NEW THIS WEEK:
CODE 46 (R) Director Michael Winterbottom's future-noir places Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton in an Orwellian world where their love is doomed not only by "genetic incompatibility," but also by law. Opens Oct. 15 at Sunrise Cinemas. Call to confirm. (Not Reviewed)
THE FINAL CUT (PG-13) Robin Williams stars in a vaguely metaphysical-sounding sci-fi drama about a man who edits the memory chips placed in human beings at birth. Also stars Mira Sorvino, Jim Caviezel, Mimi Kuzyk and Thom Bishops. Opens Oct. 15 at local theaters. (Not Reviewed)
GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE (PG-13) Director Mamoru Oshii's much-anticipated sequel to his brilliant and very successful 1995 anime Ghost in the Shell is openly (even proudly) indebted to Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, a movie so enormously influential that virtually every science-fiction film of the past few decades seems to exist in its shadow. Like Scott's classic film, Ghost in the Shell 2 is a sci-fi noir, a mystery that takes place in a beautifully grimy retro-future where constant rain splatters on darkly glistening allies and where the line between man and machine is so fine as to be non-existent. The plot here is so convoluted it's nearly incomprehensible — something to do with a tough-talking cyborg and his human partner trying to figure out why sex androids are beginning to freak out and kill their human masters — but the blend of 2-D and 3-D animation is stunning, and the film is filled with an abundance of intriguing philosophical concepts that, for the truly adventurous, fairly demand a second or even a third viewing to really be appreciated. Some will find all the hyper-intellectual chitchat pretentious or even annoying, but even those naysayers will have to admit that Oshii's new film is a head trip of epic proportions. Opens Oct. 15 at local theaters. 
THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES (R) A beautifully observed road movie/buddy pic that gains considerable resonance from the fact that one of its central travelers is a young Che Guevara, sowing a few wild oats before becoming the revolutionary poster-boy who went on to famously fight in Cuba and die in Bolivia. The movie follows 23-year-old medical student Ernesto Guevara (Gael Garcia Bernal as a sweetly sincere pre-Che Che), and his slightly older friend Alberto (Rodrigo de la Serna), as they embark on an epic journey across Latin America on a rickety motorbike dubbed "The Mighty One." The early portions of the film are loose and lively and not in a particular hurry to get anywhere fast, unfolding as a vibrantly colored On the Road, with our heroes revealing themselves as less interested in earth-shaking self-discovery than in the simple pleasures of having a good time. The movie becomes more downbeat but no less engrossing as it progresses, with Director Walter Salles (Central Station) tracing with admirable subtlety the young Guevara's changing connection to the world and his budding political consciousness. It might be argued that the real star here, however, is the landscape, an omnipresent force documented with tremendous authority and artfulness as the characters pass through it, transforming into different people in the process, almost against their wills. Also stars Gustavo Bueno, Mia Maestro and Jorge Chiarella Opens Oct. 15 at local theaters.
