Friday, November 29, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Movies

Movies are rated on a letter-grade scale, from A to F. Opinions by R-J movie critic Carol Cling (C.C.) or R-J entertainment columnist Mike Weatherford (M.W.) are indicated by initials. Other opinions are from wire service critics.

Motion Picture Association of America ratings:

G - General audiences, all ages.

PG - Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

PG-13 - Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children under 13.

R - Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or guardian.

NC-17 - No one under 17 admitted.

NR - Not rated.

BARBERSHOP

(B-) An old-fashioned barber shop on Chicago's gritty South Side provides the backdrop for a collection of colorful characters, from the embattled proprietor (an unusually relaxed Ice Cube) to the senior stylist (scene-stealing Cedric the Entertainer) in a genial ensemble romp that ranges from raucous slapstick and predictable booty humor to warm home truths. "Barbershop" and its denizens -- played winningly by, among others, rapper Eve ("XXX"), Sean Patrick Thomas ("Save the Last Dance"), Troy Garity ("Bandits") and Anthony Anderson ("Me, Myself and Irene") -- may be familiar, but in this case, familiarity breeds contentment, not contempt. (102 min.) PG-13; profanity, sexual references, brief drug references. (C.C.)

BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE

(B) That inexhaustible gadfly, the muckraking Michael Moore (director of "Roger and Me," author of "Stupid White Men") captured a special 55th anniversary prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival for this wake-up-call documentary that connects the dots between America's gun obsession, media-fed racist paranoia and the national murder rate in a way that's sad, hilarious, sometimes reckless, often obnoxious -- but always provocative. (119 min.) R; violent images and profanity. (C.C.)

DIE ANOTHER DAY

(B-) Brosnan, Pierce Brosnan, returns to Bondage for the fourth time as Agent 007 chases a debonair diamond mogul ("Possession's" gleefully megalomaniacal Toby Stephens) plotting a high-tech device that could change the world for better -- or worse. Along the way, Bond enjoys close encounters with, among others, the intriguing Jinx (a saucy Halle Berry), who's as adept undercover as she is under the covers. "Die Another Day," Bond's 20th big-screen assignment, breathes new life into the franchise's sometimes moribund formula of guns, gadgets, goons and girls, adding a glimmer of actual dramatic conflict that's almost enough to you sit up and take notice -- in between all that stuff blowing up real good. (129 min.) PG-13; action violence, sexual situations. (C.C.)

8 MILE

(A-) Controversial rapper Eminem proves he can act in a drama that draws from his own hardscrabble upbringing. He's Jimmy, a white kid from a poor black neighborhood in Detroit who immerses himself in rap to escape his alcoholic mother (Kim Basinger) and dead-end factory job. Director Curtis Harrington ("L.A. Confidential") keeps a raw, natural handle on a story that doesn't always take the easy route every time. (118 min.) R; language, sexual situations, violence, drug use.

THE EMPEROR'S CLUB

(B-) A classics instructor at a prestigious prep school (Kevin Kline) bends the rules to help a rebellious senator's son (Emile Hirsch) excel -- and learns a few life lessons himself -- in the latest in a long line of "inspirational teacher" dramas, this one inspired by writer Ethan Canin's story "The Palace Thief." This drama always seems to be on the verge of sinking into soapy "Dead Poets Society"-style bathos, but its thoughtful focus on ethical dilemmas -- Kline's superbly nuanced performance as an inspiring and noble teacher who can't quite live up to his own lofty moral code -- keep it out of the sentimental swamp. Just barely. (109 min.) PG-13; sexual situations. (C.C.)

