MOVIES:
GODZILLA - **1/2 -- yeah, nobody in it can act, but, come on, it's GODZILLA!
FEAR & LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS - *** - Quite possibly the first ever faithful adaptation
of an unfilmable book. If, like me, you're a fan of the book--SEE THE MOVIE.
If you haven't read it or, worse, don't like it, you'd be taking a big chance.
Some truly disturbing visuals from director Terry Gilliam.
THE TRUMAN SHOW - ***1/2 - Now this is a movie that could never have lived up to my expectations--but came damn close.
Nobody's a bigger Peter Weir fan than me,
and this falls somewhere between his truly visionary work,
like THE LAST WAVE, THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY
and FEARLESS, and his more commercial movies, like DEAD POETS' SOCIETY and WITNESS.
This is in most respects his most appealing movie to date.
It occurs to me I have'nt mentioned CITY OF ANGELS--maybe my favorite movie of the year.
--Best scene: angels on the beach.
--Best song: "Uninvited" by Alanis Morissette (my favorite single of the year)
THE OPPOSITE OF SEX - *** - A laugh-out-loud black comedy with a terrific performance by Christina ("Wednesday Addams") Ricci,not wholly unlike her work in THE ICE STORM. Great supporting cast--especially Lisa Kudrow. Features the funniest autopsy scene of all time.
THE BEYOND - * (as a movie; **1/2 as a relic) - This 1981 slice of Italian cheese is brought to your local midnight movie house by Quentin Tarantino and Sly Stallone's kid, Sage. Like all giallo films, it features over-the-top gore f/x, a complete lack of interest in logic, numbingly repetitive music, and atrocious dubbing (especially the Louisiana accents which sound like they're from a community theatre production of WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?). Genre fans have never confused Lucio Fulci with Dario Argento or Mario Bava, but he does have a vivid imagination. Good for a nostalgia fix.
THE X-FILES - *** - Click here for my review (& the NY and LA Times)
ARMAGEDDON - *1/2 - On the plus side, you can tell within 5 minutes that this is a load of crap. The credits acknowledge 16 people from NASA, which makes you wonder if they picked up this ridiculous script, let alone read it. Loud, confusing, stupid, manipulative--Hollywood at its worst. (I'd rate this "1/2*" except that the money does show up in some decent casting and destruction F/X).
HENRY FOOL - ***1/2 - One of the year's best. Click here for my review.
PI - ***1/2 - Wow...two year's-best-quality independents in a row. Director Darren Aronofsky and star (and co-writer) Sean Gullette have created a nightmare thriller that traps a mathematical genius who is either neurologically or psychologically damaged (or both) between dangerous Wall Street types (with Defense Department connections) and a group of Hasidic Qabalists who believe he has discovered the true name of God. In many ways a cross between (stylistically) ERASERHEAD and (structurally) JACOB'S LADDER, this is an intense, edgy, and intelligent film--far more gripping on a $60,000 budget than a bloated piece of Hollywood "sci fi" like ARMAGEDDON is at 200 times the cost. See my review of the terrific soundtrack below.
HALLOWEEN: H20 - **1/2 - Quick and nasty, but not especially scary, this plays like a short story more than a feature film. But that's OK. Not a lot of stupidity here, but no excitement either.
THE AVENGERS - ** - An object lesson in the magic of chemistry--as in Patrick Macnee & Diana Rigg had it and Ralph Fiennes & Uma Thurman don't. All the elements are here and the film has any number of scenes that would have done the series proud, but the script tries too hard for a rapport that just isn't there. Hats off, nonetheless, to all involved for a noble effort that comes up short.
BLADE - *** - One of the rare Marvel Comics film adaptations that works. Handsomely photographed and surprisingly contemporary feeling given the comic's roots in the "blaxploitation" genre of the '70s. A bit too derivative of the KINDRED mythos and Wesley Snipes is a bit too humorless to be the centerpiece of a possible franchise. Interesting theme of intergenerational vampire conflict.
CUBE - **1/2 - Not to be confused with "Sphere". Mix Sartre's NO EXIT with Clive Barker's "Dread" and you get this high-tech, low-budget techno-thriller from Canada. Lots of clever wide-lens photography keeps what is, essentially, a one-set movie interesting. Marginal acting, at best, from a cast of unknowns. Not likely to be appreciated by the literal-minded.
PRACTICAL MAGIC - **1/2 - Cute, verging on charming. Solidly Hollywood, somewhat respectful of Wicca. Nicole Kidman performs way above the level of an unfocused character and Sandra Bullock is Sandra Bullock as always. Nothing here you won't find Wednesday nights on "Charmed".
SOLDIER - **1/2 - Let's see...SEVEN SAMURAI meets PALE RIDER meets TERMINATOR 2 meets COMMANDO meets...
Although this is a stew of cliches, David Webb Peoples (BLADE RUNNER, UNFORGIVEN) is too talented a writer to overlook the allegorical elements of this story of a super-soldier dropped into the midst of a strange Paradise. At the heart of the piece is Kurt Russell's Sgt. Todd, a complex (though not always convincing) and largely-wordless portrayal of a soldier nurtured to kill without feeling who finally finds a reason to fight without being ordered to do so. Russell's performance brings to mind The Terminator, HALLOWEEN's Michael Myers and Jackie Gleason's Gigot. The production is visually strong (though sometimes teetering close to the cheeseball ranks of DAMNATION ALLEY and SCREAMERS), but falls apart in a recycled and morally-confused hero-triumphs-against-hopeless-odds finale.