SINCE OTAR LEFT (NR) Three generations of women — mother, daughter and granddaughter — live together in a tiny apartment in Tbilisi, Georgia (USSR) in this Julie Bertucelli drama. Although jealous of the favoritism her mother shows for her brother, Otar (who fled Tbilisi for Paris and now communicates solely through letters), daughter Marina and her child, Ada, nonetheless write letters as Otar when he dies to save her mother from pain. A plan that works until Mom manages to save enough money to visit her son in France. Opens Oct. 15 at Sunrise Cinemas. Call to confirm. (Not Reviewed)
TEAM AMERICA:WORLD POLICE (R) South Park bad boys Trey Parker and Matt Stone dish up an all-puppet raunch-fest that more than lives up to its claim of being "the most outrageous movie of the year," complete with copious amounts of puppet gore, puppet sex and virtually non-stop, gleefully foul puppet profanity. Team America also happens to be one of the funniest movies of the year (if you can suspend your more sensitive, politically correct instincts), at least until the energy level begins to flag when some of the jokes start repeating themselves after the first hour or so. Still, the crude, Thunderbirds-style marionette animation (with no attempt to even hide the strings) is a perfect vehicle for Parker and Stone's spoof of big, dumb action movies, the musical numbers are as clever as they are hummable, and the movie has the dubious distinction of featuring what has to be the funniest vomiting scene ever (Monty Python included). Team America also works as a pretty devastating political satire, should you choose to see it that way, populated by lovably arrogant American action heroes so consumed by tunnel vision they don't even realize they're destroying the world in order to "save" it (the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and the pyramids of Egypt are just a few of the spots obliterated in the course of knocking out various nasty puppet terrorists). Kim Jong makes for a delightfully over-the-top villain here, but the movie is also overrun with so many murderous Muslims, oblivious right-wing Yanks and repulsive Hollywood liberals that Team America happily boasts something to offend nearly everyone. Opens Oct. 15 at local theaters. 1/2
RECENT RELEASES:
ANACONDAS: HUNT FOR THE BLOOD ORCHID (PG-13) Big snakes. Really big snakes. Scared people. Really scared people. Any questions? Hollywood's summer of 2004 officially ends not with a bang, but with a whimper, as a scientific expedition in the jungles of Borneo encounter super-sized snakes in this sequel to 1997's best forgotten Anaconda. Is it fall yet? Stars Johnny Messner, Matthew Marsden, Morris Chestnut and Salli Richardson. (Not Reviewed)
THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (PG-13) Matt Damon returns as the memory-challenged assassin from The Bourne Identity. The plot here is fairly standard stuff — Damon's character is framed, resulting in a movie-length series of chases in assorted cities around the world — but the material is directed by Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday) with frenetic energy and a taut precision that maximizes suspense. Also stars Joan Allen, Brian Cox and Julia Stiles. 1/2
BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS (R) Adapted from Evelyn Waugh's 1930 novel Vile Bodies, this feature-film debut for British writer/actor Stephen Fry follows an ensemble cast of witty, literate partygoers through 1930s London. Stars Stephen Campbell Moore, Emily Mortimer and Peter O'Toole, with cameos by Dan Aykroyd, Stockard Channing and others. Held over at Burns Court Cinemas. Call to confirm. (Not Reviewed)
BROWN BUNNY (NC-17) Vincent Gallo's defiantly dull bit of arthouse posturing is basically a doodle, but it's so terribly self-conscious about what it's doing that it defeats the whole purpose of doodling. On the surface — and, for my money, there's little about Brown Bunny that isn't surface — this is basically a boring re-hash of a road trip movie in the classic '60s/'70s tradition, where some angst-ridden character hops in a souped-up car and cruises the highways and byways of America in search of himself or some other f-ing ineffable existential truth. We spend a mind-numbing amount of time watching Gallo's character driving, getting in and out of his car, gassing up, eating, looking in mirrors, and attending to basic bodily functions. Interspersed within all of this state-of-the-art boredom are encounters with a handful of inexplicably distressed and painfully inarticulate humans, where nothing much happens, and the awkwardness just builds and builds until it's nearly unbearable. In between the scenes featuring human beings there are endless transitional shots of driving and more driving, or maybe it's the other way around (maybe the people are the transitional devices and the real show is the driving). It all ends where the road ends and with a much-publicized hardcore sex scene, but even here the movie simply doesn't achieve the catharsis it's after. Gallo might want to bare his soul but only succeeds in baring his erect penis, and a last-minute plot "twist" makes it all feel like M. Knight Shyamalan trapped in a pornographic art flick. Also stars Chloe Sevigny, Cheryl Tiegs, Anna Vareschi and Mary Morasky. Held over at Sunrise Cinemas at Old Hyde Park. Call theaters to confirm.
