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Film Clips
AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME. In the '60s, the television show Laugh-In pioneered the idea that if there were 20 gags in a minute, only one in four had to be funny for the audience to stay entertained. Austin Powers slavishly follows this formula, even going so far as to have the characters wince shamefacedly into the camera after the lamest jokes. The best part of this '60s spy-spoof is Heather Graham's bizarre "I can't believe I'm doing this" performance as Austin's sidekick, Felicity Shagwell. She seems like someone who just won a "You Can Be in a Movie" contest, and her inappropriate giggles and smiles during "tense" scenes are the perfect complement to the ridiculous plot, sets and characters. -- DiGiovanna
BIG DADDY. Adam Sandler plays his usual lovable loser in this collection of funny gags and annoyingly heartwarming father-son sequences. Notable for its praise of reviled rock group Styx and its casual gay-male kissing sequences. -- DiGiovanna
THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER. An older, fatter, but still damn sexy John Travolta stars in this well-paced, misogynist murder mystery set on a Southern army base. Madeline Stowe, James Cromwell, James Woods and Timothy Hutton all do face-time as more-and-less corrupt army officers, and Leslie Stefanson does beautiful naked-dead-body-raped-and-staked-spread-eagle-to-the-ground time as the exploitive and sleazily titillating element of the movie. If it weren't for the fact that so much of this film is about the graphic, visual depiction of the abuse of a young woman, this would be one of the year's better thrillers, but as it is it's more of a gussied-up anti-woman porn film. -- DiGiovanna
GET REAL. The story of this British coming-of-age-and-out-of-the-closet film is a familiar one. Steven (Ben Silverstone) is a middle-class, geeky teenager who falls in love with a rich, popular athlete named John (Brad Gorton). Steven is comfortable with his gayness, but John fights it in order to maintain his image and the perks that accompany it. The unoriginal story is somewhat balanced by Silverstone's excellent performance and crisp cinematography that utilizes closeups of the actors to visually draw them together. The characters are underdeveloped, however, and the worst is Steven's friend Linda. She embodies the all-too-familiar stereotype of the lonely, overweight woman who lives vicariously through her gay friend. Exploration of Steven also remains largely superficial as he's reduced to a sexual category. He meets John while cruising public restrooms and falls in love merely because of his gayness, not because he's attracted to John as a person. It's unfortunate that even in low-budget films gay characters are rarely allowed few identifiers beyond who they sleep with. -- Higgins
AN IDEAL HUSBAND. In this period piece based on Oscar Wilde's play, a ne'er-do-well (well-played by Rupert Everett) and a young parliamentarian are drawn into a web of evil by the cupidity of the lascivious and mendacious Mrs. Chevely (played with delicious wickedness by Julianne Moore). The film begins strongly and finishes well, but bogs down a bit in the middle. Still, lots of good fin-de-siecle style quips and decadence make this a reasonable divertissement, although it would probably be more fun to just sit around your drawing room drinking absinthe and engaging in witty banter with your cadre of illicit lovers. -- DiGiovanna
NOTTING HILL. A glorified made-for-TV movie, Nodding-off Hill employs a mind-numbing pace and uncomfortable story-stretching conventions. For more than two hours, the simple premise of ordinary guy William (Hugh Grant) falling for very beautiful and very famous movie star Anna (Julia Roberts) is painstakingly told through a series of contrived scenes and an abundance of ridiculous montage sequences where songs are substituted for actual character development. For example, "Ain't No Sunshine" plays while William (sad? confused? hungry?) deals with Anna's absence over a year's time. The result is a lack of chemistry between the leads and a sense that William falls in love merely because Anna is pretty, and ends up in more scenes with him than anyone else. It's a welcome change that Rotting Hell is told largely from a male perspective, as William pines for the self-involved Anna. Further adding to this genre piece is the continuance of Roberts' persona, from My Best Friend's Wedding, of the romantic comedy anti-heroine who rejects stereotypically feminine characteristics for more masculine ones. Eventually, though, the tacked-on "happy" ending forces both William and Anna into traditional and dissatisfying roles. -- Higgins
OCTOBER SKY. Here's a film about teens that doesn't have aliens, a serial killer, or even a prom queen election. (I know, I found it hard to relate to, too.) It tells the true story of Homer Hickam (Jake Gyllenhaal) and his high-school friends who strive to avert their coal-mining destinies. By experimenting with rocketry, they hope to win a science fair and solicit college scholarships. Most of the adults don't understand their struggle to leave the small town, especially Homer's black-lunged father (Chris Cooper). The maudlin music is obtrusive and the pacing uneven, but the story is generally engaging. It's set in the late 1950s, which in the film and television industries means an excuse to offer the female characters little development beyond cheerleading status. -- Higgins
SOUTHPARK: BIGGER, LONGER & UNCUT. A touching musical comedy about the coming of age of four young boys, Southpark is most directly comparable to Stand By Me, except instead of a dead body the boys discover that Satan is having a homosexual affair with Saddam Hussein. In an effort to stop the Dark Lord from taking over the world, the boys must defend the rights of Canadians to sing songs like "You're an Uncle Fucker." Moving, growthful and intelligent, Southpark may be the best adaptation of Little Women ever put to the screen. -- DiGiovanna
