Short reviews of films showing throughout the Tampa Bay area.
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A Beautiful Mind (PG-13) A 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. 
About a Boy (PG-13) It's a long way from American Pie to this compact little charmer about the redemption of a sexual predator, but that's exactly the journey taken by writer-directors Paul and Chris Weitz. About a Boy is based on a 1998 book by popular Brit novelist Nick Hornby (High Fidelity) and boasts a clever, snappy script co-written by Peter Hedges. The best thing about the film, though, is Hugh Grant, whose performance as a shallow skirt-chaser avoids most of the actor's trademark ticks and flutters, and manages to be both winningly narcissistic and sweetly self-deprecating. The core of the film is about the bond that forms between Grant's character and the young boy he's using as a prop to seduce single moms, but the movie is usually smart enough to avoid tugging too hard on our collective heartstrings. Also stars Toni Collette, Rachel Weisz and Nicholas Hoult.
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) This semi-successful comeback project for director Peter Bogdanovich (Paper Moon, The Last Picture Show) is 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. 
Changing Lanes (R) Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson star as two guys who literally crash into each other in a fender bender that escalates into a strange vendetta. The film is more complex and nuanced than we might imagine in a big-budget film. The only real problem with the lean and edgy story is the slightly flabby treatment given to it by director Roger Michell. Also stars Toni Collette, Sydney Pollack, William Hurt and Amanda Peet.
Deuces Wild (R) A clumsy, cliched and heavy-handed tale of gang turf wars in 1950s Brooklyn, this is one of the worst movies of its kind in memory. Deuces Wild is as operatic and excessive as early Scorsese, but most of it verges on unintentional caricature, so cheesy it might have been enjoyable if only it didn't take itself so seriously. 
Enigma (R) A good old fashioned Brit spy caper with a touch of romance, scads of nasty Nazis and a damaged genius straight out of A Beautiful Mind at its center. The damaged genius is a brilliant code breaker (Dougray Scott) who hooks up with a plucky young lass (Kate Winslet) in order to solve the mystery of a disappeared beauty and, in the process, crack a Nazi code that threatens the Allies' efforts in World War II. The movie feels a little like a grown-up version of Spy Kids at times (or, if you prefer, a Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys mystery), and a times very much like one of Hitchock's early thrillers. The plot is a little too convoluted for its own good, but Michael Apted's direction is classy, Tom Stoppard's script is smart and witty, and John Barry's score is a fond reminder of Thunderball and his Bond glory days. Also stars Jeremy Northam and Saffron Burrows. Opens May 24 at Channelside Cinemas. Call to confirm.
Enough (R) Jennifer Lopez as a once-happy homemaker who fights back when she discovers she's married to the husband from Hell. Also stars Billy Campbell and Juliette Lewis. Opens May 24 at local theaters.
(Not Reviewed)
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. Also stars Matthew McConaughey and Powers Boothe.
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. 
Hollywood Ending (PG-13) Although it's not exactly up there with Day for Night and The Player, Woody Allen's latest is a tasty little addition to that distinctive not-quite-genre of movies about the making of movies. The central conceit of Hollywood Ending is almost perfect in its succinct exaggeration — a blind man getting away with directing a big Hollywood movie — but, as in Allen's recent Curse of the Jade Scorpion (in which love was posited as a form of hypnotic suggestion), the filmmaker doesn't really do enough with that conceit once it's introduced. Allen stars as a neurotic (what else?) has-been director who's given a chance to jumpstart his career by helming a picture produced by his ex-wife (Tea Leoni) and her new boyfriend, a big-shot studio shark (Treat Williams).
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.
Italian for Beginners (R) A Dogme film for people who hate Dogme films, Italian for Beginners takes a thoroughly ordinary, often silly story and adds handheld cameras and the other anti-tricks of the Dogme crowd, as if all this will somehow turn cliche into art. It doesn't. Director Lone Scherfig throws together a half-dozen lonely and somewhat eccentric thirtysomethings and allows them to gradually and, generally, quite implausibly come together, filming the process in the gritty, no-frills manner proscribed by the Dogme manifesto. Held over at Regal Channelside 8. Call to confirm.
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. 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.
Life or Something Like It (PG-13) Angelina Jolie stars as Lanie Kerrigan, a popular and aggressively shallow Seattle television personality whose perfect life is forever rattled when a homeless seer with an alarmingly high accuracy rate (Tony Shalhoub), summarily informs her that she has one week to live. It's not exactly rocket science or poetry, but in the hands of a more accomplished filmmaker it's doubtful that it would all have seemed so routine or hopelessly transparent. Also stars Stockard Channing. 
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. Held over at Main Street Cinema in Clearwater. Call to confirm.
The New Guy (PG-13) Painfully unfunny comedy about a high school dweeb who, under the dubious guidance of a crazy con, re-invents himself as the coolest kid in class. Stars DJ Qualls, Eliza Dushku, Zooey Deschanel and a string of pointless cameos by the likes of Henry Rollins, Gene Simmons, Tommy Lee and skateboarder Tony Hawk. 
Nine Queens (R) Sly, twisty heist movie about a pair of small time Argentinian scam artists who hook up for a day and become involved in a half-million dollar con involving a sheet of priceless stamps. Just about everybody in Nine Queens is working an angle, so that the film keeps us engaged both in what's actually happening on screen and in what we sense may be happening under the surface and behind the scenes. It's all playful enough, elegantly shot and quite enjoyable, even when the plot points come off as a touch contrived. The whole thing is very much in the tradition of movies like Mamet's House of Games and Heist (minus the elaborately codified language), The Grifters and even The Sting — just not quite as original. Stars Gaston Pauls, Ricardo Darin and Leticia Bredice. Opens May 24 at Channelside Cinemas. Call to confirm.
