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2003 Screening Log, Part 2
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Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
Director: McG
During my recent trip to Europe, I ended up watching a couple of movies on the plane that were
harmless and amusing -- but hardly necessary. The sequel to "Charlie's Angels" was one of them.
Nothing in it was offensive, but it seemed like every joke was recycled from the first film. The
slo-mo kicks, the pop-laden soundtrack, the flashy editing, the dance sequences -- all of it had been
done in exactly the same way three years ago. Only this time it was slightly less funny, and thus I
became even less interested.
My grade: C+
Screened: August 28
Oscar potential: None
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Dogville
Click here to see the in-depth review.
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Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Director: Jonathan Mostow
It would be impossible to top "T2," and Jonathan Mostow doesn't. But what he does do is create
the best possible follow-up to a groundbreaking film carrying unbelievable expectations. The
director basically whittles down all of the fat so that we are left with a bare-bones movie. It's a
taut one, and one that excels in the technical aspects but merely coasts by on an emotional level.
The performances of Nick Stahl and Claire Danes definitely help in bridging that emotional gap, but
Arnold Schwarzenegger is saddled with horribly corny lines that, oddly, make him seem more like
an unfunny human than a robotic machine. But what ultimately redeems the film is the sense of
dread that Mostow gradually piles on as our heroes learn that humanity is doomed no matter what
their actions are. For me, the most disturbing sequence of "T2" was Linda Hamilton's nightmare of
a not-too-far-in-the-future L.A. being blown apart by an atomic bomb. It made the possibility of
nuclear attack seem so realistic, and similarly "T3" is at its best when the machines finally do take
over and create the horror that we've all been dreading.
My grade: B-
Screened: July 16
Oscar potential: Best Visual Effects
Le Divorce
Director: James Ivory
To begin, this movie features some of the best acting I've ever seen in a horrible movie. And,
indeed, it's bad on so many different levels. Fans of the book might appreciate the subtle wit
employed in comparing the social mores of France and America, but as a movie it fails to engage
the viewer in any meaningful way. Perhaps the main problem is that this two-hour film seems like
it was shaved down from a much longer cut in the interest of keeping the running time down.
Characters come and go without explanation, the mood shifts wildly from comedic to horribly
tragic in the space of minutes, and a lot of big stars are wasted in very small roles. In the book,
there's probably a back story to all of these people, but onscreen it's nearly nonsensical.
Naomi Watts gives it her all as a pregnant, jilted American who refuses to grant her French
husband a divorce, while Kate Hudson turns in her most vibrant work since "Almost Famous" as
Watts' lovelorn sister. But the plot continuously drags the whole project down to a cringe-worthy
level. Most of the movie is spent discussing one of two objects: A red purse that Hudson's lover
gives her, and an old painting that both parties in the divorce want to claim. Minutes on end are
spent discussing how much this painting is worth (didn't "Russian Ark" come out last year?), but
when this stupid red handbag begins sailing over the rooftops of Paris and into a heating duct, I
wanted to run out of the theater and scream. (Luckily, this happened five minutes before the movie
was over.)
Sam Waterston and Stockard Channing are completely wasted as the American girls' parents;
you'd wish they were in the film more after their brief but incisive scenes. But when Matthew
Modine arrives and threatens to kill everyone atop the Eiffel Tower, you really realize the movie's
lost potential.
My grade: D
Screened: July 17
Oscar potential: None
Northfork
Director: Michael Polish
Movies as intentionally bizarre as "Northfork" can only be made well by David Lynch, and even
then ("Wild at Heart") they're not always entirely successful. This latest from the twin Polish
brothers doesn't escape that curse, as a lot of beautiful imagery, solid performances (especially by
Daryl Hannah), and a uniquely melancholy mood are wasted on a premise that doesn't go
anywhere. Technically, the film is about a group of men who force the residents of a small
Midwestern town to move before the release of a dam floods the place, but judging by the all the
angelic imagery, you'd think it was about more. But despite the pretention of deeper meaning, the
film is pretty thin in plot, and is populated by a cast of unusual characters -- a boy with wings, a
man who lives in an ark -- that are simply weird for weird's sake. It doesn't add up to much, and
all you're left with at the end are images with nothing substantial behind them.
