Summer Drama
By
Anthony
Kusich
 Main Page
Spider-Man 2
   Director:  Sam Raimi
I didn't really care for the first "Spider-Man," and I didn't really like this one either.  Its aim is too
juvenile -- and its emotional response so cursory -- that I found myself watching intently but never
feeling any great connection to the good guys (or the bad guys).  The action scenes were more
realistic and the special effects were integrated better into the film canvas, but all I was watching
were o.k. line readings that didn't carry that much import.  The big dramatic setpiece -- where Peter
tells his aunt that he may have been responsible for his uncle's death -- was moderately moving, but
it unfortunately juxtaposed with Kirsten Dunst's insisting whining and a goofball montage of Tobey
Maguire living the high life after jettisoning his Spidey persona (complete with a freeze-frame smirk).
 A few thrilling scenes do not a classic comic adaptation make.  
   My grade:  C+
   Screened:  June 30
The Day After Tomorrow
   Director:  Roland Emmerich
I've never been to a movie quite like this.  The first half is filled with some pretty impressive special
effects, but the second part contains so much cheese that I started looking for cows.  The dialogue
is so, so bad that members of the packed audience I was with started shouting out the lines before
they were spoken as I waited on the edge of my seat for the next outburst of unintentional laughter.  
(There were probably more laughs in "The Day After Tomorrow" than in "Napoleon Dynamite" and
"Dodgeball" combined.)  Nearly every single piece of atrocious verbiage got a sustained chuckle, if
not an outright guffaw.  That, plus the Vice President in the film -- an excellent Dick Cheney
impersonation of leader unwilling to acknowledge the environment -- made the crowd roar from
beginning to end.  Bad movie, great movie experience.  
   My grade:  C+
   Screened:  May 28
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Short Reviews as of July 8th, 2004
Saved!
   Director:  Brian Dannelly
Confirmed:  Mandy Moore can act.  In this highly watchable teen dramedy, she plays a
hyper-religious high schooler who shuns a classmate (the intriguing Jena Malone) who becomes
pregnant.  The main target of the pic is Christian zeal, and the script makes many a good point
aimed at the What Would Jesus Do? crowd.  Would he exclude his followers, or welcome them --
be they pregnant, gay, or promiscuous -- with open arms?  Probably the latter.  The best thing about
the film, though, is Eva Amurri (the real-life daughter of Susan Sarandon), who's the school's one
Jew.  She gets the best lines, gives them the best delivery, and creates the most realistic and
satisfying portrait of honest, conflicted teenagedom I've seen in a long time.
   My grade:  B
   Screened:  June 27
The Terminal
   Director:  Steven Spielberg
Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones act the hell out of their simplistic parts, but Spielberg goes into
goo overdrive with this ultra-sweet tale of romance and missed connections (of all varieties) in the
JFK airport.  There's nothing subtle about the filmmaker's approach:  We're meant to laugh as people
trip on a newly waxed floor, Hanks's second annoying accent of the year causes much
misinterpretation, and two couples fall in love against all odds (despite the fact that both pairs of
people barely know each other).  This was a flat experience for me, as I was never fully won over
by the movie's attempted charm despite its pleasing ambitions.
   My grade:  C+
   Screened:  May 25