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Film Clips
Reviews by Gene Armstrong, James DiGiovanna and Linsay Hernon.
BALLISTIC: ECKS VS SEVER. Director Kaos (short for his real name, Wych Kaosayananda) must have sensed the chemistry, or at least the photogenic appeal, of hottie actors Lucy Liu and Antonio Banderas when they appeared together in the 1999 boxing picture Play It to the Bone. Because they look really sexy in this new all-action film, which itself has an unwieldy mouthful of a name. And it's a misleading one, too. Ecks (Banderas) and Sever (Liu) are globetrotting ultra-spies who merely start out battling each other, each assuming the other is responsible for their respective missing loved ones. They soon realize they must work together to fight a common enemy (Gregg Henry) who purposely has pitted them against each other. Wild and wooly martial-arts action--Banderas and Liu trained extensively in preparation--and lots of pyrotechnic destruction can't mask that there's little in the way of story. Just two great-looking performers wearing black and kicking some butt. If that's your cuppa, drink up. --Armstrong
BANGER SISTERS. Screenwriter Bob Dolman (Far and Away, Willow) directs his first feature in this tale of two middle-aged women--played with professional skill and endless heart by Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon--and their clumsy but earnest reunion after 20 years apart. The catch is that the two women are ex-groupies from the 1970s, and now they couldn't be more different from each other. Hawn's character is still a rocker who, after losing her bartending job in a L.A. hard-rock nightclub, drives her El Camino to Phoenix to discover that Sarandon's character has become a gated-community soccer mom whose husband and kids are oblivious to her past. Geoffrey Rush bums a ride as an obsessive-compulsive writer traveling to the Valley of the Sun to commit fratricide--really. After some uncomfortable, fish-out-of-water interludes for both women, touching sisterly bonding ensues. Dolman's got a decent outline for a promising movie here, but he neglected to flesh out his character sketches with credible pathos. --Armstrong
BARBERSHOP. Homespun values, respect for community and the sturdiness of habit are emphasized in this new comedy-drama in which rapper-actor Ice Cube plays Calvin, a South Chicago fellow who inherits the titular business from his dad, initially finds it lacking in the hipness department, sells it to a shady street character, and then spends the rest of the movie trying to get the place back. Comedian Cedric the Entertainer (The Original Kings of Comedy) co-stars as the senior tonsorial technician, expounding on every subject under the sun, including those he doesn't know a thing about; his 'do, by the way, is a delightful sailboat of hair. Sean Patrick Thomas (Save the Last Dance) and chart-topping rapper Eve also contribute respectable jobs in this warm-hearted tale of life in the old-school neighborhood. It's sweet and non-threatening; following his stoner comedies and action-film roles, it marks a pleasant change of pace for Cube. --Armstrong
FOUR FEATHERS. Following at least five earlier films of the titular Victorian novel by A.E.W. Mason, The Four Feathers has the ingredients of a sweeping, old-fashioned epic, including starched-lip British soldiers bonding in richly brocaded English ball scenes and over brutal violence in the Sudan. Directed by Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth), it obsessively explores traditional concepts of honor, bravery and friendship, adding a juicy love triangle for spice. The cast includes attractive young performers such as Heath Ledger, Wes Bentley and Kate Hudson, managing not to embarrass themselves. But, as a result of a perfunctory script, supremely sloppy editing and a lack of overall vision, nothing in the picture seems to hang together. One thing just happens after another, and how we get from there to here seems to be missing. But Aussie heartthrob Ledger, as conflicted hero Harry Feversham, looks very cool and almost Jesus-like in Lawrence of Arabia mode: long hair and beard, dirty face and a turban. --Armstrong
