Short Subjectives August 15 2001

Opening Friday
?AMERICAN OUTLAWS Jesse James (Colin Farrell) and brother Frank (Gabriel Macht) are two brothers from Missouri who lead a gang that robs banks, trains and stagecoaches throughout the West in the late 1800s, becoming the era’s most legendary bandits. Scott Caan plays Cole Younger who competes for leadership of the gang; Ali Larter plays Jesse’s girlfriend. Directed by Les Mayfield.

APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX 1/2 (R) Closer to Francis Ford Coppola’s original intention for his film, this Apocalypse, featuring 53 additional minutes and scenes that had previously been mere legend in film circles, enhances the myth of this stunning Vietnam war film but does not necessarily make for a better film. — FELICIA FEASTER

RAT RACE 1/2 (PG-13) This throwback to slapstick chase comedies like It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World has some talented comic actors and a few great gags amid a lot of thud and blunder. Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding Jr., Seth Green, Rowan Atkinson and others engage in a noisy, frantic contest to get $2 million, but the most inspired bits feature Jon Lovitz and John Cleese, the latter wearing hypnotically huge, white dentures. --CURT HOLMAN

GHOST WORLD 1/2 (R) Terry Zwigoff follows his superb documentary on underground cartoonist R. Crumb with a sharp feature based on Daniel Clowes’ comic book serial about hip best friends (Thora Birch and Scarlet Johansson) who drift apart after high school graduation. The film hilariously shows young people faced with the insipid mediocrity of consumer culture vs. the loneliness of personal authenticity, embodied by Steve Buscemi as a hapless record collector. The kind of film David Lynch or Woody Allen should be trying to make, Ghost World provides ideal performances from its leads while refusing to offer easy solutions to their dilemma. — CH’’

Duly Noted
?EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN (1987) (R) Starring cult favorite Bruce Campbell and directed by Sam Raimi, director of Darkman, Army Of Darkness and the upcoming film version of Spiderman. A young man named Ash takes his girlfriend Linda to a secluded cabin and plays back a professor’s tape-recorded recitation of passages from the Book of the Dead. The spell calls up an evil force from the woods, which turns Linda into a monstrous Deadite and threatens to do the same to Ash. Aug. 17 at midnight at the Marietta Star Cinema.

THE KING IS ALIVE 1/2 (R). It’s “Survivor” meets Shakespeare when a group of tourists, stranded in an African desert, stage King Lear as a means of distracting themselves from their desperate situation. Gorgeously shot under the Dogma 95 principles of cinematic “purity,” it has the makings of a forbidding foreign film, yet proves compelling and accessible, with finely sustained tensions and raw performances from the likes of Janet McTeer and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Presented by the Peachtree Film Society Aug. 19 at General Parkway Pointe. --CH

THE PRODUCERS (1968) Down-on-his-luck theatrical producer Max Biyalistok (Zero Mostel) is forced to romance rich old ladies to finance his efforts. When timid accountant Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder) reviews Max’s books, the two hit upon a way to make a fortune by producing a sure-fire flop. Written and directed by Mel Brooks. Aug. 17-23 at GSU’s cinéfest.

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (R) The cult classic of cult classics, the 1975 horror spoof follows an all-American couple (Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick) to the castle of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), a drag-queen/mad scientist from another galaxy. It’s all fun and games until Meatloaf gets killed. Dress as your favorite character and participate in this musical on acid. Fridays at midnight, Lefont Plaza Theatre, 1049 Ponce De Leon Ave., and Saturday at midnight at Blackwell Star Cinema, 3378 Canton Road, Marietta.

Continuing
?A.I.: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (PG-13) Steven Spielberg brings to light a long-developed Stanley Kubrick project about an android boy (Haley Joel Osment) who aspires to be human. Spielberg gives the first act a poetic precision evocative of the late filmmaker’s cerebral style, but subsequent sections uncomfortably blend elements of Pinocchio and Blade Runner, losing some of its pristine storytelling control. — CH

ALL ABOUT ADAM (R) Adam (Stuart Townsend) meets a waitress (Kate Hudson) and then proceeds to seduce her, her two sisters and even her brother. Also starring A.I.’s Frances O’Connor. Directed by Gerard Stembridge, written for the screen by Gerard Stembridge.

AMERICAN PIE 2 1/2 This follow-up to the 1999 hit reunites over a dozen characters. This sequel is more of a boys’ night then a nostalgic sequal — Tara Reid, Mena Suvari and Natasha Lyonne have little more than cameos here. Four friends — hapless Jim (Jason Biggs), obnoxious Stifler (Seann William Scott), cute Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas), soft-spoken Oz (Chris Klein) and brainy Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) — back together after a year in college, ready to enjoy a summer at the beach. --MATT BRUNSON

AMERICA’S SWEETHEARTS 1/2 (PG-13) Instead of leading lady, Julia Roberts is merely one cog in an ensemble that does its best to provide direction to a rambling scenario. John Cusack and Catherine Zeta-Jones portray a movie star couple whose careers have faltered ever since their separation. With one more joint project yet to be released, the studio head (Stanley Tucci) figures that the best publicity would be to get them back together, so he hires a crafty press agent (Billy Crystal) to orchestrate their reconciliation at the press junket. Engaging but not especially involving, America’s Sweethearts handily wins this summer’s Middlebrow Champion trophy. — MB

THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY 1/2 (R) Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming wrote, directed and star in this zeitgeisty psychodrama of a hip Hollywood couple and their high-powered friends. Their evening of celebration turns into an ecstasy-fueled meltdown where clothes come off, truths get told and everyone undoubtedly wakes up with an ugly “what did I say?” hangover. Though there is plenty of emoting on display, the film often feels like a keyhole glimpse into the reality of life in a Hollywood fishbowl, as well as the more universal anxieties about faithfulness, aging, children and career. — FF

EVERYBODY’S FAMOUS! 1/2 (R) Much of this film, set within an economically depressed Flemish community is light, escapist drivel about a sullen teenager whose starry-eyed father thinks she can become Belgium’s next pop music sensation. But there is a real sense of desperation and pathos behind this working-class father’s effort to help his daughter escape his own dreary fate in director Dominique Deruddere’s hash of social commentary and light comedy.-- FF

FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN (PG-13) Unbelievable imagery and kick-ass action sequences trump trippy-dippy dialogue and arbitrary plotting in this all-CGI adaptation of the popular video role-playing game, the first such film to be brought to the big screen by the game’s creator (in this case, Hironobu Sakaguchi). The eerily convincing digital actors are voiced by the likes of Steve Buscemi, Ming Na, James Woods and Alec Baldwin, who is ironically much more life-like as a computerized cartoon. — EDDY VON MUELLER

HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH (R) A fantastic, not-to-be-missed debut film from John Cameron Mitchell (adapting his off-Broadway play) who stars in this audacious rock musical as an East German transsexual nursing a broken heart as he plays abysmal rock gigs in restaurants and ice cream parlors across the country. --FF

LEGALLY BLONDE 1/2 (PG-13) Reese Witherspoon, determined to show that her award-winning turn in Election was no fluke, plays Elle Woods, a pampered California girl whose Harvard-bound boyfriend (Matthew Davis) dumps her for not being “serious” enough. Determined to win him back, Elle also enrolls at Harvard and draws upon her long-dormant intelligence to make her mark at the university. Feeding from a script that manages to make some salient points about getting beyond surface appearances to determine one’s worth, Witherspoon brings a surprising amount of humanity to a role that could have deflated in less sturdy hands. — CH

MADE (R). Vince Vaughn and writer-director Jon Favreau reprise their winning comic teamwork from Swingers, here playing aspiring boxers in L.A. who take a mysterious job for the Mob in New York. Vaughn’s cluelessness as a would-be “playa” leads to many inspired, cringe-inducing confrontations, and though there’s an unnecessarily serious subplot with a little girl, otherwise Made makes the grade. — CH

