Reviews
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D- |
*** |
-3|
Adults*
In the end, how you feel about Nurse Betty will in good
part depend, I suppose, upon whom you agree with, Charlie or
Wesley. If you find Betty as enchanting and remarkable as Charlie
does, then you may be relieved and happy when her troubles are
over and she is at last able to realize her dreams. On the other
hand, if like Wesley you regard her as ridiculous and pathetic,
then you will find this movie a contemptuously hateful tale of
cruelty and delusion, devoid of any spark of sympathy or
compassion.
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D |
**½ |
-3|
Adults*
Formally, Adaptation resembles the sort of essay a
clever student will sometimes pull together by taking the
assigned topic as a point of departure for a composition of his
own choosing, knowing that it will stand out for originality amid
monotonous submissions and win points for daring and wit from a
bored teacher appreciative of any show of interest.
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C |
**½ |
-2|
Adults
Monte Cristo is also the only one of the three that
knows it’s essentially a comic-book movie, and has appropriately
modest aspirations. Like Road to Perdition, The Four
Feathers feels like a weighty epic, though neither movie
weighs in at more than about two hours, and neither really knows
what it’s about.
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D- |
* |
-2|
Adults
Extreme Ops (Paramount) looks an awful lot like one of those supercharged sports-themed TV commercials, with its glossy footage of daredevil athletes snowboarding down sheer ice walls, skateboarding atop trains, and throwing themselves off precipices. In fact, given that few other situations call for such extreme antics, the movie is actually
about the making of a sports-themed TV commercial.
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C+ |
**½ |
-2|
Adults
Wilson, a capable comic force in his own right, gets laughs
too, but for the most part he’s content to play the laid-back
straight man setting up Murphy’s punchlines. There’s an early
scene in which, discussing their working relationship, Wilson
uses a Harlem Globetrotters analogy to argue that he, the
professional spy, should be team leader Meadowlark Lemon, and
Murphy, a boxing champ, should be Fred "Curly" Neal, Meadowlark’s
sidekick. Murphy, of course, ridicules this suggestion; and,
whatever the ultimate relationship of their characters, which of
the actors is Meadowlark and which is Curly is never in
dispute.
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B |
*** |
+2|
Kids & Up*
The story, originally set in 1880 but moved to 1914 for the
movie, concerns a sheltered young girl from a well-to-do family
who is called "Winifred" by her overprotective parents and
grandmother, and might be called "Winnie" by her friends if she
had any. Winnie (Alexis Bledel of TV’s "Gilmore Girls") is so
timid that when she decides to run away from home, she heads for
the family-owned woods adjacent to her house, never actually
setting foot off her parents’ property.
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A- |
**** |
-2|
Teens & Up*
Hayao Miyazaki’s
Spirited Away is a work of pagan imagination. So are the works of Homer and Sophocles. In all these works there is much for Christian audiences to take exception with as Christians, but also much to marvel at as audiences.
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B- |
***½ |
-2|
Adults*
Like the similarly acclaimed
Moulin Rouge!, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amélie is a whimsical, hyperactive, self-aware, lavishly overdesigned fantasy-romance, set in a retro, fairy-tale Paris, about a tender young idealist who falls in love with a sex-industry employee — but there the similarities end.
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C+ |
**½ |
+1-1|
Adults
Unfortunately, these novel elements are tied to a human
conflict between two antagonistic captains (Harrison Ford and
Liam Neeson) that is not only hackneyed and uninvolving, but
morally simplistic and finally flat-out insulting. It’s hard to
be unmoved by what the men of the K-19 go through,
but it’s equally hard to overlook the glaring flaws in the human
drama — especially when the latter is directly related to the
former. As an exercise in logistics and adversity,
K-19 is compelling, but as a story about
human decisions and moral issues, it’s full of holes and
clichés.