BABE: PIG IN THE CITY - ** - A kid's movie on a page of "Dark Movie" reviews??? Those of you who have seen the movie by now know why. Unmotivated cruelty to both man and beast abounds in this spotty sequel to one of the best movies of the '90s. Much like BATMAN RETURNS, "BABE 2" takes off from a fairly visionary original and dives back into the same vision with a darker sensibility but without a plot to move things along. Some terrific animal action makes this worth seeing, but, if you're a fan of the original, it's almost certain to be a letdown.
PSYCHO - ** - OK, let's be honest, no one has ever tried what Gus Van Sant tried here--a shot-by-shot (and basically musical-note-by-musical-note) remake of a classic. People do it all the time in other media, though...classical music, ballet, and, especially, community theatre. The latter is kind of where PSYCHO redux dwells...in the not quite satisfying world where the local dentist plays the Alan Arkin role from WAIT UNTIL DARK or your travel agent makes you come see her Blanche Dubois. Vince Vaughn is not Anthony Perkins; in some ways, he's much more interesting than Perkins, but he can certainly never claim the role as his own when the context constantly reminds you who originated it. And other cast members, especially Julianne Moore, suffer in the comparison.
A SIMPLE PLAN - **** - A taut thriller that echoes FARGO in its surface details, but evokes Greek (and Shakespearean) tragedy in its underlying structure and themes. One common man, his wife, and his brother, are doomed to ultimate destruction by one seemingly petty act of crime. Director Sam Raimi scores a breakthrough here by taming his usual visual extravagance, Billy Bob Thornton has virtually locked up the supporting actor Oscar, and Bill Paxton has almost never been anywhere near this good. (His only better performance may have been in ONE FALSE MOVE...written by Thornton.) Danny Elfman's score, though it cribs heavily from WAIT UNTIL DARK, is also a treat.
STAR TREK: INSURRECTION - *1/2 - Don't let the critics fool you...this film continues the dreaded "odd number" curse (i.e., every odd-numbered Trek sucks). Remember "The Omega Glory" from "Classic Trek", with Kirk spouting the Pledge of Allegiance at the "Yangs" and "Kohms"? This lead-footed outing works on the same level of ham-fisted allegory (this time it's the Holocaust being decried, rather than the Vietnam War). False bonhomie abounds among the cast and only Brent Spiner as Data emerges with anything resembling dignity. The movie is confined primarily to three sets, thus making it, more than almost any other, nothing more than a blown-up episode of NEXT GENERATION.
THE FACULTY - **1/2 - Kevin Williamson post-moderns alien-takeover flicks a la his deconstruction of slasher movies with SCREAM. Intelligent (if repetitive) riffs on INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, THE PUPPET MASTERS, THE X-FILES, MEN IN BLACK, and INDEPENDENCE DAY figure here, along with subtler lifts from John Carpenter's THE THING, LIFEFORCE (naked alien chick), ALIENS, THE STEPFORD WIVES, and the classic (but, alas, unfilmable) SF short story, "The Autopsy". Robert Rodriguez continues to prove he's a capable and inventive director badly in need of better material. Like DEEP RISING before it, THE FACULTY is a well-crafted popcorn movie.
BELOVED - ***1/2 - Beginning with a scene of disconcerting supernatural violence, Jonathan Demme's film is a spiritual heir to THE HAUNTING, THE SHINING and Peter Straub's GHOST STORY. Although it could use tightening and the back story is a bit underexplored, BELOVED is full of thematic and psychological complexities and nuanced performances, particularly by Danny Glover and Kimberly Elise. One of the year's best--and a possible Best Picture contender for previous winner Demme.
GODS AND MONSTERS - ***1/2 - A terrific film treating in an intensely personal way on a subject dear to my heart--the inspirations for and the personalities surrounding the Universal horror films of the '30s. (See my poem, "The House of Laemmle", for my take.) Specifically, the film examines the last days of James Whale, who directed FRANKENSTEIN and THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, and whose career subsequently imploded...perhaps because of Hollywood's distaste for his homosexuality. As Whale, Sir Ian McKellen gives a truly Oscar-worthy performance--physically, emotionally, and textually detailed every step of the way. Perhaps surprisingly, Brendan Fraser matches him every step of the way as the hunk gardener who becomes Whale's confidante and the object of his attentions. Perhaps the best-developed relationship between two characters since Olivier and Caine in SLEUTH. The doubles for such Whale colleagues as Karloff and Elsa Lanchester are uncanny, both in appearance and manner.
