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Film Clips
Reviews by James DiGiovanna, Linsay Hernon and Jennifer Nichols
102 DALMATIANS. Disney unleashes Cruella DeVil again in this sequel to the 1996 live-action remake of the 1961 animated classic. Glenn Close stars as an obsessed Dalmatian dognapper in London who has become the ultimate dog lover after undergoing years of Dr. Pavlov's sadistic brainwashing. However, with every chime of the mighty Big Ben, the changed woman regresses back to her old villainous ways. So with the help of a maniacal fashion guru (Gerard Depardieu), she ravenously searches the town for 102 spotted pups in a dog-eat-dog world. This movie includes all the basic elements of a kids' flick, like the cuddly creatures and Close's outlandish persona, yet someone still needs to throw it a bone and give this film some imagination. --Hernon
ALL THE PRETTY HORSES. Matt Damon and Henry Thomas saddle up and ride through the majestic desert in the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's most popular novel. To celebrate the end of World War II, the two brazen buckaroos cross the Rio Grande to find work with steeds and stallions on a Mexican ranch. Their rodeo days quickly end, however, when the two fall into a Mexican prison, where they are reunited with an uncaring delinquent they met during their travels. Debts, deceit and death develop at an excruciatingly slow pace set by director Billy Bob Thornton, who nevertheless somehow manages to provide a mildly mysteriously atmosphere. --Hernon
ANTITRUST. Writer Howard Franklin weaves a tight story of betrayal, seduction and murder in this fast-paced look at the mind of a monopolizing mogul. Tim Robbins plays the sinister potato chip-munching magnate whose multiple personalities (model citizen, technological genius, murderer) know no bounds as he tries to develop the ultimate media delivery service. An unsuspecting computer whiz kid (Ryan Phillippe) initially falls prey to the manipulative billion-dollar big wig, but uses his off-the-scale IQ to become the predator. While most audiences are following the hype of the cinematic front-runners this season, they unfortunately might miss this smart and suspenseful thriller. --Hernon
BILLY ELLIOT. Another Oscar contender is born in this truly delightful British drama about a driven 11-year-old boy who defies his father and the social norms by becoming a refined ballet dancer instead of a boxing rogue. In a charismatic acting debut, Jamie Bell stars as the little Gene Kelly who livens up the screen with every enthusiastic bend and bound. In addition to Bell's prodigal performance, first-time writer Lee Hall presents an emotional story that intertwines a politically charged revolution with family values and gender reversals to create an unforgettable film. --Hernon
CAST AWAY. Tom Hanks delivers Oscar-worthy work in Robert Zemeckis' latest; the editing and script, unfortunately, do not. Hanks stars as Chuck Noland, a regimented and relentless FedEx supervisor who survives a plane crash and washes onto a deserted island in the South Pacific. There he spends the next four years surviving on a crab and coconut diet, creating modern-day cave paintings, and sharing his candid thoughts with his only companion: Wilson, a volleyball. The film has a hokey book-ended format, many of the vital scenes are either abbreviated or altogether absent, and the script occasionally proves juvenile. However, it is Hanks' captivating presence and his grippingly realistic portrayal that keep this film afloat. --Hernon
CHARLIE'S ANGELS. Like crack cocaine for the soul, Charlie's Angels delivers shameful, addictive, and no doubt tremendously harmful fun. This movie has more explosions, more butt shots and more explosions that feature butt shots than any film since Triumph of the Will. In case you missed the 1970s, Charlie's Angels is based on the TV series that gave the world the terms "jiggle" and "T&A." Three hot young women prance about in low-cut, skintight outfights fighting crime and making what the French call "love." Still, you may ask, is this a good movie? Well, if "good" means "not evil," then, no, this is not a good movie. Rather, it's bad, in exactly the same way that cheap sex, cigarettes and chocolate ice cream are bad. I think you know what I'm talking about. --DiGiovanna
CHOCOLAT. Lasse Hallström directs this simple fable of the chocolate-peddling gypsy Vianne (Juliette Binoche), who spends her life liberalizing the lives of conservative villagers in the French countryside. Daughter in tow, she sets up chocolate shops and single-handedly unlocks the hidden desires of the religious townsfolk with the magic of the cocoa seed. Once her cautious, god-fearing neighbors get a taste of her homemade chocolate confections, the people begin to come alive and abandon their assumption that Vianne is the devil incarnate. Remembering that this is told in the confines of a fairy tale, the tints of magical realism and the fight against mediocrity are charming, if not mouth-wateringly sweet. Lena Olin, Alfred Molina, Judi Dench and Johnny Depp provide caricatures of fear and love that play out as nicely as the indulgent delights cooked up in the Mayan kitchen. Chocolat is most likely the best holiday feel-good feature to be released from Tinseltown this season. --Nichols
CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON. Variety magazine used to refer to martial arts movies as "chop socky flicks." Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon would, then, be a really big chop socky flick. It's got all the cheesy, goofball stuff you'd expect from the Taiwanese kung-fu movies of the '70s, but with an enormous budget to back it up. Chow Yun Fat stars as a master of the Wudan school of martial arts. The big bonus to being a Wudan master is that you can fly, which is the kind of thing that looks great on a big screen, especially if the characters are flying over misty Chinese landscapes while fighting with ancient, magical swords. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is big-time fun, but don't go expecting to see Citizen Kane. This is more like a Saturday morning cartoon raised to the level of Wagnerian opera, with all the amusement and stupidity that are found so abundantly in both of those art forms. --DiGiovanna
DOUBLE TAKE. A straight-laced Wall Street banker gets mixed up in one ludicrous misunderstanding after another in George Gallo's screwball comedy. Eddie Griffin plays the unfortunate suit who is falsely accused of murder. He goes on the lam and steals the identification of a loud-mouthed street hustler (Orlando Jones) only to be followed by the obnoxious nappy-haired owner and his pet pooch. Together the dimwitted duo attempt to thwart the police in pursuit, the vindictive drug cartels and the foul stench of an emu ranch in this hackneyed hogwash. --Hernon
THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE. The punch and pizzazz of a typical Disney animated feature are missing, but Groove is still the best kids' flick to hit theaters this holiday season. An anorexic-looking bitter crone, voiced by the legendary Eartha Kitt, wants to overthrow a self-centered emperor (David Spade), but her murderous plan backfires when the royal egomaniac is turned into a scrawny llama instead. John Goodman voices the oafish peasant with a conscience who guides the four-legged hairball through a trite series of misadventures back to the palace so the emperor can reclaim his crown and his human body. The rambling dialogue and overall blandness give this film two left feet, but the light comedic feel puts a mild spring into its step. --Hernon
FAMILY MAN. Has anyone noticed that Nicolas Cage has gotten a sort of stoned-out, glazed look to him of late? I think it happened right after he decided that making small, but well-made, films was beneath him, and that he wanted to be a Big Star. I can only hope that Family Man will turn out to be the enormous bomb that it deserves to be, and Nic will head back to what he used to do best, i.e. acting. Unfortunately, first he'll have to suffer through this perverse and unnecessary remake of It's A Wonderful Life. Here's the zany twist: Instead of being a small-town guy who had dreams of big-city success, he's a big-city guy who doesn't realize that deep in his heart he has dreams of small-town family life. Of course, an angel (Don Cheadle, who's also working way beneath himself here) comes along and shows him what his life would have been like if he had just married his high school sweetheart (Tea Leone, who is working right at her level). Since this is already being marketed as a "Christmas classic" (read: rehashed, focus-grouped piece of mindless dog doo) I wonder if anyone can guess if Cage's character will prefer the family values world of the suburbs to his million dollar apartment and endless string of gorgeous bimbos. Wouldn't it be cool if in the end he decided he preferred cheap sex and expensive clothes to a loving wife and hyper-cute kids? Sadly, that's the kind of Christmas present that the movie-going public is not likely to receive. --DiGiovanna
FINDING FORRESTER. An unlikely friendship builds between a Pulitzer Prize-winning Boo Radley of the Bronx and an inner-city punk feigning stupidity in Gus Van Sant's latest drama. Shaggy-haired Sean Connery plays the reclusive William Forrester, whose monotonous routine of window washing and voyeurism is stirred up when he becomes an unsuspecting mentor to a closeted brainiac remarkably played by newcomer Robert Brown. Together the two journey past their fears, insecurities and enemies toward their dreams and true capabilities. It's an inspirational film, despite the recycled premise and two superfluous endings, one of which presents an unnecessary surprise cameo. --Hernon
LITTLE NICKY. It's Adam Sandler to the rescue to save devilish dad from two bad brothers and their wicked plot to extinguish New York City and rule the Underworld. The Saturday Night Live star plays the greasy-haired spawn of Satan with an annoying speech impediment and a repulsive taste for fried chicken. He comes to Earth with a pug-nosed promiscuous pooch to preserve the balance of good and evil by sending his siblings back to Hell in an enchanted flask. However, this task is impeded by an assorted supporting cast--a blind street preacher (Quentin Tarantino), a possessed police chief (Michael McKean) and a homely Martha Stewart-like girlfriend (Patricia Arquette). Regardless of this colorful cast, Little Nicky boils down to a dimwitted, dirty-mouthed film that is more torturous to watch than the raunchy Beelzebub pineapple punishment. --Hernon
SAVE THE LAST DANCE. This teeny-bopping MTV production transfers Dirty Dancing from a family resort to the gangsters' ghetto for some contemporary high school hip hop. Julia Stiles stars as a sheltered suburbanite who moves to the big bad city after her mother dies in a car accident, and now faces gun-toting thugs, hard-talking teens and her deadbeat dad's freezer full of TV dinners. The straight-laced prima donna puts her ballerina dreams on hold and gets an in-your-face look at the inner city's culture, dance and "slamming" lingo. This film is too formulaic, meandering slowly through the typical initiation scenes of a stranger in a strange place. However, it does offer satisfactory entertainment through its charming performances and upbeat soundtrack. --Hernon
