November 9, 2002

1999 was probably the last great year in film; that was the year of Eyes Wide Shut, Summer of Sam, The Insider, The Limey, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Fight Club, and Magnolia—the year was a visual feast.  For the past few years right about this time, I think, “This has got to be the worst year in film.”  I said that in 2000, but the late fall movies gave us Dancer in the Dark, Requiem for a Dream, Bamboozled, and the Christmas finale, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to close the year off very strong—Dancer is one of my favorite films now.  2001 just didn’t live up to its predecessors.  Sure, we had the Coen Brothers and David Lynch, and the Mexican Pulp Fiction, Amores Perros, and these were all great indie films. . . just nothing on the level of the previous years.

So far in 2002, this year has brought us nothing great so far.  I’ve enjoyed Minority Report, Signs, and Secretary; Punch-Drunk Love was an event; Star Wars: Episode II-Attack of the Clones and Spider-Man were pleasing extravaganzas; and there have been a few other good indie films, but nothing on the level of Von Trier or any of those mentioned above from 1999.  So is 2002 going to close with any winners?  Is there a savior in our not to distant future?

The answer could lie in my most anticipated film for over a year . . . in what might just be the next great gangster flick . . . a film that was supposed to come out last Christmas . . . Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York.  The hype: 

· It’s Martin Scorsese.  Need I say more?  Ok—Director of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Mean Streets, Kundun, The Last Temptation of Christ, The King of Comedy

· Scorsese convinced Daniel Day-Lewis to come out of a five year retirement to play the bad guy, Bill the Butcher—the role Robert De Niro turned down. 

· Gangs is written by three screenwriters with good credentials: Steven Zallian—Schindler’s List; Kenneth Lonergan—noted playwright and screenwriter of You Can Count on Me; Jay Cocks—who previously collaborated with Scorsese on Age of Innocence

· Despite popular opinion, remember, lead Leonardo DiCaprio can act—He gave good performances in The Basketball Diaries and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, and held his own with De Niro in This Boy’s Life.

· Other cast includes:  Cameron Diaz, Jim Broadbent (just off his Oscar for Iris), John C. Reilly (P.T. Anderson favorite), Henry Thomas (E.T.), and Liam Neeson.

· The characters have the names to make this a classic:  Amsterdam Vallon, Bill the Butcher, Boss Tweed, Happy Jack, and Hellcat Maggie.

Read the Gangs of New York Review

Other films coming out to look forward to:

· The Pianist: Roman Polanski’s WWII Holocaust film that won the Palme d'Or this year at the Cannes Film Festival.  Stars Adrien Brody, who won the 1999 Fidelio Film Award for Best Supporting Actor in Summer of Sam, as a pianist who survives the Warsaw ghetto and concentration camps.  Could be the next Schindler’s List.  Opens Dec. 27

· Confession of a Dangerious Mind:  When I first saw this preview that had George Clooney in a minor role, I said to myself, it looks like Steven Soderbergh directed this because of the look and style of the film, the haziness.  It seems that Soderbergh may have worn off on Clooney in his directorial debut.  The premise: Was The Gong Show creator, Chuck Barris, also a CIA hitman?  Opens Dec. 27

· The 25th Hour: Spike Lee’s new film starring Ed Norton out on a night partying before his seven year stint in jail.  Adapted from the novel by David Benioff, it looks like this will be another Clockers—a good Lee film also adapted from a novel, but concentrates more on plot.  But Spike Lee’s visual style always gives us a film worth seeing.  Opens Dec. 20th.

· Adaptation:  Spike Jonze teams up with Being John Malkovich writer Charlie Kaufman again in a film about . . . Charlie Kaufman adapting his life.  Nicolas Cage plays both Charlie and his brother Donald in what sure to be another creative adventure.  Opens Dec. 6

· Die Another Day: Latest James Bond installment, this time starring Halle Berry as a Bond girl.  Opens Nov. 22

· Catch Me If You Can: Steven Spielberg’s latest true story adaptation about a cat and mouse chase between an FBI agent and a con artist.  Stars Tom Hanks, and Leonardo DiCaprio, who is going up against his own film, Gangs of New York, which opens a week earlier.  Opens Dec. 27.

· Chicago:  Adapted from the hit Broadway musical about two dames jailed, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renee Zellweger, and the their high priced lawyer who tries to get them off, played by Richard Gere, set against a 1920’s Chicago jazz backdrop.  Opens Dec. 27

· 8 Mile: Rapper Eminem’s debut on the screen.  Will the acting live up to his music?  Opened this Friday.

· Far From Heaven:  Director Todd Haynes collaborates again with one of my favorite actresses Julianne Moore.  Set in the 1950’s, a housewife faces a marital and a racial crisis.  Opened this Friday

· Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets:  The hype from the London premiere is that it’s darker, and better, than the first one.  Looking forward to seeing Kenneth Branagh join the Potter crew, and to seeing Richard Harris’s last screen performance (he past away recently).  Opens Next Friday

Read the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Review

· Personal Velocity:  An indie film directed by Rebecca Miller, adapted from her award winning book.  It’s three different stories about women and stars Kyra Sedgwick, Parker Posey, and  Fairuza Balk.  Opens Nov. 22

*Note: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was intentionally left off this list.

