are unavoidable as The Assassination of Richard Nixon goes about depicting the breakdown and ultimate, tragic transformation of Penn's character, but there's no denying the power of this particular vision. We've seen this subject before, but rarely with the chilling meticulousness or raw emotional edge provided by Penn's astonishing performance. Also stars Naomi Watts and Don Cheadle. 1/2

BEAUTIFUL BOXER (NR) is a bland, badly acted and saccharine biopic that still gets a qualified recommendation, if only because its treatment of its curious subject matter is so absurd there's a you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it factor here. This is the true story of Pariya Charoenphool, who was born Nong Toom – a little Thai boy who always wanted to be a girl, and grew up to become a cross-dressing, champion kickboxer who took fights to finance his eventual sex change operation. Beautiful Boxer features some nice cinematography and some energetic fight sequences (thanks in no small part to real-life boxer Asanee Suwan, who stars as Pariya), but the movie's clumsy flashback structure, unintentionally campy dialogue, cloying music and generally amateurish performances are all laughable. And if the incessant voice-over narration (broken English delivered in a thin, monotone whine) doesn't drive you over the edge, nothing will. Also stars Sorapong Chatree and Orn-Anong Panyawong. Currently playing at Sunrise Cinemas in Tampa.

BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE (PG) Family fare based on the perennial best seller, featuring an adorable little girl bonding with a cute dog, and a cast that includes Hollywood icons Cicely Tyson and Eva Marie Saint and musician Dave Matthews. You could probably do worse. Also stars Jeff Daniels and AnnaSophia Robb. (Not Reviewed)

BAD EDUCATION (NR) Pedro Almodovar's intricately convoluted noir fantasy is dark, dense, maybe even dangerous stuff, but the film candy-coats its Big Ideas in the outrageous kink of the director's earliest movies as well as the eloquent symmetries of his more recent melodramas, presenting its story-within-a-story as a sort of greatest-hits package from this remarkable Spanish filmmaker. The movie spirals in multiple directions as we watch an autobiographical account of schooldays filled with forbidden passion mutate into a many-headed hydra as it passes through the memories of the film's various narrators. The tale that's spun becomes a sordid but surprisingly poignant web of intrigue, abuse and revenge, of sex, drugs, love and betrayal, and each time the story unfolds, another angle is presented, revealing new information that calls into question everything that's come before. Stars Gael Garcia Bernal, Fele Martinez, and Daniel Gimenez-Cacho.

BE COOL (PG-13) John Travolta returns as wise guy-turned-movie-producer Chili Palmer in this disjointed and very disappointing sequel to the 1995 oddball comedy Get Shorty. Despite the occasional amusing bit, Be Cool is a flat, episodic mess that often just seems like an excuse to string together a bunch of gratuitous celebrity cameos (including a fun one from Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as a very bad bodyguard), and a reason to get Travolta and Uma Thurman back on the dance floor together again. The setting's been changed from the movie biz to the music biz in Be Cool, with a sliver of a plot about Travolta's character's efforts to help a female singer make it to the top, but the film's periodic winking at its own clichés are almost as clumsy and uninspired as the clichés themselves. Also stars Vince Vaughn, Harvey Keitel and Christina Milian.

BOOGEYMAN (PG-13) A young man (Barry Watson) returns home to face the shadowy creature who tormented him as a child. The movie's million-dollar question – is the thingie real or a figment of the imagination? – sounds like an instant retread of any number of other recent horror flicks. Also stars Skye McCole Bartusiak and Lucy Lawless. (Not Reviewed)

BORN INTO BROTHELS (NR) Academy Award-winning documentary about the children of Calcutta prostitutes and the efforts of filmmaker Zana Briski to get the kids out of their Red Light Hell and into some better place. Briski, a photojournalist by trade, equips the children with simple point-and-shoot cameras, teaches them the basics of photography, and we watch as the budding young artists use their newfound ability to document their world as a means of rising above it. It's a fascinating process, all captured in this film, and even though it's a foregone conclusion that not all of the kids will be somehow magically empowered (their environment is simply too overwhelming and too awful for that to happen), there's a substantial amount of hopefulness to be found in Born Into Brothels. Briski is nothing if not a dedicated humanitarian, so much so that the film suffers a bit by having the filmmaker inject so much of herself into the proceedings (by necessity, some might argue), but there's no denying that this is finally the kids' show all the way. It's also, at root, a moving testimony to the transformative power of art. Co-directed by Ross Kauffman. Currently playing at Sunrise Cinemas in Tampa. 1/2

