About a Boy (PG-13) It's a long way from American Pie to this compact little charmer about the redemption of a sexual predator, but that's exactly the journey taken by writer-directors Paul and Chris Weitz. About a Boy is based on a 1998 book by popular Brit novelist Nick Hornby (High Fidelity) and boasts a clever, snappy script co-written by Peter Hedges. The best thing about the film, though, is Hugh Grant, whose performance as a shallow skirt-chaser avoids most of the actor's trademark ticks and flutters, and manages to be both winningly narcissistic and sweetly self-deprecating. The core of the film is about the bond that forms between Grant's character and the young boy he's using as a prop to seduce single moms, but the movie is usually smart enough to avoid tugging too hard on our collective heartstrings. Also stars Toni Collette, Rachel Weisz and Nicholas Hoult.
Bad Company (PG-13) More a failed genetic experiment than an actual motion picture, Bad Company is a pathetically clumsy attempt to graft not just two completely different genres, but two actors who should never have appeared in the same film. The wisp of a plot of this lazily scripted sub-generic spy movie — something about terrorists attempting to detonate a nuclear weapon in the U.S. — is really just an excuse to allow Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock to share screen time. Everyone is saddled with dialogue so cringe-worthy that even Hopkins can barely make it sound classy, and most of the actors are playing stereotypes or outright cartoons (Peter Stormare, as a Russian heavy, is particularly embarrassing). Rock can be very funny in his way (although infrequently here), but he appears ill-at-ease on screen and seems incapable of even carrying the weight of the relatively undemanding dramatic dimensions of his role in Bad Company. The movie gets better toward the end, when the middling comedy and forced star interactions take a back seat to a series of relatively exciting action sequences, but, as is often the case with projects like this, it's too little too late. Also stars Gabriel Macht and John Slattery.
Blade II (R) Wesley Snipes returns as Marvel Comics' hybrid human-vampire super-hero in a sequel that's decidedly scarier — and gorier — than the original. The story, while not exactly elaborate, boasts an interesting enough premise: Blade enters into an uneasy alliance with his arch foes in order to eliminate a deadly new mutant strain of uber-vampires.
The Cat's Meow (PG-13) This semi-successful comeback project for director Peter Bogdanovich (Paper Moon, The Last Picture Show) is loosely based on actual events that took place late in 1924. The film is half-serious and half-humorous as it goes about the business of positing what might have happened during a curious weekend cruise aboard a yacht owned by William Randolph Hearst — a cruise in which one of the guests mysteriously died.
The Bourne Identity (PG-13) Circling around a theme from one of his recent movies, Matt Damon pulls a Talented Mr. Ripley here as a guy attempting to invent an identity for himself. The twist is that Damon's Bourne character doesn't know who he is; he's an amnesiac who also just happens to be a world-class fighter, linguist, escape artist — in fact, he pretty much possesses all the skills of a top-notch spy/sleuth/assassin. Complicating matters is the fact that, even as he tries to reclaim his memory, Damon's being hunted by the ultimate bad guys who appear to be his old bosses — our old pals, the CIA. Franka Potente revisits one of her past roles here too, running just as hard and fast as she did in Run Lola Run, although this time as a sidekick to Damon. Bourne Identity is basically an action movie, but it's an overly murky one that lacks a real sense of urgency or purpose; the film sometimes seems like it would rather be an art movie and unfolds in a way that often feels downright lugubrious, while, in odd contrast, the style is fashionably agitated and easily distracted. Also stars Chris Cooper and Brian Cox as a couple of very good baddies. Opens June 14 at local theaters.
Changing Lanes (R) Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson star as two guys who literally crash into each other in a fender bender that escalates into a strange vendetta. The film is more complex and nuanced than we might imagine in a big-budget film. The only real problem with the lean and edgy story is the slightly flabby treatment given to it by director Roger Michell. Also stars Toni Collette, Sydney Pollack, William Hurt and Amanda Peet.
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (PG-13) Written and directed by Callie Khouri (Thelma and Louise), produced by Bonnie Bruckheimer (Beaches) and adapted from a couple of Rebecca Wells novels much cherished by a sizable, almost exclusively female audience, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood is a consummate chick flick, but not a particularly good movie. The essence of this energetic but overlong, rambling film has to do with a daughter's love-hate relationship with her mother — and, as with so many films that attempt to offer up what amounts to the lighter side of familial dysfunction, Ya-Ya can't quite seem to decide how it really feels about its subject. The movie spends the better part of two hours alternately skewering and romanticizing its central character — a self-centered, substance-abusing mother played as a young woman by Ashley Judd and as an aging matron by Ellen Burstyn — and then resolves all the complicated issues between the woman and her daughter in a final rush of unrepentant mush. What keeps the movie afloat are its appealing performances, particularly from Maggie Smith and Fionnula Flanagan — a Brit and an Irish actress, respectively, offering up pitch-perfect deep South accents, and filling their eccentric, larger-than-life roles right up to the brim. Also stars Sandra Bullock.
