Sunday, March 30, 2003

The Emperor's New Groove. (B-) I'll admit it, I've been a fan of Disney movies since childhood. Not that I see every one that comes out; "Pocahontas," "Mulan," and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" all eluded me. But I've seen several since the renaissance began with "The Little Mermaid," and "Aladdin" and "Beauty and the Beast" are great favorites of mine. "Groove" definitely belongs in the category of minor Disney, like "Hercules," but it is fine for what it is--a good children's movie, without the winking adult jokes of "Aladdin" or darker storyline and superior music of "Beauty." It's far better than the torturous Disney movie about Atlantis, and it probably comes close to equalling the recent and unfairly overlooked "Treasure Planet." When you have an extra hour and fifteen minutes to kill, borrow the DVD from a friend who has small children, like I did.

Monday, March 24, 2003

A review from that guy named David:

Welcome to Collinwood
Grade C+

This movie was produced by Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney, stars William Macy (Fargo), Sam Rockwell (The Green Mile; Confessions of a Dangerous Mind), Luis Guzman (Boogie Nights), and a host of other exceptional character actors (with Clooney also making brief cameos), so my thought was that the movie would be a bit off-the-wall, witty, well-acted, and provide a couple of hours of entertainment. I was wrong. The plot revolves around a group of hapless thieves who find out about a "can't miss" break-in at a jewelry store. As to be expected, however, the job turns out to be much more difficult than expected and,... well,... you see where this is all heading. The acting was impressive, but the story was weak. Highlights of the movie were the performances put in by Macy and Rockwell. However, the storyline developed into predictable, unnecessarily slapstick humor that left me thinking that they wasted an opportunity to utilize some of the great talent that was assembled for the movie.

Sunday, March 23, 2003

A review from Movie Queen Maggie:

The Man from Elysian Fields. (B+) Film with Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies and Mick Jagger about a struggling writer who becomes a male escort in order to support his family. I knew nothing about this movie until I watched it and was pleasantly surprised. I always like Andy Garcia, and he was no different in this one. Julianna has been a favorite since she was Hathaway on ER, so I was pleased to see her in a good film. I didn’t know what to expect from Mick, but he was actually a really good pimp! It was an interesting story, well acted by strong characters and it handled a potentially raunchy topic very tastefully. It was certainly worth the rental fee!

Thursday, March 20, 2003

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not. (C) This is a French import starring Audrey Tautou, who became famous in America in the movie Amelie. I don't think I can say anything about the plot without depriving the viewer of some of the pleasure of watching the movie, so I won't say anything about it. It's not a bad movie, but I think I would have enjoyed it more had I not read any reviews in advance of seeing it.

Wednesday, March 19, 2003

Oscar predictions by Greg, the Movie Snob:

Prediction #1:

Picture: Chicago
Director: Scorsese
Actress: Kidman
Actor: Nicholson
Supporting Actress: Zeta-Jones
Supporting Actor: Cooper
Original Screenplay: Gangs of New York
Adapted Screenplay: Chicago
Animated Feature: Lilo & Stitch
Cinematography: Road to Perdition
Visual Effects: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Song: Chicago

Prediction #2

Picture: Chicago
Director: Marshall
Actress: Kidman
Actor: Day-Lewis
Supporting Actress: Moore
Supporting Actor: Cooper
Original Screenplay: Far From Heaven
Adapted Screenplay: The Hours
Animated Feature: Spirited Away
Cinematography: Chicago
Visual Effects: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Song: 8 Mile

# of Oscars Chicago will win: 6

Tuesday, March 18, 2003

A book review from The Movie Snob:

I had always wanted to read the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, and a brand-new translation by C. Scot Hicks and David V. Hicks, titled "The Emperor's Handbook," was the catalyst that finally got me to do it. It is a slender volume, and the translation very readable, so it's not a difficult read. I found it very interesting, although there is a substantial amount of repetition of the key points of Marcus Aurelius's Stoic philosophy. One dominant theme, for example, is the effort to overcome the fear of death through the use of reason, which the Emperor visits over and over again. The importance of living according to reason rather than the passions or appetites, and in harmony with nature, is another. In fact, those two themes struck me as the overriding themes of the whole work. In all, I quite enjoyed this window into an ancient and not-yet-forgotten school of thought.

