A - E
All About My Mother
takes us where few melodramas go with such tragic underpinnings that inspire such intense happiness as Pedro Almodovar's masterwork, a spectacular synthesis of Spanish director's fabulous fetishes--proud women, lovely boys, beautiful drag queens--imbued with new tenderness. With her teenage son, Esteban, killed in an accident Manuela (Cecilia Roth) seeks out the boy's father, and along the way she depends on the kindness of strangers, including a pregnant nun (Penelope Cruz), a stage actress (Marisa Parades), and transsexual performer (Antonia San Juan). Almodovar is masterful: he has created a film that seeps into you and rips apart your insides. Each moment is flawlessly crafted- the cinematography and light are lush, the writing is heart-wrenching. Loaded with irony and paradox, the story deals sensitively with a plotline that could have been sensationalistic. The strongest feature is perhaps the acting here, which is consistently superb, particularly in the case of Cecilia Roth, the lead actress.My Grade: A+
American Beauty marks the feature film directorial debut of award-winning theatre director Sam Mendes, this funny, moving and shocking journey through life in suburban America follows the trials and tribulations of Lester (Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey) and Carolyn (Annette Bening), an upper-middle class couple whose marriage - and lives - are slowly unraveling. Lester's wife hates him, his daughter Jane (Thora Birch) regards him with contempt, and his boss is positioning him for the ax. So Lester decides to make a few changes in his life; the freer he gets, the happier he gets, which is even more maddening to his wife and daughter. But Lester is about to learn that the ultimate freedom comes at the ultimate price. Winner of five Academy Awards including, Best Picture, Director, Actor, Screenplay and Cinematography.
My Grade: A+
In Beautiful Thing Jamie, Ste and Leah are three teenagers kicking their heels one long, hot summer, neighbors on Thamesmead Estate in south-east London. In the middle flat lives Jamie (Glen Berry) with his pub manager mum, Sandra (Linda Henry). Jamie's going through a few problems at school, much to the chagrin of the gutsy Sandra. Sandra's holding down a relationship with the dippy, hippy new man in her life, Tony, whilst dreaming of promotion. Next door lives Ste (Scott Neal), sporty and good looking, with his brother and alcoholic father. The atmosphere here is tense at the best of times. On the other side lives Leah (Tameka Empson) and her mum. Leah's been kicked out of school and passes her time listening to her mum's old records - she's become obsessed with the music of the Mamas and the Papas and particularly with Mama Cass. Life drifts along for the three friends, until one night Ste is beaten up by his brother and flees next door to the safety of Sandra's flat. Sleeping embarrassed head-to-toe, Jamie realizes that he is in love with Ste.
My Grade: A-
The miniseries Bella Mafia a delves into the world of organized crime to spin a tale of loyalty, love, and revenge. Vanessa Redgrave, Dennis Farina, Nastassja Kinski, Jennifer Tilly, Tony Lo Bianco, James Marsden, Gina Philips and Illeana Douglas star in this two-part, four-hour mini-series about a disparate group of Mafia wives who band together to avenge their husbands' murders. Bella Mafia was adapted by Lynda La Plante (Prime Suspect) from her intriguing novel of the same title. In Sicily, the world of Don Roberto Luciano (Dennis Farina) is turned upside down when his son, Michael (Michael Hayden), is kidnapped and murdered. Luciano vows that he will avenge the murder and suspects that Mafia rival Peter Carolla (Tony Lo Bianco) is responsible. Unbeknownst to his family, Michael's secret girlfriend, Sophia (Natassja Kinski), is pregnant. She gives birth to a son, Luka, who has no knowledge of his real family. In a strange twist of fate, Luka is adopted by Carolla, the sworn rival of the Luciano clan. Under the guidance of his new father, Luka wages war on his own blood family and murders all of the Luciano men at a family gathering. In retaliation, Carolla is killed in an Italian courtroom. Emotionally shattered, the Luciano wives band together to avenge the deaths of their husbands. They go on the run from authorities in New York, where they befriend Luka, now a charming though deadly and remorseless young man. When Sophia discovers that Luka was responsible for the massacre of the Luciano men, she takes swift and terrible justice.
