8 MILE (R) There's a brief moment in 8 Mile when we glimpse a TV playing Imitation of Life, Douglas Sirk's dated but still-juicy melodrama about a light-skinned black attempting to pass as white. In 8 Mile we see that phenomenon, having come full circle, attempt to mutate into some other, more interesting shape. This much-anticipated portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-young-dawg stars white-boy rapper/pop sensation Eminem as a barely disguised version of himself in younger days. Directed by Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential, Wonder Boys), the movie is set in Detroit's mid-'90s hip-hop scene, where aspiring rapper Jimmy "Rabbit" Smith (Eminem) lives in a trailer with his trashy mom (Kim Basinger), works a dead-end factory job by day, and hangs with his pals and performs by night. Eminem projects some real charisma in his screen debut (the comparisons with James Dean are all but inevitable), and his scenes with Brittany Murphy are nothing if not intense. While its basic story won't offer many surprises, 8 Mile captures a moment in time as succinctly as Saturday Night Fever and could end up just as potent a pop phenomenon. It's all extremely engaging, and the climactic battle between dueling rappers is half-Rocky, half-spaghetti western and an instant classic. Also stars Mekhi Phifer. Opens Nov. 8 at local theaters.
ABANDON (PG-13) Abandon spends a good portion of its running time pulling the rug out from under our feet and keeping us guessing. The plot elements here are standard — a pretty grad student (Katie Holmes), a vanished ex-boyfriend who might be stalking her, and a handsome cop on the case (Benjamin Bratt) — but writer/director Stephen Gahgan continually reconfigures those elements in a variety of ways that, right up until the end, defy formula. Also stars the always-wonderful Zooey Deschanel and Charlie Hunnam, who looks like a blond version of Val Kilmer playing Jim Morrison.
1/2
AUSTRALIA: LAND BEYOND TIME (PG) The film takes us Down Under to the flattest, driest continent on earth, immerses us in parched, otherworldly landscapes and introduces us to tons of incredibly odd and supremely adaptable animals.1/2
AUTO FOCUS (R) Bob Crane was an All-American guy and a typical family man who was also the star of the popular 70s sitcom Hogan's Heroes. But behind the wholesome, innocuous public persona, Crane was living a sordid, secret existence, having sex with pretty much anything that moved and recording his exploits on video. Auto Focus is an odd and lurid little movie, but not nearly as odd or as lurid as it probably should have been. A writer-director whose films are almost always more concerned with the subtleties of character than with style or sensationalism, Schrader here assumes a purposefully flat, almost detached tone that doesn't do much to bring the story to life. Nearly everybody in the film, from Crane on down, comes off as overly wooden, insipid and just sort of out of it, almost as if the entire cast of characters in Auto Focus were channeling Ed Wood. It's a curious approach for a filmmaker to take this subject matter and not a particularly effective one, neither funny nor especially poignant. Stars Greg Kinnear, Willem Dafoe, Rita Wilson and Maria Bello. Playing at Channelside. Call theater to confirm.1/2
BALLISTIC: ECKS VS. SEVER (R) Bad guy Robert Gant (Gregg Henry) steals a prototype of Softkill, a microscopic, robotic assassin that could change the face of professional killing. Ex-agent Sever (Lucy Liu) intercepts Softkill and soon Gant and ex-FBI agent Jeremiah Ecks (Antonio Banderas) are in pursuit to get it back. Explosions galore and some impressive fight scenes somewhat salvage the movie's weak plot. Also stars Ray Park, Talisa Soto and Miguel Sandoval.
