NEW THIS WEEK:
THE EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING (R) The early years of the demon-battlin' man of the cloth played by Max Von Sydow in the original Exorcist. Action director Renny Harlin was called in to reshoot this entire film when original director Paul Schrader's ideas reportedly proved a little too, uh, ambitious. Stars Stellan Skarsgard and James D'Arcy. Opens Aug. 20 at local theaters. (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) — whose primary claim to fame is playing a retarded quarterback in a TV movie — 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. The emotional core of Garden State remains intact throughout, even as the movie's narrative gleefully defies expectations by zipping all over the map. The perfectly chosen soundtrack of Nick Drake and others is another big plus. Also stars Peter Sarsgaard, Ian Holm and Ron Liebman. Opens Aug. 20 at Sunrise Cinemas at Old Hyde Park. Call theater to confirm. 
1/2
RECENT RELEASES
ALIEN VS. PREDATOR (R) Don't expect it to end with a kiss. The director is Paul W.S. Anderson, specialist in video game flicks like Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil, which is probably more than you need to know. (Not Reviewed)
ANCHORMAN (PG-13) While it's not as smoothly, consistently entertaining as Elf, Will Ferrell's breakout movie, Anchorman specializes in an aggressively odd brand of humor that showcases the edgier side of Ferrell's comedic talents and takes more risks. The results are mixed: there's a noticeable amount of dead air and jokes that go nowhere, for sure — but the highs, when they come, are substantially higher, too. The movie is set in a San Diego TV newsroom in the 1970s, where popular but clueless anchor Ron Burgundy (Ferrell) becomes drawn into the war of the sexes when pretty but uncommonly capable Christina Applegate enters the picture. There's a solid running commentary bubbling under the surface about what happened when feminism first began creeping into the American workplace, but the movie is really anything but serious. Most of Anchorman plays out like a series of Ferrell's stranger skits from his Saturday Night Live years, with the scattershot non sequiturs eventually giving way to a crescendo of fabulously over-the-top (and gratuitous) parodies of fight scenes. Lots of amusing cameos here too, including Vince Vaughan and Tim Robbins, as well as Jack Black, who is given the honor of lethally punting a pooch. Also stars Paul Rudd, David Koechner and Fred Willard. 1/2
BEFORE SUNSET (NR) Richard Linklater's wonderful sequel to his 1995 Before Sunrise is basically just two people talking to each other, presented in something very close to real-time. But what's said and what happens in the course of that 80-minute conversation should be of interest to almost anyone who is remotely curious about human beings and how they relate to each other, especially in matters of the heart. Before Sunrise was a film about a boy and a girl meeting and making a connection one night in a beautiful, faraway city. Celene (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke) were strangers on a train who came together for a one-night stand of conversation, confessions and romance, then parted ways with a vow to meet again six months hence. Before Sunset catches up with those same two people nine years later as they meet, more or less by chance, in a bookstore in Paris. What ensues is a veritable talkfest between two hyper-articulate individuals who have a lot to say to one another, as well as a walking tour of Paris in the fall (and it doesn't get much better than that). The verbal dance between the characters is beautifully played by Hawke and Delpy (who helped write their own dialogue), and the movie manages to thrill us by throwing into our faces most of our expectations about what we think a film should be. At Burns Court Cinema. At Burns Court Cinema. Call theater to confirm.
THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (PG-13) Matt Damon, who's beginning to resemble a younger, buffer Al Franken, 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. Cinematographer Oliver Wood applies an almost exclusively handheld technique, his camera nearly always in motion, lending the proceedings a tougher, edgier momentum than is usually found in action thrillers like this. The film has loads of texture and almost no flab, not to mention some of the best chase scenes (specifically car chases) that you'll ever see on a movie screen. Also stars Joan Allen, Brian Cox and Julia Stiles. 1/2
CATWOMAN (PG-13) Halle Berry risks career suicide, donning a strategically ripped full-leather outfit and slinking around in what might well be the worst movie of the summer. Before putting on the stupid duds, Berry's character learns of a dastardly cover-up at a cosmetics company, and then becomes transformed (by a mystical Egyptian cat — don't ask) into the super-powered titular hero. Or is it villain? Catwoman is such a confused mess that it's hard to tell. The movie looks good, in a slick, gratuitously showy way, but the script, while utterly formulaic, is full of disjointed and downright jarring elements that don't mesh, with a cumulative effect that's shallow, silly and too annoying to really qualify as fun. Also stars Benjamin Bratt, Alex Borstein and Sharon Stone.
THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK (PG-13) A sequel of sorts to Pitch Black, in which Vin Diesel's self-serving, intergalactic bad-ass Riddick returns to find himself pitted against the Negromongers, a group of death-worshiping religious warriors going from planet to planet demanding "Convert or Die." Director David Twohy (The Arrival) might be offering up some thinly veiled allusion to the ongoing Islamist problem (or maybe he's just riffing on the Borg), but the movie has New Testament connections too, with Diesel's character eventually being set up as some sort of reluctant Messianic figure. All of this is just window dressing, however, for the movie's incessant action scenes, fights, chases and explosions, not to mention the non-stop digital effects, and sets and costumes directly lifted from David Lynch's Dune. Also stars Colm Feore, Judi Dench, Thandie Newton and Alexa Davalos.
A CINDERELLA STORY (PG) With her own convertible, a personal computer and a fancy cell phone, Sam Martin (Hilary Duff) doesn't exactly strike one as the Cinderella type. On the other hand, her father has been killed in an earthquake, and she is forced to serve her evil stepmother and her wicked stepsisters (while also working seven days a week to finance her college tuition). This curiously compromised Cinderella momentarily escapes her troubles via the cyberworld, where she connects with an Internet crush whose mysterious identity leaves her enchanted until she comes to find that her prince isn't as he seems. Tailored in this way to a post-millennium high school setting, A Cinderella Story neglects the fantasy components of the original tale, and Duff's character becomes the stereotype of a not-so-cool girl played upon too many times in recent years. Overtly predictable and dreadfully bland, this movie would be better as an after-school television special than a full-length feature film. Also stars Jennifer Coolidge and Chad Michael Murray.
—Whitney Meers
THE CLEARING (PG-13) A more grownup role for Robert Redford (complete with semi-grownup haircut and an on-screen wife who's roughly his own age), but nothing much else to write home about. Redford plays a successful businessman who's kidnapped by a disgruntled former employee (Willem Dafoe), while Redford's wife and family sit at home trying to keep it together. While not as flashy as something like Memento, the film eventually reveals that its dual his-and-her storylines aren't actually taking place at the same time, a device that provides a few interesting moments but isn't really crucial to what's happening in The Clearing. Redford and Dafoe's characters do a lot of talking out in the woods, and the movie is ultimately more interested in functioning as an engaging character study than in offering up the expected payload of suspense or mystery. The film is carefully crafted and atmospheric, with strong performances from Redford and Helen Mirren, but it's not quite the human drama it wants to be, nor does it really add anything new to the thriller genre. Also stars Matt Craven and Melissa Sagemiller.
COLLATERAL (R) Can an ultra-minimalist premise provide fertile ground for a killer-diller suspense movie? Oh, you betcha. Just check out something like Phone Booth, where the spectacle of one guy talking on the telephone to a sniper will keep you on the edge of your seat for 90 minutes. On the other hand, 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. Foxx holds our interest as the unfortunate cabbie, but Cruise is barely believable as the cooler-than-cool, super-smart assassin (who also happens to make some of the world's dumbest mistakes). The movie's sleek look helps, but it's saddled with a weak and formulaic script. Also stars Mark Ruffalo and Jada Pinkett Smith. 1/2
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW (PG-13) Having built a career on destroying the world (by, among other things, aliens in Independence Day and giant lizards in Godzilla), Roland Emmerich is up to his old tricks again. This time, however, we've only got ourselves to blame, as global warming and an out-of-control greenhouse effect create a new Ice Age, making life very difficult for a courageous scientist (Dennis Quaid) and his dreamboat son (Jake Gyllenhaal), not to mention a couple billion bit players. The movie's first hour is a straightforward eco-disaster movie featuring scads of massively proportioned, apocalyptic imagery. The movie's second half prompts more than its share of unintentional laughter, though, with bland heroics, wooden dialogue and every cliche in the book taking center stage. Also stars Ian Holm, Emmy Rossum and Sela Ward.
DE-LOVELY (PG-13) This latest bio-pick on legendary American tunesmith Cole Porter reportedly focuses on the man's not-so-secret homosexuality (something that was strictly taboo in previous Porter pics) and takes a stylistic approach that sounds suspiciously like what Bob Fosse did in All That Jazz. A number of contemporary musicians are on hand too, including Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow and Alanis Morissette, performing various Porter standards. Stars Kevin Kline, Ashley Judd and Jonathan Pryce. (Not Reviewed)
DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY (PG-13) Despite much talk of aiming low, debuting writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber finds a nice middle ground with material that would be offensive if it weren't funny; but most of it is funny. Corporate shark Ben Stiller's attempt to swallow Vince Vaughn's funky neighborhood gym is settled by a David vs. Goliath championship dodgeball match in Vegas. Stay through the credits for Stiller's final scene.
