Current Releases
AEON FLUX While director Karyn Kusama may deserve a lavish Hollywood mansion and three-picture deal as much as the next filmmaker, she’s one person whose career might have benefited more had she stayed hungry. Her low-budget debut feature, 2000’s Girlfight, was an indie knockout, signaling her arrival as a moviemaker with grit, determination and something to say. Five years later, Kusama’s back with her sophomore effort, and it’s dispiriting to see that it’s a big-budget production deemed so awful by its own studio that it wasn’t even screened in advance for critics. Based on an animated MTV series, this futuristic romp stars Charlize Theron as the title warrior, one member of a revolutionary outfit seeking to overthrow a corrupt government. An impersonal slab of sci-fi sameness, Aeon Flux wears its lethargy like a badge of honor, with Kusama’s draggy direction and Theron’s monotonous performance up front and center in virtually every scene. Rating: * 1/2
CHICKEN LITTLE With its hand-drawn animation division boarded up and its partnership with Pixar in flames, Walt Disney Pictures has taken the next step by creating its own fully computer-animated movie. Yet if this represents the future of Disney animation, then the sky is indeed falling: This is as far removed from such old-school classics as Pinocchio and Beauty and the Beast as roast duck is from chicken gizzards. The story is serviceable, centering on a diminutive bird (voiced by Zach Braff) whose warnings about an alien invasion are ignored by the other anthropomorphic animals. But the central thrust — a standard “underdog wins the day” slog that on a dime turns into War of the Worlds — is the same sort of hollow experience that has all but drained the traditional toon tale of its potency over the past decade-plus. Rating: **
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE Christians, heathens and everyone in between will be inspired to hold hands and sway to the gentle rhythms of this epic yarn. C.S. Lewis’ source material — the first book in a series of seven Narnia adventures — sprinkled Christian allegories throughout a fantasy tale that was aimed primarily at children, and the movie steadfastly respects Lewis’ intentions. Like the best kid flicks, it never talks down to its target audience, and its religious themes — issues involving honor, forgiveness and redemption — embody the true spirit of Christianity and in effect serve as an antidote to the sadistic theatrics of Mel Gibson’s garish snuff film, The Passion of the Christ. With its story of four plucky siblings attempting to save a strange land from the machinations of an evil queen (Tilda Swinton), this seems as inspired by the recent Lord of the Rings flicks as by anything on the written page. But the child actors are appealing, the supporting critters add color, and the brisk storyline fuels the imagination. Rating: ***
THE FAMILY STONE Initially more reminiscent of the brittle Thanksgiving yarns Home For the Holidays and Pieces of April than the warm-and-fuzzy titles usually foisted upon us at Christmas, this ensemble piece centers on a liberal New England clan whose members prove to be close-minded when it comes to accepting a conservative prude into their abode. Oldest son Everett (Dermot Mulroney) brings girlfriend Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker) home to meet his family, but for the most part they treat their guest poorly, finding it impossible to warm up to her views. Writer-director Thomas Bezucha does a nice job of capturing the way that dissimilar people must try to coexist peacefully at familial gatherings. But refusing to follow through on the messy reality of his story, he shamelessly changes direction by offering every character (except the one designated as sacrificial lamb ) a happily-ever-after fadeout by making sure no one is left out in the cold — either physically, mentally or emotionally. Rating: ** 1/2
HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE The fourth installment in the J.K. Rowling screen franchise clearly isn’t afraid of the dark. There’s a reason that this is the first movie in the series to earn a PG-13 rating, as director Mike Newell, the first British director attached to this veddy British series, and scripter Steve Kloves, forced to whittle down Rowling’s enormous tome, steadfastly refuse to coddle the youngest audience members, “family film” status be damned. The series’ greatest strength — namely, the dead-on portrayals by Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Harry, Ron and Hermione — never fails to deliver (these kids are wonderful together), and even an overstuffed plot doesn’t slow down the proceedings as much as convey that there’s much at stake in Harry’s increasingly sinister world. Rating ***
KING KONG Does Peter Jackson’s heavily hyped remake of the 1933 masterpiece improve on its landmark predecessor? Of course not. In fact, I’d be hard-pressed to think of any area in which it’s better than the original — even the occasionally crude effects from ’33, crafted from blood, sweat, tears and tiny models, stir the soul more than the CGI trickery on view here. But on its own terms, this new version gets the job done. In essence, Jackson has taken the 103-minute original and stretched it out to a 190-minute running time. The three-act structure remains intact, however, as filmmaker Carl Denham (Jack Black) and actress Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) journey to Skull Island, meet the great ape, and bring him back to New York City. Despite an abundance of thrills, Jackson respects that King Kong is above all else a love story between woman and beast — and it’s a measure of Watts’ skills that she generates enormous chemistry with an animal that’s created out of computer codes rather than flesh and blood. Rating: *** 1/2
