A.I. (PG-13) A film directed by Steven Speilberg based on a long-gestating idea by Stanley Kubrick, A.I. is an odd and intriguing hybrid of a movie, combining elements that smack of both filmmakers but not really fully in either's camp. The story tells us of a little robot boy (Haley Joel Osment) who has troubles adjusting to the human world (and vice versa). Most of A.I.'s considerable running time amounts to a series of flashy but very tenuously connected sequences in which our small hero drifts from one exotic futuristic environment to the next, in a vaguely defined quest to find Pinocchio's mythical blue fairy, who he's certain will turn him into a real boy. Individual moments in the movie are striking, but A.I. doesn't really hold together, and it never comes to grips with what it really is — a tragedy of epic proportions. Also stars Frances O'Connor, Jude Law and William Hurt.
The Animal (PG-13) Rob Schneider stars as Marvin Mange, a wannabe cop who develops animal urges after an experimental operation. Don't ask for details on the switch; there are none. But then again, this isn't the kind of movie where you really need scientific explanations. What you would hope for, though, is some better jokes.
—Dustin Dwyer
The Anniversary Party (NR) The Anniversary Party takes place during the course of a single night during a gathering of friends at the home of Joe and Sally Therrian (Alan Cummming and Jennifer Jason Leigh), an L.A. power couple who've recently reunited after a lengthy separation. Their fellow partiers are a cross-section of Hollywood's best, brightest and most, uh, colorful: actors, artists, writers, directors, musicians and money men, as well as their various spouses, pets and offspring. A little bit of everything happens before dawn breaks and The Anniversary Party concludes, some of it played for laughs, some of it designed to touch and provoke.
Atlantis (PG) Disney's latest animated feature is a Jules Verne-ish looking adventure about a group of explorers who discover a civilization beneath the sea. Michael J. Fox, who seems to enjoy this sort of thing, supplies the hero's voice.
(Not Reviewed)
Baby Boy (R) Ten years after Boyz N the Hood, director John Singleton revisits his old South Central stomping grounds with less than satisfying results. Singleton's title character is Jody (Tyrese Gibson), a likable but aimless 20-year-old arrested adolescent with no job, commitment issues, two small children by different women, and who still lives at home sponging off his mama. Part drama and part comedy, Baby Boy is not fully successful at either. The director's thesis — that his main character's infantile behavior is somehow representative of African American males in America — simply isn't enough to carry the film.
Bread and Roses (R) Legendary British director Ken Loach's first film set in America concerns a feisty young Mexican woman named Maya (Pilar Padilla) who gets a crappy job cleaning a downtown highrise and then becomes deeply involved in the struggle for rights and benefits for non-union janitors. One of our most political and socially conscious filmmakers, Loach compensates for his tendency towards didacticism by fleshing out his characters in all sorts of fascinating ways. The performances are a bit uneven, but some of the acting is genuinely remarkable and the film finally makes quite an impression. At Channelside Cinemas. Call theater to confirm.
Bridget Jones's Diary (R) An English everywoman in the limbo between youth and middle age, Bridget Jones is single (although not by choice), slightly overweight, smokes and drinks too much, doesn't get on that well with her nagging mum, and finds herself constantly falling for the wrong sort of man while soundly rejecting the ones who might just turn out to be Mr. Right.
Cats and Dogs (PG) More talking animals than you can shake a talking animal at. Stars Jeff Goldblum and a whole lot of digitally manipulated furballs. Opens July 4 at local theaters
(Not Reviewed)
Chocolat (PG-13) Free-spirited Juliette Binoche opens a chocolate shop in a repressed village, setting up a didactic conflict of indulgence vs. denial.
—Curt Holman
Come Undone (NR) Watch out for the occasional extreme close-ups of big, scary penises in this otherwise subdued and strangely lyrical tale of a young gay man's first experience with love. Mathieu (Jeremie Elkaim) is a quiet, 18-year old French man-child who becomes enraptured with hunky Cedric (Stephane Rideau of Wild Reeds) while on vacation in a quaint beachtown near Nantes. Mathieu deals with his exploding hormones, unpredictable new boyfriend and nosy family as the bittersweet story skips a little too aggressively back and forth through time and space. The emotions in Come Undone (the title can be taken any number of ways) mostly lie beneath the surface, much like those of the somewhat repressed main character, and there's an interestingly understated, silent quality to the film. There's not a whole lot that's particularly new here, but the performances are strong and natural and the film tells its story in a fragmented, resolutely non-linear manner that makes it all seem, if not new, at least like some haunting, half-remembered dream. Opens July 6 at Channelside Cinemas. Call theater to confirm
Crazy/Beautiful (PG-13) A strong performance by Kirsten Dunst and a slightly above average script lift this project a notch or two above your typical after-school special. Romance blossoms between naughty rich white girl Dunst and a poor Hispanic classmate who's trying to better himself (Jay Fernandez).
