>40 Days and 40 Nights (R) A moderately pleasant little surprise for anyone simply expecting another mindless, cookie-cutter sex comedy. The story here is certainly slight enough — sex-crazed twentysomething Matt (Josh Hartnett) takes a vow of celibacy for 40 days, during which time he meets the perfectly charming and hot, hot, hot girl of his dreams (Shannyn Sossamon) — but under the assured, stylish direction of Michael Lehmann (Heathers, The Truth about Cats and Dogs) the movie feels like considerably more than it really is. Also stars Paulo Costanzo.
All About the Benjamins (R) Ice Cube plays a bounty hunter on the trail of a bail jumper (Mike Epps). They find themselves in an abandoned warehouse, which, unbeknown to them, is a drop-off for a diamond heist. The two decide to team up and foil the jewel caper.
(Not Reviewed)
Amelie (NR) Plucky, quintessentially quirky Amelie (saucer-eyed Audrey Tautou) spends her time choreographing good deeds and love connections for her neighbors and, eventually, herself. Amelie, which is as much a fairy tale as it is a cartoon, brims with imagination and emotion.
A Beautiful Mind (PG-13) A Russell Crowe performance that has Oscar written all over it is the main reason to see this atypically twisty Ron Howard production about an emotionally fragile genius whose life spins out of control in all sorts of unexpected ways. The movie's later sections feel a little too close for comfort to a disease-of-the-week movie, and the whole thing could be shortened by at least 20 minutes, but A Beautiful Mind is still rarely less than engaging.
Beauty and the Beast (G) The modern Disney classic is alive with great scenes, songs and characters, and features a script by turns clever and emotionally resonant, and stripped down the essence of its timeless tale. Playing at IMAX Dome Theater and at Channelside Cinemas IMAX. Call theaters to confirm.
Big Fat Liar (PG) Malcolm in the Middle's Frankie Muniz stars as an irate kid who tracks down the big shot Hollywood producer who stole his class paper and turned into a hit movie. Also stars Paul Giamatti and Amanda Bynes.
(Not Reviewed)
Black Hawk Down (R) Basically just a breathless account of the last hours of a small group of American soldiers trapped deep within enemy territory in Somalia and brutally besieged by hordes of unseen enemies hell-bent on making them bleed. The movie's agenda is a purely visceral one, putting us squarely into the fray, and Scott films it all in a pumped-up but gritty, claustrophobic manner that seems to suck all the air out of the room. Stars Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore and Sam Shephard.
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 movie's vampiric villains are an arresting mix of classic Eastern European bloodsuckers and neo-Cronenberg-ian walking biological horrors, the Prague locations drip atmosphere, and 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. On the downside, some of the fight scenes are much too chaotic, a few of the special effects are pretty cheesy (as in the original), and the movie spends way too much time with Kris Kristofferson's forgettable character, recycled from the first film. Still, if nothing else, director Guillermo Del Toro (The Devil's Backbone, Mimic) has fashioned a balls-to-the-wall horror flick, and that's good enough for me. Also stars Ron Perlman and Leonor Varela.
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. Opens March 29 at local theaters.
(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. Norton finds himself swimming upstream in a sea of corruption and nastiness, from the deranged former kiddie show host who's stalking him (Robin Williams) to his double-dealing agent (DeVito) and bitchy producer (Catherine Keener), to a charitable foundation for kids that recalls al-Qaida on a bad day. 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. The big joke here is sweet, bland Norton adrift in a world where absolutely everything's ugly-real, but it's also practically the only joke. Also stars Jon Stewart. Opens March 29 at local theaters.
Dragonfly (PG-13) Kevin Costner stars in what must be his shortest movie in a decade as Dr. Joe Donner, whose wooden mask of a face is well suited for a man grieving the death of his wife and soulmate. Early on, Dragonfly feels like a simplistic but truly felt story about grieving and moving on … until it turns into a combination of The Sixth Sense (children are seeing Joe's dead wife) and What Dreams Will Come.
—Greg Gipson
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (PG) The quintessential Steven Spielberg project — although far from his best movie — returns to theaters on the occasion of its 20th Anniversary, complete with a smattering of unseen footage, new computer-generated enhancements and a digitally remixed soundtrack. The extra bells and whistles aren't exactly essential, but they do put a distinctly modern shine on what was already an overly glossy opus. One of the most emotionally manipulative (and, not un-coincidentally, successful) movies of all time, E.T. yanks fiercely at our heart strings with its story of a lonely little boy who befriends a wise, powerful and, in its own gnarly way, cuddly little alien (who is himself a stranger in a strange land). The film is a consummate entertainment, deftly mixing broad comedy with expertly crafted action and scenes of outsized (and only slightly outdated), gee-whiz wonderment, but the emotional agenda of E.T. is almost completely transparent and the ultimate effect is more than a little cloying. And despite all the enhanced visual effects, the title creature still looks pretty silly. Stars Dee Wallace Stone, Peter Coyote, Drew Barrymore and Henry Thomas. 
