By Don Morton

Shall We Dance?

Amicable if conventional remake is far inferior to its low-key 1997 Japanese source, but this human-scale drama offers a few charms of its own. A materially complete yet somehow hollow lawyer (Richard Gere) is intrigued by the sight of a lovely woman (Jennifer Lopez) gazing sadly from the window of a dance studio. He investigates, signs up for lessons, learns she’s not interested in romance (thank goodness!), and then, to his surprise, fills the void within through dancing. Taken out of the original Japanese context, it loses a vital element—dealing with intimacy—that made the original such a treat. We’re given plenty of opportunities to admire J-Lo’s perfection, but perhaps it would have been more effective with someone a bit less pop-iconic in the role. You would be tempted to say the same thing about Gere, except that he puts in a surprisingly wry, sensitive performance, backed up by a fine supporting cast that includes Stanley Tucci, Susan Sarandon, Lisa Ann Walter, Bobby Cannavale and Omar Benson Miller. I liked it more than I had intended.

Cinemas 3 11 26 45 61 70 90 95 96 99 101 109 110 111 112 113 114 116 117 119

Hide and Seek

Your enjoyment of this gimmicky, post-Sixth Sense psycho-thriller will depend on your gullibility and how much you enjoy watching the psychological rape of a child. A little girl (a wonderfully creepy Dakota Fanning, possibly channeling the Addams Family Christina Ricci) and her dad (Robert De Niro) retreat to a secluded cottage to try to get over mom’s suicide. Kid develops an imaginary friend, which she blames for some increasingly nasty goings-on. It’s neither logical nor intelligent, jacks you around, cheats, and abrasively self-destructs in the third act. Directed by John Polson (Swimfan).
Cinemas 2 10 26 56 60 70 90 95 96 99 101 109 110 111 112 113 116 117 118 119

Cabin Fever

Group of sex-having horror movie victims doing horror-movie-victim things like trying to start cars that won’t start, having sex, running into the woods, engaging in sexual practices, going into the fruit cellar, fooling around, having their faces eaten by dogs and/or flesh-eating diseases, and doing all those colossally dumb things a good horror movie victim must do in movies like this in order to get shot/stabbed/strangled/infected/eaten/eaten alive, etc. As with most movies that try to be scary, funny, satiric and exciting, this spectacularly unoriginal cheapie fails at all these.
Cinemas 24 43

Hollywood Ending

Yes, I know Woody Allen’s recent works don’t match his earlier classics (whose do?), but I’d rather watch a mediocre Allen flick than Jerry Bruckheimer’s best. In this “Allen-lite” flick, a legendary art-house director (Allen) gets a chance at reviving his career with a $60 million blockbuster. He goes psychosomatically blind on the first day of shooting, but opts to fake it, working through the interpreter for his Chinese cameraman. No one notices. The satire could have been more biting, but fans will like the slapstick, one-liners and sight gags. It’s crafty and smart, but just not all that memorable.
Cinema 100

Thirteen

The teen angst is turned up to 11 in this horror film for parents. Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood) is taken under the wing of (and over to the Dark Side by) the manipulative, savvy-beyond-her-years Evie (Nikki Reed, who shares writing credits) and rapidly goes from able A-student to shoplifting slut. Coming-of-age films are hardly rare, but this unstinting, tell-it-like-it-is, cliché-free effort from Catherine Hardwicke is scarily convincing. Holly Hunter is outstanding as Tracy’s clueless-but-caring mother. The film is bursting with raw energy and does not candy-coat the horrors of the teenage years.

Constantine

Keanu Reeves as a reluctant, evil-fighting good guy with supernatural powers in an overproduced, SFX-laden romp. Well, there’s a fresh concept. Could this be (shudder) Reeves’ idea of self-parody? Constantine can see half-demons, see, and if he sends enough of them back to hell, he can atone for his suicide (don’t ask). The Exorcist meets The Matrix meets Dirty Harry. Based on the Hellblazer graphic novels (comic books), it’s ludicrously plotted, awkwardly constructed and essentially meaningless. And what’s Tilda Swinton (as Gabriel, no less) doing in this mess? Ah, the hell with it.
Cinemas 4 5 23 47 60 70 81 90 95 96 99 101 107 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119

