NEW THIS WEEK:
FACING WINDOWS (R) Giovanna Mezzogiorno delivers a stunning performance as an unhappily married woman with eyes for the handsome stranger who lives across the way (Raoul Bova). Director Ferzan Ozpetek (Steam) parallels this bittersweet modern romance with a second, half-century-old love story that plays out in the imperfectly remembered thoughts of an elderly man who ingratiates himself into Giovanna's household. The film juggles a few too many plot strands (including a curiously gratuitous Holocaust angle) and has a tendency to oversentimentalize a few of them, but the bulk of Facing Windows is a satisfyingly lush, elegant experience, complete with beautiful music, strong performances and sterling production values. Also stars the late Massimo Girotti, Italian cinema icon from numerous Rosselini and Visconti classics. Opens Oct. 8 at Sunrise Cinemas at Old Hyde Park. Call to confirm. 
1/2
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (PG-13) Billy Bob Thornton stars in this chronicle of a year in the life of a small-town high school football team. Based on the bestseller by H.G. Bissinger. Also stars Tim McGraw, Derek Luke and Lucas Black. Opens Oct. 8 at local theaters. (Not Reviewed)
THE ROLLING STONES ROCK 'N' ROLL CIRCUS (NR) Grab it. Tampa's Citrus Park is one of only 50 theaters across the country selected to host one-night-only screenings of this seminal bit of rock theater from 1968. The Stones assembled a small group of close friends for Rock 'n' Roll Circus — among them The Who, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton, Marianne Faithful and a somewhat out-of-place Jethro Tull — dressed everyone up in the phantasmagorical costumes of the day, and filmed them performing in a setting that strives to be as surreal (read: unapologetically drugged-out) and circus-like as possible. The film is one of the best documents of its time, capturing peak performances by The Stones ("Jumpin' Jack Flash" and several of the best songs from Beggars Banquet) and The Who (a blistering "A Quick One"), as well as Lennon, Clapton, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell (Jimi Hendrix Experience) working up a loose but inspired jam on "Yer Blues." The project achieved legendary status when Jagger and company shelved it for many years (they believed, rightly, that The Who had upstaged them), and it's still a thing of wonder to behold all these years later. Rock 'n' Roll Circus is being released to DVD the following day, on Oct. 12, but don't let that dissuade you from what will almost certainly be your one and only chance to ever see it up on the big screen. Plays Oct. 11, one night only, at Regal Citrus Park.
TAXI (PG-13) Jimmy Fallon and Queen Latifah team up as an undercover cop and a speed-demon cabbie (guess who's playing who, not that it matters) on the trail of bank robbers in this remake of Luc Besson's 1999 action comedy. Also stars Jennifer Esposito. Opens Oct. 8 at local theaters. (Not Reviewed)
A TOUCH OF PINK (R) Tired retread of a coming-out tale filtered through a blandly inoffensive romantic comedy stocked with gay and ethnic stereotypes who wear their quirkiness on their sleeves. Alim (Jimi Mistry) is a nice South Asian Muslim boy living in London with his cute English boyfriend. Things go predictably haywire when Alim's mother comes calling with dreams of finding him a proper Muslim girlfriend, prompting an elaborate ruse where pretty much everyone winds up pretending to be something they're not. The script tries hard to charm but mostly succeeds in being cloying or formulaic, with the only real saving grace being an appearance by Kyle MacLachlan as the spirit of Cary Grant. Also stars Kristen Holden-Ried and Suleka Mathew. Opens Oct. 8 at Sunrise Cinemas at Old Hyde Park. Call to confirm.
