New Releases
KEEPING UP WITH THE STEINS Scott Marshall, the director of Keeping Up With the Steins, is the son of Garry Marshall (The Princess Diaries) and the nephew of Penny Marshall (Awakenings). As a Hollywood dynasty, this bunch doesn't exactly compare with the Hustons or the Fondas, but like father and aunt, it appears that Scott can be counted on to contribute harmless, middle-of-the-road pap guaranteed not to furrow brows or trouble minds (though the repeated sight of Garry Marshall's bare buttocks might disturb some viewers). Keeping Up With the Steins is a benign comedy-drama in which 13-year-old Benjamin Fiedler (Spy Kids' Daryl Sabara) eyes his upcoming bar mitzvah with a mixture of dread and resignation. His father (Jeremy Piven) hopes to top the bar mitzvah thrown by his business rival (Larry Miller) for his own son, a Titanic-themed extravaganza that culminates with the kid declaring, "I'm king of the Torah!" For his part, Benjamin would rather keep a low profile; at any rate, his primary concern is trying to reunite his dad with his own father (Garry Marshall), who abandoned his wife (Doris Roberts) and son decades earlier. Garry, a director-writer-producer who occasionally appears in front of the cameras, does his son a solid, since his energetic (but not overcooked) performance turns out to be the film's strongest asset. The other cast members likewise contribute to the congenial mood generated by Mark Zakarin's screenplay, but the comic quotient is increasingly tepid and the life lessons tossed around like seeds aren't especially original, earthshaking or inspiring. **
Current Releases
THE BREAK-UP There's a fine movie trapped inside The Break-Up, and it's a shame that it couldn't break free. As it stands, this picture about a rocky relationship is never able to compensate for the staggering miscalculation that cripples it. From the start, Gary (Vince Vaughn) is painted as a self-centered, insensitive man-child, while Brooke (Jennifer Aniston) is intelligent, classy, mature and patient. He's a prick; she's a saint. Um, why exactly would we have a vested interest in whether these two remain together? Simple answer: We don't. Vaughn is a guy's-guy kind of actor -- his characters are more comfortable shooting pool or knocking back beers than getting romantic -- so it's no surprise that the chemistry he generates is with Jon Favreau (as his best friend) rather than Aniston (this fraternal rapport is also why he and Owen Wilson clicked in Wedding Crashers). But Vaughn and Aniston do a nice job of creating genuine tension whenever their characters find themselves immersed in yet another nasty argument, although what this says about the pair's future as a real-life couple, I'll leave for the tabloids to dissect. **
CARS Ever since Pixar Animation Studios began its incredible run with Toy Story back in 1995, haven't most observers been wondering when the company would hit a critical and/or commercial roadblock and watch its latest effort crash and burn? Newsflash: It hasn't happened yet, and it ain't happening with Cars. The storyline seems a little hoary: A big-city slicker learns to slow down and smell the flowers -- or, in this case, the diesel -- in a small town in the middle of nowhere. But the picture's six scripters expand the parameters of this plot description to make an entertaining and even poignant tale about the lure of the open road and the passing of a quaint chapter in modern American history. That race car Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) will find redemption in the small town of Radiator Springs (populated by vehicles played by, among others, Paul Newman and Bonnie Hunt) is never in doubt, but like the best storytellers, John Lasseter and his co-writers make the journey to self-discovery as interesting as possible. So for all its high-gloss NASCAR trappings, Cars is ultimately a paean to Route 66. ***1/2
THE DA VINCI CODE Forget the comparisons to Dan Brown's monumental bestseller: On its own cinematic terms, Ron Howard's adaptation is a moderately entertaining ride, sort of like the Nicolas Cage hit National Treasure only done with more style and more food for thought. Yet however this might have all played out on the page, up on the screen it simply comes off as one more familiar Hollywood thriller that's heavily dependant on predictable directions taken by the storyline and character revelations that are painfully obvious to astute audience members. Tom Hanks stars in the central role of Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist who, while being chased for a murder he did not commit, attempts to solve an ancient mystery that, if revealed, could potentially spell the end of Christianity as we know it. Amelie's Audrey Tautou (as Langdon's sidekick), Paul Bettany (as a homicidal monk) and French national treasure Jean Reno (as a persistent cop) lend Hanks support, though it's animated Ian McKellen, as a British scholar, who earns MVP honors. **1/2
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III This fast-paced sequel is a huge improvement over its immediate predecessor and just barely manages to top the first film for sheer excitement. Instead of going for an established director like Brian De Palma (Mission I) and John Woo (Mission II), Paramount and producer-star Tom Cruise elected to take a chance on TV's J.J. Abrams (Alias, Lost), who pumps new life into the M:I template. "This Time, It's Personal" might as well have been the movie's tagline, as IMF (Impossible Missions Force) agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) finds himself trying to save his wife (Michelle Monaghan) and protégée (Keri Russell) from a murderous weapons dealer (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Mission: Impossible was established as a vanity franchise for Cruise, yet Hoffman's work (his character would have made a formidable Bond villain) marks this as the first time that the attention gets shifted away from the marquee attraction. ***
