Openings on Christmas Day:
THE PRODUCERS the movie based on a Broadway play based on a movie about a Broadway play. Huh? The original movie starred Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder as Broadway producers who realized they could make more money if they had a failure so they proceed to stage the worlds worst play “Springtime for Hitler”. That movie was turned into a real Broadway hit starring Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, so here we have the musical on film much like you’d see it on stage. As most of us won’t get to New York during its run and even if we did good luck getting tickets, this is worthwhile to see for the great performances, but live would be exponentially better. The movie is still good enough to garner 2 Golden Globe nominations.
CASANOVA puts Heath Ledger on screen competing with himself in Brokeback Mountain. In this movie he prefers women - boy does he prefer women. Fact based only in that historically there was a Casanova this is still a fun romp, with the legendary lover always one step ahead of The Inquisition as the result of his indiscretions. Bringing back memories of Shakespeare In Love the recent version of Merchant of Venice and even a little of the 2001's The Emperors New Clothes I think the director just told his fantastic star- laden cast to go as far over the top as possible, and they did, especially Jeremy Irons.
MRS HENDERSON PRESENTS is a fitting movie to launch the reopening of the beloved Ridge Theatre as it is the story of the reopening of a theatre. This is based on a real life strong-minded British aristocrat recently widowed who decides to bide her time by dabbling in Vaudeville. She ends up winning a small political victory for freedom of expression. She also does her part for public morale (although maybe not public morals) during the London Blitz. The movie is deservedly up for a Golden Globe as are both its stars Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins.
Also somewhat facts based is WOLF CREEK. You have to admire the producers intestinal fortitude for releasing a slasher film on Christmas day! Then again they’re Australian and it’s actually summer there right now so maybe they got confused. This starts out as a Three's Company road trip, decides to be an alien abduction scenario for a while and then ultimately goes Texas Chainsaw Massacre on ya. If the story is anywhere near factual it’s not going to do much for tourism to outback park locations like Wolf Creek.
12/23
Two movies Opening last Wednesday that I didn’t get to see:
FUN WITH DICK & JANE which is a remake of the 1977 Jane Fonda / George Segal movie this time with Jim Carrey and Téa Leoni as the good couple gone bad.
And a sequel to a remake of the 1950’s movie staring Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy.
CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN 2 has Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt reprising their roles from 2003.
I did not get to see MUNICH regrettably, but I must see it and soon. This is a Golden Globe nominated Speilberg film about the fallout from the tragic murders at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
At the opposite end of the Olympics spectrum is THE RINGER which has Johnny Knoxville feeling compelled to rig the Special Olympic. The only way he can accomplish this is by pretending to be mentally challenged. It sounds pretty tasteless and with Knoxville being a veteran alumnus of Jackass, the word oxymoron seems to have double meaning here. However this film highlights the talents of a handful of delightful but challenged men and women that make it a passably entertaining comedy.
Speaking of double meaning, Cillian Murphy is gay in every sense of the word in BREAKFAST ON PLUTO. No matter what disaster or tribulation befalls him, he remains amazingly cheerful. We’ve seem Murphy’s skill as an actor escalate through Batman Begins, 28 Days Later and Red Eye. Now he’s deservedly up for a Golden Globe playing a small town Irish transvestite who moves to London in the 70’s seeking the mother who abandoned him. All this is set against the backdrop of the dark days of IRA terrorism. He briefly plays opposite Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry and the soundtrack includes the song Breakfast on Pluto by famous busker Don Partridge along with several other songs we love on CISL.
RUMOR HAS IT... gets Jennifer Aniston back on track after that Derailed train wreck earlier this year. The hook here is that her grandmother is rumoured to be the role model for Mrs Robinson in The Graduate and Kevin Costner was supposed to have been the real life Dustin Hoffman character. Years later Aniston is determined to find out how that relationship affects her because she thinks it will explain why she has commitment issues with her fiancé played by Mark Ruffalo. This movie is cute, maybe a little creepy but would not be nearly as funny without Shirley MacLaine who gets all the best lines and delivers them with gusto and authority.
12/16
KING KONG opened on Wednesday. It’s a labour of love for Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson who has wanted to remake the 1930’s classic since he was 9 years old but funding was a problem until he had a bit of success with the Tolkien trilogy. This is a spectacular and epic 3 hour romp that stars the new queen of scream Naomi Watts and Jack Black who pulls off his first serious roll.
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN is the new darling of critics everywhere. It’s a gorgeous looking film from Ang Lee the director of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon with Alberta standing in for Wyoming and features an award worthy performance by Heath Ledger. However I’m not convinced that most paying movie goers will walk away feeling satisfied seeing a film about gay cowboys with that scenario ironically compounded when Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal meet herding sheep. The year is 1963 and their sporadic love affair continues for decades. The theme isn’t so much the problem. I cheered at the end of The Crying Game and cried during Philadelphia, but I really didn’t care about the resolution of this relationship.