Reviews at a Glance: Frida, Moonlight Mile, The Business of Strangers, Gosford Park, John Q
By Judd Taylor

Theater

Frida  (2002)  -R-

Directed by:  Julie Taymour
Written by:  Clancy Sigal, Diane Lake, Gregory Nava, Anna Thomas
Adapted from Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by:  Hayden Herrera
Starring:  Salma Hayek, Alfred Molina, Geoffrey Rush, Valerie Golina, Ashley Judd, Ed Norton, Antonio Banderas, Roger Rees, Saffron Burrows
 

November 4, 2002

After being in an accident that almost paralyzed her for life, Frida Kahlo took up painting.  She became inspired by Mexican artist Diego Rivera, and subsequently married him.  In Frida, Salma Hayek proves for once that she can act.  It’s too bad the film doesn’t live up to her performance.  Frida is just a catalogue of events in her life and the people she met.  There’s no real story here, which makes the 2 hour length seem agonizingly long.  In addition, half the film seems more about Diego than Frida—or maybe it’s just he’s more interesting.  At times, the visual style director Taymour is going for is cheesy, like when Frida and Diego arrive in New York City.  Ed Norton, Antonio Bandaras, and Geoffrey Rush, as Trotsky, pop in and out so fast, you wonder what drew them to this film.

Moonlight Mile  (2002)   -R-

Written and Directed by:  Brad Silberling
Starring:  Jake Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon, Holly Hunter 
 

November 4, 2002

In Moonlight Mile, we have big name actors trying to capture the feeling and mood of death.  Too bad about half way through it turns into a bit of a soap opera when Jake G. springs on his new girlfriend a big secret.  After that it’s downhill—the big finale a Hollywood clichéd courtroom scene.  Recommendation—go out and rent The Big Chill.

DVD/Video

The Business of Strangers  (2001)  -R-

Written and Directed by:  Patrick Stettner
Starring:  Stockard Channing, Julia Stiles, Frederick Weller
 

February 14, 2002

In writer/director Neil Labute’s first film In the Company of Men, he takes a stab at the business world by showing two male chauvinistic businessmen and their grotesque attempt to get back at women for jerking them around. The Business of Strangers is a woman’s answer to In the Company of Men (although it's written and directed by a man).  In Business, two females take out their rage on a poor unsuspecting male.  Paula (Stiles),  convinces Julia (Channing) that Nick raped her while in college.  Senior businesswoman Julia of course has built up rage while striving to achieve over her male counterparts.  They both give Nick a night he may never forget, but unfortunately, they really don’t do anything all that bad, physically or emotionally--maybe if a woman wrote this, she could have thought up some better revenge tactics.  Then the ending is just too anticlimactic.  Stiles shows much promise as an actress and stands out over Channing. 

Gosford Park  (2001)  -R-

Directed by:  Robert Altman
Written by:  Julian Fellowes
Starring:  Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ryan Phillippe, Stephen Fry

February 14, 2002

In typical Robert Altman fashion, Gosford Park shows real people and their relationships and reactions to situations.  Repressed sexual tension languishes in hallways and behind closed doors. Class distinction is displayed between the rich and their servants, and between the British and American cultures.  Even though Ryan Phillippe character is Scottish, he shows an American arrogance because he’s the servant of a Hollywood producer.  I respect Altman as a director, but like some of his previous films like Cookie’s Fortune, there is more texture than there is substance; in layman’s terms, Gosford Park becomes very slow, is not permeated with enough comedy, and needs to be shorter. 

John Q  (2002)  -PG-13-

Directed by:  Nick Cassavetes
Written by:  James Kearns
Starring:  Denzel Washington, Kimberly Elise, James Woods, Anne Heche, Robert Duvall, Ray Liotta

November 4, 2002

In the commentary for one of the deleted scenes on the John Q DVD, director Nick Cassavetes says, “Films are not always logical.  If everyone wanted to use logic, everyone would be making great films.”  This about sums up John Q—the film very rarely follows logic, and it’s definitely not a great film.  Am I reading this quote wrong or did Cassavetes basically admit that he knows his film is not logical, and in turn he knows his film is not great?  I guess he’s aiming for mediocrity.  Too bad Nick, you aimed too high.

John Q. Archibald’s family is poor; he works in a factory while his wife works as a waitress.  They don’t own their home and shortly into the film one of their cars is repossessed.  Their son becomes sick and needs heart surgery.  John’s insurance won’t cover it, so eventually he busts into the hospital with a gun.  From there, John Q turns into Dog Day Afternoon, without the intelligence, good script, or great acting.  This is far left propaganda that will only speak to those who are always looking for handouts.