Short Subjectives August 14 2003

?Opening Friday
FREDDY VS. JASON (R) In the tradition of King Kong vs. Godzilla and Kramer vs. Kramer, the murderous stars of the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th franchises team up to stalk nubile teenagers, then turn on each other. Will the hockey mask beat the razor-glove?

GRIND (PG-13) It’s some kind of road comedy about four brash, skateboarding buddies traveling cross-country. Look for appearances by Randy Quaid, Jackass’ Bam Margera and “The Kids in the Hall’s” Dave Foley.

LE DIVORCE (PG-13) A shrewd, tasty little comedy about the cultural divide between America and France, this Merchant/Ivory production concerns Roxy (Naomi Watts), an American poet in Paris, who discovers Old World sexism in the French legal system when her husband deserts her for his mistress. Kate Hudson is her sister, dispatched from Santa Barbara to look after the newly pregnant Roxy. While Roxy stews, Isabel (Hudson) begins an adulterous affair with a right-wing politician and falls in love with French social customs involving lingerie, sex, Hermees handbags and haute cuisine. --Felicia Feaster

THE MAGDALENE SISTERS (R) Actor/director Peter Mullan’s film is hyperbolic and at every turn rigged to inspire outrage. But it is also a highly effective, darkly engrossing condemnation of the checkered history of religious abuses of power. The drama takes place at one of Ireland’s “Magdalene Asylums,” which operated from the 19th century until 1996 as a virtual prison for girls accused of “moral crimes” ranging from being raped, to out-of-wedlock childbirth to flirtatiousness. Mullan’s women-in-prison formula follows three young girls who are nearly destroyed by the sadism of the nuns who oversee their work in the asylum’s grueling laundries. --FF

OPEN RANGE (R) Kevin Costner (who also directed and co-produced) plays a conflicted cattle driver pitted against a greedy land baron. A sleepy opening and sometimes tedious pacing make the first hour drag, but Robert Duvall’s fine performance as a fatherly cowpoke keeps things moving along until the explosive final gun battle, which is worth the wait. --Tray Butler

UPTOWN GIRLS (PG-13) Another child turns a perpetual adolescent into a responsible adult in this totally formulaic dramedy. Brittany Murphy and Atlantan Dakota Fanning are terrific individually — pound for pound Fanning is the best actress alive — but the don’t quite click together. Molly (Murphy), 22 going on 12, becomes nanny to Ray (Fanning), who’s 8 going on 80, and helps the girl find her inner child while Ray inspires Molly to become responsible. No surprises there. If you’re thinking of taking 8-year-olds to see Uptown Girls, know that it’s rated PG-13 for a reason. --Steve Warren

?Duly Noted
EUPHONIC VIDEO NIGHT (NR) Eyedrum offers a kind of “Can Film Festival” of documentaries about the influential “Kraut Rock” group Can, beginning with Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rosacher’s compilation of interviews and song performances, and followed by Peter Przygodda’s 1972 concert film. Aug. 15, 9 p.m. Eyedrum. 290 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. $3. 404-522-0655. www.eyedrum.org.

FILM SLAM (NR) IMAGE Film & Video Center’s freewheeling evening of short films takes inspiration from “The Gong Show,” as a panel of judges, egged on by the audience, will dictate whether films will run to the end or will get “gonged” in progress. Awards will be given for the best and worst efforts of the evening. Presented by IMAGE Film & Video Center, Aug. 21, 8 p.m. The Echo Lounge, 551 Flat Shoals Ave. $5 (free for IMAGE members). 404-352-4225. www.imagefv.org.

FLASHBANG v5 (NR) The digital expo’s exhibition screening will showcase the cutting edge in Flash animated films, websites, graphic design and video work. Aug. 16, 7 p.m. Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, 535 Means Street. $16. 404-223-3030. www.flashbangonline.com.

FUNNY GIRL (1968) (G) Back when everybody liked her, Barbra Streisand won an Oscar for her film debut as comedienne Fanny Brice. Celebrating its 35th anniversary, the William Wyler musical features numbers like “People” and “Don’t Rain on My Parade” that are sure to get you verklempt. Coca-Cola Summer Film Festival. Aug. 18, 8 p.m. Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. $7. 404-881-2100. www.foxtheatre.org.