My grade: C+
Screened: July 18
Oscar potential: None
Spun
Director: Jonas Akerlund
Mr. Akerlund is one of the most talented members of the new breed (post-1995) of music video
directors, having helmed the ingenious "Smack My Bitch Up" for Prodigy, the wildly chaotic "Ray
of Light" for Madonna, and the relatively gritty "Beautiful" for Christina Aguilera. Unlike his
predecessor Michel Gondry, a genius on the small screen whose narrative debut, "Human Nature,"
lacked rhythm and an identifiable tone, Akerlund shows a strong handle on character and pacing.
His jump-cutty visual style melds well with the story he's telling -- about crystal meth addicts -- and
the technique never feels grating or overused. Trouble is, this is a story that's been told many times
before, and although it's nowhere near as dark as "Requiem for a Dream," "Spun" basically covers
the same ground without bringing anything new to the table. But as a directorial debut, it's a sure
sign of talent yet to be explored.
My grade: B
Screened: July 25
Oscar potential: None
Freddy vs. Jason
Director: Ronny Yu
Contrary to my current cinematic tastes, I grew up watching the "Friday the 13th" and "Nightmare
on Elm Street" movies. (I've seen all of them several times, with my favorite Freddy flick being
Part 4 and my favorite Jason flick being Part 6.) Thus I had high expectations going into this, and
was more than a little let down. My initial reaction was, What horrible acting! What corny lines!
What useless dialogue! Then I took a step back, and realized that I probably would've felt the same
way about all 17 of the previous films -- even my beloved Part 4 and Part 6. It was then that I
realized that the only parts of "Freddy vs. Jason" I really enjoyed -- the fights between the titans --
were the only important parts, anyway. The teen "characters" were their usual disposable selves,
but the special effects were great and the tongue-in-cheek attitude was very enjoyable. I can't
completely recommend the film, but for what it is, it's pretty good.
My grade: C+
Screened: August 1
Oscar potential: None
The Secret Lives of Dentists
Director: Alan Rudolph
I'm really starting to like Hope Davis. She was a little obnoxious in 2001's "Hearts in Atlantis," but
that movie was altogether upsetting. I thought she was just as effetive as Kathy Bates in last year's
"About Schmidt," though, and now in "Dentists" she has created a wholly involving and
sympathetic character despite crucial flaws that could've made one want to root against her. Her
turn as a possible adulterer who causes her husband (Campbell Scott, heartfelt) to reexamine their
marriage is at times touching and frustrating but always realistic.
Denis Leary steals a few scenes as Scott's hallucinatory conscience, but the weight of the movie
rests on the shoulders of Davis -- and what she means to her husband and their fractured family.
And while Scott solidly takes the majority of the screen time, it really is Davis who makes the
audience realize that, despite her sins, she ultimately is committed to the man she married and the
daughters they've raised together. Although the movie's final third is a bit sluggish (nearly everyone
in the family gets the stomach flu and vomits repeatedly -- ultra-obvious "purging" symbolism) the
movie's a small gem, highlighted by a head-turning and Oscar-worthy performance.
My grade: B+
Screened: August 9
Oscar potential: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay
Down With Love
Director: Peyton Reed
This was the other movie I saw recently that felt unnecessary (see below). It was intended as an
homage to the Doris Day-Rock Hudson sex comedies of the early '60s, but it came off as "Far
From Heaven" lite. Renee Zellweger, as usual, strained and squinted to get her character down, and
the usually reliable Ewan McGregor had a lot of trouble dropping his Scottish accent in order to
convincingly pull off being a New Yorker. Visually, the film looked like it was from the '60s -- and
that was what made it watchable -- but the storyline was as bland as any '90s romantic comedy.
Add to that an odd ending in which Zellweger's character completely reversed the feminist stance
that she had been so ardent about for the entire picture, and the movie came off as even more trite
than the films that spawned it.
My grade: C+
Screened: August 29
Oscar potential: Best Song
Thirteen
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
The main problem that most films involving teenagers display is having believable dialogue fit in the
mouths of young protagonists. "Thirteen," for the most part, avoids that trap, and boasts a pair of
illuminating performances that make it even more memorable than the countless similar films that
have come before it. Holly Hunter, excellent as usual, portrays the ex-alcoholic mother of a
wayward teen girl (Evan Rachel Wood) who veers very close to the edge of self-destruction. (For
her part, Wood often literally takes matters into her own hands by cutting her wrists in a desperate
act to feel some sort of pain that can be quickly overcome.) The emotions in "Thirteen" are honest
and the performances are so truthful that one could easily forget that the film is fiction; the sharp
editing and unflinching cinematography also help in that matter. But the film hits home its point --
that the path of adolescence cannot be forged alone -- in a final, climactic scene where mother and
daughter embrace on the kitchen floor and seemingly accept the difficult roles each knows she
must play in the other's life if both are to survive. It's a gritty reminder of the importance of family
-- and that genuine films about teenage hardhsips are still being made.