FAR FROM HEAVEN

(A) What lies beneath: In 1950s Connecticut, a devoted homemaker (Julianne Moore, in a stunningly moving performance that should be an Oscar front-runner) finds her well-ordered life collapsing when unexpected forces threaten her seemingly perfect marriage to a successful sales executive (Dennis Quaid, expertly revealing the torment beneath the surface charm), prompting her to turn to the family's gardener (quietly forceful Dennis Haysbert) for solace and friendship. Writer-director Todd Haynes, who also directed Moore to an extraordinary performance in "Safe,"salutes -- and inverts -- classic Hollywood weepies, particularly the '50s work of director Douglas Sirk ("All That Heaven Allows"), with an audacious and emotionally wrenching melodrama that puts a contemporary spin on the Eisenhower-era setting -- and offers a timeless portrait of people trying to find a way to live when they're dying inside. (107 min.) PG-13; mature themes, sexual situations, brief violence, profanity. (C.C.)

FEMME FATALE

(C) Director Brian DePalma returns to the suspense thriller genre of "Body Double" and "Dressed to Kill" with the tale of a beauty (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) who pulls off a jewel heist and then disappears, turning up later as a society woman stealing the attention of a photographer (Antonio Banderas). DePalma's gifts and deficiencies are both on display in a movie that takes audiences on a winding, crazy road full of speed bumps. (110 min.) R; strong sexual situations, violence, profanity.

FRIDA

(B-) Julie Taymor, director of Broadway's "The Lion King," gives visual brilliance to a biography of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Some audacious sequences take flight, but more often the episodic tale lapses into a soapy study of the tempestuous Kahlo (Salma Hayek) and husband Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina, in an Oscar-caliber performance) as they dance a tango of mutual torment and desire. (127 min.)R; sexual situations, nudity, profanity, brief violence. (C.C.)

FRIDAY AFTER NEXT

(C-) Being the third chapter in the adventures of ghetto slackers Craig (Ice Cube) and Day-Day (Mike Epps), this time on an eventful Christmas Eve during which their neighborhood is terrorized by a burglar in a Santa suit. The usual addled, ribald mess, but at least it's a toke or two better than the last one. Movies like this aren't meant to be sources of wisdom or illumination. They're reasons to go out with the rowdy group of your choice in pursuit of tawdry, inventory- clearance laughs. They're sold to provide a swift, cheap buzz -- and if you go expecting anything else, you've earned your mortification and spare change to go with it. (82 min.) R; profanity, sexual situations, drug use.

GHOST SHIP

(C-) A tugboat's salvage crew (led by Gabriel Byrne, Julianna Margulies, Isaiah Washington and Ron Eldard) discovers a vanished luxury liner -- and the deadly spirits aboard -- in this waterlogged gorefest that's "Alien" meets "The Perfect Storm" meets "Poltergeist" meets ... Oh, skip it. And we mean that literally. (88 min.) R; strong violence and gore, profanity, sexual situations.

HALF PAST DEAD

(F) Get out your money, get out your gun, Steven Seagal's back, and he's gained a ton. Throw out your money, throw out your gun, Ja Rule's with him and he's havin' more fun. Crash go the window, bang go the gun, prison is cool when the stage blood run. Turn up the volume, shake out your bun, you won't hear nothin' when this movie's done. Better yet, if you don't want to emerge half past deaf, don't bother with this overwrought action tale of an FBI agent (Seagal) who goes undercover as a career criminal- turned-prison inmate at the reopened Alcatraz. Half past dread is more like it. (99 min.) PG-13; action violence, language and some sexual content.

HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS

(B) The second adaptation of J.K. Rowling's mega-hit book series picks up where the first one left off, with predictable results. The same cast and creative team take their sweet time (2 1/2 hours before the end credits) to lead the young wizard (Daniel Radcliffe) to the heart of a 50-year-old mystery: What is petrifying students at his beloved Hogwarts academy? But the episodic pace suits a literary phenomenon, slowing the parade of special effects to allow time for the details, such as Richard Harris' resonant final performance as Merlinlike headmaster Dumbledore. (161 min.) PG; scary moments, creature violence, mild language. (M.W.)

