Archive for April, 2001

Films Review May

BEAUTIFUL JOE (R)

Quirky, off-beat romantic drama snuck in under the radar, and it’s low profile should actually help lengthen it’s video shelf life. Why? Because it stars Sharon Stone, who should be able to attract enough fans to make this road movie worth the trip. Read the rest of this entry »

Real women have curves

When it’s not wallowing in hormonal melodrama, “Real Women Have Curves” is a sweet, honest, and enjoyable comedy-drama about a young woman who wants many things in life, but fears she’ll become her mother before she gets to fulfill her dreams. America Ferrera, making her debut, is heartfelt as Ana Garcia, a recent high school graduate who has the talent but lacks the ambition to attend college.
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Bad Company

Sir Anthony Hopkins should be more discrete choosing which movies to make. If he keeps making donkey droppings like “Bad Company,” the Queen may not only ask for his title back, but ask him to give up his citizenship. Read the rest of this entry »

Holes

It’s impossible not to feel sorry for Stanley Yelnats (Shia Lebeouf), the hero of “Holes,” the new family film from Walt Disney Pictures. The fourth in a time-honored tradition of Yelnats men named Stanley (their last named spelled backwards), Stanley IV had the cards stacked against him long before he was shuffled into a family of eccentric men. Read the rest of this entry »

The Departed

In a flood of remakes and sequels, its almost incredulous something as fresh and exciting as Martin Scorsese’s “The Departed” can surface. Scorsese isn’t iridescent for remakes or sequels, but “The Departed,” based on the 2002 Hong Kong film “Infernal Affairs,” is a crime drama, and no one interprets the ins and outs of the mob drama better than the director of “Casino” and Goodfellas.” Read the rest of this entry »

Sprung

The first time I saw actor Joe Torry, he played a gang member’s brother on television’s “ER.” He blamed Anthony Edwards’ character Mark Greene of allowing his brother to die, and was suspected in the brutal beating of Greene in the men’s restroom. It was an intense, angry role, and Torry played it so well that I had a hard time warming up to him in the wild, romantic comedy “Sprung.” It didn’t take me long to warm up to “Sprung,” however. Read the rest of this entry »

20 dates

Interesting concept sends mixed signals. It wants to be a clever documentary, but lacks the honesty and spontaneity. It also wants to be a mock-umentary, and on that level, it works, but only intermittently. Director-star Myles Berkowitz is a amicable person, so it’s easy to invest in his conceit. Berkowitz, a divorcee, is looking for true love. To that end, he has brokered a deal to make a film about his attempts at dating. He’s obligated to date 20 different women, but as he works his way through one bad or funny date after another, he finds true love in Elisabeth Wagner. Now he must choose between true love or completing the film, and the results are more run of the mill than revelatory. Read the rest of this entry »

Stars Wars I – The Phantom Menace

It’s really difficult to enjoy the new “Star Wars” film without remembering all that came before. A virtual smorgasbord of visual splendors, “Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace” manages to be both original and familiar, which creates a beast with more conflicts that the one stirring inside Darth Vader. Read the rest of this entry »

The Music Man

The time: 1970. The place: The Oxnard Civic Auditorium. The company: Cabrillo Music Theater. The production: Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man.” “The Music Man” was my second full-scale musical. Previously, I had played a sailor in “H.M.S. Pinafore.” Now I was one of the utility players in “The Music Man.” Utility. Read the rest of this entry »

The Poseidon Adventure

Believe it or not, “The Poseidon Adventure” was the movie that cemented my desire to become a film critic. When I attended Hueneme High School, they offered an elective class called Film Criticism. Due to its popularity, it was only available to juniors and seniors. It served as an English elective, and a lot of jocks took it because it was an easy grade. Read the rest of this entry »