ELIZABETH - **** - "The Queen's body and person are no longer her own; they now belong to the State." "The people need to be able to touch the Divine in person." These comments speak to the compelling central theme of this terrific portrait of the rise to power of perhaps the most politically powerful woman of the millenium. Princess Elizabeth becomes Queen Elizabeth the First underprepared and surrounded by enemies. She is to be a figurehead and a pawn and, if necessary, a sacrificial victim--either to a political marriage or to death. Her nation's security is at risk as she steps forward to become its embodiment. The film is a visual and aural masterpiece, eye and ear candy of the highest order, and Cate Blanchett is terrific as The Virgin Queen. ELIZABETH thoughtfully covers broad territory as it examines the relationship between the monarch and the Monarchy and between the Monarchy and the people and the way one person can change history.
THE THIN RED LINE - *** - Alternately the most mesmerizing and stupefyingly pretentious movie of the year. Recluse/director Terrence Mallick would have done better to limit the BIG issues his reverie on war takes on: the duality of nature (idyllic/cruel), the impulse toward violence, the meaning of death (and, it goes without saying, life), etc. Working with perhaps the hottest cameraman going, John Toll, Mallick heaps sublime image upon image...unfortunately, a top-flight cast has to mouth the Hallmark-greeting-card dialogue (and, worse, narration) that Mallick penned. Elias Koteas is terrific, cast against type as a sensitive captain, and Nick Nolte, James Caviezel, and Woody Harrelson stand out. John Travolta, in a ludicrous cameo, may be this year's most miscast performer.
IN DREAMS - *** - Long-delayed and dumped into a January release, this psychological/supernatural thriller from Neil Jordan may turn out to be the year's most-misjudged film. The movie, dangerously, treads much of the same territory as Nicolas Roeg's masterpiece, DON'T LOOK NOW, and its climax is no better than that of an average X-FILES episode, but it nevertheless has much to recommend it. Darius (SEVEN) Khondji's cinematography is terrific and the interaction of waking life and dream (as well as past and present) is handled far more creatively than in, say, NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (to which IN DREAMS has been unfairly compared).
AFFLICTION - ***1/2 - Easily Paul Schrader's best work, both as writer and director, AFFLICTION is somewhat marred by a clumsy side trip into the land of the police procedural. It remains, however, a tour de force for both Nick Nolte and, more surprisingly, James Coburn, returned from debilitating arthritis to deliver a terrifying yet nuanced performance. A solid study in the evil that fathers can inflict on their sons and a call for an end to the cycle of violence, physical and psychic, it engenders. Hauntingly photographed and scored.
RAVENOUS - **1/2 - Difficult-to-pigeonhole director Antonia Bird has made a difficult-to-pigeonhole horror film. Deeply allegoric (as regards American expansionism), wildly gory, and often pseudo-philosophical, RAVENOUS is a basically-faithful exploration of the Native American legend of the Wendigo (here, "Windego"), and, tangentially, of the vampire mythos. Robert Carlyle and Jeffrey Jones give full-bodied performances amidst graphic depictions of cannibalism, with Guy Pearce being the cast's weakest link (as was also the case in L.A. CONFIDENTIAL). Beautiful Slovakian scenery and an effective and eclectic score by Michael Nyman and Blur's Damon Albern.
THE CORRUPTOR - *** - This crime drama set in New York's Chinatown is reminiscent of both William Friedkin's TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. and Michael Cimino's YEAR OF THE DRAGON. James Foley's film is almost as good as the former in depicting a corrupt cop's slide into tragedy and is vastly superior to the latter, in almost every respect, as an exploration of how an American power structure, the NYPD, intersects with Eastern folkways and loyalties. The camerawork is too self-conscious by half, but the acting is solid and the plot nicely constructed.
LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS - *** - An air of familiarity hangs over the first half hour of this British offering. Distressingly, Guy Ritchie's film starts out, seemingly, with every intention of being a shot-by-shot ripoff of TRAINSPOTTING...albeit with working-class London, rather than Glaswegian, accents. However, as the movie progresses, it reveals itself to be something else...a deft, and dark, caper comedy, with roots sunk as deeply in French farce as in TRAINSPOTTING. Though the dialects are a bit thick for American audiences, LS&TSB is a rewarding stew of characters who are likeable in spite of their behavior, a fiendishly calculated plot, and some clever, if derivative, direction.
THE MATRIX - ***1/2 - Surprisingly, one of the best films of the year so far. Although very reminiscent of T2, DARK CITY, and much of Hong Kong cinema (both John Woo shoot-em-ups and ghost kung fu flicks), THE MATRIX is stylish, suspensful, and just intellectually-challenging enough to paper over its implausibilities. Keanu Reeves does his most relaxed and engaging work in years.
GO - *** - Doug Liman follows up SWINGERS with a sort of "PULP FICTION-lite"--three interlocking vignettes set during one frantic night in LA and Las Vegas. Liman finds humor in the most unexpected places and the cast (led by THE SWEET HEREAFTER's Sarah Polley) and a techno-driven soundtrack keep things moving. Not ground-breaking, but ceaselessly entertaining.
ELECTION - ***1/2 - Similar, but superior to last year's RUSHMORE, ELECTION is a delicious and bitchy parable of American hypocrisy set in an Omaha high school. Matthew Broderick, as a Civics teacher blindly miring himself in his own double standards and resentments, has seldom been better . Reese Witherspoon is wonderful as Broderick's antagonist--equal parts Lolita, Monica Lewinsky, and Richard Nixon.