Son of the mask

In possibly the most ill-advised sequel since Blake Edwards kept making Pink Panther movies after Peter Sellers died, someone named Jamie Kennedy spectacularly fails to fill Jim Carrey’s shoes (mask?). This powerful argument for cinematic celibacy is screechy, witless, offensively shallow, and ultra-manic from start to finish. The dialogue is putrid and the jokes are so bad you’ll be yearning for a fart gag to bring up the humor level. There’s even a superpowered baby! And its moral message about fatherhood is applied with a sledgehammer. If there’s a Mask 3, I’m not watching it.
Cinemas 2 29 40 60 96 109 111 112 115 118 119

Flight of the Phoenix

In this plodding remake of the 1965 thriller, a planeload of cliché-spouting stereotypes is downed by a CG sandstorm somewhere in the vicious-nomad-infested Gobi Desert and, despairing of rescue, they decide to build a flyable plane out of the wreckage. It starts with a spectacular crash-landing and ends with a spectacular take-off. But the middle 90 minutes is the cinematic equivalent of an airport transit lounge. This phoenix (turkey?) is filled with laughable dialogue and useless plot contrivances. And I will gleefully kill the guy who designed the “contemporary” music. Rent the original.
Cinemas 2 51 61 101 109 111 113 114 116 117 119

Bridget

Bridget
I would classify this movie is a mystery, with the main question being, “What the hell is Anna Thomson doing in the movies?” Unfortunately, pretentious director Amos Kollek does not share my bafflement, as this is his second film starring the scrawny, big-boobed bimbo (the intriguingly named but equally empty Fast Food Fast Women). Fortunately, you don’t have to watch these flicks. The actress (term used loosely) is approaching cult status in France, and that should be setting off alarm bells. Terrible delivery of a non-existent script. Don’t do this to yourself. Gave me a headache.
Cinema 99

Coffee and Cigarettes

Coffee and Cigarettes
Eleven vignettes by Jim Jarmusch filmed over almost two decades. In each black & white segment, pairs or trios of famous or almost-famous people, usually playing themselves, engage in consuming the title substances and talking. Usually past each other. If you had to pinpoint a commonality among the segments, it would have to be a lack of communication. Roberto Benigni talks at Steven Wright. Tom Waits and Iggy Pop. Cate Blanchett in a standout dual role. Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan in a microcosm of human nature. The brilliantly inserted music ranges from the Skatalites to Mahler.
Cinema 24

The Manchurian Candidate

I approached this remake of the 1962 John Frankenheimer classic with trepidation, but was pleasantly surprised to find an intelligently modernized and equally gripping tale of wartime brainwashing and political conspiracy. It helps, of course, that the director is Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs), and that the principal actors are Denzel Washington as the Frank Sinatra troubled sleuth, Liev Schreiber as the Laurence Harvey character, and Meryl Streep as his Machiavellian stage-mother, originally played by Angela Lansbury. All solid performances, but this certainly marks Schreiber’s arrival on the A-list. A platoon goes missing during Desert Storm but re-emerges days later with stories of the bravery of one man, who is awarded the Medal of Honor and 13 years later is on his way to becoming America’s first privately owned and operated vice president. Demme sneaks in to the mix several clever and contemporary socio-political references and advances the conspiracy to new-millennium dimensions that are not a little frightening. Didn’t care for the denouement, but on the whole, this demonstrates how thrillers, political and otherwise, should be made!

Cinemas 117 118 119

The Aviator

Martin Scorsese’s tribute to fractured genius and empire builder Howard Hughes is gorgeous, exciting, illuminating and compelling. The SFX in the heart-stopping plane-crash scene are seamless, Cate Blanchett is spot-on in the difficult role of Katharine Hepburn, and the scene where Hughes rips a Congressional committee a new one is alone worth the price of admission. But its biographic approach is scattershot and episodic, it assumes that today’s public (1) knows or (2) cares about Hughes, and, coming from the guy who made Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, it’s somehow disappointingly hollow.

CINEMAs 1 29 31 55 62 71 82 90 95 96 99 101 107 109 110 111 112 113 115 116 117 118 119

House of the Dead

Boy, some movies you figure out are bad after a few scenes. Some as early as the end of the opening credits. This one is bad even before the opening credits start. Made without pride or competence and based on the Sega zombie-slaughtering video game, this Canadian-German gorefest is about a group of nubile, apparently well-armed (!) teenage ravers on an island called “Isla de la Muerte” wiping out apparently killable, trick-or-treat-level zombies to a pounding techno soundtrack. Directed by someone named Uwe Boll, who could be channeling Ed Wood. Except Wood at least had pride. Game over!