THE OMEN The 1976 version of The Omen still holds up after 30 years. That's reason enough to Netflix that baby and skip the new version that's currently haunting multiplexes. Granted, director John Moore (Behind Enemy Mines) remaking The Omen isn't as sacrilegious as Gus Van Sant remaking Psycho, but it still comes across as an unnecessary effort, as if the primary motivation was to be able to release a picture called The Omen on 6/6/06. That lack of a sound reason affects the picture itself, which is competent though curiously flat. The devil taking over the world is a terrifying concept, yet here there's so little urgency to the proceedings that you'd think his master plan extended only to prank phone calls and TPing ministers' houses. The new film is mostly faithful to its predecessor -- an American ambassador (Liev Schreiber) and his wife (Julia Stiles) learn too late that their adopted son is the Antichrist -- but the fact that this produces snickers rather than scares suggests that it might find its niche as a camp outing. **
OVER THE HEDGE Here's yet another charmless animated feature made by profiteers whose historical reference point seems to begin and end with Shrek. In other words, don't look for what was once quaintly referred to as "Disney magic," that timeless, ethereal quality that used to be par for the course in toon flicks like Dumbo, 101 Dalmatians and Beauty and the Beast. With rare exception, today's cartoon characters aren't allowed to be romantic or introspective or lovably quixotic -- usually, they're too busy hyperventilating or passing gas or trying to find ways to screw over their fellow toons. This is more of the same, as an opportunistic raccoon (Bruce Willis), in hock to a grouchy grizzly (Nick Nolte), cons a group of peaceful forest denizens into helping him invade suburbia and steal the humans' junk food. There's a witty sequence in which the raccoon explains how people "live to eat" rather than "eat to live," and a Stanley Kowalski gag make me chuckle out loud. Otherwise, this DreamWorks production feels like a flat-footed attempt to rip off the Pixar template. *1/2
POSEIDON This remake of the 1972 disaster favorite The Poseidon Adventure -- in which several survivors try to make their way to the surface after an enormous wave flips their luxury cruise ship over -- isn't awful so much as it's impersonal: Foregoing the blood, sweat and characters that made the original come to life, this one's all about running cardboard people through the CGI paces. Electing to scrap the characters from Paul Gallico's book and Ronald Neame's earlier film, director Wolfgang Petersen and scripter Mark Protosevich instead serve up all-new players. Petersen describes them as "original, contemporary characters," which I guess is some sort of doublespeak meaning one-dimensional dullards rendered uncomplicated for today's audiences. The sets and effects are also lazily realized, although Petersen, who knows about filming in cramped quarters (Das Boot, Air Force One), does get to display his directorial chops in the more claustrophobic segments, mustering what little suspense the film has to offer. Alas, it's not nearly enough to save this soggy endeavor. *1/2
A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION Robert Altman's best film since the one-two punch of The Player and Short Cuts might at first glance seem like a minor work, an ambling, congenial picture constructed as little more than an opportunity to corral several major talents (Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Lily Tomlin, etc.) and give them a chance to sing songs and tell jokes in a relaxed setting. That the film is inspired by Garrison Keillor's long-running radio show adds to that impression, since the on-air Keillor is the epitome of laid-back, down-home hospitality. Yet for all its levity, the central theme focuses on the specter of Death -- how it hovers around us, how it haunts us, and how it can inform our every move. But the mood isn't depressing; it's bittersweet. And that's only part of the time: When the radio performers are front and center, this is nothing less than a joyous celebration of both Americana and the arts. The final sequence -- a masterpiece of ambiguity -- is simply exquisite, a somber, rueful moment inexorably illustrating that, in death as in life, the show must go on. ****
THE PROPOSITION A cold, hard film chiefly populated by cold, hard men, The Proposition finds director John Hillcoat and scripter Nick Cave (yes, the musician) transplanting what is perceived as a quintessential American genre -- the Western -- to the equally sparse Australian terrain. In a standout performance, Ray Winstone plays Captain Stanley, the lawman who captures Charley (Guy Pearce) and Mikey (Richard Wilson), two-thirds of the murderous Burns clan. But Stanley is really after oldest sibling Arthur (Danny Huston), and so he tells Charley that if he can find and kill Arthur, he'll spare the dimwitted Mikey. Early word has compared this to the Sam Peckinpah oeuvre, and that's apt. But it also identifies with Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man and Tommy Lee Jones' The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (to say nothing of Australia's own Outback flicks from the 1970s), mood pieces in which philosophical renegades seek to come to terms with their own restless souls while navigating territories that only enhance their desperation and disconnectedness. ***
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND The 2000 hit X-Men, which introduced Marvel's band of mutant outsiders to a wider audience and helped spearhead the current boom in superhero flicks, appealed to fans of the comic book but also offered comfort to anyone who could tap into its obvious symbolic gestures (most equating the fantasy world ostracism of mutants with the real world shunning of homosexuals). Director Bryan Singer returned for 2003's X2, and, bucking the trend, managed to make a follow-up that nearly matched its predecessor. Alas, Singer has fled the series to helm Superman Returns, and Brett Ratner (the Rush Hour duo) and his scripters prove to be shaky replacements. Yet it's a testament to the durability of the original comic created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby that the movie survives this hostile takeover. There are plenty of boneheaded decisions plaguing this action-packed chapter -- too many players, stagnant characterizations -- yet there's also enough of merit to earn it a passing grade. **1/2
OPENS FRIDAY, JUNE 16:
THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT: Lucas Black, Bow Wow.
GARFIELD: A TAIL OF TWO KITTIES: Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt.
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH: Documentary.
KEEPING UP WITH THE STEINS: Jeremy Piven, Jami Gertz.
THE LAKE HOUSE: Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock.
NACHO LIBRE: Jack Black, Ana de la Reguera.
SIR, NO SIR!: Documentary.
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