Movie Reviews 2002
Supposedly a sequel to "sex, lies & videotapes," I simply did not get this movie -- or why they (Julia Roberts, Blair Underwood, David Duchovny, Brad Pitt, David Hyde Pierce, Catherine Keener & Terence Stamp) wasted the 18 days it supposedly took to film it. I only wasted two hours, so I guess I shouldn't feel too put out.
3 stars (generous)
This is a gritty, disturbing, cops-gone-bad movie based in L.A. surrounding the Rodney King beating trial. While it's the best work that Kurt Russell has done in years, it falls short of an "L.A. Confidential"-type flick. I'd say 3/4 of the movie was very well done, and the rest -- especially the melodramatic conclusion -- a bit much.
The ending scenes of the L.A. riots and the city going up in smoke were very depressing.
Save your money for when it's released on video.
6 stars
This is Jack Nicholson at his best. At times funny, depressing and sad – but definitely poignant – Nicholson plays Warren Schmidt, an Omaha, Nebraska insurance actuary who seems far older than his 66 years. Married for 42 years, Schmidt slowly realizes after he retires that life has passed him by. He has nothing to show for his hard work and loyalty to his company; his only child, a daughter, is about to get married to a waterbed salesman schmuck in Denver; and his boring wife is ready to hit the road with him in a Winnebago.
At a crossroads in his life, Schmidt tries to keep his daughter from going through with her marriage – he does not want her to waste her life like he has his – but it may be too little too late.
Kathy Bates as the mother-in-law-to-be and Howard Hesseman as Bates’ ex-husband do fine jobs in supporting roles. Hope Davis, Schmidt’s daughter, a receiving clerk for a high tech company, and Dermot Mulroney, her beau, are perfect as the unlikely couple-to-be. Filmed in a Midwest early spring, the starkness of the landscape adds to the mood of the film.
This is not a gut-laugher, and it does move slowly (much slower than the trailers), but there are plenty of laugh lines and gobs of great acting. Worth a look.
8 stars
We learn, once again, that Al Pacino is one helluva actor. Here Pacino plays a CIA operative, recruiting computer geek/bartender/shaving-challenged Colin Farrell into spy training. Realistic or not, the spook-training part of the film is well done, as Pacino plays the lovestruck Farrell-Bridget Moynahan relationship to the hilt.
This is a fun thriller; you’re never quite sure whom to trust, who’s in charge or who works for whom. The plot weakens as Farrell is given his first assignment – or is it still a training test? Then a bad Pacino soliloquy mars the ending. Bad Hilary Swank dialog also hurt Pacino’s “Insomnia” ending. The difference, however, is that “The Recruit” was pretty good up to that point.
Worth a look, especially for Pacino fans.
7½ stars
A feel-good, true story of an African-American sailor who’s hiding a lot of pain from his childhood (for starters: he was born in prison; his father was shot two months before he was born) and exhibits plenty of anger. He’s forced to see the base psychiatrist, Denzel Washington, who’s able to help him through his repressed memories of his childhood. And, along the way, Washington, helps deal with some of his own demons.
Plenty of Hollywood schmaltz comes with this one. Worth a rental when it comes out, but not necessarily a night on the town.
6½ stars
CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND:
Or Creative Mind or Fantastic Mind or Are-You-Kidding-Me Mind…
George Clooney directs (and co-stars in) this interesting “autobiography” of game show mastermind Chuck Barris (Dating Game, Newlywed Game, Gong Show)…so it’s supposed to be true. Was Barris really a game show creator during the day and a CIA hitman at night?
Clooney portrays Barris as such a stumblebum sleuth that it’s hard to come away from this believing it’s true. Having said that, it’s a fun movie with plenty of nostalgia for the beginning of reality tv. Worth a look on the big screen.
8 stars
A fine Dickens film, with an excellent supporting cast surrounding the star, Charlie Hunnam, perhaps the weakest of the actors. Christopher Plummer plays a perfect Dickens bad guy, with a heart of stone; Jamie Bell is outstanding as the crippled Smike; Jim Broadbent plays a masterfully cruel “headmaster.” Nathan Lane gives comic relief -- but don’t believe the trailers and think he has anything but a minor role-- because this is a classic Dickens movie of haves and have nots, of cruelty and abuse and privilege.
Worth a look, if only on dvd when it comes out. Two problems: Its length (2 hours plus) and generally poor sound quality.