CINEMAs 2 43

Jersey Girl

With this film, Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy) matures in terms of subject matter, but I wish he’d just go back to the cheerfully vulgar stuff he does so well. He based it on his relationship with his daughter, which is fine, but apparently he’s unaware of how dull this can be. Worse, this bland comedy/melodrama stars Ben Affleck, who you’d think would have learned by now. Jeez, Ben, stick a fork in yourself; you’re done. Manhattan publicist chucks it all in to raise his cloyingly cute daughter. I didn’t chuckle once during this gag-inducing dreck, except when Affleck tries to cry.

Cinemas 7 56 109 114 116 119

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

It is unlikely that anyone will spoil this unforced if offbeat romantic comedy/drama for you by telling you the plot, simply because such a thing is nearly impossible to do. Two people seemingly made for each other (strong rapport between Jim Carrey, in his best dramatic role to date, and an Oscar-nominated Kate Winslet) fall in and then out of love (it’s complex). The breakup is so painful that she avails herself of a peculiar memory-altering technology and erases him right outta her mind. He begins to follow suit, but has second thoughts as the procedure progresses. It’s like Philip K. Dick wrote a love story. This labyrinthine story is filmed non-chronologically, with the story coiling back upon and redefining itself. It constantly walks the cusp of reality and fantasy, but its ultimate, quite earthly message is that an imperfect love is better than no love at all. Strong supporting roles by Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst and Tom Wilkinson. See it!

Cinemas 5 30 47 63 96 109 112 114 120 130

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

You probably enjoyed Bridget Jones’s Diary. But would a sequel to such a happily-ever-after, complete-in-itself film work? In a word: no. This pointless, profit-driven, flabby regurgitation of material from the first flick (it actually disinters the romantic triangle!) is wildly absurd (a Thai prison?), relies on obvious slapstick (another brawl between Grant and Firth?), offers up redundant humiliations of Renée Zellweger (who has gone from charmingly zaftig to annoying fat chick), and resorts by the end to sappy melodrama and unforgivable emotional button-pushing. Glad I missed the book.

CINEMAs 3 11 26 45 61 70 90 95 96 99 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 120 130

Control

Perhaps it’s the overused material (not-quite-executed sociopath is given a chance to experience better living through pharmacology if he agrees to test a drug designed to curb his nastier tendencies) that unjustly assigned this above-average thriller to the straight-to-video bin. But it’s the performances that will make you want to fish it out. Ray Liotta displays astounding range as the wacko who gradually feels remorse and even affection (toward Michelle Rodriguez), and Willem Dafoe gets to play the good guy for once. It’s A Clockwork Orange meets Charly. The title makes sense at the end.

CINEMAs 4 43

Lightning in a Bottle

On February 7th, 2003, 30 very fine musicians got together at the behest of Martin Scorsese at Radio City Music Hall to pay tribute to that uniquely American, 12-bar musical format known as The Blues. No, you weren’t there, but this remarkable concert documentary, directed with a clear, unobtrusive style by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) is almost better. He combines some riveting live concert scenes with archival footage of past greats, sometimes with modern singers covering the legendary bluesmens’ tunes. It’s educational, uplifting and absolutely rocks. The music endures. Big screen, please.

Cinema 20

National Treasure

Schlockmeister Jerry Bruckheimer’s latest insult to your intelligence is a comically illogical, dumbed-down DaVinci Code with car chases and explosions. It takes a lot of gall, even for Bruckheimer, to present with a straight face a plot this inane, involving a treasure map drawn in invisible ink on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Pat action sequences alternate with scenes of plodding exposition that usually end with the brilliant Nicolas Cage saying, “No, that’s not it! This could only mean…” Of course, he could have snuck a peek at the script. This one should be buried. Deep.

Cinemas 2 10 26 45 60 90 95 96 99 101 107 109 110 111 112 113 114 120 130

Racing Stripes

This talking-animal saga is such a blatant rip-off of Babe that it’s embarrassing. It’s about a pet zebra named “Stripes” who thinks he’s a racehorse. And, golly, if you’re true to your heart and just be yourself, you can do anything you want, yada yada. Well, I hate to break it to you, Stripes, but you’re no pig. This not-terribly-clever heap of horse pucky has some major voice talent, including a whiny Frankie Muniz as the zebra, Mandy Moore, Michael Clarke Duncan, Snoop Dogg, Joe Pantoliano, Dustin Hoffman and Whoopi Goldberg. Too bad the rotten script gives them only dumb things to say. Bruce Greenwood’s the troubled single dad, Hayden Panettiere his plucky daughter, and Wendie Malick seems to be channeling Cruella DeVille as the evil neighboring horse lady. The labored, grating humor is predictably sophomoric, centering on poop jokes, farting flies and manic behavior. I didn’t chuckle once. Yes, it’s entertainment for children of all ages, as long as they’re under 12. And girls. That like horses.

