LITTLE ODESSA
D: James Gray; with Tim Roth, Edward Furlong, Moira Kelly, Vanessa Redgrave, Maximilian Schell.So austerely realized that it seems cold to the touch, Little Odessa fittingly harks back to the great themes in Russian literature, to familiar stories of fathers and sons and to tales of unhappy families. A hit man, estranged from his Russian-Jewish �migr� family, returns home to Brooklyn to settle a score and, in the course of things, destroys all that he cherishes the most. It’s a compelling story, one that’s without any discernible humor or levity; indeed, its bleak prospects for hope and redemption may have you gasping for air before the end. First-time screenwriter and director Gray makes an impressive debut in Little Odessa. His precise compositions and the eerie stillness he evokes in many of the film’s scenes, even during moments of violence, evidence the talent of a director who may be going places. Obviously, the stellar cast – almost unheard of in an independent film from a novice director – had faith in Gray’s ability to fashion Little Odessa into an estimable work. As the triumvirate of men in the Russian-American family whose center cannot hold, Roth, Furlong, and Schell give finely modulated performances. Of the three, the most affecting is Furlong, whose open, sweet face reflects a man-child grappling with the harsh realities of adulthood. In the small but memorable role of the cancer-ridden matriarch whose agony over her undone family is as great as the pain she suffers from her illness, Redgrave gives one of those riveting performances that only she can give: You simply cannot take your eyes off her. (A scene in which she wails in unendurable anguish is like a nightmare come to life.) Although the barren landscapes in Little Odessa, both urban and emotional, may not be everyone’s cup of vodka, few can argue that it is a film to be dismissed easily. Like something by Tolstoy or Dostoyevski, but – of course – on a much smaller, less ambitious scale, it is a work that weighs on your mind long after you leave it.
3.5 stars (S.D.)
Village
New Review
THE KUNG FU CULT MASTER
D: Wong Jing; with Jet Li Lien-jie, Chingmay Yau Suk-ching, Samo Hung Kam-bo, Richard Ng, Sharla Cheung Man, Leung Kar Yan.Warning: Don’t dare take a bathroom or snack bar visit during this movie, or you’ll find yourself hopelessly lost among the film’s many complex story lines; in fact, if you should miss as much as the first 30 seconds, forget it – you’re screwed. One of 1994’s big Chinese New Year films, Kung Fu Cult Master was originally designed to initiate a trilogy of films based around the characters introduced here, but both Hong Kong critics and audiences put a stop to that, being understandably disenchanted with this initial entry. An epic fantasy dealing with literally hundreds of characters, twisting subplots, and outrageous mythologies, the only thing truly consistent about Kung Fu Cult Master is the level of confusion at which the audience is kept throughout. Director Wong Jing (City Hunter) is notorious for working without a finished script and, while it often charges his work with a kind of loony spontaneity, here it serves only to drive viewers into maddening fits of frustration, as they vainly attempt to comprehend a senseless story that the director is probably making up as he goes along (although the film is based on a famous Chinese novel, this “adaptation” is reportedly a very loose one to say the least). Despite all this, there are some very appealing performances from the all-star cast (martial arts icon Jet Li Lien-jie and the charming Chingmay Yau Suk-ching are especially engaging), some entertaining anti-gravity wire stunts, a swell music score, and some breathtaking sets courtesy of the film’s gonzo (by Hong Kong standards) production values. Nevertheless, Jing’s energetic direction is ultimately crushed under the weight of too many unresolved subplots, and any film that puts together so many of Hong Kong’s biggest and finest talents to produce such a chaotic, if somewhat entertaining, mess of this magnitude can only be considered a disappointment.
2.0 stars (J.O.)
Hogg
NINE MONTHS
D: Chris Columbus; with Hugh Grant, Julianne Moore, Tom Arnold, Joan Cusack, Jeff Goldblum, Robin Williams.No matter how long writer/director Chris Columbus (Mrs. Doubtfire, Home Alone 1 and 2) labored over Nine Months, even a C-section couldn’t rescue the shallow script and overplayed performances by Hugh Grant and Tom Arnold. Columbus’ romantic comedy, based on the French film Neuf Mois, is all crazy sight gags and no story. Grant stars as Samuel Faulkner, a children’s psychotherapist living with Rebecca Taylor (Moore), his ballet teacher-girlfriend of many years. Their relationship is perfect, or so we are told in the opening scene in which they celebrate their commitment to each other with a champagne toast on the beach. However, problems with this film arise immediately due, in large part, to the lack of chemistry between Grant and Moore. They may be celebrating five wonderful years together, but Columbus (and the actors, for that matter) does very little to show the bonds that keep these two people in love. Aside from endless cooing (again hard to believe because of the lack of spark between the actors), there are few indications that this relationship goes deeper than a French kiss. When Rebecca discovers that she’s pregnant and announces it to the definitely unsupportive Samuel, the characters quickly square off against each other. He’s obsessed with how their perfect relationship will be ruined, and she’s frantic about getting married and having the baby. As a neighboring couple who are also expecting a child, supporting actors Arnold and Cusack define the phrase baby machine, offering some entertaining moments but an equal number of tasteless and downright dumb exchanges. Robin Williams plays a Russian obstetrician recently promoted from delivering simians to birthing human beings. Williams basically plays himself with a Russian accent; he’s fast becoming the Meryl Streep of comedic actors. No one would argue that this film tries to be anything more than a sweet and lighthearted look at one man’s fear and trauma over impending fatherhood and marital commitment. But there are successful ways to pull this off, and Nine Months is one extended shtick that ends long after the last laugh is heard. The labor scene toward the end of the film offers a fine example of over-the-top antics that just aren’t funny; in fact, some of the gags are even offensive. All of this isn’t to say that Grant’s a one-trick actor, but perhaps the success of Four Weddings and a Funeral was due, in large measure, to the timing and abilities of that film’s ensemble cast and the strength of a smartly written script. Nine Months has neither of these. To top it all off, when Sam and Rebecca’s baby finally does arrive, he looks a lot like Tom Arnold, but I guess that’s another film. And if the scene in which a theatre marquee announces Home Alone VI is any indication of Columbus’ future directing plans, a sequel to Nine Months unfortunately may not be far behind.
