One of the happiest surprises of this year's Toronto International Film Festival was this delightful, beautifully shot comedy, which is not only funny and touching but actually offers a few insights into Indian culture as well. Josh Hamilton is terrific as Todd, an American businessman who is less than thrilled to learn his Seattle office is going to outsource its work to a call center in India. He's even more perturbed when his boss makes it clear that Todd will be in charge of training the Indian workers to efficiently handle orders while sounding as American as possible; that's important since the firm markets all-American knickknacks, such as miniature flags, hot dog toasters and Wisconsin cheese hats. The culture clash that results is beautifully played and wonderfully written. This has the potential to be another MY BIG FAT Greek WEDDING, if it's handled properly. I hope it is. I've been a big fan of Hamilton for years and he deserves a big hit.
Reviews
14 Reviews
National Treasure
(2004)
A gem of a guilty pleasure
17 November 2004
Ever since he was a little boy, Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicolas Cage) has had one major life goal: to find the 'treasure beyond imagining' that his grandfather told him about 30 years ago. Many of his ancestors have also sought it; all of them came up empty-handed. It's easy to see why, since the cryptic messages that might reveal its location turn out to be hidden in the Arctic Circle, on the wall of Philadelphia's Independence Hall and even on the back of the Declaration of Independence.
Just try convincing the staff at the National Archives to let you examine that item up close.
How Gates unravels the tangled web of clues while dodging a band of thieves who are also on the trail of the treasure makes for an enjoyable adventure in 'National Treasure,' a lightweight caper comedy-thriller that benefits enormously from a strong cast and the breezy touch of director Jon Turteltaub ('While You Were Sleeping,' 'Phenomenon'). The 'North by Northwest' of a new generation it is not, but 'Treasure' provides two hours of easy escapism, several good laughs and a few 'how are they going to get out of this one?' thrills.
After a patch of overwrought performances in some fairly awful films such as '8mm' and 'Snake Eyes' it's a pleasure to see Cage unwinding a bit and giving his audience a chance to smile instead of cringe. He's obviously having a high old time as Ben, who frequently seems like Indiana Jones without the whip, and his carefree attitude proves to be infectious.
Cage is delightfully teamed with Justin Bartha, who all but steals the show as Riley Poole, a tech geek who's coerced into helping Ben on his mission. While Ben is patient and unflappable, Riley tends to be anxious and easily irritated. Faced with yet another in a lengthy chain of mini-mysteries, Riley becomes crabby: 'Why can't they just say, 'Go to this place and here's the treasure. Spend it wisely'?'
Later, when someone asks how a secret hideout could possibly have been constructed, they're told it was built in the same way as the pyramids and the Great Wall of China. 'Yeah, the aliens helped them,' Riley adds.
Also at Ben's side is curator Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger), who waffles between guarding the priceless artifacts in the National Archives and helping Ben and Riley outwit their ex-partner Ian (Sean Bean), who is now racing them to the hiding place of the long-lost cache of riches.
As he's in the process of stealing the Declaration of Independence to keep it out of Ian's reach, Ben reminds Abigail he's merely following in the defiant footsteps of the founding fathers who signed their names on that precious document. 'Had we lost the war, they would have been hanged, beheaded, drawn and quartered and my personal favorite had their entrails cut out and burned,' Ben notes. He's not so much a fortune seeker as he is a 'treasure protector.'
Jon Voight adds a note of gravity as Ben's disapproving dad and Harvey Keitel turns up late in the game as a cop who keeps insisting 'somebody's gotta go to jail' as a result of all this. The screenplay also includes an irreverent little poke at the real-life problems within the government's intelligence agencies in a scene in which agents are forced to admit that they had received a tip that the Declaration was going to be stolen, but they didn't act on it because they didn't consider the information credible.
'National Treasure' isn't particularly credible either, but its bubbly mix of action, humor and suspense makes it a gem of a guilty pleasure.
Just try convincing the staff at the National Archives to let you examine that item up close.
How Gates unravels the tangled web of clues while dodging a band of thieves who are also on the trail of the treasure makes for an enjoyable adventure in 'National Treasure,' a lightweight caper comedy-thriller that benefits enormously from a strong cast and the breezy touch of director Jon Turteltaub ('While You Were Sleeping,' 'Phenomenon'). The 'North by Northwest' of a new generation it is not, but 'Treasure' provides two hours of easy escapism, several good laughs and a few 'how are they going to get out of this one?' thrills.
After a patch of overwrought performances in some fairly awful films such as '8mm' and 'Snake Eyes' it's a pleasure to see Cage unwinding a bit and giving his audience a chance to smile instead of cringe. He's obviously having a high old time as Ben, who frequently seems like Indiana Jones without the whip, and his carefree attitude proves to be infectious.
