TEMPTATION OF A MONK
D: Clara Law; with Wu Hsin-kuo, Joan Chen, Zhang Fengyi.A masterful period drama with a touch of violent action, Temptation of a Monk is terrific, hypnotic entertainment, directed with uncompromising patience and skill by one of Hong Kong’s few “arthouse” filmmakers – Clara Law (Autumn Moon, Farewell China). Made during the height of 1994’s seemingly endless string of lousy period-piece, martial-arts adventures, Law’s film, along with Wong Kar-wei’s Ashes of Time (although Law’s work is far more accessible), manages to “intellectualize” the genre at the same time it manages to avoid pretension. Mainland actor Wu Hsin-kuo (who has, under the name Ng Hing-kwok, gone on to seek his fame in a number of great Hong Kong films, like the recent Rock and Roll Cop and What Price, Survival?) stars as Shi, a stoic warrior who, after being betrayed by an ambitious government official and duped into helping him take over the current regime, decides to hide up in a monastery with his comrades-in-arms, posing as a monk while secretly plotting their revenge. However, when he witnesses the deaths of his friends and his on-again, off-again love interest (Joan Chen) at the hands of government soldiers, Wu begins to truly long for a life of peace and becomes a member of an old, run-down monastery managed by an eccentric 100-year-old monk who has let his hair grow out and thinks reciting prayers make too much racket. For a while, he finds peace there, that is, until an old enemy from his past shows up (Farewell My Concubine’s Zhang Fengyi), demanding a duel. Temptation of a Monk is a powerful movie, filled to the bursting point with sensuous atmosphere and populated with haunting images that linger in the imagination long after the picture has ended. Law’s film is also aided greatly by Wu’s carefully measured, virtuosic performance, which perfectly captures all the rage, inner turmoil, and genuine desire for change of his complex, ever-evolving character. Although the other performers don’t have nearly as much to work with (Wu’s performance more or less pulls the emotional weight of the entire show), the rest all manage solid turns, with Chen’s free-spirited love interest being quite possibly the best of her (for the most part) undistinguished career. However, this is clearly Law’s show, and her touch here is amazingly confident, deftly handling both quiet moments of understated dialogue and ultra-violet action sequences with equal ability. The latter comes off as a particular revelation, with both the large-scale battle sequences and small-scale kung-fu fights – usually driven almost purely by Tals Lau’s savage score – showcasing an unusual mixture of brutal bloodletting and elegant, graceful movement.
4.0 stars (J.O.)
Hogg
New Review
THE BODYGUARD FROM BEIJING
D: Corey Yuen Kwai; with Jet Li Lien-jie, Chueng Lai Tai, Kent Cheung.Hong Kong martial arts superstar Jet Li Lien-jie leaves his pigtail, swords, and spears behind for this entertaining modern-day action picture, opting instead for a full head of hair and a seemingly never-ending arsenal of handguns. Li plays a stoic bodyguard from Mainland China who is sent to Hong Kong in order to protect the spoiled young wife (Love on Delivery’s Chueng Lai Tai) of a wealthy businessman who, after witnessing a brutal murder by Triad gangsters, is constantly in danger from their vicious hitmen. As the film progresses, the initially rigid Lai Tai slowly starts to fall for Li, who has himself become the target of a personal vendetta when he makes the mistake of killing an unhinged ex-soldier’s brother in the line of duty. Although the plot and title bear resemblance to a certain American Kevin Costner vehicle, Li makes an infinitely more convincing bodyguard, the romantic subplot between Jet and Lai Tai moves in unexpected directions, and director Corey (Fong Sai Yuk) Yuen Kwai keeps the pace fast (unlike the ridiculously overlong Costner picture) and provides a brauva action climax to boot. It ends up on a cleverly ambiguous note, leaving Li’s character’s fate more or less up to the audience. There is some unwanted comic relief with Li’s two bumbling cop sidekicks, as well as some goofy sitcom-esque transition shots, but for the most part, Bodyguard Fom Beijing is lively, unpretentious fun.
2.5 stars (J.O.)
