Movie Review Raising Helen

Raising Helen (2004) 

Directed by Garry Marshall

Written by Jack Amiel, Michael Begler

Starring Kate Hudson, John Corbett, Joan Cusack, Hayden Panattiere, Spencer Breslin, Helen Mirren

Release Date May 28th, 2004

Published May 30th, 2004 

Ever since I was a kid, there was one thing that my mother and I had in common and that was a love for movies. Though our tastes are very different, occasionally my mom would surprise me. She loves Days of Heaven and Sleepless In Seattle, she loves La Dolce Vita and Grease, all of which are in her video collection. Her one abiding love however is cheeseball romantic comedies. Anything of the Hanks-Ryan canon, Julia Roberts is a goddess, but only romantic Julia, preferably teamed with Richard Gere.

I bring this up because on Mother's Day my mother joined me for one of those cheeseball romantic comedies she so dearly loves, Garry Marshall's new film Raising Helen. While I sat there in my cynical, cold-hearted shell completely unmoved by Marshall's greeting card sentimentality, my mother laughed and cried as if on cue from the film to do so. It's an example that any film critic needs to hear that certain movies play to certain audiences. That doesn't make a movie good but it should give you something to think about before launching into another cynical diatribe about the death of film. I might have walked away from this film ready to write such a review had my mom not been there.

In typical romantic comedy fashion, Helen Harris (Kate Hudson) has a fabulous job, fabulous friends and endless amounts of disposable income for her fabulous clothes and apartment. This all changes when Helen's older sister Lindsey and her husband are killed in a car crash leaving behind three children. Naturally, Helen assumes that her other sister Jenny (Joan Cusack), already a wife and mother, will take in Lindsey's kids but Lindsey has a surprise for them both. In what many would consider bad judgment, Lindsey has left the kids, Audrey, 14 (Hayden Panettiere), Henry, 10 (Spencer Breslin) and Sarah, 5 (Abigail Breslin) to Helen.

Helen's life of fashion shows and nightclubs is thrown out of whack. Soon her trendy apartment is gone in favor of a not-so-posh Brooklyn apartment. Her job working at a fashion agency for the criminally underused Helen Mirren in a throwaway role as Helen's boss, is gone because her kids destroy a fashion show. On the bright side, Helen has found the kids a good school. A Lutheran high school where the principal is the very handsome Pastor Dan (John Corbett).

From my perspective this obvious material moves slowly towards its obvious conclusions with a little humor and plenty of contrived melodrama. Sitcom level humor permeates every corner of the film that isn't taken up with “very special episode” style theatrics. However, for every cynical hard-hearted comment from me, my mom laughed and cried. Mom was under the film’s spell from moment one and remained there until the very end.

The one part of the film that we both could agree upon were the actors who at times when not being manipulated by the plot, actually are very good. Kate Hudson deserves a better vehicle for her talents than the tired romances she seems trapped in at the moment. The radiance and life force that made Almost Famous so memorable still shines through, slightly dimmed because the material is not nearly as engaging as she is.

The supporting cast is also very good. Joan Cusack may be the most reliable character actresses in all of Hollywood. John Corbett backs up his handsome face with great wit and self-deprecating manner. The film actually gets a little better in the scenes when it's only Hudson and Corbett together, these two have terrific chemistry. The child actors are…well, they are child actors and in movies like these, they are placeholders for the plot.

Ask me how I feel about Raising Helen and I'll tell you that Garry Marshall's affinity for greeting card level emotions is as grating as fingernails on a chalkboard. Raising Helen is another assembly line Hollywood film that had a poster before it had a script. However, my Mom would tell you that Raising Helen is a sweet, funny, family movie that will make you laugh and cry and walk out with a smile on your face and a little choked up. Mom would give Raising Helen 10 out of 10. I wish I could be as kind.

Movie Review: Wimbledon

Wimbledon (2004) 

Directed by Richard Loncraine

Written by Adam Brooks, Jennifer Flackett, Mark Levin

Starring Paul Bettany, Kirsten Dunst, Sam Neill, Jon Favreau

Release Date September 17th, 2004

Published September 16th, 2004

With what I have written in the past about my disdain for the clichés of sports movie and of the modern romantic comedy, you could sense that a movie like Wimbledon would be a special sort of torture. Simply take the worst of both genres and combine them and ugh. However Wimbledon is the creation of Working Title Films, a company that has discovered it's own unique formula for romantic comedies that really works.

Working Title is the company that made Hugh Grant a star in Four Weddings and A Funeral and Notting Hill and delivered last year’s wonderful romantic ensemble Love Actually. It must be a British thing. There is something about Working Title's approach to romantic comedy that usually works. It works in Wimbledon albeit not as well as it has in the past.

Paul Bettany stars as over-the-hill (32-years-old) tennis star Peter Colt. Peter is playing Wimbledon for the final time in his fifteen-year career. In fact, Wimbledon will be his final tournament period, Peter is retiring to be the club pro at a posh resort. He only hopes not to embarrass himself and just maybe win one last match before he quits.

Before he steps on the court he has the pleasure of meeting a beautiful young American tennis star named Lizzie Bradbury. The two meet in a cute way when Peter accidentally gets the key to her hotel room and walks in while she is in the shower. From there, the two start bumping into each other and soon its a little romance, under the radar of course, the British press can be murder.

Complicating things further is Lizzie's overbearing father (Sam Neill) who warns Peter not to interfere with Lizzie's concentration. That is a subtle way of saying stay away from my daughter, something Peter just can't do. Peter especially can't stay away from Lizzie because after meeting her, he begins to play well and wins and wins again. Soon people are talking about him again and he has a shot at going all the way.

Naturally, since this is a romantic comedy you know that there will be some artificial roadblock thrown in front of the lovebirds to separate them until the big finish. This contrivance is usually where the Working Title formula separates itself from other romantic comedies but this time they fail a little. The contrivance is less than believable this time. It's saved only by Bettany who comes through in the film’s final reel to save the movie from the typical pitfalls of the romantic comedy.

In a role that many will recognize as one Hugh Grant turned down, Paul Bettany becomes a star in his own right. Not quite as charismatic as his Chaucer from A Knight's Tale, his Peter Colt is charismatic but subdued. He is weary and sees only dreariness in the near future. That is until he meets Lizzie who opens his eyes to an entirely new and brighter future. At first, the relationship is ambiguous as to whether we have a love match or superstition. Are Peter and Lizzie in love or do they get together because they play well after being together. Bettany plays the ambiguity well but plays the love and devotion even better as the film progresses.

For her part Kirsten Dunst does well to put over Bettany's starring role. She seems to act as a way for Bettany's character to get to the next big scene. It's as if she is a supporting character rather than a lead and that works surprisingly well. Especially well because of how poorly written Lizzie's backstory is written. She's playing her first Wimbledon and is one of the top players in the world but how old is she? Most champions of her ilk are 18 or 19, Lizzie seems older. This maybe a sticking point for tennis fans only.

I happen to love watching tennis. I have vivid memories of Boris Becker's first Wimbledon victory, of Jimmy Connors at the U.S. Open and Pete Sampras failing to win the French Open for so many years. My love of tennis makes this film so much more pleasurable because Paul Bettany is a terrific tennis player. Much praise must be given to technical advisor and former player Pat Cash for developing Bettany into a competent enough player that his scenes look believable.

The film’s final tennis match is spectacularly well realized, aside from the unnecessary commentary by tennis legends John McEnroe and Chris Evert. Bettany's play is excellent and director Richard Loncraine embellishes it with terrific camerawork and a plot device that let's us inside Peter Colt's head, a weary stream of conscience that is funny and endearing.

I must say what a pleasant surprise it is to watch a romantic comedy and a sports movie that is not absolute torture. Wimbledon may not avoid the cliches of it's combined genres but at the very least it embellishes them enough to make it interesting. Paul Bettany is the film’s real find and the element that lifts Wimbledon above it's many cliches and contrivances. This could be a star making and Hugh Grant had best start looking in his rearview mirror for Paul Bettany who could be scooping up a few of those roles that used to go right to him.

Movie Review Suspect Zero

Suspect Zero (2004) 

Directed by E Elias Merhige

Written by Zak Penn, Billy Ray 

Starring Aaron Eckhardt, Ben Kingsley, Carrie Ann Moss

Release Date August 27th, 2004

Published August 26th, 2004

“Remote viewing” is something fans of late night radio host Art Bell are very familiar with. The CIA is rumored to have used remote viewing to locate dangerous criminals until the concept was found unreliable. Remote viewing is essentially a psychic phenomenon. Viewers claim to be able to find people using only their mind, describing what they see by drawing a picture with their eyes closed.

While remote viewing has been debunked, see Penn & Teller's brilliant "Bullshit" series, it does make an interesting plot for a movie. Suspect Zero, starring Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley, makes good use of it as a plot point but a weak performance from Eckhart is the film’s undoing.

