Current Movies - # 84 - March, 2002
Staff
Ratings: | ||
Extraordinary | ||
Good | ||
Acceptable | ||
Mediocre | ||
Poor |
"The
Musketeer", Universal Pictures, 2002,
Color, Presented at measured aspect ratio 2.36:1, DD, DTS, 1 Hr 45 min, Rated
PG-13; Catherine Deneuve, Mena Suvari, Stephen Rea, Tim Roth, Justin Chambers;
In 14th Century France, Cardinal Richelieu (Rea) is seizing the opportunity to
take over the country from King Louis XIII. Richelieu's henchman, Febre (Roth)
is more than up to the task, having rampaged the countryside, arresting
members of the Musketeers, who would normally serve as the King's private
guards. Young D'Artagnan (Chambers), son of the famed D'Artagnan, together
with his Musketeer friends and a peasant girl named Francesca (Suvari),
attempt to save the King from this fate. The Queen (Deneuve) wants peace at
any cost, and aids the Musketeers in their quest. They rescue Lord Buckingham,
an emissary from England, who brokers for peace, but who had been secreted
into prison by Febre. There have been many, many films about the Musketeers,
and this is not one of the more memorable ones. Although the candle and torch lighting give a realistic look to the various castle and inns, the story seems
trivial. Tim Roth does continue to make great bad guys though. - JEJ -
Entertainment: | |
Video Quality: | |
Audio: | |
Photography: | |
Violence: | yes |
Sex: | mild |
Language: | no |
"A
Glimpse of Hell",
Twentieth Century Fox, 2002, Color, Presented at measured aspect ratio 1.76:1,
DD, 1 Hr 25 min, Rated PG-13; James Caan, Robert Sean Leonard, Daniel Roebuck,
Jamie Harrold, John Doman; In 1989, the USS Iowa, commanded by Captain Fred
Moosally (Caan), is having practice maneuvers to show off its 16" gun accuracy
to a Naval Admiral, and there is a horrific accident. Gun Turret 2 explodes,
killing dozens of seamen. Lt. JG Dan Meyer
(Leonard) examines the accident scene, recording where bodies were found, and
discovers that the Navy reports on the accident are attempting to cover up the
fact that the guns were in need of maintenance so that the Captain's record
will not be blemished. He treads lightly, fearing for his own career,
including testifying at an enquiry in Washington, D.C., before a House Senate
Committee. The INS concludes that one of the seamen purposely set off an
explosion in order to commit suicide, but Lt. Meyer strongly believes
differently, and is put under pressure to accept the Navy's official
conclusion. The story is true, and a testament to how far people will go to
prevent the admission of personal error. - JEJ -
Entertainment: | |
Video Quality: | (The entire movie has bad edits that produce combing.) |
Audio: | |
Photography: | |
Violence: | yes |
Sex: | no |
Language: | no |
"AI
- Artificial
Intelligence",
DreamWorks and Warner Brothers, 2001, Color, Presented at measured aspect ratio 1.77:1,
DD, DTS, 2 Hr 25 min, Rated PG-13; Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O'Connor,
Brendan Gleeson, Sam Robards, Jake Thomas, William Hurt; In a future world,
global warming has destroyed major cities, and now the living space is at a
premium. Pregnancy is regulated, and people must be content with robots,
called Mechas, to keep them company and clean the house. As an experiment, a
scientist, Dr. Hobby (Hurt), at Cybertronics builds a child robot named David
(Osment) that has unconditional love to give. A couple, Monica (O'Connor) and
Henry (Robards) Swinton, whose own child Martin (Thomas) is in a coma, accepts
David into their home. Then, Martin regains consciousness, and he resents
David to the point that the parents take David back to Cybertronics to be
destroyed. At the last moment, Monica releases David into the woods near
Cybertronics, so that he won't be destroyed with the rest of the returned
robots. David meets Gigolo Joe (Law), a Mecha who takes care of lonely women,
and together, they set out to find the Blue Fairy, whom David believes can
turn him into a real boy, like Pinnochio. With cameos by Robin Williams,
Meryl Streep, Chris Rock, and Ben Kingsley, along with music by John Williams,
special effects by Dennis Muren and Stan Winston Studios, everyone involved
assumed this would be a blockbuster hit, maybe an Academy Award winner. The
news media touted it, the pundits on TV touted it, but it failed at the box
office. A disaster. Why? Well, probably for a number of reasons. One is that
Steven Spielberg wrote it, produced it, and directed it. No one has the talent
to pull that off . . . Spielberg included. Even William Wyler, who was
probably the best director who ever lived, didn't try to do all that.
