Short Subjectives December 30 2000

Opening Friday
O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? (PG-13) ***1/2 George Clooney plays a escaped convict dragging his buddies across the Depression-era Deep South in search of hidden treasure and trying to stop his wife’s remarriage in this uneven but brilliantly bizarre screwball send-up of ’30s folk history and Homer’s ancient epic, Odyssey. The film features a number of Coen Brothers alums, including John Goodman (standing in for the Cyclops) and John Turturro (who almost gets turned into a frog). The title comes from Sullivan’s Travels, which you should also see, dammit. — EM
Opening Tuesday
IMAX AT FERNBANK: BEAVERS (NR) ** 1/2 Two furry rodents build a dam and a family in an IMAX nature film that strains to fill 40 minutes. There’s glorious photography of the wilderness of Alberta, Canada, blessedly little narration, and fascination in watching these natural-born engineers at work. Fans of Animal Planet should enjoy this giant-screen study of another of nature’s wonders. Runs Jan. 2-March 4 on Mon.-Sat. at 10 a.m., noon, 2 and 4 p.m., Sun. at noon, 2 and 4 p.m., and Fri. at 7 and 9 p.m. Fernbank Museum of Natural History, 767 Clifton Road. — SW
Continuing
ALL THE PRETTY HORSES (PG-13) *** Two young Texans (Matt Damon and Henry Thomas) get more adventure in Mexico than they bargained for in Billy Bob Thornton’s ambitious but meandering adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel. Ted Tally’s script approximates the book’s laconic cowboy poetry, but the film lacks the moral and geographic scope of a John Ford or Sam Peckinpah Western, despite harrowing moments of violence and smoldering scenes between Damon and Penelope Cruz. — CH
BEDAZZLED (PG-13) ** 1/2 A good multiple-personality showcase for Brendan Fraser and, to a lesser extent, Frances O’Connor (“Mansfield Park”) also proves that a little of Elizabeth Hurley’s Joan Collins-wannabe routine goes a long way. The film faustser, foistsa very tired plot on us in a nominal remake of the 1967 Peter Cook/Dudley Moore comedy. Good-hearted but socially inept Fraser sells his soul to the Devil (Hurley) in exchange for seven wishes, which never turn out as he wishes they would. Things turn preachy with a spiritual and a humanist message in addition to the obvious “Be careful what you wish for.” — SW
BEST IN SHOW (PG-13) *** Mockumentarian Christopher Guest reunites his Waiting for Guffman collaborators (including Eugene Levy, Parker Posey and Catherine O’Hara) for a similar venture about the eccentric participants at a national dog show. A bit disappointingly, Guest and company rely on easy targets (tacky middle Americans and fatuous city dwellers) but also show a surprising affection for canine pageants and their four-legged contestants. — CH
BILLY ELLIOTT (R) *** A hybrid of the miserable-English-childhood film and performing-British-nonconformist movies such as The Full Monty, Billy Elliott depicts an 11-year-old coal miner’s son (Jamie Bell) who develops an improbable passion for ballet. Some of the self-conscious flourishes (like the soundtrack prominent with T-Rex) can be strange, but it’s an endearingly idiosyncratic film that puts some new moves on its “feel-good” premise. — CH
BOOK OF SHADOWS: BLAIR WITCH 2 (R) ** It’s brighter, louder, funnier and scarier, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck. Director Joe Berlinger had a good idea “to make a sequel to the phenomenon, not to the movie,” but when, after some Scream-era self-referential cleverness, things start going bump in the night, I doubt it will have much appeal for Blair Witch fans or non-fans. There are so many false alarms, we stop believing anything we see and therefore can’t be scared. At first the five new thrill-seekers seem more interesting and less obnoxious than their predecessors, but the curse of the Blair Witch eventually drags them down. — SW
BOUNCE (PG-13) *** Almost any movie would benefit from comparison to Random Hearts, which also used a plane crash as the catalyst for romance, but this one’s good on its own. A total change of pace for writer/director Don Roos (The Opposite of Sex), it’s a tearjerker in which the often overrated Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow do some of their best work. External script details are sometimes ludicrous, but the emotions ring true. — SW