1.5 stars (A.M.)
Arbor, Lake Creek, Lakehills, Lincoln, Movies 12, Roundrock
LA SCORTA
D: Ricky Tognazzi; with Claudio Amendola, Enrico Lo Verso, Carlo Cecchi, Ricky Memphis, Tony Sperandeo, Lorenza Indovina, Benedetto Raneli.With a plot practically ripped from the pages of contemporary newspapers, this Italian political thriller uses that country’s internal corruption and intrigue as the landscape for telling what is, ultimately, a very human story about individual bravery and the bonds between men. Set in modern-day Sicily, this 1993 film examines the tacit collusion between government entities and the Mafia that serve to keep the wheels of society well-greased and the headway made by the current movement aimed at cleansing the entire political system. The story centers around a judge from northern Italy who comes to the Sicilian town of Trapani to replace a judge who was killed off, along with three bodyguards, in a organized hit. Yet, more than the story of this brazen new judge, La Scorta is the story of his four bodyguards. For most of them, their assignment to this detail is random; luck of the draw could have sent them to much less dangerous details. What we witness are the individual coping strategies of the men and their growing involvement and commitment to their assignment and to each other. Gradually, they become more than mere bodyguards; they become the judge’s executive assistants and close friends. Their dedication to the magistrate’s truth-seeking agenda and to the man himself eventually overrides personal concerns for safety and prestige. It becomes a study in the process of male bonding in addition to being a study of the corruption rife throughout the Italian political system. These bodyguards are average citizens and soldiers who rise, altruistically, to the occasion. La Scorta is their story. Director Tognazzi (son of famed actor Ugo Tognazzi) visually abets their tale with some grand and dramatic camerawork that lifts these characters from the ordinary to the heroic. The film also features a music score by one of the masters, Ennio Morricone. With a dramatic realism that even reneges on a standard-issue happy ending, La Scorta reduces Italian politics to a human and easily grasped level.
3.0 stars (M.B.)
Hogg
First Run
APOLLO 13
D: Ron Howard; with Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, Kathleen Quinlan, Mary Kate Schellhardt.Ron Howard’s take on the ill-fated 1970 moon shot is a big step forward from his previous two films – Backdraft and The Paper – which seemed to get lost in a variety of non-user-friendly subplots and were generally muddled exercises in how an excellent filmmaker can get lost in his own story. Apollo 13 has no such problems, and as such, it’s a riveting, nail-biting, two-buckets-of-popcorn return to form for Howard, filled with the almost unassailable heroics of the United States space program and the genuine urgency of history. Leads Hanks, Paxton, and Bacon, as astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jim Swigert, respectively, are all excellent, as is Harris as Mission Control leader Gene Kranz. The story, by Texans William Broyles, Jr. and Al Reinert, is equally compelling, playing up the interesting notion that by the time this third moon shot came around, not even the media was very interested in the space race anymore (an estimated three million fewer viewers watched the Cape Canaveral lift-off than the previous moon launch) until something went awry. That something was an explosion in one of the ship’s heating coils that sent the ship into an uncontrolled roll and left the astronauts, who were three-quarters of the way to the moon, with a rapidly dwindling supply of both oxygen and power. Howard pulls out all the stops on this one, pumping up the audience’s emotions with help from James Horner’s well-placed, not-quite-as-over-the-top-as-you’d-think score and the astronauts’ red-white-and-blue courage in the face of danger. It’s almost a valentine to NASA, but without the celestial mythologizing of films like The Right Stuff. From Quinlan’s take as Jim Lovell’s long-suffering and supportive wife to a thoroughly unexpected cameo from B-movie king Roger Corman as a congressman, Apollo 13 is filled with finely nuanced performances. For once, Kevin Bacon’s characterization doesn’t seem to be crying out “Remember me? I was in Footloose!” Oddly, some of the integral special effects in the film – and they are integral – seem less than perfect. One shot of Sinise – as astronaut Ken Mattingly, who was bumped from the Apollo 13 mission just two days before launch – watching the Canaveral blast off from afar seems especially contrived, but these are really minor quibbles. Apollo 13 succeeds on its own merits and may be the only summer adventure blockbuster without bullets or warheads. At the risk of sounding like Michael Medved, that’s a welcome change of pace.
3.5 stars (M.S.)