THE GOOD GIRL. This is being hailed as Jennifer Aniston's breakout film, and thank God, because it's about time she became a star. Actually, the movie belongs to the minor characters, including Zooey Deschanel as a potty-mouthed department store clerk, and screenwriter Mike White as a wimpy, Christian security guard. When not making fun of shoppers and the religious, the film is a rehash of the old middle-aged-woman-unsatisfied-with-her-life story. Aniston plays Justine, whose stoner husband doesn't seem so cool now that she's not in high school. She falls for young Holden, a sensitive writer manqué who comes off as the exact opposite of her unwanted spouse. Shockingly, things don't work out swimmingly, and drama ensues. You'll probably have fun anticipating the next plot twist, as they're all telegraphed with the urgency of Titanic S.O.S. Still, as standard and safe as it is, the film is well made and passably funny, and I guess that's all we're looking for in this brief interim between bloody Asian conflicts. --DiGiovanna
KNOCKAROUND GUYS. Attempting to follow in the footsteps of their respective fathers, four young men -- Barry Pepper, Vin Diesel, Seth Green and Andrew Davoli -- head off to Montana to retrieve some cash for their wise-guy fathers in this hapless comedy adventure. Nothing goes as planned as they tussle with a corrupt sheriff (Tom Noonan). Back at home, Dennis Hopper and John Malkovich go all mobster caricature on us, adding seriously to the depressing nature of this directorial debut by screenwriters Brian Koppelman and David Levien (Rounders). The combination of needless violence, tough-guy posing and lame humor makes for a sorry piece of cinema. Diesel is much better off playing Xander Cage, and Green should best stick with Scott Evil. Better luck next time. --Armstrong
MOSTLY MARTHA. Writer-director Sandra Nettlelbeck helms this charming, German-language romantic comedy that should delight foodie fans of such foreign and independent fare as Big Night, Like Water for Chocolate and Babette's Feast. Martha Klein (Martina Gedeck) is a meticulous, detail-oriented head chef in a chi-chi restaurant. For her, everything has its proper place. Martha's life becomes marginally more complicated when she takes charge of her orphaned, 8-year-old niece Lina (Maxime Foerste), who has come to live with her. Things really heat up in the kitchen, though, when the restaurant's new sous chef turns out to be a laid-back, eccentric and eventually hot-blooded Italian named Mario (Sergio Castellitto)--he is everything that the buttoned-down Martha is not. You'll be able to guess the results of this recipe long before the movie's end, but it goes down like a light, delicious crepe. --Armstrong
ONE HOUR PHOTO. A visual stunning movie about visual imagery, One Hour Photo tells the tell of Sy Parrish, who lives only to develop photographs. Sy becomes obsessed with the Yorkins, a young family whose snapshots indicate perfect happiness. When he finds that the reality behind their Kodak moments is not all it's cracked up to be, Sy himself cracks up a bit, and things spiral into super-creepville. Shockingly, Sy is extremely well played by the normally notoriously annoying Robin Williams. Even more shocking, this beautiful, understated film is directed by a guy whose only previous work was a bunch of Madonna and Nine Inch Nails videos. By placing many of the important thematic elements in the style and color of the visual compositions, director Mark Romanek makes the best possible use of cinema. Though there are a few false notes, and the story isn't terribly ambitious, this is an extremely compelling first film, and is, so far, one of the year's best. --DiGiovanna
RED DRAGON. This occasionally gripping thriller boating one of the greatest serial-killer villains in all filmdom -- the truly twisted Francis Dolarhyde, a.k.a the Tooth Fairy. As portrayed by the marvelous Ralph Fiennes, Dolarhyde puts The Silence of the Lambs' Buffalo Bill to shame in the creepy department. Director Brett Ratner and screenwriter Ted Tally have given the character a deep and complex back story. But Anthony Hopkins' portrayal of Hannibal Lecter has devolved into a burlesque parody of itself, and the filmmakers seem to have sought out the least appropriate actor they could find to play the FBI agent Will Graham -- Edward Norton has done some fine work in the past, but he is too boyish, too innocent, too forlorn to be unconvincing as the grizzled, haunted G-Man. For all its high production values, Red Dragon summons nary an ounce of mood or style. And for better or worse, 1986's Manhunter (based on the same Thomas Harris novel) had style in spades. --Armstrong
