NEW RELEASES
RADIO Inspired by a true story, this concerns its noble little heart with the matter of James Robert “Radio” Kennedy (Cuba Gooding Jr.), a mentally challenged kid in Anderson, SC, and Harold Jones (Ed Harris), the high school football coach whose interest in the lad transformed both their lives. Films like this one are created solely to pummel our tear ducts with bleeding-heart hammers and make them bust wide open, yet Radio left me curiously unmoved. Maybe it was because Mike Tollin directed this with all the flair and imagination of a TV after-school special. Maybe it was because scripter Mike Rich has again revealed himself as an utterly shameless huckster (he also penned The Rookie and Finding Forrester, the latter an especially manipulative piece of pap). Maybe it was because Gooding (actually somewhat restrained, given the circumstances) is never allowed to play a three-dimensional character but rather a manifestation of a white man’s cause, human currency to be handed around whenever a character needs his or her consciousness raised (and how is it that the evil specter of racism never gets addressed directly, even though this is set in a small Southern town in the 1970s?). Maybe it was because I was aghast at how this film wastes Debra Winger (as the coach’s wife), a great actress in the 80s who as an older woman is having trouble making her way back into Hollywood’s inner circle. Then again, maybe it was simply because the theater’s air conditioning unit was drying up my contacts something fierce, making tears an impossible acquisition. 
SCARY MOVIE 3 A few weeks ago, I overheard a woman state that she was dying to see Scary Movie 3 because “it has everyone in it.” Wow, how could I possibly have missed the announcement that Nicholson, Hackman, Cruise and Eastwood (among others) all would be making, at the very least, cameo appearances? My mistake. By “everyone,” she meant the likes of Charlie Sheen, Pamela Anderson, Simon Cowell and a Michael Jackson clone — certainly some folks’ idea of a good time, but little more than an act of sheer desperation as far as I’m concerned. Then again, this series has always been about low-brow entertainment, but at least the original picture delivered more than its share of raunchy laughs. The first sequel, on the other hand, offered raunch but few chuckles, while this one, the first to be rated PG-13 rather than R (as well as the first made by someone other than the Wayans family), seems reluctant to serve up much in the way of anything. Operating like an inferior issue of Mad magazine with all the pages mixed up, this randomly ping-pongs between tepid take-offs of The Ring, Signs, The Matrix Reloaded and 8 Mile, with side swipes at The Others, TV sweeps weeks, and pedophilic priests just to make sure every angle is covered. The notion of Leslie Nielsen playing the US President is funny in theory, but this film even blows the comic potential of that situation. 1/2
CURRENT RELEASES
CABIN FEVER You know the routine: Five idiotic kids with sex and drugs on the brain hole up in a shack in the middle of nowhere (filming largely took place in North Carolina); after spending some time making fun of the inbred locals, they’re suddenly confronted with a terror that ends up picking them off one by one. In this case, it’s a disease (spread through water) that causes the victim’s flesh to peel off, eventually leaving only blood, bones and very toothy grimaces. Like the summer sleeper 28 Days Later, the film’s power derives not from its scare angle (which isn’t too fantastical in this era of SARS and AIDS) but from its depiction of the manner in which humans will turn on each other when their own survival is at stake. 1/2
CASA DE LOS BABYS For his latest stab at a subject most other filmmakers wouldn’t even consider, writer-director John Sayles looks at the practice of Americans adopting infants from foreign countries. Here, the setting is an unspecified South American city, as six women — naive Maggie Gyllenhaal, spiritual Daryl Hannah, bitchy Marcia Gay Harden, struggling Susan Lynch, optimistic Mary Steenburgen and forthright Lili Taylor — hang out together as they wait for government clearance to cart kids back to the US. The abrupt ending is probably intentional — it’s Sayles way of saying that life goes on and nothing will really change — but with a running time of only 95 minutes, it also cheats us of spending more time with these interesting characters.
THE FIGHTING TEMPTATIONS Cuba Gooding Jr., so animated a performer that he even appears to be overacting on this movie’s poster, plays a crafty New York ad executive who returns to his hometown of Montecarlo, GA, to attend the funeral of his beloved aunt. Before he can collect his inheritance, though, he must fulfill his aunt’s wish of steering the church choir to success in the prestigious Gospel Explosion. For the most part, the movie’s non-musical segments are painfully formulaic bits centering around Gooding’s wholly uninspired character, yet when the gospel tunes take center stage (which thankfully is often), the movie transcends its trite surroundings and emerges as a theater-shaking crowd-pleaser. 1/2
INTOLERABLE CRUELTY It’s hard to determine whether George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones brought out the best in each other or whether the Coen Brothers brought out the best in both of them. At any rate, they’re perfectly cast in this sharp romantic comedy that ably captures the long-established rhythms of the screwball form. Clooney exhibits the right degree of screwball aptitude as a hotshot divorce lawyer who may have finally met his match in a client’s wife (Zeta-Jones, who hasn’t been this alluring since her breakthrough in The Mask of Zorro). When he’s not playing dull heroes, Clooney comes across as the class clown trapped in the class president’s body, and his zest in mocking his own leading man status works to glorious advantage here.