Secondly, the movie attempts to teach (preach) a moral about life's purpose. Movies
should entertain. That is their purpose. They should not attempt to moralize,
philosophize, politicize, proselytize, or otherwise, try to force some principle of belief
(preaching) onto an audience, at least if they want to be financially
successful. Going to the movies is a voluntary experience, and it is
expensive. Going to church is voluntary and inexpensive. If audiences want to
be preached to, they will take the less expensive route. Third, there are some seriously violent scenes where robots
get shot through a huge electric fan, which might have caused some kids
(PG-13) to wake up screaming for mommy. Families may have told the neighbors
this is a "Don't go see it." Fourth, the separation anxiety angle of David
crying when his mother abandons him might upset parents who, again, tell their
friends, "Don't go see it." Fifth, this movie is basically Stanley Kubrick,
done by Steven Spielberg. Kubrick's stuff was popular in the 60's, 70's, and
80's, but the Zeitgeist has changed, and Kubrick may be out of fashion. And, there you have it. A $100 million dollar failure. A lot
of self esteem in Hollywood and the corporate media went down the drain,
because consumers didn't fall for the hype. - JEJ -
Entertainment: | |
Video Quality: | |
Audio: | |
Photography: | |
Violence: | yes |
Sex: | mild |
Language: | no |
"Heist",
Morgan Creek Productions, 2001,
Color, Presented at measured aspect ratio 1.78:1, DD, 1 Hr 49 min, Rated R;
Gene Hackman, Danny DeVito, Delroy Lindo, Sam Rockwell, Rebecca Pidgeon, Ricky
Jay; Joe Moore (Hackman) is a jewel thief, and on his latest job, he is caught
on video tape, so he wants to escape to South America with his wife Fran (Pidgeon).
Another crook named Bergman (DeVito) has a job for him so that he can leave
with some cash. It involves stealing gold on its way to Switzerland. The
bargain is that Bergman wants his protege, Jimmy Silk (Rockwell) to go along.
So, Joe and his team Bobby (Lindo) and Pinky (Jay) set it all up. The problem
is that everyone wants to double cross the others, so lots of things go wrong
all the way to the end. The film has an all-star cast and plenty of action,
but the characters are not well developed, and the storyline is difficult to
follow. However, it is directed by David Mamet who makes it into a pretty good
film noire anyway. - JEJ -
Entertainment: | |
Video Quality: | |
Audio: | |
Photography: | |
Violence: | yes |
Sex: | mild |
Language: | the "F" and "S" words |
"Zoolander",
Paramount Pictures, 2001, Color, Presented at measured aspect ratio 2.37:1,
DD, 1 Hr 29 min, Rated PG-13; Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell,
Christine Taylor, Jon Voight; A company that enjoys good profits from slave
labor in Malaysia is being threatened by a reformist Malaysian Prime Minister.
They look for someone with practically no intelligence to brainwash into
murdering the Prime Minister. The vacuous New York male model Derek Zoolander
(Stiller) is a
perfect match. When Derek loses
Male Model of the Year to newcomer Hansel (Wilson), the company takes the
opportunity to try and kidnap him for the brainwashing, so they hire Model
Agency Guru Mugatu (Ferrell) to do the job. News Reporter Matilda
(Taylor) helps Derek escape from the bad guys and save the Prime Minister from
assassination. The film spoofs the assumption that models are brainless by
showing you what would happen if they actually were. It is a silly, but funny
look at the world of modeling, with cameo appearances by many famous faces
from the New York fashion scene. - JEJ -
Entertainment: | |
Video Quality: | |
Audio: | |
Photography: | |
Violence: | mild |
Sex: | mild |
Language: | the "S" word |
"Training Day" (HD DVD), Warner Brothers, 2001, Color, Presented at measured aspect ratio 2.32:1, DD, 2 Hr 2 min, Rated R; Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Scott Glenn, Cliff Curtis, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg; LA Detective Alonzo Harris (Washington) is the head of a narcotics team, and takes on rookie officer Jake Hoyt (Hawke) as a trainee. At first, Jake is very enthusiastic, but soon learns that Alonzo's tactics are not part of the instruction manual. In fact, Alonzo is worse than some of the crooks he is trying to put away. He explains to Jake that the only way to deal with thugs, is to be a thug too, but is murder part of the game? The film is awesome and represents what can happen when everything works perfectly, the script, the direction, and the acting. Last night, Denzel Washington received the Academy Award for Best Actor� in this movie. It sets new standards for crime dramas, and is a must-see. - JEJ -
HD DVD Version (9/06 - Kris Deering): This could easily
be one of my top video references yet. While I imagine it will get overtaken
when we start seeing direct digital transfers of animation in HD, Training
Day has that rare pristine look that extends all the way to the farthest
objects in the image. Crisp is too light a word. Fine object detail is
incredible without even the slightest sign of halos or enhancement. Colors
are rich, and contrast is striking at times. This is what HD is all about.
The 5.1 Dolby Digital + soundtrack is equally pleasing with the urban
hip-hop soundtrack and dynamic action sequences. More than that, I was
impressed with the ambience that the surround soundstage provides. You
really get that feeling of being there, which is rare even nowdays.
- Kris Deering
Entertainment: | |
Video Quality: | 1080p |
Audio: |
English
Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1, English Dolby True-HD 5.1 |
Photography: | |
Extras | |
Violence: | Explicit |
Sex: | Nudity |
Language: | Bad |
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