Enigma (R) A good old fashioned Brit spy caper with a touch of romance, scads of nasty Nazis and a damaged genius straight out of A Beautiful Mind at its center. The damaged genius is a brilliant code breaker (Dougray Scott) who hooks up with a plucky young lass (Kate Winslet) in order to solve the mystery of a disappeared beauty and, in the process, crack a Nazi code that threatens the Allies' efforts in World War II. Held over at Regal Channelside 9. Call to confirm.
Enough (R) This film completely screws up a premise that cries out for a serious celluloid treatment. Director Michael Apted and screenwriter Nicholas Kazan (who penned Reversal of Fortune in another lifetime) aren't interested in exploring such an explosive topic as wife-beating; they're more interested in dolling up star Jennifer Lopez and letting her kick ass in an obvious finale that can be predicted even by those who haven't seen the tell-all trailer. It would take too much space and effort to list the countless plot holes littering the movie, but this is the sort of inane flick in which our heroine plans ahead of time for situations that she couldn't possibly know will happen later — but of course they do, and of course she's able to then wiggle her way out of them.
—Matt Brunson
High Crimes (PG-13) Everything's coming up roses for successful, attractive, happily married yuppie lawyer Claire (Ashley Judd) — that is, until she discovers that her sweet, reliable hubby (Jim Caviezel) has been leading a double life and now finds himself on trial for participating in a military massacre in El Salvador many years ago. There are way too many implausible plot points and predictable turns in this atypically ham-fisted effort from director Carl Franklin (One False Move), but the film's really no worse than your standard made-for-cable thriller.
The Importance of Being Earnest (PG) Oscar Wilde's signature piece was, in its day, the ultimate case of identity both mistaken and assumed, but the play is also the ultimate bauble — and frankly, it hasn't aged particularly well. The Importance of Being Earnest still contains some of the wittiest one-liners around — most of which survive in this latest film version — but the plot machinations just seem sillier and more convoluted with each passing decade. Director Oliver Parker (An Ideal Husband) does his best to goose things up with fantasy interludes and a sprinkling of modern flourishes, but most of it just seems overly coy and obviously transplanted. Held over at Tampa Theatre. Call to confirm.
Insomnia (R) Unlike Memento, the movie that unfolded in reverse and put director Christopher Nolan on the map, the filmmaker's new project propels its story forward in a relentlessly linear manner. Insomnia is one of the darker films you'll see this year, but it's also one of the brightest, with the movie taking place in Alaska during that time of year when the sun hovers in the sky for 24 hours a day. Al Pacino stars as a cop who makes some very bad decisions and then becomes so sleep-deprived that he is unable to tell when he's crossed the line from good guy to bad guy. Even at his most dislikable, Pacino's character is just a little too easy to like, and never quite makes the transformation from wise, folksy hero cop to the reptilian Anti-Serpico that would have made this a much creepier and more interesting movie. Also stars Hilary Swank, Robin Williams, Maura Tierney and Martin Donovan.
Italian for Beginners (R) A Dogme film for people who hate Dogme films, Italian for Beginners takes a thoroughly ordinary, often silly story and adds handheld cameras and the other anti-tricks of the Dogme crowd, as if all this will somehow turn cliche into art. It doesn't. Director Lone Scherfig throws together a half-dozen lonely and somewhat eccentric thirtysomethings and allows them to gradually and, generally, quite implausibly come together, filming the process in the gritty, no-frills manner proscribed by the Dogme manifesto. Held over at Regal Channelside 9. Call to confirm.
The New Guy (PG-13) Painfully unfunny comedy about a high school dweeb who, under the dubious guidance of a crazy con, re-invents himself as the coolest kid in class. Stars DJ Qualls, Eliza Dushku, Zooey Deschanel and a string of pointless cameos by the likes of Henry Rollins, Gene Simmons, Tommy Lee and skateboarder Tony Hawk.
Ocean Men (PG) As beautiful and bombastic as a Wagner opera, this latest IMAX documentary tells the story of the friendly (and sometimes not-so-friendly) competition between two world-class athletes, each striving to dive to unimaginable depths without the aid of any sort of breathing apparatus. At IMAX Channelside. Call theater to confirm.
Panic Room (R) The latest from David Fincher (Seven, Fight Club) is a modern riff on such classic home-invasion exploitation films as Wait Until Dark and Lady in a Cage. A newly divorced mother (Jodie Foster) and her young daughter (Kristen Stewart) awaken to discover armed intruders lurking just outside their bedroom doors. Foster turns in another finely nuanced performance as the imperiled heroine, as does Forest Whitaker as the intruder with a conscience.
