ALL THE PRETTY HORSES -- (Grade: D) Despite its pretty desert landscapes, and even prettier leading faces, All the Pretty Horses makes one nostalgic for John Ford.
Billy Bob Thornton directs with the ghosts of classic Westerns hanging over his shoulder. He understands that Cormac McCarthy's coming-of-age tale should possess plenty of Big Sky country and desert plains. But beautiful desert photography feels empty without adequate human emotion.
Set in the 1940s, John Grady (Matt Damon) and Lacey Rawlins (Henry Thomas) are Texas teen-agers who head to Mexico looking for work as cowboys. While there, Grady falls in love with a powerful rancher's daughter, Alejandra (Penelope Cruz). Of course, their forbidden affair gets Grady in trouble.
It's hard to imagine more attractive lovers than Damon and Cruz. Then again, despite their bedroom antics, they never appear all that in love with each other. The result is the most unromantic of movie romances.
Thornton battled for a year over the length of the movie. It appears to be a lot of fighting for naught. Then again, all the emotion and passion might someday be found in Thornton's four-hour cut. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)
H BEST IN SHOW -- (Grade: B) Actor/director Christopher Guest returns with another winning, comic mockumentary. This time, Guest reunites most of his cast from his 1997 comedy, Waiting for Guffman, for a clever satire of championship dog shows.
Guest makes an on-camera appearance as Harlan Pepper, a fly-fishing shop owner from a small town in North Carolina, who comes to Philadelphia's Mayflower Dog Show with his bloodhound Hubert. But the best laughs belong to one of Best in Show's more eccentric couples. Gerry Fleck (Eugene Levy) and his blue-collar wife, Cookie (Catherine O'Hara), gush endlessly over their Norwich terrier. Not every joke hits its comic target in Guest's sprawling tale. That's to be expected from a film that's juggling such a large comic ensemble. Still, it's impressive just how funny Best in Show makes rivalry and fierce competition out to be. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)
H BILLY ELLIOT -- (Grade: B) Director Stephen Daldry's high-spirited, coming-of-age tale is a strange movie hybrid: a gritty British social drama as well as a musical fantasy.
It's Northern England circa 1984 and Billy (Jamie Bell), age 11, watches the miners' strike take a toll on his family. His only joy comes from the ballet lessons that his father (Gary Lewis) forbids him to continue. Parental confrontation, you see, is a necessary part of every coming-of-age tale.
Bell's dead-on performance fills Billy Elliot with scenes of credible, heartfelt emotion. Granted, the film possesses more than its share of trite melodrama. Luckily, our most powerful images from the film remain focused on Billy's lively dancing. It's how it should be. After all, Billy Elliot owes its brassy entertainment to its bouncing, boy hero. -- SR (Rated R.)
BRING IT ON -- (Grade: C) Bring It On ambitiously wants to put an end to cheerleading stereotypes by showing the blood, sweat and tears these spirited youths give for their craft. If only the script gave us more reason to care.
Torrance Shipman (Kirsten Dunst) is going into her senior year with a good deal of expectation. She wants to be named captain of her suburban San Diego high school's cheerleading squad and then lead the Toros back to the promised land: a third consecutive national title.
Bring It On wants to be an inspirational tale, but by treating the subject with such reverence the filmmakers forgot to make it interesting. -- RP (Rated PG-13.)
H CAST AWAY -- (Grade: B) Director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump) re-teams with Tom Hanks for a challenging, Robinson Crusoe-like tale. Granted, the film's set-up is rather ordinary. As FedEx troubleshooter Chuck Noland, Hanks sets out to portray a man ruled by time and schedules. Despite Hanks' earnestness, one never gets a firm grasp of Noland's psyche. It's up to Hanks' average Joe personality to pull us into his drama.
The highlight of Cast Away is its middle act where Hanks becomes the star of a one-man show. It's these mostly dialogue-free scenes, where Noland is trying to survive alone on a desert island after his plane crashes, that make the most dramatic impact.
Helen Hunt offers little support as the love of Noland's life. She's the one thing that's supposed to keep Noland strong. Still, that task quickly falls to a volleyball named Wilson.
