Thursday, January 22, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Film shorts

Along Came Polly

2 stars (PG-13, 90 min.) John Hamburg's comedy is as risk-averse and unamusing as Ben Stiller's overly cautious character, who falls for flaky free spirit Jennifer Aniston. This odd couple romantic comedy offers a "sparkless" pairing and humor that's forced and repetitious. With Hank Azaria, Alec Baldwin, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Debra Messing.--TM

Bad Santa

1 star (R, 93 min.) Safecracker Billy Bob Thornton (effortlessly sordid) and his little-person partner (Tony Cox) work as a Santa-and-elf combo while planning to rob the store. Terry Zwigoff's Christmas comedy is proof that no amount of talent can rescue a great idea from incompetent writing.--JC

Big Fish

2 1/2 stars (PG-13, 125 min.) Tim Burton's film of Daniel Wallace's sentimental novel about a son (Billy Crudup) trying to connect with his dying father (Albert Finney), who weaves fanciful stories about how as a young man (Ewan McGregor) he conquered the world, is the one that got away. Screenwriter John August pads out his script with additional material. But the film sinks into a treacly lake of pure whimsy. With Helena Bonham Carter, Steve Buscemi, Danny DeVito.--AA

Calendar Girls

2 1/2 stars (PG-13, 108 min.) Nigel Cole's bland, true-life drama about middle-aged Englishwomen who posed nude for a charity calendar is Americanized for crowd-pleasing effect. Only Helen Mirren and Julie Walters explore the pathos of their roles. With Annette Crosbie, Geraldine James.--TM

The Cat in the Hat

Not reviewed (PG, 138 min.) Mike Myers is the mischievous, 6-foot feline in the stovepipe hat in Bo Welch's live-action film of the beloved 1957 children's book by Dr. Seuss. With Alec Baldwin, Kelly Preston.--AA

Chasing Liberty

1 1/2 stars (PG-13, 111 min.) Mandy Moore stars in Andy Cadiff's comedy as U.S. President Mark Harmon's daughter, who--gasp!--falls in love with snarky Secret Service field agent Matthew Goode. Freedom comes at a price: the waste of eight bucks for Moore's posing or the wait for Katie Holmes' upcoming take on the same theme, First Daughter. With Jeremy Piven, Anabella Sciorra.--TM

Cheaper by the Dozen

Not reviewed (PG, 98 min.) Steve Martin stays home in Illinois to care for his 12 children when author wife Bonnie Hunt abruptly leaves for New York to promote her new book. Hilary Duff and Piper Perabo co-star in Shawn Levy's loose update of the 1950 Clifton Webb/Myrna Loy comedy.--AA

Cold Mountain

3 1/2 stars (R, 155 min.) North Carolina reverend's daughter Nicole Kidman's incipient romance with field hand Jude Law is interrupted by the Civil War, but she's comforted by plain-spoken Renée Zellweger. Anthony Minghella's devastatingly beautiful film of Charles Frazier's novel balances the folksy and the horrifying. With Philip Seymour Hoffman, Giovanni Ribisi, Donald Sutherland.--JC

The Cooler

3 stars (R, 101 min.) Wayne Kramer's gritty, faux noir is technically about an unlucky guy (William H. Macy), employed to bring his chronic bad luck to gamblers in the Golden Shangri-La casino, who falls in love with a cocktail waitress (Maria Bello). But more interesting is the backstory, with old-school casino boss Alec Baldwin clinging to his traditionalist ways in the face of corporate Vegas. A film awash in moral ambiguity and contradictions, that add depth and complexity. With Shawn Hatosy, Ron Livingston.--MP

Everest

3 1/2 stars (NR, 44 min.) Co-directed by David Breashears, this superb 1998 Imax film chronicles the disastrous 1996 climbing season when eight climbers perished in a freak storm on the world's highest peak. Narrated by Liam Neeson.--AA

Gothika

1/2 star (R, 100 min.) What Halle Berry and Mathieu Kassovitz are doing with a murky, women-in-prison movie is anyone's guess, but this melodramatic trash is unintentionally funny. Berry is unconvincing as a criminal psychologist accused of killing husband Charles Dutton. With Penélope Cruz, Robert Downey, Jr.--JC

