New Releases
MAD HOT BALLROOM Mirroring the less skilled dancers who can be found among its subjects, Mad Hot Ballroom may not be the most graceful documentary to make the recent rounds, but damned if it doesn’t burst with pride and passion. In much the same manner as the superior Spellbound, this film centers on several groups of kids who, as students enrolled in the NYC public school system’s ballroom dancing classes, hope to find themselves competing in the city’s annual ballroom tournament. This is yet one more nonfiction film that ably extols the transformative power of the arts and their ability to allow individuals to discover the best within themselves. But the movie also goes beyond that: It captures the palpable love that teachers can feel for their students (in one genuinely moving moment, an instructor breaks down as she describes how these kids are turning into “ladies and gentlemen” before her eyes), and, most beguilingly, it hangs out with these 10- and 11-year-olds as they chat in the open, unaffected manner as only kids can. It’s a pleasure spending down-time with these lovely boys and girls (most from the lower rungs of the economic ladder), which is why it’s such a crushing disappointment when the movie all but abandons the kids’ individual anecdotes as it builds up to the climactic tournament. Aside from the joy of watching these half-pints dance the fox trot, tango and merengue, the final portion of the film becomes a blur of ballots being counted, the MC gassing endlessly and groups of kids being shuffled across the stage to collect their ribbons. And the final shot doesn’t center on the kids or the teachers as much as on the championship trophy, an impersonal closing more suited to, say, The Longest Yard.
THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS Ann Brashares’ best-selling book among female readers has been transformed into a luminescent motion picture for anyone interested in an emotional high. Worthy of snagging viewers outside its expected target audience, Sisterhood hurtles over most its shortcomings by adding a layer of toughness not usually found in films aimed at teens. As four high school friends prepare to go their separate ways for the summer, they stumble across a pair of jeans that miraculously fits them all. They quickly decide the pants will be passed among themselves throughout the summer, as a way of staying in touch over long distances. Brainy Carmen (America Ferrera) spends the summer with her neglectful dad (Bradley Whitford); shy Lena (Alexis Bledel) passes the time with distant relatives in Greece; sexy Bridget (Blake Lively) goes on a hunt for boys while attending a soccer camp in Mexico; and rebellious Tibby (Amber Tamblyn) remains in town trying to complete her documentary. Statutory rape, parental abandonment, the death of a child – these are heavy issues for any movie, let alone one aimed at young girls. Yet while Sisterhood occasionally skirts around the full import of these hot-button items, it’s honest enough to acknowledge the perils of adolescence as well as its pleasures. Ferrera builds on the promise of her smashing work in the indie hit Real Women Have Curves, though her three co-stars are no less impressive.
Current Releases
KICKING & SCREAMING The “underdog sports comedy,” which hasn’t been run into the ground as much as it’s been pureed in a top-model blender, travels as far as it probably can go these days in this immensely likable if somewhat toothless family film. Will Ferrell ably tackles his most complete role to date, as a wimpy dad who elects to coach a losing boys soccer team. As Ferrell’s macho dad, Robert Duvall seems to have wandered in from a much more serious movie, and the usual sports flick cliches are repeated verbatim. What elevates the movie is Ferrell himself: While his patented shtick can often grow tiresome, here it’s in the service of an actual character, and that seems to make all the difference. Rather than random acts of lunacy, the insecure Phil’s outbursts are hardwired into his psyche, which allows us the luxury of feeling sorry for the guy even as we’re laughing at him.
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KINGDOM OF HEAVEN Aside from a smattering of one-note villains, everyone is so damn noble and respectful in director Ridley Scott’s p.c. drama about a period in world history that was anything but noble and respectful. Set during the Crusades, this dutiful slog through revisionist history stars Orlando Bloom as a blacksmith who finds himself in the middle of a growing feud between Christians and Muslims both laying claim to Jerusalem. Comparisons to recent sword flicks like Troy and Scott’s Gladiator are natural, but despite the lofty ambitions of William Monahan’s arid script, such contrasts do this lumbering movie no favors. If nothing else, at least those other films moved; beyond that, they also featured morally ambiguous characters, handed juicy roles to veteran actors, and, in the case of Troy, made a stronger case for contemporary relevance. As the courageous Balian, Bloom has the heroic glower down pat but brings little else to the role.