1/2
—Ana Lopez
THE BANGER SISTERS (R) Susan Sarandon and Goldie Hawn star in this comedy/drama about two former rock groupies and best friends who reunite after 20 years. One has remained a wild woman; the other has turned conservative. Also stars Geoffrey Rush. (Not reviewed)
BARBERSHOP (PG-13) Ice Cube stars in this mediocre yarn about barbershop camaraderie. Cube (Calvin) is bequeathed the shop by his late father. His desperation leads to dubious means to pay past-due rent. Calvin's employees provide the bulk of amusement with their conflicting personalities. Also stars Cedric the Entertainer, Eve, Sean Patrick Thomas and Michael Ealy.1/2
—Corey MyersBELOW (R) The Shining on a ship, anyone? Making excellent use of a concept that sounds pretty absurd on the surface (so to speak), Below is just about as good a haunted submarine movie as you could hope to see. (It is also by no means to be confused with Ghost Ship). Below is a hybrid so sturdily crafted that you barely notice that the parts are stitched together, with all the claustrophobic suspense of a classic men-stuck-in-a-sub flick and all the smart, creepy intrigue of a good ghost story.1/2
BLOODY SUNDAY (R) A devastatingly realistic re-creation of the events of Jan. 30, 1972, when trigger-happy British troops fired upon a group of unarmed, peaceful protestors in Northern Ireland, wounding scores and killing 13. The event was a disaster for everybody (and a major turning point in fueling the bitter resolve of the IRA), and director Paul Greengrass (a Brit, incidentally) makes it all come alive in the most disturbing sort of way. Bloody Sunday has something of the feel of a real-time documentary, with Greengrass' handheld cameras following the characters through every detail of the day leading up to the tragedy. The perpetually overcast skies are an ominous reminder of what's to come. Stars Nicholas Farrell, James Nesbitt and Tim Pigott-Smith.
BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE (PG-13) Michael Moore's final word (for the moment) on our culture of violence and, specifically, America's love affair with guns. Lively, often funny and sometimes devastating, the film takes a close look at a culture where a gun can be easily purchased at a bank or while getting a trim at the barbershop. Moore's argument is simplistic but effective, ultimately attributing American bloodlust to a particularly nasty brew of fear and racism fueled primarily by the government and the media. As with Roger & Me, Bowling for Columbine makes its argument in a manner that treads a fine line between barbed humor and emotional manipulation so cleverly disguised you don't even realize you're being sucked in. Moore doesn't bother much with details, including the fact that his own film is part of the very problem he identifies. There are key scenes in Bowling for Columbine that exploit violence in much the same way perpetrated by those faceless government and media evil-doers that Moore loves to hate. The main difference, as Moore himself would probably agree, is that the ends justify the means. Funnily enough, that's just what the head of the NRA might tell you too.
1/2
BROWN SUGAR (PG-13) A simple romantic comedy that turns into a playful drama. Sanaa Lathan portrays Sidney, an editor for a New York City urban magazine, who's best pals with Dre (Taye Diggs), a new executive for a big record label. Sidney is a little bitter over the lack of love in her life. Dre is mired in money and contracts. They share an undying love for hip-hop. Will they become more than friends? Brown Sugar is worth watching for the same reasons as Love Jones and The Best Man. Also stars Mos Def, Queen Latifah, Ralph Tresvant, Nicole Ari Parker and Boris Kodjoe.
—Jenese Harris
THE EMPEROR'S CLUB (PG-13) Not to be confused with The Dead Poets Society or any number of other similarly titled or similarly plotted productions, The Emperor's Club is another of those well- meaning movies about a teacher who tries to make a difference. Kevin Kline plays Mr. Hundert, who engages in a battle of wills with a rebellious new student who has a taste for Godard, Dylan and skin mags. The film's heart is in the right place but it is essentially, as Kline himself finally tells us, "a story without surprises." Also stars Emile Hirsch, Embeth Davidtz and Rob Morrow.