KILL BILL VOL. 1 Online film geeks who believe cinema was invented in their lifetimes will consider this prime porn, but more knowledgable viewers will be let down after all the hype. Simple, straightforward and streamlined, Quentin Tarantino’s latest is an action flick in which a woman warrior (Uma Thurman) seeks revenge against her former associates. There’s no reason this wafer of a story should be supported by multiple movies (Vol. 2 arrives in February), not when the trimming of countless repetitious shots might possibly have resulted in one zippy, kick-ass film. Tarantino’s gimmicky approach eventually becomes tiresome; if the second volume is anything like this one, they might want to consider changing its name to Overkill Bill.
LOST IN TRANSLATION In what may be the finest performance of his career, Bill Murray stars as Bob Harris, an American movie star who’s come to Tokyo to appear in a whiskey commercial. Initially, he appears to be suffering from jet lag, but it soon becomes apparent that this malaise isn’t temporary — on the contrary, Bob’s in a perpetual gloomy funk. He befriends a young American woman (Scarlett Johansson) staying at the swanky hotel, and they eventually form a special bond. A specialized movie for a specialized audience, director Sofia Coppola’s fabulous new film is one of those unique, introverted gems that either enfolds you with its generosity of spirit or leaves you cold. And filmgoers who complain about the artificiality of most American movies are especially encouraged to check it out — as is usually the case in the real world, this picture shows that there are no happy endings or sad endings, and, sometimes, there are no endings at all. Many people will call this film a slice of life. I call it a slice of heaven.
MYSTIC RIVER Director Clint Eastwood has fashioned a strong drama about three childhood friends brought together years later by a tragedy. Jimmy Markum (Sean Penn) may have a violent past, but he fiercely loves his daughter and is shattered when she’s found murdered. One of Jimmy’s former pals (Kevin Bacon) is the detective assigned to the case, while the other former chum (Tim Robbins) emerges as a leading suspect. The performances are immaculate, and Brian Helgeland’s script addresses several noteworthy themes, meaty enough that the obviousness of the mystery feels even more of a cheat. Still, despite its shortcomings, the acting and the atmospherics continue to haunt me; it’s almost certain, then, that this will remain the year’s best disappointment.
NOWHERE IN AFRICA Winner of this year’s Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film, Germany’s Nowhere In Africa, adapted by writer-director Caroline Link from Stefanie Zweig’s autobiographical book, is unusual in how it expertly blends two popular types of movies to create one seamless motion picture experience. On one hand, this is the kind of expansive epic popularized by such open-air extravaganzas as Legends of the Fall, Dances With Wolves and Out of Africa; on the other, it’s an intimate tale about the Jewish experience during World War II, centering on a family that escapes from Germany and winds up in Kenya, whereupon each member develops a special rapport with the new surroundings. 1/2
OUT OF TIME Denzel Washington is the marquee attraction, and Eva Mendes and Sanaa Lathan are the heavily promoted up-and-comers, but it’s unknown John Billingsley who pumps up this negligible piece of pulp fiction. The film itself is a sloppily assembled variation on the Kevin Costner hit No Way Out, with Washington cast as a small-town police chief who comes to realize that all the evidence in a double homicide paints him as the murderer. It’s always a treat to watch Washington ply his trade, but the predictability of the mystery coupled with credibility-stretching circumstances render it dopey rather than deft. The sole fresh ingredient is Billingsley’s noteworthy turn as Washington’s wisecracking sidekick.
RUNAWAY JURY The latest adaptation of a John Grisham bestseller, this one posits that there’s hope for ordinary citizens to take on the powerful gun lobby — and possibly win. It’s a fantastical concept — more far-fetched than anything in Star Wars or The Wizard of Oz — but that doesn’t make it any less savory a dream. And the flames of that dream are stoked to an inferno in this slick drama in which a jury member (John Cusack) has his own reasons for wanting to sway the vote in a civil suit involving a major gun manufacturer. Gene Hackman, who has the distinction of appearing in both the best Grisham adaptation (The Firm) and the worst (The Chamber), is all coiled menace as the consultant who’s never met a jury he can’t manipulate.