Cage is delightfully teamed with Justin Bartha, who all but steals the show as Riley Poole, a tech geek who's coerced into helping Ben on his mission. While Ben is patient and unflappable, Riley tends to be anxious and easily irritated. Faced with yet another in a lengthy chain of mini-mysteries, Riley becomes crabby: 'Why can't they just say, 'Go to this place and here's the treasure. Spend it wisely'?'
Later, when someone asks how a secret hideout could possibly have been constructed, they're told it was built in the same way as the pyramids and the Great Wall of China. 'Yeah, the aliens helped them,' Riley adds.
Also at Ben's side is curator Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger), who waffles between guarding the priceless artifacts in the National Archives and helping Ben and Riley outwit their ex-partner Ian (Sean Bean), who is now racing them to the hiding place of the long-lost cache of riches.
As he's in the process of stealing the Declaration of Independence to keep it out of Ian's reach, Ben reminds Abigail he's merely following in the defiant footsteps of the founding fathers who signed their names on that precious document. 'Had we lost the war, they would have been hanged, beheaded, drawn and quartered and my personal favorite had their entrails cut out and burned,' Ben notes. He's not so much a fortune seeker as he is a 'treasure protector.'
Jon Voight adds a note of gravity as Ben's disapproving dad and Harvey Keitel turns up late in the game as a cop who keeps insisting 'somebody's gotta go to jail' as a result of all this. The screenplay also includes an irreverent little poke at the real-life problems within the government's intelligence agencies in a scene in which agents are forced to admit that they had received a tip that the Declaration was going to be stolen, but they didn't act on it because they didn't consider the information credible.
'National Treasure' isn't particularly credible either, but its bubbly mix of action, humor and suspense makes it a gem of a guilty pleasure.
Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2
(2004)
Teething was more fun
30 August 2004
If you've been thinking about hiring somebody to clean out those clogged gutters or to get that darned septic tank working again, just call Jon Voight. Yeah, the same Jon Voight who won an Academy Award as best actor in 1978 for "Coming Home." The star of "Midnight Cowboy," "Catch-22" and "Conrack" -- you know, Angelina Jolie's dad.
Why bother Mr. Voight? Well, considering that he's lending his name to "SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2," he clearly has a lot of time on his hands, doesn't consider any job too demeaning and probably won't charge too much.
In case you're wondering why Voight would elect to appear in "SuperBabies," the follow-up to a movie he wasn't in, instead of "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid" -- and don't pretend you don't remember the scene in the first "Anaconda" in which the gargantuan serpent swallows, then coughs up Voight -- here's a hint: Voight was an executive producer of the original "Baby Geniuses." Since that 1999 fiasco effectively torpedoed what was left of the screen careers of Christopher Lloyd and Kathleen Turner, it must have been a formidable challenge finding actors eager to strip themselves of every scintilla of dignity to perform alongside a bunch of feisty computer-generated toddlers (with the exception of Scott Baio and Vanessa Angel, of course). Apparently for Voight it was put up or shut up time.
So here he is, ladies and gentlemen, outfitted with not one, but two dollar-store-quality wigs and employing an absurd German accent as Bill Biscane, a megalomaniac who plans to use cheaply made, insipid kiddie TV shows to hypnotize babies around the world and rob them of their free will; clearly, Biscane marches to the sound of his own drummer. But those who cherish the ideal of infants being able to make their own choices need not despair: SuperBaby Kahuna (played by Gerry, Leo and Myles Fitzgerald, who are by no means identical triplets) is on the case, and if there's anybody you want on your side when you're facing an onslaught of wretched programming, it's "a small fry with a big attitude" who taunts his enemies with such put-downs as "Why don't you pick on somebody half your size?" and "Never send a man to do a boy's job."
Kahuna -- who is revealed to be a grown man trapped in the body of a pre-schooler, in a slightly sickening plot twist that requires three flashback scenes to post-World War II Germany to explain -- has some major connections, too. He can jump on his computer network and converse with Whoopi Goldberg, the members of that nearly forgotten boy-band O-Town, or any other celebrity or pseudo-celebrity willing to be pasted into a movie that only an unfortunate few are fated to see. Although he seems wise beyond his years as he notes that "every child has power -- all you have to do is believe," Kahuna lives in what looks like a papier-mache cave full of large plywood and plaster imitation toys that might have been salvaged from the windows of a now-defunct F.A.O. Schwarz location. It's a sad sight indeed.
There are other four SuperBabies, too, and just prior to the climactic showdown with Biscane and his goons, this diaper-clad quartet jumps onto Kahuna's magic carousel, where they are transformed into Brain Boy (who wears a scaled-down cap and gown), Cupid Girl (who shoots arrows that cause grown men to stop fighting and hug each other instead), Bounce Baby (who is stuck inside an orange beach ball) and Baby Courageous (whose get-up proves that the only thing that looks worse than a grown man in a tacky hairpiece is a toddler in a bad toupee).
Watching from the sidelines are Baio and Angel, as the dizzy owners of a highly questionable day care center in which most of the children parade around half-dressed, and Hilary Duff clone Skyler Shaye and Frankie Muniz lookalike Justin Chatwin, who attempt to provide a bit of squeaky-clean teen love interest -- not exactly what the target audience of 6-year-olds is itching to see.
As was the case with "Baby Geniuses," the movie contains a surplus of awkward-looking digital effects that are supposed to convince us the wee ones are actually making wisecracks and running wild. The results are generally pitiful. If "SuperBabies" is marginally better than the excruciating "Geniuses" -- and you sure wouldn't want to live on the difference -- it's because director Bob Clark and screenwriter Gregory Poppen don't shoehorn in nearly as much innuendo or smarminess this time around; they're equally stingy with charm and imagination as well.
By the way, Voight's next project is called "The Karate Dog," in which he'll co-star with Simon Rex, Pat Morita and Chevy Chase, who'll provide "the voice of Cho-Cho," according to the Internet Movie Database. Do an Oscar winner a big favor and call him this weekend -- really, the guy must be willing to do just about anything for a couple bucks.
Why bother Mr. Voight? Well, considering that he's lending his name to "SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2," he clearly has a lot of time on his hands, doesn't consider any job too demeaning and probably won't charge too much.
In case you're wondering why Voight would elect to appear in "SuperBabies," the follow-up to a movie he wasn't in, instead of "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid" -- and don't pretend you don't remember the scene in the first "Anaconda" in which the gargantuan serpent swallows, then coughs up Voight -- here's a hint: Voight was an executive producer of the original "Baby Geniuses." Since that 1999 fiasco effectively torpedoed what was left of the screen careers of Christopher Lloyd and Kathleen Turner, it must have been a formidable challenge finding actors eager to strip themselves of every scintilla of dignity to perform alongside a bunch of feisty computer-generated toddlers (with the exception of Scott Baio and Vanessa Angel, of course). Apparently for Voight it was put up or shut up time.
So here he is, ladies and gentlemen, outfitted with not one, but two dollar-store-quality wigs and employing an absurd German accent as Bill Biscane, a megalomaniac who plans to use cheaply made, insipid kiddie TV shows to hypnotize babies around the world and rob them of their free will; clearly, Biscane marches to the sound of his own drummer. But those who cherish the ideal of infants being able to make their own choices need not despair: SuperBaby Kahuna (played by Gerry, Leo and Myles Fitzgerald, who are by no means identical triplets) is on the case, and if there's anybody you want on your side when you're facing an onslaught of wretched programming, it's "a small fry with a big attitude" who taunts his enemies with such put-downs as "Why don't you pick on somebody half your size?" and "Never send a man to do a boy's job."
Kahuna -- who is revealed to be a grown man trapped in the body of a pre-schooler, in a slightly sickening plot twist that requires three flashback scenes to post-World War II Germany to explain -- has some major connections, too. He can jump on his computer network and converse with Whoopi Goldberg, the members of that nearly forgotten boy-band O-Town, or any other celebrity or pseudo-celebrity willing to be pasted into a movie that only an unfortunate few are fated to see. Although he seems wise beyond his years as he notes that "every child has power -- all you have to do is believe," Kahuna lives in what looks like a papier-mache cave full of large plywood and plaster imitation toys that might have been salvaged from the windows of a now-defunct F.A.O. Schwarz location. It's a sad sight indeed.
There are other four SuperBabies, too, and just prior to the climactic showdown with Biscane and his goons, this diaper-clad quartet jumps onto Kahuna's magic carousel, where they are transformed into Brain Boy (who wears a scaled-down cap and gown), Cupid Girl (who shoots arrows that cause grown men to stop fighting and hug each other instead), Bounce Baby (who is stuck inside an orange beach ball) and Baby Courageous (whose get-up proves that the only thing that looks worse than a grown man in a tacky hairpiece is a toddler in a bad toupee).
Watching from the sidelines are Baio and Angel, as the dizzy owners of a highly questionable day care center in which most of the children parade around half-dressed, and Hilary Duff clone Skyler Shaye and Frankie Muniz lookalike Justin Chatwin, who attempt to provide a bit of squeaky-clean teen love interest -- not exactly what the target audience of 6-year-olds is itching to see.