The Haunted Mansion

1 star (PG, 87 min.) Eddie Murphy's turn in Rob Minkoff's Disneyland ride spinoff is another colossal failure. This unscary horror-comedy will engender fear for all the wrong reasons. With Terence Stamp, Jennifer Tilly.--TM

House of Sand and Fog

2 stars (R, 126 min.) Iranian exile Ben Kingsley snaps up a real estate bargain when Jennifer Connelly is evicted from her Bay Area bungalow. Connelly and love interest Ron Eldard have zero chemistry, and Kingsley's undemonstrative style jars with Iranian actress Shohreh Aghdashloo's Farsi histrionics, as Vadim Perelman's film of Andre Dubus III's novel degenerates from melodrama to potboiler.--AA

In America

3 1/2 stars (PG-13, 103 min.) Jim Sheridan exploits the immigrant experience with his autobiographical story of Irish immigrants (Paddy Considine and Samantha Morton), mourning the death of their son, as they move to New York with young daughters Sarah and Emma Bolger, who befriend terminally ill Djimon Hounsou. Morton is achingly good, Considine heroically strong and emotionally paralyzed. But it's the Bolger sisters' heart-melting guilessness that sets this far above the Hollywood mean.--AA

The Last Samurai

2 stars (R, 154 min.) After two and a half hours of Tom Cruise, as a disillusioned U.S. soldier learning the way of the Samurai in 1870s Japan, it's hard to suppress one thought: Will Tom now honorably commit career hara-kiri? Edward Zwick's flat, unoriginal sushi Western isn't unwatchable. But he's no Kurosawa. With Ken Watanabe, Koyuki, Tony Goldwyn.--AA

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

3 1/2 stars (PG-13, 200 min.) LOTR is finally complete and director Peter Jackson delivers all the highlights on cue: Frodo and Sam (Elijah Wood, Sean Astin) are led to Mordor by the duplicitous Gollum (Andy Serkis); Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli (Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys-Davies) awaken the Army of the Dead; Gandalf (Ian McKellen) heads for Minis Tirith; and Galadriel and Arwen (Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler) complete their five minutes of screen time. The images are scandalously beautiful, and the target audience (16- to 24-year-old males) will sit still for more than three hours of essentially mammary-free entertainment. Jackson's single-handed resurrection of the epic fantasy is an astonishing achievement.--JC

Lost in Translation

4 1/2 stars (R, 105 min.) Filmed in Tokyo, Sofia Coppola's drama observes the chance connection of two dislocated souls reaching out from opposite ends of shaky marriages: fiftysomething actor Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, wife of workaholic photographer Giovanni Ribisi. A film about how traveling alone encourages introspection and how temporariness heightens experience.--JC

Love Don't Cost a Thing

Not reviewed (PG-13, 105 min.) Nerdy high school student Nick Cannon pays cheerleader Christina Milian to pose as his girlfriend, in the hope of joining the in-crowd. Actress/director Troy Beyer's remake of the 1987 high school comedy Can't Buy Me Love also stars Steve Harvey, Kal Penn and Kenan Thompson.--AA

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

3 1/2 stars (PG-13, 138 min.) Russell Crowe stars in Peter Weir's splendid maritime adventure, set in 1805 and based on Patrick O'Brian's novels. But not even his presence turns a shallow sea story into an epic of depth. With Paul Bettany.--AA

The Matrix Revolutions

3 stars (R, 129 min.) Neo, Morpheus, Trinity and Niobe (Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jada Pinkett Smith) battle the Machines while Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) continues his infestation. The Wachowski brothers deliver the expected elements in their trilogy's dull finale. [Also in cut Imax version.]--JC

Mona Lisa Smile

1 1/2 stars (PG-13, 119 min.) A film about the empowerment of women should be impervious to criticism. But Mike Newell's saccharine drama, with Julia Roberts miscast as a Wellesley art history teacher in 1953, deserves vilification. With Kirsten Dunst, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Julia Stiles.--AA

Monster

3 stars (R, 108 min.) To appreciate Patty Jenkins' feature about serial killer Aileen Wuornos, you must negotiate the shock and awe of Charlize Theron's appearance (a cross between Nick Nolte and Rosie O'Donnell) and the monstrousness of a performance that steamrollers the entire film, including Christina Ricci's magnificently subtle turn as her gay lover. Jenkins fails to create a living, breathing movie around it and, with a low hum of justification, remains firmly on Wuornos' side. The challenge is to avoid confusing a great performance with a great movie. With Bruce Dern, Lee Tergesen.--JC