7½ stars
A powerful, true story of three little girls – “half-castes” as partial race Australian aborigines were called – who are legally plucked from their mothers (in the 1930s) and sent to live on a “ranch” for similar children, to “protect” the white race and to bred out their black genes. The oldest of the girls (a 14-year old darling girl who looked 10, with the most penetrating of eyes) leads her sister and cousin on a 1000+ mile journey back home, using the “rabbit-proof” fence on the west side of Australia as a guide.
An amazing story of human spirit – an “Incredible Journey” with humans; beautiful cinematography and a heart-warming story. A must see.
8½ stars
Let’s set the stage first. I am not (repeat not) a fan of musicals, and I have no history of seeing Chicago on stage or screen. Which is why Tracy looked at me somewhat cross-eyed when I suggested we go to this unorthodox musical.
But Moulin Rouge and Nicole Kidman, step aside, because this one has Oscar written all over it. Very cleverly done, Catherine Zeta-Jones shows talent you did not know she had, and Renee Zellweger and Richard Gere are delightful in their roles.
Quick plot outline: The two Z’s are in jail for murder (one killed her husband and two concubines; the other her boyfriend), and Z-J is the nightclub star while Z is the wannabe. Richard Gere plays the smooth attorney. Queen Latifah the jailhouse mama. John C. Reilly plays the clueless husband of Z – and they all might be up for some award come Oscar time.
Should not be missed on the big screen.
9½ stars
If this were not based on a true story, I’d think it hard to believe (a 16-yr old posing as an airlines pilot?). But Leonard DiCaprio as the young con man, and Tom Hanks as the FBI agent giving chase, make this a fun movie to watch.
8 stars
If you have had your holiday fill of too much gang violence in New York or too many twin tower battle scenes of heads, arms and legs getting chopped off, you may want to relax and enjoy this Hugh Grant-Sandra Bullock romantic comedy. Yes, it’s filled with clichés and too-predictable romance and comedy, and it does seem to go on for too long, but it somehow keeps you interested enough to stay awake.
Grant, for once, gets to play a rich bloke who actually is a pretty nice guy in spite of his dependency problems; and Bullock plays a ditzy Harvard-educated lawyer who seems to do everything but lawyer for Grant.
At least put it on your list for an okay rental when the time comes.
6 stars
THE LAST CASTLE (2001):
Be glad; be very glad you did not plop down big bucks to see this Robert Redford-James Gandolfini flick in the theatre.
Redford plays a war-hero, former POW general who gets busted for disobeying a direct order and having a number of his men needlessly killed in a battle he should not have fought; Gandolfini plays a cruel military prison warden (colonel) who worships Redford until he overhears him make fun of his military memorabilia collection (something along the lines of ‘real soldiers don’t keep trinkets of war’) when he is being ushered into the prison system.
From there it is a battle of Type A personalities: Redford only wants to ‘do his time,’ until he understands just how cruel Gandolfini can be, so he begins to take control of the prisoners; and Gandolfini only wants to make Redford know who’s in charge.
Plenty of corny scenes in this movie…but the capper is that Redford sees nothing wrong in destroying the prison in order to make his point to Gandolfini that the colonel should resign. Thus, it’s clear to us WHY this general, who has so little regard for human life and property, ended up behind bars in the first place!
Rent only if you’re real desperate for a movie.
4 stars
Powerful, powerful movie. Go see it. Michael Moore skewers the NRA.
10 stars (0 if you are an NRA member!)
KISSING JESSICA STEIN (2001):
Ack! Where were WE when THIS movie came out??
This was an absolutely delightful romantic comedy starring two new actresses – Jennifer Westfeldt & Heather Juergensen (who co-wrote the movie, too) – both of whom are seeking meaningful relationships. Heather, the worldly and more adventuresome Helen, because she’s tired of the quickies, and Jennifer, the more prudish and conservative of the two, because she’s having trouble finding the right guy. Heather runs a seeking-woman ad, and Jessica responds…albeit in a timid, neurotic way.
While I was a little disappointed in the ending, this was a laugh-out-loud movie that was just quirky enough. (Frankly, my biggest disappointment was the back of the DVD said there was an “alternative ending” featured on the disc, but I could not find it!)
Oh sure, there’ll be complaints of Jessica’s stereotypical Jewish family and Helen’s friends, the gay twosome, but their scenes were damn funny. This movie, however, is about Jessica and Helen – and great chemistry.
8½ stars
Eddie Murphy, Robert De Niro & Rene Russo; it’s difficult to go too wrong. But be thankful you did not go see this at the theatre, stopped in the nick of time by bad reviews.
But, frankly, those reviews over-did it a bit. This was actually a pretty good satire on dumb reality cop shows. Really, how much different was this than the “24-Hour” Murphy-Nolte series – in which they took themselves far too seriously – which drew rave reviews?