LOVE THE HARD WAY (2001) (R) Adrien Brody’s Best Actor Oscar for The Pianist secured the release of this early starring vehicle. Brody plays a sleazy blackmailer and half-assed writer who somehow wins the heart of Charlotte Ayanna’s brainy but clueless college girl. Ayanna’s scenes can be truly dreadful, but the plot makes hairpin turns that reveal unexpected insight into the dark sides of sexuality and emotional attachment. Presented by the Peachtree Film Society. Aug. 19, 7:30 p.m. at Lefont Garden Hills Cinema, 2835 Peachtree Road. $7.50 each ($6.50 for PFS members). 404-266-2850. www.peachtreefilm.org. --Curt Holman

NOWHERE IN AFRICA (R) This year’s Best Foreign Language Oscar winner follows a bourgeois Jewish family as they flee 1937 Germany to eke out an existence on the Kenyan savannah. Director Caroline Link reveals much of the film through the eyes of a 5-year-old girl, who finds Africa to be a place of endless wonders even as she sees the pressures of refugee life undermine her parents’ marriage. Link never loses sight of the film’s intimate, complicated relationships even when they’re flung against panoramic landscapes and buffeted by the tides of history. Aug. 20, 7 p.m. Goethe Institut Inter Nationes, 1197 Peachtree St., Colony Square. $4. 404-892-2388. --CH

PAINTED FIRE (2002) (R) Choi Min-sik plays Ohwon, the raging bull of 19th century Korean painting in Kwon-taek Im’s biopic. It can be hard to keep up with the film’s fast-paced recap of Ohwon’s life, or what makes his placid landscapes so brilliant. But the film candidly depicts Ohwon’s tempestuous sex life and political tribulations, while the director’s painterly location shots and close attention to sound — you can hear the whoosh of every brushstroke — lets us see the world through the artist’s eyes. Aug. 14, Cinefest, GSU Student Center, Suite 211, 66 Courtland St. $5 ($3 until 5 p.m.). 404-651-3565. --CH

PEACH CITY SHORT FILM FESTIVAL (NR) The three-day independent filmmaking event features educational panels and screenings of shorts and feature films, including the crime drama Blue Hill Avenue and the bittersweet road movie Road Dogs. Aug. 15-17. GSU Student Center, 33 Gilmer St. Screenings range from free to $15. 404-508-4612. www.cmc-ent.com.

PROMISES (NR) A sad, revealing look at the seemingly insurmountable Israeli-Palestinian conflict as seen through the eyes of seven children ages 9-13 from both the Israeli and Palestinian side, this Academy Award-winning documentary shows how segregating Jew and Arab is the first step in creating lifelong enemies. Aug 15-21, Cinefest, GSU Student Center, Suite 211, 66 Courtland St. $5 ($3 until 5 p.m.). 404-651-3565. --FF

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) (R) The cult classic of cult classics, the musical 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. Midnight Fri. at Lefont Plaza Theatre and Sat. at Marietta Star Cinema.

ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953) (NR) Audrey Hepburn won an Oscar for playing a princess who runs away from her palace to fall in love with reporter Gregory Peck. Written by blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo but credited for nearly 40 years to his “front,” Ian McLellan Hunter. Coca-Cola Summer Film Festival. Aug. 19, 8 p.m. Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. $7. 404-881-2100. www.foxtheatre.org.

TREMBLING BEFORE G-D (NR) Shot in six countries, this documentary explores the dilemma faced by Hasidic and Orthodox Jews who are gay or lesbian, and must reconcile their religious convictions with their sexual orientations. Interviewees include the world’s first openly gay Orthodox rabbi and a gay, Hasidic married couple still in the closetAug 15-21, Cinefest, GSU Student Center, Suite 211, 66 Courtland St. $5 ($3 until 5 p.m.). 404-651-3565.

VIENNA ACTIONISTS (NR) Eyedrum presents the avant-garde films of the pioneering performance and body art group of the 1960s. Aug. 14, 8 p.m. Eyedrum. 290 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. $5. 404-522-0655. www.eyedrum.org.