My Grade: A-
In Billy Elliot, the life of 11-year old Billy Elliot (Jamie Bell), a coal miner's son in Northern England, is forever changed one day when he stumbles upon a ballet class during his weekly boxing lesson. Before long he finds himself in dance, demonstrating the kind of raw talent seldom seen by the class's exacting instructor, Mrs. Wilkinson (Julie Walters). With a tart tongue and a never-ending stream of cigarettes in her hand, Mrs. Wilkinson's zest for teaching is revived when she sees Billy's potential. Rather forgetting the other ballerinas, she's drawn into teaching her new protégé. But Billy must keep his participation in the class a secret from his widowed father (Gary Lewis) and overbearing brother (Jamie Draven), as both men are on strike from their jobs at the mine, and are struggling just to keep food on the table. Their pent up frustrations finally explode when they discover Billy has been squandering his boxing money on less than manly pursuits. Banned from ballet, and troubled by the diminishing mental capacity of his grandmother (Jean Heywood), Billy finds solace with his school friend Michael (Stuart Wells) which deepens into a touching friendship. Meanwhile, Mrs. Wilkinson encourages Billy to try out for the Royal Ballet School in London, where he can refine his craft while escaping his oppressive surroundings. But he is torn between his responsibility to his family and to the gift with which he has been blessed. For his overwhelming desire to dance is more than a means of self-expression. It is his passion, and it is his destiny.
My Grade: A+
In Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss, the road to romance is anything but straight in this delightfully campy comedy that takes a hilarious look at love in the 90s. Photographer Billy Collier (Sean Hayes) has dreams of success in his viewfinder and no love in the picture. But all that changes when he meets and falls for handsome "Is-he-or-isn't-he?" coffee house waiter Gabriel (Brad Rowe), and asks him to pose for a series of photos recreating great Hollywood screen kisses. See what develops in this warm and witty film Newsday calls, "a feel good, audience intoxicating fantasy!"
My Grade: B-
In The Birdcage, lies and deception are all in the family when Robin Williams must convince conservative in-laws Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest that he's as upstanding and uptight as they are in this raucously funny comedy. Armand (Williams) and Albert (Nathan Lane) have built the perfect life for themselves, tending to their successful and gaudy nightclub on the Miami strip. But their pastel tranquility is suddenly shaken by the arrival of Armand's son... who's getting married to the daughter of ultra-conservative Senator Keeley (Hackman). What's more, the Senator and his wife (Wiest) are on the way over for dinner and expecting to meet Mr. and Mrs. Family Values!
My Grade: B+
Can't Hardly Wait is a fantasy about love and high school: Imagine you were waiting for four long years for your dream to be full-filled. Imagine that the object of your dreams has always been occupied elsewhere. Now imagine that her boyfriend just broke up with her... Preston (the adorable Ethan Embry) is sure, his time finally has come! Everybody needs somebody. Everybody has somebody out there, waiting for them to meet. And for Preston it just has to be Amanda (Jennifer Love Hewitt)! Amanda Beckett, the girl of his dreams since freshman year in junior high. The sole woman he has been thinking about since she was seated next to him on her first day of high school, since she grabbed the very same kind of Pop Tart he was consuming at that moment. Tonight is the night he finally will have the chance to give her the letter he wrote after she hooked up with Mike Dexter (Peter Facinelli), the schools super BMOC. The very same letter he revised over and over and over...at least four billion times. Tonight is the night of the greatest party in town, the last day of high school The party of the century? For these five hundred kids certainly. Love/Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll together with some romance and adventure, philosophy and lifestyle; a memorable mixture. Couples split, lovers find lovers, friends remain and enemy become friends. And between all that Amanda receives her letter. But who is Preston? Could it be that guy she just told to get a life before he could say a word? What ordeals do they have to pass before the night is over? And did Barry Manilow really sing about a girl named Mandy, or was it just his dog? In the end Love creates lovers and jerks, well, remain jerks and become losers.
My Grade: B+
In The Cell serial killer Peter Novak (Vincent D'Onofrio) has just kidnapped his next victim, but a brain seizure renders him comatose before FBI Agent Carl Stargher (Vince Vaughn), can find clues to the missing girl's location. Stargher seeks the help of child psychologist Catherine Deane (Jennifer Lopez), whose breakthrough work in mental transference will allow her to embark on a perilous journey into Novak's deranged mind. Screenwriter Mark Protosevich has created only the thinnest story on which to hang some dazzling visuals, courtesy of cinematographer Paul Laufer and former music video/commercial director Tarsem Singh. This is one of those movies that makes up for any plot or character deficiencies by the sheer audacity of its design and conceptualization. Although intensely unpleasant, this stylish psychological thriller is a wild cinematic experience.