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C- |
** |
+0|
Teens & Up
Beyond more action and bigger effects, the sequel brings
nothing new to the table. You’ll wait in vain for satirical
"revelations" about the presence of aliens among us to match the
wit of the jokes in the original about cab drivers or the World’s
Fair. Instead, we get limp gags like the one about the Post
Office being staffed by aliens. (Why? Is it a joke about postal
efficiency? The "going postal" stereotype? The fact that they
make rounds? What?)
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B+ |
***½ |
+2|
Kids & Up
Remarkably,
Stuart Little 2 manages to be both more
satisfying for adults and more kid-friendly than the original.
Older viewers will appreciate the sequel’s stronger story and
witty script; and even little kids who might have found the
original film’s menacing Central Park gangster cats too intense
may be able to watch this film’s villainous falcon without fear
of bad dreams.
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F |
***½ |
-3|
Some movies have a moral. I say that as a mere
statement of fact, with no implication that either having or not
having a moral necessarily makes a movie better or worse. Some
movies have a moral;
American Beauty - and this is also a
mere observation, not a value judgment - has an aesthetic.
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C- |
**½ |
-2|
Teens & Up*
Dragonfly is a ghost story of sorts, but it isn’t a horror film (though it occasionally thinks it is). The ghost seems to be the late wife of Dr. Joe Darrow (Kevin Costner); and who would be frightened of his own best beloved, even if she happened to be a ghost?
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B+ |
***½ |
+1|
Kids & Up*
Lilo & Stitch is a unique imaginative
achievement that succeeds in its own right, without laying down
any kind of template for future films to follow. Attempts to
repeat its success, to make it into a formula, would be a dismal
failure, unless perhaps the formula were to be "Give the creative
people room to try something new and let them work without a
safety net." What a concept.
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A |
**** |
+1|
Adults
Spielberg has always known how to manipulate an audience’s
emotions, a knack he makes effective use of here. Humor
alternates with squirming discomfort and emotional release as the
director pokes fun of Cruise’s sex-symbol status in a couple of
funny incidents, then leaves us wincing with a number of scenes
involving eyeballs, or a character fumbling blindly for the one
edible sandwich in a squalid refrigerator.
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C |
**½ |
-2|
Adults
Dissatisfied after the screening, I went out and bought the
original 1998 graphic novel, written by novelist and "Dick Tracy"
scribe Max Allan Collins and illustrated by comic-book artist
Richard Piers Rayner ("Swamp Thing"), and read it in one sitting.
("Graphic novels" use comic-book storytelling for longer, and
hopefully more substantial, stories than traditional comic
books.)
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C |
** |
+1-2|
Adults
The first hour works quite a bit better than the second hour,
in part because there is a second hour. The setup: When
CIA agent Kevin Pope (Rock) is murdered in the middle of an
important undercover operation involving the black-market sale of
a miniature thermonuclear device, Pope’s CIA mentor Gaylord Oakes
(Hopkins) must convince the sellers that Pope (or rather his
undercover persona) is still alive. To do this, Oakes must turn
to — you guessed it — Pope’s long-lost twin brother.
Read More >
A- |
***½ |
+1-1|
Adults
Like the memory-impaired antihero of
Memento, the protagonist of Doug Liman’s
The Bourne Identity (and a trilogy of Robert Ludlum novels before that) has no choice but to trust himself even though he can’t be sure he’s a trustworthy individual. Perhaps his honorable aspirations themselves are a good sign. Certainly the amazing abilities and instincts that suddenly surface when needed are clues to who and what he is. Jason may not know much, but he’s pretty sure he’s something out of the ordinary.
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B- |
*** |
+2-2|
Adults
Despite being more of the "Yo" than "Ya" persuasion, I think
I’m pretty receptive toward what are commonly called "chick
flicks." After all, my wife and I enjoy the same "guy movies";
why shouldn’t we enjoy the same romances and other
female-targeted films?
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B- |
*** |
-2|
Adults*
Though constructed as an action-oriented thriller, the film’s
centerpiece is a wrenching glimpse of a scenario that may be in
our nation’s future, depicted in a way that’s neither
sensationalized nor minimized.