Arbor, Highland, Lake Creek, Lakehills, Movies 12, Northcross, Riverside, Roundrock
CRUMB
D: Terry Zwigoff.R. Crumb: master cartoonist of the underground comix world. Even if you’re not familiar with his name, I guarantee you’re familiar with some of his images. The movie tells us a lot about Crumb’s artwork – about its style, its history, its roots, and its repercussions. Though Crumb is packed with information and telling details, the movie’s objective is hardly art history or a survey of Crumb’s place in the world of comics. The movie aims for broader subject matter, to discover something about the role art plays in the life of the artist, and about how the release of art may, indeed, allow the artist to function as a stable human being. Filmmaker Terry Zwigoff, who has known Crumb for over 25 years, shot this intimate film over the course of six years. Other perspectives are also gleaned from interviews with various other personalities including fellow cartoonists Spain Rodriguez, Bill Griffith, and Trina Robbins; art critic Robert Hughes; Crumb’s wife and fellow cartoonist Aline Kaminsky; Crumb’s son from a former marriage, Jesse, who is himself a burgeoning artist; ex-wife Dana Crumb; various old girlfriends; various women who endorse Crumb’s self-exposure of his sexual obsessions in which the only well-rounded women are ones with outsized upper and lower decks; and various women, chief among them former Mother Jones editor Deirdre English, who deplore his depiction of women as convenient docking stations. But even more than all this, Crumb is about the Crumb family, a unit that also includes a mother, vestigial traces of a deceased father, two brothers, Charles and Max, and two sisters, who declined to be interviewed. Much of the interview time is spent with the three brothers, often in the house they lived in as children. This is a necessity for Charles, whose inability to leave the house is one of the manifestations of his schizophrenia. Despite his mental trauma, Charles is quite funny and articulate and was the first of the Crumb kids to start drawing cartoons. He got all his siblings to join him in this endeavor and the results were quite elaborate and well-organized. But then he stopped drawing and, later, stopped going out altogether. Brother Max also grew up to become an artist. In between his painting sessions, he sits on a bed of nails in his threadbare apartment. Max also speaks of his occasionally acted-out desire to molest women. It’s at moments like these that Crumb becomes truly fascinating – when it’s exploring the chicken-and-egg conundrum. Which comes first: the art as a thing unto itself or the essential need to expunge visions from the brain? Can art be a buffer between sanity and the abyss, can it expiate all our ugliness within, can it instigate its own path of madness? In Crumb, we have three brothers whose early art experiences were similar, but who all grew quite differently. For R. Crumb, art-making may be his redemption.
4.0 stars (M.B.)
Dobie
FIRST KNIGHT
D: Jerry Zucker; with Sean Connery, Richard Gere, Julia Ormond, Ben Cross.Coming hot on the heels of both Rob Roy and Braveheart, the clumsily titled First Knight is the third in this summer’s sword-swinging sweepstakes, as well as the umpteenth retelling of the legend of Camelot. In the end, this picture seems to have more in common with the ho-hum swashbuckling of Kevin Reynolds’ Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves than the truly mythic feel of, say, John Boorman’s Excalibur. This time out, the story pays particular attention to the relationship between Lancelot and Guinevere and how their forbidden love more or less destroys the legendary King Arthur and almost manages to ruin the city of Camelot. Despite the sweep of the story, First Knight feels like a would-be epic; in other words, it seems small: cramped, crowded, and unsure of itself. Perhaps it’s the cluttered frame compositions or the below-average special effects work that give off this impression but, more likely, it has to do with the fact that former ZAZ (David Zucker/Jim Abrahams/Jerry Zucker) collaborator and Ghost director Zucker may just not have been ready to take on a project of this size and scope, although his ambition is admirable. To be fair, Zucker occasionally shows the right touch – examples include Gere’s playful run through a deadly gauntlet and Ormond’s drink of rainwater that has been filtered down to her by Lancelot through a series of tree leaves – but more often than not, his direction lacks confidence. His actors are equally scattershot: Gere surprisingly displays a fair bit of dashing grace in some of the action scenes (which, unfortunately, look quite primitive when placed next to the aforementioned Braveheart) but has trouble maintaining a consistent accent. Ormond delivers a serviceable, if undistinguished, Guinevere, with some of her reaction shots prompting unintentional laughter. And although putting Connery in the role of King Arthur may seem like “can’t miss” casting, he too disappoints. Personally, I believe that it would be next to impossible for Connery to deliver an out-and-out bad performance (hell, just the very presence of Sean Connery inspires greatness), but I think it is safe to say that he didn’t give this role his all. His performance is a perfect metaphor for the whole film: It’s not that First Knight is a terrible, embarrassing piece of junk; it’s just a film of stunning averageness and not really good or bad enough to make any kind of a lasting impression which, depending on your point of view, may be even worse than a total failure.
2.0 stars (J.O.)
Arbor, Highland, Lake Creek, Lakehills, Movies 12, Riverside, Roundrock, Village
JUDGE DREDD
D: Danny Cannon; with Sylvester Stallone, Armand Assante, Diane Lane, Rob Schneider, Joan Chen, Jurgen Prochnow, Max Von Sydow.Set in a distant, post-apocalyptic future, this American feature debut from director Cannon does a surprisingly adequate job of capturing both the look and feel of Britain’s long-running Judge Dredd/2000 A.D. comic series. As 23rd-century lawman Dredd, Stallone is in fine form, using his perpetual scowl and wisecracking, gravelly voice to good effect: It’s the one recent role I can think of where these natural Stallone traits haven’t acted as a liability. Plotwise, the film sticks closely to the comic book: In the future, the criminal justice system has failed to preserve order, and so the police force of Mega-City 1 has been upgraded to include “the Judges,” who act as judge, jury, and executioners on the spot. When Dredd is framed for murder by a power-hungry rival, he must take the law into his own hands and ferret out his betrayers before the law he loves so much is reduced to anarchy. Cannon’s take on Judge Dredd is essentially a thrill-a-minute joyride, and as such, it contains some of the most glaring plot holes I’ve seen in years. One such foul-up revolves around an army of deadly clones that arrives in the third reel and then vanishes – no explanation given – from the film moments later. There are several others as well. All trivialities like plot logic aside, though, Judge Dredd comes off much better than anticipated. The set design and effects are genuinely breathtaking, evoking some of the “gosh, wow” sense of wonder not freely elicited since the last LucasFilm shoot-’em-up. As mentioned before, Stallone’s moribund thespian skills actually add to the character of Dredd; anyone familiar with the comic book knows Dredd’s perpetual grimace on sight, and Stallone plays up the more fascistic aspects of the character. Saturday Night Live’s Schneider, as Judge Dredd’s sidekick Fergie, provides a welcome bit of comic relief without going to extremes, and Assante is nicely over the top as Rico, Dredd’s evil twin. All in all a better-than-average adaptation of a way-above-average comic. Now then, where’s Judge Death?