Hogg
CLUELESS
D: Amy Heckerling; with Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy, Paul Rudd, Donald Faison, Breckin Meyer, Jeremy Sisto, Justin Walker, Wallace Shawn, Twink Calan, Dan Hedaya.Rarely do you find a film so aptly titled as this one, though the upcoming Pauly Shore vehicle, Dude, I Suck comes close. Director Heckerling, who scored so well so long ago with the brilliant, seminal Fast Times at Ridgemont High, returns to cloyingly similar territory in what is essentially a mediocre Nineties updating of that previous film. Instead of Jeff Spicoli, though, we have Cher (�ber-babe/Aerosmith shill Silverstone), a dangerously fashion-conscious Beverly Hills teen whose one great joy in life is making-over her friends and maintaining her status as Miss Popularity, USA. Michael Lehmann’s Heathers followed the same sort of story line to much better effect in 1989, and Clueless leaves you itching to race over to the video store in search of just that. Silverstone and the ensemble cast of generic high-schoolers (including a phenomenally ill-used Wallace Shawn replacing the Ray Walston character from Fast Times) tweak their way through a Fox sitcom-quality string of cheap gags and ham-handed teen angst that isn’t so much humorous as it is boring. Perhaps it’s unfair to keep returning to the comparison with Fast Times, but those characters – Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates, Sean Penn, et al. – seem, in retrospect, to have been achingly more realized. The kids here just mope, pout, and whine to varying degrees until you want to ship them all off to Rock ‘n’ Roll High School so the Ramones can take a crack at ’em (“Teenage Lobotomy” never sounded so accurate). Clueless indeed.
1.0 stars (M.S.)
Arbor, Lake Creek, Lincoln, Movies 12, Riverside, Roundrock, Westgate
FREE WILLY 2: THE ADVENTURE HOME
D: Dwight Little; with Jason James Richter, August Schellenberg, Jayne Atkinson, Jon Tenney, Elizabeth Pe�a, Michael Madsen, Francis Capra, Mary Kate Schellhardt, M. Emmet Walsh.Just as every boy thrives best when he has a family to belong to, so too does every whale. That was the lesson of Free Willy I. But, whereas Willy I was built around one glorious, spectacular visual image – that of the orca leaping bravely and gracefully over the water’s above-sea-level retaining wall – a shot that was the movie’s raison d’�tre, a shot that served the story and summarized the narrative and thrust events into an epic realm… Free Willy 2 has no similar reason to exist. As a-boy-and-his-orca sequel, this one’s pedestrian (and it’s not just due to the lack of sailing through the air shots). Any adult watching Willy 2 should be able to predict events before the tide ever changes. Kids, on the other hand, should be satisfied with the movie’s mix of family drama, playful whale bonding, and impending ecological crisis. Sibling conflict arises when lead Jesse (Richter), an adolescent who has grown to love his adopted parents (Atkinson and Madsen) since Willy I, has to adapt to the arrival of a half-brother Elvis (Capra), whom he never knew existed. This new family of four travels to the Pacific Northwest on a camping trip where they will see their friend Randolph (Schellenberg) – a holdover from Willy I – and, hopefully, Willy himself. And, of course Willy doesn’t disappoint; he shows up with his whole pod: his mother, brother, and sister. After much whale cavorting, sibling tension, and puppy love sparked by the presence of Randolph’s goddaughter, some of “the bad guys” cause an oil spill to happen. The whales musts be saved from the effects of the spill and then the kids must be saved from their selfless mission to save the whales. And, somewhere, in the midst of all this, the voice of Michael Jackson turns up to ask the preposterously self-reflexive musical question, “Have you seen my childhood?” Elizabeth Pe�a shows up in the unlikely role of a whale veterinarian; Please, someone, give this subtle talent material to which she’s better suited than poking injections in whale tails and looking generally concerned. Free Willy 2, most probably, comes across like each individual viewer expects it to: So, anyone looking forward to it will not be disappointed. But if you really want to see a great movie about the interaction between humans, sea mammals, and myth, check out John Sayles’ Secret of Roan Inish.
1.5 stars (M.B.)
Arbor, Highland, Lake Creek, Movies 12, Northcross, Westgate
THE INDIAN IN THE CUPBOARD
D: Frank Oz; with Hal Scardino, Litefoot, Lindsay Crouse, Richard Jenkins, Rishi Bhat, David Keith.From the multi-award-winning children’s book by Lynne Reid Banks comes this above-average fantasy that somehow manages to retain most of the sly wit and style of the source material despite Oz’s sometimes heavy-handed direction. When young Omri (Scardino) is given a small, wooden cabinet, his grandmother’s skeleton key, and a tiny plastic Indian for his ninth birthday, he discovers that the gifts are entirely magical: By putting the Indian (Litefoot) in the cupboard and turning the key, he can bring the tiny warrior to life (as well as any other figures he places inside the slightly worse-for-wear cabinet). Enchanted, both Indian and boy become unlikely friends, with Omri placed in the troubling position of having to take full adult responsibility for the care of his diminutive charge, while the Indian – an Onondaga Iroquois by the name of Little Bear – struggles to make sense of what has happened to him. When Omri’s best friend, Patrick (Bhat), discovers the secret of the cabinet and introduces a tiny cowboy into the picture, the stage is set for both dangerous confrontations and emotional roller coasters. As the old screenwriting maxim goes, “If you introduce a bow and arrow in the first act….” One of the chief draws of The Indian in the Cupboard is the excellent animation – courtesy of George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic – used to portray the aptly named Little Bear. A combination of rear projection, computer graphics, and, I believe, some sparing use of stop-motion animation, bring the character to life wonderfully, though much of the credit here goes to the remarkably well-chosen cast from Litefoot (in his acting debut) on down. Oz and screenwriter Melissa Mathison manage to retain the novel’s solid moral tone without diluting it for the screen, though the director does occasionally wander into unwarranted Spielbergian territory with lingering, golden-lit shots of the Indian and the odd bit of pedantic dialogue (“There are lessons to be learned here, kids,” he seems to be saying, as he hammers home a couple of points with all the subtlety of Hank Aaron). In a young person’s film as charming as this, that remains a minor quibble, though. Surprisingly well-done nearly all the way around, this neither plays down to its target audience, nor fumbles the inherent childhood fantasy of the story. And, of course, after the annoying Housesitter, it’s nice to see Oz back in the magical realm he appears to know so well.