CELLULAR (PG-13) A woman's panicky distress call randomly appearing on a man's cell phone jump-starts a feature-length cat-and-mouse chase. Stars Kim Basinger, Chris Evans, William H. Macy, Jason Statham and Noah Emmerich. (Not Reviewed)
COLLATERAL (R) Collateral — a minimalist thriller that is basically just two guys in a cab (hit man Tom Cruise and his driver/hostage Jamie Foxx) — feels every bit as shallow and constricted as the lame, screenwriting 101 gimmick of its setup. The movie is engaging enough on a purely visceral level, if you don't think at all about what you're watching, but it's full of gaping plot holes and ridiculous coincidences that even the typically stylish flourishes of director Michael Mann fail to flesh out. Also stars Mark Ruffalo and Jada Pinkett Smith. 1/2
A DIRTY SHAME (NC-17) Bolstered by the freedom of its NC-17 rating, A Dirty Shame wants to be a return to form for John Waters, but there's something a little tired, a little calculated and maybe even a little desperate in the director's attempt to recreate the rawness and outrageousness of his early films. Waters' new movie takes his old set-up of normal types vs. perverts (with the pervs getting all the glory), and reformats it as some sort of ode to sexual excess, with a Baltimore filled with adamantly old-fashioned townsfolk terrorized by bands of hyperactive sex fiends. Tracey Ullman doesn't quite fit into Divine's shoes as a repressed housewife who becomes the libidinous disciple of a messianic sexual healer named Ray-Ray (Johnny Knoxville, who's the best thing in the film). Waters does his best to shock us — there are flashes of full-frontal nudity and fairly explicit references to all manner of curious sex acts — but what might have seemed fresh, crude and astonishingly odd in one of the director's films from 30 years ago, seems a bit pointless now. The real problem here, however, is that, despite some choice moments, A Dirty Shame simply isn't all that funny, and that lack of comedy translates into the one thing a John Waters film should never be: boring. Also stars Selma Blair and Chris Isaak.
FACING WINDOWS (R) Giovanna Mezzogiorno delivers a stunning performance as an unhappily married woman with eyes for the handsome stranger who lives across the way (Raoul Bova). Director Ferzan Ozpetek (Steam) parallels this bittersweet modern romance with a second, half-century-old love story that plays out in the imperfectly remembered thoughts of an elderly man who ingratiates himself into Giovanna's household. The film juggles a few too many plot strands (including a curiously gratuitous Holocaust angle) and has a tendency to oversentimentalize a few of them, but the bulk of Facing Windows is a satisfyingly lush, elegant experience, complete with beautiful music, strong performances and sterling production values. Also stars the late Massimo Girotti, Italian cinema icon from numerous Rosselini and Visconti classics. Held over at Sunrise Cinemas at Old Hyde Park. Call to confirm. 1/2
FIRST DAUGHTER (PG-13) The president's little girl is all grown up and spending her first year away from the first family as a college freshman. Katie Holmes stars in this romantic comedy, with Marc Blucas as the love interest. (Not Reviewed)
THE FORGOTTEN (PG-13) It is believed that humans utilize 10 percent of their mental power at best and Hollywood has long taken it upon itself to chart the vast expanses of leftover mind. In The Forgotten, the latest Julianne Moore vehicle, the question posed is: "Could there be a function of the brain that causes someone to invent a fictional life for themselves? If so, is this function compelling enough to build a decent movie around? No? Oh hell, we'll just do it anyway." This laughably contrived psychological thriller opens on a distraught Telly Paretta (Moore) agonizing over the loss of her 5-year-old son, Sam. Although Sam's disappearance was surrounded by questionable circumstances and it was never determined whether the kid was dead or simply missing, mom-of-the-year Telly only decides to investigate after she is told that Sam never existed at all. The already shaky plot worsens in execution, with the Sam-napping attributed simultaneously to Telly's faltering sanity, clandestine government agencies, shape-shifting pilots, and what appears to be a giant, human-sucking vacuum cleaner in the sky. If the remaining 90 percent of our brains is used to make films like this, it's probably better left alone.