Monday, March 17, 2003

Movie Reviews from Elder Stateman John:

The Godfather III. (A) Very good film. Excellent cinematography. Al Pacino is incredibly good as the aging, beleagured gangster philanthropist. Andy Garcia is also excellent as the up-and-coming big timer. The entire cast is excellent in fact, save and except for Sophia Coppola as the daughter of Michael and Kate Corleone. Her screen time is not as large as I had remembered so it's not too distracting. That said, it's the one character in the movie that isn't believable. As Andy Garcia's quasi-love interest, it is unclear why he's so attracted to her--i.e. no real charisma/personality. It detracts from what is otherwise an excellent film. It was nominated for an Academy Award--had they cast Winona Ryder instead of Sophia (as originally planned) it could have possibly won the award. Still very much worth the watch.

The Pianist. (A) Another extremely compelling film, this one about a piano player and his family's attempts to endure and survive the Nazi invasion of Poland. Evidently based on a true story--an autobiography written by the pianist. Well-acted and never dull in spite of a couple of long periods of relatively no interaction among characters. There was less music in the movie than I anticipated. While it is relatively easy to generate emotion when contrasting the cruelties imposed by the Germans in WW II with the perserverance and hope demonstrated by those subjugated to that cruelty, I thought that the director used excellent restraint when depicting that contrast. It is worthy of an Academy Award nomination. Adrien Brody is excellent and Roman Polanski's directing is also Oscar nominee worthy.

Reviews from the Movie Snob:

The Quiet American. (B+) This movie starts at the end, in the vein of Sunset Boulevard, with a dead man floating in the water. Suspense removed, the point is not so much the destination as the ride, and the movie delivers handsomely. Set in 1952 Vietnam, then French Indo-China, the protagonist is a jaded British journalist, Thomas Fowler, who has abandoned human feeling for anything except his young Vietnamese mistress. Then an eager young American medical-aid worker, Adam Pyle, makes Fowler's acquaintance and begins to upset his opium-enhanced lassitude. Michael Caine turns in a very good performance as Fowler, and the humid lushness of Vietnam is well-conveyed by the filmmakers. Warmly recommended.

The Breakfast Club. (C) With very little hope, I turned to the next artifact in my ongoing exploration of the 80's. Perhaps because my expectations were so low, I was pleasantly surprised by this tale of five high-school archetypes stuck together in detention on a Saturday. Don't get me wrong. There is plenty of ludicrous dialogue, and Judd Nelson's juvenile delinquent is laughably tame, and Ally Sheedy's transformation from proto-goth basket case to cutesy bowhead (not to mention her attraction to jock Emilio Estevez) comes unbelievably out of nowhere in the last ten minutes of the movie. Still, on the whole this was a much more entertaining effort than the last John Hughes product I gagged down, Sixteen Candles.

Saturday, March 15, 2003

Stripes. (D) Although I consider myself very much a product of the 1980's (having spent the entirety of my teens in that decade), I was not much of moviegoer in those days, and many of the defining movies of my generation escaped me entirely. I missed Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, 48 Hours, Risky Business, St. Elmo's Fire, Bachelor Party, Beverly Hills Cop, and many other movies that I take to be paradigmatic of the period. I have been making some efforts to remedy that deficiency in my knowledge of the 80's, but I am getting the idea that you can't go home again. I watched Sixteen Candles not too long ago, and it was one of the most painfully unfunny movies I have ever seen. Stripes, as is evident from my grade, was not much better. Maybe if I had seen these movies as a teenager, I would have found them amusing. Somehow I doubt it.