STATE AND MAIN. Just go see this. After a year of mediocre movies (which, oddly, came after a year of great movies), it looks like things are finally back on track with this latest outing from playwright-turned-director David Mamet. Mamet's scripts are among the best being written today. They're so good you could actually enjoy them just by reading them. Believe me, that's not something you'd want to attempt with the script from a Schwarzenegger movie or whatever Steven Spielberg is busy turning into bathetic, middle-brow pablum. State and Main is about a film crew that arrives in the preternaturally normal town of Waterford, Vermont, in order to shoot the film The Old Mill. Sadly, Waterford's old mill burned down in the '60s, part of a string of mysterious fires that led to the founding of the Waterford Wildcats. What those Wildcats are, and what they had to do with the fires, is never mentioned, a fact that no one in the film seems to find odd. It's this kind of textural approach to writing that sets Mamet apart; well, that and the really cutting dialogue, which is perfectly delivered by William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman and the incredibly talented Rebecca Pidgeon. Also featuring a self-parodying Alec Baldwin, the omnipresent Julia Stiles, the sempiternal Charles Durning and the somatically gifted Sarah Jessica Parker. --DiGiovanna
THIRTEEN DAYS. The United States is on the brink of a nuclear war until cool-as-a-cucumber Kevin Costner walks in to help quell the Cuban Missile Crisis. The actor plays a special assistant to President Kennedy who sees the nation through 13 days of exhilarating negotiations with Russia, diplomatic quarantines, astringent rules of engagement and death-defying surveillance missions. A talented cast presents all aspects of the predicament with intricate intellect and intensity, despite Costner's strained New England accent, the limited wardrobe of bland blue suits, and the director's incomprehensible use of grainy footage and scenes randomly depicted in a blue/gray wash. --Hernon
TRAFFIC. Today's war on drugs is taken to the front lines with a Magnolia storytelling style and a Three Kings look. From the straight-shooting American police officer (Don Cheadle) to the no-holds-barred drug-busting Mexican cop (Benicio del Toro), and from the chic country-club wife of a drug-smuggling thug to the law-enforcing anti-drug czar (Michael Douglas) and his crack-smoking daughter, writer Stephen Gaghan candidly presents all sides to this never-ending battle. --Hernon
UNBREAKABLE. Director M. Night Shyamalan takes the basic elements of his Sixth Sense and gives them a little more life. Again, Bruce Willis stars as a man experiencing distance from his wife. Again, his life is changed by a near-death experience. Again, he learns to reconnect by forming a bond with a young boy. Again, there's a surprise ending. This time, however, instead of the supernatural the focus is on super powers. Samuel L. Jackson plays a comic-book fan who is convinced that Willis has superhuman abilities, and must use them to fight crime. Willis, not having read the complete run of Green Lantern comics, is a bit skeptical, but events start to convince him that Jackson may be right. What works here is the relationship between Willis' character and his son, who really wants to believe in the superpower thing. Shyamalan hasn't yet outgrown his reliance on pointlessly arty camera techniques, and the film occasionally moves from the genuinely affecting to the mildly sappy, but on the whole it works better, and is deeper and less simple, than Sixth Sense. Of course, ghosts are acceptable adult entertainment, and superheroes are not, so I imagine that Unbreakable won't garner quite the kudos and cash of its predecessor, but, even though it's not perfect, it does represent an improvement in Shyamalan's work, and has me looking forward to its two proposed sequels. --DiGiovanna
VERTICAL LIMIT. Once, I dreamed I saw a film about mountain climbing in which no great storm appeared, no strong-headed man forced the climbers to continue through the storm, and no brave but irreverent group of wacky misfits and concerned heroes went to rescue the storm-trapped climbers. In this film, no one uttered ridiculous dialogue like "Up there, you're not dying, you're already dead." No one revealed his dark nature while trapped in the snowstorm. No one faced a test of courage that redeemed him for an error in his past. In short, this film of which I dreamed was not a montage of standard scenes and stock characters. This film was original, surprising, oddly real in its emotional content, oddly compelling in its naturalness. Of course, this film was only a dream. --DiGiovanna
WHAT WOMEN WANT. After a drunken rampage of cross-dressing, a Frank Sinatra serenade, and a near-fatal electric shock, one pompous womanizer can hear just what it is that women want. Mel Gibson plays the chauvinistic advertising executive and estranged father who cunningly uses his phenomenal power of hearing women's intimate thoughts to sabotage the fledgling career of Darcy Maguire (Helen Hunt), to revitalize the rocky relationship with his teenage daughter, and to become the ultimate sex god of Chicago. Even though this film has a high reading on the cheese-o-meter, the talented cast, including Alan Alda, Bette Midler and Marisa Tomei, delivers perfect comedic timing and captivating charm that would entice even Howard Stern to learn what women truly want. --Hernon
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