My grade: B+
Screened: August 31
Oscar potential: Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay
Anything Else
Director: Woody Allen
For some reason, Woody Allen -- my favorite director of all time -- has decided that he needs
everyone in his new films to act like him. On Jason Biggs, this technique takes a while to become
grating. On Christina Ricci, it takes mere seconds before she's too neurotic to pay attention to.
With a storyline that meanders rather that unfolds, "Anything Else" seems like a drag, and with
characters as annoying as the one's he's created, it's unfortunate that he subjects his audience to
that type of torture. While his scenes are loaded with the one-liners you'd expect, the romance
between Biggs and Ricci is uneventful, unlikeable, and ultimately forgettable. I think that Woody
Allen will return to form someday, despite his age, but this is not it. (One saving grace here:
Stockard Channing's vibrant performance -- especially her solo piano tune -- that briefly reminds us
of the magic the director used to create.)
My grade: C+
Screened: September 3
Oscar potential: Best Original Screenplay
Out of Time
Director: Carl Franklin
The coincidences pile up a little too quickly in this quasi-Hitchcockian thriller, which stars Denzel
Washington as a police chief who unwittingly implicates himself in murder and money laundering.
But the performances are solid all around, especially by Eva Mendes (of "2 Fast 2 Furious"...who
knew?) as his ex-wife and fellow law enforcement official. Director Carl Franklin excels in
creating an ominous mood in his swampy Florida locales, where double-crosses, love affairs, and
mixed identities -- not unlike those in "Wild Things" -- seem to be lurking out of every shadow.
And as a film that clearly prides itself on being a very strong workmanlike suspense flick, "Out of
Time" completely held my attention and rarely let up. Just leave the plausability cap at home.
My grade: B-
Screened: September 4
Oscar potential: None
American Splendor
Directors: Shari Berman and Robert Pulcini
A very mature work that grows on you, "American Splendor" charts the life of cartoonist Harvey
Pekar from Cleveland file clerk to...Cleveland file clerk. As is pointed out several times in the film,
Pekar -- a contemporary and friend of Robert Crumb -- gained relative fame by writing comics
about the tribulations and of pathos of everyday life. Aided strongly by his wife Joyce (an excellent
and very funny Hope Davis), Pekar became a cult hero, survived a few disastrous Letterman
appearances, adopted a child, and battled cancer. But far from being an ordinary biopic, "American
Splendor" interweaves its characters' story with Harvey's own illustrations and documentary-style
interviews with Harvey and Joyce themselves. The fourth wall isn't just broken down, it's
bulldozed and trampled on and crushed into tiny bits.
Thus the film has an unparalleled sense of veracity and cleverness, most ingeniously depicted in a
scene in which Pekar walks through his subconscious and begins wondering why there are three
other Harvey Pekars in the phone book. (A more enlightening rumination of one's existence would
be hard to find on the big screen.) But what curtails the film from complete greatness are its
random tonal shifts; one minute it's hilarious, another minute it's deeply tragic. While the superb
actors are able to handle these rifts with subtle ease -- and the individual sequences themselves are
profound and emotionally rewarding -- their amalgam becomes a little weary on the viewer. This is
nonetheless a truly original piece of art that, like Harvey, defies simple interpretation.
My grade: B+
Screened: September 6
Oscar potential: Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay
Lost in Translation
Director: Sofia Coppola
As was evidenced by last year's luminous "Far From Heaven," sometimes the most romantic
movies don't actually involve any overt romance by the lead characters. Vulnerabilities are
exposed, truths are shared, weaknesses are forgiven, hopes are defined, and friendships are forged
-- yet the consummation of love never factors in. Such is the case between Bill Murray and
Scarlett Johansson in Sofia Coppola's excellent "Lost in Translation."