BRING IT ON (PG-13) ** 1/2 For a long while it’s hard to tell whether this is a seriously comic look at high school cheerleaders or a tongue-in-cheek satire of teen flicks, and by the time it turns relatively serious you’ll be caught up in the story and you won’t care. Kirsten Dunst leads the all-white San Diego squad and Gabrielle Union is her inner-city counterpart in the face-off at the national finals. Eliza Dushku and Jesse Bradford bring LA attitude and romance to the (California) Southland. — SW
CAST AWAY (PG-13) *** Director Robert Zemeckis and his Forrest Gump star Tom Hanks have created another crowd-pleaser in what begins as a modern-day Robinson Crusoe story but comes out looking like a “Survivor” spin-off. Dumped in the Pacific, Chuck Noland (Hanks) spends four-plus years on an otherwise uninhabited island, developing survival skills gradually and realistically. The plot eventually gets Hollywood-ized, but it’s amazing how long Zemeckis resists commercial impulses, aside from the whole movie being such a commercial for Chuck’s employer, FedEx, that failing an Oscar, it has a chance to win a Clio. — SW
CHARLIE’S ANGELS (PG-13) ** On the theory that velocity is a substitute for quality, music video director McG zips through a series of sketches that were apparently more fun to shoot than they are to watch. Angels Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu find time between costume changes and dance numbers to solve the case of kidnapped techno-mogul Sam Rockwell. As their giggling constitutes a laugh track, I was reminded more of “The Carol Burnett Show” than the original “Charlie’s Angels.” Bill Murray is good as Bosley, the eunuch in their harem. — SW
CHOCOLAT (PG-13) **1/2 Free-spirited Juliette Binoche opens a chocolate shop in a repressed village, setting up a didactic conflict of indulgence versus denial. The French locales, food and faces are lovingly photographed (the disarming ensemble includes Judi Dench, Johnny Depp and Alfred Molina), but it cannot equal the comparably themed but richer Babette’s Feast. Chocolat melts in your hands, not in your heart. — CH
THE CONTENDER (R) *** Rod Lurie’s follow-up to the underrated Deterrence lacks the complexity of the best political potboilers and could have been tightened considerably, but the stars deliver for Lurie and he’s written them some sharp dialogue. Jeff Bridges earns my vote as the lame-duck president, trying to get his appointee for vice president, Sen. Joan Allen, approved by Congress. Gary Oldman promotes a sex scandal rumor to block her, and she refuses to dignify with a response questions that should never have been asked. The Contender deserves a “D” rating — Republicans not admitted without a Democratic guardian. — SW
DISNEY’S THE KID (PG) ** 1/2 As a 40-year-old image consultantvisited by his eight-year-old self (Spencer Breslin), Bruce Willis is atrue movie star in a wide-ranging role that affords him some of hisbroadest comedy as well as tender and romantic moments. The film is funnyfor most of its length but gets overly sentimental toward the end — a predilection of director Jon Turteltaub, whom I suspect of being PennyMarshall in drag — and is exceptionally well acted by Willis and Breslin, Emily Mortimer, Lily Tomlin, Jean Smart, Dana Ivey, etc. — SW
DR. SEUSS’ HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS (PG) ** 1/2 The 1957 book, adapted into a 1966 half-hour television cartoon, has been stretched to four times that length in a live-action version by adding Jim Carrey shtick, flashbacks, sentimental pap and general overproduction. Carrey, behind a ton of makeup, exhibits flashes of comic brilliance but never finds a consistent voice for the Grinch. Taylor Momsen (considering the potential, not too annoying) plays Cindy Lou Who, who is too old for Santa and too young for Jesus, so she and the Grinch help each other discover the meaning of the holiday. I prefer the cartoon, but this could have been worse. — SW
DUDE, WHERE’S MY CAR? (PG-13) * 1/2 Underachievers need role models too. Jesse (Ashton Kutcher) and Chester (Seann William Scott), the latest incarnation of Bill & Ted, are stoner/slackers who save the universe while trying to remember what they did the night before. The plot-heavy comedy is as witless as it is brainless, the guys cute but not funny or believable, individually or together. Their odysseywith the emphasis on the “od”surrounds our heroes with zany stereotypes, from a transsexual stripper to donut-loving cops. What Kutcher and Scott should really be asking is, “Dude, where’s my agent?” — SW