BRIDE AND PREJUDICE (PG-13) Jane Austen with songs and dances? Hey, youbetcha. The new film from Anglo-Indian filmmaker Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham) is a deliriously colorful ode to the rich fantasies of Bollywood as well as a fast and loose adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice – and it might just be this Brit-born-and-bred director's craftiest fusion of East-West yet. The movie's musical numbers introduce most of its key conflicts, as well as the male and female leads who will spend the first half of the movie squabbling and the second half trying to find a way into one another's arms. A charisma oozing Aishwarya Rai is delightful in her first English-speaking role, as the feisty, free-spirited heroine who appreciates what's good in the western world, but who values her own heritage above all. The movie doesn't fare so well with Rai's Caucasian counterpart – a less-than-dynamic Martin Henderson as the culturally chauvinistic but ultimately redeemable Darcy – but there's so much else going on here that we hardly notice. Chadha's take on Austen may seem frivolous or even a tad irreverent to purists, but this breezy romantic comedy cuts right to the chase of the author's sense, if not her sensibility. 1/2

THE CHORUS (PG-13) French Drama The Chorus (Les Choristes) falls into that schmaltzy genre of film that features a plucky teacher who refuses to consign his students to mediocrity's ranks. Clement (Gerard Jugnot) is the appealing star, a nicely frumpy Wallace Shawn-type with disappearing chin and dumpling face. In 1949, the failed musician takes a job at a rural reform school, where he discovers an in-house choir of angels in the school's unruly children. While The Chorus sticks closely to the World's Best Teacher script, it does attempt to draw a convincing picture of what's at stake and offers some good reasons as to why some of the children are such shits. Currently playing at Burns Court in Sarasota.

-Felicia Feaster

COACH CARTER (PG-13) Samuel L. Jackson stars in a drama based on the true story of a high school basketball coach who valued grades as much as the ability to win games. Also stars Rob Brown and Vincent Laresca. (Not Reviewed)

CONSTANTINE (R) Like the Hellblazer comic book on which it's based, Constantine aims for a dense fusion of pulp noir and Gothic horror and, for the most part, the movie pulls it off. Balanced neatly between the deadly serious and the tongue-in-cheek, the movie posits a vaguely timeless L.A. where angels, demons and assorted half-breed mutations are commonplace, and then seals the deal with everybody's favorite bad actor, Keanu Reeves, as a chain-smoking, psychic gumshoe trying to keep the legions of Satan at bay. Constantine is a guilty pleasure, for sure, but a fairly classy one; the film is thick on atmosphere and blessedly brief on balls-to-the-wall action, and the lushly fatalistic mood and noir-ish take on a fantasy genre happily recall some of the best bits from Blade Runner. Also stars Rachel Weisz, Shia LeBeouf, Tilda Swinton, Djimon Hounsou and Pruitt Taylor Vince. 1/2

CURSED (PG-13) Wes Craven's latest creepfest reportedly finds the director in a more conventional, less post-modern mode than Scream, with Christina Ricci and Jesse Eisenberg starring as teens suddenly endowed with mysterious powers that could destroy everyone they touch. Also stars Joshua Jackson and Shannon Elizabeth. (Not Reviewed)

DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN (PG-13) Tyler Perry's curious blend of ham-fisted melodrama, low-brow humor, rousing gospel music and fervent messages of religious devotion features Perry himself as a pistol-packing grandma who, despite her aggressive and sometimes raunchy ways, can ultimately be counted on for good advice about the merits of strictly adhering to God's Plan. Diary of a Mad Black Woman is inconsequential stuff at best, and stunningly idiotic at worst (or maybe it's the other way around), the by-the-numbers tale of a sweet little mouse of a housewife named Helen (Kimberly Elise) who is summarily dumped by her rich, callous hubby, but eventually finds happiness with a new, impossibly perfect boyfriend. Kimberly Elise is an uncommonly good actress (she was flat-out tremendous in Woman, Thou Art Loosed), but you wouldn't know it from her work here – and she's by far the best thing in this movie. There's barely a sliver of subtlety or nuance to any of these characters (nor to the story), but the whole uncomplicated, two-dimensional nature of the project probably just adds to the single-minded power of its faith-driven message. Also stars Steve Harris, Shemar Moore, Tamara Taylor and Cecily Tyson.