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)
ANACONDAS: HUNT FOR THE BLOOD ORCHID (PG-13) Big snakes. Really big snakes. Scared people. Really scared people. Any questions? Hollywood's summer of 2004 officially ends not with a bang, but with a whimper, as a scientific expedition in the jungles of Borneo encounter super-sized snakes in this sequel to 1997's best forgotten Anaconda. Is it fall yet? Stars Johnny Messner, Matthew Marsden, Morris Chestnut and Salli Richardson. (Not Reviewed)
THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (PG-13) Matt Damon returns as the memory-challenged assassin from The Bourne Identity. The plot here is fairly standard stuff — Damon's character is framed, resulting in a movie-length series of chases in assorted cities around the world — but the material is directed by Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday) with frenetic energy and a taut precision that maximizes suspense. Also stars Joan Allen, Brian Cox and Julia Stiles. 1/2
BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS (R) Adapted from Evelyn Waugh's 1930 novel Vile Bodies, this feature-film debut for British writer/actor Stephen Fry follows an ensemble cast of witty, literate partygoers through 1930s London. Stars Stephen Campbell Moore, Emily Mortimer and Peter O'Toole, with cameos by Dan Aykroyd, Stockard Channing and others. Held over at Burns Court Cinemas. Call to confirm. (Not Reviewed)
BROWN BUNNY (NC-17) Vincent Gallo's defiantly dull bit of arthouse posturing is basically a doodle, but it's so terribly self-conscious about what it's doing that it defeats the whole purpose of doodling. On the surface — and, for my money, there's little about Brown Bunny that isn't surface — this is basically a boring re-hash of a road trip movie in the classic '60s/'70s tradition, where some angst-ridden character hops in a souped-up car and cruises the highways and byways of America in search of himself or some other f-ing ineffable existential truth. We spend a mind-numbing amount of time watching Gallo's character driving, getting in and out of his car, gassing up, eating, looking in mirrors, and attending to basic bodily functions. Interspersed within all of this state-of-the-art boredom are encounters with a handful of inexplicably distressed and painfully inarticulate humans, where nothing much happens, and the awkwardness just builds and builds until it's nearly unbearable. In between the scenes featuring human beings there are endless transitional shots of driving and more driving, or maybe it's the other way around (maybe the people are the transitional devices and the real show is the driving). It all ends where the road ends and with a much-publicized hardcore sex scene, but even here the movie simply doesn't achieve the catharsis it's after. Gallo might want to bare his soul but only succeeds in baring his erect penis, and a last-minute plot "twist" makes it all feel like M. Knight Shyamalan trapped in a pornographic art flick. Also stars Chloe Sevigny, Cheryl Tiegs, Anna Vareschi and Mary Morasky. Held over at Sunrise Cinemas at Old Hyde Park. Call theaters to confirm.
CELLULAR (PG-13) A woman's panicky distress call randomly appearing on a man's cell phone jump-starts a feature-length cat-and-mouse chase. Stars Kim Basinger, Chris Evans, William H. Macy, Jason Statham and Noah Emmerich. (Not Reviewed)
COLLATERAL (R) Collateral — a minimalist thriller that is basically just two guys in a cab (hit man Tom Cruise and his driver/hostage Jamie Foxx) — feels every bit as shallow and constricted as the lame, screenwriting 101 gimmick of its setup. The movie is engaging enough on a purely visceral level, if you don't think at all about what you're watching, but it's full of gaping plot holes and ridiculous coincidences that even the typically stylish flourishes of director Michael Mann fail to flesh out. Also stars Mark Ruffalo and Jada Pinkett Smith. 1/2
A DIRTY SHAME (NC-17) Bolstered by the freedom of its NC-17 rating, A Dirty Shame wants to be a return to form for John Waters, but there's something a little tired, a little calculated and maybe even a little desperate in the director's attempt to recreate the rawness and outrageousness of his early films. Waters' new movie takes his old set-up of normal types vs. perverts (with the pervs getting all the glory), and reformats it as some sort of ode to sexual excess, with a Baltimore filled with adamantly old-fashioned townsfolk terrorized by bands of hyperactive sex fiends. Tracey Ullman doesn't quite fit into Divine's shoes as a repressed housewife who becomes the libidinous disciple of a messianic sexual healer named Ray-Ray (Johnny Knoxville, who's the best thing in the film). Waters does his best to shock us — there are flashes of full-frontal nudity and fairly explicit references to all manner of curious sex acts — but what might have seemed fresh, crude and astonishingly odd in one of the director's films from 30 years ago, seems a bit pointless now. The real problem here, however, is that, despite some choice moments, A Dirty Shame simply isn't all that funny, and that lack of comedy translates into the one thing a John Waters film should never be: boring. Also stars Selma Blair and Chris Isaak.
