Current Releases
BATMAN BEGINS One of the finest superhero films ever made, Batman Begins marks the beginning of a beautiful friendship – between the creative forces who have resurrected a popular franchise and the fans who felt betrayed when that same franchise went belly-up in the late 90s. Never afraid to peer into the darkest recesses of the mind, director Christopher Nolan (Memento, Insomnia) has created a brooding picture that has as much in common with his previous works as it does with the storied saga of the Caped Crusader. To dismiss this as escapist fare would be to ignore the myriad adult themes that bulk up the picture, issues ranging from the duality of man to the politics of fear. Christian Bale leads a sterling cast that also includes Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Liam Neeson; their committed performances help make this that rare summer movie in which thought often speaks louder than either action or words. 
1/2
BEWITCHED As far as ill-advised Nicole Kidman vehicles that plunder past artifacts of pop culture are concerned, the nicest thing one can say about Bewitched is that it’s an improvement over The Stepford Wives. That’s primarily because of Kidman herself, who manages to harness her maddeningly inconsistent role with such success that the result is an offbeat and original characterization. Otherwise, this initially clever comedy, in which a real witch (Kidman) is cast as a fictional one on an update of the Bewitched TV series, takes one wrong turn after another beginning around the halfway mark. As Kidman’s unlikely love interest, a miscast Will Ferrell delivers a manic performance that quickly grows tiresome, while old pros Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine are wasted in malnourished roles.
HERBIE: FULLY LOADED The notion of a supercharged Volkswagen beetle seems quaint in this age of monolithic, gas-guzzling SUVs – indeed, the first Herbie picture, The Love Bug, hit theaters back in 1969 – yet given the sort of cacophonous kiddie dreck that routinely fills auditoriums today, this blast of old-fashioned sentiment isn’t half-bad. Lindsay Lohan, whose tight outfits continually threaten to put the kibosh on the film’s G rating, plays a speed racer who finds herself competing on the NASCAR circuit after she discovers that the rusty VW she rescues from a junkyard is magically endowed. The wavering quality of the special effects – more special in some scenes than others – will pass unnoticed by the little ones, while parents will enjoy revisiting their youth via the mix of rock oldies on the soundtrack. 1/2
THE HONEYMOONERS The classic 1950s TV sitcom gets refitted for a 21st century big-screen excursion, but unfortunately, it’s the audience who gets it right in the kisser. The plot centers on the efforts of irascible Ralph Kramden (Cedric the Entertainer) and his dim-witted friend Ed Norton (Mike Epps) to raise enough money to put a down payment on a duplex coveted by their wives (Gabrielle Union and Regina Hall). To make that dream a reality, Ralph invests their savings in dubious schemes involving an abandoned train car and an abandoned mutt. One character makes a crack about The WB, which in all honesty is where this feeble film belongs. Forget Jackie Gleason’s “To the moon, Alice” catchphrase – “To the video bargain bin” is more like it. 1/2
HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE American animated features, even the best of them, are invariably bound by tradition and convention, but the movies of Japan’s Hayao Miyazaki remain free from the shackles of conformity. His films are a sight for soaring eyes, ocular treats for moviegoers on the prowl for new experiences and new sensations. His latest release is nowhere in the same league as his masterpiece, the Oscar-winning Spirited Away, but the visuals more than carry the film. This tale of a teenage girl who turns to a handsome wizard to help her break a spell incorporates Miyazaki’s recurring themes of courage, sacrifice and environmental awareness, yet the results are too scattershot to make any lasting impression. Still, glitches in storytelling and stunt casting (Billy Crystal is jarring as the voice of a wisecracking fire demon) can’t overshadow the wondrous sights that Miyazaki doles out for our approval.