—Steve Warren
THE DOOR IN THE FLOOR (R) Bad timing and worse behavior abound in this adaptation of John Irving's A Widow for One Year, a more successful translation of the author's patented blend of over-the-top tragedy and quasi-grotesque comedy than any we've seen on the screen. It's a difficult film to get a handle on, much less enjoy, a complex, haunting and sometimes jarring mixture of deep sadness, small pleasures and a disarmingly natural humor that creeps in when we least expect it. All of the film's characters are either unfinished or broken, beginning with a couple still coping with the deaths of their teenage sons, a tragedy that has turned the woman into a disconnected zombie and the man into a voracious, self-absorbed pleasure seeker. The movie details an emotional journey that doesn't appear to lead anywhere, a cracked, yawning chasm of a marriage complicated by the wife's oddly detached affair with her husband's earnest but naíve young assistant. The Door in the Floor doesn't necessarily make us feel good about what's happening on the screen or answer any burning questions about the lives of its characters, but that ambiguity is a large part of the reason the film manages to linger in our minds. Stars Jeff Bridges, Kim Basinger, Dakota Fanning, Jon Foster and Mimi Rogers. At Beach Theatre and Burns Court Cinema. Call theaters to confirm. 1/2
FAHRENHEIT 9/11 (R) Michael Moore's new movie is indisputably important, but not so much as a film as a phenomenon. Moore wears his agenda on his sleeve, and most of the points he drums home are already familiar to most of us, regardless of what our politics may be. Still, it's more than a little unnerving to see all those points rattled off in rapid succession, and with such iron-willed eloquence. Yes, we all know the 2000 election was a sham. Yes, we know Bush is a doofus (also lazy, hypocritical and quite possibly pretty mean-spirited). And yes, we know that the Bush clan is wallowing in bed with the Saudi royal family, and that, where our foreign policy is concerned, Arab oil money probably speaks louder than suicide bombers. Still, what is Moore really saying by all this, besides pleading with us to dump Bush posthaste? The movie is glib enough that we barely notice Moore talking out of both sides of his mouth (exactly what he accuses Bush of doing), and it might just be the most effective political advertisement of all time. Faults aside, Fahrenheit 9/11 is a big deal — more passionate and, in its way, more serious than anything Michael Moore has ever attempted, and a movie that deserves to be seen, pondered and carefully debated. 1/2
HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE (R) If Martin Scorsese's After Hours had a baby with a Cheech and Chong movie, it might look a little like this raunchy, ill-mannered and wildly funny comedy from director Danny Leiner. The movie is a road trip of sorts that takes place during the course of one very strange night, in which stoner roommates Harold and Kumar (John Cho and Kal Penn) embark on a quest to stuff themselves with White Castle burgers. Everything goes wrong, of course, and the more wrong things go, the more right the movie becomes. Every detour is an opportunity for another surreal gag, the jokes pile up faster than in a Naked Gun flick, and the decidedly non-PC humor targets Asians, Jews, Blacks and gays with equal relish. Despite the obvious Bill and Ted/American Pie youth-market/gross-out connections, the movie is smarter than it has any right to be, but in a way that sneaks up on you when you're not even looking. Best of all, much of it is genuinely funny — enough to almost make you forget that the director was also responsible for Dude, Where's My Car? Also stars Neil Patrick Harris, Paula Garces and Malin Akerman. 1/2
I, ROBOT (PG-13) Despite some strong, stylish moments where director Alex Proyas seems to be evoking the moody paranoia of sci-fi noirs such as Blade Runner, Minority Report and his own Dark City, this really isn't much more than your standard bubble-headed blockbuster. The script, co-written by glorified hack Akiva Goldsman (Batman & Robin, Lost in Space), throws out most of Isaac Asimov's best ideas in favor of a fairly standard action-thriller in which future cop Will Smith chases around trying to prove his conspiracy theory while everyone tells him he's crazy. Plot points are telegraphed, most of the characters are cardboard cutouts (particularly an extremely wooden Bridget Moynahan), and Smith's incessant wise-cracking and wannabe catch phrases stick out like a sore digit, breaking any semblance of mood the film might have had. The special effects are great, of course, but when all hell breaks loose during the movie's final 20 minutes — and then just goes on and on — even all the razzle dazzle becomes a bit boring. Also stars Bruce Greenwood and James Cromwell. 1/2