Co-incidentally MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA stars most of the actors from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. This is a fascinating glimpse into a little understood part of Japanese culture. It’s pre-World War 2 and centres on a woman who at age 9 is sold off from her fishing village along with her sister to ostensibly become Geishas. Her sister is unacceptable and is forced into prostitution. The girl turns out to do not much better as she is accepted but into a merciless environment. Her misery ends with the kindness of a strange. He inspires her to become the most renowned Geisha so that some day she can charm her benefactor.
THE FAMILY STONE is an implausible but none the less funny and engaging tale. Her Dermot Mulroney brings Sarah Jessica Parker his uptight girlfriend home for the holidays. In a clash of ideologies a la Meet the Fokkers, the rest of his liberal family played by Diane Keaton, Craig T. Nelson, Luke Wilson and Rachel McAdams provide a sustained vicious welcome until the arrival of Parkers sister played by Claire Danes. At that point relationships head off is new directions.
12/09
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE is finally the big-screen adaptation of the classic novel, although there was a TV version which was nominated for an Emmy in 1988. It might be a little intense for sensitive kids, but the talking animals are amazingly life like and because the book was so popular this may wind up rivalling Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. That is unless there’s a backlash to its religious undertone. It’s said that author CS Lewis inserted biblical references but they seemed minimal to me – unless I missed a lot of talking beavers in the bible.
2005 is George Clooney’s year to make a political statement. First he starred and produced Good Night and Good Luck, now he’s done the same with SYRIANA. This is a political thriller centering on the oil industry that’s not only very entertaining but also an eye opener. Dare I say that this is an important film? Especially for Americans wondering why many in the world are a little non-plussed with their country.
Not to be confused with Syriana is the SYRIAN BRIDE. Never the less it too is a very revealing story from the Middle East about an arranged marriage where the bride is a Druze woman from Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Once she crosses the border into Syria she will never be able to return home. This is a small picture with a big payoff as the underlying political and religious tension is relentless.
Another off shore and definitely off beat film is the Japanese comedy KAMIKAZE GIRLS. A prim and uber-stylish student hooks up with a gang of hardened biker chicks.
Also out, the comedy BOB THE BUTLER with Tom Green and Brooke Shields.
12/2
AEON FLUX has Charlize Theron teamed up for the second time this fall with Frances McDormand but this is no North Country. Action fans will be knocked out by her portrayal of a two fisted amoral assassin for the rebellious Monicans in the supposedly utopian walled city of Bregna. It’s 415 years from now and the inhabitants are the only survivors of a virus that wiped out 90% of civilization in 2011. So at least we got to enjoy the Olympics. Japanese animation fans will know that this is based on a series of short films for MTV that began in 1991. Aeon Flux died at the end of most of those. In this movie she just digs out the bullets with her fingers and moves on.
IN THE MIX is a comedy that features rap star Usher playing a club DJ pressed into service as the body guard of the pampered daughter of a mafia Don. Like many recording artist who try acting there is the potential that Usher might be better qualified being seen in the theatre ushering patrons to their seats as opposed to on the screen. However here he does a passable job with a cliché stacked story line that is totally implausible. Just for starters we’re supposed to believe Usher is drop dead gorgeous. He’s not an unattractive guy, but he’s no Denzel.
THE PROTOCOLS OF ZION is a shrill but yet disturbing documentary from Marc Levin who we normally know as a director. Here he is on screen confronting the myth that 9/11 was the culmination of a Jewish conspiracy originating in the 1890’s.
Also out:
THE FUTURE OF FOOD yet another documentary.
CAKE with Heather Graham, Taye Diggs and Vancouver’s Sandra Oh.
And from the Middle East
PARADISE NOW
11/25
Last Saturday morning 650 CISL presented the Vancouver premiere of YOURS, MINE & OURS which was originally done with Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda. This time Dennis Quaid and Renee Russo star in this family comedy about a man with eight kids who marries a woman with 10 kids.
That’s a movie you might want to see before the steamy sex drama LIE WITH ME as a reminder that everything has its price.
It’s just not Christmas unless Billy Bob Thornton does a dark comedy about the season. Last year Bad Santa, this year he teams up with John Cusack in THE ICE HARVEST. These two celebrate the holidays by conspiring to steal millions from a Kansas Mob boss. Many times you see the trailer and you’ve seen the movie. Here you see the trailer you see more than the movie because there’s funny stuff in it that doesn’t make it into the final cut. The trailer got me excited about this movie but I walked away a bit disappointed.
JUST FRIENDS is yet another comedy for Kits secondary grad Ryan Reynolds. For him this is a departure because he’s not the usual in-control smarty-pants. With some clever rubber prosthetics he’s a fat bullied high school loser who turns his back on his small town to become a wildly successful and buffed L.A. record company exec. Through contrived coincidence he ends up back home at Christmas where he can’t help falling back into his former persona. Teens will go for this movie. For me not so much although with 2 sons I enjoyed the sibling rivalry between Reynolds and his younger brother.
PAPER CLIPS is a documentary I found fascinating but also somewhat manipulative and a little longer than it had to be. Here a small Tennessee town rallies to collect enough paper clips to represent all the people killed in the Holocaust.
From Quebec we also have C.R.A.Z.Y.