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. (Not Reviewed)
FIRST DAUGHTER (PG-13) The president's little girl is all grown up and spending her first year away from the first family as a college freshman. Katie Holmes stars in this romantic comedy, with Marc Blucas as the love interest. (Not Reviewed)
THE FORGOTTEN (PG-13) It is believed that humans utilize 10 percent of their mental power at best and Hollywood has long taken it upon itself to chart the vast expanses of leftover mind. In The Forgotten, the latest Julianne Moore vehicle, the question posed is: "Could there be a function of the brain that causes someone to invent a fictional life for themselves? If so, is this function compelling enough to build a decent movie around? No? Oh hell, we'll just do it anyway." This laughably contrived psychological thriller opens on a distraught Telly Paretta (Moore) agonizing over the loss of her 5-year-old son, Sam. Although Sam's disappearance was surrounded by questionable circumstances and it was never determined whether the kid was dead or simply missing, mom-of-the-year Telly only decides to investigate after she is told that Sam never existed at all. The already shaky plot worsens in execution, with the Sam-napping attributed simultaneously to Telly's faltering sanity, clandestine government agencies, shape-shifting pilots, and what appears to be a giant, human-sucking vacuum cleaner in the sky. If the remaining 90 percent of our brains is used to make films like this, it's probably better left alone.
—Casey Clague
GARDEN STATE (R) A flawed but extremely promising debut from writer-director-star Zach Braff that blends darkly surreal comedy with some genuinely and oddly touching moments. Aspiring L.A. actor Andrew Largeman (Braff) returns to his New Jersey hometown for the funeral of his mother, only to find that life in the hinterlands is crazier than ever. Largeman spars with his strangely distant father, deals with his own confused emotions, reacquaints himself with his old, wildly eccentric friends, and falls in something resembling love with a beautiful local (Natalie Portman), most of which is handled in a manner as bizarre as it is funny. The dialogue is clever — sometimes a little too clever, perhaps, in a showy, self-satisfied way — but the film tempers its precociousness with a successful blend of the appealingly sweet and the just plain weird. Also stars Peter Sarsgaard, Ian Holm and Ron Liebman. 1/2
HERO (PG-13) In Zhang Yimou's eye-catching art-fu epic, virtually every shot is suitable for framing and every battle is poetry in motion. Hero is nothing if not a feast for the senses, a cross between a lavish historical epic, a dazzling martial arts extravaganza, and an astonishingly graceful ballet performed with swords, arrows and fists. The film unfolds in flashback, Kill Bill-style, as a nameless champion (Jet Li) details his battles with a series of super-assassins — although there's more than a little Rashomon here as well, with competing versions of the truth eventually calling the original narrative into question. This is a film full of lush, unexpected pleasures, and one that puts the art back in martial arts, big time. Also stars Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi and Donnie Yen
A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD (R) A Home at the End of the World follows Bobby, Colin Farrell's wide-eyed, gentle character, from small-town kid to big-city adult, with special attention paid to Bobby's friendships and on-and-off-again sexual dalliances with longtime pal Jonathan (Dallas Roberts) and multi-hued-haired comrade Claire (Robin Wright Penn). The relationship isn't quite a menage-a-trois, but the essence of what's going on seems to revolve around everybody being maybe a little too in love with Bobby. Scattered throughout the proceedings are ham-fisted signposts that are supposed to illuminate the characters and their emotions, but don't. Also stars Sissy Spacek.