Eckhardt stars as FBI agent Thomas Mackelway, recently returned to duty after a suspension. Mackelway had once been a top guy in the bustling Dallas office but now has been busted down to the relatively mundane Albuquerque office. As he's settling in to what he thinks will be a pretty dull gig he gets a big case, a murder that places the body directly on the New Mexico-Texas border.

Because the body is on the border, it is a federal investigation. The murder has the telltale signs of a serial killer. Numerous markings, a strange symbol (a zero with a line through it), and the victims eyelids have been cut off. The capper though is that, like most movie serial killers, the killer has specifically chosen Mackelway to be his opponent in a murderous game of cat and mouse.

Ah, but this film is a little more complex than other films of its genre. Our killer, Benjamin O'Ryan (Kingsley) has chosen his victims because they are serial killers. One of the victims happens to be the reason why Mackelway just got off suspension, he attacked the man and thus he got off on a technicality until O'Ryan came along and killed him. The manipulation here is pretty good; you sympathize with O'Ryan because he is killing bad guys.

O'Ryan tracks the killers through remote viewing, a skill he developed as an agent of the FBI. O'Ryan believes that Mackelway may have the gift as well. O'Ryan wants Mackelway to help him track down a killer he calls suspect zero, a killer who has killed indiscriminately across the entire country with no serial pattern. This suspect zero, O'Ryan believes, may be responsible for most of the unsolved murders in the country.

The film was directed by E. Elias Merhige, whose Shadow Of The Vampire was a quiet success back in 2000. Here his direction lacks the precision of Shadow. He falls way too in love with moving his camera, neglecting at times to secure it before moving it on a dolly, thus the camera shakes to distraction. Merhige uses way too many super tight close-ups, so close you can count nose hairs. Thankfully, toward the end of the film, Merhige's direction becomes tighter and the final 20 minutes get real good.

The most glaring problem of the film is star Aaron Eckhardt whose performance is uncertain and imprecise. It may be more the fault of Zak Penn's script for underwriting the character but clearly the character is off balance the entire film. The subplot about Mackelway possibly having the gift of remote viewing is never resolved though he spends a good deal of energy selling the pain of the migraines and visions that accompany the gift.

Also, hasn't this guy ever heard of the Internet? How is there not one computer in the entire FBI office? There is also a throwaway romantic plot with a former girlfriend and partner played by Carrie Ann Moss that just seems rote and unnecessary.

Who can blame Zak Penn for underwriting Eckhart's character when Ben Kingsley's O'Ryan is such a great part to write for? Kingsley is becoming known for strong performances in weak films, even earning an Oscar nomination for the over-hyped Sexy Beast. He's even not horrible in Thunderbirds where his righteous overacting is at least worth a few chuckles. Here he is riveting and more than believable as a man who has seen too many horrible things.

There is something so seedy and yet appealing about vigilante justice. You can't say it's okay to kill people but when O'Ryan comes upon a serial rapist, beats the hell out of him and kills him, you can't help but pause for a moment and think it's not so bad. I always love movies that test the limits of my morality, and sense of right and wrong and Suspect Zero does that.

I wish I could give Suspect Zero a full recommendation but that is impossible when the lead character just doesn't work. On the strength of Ben Kingsley's performance and the very good final reel, I can give Suspect Zero a partial recommendation.

Movie Review: Walking Tall

Walking Tall (2004) 

Directed by Kevin Bray 

Written by David Klass, Channing Gibson, David Levien, Brian Koppelman

Starring Dwayne The Rock Johnson, Johnny Knoxville, Neal McDonaugh, Kristen Wilson 

Release Date April 2nd, 2004 

Published April 3rd, 2004 

It's an unspoken truth amongst WWE fans that the greatest star in the sport, the People’s champ, The Rock, is finished with the wrestling biz. The most electrifying man in sports entertainment is taking a route that no wrestler has taken before, full acceptance in the world outside of wrestling.

Oh sure, Hulk Hogan became a pop culture icon in the eighties but realistically Hogan never had the mainstream acceptance the Rock is currently receiving. Whereas Hogan was a cartoon and a sideshow attraction, Rock is a full on phenomenon amongst Hollywood producers looking to replace their aging action heroes. His latest action vehicle is a remake of the hillbilly ass kicking revenge fantasy Walking Tall.

Army vet Chris Vaughn (Rock) is returning to the small Oregon town where he grew after 8 years in the Special Forces. Just off the harbor transport Chris walks into a town he no longer recognizes. There are porn shops where the hardware store used to be. A sleazy casino has taken over as the town's main source of income, replacing the lumber mill where Chris's father had worked.

The biggest change of all however is the drugs. As Chris walks through town he sees a mother leaving children unattended while she buys drugs and teenagers discreetly exchanging cash and drugs on each street corner. Chris is shocked and appalled and 

Things have changed even for Chris's old friends. Chris's best friend Ray (Johnny Knoxville) has recently kicked a serious drug problem. Another close friend, Jay (Neil McDonough), always a spoiled rich boy, is the guy who bought and shut down the mill and now runs the eyesore casino. After Chris's nephew ODs on crystal meth, it also becomes clear that Jay is running the local drug trade. Ray wants to make it up to Chris, especially after his goons beat Chris nearly to death, by bringing him in to work in the casino. When Chris says no it begins a war for the soul of the town.

The original Walking Tall from 1974 featured Joe Don Baker and was the supposedly true story of small town sheriff Buford Pusser who fought lawbreakers in his little redneck town armed only with a two by four. In this "reimagining", if I may use our lamest new buzzword, the hero’s name has changed but the mission is the same and so is the weapon. Like a backwoods Dirty Harry, the hero of Walking Tall delivers the kind of vigilante justice that might not be politically correct but is vicariously thrilling.

The Rock is a much more physically intimidating presence than Joe Don Baker and thankfully not saddled with the name Buford. He has the kind of charisma and charm of which Joe Don could never even dream of having. This is a slightly more subdued Rock than the comic performance of last year’s The Rundown but it is just as effective. It’s his appealing personality that makes up for his lack of dramatic weight.

Rock is aided greatly by Johnny Knoxville who can be quite annoying but here finds a good comic sidekick vibe that never gets in the way of The Rock's ass kicking.

A fellow critic and I exchanged emails recently comparing Walking Tall to the 80's redneck fighting movie Roadhouse and the comparison is a fair one. Both films take place in an alternate reality where all cops are crooks, where bullets never hit anyone important, where a fair fight is at least three on one and our hero is infallible. The difference between the films is that The Rock looks more than credible beating on two or even three guys at once while Patrick Swayze was about as intimidating as a guy with a dance background could ever be.

There is something about vigilante justice that many of us find appealing. Justice where little things like civil rights and lawyers never get in the way of the bad guy getting what he has coming to him. Having that justice dealt out by a guy as appealing and charismatic as the Rock is a bonus. This guy is a star and while his acting range is limited to monosyllabic action roles, he makes the most of each those roles and I can't wait to see him in another one.

Movie Review Hellboy

Hellboy (2004) 

Directed by Guillermo Del Toro 

Written by Guillermo Del Toro 

Starring Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, David Hyde Pierce, Doug Jones, Karl Roden, Rupert Evans

Release Date April 2nd, 2004

Release Date April 1st, 2004 

What Director Guillermo Del Toro went through to realize his vision of the comic book Hellboy on the big screen is the textbook definition of perseverance. Del Toro survived dozens of pitch meetings, copious amounts of idiotic studio notes about everything from “Why is Hellboy red?” to “Can he have a hellmobile?” to the biggest battle over the casting of Hellboy himself. From day one, Del Toro wanted Ron Perlman. Various studios kept suggesting The Rock, Vin Diesel or even Schwarzenegger (pre-Governator).

If only the vision that Del Toro finally realized was as interesting as the battle to realize it.

Ron Perlman is Hellboy, born in the fires of hell and brought to Earth via a portal opened by the Nazis in 1944. You see, Hitler was a devout occultist and hoped to use a portal created by the legendary Russian bad guy Rasputin (Karl Roden) to unleash the 7 chaos of blah blah whatever. Rasputin was interrupted in his attempt to destroy the world by a group of US Army soldiers, led by President Roosevelt's top advisor on paranormal activity, Professor Broom (John Hurt). The interruption prevented the end of the world and killed Rasputin, sort of. One thing did survive and that was Hellboy.

Sixty years later, Dr. Broom has raised Hellboy as his son and the two fight evil as part of a secret FBI division dedicated to the paranormal. With the help of other freaks like the psychic fish-man Abe Sapien (Doug Jones with the voice of David Hyde Pierce) and the pyro-kinetic Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), Hellboy fights evil. Well at first Liz isn't much help, unable to control her fire making capability, she has left the group and is trying to forget her past. Hellboy, nursing a serious crush on Liz, won't let her forget.

The group’s newest member is just a regular guy, Agent John Myers (Rupert Evans). His assignment is to take over Dr. Broom's daily assignment of attempting to cover Hellboy's huge tracks. The media has been hounding FBI Director Tom Manning (Jeffrey Tambor) about Hellboy for years. Still, the FBI always denies his existence with graceful dodges. That task is complicated by Hellboy's constant escapes to retrieve beer, cigars and to see Liz. It's Myers' job to keep Hellboy in line.