THE RUNDOWN Toward the film’s beginning, there’s a cameo by an A-list action star, who nods at The Rock as they pass each other in a bar. We get the drift: With most of our matinee heroes getting older, the baton must be passed, and why shouldn’t The Rock be included on the short list of newcomers primed for action flick supremacy? The wrestling superstar is no more immobile than, say, Schwarzenegger or Stallone, and he has enough innate charm to carry an undemanding picture. And this one is certainly undemanding, with The Rock cast as a debt collector who’s sent to Brazil to bring his employer’s brash son (Seann William Scott) back to the US. Peter Berg, as lousy a director as he was an actor, makes a jumble of the action scenes, but the film has its moments.
THE SCHOOL OF ROCK Director Richard Linklater’s previous credits include Waking Life and Dazed and Confused, while scripter Mike White’s resume contains The Good Girl and Chuck & Buck. These indie faves won’t ever be mistaken for multiplex blockbusters, yet here the pair have teamed up for this accessible comedy about a failed rock star (Jack Black) who lands a job as a substitute teacher at a posh private school, whereupon he begins teaching his buttoned-down fifth grade charges about the glories of rock & roll. It sounds like the sort of sanitized product that might star Eddie Murphy (Dokken Day Care?), yet what gives the movie any semblance of an edge is Black, whose relentless manic energy perfectly suits the project.
SPACE STATION With Tom Cruise providing the narration, this 48-minute IMAX feature looks at the construction of the International Space Station that’s taking place approximately 220 miles above our heads. As we watch astronauts from various nations working side by side, it’s nice to know there’s actually somewhere on this earth — OK, above this earth — where America is cooperating with other countries rather than pissing them off. Combine this fuzzy feeling of solidarity with to-die-for shots of the space station framed against an infinite backdrop, and the result is another winner over at Discovery Place’s OMNIMAX Theatre.
THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE Loosely based on the exploits of serial killer Ed Gein, both film versions (1974 and 2003) deal with five college-age kids whose ill-advised road trip through a desolate part of Texas puts them in contact with a murderous, cannibalistic clan whose most terrifying member (Leatherface) is a hulking psychopath who wears his victims’ faces as masks. The bottom line? The original picture is a genuine classic of the genre, a punishing, unrelenting nightmare that never allows viewers even a moment of sanity or security. This doltish new version, on the other hand, is nothing more than business as usual, a feeble retelling that guts the integrity of the original and wears its own cynicism like a ragged mask. 1/2
UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN In this loose adaptation of Frances Mayes’ memoir, Diane Lane is irresistible as our heroine, who, on the heels of a nasty divorce, heads to Italy for a vacation. There, she falls in love with the Tuscan countryside and on a whim purchases a dilapidated villa in dire need of restoration. Tuscan Sun largely plays out as one might expect, though the journey is so enjoyable that many audience members won’t mind being led down this familiar path once more. Lane’s heartfelt performance provides much-needed depth to her character’s plight, and the supporting players are a finely drawn bunch. A warm and luminous film, Tuscan Sun lets us hold onto summer for just a while longer.
UNDERWORLD It’s an irresistible premise: What if a centuries-spanning battle continues to be waged between vampires and werewolves, with the suave bloodsuckers living comfortably as aristocrats and the brutish lycanthropes relegated to dwelling beneath the city streets? It might have made for a good movie had cowriter-director Len Wiseman not insisted on shooting his picture as a direct rip-off of The Matrix. As it stands, this is a joyless exercise in “Gothic grunge,” with poor pacing, lackluster performances and a tendency to include as many gun battles as possible in its bloated 120 minutes. And why supernaturally endowed creatures of the night would even have to resort to using guns at every opportunity is one of the movie’s nerdier concepts. 1/2
WONDERLAND “John Holmes” and “Rashomon” aren’t two cinematic staples that normally turn up in the same sentence, yet that film’s m.o. of using varying viewpoints to relate the same event is employed in this muddy dramatization of the Wonderland killings of 1981. The involvement of a porn star in this sordid affair is doubtless what inspired director James Cox to tackle this material in the first place, yet Holmes (Val Kilmer) is such a featureless character that he comes across no more defined than any generic Tom, Big Dick or Harry. A few actors make momentary impressions — Lisa Kudrow as Holmes’ estranged wife, Kate Bosworth as his teen girlfriend — yet most are kept in the shadows, as hard to make out as this film’s ultimate intentions.
OPENS wednesday:
ALIEN: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver.
OPENS friday:
IN THE CUT: Meg Ryan, Mark Ruffalo.
SYLVIA: Gwyneth Paltrow, Daniel Craig.
OPENS saturday:
BROTHER BEAR: Animated.
This article appears in Oct 29 – Nov 4, 2003.