Hunt's threadbare performance aside, Cast Away regains its humanistic step with a surprising finale that's best described as transcendental. In an era where the Crusoe legend is defined by TV's Survivor, Zemeckis and Hanks offer a thoughtful alternative. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)
H CHARLIE'S ANGELS -- (Grade: B) Three hot women, kicking ass and looking good. That's what Charlie's Angels is billed as and that's what it delivers. Anyone looking for greater meaning in the movie, or hoping to deconstruct it as reflection of our world is missing the point. If you're willing to sit back and digest the eye candy -- so much eye candy, in fact, that your retinas will get cavities -- Charlie's Angels is pure escapist fun. About the only socially responsible message to derive from it is not to use guns. The Angels don't. Of course, the Angels don't use bras either.
From the first big fight scene, a slick, Matrix-like karate ballet choreographed to Prodigy's "Slap My Bitch Up," it's clear that the movie is all about visual payoffs. Director McG's photography, while derivative of other recent blockbusters, seems fresh thanks to the stunning cast. Angels Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu never have looked so good. One can excuse the film for not having a brainy plot or a decent script, but Bill Murray's comic genius is mostly wasted and that's inexcusable. Expect this film to be critically lambasted. But no one expected this to be Sophie's Choice. It's more like Mission Impossible on estrogen. -- RP (Rated PG-13.)
CHOCOLAT -- (Grade: C) Juliette Binoche dazzles as Vianne, a pretty chocolate shopkeeper with a mysterious past. She's also a single mother whose spicy chocolates change prudish lifestyles of the inhabitants of a French village.
I admire how Lasse Hallstrom (The Cider House Rules, My Life as a Dog) directs movies that are unashamedly liberal. Chocolat, based on Joanne Harris' 1999 novel, is a film that qualifies as a democratic drama at a time when much of the nation is decidedly conservative.
Johnny Depp gives Binoche competition in the chiseled cheekbones department as a handsome gypsy passing through town. It's not long before he tweaks Vianne's own heart.
Like most moviemade couples, Binoche and Depp look great together. Unfortunately, their attractive looks never ignite any much-needed passion.
Despite a sweet, fairy tale-like ending, Chocolat never comes fully to life. By the closing credits, you feel as if Binoche's magical smile and winsome personality have been wasted. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)
H CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON -- (Grade: A) Breathtaking action, incredible stunts, spectacular landscapes and a childlike sense of make-believe lifts director Ang Lee's Taiwanese epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to the level of a fairy tale spirit. Set among ornate palaces, teaming Peking streets and rural villages, the film evolves into a martial arts Western that's both poetic and spiritual.
Warrior Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun Fat) is yearning to leave his fighting lifestyle behind, but when a young thief, Jen (Zhang Ziyi), steals Li's ancient sword, Green Destiny, Li gets pulled back into his warrior ways. Only Lu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh), Li's longtime friend, looks capable of helping return Green Destiny from Jen and her mentor Jade Fox (Cheng Pei-pei).
Although working in the action genre, Lee once again emphasizes rich characters, substantial storytelling and humanistic ideals. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is momentous not because of the size of its spectacle. It's timeless because of the size of its heart.-- SR (Rated PG-13.)
DR. SEUSS' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS -- (Grade: D) No amount of bells, whistles, gizmos and amusement park-like sets can breathe much-needed, childhood wonder into this bloated and unfunny adaptation of Theodor S. Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss's, children's classic.
Jim Carrey brings Dr. Seuss' celebrated Grinch alive courtesy of a stunning green Grinch suit created by make-up-effects tech Rich Baker. Carrey has a few, funny moments. But it's not long before Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas overwhelms Carrey's clownish performance with its clunky storytelling.
The film's core story is familiar: The Grinch is determined to keep the residents of Whoville from celebrating their favorite holiday. But director/producer Ron Howard tweaks the 1957 book into a surprisingly adult direction. The film sheds unnecessary light on the Grinch's unpleasant childhood. We learn more about the Whos. None of it ultimately matters in a film that's forfeited a classic Christmas story for elaborate sets and special effects. -- SR (Rated PG.)
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS -- (Grade: D) Only the most die-hard fans of the popular role-playing game will have any fun watching writer/director Courtney Solomon's sloppy, fantasy adventure. Dungeons & Dragons is the type of special-effects-driven adventure that has little interest in telling a compelling story. It's as if a climactic dragon battle is enough to sustain an entire movie.
Its fairy tale story is pulled straight out of the comics. A young empress (Thora Birch of American Beauty) and two goofball thieves (Marlon Wayans and Justin Whalin) unite to protect their kingdom from an evil magician (Jeremy Irons).
His goofball costume aside, Irons tries to have fun with his bad-guy role. Still, he's soon overwhelmed by the film's technical wizardry. Granted, Dungeons & Dragons is the type of movie that requires plenty of special effects. But I just can't see how a little story and characterization is too much to ask. -- SR (PG-13)
DRACULA 2000 -- (Grade: F) Director Patrick Lussier unloads plenty of blood for his GenY update of the Count Dracula legend. Sexual foreplay and bare breasts are added in true, B-movie fashion. Yet, Dracula 2000 fails to qualify even as an entertaining drive-in movie. Its curse is that Lussier's revamping of the classic vampire turns into a dull exercise of spiritual angst. It's hard not to laugh when Count Dracula circa 2000 (Scottish actor Gerald Butler) curses Christianity while screaming at a neon crucifix.
Only Christopher Plummer, playing the antique dealer Van Helsing, gets into the hammy spirit of the film. I like the way Plummer over-pronounces every word with a Masterpiece Theater-like flair. Butler looks the part of the villainous Count. The problem is that Dracula 2000 is more interested in a supernatural Romeo than some bloodsucking beastie. -- SR (Rated R.)
DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR? -- (Grade: D) If only the movie were half as funny as its title. It might have been marginally watchable. Instead it's a moronic comedy with a few bright spots, but not nearly enough to save it.
Jesse (That '70s Show's Ashton Kutcher) and Chester (Road Trip's Seann William Scott) partied a little too hard last night. Problem is, they don't remember any of it, nor where they left their car. Now they have to deal with everything from transsexual strippers to angry girlfriends to pumped up jocks looking to do a little nerd-bashing. What's a dude to do?
Some folks sing the praise of the "stupid movie" genre. I just think they're stupid. -- RP (Rated PG-13.)
THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE -- (Grade: C) Uncle Walt might be trying too hard on this one. After Aladdin and The Lion King, the folks at Disney have tried to copy the formula so much that they forgot the central ingredient: heart.
Self-centered Emperor Kuzco (voice of David Spade) is turned into a llama by his scheming advisor Yzma (Eartha Kitt). Now he must regain his throne with the help of good-natured Pacha (John Goodman).
The Emperor's New Groove is a derivative, lackluster cartoon. It's Hercules all over again. The animation is fair and the story is mildly amusing. The one really good thing going for it is music by Sting. But don't be fooled; there are only a couple of songs in the whole film. Even Sting can't save it. -- RP (Rated G.)
H THE FAMILY MAN -- (Grade: B) It's George Bailey redux. There's no better way to describe director Brett Ratner's (Rush Hour) Christmas drama. Trying to become a new version of It's a Wonderful Life is setting some intentionally high standards. Luckily, Nicolas Cage is the actor assuming the Jimmy Stewart position. Under the gaze of Cage's hound-dog gaze and heavy eyelids, The Family Man (co-written by David Diamond and David Weissman) turns social fantasy into a heartfelt tale of spiritual redemption.
Fifteen years after dumping his college girlfriend, Kate (Tea Léoni), Manhattan executive Jack Campbell (Cage) receives an unexpected second chance after bragging to a convenience store robber (Don Cheadle) about his regret-free life. Campbell has all the trappings of success. But when he wakes up one Christmas morning and finds himself in a different life -- married to the woman he left behind, two children, a house in New Jersey and a job in a tire store -- Campbell discovers a new set of life priorities. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)
H FINDING FORRESTER -- (Grade: B) Veteran actor Sean Connery and newcomer Rob Brown team up for another mentor-student picture, similar to Good Will Hunting and Wonder Boys. Maybe it's true that there are no more original ideas left in cinema. Personally, I don't have a problem with that, as long as filmmakers appropriate well. In this case, Gus Van Sant, the director of Good Will Hunting, is allowed to borrow from his own movie.
An underprivileged teen-ager from the Bronx (Brown) wins a scholarship to an Upper East Side prep school using both his academic and basketball skills. His adjustment is aided by a wealthy classmate (Anna Paquin). But his true friend is reclusive, Salinger-like author (Connery) who ends up becoming the missing father figure.
First-time screenwriter Mike Rich squeezes every bit of drama out of his time-honored tale. Thankfully, Van Sant treats the material delicately. Finding Forrester is one of the quieter Hollywood movies in a long time. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)
THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE -- (Grade: C) Robert Redford adapts Steven Pressfield's 1995 golfing novel about World War I vet Rannulph Junuh (Matt Damon), who challenges two pro golfers at a local tournament with the help of a mystical caddie named Bagger Vance (Will Smith).
Smith's trademark charisma is put to good use as the sagelike Vance. So it's disappointing how little he appears in the film. Damon looks handsome enough in his golfing duds. Still, he never captures the emotional pain and inner suffering that's so integral to Junuh's dilemma. More importantly, when Charlize Theron enters the story in order to give the film a burst of romance, The Legend of Bagger Vance loses all sense of its dramatic direction.
I like a contemplative drama that's willing to tell its story in deliberate fashion. Still, The Legend of Bagger Vance fails to become that uplifting sports drama akin to Barry Levinson's The Natural, which starred Redford. Redford's directing style, while once thoughtful, has become somewhat plodding. As a result, The Legend of Bagger Vance turns into an unintentional landscape documentary. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)
LITTLE NICKY -- (Grade: D) Adam Sandler brings to life Little Nicky, the youngest son of the Price of Darkness. It's a fitting setting, because sitting through this atrocity is a living hell. It's like Sandler and writing partner Tim Herlihy forgot to add jokes to the already foolish plot. Passing for laughs in Little Nicky are references to dog sex and a running gag about Hitler getting a daily pineapple enema. They even manage to screw up good bits. When Little Nicky's brethren ascend upon New York and begin wreaking havoc, they begin by lowering the drinking age to 10. Watching kids enthusiastically run for the nearest bar is mildly funny. Watching them throw up upon exiting is not.
Sandler never unleashes the acerbic wit that made him great on Saturday Night Live. Instead, all that's left is Sandler sporting a bad haircut and a worse speech impediment. Only a handful of nice cameos and a nice homage to Chris Farley save this film from burning in hell for all eternity. -- RP (Rated R.)
H THE LITTLE VAMPIRE -- (Grade: B) German author Angela Sommer-Bodenburg's best-selling series of children's books receives a light-hearted adaptation courtesy of director Uli Edel (Body of Evidence). Unlike recent family films that seem focused on merchandise tie-ins, The Little Vampire sets its priority on telling a fun and fantastic tale.
Nine-year-old Tony Thompson (Jonathan Lipnicki) is having a hard time finding friends in his new Scotland home. That is, until he befriends a boy vampire named Rudolph (Rollo Weeks). Before long, they're sharing an adventure to find a magic pendant that will save Rudolph's family of vampires.
Lipnicki, complete with his trademark, thick glasses and lispy voice, makes an able boy hero. But it's character actors Richard E. Grant and Alice Krige who get to steal the show as Rollo's vampire parents.
The Little Vampire takes its time to develop characters and tell its story. The payoff is a child-friendly movie that captures a little boy's fascination with monsters and all things that go bump in the night. -- SR (Rated R.)
H MEET THE PARENTS -- (Grade: B) Robert De Niro plays Jack Byrnes, an ex-CIA operative who faces off against his daughter Pam's (Teri Polo) anxious boyfriend Greg Focker (a twitchy Ben Stiller) in the funny and fast-paced screwball comedy Meet the Parents.
Director Jay Roach (Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery) finds the perfect comic foil in Stiller. It's impressive how he fumbles everything he touches in such believable fashion. But the true comic kingpin behind Meet the Parents is De Niro himself. Never has one dramatic actor turned his deadpan expression into such a rich comic asset. Meet the Parents is the first movie comedy to figure out how to make Robert De Niro's tough-guy personality seem funny. -- SR (PG-13.)
MEN OF HONOR -- (Grade: D) No amount of John Wayne-variety heroism can boost director George Tillman Jr.'s (Soul Food) real-life tale about Carl Brashear (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), a black man who gets accepted into the newly integrated Navy Dive school. Everything is too inspirational in this old-fashioned treatment of Brashear's life.
As Master Chief Billy Sunday, a racist senior officer at the base, Robert De Niro keeps the film's first half interesting. Unfortunately, by its climactic finale, themes of bravery and respect push De Niro aside in clunky fashion. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)
H MISS CONGENIALITY -- (Grade: B) How do you keep a sexy Hollywood leading lady from seeming too out of touch with the masses? Miss Congeniality offers one possible answer. Sandra Bullock plays Gracie Hart, a hard-nosed FBI agent who would sooner cold-cock a man than get caught in an embrace with him. There is absolutely nothing glamorous about her life. She packs heat. She lives in a modest apartment and eats microwave dinners exclusively. She wallops the punching bag in her living room after an awful day at work.
But just when you begin to feel bad for her and depressed in general, Bullock uncorks a surprising pratfall. Presto! Instant endearment. Gracie is offered career redemption if she will agree to go undercover at the Miss United States pageant. Seems a Unabomber-type assassin has targeted the ceremony as the site of his next bombing. If someone in the pageant is helping him, the Feds need someone inside to stop him. This is where the sight gags come into play.
There may be nothing funnier than seeing one of People magazine's Most Beautiful Women fall on her face. As a society, after all, we're just a bunch of jealous slobs. We like to see the demigods reduced to mortal blunders. Some of the hottest actresses working today already have figured this out, but none more than Sandra Bullock. -- RP (Rated PG-13.)
102 DALMATIANS -- (Grade: C) Hide the puppies! Glenn Close is back chewing on the scenery in another installment of Disney's 101 Dalmations franchise as Cruella De Vil, her over-the-top creation that looks and sounds a bit like Norma Desmond on acid.
But has Cruella been reformed since last we met her? It appears so. She's a dog-loving philanthropist who saves the Second Chance home for wayward canines. It's a lengthy set-up to sit through, waiting for Cruella to snap back into old form. But when she does, it's worth the wait.
She vamps. She scowls. She is the movie. Which doesn't say much for the not-so-subtle pro-PETA plot and her forgettable supporting cast. Except for the pooches, of course. They're as adorable as hell and make the film fairly enjoyable, if you bring the kids.
Master-thespian Close appears to be having the time of her life. Not that we want her hanging out in the family genre for the rest of her career.
Still, if doing these kid flicks helps recharge her creative batteries, then bring on the fur. -- RP (Rated G.)
PAY IT FORWARD -- (Grade: D) Sentimental goo stops a winning performance by Kevin Spacey dead in its tracks. Spacey plays Eugene Simonet, a teacher with a scarred face and embittered demeanor who gives his junior-high class a challenging assignment: They must make the world a better place. Trevor McKinney (Haley Osment from The Sixth Sense) is the young student who takes his teacher's word to task. His chain-letter-like plan is to offer three random acts of kindness to three strangers. In return, they must do the same.
Helen Hunt is overly melodramatic as Trevor's alcoholic mom, Arlene. Still, I blame the script more than Hunt's performance. Everything she says feels like it was pulled out of a soap opera script. Based on Catherine Ryan Hyde's novel, it's safe to assume that director Mimi Leder (Deep Impact) imagines Pay It Forward as a human drama that tackled big questions about the human psyche. Instead, what we get, is a wet pile of sentimental drivel. -- SR (Rated R.)
H PROOF OF LIFE -- (Grade: B) Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan burn up the screen in director Taylor Hackford's smart hostage drama. When Peter Bowman (David Morse) is kidnapped by anti-government guerrillas in South America, his wife, Alicia (Ryan), hires Terry Thorne (Crowe), a professional negotiator, to obtain his release. But Thorne is just a company man, so when the insurance agency pulls out of the job, it's up to him alone.
Complicating matters, and injecting that wonderful life-imitating-art irony that filmdom loves so much, is the relationship that forms between Thorne and Alicia while they're fighting to save her husband's life. Even if you're not an avid tabloid reader, you know that this Crowe/Ryan affair is a case of life imitating art.
Oddly, the scenes of true action are the film's best. When Crowe strips down to his black tank-top and goes in to save the day, the film really gels. -- RP (Rated R.)
H QUILLS -- (Grade: A) Artistic expression, sexual power and political danger breathe life into the Marquis de Sade drama Quills. Director Philip Kaufman's lush adaptation of Doug Wright's off-Broadway play begins its story with plenty of heavy breathing. But the erotic Quills unfolds its rich drama thanks to its lead performances by Kate Winslet as an innocent laundry maiden and Geoffrey Rush as the monster, criminal, literary genius and philosopher of freedom. Anything less pleasurable or perverse would have been a disappointment. -- SR (Rated R.)
REMEMBER THE TITANS -- (Grade: C) Beware of films that immediately spell out their claims for authenticity. When the words "Based on a True Story" flash across the screen -- as is the case with director Boaz Yakin's 1970s football drama, Remember the Titans -- there is something conniving about its blatant attempt to come across as earnest and true.
The story begins in 1971 at newly integrated T.C. Williams High School in Virginia and it's Coach Herman Boone's (Denzel Washington) job to calm racial tensions, as well as win football games. Washington's powerful lead performance as the tyrannical coach gives the film a much-needed emotional boost. Anyone else and the film would have been forgettable. -- SR (Rated PG.)
H RUGRATS IN PARIS -- (Grade: B) The Pickles and Finster babies go to the City of Lights for this clever and heartfelt adaptation of the popular Nickelodeon series.
Director Paul Demeyer and Stig Berggvist bring back all the popular Rugrats characters: Angelica, Phil, Lil, Dil, Tommy and Chuckie. For the sake of merchandising, a Rugrat named Kimi is also introduced. Still, buying another toy doll is a small price to pay for a family cartoon as funny as Rugrats in Paris. -- SR (Rated G.)
SAVE THE LAST DANCE -- (Grade: C) It's Romeo and Juliet n' the hood. Uprooted from her home, Sara Johnson (Julia Stiles) loses her mother and her will to dance when she moves to inner-city Chicago to stay with her father. Not only does she have to make new friends, Sara has to adapt to life as a minority in her predominantly black school.
Save the Last Dance just tries too hard, attempting to be too many things at the same time. It's reasonably inspiring. When Sara takes the stage for her Juilliard audition, even the most cynical filmgoer secretly roots for her.
But why in a movie celebrating racial diversity would the white character ever so slowly through the course of the film become black? She stops dressing "cool" and starts "lookin' slamming." By film's end, Sara is one fly white girl.
Stiles is good, showing considerable emotional and physical range for her age. Sean Patrick Thomas as suitor Derek Reynolds is even better. Derek needs to be charismatic and dynamic and Thomas is both. He holds the film together, even while the script strays from its intended path. -- RP (Rated PG-13.)
THE SIXTH DAY -- (Grade: C) Some outrageous stunts and surprisingly substantial storytelling allows Arnold Schwarzenegger to return to the action genre with a modicum of respect. Except for a lumbering climax that doesn't exactly know where it's headed, The Sixth Day surrounds Schwarzenegger with the type of pulp action that best suits the aging hero's larger-than-life personality. Hi-tech helicopters, virtual reality girlfriend, laser guns and cloned assassins keeps the comic book-like antics moving quickly.
After family man Adam Gibson (Schwarzenegger) discovers he's been replaced by a clone, any attempts to set matters right places pits him against the powerful owner (Tony Goldwyn) of a cloning lab.
Big Arnold still flexes his muscles. Except this time director Roger Spottiswoode uses the scene for comic release. The Sixth Day doesn't entirely remake Schwarzenegger's aging hero persona. Still, it's a small step in the right direction. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)
H SPACE COWBOYS -- (Grade: A) Clint Eastwood works from both sides of the camera in this entertaining and good-natured actioner.
A team of elderly Air Force pilots (Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland and James Garner) are given an unexpected chance to blast into space to repair a damaged satellite. After learning how to fly the space shuttle, these feisty members of Team Daedalus learn to combine their talents and complete their mission. Their efforts pay off with a series of misfit heroics.
Eastwood's storytelling skills guides the film's blend of good-ol'-boy comedy, historical fact and outer space adventure. Space Cowboys claims its fair share of clichés, but Eastwood stays focused on the rich characters, emotional payback and dramatic storytelling. Space Cowboys thrives on its acts of old-fashioned courage. Its final image of a heroic astronaut makes an impact as powerful as any digital explosion. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)
H STATE AND MAIN -- (Grade: A) Hollywood send-ups, done by the right people, are great fun. They keep screen legends grounded and make those of us not in the "biz" aware of the shallowness of the process. Steve Martin's Bowfinger reserved its venom for the stars and their cultish religion, but kept the art of making films high on a pedestal. In State and Main, writer-director David Mamet (The Spanish Prisoner) takes it off the pedestal and hurls it to the ground for everyone to kick. The result may be the finest film about Hollywood ever made by Hollywood.
Mamet goes one better than his predecessors by showing Hollywood's impact on small town America. His fictitious film crew invades a quaint, picturesque Vermont burg and injects the once-wholesome townsfolk with greed, lust and vengeance. Watching two elderly men discuss the weekend grosses at the local coffee shop says it all.
The film might be too subtle and high-minded for some. There's also that unique Mamet acting style that vets like Alec Baldwin, Sarah Jessica Parker and William H. Macy love to dabble in. But the film is, start to finish, a joy to watch. A genuine hoot. -- RP (Rated R.)
THIRTEEN DAYS -- (Grade: C) Kevin Costner's over-the-top Boston accent cracks the period-perfect veneer of director Roger Donaldson's Thirteen Days, an earnest and serious-minded recreation of the events of the 1962 October missile crisis. Costner plays White House aide Kenny O'Donnell, a key advisor to President John F. Kennedy (Bruce Greenwood) and Attorney Robert F. Kennedy (Steven Culp).
Greenwood sparkles as JFK. It's impressive how he manages to make an American icon appear human and compassionate. Culp is also equal to the task as Bobby Kennedy. Together, they help put a much-needed human face on a drama fixated on its nuclear toys.
Costner's New England twang only exasperates his lack of credibility as White House insider O'Donnell. In historical dramas like Thirteen Days, believability is everything. Thirteen Days would like to be one of those rare, serious dramas that confirms film as America's great history teacher. But Costner sabotages the film by overreaching his acting capabilities. He really should stick to nice-guy roles in romantic-comedies. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)
H TRAFFIC -- (Grade: A) Its cross-country array of locales gives Traffic, director Steven Soderbergh's complex, drug-trade thriller, the visual quality of an epic drama. Traffic flips nimbly from a courthouse in Columbus to the Mexican border town of Tijuana, from crack houses in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood to upscale homes in La Jolla, Calif., and ultimately, the White House itself. From the film's first moments, Traffic never rests from its multi-layered storytelling.
An extensive ensemble cast helps Soderbergh tell his complex story. Michael Douglas is the big name as conservative Ohio State Supreme Court Justice, Robert Wakefield, but it's Benicio Del Toro who grabs hold of Traffic's dramatic spotlight as conflicted Tijuana cop, Javier Rodriquez.
Sharp, stylish, and well spoken, Traffic is rightfully a Soderbergh film. In an era best represented by mindless blockbusters, Traffic is literate and substantial, a political drama that thrives on screenwriter Stephen Gaghan's script. Soderbergh deserves an award just for keeping everything running so smoothly. -- SR (Rated R.)
H UNBREAKABLE -- (Grade: A) Writer/director M. Night Shyamalan unites Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson for a unique and visionary suspense thriller. Using comics as a dramatic leap to something more emotionally substantial, Unbreakable builds its story around David Dunn (Bruce Willis), a Philadelphia security guard who survives a brutal train wreck without suffering a single scratch. His mystery is the key behind Shyamalan's dark and morose superhero tale.