When Rasputin rises from the grave, with the help of his henchwoman, an immortal named Ilsa (Biddy Hodson) and a surgery freak dome-wearing Nazi, he brings with him a group of squid-like dogs that feed on human flesh and multiply when killed. The squids are meant to occupy and capture Hellboy and Liz for some convoluted end-of-the-world scheme. If you think my plot description is complicated, see the film and try to figure it out for yourself.

What I liked about Hellboy is Ron Perlman. Perlman plays Hellboy like your average world-weary cop who happens to be seven foot tall and from Hell. Sadly resigned to his fate Hellboy sets about each task in front of him as if this were just another average day. Perlman gives Hellboy humor and depth with the way he delivers his lines and the way he regards the camera and the other actors. Hellboy is the one and only fully fleshed out character in the film.

The rest of the cast is a wash, especially Rupert Evans as Agent Myers. Evans is the first actor I have seen who makes Ben Chaplin look animated. His blank stare and damsel in distress poses should be played for laughs but sadly it's obvious he was playing it all straight. The character of Myers is given a subplot as a romantic rival to Hellboy for Liz Sherman, but it's never a fair fight. As for Selma Blair, one of my absolute favorite actresses, she is sadly on autopilot in this film. She can conjure fire but her eyes never show any flame of interest in the story.

Oddly, the one interesting character aside from Hellboy is the Nazi in the helmet who keeps himself alive through gruesome means. That character is uncredited on IMDB so I know neither the character or the actor’s name, but he was pretty good. He’s a better villain than Karl Roden's Rasputin who is basically Alan Rickman minus charisma.

I will say this for director Guillermo Del Toro, his eye for special effects, makeup and CGI is spectacular. The CGI in Hellboy is some of the best outside of George Lucas and Star Wars. Seamlessly integrated with the actors, very little of the digital shadowing that haunts so much of the CGI effects employed in this type of picture.

If as much work had been put into creating a coherent story as was put into the incredible effects, then Hellboy could have been spectacular. As it is, it's worth seeing for Perlman and the work of Del Toro's special effects, makeup and graphics teams.

Movie Review Never Die Alone

Never Die Alone (2004) 

Directed by Ernest Dickerson 

Written by James Gibson

Starring DMX, David Arquette, Michael Ealy, Clifton Powell 

Release Date March 26th, 2004

Published March 25th, 2004 

For rapper DMX, Hollywood has been difficult to navigate. Stuck with B-movie plots and co-stars (Steven Seagal, Jet Li), DMX has managed to show raw potential but little else. The most notable things about his film career thus far are his multi-platinum soundtrack albums that have been better than the films they accompany. Now, however, teamed with director Ernest Dickerson in Never Die Alone, DMX gets an opportunity to realize some of that raw potential.

DMX stars as King David, a bad-ass drug dealer who has returned to New York to settle old debts and reestablish his home. After ten years on the West Coast rolling up huge amounts of cash selling heroin to starlets, David has more than enough cash to pay off New York's top drug dealer Mr. Moon (Clifton Powell). The deal is he will give the money to Moon's top thug Mike (Michael Ealy from Barbershop) and once Moon has the cash, King is free.

Young Mike however, has other plans. Mike and the King have a history that King doesn't know about. A dangerous secret leads to Mike stabbing King. As Mike makes his escape, a writer named Paul (David Arquette) witnesses the stabbing and runs to the aid of King. As Paul drives King to the hospital, the dying man pledges all of his possessions to Paul with the caveat that Paul uses them to locate King's son. At the hospital King dies and Paul is left to put the pieces of King's life back together with the audio tapes King left behind in a hollowed out bible.

It's convenient that Paul happens to be a writer living in the King's old neighborhood for research on a gritty crime novel. Not many writers are lucky enough to have a gritty urban crime story fall into their lap like that. Paul is merely a convenient device through which to tell King's cold, hard, thug story. The King's tapes take us back to when he left for LA and eventually why he ran, which sets up the main plot of the film.

The scenes in LA are a frightening examination of the kind of sociopath it takes to be a cold hard killer. King uses the drugs and money he lifted off of Moon to wine and dine a Hollywood actress (Jennifer Sky), willing to front drugs to her TV co-stars and a young med student (Reagan Gomez-Preston). King met the college girl at her job as a waitress and with the cool cunning of a snake he gets into her bed and his drugs into her veins. Watching the way King slowly deconstructs the once promising student reminded me of a moment from the movie Fight Club where Edward Norton maims Jared Leto in a fight and coolly explains that he felt like destroying something beautiful.

Many critics are faulting Director Ernest Dickerson's choice of visual style. Dickerson, the former cinematographer for Spike Lee, abuses his film stock with scratches and washed out color to give the film a classic seventies Blaxploitation look. The look evokes that early seventies feel but the story is a modern hard edged urban noir in the vein of Sugar Hill or New Jack City. All that is missing is a Wesley Snipes cameo to pass the torch of urban menace to DMX.

That said there is more than one way to look at King's portrayal. On the one hand, this is an unglamorous end that teaches, if you live hard you die hard. On the other hand, DMX's powerful, charismatic cool could earn cult status among those predisposed to admire such things. DMX is powerful, his tattooed, muscled presence and serial killer mentality is as intimidating as a horror film villain should be. His charm and charisma is so enticing you would admire him if the film didn't demonstrate what a bastard he really is. This is DMX's best performance thus far though too many more roles like it will lead to typecasting. For now though DMX wears the hardcore gangster persona like a perfectly fit Italian suit and that comfort is part of his charm.

For young Michael Ealy, Never Die Alone is a chance to establish some dramatic cache to match his well liked comic performance in Barbershop and he does a terrific job. Ealy's heartfelt sadness and tortured existence is the perfect counterbalance to DMX's cold, sociopathic, and charismatic performance. Though the film’s twist near the end calls logic into question, Ealy sells it well and we accept it because he does. David Arquette is far less successful in his role as plot device. Arquette's Paul is entirely a function of the plot and never an interesting participant.

Ernest Dickerson has yet to make the masterpiece that I'm sure his former protégé Spike Lee is expecting him to make. But, Never Die Alone is a step in the right direction. Expect Dickerson to do something spectacular very soon. For now, Never Die Alone is a terrific genre piece, a gritty urban drama worthy of comparison with other great gangster films.

Movie Review Secret Window

Secret Window (2004) 

Directed by David Koepp 

Written by David Koepp 

Starring Johnny Depp, John Turturro, Maria Bello, Charles S. Dutton, Timothy Hutton 

Release Date March 12th, 2004 

Published March 11th, 2004

In an interview with Time Magazine, Secret Window writer-director David Koepp wondered aloud why Johnny Depp had chosen to star in his movie. He was grateful but said it's hard to be certain what motivates Depp, it's possible he just wanted to play a guy named Mort. That’s a statement that perfectly captures Depp's unique approach to Hollywood. An actor who does things his own unique way, Depp makes Secret Window a strange and unique Hollywood thriller.

Depp is Mort Rainey, a successful mystery writer whose life is upended when he finds his wife in bed with another man. Cut to six months later and Mort is living in a cabin on a lake in some nondescript small town. The solitude should help him working on his next novel but it's more helpful in providing time for his long naps and general malaise.

The solitude is interrupted by a menacing stranger named John Shooter (John Turturro), an oddball farmer from Mississippi who claims that Mort stole one of his stories. Shooter's story is definitely similar to one Mort wrote years earlier called Secret Window, but Mort is sure he can prove the story is his own. Shooter meanwhile sets about making Mort miserable, including killing his dog and threatening Mort's ex-wife Amy (Maria Bello).

Eventually Mort figures out that there is far more to this story than mere plagiarism and he begins to suspect his wife's new boyfriend, Ted (Timothy Hutton), may have put Shooter up to it. In fear, Mort hires an ex-police officer (Charles S. Dutton) to watch his back. When the cop turns up dead, Mort is on his own in the scary old cabin.

It's a very conventional thriller setup that sounds predictable but David Koepp, the writer of Panic Room, and the director of the underrated Kevin Bacon thriller Stir Of Echoes, has something up his sleeve. Employing camera moves he must have lifted from working with David Fincher, Koepp sails his camera around the tiny cabin in ways that some might call showy but I would say are just cool. He's helped greatly by a classic Philip Glass score and most of all…

…by his star Johnny Depp.

What Johnny Depp does in Secret Window is difficult to describe. It's so delightfully odd and yet perfectly sensible that it defies description. Mort spends the first third of the film essentially in solitude, napping and laying about, talking to his dog or to himself. There is one fascinating inner monologue, darkly humorous, witty, angry and frustrated. Watch the way he reacts while talking to his wife on the phone.