My Baby's Daddy

Not reviewed (PG-13, 86 min.) Confirmed bachelors Eddie Griffin, Anthony Anderson and Michael Imperioli all learn they're about to be fathers. Cheryl Dunye (The Watermelon Woman, Greetings from Africa) directs a "comedy" co-written by Griffin and newcomer Damon Daniels.--AA

Mystic River

4 stars (R, 137 min.) In South Boston, a brutal murder forces a reunion between boyhood buddies Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon and Tim Robbins, a severely damaged adult whose wife (riveting Marcia Gay Harden) is losing her grip. Clint Eastwood's dark film of Dennis Lehane's novel is a police procedural that illuminates a close-knit community poisoned by its own bitter history. With Laura Linney.--JC

Ocean Wonderland 3D

Not reviewed (NR, 44 min.) Filmed in the Bahamas and on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the latest IMAX documentary features rays, sharks, dolphins and other marine life in glorious 3D.--AA

Paycheck

1/2 star (PG-13, 118 min.) Ben Affleck, whose memory is erased after he works on secret projects, escapes a deadly conspiracy. With leaden dialogue and non-special effects, John Woo goes through the motions in an unsuspenseful Philip K. Dick adaptation. With Aaron Eckhart, Paul Giamatti, Uma Thurman.--AA

Peter Pan

Not reviewed (PG, 104 min.) Jeremy Sumpter is the boy who wouldn't grow up in P.J. Hogan's live-action version of J.M. Barrie's beloved children's play. With Rachel Hurd-Wood, Lynn Redgrave.--AA

Something's Gotta Give

3 1/2 stars (PG-13, 136 min.) Aging playboy Jack Nicholson (masterfully sarcastic and tender) has a heart attack and is nursed by lover Amanda Peet's mother Diane Keaton. Combining 1970s Woody Allenesque wit with compelling passion, Keaton proves there's hope for older actresses, in Nancy Meyers' sophisticated battle-of-the-sexes comedy. With Frances McDormand, Keanu Reeves.--TM

Stuck on You

1 star (PG-13, 118 min.) Bobby and Peter Farrelly's "comedy," with Greg Kinnear and Matt Damon as conjoined twins, strains too hard for laughs. How the Farrellys roped in Cher, Seymour Cassel, Eva Mendes and Meryl Streep is a mystery. Money apparently talks.--AA

Teacher's Pet

Not reviewed (PG, 67 min.) [a.k.a. Disney's Teacher's Pet] Timothy Bjšrklund's animated musical TV spinoff has Nathan Lane reprising his role as (the voice of) Spot the dog, who hopes to become a real boy with help from mad scientist Kelsey Grammer. With Estelle Harris, David Ogden Stiers, Wallace Shawn.--AA

Torque

Not reviewed (PG-13, 81 min.) Biker Martin Henderson battles drug dealer Matt Schulze, who frames him for the murder of the kid brother of rival bike gang boss Ice Cube. Joseph Kahn's drama, written by Matt Johnson, is co-produced by Neal Moritz (The Fast and the Furious) and co-stars Monet Mazur.--AA

21 Grams

4 stars (R, 124 min.) Repeating the framing device of Amores Perros, Alejandro González Iñárritu arranges three strangers (mathematician Sean Penn, recovering addict Naomi Watts and born-again ex-con Benicio Del Toro) around an obliterating car accident. But instead of a linear timeline, he juggles his scenes in seemingly random order, leaving us to put them back together. The actors are off-the-charts remarkable and Iñárritu's bravura is justified. With Melissa Leo.--JC

The Young Black Stallion

Not reviewed (G, 50 min.) Simon Wincer's Imax prequel to Carroll Ballard's 1979 adventure, set in postwar north Africa, stars Biana Tamimi as a girl separated from her family who bonds with a wild horse.--AA

Reviews by: AA: Anthony Allison; JC: Jeannette Catsoulis; MP: Mike Prevatt; TM: Tammy McMahan