Getting a head start on the weekend, Wednesday we saw the opening of:
Rent
And
Tom Hanks The Polar Express: IMAX Edition
11/18
Joachin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon will get some buzz at Oscar time for playing Johnny Cash and June Carter in WALK THE LINE. That’s because of their on screen chemistry and spot on vocals. It was interesting to see the origin of songs we all know and to have them showcased so well, but the story of a musician involved in drug-induced self-destruction was done recently and done better in Ray.
If you liked the music of Walk the Line and want a good laugh you may want to check out THE LIFE AND HARD TIMES OF GUY TERRIFICO. I was a prouder Canadian after seeing it. This mocumentary is about a fictitious 70’s country wannabe and was written by a former Vancouverite. It features Merle Haggard, Levon Helms, Ronnie Hawkins and Kris Kristofferson playing along with the scenario. I giggled all the way through this movie.
Wednesday I hosted a theatre full of CISL listeners at a screening of BEE SEASON with Richard Gere and Juliette Binoche. I liked this more that I thought I would have since the story revolves around education and religion. On the surface a family comes apart when a father’s attention is transferred from his son to his daughter when she is discovered to be a spelling prodigy. However it’s the mysticism aspect that makes it interesting. This won’t do big box office but I found it worthwhile.
Unfortunately the only preview screening of HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE was last Saturday morning when I was on air. Mrs Kennedy and son #2 went. She thought it was good but I don’t think he liked it as much as the previous Harry Potter movies.
Also out: RENT with Rosario Dawson and Taye Diggs
11/11
ZATHURA is my pick for the family this weekend. It’s a wild ride a la Jumanji only this time when the kids play the board game found hidden while it’s their turn at divorced dad’s recently acquired house, there’s no going inside the game. Instead the game launches their house into space and each players turn determines what will happen next. I loved this film.
It’s hard to believe that Jane Austin’s PRIDE & PREJUDICE hasn’t already been redone since the 1940 release with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson although it was a mini-series in 2003. Also hard to believe is that the smart feisty lead is played by the same Keira Knightley who was recently the hard boiled Domino Harvey. It’s easy to see why this is a classic and this adaptation by Joe Wright is visually rich and romantically rewarding.
KISS KISS BANG BANG is hysterically hysterically funny funny in a very very uncomfortable way. There’s nothing else redundant in the original but very dark humour of this tale of a two bit New York felon who accidentally passes an audition for a movie role as a private detective, only to get snarled in an actual string of L.A. murders. Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer have a riot making sport of their own industry in this film.
GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN’ is an autobiographical movie about and starring Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson’s. With the highest debut album ever in "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" and his capacity for taking a bullet, it’s no surprise that Hollywood found fodder in his life story that goes off track at age 8 when his mothers murder leaves him orphaned and he takes up the family business pushing drugs until he finds salvation in love and rappin’. For a debut film role he comes off pretty natural and the story seems pretty close to the truth.
DERAILED may do well at the box office because of sympathy viewings for Jennifer Aniston who coincidentally is everywhere right now talking about the long lost Brad Pitt. She and Clive Owen are commuters who find themselves being blackmailed after starting an affair. The movie posters shout “they never saw it coming”. They should have moved down to the front row of the theatre, they would have seen it all coming 10 minutes into the film.
Also out: THE DARK HOURS
11/04
JARHEAD is a military pet-name for the haircut of US Marines. However it’s not a barber that turns them into barbarians. Through basic training and a cult-like indoctrination, young men of diverse points of view reach a common focus for killing. The problem is that in the clinical fighting we’ve become accustomed to in the xml:namespace prefix =" st1" ns =" "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"" />
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CHICKEN LITTLE is the latest Disney release. The computer animation rivals that of upstart Pixar but the writing doesn’t have as big a pay-off for parents, so this movie won’t guarantee that Disney will again rule the roost. Still it’s a cute take on the story we all know, of a foul mistake regarding the sky falling… or was it a mistake? This might be the one to take the family to on a soggy November weekend.
WATER was one of the big hits of the Vancouver Film festival. It’s from Toronto-based director Deepa Mehta and is the final film in her trilogy, following Fire and Earth. This is more than a fascinating expose of the degradation of women in 1938 Colonial India, against the backdrop of Mahatma Gandhi's rise to power. . It stars the gorgeous Lisa Ray of Bollywood/Hollywood fame but the film surrounds the story of an eight-year-old played by Sarala, a girl with no acting experience who is from a tiny village in
I did not see DESOLATION SOUND but I’d like to as it’s a thriller about BC filmed on the sunshine coast.
10/28
Two fantastic and important biopics out this weekend because they will surely garner Oscar buzz for their stars.
For Philip Seymour Hoffman it’s about time. He got robbed in 2003 when no one even noticed his riveting portrayal of Brian Mahowny, the Canadian bank manager with a gambling problem in Owning Mahowny. In this week’s CAPOTE he gives vivid insight into the American icon who wrote the groundbreaking In Cold Blood as he nails the ego, the frailty, the extrovert, the manipulator and everything else that was the man we knew as Truman Capote.
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK was the sign off for the 50’s newscasts anchored by Edward R. Murrow. Central to the movie starring David Strathairn as a spot-on Murrow is the journalists fight against communist witch hunter Joseph McCarthy. It’s compelling not only because of a courageous story that totally captures an era, but particularly because of an acceptance speech he makes at an awards dinner portrayed early in the film. He speaks of complacency and malleability in the media and it’s chilling because his words continue to be true today.
Steve Martin may not be handing himself an Oscar for SHOPGIRL if he MC’s the Academy Awards again but he still pulls off a fairly engaging movie here. It’s adapted from Martins best selling novella, and although some situations are contrived, the relationship of a young woman and a much older man is done tastefully. That’s saying a lot because it has the great potential of being creepy. Claire Danes is finally back (maybe it took her this long to live down The Mod Squad) as an introvert who subsidizes her art career by selling gloves at Saks 5th Ave. She’s torn between 2 men with maturity issues – Martin who can’t commit and Jason Schwartzman who should be committed.
Also out two remakes that reinforce the dangers of playing with sharp implements:
THE LEGEND OF ZORRO with Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones
And
SAW II
You can now also see:
PRIME with Meryl Streep and Uma Thurman
THE WEATHER MAN starring Nicolas Cage and Michael Caine
As well as
MIRRORMASK
10/21
Wanna smell what the Rocks cooking? Well in DOOM it smells like leftovers. This will probably lift The Fog from the top of the box office but it shouldn’t. I actually liked WWE’s The Rock here in yet another video game inspired graphic sci-fi movie but we’ve seen it better in Resident Evil. The finale that integrated a gamers view was cool but for a movie that has marines travelling through space in minutes to a ghoul infested Mars their ordinance should have more than 1980’s sophistication.
A long shot with a chance for top box office honours is DREAMER: INSPIRED BY A TRUE STORY. I’m always blown away how someone as young as Dakota Fanning can carry a movie so well. She stars with Vancouver transplant Kurt Russell in a story about the triumph of the human spirit as a broken down trainer brings a broken down race horse back to life and the horse returns the favour. For a while I was thinking that a story about a race horse shouldn’t be so slow paced but this movie had the theatre I was at erupting in cheers at the end.
THE SQUID AND THE WHALE sounds like a Disney feature but it is anything but. It is going to garner Jeff Daniels some chatter at Oscar time for capturing a sympathetic yet totally unlikeable character. He and Laura Linney are a couple of self absorbed academics whose divorce has a chilling effect on their kids. This one gets a little too real.
THE RIVER KING is an engaging co-Canadian/ British production starring Edward Burns as a small town police officer convinced there is a cover up in the death of a student at the snobby nearby prep-school which feeds the local economy.
Also out:
NORTH COUNTRY with Charlize Theron, Sissy Spacek, Frances McDormand, and Woody Harrelson.
STAY with Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts,
The Quebec Ishtar NOUVELLE-FRANCE
And actually from France DODGING THE CLOCK
10/14
On Wednesday 650 CISL premiered ELIZABETHTOWN. I’d read that it was too long and borrowed from Garden State so I had preconceived notions. Well it’s a captivating romantic comedy even though the length is self-congratulatory. I’m a sucker for Kirsten Dunst but Orlando Bloom carrying a movie was a question mark. Turns out he’s just fine as a disasterous west coast sneaker designer who even bungles his own suicide. His plan to do himself in are put on hold when he has to attend to his fathers funeral in Elizabethtown just just outside of Loo-ah-vul Kentucky. En route he meet flight attendant Dunst who decides she wants him as her own personal frequent flyer.
I was anxious to see DOMINO just from the trailer even though it seemed to tell the whole story. Turns out there’s definitely more where that came from. This movie is dark and stylish – everything you’d expect from a movie with Mickey Rourke. Keira Knightley plays Domino Harvey a real life L.A. princess who chose to be a bounty hunter. Rather than being a biopic, the only truth is the disclaimer that it’s based on a true story – sort of.
THE THING ABOUT MY FOLKS is a chick flick for guys. Paul Reiser plays the same character we remember from TV, stuck driving cross country with his father played by the criminally under-utilized Peter Falk. This is the road trip every guy would like to have taken with his father.
EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED has Elijah Wood very un-Frodo like as a pack rat searching the Ukraine where the Nazis uprooted his grandparents, for clues to explain everything he’s collected. The title is inspired by the hilarious translations he would get from his young Ukrainian tour guide.
SEPARATE LIES is a dreary film about adultery from the UK. It reminds me of an old Hudson and Landry routine which has two upper crust gentlemen discussing ones infidelity with the others wife in a very civilized tone over a glass of sherry.
Aso out the remake of John Carpenter’s THE FOG
and
PRETTY PERSUASION
10/07
WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT
There have been 10 shorts featuring the hapless claymation inventor and his trusty dog Gromit. Although garnering 3 Oscars it’s been 6 years since we last saw them, probably because it takes so painfully long to film this way and this is a feature length movie. This time the whole family will enjoy watching our heroes running the Anti-Pesto pest control company and using rube-goldberg-like contraptions to keep neighbourhood gardens pristine. Unfortunately one contraption used for humane purposes turns horribly wrong.