In some scenes you can see that Depp is finding actorly motivation where none is called for, such as a scene where he hides his cigarette from his cleaning lady. There is no reason why Mort would hide his smoking except that Depp assumed that the character would do that. In another scene, Depp and Charles Dutton exchange dialogue while hitting a chess clock as if marking who's turn it is to talk. It's the kind of character shorthand that most writers and actors neglect.

It's as if while the supporting cast was making a typical Hollywood thriller, Johnny Depp was jamming to some totally different vibe. Depp is riffing like a jazz combo and the film is forced to bounce along to his beat. It's safe to say that much of what Depp does in the film wasn't in the original script and certainly not in the Stephen King novella on which the film is based. That it works is a testament to his considerable skills.

Movie Review Spartan

Spartan (2004) 

Directed by David Mamet 

Written by David Mamet 

Starring Val Kilmer, Derek Luke, William H. Macy, Ed O'Neill, Kristen Bell 

Release Date March 12th, 2004 

Published March 15th, 2004 

"Where's the girl?"

A line tersely delivered, often through the gritted teeth of aggravated men. This is the writing of David Mamet in his newest incarnation, the action thriller Spartan. Minimalist, to the point, and exciting when delivered by actors with conviction, Mamet's writing is the highlight of all of his films (State and Main, The Spanish Prisoner, House of Games) and when teamed with a capable cast it's sublime in it's simplicity, smarts and humor. Spartan is the latest example of Mamet at his best.

Val Kilmer stars as John Scott, some sort of secret agent though I'm at a loss to figure out who he works for exactly. Scott is first seen on a military training mission with a pair of recruits (Derek Luke and Tia Texada) acting out some exercise that is important to Scott but apparently not the audience. Once the exercise is over, Scott gets a phone call that takes him into the film’s real plot.

Scott is called in to join a task force to search for the daughter of the President, (Kristen Bell). The first daughter was kidnapped, the who and the what is a twist-laden trip into typical thriller territory except smarter and more interesting because David Mamet doesn't know how to do anything typical. First rate dialogue, whip smart plot turns, and a terrific cast make Spartan far better than the usual thriller fare.

In what some are calling a comeback performance, Val Kilmer shines, biting into Mamet's dialogue with the necessary sharpness and clarity. Anyone who calls this a comeback obviously missed his brilliant work in 2002's The Salton Sea, but then sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who ever saw that one. Scott is a rare part for Kilmer's recent outings, it's his first hero role since The Saint.

For Mamet, Spartan seems like an attempt to fit his rather esoteric style into a mainstream film. It's a surprisingly good fit. I have for years belabored the idea that even the most clichéd retread plot can be made well if written, acted and directed with intelligence and the commitment not to fall into the familiar rhythm. Spartan is a mainstream thriller with Mamet's brains in place of the usual thickheaded clichés and that works for me.

I'm tempted to compare Mamet to John Sayles in that both are the preeminent writers of my mind. However, Sayles is more of an artist than Mamet. Where Mamet has a longing for mainstream acceptance, Sayles has a more secular point of view. Sayles isn't interested in appealing to anyone other than himself, Mamet wants to appeal to the populace. It's a dangerous gamble because it can cause a director to compromise vision for demographic.

Thankfully Mamet isn't so desperate as to compromise, at least not in a film he directs himself. His writing assignments for others are questionable. Spartan is not a compromise but an uneasy entreaty into mainstream fare. Let's hope that its box office returns don't lead to future compromise.

Movie Review Hidalgo

Hidalgo (2004) 

Directed by Joe Johnston

Written by Daniel Fusco

Starring Viggo Mortensen, Omar Sharif, C. Thomas Howell 

Release Date March 5th, 2004 

Published March 4th, 2004 

There is a much-abused phrase in Hollywood, you've seen it more than you can even remember. Disney abuses it more than any other studio by far. That phrase is "Based On A True Story.”

Hollywood loves this term because it can lend an air of credibility to a story that is rather blatantly dull or stupid. More often than not the basis of a true story is applied when a story revolves around a person that producers can only prove lived at some point in human history. The rest is a mishmash of hackneyed Hollywood cliché and directorial trickery.

Case in point the latest mediocre Disney "true story" Hidalgo starring Viggo Mortensen.

According to legend recorded by Frank Hopkins himself, Frank Hopkins and his horse Hidalgo raced and won all of the most dangerous and prestigious long distance races in the world. As we meet Frank in the movie, he is winning another race while humiliating a proper English gent played by C. Thomas Howell in an embarrassingly, hammy cameo. Hopkins has made a fortune off not only distance races but also being the fastest deliveryman in the West.

It is while delivering orders to a US military outfit that Hopkins witnesses the brutal massacre of Indians at the Battle of Wounded Knee. It was on the orders that Hopkins himself delivered that the massacre took place and the guilt destroyed him, turning him into a raging, pathetic drunk. No longer a racer, Frank takes a gig with Wild Bill's traveling West show where he humiliates himself daily by falling off his horse.

It is then that Frank is challenged to go to the Arabian Desert and take part in the most dangerous distance race in history, the Ocean of Fire. A race across the Arabian lands, through three countries worth of desert, sandstorms, locusts and triple digit temperatures that could cook a man in his saddle. With prodding from Hidalgo, your typical Disney horse with human characteristics, Frank hops a boat and heads for the desert.

Obviously, this is one of those perfectly Disney-fied adventure plots with plenty of PG derring-do and exotic locations. Director Joe (Jumanji) Johnston delivers on every mediocre cliché you expect from an adventure story of this type. This includes a powerful Arab sheik (Omar Sharif) PC'd up for mass consumption with just the right balance of cliched Arab savagery, religious tolerance and heroism. The sheik has your typically exotic daughter as a love interest for the heroic American and Johnston and screenwriter Joe Fusco even throw in an evil British chick as a symbol of Western imperialism. Oh, but don't forget, this is based on a "true story.”

I will say this for Johnston and cinematographer Shelly Johnson, they make Hidalgo look gorgeous. The racing scenes provide plenty of striking scenery that make up the most compelling moments. Of course, they can't be satisfied delivering just the compelling and interesting race so they interrupt it with a dull, predictable rescue scene when the sheik's daughter is captured by marauders.

In his first post-Aragorn outing, Viggo Mortensen initially shows some deadpan charm. Unfortunately, his best scenes are opposite C. Thomas Howell's hammy and hilarious cameo that can't help but make Mortensen look like gold. Mortensen's deadpan charm quickly turns dead and he's almost blown off the screen by his far more animated horse. Women will still find Mortensen's handsome, Old Spice commercial smile but I have to assume that when the film nears the two-hour mark eye candy must turn sour.

Overlong, cliched but pretty to look at, Hidalgo is a prototype Disney offering that we thought was in the past after last year’s terrifically fun Pirates of The Caribbean and Freaky Friday. Of course, mediocre crowd-pleasing is always easier than inventive and thus Hidalgo will find a nice comfortable spot in the Disney live action library next to Bicentennial Man and Armageddon.

Movie Review: Twisted

Twisted (2004) 

Directed by Phillip Kaufman

Written by Sarah Thorp 

Starring Andy Garcia, Samuel L. Jackson, Ashley Judd

Release Date February 27th, 2004

Published February 26th, 2004

I recently read a blind item in the trades about a producer who showed his new film, a thriller with A-list cast, to a group of friends. The producer was worried the film wasn't any good and hoped the friendly crowd could deliver some constructive notes. The crowd, including at least one professional critic, laughed derisively throughout the film. The suggestions the director was given about the film included dropping the film’s dramatic score and adding a voiceover that establishes the film as a parody rather than a thriller.

Now I'm not saying that that blind item referred to the new Ashley Judd serial killer movie Twisted, but being that the film is a laughably bad thriller with an A-list cast... Hmm…

Judd stars in Twisted as Jessica Shepherd, a newly promoted homicide cop. With help from her mentor and surrogate father, Lt. John Mills (Samuel L. Jackson), Shepherd moved up the ranks quickly but deservedly. As good as her life might seem Shepherd has issues that include heavy drinking and a penchant for one night stands with strangers. Her troubles likely stem from her father, a former cop who went on a killing spree just after Jessica was born. A killing spree that ended with her father taking his own life after killing her mother.

Jessica's first murder case is a real doozy, a serial killer whose signature is a cigarette burn on the victim’s hand. With her new partner Mike Delmarco (Andy Garcia), Jessica investigates a killer who happens to be murdering men that Jessica has slept with. Interestingly, on the nights that the murders happen, Jessica spends the night passed out after drinking. After the third or fourth time this happens, people begin to suspect Jessica is the killer.

Director Philip Kaufman is a pro who directed Quills, The Right Stuff, and The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Here all of the skill that he brought to those films is completely missing. In Twisted, he merely translates Sarah Thorp's weak script from paper to film. The script is an amalgam of serial killer clichés including, as Roger Ebert has dubbed it, the talking killer who reveals the evil plot, going on just long enough for the cops to arrive to arrest them.