?Continuing
AMERICAN WEDDING (R) The third slice of American Pie trilogy finds Jason Biggs’ pie-fornicator preparing to walk down the aisle with Alyson Hannigan’s flute-fetishist. As bellowing Steve Stifler, beetle-browed Seann William Scott hogs the screen time without showing much comedic ability beyond making faces and raising his voice. But Biggs and Hannigan remain charmingly horny, and compared to Pie 2, American Wedding showers gags in quantity, even if their quality can be a crap shoot. Sometimes literally. --CH

BAD BOYS II (R) Will Smith and Martin Lawrence team up again with decidedly unfunny results as a couple of Miami cops fixated on busting an Ecstasy-smuggling kingpin in this uber-violent sequel to the 1995 original. Director Michael Bay (Armaggedon, Pearl Harbor) ropes in viewers with all the thrills and kills, but the excruciating dialogue and ridiculous body count could make it a more fitting sequel to Commando than to Bad Boys. --Andrew Stewart

THE BREAD, MY SWEET (NR) Scott Baio of “Charles in Charge” fame provides a surprisingly effective grown-up performance as rising executive bound by ties to his old Pittsburgh neighborhood. It’s nice to see a film about Italian-American culture where they’re not trying to whack each other, but Bread takes a half-baked turn to melodrama when Baio proposes to a virtual stranger (Kristin Minter) to please her dying mother (Rosemary Prinz). The film’s shamelessness with both ethnic stereotypes and soap-operatics eventually cancels out its street-level charms. At Madstone Theaters Parkside. --CH

BUFFALO SOLDIERS (R) Not for nothing has Miramax been reluctant to release Gregor Jordan’s military satire, which flies in the face of today’s pro-war jingoism. Joaquin Phoenix plays a sexy but unscrupulous black marketeer on a U.S. army base in Germany, and his self-serving schemes turn increasingly deadly. Ed Harris hilariously channels his inner McLean Stevenson as the befuddled commander, while stoned soldiers provide destructive slapstick. The resolution backs away from some of the film’s harsher implications, but its dark humor unfolds in the spirit of MASH and Three Kings. --CH

DAYS OF HEAVEN (1978) (PG) Director Terrence Malick’s tale of forbidden love among Midwestern wheat farmers is one of the most sumptuously photographed films ever made. Starring Richard Gere, Brooke Adams and Sam Shepard. At Madstone Theaters Parkside.

DIRTY PRETTY THINGS (R) This is not the finest moment for director Stephen Frears (High Fidelity, Dangerous Liaisons). Based on an interesting premise about a kidneys-for-passports black market operated from a seedy London hotel, this Hollywood-style thriller centers on a principled African immigrant determined to expose the ring. A bland romance between the principled former doctor (Chiwetel Ejiofar) and a Turkish immigrant (Audrey Tautou) weighs the film down. Frears emphasizes thriller cliches over a sustained examination of what the feelings of immigrants. At every turn, Things promises something meaningful, and never delivers it. --FF

DIVINE INTERVENTION (NR) Writer/director/ star Elia Suleiman doesn’t always succeed at skewering the absurdity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, though his irreverent approach to sacred material is much appreciated. Loosely structured around a romance between an Arab man (Suleiman) and woman (Manal Khader), the film consists of a number of loosely strung together comic vignettes which illustrate the continual difficulty faced by the Jews and Arabs — but also anyone who has ever tried to coexist with a neighbor — to simply get along. At Madstone Theaters Parkside. --FF

FREAKY FRIDAY (PG) Teenage Anna (Lindsay Lohan) and her mother Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis) learn it’s not easy to be each other when they trade bodies for a day in this unnecessary remake of 1976’s grandmother of body-switch movies. Only Curtis’ performance raises the production values — barely — above the level of a movie made for the Disney Channel. She has fun acting giggly and girlish. but Lohan, good in the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap, plays her forty-ish mother as a dull woman with one foot in the grave. Big remains the champion of the genre. — SW

HOW TO DEAL (PG-13) Unlike critics, teenage girls can somehow perceive an honest reflection of their heightened emotions within TV sitcom-style, heavy-handed direction and over-the-top acting. Mandy Moore plays 17-year-old Hallie, whose bad attitude about love stems from observing her divorced parents (Allison Janney, Peter Gallagher), pregnant best friend and unhappily engaged older sister. When bad boy Macon (Trent Ford) takes a sudden interest in Hallie we’re supposed to believe it’s the real thing, complicated only by Hallie’s reluctance to give her heart. The target audience won’t mind sloppy editing as long as there’s a happy ending. --SW

IMAX THEATER: Shackleton’s Antarctic Adventure (NR) The greatest survival story of the 20th century lends itself to IMAX treatment. Kevin Spacey narrates Sir Ernest Shackleton’s attempt to cross Antarctica by dogsled without his usual sarcasm but without overselling it either. The visuals combine Frank Hurley’s original photographs and film footage, which retain amazing clarity, with recreations of the original expedition.

Coral Reef Adventure (NR) A Fijian, concerned that a local reef is dying, hooks up with underwater filmmakers Howard and Michele Hall, who diagnose a combination of ocean warming, overfishing and residue from upriver logging. Enjoy the kick-ass photography and CSN songs, but tune out Liam Neeson’s narration that tries to hang ecological baggage on a narrative too flimsy to support it. Through Sept. 1. Fernbank Museum of Natural History IMAX Theater, 767 Clifton Road. 404-929-6300. www.fernbank.edu. --SW

L’AUBERGE ESPAGNOLE (R) This utterly charming, hip and modern story follows French graduate student Xavier (Romain Duris) on his chaotic journey from his Parisian home to the warm and sexy embrace of Barcelona. Cedric Klapisch continues to mine the hipster humanism he delivered so beautifully in 1997’s When the Cat’s Away. Despite its sweet, entertaining timbre, Klapisch’s coming-of-age story perfectly conveys the bewitching effects of a change of locale and has profound insights about the need to hold onto one’s identity in this frantic world. At Marietta Star Cinema. --FF

THE LEGEND OF BHAGAT SINGH (2002) (NR) This Bollywood historical musical recounts the life of the famed freedom fighter of the title. At Marietta Star Cinema.

THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN (PG-13) The Alan Moore/Kevin O’Neill comic book rests on the fool-proof concept of a Victorian superhero team comprised of literary characters like Captain Nemo and Dr. Jekyll. But Blade director Stephen Norrington makes a botch of it with overblown special effects, incoherent action scenes and a dumbed-down script that steamrolls the comic’s book-smarts. Some cast members, like Sean Connery as explorer Allan Quatermain and Peta Wilson as Dracula’s Mina Harker, bear up with wit and fortitude even as the film’s clever Englishness gets Americanized in the worst way. --CH

LEGALLY BLONDE 2: RED, WHITE AND BLONDE (PG-13) What kind of shoes go with the Beltway? Reese Witherspoon reprises her ingenious comic creation Elle Woods, a ditzy but detail-oriented fashion slave who goes to Washington as an unlikely animal rights activist. Neither Legally Blonde film really lives up to Witherspoon’s acting, and the sequel trots out more canine costumes for laughs and inspirational cliches for cheap sentiment. At least Bob Newhart and Mary Lynn Rajskub provide amusing comic foils. --CH

MORVERN CALLAR (NR) Lynne Ramsay’s creepy, strangely mesmerizing follow-up to Ratcatcher centers on a working-class Scottish woman (Samantha Morton) whose life slowly transforms when her boyfriend commits suicide, leaving her in possession of his unpublished manuscript. Ramsay’s trippy, art house ambiance and meandering storyline can veer between a canny evocation of her characters’ worldview and a shallow exercise in style, but her film and characters exert an undeniable pull. At Madstone Theaters Parkside. --FF

NORTHFORK (PG-13) If Ingmar Bergman made Northfork it would be hailed as a masterpiece, but when a film is in English, Americans expect to understand it (unless David Lynch made it). Written by twins Mark and Michael Polish (Michael directed), it takes place in 1955 during the 48 hours before a hydroelectric dam floods Northfork, Montana. Government agents encourage the remaining citizens to leave, while four reappearing angels may exist only in the dreams of a dying orphan. The visually amazing film too often seems like weirdness for its own sake. --SW