—Casey Clague
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (PG-13) Billy Bob Thornton stars in this chronicle of a year in the life of a small-town high school football team. Based on the bestseller by H.G. Bissinger. Also stars Tim McGraw, Derek Luke and Lucas Black. (Not Reviewed)
GARDEN STATE (R) A flawed but extremely promising debut from writer-director-star Zach Braff that blends darkly surreal comedy with some genuinely and oddly touching moments. Aspiring L.A. actor Andrew Largeman (Braff) returns to his New Jersey hometown for the funeral of his mother, only to find that life in the hinterlands is crazier than ever. Largeman spars with his strangely distant father, deals with his own confused emotions, reacquaints himself with his old, wildly eccentric friends, and falls in something resembling love with a beautiful local (Natalie Portman), most of which is handled in a manner as bizarre as it is funny. The dialogue is clever — sometimes a little too clever, perhaps, in a showy, self-satisfied way — but the film tempers its precociousness with a successful blend of the appealingly sweet and the just plain weird. Also stars Peter Sarsgaard, Ian Holm and Ron Liebman. 1/2
HERO (PG-13) In Zhang Yimou's eye-catching art-fu epic, virtually every shot is suitable for framing and every battle is poetry in motion. Hero is nothing if not a feast for the senses, a cross between a lavish historical epic, a dazzling martial arts extravaganza, and an astonishingly graceful ballet performed with swords, arrows and fists. The film unfolds in flashback, Kill Bill-style, as a nameless champion (Jet Li) details his battles with a series of super-assassins — although there's more than a little Rashomon here as well, with competing versions of the truth eventually calling the original narrative into question. This is a film full of lush, unexpected pleasures, and one that puts the art back in martial arts, big time. Also stars Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi and Donnie Yen
INTIMATE STRANGERS (NR) Patrice Leconte's new film begins with a case of mistaken identity, when beautiful, distraught Anna (Sandrine Bonnaire) accidentally wanders into the wrong office and begins revealing the most intimate details of her personal life to the mousy, middle-aged tax accountant she wrongly assumes to be her new psychiatrist (Fabrice Luchini). Intimate Strangers traces the faux shrink's growing obsession with Anna, then complicates the story as we begin to consider that much of what the deeply troubled woman is revealing about herself may be invented for his sake. Things are further complicated when William eventually does tell Anna who he actually is, but she decides to continue their "sessions" anyway. It's a typically wry, almost perversely Leconte-ian twist in a film that delights in teasing us with the suggestion that the relationship between patient and analyst and that of exhibitionist and voyeur are essentially one and the same. Also stars Michel Dushaussoy, Anne Brochet and Gilbert Melki.
LADDER 49 (PG-13) Well made and horribly depressing, Ladder 49 leaves the viewer with an admiration for the craft that went into the film and a desire to somehow purge it from memory. Joaquin Phoenix stars as a Baltimore firefighter injured and trapped in a burning high-rise. As he drifts in and out of consciousness and the other members of his crew desperately try to find and rescue him (much yelling over saws and fire), the film presents us with an overview of his life. The standard "rookies' first day," firehouse-hazing and love-interest scenes are all present and accounted for, and the structure will be familiar to anyone who has ever seen a movie. However, the acting and direction rise well above the material, and therein lies the dilemma. While it is easy to admire Ladder 49 for its technical prowess, it's also tempting to leave the theater in search of a stiff drink — or a noose.
—Joe Bardi
MARIA FULL OF GRACE (R) A tough, compelling film from Colombia about a desperate young woman who becomes a drug smuggler, only to find herself in even more desperate straits. The movie is remarkably restrained (even when dealing with the most garish elements) and executed in a finely detailed, no-frills manner that at times gives the film a power and authority rarely found outside of the best documentaries. Maria Full of Grace is not without its share of narrative cliches, but writer-director Joshua Marston strikes a balance by imbuing his film's mostly female characters with complex emotions and an unexpected mix of smarts and naivete that add to a sense of authenticity and urgency. Also stars Virginia Ariza and Yenny Paola Vega. 1/2