There is also a twist, which I guess is required of a film called Twisted. Then again, the twist may be the only reason the film is called Twisted, nothing that happens in the film would lead you to calling the film by that name otherwise. Of course, they had to call it something and the titles Double Jeopardy, Kiss The Girls, and High Crimes were already taken.

When people complain that Hollywood has run out of original ideas, they can point to Twisted as the prime example of a film without an original one.

Movie Review Soul Plane

Soul Plane (2004) 

Directed by Jesse Terrero

Written by Chuck Wilson, Bo Zenga 

Starring Kevin Hart, Method Man, Snoop Dogg, Tom Arnold, Arielle Kebbel

Release Date May 28th, 2004 

Published May 27th, 2004 

Seeing as many films as I do, I can't tell you how many times a trailer has been better than the movie. That is most certainly the case with Soul Plane. It had a terrific trailer that evoked the best of the Airplane and Scary Movie series only to turn out even more unwatchable than the worst of the Naked Gun franchise.

Comedian Kevin Hart stars as Nashawn, a guy who had a really bad experience on an airplane ride. So bad that he was awarded a settlement so large he was able to start his own airline. NWA is Nashawn Wade Airlines (Niggas Wit Airplanes would have been funny but they didn't use it). It's the first airline aimed at African-Americans with all the stereotypical amenities. Airplanes with bouncing hydraulics, pimped colors and spinning hubcaps. The terminal is named for Malcolm X and has a fried chicken stand.

On the plane’s maiden voyage, Nashawn is joined by his cousin Muggsy (Method Man) who shows music videos in the plane, hosts a mile high nightclubn and runs cockfights in the baggage area. Muggsy also hires the pilot, Captain Mack (Snoop Dogg), whose fear of heights and proclivity for mind-altering mushrooms becomes a problem once the plane is in the air.

As for passengers, there is one white family on the plane, the Hunkee (pronounced Honky) family. Dad (Tom Arnold), Stepmom (Missi Pyle), son Billy (Ryan Pinkston) and daughter Heather (Arielle Kebbel). While Dad chases the kids around the plane, Billy gets a rap star makeover and Heather is seeking a boyfriend in the club. As for the stepmom, she is trying to find out if that legend about African-American men, you know the one, is true.

All of this sounds like it could be funny but in the hands of first time Director Jesse Terrero it's poorly executed. The script by Bo Zenga and Chuck Wilson feels like two completely different scripts combined to make one movie. One is a straight three act comedy with a linear story and subplots and the other is an outlandish Airplane-style sendup. Together they are a painfully misshapen unfunny collection of groan-inducing jokes crammed into a tremendously dull story of family togetherness and growing up. Huh?

I haven't seen Kevin Hart's standup act but it must be funnier than the many attempts to make him a mainstream star. Two failed sitcoms and now this horrendous movie, either Hart is not funny or he needs to fire his agent. Method Man on the other hand continues to impress me. His upcoming sitcom looks iffy but his role in How High and his limited work in this film shows a charismatic comic presence almost as funny as some of his raps as part of the Wu-Tang Clan.

It looked so funny in the trailer. But then how many times has that happened?

Movie Review Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed

Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed (2004) 

Directed by Brett Sullivan

Written by Megan Martin

Starring Tatiana Maslany, Emily Perkins

Release Date January 30th, 2004 

Published February 17th, 2004 

Why is it that so many crappy horror flicks get 2000+ screen rollouts while a number of very good horror films are sent straight to video? Films like House Of The Dead get major rollouts while brilliant horror films like May and the original Ginger Snaps were shuffled off to low-key video releases. This makes absolutely no sense and now with the release of Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed, we have another example of a brilliant horror film going to video as a number of bad movies crawl into theaters.

Brigitte (Emily Perkins) is back, having survived her sister Ginger’s (Katherine Isabelle) attack, which nearly killed her. Unfortunately, she too is now fighting the transformation. Using some kind of witch's brew, Brigitte is able to stave off her inner-werewolf. However, she has other problems, another werewolf is on her tail with thoughts of mating. As she dodges the werewolf she accidentally OD's on her potion and is mistaken for a junkie. This lands Brigitte in a drug clinic where, separated from her drugs, she can't fight the beginning transformations.

While in the clinic, she meets a strange girl named Ghost (Tatiana Maslany), who is in the clinic with her grandmother who had a curious accident. Ghost helps Brigitte escape and get her inner-werewolf under control. The girls escape to Ghost's family cabin where they make a last stand against the werewolf.

The setup is quick and easy to explain but there is so much more to Ginger Snaps 2 than its plot. The genius of Snaps is the subtle humor, the dark comic atmosphere and the serious horror film gore. These are some of the genre’s best blood-soaked horror scenes in a good long while. Director Brett Sullivan was the editor on the original Ginger Snaps and clearly he learned a lot while doing it. His touch and style perfectly evoke the first film without ever seeming like a direct copy.

The script by first time writer Megan Martin is whip smart, funny and scary and as played by the terrific cast it works as straight horror and ironic, hip dark comedy. There is a lot of subtext in the script about drug use and promiscuity and such but it's played with great wit and there are no lessons learned, or morals taught. Just a great horror comedy.

What really makes Ginger Snaps 2 work is the performance of Emily Perkins as Brigitte. For a horror film, she does a lot of emotion and a lot of real acting. This is no shrinking violet, Perkins really digs into this material and makes you believe every moment she's on screen that she is serious. Perkins is playing both straight horror and deft subtext and she does both very well. Tatiana Maslany as Ghost is equally effective in a far different role than Perkins. Maslany is playing the story on two different levels, as a scared kid and fascinated onlooker. To say anymore is to give away too much.

Fans of the original will be happy to hear that their beloved Katherine Isabelle is back as Ginger, though only in a cameo as a figment of Brigitte's imagination.

The only problem I have with Ginger Snaps 2 is its ending. The ending is surprising but it's not quite the ending audiences are hoping for. It functions as a setup for another sequel, which isn't exactly a bad thing given the high quality of the franchise thus far. Still, it’s a little too modern Hollywood for my taste. Ironically Ginger Snaps 2 was shot back to back with not a sequel but a prequel which will reunite Ginger and Brigitte in the 19th century.

Ginger Snaps 2 is yet another example of the ridiculousness of the Hollywood system. Large scale releases for House Of A Thousand Corpses or Cabin Fever infest theaters to lukewarm reactions but gems like Ginger Snaps languish on video store shelves. Rent it with the first Ginger Snaps and May the next time you see a major Hollywood studio unload some lame attempt at a horror film into your local multiplex.

Movie Review Freak Out

Freak Out (2004) 

Directed by Christian James

Written by Christian James 

Starring James Heathcote, Dan Palmer 

Release Date October 15th, 2004

Published April 11th, 2004 

In the tradition of low budget horror trash from Troma films comes the British import Freak Out, a gory horror parody that spills as much blood as your average horror films with twice the laughs. Unlike most horror films, these laughs are intentional and delivered by a terrific cast of first time actors working on a budget that only Kevin Smith and the Blair Witch guys could appreciate.

The story, such as it is, is about Merv (James Heathcote), a bored Londoner with a passion for horror films. His bedroom is festooned with horror posters and he makes daily trips top the local video store to claim every new and old horror title he can get his hands on. Merv knows all of the old horror tropes and hopes to one day direct his own real horror film.

Fate smiles on him and Merv gets his chance when he captures a real life escaped mental patient hiding in his shower. With the help of his best friend Onkey (Dan Palmer), Merv trains the gentle mental patient, who only wishes to become a killer at Merv’s behest, to become a serial killer straight out of one of his favorite movies.

It’s slow going at first since the killer is a vegetarian who is terrified of the sight of blood. His idea of a scary killer outfit is a potato sack over his head, a tennis racket and a tutu. With the help of Merv and Onkey, the killer adopts the name ‘The Looney” because he escaped the looney bin and begins to take to killing Merv and Onkey’s friends and neighbors.

This movie is wildly all over the place with humor that flies between Scary Movie-esque quips and puns and Troma-style over the top gore. There is also scatology to spare, especially in a wacky subplot about the killer’s obsession with Dallas star Larry Hagman.

Writer-Director Christian James and his cast clearly enjoyed every minute of this low budget production and that joy flies off the screen in torrents of fake blood and over the top humor. James also shows a very professional flair considering the film’s low budget. Freak Out is surprisingly well shot and edited. Troma has been in this business for more than 20 years and their venerable director Lloyd Kaufman has yet to direct a film that looks as good as Freak Out.

It’s a tough film to find, independently produced out of Britain, but if you can get your hands on a copy, do it. Freak Out is the perfect “get your friends together, drink beer, and laugh your ass off movie.”