1/2
FEMME FATALE (R) Despite some elaborately orchestrated and gorgeously stylized sequences, Brian De Palma's latest film is convoluted fluff sure to disappoint anyone looking for something resembling a coherent story. The movie is wall-to-wall red herrings, with all of the signature elements of film noir (double-crossing guys and dames, lust as a manipulative tool, identity changing, a good heist or two), but little of the intrigue or charisma. Rebecca Romijn-Stamos is some sort of bad girl/jewel thief who spends the first part of the movie pursuing various characters and the second half being pursued. Antonio Banderas shows up looking bored and distracted as a photographer drawn into the action. The movie displays such a near-total lack of interest in its own plot that it takes a five-minute time-out during a critical narrative juncture for a gratuitous striptease. The strip act, just by the by, takes place in what is apparently the only heterosexual all-male leather bar on the planet. Also stars Peter Coyote. Opens Nov. 6 at local theaters.
1/2
FORMULA 51 (R) Director Ronny Yu brings a touch of Hong Kong-styled mayhem and a lot of recycled Guy Ritchie riffs to this quirky action-comedy. Samuel L. Jackson stars as a pharmaceutical wizard in a kilt hanging out in the UK and battling all manner of lowlifes while trying to make a killing on a new designer drug he's just invented. The humor's mostly hit or miss, but the movie moves along at a respectable clip and doesn't do anything too terribly stupid to alert us to how little's really going on. Also stars Robert Carlysle, Rhys Ifans and Meat Loaf.
THE FOUR FEATHERS (PG-13) Heart-throb thespian Heath Ledger plays a young British soldier who refuses to join the battle against "Mohammedan fanatics," during the country's Sudan Campaign of the late 19th Century. He then travels to the Sudan incognito to prove to his former friends that he's not a coward. The movie is beautifully appointed, but it all feels a bit unfocused, and the final third of the film seems to unravel into a series of loosely connected sequences. Also stars Wes Bentley, Kate Hudson and Djimon Hounsou.
FRIDA See Film for Review.
GHOST SHIP (R) Beware of missing ocean liners, from bygone days, mysteriously afloat in the Bering Sea. The Antonia Graza, a luxurious Italian passenger ship, vanished from radar in 1962. It's spotted by an opportunistic pilot who brokers a deal with a salvage team. What basically separates this horror flick from all the others is the setting, with the caveat that this one's more gory than scary. Stars Julianna Margulies, Gabriel Byrne and Desmond Harrington.
—Corey Myers
I SPY (PG-13) The plot's as negligible as you'd expect and the action scenes aren't even anything to write home about, but for what it's worth, the stars do hold up their end in this big-screen adaptation of yet another popular television show from yesteryear. Eddie Murphy is back in form as an arrogant celebrity boxer who becomes the reluctant partner of a bumbling spy, played by Owen Wilson in full aw-shucks-aren't-I-adorable mode. Murphy and Wilson generate some decent chemistry (think Wilson and Jackie Chan in Shanghai Noon, minus a bit of the personality), but the movie itself — which was churned out by a committee of no less than eight writers — is just the sort of formulaic drag you'd expect. Also stars Famke Janssen and Malcolm McDowell.
1/2
JACKASS: THE MOVIE (R) What the world needs now? An expanded, more "explicit" version of MTV's scummy little TV show featuring gratuitously shocking stunts. With any luck it'll be as magnificent as Freddy Got Fingered. Stars Johnny Knoxville. (Not Reviewed)JONAH: A VEGGIETALES MOVIE (G) For what it's worth, Jonah has to be the most entertaining and unintentionally bizarre mix of religion and talking vegetables since the reign of Jim and Tammy Faye Baker. The cast of cute cucumbers, tomatoes and asparagus play out a version of the Old Testament tale of the reluctant prophet who wound up in the belly of a whale, complete with a smattering of songs, pirates, kiddie-friendly antics and God-friendly message. Featuring the voices of Phil Vischer, Mike Nawrocki and Tim Hodge.