As was the case with "Baby Geniuses," the movie contains a surplus of awkward-looking digital effects that are supposed to convince us the wee ones are actually making wisecracks and running wild. The results are generally pitiful. If "SuperBabies" is marginally better than the excruciating "Geniuses" -- and you sure wouldn't want to live on the difference -- it's because director Bob Clark and screenwriter Gregory Poppen don't shoehorn in nearly as much innuendo or smarminess this time around; they're equally stingy with charm and imagination as well.
By the way, Voight's next project is called "The Karate Dog," in which he'll co-star with Simon Rex, Pat Morita and Chevy Chase, who'll provide "the voice of Cho-Cho," according to the Internet Movie Database. Do an Oscar winner a big favor and call him this weekend -- really, the guy must be willing to do just about anything for a couple bucks.
She
(1935)
"I am yesterday, and today, and tomorrow"
8 July 2004
"She," adapted from H. Rider Haggard's timeless tale, has been produced multiple times, although never as entertainingly as the 1935 version, starring the imposing Helen Gahagan as She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, the eternally beautiful ruler of the lost kingdom of Kor. This would be the only film appearance of Gahagan, a noted stage and opera star who later entered the political arena as Helen Gahagan Douglas. Reportedly, Gahagan was embarrassed by the movie and vowed never to heed Hollywood's call again. But perhaps she was her own severest critic, since "She" represents Depression Era escapism at its very peak.
The movie was produced by Merian C. Cooper, who'd struck it rich two years earlier with "King Kong." Those with sharp eyes will note that the enormous gate cutting Kor off from the outside world is the same one which served -- for awhile -- to hold Kong in his natural habitat on Skull Island. This outrageously opulent adventure tale stars the stoic Randolph Scott as American explorer John Vincey, who ventures into the Arctic to find the story behind a cryptic, 500-year-old letter. Accompanying him are the jolly Holly (Nigel Bruce, later to become a familiar face as Dr. Watson in the Nigel Rathbone "Sherlock Holmes" movies) and the feisty Tanya (Helen Mack), who's secretly attracted to John.
After surviving an avalanche and battling cave-dwelling cannibals, the intrepid trio comes face to face with a much greater danger, the imperious She, who has been bathing in a flame of eternal life and biding her time for centuries, looking for true love. "I am yesterday and today and tomorrow," She muses, shortly before deciding John is the man worth waiting half a millennium for. Tanya, however, has other ideas. Thrillingly scored by Max Steiner and featuring backdrops you won't believe (check out the patio of Holly and Tanya's apartment), the movie climaxes with a dazzling ceremony in the Hall of Kings, featuring hundreds of extras performing some of the most bizarre choreography ever filmed. That sequence alone would make the movie worthwhile, but it turns out to be only one of the many treasures of "She."
The movie was produced by Merian C. Cooper, who'd struck it rich two years earlier with "King Kong." Those with sharp eyes will note that the enormous gate cutting Kor off from the outside world is the same one which served -- for awhile -- to hold Kong in his natural habitat on Skull Island. This outrageously opulent adventure tale stars the stoic Randolph Scott as American explorer John Vincey, who ventures into the Arctic to find the story behind a cryptic, 500-year-old letter. Accompanying him are the jolly Holly (Nigel Bruce, later to become a familiar face as Dr. Watson in the Nigel Rathbone "Sherlock Holmes" movies) and the feisty Tanya (Helen Mack), who's secretly attracted to John.
After surviving an avalanche and battling cave-dwelling cannibals, the intrepid trio comes face to face with a much greater danger, the imperious She, who has been bathing in a flame of eternal life and biding her time for centuries, looking for true love. "I am yesterday and today and tomorrow," She muses, shortly before deciding John is the man worth waiting half a millennium for. Tanya, however, has other ideas. Thrillingly scored by Max Steiner and featuring backdrops you won't believe (check out the patio of Holly and Tanya's apartment), the movie climaxes with a dazzling ceremony in the Hall of Kings, featuring hundreds of extras performing some of the most bizarre choreography ever filmed. That sequence alone would make the movie worthwhile, but it turns out to be only one of the many treasures of "She."
Ella Enchanted
(2004)
Hathaway is truly enchanting
9 April 2004
Although there have been no shortage of Cinderella stories in the past few years ("Ever After," "The Princess Diaries," "The Prince & Me," etc.), "Ella Enchanted," loosely based on Gail Carson Levine's Newbery-honored novel, at least puts a delicious twist on the old tale: What if our heroine had been given a "blessing" by a dim-witted sorceress that compelled her to always be obedient to anyone who gave her an order? In other words, what if the fairy godmother was an albatross?