STAR WARS: EPISODE ONE - **1/2 - Sadly, the dumbing-down of the series begun in RETURN OF THE JEDI continues. Though the film is astonishing in its range of visuals (and sounds), the performances are almost uniformly appalling (particularly the offensively-Asian-sounding accents of the Trade Federation members) and the script meanders from incident to incident. Young Jake Lloyd is not as bad as the buzz would have you believe, but Natalie Portmann's performance is an embarrassment.
BLACK MASK - ** - This 1996 Hong Kong action flick has been released in the US to capitalize on the interest in the wire-fighting techniques on display in THE MATRIX (and, no doubt, on Jet Li's well-received turn in last year's LETHAL WEAPON 4). BLACK MASK, a relatively grim tale of a rogue "super-soldier" battling his former squadron mates, suffers from the usual lack of narrative coherence that plagues chopped and dubbed Hong Kong fare. Jet Li is fairly nondescript in the lead, beyond his trademark fighting moves, but both Karen Mok and Francoise Yip are engaging in support. Fans of THE MATRIX will recognize that film's antecedents in action staging, camera effects, and Gothic fashion.
THE MUMMY - *** - An entertaining cut-and-paste job, marrying the Boris Karloff original to RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. Brendan Fraser is enjoyable, but Rachel Weisz and John Hannah steal the show as his companions in search of Egyptian treasure. Talented character actor Arnold Vosloo (LETHAL WEAPON 2, DARKMAN II & III) gets to do little as the resurrected Imhotep besides look alternately menacing and self-satisfied. Handsomely designed and photographed.
XIU XIU (THE SENT-DOWN GIRL) - ***1/2 - A terrific, if unsettling, feature directorial debut for actress Joan Chen. The film, which details the travails of a precocious city girl sent to learn horse herding in the Chinese west during the Cultural Revolution, is both a study in the psychology of frustration and self-loathing and a denunciation of the selfish and immature fantasies at the heart of Maoism. Lu Lu is terrific as Wen Xiu, a spoiled 15-year-old thrown into a situation which could have yielded growth, but which becomes for her a trap, leading to one of the most unsparing and dispiriting endings to a movie since, perhaps, SEVEN. Lapsang is wonderfully understated as Lao Jin, her erstwhile mentor, a man castrated some years earlier in a Tibetan tribal conflict. The symbology of the film can be a bit on the nose at times, but the intimacy of its character study is fascinating.
SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, LONGER & UNCUT - ***1/2 - Hands down, the funniest movie since THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY...and one of the funniest movies of the '90s. Topical, outrageous and crammed with terrific sight gags and even better songs. If you don't like the TV show, stay away; if you even mildly enjoy it--FOR GOD'S SAKE DON'T MISS IT.
THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT - *** (as a movie; **** as a multimedia artifact) - It is a measure of how lame the horror genre has become that a clever stunt like THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT can be hailed as "the scariest movie since 'The Exorcist'". (It isn't, by the way.) The movie is intelligent, fascinating (most of the time), and deeply creepy--but it is only briefly frightening. The filmmakers' technique of allowing three actors to film themselves works surprisingly well, but occasionally pulls the viewer out of the movie by calling into question why the trio don't just drop the gear and run for it. As generally satisfying as the film is, the real credit for the success of the movie as pop-culture event has to go to Artisan Entertainment, who seized on the "what-the-hell-was-that" buzz surrounding the BLAIR WITCH midnight Sundance screening and spun the filmmakers' unused documentary-styled wraparound footage into a cable special and a must-see website, creating an irresistable mythology.
THE HAUNTING - *1/2 - Seldom has Hollywood produced as utterly wrongheaded a remake as this. Probably only the 70s KING KONG comes close--and at least that had a sense of humor. Shirley Jackson's original novel is one of the pinnacles of horror fiction and as for the 1963 Robert Wise film--see my list of the Top 20 Horror Movies of All-Time to see how I feel about that little opus. Unlike the '63 original, this year's model feels compelled to make all of its scares MIND-NUMBINGLY LITERAL. House haunted by the ghosts of murdered children? HEY...LOOK...THOSE 35 BUSTS OF CHERUBIC LITTLE KIDS ARE COVERING THEIR FACES IN CGI TERROR! Neurotic Eleanor can't sleep because her invalid Mom used to POUND ON THE WALL WITH HER CANE! JUST LIKE THE BANGING ON THE BEDROOM DOOR IN THE NIGHT THAT WAS REALLY SCARY IN THE ORIGINAL, BUT IS NOW JUST THE BEGINNING OF A LONG SLIDE DOWN INTO UTTER TEDIUM. If ever a movie was doomed to failure by the hiring of a director, this is it. Jan De Bont (BIAS ALERT: I worked on TWISTER and I think Jan is one of the biggest pricks in Hollywood) has displayed no understanding whatsoever of psychology or nuance...hell, let's call a spade a spade...or of acting in his directorial career to date. The whole project is an overblown and patronizing mess, only slightly redeemed by some beautiful sets.