STEALING HARVARD. Remember Dog Park, Superstar, or even Dick? Didn't think so. Well, director Bruce McColloch was responsible for those easily forgettable catastrophes as well as for this latest cinematic shortcoming that earns the futile filmmaker yet another failing grade. But at least his track record is still intact, right? Jason Lee stars in a wasted effort as a pitiful worker bee at his father-in-law's medical supply factory and has finally saved enough money to buy his first home with his gift basket-making girlfriend. However, his free-spirited trailer-trash sister with Peg Bundy hair (Megan Mullally) reminds her absentminded sibling of his promise to pay his niece's college tuition, which just so happens to be the same amount as his hard-earned nest egg. Just when the film couldn't get any worse, it does when the unfunny funny-man, Tom Green, steps in as the pathetic landscape architect with an obnoxious sense of humor. He manages to attract lonely widowed judges with kinky sex fetishes and gun-wielding liquor store clerks while trying to swindle a cool 30 grand for his needy friend. With the erudition of Hollywood's fall term underway, it is a mystery as to why dumb summer flicks such as this have graduated to the next grade, and why Freddy Got Fingered's leading man hasn't flunked out yet. --Hernon
SWEET HOME ALABAMA. Should you marry the hopelessly romantic preppy do-gooder of high society who will be the next President of the United States with deep pockets and a poofy pompadour hairdo, or your childhood sweetheart, the downtrodden kick with a 12 o'clock shadow, ripped jeans and a broken past? Melanie Carmichael, New York's up-and-coming fashion diva, who turned her back on her small town roots and delinquent past of feline explosions for a life in the fast-paced big city, must choose between the man of money and materials from the personification of true love and happiness. The cute and bubbly little Meg Ryan, aka Reese Witherspoon, steals every scene as the perplexed woman in this light-hearted, yet overtly cartoonish, all-around feel good fun flick by director Andy Tennant. --Hernon
SWIMFAN. This silly little stalker drama for the teen set finds Erika Christensen (the Julia Stiles look-alike from Traffic) playing Madison, the new girl on a high-school campus who fixes her femme-fatale eyes on the school's top jock, Ben--a swimming champion of all things--played by Jesse Bradford (Clockstoppers, Bring It On). Under the guise of being assertive and independent and modern, Madison gets away with being a bad girl to the extreme. The character shares much in terms of overt sexuality and latent threat with Glenn Close's frizzy-haired witch in Fatal Attraction. But if you can imagine it, Swimfan is even more exploitative than that "classic." Nevertheless, it was the No. 1 movie its first weekend out, which says a lot for the slowness of the fall movie season and the lowest-common-denominator tastes of the audience. Next, please. --Armstrong
THE TUXEDO. Why, oh why, do American producers insist on tossing Jackie Chan (a martial arts superstar and estimable comedian in his own right) over and over into a series of annoying buddy pictures? It's the money, stupid! With Chris Tucker in Rush Hour and Owen Wilson in Shaghai Noon, Chan has built two formidable franchises in which the impressiveness of the martial arts action (Wow Factor) decreases in direct proportion to the amount of inane situational humor (Groan Factor). The makers of The Tuxedo can't even decide who's supposed to be Chan's instantly marketable buddy. First, it's Jason Isaacs as Chan's boss, a Brit secret agent named Clark Devlin and whose tux contains hidden powers. When Devlin gets knocked out for a few days and Chan dons the monkey suit, it's Jennifer Love Hewitt as a junior-grade spy who thinks Chan is Devlin. They must foil an evil billionaire who wants to--more with the groans--poison the world's water supply. And since when does Chan need invisible wires and camera effects to do his stunts --Armstrong
WHITE OLEANDER. Peter Kosminsky's adaptation of Janet Fitch's best-selling novel doesn't paint a very pretty picture of the foster care system when a susceptible young girl is bounced from one broken home to the next after her single mother (Michelle Pfeiffer) is convicted of first-degree murder. However, this unfortunately realistic issue falls a distant second to the emotionally compelling triumphs our teen-aged heroine makes from these misfortunes that optimists might view as opportunities. After surviving a gunshot wound from a former cocaine-addicted stripper (Robin Wright Penn), witnessing the suicide of an utterly lonely out-of-work actress (Renee Zellweger), unwillingly helping a penny-pinching narcissist root through garbage to sell at flea markets, and overcoming the potent propaganda of her incarcerated mother's hidden brainwashing agenda, Astrid combines these powerful influences to create her own strong and independent self. The stellar cast, namely Alison Lohman of TV's Pasadena, skillfully portrays the complex hardships life can deal you and the consequences that can prevail. --Hernon
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