Worth a look on rental.
6 stars
SERENSTUPIDY, ah, er SERENDIPITY (2001)…OK, it wasn’t THAT stupid, but I just couldn’t resist. Actually, I’m surprised we didn’t see this in the theatre, considering the fact that John Cusack is Tracy’s favorite actor – but I’m glad we didn’t. It’s pretty much a ditzy, contrived, romantic comedy that only works because John Cusack is good, and Kate Beckinsale (Pearl Harbor) is pleasing to the eye. And the material is not so bad that you feel a need to go do the laundry.
Kate & John meet one night in New York while Xmas shopping, spend a fun (PG rated) four hours together as a lark (both have significant others), then Kate decides she doesn’t even want John to know her name, but believes if fate brings them back together, so be it. Then a few years later, they both get the urge at the same time (as they both are about to get married to others) to try and find the other….and, so be it.
Eugene Levy as a Bloomingdale's clerk is a scene-stealer a couple of times. Good enough to warrant a rental and some homemade popcorn.
5½ stars
HIGH CRIMES (AND CLICHES):
Morgan Freeman & Ashley Judd: How could you go wrong? The first indication was an early infection of trailer-itis; you knew exactly what the film was about long before it hit the theatres. No wonder it came and went within a matter of weeks.
This flick could have used a couple of weeks more thought, better editing and a tightening of the story line, because it actually had an outline of a good story. Judd and her husband’s lives are torn apart when he is dramatically arrested for multiple civilian murders he allegedly committed while a Marine stationed in El Salvador. Judd, a high-priced, about-to-become-partner in a chi chi SF law firm, knew nothing, of course, of her husband's former life – the first of many lies Judd faces. From there, a wet-behind-the-ears JAG defender is assigned to the case, so Judd finds Freeman, a one-time successful JAG officer, but now down-on-his luck drunk, to help her defend her husband. When at their first meeting Freeman utters the ‘military music/military justice’ cliché, it’s time to run for cover.
But, frankly, if you’re hard up for a rental on a cold and rainy winter day, you could do worse. It was suspenseful, and Freeman & Judd do not quite embarrass themselves.
5 stars
Here's one we missed at the theatre. The trailers made it look like two hours of road rage. Not so. Yes, road rage is what starts it -- but this film is about escalation of rage and the lengths that we go to get revenge on another human being. It's about Ben Affleck trying to come to terms with the power that he has over other people.
Affleck and Samuel Jackson make this an almost believable movie, with strong support from Sydney Pollack, William Hurt and others. Worth the rental.
7 stars
I love Kevin Kline, and he does nothing in this movie to dispel my prejudice. Kline pays a passionate teacher at an elite boy’s prep boarding school, teaching freshman western civilization, where he is confronted by an unruly student who strains Kline’s teaching style and, eventually, moral compass.
There are too many holes in this movie to make it a great holiday movie, but it is enjoyable nonetheless. We feel Kline’s passion for teaching, but those around him are far too flat. And why the “big” event of the year at the school – the crowning of Julius Caesar – is a) all about the school’s freshman and b) dissolves into a glorified spelling bee (after a series of rigorous essays to determine the finalists) escapes me. The film petered out in the end with a too-predictable close.
One person referred to it as the meeting of “Dead Poets Society” and “Mr. Holland's Opus.” That about sums it up.
6½ stars
Let’s go back to simpler times, the late 1950s, when life was better ordered, and people knew their places. Let’s go back to the Eisenhower years when homosexuals were, ah, deviants (and curable!), and Negroes were, ah, coloreds (and NOT curable!), meant to be seen and not heard. Then let’s tear apart a nice family of four, with a marketing husband (Dennis Quaid), who is fighting his gay demons, and housewife (Julianne Moore), whose kindness, curiosity and passions make her a victim of society’s prejudices. Both want something that society says they cannot have.
And here I thought the 50s was all about Ozzie & Harriet and Leave It To Beaver. The shock! This movie is fairly slow moving, but well made and well acted; there could be an Oscar nod for Moore. Worth a look at the theatre.
8 stars
HARRY POTTER & THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS:
There was not nearly the hype this year as there was in 2002 when the first Potter movie came out – thus the smaller crowds at the theatre. But this was a very well done, enjoyable show, with some excellent new actors: Kenneth Branagh as Gilderoy Lockhart and (probably in a continuing role) Jason Isaacs as the very unlikable Lucius Malfoy, father of Harry’s archenemy, Draco. There also was extra attention to special effects: The Quiddich is even better, and the invisibility cloak scenes were wonderful.