PRIDE & PREJUDICE In adapting Jane Austen’s literary staple, director Joe Wright and screenwriter Deborah Moggach have done an exemplary job of making us care all over again about the plight of the Bennet sisters, whose busybody mom (Brenda Blethyn) sets about finding them suitable husbands against the backdrop of 19th century England. The oldest daughter Jane (Rosamund Pike) immediately lands a suitor, but the independent Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) finds herself embroiled in a grudge match with the brooding Mr. Darcy (Matthew MacFadyen). Romanticists who fell hard for Colin Firth’s Darcy in the 1995 BBC miniseries may or may not warm to MacFadyen (who’s fine in the role), but there’s no quibbling over Knightley’s intuitive, note-perfect work as Elizabeth. Kudos, also, to Roman Osin’s endlessly inventive camerawork, the sort not usually found in period pieces of this nature. Rating: ***
RENT For all its energy, this film version of the Broadway smash never quite busts free, a problem that may rest more with the modern film industry’s inexperience with musicals than with anything director Chris Columbus brings to the party. There hasn’t been a great movie musical since Milos Forman’s Hair back in 1979, and outer space has long since replaced the songbook as the filmmakers’ avenue of choice for fanciful flights of expression and imagination. Given the current climate in Hollywood, I’m inclined to give Columbus a break, since his movie is easy to like and even easier to hum. Updating Puccini’s 1896 opera La Boheme, Rent’s late creator Jonathan Larson focuses on a group of bohemians trying to get by while living in New York’s East Village. If it all sounds like Melrose Place on welfare, the story’s defining characteristic is that half of its leading players are HIV-positive, lending an air of poignancy to the proceedings as the players belt out catchy tunes. Rating: ***
THE SQUID AND THE WHALE Marital discord receives an innovative treatment in this feature that earned Noah Baumbach writing and directing awards at Sundance. In 1986 Brooklyn, a college professor (Jeff Daniels) and his wife (Laura Linney) reach the conclusion that their marriage is on its last fumes. Upon separating, they subject their sons (Jesse Eisenberg and Owen Kline) to all manner of ill-advised actions, which only serve to confuse the boys even further. The film is tantalizing in the way in which it presents just enough information so that we can’t help but come to the conclusion that the self-absorbed Bernard and Joan are lousy parents — yet then it pulls the rug out from under us by showing evidence to the contrary. Never denigrating itself by offering facile answers, it examines the difficulties of joint custody, the flaw in favoring one parent over the other, and the continued ability to wring mood out of Tangerine Dream’s score for Risky Business. All four lead performances are outstanding. Rating: *** 1/2
SYRIANA Syriana is intelligent agitprop, a stimulating fireball that deserves to be the center of water cooler conversation. If the movie has a fault, it’s that it’s too smart for its own good, assuming audiences are knowledgeable enough to grasp every historical reference, decipher every snatch of insider lingo and understand the intricate workings of American conglomerates. But better a film attempt to smarten up its viewers instead of dumbing them down. Writer-director Stephen Gaghan, who earned the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic, again weaves together a head-spinning mix of people, places and incidents, though the end result isn’t quite as fluid this time around. Among the characters are a CIA field operative (George Clooney), an energy analyst (Matt Damon) and a corporate lawyer (Jeffrey Wright); all figure in the connective narrative thread involving oil in the Middle East. This is a deeply pessimistic movie, which means it’s the perfect film to represent the current malaise running unchecked through this nation of ours. Rating: ***
WALK THE LINE One often encounters an overwhelming sense of déjà vu when watching a biopic about a celebrity, since they tend to trace the expected ups and downs in the most conventional manner possible. Yet “conventional” doesn’t have to mean “boring,” and for all its familiarity, there’s plenty to like about Walk the Line. Director James Mangold, adapting (with co-scripter Gill Dennis) two Johnny Cash autobiographies, does a fine job of capturing an electric period in rock history without any strains of self-importance. First and foremost, though, the film positions itself as a love story, one that finds Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) locating his soulmate in country star June Carter (Reese Witherspoon). Phoenix commands the screen, yet even he’s topped by Witherspoon in her most fully realized performance since Election. Phoenix may provide the movie with its voice, but it’s Witherspoon who delivers its soul. Rating: ***
YOURS, MINE AND OURS A descent into the pits of hell disguised as a motion picture, Yours, Mine and Ours is the sort of broad, insincere schmaltz that moviegoers seem to eat up at this time of year (see: Cheaper By the Dozen in 2003 and Christmas With the Kranks in 2004). A widower (Dennis Quaid) with eight kids bumps into his former high school sweetheart, now a widow (Rene Russo) with 10 children. On a whim, they decide to get married, but managing a household comprised of 18 minors proves to be a formidable challenge. A remake of a pleasant 1968 film with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball, this jettisons all semblance of wit for the sake of one noisy, overwrought sequence after another. Somebody please kill this before it breeds again. Rating: *
OPENS WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21:
CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN 2: Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt.
FUN WITH DICK AND JANE: Jim Carrey, Tea Leoni.
OPENS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23:
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA: Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li.
MUNICH: Eric Bana, Geoffrey Rush.
THE RINGER: Johnny Knoxville, Brian Cox.
OPENS SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25:
THE PRODUCERS: Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick.
RUMOR HAS IT…: Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner.
WOLF CREEK: Cassandra Magrath, Kestie Morasi.
This article appears in Dec 21-27, 2005.