3.0 stars (M.S.)
Great Hills, Lake Creek, Lincoln, Movies 12, Riverside, Roundrock, Westgate
MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS: THE MOVIE
D: Bryan Spicer; with Jason David Frank, Amy Jo Johnson, David Yost, Steve Cardenas, Johnny Yong Bosch, Karan Ashley, Paul Freeman.With absolutely as little time devoted to character or plot development as possible, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie may not be Battleship Potemkin, but it does deliver the cheesy sci-fi goods for fans of the colorful television show, even if it’s not likely to win any new converts. The plot finds the Power Rangers stripped of their powers when old enemy Ivan Ooze (Raiders of the Lost Ark’s Paul Freeman, unrecognizable under a pound of latex) returns to destroy their headquarters and cripple their mentor, Zordon. While Ooze plots to take over the world by turning parents into mindless zombies via little bottles of goo, the Rangers travel to a distant planet in order to obtain “the great power” from Dulcea, a scantily clad Red Sonja wannabe, who also finds time to train them in the art of Ninjetti (read: Ninja), so that our heroes can hop in some cool new robots and save the earth from total destruction. The best thing about Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie is that there is almost always something neat on the screen: If our heroes aren’t kung-fu fighting some slimy monster or piloting giant robots, they’re off Rollerblading or skydiving to pass the time between the action. Speaking of action, it’s in this department that the film offers a marked improvement over its small screen counterpart, with the Hong Kong-influenced fight sequences and computer-generated special effects sure to wow the kids – with plenty of abysmal bad jokes uttered along with nearly every single kick, punch, and explosion, which keeps the tone appropriately light and comic bookish. In the acting department, our heroes range from “nice try” to “not trying at all,” but they do manage to keep straight faces throughout the whole affair, and their silly performances only serve to heighten the picture’s camp sensibilities. In short, despite some obvious flaws, this movie is fast-paced fun.
2.5 stars (J.O.)
Lake Creek, Lincoln, Northcross, Riverside, Roundrock, Westgate
THE POSTMAN (IL POSTINO)
D: Michael Radford; with Massimo Troisi, Philippe Noiret, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Linda Moretti, Renato Scarpa, Anna Bonaiuto.This new film by British director Michael Radford (White Mischief, 1984) is an Italian co-production titled The Postman, a film with a production history as tragically romantic as the poetry of one of its main characters, Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. The movie is loosely based on Antonio Skarmeta’s Burning Patience, a novel about an incident in Neruda’s life when he was befriended by a young postman while living in Italy. Together with Radford, The Postman’s lead actor Massimo Troisi had worked diligently since 1990 to bring the story to the screen; both he and Radford share screenwriting credit with three other writers. Sadly, Troisi passed away from a heart condition the day after principal photography was completed on the film. Set in 1952 during the time of Neruda’s exile from Chile to a small island off the southern coast of Italy, the film recounts the friendship between the aging Communist poet and the shy, directionless son of a fisherman who knows only that he does not want to follow in his father’s footsteps. Troisi plays the uncertain postman Mario with endearing, burning awkwardness. His body language is vaguely reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin’s: With soulful gazes and expressive hands he conveys the frustration and desire trapped within his head and heart. Philippe Noiret (best known to American audiences as the projectionist in Cinema Paradiso) plays Neruda with understated generosity and warmth. The friendship between the two men is truly touching, and the end to their story is that much more compelling because of the understanding Mario seems to share with Neruda. Early in their friendship when Mario asks Neruda how to become a poet, we smile at his ingenuousness. Yet that’s what this film is about: exploring and expressing the poetry of our lives, be it in the simplicity of the local bar or the complexities of a homeland’s government. The Postman also is a love story of the first order, a sweet Cyrano tale in which Mario woos Beatrice (Cucinotta), the niece of the local innkeeper Rosa (Moretti), with a little help from his poet/mentor. With the rapport established between actors Troisi and Noiret, and Radford’s gentle prodding of the narrative, The Postman becomes one of the sweetest stories on film this summer. Slow in parts but appealing overall, The Postman suggests how interwoven the bonds of friendship and love can be. It leaves us feeling much like Mario when he reads one of Neruda’s poems about the demands of being a man: “That happened to me too but I never knew how to say it.” With lyrical beauty and memorable performances, The Postman articulates many feelings that seem to defy explanation.
3.5 stars (A.M.)
