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Now Showing - go here for the local movie schedule Capsule reviews by Thomas Delapa (TD) as indicated. Alone In The Dark I've heard of the suspension of disbelief, but Tara Reid as an archeologist? A bespectacled (but, dig, still sexy) Reid is only part of the sloppy mix in the Atari video game re-programmed for the big screen. Christian Slater plays a rogue paranormal investigator on the hunt for supernatural demons first conjured up by an ancient Native American civilization. Somewhere between the monsters, mumbo-jumbo, murders, mean government agents and lots of darkness, Slater finds time to get Reid out of her glasses and into bed. Rated R. At Colony Square and FlatIron Crossing. —TD The Aviator. Here's your Final Jeopardy answer: This Texas tool tycoon was a daredevil aviator who romanced a squadron of Hollywood stars in the 1930s. The right question is "Who is Howard Hughes?" The question still nags me after seeing Martin Scorsese's high-flying but bumpy biopic starring Leonardo DiCaprio. This is a departure for Scorsese, leaving behind gangsters, punks and pugilists to recreate the Hollywood glamour of its golden age. The Aviator climbs to its highest during Cate Blanchett's smashing impersonation of Kate Hepburn. Blanchett plays Hepburn as Hughes' great love, the woman who might have saved him from his downward spiral. Like Hughes' aerodynamic designs, this is a sleek, polished vehicle that allows DiCaprio to shine. But you won't need seatbelts, for The Aviator never soars. Rated PG-13. At UA Village 4, Colony Square 12, FlatIron Crossing. —TD Bad Education. Director Pedro Almodovar falters badly in his semi-autobiographical Spanish drama about the sins of the fathers. In particular, the father is a Catholic priest who molests two boys in parochial school. Almodovar's story of the boys' adult revenge is as serpentine as it is sordid, with nods to Hollywood film noir and replete with murder and murky identities. Gael Garcia Bernal stars as the mysterious Ignacio, an actor who prods his long-lost gay lover (Fele Martinez) to produce a movie that will expose the priest who preyed on them as boys. After scoring recent art-house hits, Almodovar has a made a film that feels self-serving and cloistered. Bad Education is a good lesson on how to lose your audience. Rated NC-17. At the Mayan, Landmark Crossroads. —TD Because Of Winn-Dixie Based on the popular children's book, a young girl adopts a stray picardy shepherd and calls it Winn Dixie, after the store where she found it. As the story unravels, the young girl and pup bring joy to the many lonely hearts in town. Rated PG. At Landmark Crossroads, Colony Square. The Boogeyman In this horror movie Barry Watson stars as Tim, who must return home to confront troubling visions that are interfering with his life. Are they real, or only a figment of his imagination? Rated PG-13. At FlatIron Crossing and Colony Square. Bride And Prejudice. Bollywood and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice —the worst mismatch since Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley. Austen has survived many a poor film version, but not director Gurinder Chadha's shotgun wedding of East and West. In India, Lalita (Aishwarya Rai) meets Darcy (Martin Henderson), a snobby and very wealthy American. Both are prejudicial toward each other's culture, sparking a love-hate relationship that spans three continents. Though seasoned with splashy musical numbers in the Bollywood tradition, Chadha's hybrid is doomed by kitsch and its sour satire of nouveau-riche Indians. Henderson is such a vapid Darcy, any bride worth her sari would strand him at the altar. Rated PG-13.At the Esquire. —TD Callas Forever. Callas may be forever, but Franco Zeffirelli's fictionalized tribute is not. Fanny Ardant stars as the great Greek-American soprano Maria Callas in her last years, lured out of reclusive retirement in Paris by a former manager (Jeremy Irons). His proposal is for La Callas to lip-sync her famed recording of Bizet's Carmen for a film version. When a haunted Callas awakes at night to mime her legendary roles in Tosca and La Traviata, Ardant's performance hits the high notes. But apart from the grand music by Puccini, Verdi, et al., Zeffirelli surrounds Ardant with a soap-opera score and a tinny script. Unrated. At International Film Series. —TD The Chorus On its 2003 release in France, The Chorus was instrumental in sparking a resurgence in choral music among the country's young. You'd be whistling Dixie to