HIS SECRET LIFE

(B) Turkish filmmaker Ferzan Ozpetek follows his debut feature "Steam: The Turkish Bath" with another perceptive probe into the complexities and ambiguities of sexual identity, this time focusing on the 40-something widow (Margherita Buy) who suspects that her handsome husband (Andrea Renzi) was having an affair -- but doesn't realize that the other woman was really another man. Melodramatic, to be sure, but full of profound, real-life moments anyone can relate to, regardless of sexual orientation. In Italian with English subtitles. (109 min.) NR; sexual situations, mature themes.

I SPY

(D+) Talk about a mission: implausible. That's this lackluster-at-best remake of the '60s hipster TV show, wherein a championship boxer (Eddie Murphy) is inexplicably recruited to help a U.S. agent (Owen Wilson) recover a top-secret jet. With jokes that fall flatter than the news that your pension fund was invested in Enron, this misfire makes the worst possible use of Murphy's gifts, tosses Wilson's quirky talents on the scrap heap and makes one long for the globe-trotting glory days of the TV original. (96 min.) PG-13; action violence, sexual situations, profanity.

JACKASS: THE MOVIE

(D) Ordinary people perform extraordinarily perilous, extraordinarily brainless pranks in this cinematic spinoff of the MTV show. For a little more than 80 minutes, host and head provocateur Johnny Knoxville and his anything-for-a-laugh gang throw themselves into a series of defiantly stupid, wantonly injurious and calculatedly gross stunts. At times, the movie is irrepressibly funny; at others, it achieves a kind of surreal silliness. But mostly, "Jackass" is oppressively juvenile -- made by jackasses, for jackasses. (85 min.) R; dangerous, sometimes extremely crude stunts, profanity, nudity.

MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING

(C+) When glum, withdrawn Toula (Nia Vardalos), the unmarried daughter of Greek immigrant parents (Michael Constantine, Lainie Kazan), falls for Ian (John Corbett of "Sex and the City" and "Northern Exposure"), a decidedly non-Greek teacher, multi-ethnic complications ensue in a romantic comedy, based on Vardalos' one-woman stage show, that's been transfigured into a mushy, overcooked ethnic comedy with culture-clash jokes whose freshness date expired 30 years ago. Everyone tries hard -- sometimes too hard -- and geniality radiates from every frame, but all this needs is a laugh track to qualify as a TV sitcom. (95 min.) PG; sexual references, profanity. (C.C.)

MYSTERIES OF EGYPT

(B+) Appropriately showcased at the Luxor, this National Geographic tour features Egypt's greatest star, Omar Sharif, recounting his homeland's legends for the benefit of his on-screen granddaughter ("The Secret Garden's" Kate Maberly). As he shares the myths and magic of the chambers of the sacred tomb of King Tutankhamen, his words open up like a huge picture book -- and we're invited to look over his shoulder as he escorts her through magnificent Egypt, sharing intimate views of its treasures. (45 min.) NR; all ages.

OCEAN MEN: EXTREME DIVE

(B+) Now playing at the Luxor's Imax theater, this giant-screen documentary explores free diving, following champions Umberto Pelizzari and Pipin Ferreras as they descend hundreds of feet below the surface and return -- on just one breath of air. The film puts giant-screen imagery to the best sort of use as it transports, immerses and engages the audience. "Ocean Men" boasts moments where your lungs ache along with the divers', where you can almost feel the pressure from five stories of ocean water and when you feel the gasping relief that comes in breaking the surface after eight minutes on a single breath. (40 min.) NR.

PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE

(C+) Writer-director P.T. Anderson ("Magnolia," "Boogie Nights") shared best director honors at the Cannes Film Festival for this stubbornly eccentric romantic comedy with Adam Sandler as a lonely goofball and Emily Watson as his unexpected dream girl. During their idiosyncratic courtship, "Punch-Drunk Love" takes off, combining slapstick staging, kitschy Technicolor visuals and dancing camera moves that confirm Anderson's undeniable talents. If only he'd learn to harness them. Instead, he'd rather throw wild and wacky turns at you, often devoid of motivation, and hope you go along for the ride. (95 min.) R; profanity, violence, mild sexual references. (C.C.)

REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES

(B+) A young East L.A. woman (America Ferrera) dreams of a future beyond working in a dress factory -- and learns to feel at home in her own skin. This adaptation of Josefina Lopez's popular play proves a meaty coming-of-age movie, featuring delightful turns from newcomer Ferrera and veteran Lupe Ontiveros as the matriarch who measures her love by how much she rags her daughters about their weight. (90 min.) PG-13; sexual content and some language.

RED DRAGON

(B-) Psychologically scarred FBI investigator Will Graham (Edward Norton) turns to his imprisoned nemesis, Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter (who else but Anthony Hopkins, who won an Oscar for the role in "The Silence of the Lambs" and reprised it in "Hannibal") to help him track down another crazed serial slayer, dubbed "The Tooth Fairy" (Ralph Fiennes). If this latest installment in Thomas Harris' thriller trilogy sounds familiar, it should -- the same book also inspired writer-director Michael Mann's 1986 thriller "Manhunter," which starred "CSI's" William L. Petersen as the FBI profiler and Brian Cox as Lecter. This time around, Harvey Keitel, Emily Watson, Mary-Louise Parker and Philip Seymour Hoffman co-star for "Rush Hour" director Brett Ratner, who delivers limited tension but lots of laughs -- in short, just what you want from a psychological thriller. (122 min.) R; violence, grisly images, profanity, nudity, sexual situations.

THE RING

(C) A newspaper reporter ("Mulholland Drive's" prodigiously talented Naomi Watts) tracks down an urban legend about a killer video and discovers there's more to the story when she watches the tape and realizes she has one week to solve its mystery before she meets with the same fate as four teens who've already watched it -- and died. Director Gore Verbinski ("The Mexican," "MouseHunt") hobbles potentially terrifying material in an English-language remake of a top Japanese box-office hit that's stuffed with more eerie elements than it knows what to do with. (115 min.) PG-13; mature themes, disturbing images, profanity, drug references.

THE SANTA CLAUSE 2

(C+) After eight years in charge at the North Pole, divorced dad Scott Calvin (Tim Allen, reprising his role from the 1994 original) has settled into life as Santa Claus -- until a few problems come to light, from his son Charlie's unexpected presence on this year's "Naughty" list to the heretofore unknown "Mrs. Clause," which states that he'll lose his post as Santa if he doesn't tie the knot by Christmas Eve. A serviceably entertaining, if TV-hokey sequel, this is as home-entertainment ready as a shrink-wrapped sack of microwave popcorn. But at least it works hard at finding ways of pushing this one-joke premise ahead a space or two. (98 min.) Rated G.

SANTA VS. THE SNOWMAN

(B-) From the folks who brought you "Jimmy Neutron," this 3-D animated romp at Luxor's giant-screen Imax theater follows the adventures of a lonely Snowman who's swept away by the wonders of Santa's Village -- until he becomes jealous of all the attention Santa gets at Christmas, triggering an all-out polar war involving chocolate squirt guns, giant "Star Wars"-style Igloo Robot Walkers and a 50-foot toy soldier manned by Santa himself (voiced by Jonathan Winters). So hyperactive it could cause severe whiplash, but it proves a pleasant surprise: harmless entertainment for kids and just smart enough to appeal to parents. (37 min.) NR; all ages.

SPACE STATION

(B) Imax space movies venture into a new frontier -- three dimensions -- as the first Imax 3-D space movie lands at the Luxor's Imax Theatre. Blasting off from the Kennedy's Space Center and Russia's Baikonur Cosmodome, the movie takes audiences 220 miles above Earth -- at 17,500 mph -- to the International Space Station, where a whole bunch of astronauts look close enough to touch and audiences feel swept away by the romance of zero-gravity lifestyles and, as always, the sensation of floating in blackness and peering down at the Earth's reassuring blueness below. Tom Cruise narrates. (45 min.) NR; all ages.

STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN

(B) The hidden history of the Funk Brothers -- the instrumental team that helped power the Motown sound -- inspires a documentary tribute that reunites surviving members for a concert teaming them with hitmakers past (Chaka Khan) and present (Joan Osborne). Hard to believe that this crazy quilt of live performance, interviews, archival footage and reenactments so cheesy you can smell the Swiss is as moving as it is. But there ain't no mountain high enough to keep the Funk Brothers from getting to you. (108 min.) PG; profanity, mature themes.

STAR WARS: EPISODE II -- ATTACK OF THE CLONES: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE

(A-) Size matters not -- except when it comes to George Lucas' shot-on-digital space opera, now at the Luxor's Imax theater. The second of three "Star Wars" prequels, "Clones" is the first digitally produced movie to undergo the Imax remastering treatment, which shaves a few minutes of running time but expands the intergalactic action to fit giant-screen proportions as Jedi apprentice Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) joins his mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi (a delightfully sardonic Ewan McGregor), to protect Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman), now a senator, from scheming political separatists led by renegade Jedi Count Dooku (Christopher Lee), whose climactic showdown with Yoda sends "Clones" soaring. (143 min.) PG; sci-fi action/violence. (C.C.)

SWEET HOME ALABAMA

(C) Rising young fashion designer Melanie Carmichael ("Legally Blonde" sweetheart Reese Witherspoon) seems to have it all -- a booming career and a fiancé who happens to be New York City's most eligible bachelor (Patrick Dempsey), the JFK Jr.-like son of the city's mayor (Candice Bergen, in ace ice-queen mode). Instead, she has it all, plus a secret down-home Alabama past and a redneck husband ("A Beautiful Mind's" Josh Lucas) who refuses to divorce her. Andy Tennant ("Anna and the King," "Ever After") directs a labored, predictable romantic comedy that leaves no Southern-fried cliché unturned. Not even Witherspoon's incandescent charm can save it from its own predictability. (102 min.) PG-13; profanity, sexual references. (C.C.)

THE TRANSPORTER

(B-) Give him a pickup time, a drop-off location and the weight of the cargo, and ex-Special Forces operator Frank Martin ("Snatch's" snarling Jason Statham) will get it there not only on time, but with style. What sounds like a Federal Express promo is actually the premise of a new high-octane action thriller co-written and produced by Luc Besson, the director of "La Femme Nikita" and "The Fifth Element." If you overlook the rock-stupid story line and one-dimensional characters, "The Transporter" will take you on the white-knuckle ride it promises. With stunt work worthy of Jackie Chan and a title character 10 times cooler than Vin Diesel in "XXX," this movie's action is so kinetic and well-staged that you're almost willing to forgive the story when it's clearly running on empty. (92 min.) PG-13; violence, sexual references.

THE TUXEDO

(C) Clothes may make the man, but they don't necessarily make the movie. Exhibit A: "The Tuxedo," an amiable but labored espionage romp in which New York cabbie Jimmy Tong (martial arts master Jackie Chan) gets a new job chauffeuring man-about-town Clark Devlin ("The Patriot's" Jason Isaacs). That is, until an explosion incapacitates his boss, leading Jimmy to discover his No. 1 passenger is really a secret agent with a killer uniform: a specially-equipped tux that transforms him into an instant spy. With the effects-enhanced title attire providing much of the action artistry, "The Tuxedo" robs Chan of his major claim to fame. He's still charming and funny in a self-deprecating way, but this "Tuxedo" isn't what you'd call a flattering fit. (99 min.) PG-13; action violence, sexual situations, profanity. (C.C.)Ice Cube, left, and Mike Epps star in "Friday After Next."