In developing her characters' loneliness and alienation under the neon lights of Tokyo, Coppola
demonstrates a deft sense of dialogue and a strong workability with actors, allowing Murray (as
washed-up actor Bob Harris) and Johansson (as a young married named Charlotte) to turn in their
strongest and most appealing performances to date. The older man-younger woman tryst has been
represented far too often in many very, very bad movies and TV shows. (Look for it this
Christmas in Jack Nicholson's new comedy "Somthing's Gotta Give" at a theater near you!) But
Coppola's film turns the genre on its ass and simply makes the story play out naturalistically, with a
deliberate pace, carefully chosen words, and an ending that is probably more satisfying than any
other entire romantic movie this year.
For their part, the actors are the movie. Murray has never been more serious and brooding, yet
never more humorous or affecting either. And Johansson, with her sullen beauty and bassy voice,
perfectly evokes the confusion, disillusion, and sense of resignment that comes with accepting
adulthood. Through them, Coppola has found a devastatingly emotional channel for her distinct
voice.
My grade: A-
Screened: September 12
Oscar potential: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay
Mystic River
Director: Clint Eastwood
It's easy to see why Clint Eastwood would be drawn to material like this -- it involves high crimes
and violent revenge, two themes that have characterized nearly all of the movies he's both acted in
and directed. In this particular story, which can accurately be called a mix of "The Ox-Bow
Incident" and "Sleepers" (which Kevin Bacon also starred in), three childhood friends are reunited
later in life and must deal with the consequences of murder and child molestation. Very heavy
themes are addressed -- guilt vs. sacrifice, lawfulness vs. duty, vigilantism vs. consequence -- and
superb acting, especially by Oscar-bound Tim Robbins and Sean Penn, illuminates them well.
The film's running motif is the culpability of one's silence, and there are several characters who
either don't speak or refuse to say what they've seen. It might be said that this muteness causes
their downfall, and it is the revelation of information and the ability to speak one's true thoughts that
keeps the characters' world in order. Moreover, the film leaves a few significant loose ends by the
time it ends, suggesting that in many cases the truth is destined never to be revealed. "Mystic
River," with its gradual exposition of detail, always keeps you guessing.
My grade: B+
Screened: September 15
Oscar potential: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best
Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay
Intolerable Cruelty
Director: Joel Coen
If the Coen Bros. set out to create the most commercial movie they've ever made, they have. The
first hour flies by at a cheetah's pace, with the one-liners and sight gags breezing by at a mile a
minute. Then the plot settles in, and the movie becomes just like every other romantic comedy that
Hollywood has ever produced. The Coens' voice is ultimately lost in the final half-hour, which
tarnishes the more joyous laughs had in the beginning. Nonetheless, it's a slick movie that's easily
digestible and generally amusing. And Catherine Zeta-Jones has never looked hotter.
My grade: B
Screened: September 18
Oscar potential: Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay
Raising Victor Vargas
Director: Peter Sollett
A vivid portait of a Lower East Side teenager's unwieldy adolescence is painted in "Raising Victor
Vargas," which features some of the most naturalistic and nuanced acting of the year. Shot almost
like a fly-on-the-wall documentary, "Vargas" brings to mind other startingly honest dramatizations
of youth like "Kids" (though it's not that damning) or "All the Real Girls" (though it's not that
plotted). It's simply realistic, beautifully shot, touching, and always engaging.
My grade: B+
Screened: September 18
Oscar potential: Best Original Screenplay
Casa de los Babys
Director: John Sayles
Strong performances highlight a questionable morality tale in this latest John Sayles opus. In it, six
women languish at the titular hotel in an unnamed South American country as they await the
adoption of babies. Darryl Hannah and Susan Lynch shine particularly brightly as
fertility-challenged wives who have exhausted all other options and heartbreakingly decide to adopt;
Marcia Gay Harden, on the other hand, was dealt a particularly unlikeable character and struggles
to overcome her neuroses. That doesn't weigh the film down, however; the constant lecturing by
Sayles does. Interspersed with the women's stories are slice-of-life vignettes about the country's
residents. Homeless children are shown sniffing spray paint; a hotel worker vociferously criticizes
the "thievery" of the women who want to adopt; a handful of locals await the lottery as if to
suggest that luck is the only path to success. The film doesn't necessarily critique American ideals
so much as recommend that we "leave the rest of us alone." In my opinion, wouldn't the poor
children be better off in America without having to worry about money or shelter?
My grade: B-
Screened: September 20
Oscar potential: Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay