|
 BRASSED OFF! This goofy, affable, golden-retriever of a
movie trots along offering modest pleasures and no real surprises.
The time is the 1980s; the place a coal-mining town in England
where Margaret Thatcher's policies are forcing the closure of
the pit that supports an entire community. And with it will go
the brass band that's offered a small slice of glory and culture
to men who spend most of their lives underground. To top it all
off, a girl wants to join the band! Underground heartthrob
Ewan McGregor (Trainspotting) portrays an angry young trumpet
player with his usual flair, and Pete Postlethwaite does a fine
job as the single-minded, ailing band leader; but Tara Fitzgerald
is flimsy and annoying as the city-girl horn player Gloria. Plus,
you could toss a tuba through the holes in the plot. Why doesn't
the band ever turn the pages of the sheet music on the stands
in front of them? --Richter
CONTACT. Jodie Foster plays an emotionally crippled scientist
intent on visiting space aliens in this very long, sentimental,
but nonetheless moving science fiction film. Despite that annoying,
over-earnest quality Foster brings to all her roles as an adult,
she's very good as the driven Ellie Arroway, a researcher so focused
on seeking solace in the skies that she forgets to notice how
many people on earth love her. Matthew McConaughey plays her nemesis/boyfriend,
a hunky, non-denominational preacher who's somehow secured the
position of saving the soul of a nation. There's some silly confusion
between God and aliens, and Ellie has an annoying habit of looking
at her boyfriend whenever anyone asks her a question, like maybe
he's going to answer for her? Please. Nonetheless, the script,
based on a story by Carl Sagan, manages to link the themes of
scientific curiosity and spiritual longing despite some weak sections,
and the special effects are nothing short of wonderful. --Richter
FACE/OFF. Hong Kong action guru John Woo's latest Hollywood
product, a homoerotically violent take on Freaky Friday,
will likely convert a lot of viewers from saying "Woo who?"
to "Woo hoo!" Basically, good guy John Travolta has
his face switched with evil nemesis Nicolas Cage so he can get
crucial information; then Cage (now Travolta) gets loose, puts
Travolta (now Cage) in prison and takes over his life (not to
mention his wife). The grotesque and technically dazzling face-switching
scene alone is worth the admission price, and it gives Woo his
best-ever excuse for two men to obsess over each other. This time
he throws family values into the mix, creating audacious contrasts
between bursts of sexily edited slo-mo violence and bluntly sincere
dialogue relating to Travolta's dead son. I loved watching Cage
and Travolta try to out-ham and out-earnest each other; they're
perfect sparring partners. But when Woo recycled the two best
scenes from his most successful Hong Kong films, The Killer
and Hard Boiled, it became apparent he'd lost a certain
zany quality; and somewhere around the 1,000th gunshot he starts
riding a fine line between "the poetry of violence"
(as inspired by Sam Peckinpah) and hyperkinetic mush (as inspired
by music videos). Sympathetic supporting performances by Joan
Allen and Gina Gershon can't mask the cartoonishness of Woo's
dramatic style; his attempts to make the audience care are such
wholesome failures they become another part of the spectacle.
In other words, resolve to take Face/Off only at face value
and you'll probably have a good time. --Woodruff
GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE. A recent New Yorker cartoon
depicts a man watching a program that's "Rated 'P' for 'poop'."
The cartoonist must have just seen George of the Jungle,
a work that comes closer to the cinematic equivalent of "Pull
my finger!" than anything since Blazing Saddles. In
this kids' movie with inappropriate adult tendencies, villains
are regularly foiled by armpit odor, elephant urine, ape farts
and big piles of, yes, poop. I never saw the '70s cartoon upon
which the movie is based, but I'd bet a year's supply of Nice
'n Soft that excretory processes didn't receive such focus. I'd
also bet two coconuts and a banana that George's efforts to have
sex with his high-society love interest weren't a major plot point,
either. Though Brendan Fraser and Leslie Mann make attractive,
unpretentious leads for a Tarzan story (the former looking like
he just completed a vigorous muscle-building-and-body-oiling program),
and George of the Jungle's production values are uncommonly
high for a slapstick picture, I left the theater wondering whether
all of Hollywood was collectively regressing to their Freudian
Anal Stage. (Adding insult to injury, a preview for Flubber
showed a scene in which the springy substance flies into a man's
mouth and explodes out of his butt.) Naturally, kids in the audience
loved it. --Woodruff
HOLLOW REED. A somber British drama that deals with the
difficult themes of child abuse, divorce, and the cavalier treatment
of homosexuals by the legal system. Not surprisingly, at times
Hollow Reed veers into movie-of-the-week territory; but
more surprisingly, usually it doesn't. Strong performances from
Martin Donovan, Joely Richardson and Sam Bould (as their young
son) help make this story of a divorced couple whose son begins
to turn up with an uncanny number of injuries both tense and believable.
--Richter
|
 |
