Thursday, January 06, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Film shorts

The Aviator

4 1/2 stars (PG-13; 169 mins.) Long, ambitious, and stunningly beautiful, Martin Scorsese's retelling of 20 years in the life of Howard Hughes is a soaring success. Leonardo DiCaprio tackles Hughes' passions--and creeping mental disorders--with ferocious energy and devastating charm. Not since The Age of Innocence has Scorsese conveyed such a sense of controlled chaos and inevitable tragedy.--JC

Beyond the Sea

2 1/2 stars (PG-13, 121 min.) This fanciful and misguided biopic of '60s pop legend Bobby Darin is the latest in a long line of career missteps for its star and director, Kevin Spacey. Stuffed with irritating fantasy sequences and inept dance numbers, the movie amounts to nothing more than a superficial dash through a brief and haunted life.--JC

Birth

4 stars (R, 100 min.) Director Jonathan Glazer's brave sophomore effort following Sexy Beast is less about reincarnation than the tenacity of grief. Ten years after becoming a widow, Anna (Nichole Kidman) meets a boy (Danny Huston) who claims to be her dead spouse. As Anna moves from suspicion through hope to conviction, Glazer constructs scenes of haunting pain. A stately, ominous work, best surrendered to than actively engaged. With Lauren Bacall and Anne Heche.--JC

Blade: Trinity

2 stars (R, 105 min.) Franchise fatigue strikes with a vengeance in this final installment of the Marvel Comics-based series about a hero poised between two worlds and tolerated by neither. Most bored of all is Wesley Snipes, reprising his role as the titular human/vamp hybrid dedicated to vanquishing the undead who move amongst us. Anxiously straining for present-day relevance, writer/director David S. Goyer gives us biological weapons, vampire "cells," and a battle-ready iPod--none of which cohere into an actual plot.--JC

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

No stars (R, 108 min.) Are women really as shallow as director Beeban Kidron's sequel would have us believe? This time out our insecure, overweight British journalist heroine (Renee Zellweger) is worried that her elegant live-in lawyer boyfriend (Colin Firth) doesn't really, really love her. She gets in all kinds of "I Love Lucy"-like trouble, including a stint in a Thai jail where she teaches the other prisoners a choreographed Madonna tune. The big question of the movie is, will boyfriend pop the big question? At one point you think yes, but it winds up the guy just wants to know if Bridget will go on a skiing trip. ADV

Christmas with the Kranks

1 star (PG, 98 min.) When their daughter heads off to Peru for Peace Corps duty, Luther and Nora Krank (Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis) decide to celebrate Christmas by going on a cruise and forgo the social and economic pressures that come with the holidays. But then the daughter surprises them with the announcement that she'll be home Dec. 24, the film's enticing satire ceases as everyone reverts back to jingle bells mode. The physical yucks feel lifted from other holiday films. Allen comes off constipated; Curtis is without an iota of distinctive identity.--MP

Closer

2 1/2 stars (R, 100 min.) Patrick Marber's screenplay attempts to three-dimensonalize the two modern couples of his 1999 Broadway hit, and it winds up being a mistake. Dan (Jude Law) is a hopeful novelist who falls for a neurotic stripper (Natalie Portman), before he meets a photographer (Julia Roberts) who has a thing for this dermatologist (Clive Owens). They keep switching partners while remaining emotionally distant. These unlikable characters were amusing on the stage for their repartee. But in director Mike Nicholas' film we're asked to believe that the abruptness in their ever-changing romantic allegiances are real. The motivations aren't fleshed-out enough for us to do that. The words are splendid, but the people aren't there.--ADV

Darkness

1 1/2 stars (PG-13, 95 min.) Seven children mysteriously disappear in the Spanish countryside; 40 years later the sole survivor moves his family into a new home in the area. Soon Daddy's having seizures, Mommy's gone to lunch, and the kids are far from alright. A hopelessly muddled haunted house movie with no real resolution.--JC

Everest

4 stars (NR, 44 min.) Co-director David Breashears' harrowing, 1998 Imax documentary chronicles the disastrous 1996 climbing season, when eight climbers perished in a freak storm on the world's highest peak. Featuring Jamling Tenzing Norgay, Ed Viesturs. Beck Weathers. Narrated by Liam Neeson.--AA

Faster

3 stars (NR, 103 min.) Mark Neale's documentary (narrated by Ewan McGregor) about the Motorcycle Grand Prix five-continent world championships during the 2001 and 2002 seasons isn't structured for maximum dramatic effect. Lots of people will be bored. But it throws you into the world of high-speed motorcross racing so thoroughly that it achieves its kick on its own terms. We get to know about a half-dozen competitors and come to understand why they're so willing to risk their life for a chance to feel fast.--ADV

Fat Albert

2 stars (PG, 93 min.) The characters from Bill Cosby's 1972-84 cartoon series come to life to help friendless high-schooler and track-star hopeful Kyla Pratt. More concerned with moral values than cinematic ones, Joel Zwick's movie preaches a false gospel: that belief in yourself is all it takes to win. Tell that to all the self-assured kids who lose competitions.--ADV

Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag

Not reviewed (NR, 45 min.) The film follows Capt. John Stratton, an F-15 Eagle pilot, as he participates in Red Flag exercises, an intense training regimen for U.S. and allied forces.

Finding Neverland

2 1/2 stars (PG, 106 min.) Director Marc Forster's lusciously produced bio of James W. Barrie (Johnny Depp) allows us to understand the personal connection between the Victorian playwright/novelist and his writing of Peter Pan. But the film is infuriatingly ambiguous. You never understand what drives this Barrie to hang around four preadolescent boys all day (to the point of destroying his marriage), or what exactly the nature is of his relationship with the boys' mother (Kate Winslet). It's okay for a Victorian to suppress issues, but when a filmmaker does it, it's unforgivable. Julie Chrisite plays a stuffy, proper prig, and, considering her fame as a 1960s social rebel, it's a delicious Hollywood in-joke.--ADV

Flight of the Phoenix

3 stars (PG-13, 114 mins.) Evacuating a Mongolian oil site, maverick pilot Dennis Quaid crashes, spectacularly, in the Gobi desert. Braving a sandstorm, murderous nomads, and a script filled with adolescent chest-pounding, the survivors try to rebuild the plane. Director John Moore's remake has a primitive appeal that compensates for its sometimes-inane dialogue.--ADV

Haunted Castle

Not reviewed (PG, 38 min.) Aspiring rock star Jasper Steverlinck visits dead mom's spooky English mansion and learns that rock 'n' roll really is the devil's music, in this 2001 3-D Imax horror flick from Belgian director Ben Stassen.

The Incredibles

5 stars (PG, 115 min.) A dynamic and immensely entertaining computer-animated adventure comedy from Pixar, as inspired as it is inspiring. The Parrs are a quintet living like any other household, except that each of them was born with powers they're supposed to keep suppressed. They don't. Pixar has outdone itself with visuals, excitement and human characterizations. With the voices of Craig. T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jason Lee.--MP

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

3 stars (PG, 108 mins.) For those who like their fairy tales on the creepy side, Jim Carrey's latest follows three orphans as they try to escape the nightmarish mansion of their villainous uncle. Despite repetitive comedy and a stagnant plot, the movie is redeemed by imaginative imagery and an uproarious Meryl Streep.--ADV

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

4 1/2 stars (R, 118 min.) Wes Anderson's twin ambitions of playfulness and emotional crisis are beautifully achieved as oceanographer Bill Murray sets off to kill the shark that ate his partner. Owen Wilson joins him as a long-lost son while a pregnant Cate Blanchett provides the love interest for both. A fey, friendly commentary on father-son rivalry and the filmmaking profession itself.--JC

Meet the Fockers

2 stars (PG13, 114 min.) This lame sequel takes us to Miami where Ben Stiller's parents (Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand) struggle to overcome the scriptwriters' fascination with the word "Focker." Streisand can still rattle off a line with the gusto of an urban yenta, but you'd think that after an eight-year screen absence she'd return with more self-respect.--ADV

NASCAR: The Imax Experience

2 1/2 stars (PG, 48 min.) Simon Wincer's flagrant promo flick is expensive entertainment that requires tiresome 3D glasses to watch. But it delivers some of the visceral, ear-shattering excitement of race day. Narrated by Kiefer Sutherland.--AA