Gosford Park (PG-13) Just a few years shy of his eighth decade of life, Robert Altman has ventured into virgin territory once more in Gosford Park, although the results lack the fire and sheer imagination of Altman's best works. Gosford Park is 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. Stars Emily Watson, Ryan Phillippe, Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Jeremy Northam and Alan Bates. 
Harrison's Flowers (R) An obsessed woman travels to the combat zone of the former Yugoslavia in search of her husband — a journalist who's presumed dead. Stars Andie MacDowell, David Strathairn and Marie Trintignant.
(Not Reviewed)
I Am Sam (PG-13) Sean Penn gives Dustin Hoffman a run for his money, offering up a respectable Rain Man routine in the otherwise unremarkable I Am Sam. Penn plays a lovable, mentally challenged adult who struggles with being a single father to a 7-year-old girl who's smarter than he is. The movie switches gears midway through to focus on a troubled yuppie lawyer (Michele Pfeiffer), who takes on Sam's case when his daughter's taken away from him. 
Ice Age (PG) Not many surprises await but there are pleasures enough in this good-looking, pleasantly slapstick-y 20th Century Fox animation about a band of mismatched animals on a trek to return an abandoned human infant to its rightful guardians. Features the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary.
In the Bedroom (R) First-time director Todd Fields' character-driven film introduces us to a handful of small-town folks (mostly the members of a white collar family living in a predominantly blue collar New England town) and then, just when we think we've figured out who and what the movie's about, we find the rug's been pulled out from under us and the movie's main focus is really somewhere else entirely. Stars Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson and Marisa Tomei, all nominated for Academy awards for their performances in this film.
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.
John Q (PG-13) This shrill, preachy two-hour commercial for National Health Care is a major disappointment from everyone involved. Denzel Washington stars as the title character, a decent but down-on-his-luck dad who takes an emergency room hostage when he finds his insurance won't cover an expensive heart transplant operation for his adorable little son. The movie's righteously indignant heart is certainly in the right place, but John Q unintentionally verges on caricature.
Kandahar (NR) A haunting and exquisitely visualized portrait of life in Afghanistan under the Taliban, Kandahar was shot about a year ago, just before the fecal matter really hit the fan. The film's narrative is inspired by the real-life situation of Nelofer Pazira, a Afghan-Canadian journalist who dreamed of returning to her homeland to come to the aid of a childhood friend made dangerously despondent by the Taliban's brutal atrocities. In Kandahar, Nelofer (redubbed Nafas) essentially plays herself, and makes good on her desire to travel back to the land of her birth (actually a remote section of Iran subbing for Afghanistan). What Nafas sees and what happens to her on the road to Kandahar is the sum and substance of the movie, and is often so exceedingly strange that one doesn't quite know whether to laugh or to curl up into a fetal ball. As with so much in the Islamic world, there are things here that are profoundly beautiful as well as much that is profoundly scary. The movie is structured as a series of loosely connected episodes, some apparently made up on the spot, giving Kandahar a feel not unlike that of an open-ended and supremely exotic road movie. Held over at Beach Theatre. Call to confirm.
Lawrence of Arabia Redux (R) Apparently Francis Ford Coppola had so much fun re-releasing Apocalypse Now, he's decided to try it again, this time with someone else's movie. Not so much a revival as a re-imagining, Coppola's version of the 1962 classic is set on the dune-filled planet of Arabia, where lone space marshal T.E. Lawrence (Matthew McConaughey) pursues his adversary, the evil Prince Feisal (Jeremy Irons). In what is perhaps the first sign of Coppola's descent into senility, and proof that the Oscar-winning director has finally lost his magic, Sarah Jessica Parker was cast as love interest Sherif Ali Ben El Kharish (played by Omar Sharif in the original). Additional star power includes Alec Baldwin as Feisal's maniacal henchman Auda Abu Tayi; Brendan Fraser as Lawrence's right-hand man Col. Harry Brighton; and Samuel L. Jackson as Gen. Allenby. While Coppola attempts to provide a multilayered action/romance film, the glut of stars, the poorly choreographed action scenes, and McConaughey and Parker's nonexistent chemistry make for a nearly three-hour mess. The sweeping, breathtaking shots of Spain and Jordan (the same locations as the original Arabia), and Coppola's sheer, unabashed chutzpah, are the only reasons to think twice about entering the theater. But that's simply not enough. Also stars Mark Wahlberg, Bruce Campbell and Ray Liotta.
—Kelli K
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (PG-13) The first of Peter Jackson's long-awaited adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy succeeds on just about every level it's supposed to. For virtually its entire three-hour running time, Jackson's epic fantasy keeps us happily immersed in the stuff of legends, sort of like a Harry Potter for grown-ups. Stars Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Cate Blanchett and Christopher Lee. 
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.
