15 Minutes (R) Robert De Niro and Ed Burns play the pistol-packing Good Guys on the trail of a pair of mad-dog killers with a mania for videotaping their crimes. Tough, exciting and just off-kilter enough to keep us guessing, 15 Minutes is a thriller that manages to transcend the buddy movie genre and even say a few interesting things along the way about America's mania for celebrity and sordid reality TV. Also stars Kelsey Grammer and Avery Brooks.
All Access (PG) IMAX Channelside's five-story tall screen and 14,000-watt sound system add immeasurably to the pleasures of this hourlong concert film shot in New York and Chicago. The basic formula here is extreme eclecticism of a type both cross-cultural and cross-generational: Elder statesmen like Carlos Santana, B.B. King and Al Green hook up with young turks like Dave Matthews, Trey Anastasio (Phish) and Rob Thomas (Matchbox Twenty) for a selection of We-Are-The-World group-hug performances that shouldn't by all rights work, but do (generally). Highlights include a fabulous medley of P-Funk classics performed by George Clinton and Mary J. Blige, and an incredible turn by Macy Gray (confirming her God-like status for anyone who still might have doubts). There are other nice surprises as well: Kid Rock turns out to be pretty watchable; Moby has a nice moment or two; and Algerian vocalist Cheb Mami, teaming up with Sting for a rendition of the Brit singer's hit Desert Rose, takes some of the pain out of sitting through the ex-Cop's umpteenth IMAX appearance.
Along Came A Spider (R) Morgan Freeman returns to the role of Dr. Alex Cross in this follow-up to Kiss the Girls (1997). Both films are based on novels by James Patterson. Cross is a renowned profiler, or psychological detective, chosen by a serial killer who wishes to gain crime-of-the-century status for his kidnapping of a senator's daughter by luring Cross into the case. The movie uses several cop-drama cliches: the disillusioned officer whose last partner died in the line of duty; the detective who can peruse the miscellany of a crime scene and pick out the cryptic clue; the psychopath who torments his would-be captor. Yet all of these effectively increase the tension and the dialogue's vigor. The supporting actors — Monica Potter (Agent Jezzie Flannigan) and Michael Wincott (Gary Soneji) — lend credibility to characters whose motives are largely implausible. Directed by Lee Tamahori (Mulholland Falls), Along Came a Spider is fun and exciting. But if you dislike feeling duped by slick plot twists, read the Patterson thriller beforehand, then buy a large popcorn and affect a smug grin.
—Cooper Cruz
Billy Elliot (R) The film borrows a good bit more than just its economically depressed but high-spirited, working-class English environment from The Full Monty; the whole comedic premise here depends on turning gender roles upside down and flying them in our face — in the nicest possible way, of course. See, 11-year-old Billy Elliot (Jamie Bell) has a problem: He's discovered he has an unexpected passion and aptitude for ballet, something no self-respecting coal miner's son should ever be caught dead fancying. When the film is in pure feel-good mode, it does a bang-up job of it. Also stars Gary Lewis and Adam Cooper.
Blow (R) A rise and fall yarn about an ordinary guy who avoids poverty by selling pot in the '60s, graduates to dealing coke and then winds up falling as far as he can fall, while getting screwed by pretty much everyone on the planet. Johnny Depp delivers yet another outstanding performance as our contraband-dealing hero and all-around nice guy, George Jung, a blank, clueless cipher with a bad shag haircut and a broad Boston accent. The movie is structured much like a run-in with hard drugs, with the first act coming off as a bright, euphoric rush, followed by a long, grueling coming-down period that just never seems to end. The great tragedy of George Jung is not just his fall from innocence; it's that he never seems remotely aware of what's happening to him. Depp, for his part, manages to make his clueless character both utterly transparent and strangely magnetic, sort of like a human black hole. It's mostly Depp's performance, in fact, that lifts Blow above its rather routine script and competent but uninspired direction. Also stars Penelope Cruz, Franka Potente and Paul Reubens.
The Brothers (R) Four successful black men ponder life, love, and friendship while on the brink of marriage. Sound familiar? It should. This is the third in a string of such films (including The Wood and The Best Man) and is by far the worst of them. Morris Chestnut (The Best Man, Boyz 'N the Hood) plays the compassionate one who thinks he's finally met the right woman — until he discovers that she used to date his father (Oops!). Also stars Bill Bellamy, Shemar Moore and D.L. Hughley.
—Dustin Dwyer
Chocolat (PG-13) Free-spirited Juliette Binoche opens a chocolate shop in a repressed village, setting up a didactic conflict of indulgence vs. denial. The French locales, food and faces are lovingly photographed (the disarming ensemble includes Judi Dench, Johnny Depp and Alfred Molina), but the film cannot equal the comparably themed but richer Babette's Feast. Chocolat melts in your hands, not in your heart.