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS (PG-13) ** The venerable role-playing phenom comes to theaters, if not quite to life, in this frequently fun and basically brainless romp about a thief trying to best a malevolent magician (Jeremy Irons) from unleashing a plague of dragons on an imaginary kingdom. High- (or Low-) lights include a bizarre Tom Baker (Dr. Who ) cameo and Marlon Wayan’s turn as the hero’s Stepp’n Fetchin’ sidekick, probably the year’s weirdest performance. — EM
THE EMPEROR’S NEW GROOVE (G) *** Besides being one of the year’s funniest comedies, Disney’s latest animated feature is a perfect mating of voice actors with characters: David Spade as the spoiled emperor who’s turned into a llama; John Goodman as the kindly peasant who turns the other cheek to help him; Eartha Kitt as a classic Disney villain who lacks only a song; and Patrick Warburton as her dim thug. The drawing style is simpler than in most of Disney’s classics, but the picture’s packed with fun, action and comedy that appeals to all ages. — SW
THE EXORCIST **** A longer cut of the head-spinning, soup-spewing 1973 classic includes the restoration of creepy (if unnecessary) scenes and sound effects of supernatural goings-on, as well as more dialogue for Max Von Sydow in the title role. The re-release has undiminished power to horrify, and, more strikingly, offers a telling reminder of how textured and mature the films of the 1970s could be. — CH
THE FAMILY MAN (PG-13) **1/2 A Republican plot to make poor working stiffs content with their lot so they won’t begrudge the wealthy their new tax breaks, this dramedy is a virtual big-budget remake of Me Myself I, in which Rachel Griffiths was better than Nicolas Cage is here as someone visiting an alternate universe for a “glimpse” of how life would have been had they married for love 13 years ago instead of pursuing a single, career-oriented life. Tea Leoni is this version’s greatest asset as the old girlfriend with whom playboy Cage gets to sample married life. — SW
FINDING FORRESTER (PG-13) ** Gus Van Sant revisits Good Will Hunting territory in a tale of a brilliant but unrecognized student and athlete (newcomer Robert Brown) who bonds with a reclusive, Salingeresque novelist (Sean Connery). The pair has enjoyable moments together, but van Sant is clearly more interested in the basketball games and the Bronx setting than the film’s contrived prep-school conflicts and its lip service to great literature. As yet another story of a reluctant young genius, it could be called Good Will Finding. — CH
A HARD DAY’S NIGHT (NR) ***1/2 Richard Lester’s bouncy, whimsy-infused chronicle of a day in the life of those superstar mop tops, the Beatles, has been re-released just in time for the ‘olidays. Filled with the kind of nit-wit clowning that has since come to define a certain kind of fun-loving MTV video, this attempt to market the Beatles in film form exceeds its promotional value with cheerful renditions of classic Beatles tunes, Lester’s new-wave style and the band’s unbeatable energy and sporting sense of fun. — FF
IMAX AT FERNBANK: ADVENTURES IN WILD CALIFORNIA (NR) *** It’s “California Dreamin’” for the new millennium as IMAX and Everest director Greg MacGillivray pack a lot of extreme sports and environmentalism into 40 unhurried minutes, including sky- and sea-surfing sequences that put Hollywood movie stunts and special effects to shame. You’ll see baby otters and bald eagles being prepared by humans for life in the wild and trees that have lived for 3000 years. You’ll ride a roller coaster at Disneyland, walk down the red carpet at the Academy Awards and descend 125 feet into a hollow space in an ancient sequoia. — SW Shows daily at 11 a.m. and 1, 3, 5 and 9 p.m. on Fridays. MYSTERIES OF EGYPT Omar Sharif hosts this sensory exploration of the Nile, the Valley of the Kings and modern Egyptian culture. Shows daily at 10 a.m., noon, 2 and 7 p.m. on Fridays. DOLPHINS Narrated by Pierce Brosnan, this documentary takes a playful look at the life and times of Atlantic spotted, dusky and bottlenose dolphins. 4 p.m. daily and 10 p.m. on Fridays. Films run from Sept. 5 through Jan. 1 at Fernbank Museum, 767 Clifton Road.