KING ARTHUR (PG-13) This new take on the life of the legendary King Arthur is far removed from the mystic, romanticized fantasy of the famous tale. Rather, the film tells a version of the fable with only slight references to a round table and a sword in the stone. A story of liberation and bloody sacrifice, it is a well-executed portrait of how Arthur (Clive Owen) and his entourage may have defeated the Saxons through a series of gruesome battles. Other characters of Arthurian legend appear throughout the movie, though not quite in a traditional sense. Merlin (Stephen Dillane) is not a magician but a warlord, and the contention between Arthur and a pretentious Sir Lancelot (Ioan Gruffudd) for the affection of Lady Guinevere (Keira Knightley) is only a vague sidetrack. Nonetheless, the luster of this legend is magnified on the big screen and packed with action and valor. 1/2
—Whitney Meers
LITTLE BLACK BOOK (PG-13) Brittany Murphy stars as a TV talk show host who snoops into her boyfriend's Palm Pilot and then secretly befriends his ex-girlfriends in order to get dirt on him. Also stars Ron Livingston, Kathy Bates and Holly Hunter. (Not Reviewed)
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (R) Although the villains here aren't necessarily the ones you'll expect, Jonathan Demme's remake offers a near-perfect transposition of the original film's Cold War paranoia to the contemporary paranoia of the Age of Terror. An extremely effective Denzel Washington takes on the Frank Sinatra role as a nightmare-ridden soldier who starts to doubt reality as he comes to smell conspiracy all around him, beginning with a vice-presidential candidate who may not be at all what he seems. Most of the political satire of John Frankenheimer's original film has been axed in favor of a creepy and steadily gripping atmosphere, but the film works fine that way. This new Manchurian Candidate is faithful to the spirit of the original while presenting itself as nothing less than a horror movie of the scariest sort — a political horror story. The ending is a bit disappointing and there are some unfortunate oversimplifications and clumsy exposition along the way, but the film is, for the most part, a grand entertainment. Also stars Liev Schreiber and Meryl Streep.
METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER (NR) Along with all those conscience-wracked Mafiosos, samurai warriors and other good-bad guys the movies love to show wrestling with various codes of honor, you can now add one more unlikely name to the list: heavy metal gods Metallica. As observed in this fascinating new documentary, the seasoned headbangers find themselves caught between (forgive me, somebody has to say it) rock and a hard place, struggling to balance what's expected of them as celebrity musicians with what they need to survive as human beings. Over the course of three years, this epic, 140-minute doc focuses on the various band members as they air their beefs in therapy, fall apart, come together, and try to get a new record made. Directed by probably the best team working in documentary film today, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (Brothers Keeper, Paradise Lost), Some Kind of Monster is a far cry from your conventional rock documentary. The talented filmmakers don't gloss over their subjects' faults, but they use those faults as entry points into the characters' lives, using their very human natures to make them engaging and even appealing. Ultimately, the film is a little like a heavy metal version of Let It Be (that's a compliment, by the way) and, as its subjects whine and rattle on and on, the success or failure of the film really depends upon just how much Metallica you can take. Stars Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Bob Rock and Jason Newsted. 1/2
NAPOLEON DYNAMITE (PG) Maybe the best movie ever about all-American high school geeks, and certainly one of the funniest, Napoleon Dynamite is about a slack-jawed loser with a tight red perm and almost no concept of how to live in the world. Mouth permanently agape, and eyes simultaneously squinty and glazed, Napoleon is barely a millimeter away from being a zombie — but then again, so are most everybody else in the movie. The film takes place in a bland little town in Idaho where time passes slowly, as do the thoughts and words of the inhabitants, and the movie depicts it all with sly humor and affection. Most of the conventions of the high school comedy are here — the school prom, the class election — but the film transcends cliche with a lethal combo of slapstick, absurdity and dry, deadpan Jarmusch-ian wit. The young, mostly nonprofessional cast was largely drawn from 24-year-old director Jared Hess' pals at Brigham Young University, but don't hold that against them. Among its many other virtues, Napoleon Dynamite offers proof positive that Mormons really do have a sense of humor. Stars Jon Heder, Sandy Martin, Tina Majorino and Aaron Ruell.