—Curt Holman
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (PG) Ang Lee's poetic reinvention of the martial arts genre takes place in China in the early 19th century (although the look and feel is as magically timeless as the film's characters are eternal), where recently retired master warrior Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat) has agreed to take on one final mission to retrieve a prized sword and avenge the death of his master. The other crucial elements to Crouching Tiger's deliriously romantic human schema are Mu Bai's fellow warrior, Yu Shu Lien (Michele Yeoh) — who is deeply in love with him, as is he with her, although each has found it impossible to openly express love — and Jen (Zhang Ziyi), an independent young noblewoman who may not be quite who she appears to be. Crouching Tiger is filled with marvelous archetypes, charismatic performances and, perhaps best of all, some of the most astonishing and lyrical action scenes ever filmed.
Down to Earth (PG-13) Chris Rock plays an amateur comedian whose dream is to play the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. After a traffic accident causes him to be taken off to heaven before his time, he's returned to Earth in the body of a wealthy old white man. The movie is inconsistent, the big laughs spotty. Rock is a talented comedian, but unfortunately Down to Earth does not advance the quality of his film career.
—Cooper Cruz
Enemy at the Gates (R) As the Russian and German armies face off during World War II's decisive battle of Stalingrad, director Jean-Jacques Annaud's engaging new film zeroes in on the personal and very intense war of nerves between two dueling snipers. Jude Law plays the Soviet sharpshooter Vissili Zaitsev, a simple lad who becomes something of folk hero and a major morale booster to the besieged Russian populace. Ed Harris delivers yet another outstanding performance as Konig, the Nazi marksman called in to eliminate Zaitsev, an act designed to break the spirit of the Russian army. The film is engrossing from beginning to end, effectively balanced between the massive, ugly sprawl of the war and the intimate push and pull between its individual characters. It's all shot with a gritty, almost monochromatic palette of pale, metallic blues and grays that perfectly captures the bleak, chaotic times. The Russians are nominally the good guys, of course, but Enemy at the Gates really does believe that war is hell, and the Ruskies are ultimately revealed to be nearly as skanky as the Krauts. Best of all, for some at least, there are no pesky subtitles to read. Also stars Joseph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz.
Exit Wounds (R) Steven Seagal, cops and corruption. And Tom Arnold. What more do you need to know? Also starring DMX, Isaiah Washington.
(Not Reviewed)
Fantasia/2000 (G) A perfect choice for the new Channelside IMAX, Fantasia 2000 was designed for that format. The seven animated segments here are basically all over the stylistic map. Amid several attractive but somewhat disposable segments are the movie's two, unmitigated success stories: a depression-era fantasy set to Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and peopled with wonderfully stylized Al Hirschfield drawings; and a reprise of the original Fantasia's Sorcercer's Apprentice segment.
Get Over It (PG-13) In this teen comedy, dude gets the boot from his long-time girlfriend, then turns his attention to his best friend's younger sister. Stars Kirsten Dunst, Ben Foster, Martin Short.
(Not Reviewed)
Heartbreakers (PG-13) Heartbreakers is one of those cheerfully idiotic flicks that sticks to a rigid, easily digestible formula where nothing really makes sense and where almost everybody behaves like a moron simply to move the story along. Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt star as a mother-daughter grifter team who support themselves by defrauding rich, gullible men. The women are repeatedly referred to as clever and even brilliant, but never once rise above being seen as a collective assortment of boobs, butts and legs — a celebration of the female form that comes off as tired, prurient and as hopelessly retarded as something you'd find on an old episode of Three's Company. Also stars Gene Hackman, Jason Lee and Ray Liotta.
Into the Deep (G) If your eyes have already darted down to the extravagant number of planets awarded this film, bear in mind that the rating owes as much to the phenomenal IMAX 3-D experience as it does to the movie itself. Into the Deep is an extremely well made 40-minute documentary on underwater creatures, but in 3-D, it becomes an absolutely breathtaking experience. Whatever we're watching, we feel ourselves immersed in the image to the point where it literally becomes difficult to tell what's part of the movie and what's not. At Channelside IMAX.
Joe Dirt (PG-13) Another typical, basically forgettable David Spade project in which the ex-SNL cast member stars as the ultimate white trash trailer park denizen — who, naturally, also turns out to be so gosh darned lovable that all of American winds up taking him to heart. The movie is loosely structured around the story of Joe Dirt (Spade) searching for his long-lost parents. It's a tale J.D. relates to a radio shock jock (Dennis Miller) that amounts to a series of Farrelly Brothers-lite sketches. Dirt encounters a dog whose testicles are stuck to the frozen porch; Dirt befriends a meteor composed of frozen excrement; Dirt has the contents of a septic tank spilled on his head. Those are the good parts. Outside of the big joke of Spade's hair (a bad mullet that looks suspiciously like, as one character notes, Jane Fonda's do in Klute), the rest is pretty slow going. Also stars Brittany Daniel, Adam Beach and Christopher Walken. Opens April 13 at local theaters.