THE LADIES MAN (R) * 1/2 If you find Leon Phelps, Tim Meadows’ clueless, lisping, stuck-in-the-’70s womanizer, amusing in seven-minute doses on “SNL,” you’ll enjoy scattered moments of his big-screen adventure, especially an eating competition that puts the “barf” in “bar food.” Fired from his late-night talk show, Leon is unaware of a group of angry husbands out to castrate him while a mystery woman from his past wants to support him. I’ve seen worse movies but few that felt like such a total waste of my time. — SW
THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE (PG-13) **1/2 A mysterious, Zen-talking caddy (Will Smith) helps a haunted WWI vet (Matt Damon) in a mythic 1930s golf tournament. As prettily shot and self-consciously archetypal as Robert Redford’s starring vehicle The Natural, the film strains to make the central golf match into an allegory for life itself but ultimately proves just a tribute to the sport as a pastime for privileged whites. — CH
LITTLE NICKY (PG-13) * 1/2 Adam Sandler goes to Hell in Little Nicky, and everyone involved should only follow him. As the good son of Satan (Harvey Keitel), Sandler falls in love with Patricia Arquette while chasing his bad brothers around New York. A few good effects, including a talking bulldog, are the only reason to see this no-joke comedy, which manages to make Sandler even less appealing than usual and leaves a lot of funny people adrift with unfunny material. You might argue that its ultimate affirmation of goodness makes it Capra-esque. Well, Frank Capra could have shit a better movie than this. — SW
THE LITTLE VAMPIRE (PG) ** 1/2 In an E.T.-like tale of friendship overcoming fear and prejudice, a lonely, 9-year-old American in Scotland (Jonathan Lipnicki) finds a playmate (Rollo Weeks) from a family of vampires and protects them from a vampire hunter while helping them recover a magic amulet that can restore their mortality. The movie tries to give kids a good scare without it turning into a bad scare, but the chief compromisethe vampires suck cows’ blood rather than humans’won’t endear it to vegetarians. — SW
LOST SOULS (R) ** It’s Win vs. Sin as Winona Ryder takes charge when an exorcist can’t stop the devil from possessing the body of Ben Chaplin, a grown-up version of Rosemary’s Baby. Played straight, even somberly, without arousing much concern in the viewer, the plot is familiar — especially when Stigmata, End of Days, Bless the Child and the original Exorcist have opened since its scheduled release date — but until it turns sillier than necessary near the end it isn’t as bad as its year on the shelf would indicate. Cinematographer Janusz Kaminski directs with more emphasis on fancy camerawork than special effects. — SW
LUCKY NUMBERS (R) ** 1/2 In a bittersweet comedy about undeserving people fighting over a fortune, John Travolta both uses and spoofs his smarmy charm as a Harrisburg celebrity who turns to strip club owner (Tim Roth) for financial counseling when his house and Jaguar are repossessed. He’s advised to rig the state lottery for the $6.4-million prize, and does so with the help of “Lottoball Girl” (Lisa Kudrow), a foulmouthed slut. The film ambles instead of galloping, but Adam Resnick’s screenplay has an appealing sense of place and low-key, throwaway gags that upset the rhythm but are the best thing about the movie. — SW
MEET THE PARENTS (PG-13) *1/2 This movie is banal, moronic, plodding and predictable. Starring Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro, the film is intended to appeal to those enamored of director Jay Roach’s previous Austin Powers flicks and no doubt it will. For those fortunate enough to have missed the latter, ask yourself whether a family being splashed with the muck from an overflowing septic tank is your kind of humor? — RJ
MEN OF HONOR (R) ** 1/2 Despite an overly melodramatic approach, director George Tillman Jr. (Soul Food) makes an honorable attempt to tell the story of Carl Brashear (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), who became the U.S. Navy’s first black Master Diver despite the efforts of several white men, especially head instructor Billy Sunday (Robert De Niro, sometimes bordering on caricature), to hold him back. Even after Brashear reaches his goal, there are new challenges to confront, leading to spontaneous audience applause at the designated moment. — SW
MISS CONGENIALITY (PG-13) In director Donald Petrie’s ( Mystic Pizza) newest comedy, a tough FBI agent (Sandra Bullock) is forced to go undercover as a contestant in a well-known beauty pageant after terrorists make bomb threats. The all-star cast includes Michael Caine as a beauty consultant, William Shatner as the pageant host and Candice Bergen as the pageant supervisor and former contestant.