ARLINGTON ROAD - ***1/2 - From its disconcerting and bloody opening and approrpriately ominous credits on, ARLINGTON ROAD is gripping. Though it occasionally succumbs to cliche (car chase, all-knowing villains with limitless resources), this is one smart thriller. Jeff Bridges has generally been lauded for making an over-the-top character work here, but I think the writer deserved more credit. The entire movie is driven by the psychological bind Bridges' character lives in: he was devoted to his FBI agent wife, who was out battling exactly the sort of right-wing terrorism he lectures about in his college classes. Her life is snuffed out by FBI overzealousness against terrorism. He lives in a hopeless contradiction--of course he's a mess. As Anthony Hopkins did in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, Tim Robbins proves that the best actors make the best villains.
MYSTERY MEN - ** - Boy, I wanted to like this movie more. And it's worth seeing for the sheer likeability of the premise and the skill of the cast. Sadly, however, it is more noisy than energetic. Any film with Janeane Garofalo automatically gets a minimum of two stars, though--she shines as always here.
RUN, LOLA, RUN (LOLA RENNT) - **** - So far my favorite film of the year. Less than 90 minutes long, RUN, LOLA, RUN packs more excitement (and genuine creativity) into its first 25 minutes than the new STAR WARS does in its entire running time. A punkish, young German woman, Lola, has twenty minutes to come up with 100,000 marks to save her boyfriend's life. When things turn out badly (and just when it looks like the movie will only be 30 minutes long), she gets to try again...and again. As Lola, Franka Potente is a gas. The film uses various formats (video, animation, still-photo montage) in well-integrated ways and the content and construction (which echo SLIDING DOORS, GO, and GROUNDHOG DAY, among other films) come off as fresh and exciting. Clever details and touches of magic realism abound. And, on top of all this, the film features an original techno soundtrack that is truly outstanding.
THE SIXTH SENSE - **** - Unquestionably one of the year's best films, and a likely Oscar nominee in at least three categories: Screenplay, Supporting Actress (Toni Collette), and Supporting Actor (for young Haley Joel Osment...who is good enough to maybe snag a Best Actor nom). Like Keanu Reeves in THE MATRIX, Bruce Willis brings much of his usual baggage (smirkiness and tough-guy detachment) to his role, but fares well enough for the movie to succeed brilliantly. All of the supporting cast--particularly Osment--are nearly perfect and the film as a whole hardly ever strikes a false note. The story is evocative of the best of Victorian and early 20th century supernatural fiction (think Henry James, Oliver Onions, and Algernon Blackwood, for starters), and improves on themes developed earlier by such movies as GHOST, JACOB'S LADDER, and THE SHINING. THE SIXTH SENSE never feels like a collection of cliches, however--it works with the most unsettling and archetypal elements of the ghost story within an understated, non-manipulative framework. The final twist is by no means innovative--it has been a staple of a number of supernatural horror films over the years--but it is still surprising and emotionally satisfying. Kudos to writer/director M. Night Shyamalan (who has a cameo as well) for a film that may end up in my All-Time Top 20 Horror Films List.
EYES WIDE SHUT - ** - "Look, Mommy, the Emperor has a tiny little weenie." "Hush, now, you're not supposed to see that." Sadly, the long, slow, gentle downslope of Stanley Kubrick's great career bottomed out in EYES WIDE SHUT, a tedious and often risable attempt to explore obsession and jealousy, which sinks beneath the weight of thematic overreach, a maddeningly illogical and absurd script, wildly uneven acting, and ridiculously glamourous photography that makes every scene look ripped from a VANITY FAIR fashion spread. Tom Cruise is way out of his depth (in maturity, not talent) here and Nicole Kidman's wildly-overpraised performance careens from the adequate to the amateurish--especially in her trainwreck of a drunk scene. It is difficult to imagine what Alan Cumming thought he was doing in his brief appearance as a lip-smacking gay desk clerk. Only Sidney Pollack's supporting performance (a last-minute-thank-God substitution for Harvey Keitel) smacks of reality. Everything about the movie sadly validates the fear that Kubrick had lost touch with society during his long sojourn in isolation in England. Worse, the first hour of the movie plays like fodder for late night cable, the setup for some sort of soft-core sex 'n' betrayal schlock, directed by any old hack. Only in the much-discussed--and, frankly, absurd--"orgy" sequence does Kubrick give us one final glimpse of his real talent for reaching into the frozen heart of society, especially in his choice of Jocelyn Pook's music.
THE 13TH WARRIOR - **1/2 - Amiable--if gory--fun. Michael Crichton's retelling of "Beowulf" from the point of view of an outsider is well-staged by the generally-reliable John McTiernan. Pagan folk will probably be happy to see a Medieval adventure in which none of the participants are Christian (everyone is either pagan or Moslem), in spite of a very un-"PC" rendition of Paleolithic Goddess-worship. Probably won't quite do for Vikings what BRAVEHEART did for Celts, but who knows.
STIGMATA - ** - Not as bad as the national critics have made out, but definitely drowning in "style". An interesting and provocative visual style, which sensualizes the violence of martyrdom to a remarkable degree. The film's anti-Vatican theme will be very hard for a lot of viewers to get past. Gabriel Byrne is quite charming.