My Grade: B+
The American Ballet Company is not for the fainthearted. It's for the most gifted and beautiful ballet dancers alive. But you'll need more than mere physical prowess and determination to succeed. You'll need to deliver the goods at Center Stage. Jonathan Reeves (Peter Gallagher), the ballet company's artistic director, is evaluating this young tight-knit group of students as they face the growing pains of their seductive world of dance in becoming the best. Managing their ambitions, romance and heartbreaks proves to be both invigorating and painful. There's the naive female ingénue (Amanda Schull), the bad girl (Zoe Saldana), the favorite girl (Susan May Pratt), the cocky lead boy (Ethan Stiefel, "hailed as the most advanced male dancer in the world"), the nice guy dancer (Sascha Radetsky), the nice guy non-dancer (Eion Bailey), the gay friend (Shakiem Evans), the pushy mother (Debra Monk), the demanding teacher (Donna Murphy), and the dictatorial company director (Gallagher). There's even a Russian figure skater (Ilia Kulik) in the cast as a dancer.
My Grade: B+
Adventure has never been more beautiful than Charlie's Angels! Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu star as the captivating crime-fighting trio who are masters of disguise, espionage and marital arts. When a devious mastermind embroils them in a plot to destroy individual privacy, the Angels are on the spot with their brains, brawn and high-tech toys. Aided by their loyal sidekick Bosley (Bill Murray), the girls are about to bring down the bad guys when a terrible secret is revealed that makes the Angels a target of assassination. Now, it's a matter of life or death as the stunningly smart detectives use their state-of-the-art skills to kick evil's butt in this sexy, high-octane comedy!
My Grade: B+
In Chasing Amy, lifelong best friends Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck) and Banky Edwards (Jason Lee) are enjoying success as the creators of the cult hit comic book 'Bluntman and Chronic.' When they meet fellow comic book artist Alyssa Jones (Joey Adams), Holden's desire for the beautiful charmer is immediate. Alyssa, however, admits to Holden that she is a lifelong lesbian and has set her romantic sights elsewhere. She decides, nevertheless, to pursue a friendship with Holden. This presents Holden with a dilemma: feeling the way he does, can he merely be friends with this woman with whom he has fallen in love with? Banky, who knows Holden best, doesn't think so. As the friendship deepens, so do Holden's affections for Alyssa. And cautiously, yet effortlessly, so do Alyssa's for him. With their friendship struggling to define itself, Banky grows more and more frustrated at the notion of losing his best friend to emotional adulthood. In a conflicted torment of jealousy and confusion, he tries to drive a wedge between Holden Alyssa by revealing that Alyssa was not always a lesbian.
My Grade: B+
In The City of Lost Children, an imaginative fantasy from Jeunet & Caro, a prematurely aging mad scientist named Krank (Daniel Emilfork) kidnaps children so he can steal their dreams. However, Krank runs into trouble when his henchmen grab Denrée (Joseph Lucien), a little boy whose adopted brother, One (Ron Perlman), is a circus strongman. One desperately tries to find Denrée and begs for help from Miette (Judith Vittet), a 9-year-old girl who heads up a gang of orphans. Together, One and Miette finally find Krank's castle, meeting along the way the lost identical brother--the original--of the three clones (each played by Dominique Pinon) who serve as Krank's assistants. French directors Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet once again prove their technical prowess with this dark fairy tale, which features outstanding performances from its youthful cast (most notably Vittet). Part of the genius of this film lines in constructing a highly artificial, beautiful, believable world threatens to overshadow the story. But even the fantastic sets cannot compare to the bizarre spectacles that Jeunet and Caro dream up. In one unforgettable scene, a pair of evil Siamese twin sisters prepare dinner, their four arms working perfectly in sync--one holding vegetables for another to chop while a third stirs the soup and a fourth scratches their collective itches. Frequent David Lynch collaborator Angelo Badalamenti creates the chilling, circusy musical score that adds to the film's magic.