3.0 stars (M.S.)
Arbor, Lake Creek, Lincoln, Movies 12, Westgate
RED FIRECRACKER, GREEN FIRECRACKER
D: He Ping; with Ning Jing, Wu Gang, Zhao Xiaorui.From the talented He Ping, director of Kawashin Yoshko and the powerful, revisionist action picture Swordfight in Twin Flags Township (which was recognized as 1992’s best foreign film by both the Hong Kong and Japanese critics), comes Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker, an engaging if somewhat uneven melodrama dealing with the dangers of hanging on to outdated traditions. Based upon a popular Chinese novel, the story follows the trials of a young woman, Chun Zhi (Ning Jing), who must assume control of her parents’ lucrative fireworks business following their deaths. Since women in positions of power are looked down upon, and there are no male heirs to inherit the family business, Chun Zhi, in keeping with feudal traditions, is forced to suppress her femininity and dress and act as a man in order to assume her role as “Master” of her family’s empire. However, things get complicated when a passionate, carefree painter named Niu Bao (Wu Gang) enters her life and she slowly finds herself inexplicably drawn to him. The pair eventually fall in love, much to the chagrin of Chun Zhi’s guardian, the sadistic Mr. Mann (Zhao Xiaorui), who sets about ruining their torrid relationship. It all leads to a wonderful, spellbinding climax involving a curiously masochistic “firecracker competition,” the outcome of which will determine a worthy suitor for the beleaguered Chun Zhi. The biggest problem with Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker is that it can’t quite decide whether it wants to be a brazenly tragic love story or a haunting social commentary, instead attempting to have it both ways, only to end up with neither angle totally explored. This occasionally results in a rambling, directionless plot structure that leaves some scenes dragging rather noticeably. But, to be fair, this is the kind of movie in which the moments of silence are just as revealing, if not more so, than when the performers are actually speaking. And there are many moments of such quiet effectiveness on display here thanks to the superb performances given by the three leads, not to mention the remarkable visual poetry of the cinematography whose intimacy places the viewer right alongside the characters in the town’s dusty streets. Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker is not a great movie – it’s too slow and haphazard, for instance – but it does have great moments of power and subtlety and is impressively well made to boot.
3.0 stars (J.O.)
Village
UNDER SIEGE 2: DARK TERRITORY
D: Geoff Murphy; with Steven Seagal, Eric Bogosian, Katherine Heigl, Morris Chestnut, Everett McGill.By what justice can Steven Seagal, an absolute unknown until just a few years ago, claim to be a major movie star? As a screen persona, he’s a no-talent, badass bully. In his directing debut last year with On Deadly Ground, he proved he was about as longwinded and pointless as that relation who’s always avoided at every family gathering. His success is our doing. His action movies make gobs of money and only we can cause that to change. Under Siege 2 provides helpful incentive; it is so bad and illogical that even devoted loyalists should find their faith tested. The subtitle Dark Territory doesn’t even begin to describe how inchoate and blemished this storytelling is. All activity is fashioned with one objective in mind: how to introduce Seagal into the scene so he can kick, whump, stomp, detonate, and, basically, humiliate every bad guy in the hemisphere before eradicating him forthwith. In Under Siege 2, Seagal reprises his character of Casey Ryback, a cook and an ex-Navy SEAL. The mere mention of his name is enough to get heads at the Pentagon and NASA nodding with confidence. Why not? Ryback’s a one-man show. Typical of his bravura style, he, literally, takes on a whole trainload of bad guys this time when (and I don’t think I’m being nitpicky here) it would have been so much more effective to hop off the train and gather the cavalry. What he’s doing on the train in the first place is a pitifully thin story line which leads to further moments of illogic rather than clarity. In one of the year’s most unlikely bits of casting, Eric Bogosian, the noted monologist, plays the deranged villain who commandeers the train as a post from which to kidnap the satellite he once invented. Bogosian has turned into a look-alike for Elliott Gould and appears to have the ability to berserkly chew scenery while Seagal darts about doing his bully-boy thing. At times, you suspect the whole project has taken a few tips from the Leni Riefenstahl school of filmmaking, a style that venerates spectacle regardless of substance. I could go on asking questions like why there’s a woman in the bathroom fixing her lipstick while she’s being held hostage… but in this direction lies certain madness. However, there are two further things I must mention: Ryback’s new sidekick and comic relief character Bobby (Chestnut) plays into some of the most deplorable black stereotyping I’ve seen in a while. He’s a shuffling fraidy cat who jokes his way through the crisis and can’t keep his mind on the task at hand. Something tricky is also going on with the film’s print ad campaign which poses Ryback in his Navy whites, an image we see only in the film’s closing shot. The rest of the time, he’s the man in black, all black: black shirt, black jacket, black pants. Never mussed, never bloodied – not starched Navy whites. What, exactly, are they trying to sell with this ad campaign? Do we care? Just say no.
