Short Subjectives January 23 2002

Opening Friday
?THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO (PG-13) Like its 1994 Jungle Book, Disney’s version of Alexandre Dumas’ novel is an old-fashioned crowd-pleaser that’s refreshingly free of rapid-cut edits, a blaring modern score and Matrix-style action scenes. Jim Caviezel plays a wrongfully imprisoned sailor seeking revenge, while Memento’s Guy Pearce is all snaky insouciance as his former friend. --Matt Brunson

THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE 1/2 (R) Evidence piles up for a new Renaissance in the cinematic ghost story with this unique and atmospheric tale, set in a remote orphanage for the children of rebels in the Spanish Civil War. The newest student (Fernando Tielve) gets caught up in both the search for hidden gold and a haunting from something called “the one who sighs.” Director Guillermo del Toro depicts more gore and spectral special effects than the story requires, but nevertheless crafts a moody film with political allegory and memorable images. --Curt Holman

I AM SAM 1/2 (PG-13) Sean Penn drags out his trick bag of disability in this treacly tale of a saintly retarded man fighting for custody of his 7-year-old daughter with Michelle Pfeiffer (who performs like someone set her knickers on fire) as the high-powered, neurotic lawyer who helps him. Director Jessie Nelson wrote The Story of Us and Stepmom, and here her obnoxious corporate-endorsed brand of crass sentimentality makes even Hollywood lightweight Chris Columbus look like Bergman. --Felicia Feaster

KUNG POW: ENTER THE FIST (PG-13) This film’s target audience won’t remember What’s Up, Tiger Lily? Woody Allen’s kooky 1966 redub of a Japanese spy movie. Here Ace Ventura II director Steve Oedekerk takes the 1976 chop-sockey flick Savage Killers and gives it a comic spin, editing himself into the action as an improbable avenger.

LANTANA (R) The overt as well as the invisible connections between eight married Australians knit together this quiet but intriguing psychological drama, which features Anthony LaPaglia as an adulterous detective, Barbara Hershey as a grieving psychiatrist and Geoffrey Rush as her secretive husband. Halfway through, the nearly aimless story cedes to a police investigation that shifts the plot and emotional pitch into a higher gear and builds to a truthful, credible catharsis. --CH

THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES (PG-13) Ever hear of the Mothman, reputedly a flying creature spotted in West Virginia and elsewhere? Its Bigfoot-esque legends inspire this supernatural thriller from the director of Arlington Road and starring Richard Gere as a spooked reporter and featuring Laura Linney, Alan Bates and Debra Messing of “Will and Grace.”

A WALK TO REMEMBER (PG) Teen pop singer Mandy Moore stars in this sleepy-sounding small-town romance based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks. Featuring Peter Coyote, Daryl Hannah and Shane West as the love interest.

Duly Noted
?ATLANTA JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL The second Atlanta Jewish Film Festival presents more than a dozen films reflecting the diversity of Jewish culture and issues on a global scale. Films include: In Search of Peace, Jan. 23, 7 p.m. at Phipps Plaza; Solomon and Gaenor, Jan. 24, 7 p.m. at Phipps Plaza; “Summer in Ivye” and “Blue & White in Red Square,” Jan. 25, noon, venue TBD; All My Loved Ones, Jan. 26, 7 p.m., and Hanele, 9:30 p.m., at Phipps Plaza; Left Luggage at 7 p.m. and Solomon and Gaenor, 9:30 p.m. at AMC Mansell Crossing; The Komediant, Jan. 27 at 2 p.m., Eternal Road and “One Day Crossing” at 4 p.m. and Trembling Before G-d, 7 p.m. at Woodruff Arts Center. Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m., AMC Phipps Plaza. 404-949-0658.

BACK TO OHIO IN A BODY BAG This documentary from local filmmaker Jeff Buchanan and photographer Darwin Berman chronicles two friends who arrange a street fight at Atlanta’s Globe Theater, detailing their relationship and preparation as a build-up to the main event.Jan. 24, 10 p.m., MJQ Concourse, 736 Ponce de Leon Ave. 404-870-0575.