TWO FOR THE MONEY has Vancouver doubling for New York city and features Al Pacino as a hustler TV gambling tout who recruits a washed up quarterback with a gift for picking winners played by Matthew McConaughey. Pacino is fantastic as usual but anyone who pays to see this may not feel like they got double for their money.
WAITING... is about parents with kids caught in the crossfire of the teachers dispute… no that’s actually my life. Speaking of school, it’s been years since Ryan Reynolds graduated from Kits Secondary but he’s still playing the same character. One of these days he’s going to have to move on but for now it still works for me. Waiting, as in waiting tables is a 90 minute pee-pee joke that follows the antics of employees at a steak house. It’s sophomorphic but I walked away feeling entertained.
THUMBSUCKER on the other hand ends up being about an adolescent acting mature. The comedy here is on a more intellectual plane as impressive newcomer Lou Taylor Pucci plays a normal confused 17 year old with a wrinkle, or should I say wrinkled thumb because he still sucks it. Whole earth orthodontist Keanu Reeves cures his problem but that just makes his life more of a mess. This is a small movie with an all star cast that I really liked.
Also out this weekend:
WHERE THE TRUTH LIES starring Colin Firth and Kevin Bacon
And
IN HER SHOES with Shirley MacLaine and Cameron Diaz.
09/30
PROOF could net another Oscar for Gwyneth Paltrow. She’s an academic dealing with the death of her math professor father played by Anthony Hopkins. He was fairly crazy before he died and because of her inherited brilliance she wonders if she’s nuts too. If you liked A Beautiful Mind then this is for you, but I found it a bit snoozy. Too much math involved.
INTO THE BLUE turns out to be a pretty engaging thriller. It’s about 2 vagabond Bahamian treasure hunters joined by a big city lawyer friend on vacation. The lawyer is terrified of being attacked by sharks which is impossible. Professional courtesy. Anyway they all end up at the mercy of nasty drug smugglers. It features some gorgeous people in some gorgeous underwater scenes. My favourite show used to be sea hunt so I was right into it… and don’t get me started on Jessica Alba wet and half naked.
Fans of Joss Whedon (and I am) will like SERENITY which he wrote and directed. He gave us the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the short lived 2002 Firefly which this movie is based on. Edmonton’s Nathan Fillion is back as the captain of Serenity, the spaceship for a renegade group of flawed outcasts of a brave new world which was created on other planets after the earth got too full. They end up battling the authorities to protect a teenage girl with radical powers. It’s like a space western but with absolutely no goofy space aliens a la Jar Jar Binks.
Mrs Kennedy saw Roman Polanski’s OLIVER TWIST. She said Ben Kingsley was fantastic as Fagan.
Also out this week:
GRIZZLY MAN
THE GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED
09/23
In FLIGHTPLAN Jody Foster is back as a devastated mom trying to get her husband’s body to the USA after his suicide in Germany. She crashes out shortly after take-off and 3 hours later she awakes to discover her daughter is missing. No one has seen the 9 year old and there is no record of her ever being on board.The movie does a fine job of keeping you guessing as to whether she’s really nuts and what’s cool is, in the end the Mounties get their man. If you like mysteries a la Clive Cussler and Dan Brown this is right up your alley.
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE stars Viggo Mortensen as a mild mannered family man running a small town greasy spoon restaurant. In self defence he blows away two thug drifters and the ensuing media frenzy captures the attention of some Philly mobsters who are convinced he’s a guy they want whacked. If you were offended by the level of violence in movies like Reservoir Dogs then this isn’t for you but I think it’s about the best thing Canadian director David Cronenberg has ever done.
MAGNIFICENT DESOLATION: WALKING ON THE MOON 3D is touted by producer Tom Hanks as being just like being on the lunar surface. Undeniably fascinating but a little short even by Imax standards.
JUNEBUG got some notice at Cannes and Sundance. A Chicago art dealer chases down the next Van Gogh, who just so happens to be a hillbilly living near the home town of her younger husband whom she recently married in a fever. While she tries to get the artist under contract she also has to deal with his trailer trash relatives. I liked it but I could have waited until the DVD came out to see it.
Also out this weekend
CORPSE BRIDE with The voice of Johnny Depp
AN UNFINISHED LIFE with Robert Redford, Jennifer Lopez, and Morgan Freeman
ROLL BOUNCE
9/16
JUST LIKE HEAVEN has Mark Ruffalo as a melancholy landscaper who sublets an apartment that turns out to be haunted by the spirit of a workaholic intern played by Reese Witherspoon. This is a chick-flick that most guys could probably tolerate so if she says “what movie do you want to see?” this weekend, maybe suggest this one. You could score major points and not feel robbed of 90 minutes of your life.
LORD OF WAR is about an international arms dealer played by Nicolas Cage. Ethan Hawke is a federal cop on his tail as he tries to trump the competition played by Ian Holm. It had some Hollywood cut and paste so I may be alone on this but this movie is one of my favourites so far this year. It’s somewhat educational and I liked the message about guns and the governments who produce them and the disgusting customers that buy them.