MR. 3000 (PG-13) A winning baseball comedy from director Charles Stone III (Drumline), Mr. 3000 stars Bernie Mac as retired baseball great Stan Ross, a man who displayed excellence on the field and extreme arrogance everywhere else. Think Barry Bonds crossed with T.O. and shaken with Shaq, only really self-absorbed. Nine years removed from the game and campaigning heavily for induction into the Hall of Fame, Ross is confronted with the reality that three of his 3,000 hits were statistical errors. Seeing that he has built his entire life around his hit total, Ross returns to an attendance-challenged Brewers club that is happy to let the fan-favorite chase his lost record. Mr. 3000 doesn't avoid sports movie cliches (yes, there is a big game at the end) as much as it utilizes them to make larger points about the state of professional sports and the athletes who play them. In the center of it all is Bernie Mac, who turns in an assured comedic leading-man performance. The film's success hinges on his every move, and he never disappoints. Angela Bassett, Brian J. White, Michael Rispoli, and a (mostly) silent Paul Sorvino round out the excellent ensemble cast. Look out for all the cameos! 1/2
—Joe Bardi
PRINCESS DIARIES 2: ROYAL ENGAGEMENT (G) PD2 picks up where PD left off, with American teen Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) flying to Genovia to assume her role as princess of the little-known European nation. Turns out Mia will become queen sooner than she thought, but by Genovian law, she must be married first. So the race to find a husband both suitable and lovable begins. Also stars Julie Andrews, Hector Elizondo, Heather Matarazzo and John Rhys-Davies. (Not Reviewed)
RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE (R) More of that ol' video game slice-and-dice featuring cartoonish human warriors pitted against swarms of yucky, flesh-eating zombies. Stars Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory and Jared Harris. (Not Reviewed)
SHARK TALE (PG) Tiny, undemanding tykes in need of a quick Nemo fix are likely to be placated by the bright colors, frenzied pace and bodily function jokes, but there's little in this latest DreamWorks animation to satisfy more discriminating grown-up moviegoers. Shark Tale takes the familiar fable of the brave little tailor and sets it in an underwater realm, with Will Smith giving voice to a poor little fish who becomes a celebrity when he's mistaken as a fearless shark slayer. There's also a big, scary-looking shark who just wants to cuddle, and a typical array of uplifting messages about the value of family, tolerance and being true to yourself. The computer-generated animation is as dazzling as we've come to expect in these big-budget CGI projects, but the movie's humor and incessant pop culture references seem to consist largely of leftovers from Shrek, while the rampant stereotypes (Italian gangsters, shallow African-American hip-hoppers, et al.) get old very quickly. Featuring the voices of Jack Black, James Gandolfini, Angelina Jolie, Renee Zellweger and Martin Scorsese. 1/2
SHAUN OF THE DEAD (R) Poor Shaun. He's 29, stuck in a dead-end job, has an obnoxious slob for a roommate, his girlfriend's just dumped him, he's hung-over, and everyone around him is turning into rampaging, flesh-munching zombies. Don't be fooled by the buckets of blood and unrepentant gore in Shaun of the Dead; a wittier, funnier horror spoof you're unlikely to find, at least for the film's first 45 minutes or so. The movie loses some steam in its second half, struggling a bit to sustain the energy and the joke, but the cumulative effect might just be the most monstrously funny and splendiferously gross homage to genre flicks since Peter Jackson's Brain-Dead. Shaun even one-up's Romero's Dawn of the Dead, with scads of perfectly observed blue-collar characters who come off as such stupefied, shambling wrecks that it's difficult to tell the real zombies from the metaphorical ones (thus giving new meaning to the phrase working-class stiff). Beyond all that, here is a movie that's not afraid to accompany a gruesome murder with a bit of chart-topping pop by Queen, follow that with a Bertrand Russell quote, and then cap it all with a fart joke. Stars Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Dylan Moran and Bill Nighy. 1/2
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW (PG) A large-scale achievement that manages to simultaneously seem retro and futuristic, Sky Captain features cutting-edge technology in the service of a storyline that harkens back to the days of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. While the actors are flesh-and-blood — or, in the case of Angelina Jolie, fleshy-and-bloody-hot — practically everything around them was created on computers by debuting writer-director Kerry Conran and his team. Conran's script is serviceable enough, with heroic aviator Sky Captain (Jude Law) and spunky reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) trying to unravel a mystery whose ingredients include the disappearance of prominent scientists, the destruction of New York City by gigantic robots, and the emergence of a mysterious figure known as Dr. Totenkopf (the long-gone Sir Laurence Olivier, resurrected through altered footage from his early movies). From German Expressionism to screwball comedy, from The Wizard of Oz to Raiders of the Lost Ark, Conran's influences often make Sky Captain seem like the fever dream of a hopeless film buff — it may be derivative, but it's never dull.