I admire Shyamalan for attempting something different with Unbreakable. I like that the film is cool and distant. Unbreakable holds tight to Dunn's core mystery. The result is a tale that's deliberate, subtle and complex. Its core message is heartfelt: In the eyes of every son, a father is a secret superhero. Much of Unbreakable' s magic has to do with the film's stark photography. But I believe that its true strength is in Willis' melancholy face. You see layers of sadness within Willis' eyes. For a director, finding a film's story within a lead actor's face is the greatest triumph of all. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)
H VERTICAL LIMIT -- (Grade: B) Action takes the appropriate spotlight in director Martin Campbell's (GoldenEye) mountain-climbing adventure. It's impressive how he a twists a predictable story into a fast-paced series of jaw-dropping stunts and cliff-hanging suspense.
Chris O'Donnell turns action hero as a traumatized ex-mountain climber who must scale K2, the second highest mountain in the world, in order to save the his sister (Robin Tunney) who is trapped at 26,000 feet.
O'Donnell doesn't possess the grit necessary for a credible action man. But Campbell keeps the film's Into Thin Air storyline moving too quickly for O'Donnell to sabotage the movie. Vertical Limit's best moments belong to Scott Glenn as a gruff, veteran mountain-climber. His scene-stealing sass is enough to make one forget about all the snowy special-effects. Well, maybe just for a moment. -- SR (PG-13.)
WHAT LIES BENEATH -- (Grade: D) Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer lend marquee pizzazz to this haunted house suspenser, What Lies Beneath. But the film's greatest mystery lies with a stumbling climax that best resembles a cheap slasher movie.
Dr. Norman Spencer (Ford) is a respected university researcher who's seldom home. His wife Claire (Pfeiffer) gave up her career to become a housewife and raise their daughter. Now, with the daughter off to college, Claire is beginning to hear unexplained noises in the old, lakeside house.
What Lies Beneath is filled with all the scary movie essentials: creepy music, dark lake waters, fog, a spacious house. So it's disappointing how it dissolves into a banal fit of domestic violence. The emotional breakdown of a married couple is a worthy backdrop for a supernatural thriller, but What Lies Beneath cheats audiences with its slasher-movie sensibilities. It's a cheap payoff for a movie boasting this kind of talent. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)
H WHAT WOMEN WANT -- (Grade: B) What women want is Mel Gibson. And after this film, I can't say I blame them. Gibson turns on the charm with a stylish, almost self-mocking performance as a man who suddenly discovers he can hear women's thoughts.
The film is solid but nothing happens that you wouldn't expect. Yet, on Gibson's charisma alone, What Women Want transcends from mindless studio fluff to peppy studio fluff. You may not laugh, but you'll smile a lot. -- RP (Rated PG-13.)
H YOU CAN COUNT ON ME -- (Grade: A) First-time writer/director Kenneth Lonergan tackles the meaning of the modern day family in impressive fashion. What You Can Count on Me, Lonergan's debut effort, is a richer and poignant melodrama. Of all the American films this year, none offer a more humanistic portrait than You Can Count on Me.
Two siblings, orphaned at an early age, have grown apart as adults. Sammy Prescott (Laura Linney), the older of the two, has stayed in their hometown where she works at the local bank and raises her 8-year-old son Rudy (Rory Culkin) as a single mother. Terry (Mark Ruffalo), the younger brother she helped raise, is a self-destructive vagabond with an allergy for responsibility. Their reunion is bound to generate some emotional fireworks.
Terry's return upsets Sammy's well-ordered life. Terry takes Rudy fishing, to pool halls and the local bar. Sammy starts an affair with the married manager of the bank where she works (Matthew Broderick). They don't know each other anymore. Time and distance have changed things. Only the family home left by their parents offers any common ground.
Lonergan finds subtle comedy in the way that Sammy and Terry have drifted far apart. Sammy is a churchgoing mom with a strong moral rulebook. Terry is a drifter. Together, they create a humorous clash of personal politics. The drama occurs when their reunion begins to make an unexpected impact on both siblings. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)