Cyberworld (PG) The latest 3-D Imax spectacular, featuring none other than Bart, Homer and La Familias Simpson. Now playing at Imax Channelside
(Not Reviewed)
Dr. Dolittle 2 (PG) Eddie Murphy reprises the role of the infamous animal love doctor, and this time he has a message. After being lured into the woods by a raccoon with Mafia connections, Dolittle hears from the Godbeaver himself that the forest is about to be destroyed. In order to save the pristine wilderness from evil loggers, Dr. Dolittle attempts to get two endangered and completely incompatible Pacific Western Bears to mate.
—Dustin Dwyer
Evolution (PG-13) Ivan Reitman's latest comedic opus is full of plot holes, mindless sidetracks and middle-of-the-road directing, but it's funny as hell. Julianne Moore and David Duchovny ham it up alongside the shamelessly hokey Orlando Jones (7-Up commercials) and Seann William Scott (Dude Where's My Car).
—Dustin Dwyer
The Fast and the Furious (R) A total video game of a movie, in the best sense, and everything Driven should have been: a racing flick that's one big, unabashed rush, sprinkled with larger-than-life characters who swagger between iconic stature and campy cartoonishness. Director Rob Cohen (Dragon: the Bruce Lee Story) re-imagines L.A. as a glossy no-man's land ruled by speed-crazed street racers. Stars Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster.
The Golden Bowl (PG) The main problem with The Golden Bowl, an impeccably crafted and solidly performed period piece based on a Henry James novel, is that the film lacks the sort of weight and complexity that have characterized (and redeemed) better Merchant-Ivory efforts, such as Howards End and Remains of the Day. Worse, The Golden Bowl lacks all but the smallest shred of narrative momentum or suspense. Stars Jeremy Northam, Kate Beckinsale, Uma Thurman, Nick Nolte.
Kiss of the Dragon (R) A nasty little piece of work highlighted by some gloriously over-the-top action sequences, lots of blood and guts, firepower, flying fists and, of course, Jet Li. He plays a Chinese cop on the lam from an army of corrupt cops in Paris . Bridget Fonda shows up as an ex-junkie hooker with a heart of gold, performing pretty much the same function (and virtually playing the same role) as Mira Sorvino in that other wannabe break-out project for a transplanted Asian star, The Replacement Killers. Fonda's presence actually drags the movie down — Li is almost always better solo and silent — but Kiss of the Dragon is still thoroughly satisfying summer fare, at least if you're open to having your action tempered by more intense violence and borderline nihilism than you'll see this side of a vintage spaghetti western. Also star Ric Young. Opens July 6 at local theaters
Lara Croft Tomb Raider (PG-13) Yet another reason why movies should not be based on video games. Angelina Jolie stars as Lara Croft, a busty, butt-kickin adventuress with a serious daddy complex. The movie is essentially just an excuse to fetishize Jolie and showcase some exotic locations and annoying digital effects.
Memento (R) A haunting film about a man who can't trust his own memory. Our hero, Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce), has a bizarre condition that makes it impossible for him to remember anything more recent than the night of his wife's brutal murder. Consequently, he travels from place to place searching for her killer, tattooing upon his own body the clues that he uncovers, clues that he would instantly forget if not for the fact that they were indelibly imprinted on his skin. Memento actually tells its story in reverse, but the movie isn't so much a radical experiment as it is a crime thriller in the classic film noir vein — all brooding atmosphere, paranoia and treachery. Also stars Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano.
Moulin Rouge (PG-13) The nominal stars of Moulin Rouge are Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman, playing a star-crossed pair who fall in love, experience sublime happiness and meet inevitably tragic ends while putting on a big show at the legendary old Montmartre cabaret. But the real star of Moulin Rouge is its sense of style: the astonishing sets, the costumes, the choreography, the how'd they do that? camera moves. It's all staged as a musical, with the wisp of a story told largely through song, and characters constantly breaking into pop tunes (mostly from the '70s and '80s).
The Mummy Returns (PG-13) More is more in this relentlessly bombastic sequel to the 1999 blockbuster. Returns basically recycles all the main selling points of the original, minus any vestigial attempts at humor or pacing.
Pearl Harbor (PG-13) Almost everything about Michael Bay's new 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; the film fairly begs the question: Why just sink one boat when you can sink a whole bunch?
Pootie Tang (PG-13) Based on a character from the Chris Rock Show, a crime-stopping super hero speaks his own incomprehensible language and fights a bad guy who encourages young folk to indulge in more alcohol, tobacco and fast food.