CRY WOLF has all the earmarks of a cheesy teen slasher flick but turns out to be a passable murder mystery. A preppy co-ed graduates prematurely magnum colt 45 laude if you know what I mean. Meantime back at the prepatory a new kid trying to fit in gets swept up in a game of deception his classmates play called cry wolf. They concoct a serial killer scenario for the girl’s murder but then the story they fabricate begins to come true. The reason I liked it is that this isn’t just another remake of 10 Little Indians - very few teens were injured in the making of this film.
9/9
The title THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE leaves little to the imagination. It’s allegedly the true story of a priest on trial for negligent homicide following the death of a college student whom he had exorcised. It was filmed in Vancouver and it was fun seeing some local faces. I think I kind of liked it because they didn’t remake the Exorcist. I also liked the even handed approach to matters of faith and the creepy parts worked great but the extensive courtroom scenes got to be a little tedious. It was kind of like the movie gave you possession and then nine-tenths was the law.
THE MAN teams up Eugene Levy as an anal retentive dental equipment salesman on his way to a convention and Samuel L. Jackson as an edgy FBI agent who has issues with everything. Jackson presses Levy into service when he accidentally gets mistaken for a player in his investigation dealing with cop killers. These two make this movie hilarious. You’ll really enjoy this - and probably the sequel because the chemistry between these two is so palpable that I think they’re going to have to eventually put them back together again.
Also out the documentary SCAREDSACRED.
09/02
You can sure tell we’re coming to the end of summer. The corn is ripe in Chilliwack and at the movie houses.
UNDERCLASSMAN is aptly named. It is indeed under class, man. Way under. I hate saying that because it was filmed in Vancouver and uses some good local talent but it’s an assembly line comedy. A plucky young urban bike cop with ambition goes undercover as a preppy high school student. This is one long set up for attitude punch lines, but I got the biggest laugh from one of the co-stars, and that was a potty joke.
A SOUND OF THUNDER is a short story by Ray Bradbury that should not have been expanded. Ben Kingsley plays a seemingly benign businessman whose reckless use of teleporting technology to send big game hunters back in time to bag dinosaurs ends up causing evolutionary disaster. The cheesy effects start with his bad hairpiece and de-evolve from there.
TRANSPORTER 2 has Jason Statham re-visiting the heart stopping action of the original.
08/26
THE BROTHERS GRIMM is a marvellous adventure from Monty Python alumni Terry Gilliam but it might be a little scary for smaller kids. Matt Damon and Heath Ledger are the brothers (which is perfect because for a long time I thought they were the same guy). According to this fantasy, these siblings are 19th century grifters and their talent for film flam gets them pressed into service investigating mysterious child abductions. Their sleuthing touches on snippets of a multitude of fairy tales like Snow White, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, Hanzel & Gretel, Jack and the Beanstalk, and a host of others.
If you liked The English Patient you will go nuts for THE CONSTANT GARDENER. This time Ralph Fiennes is ready to give it all up for Rachel Weisz. In this smart mystery-romance he’s a British diplomat in Africa and she’s his radical wife who perishes in an auto mishap. He suspects murder but his investigation is stymied not only by local corrupt authorities, but also his own embassy and even his best friend.
THE CAVE could make you think twice about spelunking for a while. It’s like Alien meets Mike Nelson (anyone else remember Sea Hunt?). A Carpathian underground aquifer promises to be an archaeological bonanza for a crack scuba team, but horrifying creatures dampen the euphoria. This is mildly exciting but I hate when mediocre films set themselves up for a sequel. Miss Congeniality did not do that. Not even Deuce Bigolo did that.
The things I do for the breakfast show. I actually went to an Ashlee Simpson movie. UNDISCOVERED turns out to the worlds largest lead-in to a music video - hers. Underutilized Peter Weller and Carrie Fisher are the only other name player. It’s a miss-able teen romance about the heartbreak of rock stardom and super-model hood.
Also out the comedy DELUXE COMBO PLATTER.
08/19
What a summer for Rachel McAdams. The London Ontario beauty is already in the #1 box office attraction for the 3rd week with The Wedding Crashers. Strangely that movie was out for 2 weeks before hitting top spot! Now she’s back in RED EYE. If you’ve got a cravin’ for the craven Wes Craven, he’s back directing this one. In a departure from his usual gore fest he’s teamed McAdams with Cillian Murphy, no stranger to creepy with roles in 28 Days Later and Batman Begins as Dr. Jonathan Crane. She’s a nervous flyer and he plays the unctuous guy in the next seat who turns out to be a terrorist gunning for the head of homeland security and he wants to use her to get the job done. I didn’t know who to cheer for in this passable thriller.
Ewan (or should that be Eube-wan) McGregor is off The Island and flying high again as one of the animated voices in VALIANT.
I was very pleasantly surprised with THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN. I thought they were going after the Deuce Bigolo audience and that it would be one dreary gag after another of thwarted encounters with the opposite sex. It turned out they had the good sense to actually make this comedy funny. The un-initiated here is Steve Carell who we know from The Office TV series. It turns out he’s a pretty good all around comedic actor. This time he’s an electronics store employee who’s a pocket protector away from a full blown geek. His co-workers and Catherine Keener all work to cure his problem.