Cinemas 5 30 48 63 81 90 96 101 109 111 112 113 120 130

Between Strangers

Weepy melodrama loosely intertwines three women’s stories: Sophia Loren as the verbally abused wife of wheelchair-bound Pete Postlethwaite, but who receives solace from gallic gardener Gerard Depardieu; noted photojournalist Mira Sorvino wonders if she’s in the right field, one her dad, Klaus Maria Brandauer, pushed her into; and celebrated cellist Debra Unger has some issues with her ex-con dad, Malcolm McDowell. With a cast like this (the assembly of which was doubtless aided by the fact that director Edoardo Ponti is Loren’s son), it would be difficult to fail, but this is borderline dull stuff.

CINEMA 52

Sideways

Alexander Payne, who makes films that gently and humorously satirize American life (Election, About Schmidt), cements his reputation as the Director to Watch These Days with this lovable, constantly amusing human comedy. Miles (a never-better Paul Giamatti—American Splendor) and Jack (Thomas Hayden Church), two middle-aged college chums, head for California’s wine country for a weeklong bachelor party. Miles is a sad-sack divorcé who hides from life behind his encyclopedic knowledge of wine. The magic of this character is that, loser or not, many of us will in some way see something of ourselves in him. Jack, on the other hand, considers almost any wine just fine and is more concerned with getting laid one more time before marriage. They hook up, in decidedly different ways, with two wine-country women, Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh, and, well, life happens. The comedy is unforced, the characters completely believable, the wine info authentic, and the music’s pretty cool. I didn’t want it to end, and would see it again.

Cinemas 99 101

Shark Tale

It hadda happen. I’ve been entertained and enchanted by these new CG animations since Toy Story. And this latest effort from Shrek makers Dreamworks has all the necessary animated flash, sight gags, stellar voice cast (Will Smith, Renée Zellweger, Jack Black, Robert De Niro, Angelina Jolie & Martin Scorsese) and a funny central joke (a vegetarian shark). But it never quite comes together, and I was not transported by this Godfather meets Jaws. Finding Nemo already used the joke, its watery plot is unfocused, there’s relentless product placement and too many in-jokes that kids won’t get.

Cinemas 1 29 31 55 62 82 90 95 96 99 101 109 110 111 112 113 114 120 130

Mean Girls

Not just another Heathers, this is a well-informed, real-issues feminist movie that is also very funny. Working from a sharp script by SNL writer Tina Fey and based on the non-fiction Queen Bees and Wannabees, you could call this Clueless with teeth. Home-schooled-until-16 Cady (Lindsay Lohan) is raw meat to the hormonal, peer-pressure hell that is high school. Being smart, she sides with the nerds, but accepts on their urging an invitation to join the top clique as a spy, only to be tempted to go over to the Dark Side. Despite third-act compromises, this is, like, way better than most teen flicks.

Cinema 8

Anaconda 2

In this earnestly dumb time-waster, several good-looking people with “Eat Me” on their foreheads become snacks for CG snakes. The acting profession does not suffer. They’re seeking the “Perennia Immortalis,” a flower that halts aging (“This could be bigger than Viagra,” offers one helpful if obvious-belaboring evil pharmaceutical company man). You gotta love a film that has lines like: (scream from the jungle) Young thing: “What’s that?!” Gravel-voiced, croc-rasslin’ riverboat captain: “Somethin’ gettin’ eaten. Everything gets eaten out here. It’s a jungle.” See it. But get drunk first.

Cinemas 4 43 101

Young Adam

In one of his most challenging and richly textured roles to date, Ewan McGregor plays a brooding, rather unlikable bargeman in Scotland in the early ‘60s. The film opens when he and Peter Mullen fish the body of a young woman out of Glasgow Bay and report it to the police. But as this darkly effective, even Dostoyevskian tale unfolds, an alarming series of revelations hints that that perhaps the amoral Adam knows more about the woman than he lets on. It’s sinister, character-driven and original, and features some fairly vicious sex and a riveting performance by chameleon Tilda Swinton.