The movie was too long (161 minutes), and they paid too close attention to the book’s detail (what are they going to do with the 734-page Goblet of Fire?), but the movie is definitely worth seeing. Do not re-read the book prior to seeing it, however; you are better off forgetting some of the plot.
It was sad to see the last of the late Richard Harris' Prof Dumbledore, and this was the last of the Chris Columbus-directed Potters. They both were a large part of the Potter success story.
8½ stars
Reese Witherspoon is Meg Ryan with a good haircut. Not as bad as it appears in the trailers, but not good enough to waste a beautiful fall afternoon on at the movies. Wait for a rainy day dvd rental.
6 stars
Rebecca Romijn-Stamos plays an over-sexed con artist/thief/bad girl who hooks up with good guy/bad paparazzi Antonio Banderos in a one-step-ahead-of-the-real-bad-guys movie directed and written by Brian De Palma – a movie that keeps you guessing. Suspenseful, sexy and a bit odd.
8 stars
The prequel to Silence of the Lambs, this one has Edward Norton doing a fine job as the FBI agent who cracks the original Hannibal Lecter murders, then is brought out of early “retirement” to chase a Lecter clone. Suspenseful, with excellent acting by Anthony Hopkins (natch), Norton, Emily Watson (Gosford Park, Punch-Drunk Love) and Ralph Fiennes as the bad guy. Worth a look, especially if you liked “Silence.”
8½ stars
We finally got around to seeing this star-studded movie – Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore, Judi Dench & Kate Blanchett – on dvd and were glad we did. Spacey plays a not-so-bright father who returns with his aunt (Dench) and young daughter to the coast of Newfoundland (great scenery) to reclaim his life after a family tragedy. Good story, enjoyable film.
8½ stars
A fun romp with Goldie! As you can tell from the too-many trailers, Goldie Hawn plays an aging groupie/bartender down on her luck – and she decides to reconnect with her long-lost fellow groupie, Susan Saradon, now living as an uptight, suburban housewife in Phoenix with two teenagers of her own. Geoffrey Rush plays a neurotic writer who is returning home to kill his father who, Rush thinks, has messed up his life; wait ‘til he sees what Goldie does with it!
Susan Sarandon wins the ‘Matt Damon Haircut’ award (see “Bourne Identity”) for giving herself a haircut that would probably cost you $100+ at your favorite salon. Besides a corny part or two (esp near the end), a fun movie to see.
8 stars
By now you know that this film almost died this year after bad critical reviews, then resurrected itself with a neat little whisper campaign among movie-goers. Good thing it did, because most of us would have been surprised when we saw this on video and wondered why we didn’t go see it at the cinema.
Michael Constantine steals the show as the head of a Greek household dealing with his less-than-cute 30-year old daughter as she falls in love with a, gasp!, non-Greek! A fun romp with all of the relatives as they prepare for the big fat wedding; definitely worth seeing.
8½ stars
The signs, the signs! Why didn’t I see the signs – the damn signs?? Too many &*%$#@! trailers on tv = bad movie. So why did I miss that most obvious of signs?
This was one bad movie! In fact, it might be the first movie ever that Tracy and I have seen in which we did NOT stay for the credits afterwards. Who cared??
Yes, there were some scary moments – and some misplaced humorous ones – but this is definitely NOT worth a look on the big screen or on video. It was disjointed, sappy, stupid, predictable and a waste of a perfectly good afternoon. I bet Mel Gibson wishes this one was left on the cutting room floor. The director did a cameo, and he was very bad. No Alfred Hitchcock he.
2 stars
Don't go to this movie unless you are prepared for a bloody, gangster film. Tom Hanks does not sugarcoat his role as a hit man for Paul Newman's mob, and even the involvement of Hanks' 12-yr old son does not stem the violence -- but merely escalates it.
Having said that, this is a well-acted, beautifully filmed movie about several father-son relationships (some going bad) that well displays the acting talents of Hanks & Newman -- and the violence that was part of the 30s mob scene. There are some hold-your-nose moments, as can be expected in any film that involves gunplay, but overall it is a good effort. Not "The Godfather," but some serious Oscar potential material.
8 stars
This is one of the best love-hate movies I have ever seen; you could see it and consider it a total waste of time or think it brilliant. Each (well, most) of the pieces of the movie is easy to follow, but when it comes time to put them all together, you’re stumped.
(We kept just missing going to see this movie when it came out last year and glad we did; it’s better to see at home where you can scratch your head without feeling too stupid.)
It’s basically the story of two wannabe actresses who meet in Hollywood in a very strange way – or do they; is it just one of their dreams? – and try to solve the mystery of why one of them has amnesia and why someone is trying to kill her. Eventually, they fall in love (or do they?) and, and, ah, er, well, I’ll be frank, I’m not really sure.