DIVIDED WE FALL 1/2 (PG-13) This Czechoslovakian comedy/drama about a husband and wife (played by an intensely likable pair of actors, Boleslav Polivka and Anna Siskova) hiding a Jewish fugitive in their larder during World War II tries to deal in some of the messy moral ambiguities brought out in wartime, but more often just offers a thrilling comic romp in the Life is Beautiful tradition.Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m., AMC Phipps Plaza. --FF

THE ETERNAL ROAD: AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE PAST (NR) This documentary holds a magnifying glass to a footnote of theater history, when Kurt Weill’s “forgotten” Jewish-themed musical The Eternal Road offered a rebuke to Nazi Germany. Writer-director Ron Frank often seems more interested in the background of Chemnitz, a German city staging a modern revival of the musical, than the musical itself, but when the documentary stays “on message” it’s filled comic and tragic anecdotes. Presented with the short film “One Day Crossing.” Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m., AMC Phipps Plaza. --CH

FAT GIRL (NR). Controversial director Catherine Breillat hits sensational pay dirt yet again in this disturbing but meaning-rich tale of two teenage sisters, one fat and one beautiful, and their very different experiences of sex. With one of the most shocking endings ever imagined in film history. GSU’s cinefest, Jan. 22-24. --FF

GLOOMY SUNDAY This romantic melodrama set in Budapest takes its name from a composition banned from European radio because so many people killed themselves while listening to it: Talk about entering the charts at No. 1 with a bullet. New Films From Germany, co-sponsored by the Goethe-Institut Atlanta. Jan. 25 at 8 p.m., Rich Auditorium, Woodruff Arts Center. $5.

“THE LEGEND OF GEORGE THE CLOWN” “The circus gave Sam a reason to live. George to it all away...” A short film by Rorschach Productions screens at 12:15 a.m. Jan. 25 at Marietta Star Cinemas and 11:45 p.m. Jan. 26 at Blackwell Cinemas, Marietta. www.greycountry.com.

NORTH BY NORTHWEST (NR) See Cary Grant dodge cropdusters, climb presidential noggins and woo Eva Marie Saint in Alfred Hitchcock’s quintessential, cross-country, mistaken-identity chase film. Is it me, or do bad guys James Mason and Martin Landau seem closer than villian and henchman?Films at the High, The Incomparable James Mason” film series. Jan. 26 at 8 p.m., Rich Auditorium, Woodruff Arts Center. $5. --CH

PHILIP ON FILM Legendary composer Philip Glass and his ensemble perform live accompaniment to film screenings of Jean Cocteau’s 1946 La Belle et la Béte (Beauty and Beast) on Jan. 25 and Reggio’s Koyannisqatsi on Jan. 26, both at the Fox Theatre. Presented by the Woodruff Arts Center and the Fox Theatre. All screenings at 8 p.m. Tickets $20-$35. Glass pass $100. 404-817-8700.

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.

TUVALU (NR) Viet Helmer’s black-and-white, dialogue-free debut film imitates the silent comedies of Chaplin and Keaton in its depiction of a French swimming pool manager keeping his head above water in a crumbling metropolis. Fans of Terry Gilliam and Amelie’s Jean-Pierre Jeunet may want to take a look. GSU’s cinefest, Jan. 25-31.

THE WOMAN MEN YEARN FOR (NR) The Silent Film Society of Atlanta co-presents this 1929 Kurt Berhnardt film, which stars Marlene Dietrich in her first role as a femme fatale. Screened with live musical accompaniment. GSU’s cinefest, Jan. 25.

Continuing
?ALI (PG-13) Director Michael Mann focuses on a single, tumultuous decade in the life of Muhammed Ali, from his championship bout against Sonny Liston to “the Rumble in the Jungle.” The film’s first hour, placing the prizefighter’s life in the context of America’s racial and religious unrest, is as stinging and nimble as the boxer himself. A bulked-up Will Smith captures Ali’s trash-talking and his moments of silent resolve, but neither Smith nor Mann can keep the film’s last hour from losing dramatic interest, meticulously re-creating a fight whose outcome we already know. --CH

AMELIE (R) A popular and critical hit in France, this not-to-be-missed sweet-as-pie, stylistic knockout is a dazzling live-action cartoon for grown-ups. The ultra-cute Audrey Tautou is a do-gooding sprite living in a magical Montmartre who dedicates herself to helping others. From Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the director of The City of Lost Children and Delicatessean. --FF