As played by the effervescent Anne Hathaway, Ella is a smart young woman eager to seize control of her own destiny. Once in a while, she's able to make the curse work to her advantage, such as the time a nasty playmate snaps "bite me!" But when a hostess sets down a cake in front of Ella and tells her to "dig in and stuff your face," or Ella's obnoxious stepsisters force her to take the five-finger discount at the local Galleria, the results are messy embarrassments.
Although "Ella" has numerous fairy tale trappings -- including ogres, elves, giants, talking books and, of course, a virile young prince -- it happily upends the old storybook idea about waiting around for someone else to come to your rescue. Noticeable traces of "Shrek" and "The Princess Bride" abound (as well as a touch of "Moulin Rouge," since the movie's gleefully goofy musical numbers are built around such tunes as "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" and Hathaway's full-throttle version of Queen's "Somebody to Love"), yet "Ella" manages to stand on its own as an entertaining tale about self-empowerment.
Director Tommy O'Haver has made fine use of a sturdy cast, including Joanna Lumley as Ella's severe stepmother, Hugh Dancy as a blissfully ignorant prince whose eyes are opened by Ella, Vivica A. Fox as the sassy conjurer Lucinda who insists she has a "no-return policy" when it comes to her dubious gifts, Minnie Driver as an understanding housekeeper, and Cary Elwes, the one-time hero of "The Princess Bride," as a snickering prince regent scheming to steal the throne. Obviously delighted at the opportunity to visit the dark side, Elwes puts a perverse purr into such benign words as "frolicking" and "romancing."
It's ultimately Hathaway's show, however, and she makes the most of it, showing off her natural knack for physical comedy, her sterling singing voice and her beguiling charm.
As played by the effervescent Anne Hathaway, Ella is a smart young woman eager to seize control of her own destiny. Once in a while, she's able to make the curse work to her advantage, such as the time a nasty playmate snaps "bite me!" But when a hostess sets down a cake in front of Ella and tells her to "dig in and stuff your face," or Ella's obnoxious stepsisters force her to take the five-finger discount at the local Galleria, the results are messy embarrassments.
Although "Ella" has numerous fairy tale trappings -- including ogres, elves, giants, talking books and, of course, a virile young prince -- it happily upends the old storybook idea about waiting around for someone else to come to your rescue. Noticeable traces of "Shrek" and "The Princess Bride" abound (as well as a touch of "Moulin Rouge," since the movie's gleefully goofy musical numbers are built around such tunes as "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" and Hathaway's full-throttle version of Queen's "Somebody to Love"), yet "Ella" manages to stand on its own as an entertaining tale about self-empowerment.
Director Tommy O'Haver has made fine use of a sturdy cast, including Joanna Lumley as Ella's severe stepmother, Hugh Dancy as a blissfully ignorant prince whose eyes are opened by Ella, Vivica A. Fox as the sassy conjurer Lucinda who insists she has a "no-return policy" when it comes to her dubious gifts, Minnie Driver as an understanding housekeeper, and Cary Elwes, the one-time hero of "The Princess Bride," as a snickering prince regent scheming to steal the throne. Obviously delighted at the opportunity to visit the dark side, Elwes puts a perverse purr into such benign words as "frolicking" and "romancing."
It's ultimately Hathaway's show, however, and she makes the most of it, showing off her natural knack for physical comedy, her sterling singing voice and her beguiling charm.