GUESS WHO? (PG-13) An updating of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner's societal critique/comedy from the late '60s, retold from a contemporary African-American angle and with the genders reversed (e.g. wary black dad deals with nervous white boy marrying into the family). Oh, and that's Ashton Kutcher apparently stepping into Sidney Poitier's shoes as the interracial X-factor. So this is progress? Also stars Bernie Mac. (Not Reviewed)

ICE PRINCESS (G) Michelle Trachtenberg stars as a bookish high-schooler who transforms into a figure-skating swan in this latest offering from Disney. Much drama ensues involving her mother, some skating prodigies and a cute zamboni driver. Also stars Joan Cusack and Kim Cattrall. (Not Reviewed)

IMAGINARY HEROES (R) We've seen this story way too many times before – at least half of them at the Sundance Film Festival – and this particular version is one of the weakest yet. It's all here – the angst-ridden, dysfunctional suburban family, the weird-for-weirdness' sake characters, the gratuitously depressing story arc – and I didn't believe any of it for a second. Sigourney Weaver delivers a sporadically amusing performance as the matriarch of the film's battered and broken brood, but that's about the only reason to see this derivative and badly written Ordinary People-Lite. Imaginary Heroes is shallow stuff pretending to be deep, a movie that strives for profundity but that would do well to remember that cynical does not necessarily equal smart. Also stars Jeff Daniels and Emile Hirsch. 1/2

THE JACKET (PG-13) The early sections are enigmatic, filled with haunting visuals and foreboding, Gothic atmosphere, but when The Jacket's mysteries are eventually revealed, they're simply not all that, well, mysterious. The storytelling methods here deliberately mirror the fractured thought processes of the film's narrator – a mental patient (Adrien Brody) who might or might not be traveling between the present and the future to solve the mystery of his own life and death – so it's impossible to say for certain what we're to make of it all. Metaphysically inclined viewers might take the entire movie as the extended hallucination of a deranged mind, or even as the final flash of a consciousness being extinguished, although to this viewer the whole thing ultimately feels a lot like a surprisingly generic sci-fi thriller, albeit one with delusions of grandeur. Also stars Keira Knightley, Kris Kristofferson and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

MAN OF THE HOUSE (PG-13) Judging from the trailer and the, uh, concept alone, this looks like the very bad pilot for the worst sitcom you never saw. Just to press the point, I first laid eyes on this movie's trailer one night during a commercial break on Mad TV, and my wife and I were both convinced that it was part of the show – just one more absurd spoof of a movie so bad nobody would ever make it. Tommy Lee Jones stars as a cranky Texas Ranger living in a house filled with perky cheerleaders. Also stars Anne Archer, Brian Van Holt, Christina Milian and Paula Garces. (Not Reviewed)

MISS CONGENIALITY 2: ARMED AND FABULOUS (PG-13) Workmanlike writing and direction are the best things you can say about this sequel in which agent Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock), now a big media celebrity doing PR for the FBI, gets pulled back into active duty when her pal, Miss USA, is kidnapped. There's a female buddy movie angle here too – with Regina King on hand as the antagonistic bodyguard with whom Bullock will inevitably bond – and a couple of forgettable sidekicks, including a clueless male agent and Bullock's mincing Queer Eye for the FBI Agent stylist. The film juggles its various elements, mixing a little bit of comedy with a little bit of action, but not much happens and it's all equally predictable and bland. A virtual cameo by William Shatner breaths momentary life into the proceedings, but the rest is numbingly dull and listless, right down to the obligatory outtakes over the closing credits. Also stars Treat Williams, Ernie Hudson, Enrique Murciano and Diedrich Bader.

OFF THE MAP (PG-13) Off the Map is one of those movies that critics like to describe as a "small gem," and that's exactly what it is. The film takes the shape of a memory piece, a reeling-in of the years by a grown woman inviting us along as she revisits her childhood in the wilds of New Mexico, circa 1974. In the most broadly described sense, this is a coming-of-age tale – almost inevitably so, since our 12-year-old guide, Bo Groden (Valentina de Angelis), is at an age when new discoveries wait around every corner – but Off the Map is also much more: a grown-up romance, a mystical adventure, a cheerfully dysfunctional comedy, a wistful family drama. Joan Allen delivers yet another astonishing performance as the eccentric earth mama holding the Groden family together, and the character of Bo is as memorably self-possessed and old-beyond-her-years as the young protagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird, another movie that filtered its world to fine effect through the eyes of childhood. Also stars Sam Elliot, J.K. Simmons and Jim True-Frost. Held over at Sunrise in Tampa. Call theater to confirm.