Cinema 36

Beyond the sea

Bobby Darin was no Ray Charles or Loretta Lynn, but he made his mark, and while you may not think his life and career warrants a feature-length bio-pic, producer/director/actor Kevin Spacey does, perhaps obsessively so. This mixed bag is conventionally structured, following the singer from pop music (“Splish Splash”) through Big Band (“Mack the Knife”) to folk protest (don’t ask). Spacey plays the singer (and does his own singing!), though he’s clearly too old and hopes you’re polite enough not to say anything. At times this empathetic portrait soars, at others it’s so bad it’s impossible to look away. The dancing (in some fantasy sequences) is at first jarring, but it’s reasonably well done and at times boosts the often-plodding story, and the acting, while not great, is not poor either. If this all sounds somewhat ambivalent, that’s because that’s how I feel. If you’re a fan of either Darin or Spacey, you’ll be entertained (I am; I am; and I was). If not, perhaps you might want to give this one a miss.

Cinemas 7 41 64 109 130

Cellular

Woman (Kim Basinger) is kidnapped (by Jason Stratham) and locked in an attic room where he’s smashed the phone. Ah, but she’s a high school science teacher and gets it to work, although she can only dial out randomly. Then, the only person she is able to contact is this 20-something slacker (Chris Evans) who doesn’t believe her. Then he does, takes the phone (they mustn’t hang up) to a desk cop (William H. Macy) and then rises to the occasion. This unpretentious B-movie is kind of like Speed, in that it’s such a relentlessly paced and entertaining ride that you ignore its faults.

Cinemas 2 34 53 61 101 109 110 111 112 113 114 130

The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement

I have nothing to say about this chicklet flick. Of course, to be fair, it was not made for me. No, it was made for girl ‘tweens who tend to get all gooey over cute guys and clothes and probably fail to notice that the transparent, insipid plot is so shallow you wouldn’t get your toenails wet if you went wading in it; that it’s mercilessly padded to bring it to 110 minutes of fingernails on a blackboard; that it’s filled with clichés and obligatory, insulting stereotypes; and that it’s so sickly sweet it would gag a vampire. There’s even singing! But I have nothing to say.

Cinemas 7 54 90 101 109 111 113 114 130

Festival Express

In 1970, something happened in the rock music world that never happened before and would never happen again. A pair of Canadian rock promoters put together some of the era’s legendary talents, and chartered a train to get between gigs in Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary. The goings-on were filmed and then ignored, until now. The unearthed concert footage includes some absolutely riveting renditions by Janis Joplin (she died just a few months later) that truly define a blues singer. I got chills. But the real gift of the film is the opportunity to watch, like a fly on the wall, such greats as Janis, Jerry and the Dead, the Band, Buddy Guy and others, clearly and spectacularly wasted, just passing a bottle and jamming together on the train during the long travel days. (I loved the part where they virtually emptied a liquor store in Saskatoon.) It’s an astounding film, one that takes us back to a time of comparative innocence, when the music industry really was simply all about the music.

Cinema 24

INTERMISSION

This potpourri (“ensemble” just doesn’t describe it) comedy/drama about a gang of dead-end crooks in Dublin is darkly comic as well as laugh-out-loud hilarious. This exhaustively inventive, first-time film effort by theater veterans director John Crowley and screenwriter Mark O’Rowe is cheeky, crass, poignant, gritty, droll, drunk, likeable and even quite original, Pulp Fiction influences notwithstanding. There are a dozen major characters, several plots and lots of surprises, but it all works. It’s a mystery. Just surrender to its energy and go with the flow; you’ll not be jerked around.

Cinema 32

I am David

I was hopeful at the beginning of this little film by Paul Feig, as it belied the dopey title and posters, and looked like it might be a pretty cool kid adventure. The young title character escapes from an historically vague Eastern European labor camp and sets off through Greece, Italy and Switzerland toward refuge in Denmark. But the tale wears out fast as it becomes more far-fetched and sentimental, then it gets preachy, and it’s a real snorer by the end. Based on the 1963 novel North to Freedom by Anne Holmes. Stars Jim Cavizel, Joan Plowright and Ben Tibber as the kid.

Cinema 1

LEO

This overlooked drama by director Mehdi Norowzian offers up two parallel stories, one of a boy named Leopold Bloom (David Sweet), ignored by his grief-stricken mother (Elizabeth Shue); and the other of a fresh ex-con pen pal of Leo’s named Stephen (Joseph Fiennes), who believes he can help the young lad and thereby help himself. Stephen is struggling to keep his nose clean while holding down a job at a diner, a task made difficult by local nut job Dennis Hopper. It’s well crafted, with some fine cinematography by Zubin Mistry and fluid editing, but unravels a bit at the end.