Scooby Doo (PG) A big-screen experience pretty similar to watching an old Scooby Doo cartoon on TV, only longer. Outside a very small handful of semi-hip inside jokes (including a drug reference or two), the live action movie of Scooby Doo is a pretty bland affair, whose target audience will consist of kids ages 3 to 7. Even older youngsters will begin to have problems with the predictable, middle-of-the-road nature of the movie — it's not competent enough to be taken at all seriously and not silly enough to have any actual camp appeal. The actors playing the Mystery Inc. gang all offer respectable impersonations (with Matthew Lillard, as Shaggy, being the standout), but the titular CGI pooch looks a little too weird and the plot is essentially just a 20-minute Scooby episode expanded to a numbing hour and a half. Highlights include a burping/farting contest between Shaggy and Scooby and a brief visit from Scrappy Doo, in which we learn he's really a full-grown canine with a glandular condition and a nasty Napoleonic complex. Also stars Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., Linda Cardellini and Rowan Atkinson. Opens June 14 at local theaters.
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)
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (G) An animated, all-American tale of freedom and bravery that's very nearly a kid-friendly remake of Little Big Man with Dustin Hoffman's role being taken by a talking horse. The movie's equine protagonist is actually far more heroic than Hoffman's chameleon-like survivor, but both characters wind up serving as virtual tour guides on a condensed history of the Old West by passing back and forth between the Native American and white man's civilizations that defined the era.
Spider-Man (PG) Sam Raimi's big screen adaptation of Spider-Man is surprisingly faithful to Spidey's origins as an outsider superhero, even if the edges have been smoothed out a touch. The movie's first half lays the story out in a manner that has all the symmetry and primal oomph of modern myth, with Peter Parker spending most of the movie simply adjusting to his new powers (we don't even see Spidey in full costume until a full hour into the movie). Even though the second half of Spider-Man is infinitely more action-packed than the setup, the movie gives the distinct impression of slowing down as it progresses. The main reason the movie's second half suffers is due to the fundamental shift from characters to CGI-dominated action — and, frankly, some of the digital effects aren't quite up to the task. Also stars Kirsten Dunst and James Franco.
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (PG) As enticing as anything George Lucas has ever done, Episode II is good enough to not only ease the pain of the fiasco otherwise known as Episode I, it quite nearly redeems it. The middle installment of Lucas' new trilogy is a big, juicy entertainment that manages to put into perspective everything that's come before and neatly set up what's to follow. The action sequences are among Lucas' most muscular and exciting to date, but the movie's narrative is surprisingly intriguing as well. There are problems here, to be sure — hokey dialogue, too many pandering, cartoony bit players, a romance that verges on kitsch, a grand finale battle royale that includes everything including the kitchen sink and just goes on forever — but it's a Star Wars movie, after all, and that's just part of the charm. Stars Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Samuel L. Jackson and Christopher Lee.
The Sum of All Fears (PG-13) An expertly crafted thriller that delivers a terrifyingly believable account of the doomsday scenario so many of us now consider inevitable — terrorists smuggle in a nuclear device and detonate it on U.S. soil. The Sum of All Fears will be a little too real for many. The movie features a Bush-like Commander-in-Chief who can't pronounce the names of foreign countries (Whatever, he barks when corrected), a Colin Powell-like presence played by Morgan Freeman and a power-hungry Neo-Nazi (Alan Bates) who seems all too clearly modeled after Le Pen and the countless other fascist, anti-Semitic nutcases popping up across Europe these days. The nutty Nazi plans to play the U.S. and Russia against each other, orchestrating attacks in each country for which the other will be blamed and consequently triggering Armageddon — causing the movie to play out a little like Dr. Strangelove redone as a Hollywood thriller, with Bates assuming the Sterling Hayden role crossed with a Bond-ian supervillain. Although it's smarter and more politically astute than your average popcorn flick, the smartest thing of all about The Sum of All Fears is that it recognizes the value of sitting back in an air-conditioned theater and watching the world end. Also stars Ben Affleck and Liev Schreiber.
Y Tu Mama Tambien (NR) Alternately exuberant, wry and bittersweet, this blatantly sexual Mexican import is something of a road-trip movie as well as a coming of age film. Best pals Tenoch and Julio (Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna from Amores Perros) are typical happy-go-lucky, hormone-crazed, teen party animals, who can barely believe their luck when an attractive older woman (Maribel Verdu), impulsively agrees to come with them on a trip to the beach. Y Tu Mama Tambien trades in material that in Hollywood would most likely translate into another variation on American Pie. Here it makes for one hell of a movie. Held over at Regal Channelside 9 in Tampa. Call to confirm.