Ocean Men (PG) This 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 breathing apparatus. The film is filled with cosmic soul-searching and gorgeous, amazingly dramatic vistas of training grounds like the rocky beaches of Sardinia — but the real story here is what amounts to the extended pissing contest between these two extremely eccentric and self-possessed underwater warriors. At IMAX Channelside.
Panic Room (R) See Film.
Queen of the Damned (R) Probably just the schlock-y and idiotic movie that deserved to be made of Anne Rice's schlock-y and idiotic book. The unbelievably lame Stuart Townsend takes over for Tom Cruise as the vampire Lestat, who's now become a rock star whose groovy vampiric tunesmithery has the power to awaken the long-dormant, blood-suckin' Uber-Queenie herself (Aaliyah, pathetically uncharismatic in her final role).
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)
Return to Neverland (G) Return to Neverland simply moves Peter Pan forward in time a decade or two, reprises most of the popular characters (subbing Wendy's daughter, Jane, for the now grown-up Wendy), and allows them to chase around after each other for 70 minutes or so.
Rollerball (PG-13) Chris Klein, L.L. Cool J and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos are teammates playing the world's most dangerous game in the proverbial not-so-distant future. An update of Norman Jewison's forgettable 1975 sci-fi movie, courtesy of director John McTiernan (who oddly enough also remade yet another tepid Jewison film not so long ago, The Thomas Crown Affair). Also stars Jean Reno.
(Not Reviewed)
The Rookie (G) See Film.
The Royal Tenenbaums (PG-13) Tragedy has rarely been so much fun as in this latest black comedy extravaganza from director Wes Anderson (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore). This time out, Anderson and co-writer Owen Wilson (who also appears in this film) give us the epic tale of the rise and fall of a brilliant, relentlessly bizarre and fatally damaged American family — the cumulative effect of the film being a sort of cross between The Magnificent Ambersons, a J.D. Salinger short story and The Addams Family. Stars Gene Hackman, Angelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke and Owen Wilson, Bill Murray and Danny Glover.
Showtime (PG-13) Exactly what you might have imagined from the trailers, only with even less pizzazz. 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 a Eastern European baddie with a new armor-piercing gun, but the movie basically just seems to be treading water for its entire running time. 
Snow Dogs (PG) Cuba Gooding Jr. plays a Miami dentist who inherits a team of sled dogs, and must learn to race them or lose the pack to a grizzled old mountain man.
(Not reviewed)
The Son's Room (R) Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti's latest movie is a human drama that's considerably less light and breezy than his previous efforts, most of which might loosely be called comedies. The Son's Room is a finely tuned observation of a family living in small town in Northern Italy, and it opens with such rapturous attention paid to the rhythms and minutiae of the characters' daily lives that it feels a little bit like a slightly less talky version of an Eric Rohmer film. When a catastrophic event occurs at roughly the mid-point, the movie shifts gears in a way not dissimilar to what happens in In the Bedroom and becomes an examination of how the various characters attempt to cope with the unthinkable. The early sections of The Son's Room are enormously moving in their unselfconscious respect for the quotidian nature of existence. Oddly enough, however, the film becomes less effective in its later sections, when it's dealing head-on with the drama of emotions so intense and erratic and powerful they're frequently out of control. The film is not without its flaws, but it makes quite an impact. Stars Nanni Moretti, Laura Morante, Giuseppe San Felice, Claudi Della Seta and Stefano Accorsi. Opens March 29 at Tampa Theatre. Call theater to confirm.
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)
Super Troopers (R) Immoral but spunky state troopers find their jobs threatened when their department becomes the target of a massive budget cut. It's a comedy. Stars Steve Lemme and Kevin Hefferman.
(Not Reviewed)
The Time Machine (PG-13) An utterly lackluster remake of George Pal's classic sci-fi movie (itself an adaptation of H.G. Wells' novel) , beefed up by some expensive digital effects, but lacking even the rudimentary charm and wit of the original film. Guy Pearce stars as a 19th century inventor who finds a way to transport himself to a future society where humanity has evolved (or degenerated) into two distinct and mutually antagonistic species.
We Were Soldiers (R) Braveheart goes to 'Nam. Reuniting with Braveheart writer Randall Wallace, Mel Gibson stars as another heroic leader of men — Lt. Col. Hal Moore, a tough but fair career soldier who leads his troops into the first real battle of the Vietnam war. The movie is a little like a poor man's Black Hawk Down, with an unremarkable opening half-hour of human drama (in which we learn that Mel's character has a lively brood of five and a fashion-model-gorgeous wife), followed by one long, nonstop battle. We Were Soldiers alternates the carnage with periodic Big Speeches set to swelling, elegiac music (think Platoon) but the movie's pacing feels clumsy and the final effect is of a film that's not all that sure of itself. Also stars Chris Klein, Greg Kinnear, Sam Elliott and Madeline Stowe.
—Reviewed entries by Lance Goldenberg unless otherwise noted
This article appears in Mar 27 – Apr 2, 2002.