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE LEGEND OF THE BLACK PEARL (PG-13) Disney attempts to resurrect the genre of swashbuckling adventure films (and extend the brand of its theme park ride) with this brainless but fun sea opera. Johnny Depp mostly annoys as an out-of-luck pirate who seeks revenge against the crew who betrayed him. But the sailors are now cursed and show up as skeletons in moonlight, a macabre twist on the old pirate folklore. Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley come into play as star-crossed lovers who tangle with the zombies. Aarrrh! --TB

RIVERS AND TIDES: ANDY GOLDSWORTHY WORKING WITH TIME (NR) Germany’s portrait of a Scottish artist is the best documentary about an artist since the 1978 Christo doc Running Fence. Filmmaker Thomas Riedelsheimer photographs with an artist’s eye, while Goldsworthy’s craft — arranging items from nature and leaving them to be eroded by sun, wind or tide — lends itself to cinematic treatment. Skeptics may find him a fraud or a fool but he creates stunning images, and watching their alteration is definitely not like watching paint dry. At Lefont Plaza. --SW

SEABISCUIT (PG-13) Pleasantville director Gary Ross adapts Laura Hillenbrand’s bestselling bio of the famed racehorse by emphasizing “The Biscuit’s” owner (Jeff Bridges), trainer (Chris Cooper) and jockey (Tobey Maguire). Initially the film moves as slow as a plow horse — David McCullough’s nostalgic narration could be marketed as anesthesia — and the big races look too much alike. But the three leads provide letter-perfect performances and the “match race” against War Admiral (the Apollo Creed to Seabiscuit’s Rocky Balboa) captures the thrill of the sport for rider and spectator alike. --CH

S.W.A.T. (PG-13) Veteran TV director/actor Clark Johnson makes good with his big-screen directing debut with an adaptation of the 1970s cop show that lags in some parts and proves anticlimactic in others. Samuel L. Jackson leads a team of newly-recruited quasi-loose cannons, including Colin Farrell and Michelle Rodriguez, in guarding a vaguely international criminal (Olivier Martinez), who offers $100 million to anyone whom can spring him. Non-stop action ensues when every criminal in L.A. takes him up on the offer. Training Day it ain’t, but in a summer full of overblown sequels, S.W.A.T.’s simple cop-flick formula is a nice relief. --AS

SWIMMING POOL (R) A standoffish English mystery writer (Charlotte Rampling) and her publisher’s trampy French daughter (Ludivine Sagnier) become mismatched roomies in Francois Ozon’s psychological thriller. The actresses give emotionally and physically revealing performances (Ozon seems besotted with Sagnier’s lithe form) and the titular pool becomes a supple symbol of the human psyche. The thought-provoking final twist can’t compensate for some routine ideas about releasing inhibitions or the film’s lack of confidence with its melodramatic turns. Swimming Pool spends too much time splashing around in the shallows. At United Artists Tara Cinemas. --CH

WHALE RIDER (PG-13) A community of New Zealand’s Maori Indians await the arrival of their next spiritual leader but are disappointed when a girl Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes) is born instead. Niki Caro’s film is a heartwarming family drama with profound things to say about the diminished importance of little girls in male-dominated societies. This moving film is led by an absolutely heartwrenching performance by Keisha Castle-Hughes as the defiant, soulful young girl determined to prove her mettle. --FF

WINGED MIGRATION In 1996, the French actor/producer/director Jacques Perrin made Microcosmos, a thrilling, humorous, bug’s-eye view documentary about insects. Now he’s turned his attention to birds. Five filmmaking teams, using gliders, hot air balloons, helicopters and remote-controlled cameras, spent three years following a variety of species on their migratory flights. This feature-length “moment of Zen” has sparse factual content but thrilling cinematography. At Lefont Garden Hills Cinema. --Suzanne Van Atten

X2: X-MEN UNITED (PG-13) The sequel marks a step forward in the evolution of a satisfying superhero franchise by being more x-pensive, x-pansive and x-citing than the first. It’s a half hour longer than X-Men, and that half hour has saggy pace and false climax problems, but the film’s rival super-powered “mutants” each, in effect, provide their own money shot, especially Hugh Jackman’s blade-fisted Wolverine and Alan Cumming’s teleporting Nightcrawler. --CH