think the same thing could happen in the classical-music-challenged USA. Written and directed by Christophe Barratier, this is a slender but soundly produced ode in the humanist tradition of French cinema, a sort of Gallic Mr. Holland's Opus played in a darker key. Though the story begins in the present, the time quickly shifts to 1949. Clement Mathieu (Gerard Jugnot) is the unsuspecting new teacher at Fond De L'Etang, a provincial reformatory reserved for the unruliest of boys. With Francois Berleand. Rated PG-13. At Chez Artiste. —TD Constantine. Adopted from the comic series Hellblazer, John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) stars in this noir thriller about the tenuous line between good and evil. Constantine was born with the unique ability to discern the half-breed angels and demons that endlessly roam the earth. While this unlikely hero will go out of his way to help those in danger, he doesn't want their gratitude. A character struggle ensues as Constantine tries to reconcile his unique gift and the cynical perspective that accompanies it. Rated R. At FlatIrons, Colony Square. Finding Neverland. Back in August, Johnny Depp was Entertainment Weekly's cover boy, which touted that Finding Neverland would finally allow the Depp to find his Best Actor Oscar. For this to be Depp's winning bid, you'd really have to believe in miracles. Neverland dramatizes episodes from the life of J.M. Barrie, the Scottish playwright best-known for Peter Pan. As his marriage falters, Barrie befriends Sylvia (Kate Winslet), a widow with four boys. London society disapproves of Barrie's new friendships, especially Sylvia's mother (Julie Christie). As Depp's accent wavers, director Marc Foster surrounds him with a precious, overstuffed production that functions better as furniture than as film. Rated PG. At FlatIron Crossing, Landmark Crossroads. —TD Hide And Seek. When he burst onto the movie scene in the 1970s, Robert De Niro made his name playing angry young men—indelible characters like Jake LaMotta and Travis Bickle. Since the 1990s, De Niro has settled into Hollywood's version of an easy chair. Once a raging bull, De Niro's been reborn as a teddy bear. His family-man slide continues in Hide and Seek, a horror/thriller that comes on with a roar but exits without a whimper. De Niro plays father to precocious child-star Dakota Fanning, taking root in an updated Bad Seed role. Director John Polson erects a frightening front for his haunted-house picture. But by the last act, you realize that it's only a facade. With Elizabeth Shue and Famke Janssen. Rated R. At FlatIron Crossing, Colony Square. —TD Hitch. See Screen Review. Rated PG-13. At Colony Square and UA Village 4.
In Good Company. What's the difference between comedies produced for the big screen and those made for TV? Apparently, not much. In Good Company is a genial sit-com on steroids, bulked up with a smooth Dennis Quaid and the beguiling Scarlett Johansson. Writer/ director Paul Weitz has said his film was inspired by the satirical comedies of Billy Wilder, like The Apartment. If this is The Apartment, it's only a low-rent version. Quaid plays Dan Foreman, advertising manager for a sporting magazine in New York City. Faster than you can say leveraged buyout, Dan's company is sold and he's kicked downstairs. His new boss: Carter Duryea (Topher Grace), a 26-year-old whiz kid whose favorite words are "awesome" and "synergy." With Marge Hellenberger. Rated PG-13. At FlatIron Crossing. —TD The Italian Straw Hat (1927). How times change. Since its release, French director Rene Clair's silent comedy has often been deemed one of his funniest films. Today, this precisely choreographed upper-class farce feels musty and tres precious—more Styrofoam than straw. Albert Prejean stars as a would-be bridegroom who's led on a series of misadventures after his horse gobbles up a lady's hat. At Boulder Public Library. —TD