Movie Review: Finding Neverland

Finding Neverland (2004) 

Directed by Marc Forster

Written by Marc Forster

Starring Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Freddie Highmore, Radha Mitchell, Dustin Hoffman, Julie Christie

Release Date November 12th, 2004

Published November 11th, 2004

James Matthew Barrie was born in Scotland in the late 1800's, moved to London just before the turn of the century, and ran in the circle of a number of well-known writers, including H.G Wells, P.G Wodehouse, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to name a few. Though Barrie is mainly known for one work in particular, he was arguably the most successful writer in his circle at that time. It is only the passage of time and the gloriousness of his best-known work that leaves so much of his other material forgotten. That one work was the seminal children’s fantasy Peter Pan and how Barrie invented this fantastic fairy tale is the subject of Finding Neverland starring Johnny Depp and directed by Marc Forster.

Coming off the tremendous failure of his latest play, writer J.M Barrie takes a walk in the park with his dog. As he sits on a bench attempting to find a new story to tell, Barrie meets the Davies’ family. George (Nick Roud), Jack (Joe Prospero), Michael (Luke Spill), Peter (Freddie Highmore), and their mother Sylvia (Kate Winslet). Llewellyn Davies takes an immediate liking to Mr. Barrie who entertains them with his imaginative storytelling.

Barrie begins going to the park every day to play with the boys and spend time with Sylvia. This, not surprisingly, causes trouble with his wife Mary (Radha Mitchell) as well as with Sylvia's mother Mrs. Du Maurier (Julie Christie) who worries what the unusual relationship will do to her daughter’s social standing as well as to her own.

Despite the tensions, Barrie can't stay away because the children have inspired him to write what will go on to be his masterpiece. While spending time with the Davies, Barrie begins to indulge a fantasy he has carried with him since he was a child: A story about pirates, Indians, fairies, and a place called Neverland. Even as real life grows more dramatic, the fantasy he's writing gets more and more fantastical.

Depp is extraordinary. In Finding Neverland, he has yet another of his lovable oddballs. Only this time, as opposed to his Jack Sparrow in Pirates of The Caribbean or his nutty writer in Secret Window, this character is both odd and believably dramatic. You believe that this character was this unusual but still a very real person. Indeed much of the script is historically accurate to the life of J.M Barrie and his relationship with the Davies family. What is unclear is how much of the odd behavior of the character is from Depp or from what was known of the real J.M Barrie. Either way it still works.

Director Marc Forster, with the help of cinematographer Roberto Schaefer and production designer Gemma Jackson, creates a world that is a perfect balance of fantasy and reality. They manage to illustrate J.M Barrie's reality and a believable illusion of his spectacular imagination. Writer David Magee, working from source material based on a play by Alan Knee, crafts a terrific script that builds from somewhat mundane at the start to beautifully moving by the films climax.

It's hard to believe that Forster's previous directing credit was the gritty, hard bitten Monster's Ball. But it's not hard to believe that just as he led Halle Berry to an Oscar in Monster's Ball he has led Johnny Depp to the possibility of one. In fact everything about Finding Neverland, from Depp's performance to Forster’s direction, Kate Winslet and Julie Christie's tremendous supporting work and finally the cinematography and production design, looks Oscar quality.

Documentary Review Fahrenheit 9/11

Fahrenheit 9/11

Directed by Michael Moore

Written by Documentary

Starring Michael Moore, George W. Bush

Release Date June 25th, 2004

Published June 24th, 2004

Say you have a job that pays you a coupla hundred grand a year. It's a good job, well respected. Now let's say you have outside interests, investments that stand to make yourself, members of your family and your friends more than a billion dollars but it requires that you do things in your job that are somewhat less than ethical, immoral even. Is it not fair to ask where your loyalty lies? That is one of the central questions of Michael Moore's brilliant and scathing documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, a title that implies the temperature at which freedom burns.

The above question asked more specifically is posed to the Bush administration and it's supporters. The President, his family and friends have and continue to, benefit from investments with Saudi businesses that have at least vague, often provable links to terrorists. Those investments make them more than a billion dollars while the American people only pay George W. Bush 400 grand per year. If Bush pushes foreign and domestic policies in specific directions, those investments are likely to pay off bigtime. So all that stands between corruption of the highest office and the ethical wielding of Presidential power is the word of George W. Bush. Sorry, but that is not good enough for me.

There is far more to Fahrenheit 911 than the above example. Things such as the flight that carried Osama Bin Laden's family out of the United States after September 11th 2001 without so much as a Law and Order style interrogation. The flight, arranged at the highest levels of our government left the country a week after Osama Bin Laden had attacked America, his family is allowed to leave the country without even being asked where Osama might be hiding.

Conservatives want to talk about Michael Moore's timeline of events after 9/11 and the opening of the skies to commercial and in this case private aircraft. Moore's timeline is in fact correct. What conservatives can't explain is how Muslims with an obvious tie to Osama Bin Laden, they are family for pete's sake, are allowed to leave a week after the tragedy, while other Muslims with no ties to Bin Laden were being held for six months to year until the FBI, CIA and Homeland Security were absolutely certain there were no terrorist ties.

Oh did I mention the Bin Laden's were one of the families that the Bush's have their money tied up with? Another sick irony exposed by Michael Moore in this film is how the Bin Laden families investments in American defense contractors made the family large sums of money as America built up toward it's military hunt for Osama and the subsequent war in Iraq.

Speaking of the war, Michael Moore has a few important things to say about Iraq. Recycled news footage shows just some of the innumerable contradictory statements that the administration made in order to make its case for war. The film also goes to Iraq and using never before seen video shows our soldiers, injured, disillusioned and angry, but also doing their job with bravery and commitment to the cause. They aren't sure what that cause is, but they do it anyway.

The finale of the film follows a mother from Moore's hometown of Flint, Michigan named Lila Lipscomb. Ms. Lipscomb was a supporter of the war but letters from her son and his eventual death in combat changed her mind. She goes to Washington wishing to ask what it was her son died for. This is one of the film’s most powerful moments, one where you wish Moore might turn away, turn the camera off. However, when you think about it, Lila Lipscomb can't turn the camera off. Camera or no camera, her pain is there and that pain is what Moore captures and the fact that Lila Lipscomb is not the only mother who is mourning a son.

The film’s biggest headline grabbing sequence shows those infamous seven minutes after the second plane hit the trade center and it became clear America had been attacked. Those seven minutes in which President Bush sat there in that Florida classroom listening to a kid read a book about a goat. Seven minutes captured on a video camera by the teacher of the class, not the media. Bush sits and looks powerless, lost, far less than the leader of the free world.

This is one of the most fascinating and powerful works of documentary art I have ever seen. It's also quite funny as well, which can be somewhat disorienting as occasionally during the film a funny, ironic moment is followed or preceded by something important or meaningful. That temporary disorientation is nothing compared to the feelings I had after the film which take a while to process and put into words. I am truly blown away by this film, not that I'm the least bit surprised that George W. Bush is a corrupt liar who manipulates his office for the betterment of his and his associate’s wallets. That I knew. What shocks me is how there are still so many that want this guy re-elected.

Movie Review: Around the World in 80 Days

Around the World in 80 Days (2004) 

Directed by Frank Coraci

Written by David Titcher 

Starring Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan, Cecile de France, Jim Broadbent, Arnold Schwarzenegger

Release Date June 16th, 2004 

Published June 15th, 2004 

History can be unkind to a movie. Take Mike Todd's immense vanity production 1956's Around The World In 80 Days. The film was the most extravagant and expensive production of it's time and was awarded Best Picture, beating Giant and The Ten Commandments. However, ask most critics about the film and you get a different picture altogether. The film is a God-awful mess for the most part.

Still it's a well-known title and has the Jules Verne name to back it up and thus we have a remake on our hands. Sure, it doesn't have the extravagance of original film but it does have the charm the previous film lacked. And there is a lot to be said for charm.

Phileas Fogg (Steve Coogan) is not one of those “head in the clouds” types and he's not a dreamer. He's just a scientist with faith in man's ability to accomplish any task. With his sometimes-unusual inventions, he pushes the boundaries of known human limits and pushes the patience of Britain's club of top scientists, led by Lord Kelvin (Jim Broadbent). Fogg's boundless imagination has yet to invent anything that impresses Lord Kelvin. In fact, Kelvin does all he can to prevent Fogg from becoming a full-fledged member of the club.

It is fate then that Fogg should meet a would-be thief who calls himself Passepartout (Jackie Chan), which is French-Chinese or so he explains. Passepartout, unknown to Fogg, has just robbed the bank of England but it's not what you think. Passepartout was merely retrieving an ancient artifact that was stolen from his village by the vial General Fang (Karen Mok) and sold to Lord Kelvin. While evading the police, Passepartout hides out at Fogg's mansion pretending to be a valet sent over by a service. It is Passepartout who hatches the 80 days bet as a way of getting Fogg to transport him back to China to return the artifact called The Jade Buddha.

The wager is thus: if Fogg can circumnavigate the globe in less than 80 days then Lord Kelvin will step down and name Fogg head of the Royal Academy of Science. However, if Fogg fails he must never invent again. With the wager in place we are off on a wild ride around the world with Passepartout being chased by the Chinese army of General Fang and both being pursued by the bumbling, Brit Inspector Fix (Ewan Bremner).