Also out:
NOVEMBER with Friend Courtenay Cox
SHOW ME
plus two African themed movies -
MOOLAADE
and
PROTEUS
08/12
Kate Hudson delivers a new look and an acting streach with great back-up by Gena Rowland in THE SKELETON KEY. These New Orleans black magic women try to out-voodoo each other in this mildly creepy flick with a cagey Cajun twist.
A few weeks ago 650 CISL premiered BROKEN FLOWERS and it’s finally out. An emotionally bankrupt Bill Murray hears that he may have a son. Urged by his amateur sleuth neighbour he sets out to see if he left any of his former girlfriends in the family way. If you want the Groundhog Day Bill Murray you’ll be disappointed but if you liked the Lost in Translation Bill Murray you’ll be intrigued by his interpretation of this character.
The humour is not so subtle in THE ARISTOCRATS - a one trick pony with a lot of legs. It’s touted as 100 comedians telling the same dirty joke. I didn’t count 100 but there were a lot. The punchline of the joke isn’t the payoff, it’s the set-up. This movie is not for the easily offended, and for god sakes don’t take the kids, but it is hilarious.
It may undo 60 years of Japanese-American relations but fans of the 60’s TV series Combat will like THE GREAT RAID. It’s a linear but realistic WW2 yarn about the most successful rescue mission in US military history. The footage from the day will keep you sitting through the end credits.
LAST DAYS is the final burnout of a Seattle rocker reminiscent of the tragic Kurt Cobain. Michael Pitt’s performance is rivetting but towards the finish I was contemplating doing myself in if he didn’t get to it soon. It’s a fairly dreary film.
2046 is a mature romantic sci-fi movie from Hong Kong. A 60’s author draws from his playboy life to write about a year in the future, accessible by train, where nothing changes. It’s stylish and stimulating.
Also out this weekend:
DEUCE BIGALOW: EUROPEAN GIGOLO with Rob Schneider. This should make The Dukes of Hazzard look erudite.
Cote Dazur
Four Brothers
My Date With Drew
Supercross
08/05
I was surprised how much I liked THE DUKES OF HAZZARD because I expected it to be one long car chase. That was a large part of it but somehow better than most. For one thing no fruit stands were injured in the making of this film and the General Lee got a lot of mid-air hang time. More importantly this is a very funny movie. For instance the Dukes are no longer hillbillies, they’re Appalachian Americans.There’s great chemistry between the good ole boys played by Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott. Willie Nelson does a backwater Henny Youngman and Jessica Simpson looks hot and doesn’t say much.
Other than that we see a lot of searching for birth-parents this weekend.
Lisa Kudrow’s searching for a child she gave up for adoption is one of 10 stories that intertwine in HAPPY ENDINGS. Kudos to Tom Arnold in this fairly engaging movie.
THE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY is the heartbreaking story of a Vietnamese man who is ostracized for being half American. When he’s forced to flee the country he takes a perilous trek to find his father who abandoned him played by Nick Nolte.
The documentary RIZE reveals a groundbreaking dance phenomenon that's exploding on the streets of South Central, Los Angeles. It started as what the call “Clowning” and morphed into “Krumping” as an alternative to gang membership. Not only inspirational, this is really something to see.
07/29/05
There are only 3 new releases this weekend. The two that I saw were surprisingly entertaining.
Monday CISL premiered MUST LOVE DOGS which had all the earmarks of a smarmy chick-flick, but I really enjoyed it. Diane Lane and John Cusack are very appealing as reluctant on-line daters. Dispite some goofy aquatics at the end and Cusacks character having no visible means of support, the story is pretty good summer fun.
I heard that SKY HIGH was filmed in Vancouver but I can’t confirm it. If it was then
Kurt Russell seems to have beaten the Vancouver curse. He’s made a film here that the critics are liking. It also features Mrs John Travolta – Kelly Preston in a spoof of superhero parents whose son is off to superhero school for the first time. The problem is he can’t bring himself to tell his parents that he has no super powers and is doomed to side-kick status. (clip) Wonder Woman Lynda Carter is another treat in this funny family movie.
The action adventure STEALTH stars Oscar winner Jamie Foxx.
07/22/2005
This year we’ve seen BAD NEWS BEARS remade as a basketball movie in Rebound and a soccer movie Kicking and Screaming so why not just remake the original. Billy Bob Thornton revises the loveable scumbag character he’s perfected, this time in the Walter Mathau role in this revision of the 1976 little league baseball comedy. It’s a little jumbled but there are some good laughs and refreshing changes in this version.
Obiwan Kanobe is back… twice as a matter of fact but without his light sabre. Ewan McGregor is in the cloning movie clone THE ISLAND. We’ve seen most of this movie in Logans Run, Gattaca, Soylent Green, The Matrix and a host of other movies, but none of them have Scarlett Johansson. At the other end of the beauty spectrum we have Steve Buschemi, both giving entertaining performances.
HUSTLE & FLOW is not about the two front guys from the Turtles. It was made on a shoestring and is getting a lot of positive buzz. Terrance Howard is brilliant as a Memphis pimp with a heart who pursues his dream to become a hip-hop artist. It’s a good story with some nice character development, especially amongst his ho’s.