THE KNOCKAROUND GUYS (R) In yet another spin on the age-old saga of what happens when the country comes to the city (and vice versa), we get the tale of a quartet of young Brooklyn tough guys looking for a lost stash of cash in rural Montana. Despite a premise that sounds an awful lot like one of those lame gangster comedies in which De Niro so loves to slum, the movie isn't nearly as stupid as you might imagine. Stars Barry Pepper, John Malkovich and Dennis Hopper.
LILO AND STITCH (PG) Another hit from the Disney team, although not quite out of the ballpark. Lilo and Stitch is basically a brightened-up, kid-friendly reinvention of the Frankenstein story, in which a manmade monster (or, in this case, alien-created critter) comes to grips with his own, um, uniqueness and, in the process, finds something not unlike a soul.
1/2
MINORITY REPORT (PG-13) Steven Spielberg's sci-fi noir boasts a fascinating premise beautifully expanded into a provocative and consistently gripping feature-length film. Based on a story by Philip K. Dick, Minority Report takes place in a not-so- distant future where crimes are predicted and criminals arrested before they actually commit their offense. Tom Cruise plays the top cop who becomes the glitch in a perfect system when he finds himself falsely accused and on the run. Also stars Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton and Max Von Sydow.
1/2
MOONLIGHT MILE (PG-13) After the senseless slaying of his fiancee, a young man moves into the home of her parents so they can retain a connection with their daughter. A few plot developments seem extraneous and certain conclusions feel too glib, but overall, this is a moving and occasionally insightful study of how individuals learn to cope with loss and grief in their own idiosyncratic manner.
—Matt Brunson
MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING (PG) Nia Vardalos stars in this sweet-natured, sporadically amusing adaptation of her one-woman show about a plain Greek-American woman who transforms herself into a babe and hooks up with her Prince Charming — who, much to the chagrin of her loud and proud Greek family, turns out to be as WASP-y as they come. In all, Greek Wedding probably worked better on stage than on the big screen. Also stars John Corbett, Michael Constantine, Lainie Kazan and Andrea Martin.1/2
PUNCH DRUNK LOVE (PG-13) After wowing movie-goers with Boogie Nights and Magnolia, director Paul Thomas Anderson scales it all back with Punch Drunk Love, a very strange little movie that's both lighter than air and denser than a black hole. The movie's made up of many contradictions, and chief among them is that it stars Adam Sandler, quite possibly the last person you would expect to find in an Anderson film. Anderson takes Sandler's familiar doofus man-child character and reconfigures him into something both infinitely more extreme and more genuine, dresses him in a Day-Glo blue suit and then positions him dead-center in the movie's chaos, like a postmodern Buster Keaton reacting to a series of increasingly surreal situations. The movie playfully bludgeons us with one absurd sight and sound gag after another (the use of sound is particularly radical), and virtually nothing happens the way we think it should. Anderson's film is slight and, in its own bizarre way, sweet, with an extravagantly screwy beauty that feels like it might very well have come about from too many drugs or too little sleep. If Magnolia was a full-blown symphony, Punch Drunk Love is a late-night jam session, sweetened and refined in the studio. Also stars Emily Watson, Luis Guzman and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
ONE HOUR PHOTO (R) A cool, crisply elegant horror story told in flashback, there's a cloud of uneasiness that hangs over this entire movie as we wait for the film's nondescript protagonist to do the unspeakably awful thing we know he'll eventually do. Robin Williams plays Sy Parish, a mousy little man whose very ordinariness is a cover for the demons lurking within. Also stars Connie Nielsen, Michael Vartan, Gary Cole and Dylan Smith.