SUMMER OF SAM. The Oxford English Dictionary defines "to sam" as "verb, transitive: to join together, as two pieces of wood." I have no idea what that has to do with this meticulously crafted re-creation of Brooklyn in the late '70s, but there is a lot of love, including that which dare not speak its name, in this psychological drama. John Leguizamo turns in a career performance as Vinny, the womanizing husband of Mira Sorivino's Dionna, who gets caught up in the hysteria surrounding the Son of Sam serial killings. As the summer heats up, Vinny's neighborhood goes crazy and a group of vigilantes begins to suspect everyone of being the deranged killer. Most notable for director Spike Lee's unerring visual sensibility, Summer of Sam stands out amongst the blockbusters and cartoons as the most adult movie of the summer. -- DiGiovanna
THE RED VIOLIN. Perhaps in response to the vast amounts of dead wood in many Hollywood films, director Francois Girard casts a violin as the star of this Canadian production that follows an instrument through various owners. The violin is cleverly animated through the voice of a 17th-century tarot card reader who tells its future and lets it serve as tour guide across four centuries and five countries. The narrative structure is similarly engaging as a contemporary auction is the touchstone from which flashbacks of its travels emerge and converge. Also, sound and image are harmoniously fused together as the score dictates and justifies much of the pacing. Kudos to you, Red Violin, and also to your supporting actor, Samuel L. Jackson, who courts you without shame. -- Higgins
STAR WARS: EPISODE 1 -- THE PHANTOM MENACE. This movie is just like real life for a museum tour guide: the dialogue sucks and there's no plot, but it's full of pretty things to look at. -- DiGiovanna
TARZAN. (None of our regular cinema staff was ready for this rumble in the jungle, so we turned the job over to 14-year-old Michael Peel, TW Junior Critic. Take it away, Mike!) Disney redeems itself after a slump of animation disasters with the fast-paced and fairly enticing Tarzan. This version proves a story about a lord of the jungle works best as an animated feature. (Apologies to Johnny Weissmuller and Brendan Fraser.) With impressive animation and a surprisingly strong script, the film deals with an identity crisis and gun control at a level a child can comprehend. The Charlton Heston-like villain may be a weak point in the movie, but the absence of musical numbers is a plus. Children and adults alike will enjoy this simple but enjoyable movie (as opposed to being tortured by that Star Wars: Episode One mess that refuses to remain a phantom). -- Peel
TEA WITH MUSSOLINI. A disappointing effort by Italian cineaste Franco Zeffirelli, Tea tells of the trials of a group of English expatriates in Mussolini's Florence. While there are a number of good performances, the lackluster script and understated cinematography fail to bring out the style and verve that made fascism the best-looking force for evil in the 20th century. -- DiGiovanna
13TH FLOOR. What if everything was just a virtual reality simulation? And what if you found out that you were part of that simulation? And what if this movie had been done twice already this year? Bonus: 13th Floor postulates that the non-existence of the world can be proved by going to Tucson. -- DiGiovanna
THIS IS MY FATHER. One sign of a weak script is a narrative that relies upon coincidence to drive its story forward, and this Irish/Canadian co-production depends upon several. The film attempts to document an ordinary man and his family against an unbelievable backdrop, a move which results in an uneven tone throughout. Kieran (James Caan) never knew his father, yet he's motivated to travel to the Irish village his mother Fiona (Moya Farrelly) grew up in after his nephew accidentally smashes open a wooden box that just happens to contain a love letter written by Kieran Sr. (Aidan Quinn). When he arrives in Ireland, he has the uncanny fortune to lodge at the home of a woman who was told the story of his parents by a young Fiona. The narrative then alternates between Kieran and his father; but their tales are so unrelated, the characters exist without substantial resonance for one another. The cinematography and locations are beautiful, but they cannot calm the frustration caused by the disjointed and incongruous plot. -- Higgins
THE WINSLOW BOY. David Mamet's first stab at directing someone else's story is a smashing success that will have almost no appeal for American audiences. There's no sex, no violence, and the surface plot about a young boy accused of theft is there merely as a distraction from the real story about a 29-year-old woman who must marry in order to survive in 1920s England. Her story is left largely unresolved, with only subtle hints at its outcome, and one of the major plot motivators is never revealed to the audience -- each time it comes up the characters whisper inaudibly to each other. While this will no doubt infuriate or bore most Hollywood-trained theater-goers, it is Mamet at his best, dealing with the difficulties of rule-based human relationships, and it deserves a wider audience than it will no doubt get. Starring the impeccable Rebecca Pidgeon and the delectable Jeremy Northam. -- DiGiovanna
WILD WILD WEST. (Editor's note: Since this flick, like much of Hollywood's product, is aimed at the male teenage demographic, we asked 14-year-old Michael Peel, TW Junior Critic, for a review.) I went to the screening of this incredibly disappointing "blockbuster" expecting another quirky movie in the style of Men in Black. Instead, we are given both Will Smith and Kevin Kline in drag, mostly unfunny jokes and a script almost as bad as The Avengers. Still, Smith and Kline give good performances as usual, and the special effects are better than average. This is an instantly forgettable gimmick movie designed to sell soundtracks and toys. -- Peel
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