Kingdom Come (PG) Soul Food was just an appetizer for this African-American family comedy that brings a dysfunctional brood together to bury their patriarch. Whoopi Goldberg plays it almost straight as the widow while Loretta Devine takes comic honors as her ever-praying sister-in-law. Goldberg's sons, LL Cool J and Anthony Anderson, are in troubled marriages (to Vivica A. Fox and Jada Pinkett Smith) but no problems are too big to be resolved neatly for a feel-good ending. The actors and most of the script make up for technical shortcomings in the funniest funeral since Chuckles bit the dust.
—Steve Warren
Just Visiting (PG-13) A French knight and his squire get lost in the tunnels of time, somehow ending up in present-day Chicago. Based on the French film Les Visiteurs (1993), this American remake includes many of the original's cast and crew, including director Jean Marie Paire, as well as Jean Reno (The Professional) and Christian Clavier, who play the time-displaced duo. Clearly, this is a kid's movie, complete with magic potions, cartoon expressions and obligatory fart jokes — but they work. Just Visiting is about as entertaining as they come in this genre. Reno and Clavier are constantly funny, and Christina Applegate doesn't get in the way too much. Also stars Matthew Ross, Tara Reid and Malcolm McDowell.
—Dustin Dwyer
The Mexican (R) Another one of those discombobulated, self-consciously quirky comedies in which the humor hinges almost entirely on the premise that the gangsters in the film are just regular, slightly neurotic, middle-class guys. Brad Pitt plays a baby-faced, slightly klutzy bagman for the mob. He's got a nagging, psychobabbling girlfriend (Julia Roberts) who wants him to quit his job, but that doesn't stop him from heading down to Mexico to retrieve a valuable antique pistol for his bosses. The Mexican is a handsomely produced film with some oddly engaging little bits scattered throughout, although the whole is too shapeless to probably be remembered a few months from now.
Ocean Oasis (G) A fascinating exploration of the richly diverse life forms inhabiting the Baja, Calif., peninsula, the brand new IMAX production Ocean Oasis spends most of its time under water before giving us a brief contrasting look at the curious plants and animals doing their thing above the surface. The narration is informative without being too intrusive and often illuminates intriguing nuances of the on-screen mating, birthing, feeding and dying.
Pokemon 3 (PG) The Pokemon return in a beautifully written and stunningly animated homage to the golden age of Japanese cinema, in which the oddly shaped creatures perform their own anime version of the multi-leveled tale of Rashomon. Just kidding.
(Not Reviewed)
Pollock (R) Long before Andy Warhol had his 15 minutes in the sun, Jackson Pollock was America's first Superstar Artist. Alternately sullen, exuberant, sensitive and piggish, the self-perpetuating enigma of Pollock's personality runs as deep as the mystery of his groundbreaking painting — and Pollock brings us up close and personal with them both. Sometimes too close for comfort. Ed Harris (who also directed) manages to convey the essence, warts and all, of this most notorious of 20th Century splatter artists. Also stars Marcia Gay Harden and Amy Madigan.
Recess: School's Out (G) Kiddie animation in which a group of heroic tykes take on a power-mad ex-principal who's hatched a plan to do away with summer, so that the kids will — gasp — have to go school year-round! Featuring the voices of Andrew Lawrence and Ashley Johnson.
(Not Reviewed)
Say It Isn't So (R) This gleefully sick comedy about a pair of young lovers who might just be brother and sister wasn't actually written or directed by the Farrelly Brothers, but it may as well have been. Their personal stamp is everywhere, from the guy walking around with pubic hair stuck to his face, to the fellow with his fist stuck up a cow's rectum, to the surplus of amputee jokes and cranky invalids singing Louie Louie through a voice box. The Farrellys actually only served as producers here, while a bunch of their pals did all the real work, which might account for the fact that Say It Isn't So comes off as a funny although not quite fresh reworking of many of the better bits from past hits like Kingpin and There's Something About Mary. Heather Graham and Chris Klein (still not quite over his Keanu Reeves stage) make a suitably sweet, wide-eyed couple anchoring all the depraved ookiness around them. Also stars Orlando Jones, Richard Jenkins and Sally Field.