I'LL SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD (R) Director Mike Hodges, who wowed the world in 1971 with Get Carter, disappeared for about a zillion years and then returned to great critical acclaim in 2000 with Croupier, is back on familiar turf with I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. Hodges reunites with Croupier's sullen, soulful-eyed star Clive Owen, doing that old neo-noir gangster thang again in a foggy London town full of rain-slicked streets, bad men with guns and beautiful but ultimately deceitful people. The plot itself is maddeningly convoluted and ultimately maybe even a bit trivial, but the atmosphere is to die for and, in a film like this, style is everything. Also stars Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Charlotte Rampling. 1/2
THE INHERITANCE (NR) Christoffer (Ulrich Thomsen) is the kind of character we often get in movies, but almost always in conveniently simplified and demonized form — a rich businessman who does whatever he has to do to survive. Director Per Fly (my nomination for best name of the year) charts Christoffer's course over a period of roughly five years, as he's sucked into the world of big business, forced to make decisions that cause pain, firing close friends and faithful longtime employees for the "greater good" of his debt-ridden company. Eventually his marriage cracks, chaos and personal crisis looms, and even when a light at the end of the tunnel appears, it's a light illuminating a man whose personality and very life have been turned into something alien to himself. The film's relentless focus on someone exchanging the life he loves for the one he feels is demanded of him sometimes makes The Inheritance seem like it's angling to be seen as a Scandinavian Godfather (minus all the sexy violence), but the film isn't completely successful at disguising some of the more soap-opera-ish turns of the tale. As tragedies about men who gain the world but lose their souls go, The Inheritance isn't exactly Shakespeare, but it does at least manage to make a fully fleshed character out of someone we usually see on the screen as a simple cartoon. Stars Ulrich Thomsen, Lisa Werlinder, Ghita Norby and Lars Brygmann. Held over at Sunrise Cinemas at Old Hyde Park. Call theater to confirm.
INTIMATE STRANGERS (NR) Patrice Leconte's new film begins with a case of mistaken identity, when beautiful, distraught Anna (Sandrine Bonnaire) accidentally wanders into the wrong office and begins revealing the most intimate details of her personal life to the mousy, middle-aged tax accountant she wrongly assumes to be her new psychiatrist (Fabrice Luchini). Intimate Strangers traces the faux shrink's growing obsession with Anna, then complicates the story as we begin to consider that much of what the deeply troubled woman is revealing about herself may be invented for his sake. Things are further complicated when William eventually does tell Anna who he actually is, but she decides to continue their "sessions" anyway. It's a typically wry, almost perversely Leconte-ian twist in a film that delights in teasing us with the suggestion that the relationship between patient and analyst and that of exhibitionist and voyeur are essentially one and the same. Also stars Michel Dushaussoy, Anne Brochet and Gilbert Melki.
LADDER 49 (PG-13) Well made and horribly depressing, Ladder 49 leaves the viewer with an admiration for the craft that went into the film and a desire to somehow purge it from memory. Joaquin Phoenix stars as a Baltimore firefighter injured and trapped in a burning high-rise. As he drifts in and out of consciousness and the other members of his crew desperately try to find and rescue him (much yelling over saws and fire), the film presents us with an overview of his life. The standard "rookies' first day," firehouse-hazing and love-interest scenes are all present and accounted for, and the structure will be familiar to anyone who has ever seen a movie. However, the acting and direction rise well above the material, and therein lies the dilemma. While it is easy to admire Ladder 49 for its technical prowess, it's also tempting to leave the theater in search of a stiff drink — or a noose.
—Joe Bardi
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. Also stars Liev Schreiber and Meryl Streep.
MEAN CREEK (NR) A teen bully becomes a figure of comic-tragic realness in the rural American landscape of Mean Creek, a film that echoes that old humanist credo that everybody has his reasons. Mean Creek tells of a prank gone wrong, a trip down river with a canoe full of kids plotting revenge on a bully for beating up one of their circle. Everyone reveals a bit more of themselves than expected during the trip — most of all the bully, who turns out to be spoiled, obnoxious and annoying but not nearly the monster everyone was expecting — but, in the tradition of all good noir tragedies, a plan once put into motion is too late to stop. Mean Creek skirts the edges of teenage Theatre of Cruelty a la Kids and River's Edge, but the film ultimately eschews nihilism for neutrality, and even holds out for a hint of compassion. The movie generally avoids heavy-handed moralizing of the After School Special sort, but there's no mistaking it as a morality tale, with the weight of the characters' actions taking on a terrible mass that eventually colors and crushes everything in its path. Threading noir motifs through a minimalist coming of age narrative and giving even the least of his characters unexpected weight and dignity, writer-director Jacob Estes has cobbled together what is basically a very promising first feature, reassembling some tried and true elements into an interesting new shape. Stars Rory Culkin, Scott Mechlowicz, Trevor Morgan, Josh Peck and Carly Schroeder. Held over at Sunrise Cinemas at Old Hyde Park. Call theater to confirm. 1/2
MR. 3000 (PG-13) A winning baseball comedy from director Charles Stone III (Drumline), Mr. 3000 stars Bernie Mac as retired baseball great Stan Ross, a man who displayed excellence on the field and extreme arrogance everywhere else. Think Barry Bonds crossed with T.O. and shaken with Shaq, only really self-absorbed. Nine years removed from the game and campaigning heavily for induction into the Hall of Fame, Ross is confronted with the reality that three of his 3,000 hits were statistical errors. Seeing that he has built his entire life around his hit total, Ross returns to an attendance-challenged Brewers club that is happy to let the fan-favorite chase his lost record. Mr. 3000 doesn't avoid sports movie cliches (yes, there is a big game at the end) as much as it utilizes them to make larger points about the state of professional sports and the athletes who play them. In the center of it all is Bernie Mac, who turns in an assured comedic leading-man performance. The film's success hinges on his every move, and he never disappoints. Angela Bassett, Brian J. White, Michael Rispoli, and a (mostly) silent Paul Sorvino round out the excellent ensemble cast. Look out for all the cameos! 1/2
—Joe Bardi
NATIONAL LAMPOON'S GOLD DIGGERS (PG-13) Two inept, aspiring con men (Will Friedle and Chris Owen) hit on a scheme to marry a pair of rich, older women (Louise Lasser and Renee Taylor) and run off with their money. Who's really conning whom is the question the movie inevitably asks. Also stars Nikki Ziering. (Not Reviewed)
OPEN WATER (NR) This ultra-low budget, seat-of-your-pants production strives for a documentary-like authenticity and a premise of Blair Witch-ish simplicity — a young couple left behind by their charter boat find themselves stranded in the middle of a shark-infested ocean — but Open Water isn't The Little Movie That Could that many are hoping for. Mostly, we just watch our heroes floating around complaining and bitching at each other, so that the movie frequently seems like a production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf in scuba gear. Chris Kentis, who shot, edited and directed Open Water, does his best to give the film an energy that belies its low budget, but the thrills here are ultimately as minimalist as the movie's premise, and the film sinks under its own lack of weight. Stars Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis 1/2
PAPARRAZI (PG-13) After his wife and child are seriously injured from a car crash caused by pursuing paparrazi, a fed-up movie star (Cole Hauser) makes it his mission to put an end to the celebrity chasers' deadly overzealousness. Also stars Tom Sizemore, with reported cameos by Chris Rock, Matthew McConaughey, Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn. (Not Reviewed)
PRINCESS DIARIES 2: ROYAL ENGAGEMENT (G) PD2 picks up where PD left off, with American teen Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) flying to Genovia to assume her role as princess of the little-known European nation. Turns out Mia will become queen sooner than she thought, but by Genovian law, she must be married first. So the race to find a husband both suitable and lovable begins. Also stars Julie Andrews, Hector Elizondo, Heather Matarazzo and John Rhys-Davies. (Not Reviewed)
RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE (R) More of that ol' video game slice-and-dice featuring cartoonish human warriors pitted against swarms of yucky, flesh-eating zombies. Stars Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory and Jared Harris. (Not Reviewed)
SEDUCING DR. LEWIS (NR) The exceedingly sweet and moderately charming tale of a dirt-poor and not terribly interesting French Canadian village that concocts an elaborate ruse in order to entice a big city doctor to sign on as an official inhabitant. Fans of The Full Monty and its ilk will surely find much to their liking here, with gaggles of amusingly eccentric, mostly middle-aged folks generating sparks by pretending to be something they're not. The tale of the young urbanite's seduction by the ramshackle little community never strays far from the predictable, but some of the gags aren't too bad, and the colorful locals are the main draw here, anyway. Stars Raymond Bouchard, David Boutin and Lucie Laurier.
THE SEPTEMBER TAPES (NR) This made-up documentary is the video diary of a young American filmmaker who, along with his small crew, submerged himself into the wilds of Afghanistan in search of "the real war on terror," whatever that is. The problems with The September Tapes begin with the fact that our central character really has no idea of what he's after, and neither does the movie. Lars (George Calil), the movie's filmmaker protagonist, wanders around war-torn Afghanistan like some reject from Sundance, looking alternately cocky, confused or terrified, not understanding much of what's going on around him and behaving like an idiot. The movie takes a strange turn in its last act, when Lars' mild-mannered filmmaker inexplicably transforms into Rambo, but even with all the admittedly authentic explosions and gunshots that begin to dominate the action, the silly dialogue and bad acting still give the impression of kids playing soldier in some sort of amateur hour dress-up. Also stars Wali Razagi.
SHARK TALE (PG) Tiny, undemanding tykes in need of a quick Nemo fix are likely to be placated by the bright colors, frenzied pace and bodily function jokes, but there's little in this latest DreamWorks animation to satisfy more discriminating grown-up moviegoers. Shark Tale takes the familiar fable of the brave little tailor and sets it in an underwater realm, with Will Smith giving voice to a poor little fish who becomes a celebrity when he's mistaken as a fearless shark slayer. There's also a big, scary-looking shark who just wants to cuddle, and a typical array of uplifting messages about the value of family, tolerance and being true to yourself. The computer-generated animation is as dazzling as we've come to expect in these big-budget CGI projects, but the movie's humor and incessant pop culture references seem to consist largely of leftovers from Shrek, while the rampant stereotypes (Italian gangsters, shallow African-American hip-hoppers, et al.) get old very quickly. Featuring the voices of Jack Black, James Gandolfini, Angelina Jolie, Renee Zellweger and Martin Scorsese. 1/2
SHAUN OF THE DEAD (R) Poor Shaun. He's 29, stuck in a dead-end job, has an obnoxious slob for a roommate, his girlfriend's just dumped him, he's hung-over, and everyone around him is turning into rampaging, flesh-munching zombies. Don't be fooled by the buckets of blood and unrepentant gore in Shaun of the Dead; a wittier, funnier horror spoof you're unlikely to find, at least for the film's first 45 minutes or so. The movie loses some steam in its second half, struggling a bit to sustain the energy and the joke, but the cumulative effect might just be the most monstrously funny and splendiferously gross homage to genre flicks since Peter Jackson's Brain-Dead. Shaun even one-up's Romero's Dawn of the Dead, with scads of perfectly observed blue-collar characters who come off as such stupefied, shambling wrecks that it's difficult to tell the real zombies from the metaphorical ones (thus giving new meaning to the phrase working-class stiff). Beyond all that, here is a movie that's not afraid to accompany a gruesome murder with a bit of chart-topping pop by Queen, follow that with a Bertrand Russell quote, and then cap it all with a fart joke. Stars Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Dylan Moran and Bill Nighy. 1/2
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW (PG) A large-scale achievement that manages to simultaneously seem retro and futuristic, Sky Captain features cutting-edge technology in the service of a storyline that harkens back to the days of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. While the actors are flesh-and-blood — or, in the case of Angelina Jolie, fleshy-and-bloody-hot — practically everything around them was created on computers by debuting writer-director Kerry Conran and his team. Conran's script is serviceable enough, with heroic aviator Sky Captain (Jude Law) and spunky reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) trying to unravel a mystery whose ingredients include the disappearance of prominent scientists, the destruction of New York City by gigantic robots, and the emergence of a mysterious figure known as Dr. Totenkopf (the long-gone Sir Laurence Olivier, resurrected through altered footage from his early movies). From German Expressionism to screwball comedy, from The Wizard of Oz to Raiders of the Lost Ark, Conran's influences often make Sky Captain seem like the fever dream of a hopeless film buff — it may be derivative, but it's never dull.
—Matt Brunson
VANITY FAIR (PG-13) Director Mira Nair gets most of the notes right — the atmosphere feels authentic, the costumes are sumptuous and the constant focus on the importance of class is precisely handled — and yet Vanity Fair feels rushed and ultimately superficial, trying to cram way too much story into too little screen time. Reese Witherspoon is engaging enough as Rebecca Sharp, the plucky but low-born heroine who works her way up and down the ladder of 19th century English society, but she's an odd choice that displaces the movie's emotional center of gravity. As a button-cute but surprisingly capable fish-out-of-water doing her best to make alien elements her own, she's a little too close for comfort to Elle Woods in period drag, and the movie constantly threatens to follow suit as a Legally Blonde for an earlier century. Also stars Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, James Purfoy, Eileen Atkins and Gabriel Byrne. 1/2
WHAT THE #$*! DO WE KNOW?! (NA) In an attempt to express the neurological processes of "quantum uncertainty," this part-narrative, part-documentary, part-animations flick stars Marlee Matlin as Amanda, whose ho-hum life spins into a chaotic, Alice in Wonderland-type reality. Held over at Burns court Cinemas. Call to confirm. (Not Reviewed)
WICKER PARK (PG-13) Wicker Park is an annoying romantic drama staring Josh Hartnett as Matthew, an engaged twentysomething who ditches a business trip to China (and possibly his impending marriage) after spotting who he thinks may be Lisa (Diane Kruger), the love of his life who left him without explanation two years earlier. Chasing romantic ghosts leads to an old friend (Matthew Lillard) and another woman named Lisa (Rose Byrne), who knows more about Matthew's situation then it first appears. In the abstract, Wicker Park sounds like Hitchcock, but it plays as a drama and lacks any of the master's trademark suspense. After several plot manipulations too many (how often can two people almost meet, if only one wasn't bending down or turned around?), the movie seems less a declaration on love and more a wind-up toy ticking off "surprises," each less compelling then the last.
—Joe Bardi
WIMBLEDON Kirsten Dunst (Lizzie Bradbury) stars opposite Paul Bettany (Peter Colt) in a mushy, melodramatic romance peppered with clever comedy. Sound familiar? Colt and Bradbury meet at Wimbledon where Colt's luck seems to have run out. By "fooling around" with Bradbury, however, he gets his mojo back and becomes one of the top-seeded players in the tournament. To win the viewer's sympathy, the film delves somewhat predictably into Colt's childhood (he came from a fractured family) and plays up critics' contention that he likely lacks what it takes to make it to the championship. The best thing about Wimbledon is the comedy, which is laugh-out-loud funny. John McEnroe's witty guest appearance as a commentator and James McAvoy in the role of the brother who bets against Colt rejuvenate the otherwise flat-lined plot. But the humor is too infrequent to overcome the overamped action and love scenes and, in that respect, Wimbeldon resembles a watered-down version of another Dunst film: Spider-Man.
—Meredith Yeomans
WITHOUT A PADDLE (PG-13) A trio of Generation Whatever's (Seth Green, Matthew Lillard and Dax Shepard) star as childhood chums who reunite at a funeral and vow to honor their dead pal's dream of locating a lost treasure. The movie quickly devolves into a road trip down river, in which our heroes encounter man-eating bears with maternal urges, evil gun-toting hillbillies, sexy neo-hippie chicks, and Burt Reynolds as a scraggly-bearded mountain man. It's every bit as stupid as it sounds, and considerably more annoying for its attempts to fuse the uninspired slapstick with overbearingly "sensitive" moments of male bonding, secret bearing and soul searching. Also stars Burt Reynolds.
WOMAN THOU ART LOOSED (NR) The production values scream Lifetime Movie of the Week, but that only adds to the non-polished, no-frills power of this heartfelt drama about a young African-American woman fighting an uphill battle with the ongoing effects of child abuse, prison, drugs and assorted other problems. Kimberly Elise (The Manchurian Candidate) delivers a tough and thoroughly believable performance as Michelle, a woman struggling to deal with an all-consuming desire for revenge as she comes to grips with a stepfather who raped her as a child, and a mother who seems deep in denial. There are some stagey and overwritten scenes here, but the project blazes with honesty and the numerous scenes shot at an actual revival meeting provide an interesting and effective framework for the film's narrative and messages. Also stars Clifton Powell and Loretta Devine 1/2
Reviewed entries by Lance Goldenberg unless otherwise noted.
This article appears in Oct 6-12, 2004.