SARABAND is Ingmar Bergmans 30 year later follow-up to his 1973 Scenes From a Marriage featuring the original actors. It’s nice to see the old maestro has still got it.
Joan Allen is becoming the poster gal for 50-something women who get their groove back. In YES she’s stellar again and nothing is one-sided as she engages in an affair with a Middle-Eastern exile.
THE DEVIL’S REJECTS is Rob Zombie’s sequel to his 2003 horror film, House of 1000 Corpses.
07/15/05
Could be clobbering time for the Fantastic Four.
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY reworks the 1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. This time Johnny Depp stars under the direction of Tim Burton, so it should be called Charlie and the DARK Chocolate Factory. We know Depp used Keith Richard as his role model for Pirates of the Caribbean. With his hair and speech pattern, in this movie I think it was Carol Channing. No matter he’s sensational as is Freddie Highmore (also his co-star in Finding Neverland) playing Charlie Bucket an impoverished waif who becomes the envy of the world by winning a tour of Wonka Inc. The whole family will get a sugar high off this one – it’s delicious.
Earlier this year I was lauding KUNG FU HUSTLE as one of the funniest movies ever. Then I saw WEDDING CRASHERS. You see the trailers and you know the story about 2 guys who crash weddings to meet women. This could guarantee an audience with just the premise and stars Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, but the writing is really sharp. Although the surprise ubiquitous star’s talent is wasted in this movie Wilson is his usual too smooth self, and Vince Vaughn who can leave you cold is super hot with an Oscar worthy performance in this killer comedy.
THE WILD PARROTS OF TELEGRAPH HILL. Wow. Who knew bird watching could hold you in wrapped attention for 90 plus minute. Who knew there were wild parrots in San Francisco? Who knew a loveable layabout who ends up studying them could leave the world some significant research. This is a fascinating documentary.
HANK WILLIAMS FIRST NATION is a nice low budget film about an old man who tricks his grandson into seeing the world. He says he needs to leave his Cree reserve in Alberta to go to Nashville because Hank Williams is still alive, and can’t go alone.
07/08/05
FANTASTIC FOUR brings more Marvel comic characters to life via Michael Chiklis and Dark Angel star Jessica Alba who is not stranger to Vancouver. This was filmed in town and I actually did some work on it but all I can tell you is about the scene I was in. I’m not reviewer enough to go to 20th Century Fox press screenings.
I did see everything else that’s out this weekend.
DARK WATER has the director of The Motorcycle Diaries remaking a 2001 Japanese horror flick. With the wet summer we’ve had, seeing New York in a continual cloudburst might not be what you want to see this weekend. I thought Jennifer Connelly was her usual fantastic self as an unstable single mom and the story of her moving into a possessed apartment is fairly creepy, but as I shuffled out of the theatre I could feel the disappointment of my fellow movie goers.
Also set in the Big Apple, HEIGHTS introduces us to a cast of people linked to the New York theatre scene one way or another. They all seem completely detached from one another but over the course of 24 hours we find that they are very intimately connected. This is pretty interesting and Glenn Close is outstanding.
Two weeks ago we mentioned The Best of Youth Pt 1 which follows the lives of two Italian brothers. That one took them up to 1980. BEST OF YOUTH PART 2 continues their epic tale up to the present. The producers feel that both movies can stand alone. I liked them both but I think you’d want to see the first one before part 2. And again take a lunch as this one is fairly long too.
07/01/05
WAR OF THE WORLDS
As a deadbeat dad this is the best thing we’ve seen Tom Cruise do lately - because he’s not talking about Katie Holmes or Scientology. This movie brings more trouble with aliens for Dakota Fanning who also starred in the series Taken (filmed here in Vancouver), because these are not like the loveable alien Steven Spielberg previously gave us in E.T. This remake is a little different than its predecessors. Unlike H.G. Wells’ radio play, Martians are not mentioned at all. In a departure from the first movie in 1953, the aliens don’t actually invade from outer space (I won’t ruin the surprise as to how they arrive). There is the occasional suspension on disbelief, like while nothing else electronic is functioning, one guy’s video camera is working fine and I was unhappy with the resolution of Tim Robbins character, but all in all it’s a pretty exciting movie.
War of the Worlds opened Wednesday to get a head start on the 4th of July weekend in the USA. Meantime if you like lesbians it seems appropriate that Canada Day is your day.
Opening today
MY SUMMER OF LOVE is a quirky drama about a lower classed young woman languishing in a rural English town with her felonious brother who found God. Her summer relationship with a strong willed preppie brings her some welcome happiness and eventually a backbone. I liked it but it’s a little dreary.
There’s more lesbian action in SAVING FACE. One of my favourites, Joan Chen has a secret relationship and so does her daughter both of which would cause her family a loss of face in their New York Chinese community. I thought this one was a lot of fun.
REBOUND is the latest vehicle for Martin Lawrence. Didn’t see it.
Nor did I see UNDEAD which I believe opens this weekend. This is yet another zombie movie which are being released at a great rate all of a sudden. Perhaps the voters in the red states find strength in numbers.