National Treasure

3 stars (PG, 100 min.) Nicolas Cage plays an eccentric treasure hunter who can't convince the FBI that someone is about to steal the Declaration of Independence. So he steals it first. Winds up he was right. So now both the good guys and bad guys are after our star. There's not much suspense or chase or romance or good acting. (Remember when Cage used to be a real artist?) But the story's locations take us to historical halls, passageways, ventilation shafts and catacombs that played a major role in our nation's birth. It's a fun education trip disguised as a caper movie.--ADV

Ocean Wonderland 3D

Not reviewed (NR, 44 min.) Filmed in the Bahamas and Australia, this Imax doc features rays, sharks, dolphins and other marine life in 3D.

Ocean's Twelve

3 1/2 stars (PG-13, 106 min.) A nasty entrepreneur (Andy Garcia) tracks down the crooks who swindled him in 2001's Ocean's Eleven, and they, plus one, must figure out a way to pay him back. I went into director Steven Soderbergh's sequel wanting enjoyable junk entertainment, and that's what I got. With Casey Afleck, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Elliott Gould, Bernie Mac, Brad Pitt, Carl Reiner, Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones.--ADV

The Phantom of the Opera

3 stars (PG-13, 140 min.) Spoiled by poor casting and a superficial screen treatment, Joel Schumacher's film is all visual opulence and momentary pleasures. Emmy Rossum is a charismatic lead, but the love-triangle plot suffers from Gerard Butler's inability to convey emotional torment. Nevertheless, the movie's lavish production numbers sometimes capture the broad wink of musical comedy.--ADV

The Polar Express

2 1/2 stars (G, 100 min.) Junky filmmaking dressed up in fancy duds. The breathtaking visual images come at you nonstop. But they are put at the service of a story that takes major issues of belief and loneliness and (implied) child abuse and turns them into a Hallmark card. The point seems to be that children, like all good Americans, should believe in capitalism. Scores of dramatic motifs are introduced and then go nowhere, while intriguing characters are given nothing to do. With the voices and rotoscoping of Tom Hanks, Tom Hanks, Tom Hanks, Tom Hanks and, in a special appearance as Santa Claus, Tom Hanks.--ADV

Ray

3 1/2 stars (PG-13, 152 min.) Jamie Foxx embodies Ray Charles so completely in look, mannerism and speaking voice that he magnetizes our gaze. Unfortunately, Taylor Hackford's film takes a trite, by-the-numbers approach that ticks off the major plot points of Charles' life with more thoroughness than imagination. Strong supporting performances by Kerry Washington as the long- suffering wife, and Regina King as his lover and back-up singer.--JC

Sideways

3 1/2 stars (R, 123 min.) Paul Giamatti, who has something of a lock on crumpled manhood, plays a sad, divorced middle school English teacher who joins his about-to-be married best friend (Thomas Haden Church) on a tour of California wineries. Their bonding agenda turns into a couple of serious hookups with two intelligent women (Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh). The acting is wonderful, the script, virtually seamless, and Alexander Payne's direction, full of insights into how people react to their environments and each other. But everything feels just a bit too carefully crafted and frustratingly obvious.--JC

Spanglish

2 1/2 stars (PG-13, 131 mins.) Supposedly concerned with immigrant fear and the compromises of assimilation, James L. Brooks' comedy is really a sour study in racial stereotyping. Adam Sandler is appealingly low-key as a husband trying to resist his earthy Mexican housekeeper; Téa Leonie is cruelly mocked as his neurotic, insecure wife. Cloris Leachman plays the most functional alcoholic ever filmed.--JC

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

3 stars (PG, 90 min.) An offspring of the highly successful 1999-2003 TV show "SpongeBob"--think "Pee Wee's Playhouse" meets "Ren & Stimpy" --retains the original's broad appeal by balancing butt jokes for the kids with witty one-liners for the adults. Here, our happy-go-lucky yellow sponge gets into trouble when he goes on an ice cream sundae bender after being overlooked for a promotion by his Krusty Krab burger joint boss. You'll laugh, even if you don't understand the context.--MP

Reviews by: AA: Anthony Allison; ADV: Anthony Del Valle; JC: Jeannette Catsoulis; MP: Mike Prevatt; RC: Robert Chancey