Village
SMOKE
D: Wayne Wang and Paul Auster; with William Hurt, Harvey Keitel, Stockard Channing, Harold Perrineau, Jr., Forest Whitaker, Giancarlo Esposito, Ashley Judd, Victor Argo.As beguiling and as ephemeral as its titular namesake, Smoke is a movie that draws you in and lingers a while in your bloodstream. It’s certainly not harmful to your system but like those darned cigarettes, Smoke leaves you wanting another not long after the last one has been extinguished. Knockout ensemble performances like these don’t come around all that often, though, and when they do they ought to be savored. The performances here are smokin’. On the other hand, the story that connects all these characters is a bit wan. The movie is structured as a series of converging vignettes; however, these story lines never converge as completely as one might like. Smoke’s anchor is the Brooklyn tobacco shop run by affable but no-nonsense Auggie Wren (Keitel). Everyone comes into the shop sooner or later. Down-on-his-luck writer Paul Benjamin (Hurt) is one of the regulars. And in the flick of an eye, into Paul’s life comes Rashid (Perrineau). Rashid’s on his own journey but hangs around long enough to become family and work for Auggie in the tobacco shop, but his path also takes him upstate to check in with Cyrus Cole (Whitaker), who is a story unto himself. Ruby McNutt (Channing), Auggie’s old flame, also comes to the tobacco shop on a mission. So many of these people have been damaged by life: Ruby wears an eye patch to cover her missing eye; Cyrus wears a prosthetic arm that reminds him of his misdeeds; Paul has been so shocked by life that he moves with the grace of the walking dead; and from a blind old woman who is introduced near the movie’s end, Auggie discovers the true spirit of Christmas. It is this closing story, which Auggie relates in a long monologue, that was the genesis for this movie: It was a Christmas story that writer Paul Auster published on the op-ed page of the New York Times on Christmas Day, 1990. The story is a good one but it fails to bring the movie full circle. In a slice-of-life story like this, well-rounded smoke rings may not be necessary. Yet, obviously there were more stories to tell here since while Smoke was being shot, director Wang (The Joy Luck Club) and Auster spun off another film, Blue in the Face, that was shot in the three days following the completion of Smoke. The improvised Blue in the Face is said to feature players like Roseanne, Lily Tomlin, Michael J. Fox, Madonna, Jim Jarmusch, Lou Reed, and, of course, Harvey Keitel. Can’t wait: even if it never all comes together, the fumes are quite intoxicating.
3.5 stars (M.B.)
Village
SPECIES
D: Roger Donaldson; with Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Alfred Molina, Forest Whitaker, Marg Helgenberger, Natasha Henstridge.From the unlikely team of producer Frank Mancuso, Jr., one of the key players in the long-running Friday the 13th slasher franchise, and director Roger Donaldson, the man behind the recent remake of The Getaway, comes this gory creature feature that, despite a very promising first 15 minutes, proves to be nothing more than another tired rip-off of Alien, with a touch of Tobe Hooper’s Lifeforce thrown in for good measure. The story concerns a desperate manhunt for a young, but rapidly growing, little girl who has taken part in a genetic experiment that has combined alien and human DNA, resulting in a creature (code-named “Sil” and designed by H.R. Giger, the Swiss surrealist artist who is also responsible for the award-winning titular creature in Alien) that often looks sweet and harmless, but can mutate into a pus-dripping beast and tear your spine out. In an attempt to keep this kind of activity at a minimum, Kingsley assembles a group of diverse talents – lethal bounty hunter Madsen, sensitive telepathist Whitaker, and two other tag-along scientists – to track down the monster who, in the meantime, has grown into a pretty, desirable blonde who has gone to L.A. to shop, get credit cards, and cruise clubs looking for a man to father her a mutant baby so she can multiply and (presumably) take over the world. It all leads to a predictable climax in which the heroes venture into the catacombs below a posh California hotel to battle the monster with flame-throwers. Victory is declared and we suffer yet another insulting “shock” epilogue that seems to threaten Species 2. Species is one of those movies in which our hero is always one stupid step behind the villain who, in this picture, doesn’t really seem all that smart to begin with. Sil’s puzzled, bored reactions to the crazy, puny Earthlings might have been parlayed by the filmmakers into some kind of societal resonance or perhaps even a little playful satire, but these concepts have no place in this movie. Instead, the film lapses into embarrassingly heavy-handed dialogue like “She was half-human, half something else… I wonder which was the predatory half?” worthy of Edward D. Wood, Jr. The only thing worth a damn in Species is the talented cast, with Madsen’s deadpan cool and quiet charm providing most of the film’s memorable moments, while the rest of the cast all deliver solid, appealing performances. Horror movie fans are a loyal, supportive audience, and in a dry spell like this, many will be inclined to give Species a chance. Do yourself a favor… don’t. It’s the same old, recycled garbage the studios love to shove down our throats, and trust me, you’ve seen it all before. What else can I say about a movie in which even a brilliant artist like H.R. Giger repeats himself… except that besides a few random moments, Species just doesn’t make the grade and also manages to waste a fine cast along the way.
1.0 stars (J.O.)
Great Hills, Highland, Lake Creek, Movies 12, Northcross, Riverside, Roundrock, Westgate
Still Playing
BATMAN FOREVER
D: Joel Schumacher; with Val Kilmer, Jim Carrey, Tommy Lee Jones, Nicole Kidman, Chris O’Donnell, Michael Gough, Drew Barrymore.Batman forever… and ever… and – yawn – ever. This third installment in what, previously, was a deliciously gothic take on the Dark Knight drags on interminably, filled to bursting with all kinds of spectacular, violet-hued explosions, pithily cumbersome one-liners, and enough ham-handed psychotherapeutic explanations for Batman’s noblesse oblige – from Nicole Kidman, no less – to choke Freud for days. There’s so much and so little going on here simultaneously that you’re not sure whether to squirm or doze. Screenwriters Lee and Janet Batchler forsake the more adult-oriented aspects of the first two films (not to mention the story itself, if you’re in the mood to quibble about trivialities), and instead head directly into territory staked out by the campy Batman television show of the mid-Sixties: All that’s missing is the cartoony “Pow!” after every well-connected punch. Jones and Carrey – as Two-Face and the Riddler, respectively – are the film’s saving graces, as villains are wont to be in this sort of adolescent exercise. Jones does his best to keep up, but it’s Carrey’s show all the way. When he’s off the screen, the film bogs down in Kilmer’s bland, surfer-boy good looks, Kidman’s preposterous (and marginally offensive) sexual high jinks, or O’Donnell’s “Origin of Robin, the Boy Wonder” subplottings. Holy story line gone awry, Batdude!