The Merchant Of Venice Even Shakespeare was the product of his times. Most of his plays survive with a vitality unmatched in theater. Others show their age. In the latter category is The Merchant of Venice, one of the Bard's most controversial works, an errantly labeled comedy that's no laughing matter. In director Michael Radford's production, the play is given a surprisingly traditional spin. Bearded and hunched over, Al Pacino stars as Shylock, a Jewish moneylender in 1596 Venice who demands a "pound of flesh" from a nobleman (Jeremy Irons) as payment for defaulted loan. On the scales of the hefty Shakespearean canon, Merchant sits as a dark lightweight. With Lynn Collins and Joseph Fiennes. At the Esquire. Rated R. —TD Million Dollar Baby. What makes a knockout movie? Astonishingly, if you ask almost every critic in America, here's the winning combination: 1) A rope-a-dope melodrama set in the boxing world; 2) a two-fisted heroine on her death bed; 3) A punchy veteran director; 4) Lots of talk about God. The movie I'm talking about is Clint Eastwood's latest featherweight masterpiece. After 2003's Mystic River, Eastwood delivers another sucker punch, and critics have fallen for it again. Baby is the saga of Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank), a female boxer with the heart of a champion. Director Eastwood plays Maggie's trainer, an old cuss by the name of Frankie Dunn. This unlikely one-two punch may win your heart. For two hours, I was down for the count. With Morgan Freeman. Rated PG-13. At FlatIron Crossing, Colony Square, Landmark Crossroads. —TD The Motorcycle Diaries. As the prologue rolls we hear a 23- year-old Ernesto "Che" Guevara (Gael Garcia Bernal) say that his memoir "isn't a tale of heroic feats." Che's claims otherwise, director Walter Salles' freewheeling odyssey runs on a rich mixture of mirth, myth—and, yes, a measure of heroic feats. Working from Guevara's diaries and letters, Salles humanizes Che, giving us the early years of a man who's revered as a secular saint in leftist Latin America. Salles jump-starts his chronicle with the casting of Bernal, the young star of Amores Perros. In 1952, Guevara was a Buenos Aires medical student who embarked on a daring motorcycle trip across the continent with his friend (Rodrigo de la Serna). Rated R. At Starz Film Center. —TD Ong-Bak. See Screen Review. At Landmark Crossroads. Rated PG-13. The Phantom of the Opera. Fans of the Broadway and London blockbuster won't be disappointed by Joel Shumacher's lavishly overblown screen version. Set in 1870s Paris, Andrew Lloyd Webber's baroque musical makes its Hollywood bow, starring able newcomers Gerard Butler as the tragic Phantom and Emmy Rossum as his beloved Christine. Shumacher gives Lloyd Webber's hit tunes the white-glove treatment, milking their melodies for every note. Non-fans will notice that Webber's idiom is opera-lite, grafted together with rock, pop and soap opera. Some of the set-pieces are kitsch allegro, while Shumacher's Raoul (Patrick Wilson) is a phantom. Butler and Rossum's duets are the saving grace, especially an elegant rendition of "The Point of No Return." With Minnie Driver. Rated G. At FlatIron Crossing, Colony Square.—TD Pooh's Huffalump Movie. Convinced of the presence of Huffalumps, Pooh Piglet and Tigger set out to capture this creature once and for all. When Roo is left behind, he has the greatest success in finding the huffaump and finds that they're not so bad after all. At Colony Square and Landmark Crossroads. Rated G. The Sea Inside. For 30 years after a crippling accident, Spaniard Ramon Sampredo was confined to his bed. His only wish: to be allowed to die. Inside the well-acted story of Sampredo's tragic life are both sides to the euthanasia debate. Javier Bardem gives a wry, eloquent voice to Sampredo, a man arguing to his family and friends why he wants to die. Director Alejandro Amenabar gets around the restricted setting by giving flight to Ramon's yearning daydreams. There's no getting around the stand that Amenabar's award-winning film takes on the right-to- die debate. Sampredo emerges as the noble hero of his own life. As parting gift for their indulgence, the audience is treated to his grand finale. With Belen Rueda. Rated PG-13. At Chez Artiste. —TD
Shaun Of The Dead. Like it or not, the zombie movie has returned from the dead with a vengeance. Now comes Shaun of the Dead, a zombie comedy born in the U.K. The only difference between zombies and humans in North London is in diet and complexion. Even Shaun (Simon Pegg), our underachieving hero, is indifferent to the chaos erupting around him. It's all in bloody fun, with British reserve matched up against the over-the-top rudeness of the living dead. If all the gore doesn't get in your face, director Edgar Wright's zippy cuts and buzz-saw metal soundtrack will. But there's nothing lively in the finale, which pays homage to George Romero's 1968 cult classic, Night of The Living Dead. Rated R. At International Film Series. —TD Son Of The Mask. This is the sequel to the 1994 hit with Jim Carrey. The legendary mask finds its way into the wrong hands again, and many laughs ensue. Rated PG. At Colony Square.
