Amazing Journeys (PG) IMAX films are about scale, size — from the unfathomably huge (the oceans, the cosmos themselves) to the microscopically small — and this latest IMAX production gives us a little bit to look at from both ends of the spectrum. Amazing Journeys examines the migration habits of various creatures.
American Outlaws (PG-13) A new comedic twist to an old classic tale of Jesse James and his gang, this time with a cast of young hotties. At least this one might have enough slapstick humor to get you through it.
—Sandra Jones
American Pie 2 (R) You can see the gags coming from Ypsilianti. The characters are as thin as rice paper, the acting is either terminally bland or hopelessly over the top, and — what's more — AP2 is stingy on the T&A shots. The gang of wacky dudes is back, this time spending summer break at a beach house. Guess what? There are all sorts of sexual hijinks. For real. Jim confuses the lube and the super glue and, y'know, cements his hand to his jimmy 'cause, like, he's strokin' it. Really. Why waste celluloid on this when they could be showing some ass?
—Eric Snider
America's Sweethearts (PG-13) America's Sweethearts, co-written by and co-starring Billy Crystal, collects an array of funny, sorta-funny and not-particularly-funny vignettes, but never quite congeals into a cohesive story. The laughs come in an ad hoc fashion (provided mostly by Crystal one-liners), not as the byproduct of a cohesive vision. John Cusack and Catherine Zeta-Jones play an estranged married couple whose teaming on hit movies is about to end with one last sci-fi flick. Also stars Julia Roberts.
—Eric Snider
Apocalypse Now Redux (R) Spectacular, deeply sensual, provocative and pretentious, the inscrutable heart of darkness in Apocalypse Now is as daunting and formidable as ever — and perhaps, just perhaps, a wee bit more understandable — in the extended, three-hour-and-16 minute edit of Coppola's legendary film, retitled Apocalypse Now Redux. This new, even longer version of the director's seminal Vietnam war opus basically restores four scenes that were cut from the original 1979 release, all of which are interesting, but none indispensable. The additional scenes include some expanded horseplay between Martin Sheen and his boatmates, another rant by Marlon Brando and a strangely lyrical but ultimately unfocused interlude with a group of apparently shell-shocked Playboy playmates. The centerpiece of Redux, and the one new scene that might possibly be considered crucial, involves an extended and curiously talky detour to a French plantation in which a virtual history lesson on Indochina is delivered. Other than that, this is still basically the same old Apocalypse you know and love and maybe hate, only a little longer. The bottom line is that the new material would have probably been better relegated to the status of bonus deleted scenes on some future special edition DVD. Also stars Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, Sam Bottoms and Dennis Hopper. Held over at Tampa Theatre. Call theater to confirm.
Bubble Boy (PG-13) A boy who suffers from an immune-deficiency disorder and must live in a germ-free plastic bubble travels cross-country by hook or by crook to get the girl. What begins as a lighthearted comedy with a slightly subversive twist (Jesus-fish cookies and altars to Reagan?) quickly turns to the formula so prevalent in modern screwball comedy — offend everyone so no one can complain. In all, you're left feeling that this flick's bark is worse than its bite.
—Diana Peterfreund
Captain Corelli's Mandolin (R) Romance blooms on a ridiculously beautiful Greek island during World War II when a ridiculously sensitive Italian soldier (Nicolas Cage) and a ridiculously strong-willed Greek woman (Penelope Cruz) are forced to share the same home. The movie is sometimes fun to look at, but we never for a moment believe we're watching anything other than highly paid movie stars putting on a show.
Curse of the Jade Scorpion (PG-13) Woody Allen's latest is a minimalist caper flick set in New York (where else?) in 1940, a world where all the men wear hats, the women all talk tough and everybody smokes, drinks and wears trench coats. Allen stars as an insurance investigator looking into a series of heists it turns out that he himself has committed while under the influence of hypnotic suggestion. That's about all there is to the film, other than the combative, bantering relationship Allen's character enjoys with an efficiency expert played by Helen Hunt. Also stars Dan Aykroyd, Charlize Theron and David Ogden Stiers.
The Deep End (R) The first film in over seven years from the writing-directing team of Scott McGehee and David Siegel (Suture) is a rigorously skewed mystery that's less a whodunit and more a whydunit. Tilda Swinton plays Margaret Hall, an ordinary California housewife who, in the imperceptible blink of an eye, passes from perfect, almost invisible normalcy to a state of dread when she finds herself an accomplice to what appears to be a terrible crime. The Deep End is, in any number of ways, a letter-perfect 21st Century update of classic noir, albeit one that's been transposed from the nocturnal city to the sun-dappled countryside. In The Deep End, the comfortable, middle-class surroundings become creepy signifiers for all the dark and awful things lurking just beneath even the brightest and most ordinary of surfaces. Also stars Goran Visnijic (ER's Luka), Jonathan Tucker and Peter Donat.
Down from the Mountain (NR) An engaging look at the American roots music on display in the Coen Brothers' O Brother Where Art Thou?, focusing on a special concert held last year in Nashville, featuring artists from the film's soundtrack. The movie's first half-hour sets the scene, giving us a peek at the performers in rehearsal and chatting about the music, while the bulk of Down From the Mountain offers a front row seat for the concert itself. The music is largely a thing of beauty, filled with irresistible, achingly sweet, perfectly meshed harmonies and authentic as it comes. Featured performers include Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Ralph Stanley, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, and many others. At Channelside Cinemas. Call theater to confirm.
The Glass House (PG-13) Two orphaned minors find their new guardians aren't exactly the model parents they present themselves as. Given the lurid subject matter, The Glass House might have been an enjoyably sleazy little thriller, but the movie won't own up to its numerous cliches and have fun with them, while the clumsy script has the parents seeming so ominous from such an early stage that the movie conveys very little suspense or surprise. Beyond that, the pacing is fairly leaden, the music calls up the scores of Halloween and The Exorcist a little too blatantly and the ludicrous, final 15 minutes are an absolute embarrassment to all the respected actors slumming here. Stars Leelee Sobieski, Diane Lane and Stellan Skarsgaard.
Hardball (PG-13) Keanu Reeves plays a lifelong underachiever who discovers the real meaning of life when he becomes the coach of a baseball team of underprivileged kids. Also stars Diane Lane.
(Not Reviewed)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (R) Writer-director John Cameron Mitchell's bizarre and extremely entertaining glam rock musical about a transgendered wannabe rock star is an old-fashioned musical at heart — albeit one that's been outfitted in rabbit fur, rhinestones, spandex and no less than thirty different wigs (and that's just for Hedwig alone). Based on Mitchell's popular off-Broadway production (he also stars as the sexually ambiguous title character), Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a heady dose of rock theater influenced, both musically and attitudinally, by what Hedwig calls, in typically eloquent and acid-tongued fashion, the crypto-homo rockers of yore — Lou Reed and the Velvets, a little bit of Iggy, and, most of all, oodles of Alladin Sane-era Bowie. Hedwig cruises along during its first hour in a manner that's so engagingly wacky that we're not quite prepared for the emotional shocks that occur during the film's far more serious last act, when the movie verges on going full-blown freak show. Also stars Michael Pitt, Miriam Shor, Andrea Martin and Rob Campbell. Playing at Channelside Cinemas. Call theater to confirm.
Island of the Sharks (PG) Another intriguing, typically beautiful IMAX underwater feature, this one taking us eyeball to eyeball with the denizens of the waters around the Cocos Islands off the coast of Costa Rica. Island of the Sharks is not all grim, fish-eat-fish stuff — there are also some fascinating glimpses of a symbiotic environment in which barberfish groom other, larger fish (including sharks); warm and fuzzy moments with creatures and their young; and amusing time-lapse sequences of starfish wobbling along the ocean floor like an army of underwater Charlie Chaplins. At Channelside IMAX.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (R) In which the New Jersey anti-auteur conjures up all the ghosts of his past, living and dead, and then bids adieu. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is billed as Kevin Smith's farewell to the so-called mythology he's been evolving (or, some might suggest, de-evolving) since Clerks, and it's quite probably one of the most self-referential movies ever made, loaded with nods to all of Smith's other flicks and stocked with characters and catch phrases from those movies. The movie's plot, such as it is, is simply a cross-country road trip taken by the drug-addled title characters (Smith and Jason Mewes) in order to stop a movie from being made that's based on comic book characters based on them (with me so far?). Some of it's really wonderful, most of it's a lot of fun, but, all in all, the movie's not quite as fresh or as effortlessly rude as Clerks was way back when. Also stars Ben Affleck, Will Ferrell, Jason Lee, Chris Rock and a cast of zillions.
Jeepers Creepers (R) A Grade A guilty pleasure. Taking the long way home down an endless country road, brother and sister Trish and Darry (Gina Philips and Justin Long) find themselves being terrorized by some sort of demonic entity with a penchant for human flesh. This Florida-lensed production conveys a raw, vaguely homegrown feel that enhances the film's uniquely creepy reality and general suspense level. The movie contains it share of cheap and borderline cheesy scares, but there are also quite a few genuinely horrifying moments, as well as a number of odd and very unsettling images.
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (R) One of the most beautifully drawn animated features I've ever seen, but also one of the murkiest. Experiencing this dark, richly atmospheric Japanese anime is like watching a series of breathtaking paintings come to life, but, unfortunately, the plot is a little too complex — or at least dense and dour — for its own good. Jin-Roh takes place in some alternative-reality Japan where various military organizations face off with numerous terrorist and counter-terrorist groups and, frankly, it's a bit difficult to tell the players even with a scorecard. In the midst of it all there's an interesting romance between two of the characters, neither seems to be who they claim to be. It's all more than a bit confusing and pretty bleak too, but the visual beauty of the project transforms the film into something that's really quite special. From Mamoru Oshii and Hiroyuki Okiura, the creators of the classic anime Ghost in the Shell. At Channelside Cinemas. Call theater to confirm.
Jurassic Park 3 (R) Sam Neill, William H. Macy, Tea Leoni and a couple of other unlucky customers crash land on the island of the you-know-whats. The least plot-and-character-oriented of the Jurassic franchise, JP3 cuts right to the chase. That said, this is a much better and more exciting movie than we might have expected, with some expertly handled action sequences, almost no padding, and the best special effects of the series.
Legally Blonde (PG-13) Reese Witherspoon's sheer adorability carries Legally Blonde. She plays Elle Woods, a privileged graduate of a sunny California campus who not only possesses naturally luxuriant blond locks and copious perkiness but is whip-smart and has a heart of gold. After she's dumped by her Eastern blue-blood boyfriend, for not fitting his future politico image, she wrangles her way into Harvard law, where Plan A is to win the guy back. She strikes many blows for would-be dumb blondes everywhere.
—Eric Snider
Lumumba (R) Patrice Lumumba was, for two short months in 1960, the first more-or-less freely elected prime minister of an independent African nation. Director Raphael Peck tells Lumumba's fascinating story in a manner that, though intermittently gripping, falls victim to many of the problems that traditionally plague bio-pics. The lead character is overly idealized while other, less-important characters simply pop in and out of the story in a manner that often seems almost random. The narrative is overstuffed with historical details and underdeveloped in terms of what those details actually mean. Eriq Ebouaney, however, is very impressive as the Malcom X-like freedom fighter Lumumba, but the film rarely gives us a full sense of what the man was all about or what really resulted in his rise or fall. Opens Sept. 21 at Channelside Cinemas. Call theater to confirm.
The Musketeer (PG-13) The latest big screen adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas classic about 17th Century Parisian swordsmen. Legendary Hong Kong choreographer Xin Xin Xiong (Once Upon a Time in China) was responsible for the fight sequences. Stars Justin Chambers, Catherine Deneuve, Mena Survari, Stephen Rea and Tim Roth.
(Not Reviewed)
O (R) The idea of transposing Shakespeare's Othello to a contemporary American high school isn't half-bad, but, for what it's worth, Tim Blake Nelson's O makes its biggest mistake in simply taking itself too seriously. Despite a hot sex scene or two and a smattering of energetically staged sequences on the basketball court, the film seems to suffer from terminal self-importance, with too many scenes coming off as strangely static and listless rather than as how they were probably intended — stately or timeless in a manner that befits the Bard's drama.
Osmosis Jones (PG-13) The Farrelly Brothers' latest is a mostly animated rehash of that old Fantastic Voyage territory in which the majority of the action takes place inside a guy's body — only this time the good guys are the germs. Unfortunately, Osmosis Jones is surprisingly bland stuff from the notorious Farrellys, a watered-down bid for the hearts of the Disney crowd that feels unconvincing and ultimately insincere.
The Others (PG-13) A good old fashioned spook story, creepy and quietly menacing in an elegant, understated way that hardly ever finds its way into horror movies any more. Nicole Kidman stars as a high-strung widow with two small, sunlight-allergic children, and, possibly, a ghost or two hanging about the house. All the right elements are here — weeping and wailing from invisible entities in the night, inanimate objects that take on ominous life, creepy children, withered crones with weird eyes, inscrutable servants with terrible secrets. The real strength of The Others, though, is its successful creation of a sense of unreality that encourages us to share the mounting disorientation of its characters and to doubt their very perceptions.
Our Song (R) The sense of reality is so strong in Our Song, so thoroughly convincing, it comes as something of a shock when the final credits roll and we see that the three young high school kids we've been hanging with for the previous 90-some minutes were actually played by actresses (albeit non-pros). That sense of reality fills every frame of writer-director Jim McKay's new feature to an even greater degree than it did his equally accomplished but somewhat slicker debut, Girls Town. The movie takes place in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood during one hot summer (aren't they all?) and follows three 15-year-old Latina and African-American girls as they deal with friends, foes, family and each other. All of the characters have distinct personalities, histories and backgrounds, and the camera is basically a fly on the wall watching them as they live their lives. Almost every scene, no matter how seemingly trivial, rings with truth, and even the most brutal scenes are redeemed by moments of tremendous tenderness. Even at its most raw, there's a strangely lyrical quality to Our Song that, at times, makes the film feel almost like a poem. Stars Kerry Washington, Anna Simpson and Melissa Martinez. At Channelside Cinemas. Call theater to confirm.
Pearl Harbor (PG-13) Almost everything about Michael Bay's movie is epic. Balancing human drama and unabashedly cornball romance with balls-to-the-wall action — and told in big, stirring, simple (occasionally simplistic) strokes — Pearl Harbor is nothing if not a clear attempt to out-Titanic Titanic.
Planet of the Apes (PG-13) The most massively hyped and eagerly awaited movie of the season, the remake of the beloved 1967 sci-fi classic turns out to be one of the bigger letdowns of an already disappointing summer. The action is flatly directed (by Tim Burton); the story is dull and the movie's self-conscious attempts at humor mix uneasily with the darker tone of the rest of the material. Stars Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth and Michael Duncan Clarke.
The Princess Diaries (PG) The unlikely premise here concerns an average American teen, Mia (Anne Hathaway), who discovers her late father was actually the crown prince of a small European country, and she's now the sole heir to the throne.
The Profit (NR) No one expected an indie masterpiece from this extremely thinly veiled assault on the Church of Scientology (called Scientific Spiritualism here) but Peter N. Alexander's film, unlike most bad movies, fails even to amuse us with its inadequacy. Badly scripted, directed and acted, the film combines cheesy music with excruciating camera work and some of the most gratuitous scenes of nudity and sex this side of late-night Skinimax. The film reveals nothing new about its target. Anyone buying into the movie's message (see title pun) already knows the score. Be grateful that the Cinema Cafe serves beer — you'll need a few to help sustain you through all the crap. May be held over at Clearwater Cinema Cafe, with shows at 4:30 and 7 p.m. daily. Call theater to confirm.
—Diana Peterfreund
Rat Race (PG) One long madcap chase that basically looks to be an uncredited remake of Stanley Kramer's 1963 It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (or maybe even, gulp, Cannonball Run). As much as it's about anything, Rat Race is about a wacky ensemble of mismatched characters frantically racing against time and against each other to get their hands on a huge stash of cash. The one-damn-thing-after-another scenario is performed by a gaggle of mostly past-their-prime celebrity-comedians while. Rat Race isn't exactly a good movie, but it is surprisingly funny, in fits and starts, if you're able to just take it for what it is and turn off pretty much all portions of your brain but the reptilian core. Also stars Rowan Atkinson, John Cleese, Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding Jr., Seth Green and Jon Lovitz.
Rock Star (R) Bland, trite and gutless garbage that trots out every conceivable cliche about rock music and still can't even manage to make itself lurid enough to come off as remotely interesting. Mark Wahlberg stars as a faceless schlub (typecasting?) who lands a gig as the lead singer in a famous heavy metal band. The scenes that are supposed to be funny are dull, the serious scenes are unintentionally laughable, and the gimmicky shooting style just makes it seem all the more coy and generic. Nearly a third of the movie's running time seems to consist of boring arena rock songs lip-synched in their entirety. Also stars Jennifer Aniston.
Rush Hour 2 (PG-13) Pretty much everything that happens in this Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker rematch is according to formula, but it's a workable and, for the most part, highly enjoyable formula. Chan and Tucker's characters travel from Hong Kong to L.A. to Las Vegas trying to break up a big counterfeiting ring. The movie's a modest success, but, in a dreary summer like this one, sure to rank as one of the highlights (and box office champs) of the season.
Shrek (PG) Dreamworks' animated fantasy is a deliciously irreverent bit of make-believe. Mike Myers, who supplies the voice (and personality) for the titular lime-green ogre, is great, as is all the voice talent here. The 3-D-like digital animation is also a treat, but the real star here, for once, is the writing.
Summer Catch (PG-13) Freddie Prinze Jr. plays a hotheaded blue-collar kid whose dreams of playing major league ball are complicated by his dysfunctional family and his growing involvement with a wealthy society girl (Jessica Biel). The movie is unremittingly hokey and filled with all manner of uplifting cliches, but it's up front about it all, which makes the film, at least in brief bursts, a weirdly appealing sort of experience.
Two Can Play That Game (R) Cat and mouse shenanigans abound in this romantic comedy featuring an African American cast. Stars Vivica A. Fox and Morris Chestnut.
(Not Reviewed)
New On Video
Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles
Driven
Someone Like You
Spy Kids
This article appears in Sep 20-26, 2001.