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. Call theater to confirm.
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.
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 and a mullet, 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
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.
Son of the Bride (NR) Sweet, sappy but, from time to time, genuinely uplifting account of Rafi, an Argentinean restaurateur (Ricardo Darin from Nine Queens) who goes through a sort of midlife crisis when he suffers a mild heart attack. The film doesn't really have much to say, but it's sincere, gentle and, in its way, fairly engaging as it depicts its hero's tentative attempts to reassess his life and reach out to the people who should be important to him. At the emotional center of the film is Rafi's relationship with his mother, an Alzheimer's casualty about to get the church wedding she always wanted. Also stars Hector Alterio and Norma Aleandro. Opens May 24 at Tampa Theatre. Call to confirm.
Space Station (PG) New Imax featurette documenting a pair of voyages to the international space station floating high above planet Earth. The multinational crews include a mix of American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts. At IMAX Dome Theater.
(Not Reviewed)
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (G) An animated, all-American tale of freedom and bravery that's very nearly a kid-friendly remake of Little Big Man with Dustin Hoffman's role being taken by a talking horse. The movie's equine protagonist is actually far more heroic than Hoffman's chameleon-like survivor, but both characters wind up serving as virtual tour guides on a condensed history of the Old West by passing back and forth between the Native American and white man's civilizations that defined the era. Dreamworks' latest foray into animation-land is a much more serious outing than their last, the brilliantly irreverent Shrek, and, while it's not nearly as inspired as that last go-round, it's still fairly high quality if somewhat stiff stuff. The major drawback here is the annoying faux-inspirational music by Bryan Adams. Opens May 24 at local theaters.
Spider-Man (PG) Sam Raimi's big screen adaptation of Spider-Man is surprisingly faithful to Spidey's origins as an outsider superhero, even if the edges have been smoothed out a touch. The movie's first half lays the story out in a manner that has all the symmetry and primal oomph of modern myth, with Peter Parker spending most of the movie simply adjusting to his new powers (we don't even see Spidey in full costume until a full hour into the movie). The movie's first part is so compelling, in fact, that what comes after is something of a let-down. Even though the second half of Spider-Man is infinitely more action-packed than the set-up, the movie gives the distinct impression of slowing down as it progresses. The main reason the movie's second half suffers is due to the fundamental shift from characters to CGI-dominated action — and, frankly, some of the digital effects aren't quite up to the task. None of this will keep the crowds from flocking to Spider-Man, of course, nor should it. Also stars Kirsten Dunst and James Franco.
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (PG) As enticing as anything George Lucas has ever done, Episode II is good enough not only to ease the pain of the fiasco otherwise known as Episode I, it quite nearly redeems it. The middle installment of Lucas' new trilogy is a big, juicy entertainment that manages to put into perspective everything that's come before and neatly set up what's to follow. The action sequences are among Lucas' most muscular and exciting to date, but the movie's narrative is surprisingly intriguing as well. It's all framed within an exotic array of computer-generated alien landscapes that are both spectacular and, for the most part, believable — proof that the digital revolution is finally just about complete (precisely because, like most of the better revolutions, it's become invisible). There are problems here, to be sure — hokey dialogue, too many pandering, cartoony bit players, a romance that verges on kitsch, a grand finale battle royale that includes everything including the kitchen sink and just goes on forever — but it's a Star Wars movie, after all, and that's just part of the charm. Stars Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Samuel L. Jackson and Christopher Lee.
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.
Triumph of Love (PG-13) Mira Sorvino stars as a cross-dressing princess in this self-consciously arty adaptation of a forgettable 18th Century play by Marvaux. Clare Peploe (wife of the film's producer, Bernardo Bertolucci) directs with a gratuitous flurry of jump cuts and postmodern flourishes almost completely at odds with the light and airy nature of what is basically just a predictable romantic comedy in which all the characters are buffoons, caricatures or both. Held over at Regal Channelside 8. Call to confirm.
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. 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. Held over at Regal Channelside 8 in Tampa. Call to confirm.
Ultimate X (PG) Not your standard IMAX movie by a long shot, Ultimate X cops an attitude that's almost as edgy and irreverent as its subject matter — those Extreme Sports featured in ESPN's popular X Games, like BMX biking, skateboarding, street luge, wakeboarding, speed climbing and all other manner of daredevil events. The stunts and tricks are spectacular, and so are the wipeouts. Features skaters Tony Hawk, Bob Burnquist and Bucky Lasek, BMX stunt riders Ryan Nyquist and Cory Nasty Nastazio and Moto X rider Carey Hart. At Channelside IMAX. Call theater to confirm.
Unfaithful (R) A tale of marital deception that starts out as a fairly standard erotic thriller but becomes much more interesting in its later stages, when it tackles the aftermath of the affair. Diane Lane stars as a more-or-less happy suburban housewife who enters into a steamy affair with a sexy French bohemian (Olivier Martinez) who soon has her reading esoteric poetry, attending Jacques Tati film festivals and engaging in mildly kinky sex in public bathrooms. Lane (who's quite convincing as a woman both thrilled and repelled by what she's doing) and hubby Richard Gere sink gradually into an abyss of secrets and lies, with the movie's real strength being the unflinching detailing of that unhappy process. The film is a remake of Claude Chabrol's 1969 La Femme Infidele and, while Chabrol's skewering of bourgeois respectability doesn't translate completely successfully to to 21st century American culture, Unfaithful still manages to get most of the important stuff right.
—Reviewed entries by Lance Goldenberg unless otherwise noted
This article appears in May 22-28, 2002.