See Spot Run (PG) Did you hear the one about the spaced-out mailman who inherits a cute little kid and a crime-fighting dog? Wish we hadn't. The mailman (David Arquette) walks into walls, does spit takes with chewed-up food and reprises his basic spazz routine. The little kid makes goo-goo eyes at everything in sight, and the crime-fighting dog learns how to loosen up and have fun. The movie's attempts at comedy are consistently dull and aggressively stupid.
Series 7:The Contenders (R) The Tenth Victim meets reality TV in this cautionary tale/ultraviolent spoof of the current mania for Survivor-like verite television. Writer-director Daniel Minahan's film presents several episodes of an imaginary TV show in which the contestants are armed and instructed to kill one another. This eagerly awaited film was a last-minute addition to this week's Channelside schedule, and wasn't available for advance screening, so we can't tell you much more than that. Stars Merritt Wever, Donna Hanover and Glenn Fitzgerald. Opens April 13 at Channelside Cinemas. Call theater to confirm.
(Not Reviewed)
Someone Like You (PG-13) Ashley Judd stars as Jane Goodale, an attractive young professional who just can't find the right guy. When her latest Mr. Right (Greg Kinnear) jilts her, Jane spends the rest of the movie moping, whining, yelling and, eventually, writing an article on her half-baked notions of male sexuality (something to do with equating humans with cows; don't ask). Judd's performance isn't bad, but her character, like everybody else in the film, is almost entirely unsympathetic and, ultimately, annoying. Also stars Hugh Jackman, Marisa Tomei and Ellen Barkin.
Spy Kids (PG-13) Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino (Nic Cage's gal-pal from Snake Eyes) play a couple of married-with-children ex-spies who come out of retirement and join forces with their adorable offspring to save the world from an army of multicolored mutants and pint-size androids. Robert Rodriguez's thoroughly kid-friendly project makes up for a fairly forgettable storyline by offering lots of crowd-pleasing eye-candy, some clever gags, a couple of highly watchable performances (Banderas is fine, although not on screen enough, and Alan Cumming, as the villainous Fegan Floop, is excellent) and sheer momentum. Spy Kids offers up a little Harry Potter, a lot of James Bond, Tim Burton, Willy Wonka, Dr. Seuss' The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T and more. Also stars Teri Hatcher, Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara.
Taboo (Gohatto) (R) Veteran Japanese New Wave filmmaker Nagisa Oshima (Cruel Story of Youth, In the Realm of the Senses) returns to rattle our cages with what may well may be the strangest and most controversial samurai movie ever made. Oshima's film takes place in mid-19th Century Kyoto, where the isolated, all-male society of the Shinsengumi militia begins cracking apart at the seams when several of the warriors start squabbling over the affections of the doe-eyed new recruit, Kano (Ryuhei Matsuda). It's difficult to tell just what Oshima is trying to say in Taboo, and that's a bit frustrating. Likewise, it's not easy to tell whether the film's oddly-structured, asymmetrical narrative is intentional or whether the flat, affectless feel of several key scenes is on purpose, but the film becomes gradually more and more fascinating until, by the end, it all seems just short of sublime. The most remarkable thing about Taboo is how natural its Jean-Genet-transposed-to-feudal-Japan scenario comes off. Also stars Beat Takeshi, Shinji Takeda and Tadanobu Asano. Opens April 13 at Channelside Cinemas. Call theater to confirm.
Tomcats (R) A financially strapped cartoonist (Jerry O'Connell) makes a bet with his pal that he can get him married within the month. The hitch is that O'Connell falls for the bride-to-be. Also stars Jake Busey and Shannon Elizabeth.
(Not Reviewed)
Traffic (R) Director Steven Soderbergh's latest movie about drugs — one of the best you'll see — but it's not a drug movie in the sense of something like Trainspotting or Requiem for a Dream. Soderbergh's film isn't so much concerned with the allure of drugs, or with individual pain and the process of addiction as it is about the business of drugs that, often in the most subtle or inscrutable of ways, ties so much of the world together. Stars Michael Douglas, Don Cheadle, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Benicio Del Toro, Luis Guzman and Dennis Quaid.
The Widow of Saint-Pierre (NR) A gorgeously mounted period piece with lush cinematography, big themes, a rising international star (Juliette Binoche) and romantic attitude to burn, The Widow of Saint-Pierre is the latest movie from acclaimed French filmmaker Patrice Leconte. The film takes place in 1850 on a remote island off the coast of Newfoundland, where a condemned murderer waiting to be executed (Emir Kusturica) is taken under the wing of the local military commandant and his wife (Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche). The film is powerfully acted and beautiful to look at, but the film, with all its well-intentioned ragging on the death penalty, winds up feeling just a little too close to a Dead Man Walking in period drag. Held over at Tampa Theatre. Call theater to confirm.
—Reviewed entries by Lance Goldenberg unless otherwise noted.
This article appears in Apr 12-18, 2001.