A BEAUTIFUL MIND 1/2 (PG-13) In an either bold or ignorant move, director Ron Howard may have made the first action-adventure film about schizophrenia. Russell Crowe stars in this story of real life Princeton mathematician John Nash who won the Nobel Peach Prize, but also suffered from mental illness. Howard allows emotional button-pushing to triumph over character development and insight in this earnest but flat entry in Hollywood’s disability canon. --FF

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (G) The only animated feature ever to be nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award — and one of the best classic-style musicals of the past 20 years — Disney’s 1991 animated gem gets a polish to fit the scalle of a really, really big IMAX screen. Mall of Georgia IMAX Theater, I-85 at Buford Drive, Buford. --CH

BEHIND ENEMY LINES 1/2 (PG-13) One-note ubiquity Owen Wilson, a head-scratching choice for Hollywood’s latest flavor of the month, plays Chris Burnett, a pilot shot down over ravaged, corpse-strewn Bosnia, which the film treats with the sensitivity of a video game. Director John Moore makes his movie debut after helming zippy commercials, so expect lots of choppy splicing of scenes filmed in the grainy style popularized by Saving Private Ryan — but made dull by the number of hacks who have shamelessly copied it. --MB

BLACK HAWK DOWN (R) Ridley Scott directs a harrowing soldier’s-eye view for the disastrous mission in Somalia that cost the lives of 19 U.S. troops. With a huge cast and non-stop battle scenes, characterization is nearly absent, and we scarcely get to know the soldiers played by the likes of Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor and Tom Sizemore. But in the global environment following Sept. 11, the film gets credit for showing in frightening detail what could be a worst-case scenario of the War on Terrorism. --CH

BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF (R) This French horror/action-adventure/martial-arts/romance/period piece puts more on its plate than it can digest, but provides a feast for movie fans. A naturalist and his Native-American sidekick investigate wolf attacks in the French countryside, encountering conniving noblemen and a tarot-reading courtesan (Malena’s Monica Belucci). Convoluted, top-heavy and too long, the film still has thrilling fight scenes and piles on one voluptuous pleasure on top of another: Swordfights! Nudity! Monsters! Baroque decorations! --CH

CHARLOTTE GRAY (PG-13) A well-intentioned but largely ineffective romance, this vehicle for Cate Blanchett stars the ubiquitous Aussie as a principled, patriotic Scotswoman who becomes a spy in Occupied France during WWII. While Australian director Gillian Armstrong may aspire to present a feminist heroine, the film’s obsession with Charlotte’s romantic entanglements makes this endeavor feel conventional. --FF

GOSFORD PARK (R) As close to a masterpiece as this year in movies has seen, Gosford Park invests a familiar upstairs-downstairs theme of the upper and servant classes of English country life with a degree of compassion and sensitivity that proves director Robert Altman has something human lurking beneath his patented misanthropy. --FF

HOW HIGH (R) If you’re a fan of rappers Redman and Method Man, or are simply nostalgic for the cinema of Cheech & Chong, you might want to sample this comedy about two stoners who get into Harvard thanks to an IQ-boosting supply of marijuana — which quickly runs out. With Fred Willard as the chancellor.

IMAX Lost Worlds: Life in the Balance (Not Rated) Harrison Ford narrates an IMAX film exploration of the world’s biological diversity, from the Poles to the Tropics, with an in-depth focus on the lush, remote plateaus of Venezuela.Through March 22. Majestic White Horses (NR) The pomp, history and legend of the famous Lipizzan horses of Austria and the Spanish Riding School of Vienna gets the really big screen treatment. Through May 23. Fernbank Museum of Natural History IMAX Theater, 767 Clifton Road. --Steve Warren

IMPOSTOR (PG-13) Based on a Philip K. Dick story of the same name, this high-tech take on The Fugitive finds Gary Sinise as a futuristic engineer accused of being an alien spy. Featuring Madeleine Stowe and Vincent D’Onofrio, the film has literally spanned a millennium, having seen its theatrical release postponed for nearly two years.