2.0 stars (M.S.)
Arbor, Highland, Lake Creek, Movies 12, Northcross, Riverside, Roundrock, Westgate
BRAVEHEART
D: Mel Gibson; with Gibson, Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan, Catherine McCormack, Angus McFadyen, Brenden Gleeson.In the late 13th century, there was a historical person named William Wallace. Then there is this splendid, rousing adventure by Mel Gibson, a deliberate heroic myth-making tale that combines history with fantasy. Gibson, who starred, produced, and directed, audaciously presents this as a classic adventure, without apology. Although it presents complex political relationships, these are mostly entanglements designed to complicate and enhance the plot rather than pose real ideological or historical relationships. Gibson plays fast and free with history, but Braveheart is a film of romance, of legend, of possibility, and of freedom. Deftly, Gibson directs this epic along; with most of the story racing to reach the screen, the almost three-hour film rarely drags until just before the end, and even then, redeems itself. Although Gibson occasionally overuses slow motion, the whole film is beautiful, and the battle scenes are splendid.
4.0 stars (L.B.)
Arbor, Movies 12, Roundrock, Westgate
THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY
D: Clint Eastwood; with Eastwood, Meryl Streep, Annie Corley, Victor Slezak, Jim Haynie.Of all people, who would have thought Clint Eastwood would be the one to breathe fresh life into the stagnant genre of women’s film melodrama? Clearly, Bridges is a movie Eastwood very much wanted to make; not only does he co-star, he also directs and co-produces. Eastwood has always been one to flex his screen persona, so it’s not that unusual that he chose to play the role of the sensitive photographer and lover, Robert Kincaid. His real stroke of genius, though, was casting Meryl Streep as Francesca Johnson, the story’s Italian-born, Iowa housewife. It’s one of Streep’s truly great performances. Bridges is punctuated by awkward scenes of Francesca’s grown children discovering the existence of her long-ago affair. But, for the most part, Richard LaGravenese’s script strips the best-selling novel of its purple prose, while retaining the drama at the heart of the story. Bridges is another example of Eastwood’s remarkable economy of style as both a director and an actor. It is neither his best work nor his worst, though it is a fascinating exploration.
3.5 stars (M.B.)
Great Hills, Highland, Roundrock, Westgate
BURNT BY THE SUN
D: Nikita Mikhalkov; with Mikhalkov, Nadia Mikhalkov, Oleg Menchikov, Ingeborga Dapkounaite, Andre Oumansky, Viatcheslav Tikhonov.Set against the backdrop of the Russian countryside under Stalin’s rule, this Oscar-winner for best foreign film is a brilliant, Chekhovian meditation on trust, love, and the intrusive horrors that period of time brought to otherwise normal families. It’s 1936 and retired military hero Serguei Kotov (director Mikhalkov) is enjoying the warm, restless summer with his extended family at their dacha just outside Moscow. Into this postcard-perfect picture of lazy familial bliss steps an outsider: Mitia (Menchikov), a long-lost family friend and, unbeknownst to Kotov, the former lover of his young wife Maroussia (Dapkounaite). Mikhalov’s film moves in and out of so many different emotional levels so fluidly, that when the worst finally comes, you barely notice it, as though it had been there all along. Mikhalkov’s portrait of a Russian family circa the mid-Thirties is obviously heartfelt and touching in its pleasant ordinariness. Add to this, Mikhalkov’s surreal (and occasionally mystifying) use of film symbolism, and you have one of the most interesting, and engrossing, Russian films in years, one that runs the gamut from love to hate to fear and back again, all of it presided over by the omniscient shadow of Joseph Stalin.
4.0 stars (M.S.)
Village
CASPER
D: Brad Silberling; Christina Ricci, Bill Pullman, Cathy Moriarty, Eric Idle, Malachi Pearson as the voice of Casper.At its best, which is when it’s exploiting both its eye-popping special effects and delicious production design, Casper proves itself to be passable, if mindless, kiddie fare. At its worst, Casper continually resorts to desperate star cameos to get a rise out of the audience, lame and phony heart-tugging to get them emotionally involved, and ridiculous, coincidental plotting to make sure this thing runs at least 90 minutes. Casper is a movie that’s constantly busy… but never really going anywhere. The cast is appealing, but let’s cut to the chase, shall we? The only real reason anyone is going to see Casper is for its special effects sequences, which, thankfully, are both spectacular and frequent, though lacking a jaw-dropping sense of wonder.
2.0 stars (J.O.)
Great Hills, Movies 12, Roundrock
CONGO
D: Frank Marshall; with Dylan Walsh, Laura Linney, Tim Curry, Ernie Hudson, Joe Don Baker.Congo has everything – civil war, exploding airplanes, deranged hippos, rumbling volcanoes, murderous gorillas – and that’s its trouble: It suffocates you with one faux thrill after another. Jawdroppingly bad, this adaptation of Michael Crichton’s 1980 novel about a talking ape named Amy and a fabled lost city deep in the jungles of central Africa is as sophisticated in execution as a Jungle Jim movie. The clich�s abound, while the multi-million-dollar special effects look cheesy. Furthermore, with Spielberg prot�g� Marshall behind the camera, you’re painfully aware of every ridiculous moment. Equal fault must lie with fallen-from-grace screenwriter John Patrick Shanley (Moonstruck), whose script either uses a sledgehammer to communicate exposition or spits out critical explanations with the clarity of static. The actors in this misfire resort to affecting strange accents to compensate for the absence of dimension in their characters. Only Amy, the precocious gorilla who communicates through sign language, comes off looking good in Congo, probably because she has the least amount of dialogue.