My Grade: A
Cruel intentions stars Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe as a pair of unscrupulous bickering step-siblings who, together, quietly control much of the social lives of the students in an affluent NY prep school in this deliciously sexy tale of seduction, revenge and conquest. After cleverly seducing and ruining the reputation of an unsuspecting classmate (Selma Blair) the sparks fly when Kathryn (Gellar) poses the ultimate challenge to her insatiable stepbrother Sebastian (Phillippe): deflower the headmaster's beautiful, virgin daughter Annette (Reese Witherspoon). If he fails, Kathryn gets his most prized possession, but if he succeeds, Sebastian gets to possess and bed Kathryn. The stakes are high, but for Sebastian, the payoff is feverishly irresistible and before the summer's over, no one will escape their relentless game of cat and mouse...until one of them is bitten by the most unlikely sensation of all...love. The film is wonderfully twisted and the DVD has tons of bonus' including deleted scenes which would by all accounts totally change the tone of the film had they not been trimmed. The film isn't high art but delectably wicked, sexy, over-dramatic, gorgeous fun!
My Grade: A-
In Defying Gravity, patience is rewarded as gay frat house drama unfolds. This is a gay film that doesn't feel like a typical gay film in that absolutely nothing seems contrived, particularly the people and the setting. Never having been a frat boy myself, I was surprised how I warmed to the friendship displayed between frat brothers here. The bond between Griff and buddy Todd seems real and unforced, just as does the friction between the already out Pete and the closeted Griff who just isn't into the gay scene. After Pete is badly gay-bashed in a dark alley, Griff, who may have seen the vehicle of the perpetrators, but who has to out himself to everyone in order to see them caught, has some real soul-searching to do. Daniel Chilton is more than convincing as conflicted Griff, and Niklaus Lange (Todd) and Todd's girlfriend Heather (Lesley Tesh) make a good looking, in-love-for-real couple who help show Griff where his heart really is, and where it isn't. The chance meeting and bonding that occurs between Griff and Denetra (Linna Carter), an equally closeted black woman, takes things in an interesting direction. The film has a well made look to it even if the aspect ratio is virtually square. The pot takes a while to boil here, but the results are something to savor.
My Grade: B+
In Doing Time On Maple Drive a young college student returns from Yale to introduce his fiancé to his family. While there, the relationships between the various family members are tested, and the secrets hidden behind the seemingly "perfect family" front are brought to light.
My Grade: A
Gregg Araki's Doom Generation is the story about this hot chick (Rose McGowan) and her loser boyfriend (James Duvall) that begins one night at a nightclub where they listen to techno music. So anyway, they leave the club only to have this bleeding dude (Jonathan Schaech) jump into the back of their car. The chick curses a lot and they visit many fast food restaurants, rob a convenience store and meet up with people played by Margaret Cho, Amanda Bearse, Parker Posey, Perry Farrell and Peter from The Brady Bunch. Anyway, in the end, they all become way more than friends and wind up being chased by a bunch of crazy neo-nazi jocks who want to kill them when all they want to do is ride off smoothly into the sunset eating Doritos.
My Grade: A-
Evita is the epic story of a woman born in a rural village on the vast Argentina Pampas. Eva Peron rose from poverty and obscurity to inspire millions. Lavish musical drama, based on the hit stage production by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, telling the life story of Eva Duarte (Madonna) who leaves her rural home for Buenos Aires in the company of Latin singer Agustin Magaldi (Jimmy Nail), eventually becoming the wife of President Juan Peron (Jonathan Pryce) and a heroine to the people of Argentina until she died tragically at the young age of 33.
My Grade: B+
The Exorcist came out the day after Christmas the year I was born. In 1973, movie audiences screamed, vomited, fainted and bolted from theaters as a nonreligious mother (Ellen Burstyn) called in Catholic priests (Max von Sydow and Jason Miller) to exorcise a demon that possessed her daughter (Linda Blair). For this nationwide reissue of the Oscar-winning mega hit, director William Friedkin has restored more than a full reel (about 12 minutes) of long-rumored footage excised before the film's original theatrical opening. The new scenes deepen the story's spiritual foundation and add some terrifying moments, most notably Blair's contorted "spider walk" down the stairs. While the mechanically achieved visual effects may be outdated now, the film is so expertly lit, photographed, acted and directed that time has not dulled the impact of this devilish masterpiece
My Grade: A
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