The guys aren't alone though. In France, they are joined by a sexy French painter Monique La Roche (Cecille De France) who basically exists as a function of the plot. After all what adventure movie doesn't have a love interest? It's in the movie rulebook so she's in the movie. It helps that she is easy on the eyes and quick with her spirited wit. Monique has an immediate attraction to Phileas who’s somewhat clueless, again, as the plot would have it.

Okay, we are not breaking new ground here and not just because this is a remake. There are a number of contrivances and shortcuts. This was after all directed by Adam Sandler's in house director Frank Coraci, so what else would you expect?

Still, the film does have a joyous spirit to it. It's funny and at times even exciting, especially Jackie Chan who has never been better. Some have said that Jackie Chan has lost a step but I didn't notice. If he's being helped by computers, wires or stunt doubles, it's well covered up and his stunt choreography is as good as it's ever been. Keep an eye out for his bench fighting scene against General Fang's men and the Statue of Liberty fight, two terrific, exciting fight scenes. Chan can also mug with the best of them and here he takes on an almost silent movie hero vibe as his face contorts into all sorts of exaggerated emotions. His facial expressions make up for his still nearly unintelligible accent.

Sadly, the wonderful Steve Coogan who was so memorable in 24 Hour Party People never really comes to life in this film. Coogan's Phileas Fogg is entirely too straight-laced and uptight to be interesting. His main emotions stem from his constant need to keep track of time. The rare scenes where he does spark are the romantic moments with the lovely Cecille De France, who has enough energy and spark for the both of them. She looks as if the French have cloned Brittany Murphy and given her an accent, and like Murphy, it's her boundless spirit that makes her so sexy.

As a family movie, Around The World in 80 Days will try the patience of young children with it's few dead spots. However, once Chan has some butts to kick the kids and some of the parents will be very entertained. Try and forget the original film and especially forget Jules Verne who deserves better and has yet to see his work fully realized onscreen. Around The World in 80 Days is not for purists or nitpickers, it is simply a brainlessly entertaining piece of pop candy.

Movie Review: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) 

Directed by Michel Gondry 

Written by Charlie Kaufman

Starring Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood, Tom Wilkinson

Release Date March 19th, 2004

Published March 18th, 2004 

Jim Carrey's attempts to move into “legitimate acting" are often maligned even before they are seen, even by people who call themselves fans. It seems that whenever someone leaves their comfortable, often-mediocre niche we Americans have set aside for them. We go out of our way to shove them back in with harsh and often unfair conjecture. Jim Carrey is a very obvious victim of this niche society.

His latest attempt to escape his niche is the Charlie Kaufmann scripted Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Carrey plays a somber, sweet, romantic lost soul while Kaufmann's script provides the weirdness that Carrey usually provides with his physical schtick.

Carrey is Joel Barish who one day decides to blow off work and take a train to his favorite beach. Nevermind that its winter. On the train ride back, Joel meets Clementine (Kate Winslet), an acid-tongued wild child with an obvious sweetness beneath her punk veneer. They begin a tentative flirtation that is about to lead to Joel's bed when suddenly the opening credits roll and the film begins again.

From there, we are lost in a time warp of Joel's memories and sadness. After Joel and Clementine broke up, Clementine went to a place called Lacuna Corp and had all of her memories of Joel erased. Out of spite, Joel goes to Lacuna to do the same to her. With the guidance of Lacuna's founder Dr. Howard Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson) and his staff, Joel is told that all of his relationship can be eliminated with a procedure that is technically brain damage, but is only “on par with a night of heavy drinking.”

Joel agrees to the procedure, which is to take place in his apartment while he sleeps. A pair of Lacuna technicians (Mark Ruffalo and Elijah Wood) come to Joel's apartment after he's asleep and spend the night erasing his memory. Once Joel is actually undergoing the process, he realizes there are some memories of Clementine he does not want to give up. His fight to save some of those good memories is the thrust of the plot.

Who doesn't have a relationship that they would consider erasing from their memory? For me it would be Michele, my high school girlfriend. We were together for three years as a couple and several years as friends afterwards. We loved and we hated in almost equal measure the entire time we've known each other. For all of the pain that she caused me and I caused her there are a number of really good times that I would not be willing to give up. That is the central theme of the film and the way it's explored on the screen is not just the film projecting emotion on to the audience. Rather, the audience is a participant in the emotion.

The film is not exactly as straightforward as I describe it. Writer Charlie Kaufmann and director Michel Gondry have a number of unique twists and turns that make Eternal Sunshine an amazing, mind-bending experience. It's an old school science-fiction storytelling device using technology, in this case a rather low-tech technology, to tell a very human story. Sci-fi without aliens or complicated special effects, sci-fi just used to tell a good story in a very different way.

This is a rather uncomplicated, almost simplistic way to write a relatable story. Painful breakups are a universal experience and Kaufmann uses that universality as a jumping off point to a different way to tell a sad, romantic story. There have been movies that explored the same themes of love and loss. What Kaufmann does is what the best modern screenwriters do, take a conventional idea and twist it. Plots that have been done to death can still be done well if you give them at least one unique twist.

With the help of a Michel Gondry's visual mastery, Charlie Kaufmann found more than one unique twist he could give to the love and loss story, the romantic comedy and the sci-fi picture. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a film that should be shown in film classes for years to come as inspiration for original ideas from traditional sources.

For Jim Carrey, this is yet another brilliant performance that will go unnoticed. The film is unlikely to make many waves at the box office and despite positive critical notice, the March release of the film dooms its Oscar hopes. Carrey can still take heart however in the one truth of great art. It's never appreciated in it's own time. Maybe years from now someone will dig this film out of a vault with barely a memory of Carrey's schtick and discover Carrey's talent.

Movie Review: Ella Enchanted

Ella Enchanted (2004) 

Directed by Tommy O'Haver

Written by Laurie Craig, Karen McCullah Lutz, Kirsten Smith, Jennifer Heath, Michelle J. Wolf 

Starring Anne Hathaway, Hugh Dancy, Cary Elwes, Vivica A Fox, Minnie Driver, Joanna Lumley

Release Date April 9th, 2004

Published April 8th, 2004

You have to be a man very secure in his manhood to walk into a video store and rent a movie like Ella Enchanted. A lesser man would drag a child with them (niece, cousin, daughter, any girl under the age of 12). So on sheer manhood sacrificing, I deserve some respect. As a critic I say I have to watch it because it's there, but in all honesty I was kind of looking forward to the film. And no pervy insinuations about Anne Hathaway, I was intrigued by the film’s trailer and after seeing the film, I was right to get it.

Anne Hathaway, the rising star of The Princess Diaries (I haven't seen either PD films, this film was hard enough to rent), stars as Ella of Frell, a commoner who at birth is given a unique and horribly thought out gift by her fairy godmother Lucinda (Vivica A. Fox). The gift is obedience. Ella must do anything she is told to do by anyone.

The gift is obviously more of a curse, especially after Ella's mother passes away and commands her never to tell anyone about her "gift", she doesn't want anyone to use it against her. Years later, when Ella's father (Patrick Bergen) remarries to a harridan played by Joanna Lumley, a typecasting that Lumley may never escape, she brings along horrendous daughters who soon discover Ella's secret and begin using it against her.

Regardless of her curse/gift, Ella still grows up independently minded with a surprisingly political spirit. She leads protests on behalf of Ogres, Elves and Giants who have been enslaved by the evil King Edgar (Cary Elwes). Edgar is to give up the crown soon to his nephew Prince Char (Hugh Dancy). Think Prince Harry of England plus a rock star and you'll understand how much the girls of the kingdom love Prince Char. Ella however, as the plot dictates, isn't as impressed.

Ella and Prince Char are soon thrown together and it's dislike at first sight for Ella who believes the Prince is as evil as his uncle. The Prince is soon to win Ella over however and the two go on to fall in love. However there is still the problem of Ella's curse and the Prince's uncle who secretly plots to kill the Prince and remain king. The thrust of the plot is Ella's journey to find her fairy godmother and get her curse lifted and then save the Prince and get married, happily ever after, yada yada yada.

Simply take a little Cinderella with some cliffs notes Shakespeare and you can figure out where this plot is going. What works about Ella Enchanted, based on a popular book series by Gail Carson Levine, is the upbeat fairy tale style of the film. The film is bathed in a magical, pixie dust glow, saturated fantasy colors and modern touches for comic effect. There are malls, bicycles and modern politics. Don't worry it's all handled very lightly. All of it played for witty effect.

Director Tommy O' Haver crafts a wonderfully surreal fairy tale that evokes a live action Shrek in it's magic and whimsical fairy tale aesthete. O'Haver doesn't condescend to his young target audience, his musical choices, Elton John and Queen, are not known to younger viewers but are a treat to audiences who remember them. The songs are also weaved into the plot, the lyrics match the action onscreen, not an original concept but cleverly done.