LAND OF THE DEAD George Romero has always been as much a social commentator as a horror filmmaker, which is why his zombie flicks have always remained as popular with critics as with cultists. Two decades after his last foray into the genre, Romero has decided to add a fourth chapter onto his established trilogy; it’s good, gory fun, even if its satiric jabs are more heavy-handed than in the past. This entry centers on a conscientious mercenary (Simon Baker) who has to contend with a ruthless CEO (Dennis Hopper) who caters to the wealthy while ignoring the unwashed masses, a hired gun (John Leguizamo) with his own agenda, and hordes of zombies who are starting to take baby steps up the evolutionary ladder. Romero’s wit remains intact, but his allusions to modern-day America (Dennis Hopper’s raging capitalist even states, “We do not negotiate with terrorists!”) seem more obvious this time around.
THE LONGEST YARD Faithfulness to director Robert Aldrich’s hard-hitting 1974 film, in which a former football star leads a ragtag group of convicts in a match against the sadistic guards, isn’t the problem: Major plot points are kept intact, snatches of dialogue find themselves lifted wholesale, and characters’ fates remain the same. But when this version does deviate from its source material, the results are disastrous – and kill any chance the film has in maintaining its modest pleasures. The leading character (Burt Reynolds in the R-rated original, Adam Sandler in this PG-13 piffle) has been softened considerably, while the rampaging homophobia is astonishing (and annoying). Insult comedy can be uproarious in the right hands, but here it’s merely witless, the cinematic equivalent of the school bully giving a weaker classmate a wedgie and then declaring himself the epitome of fine-honed drollery.
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. 1/2
MR. AND MRS. SMITH Based on the countless scenes in which Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie strip down to their undergarments, it’s clear there isn’t an ounce of flab on either of those bodies – it’s just too bad the same can’t be said about the film itself. Playing a suburban couple who are actually both skilled assassins, Brad and Angelina gleefully throw themselves into this chaotic action flick in which the sharp dialogue too often gets drowned out by the incessant explosions. The film begins promisingly, with Simon Kinberg contributing a script that’s full of wry observations about the level of secrecy that’s inherent in most marriages, and how the stakes might be raised exponentially when the spousal subterfuge occurs between people who kill for a living. But once the emphasis shifts from the characters to the hardware they employ, it becomes just another noisy spectacle. 1/2
THE PERFECT MAN Hilary Duff, the personable but one-note Disney Channel star, plays Holly Hamilton, a teen who fabricates a Mr. Right to cheer up her lonely single mom (Heather Locklear). But it never occurs to Holly that, duh, her mom might eventually want to meet this seemingly perfect man in the flesh, and that’s when her scheme begins to unravel. Even allowing that this is supposed to be a frothy comedy aimed at younger viewers, the film is so casually cruel in its treatment of its characters (particular Locklear’s, who craves a man like a junkie craves a fix), a bad taste lingers even after everybody instantly learns their valuable life lessons during the final 10 minutes. 1/2
RIZE Born from the ashes of civil unrest in the wake of the Rodney King beat-down, “clowning” was a new form of artistic expression in which LA’s inner-city blacks found release by emulating the very violence that was perpetually raging around them. “Clowning” eventually gave way to the harsher “krumping” (less makeup, more thrashing), and Rize masterfully shows how these two musical manifestations have since provided young African-Americans – most stranded in the war zones of South Central – a path away from the guns’n’poses of the area’s self-styled gangstas. Beyond its reverence for the creative impulse and its ability to fashion triumph out of tragedy, the movie also earns its keep simply by focusing on the sorts of ordinary Americans who don’t usually find their way onto the nation’s movie screens. As for the dancing, it’s hot enough to burn the celluloid it’s captured on. 1/2
THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS Ann Brashares’ best-selling book (at least among female readers) has been transformed into a luminescent motion picture for anyone interested in an emotional high. As they prepare to go their separate ways for the summer, four high school friends (winningly played by America Ferrera, Alexis Bledel, Blake Lively and Amber Tamblyn) stumble across a pair of jeans that miraculously fits all of them. They quickly decide that the pants will be passed among them throughout the summer, as a way of staying in touch over long distances. 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 still honest enough to acknowledge the perils of adolescence as well as the pleasures.
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 who saw the original trilogy as 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. 1/2
This article appears in Jul 6-12, 2005.