1/2
RED DRAGON (R) The first installment of Thomas Harris' so-called Hannibal Lecter Trilogy gets a competent but uninspired big screen treatment. Edward Norton is a touch too understated as Will Graham, a retired FBI agent who's persuaded to enlist Lecter's help in catching a serial killer dubbed the Tooth Fairy (Ralph Fiennes, who steals the show here in a performance that's both creepy and moving). Ratner's done his homework and has the basic building blocks of the original Silence of the Lambs down cold, albeit without much of the nuances or psychology. Also stars Harvey Keitel, Emily Watson and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
THE RING (PG-13) A Hollywood remake that for once holds up to the original (a Japanese shocker that spawned both a sequel and prequel), The Ring is a class-act creepfest. Naomi Watts confirms the star power she exhibited in Mulholland Drive, as a woman in the sway of a videotape that causes anyone who watches it to die within a week. The movie feels a little rushed and sloppy toward the end, and the nods to The Blair Witch Project and The Sixth Sense are completely unnecessary, but the bulk of what transpires in The Ring is extremely cool stuff. It has the makings of a classic modern horror film, eerily dreamlike, suspenseful and possessed of a relentless forward momentum that can be absolutely terrifying. Also stars Martin Henderson.
RULES OF ATTRACTION (R) Alternately horrible and horribly funny, this is one of those audience-polarizing films that may well be destined for some sort of cult immortality. Director Roger Avary's remarkable adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' novel is both thoroughly cinematic and utterly faithful to the book's peculiar literary qualities. The setting is a posh East Coast liberal arts school where an incestuous circle of characters spend the lion's share of their waking hours thinking about sex, engaging in sex or finding ways to engage in more sex. All of the movie's characters are deeply flawed and self-deluded, and most of them are out-and-out creeps, every bit as off-putting and alien as those in Ellis' books. That Avary manages to make something interesting and frequently hilarious of all this is an amazing achievement. Stars James Van Der Beek, Shannyn Sossamon and Ian Somerhalder.
SHACKLETON'S ANTARCTIC ADVENTURE (PG) An engaging mix of history, drama, fascinating archival footage and breathtaking, state-of-the-art photography, Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure tells the incredible true tale of an epic battle for survival in the wake of a failed expedition to cross Antarctica in 1914. Playing at IMAX Dome Theater at MOSI. Call theater to confirm.
SIEGFRIED AND ROY: THE MAGIC BOX (PG) As magnificently overblown a piece of Uber Kitsch as you could ever want to find, Siggy and Roy's 3-D movie is a big, gaudy, guilty pleasure for the whole family. Stars Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Uwe Ludwig Horn. Playing at Channelside IMAX.
1/2
SIGNS (PG-13) The least convoluted but, in some ways, the least compelling movie yet from M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable). Mel Gibson stars as a faith-challenged former clergyman who spends most of the movie sweating bullets and waiting, along with the rest of the world, for a devastating attack from hostile extraterrestrials. Also stars Joaquin Phoenix, Cherry Jones and Rory Culkin.
1/2
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)
STEALING HARVARD (PG-13) Despite humor that's way too obvious and a quite a bit of overkill, Stealing Harvard is still funny enough to keep you watching. Good guy John (Jason Lee) and his lifelong best friend Duff (Tom Green) are on a mission for cash. John and his fiancee Elaine (Leslie Mann) have set aside
30,000 for a house; meanwhile, his niece needs
29,000 to pay for her first year at Harvard. The answer: Theft. Duff becomes John's partner in crime, and more than a few problems get in their way. Also stars Dennis Farina and Megan Mullally.
—Jenese Harris
STUART LITTLE 2 (G) Teeny tiny tykes will eat up this barely 75-minute sequel to Stuart Little, but most grown-ups will either be bored out of their skulls or find their teeth tingling from all the sugar-coated sap. Despite the expensive-looking production values and state-of-the-art CGI effects, Stuart Little has the bland, throwaway feel of a direct-to-video sequel.
SWEET HOME ALABAMA A lazy romantic comedy that apparently looked no further back than 1991's Doc Hollywood Reese Witherspoon plays Melanie Carmichael, a rising New York fashion designer who's just accepted a marriage proposal from the son (smarmy Patrick Dempsey) of the city's mayor (Candice Bergen). First, though, she has to go back to her Alabama hometown and get her first husband (Josh Lucas) to sign the divorce papers, something he's been reluctant to do.
—Matt Brunson
SWIMFAN (PG-13) Jesse Bradford and Erika Christensen star in this thriller about a high school swimming star who has a one-night stand leading to tangled and dangerous consequences. (Not Reviewed)
THE TRANSPORTER (PG-13) Hong Kong-styled action pic produced by Luc Besson, revolving around an American mercenary and a kidnapping scheme. Stars Jason Starham and Tchecky Karyo. (Not Reviewed)
THE TRUTH ABOUT CHARLIE (PG-13) The first thing you notice about Jonathan Demme's unremarkable remake of Stanley Donen's 1963 charmer Charade is that Thandie Newton doesn't make a half-bad Audrey Hepburn. The second thing you notice is that Mark Walhberg (in a beret yet) should never even be mentioned in the same breath with Cary Grant, and that's what sticks with you throughout the rest of the movie. The movie seems like it's trying too hard, and the treatment looks more like a formulaic pastiche of any number of techniques borrowed from the past several decades. As in the original Charade, it's all pleasantly light and airy, with a plot about murdered husbands, missing fortunes and mistaken identities that's just an excuse for some fabulous location footage of Paris. Also stars Tim Robbins.
TUCK EVERLASTING (PG-13) An early 20th century romantic-fantasy from Disney that inexplicably wraps the atmospheric mystery of The Secret Garden into a kitschy kiddie kissfest not too far afield from The Blue Lagoon. Fine-featured beauty Alexis Bledel (from The Gilmore Girls) stars as Winnie Foster, a little rich girl living a cloistered existence as stiff and restraining as the corsets she's forced to wear — but aching for something, anything, to come and change her life. When Winnie wanders into the woods and meets the mysterious, life-loving Tuck family, it seems like a heaven-made match, a connection signed and sealed when she falls for the Tuck's handsome son Jesse. The Tucks have a secret, though (as the movie's trailers will undoubtedly make all too clear), and complications inevitably ensue. Also stars William Hurt and Amy Irving.
THE TUXEDO (PG-13) The Tuxedo has the "distinction" of being Jackie Chan's slickest movie ever and also his least memorable. This sporadically appealing but basically mediocre spy spoof stars Chan as an ordinary guy who dons a government-manufactured tux and transforms into a super-powered but anything-but-suave secret agent. Even with a healthy digital assist, the action sequences are by far the least exciting stuff Chan's ever done. The movie looks pretty good but has virtually nothing by way of a personality. Also stars Jason Isaacs and Debi Mazar.
UNDISPUTED (R) Wesley Snipes stars as a professional heavyweight boxer who's falsely accused of a crime and winds up in jail, where he goes up against the prison boxing champ. Also stars Ving Rhames. (Not Reviewed)
WAKING UP IN RENO White trash romantic comedy anyone? Billy Bob Thornton, Patrick Swayze, Charlize Theron and Natasha Richardson play two couples who hop in the brand new SUV for a trip to Reno and the monster truck show of their dreams. Entanglements of a personal nature ensue. (Not Reviewed)
WHITE OLEANDER (PG-13) Compelling story about the relationship between mother and daughter. Michelle Pfeiffer plays Ingrid Magnussen, a single mother whose uncompromising nature unravels the fabric of her life as an artist and parent. In a crime of passion, she kills her boyfriend, leaving her 15-year-old daughter Astrid to grow up in a series of foster homes. Astrid embarks on a journey of self-discovery through hard knocks. The beauty of this film lies in the characters' responses to their own emotional evolution. Also stars Alison Lohman, Robin Wright Penn, Renee Zellweger and Patrick Fugit.
—Corey Myers
New Video Releases
Band of Brothers
The Dead Zone
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
The Powerpuff Girls MovieSat.
Reviewed entries by Lance Goldenberg unless otherwise noted
This article appears in Nov 6-12, 2002.