NUTTY PROFESSOR II: THE KLUMPS (PG-13) ** Eddie Murphy adds to the shortage of African-American movie roles by playing half the cast in the frantic, sporadically funny follow-up. Rotund Sherman Klump remains Murphy’s most endearing comic creation, but the story’s sci-fi conceits are more contrived, while the coarse jokes prove more cruel and scattershot. — CH
102 DALMATIANS (G) ** 1/2 Second verse, same as the firstwith a little less energy. Cruella De Vil (Glenn Close, more subdued this time) steals another hundred or so puppies and is the catalyst for another couple of dog-lovers (Ioan Gruffudd, Alice Evans) to fall in love with each other. Gerard Depardieu does the heavy camping as Le Pelt, a coat-urier who joins fur-ces with Cruella as history repeats itself. Had I seen 102 Dalmatians before 101 I’d probably like it better, but seeing them in the correct sequence there’s too much “Been there, done that” to appreciate the sequel fully. SW
PAY IT FORWARD (PG-13) * A crass, manipulative tearjerker aimed at the knee-caps of the Oprah crowd, Mimi Leder’s tiny tot social-issue melodrama features The Sixth Sense’s waif Haley Joel Osment as an 11-year-old inspired by his new teacher (Kevin Spacey) to go out and change the world by performing good deeds. Osment starts at home, where he tries to fix up his boozer mom with his straight-laced teacher. — FF
THE PERFECT STORM (PG-13) *** The movie may not be perfect, but the storm sequence sure is, with the special effects offering a terrifyingly realistic treatment of a tempest at sea. Das Boot director Wolfgang Petersen credibly captures the lives of six ill-fated fishermen, but the film proves flat and unengaging until the weather starts getting rough, and it becomes the cinematic equivalent of a ride like “Splash Mountain.” — CH
PROOF OF LIFE (R) **1/2 Knowing about Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe’s off-screen romance adds fuel to the tepid fire onscreen in Taylor Hackford’s Casablanca-style action-romance that doesn’t have enough of either. Instead of Bogie’s mystique, Crowe might as well wear a neon “Hero” sign as the hostage negotiator who falls in love with Ryan while trying to free her husband (David Morse, taking acting honors) from banana-republic rebels. The script is needlessly complex in some areas while totally neglecting others, but the movie looks good and moves fast so you may not notice. — SW
QUILLS (R) *** Philip Kaufman, director of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, brings his literary acumen to playwright Doug Wright’s Gothic treatment of the Marquis de Sade, who proves an unlikely martyr to the cause of artistic freedom. Geoffrey Rush’s Mephistopholean performance as the Marquis, the lunatic asylum setting and the debates over censorship can all be heavy-handed, but it’s refreshing to have a film with too much to say rather than too little. — CH
RED PLANET (PG-13) * 1/2 Lacking Brian DePalma’s neat-o set pieces that made March’s Mission to Mars marginally tolerable, this similarly-themed and structured film sends a team of astronauts on a spectacularly botched mission to the fourth planet. With a cast featuring Val Kilmer and Terence Stamp, The Matrix’s Carrie-Anne Moss is the only stand-out, and the menace of a malfunctioning, panther-like robot generates little suspense. — CH
__REMEMBER THE TITANS (PG) *** Producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s films tend to be as slick as TV ads, but this depiction of a newly integrated high school football team’s victories on the field and off plays more like a public service announcement on steroids. Glossy and shamelessly manipulative, it’s nevertheless involving in spite of itself, with Denzel Washington leading an agreeable cast of young actors. Filmed in Atlanta. — CH
RUGRATS IN PARIS: THE MOVIE (G) ** 1/2 A child’s first lesson in international awareness (through largely stereotypical French and Japanese characters), the sequel has celebrity voices and references to R-rated movies for baby-sitters. Coco La Bouche (Susan Sarandon), a milder, French-accented Cruella De Vil, brings the gang over so Stu Pickles can do Reptar repair at EuroReptarland. Coco needs to marry for a promotion and widowed Chas Finster wants a new mommy for Chuckie, so Coco goes to work. Adult issues are seen mostly from the children’s point of view, and there’s still plenty of time for jokes about the Rugrats’ real concern: body functions. — SW