THE PACIFIER (PG) Vin Diesel does Ahnold doing his Kindergarten Cop thing, as a tough ex-Navy S.E.A.L. charged with protecting a pack of adorable kiddies. Also stars Lauren Graham, Faith Ford and Brittany Snow. (Not Reviewed)

THE RING TWO (PG-13) Enigma and atmosphere loomed large in the original Ring, but all that is essentially absent from The Ring Two, leaving us with just another pedestrian horror sequel. The tormented mother-son pair (Naomi Watts and David Dorman) from the original movie are back, relocated in a small Oregon town where, wouldn't you just know it, the dreaded, death-dealing forces that haunted them in the first Ring resurface. The movie is basically just Watts and her young son being put through their more-or-less predictable paces by the original film's demonic entity (whose inscrutable strangeness now seems little more than just another generic, Freddy Krueger-esque boogeyman), with recycled images from the first Ring scattered throughout. There are a handful of interesting moments, and the film almost achieves some sort of belated lift-off in its last act, but it's ultimately just a mess, a typical case of too many script doctors canceling out each other's better impulses. You know you're in trouble when the only real innovation worth mentioning is a herd of evil, computer-generated deer. Also stars Simon Baker, Elizabeth Perkins and Sissy Spacek.

THE UPSIDE OF ANGER (R) Another take on middle-aged romance and the gender wars, among other things, that tackles territory previously staked out by As Good as It Gets and, more often than not, gets it right. As the title suggests, this is a movie that's ostensibly about angry or otherwise disappointed people, two of whom are aging alcoholics – but against all odds, The Upside of Anger turns that daunting subject matter into what is sometimes very funny material. This movie is far from perfect, but it's still a must-see, if only to see Joan Allen in a career-topping performance as a suburban housewife dealing with four grown (and nearly-grown) children, as well as a washed-up baseball player (Kevin Costner) who comes sniffing around and winds up staying for the long run. Costner's no slouch either as the boozing, aging good time boy getting by on the fumes of fame and fortune. All the expected bases are covered here, but the film manages to take us to a few unexpected places, too. Also stars Erika Christensen, Evan Rachel Wood, Keri Russell and Mike Binder (who also directs). Currently playing at Sunrise Cinemas in Tampa. 1/2

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (NR) Shakespeare's most controversial play gets a bit of a face lift from director Michael Radford, who plays a little fast and loose with Big Will's story but remains true to the breadth of his humanist spirit. Radford's The Merchant of Venice contemporizes Shakespeare's text with small but crucial touches, punching up the homoerotism in the air between best buddies Antonio (Jeremy Irons) and Bassanio (Joseph Fiennes), and, most importantly, providing a historical framework for the demonization of the Jews that the play takes for granted. This goes some way towards offering a partial explanation for the personal monstrousness of Shylock – the titular Jewish merchant who has, not without reason, earned the play a reputation for anti-Semitism – but Merchant is still a problematic play and a problematic movie. Al Pacino is interesting as a shriveled but semi-sympathetic Shylock, bleating and bellowing lines in a weird half-Yiddish, half-Bronx accent, and gratuitously extending syllables like Dylan did on stage for most of the last few decades. Also stars Lynne Collins. Currently playing at Burns Court in Sarasota.

THE WOODSMAN (NR) In its mostly quiet, deliberately paced way, The Woodsman simply observes its recently paroled subject, Walter (a slow-burning and almost painfully intense Kevin Bacon), struggling to overcome his nature as he begins the process of picking up the pieces of what might loosely be called his life. There are a handful of minor characters here and some non-essential sub-plots, but The Woodsman is at its best when nothing much is really happening, in a strict, story-driven sense – when the movie is simply recording Walter wrestling with his considerable demons. The Woodsman admirably refrains from passing judgment, but it's not beyond stretching metaphors to encourage us to see Walter as a kind of Holy/Unholy Trinity all wrapped up in one tightly wound bundle of nerves – he's rescuer, wolf and Red Riding Hood, a conflicted hero who has to slay his own big, bad self in order to free the innocent lamb waiting inside. As human goods go, Walter's about as damaged as they come, but the last thing The Woodsman wants is for us to see him as a demon; even if his nature repels us, the film makes it surprisingly easy to be moved by the efforts of this tortured and confused man to understand himself, by his desire for transformation. Also stars Kyra Sedgwick, Benjamin Bratt and Eve. 1/2

Reviewed entries by Lance Goldenberg unless otherwise noted.

This article appears in Mar 30 – Apr 5, 2005.