Kiss Me, Stupid
(1964)
An undeserved bad reputation
2 August 2003
When writer-director Billy Wilder made `Kiss Me, Stupid' in 1964, he was riding high: His comedy-drama `The Apartment' had won the Oscar as best picture in 1960 and Wilder's `Irma La Douce,' released in 1963, had been a smash. `Stupid,' however, would not receive critical raves or a warm reception at the box office. Instead it would be condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency, banned in several cities and dropped by its original distributor United Artists, which gave `Stupid' a limited and unsuccessful release through its art-film branch Lopert Films. Seen today, it's laughable to think that this innuendo-laden but mostly innocuous comedy created such a furor. Admittedly, Wilder pushed the boundaries of good taste with some of the dialogue and imagery. Even so the movie is far more nutty than smutty. Set in the Nevada hamlet of Climax, `Stupid' tells the story of church organist and piano teacher Orville J. Spooner (Ray Walston), who is insanely overprotective of his adoring and adorable wife Zelda (Felicia Farr, who was married to Jack Lemmon offscreen). Orville and buddy Barney (Cliff Osmond) write songs in their spare time one is called `I'm Taking Mom to the Junior Prom Cuz She's a Better Twister Than My Sister,' and another begins, `I'm a poached egg without a piece of toast/Yorkshire Pudding without a beef to roast' and they're excited when singing sensation Dino (Dean Martin as the same kind of leering lush he usually played in his nightclub act and on TV) is stranded in town. Orville thinks he can sell some material to Dino, but the aspiring tunesmith is alarmed by Dino's reputation as a great seducer and fears Zelda, a Dino fan, will end up in the star's clutches. So Orville hires Polly (Kim Novak), a trampy type with teased platinum hair who works at the local dive known as The Belly Button, to pretend to be his wife while he entertains Dino for an evening. Thanks to a series of surprises, it becomes a night to remember for all concerned, including Zelda, who wasn't even supposed to be a part of it in the first place. As the somewhat similar `Indecent Proposal' would do almost 30 years later, `Stupid' ultimately states that the best way to test a relationship is to walk away from it for a while and see what happens. What separates `Stupid' from so many of the so-called `sex comedies' of the period is its combination of cynicism and directness. Beneath the teasing and the titillation there are some genuinely provocative themes about human nature and the sacrifices we're willing to make to catch a break. Although the movie has what might be termed a happy ending, it's a conclusion with more than a few dark clouds hanging over it. Wilder and Diamond must have somehow known that the second half of the 1960s would be fraught with social changes and the re-evaluation of old standards. What looked like trash in 1964 seems pretty prescient when screened today.
Y2K
(1999 TV Movie)
The modern answer to THE RED MENACE
3 July 2003
With so much Y2K paranoia running rampant, it seems almost criminal of NBC to attempt to capitalize on people's fears by cranking out "Y2K: The Movie," a potboiler that purports to show us what could happen if worst-case scenarios play out on Jan. 1.
No, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse don't ride in, but just about everything else that could go wrong does. Airplanes plummet out of the skies; doors swing open in prisons; rationing of groceries goes into effect; banks refuse to let people close out their accounts.
The teleplay by Thomas Hines and Jonathan Fernandez lays out these calamities in the same shrill, overheated style once reserved for movies about "The Red Menace" and "Marijuana, The Weed with Roots in Hell." Like those cautionary tales, "Y2K" gets so swept up in trying to startle its audience that it finally exhausts your patience. It's ultimately little more than two hours of cardboard characters running a lengthy gauntlet.
A disclaimer at the beginning insists the film is "purely fictional" and "does not suggest or imply that any of these events could actually occur." So why bother making "Y2K" at all? Certainly there are no stories here that desperately needed to be told.
In typical disaster-movie fashion, Hines and Fernandez skip between multiple plot lines: a New York couple whose night of romance in Times Square is squelched by a power outage; an overzealous TV newswoman -- named Gaby, fitting enough -- who'd rather broadcast rumors instead of waiting for verified details about the various crises erupting; a sullen, disagreeable teen -- is there any other kind in bad made-for-TV movies? -- who gripes about having to spend New Year's Eve with her family instead of at a major-league rave; and, as our central figure, former MIT whiz kid Nick Cromwell (Ken Olin, late of "thirtysomething"), a self-professed "complex systems failure guy" who doubles as an all-purpose savior.
As midnight falls across the country's four time zones, Nick has no time for guzzling champagne. He's zooming from one tragedy to another, quelling chaos at the airport by guiding a jet to a safe landing on a blacked-out runaway, then rushing to a nuclear power plant to prevent a meltdown. "Who would you want taking care of this: Nick or some Homer Simpson?" Nick's co-worker asks one of the Doubting Thomases who questions Cromwell's qualifications.
The heroism must be genetic: Nick's dad (Ronny Cox), we learn, was part of the Apollo 13 rescue team.
Olin, prefacing his every line with an anguished sigh, looks sorely in need of rescue himself. But then any actor would have trouble delivering the dialogue in "Y2K." Most of these lines could have been heated up and poured over nacho chips.
Some of the movie's many sins might have been pardonable if "Y2K" had managed to include at least a few spectacular images or suspenseful situations. Instead, the special effects on view here are some of the chintziest since the last Gamera the Flying Turtle epic, and Dick Lowry's dull direction manages to make the nuclear plant sequences seem like "The China Syndrome" on Sominex.
No, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse don't ride in, but just about everything else that could go wrong does. Airplanes plummet out of the skies; doors swing open in prisons; rationing of groceries goes into effect; banks refuse to let people close out their accounts.
The teleplay by Thomas Hines and Jonathan Fernandez lays out these calamities in the same shrill, overheated style once reserved for movies about "The Red Menace" and "Marijuana, The Weed with Roots in Hell." Like those cautionary tales, "Y2K" gets so swept up in trying to startle its audience that it finally exhausts your patience. It's ultimately little more than two hours of cardboard characters running a lengthy gauntlet.