0 stars (S.D.)
Lincoln, Movies 12, Northcross, Riverside, Roundrock, Westgate
CRIMSON TIDE
D: Tony Scott; with Denzel Washington, Gene Hackman, George Dzundza, Viggo Mortensen, James Gandolfini, Matt Craven, Jason Robards.Submarines hold a near-mythic place in the pantheon of Great American Male Film Fantasies, and this juggernaut of a movie plays right into these childlike fantasies. Scott’s film posits a sudden takeover by rebel Russian soldiers of various strategic nuclear arsenals and the West’s alarm over such an occurrence. Sent in to “give the rebels pause” are Captain Ramsey (Hackman) and Executive Officer Hunter (Washington). Once on board the sub, the two men find themselves not only in close quarters but also in constant conflict, as the complex, Harvard- and Annapolis-educated Hunter and the crusty, combat-hungry Ramsey engage in their own verbal and psychological war while the real thing waits just around the corner. Scott is a master of slick action films, and Crimson Tide is beautiful to look at. The central conflict between Hackman and Washington, though, quickly becomes bogged down in unintentional war movie clich�s and their conflict has all the subtlety of a torpedo. Go see it, get the adrenaline rush; it’s noisy and fun, but that’s all it is.
3.0 stars (M.S.)
Arbor, Highland
THE ENGLISHMAN WHO WENT UP A HILL BUT CAME DOWN A MOUNTAIN
D: Christopher Monger; with Hugh Grant, Colm Meany, Tara Fitzgerald, Ian McNeice, Kenneth Griffith.Perhaps it is because in a country as small as Wales, local events are reduced to a nearly microscopic level. That trait, combined with a fierce patriotism for a country which has struggled to maintain its own cultural identity, requires that the inhabitants of the village Ffynnon Garw make a mountain out of a hill. Which, of course, is the subject of The Englishman Who Went up a Hill …, a gentle comedy based on a true story passed down to the film’s director and writer by his grandfather. Rich in lush Welsh landscape and eccentric characters, Monger’s Englishman provides a look, both sweet and sly, at a place most people only know of through Dylan Thomas or Richard Burton. Hugh Grant shines as the reluctant hero. The picture’s deadpan humor and quiet romance is marred by a too-loud, overly dramatic score and some serious pacing problems, but nearly redeems itself with a hilarious ending.
2.0 stars (H.C.)
Great Hills
FORGET PARIS
D: Billy Crystal; with Crystal, Debra Winger, Joe Mantegna, Cynthia Stevenson, Richard Masur, Julie Kavner, William Hickey, Robert Constanzo, John Spencer, Cathy Moriarty.Forget Paris is not a total bust: It does have a few very funny scenes and gags. Billy Crystal can be a genuinely funny guy. But why does he insist on having all the marbles? Not simply a star, Crystal is now his own producer and writer, as well as his own leading man. Crystal’s self-inflation factor is exactly what is wrong with Forget Paris: too much Crystal and not enough substance. The movie recounts the bumpy path of romance traveled by Mickey (Crystal) and Ellen (Winger) told in continuing segments by a slow-gathering ensemble of old friends of the couple. The better we get to know Mickey and Ellen, the less appealing the two steadily become. Neither is there any “chemistry” or believable passion in the pairing of Crystal and Winger. This is only made more painful by the awareness that all the other assembled couples are infinitely more interesting than Mickey and Ellen. Only William Hickey emerges unscathed in his on-target portrayal of a just-this-side-of-senile father-in-law.
1.5 stars (M.B.)
Great Hills
POCAHONTAS
D: Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg; with the voices of Irene Bedard, Judy Kuhn, Mel Gibson, David Ogden Stiers, Russell Means, Linda Hunt.Here is a movie that knows its target audience. Pocahontas’ arrow, tipped with tender romance and feathered with spirited folklore, hits the bulls-eye dead on. If you can get past the frenzied hype and a liberal license with historical accuracy (and I challenge you to show me a seven-year old who can’t), this latest Disney effort rivals the animated features from the fabled studio’s heyday. Like the best Disney cartoons, Pocahontas is both resplendent and restrained. The rousing action sequences are brief but compelling counterpoints to the beautiful simplicity of the piece. The animation is wonderful. Pocahontas is lovely and while the animators have succumbed to the modern day heroine’s seeming requisite – impossible Barbie doll physiology – they have also imbued her with a spirit so innocent and a bearing so noble that it precludes a too-lascivious allure. The characters are nicely vocalized, the studio scoring a magnificent coup with Russell Means’ portrayal of Pocahontas’ father, Chief Powhatan. Composer Allen Menken is back, and his music lifts the movie to lofty heights.
3.5 stars (H.C.)
Great Hills, Lake Creek, Lakehills, Lincoln, Movies 12, Northcross, Riverside, Roundrock
THE SECRET OF ROAN INISH
D: John Sayles; with Jeni Courtney, Eileen Colgan, Mick Lally, Richard Sheridan, John Lynch, Gerard Rooney, Susan Lynch, Cillian Byrne.Sayles’ new film is a swirl of mystery and enchantment, of romance between men and mystical creatures, of a baby abducted by animals, of his sister who resolves to win him back, and in so doing restore her family’s place on Roan Inish. It’s a tale of old ties that we’ve set aside but which are still important and for which we still yearn, and Sayles tells it in a remarkable way, in a swirl of history, nature, and folklore that speaks to all ages. He doesn’t so much “capture” the rhythm and spirit of Irish coastal life as ride alongside them, matching their pace and rising and falling with them, like a seal through the tide. The atmosphere of this world is thick and pungent; it washes over us in the lyrical language, in the lovely performances, in the sounds of Uillean pipes and penny whistles on Mason Daring’s Celtic score, in the crisp cinematography of Haskell Wexler. Roan Inish conjures magic, but does so without relying on technical wizardry. Instead, it creates wonder in the unexpected.