IN THE BEDROOM (R) A thoughtful, admirable, first-director effort from actor Todd Field (Eyes Wide Shut), this story of how two chilly, noncommunicative Maine WASPS cope with their only son’s death has a writerly attention to character, nuance and human behavior. Though Field’s representation of his characters’ suffering can at times feel a little meta-Bergman and precious, this timely story of grief and the search for revenge has enough application to the current social climate to make it resonate. --FF

JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS (G) An accident-prone boy inventor comes to the rescue when aliens kidnap his parents in a computer-animated cartoon from Nickelodeon. Voice actors include Martin Short, Andrea Martin and Patrick Stewart.

JOE SOMEBODY (PG) His work as Buzz Lightyear aside, Tim Allen is the new Steve Guttenberg, a bland actor whose generic films keep getting bankrolled. Allen’s disrespected corporate employee gets punched out by a co-worker, and declares that he wants a rematch, which suddenly earns him love and respect (is this a multi-million dollar corporation or an elementary school?) You know you’re in trouble when you’re actively waiting for Jim Belushi to make an appearance in a movie. --MB

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (PG-13) Adapting the first and longest book of J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy, Peter Jackson offers an all-but-perfect fantasy epic that’s no simple piece of story-book escapism. The titular fellowship (played by a superbly cast ensemble including Elijah Wood and Ian McKellan) contend with evil forces as journey across land of Middle-Earth to destroy a magic ring. Jackson offers a full immersion in an imaginary world, and even when some virtual environments look fake, they bristle with personality. Thrilling — and exhausting — at a full three hours, Fellowship’s greatest achievement is that it never loses sight of the human side of its fanciful story. --CH

THE MAJESTIC (PG) Jim Carrey makes another bid for respectability in director Frank Darabont’s fantasy set in the McCarthyite 1950s. Carrey plays Pete, a blacklisted, amnesiac screenwriter mistaken for a long-lost WWII vet in a small town. The first part of the movie, dealing with Pete’s involvement with the town’s perpetually chipper residents will strike some viewers as inspiring and others as manipulative, while the final act, centered on Pete’s stand against the House Un-American Activities Committee, whitewashes a tragic chapter in U.S. history. --MB

MULHOLLAND DRIVE (R) A typical feast of Lynchian dreamwork, Mulholland Drive is also a disappointment for its mix of a deeply troubling storyline involving a naive Nancy Drew blonde new to Hollywood trying to help a haunted, amnesiac brunette, with silly subplots that recall the increasingly absurdist dissolution of Lynch’s television show “Twin Peaks.” --FF

ORANGE COUNTY (PG-13) Lawrence Kasdan’s son Jake directs Tom Hanks’ son Colin in a comedy about an ambitious high schooler who panics when Stanford University rejects his application. The cast includes Jon Lithgow, Lily Tomlin and Shallow Hal’s Jack Black, who fuels the comic relief for the inevitable road trip.

THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS 1/2 (R) Director Wes Anderson maintains the idiosyncratic brilliance of Rushmore with a pixilated portrait of an ingenious but dysfunctional family. The likable cast centers around Gene Hackman’s rascally paterfamilias, but it’s more a film about its textures — nearly subliminal sight gags, wall-to-wall pop tunes from the ’60s and ’70s, fictional locales in an idealized Manhattan - that subtly and overtly suggest the experience of reading a novel, especially the kind John Irving likes to write. CH

THE SHIPPING NEWS 1/2 (R) Lasse Hallstrom’s adaptation of E. Annie Proulx’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is thankfully more in the tradition of the director’s low-key What’s Eating Gilbert Grape than his unctuous Chocolat. Kevin Spacey stars as a haunted man with a dead wife and a small daughter on his hands who returns to his family home in Newfoundland to start afresh. Hallstrom treats the subject of myriad family dysfunctions with sensitivity, but the historical sweep and plethora of characters eventually prove unmanageable. --FF

VA SAVOIR (PG-13) Legendary 73-year-old French director Jacques Rivette presents a romantic roundelay among a group of theater people and other Parisian sophisticates. At two-and-a-half hours, this soft-spoken comedy isn’t exactly riveting, but it makes wise observations about the conflicts of the heart and features thoughtful actors, especially Jeanne Balibar as a neurotic thespian. As it progresses, the script takes increasingly melodramatic turns, until it begins to resemble a stage play. Why? As the title translates, “who knows?” --CH