STIR OF ECHOES - *** - Once you accept Kevin Bacon's fairly accurate "Chi-cah-go" accent, this is a pretty scary and tightly-paced little film. The resonances of its subject matter with the much-superior SIXTH SENSE are unfortunate, to say the least, because, without those unflattering comparisons, STIR OF ECHOES would stand on its own as a fairly superior horror film. Credibility is strained once Bacon's prole character goes off on an obsessive bout of digging, and the ending offers no surprises at all, but, as a whole, the film is well-worth seeing.
AMERICAN BEAUTY - ***1/2 - I have seldom been prepared to like a movie more than this one. And, on the surface, this is an out-and-out success--carefully staged, photographed and edited, thoughtfully and wittily written, marvellously scored with both source and original music, thematically coherent--a triumph for first-time (film) director Sam Mendes. Nevertheless, I felt very unmoved by the tragic ending. This strikes me as being a result of too many unsympathetic characters whose story is told with a layer of cynical detachment imposed by Kevin Spacey's narration (as well as some cinematographic choices). This reaction is also the result, I think, of some overblown acting choices--primarily by Annette Bening, Chris Cooper and Mena Suvari. All three are dependable performers, but all three seem to caricature their characters in the early going, perhaps in an attempt to set up the moments of inner revelation that are critical to the last act of the film. Probably the year's best movie...but that is a damning reflection on the weak crop of films 1999 has provided.
FIGHT CLUB - *** - Let me just say that David Fincher has bought himself a lot of slack from me with SEVEN, which I consider one of the top films of the '90s. And the first half hour of FIGHT CLUB is almost as good, a wonderful dark satire with sharply-written narration, well delivered by Edward Norton. Sadly, the film fails to sustain the tone of its opening, drifting into attacks on way too many easy targets. From a technical standpoint, however, Fincher moves into territory occupied, up to now, only by Oliver Stone, briskly and boldly breaking the fourth wall at opportune moments. The "twist" resolution--not wholly dissimilar from that of THE SIXTH SENSE--feels forced, however, not fully-justified by its setup.
THREE KINGS - ***1/2 - George Clooney solidifies his standing as a "movie star" with this sprawling-yet-intimate Gulf War adventure/satire. Shifting gears radically after his last effort, FLIRTING WITH DISASTER, director David O. Russell manages to steer this painstakingly-researched "big movie" past both sentimentality and post-Letterman irony. Only the too-self-conscious treatment of the print is a major flaw. Ice Cube is particularly good among a talented cast.
THE BONE COLLECTOR - **1/2 - Workmanlike, but derivative, "stop-the-serial-killer" outing from Phillip Noyce, featuring charismatic, but uninspired, work from Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. The identity of the killer is utterly arbitrary, but predictable--as always, look for the one character who has absolutely no apparent reason to be in the movie.
BOYS DON'T CRY - **** - This year's SLING BLADE--a rewarding and detailed examination of an "aberrant" individual forging relationships that can only lead to tragedy, featuring an Oscar-worthy central performance. Hilary Swank is terrific in a warts-and-all portrayal of doomed transsexual Brandon Teena. Brandon's attempt to build an ideal world in lieu of gender-reassignment surgery that was beyond his means screams "tragedy in the making" from the beginning, but is engaging nonetheless.
THE INSIDER - **** - Michael Mann has always made guy movies. Sometimes he has made near-great guy pictures (THIEF, LAST OF THE MOHICANS, HEAT), but the macho ethos that pervades his material tends to infect his directorial style, robbing his work of a kind of humanity and leaving his films well-crafted but somehow emotionally distant. With THE INSIDER, for the first time, Mann manages to use his customary techniques to inject a sense of emotional life into a film. Beautifully photographed and edited, the movie surrounds its protagonists, "Big Tobacco" whistleblower, Jeffrey Weigand, and CBS "60 Minutes" producer Lowell Bergmann, in an atmosphere of palpable menace. Russell Crowe and Al Pacino rise to the challenge by delivering terrific performances, inviting the audience inside their skins to judge for themselves if they would be capable of making the career- and life-threatening choices the men they portray had to in real-life. One of the year's best.
DOGMA - ***1/2 - I would have bet big money that no other movie this year could come within shouting distance of SOUTH PARK for acute satire and sheer laughs. I would have lost big. Though the subject of a Catholic smear campaign, writer/director Kevin Smith wears his Catholicism on his sleeve in this examination of how Christianity has lost its way and how it might save its collective soul. The cast is uniformly good--even Smith's previously grating buddy, Jason Mewes, as slacker Jay. If God is really as much fun as Alanis Morrisette makes Her here, I may have to go over to the "other side".
BEING JOHN MALKOVICH - ***1/2 - Inventive and original and graced with one of the best "as himself" performances in history. One of the least visually flashy feature debuts ever by a major commercial/music video director--which is a very welcome thing. Only a not-always-successful balance of the precious/whimsical with the unpleasant/shrill keeps this from being a classic.
THE LIMEY - **** - Surprisingly slight, yet still reminiscent of the non-linear headtrips of Nicolas Roeg, Steven Soderburgh's latest neo-noir (following in the footsteps of THE UNDERNEATH) is a showcase for a terrific performance by Terence Stamp. Sporting a nearly perfect East End accent, Stamp reminds us what a movie star really is--someone you just can't get enough of. A polished performance by the always reliable Luis Guzman and more good "second career" work from Peter Fonda round out the mix. Kudos to Soderburgh for his excellent use of footage of a young Stamp in Ken Loach's POOR COW.