ORIGINAL SIN 1/2 (R) This adaptation of Cornell Woolrich’s novel Waltz Into Darkness is a solemn potboiler featuring predictable plot twists, a flagrantly idiotic ending, and a miscast leading lady. Angelina Jolie, is inappropriate as Julia Russell, a mail-order bride who turns up in Cuba set to marry wealthy coffee merchant Luis Vargas (Antonio Banderas). Luis falls hard for his new wife, but a succession of events convinces him that she’s not exactly what she initially appeared. --MB

OSMOSIS JONES 1/2 (PG) In the live action scenes of this tedious and gross movie, Bill Murray plays Frank, a slovenly sort whose wretched eating habits finally take their toll: He ends up with a nasty virus inside him, meaning he’ll die unless his body’s natural defenses can vanquish this intruder. Frank’s interior is presented as a bustling (animated) city, with a sleazy mayor (voiced by William Shatner) assuring voters that everything’s fine while an intrepid cop, a white blood cell named Osmosis Jones (Chris Rock), does his best to stop the lethal virus (Laurence Fishburne). --MB

THE OTHERS (PG-13). Spooky events begin occurring at an isolated mansion in 1945. Are the three mysterious new servants trying to drive single mother Nicole Kidman mad, or is the house haunted? Chilean writer-director Alejandro AmenAbar heeds the lessons of The Sixth Sense, offering a moody, well-constructed supernatural thriller that can be contrived and ponderous at times, but builds to some imaginative scares and a clever twist that invites you to reassess the film at the end. — CH

PLANET OF THE APES 1/2 (PG-13) The best quality of Tim Burton’s “revisit” to the classic 1968 film are the apes themselves, which have expressive, realistic make-up, cleverly conceived body language and fine representations from Tim Roth and Helena Bonham Carter. But though Burton reaches for an epic scope, the storytelling feels rushed and sloppy, with its anti-racism message presented with the heaviest possible hand. — CH

THE PRINCESS AND THE WARRIOR 1/2 (R) Run Lola Run director Tom Tykwer returns to familiar territory of fate and chance and serves it up with a heap of visual flair in this tale of two damaged lovers. But Tykwer is a little on the lightweight side to be dealing in such grandiose fare, and his film can seem more like melodramatic hipster fiddling than the deep thoughts the director thinks he’s dishing. Directed by Tom Tykwer. — FF

THE PRINCESS DIARIES (G) Director Garry Marshall returns with an adorable yet predictable remake of Pretty Women without the leather. When the crown of the fictional country Genovia needs a successor, Queen Clarisse Renaldi (Julie Andrews) shocks her estranged granddaughter (Anne Hathaway) with the news of her royal blood. The reluctant princess must choose between staying a normal teen or accepting the royal crown. — P’NINA MOSSMAN

THE ROAD HOME 1/2 (G) His father’s death prompts a narrator to recall the story of his parent’s courtship in a remote Chinese village in this nostalgic, bittersweet film by China’s Zhang Yimou, one of the living masters of color and composition. Crouching Tiger’s Zhang Ziyi plays the young mother-to-be in a simple, poetic story with one gorgeous rural image after another. — CH

RUSH HOUR 2 1/2 (PG-13) Chris Tucker’s fast-talking bravado is amusing, but this sloppy sequel immediately plops Tucker and Jackie Chan in the middle of a tired plot involving counterfeiters, and then spends an embarrassing part of the next 90 minutes ripping off scenes from the first picture. Zhang Ziyi (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) is wasted as a villainous henchwoman. — MB

THE SCORE 1/2 (R) An often ho-hum heist picture that happens to have some of the greatest actors of three generations. Director Frank Oz constructs some tense set-pieces and Edward Norton offers a technically proficient rendition of a mentally disabled man, but for Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando to meet on-screen in a cliched caper movie is an enormous waste of potential. --CH

SEXY BEAST (R) A stylish debut from video director Jonathan Glazer, in which a gangster (Ray Winstone) whose idyllic retirement in Spain is interrupted when his psychopathic boss (Ben Kingsley) demands he perform one more heist. The film has attitude to burn, though its two poorly fitted acts and smug slavery to flashiness makes it feel more like a pop flash in the pan than endduring filmmaking. — FF’’