Anne Hathaway has a terrific comic spirit that shows why those Princess Diaries movies have been so wildly popular. She is a tremendously likable presence onscreen. She is attractive with a mischievous glint in her eye. She has terrific comic chops and shows she's up for anything by singing two songs. Compared to contemporaries like Hillary Duff or the Olson Twins, she is a breath of fresh air.

The discovery here is Director Tommy O'Haver whose breakthrough feature Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss was a minor gem from 1998 that most people missed. O'Haver has a wonderful comic touch. This is material that could collapse if overdone but O'Haver never let's it get away from him. From the first frame the GGI kingdom grabs your attention, little comic moments float by as the camera floats to Ella's cottage for the first scene.

The Director really helped himself by filling his cast with talented supporting actors like Cary Elwes, who lends the film a little of that Princess Bride karma, Minnie Driver, and Parminder K. Nagra who is a little underused but terrific when she's seen. Hugh Dancy, in his first major role, holds his own opposite Hathaway whose presence could have overwhelmed a lesser actor. Dancy was unrecognizable in his small role in King Arthur so this film is the highlight of his resume.

For what it is, a kid's movie, a movie meant for young girls, Ella Enchanted ranks with the Pixar films in the way it provides thrills for audiences. Ella is not as funny or as artistically accomplished as Pixar's films or Shrek but by the lowered bar for family films that appeal beyond demographic boundaries, you can throw this film in the conversation with Nemo and the rest.

Movie Review The Dreamers

The Dreamers (2004) 

Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci 

Written by Glibert Adair 

Starring Michael Pitt, Eva Green, Louis Garrel 

Release Date February 6th, 2004 

Published August 1st, 2004 

Bernardo Bertolucci is unquestionably a master behind the camera. He has a painter’s eye for spectacular visuals. Despite that the appeal of his provocative, sex soaked movies has escaped me. As lovely as Last Tango In Paris, and more specifically Maria Schneider were, I fell asleep during that film. There’s something about French politics (For the record I know Bertolucci is from Italy but he made his best known films in France), I find tremendously dull and their sullen attitude toward sex less than exciting.

For his latest film, Bertolucci adapts a novel by Gilbert Adair that takes place in a time and place that Bertolucci is quite familiar with. Paris, 1968. As cinema'de art and the cahiers du cinema were breaking ground, the French government sought to fight back against revolutionary filmmakers and what began as the simple closing of an influential theater turned into a political revolution.

Set against this real life background in The Dreamers is the story of three cinema-loving teenagers who are completely swept up in the art, politics and especially the sex all around them. Michael Pitt is Matthew, an American in Paris for a year of studying, or more often watching movies at the legendary cinematheque where Henry Langlois programmed any and every movie imaginable from Nicholas Ray (Rebel Without A Cause) to Jean Luc Godard (Breathless).

When the cinematheque is shut down and Langlois fired, Matthew meets a pair of fellow cinemaphiles and protestors, non-identical twin brother and sister Theo (Louis Garrel) and Isabelle (Eva Green). The sheer force of their attitudes draws Matthew to them. They share his passion and knowledge of film and they are drawn to his wide-eyed naivete. Before long, Matthew is completely away from his studies and living with his new friends.

While revolution rages outside, the kids, whose parents have taken leave for vacation, stay locked up in their apartment testing each other's limits in film knowledge, musical taste and sexuality. As Matthew quickly learns, the twins have a strange bond. They sleep in the same bed nude and when Theo loses a trivia challenge Isabelle has a punishment that would make even the most maladjusted dysfunctional think twice. It isn't just the twins testing their boundaries, when Matthew loses a trivia challenge Theo has him make love to Isabelle while he watches.

This I suppose is meant to be edgy but it's more uncomfortable than anything else. Michael Pitt is a terrific actor who has greatness in his future but there is an aimlessness to this role. Eva Green is a bold newcomer with a terrific presence but she is unable to sustain the sexual energy her character radiates in her first few scenes. Louis Garrel, who's father is a well known director in French cinema, has that spiky French attitude and his love of film is well conveyed. However, when it comes to politics, sexuality and otherwise, he seems nothing more than a petulant child. Maybe that was the intent.

That is the problem with The Dreamers, we aren't sure what Bertolucci's intent is with these characters. Are we to admire the adventurousness of their experimentation as his camera seems to or are we supposed to feel sorry for these children when they are exposed for the underdeveloped personalities they are? The problem with feeling for them is that there is little depth to their psychology beyond “I blame my parents” pop psychology. Mommy and Daddy are never home, no one loves me, wah wah wah.

I admire this film for its beauty. Bertolucci paints a spectacular canvas of visuals both outside and in the sprawling apartment which is filled to overflow with cinema history. I also admire the film’s love of cinema, a literal worship of filmed art that pours out of the screen, especially when Eva Green's Isabelle imitates her favorite films. Educated filmgoers will get a real thrill recognizing the many cinematic homages throughout the film.

It's just a shame that Bertolucci and writer Gilbert Adair did not put more thought into forming their characters into something more than petulant children, whining and screwing while history unfolds around them.

Movie Review: Dogville

Dogville (2004) 

Directed by Lars Von Trier

Written by Lars Von Trier

Starring Nicole Kidman, Stellan Skarsgard, Lauren Bacall, Paul Bettany, Chloe Sevigny, Patricia Clarkson

Release Date April 23rd, 2004

Published March 25th, 2004 

Director Lars Von Trier received a lot of positive notice for his film Dancer in the Dark, but what really stuck with him was the negative notice. Specifically, Von Trier bristled at criticism that he did not understand America well enough to set his film there. In response, Von Trier began work on what he calls his America trilogy. The first of the trilogy is called Dogville, which observes America's morals and values from a European perspective. A powerful, if not entirely accurate, indictment of American moral hypocrisy.

Nicole Kidman stars as Grace, a woman on the run from gangsters and the law who finds herself in the tiny hamlet of Dogville somewhere in the Rocky mountains. With the help of a local named Thomas Edison Jr. (Paul Bettany) Grace avoids the gangsters by hiding in a mine shaft. Tom diverts the gangsters but he has ulterior motives for helping this stranger.

Thomas is Dogville's self appointed philosopher and teacher. He holds monthly meetings at the town’s church where he pontificates to the town’s 15 residents on morals and ethics. When Grace arrives Tom sees an opportunity to put his teachings to the test and see if the townspeople live up to the ideals he has attempted to instill. Grace is unaware of Tom's motives and sees only his kindness; the two form an immediate bond. Despite his underlying intentions, Tom's feelings for Grace are real and for a time we think there could be a happy ending for the two.

Tom's plan for Grace and the town is for Grace to hide out under the town's protection. In exchange, Grace will work for each of the town’s residents one hour of each day. For Grace, it's a hideout. For Tom, it's a social experiment--a test of the town's kindness and caring. It begins as Tom would hope, with the town taking to Grace. (It helps that Grace is, in turn, a hard worker.) However, as Grace's predicament is slowly revealed the town slowly turns and Tom's experiment takes a sad and dangerous turn.

Oscar nominees Chloe Sevigny, Lauren Bacall and Patricia Clarkson head up the supporting cast with Philip Baker Hall and Jeremy Davies. The soul of the film however is the noble but badly damaged Chuck played by Stellan Skarsgard. Chuck stands in for all of America's failed dreams, stuck in a loveless marriage and a job that is more of an obligation Chuck takes his rage out on whoever is nearest to him. When that rage is turned on Grace it begins the films ugly turn. Skarsgard is invaluable; his pained expression conveys the broken back of the American working class of the depression era.

Von Trier's first of three American allegories is a searing look at the morals and values that this country was built upon, and the level of hypocritical betrayal of those values on the part of many Americans. It's a cynical point of view, but one that is shared by a number of Mr. Von Trier's European brethren. As a patriot and a partisan, I find some of what Von Trier has to say about American values a little unfair but take it with a grain of salt because, in Europe, Von Trier's views may not be a minority opinion.

Stylistically speaking, Dogville is an amazing break from conventional filmmaking; an experiment on par with Von Trier's invention of Dogme filmmaking back in 1995. The set standing in for the Rocky Mountain hamlet is merely a barren soundstage with chalk outlines where homes should be. The only sets are an elevated stage that serves as Grace's home, a small storefront window, and a bell tower that hangs from the ceiling.

Von Trier cribbed the visual style from the filmed plays he grew up watching in his native Denmark. Like a great stage play, the action is in the words. This is a terrific screenplay with powerful, intellectual ideas. Ideas about morality, values, religious hypocrisy, and old world justice. It's the best thing Von Trier has written since Breaking The Waves. At nearly three hours, the film clips by at a surprisingly strong pace. The script is so powerful that you barely notice the passage of time.

This a rare and unique film. A challenging look at how a foreigner has viewed our country's cultural history. A film that holds a funhouse mirror up to our past, our politics and our culture, it's not an entirely accurate or fair vision but is valid in its own way as an opposing view. If the two remaining films in Von Trier's America trilogy, Manderlay and Washington, are as powerful as Dogvilleis, then we are really in for something amazing.