SLEEPY HOLLOW - *** - Tim Burton's movies have always been triumphs of offbeat production design, but SLEEPY HOLLOW represents a quantum leap forward in both design and photography. An homage of sorts to the Hammer and Amicus horror films of the '60s and early '70s, the film is visually stunning and features marvellously appropriate cameos by British character actors like Christopher Lee and Michael Gough. Johnny Depp is good, as always, but Christina Ricci is poorly served by her role and the ending is a bit of a hash.
THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH - **1/2 - The most confusing and, on balance, the weakest of the Brosnan Bonds. Sophie Marceau's performance is the highlight, and Brosnan has toughened up superficially, but Michael Apted's direction is lost amidst the profusion of chaotic second unit material.
END OF DAYS - *1/2 - It seems every year must have at least one--a loud, dumb, miscast effects-o-rama to stink up the joint. Last year it was ARMAGGEDDON, this year, it's END OF DAYS. Much has been made of Arnold's new-found "vulnerability" here...give me a break. It's the same old Ah-nold, only this time he gets to pretend (badly) to cry. Never has L.A. pretending to be New York City looked more like L.A., by the way.
THE END OF THE AFFAIR - ***1/2 - At once mainstream and daring, this is quintessential Neil Jordan. Rain and fog. Doomed lovers. Stephen Rea. Jordan captures the bitter taste of the end of a affair of the heart, not just between man and woman, but especially between man and God.
THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY - *** - Unpleasant subject matter is made palatable by Anthony Minghella's oh-so-tasteful direction and by Matt Damon's immense personal charisma. Ultimately, the story has far too many implausibilites to be wholly engaging. Outstanding work in support by Jude Law.
MAGNOLIA - ***1/2 - The intensity of Paul Thomas Anderson's filmmaking is breathtaking. No other director working today confronts the audience with such a high-wire-act style of storytelling...or demands the same risks of his actors. As with BOOGIE NIGHTS and HARD EIGHT, Anderson showcases gifted actors at the top of their games in an intricate web of relationships. For the first time, however, he lets the game spin a bit out of control, resulting in a less-than-satisfying ending. Phillip Baker Hall and Jason Robards offer marvelous performances and Tom Cruise's turn is almost worthy of the hype it's received.
PITCH BLACK - *** - Terrific B-movie on the order of DEEP RISING. Vin Diesel is excellent as a psychopath-turned-savior and the production design and cinematography are generally top-notch. Compare the similarly budgeted and ineffective SOLDIER to appreciate this movie fully. Great premise solidly rendered.
THE NINTH GATE - ** - Disappointing return to the horror genre by Roman Polanski (REPULSION, ROSEMARY'S BABY). Johnny Depp is solid as always and there are lots of interesting moments in this story of a search for a book with the recipe for invoking Satan, but there isn't much drive to the plot and the ending is a hideous botch. The big Satanic rite sequence is uncomfortably similar to the "orgy" in EYES WIDE SHUT...a similarly boring workout by a declining master.
MISSION TO MARS - *1/2 - The first really bad summer movie arrived two months early this year. This slapdash "2001"-wannabe attempts to jack up the suspense at every opportunity to no avail. Handsome production values are wasted on a tone-deaf script as Brian DePalma's career continues its infrequently-interrupted descent into the toilet.
ROMEO MUST DIE - ** - A few of Jet Li's signature flying kung fu fights and some really good acting by several of the supporting players (especially Russell Wong) make this generic and watered-down Hollywood Hong-Kong-action pastiche tolerable.
FINAL DESTINATION - *** - Basically coherent and suspenseful (though not as profound as it seems to present itself as being), this is a vastly superior X-FILES alum project (Morgan & Wong) to last year's DISTURBING BEHAVIOR (David Nutter). Devon Sawa makes a credible teen lead and the deaths are clever and alternately nerve-wracking and jarringly sudden.
THE VIRGIN SUICIDES - *** - An interesting companion piece of sorts to AMERICAN BEAUTY, inasmuch as both dissect the hollow core of American suburbia and both announce the fact that the main characters will be dead by the end of the film. Goth darling Sofia Coppola's directorial debut is less ambitious cinematically than Sam Mendes'...and somewhat less assured. Kirsten Dunst and James Woods both acquit themselves well in this satiric snapshot of 1970s teen angst and parental repression that is filled with beautifully-observed details.
THE PATRIOT - *** - Mel Gibson returns to BRAVEHEART territory, but the screenplay reaches for the mythic in a far too calculated manner. Best effort to date, though, at realizing the world of the Revolutionary War.
X-MEN - ***1/2 - Better than most fans could ever have imagined. The characters of Wolverine, Professor X, Magneto and even Jean Grey are well-realized and, though they are cyphers from a characterization standpoint, the powers of Cyclops, Storm and Mystique could hardly be handled more convincingly. Numerous nice in-jokes to reward the fanboys.
