Pop goes the nation as Madonna assumes the role of Eva Peron in director Alan Parker’s faithful adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock opera Evita (A-). This sung-through political biography tells the rags-to-riches tale of Argentina’s most celebrated first lady with lush period detail, smashing musical numbers and surprisingly good sing-acting. Madonna was born for the role and acquits herself nicely with a pop-rock take on the typically Broadway belter role. Antonio Banderas is charismatic as Che, the omnipresent narrator. A meditation on stardom and how close we get to our political leaders before we realize they too are human, it’s a powerful musical epic.
Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn (D+) pairs George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino in a poorly-conceived vampire slasher film. Although some suspense and stunts are funny and sustained, most of it is unsavory and unsatisfying.
Robin Williams and Nathan Lane are birds of a feather in Mike Nichols’ lightweight comedy The Birdcage (B), based on the French classic La Cage Aux Folles. Their tale of an alternative American family is filled with larger-than-life gags. But for all the preening queens run amuck, there are actually some nice domestic moments between the central couple and the son they reared together that blaze some trails on acceptance. It’s super-funny and proof that it takes all types to make a family.
Ben Stiller headlines an all-star cast in the hilarious domestic comedy of errors, David O. Russell’s Flirting with Disaster (A-). His adopted character’s cross-country search for his biological parents leads him hilariously into the arms of drug-dealers, FBI agents and a merry band of fellow travelers played by comic legends ranging from Lily Tomlin to George Segal and Mary Tyler Moore. Moore is outrageously tart playing against type. The story has a way of getting more and more perilous from what seemed like a pretty simple premise, and Russell’s dark searches within Pandora’s Box lead to some awfully funny findings about love and relationships in the modern age.
Jan de Bont’s Twister (C-) is perpetually stuck in the suck zone. Cardboard characters played by Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt seem stationed in their roles to be ready when the big tornado effects come in to do their magic. It’s all a downward spiral.
Director Michael Bay’s Alcatraz redemption takes place as Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage achieve breakout success in the action-filled confines of a notorious prison in The Rock (B+). This is an action lover’s wild ride that doesn’t give up for a single frame of Bay’s chronicle of escape artists in full-throttle momentum. The film compensates for implausibility with sheer action sensation.
Jim Carrey steals the show in director Ben Stiller’s lame comedic indictment of a world saturated by television, The Cable Guy (C). The comedian’s highjinks are funny in parts, but the film’s weighty messages often blunt the laughter in all the wrong places.
Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day (B) is far-fetched craziness about an Alien assault on America, complete with an iconic explosion of The White House. But somehow when Will Smith and Bill Pullman board planes to kick some alien ass, there’s a strange swell of patriotism of something that makes this a fun and seminal film entertainment. Quirky performances by an eclectic cast including Harvey Fierstein, Jeff Goldblum, Harry Connick Jr. and others help make this modern-day disaster flick resonate even though most everything in it is pretty preposterous.