Ultimate X (PG) Not your standard IMAX movie by a long shot, Ultimate X cops an attitude that's almost as edgy and irreverent as its subject matter — those Extreme Sports featured in ESPN's popular X Games, like BMX biking, skateboarding, street luge, wakeboarding, speed climbing and all other manner of daredevil events. The stunts and tricks are spectacular, and so are the wipeouts. Featured are skaters Tony Hawk, Bob Burnquist and Bucky Lasek, BMX stunt riders Ryan Nyquist and Cory Nasty Nastazio and Moto X rider Carey Hart. At Channelside IMAX.
Undercover Brother (PG-13) Austin Powers meets Shaft in this blaxploitation/spy spoof about an Afro-sporting, platform-shoes-wearing crime fighter stuck in the Parliament-Funkadelic '70s. Stars Eddie Griffin, Chris Kattan and Denise Richards.
(Not Reviewed)
Unfaithful (R) A tale of marital deception that starts out as a fairly standard erotic thriller but becomes much more interesting in its later stages, when it tackles the aftermath of the affair. Diane Lane stars as a more-or-less happy suburban housewife who enters into a steamy affair with a sexy French bohemian (Olivier Martinez) who soon has her reading esoteric poetry, attending Jacques Tati film festivals and engaging in mildly kinky sex in public bathrooms. Lane (who's quite convincing as a woman both thrilled and repelled by what she's doing) and hubby Richard Gere sink gradually into an abyss of secrets and lies, with the movie's real strength being the unflinching detailing of that unhappy process.
Windtalkers (R) A different sort of film for John Woo, the Hong Kong action auteur who came to Hollywood and went on to break the bank with stylish mayhem like Mission: Impossible II. Woo's latest is a traditional, even old fashioned war movie, starring Nicolas Cage as brooding, traumatized marine charged with protecting a Navajo code talker during World War II. Cage excels at playing souls in pain, and he has some extraordinary moments here, but the movie only really comes alive at those times when his wound is at its most naked. Otherwise, Windtalkers is a fairly conventional tale of men in combat, with each scene of quiet reflection and manly camaraderie being inevitably followed by one of tremendous bombast and flying body parts. Adam Beach is particularly good as Cage's Navajo charge, and Christian Slater shows up as well, although he doesn't have much to do outside of smiling a lot and playing dueling receding hairlines with Cage. Also stars Roger Willie. Opens June 14 at local theaters.
—Reviewed entries by Lance Goldenberg unless otherwise notedDVD Pick Daisies Take the final explosive moments of Antonioni's Zabriskie Point — or maybe the instrument-smashing finale of an adrenaline-soaked Who concert circa 1967 — expand it to feature-film length, cross it with a little Marx (both Karl and Groucho), a lot of Alice in Wonderland and a hit or two of acid, and you'll likely wind up with something very close to Vera Chytilova's 1966 masterpiece Daisies.
The Czech director's film is a grand experiment in form and style, a nihilistic lark so radical and blatantly artificial that it's hard to see it as anything but a love-it-or-hate-it proposition (London's Time Out critic sniffed, As an allegory it lacks any resonance; as a movie it stinks.). As much as the film is about anything, it's about two bored teenaged girls, both named Marie, who spend their time manufacturing chaos and devising elaborate jokes and scams; they delight in conning middle-aged men, breaking every rule they can find, making monumental messes (both literal and metaphoric) and then rubbing those messes in the collective face of society.
The tone of Daisies is absurd, unpredictable and often quite silly, because what the two Maries (Jitka Cerhova and Ivana Karbanova) and the film seem to be shouting from the rooftops is that the world makes no sense, and neither will we. Some say neither does the film, but that's exactly the point. Daisies marries anarchy and a big, juicy pop sensibility decades before punk will have made that fusion fashionable — and it does it with style. Chytilova went for broke with her film, resulting in a riot of striking color, odd effects, imaginatively designed sets and compositions, experimental editing techniques and other wild flourishes years ahead of their time.
The film breaks additional ground in light of its proto-feminist tendencies, what with its merry prankster grrrl provocateurs devoting themselves to all manner of patriarchal subversion, not excluding the extensive slicing and dicing of sausages, pickles and various other phallic foodstuffs. It will probably come as no surprise to learn that Daisies was banned not long after its release — the Czech parliament even passed a special motion condemning Chytilova for, among other things, wasting food during the film's production — but, as with so many other lost treasures from cinema past, it's now available again, looking better than ever, on a smashing new DVD edition. The Facets DVD of Chytilova's surrealist fantasy features a lovely transfer of the uncut, 74-minute version of Daisies, with a few scattered scratches but with an exceptionally sharp image and bright, crisp hues. A biography and filmography is included for Chytilova (who, along with Milos Forman, was one of the pioneers of the Czech New Wave), as well as a selection of documents related to the banning of this very strange and wonderful film.
—Lance Goldenberg
This article appears in Jun 12-18, 2002.