Tuesday, March 11, 2003

Birthday Girl. (C-) I have been known to say that I would pay money to see a movie consisting of nothing but Nicole Kidman reading from a telephone book. After watching this DVD rental, I almost felt like I had accomplished that goal. This is a lame little movie about a British guy who orders a Russian mail-order bride. He is a pathetic fellow with a dead-end job at a bank and an interest in kinky pornography. She, of course, turns out to be Nicole Kidman. Then two thuggish Russian guys show up on the doorstep, and the plot veers from uninteresting pseudo-romance to uninteresting I don't know what. Crime caper? Action movie? On the other hand, Kidman's phenomenal good looks, even in trashy poor-Russian-girl attire, make up for a lot of weak plot and characterization. On the whole, this movie is for diehard Kidman fans only.

Incidentally, the DVD contains almost no special features, but it does have a random music video by some guy I've never heard of named Robbie Williams doing a duet of "Somethin' Stupid" with -- Nicole Kidman. I suppose her singing is competent, and she looks stunning, but what is it doing on this DVD???

Monday, March 10, 2003

Some reviews from guest reviewer Jeff N.

This last Saturday night I saw The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers for the fourth time. This movie has it all - it has action, romance, mayhem, and no Gwyneth Paltrow. I was only disappointed that the movie was not longer. The screenplay, and thereby the movie, strayed some from the original Tolkien material. There is no scary black orb, Shadowfax is not very fast, and there is a crazy elf played by the daughter from that guy from Aerosmith who looks a little like a younger Mick Jagger (although we look forward to seeing more of her in the next movie). At one time there was an alliance between people that did not like to play complicated board games, like the Settlers of Catan, and big time Hollywood producers that kept movies like this from being made - thankfully that alliance has been broken. Here is to a third installment of the greatest saga since the Thornbirds. I give this movie an "A+."

Another classic, not to be missed, is The Omega Man. Perhaps Charlton Heston's finest performance and a precursor to his leadership of the NRA, this is an action-packed, gun-toting, post-apocalyptic romp thru the 70s. Complete with bad music, Shatneresque over-acting, and some wicked fashions - this movie is a must-see. Catch Heston before he found out that Soylent Green is people. As the last man on Earth (at least until mid-way thru the movie), Heston ain't so bad. He has a hip bachelor pad. He has a power generator to keep out the mutants, eventually a babe (and her creepy mutant child), lots of alcohol, barb wire, and a bunch of guns. For anyone that has ever dreamed of inventing a dangerous chemical weapon while working for the military-industrial complex, then finding a cure for the recently released bug, only to end up in a helicopter crash that prevents you from delivering the cure, causing everyone, but yourself to turn into a mutant - this is the movie for you. Did I mention Heston has a kick butt convertible? I give this movie an "A-."

Elder statesman John adds his commentary on Igby Goes Down:

Watched Igby last night. I agree with David. It was a well-written, superbly acted dark comedy. I thought Culkin was excellent--and the F-bombs were scripted and shouldn't affect his performance evaluation (I actually didn't feel they were excessive). I thought Goldblum and Sarandon were excellent. The movie is a more realistic, hence more sobering, example of true dysfunction in the upper crust east coast society. Kind of a combination Catcher in the Rye, Royal Tennenbaums and Great Gatsy. Not a pick-me-up. Greg probably and Angie definitely would not like it. Grade: A-

Tuesday, March 04, 2003

This guy named David invited himself to join The Movie Court, so we let him. Here's a review from him.

Igby Goes Down
Grade- B+

It's hard to get a real feel for this movie, but it's definately worth the rent. Super dark comedy that, throughout, shifts from humor to sadness to depth to tragedy and back to humor. Not predictable (which is a welcome relief). Great cast. Kieran Culkin plays Igby and is not bad (except for the dropping of blatantly unnecessary f-bombs at random times during sentences). Susan Sarandon is a dysfunctional mom. Claire Danes plays the only "normal" character. Amanda Peet (who I have admired since getting naked in The Whole Nine Yards) plays the failed NY dancer, and is impressive (in her acting this time). Ryan Phillippe is Igby's despised, "successful" older brother and is very good. Jeff Goldblum is the wealthy godfather of Igby and is annoying, as usual. Bill Pullman plays the schizophrenic father, but doesn't have a huge role. One review I saw last week called this movie "a spoiled, rich kid living out Catcher in the Rye." If you liked the book, you'll probably really like the movie. If it hadn't dragged a little, it would have been an A.

Site Meter