THE NOTEBOOK (PG-13) Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams (the head mean girl from Mean Girls) star as star-crossed lovers in this slow-moving, sticky-sweet, cliche-ridden romance. The tale is told in flashback, with a nicely evoked setting of coastal North Carolina in the 1940s being one of the film's few saving graces. The source here is yet another assembly line product generated by romance novelist Nicholas Sparks (Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember), so you pretty much know what you're getting into even before the opening credits roll. Also stars James Garner, Gena Rowlands, James Marsden and Sam Shepard. 1/2
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)
SPIDER-MAN 2 (PG-13) Spider-Man 2 concentrates and amplifies the strengths of the first film, skillfully interweaving human-size dramatic elements with enormous and enormously visceral action set pieces. Much time is spent reintroducing the film's characters and rehashing their relationships, but this turns out to be essential in getting us to care about what happens to those characters once the sparks eventually begin to fly. And what sparks they are! Where the first movie's nemesis, Green Goblin, was somewhat (unintentionally) silly, the sequel's mechanical-armed transgressor, Doctor Octopus, is a monumental and menacing foe — and, as we all know, movies like these live or die by their villains. Sam Rami stages Doc Ock's every scene brilliantly, harking back to the director's pre-blockbuster days as a class horror act with pulp fare like Darkman and the Evil Dead movies. It's all part of a web of solid gold, providing substance and flavor to what is essentially a kick-ass action movie. Stars Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco and Alfred Molina.
THUNDERBIRDS (PG) Ex-Star Trek Next Generation beefcake Jonathan Frakes can't direct an action scene to save his life, but he does a serviceable job bringing to life this vintage cult kiddie TV show about a family of high-flying rescue heroes. The production design captures the colorful, snappy vibe of the original series, the characters are pleasantly cartoonish (particularly Ben Kingsley as the resident bad guy) and the special effects are passable, but nothing much really happens until the movie's final 15 minutes. The movie is skewed very young, as well, with the action focusing on a trio of Spy Kids-lite youngsters, while nominal star Bill Paxton and his older co-stars mostly just hang around the sidelines looking heroic. Adult moviegoers will be mildly amused, at best, but young boys will be in heaven. My 5-year-old thinks it's the greatest thing he's ever seen. Also stars Anthony Edwards, Brady Corbet and Soren Fulton.
THE VILLAGE (PG-13) Strange creatures lurk in the woods surrounding the little rural hamlet in the latest movie from M. Knight Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense). The premise — isolated, ordinary folks encounter things that go bump in the night — is a variation on the director's previous Signs, but the late 19th-century time frame, mannered performances and austere feel more strongly suggest Carl Theodor Dreyer adapting a horror story by Lovecraft. There's more than a whiff of metaphor here too — the villagers live in fear of the sharp-clawed beasties in the forest, but Shyamalan makes it clear that the real horrors are manmade — an effect heightened by the portentously delivered dialogue and not-quite-natural behavior of his characters. A Shyamalan movie wouldn't be a Shyamalan movie without its O. Henry-by-way-of-Rod-Serling trick ending, though, and the obligatory twists and countertwists of the film's second half don't serve it particularly well. Shyamalan's movies don't have endings so much as punch lines, and when you've heard this one once, that might just be enough. Stars Joaquin Phoenix, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sigourney Weaver, Adrien Brody and William Hurt.
YU-GI-OH! (PG) Spiky-haired punk Yu Gi must use his mystical trading cards to defeat the evil villain Anubis and save the world from potential disaster. Can the lion-hearted Yu Gi save the day? (Hint: The answer to that question is not worth the price of admission.) Yu-Gi-Oh! is based on Konami's popular trading card game and television show, though the big screen adaptation seems more like an hour-and-a-half advertisement ploy than a legitimate film. Yu-Gi-Oh! has no saving grace: its dialogue is comprised of characters blurting out the game's complex and incomprehensible rulebook over obnoxious sound effects in a failed attempt to provide drama for the film's monotonous card duels. In addition to Yu-Gi-Oh!'s indecipherable dialogue and bland animation, director Hatsuki Tsuji somehow manages to incorporate a storyline more difficult to follow than 2003's The Matrix Revolutions. The only thing Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie has to offer is free trading cards with the purchase of a ticket. Hats off to the parents who are willing to please their children and sit through what is quite possibly the year's most abysmal film.
—Damien Lehfeldt
Reviewed entries by Lance Goldenberg unless otherwise noted.
This article appears in Aug 19-25, 2004.