A disclaimer at the beginning insists the film is "purely fictional" and "does not suggest or imply that any of these events could actually occur." So why bother making "Y2K" at all? Certainly there are no stories here that desperately needed to be told.
In typical disaster-movie fashion, Hines and Fernandez skip between multiple plot lines: a New York couple whose night of romance in Times Square is squelched by a power outage; an overzealous TV newswoman -- named Gaby, fitting enough -- who'd rather broadcast rumors instead of waiting for verified details about the various crises erupting; a sullen, disagreeable teen -- is there any other kind in bad made-for-TV movies? -- who gripes about having to spend New Year's Eve with her family instead of at a major-league rave; and, as our central figure, former MIT whiz kid Nick Cromwell (Ken Olin, late of "thirtysomething"), a self-professed "complex systems failure guy" who doubles as an all-purpose savior.
As midnight falls across the country's four time zones, Nick has no time for guzzling champagne. He's zooming from one tragedy to another, quelling chaos at the airport by guiding a jet to a safe landing on a blacked-out runaway, then rushing to a nuclear power plant to prevent a meltdown. "Who would you want taking care of this: Nick or some Homer Simpson?" Nick's co-worker asks one of the Doubting Thomases who questions Cromwell's qualifications.
The heroism must be genetic: Nick's dad (Ronny Cox), we learn, was part of the Apollo 13 rescue team.
Olin, prefacing his every line with an anguished sigh, looks sorely in need of rescue himself. But then any actor would have trouble delivering the dialogue in "Y2K." Most of these lines could have been heated up and poured over nacho chips.
Some of the movie's many sins might have been pardonable if "Y2K" had managed to include at least a few spectacular images or suspenseful situations. Instead, the special effects on view here are some of the chintziest since the last Gamera the Flying Turtle epic, and Dick Lowry's dull direction manages to make the nuclear plant sequences seem like "The China Syndrome" on Sominex.
Baby Face
(1933)
Don't be fooled by the charming theme song!
14 May 2003
The darker side of the use 'em and lose 'em strategy is exposed in the lurid, wildly entertaining `Baby Face.' The peppy title tune over the opening credits hardly prepares you for the sordid story that follows, in which a fire-breathing Barbara Stanwyck plays Lily, a bootlegger's daughter in a mill town that's so filthy the residents have to blow the coal dust off the flowers in their window boxes. Beautiful and miserable Lily is forced by her cigar-chewing dad to prostitute herself to his uncouth customers. `Yeah, I'm a tramp and who's to blame? My father! A swell start you gave me: Nothing but men! Dirty, rotten men and you're lower than all of them!' she rages at her dad. (A look at the film's trailer reveals the speech was originally even more raw than it is in the final film: We hear Stanwyck say, `A swell start you gave me! Ever since I was 14! Nothing but men!') Once Daddy's still blows up in a happy twist of fate, Lily is free to head for Gotham, where she connives her way into a job at a bank. `Have you had any experience?' the personnel assistant asks her. `Plenty!' Lily sneers. In no time at all Lily is using the skills she learned in the backroom to her advantage. One of her first targets is young money man Jimmy McCoy (John Wayne), who's baffled when he is seduced and abandoned by Lily soon after she uses his recommendation to move out of the filing room. `I'm sorry: I have to go to bed early every night,' she tells him. Later, she'll put the make on another one of her bosses, get caught in the act and then claim she was sexually harassed! After a full hour of making it clear that you can indeed sleep your way to the top, `Baby Face' comes to a ridiculous sinners-must-pay ending that was obviously pasted on at the last minute to satisfy the censors (who undoubtedly had a field day with the rest of the film). The rest of it, however, is unbelievably bold, the kind of racy adult drama that wouldn't be made again in America for another 30-odd years.