Travellers And Magicians. This is the first feature length film shot entirely in Bhutan. The beautiful travelogue tells a tale of young and restless Dondup, who hitchhikes to Thimphu for a festival. This is his last trip before he plans to go to the U.S. and seek a "better life" for himself. But Dondup swaps stories with fellow travelers and is irrevocably changed along the way. Not Rated. At Landmark Crossroads. Vera Drake. "Heart of gold, that woman." The squeeze is on from the start in director Mike Leigh's true-life story of a 1950s English abortionist. Vera (Imelda Staunton) is a loving mum who always has a kind word to say to everyone. She has a secret life, performing illicit abortions on women who have nowhere else to turn for help. Though didactic, Leigh's sepia-toned tome does perform a public service, recreating a time when birth control in general was an unspoken taboo. But Leigh can't resist turning Drake into an angel-faced martyr to the male establishment. With each whimpering close-up of Vera after her arrest, Leigh comes close to canonizing her as his Joan of Arc. Rated R. At International Film Festival. —TD A Very Long Engagement. Pretty long and unengaging, Jean-Pierre Jeunet's World War I drama has his Amelie star, Audrey Tautou, playing a young woman determined to find her fiancé (Gaspard Ulliel), a soldier who disappeared in the horrific battle of the Somme. Though Jeunet's fractured story starts from a novel (by Sebastien Japrisot), it comes to the screen wedded to an empty, superficial visual style that adds up to one long blur. Jeunet's hyperactive camera should have been given a shot of Ritalin before filming started. Rated R. At Starz Film Center. —TD
The Wedding Date. First you have to believe that dishy Debra Messing would have pay a guy to go on a weekend date with her. Messing (From TV's Will & Grace) is Kat, an embarrassed single who hires a professional hunk (Dermot Mulroney) to escort her to the London wedding of her sister. Mulroney deserves better than his role as Nick, a perfect Cosmo guy who can provide stud service and Zen insights at the same time. You could call this horrid romantic comedy One Wedding and a Funeral, with stress on the funeral. The "from death do us part" part comes early to all concerned. Rated PG-13. At FlatIron Crossing, Colony Square. —TD WEEKLY VIDEO PICK My Architect (2004). "Can you get to know someone after they are dead?" That's the question that Nathaniel Kahn implicitly asks in his first-rate first-person documentary. Kahn's answer, filtered though his two-hour detective journey, is an eloquently simple, "Yes." Kahn's low-budget sleeper—one of the best films of 2004—tracks his personal odyssey to fathom his father, noted architect Louis Kahn. When he died in 1974, the inscrutable Kahn left a wife, two mistresses and several illegitimate children, including Nathaniel. Nathaniel's triumph is a small-scale monument to one of the deepest human needs, the longing for a bridge between man and his maker. Unrated. —TD |
Hotel Rwanda. If you'd like to see two sides
to actor Don Cheadle, first check him out as one of the gang in the dry-rot
Ocean's Twelve. Then check into Hotel Rwanda, in which Cheadle gives one of the
most powerfully restrained performances of 2004. In 1994, one million Rwandan
Tutsis were slaughtered in a genocide carried out by the Hutu majority. When
Hell came to Rwanda, the rest of the world shrugged. One man who didn't was
Paul Rusesabagina, who saved hundreds of Tutsis from certain death. Whatever
the worth of director Terry George's tragic chronicle, there's no doubting
Cheadle's impassioned performance. Gracious and soft-spoken, Paul carries
himself with a quiet courage as the crisis mounts. Rated PG-13. At UA Village
4. —TD