(Not Reviewed)
Pulp Fiction (R) Not only is Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece an intense amalgamation of hyper-stylized activity and the ol' ultra-violence, but it's also a fiercely literate effort that often feels more like a play than a movie. The film is comprised of three sections, each of which seems to have little to do with the other, until the stories begin to converge in various bizarre and grotesquely funny shapes. It's a sometimes frustrating attempt at convolution-as-narrative, but it's also thoughtful, thrilling and insanely entertaining. Pulp is showing on Friday and Saturday, July 6 and 7, at midnight at Main Street Cinemas in Clearwater.
Scary Movie 2 (R) If at first you make a whole lot of money, try, try again. More horror movie spoofin' from the Wayans bro's. Opens July 4 at local theaters
(Not Reviewed)
Sexy Beast (R) See Film column.
Shrek (PG) Dreamworks' animated fantasy is a deliciously irreverent bit of make-believe. Mike Myers supplies the voice (and personality) for the titular lime-green ogre, who embarks upon a quest to rescue an enchanted princess from the castle of a fire-breathing dragon.
The Smell of Camphor, The Fragrance of Jasmine (NR) This latest import from Iran is a bit of a surprise, especially to viewers who already consider themselves familiar with the pleasures of Iranian movies. Director Bahman Farmanara eschews many of the signature elements of what we take for modern Iranian cinema — particularly the use of child actors and the spare but lyrical naturalism that defines so many of those films — and gives us something not so dissimilar to a contemporary Euro-art film. The Smell of Camphor… follows a rumpled, chain-smoking, world-weary filmmaker named Bahman Farjami (played by Farmanara himself) through the course of a very bad day. Through a series of minimally edited long takes, we journey along with our sad-eyed, overweight hero as he visits his wife's grave, discovers that someone else has been buried in his burial plot, and picks up a distressed hitchhiker who winds up leaving her dead baby in his car. That's only the beginning of a comically depressing chain of events that leads Farjami/Farmanara to start making not-so-secret plans to direct a documentary on his own funeral. The Smell of Camphor is Farmanara's first film in more than two decades, and it's a genuine curiosity that this project — which presents a fairly detailed and often unflattering portrait of Iranian society — passed by the censors when so many of this long-banned director's other projects were rejected. Whatever the reasons, be thankful for the appearance of this occasionally self-indulgent but more often that not witty, wistful and eloquently moving film. At Channelside Cinemas. Call theater to confirm.
Swordfish (R) Form blows away content in this extremely stylish, fast-paced but (although you'll hardly have a chance to notice) fairly ordinary thriller about a high-tech heist. John Travolta stars as master cyber-criminal Gabriel Shear. Hugh Jackman (Wolverine from X-Men) supplies the human interest as the hacker who reluctantly hooks up with Travolta's character, and Halle Berry shows plenty of skin as an enigmatic gang member who may or may not be what she seems.
The Tailor of Panama (R) Pierce Brosnan stars as a morally dubious secret agent stationed in Panama, who blackmails a transplanted English tailor (Geoffrey Rush) into helping him with a nasty little get-rich scheme — a master plan that plays on everyone's greed, paranoia and unblinking jingoism, culminating in a fiasco of monumental proportions.
Time and Tide (R) Time and Tide is the latest film by the legendary Hong Kong filmmaker Tsui Hark (pronounced Choy Hok) and shows the director, after a brief, disastrous flirtation with Hollywood, back in top form. The storyline may be one of the more confusing you'll ever come across — as near as we can tell, something about a cute but tough Hong Kong kid who takes on a gig as a bodyguard (in order to support a lesbian undercover cop he's accidentally impregnated) and hooks up with an ex-mercenary who, despite his efforts to lead a normal life, is pulled back into the killing business. A series of heists, hits, and double-and-triple crosses ensue, little of which is fully explained but all of which is depicted in a manner that's nothing short of extraordinary. Tsui's story jumps from Hong Kong to South America to the inner fantasy-worlds of his characters, as his eloquent camera defies gravity again and again, freezing all motion in its tracks and then lurching backwards or forwards, doing things that Guy Ritchie can only dream about. Even when we're not quite sure what's happening with the plot, Time and Tide contains so many brilliantly visualized sequences that we're too enraptured to care.
What's the Worst That Could Happen? (PG-13) A punch line waiting to happen. Danny DeVito is a rich target for bungling criminals Martin Lawrence and John Leguizamo.
(Not Reviewed)
—Reviewed entries by Lance Goldenberg unless otherwise noted
This article appears in Jul 5-11, 2001.