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B+ |
***½ |
+1|
Adults
Daylight floods Dormer’s life, relentless, ubiquitous — like
the penetrating glare of the ongoing Internal Affairs probe back
in LA, where Dormer may or may not have something to hide. Like
the searching gaze of Alaskan local cop Ellie Burr (Hilary Swank)
as she investigates Dormer’s account of a second killing that
occurs when an attempt to catch the killer goes tragically awry.
Like "the eye of God that will not blink," as Roger Ebert
describes the Arctic Circle’s midnight sun in his review of the
original film.
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D+ |
** |
-1|
Kids & Up
Take a politically correct morality play about Evil White Imperialists versus Noble Oppressed Minorities Living in Harmony with Nature, dress it up as entertaining family fare with cute animal sidekicks for comic relief and catchy sing-along tunes, and you’ve got one of the cartoons of the late Disney renaissance. Now take away the comic relief and cute animal sidekicks, replace the catchy sing-along tunes with whiny, forgettable Bryan Adams rock anthems, and you’ve got DreamWorks’
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, the story of an indomitable horse’s heroic resistance to domestication.
Read More >
D |
***½ |
-3|
Adults*
This is not a thought Tom takes to heart. Nor is it one he
struggles with, or indeed ever thinks about again. The quest for
revenge is at the heart of The Salton Sea, and although in
this one scene the film fleetingly acknowledges the possibility
of an alternative to bitterness and hatred, it’s not in the
context of any larger interest in or exploration of the moral
issues.
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A |
**** |
+0|
Adults
The story is said to be set in 19th-century China, but its
roots are older, reaching for a mythic age of larger-than-life
heroes and superhuman derring-do. Heroes with paranormal
abilities were also a theme of the recent
Unbreakable; but
Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon has what was lacking in Unbreakable: a sense of wonder, of
exhilaration, of mystery and beauty and hope.
Read More >
A |
**** |
+1-1|
Kids & Up*
Silent films were already old-fashioned and out of vogue in 1936 when Charlie Chaplin completed his last silent feature film,
Modern Times, almost ten years after the sound revolution began with
The Jazz Singer. A silent film consciously made for the sound era,
Modern Times is a comic masterpiece that remains approachable today even for movie lovers raised on computer imaging and surround sound.
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C- |
** |
-2|
Adults
Only Jim Caviezel (The Count of Monte
Cristo; Frequency)
brings anything new to the table, displaying even more range and
subtlety than in his recent starring turn in The Count of
Monte Cristo. Other than his performance, High Crimes
holds few surprises.
Read More >
A- |
*** |
+4|
Teens & Up*
The first feature film from the Paulist Fathers’ moviemaking
division, John Duigan’s
Romero tells the true story of
Latin America’s best-known and most revered modern martyr, Oscar
Arnulfo Romero y Goldamez, a man whom John Paul II described as a
"zealous pastor who gave his life for his flock," and at whose
tomb in San Salvador Pope John Paul II has prayed when visiting El
Salvador.
Read More >
A- |
***½ |
+0|
Teens & Up*
This is a world in which characters are not larger-than-life cardboard cutouts, but human beings with affecting problems, motives, conflicts, and interests; in which opposing ideas are at least as important as clashing super-powers or martial-arts moves; in which super-powers and special abilities are more than mere arbitrary plot shortcuts or empty pretexts for colorful special effects, but are treated thoughtfully as serious story elements with logical consequences in immediate events and also wider social implications.
Read More >
D |
** |
-2|
Adults
Meet Pete (Ed Burns). He’s a cameraman who dresses and
behaves in slacker fashion, drinks beer on the job, sleeps around, and
says rude things to Lanie. This means he’s an alright guy who Does Know
How to Have Fun.
Read More >
D |
**½ |
+1-3|
Adults*
It’s not hard to play connect-the-dots and pair off likable characters with one another. It’s harder to put them in a story that’s worthwhile. This is a film without conviction, about a town full of people with problems without depth, aided by a guru without soul. Mumford is a fraud. Take that in whatever sense you like.
Read More >
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