Kill Bill: Volume 1 (B+) is vintage writer/director Quentin Tarantino material if ever there were. When “The Bride” (a fierce and feral Uma Thurman) is gunned down and nearly killed at her own wedding, she embarks on a global vengeance spree against the crime ring responsible. The film chronicles, in out of order episodes, of course, the colorful and outrageous interactions that often lead to bloody revenge. Inspired by grindhouse films, samurai epics, anime and so much more, this is a creative and unexpected action thriller. The wordplay mixes wonderfully with the swordplay, and it’s often a riotous ride.
All posts by Stephen Michael Brown
“Spider-Man” (2002) is a Bit of a Bore
Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man (C) skews too safe and squeaky-clean with Tobey Maguire a particularly bland central casting choice stuck playing the dual role of the superhero and Peter Parker. After dispensing with the mythology of how the teen becomes the “arachninspired” legend, Raimi plunges the story into a rather weak romance with Mary Jane (a dead-eyed Kirsten Dunst) and a beleaguered battle with the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe, in another “didn’t he used to be good?” role). The special effects are obvious cartoonish CGI and miniatures, and the action just doesn’t seem all that urgent. The best thing that can be said is it’s a fairly harmless film that kids will enjoy as a starter comic book adventure, viewed with parental guidance of course. With great power comes great responsibility, and the usually very creative Raimi stumbled a bit on the job here. Kudos to the iconic upside-down spider-kiss though!
“Attack of the Clones” is Subpar “Star Wars”
George Lucas’s Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (C) upgrades the effects and the action from its prequel predecessor but leaves at its centerpiece a burgeoning and head-scratching love affair between Hayden Christensen’s pouty Anakin Skywalker and Natalie Portman’s listless Padmé Amadala that is so poorly written and acted that it threatens to bury the whole franchise in the sands of Tatooine or the waters of Naboo. Some bounty hunter espionage helps put a spring in the film’s step, and Anakin gets to show a darker side when he kills some Tuskin Raiders (hey, aren’t those guys bastards anyway?); and the action of the passive voice title seems to partially occur. It’s largely an attack on good sense. John Williams’ love theme is pretty but underscores a Harlequin romance. Ewan McGregor is again wasted as Obi-Wan Kenobi solving a parallel mystery.
Scorsese Dream Project “Gangs of New York” is Epic, Uneven
Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York (B-) is an epic historical drama set in the mid-19th century in the Five Points district of Lower Manhattan. While Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz are fine in their roles, it is Daniel Day-Lewis who steals the show as Bill “The Butcher” Cutting, the crime boss and political kingmaker of a time period inclusive of Irish immigration, the Civil War and the New York Draft Riots. It’s clear Scorsese was going for Dickensian characters and atmosphere on classic American turf, but then he rushes the final act. The story isn’t all that memorable, even if The Butcher’s menace lingers on.
“Punch Drunk Love” is Director PTA Having Fun
At around an hour and a half, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch Drunk Love (B-) is a quirky trifle from a director who’s accustomed to directing an opus. Adam Sandler’s character is a schmuck with rage issues, but he’s paired with the super-sweet Emily Watson in a romance. To the tune of Jon Brion’s harmonium and through bizarre sequences with Phillip Seymour Hoffman and others, this is PTA’s version of After Hours. Sandler glows from the great writing and direction.
Related article: I reference Adam Sandler’s acclaimed role in this Wall Street Journal story.
“Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” Ups the Fantasy Ante
Even richer in its themes about the importance of telling stories, Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (A) centers on the friendship between the Hobbit characters played by Elijah Wood and Sean Astin while continuing to build a mosaic of characters preparing for a battle for the ages. The adventure in this installment is a wonder to behold. The sequences with Treebeard slow down the film a bit like the Yoda sequences do in another famous trilogy, but it’s mainly forward momentum all the way here as the merry band of adventurers encounter new obstacles.
Movie Version of “Chicago” One of the Best Big-Screen Musicals in Years
Rob Marshall’s 1924-set musical Chicago (A-) brings song and dance razzamatazz back to the screen as Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones take on the juicy roles of ladies who will kill for fame. Many musical numbers from the stage show become fantasy dream sequences in the film, which works beautifully. From the cell block tango to vaudeville sketches, this film brings all that jazz and more to the proceedings, and it’s a dark comedic good time.
“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” is a Weak Start
Despite access to a treasure box of imagination in the wildly popular source material, Chris Columbus’ tale of a boy wizard going to school, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (C+), rarely takes flight. Filmed in dim halls and corridors and employing too frequent a use of clumsy CGI effects, the film maps out an interesting world but is uneven in inhabiting it. The kid actors led by plucky Daniel Radcliffe are fine and often given gravitas by a slew of veterans (Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith and nearly every employable British actor). This is the film that sets the template for a franchise that ups the stakes considerably. There are some funny and enchanting moments and some nice action set-pieces, but this rather creaky movie should have been an absolute spectacular. In and of itself, this first film in the series is only beginning to understand its powers.
Ogre the Moon! Animated “Shrek” a Clever Fairy Tale Send-Up
Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson’s endlessly imaginative animated tale Shrek (B+) tells the tale of an ogre (voiced by Mike Myers), a donkey (Eddie Murphy) and a princess (Cameron Diaz) on an adventurous journey in a far-away fractured fairy tale land. The in-jokes are inventive and will keep parents in stitches while kids enjoy the lovable characters in hilarious pratfalls. This whole subversive DreamWorks Animation enterprise pokes gentle fun at the Disney kingdom and gets great laughs from a supporting cast of misfit characters such as its own version of Pinocchio and The Three Little Pigs. John Lithgow is also a hoot as the diminutive villain. Fun and frantically paced, it’s a delightful modern classic.
“A.I. Artificial Intelligence” an Austere Spielberg/Kubrick Hybrid
Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence (B-) is full of so many good ideas, many germinated by the late Stanley Kubrick for decades, that it’s a shame the final package is a bit, well, robotic. The story starts off with Frances O’Connor and Sam Robards adopting an android child, played by Haley Joel Osment, but they ultimately reject and abandon him to a cruel world of robot runaways (Jude Law plays a cyber-gigolo who befriends the tin tyke). The imagery cribbed from Pinocchio as the central character pines away to become a real boy is haunting, but the enterprise doesn’t seem to know what its viewers’ key takeaways are supposed to be. Both the humans and the androids in the film are equally unappealing, but the flickers and flights of fancy help the film occasionally rise to its ambitions.
“In the Bedroom” is Potent Domestic Drama
Todd Field’s In the Bedroom (A-) is a suburban stunner that starts out as a romance between Nick Stahl and Marisa Tomei, then something awful happens, then it’s something much more. Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson play parents forced to face the aftermath of violence in this searing and perfectly acted piece. Field is masterful in his debut work directing quite an accomplished ensemble.
David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive” a Mindbender of a Masterpiece
Brace yourself for David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive (B+), a wild ride into the illusions of Hollywood where nothing is what it seems; or if it is, it won’t be for long. Naomi Watts is wonderful as a classic Lynch protagonist in a film that may or may not involve souls switching bodies, color-coded lights that may or may not involve parallel universes and just enough weirdness to keep you hooked.