0 stars (M.B.)
WIGSTOCK: THE MOVIE
D: Barry Shils; with The Lady Bunny, RuPaul, Joey Arias, Misstress Formika, Lypsinka, Flloyd. Alexis Arquette, Jackie Beat.Love beads… a string of pearls. A tie-dye T-shirt… a beaded blouse. Janis Joplin… RuPaul. Of course! Woodstock… Wigstock. According to the gals in Wigstock: The Movie, the drag queens of today are just like the hippies of yesterday, except they’re better coifed. A celebration of love and harmony from the lofty perspective of a pair of high heels, the Wigstock festival, held every year since 1984 in New York City on Labor Day weekend, is a scene to be believed, a happening that has become so popular that it recently located from cozy Tompkins Square Park in the East Village to the more spacious Christopher Street piers. Wigstock: The Movie chronicles the 1993 and 1994 events in home-movie fashion, featuring interviews with such luminaries as the festival’s co-founder and perennial hostess, The Lady Bunny (whose blonde wig looks like it exploded on her head), and performance clips that are in lip-synch with the ridiculous and not-so-sublime. (The Dueling Bankheads, singing “Born to Be Wild” with handbags flailing, would have had Tallulah hoarse with laughter.) There’s no real thematic structure or import here. Gravitating toward the serious only when noting how AIDS has thinned the ranks, this sunny, upbeat movie has no agenda but to expound upon the joys of a fabulous wig. To attempt to do otherwise would subvert the movie’s simple pleasures. In the words of one of the divas in Wigstock: The Movie, it doesn’t matter whether you look like a real woman when doing drag – it’s all in the attitude, honey. You go, girl!
3.0 stars (S.D.)
Dobie
First Run
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
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, Lincoln, Movies 12, Riverside, Westgate
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
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, Riverside, Roundrock
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
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
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 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 U.S. space program and the genuine urgency of history. 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 until something went awry. Howard pulls out all the stops on this one and the performances are uniformly wonderful: It’s almost a valentine to NASA, but without the celestial mythologizing of films like The Right Stuff. Oddly, some of the integral special effects in the film – and they are integral – seem less than perfect but, overall, Apollo 13 succeeds and may be the only summer adventure blockbuster without bullets or warheads.
3.5 stars (M.S.)
Arbor, Highland, Lake Creek, Lakehills, Movies 12, Northcross, Riverside, Roundrock
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.)
Great Hills, Highland, 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, 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
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
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.)
Great Hills, Highland
CRUMB
D: Terry Zwigoff.Though Crumb is packed with information and telling details about the artist, the movie’s objective is hardly art history or a survey of R. 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. Crumb is also about the Crumb family, a unit that, in addition to his wife and children, includes Crumb’s mother, vestigial traces of a deceased father, two brothers, Charles and Max, and two sisters, who declined to be interviewed. Crumb is most 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 a disturbing portrait of 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
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.The Englishman Who Went up a Hill …, is 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
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 best thing about 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.
2.5 stars (J.O.)
Arbor, Lincoln, Movies 12, Roundrock, Westgate
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
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 title, 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, 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, the story lines never converge as completely as one might like. 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. Can’t wait: Even if it never all comes together, the fumes are quite intoxicating.
3.5 stars (M.B.)
Village
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.)
Highland
Previews
THE MYTH OF THE MALE ORGASM
D: John Hamilton; with Bruce Dinsmore, Miranda de Pencier, Mark Camacho.I’d love to announce that The Myth of the Male Orgasm is a new documentary – cutting edge, of course – but, alas, it’s not even a fantasy film. The Myth of the Male Orgasm is a Canadian drama about a psychology professor who volunteers to be experimented on by a “feminist” group. Come again?
stars (M.B.)
Village
This article appears in July 21 • 1995 and July 21 • 1995 (Cover).