4.0 stars (R.F.)
Dobie
SHALLOW GRAVE
D: Danny Boyle; with Kerry Fox, Christopher Eccleston, Ewan McGregor, Keith Allen, Ken Stott, Colin McRedie.From its opening titles, you know you’re in for something different, something wild. First-time director Boyle scores impressively with this Scottish tale of greed, murder, and the quest for a perfect flatmate that echoes everything from Alan Parker’s The Commitments to The Treasure of Sierra Madre, and never feels anything but wholly original. Boyle keeps the proceedings quick and humorous, despite the gravity of the story. His camerawork is top-shelf, heightening both the panicky tension that rises as the film moves forward and the desperate comic air the film maintains throughout. For their parts, all three leads are mini-masterpieces of audacious, thoroughly believable acting. Shallow Grave is a bracing, beautifully filmed black comedy-cum-horror show that grabs hold of you in the first few minutes and then refuses to let you go until the bitter, shocking end. Brilliant.
4.0 stars (M.S.)
Dobie
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING
D: Jon Turtletaub; with Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, Peter Gallagher, Peter Boyle, Jack Warden, Glynis Johns, Micole Mercurio.From the man who brought us the bizarre Disney hit Cool Runnings and – ouch! – 3 Ninjas, comes this love story: lite, a frothy bit of fluff that goes down as easily as cotton candy and almost as nutritiously. It’s charming, in its own little way, but really, this film has as much substance as a Cirrus cloud, despite fine turns from Boyle as the family patriarch and Warden as Godfather Saul. Bullock, as always, is so goonily charming, it’s all you can do not to leap up and try to hug her. In essence, While You Were Sleeping is a swell date movie: romantic, sweet without being cloying, and light on its feet. But that’s all it is.
2.5 stars (M.S.)
Arbor, Highland
Previews
THE INDIAN IN THE CUPBOARD
D: Frank Oz; with Hal Scardino, Litefoot, Lindsay Crouse, David Keith.Based on a beloved children’s story, the script for this fantasy movie is by E.T. scriptwriter Melissa Mathison. The story centers around a child who finds a three-inch-tall Indian living amongst his toys. The Indian is played by Native American rapper Litefoot. The special effects promise to be state-of-the-art.
stars (M.B.)
Arbor, Lake Creek, Lincoln, Movies 12, Westgate
PEACE HOTEL
D: Wei Kar-fei; with Chow Yun-fat, Cecilia Yip Ye-tong.If nothing else, this latest vehicle for Hard-Boiled star Chow Yun-fat gets off to a terrific start, as the ultra-charismatic Chow, sporting a shaved head and wielding a mean sword, chases a bloodied youngster through a corpse-filled hotel, intent on sending the injured young man into the hereafter. Unfortunately, most of what follows this promising prologue, which is stylishly filmed in grainy black-and-white, isn’t anywhere near as confidently executed and the result is a disappointing picture that fails to live up to the promise of its own intriguing premise. The plot, set in China during the early 1900s, is great: Chow stars as “The Killer,” a sensitive man of action who, in an attempt to repent for his mysterious past, has opened the titular “peace hotel,” a safe haven where anyone seeking protection from the outside world can come and live out their life in peace. But when a snotty, manipulative woman shows up claiming to be the killer’s long-lost love, the peace hotel is plunged into chaos as general confusion reigns inside while, outside, an old enemy with a score to settle waits and prepares a deadly siege that could destroy the hotel and all it stands for. Well, it sounds great, so what happened? In a couple of words – the script. Peace Hotel simply wastes too much time (in what is fast becoming an annoying trend in Hong Kong movies) with silly, out-of-place comic relief. To make matters worse, the action sequences, which are usually the one area in which Hong Kong pictures are infallible, are not that great – they’re energetically shot, but choreographed no better than, say, any of the Highlander films. On the positive side, Chow turns in a bravura performance that practically defines charisma, and there’s an interesting re-creation of the famed “reviving” sequence from James Cameron’s The Abyss. Director Wei does stage a few genuinely effective scenes and has a great eye for powerful, ironic images – like the film’s unforgettable final shot of the Peace Hotel’s sign literally soaked with blood. For fans of Chow (and who in their right mind isn’t?) Peace Hotel is, reportedly, the actor’s final Hong Kong production before crossing over to the United States, but will prove to be a passable time-waster at best. Yet, as some frustrating moments demonstrate all too well, it could have been so much more.
1.5 stars (J.O.)
UNDER SIEGE 2: DARK TERRITORY
D: Geoff Murphy; with Steven Seagal, Eric Bogosian, Katherine Heigl, Morris Chestnut, Everett McGill.Last summer, Steven Seagal played the mild-mannered cook on an ocean liner and resourceful ex-Navy SEAL who saved the world from mass destruction. Recuperating from that experience, this summer Seagal’s character takes a train ride through the Rockies and – guess what? – he saves the world from nuclear destruction. This time, noted monologist Eric Bogosian plays the madman instead of Gary Busey. Bogosian and Seagal? Perhaps the only thing they have in common is their vanity and that hardly bodes well for anything but a Rocky sequel co-starring Spalding Gray.
stars (M.B.)
Great Hills, Lincoln, Movies 12, Northcross, Riverside, Roundrock, Westgate
This article appears in July 14 • 1995 and July 14 • 1995 (Cover).