I liked this movie until it ended, when I realized that I was one of the stumped.
If I give this movie a high score, I’ll hear from those of you who thought it terrible. If I give it a low score, Aaron & Steven (at least) will insist that I remove them from this list – permanently! So I’m going to duck – and suggest that for those of you who want to try and figure out what’s going on, go for it…just don’t blame me!
__ stars! (you fill in the blank)
A mindless romp through a typically hard-to-believe Ludlum story as Matt Damon does a good job as the super-agent/assassin who, suffering from job-related amnesia, tries to stay one step ahead of his CIA pursuers. Is Chris Cooper, the classic bad guy, trying to neutralize him -- or bring him in?
As in any Ludlum effort, you need to suspend belief as Damon takes on super-human tasks. But if he gives up his day job, there's always hairdressing with a dull pair of scissors!
Fun on the big screen if you enjoy this stuff -- or simply wait for video.
7½ stars
‘Oh what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive’: a pretty apt saying (note the plural) for this movie. Diane Lane plays a very pretty, bored, suburban housewife who literally falls into a passionate affair with a young, dashing, urbane, French bookseller, Olivier Martinez, and it begins to consume her life. Richard Gere plays the cuckolded husband, who starts figuring out the clues. Well-paced film that keeps you interested – unless, perhaps, it hits too close to home. Fairly raunchy sex scenes, so believe the R rating. Laurel & Hardy cops were the low point.
7 stars
This is an edgy thriller that, provided you can get through the questionable premise – two street-smart cops are called to Alaska to help solve a 72-hour-old murder (gee, how long would the red tape take to make THAT happen?) – keeps you on the edge of your seat.
Al Pacino is brilliant as an insomniac on the edge (he’s come under investigation in L.A. – so WHY would they send a cop under a cloud all the way to Alaska? Does L.A. routinely export its dirty cops?). He really does make you think he hasn’t slept since he made it to the Land of the Midnight Sun.
Robin Williams does well in a relatively minor role as the author-boyfriend-suspect putting Pacino to the test (but his character seems to know an awful lot about Pacino’s past; where does THAT knowledge come from, and why does he know that Pacino is even in town to investigate this murder?). Hilary Swank is good as a novice Alaskan cop not taken seriously by her co-workers (how many cops DOES it take to run this little Alaskan town with so little crime?), but she has some hokey moments, including a real clunky one with Pacino at the very end of the movie.
This film had the same director who did “Memento,” but don’t expect the same genre of quirkiness from that film. Great scenery (filmed just north of Vancouver, by the way), a good thriller, but expect to suspend belief through most of it; not very memorable.
7 stars
This is about Will Freeman, an immature, single, childless adult (Hugh Grant; boy, bet you could have guessed that!) who ‘does nothing’ for a living (he’s living off royalties from a Xmas song his g’father wrote) and decides that joining a single parents’ club is the best way to meet girls. But Will gets more than he bargained for when he meets up with 12-yr old Marcus, a nerd’s nerd, and his wacky, hippie mom, Fiona (played by Toni Collette, the mom in The Sixth Sense), even though Will has eyes for another single mom (or two or three).
In one great scene, Will is out to dinner with another woman, and he gets into a shouting match with Fiona (who does not seem to understand why Marcus is a social outcast) when she storms into the restaurant wanting to know what kind of relationship Will is having with her son. Great use of voice-overs by Will & Marcus throughout the movie.
[The movie is based on a best-selling book by one of my favorite authors, Nick Hornby, who also wrote High Fidelity and Fever Pitch.]
This one keeps you laughing and, if you can put up with (yet again) Hugh Grant’s fluttering eyelids, is worth seeing.
8 stars
Good, LOUD, action-packed, fun, escape film -- well-cast with great special effects. Tobey Maguire & Kirsten Dunst had nice chemistry; Willem Dafoe & James Franco LOOKED like father-son; JK Simmons is particularly good as J. Jonah Jameson, the crotchety, anti-Spiderman newspaper editor. It's PG-13; some scary moments for real young kids.
8 stars
Finally saw this must-see, true story tearjerker about a 35-yr old baseball rookie pitcher. Nice sound track. Good for all ages. Bring your tissues.
9 stars
My Best of 2002:
Bowling for Columbine (10)
**Chicago (9½) [Academy winner]
The Rookie (9)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (8½)
The Shipping News (8½)
Red Dragon (8½)
Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets (8½)
Rabbit-Proof Fence (8½)
Kissing Jessica Stein (8½)