LADIES IN LAVENDER The setting is 1930s Cornwall, as two elderly sisters (Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith) discover that a Polish violinist (Daniel Bruhl) has washed up on the beach next to their quaint little cottage. As they nurse him back to health, one of the sisters (Dench’s Ursula) slowly begins to fall for this lad who’s approximately a half-century her junior. Although it looks like a product straight off the Masterpiece Theatre assembly line, Ladies In Lavender is a movie marked by major surprises: It’s surprising that the first half is so perceptive (Dench makes her character’s confusion, despair and desire all equally tangible), and equally surprising that the second part is so preposterous (with developments as nonsensical as any found in mainstream claptrap).
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MADAGASCAR Unlike the banal Robots and Shark Tale, this animated delight strikes an appropriate balance: It’s hip without being obnoxious, and it’s sentimental without being cloying. Through a wild chain of events, four animal pals from a New York zoo – lion (Ben Stiller), zebra (Chris Rock), hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) and giraffe (David Schwimmer) – find themselves stranded on the title island. Despite the ingratiating leads (Rock, for one, has never been better), despite the eye-popping animation, and despite the presence of other scene-stealers (check out the lemurs), the main reason to see this is to catch the penguins, four no-nonsense types who plan to dig their way to Antarctica but instead end up hijacking a ship. First Opus, then Sparky, now these guys – the lion may be comfortably ensconced as king of the jungle, but when it comes to the thick brier of popular culture, it’s the penguin who reigns supreme.
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MINDHUNTERS For a movie that’s been sitting in Miramax’s storage bin for well over a year, Mindhunters isn’t the train wreck one would have assumed. A high-tech update of Agatha Christie’s classic Ten Little Indians (a.k.a. And Then There Were None), the story finds a band of FBI agents sent to a remote island off the coast of North Carolina, where they discover that there’s a serial killer within their ranks. A couple of clues make it relatively easy to deduce the identity of the killer – a plus for those who’d like a shot at solving the mystery, a minus for those who prefer to be kept in the dark until the end. Regardless, the screenplay doesn’t stand up to close scrutiny (each victim has to be in an exact location at an exact time for the villain’s scheme to work), but director Renny Harlin has churned out a fairly engrossing film that doesn’t denigrate the memory of its (uncredited) source material.
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MONSTER-IN-LAW After a 15-year hiatus, Jane Fonda returns to the big screen, and young uns who’ve only heard about her standing as one of the finest actresses of the 1970s will automatically assume that their parents have been pulling their legs all these years. Fonda is an embarrassment in this torturous comedy, betrayed both by director Robert Luketic’s mishandling and by her own rusty instincts. Blank-faced Jennifer Lopez stars as Charlie, a jill-of-all-trades (caterer, dog walker, receptionist) who finds the perfect man in Dr. Kevin Fields (Alias‘ Michael Vartan). All goes well until she meets his mother, a former TV personality who also turns out to be psychotic. This only escapes a one-star rating because of the acerbic wit of Wanda Sykes (cast as Fonda’s wisecracking assistant); otherwise, the laughs are as scarce as Coke machines in the Kalahari.
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STAR WARS: EPISODE III – REVENGE OF THE SITH Better than their overall critical standing would have one believe, the new Star Wars flicks have nevertheless registered as disappointments to those of us for whom the original trilogy felt like a coming-of-age rite of passage. The Phantom Menace was a mixed bag, while Attack of the Clones (by a hair the best of the newbies) only occasionally managed to recapture the spirit and flavor of the original three-pack. This last chapter follows suit, a cinematic seesaw in which the good bits are packed into the second half. The movie gets off to a dreadful start, stuffed with chaotic chases, ill-defined new characters and the rapid elimination of a worthy foe. And then something inspiring occurs: The mythology takes over, and the latter sequences – directly connecting to events first recorded in the original Star Wars film back in 1977 – resonate beyond the screen, fueled as much by our own nostalgic twinges as by George Lucas’ ability to send the series off in style.
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UNLEASHED After being treated like a dog his entire life by a Glasgow mobster (Bob Hoskins), a henchman (Jet Li) finds comfort in his friendships with a blind piano tuner (Morgan Freeman) and his stepdaughter (Kerry Condon). “Poignant” and “touching” aren’t words usually associated with a Jet Li flick, but this isn’t your standard action yarn. That’s not to say Li has gone the Sense and Sensibility route: Fans of martial arts mayhem will still be satisfied with the degree of bone crushing and rib cracking on display. But while the thrilling set pieces goose the proceedings, it’s the acting that provides this with an advantage: Freeman packs his usual authority, Condon is an absolute delight, and Hoskins clearly relishes the return to the UK underground milieu of his career-making films The Long Good Friday and Mona Lisa. And then there’s Jet Li, whose puppy dog demeanor as the domesticated Danny the Dog adds some tears to the expected blood and sweat.
This article appears in Jun 1-7, 2005.