WHAT LIES BENEATH - **1/2 - Quintessential creature-of-Hollywood Robert Zemeckis cribs frantically from Hitchcock (red herrings, voyeurism, plagiarized-from-Herrmann score, icy blondes), Polanski (skewed framing, lonely and paranoid heroine, Harrison Ford...remember FRANTIC?), Clouzot (bathtub), John Carpenter (BOO! scared ya, didn't I?), and Adrian Lyne (oy...), with none of the joy of a true homage. It's almost impossible not to stay ahead of a movie which constantly beats you over the head clumsily setting up elements of the climax (paralyzing tranquilizer described in detail by a day player, cell phone that can't get a signal before THE MIDDLE OF THE BRIDGE...the bathtub...); you know these things will resurface sooner or later. A glossy veneer and five minutes of reasonably clever suspense makes this watchable...and it's light years ahead of last summer's wretched big budget spookfest, THE HAUNTING.
HOLLOW MAN - **1/2 - Invisibility effects will never get better than this, but what's the point? Mildly entertaining, but never really suspenseful, this by-the-numbers effort suffers from director Verhoeven's usual lack of interest in character. Mad scientist Sebastien Caine (Kevin Bacon) is never anything but mad--or at least megalomaniacal--and the rest of the characters are cardboard cutouts played by generally limited actors.
THE CELL - ***1/2 - Not nearly the freak-out sado-spectacular its advance PR would have led one to expect. Though it treads somewhat familiar territory (it is in some respects an up-market NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3), the look and sounds of the movie are enthralling. Jennifer Lopez is a bit out of her depths here, but Vincent D'Onofrio does a terrific job of eliciting sympathy for a most unsympathetic character. It will be interesting to see if the film can pick up any Oscar nominations in spite of its bleak and gruesome milieu.
HIGHLANDER: ENDGAME - *1/2 - Really nothing more than a oversized episode of the TV show with Christopher Lambert walking through. Adrian Paul is good when doing a Scottish dialect, but reverts to utter lifelessness for his current-day scenes. As with the previous films (and the series for that matter), continuity is a dirty word here.
THE WATCHER - **1/2 - A generally rote serial killer on the loose flick that could have been a lot worse (terrific job by James Spader), but still disappoints (needlessly artsy cinematography, clueless Keanu Reeves, unconvincing Marisa Tomei). Generally works better than it should by virtue of strong use of Chicago locations and fresh supporting cast, as well as an effective score.
THE TUBE:
SPAWN (HBO) - **1/2 - Searching for something vaguely scary.
Watching ABC's repeat airing of THE STAND (***) is the best demonstration ever that, for all his imagination, Stephen King has no clue how people really talk.
BRIMSTONE (Fox) - *** - Next let it be said that I have worked with director/cinematographer Felix Alcala, and I have great admiration for his work (he operated the handheld camera for the live "ER", by the way). The surprisingly uncompromised pilot for BRIMSTONE, directed and shot by Alcala, is further evidence of his talents. Edgy, drained of color, this is potentially the most visually challenging network series since the early "NYPD Blue". Peter Horton is surprisingly convincing as the damned detective. Let's see if they can keep up the quality level as the series progresses.
THE X-FILES 6th season premiere - *** - AAIIEEEE...how much Agent Spender can we take??? Anyhow, the look of the show hasn't suffered with the move to L.A. (yeah, I know I work in Hollywood, but there're reasons L.A. rather than Vancouver is the film capitol of the world). Particularly grisly makeup F/X and reasonably good follow-though on the plot elements introduced in the movie.
BIAS ALERT!!!
STRANGE WORLD *1/2 - A government agent assigned to investigate cases that stretch the boundaries of science. A mysterious cloning project. A nameless contact parcelling out cryptic information. Could producer Howard Gordon have ripped off his old show any more? A note-for-note X-FILES knockoff that is actually closer in quality to THE BURNING ZONE.
THE X-FILES 7th Season Premiere - *** - A welcome return by John Finn's Kritschgau is the highlight of a basically sound opener. Alarmingly, though, Scully and Mulder spend almost no time on screen together--a trend that is likely to continue.
SOUNDS:
Madonna: "Ray of Light" - ***1/2 -- Yes, I said, Madonna. Yes, that Madonna. Her best in years.
PI: The Soundtrack - **** - Maybe better than the film--which is saying a lot. Non-stop electronica swinging between edgy techno and brooding ambient, featuring surprisingly big names for a $60,000 movie: Orbital, Aphex Twin, Massive Attack.
Back to "The Brightest of the Dark"
Don't judge by the movie; I'm surprised that a series this unabashedly grim & sadistic has survived.
Give it a shot.
P.S. As of three episodes--so far so good. (Not so the ratings.)
CHARMED (The WB) - **1/2 - OK, first let it be said...I work on this show (note: no longer true, as of June 1)...and no, Shannen Doherty is not a nightmare (anymore than any star in their mid-20s). (note #2: one full season later, I might want to qualify that...) Having said that, I still approached the premiere with fear...fear that it would be the worst of BEWITCHED, SABRINA, and BUFFY. My fears were groundless. The show is reasonably charming and, more importantly, introduces to primetime, in a positive light, words like "Wicca", "Book of Shadows", and "athame". One of the stars even recites the "Wiccan Rede" ("An it harm none, do what ye will"). Give it a try.
The title track is great and is virtually a pagan hymn.