—Matt Brunson
TAXI (PG-13) Speed demon cabbie Queen Latifah teams up with bumbling undercover cop Jimmy Fallon in pursuit of sexy female bank robbers in this astonishingly lame remake of Luc Besson's 1999 action comedy. Fallon, who has done some very funny things on Saturday Night Live, seems noticeably uncomfortable in this very badly written role, and barely warrants a single laugh throughout the movie's entire running time. The film lacks the high style and crisp editing associated with a Besson project, the performances are phoned-in, and there's really no story here to speak of, hence very little reason at all to see Taxi. Also stars Jennifer Esposito
A TOUCH OF PINK (R) Tired retread of a coming-out tale filtered through a blandly inoffensive romantic comedy stocked with gay and ethnic stereotypes who wear their quirkiness on their sleeves. Alim (Jimi Mistry) is a nice South Asian Muslim boy living in London with his cute English boyfriend. Things go predictably haywire when Alim's mother comes calling with dreams of finding him a proper Muslim girlfriend, prompting an elaborate ruse where pretty much everyone winds up pretending to be something they're not. The script tries hard to charm but mostly succeeds in being cloying or formulaic, with the only real saving grace being an appearance by Kyle MacLachlan as the spirit of Cary Grant. Also stars Kristen Holden-Ried and Suleka Mathew.
WHAT THE #$*! DO WE KNOW?! (NA) In an attempt to express the neurological processes of "quantum uncertainty," this part-narrative, part-documentary, part-animations flick stars Marlee Matlin as Amanda, whose ho-hum life spins into a chaotic, Alice in Wonderland-type reality. Held over at Burns Court Cinemas. Call to confirm. (Not Reviewed)
WIMBLEDON Kirsten Dunst (Lizzie Bradbury) stars opposite Paul Bettany (Peter Colt) in a mushy, melodramatic romance peppered with clever comedy. Sound familiar? Colt and Bradbury meet at Wimbledon where Colt's luck seems to have run out. By "fooling around" with Bradbury, however, he gets his mojo back and becomes one of the top-seeded players in the tournament. To win the viewer's sympathy, the film delves somewhat predictably into Colt's childhood (he came from a fractured family) and plays up critics' contention that he likely lacks what it takes to make it to the championship. The best thing about Wimbledon is the comedy, which is laugh-out-loud funny. John McEnroe's witty guest appearance as a commentator and James McAvoy in the role of the brother who bets against Colt rejuvenate the otherwise flat-lined plot. But the humor is too infrequent to overcome the overamped action and love scenes and, in that respect, Wimbeldon resembles a watered-down version of another Dunst film: Spider-Man.
—Meredith Yeomans
WITHOUT A PADDLE (PG-13) A trio of Generation Whatever's (Seth Green, Matthew Lillard and Dax Shepard) star as childhood chums who reunite at a funeral and vow to honor their dead pal's dream of locating a lost treasure. The movie quickly devolves into a road trip down river, in which our heroes encounter man-eating bears with maternal urges, evil gun-toting hillbillies, sexy neo-hippie chicks, and Burt Reynolds as a scraggly-bearded mountain man. It's every bit as stupid as it sounds, and considerably more annoying for its attempts to fuse the uninspired slapstick with overbearingly "sensitive" moments of male bonding, secret bearing and soul searching. Also stars Burt Reynolds.
WOMAN THOU ART LOOSED (NR) The production values scream Lifetime Movie of the Week, but that only adds to the non-polished, no-frills power of this heartfelt drama about a young African-American woman fighting an uphill battle with the ongoing effects of child abuse, prison, drugs and assorted other problems. Kimberly Elise (The Manchurian Candidate) delivers a tough and thoroughly believable performance as Michelle, a woman struggling to deal with an all-consuming desire for revenge as she comes to grips with a stepfather who raped her as a child, and a mother who seems deep in denial. There are some stagey and overwritten scenes here, but the project blazes with honesty and the numerous scenes shot at an actual revival meeting provide an interesting and effective framework for the film's narrative and messages. Also stars Clifton Powell and Loretta Devine 1/2
Reviewed entries by Lance Goldenberg unless otherwise noted.
This article appears in Oct 13-19, 2004.