Cinema 52

IN ENEMY HANDS(U-BOAT)

A WWII US submarine gets blasted by a German U-boat and the crew is taken prisoner aboard das boot. Oho, but that’s not all that comes aboard, for the captain (a laughable Scott Caan) is suffering from meningitis, and soon both crews are decimated. Having fun so far? In order to make his boat operational again, the captain (a decent Til Schweiger) asks the Yanks to help man it. The presence of William H. Macy elevates this cheapie somewhat (The underwater footage is straight from U-571), but apparently didn’t keep it off the direct-to-video list. A third of it’s in German. (Japanese title: U-Boat)

Cinemas 56 130

The Grudge

Okay, this English-language replication of the Japanese horror film is not perfect. Starting out with a strong and truly shocking scene involving Bill Pullman, after 45 minutes of “Boo!” scenes it becomes a wee bit repetitive. Its non-linear, jigsaw-like structure covers up the fact that its plot makes virtually no sense, and its characters, led by a tepid Sarah Michelle Gellar, dutifully obey the formula: always investigate strange noises, poke your head/hands into dark spaces, and look into the attic/fruit cellar. The lucky ones are merely scared to death. On the plus side, it’s set in Japan and is directed by Takashi Shimizu, who made the original and is a master of menace and of things merely glimpsed. The sound design (that sound!) is vital and effective. But in the end there’s only one yardstick for a horror film, and this one made me jump out of my seat more than a few times, and I actually checked behind doors when I got home. (Japanese title: The Juon)

Cinemas 1 27 40 60 71 82 90 96 99 101 109 111 112 113 130

Bourne Supremacy

Sequel to The Bourne Identity finds Jason Bourne, two years later, again beset by assassins and framed for a murder. He decides that the best defense is a good offense, and puts his dreadful skills to work to find out why. Globes are trotted, cars chased, suspects followed, spy craft practiced and fights fought, all with a dash of humor and a heaping of style. It’s pure popcorn thriller, but a good one, and Matt Damon’s just right in the role. Except there would have been a tad more anxiety about Bourne’s chances of survival if Robert Ludlum hadn’t already written The Bourne Ultimatum.

Cinemas 3 11 26 45 61 70 90 95 96 99 101 107 109 110 111 112 113 114 120 130

Suspect Zero

It must be hard for Hollywood to keep coming up with new motivations for serial killers without making us laugh. Well, Tinsletown fails again with this atmospheric but preposterous Se7en wannabe, a serial killer flick in which a psychic psycho serial killer targets only other serial killers. He has no clear modus operandi aside from not having a modus operandi. In any mystery, the audience should be given the opportunity of putting the clues together and coming up with the answer. No chance here, dummy; you’ll have to wait until the end when we explain it all to you.

Cinemas 2 51 61 96 101 109 111 113 114 130

The Fighting Temptations

Multiple choice formula flick: Self-centered/morally empty lawyer/athlete/advertising whiz, during a quick trip to his/her hometown, gets roped/shamed/coerced into saving/rehabilitating/inspiring the local choir/band/team/church to win/pay back the big talent contest/game/debt. Don’t they ever get tired of remaking Sister Act? Cuba Gooding Jr. pretty much confirms that his 1997 Oscar was a fluke, and Beyoncé Knowles seems to be selling lip gloss. There is, however, some great gospel music in this MTV-produced film, but wait for the video so you can fast-forward through the alleged acting.

Cinema 8

The Machinist

Creepy psycho-suspense film by Brad Anderson (Session 9) about a haunted young man who hasn’t slept in a year; his only social contacts are an airport waitress and a hooker (Jennifer Jason Leigh). In a deeply obsessed performance, a skeletal Christian Bale, who dropped a third of his body weight for the title role (don’t try this at home; or at all), is nearly unrecognizable, scarier than the movie’s “secret.” His emaciated look enhances (even overwhelms) the film’s noir/horror motif. But this cold film doesn’t cheat; there are no sudden twists, and you get to figure it out for yourself.

Cinema 33

Before Sunset

Ten years ago two young backpackers (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) met on a train and decided to walk around Vienna until morning. This was Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise, which I found a bit talky but the characters and motivations believable. They agreed to meet again in six months, but one failed to show up. Now, ten years later, he is in Paris signing the book he has written about this encounter when she shows up. He has a flight in 90 minut