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 GET ON THE BUS. A road movie from Spike Lee about a disparate
group of African American men traveling from Los Angeles to Washington
D.C to attend Louis Farrakhan's Million Man March. Lee's filmmaking
style is innovative and fascinating, but it doesn't seem quite
right for this static, issue-oriented movie. Get on the Bus
presents an assortment of political types, crams them together
on a bus, and lets them argue about issues of African American
masculinity. Though some of the discussions and characters are
lively and moving, others have a tinny, pedantic feel; sometimes
this movie feels more like a lecture than a Spike Lee Joint.
THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT. Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson
star in what starts out as a promising action thriller about a
30-something amnesiac (Samantha Caine) who was "born eight
years ago, naked, on a beach in New Jersey." The first 45
minutes delve into some interesting character development as Caine's
former personality starts to resurface and reclaim her rightful
place. Disappointingly, the directors seemed to feel 45 minutes
was plenty for the American movie-going demographic: The remaining
135 minutes are filled with the requisite campy one-liners, saccharine
sentimentality, plot holes large enough for a flaming semi to
careen through and bad guys (as well as heroes) who insist on
dying at least twice, as if this is somehow surprising. Davis
is nonetheless superb as the kick-ass, psycho-spy soccer mom.
Elements of James Bond, Pulp Fiction and Xena: Warrior
Princess make Long Kiss thoroughly enjoyable mindless
entertainment.
MICHAEL COLLINS. A film that presents Neil Jordan's version
of the controversial life and death of Michael Collins, a charismatic
freedom fighter who led the IRA against the British in the early
part of the century. Jordan, who also made The Crying Game
and Mona Lisa, focuses on a much broader series of
events here, giving us a wide, sweeping narrative that resembles
nothing less than an old-fashioned war movie. The violence is
graphic, and it's hard at times to sympathize with our hero, Michael
Collins, appealingly played as he is by Liam Neeson, because his
special gift in life seems to be terrorism. The British aren't
any better, but those of us who aren't especially involved in
the issues of Irish independence may find ourselves wishing that
Jordan had brought the stakes and history of the fighting a little
more to the fore. There's a silly love story with Julia Roberts
thrown in for good measure, and lots of explosions, if you get
bored of the male bonding.
PAPERBACK ROMANCE. A loopy, endearing little romantic comedy
from down under, Paperback Romance has, um, interesting
production values and not a familiar face in the cast. There's
nothing very weighty here, but the story of a pretty, handicapped
romance writer (she conveniently composes her smutty stories aloud)
who pretends to have been injured in a skiing accident in order
to nab Prince Charming has a ridiculous but undeniable charm.
Like While You Were Sleeping or even Funny Face, Paperback
Romance does a fine job of conflating absurdity with romance.
Bring a date.
SLEEPERS. Director Barry Levinson overshoots the mark in
Sleepers, a long, overly dramatic movie emphatically about
the loss of innocence. Though the first part of the film, about
a group of mischievous friends growing up in Hell's Kitchen, has
some of the neighborhood charm of Levinson's Diner, the
story unravels in the second half into an annoying series of flashbacks
that are basically all the same. The plot concerns a group of
boys who pull a prank that gets out of hand; as a result they're
sent away to a Draconian boy's prison where the guards torture
and abuse them. Fifteen years later the boys (haunted by black
and white flashbacks), take their revenge on the guards. Though
the plot gains some power through the fact that it's based on
a true story, the tension never feels genuine, and the boys never
seem as real as adults as they did as happy children.
SWINGERS. Picture Woody Allen in Los Angeles in the 1990s
pretending to be a hipster from the 1940s who's just been dumped
by his girlfriend from college and you have Swingers, a
funny, imaginative independent film with serious era confusion.
The story concerns a neurotic guy named Mike who's too heartbroken
after leaving his old girlfriend to get out and enjoy the nightlife
of L.A. with his buddies. His buddies, who share an unquenchable
yearning for the golf-putting, swing-dancing, highball-swilling
days of Sammy and Sinatra, want nothing more than to see Mike
on his feet again and spend endless amounts of energy to this
end. The guys call each other Daddy, refer to women as "babies,"
sleep until one in the afternoon, then cruise the bars in sharkskin
suits. This movie is pretty lightweight, but it pokes fun at L.A.
and the slacker aesthetic with ruthless accuracy.
WALLACE AND GROMIT. Aardman Animations, that U.K. studio
where claymation cracker jacks Peter Lord and Nick Park break
the mold, has packed this series of shorts made for British TV
and sent them over the waters to prove that British television
is woefully superior to much of American cinema. This 90-minute
compilation is a mixed bag of fairy tales, a fable of the urban
labyrinth, misadventures with "Rex the Runt" and "Pib
and Pog," "Creature Comforts" commercial spots
and, of course, Wallace and Gromit's "A Close Shave."
The more you watch, the funnier they get; and the animation is
first-rate. Go if only to see the subversively hilarious zoo mocumentary.
Special Screenings
HOUSE OF HORRORS. The 1933 Island of Lost Souls
plays this weekend at The Screening Room as well as Werner Herzog's
Nosferatu the Vampyre. Island of Lost Souls is considered
by some to be one of the best horror films ever made and concerns
the recently resurrected Dr. Moreau, a mad scientist who surgically
transforms animals into disgusting beastmen. Nosferatu
is a visually stunning adaptation of the Dracula legend starring
the ever-creepy Klaus Kinski as a needy, junkie-like vampire who
spreads pestilence throughout the land. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Then call 622-2262 for show times.
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