Tommy
(1975)
One of the classic midnight movies
10 March 2003
Many fans of The Who detest director Ken Russell's gleefully over-the-top film of the legendary rock opera about a blind, deaf and mute boy who becomes the pinball champion of the world. On the other hand, those who love Russell generally hold ``Tommy'' up as one of his greatest works. When it was released in 1975, it generated a fair amount of controversy, raked in lots of money and garnered an Oscar nomination for Ann-Margret's frenzied performance as Tommy's boozy, self-indulgent mom. Certainly she deserved the honor for surviving the much-talked-about scene in which she writhes around in a mix of soap suds, baked beans and chocolate syrup - trust me, you have to see it for yourself. Russell planned ``Tommy'' as a full-fledged assault on the eyes and ears (the tagline on the movie was ``Your senses will never be the same''), and that's exactly what it is, tossing out one bizarre visual after another while guest artists such as Eric Clapton, Tina Turner and Elton John help out stars Roger Daltrey, Ann-Margret and Oliver Reed. This is nothing, repeat, nothing, like the 1990s musical version of ``Tommy,'' and the PG rating the movie received 25 years ago seems absurdly mild today, considering how much of the movie involves drugs, perversion and violence. Oh, yeah, Jack Nicholson also turns up as a singing doctor - as I said, you have to see it for yourself. The DVD allows you to select from a 2-channel Dolby Surround soundtrack, a Dolby Digital soundtrack and the movie's original ``quintaphonic mix,'' which was restored for this re-release. Each of these sound superb, although all the technology in the world couldn't help Reed or Nicholson carry a tune.
Road to Perdition
(2002)
Haunting
6 July 2002
"Perdition" is defined as the loss of a person's soul, or a state of eternal damnation. So it would be fair to expect "Road to Perdition" to be a cautionary tale about self-destruction. But, as he proved in "American Beauty," director Sam Mendes isn't interested in the obvious; in "Beauty" and now in "Perdition," there's much more going on besides the action we see and the dialogue we hear. Certainly no one is going to accuse of Mendes of copying from his Oscar-winning debut. Where "Beauty" resonated with seductive colors and crackling performances, "Perdition" is awash in shadows, darkness and solemnity. It's impossible to discuss "Perdition" without praising Conrad Hall's superb cinematography, which yields striking images of a world that's been drained of most of its color. Mendes also makes phenomenal use of sound, particularly during a massacre that occurs on rain-soaked city streets and a sequence in which the staccato clicking of a stock ticker is contrasted with the rat-a-tat-tat of gunfire. Beautifully acted, stunningly directed and richly rewarding, this is the kind of intricately designed movie that will undoubtedly yield more details and messages on a second or third viewing.
The Phantom Tollbooth
(1970)
A happy surprise!
1 September 2000
I hadn't seen this film since I was a child and it was a happy surprise to find it on Cinemax last week. The movie and the excellent book of the same name were big inspirations to me as a grade-schooler and helped me understand the importance of language and logic. The Chuck Jones-directed animation is terrific and although the music is very 1969 middle-of-the-road (dreamy choruses and faux-Herb Alpert trumpet), it doesn't get in the way of a clever adventure story that celebrates using your mind to solve problems. This picture deserves a much bigger cult following.
An inspiration to Goths everywhere
19 August 2000
If you're researching the beginnings of today's Goth movement, be sure to look at this complex tale of Sarah Woodruff (Meryl Streep), a secretive, pale-skinned outcast in a 19th century English coastal town. Known to the locals as "poor tragedy," she sketches spooky self-portraits, always dresses in black and haunts the sea wall waiting for the return of a Frenchman who seduced and abandoned her. With a single, unforgettable look and such dialogue as "my only happiness is when I sleep; when I wake, the nightmare begins," Sarah bewitches visiting Londoner Charles Smithson (Jeremy Irons, in what turned out to be his big break), a paleontologist and "gentleman of leisure." The tricky screenplay by Harold Pinter contrasts the story of Sarah and Charles with the lives of actors Mike and Anna, who are playing them in a film. Offscreen, Anna is anything but Victorian, indulging in an on-location affair with Mike while her husband is away. The contrasts between the two couples born 100 years apart make for one of the most intriguing films of the early 1980s, and the performances by Irons and Streep are predictably outstanding.
What Lies Beneath
(2000)
Spooky fun!
15 July 2000
Michelle Pfeiffer is superb in this admittedly hokey but quite entertaining supernatural thriller that steals pages from a number of books and binds them together in a classy package. Pfeiffer plays a lonely mom whose husband (Harrison Ford) spends long nights at the lab and whose daughter (Katharine Towne) just left home to attend college. When creepy things begin to happen around her, Pfeiffer thinks she may just be a victim of the "empty nest" blues, but it turns out she has cause for alarm. Several solid shocks and some bristling chemistry between Ford and Pfeiffer make for some good spooky fun.
A class act all around
11 June 2000
Writer-director Rodrigo Garcia examines how the lives of several wildly different women fit together in this extremely well-written and beautifully acted ensemble piece. Holly Hunter is particularly effective as a bank manager who isn't sure whether to continue an extramarital affair or take a different path. Cameron Diaz does the best work of her career so far as a blind teacher with more insight into other people's lives than she has into her own. The final tying together of the diverse strands is very satisfying.
Tell Your Friends