THE 6TH DAY (PG-13) ** 1/2 Morally complex issues around human cloning are reduced to a basic shoot-‘em-up in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s best vehicle since True Lies. It would be even better if it didn’t degenerate into a series of familiar action sequences that go on far too long. The first half is a good-humored sci-fi movie set in the near future, but once Arnold is accidentally cloned while he’s still alive and has to fight to stay that way, it becomes a routine action movie. The sun sets too early on The 6th Day, but half a good sci-fi thriller is far above the recent average. — SW
SPACE COWBOYS (PG-13) *** I don’t know how much charm weighs but in Space Cowboys it’s measured by the ton. Directed by Clint Eastwood, the film’s about a pride of old lions, Eastwood, James Garner, Donald Sutherland and Tommie Lee Jones, called upon to repair an obsolete Russian satellite about to fall out of orbit. Its heroes may be too old for teenagers to identify with but for boomers, it’s a hoot. It’s predictable in many ways but it contains genuine tension, belly laughs and human warmth. Go see it. — RJ
UNBREAKABLE (PG-13) *** When a stadium security guard (Bruce Willis) emerges unscathed from a train wreck, an enigmatic dealer in comic book art (Samuel L. Jackson) suspects him of having extranormal abilities. With the same star, style and Philadelphia setting as The Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan’s follow-up provides comparable suspense and craftsmanship, even as the idiosyncratic plot teeters at the brink of comic book camp. — CH
VERTICAL LIMIT (PG-13) *1/2 Spectacular scenery and sensational stunts are overwhelmed by crap-tacular everything else as a nature photographer (Chris O’Donnell) tries to rescue his little sister from certain death on the slopes of K-2, a 28,000-footer and the meanest mountain in the world. Who knew you could pile shit so high? — EM
WES CRAVEN PRESENTS: DRACULA 2000 (R) Horror-film guru Wes Craven didn’t direct the movie, but he gets title credit for his executive-producing gig in an attempt, no doubt, to capitalize on his past (Scream) successes. Modernizing Bram Stoker’s classic, Dracula, the flick follows a London antiques dealer (Christopher Plummer) to New Orleans, where his old blood-sucking enemy (Gerard Butler) plans to make a snack of his daughter (Justine Waddell).
WHAT LIES BENEATH (PG-13) ** 1/2 After 1 3/4 hours of routine filmmaking, a lengthy, largely terrifying climax tells you whether you’ve been watching a ghost story or a domestic drama. Directed by Robert Zemeckis with standard shocks and excellent photographic effects, it showcases Michelle Pfeiffer as Claire, who forms an outwardly perfect couple with Norman (Harrison Ford). But Claire has been seeingor thinks she’s been seeinga ghost. Which is in greater danger, their marriage or one or both of their lives? This is a fair-to-middlin’ tale of a fair-to-middle-aged couple and whatever comes between themor brings them together. SW
WHAT WOMEN WANT (PG-13) *** Don’t expect much more than a light social comedy on the level of Richard Brooks’ The Muse and you won’t be disappointed by the throwaway charms of this Hollywood lark about a chauvinistic ladies man (Mel Gibson) who is electrocuted in the bathtub and wakes up able to hear women’s innermost thoughts. Director Nancy Meyers knows how to pander to a mainstream audience, and her predictable but often funny film has enough insight into the communication barriers between men and women to sustain interest in a rather thin plot. — FF
YOU CAN COUNT ON ME (R) **** A tender, beautifully written character study about the complicated relationship between a grown brother and sister whose lives have been marked by the deaths of their parents when they were children, this first film from Kenneth Lonergan is a closely observed, thoughtful look at family in an age of much lip service to “family values” with little attention to the subtleties of family dynamics. Laura Linney is the seemingly balanced, responsible single mother, and Mark Ruffalo is her directionless, pothead brother who comes to visit his sister in her small upstate New York town and becomes a significant influence on her 8-year-old son. — FF
FF is Felicia Feaster, CH is Curt Holman, RJ is Richard Joseph, Kate Lueker is KL, EM is Eddy Von Mueller, SW is Steve Warren.

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