THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2003
MOVIES AROUND TOWN
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 11
Chicago
Grade: B-
Contributed art
Everybody sings and dances just swell in Rob Marshall's take on the Bob Fosse Broadway hit, but after Chicago is over you may wonder what all the fuss was about. Renee Zellweger stars as Roxie Hart, a nobody who wants to be a somebody who becomes famous the American way: She shoots her lover dead. Catherine Zeta-Jones seethes with sexuality as the cool-hearted Velma Kelly, and Richard Gere, who for once deserved the Academy Award nomination he was snubbed for, channels James Cagney in a rare magnetic performance. Marshall's carbon-copy theatricality ensures you'll have a good time, but for less style over substance, see Björk in the daring Dancer in the Dark.
Vince Vaughn, Luke Wilson and Will Ferrell head back to college in Old School.
— Stephen Shupe
Daredevil
Grade: D+
Art and commerce collide in Daredevil, easily the worst comic-book fiasco since Dolph Lundgren played The Punisher. Forced to commercialize his dream project with Nokia product placements and Moby music, director Mark Steven Johnson (the man responsible for 'Simon Birch') can only make the first 30 minutes satisfying before the picture dissolves into mediocrity. Ben Affleck plays a blind Hell's Kitchen lawyer who sees audible objects in his head and haunts dreary New York rooftops to brutalize bad guys. Jennifer Garner and Colin Farrel look alternately smug and stranded as the rich babe Elektra and the evil Bullseye, respectively. The film's list of flaws (choppy effects, unnecessary killings, corny lines ...) scrolls longer than the "pizza" section of the Lawrence yellow pages. A cheap, self-conscious bore.
-ss
Darkness Falls Grade:D
A silly and mostly unsuccessful ghost story about a demonic tooth fairy (really!) plaguing some none-too-bright townsfolk and a guy on heavy dosages of anti-psychotics. Television's Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Emma Caulfield co-stars. It's more like "Darkness Kerplunks."
Steven Rea/KRT Campus
Final Destination 2
Grade: B+
This gory sequel can't wait for its stupidly defensive cast of forgettable characters to die spectacularly horrible deaths. Despite the ambiguous previews, the film picks up where its superb predecessor left
off. Nearly all of the survivors of the Flight 180 tragedy have been tracked down by Death. After a premonition dream sequence that arguably tops the terrifying plane explosion in the original, a new tragedy occurs, this one an expertly staged pile-up on the highway. Nothing new here, just the same scary logic to the details of accidental death that made the first film such a surprise hit. A criminally fast-paced and laughably shocking ride that's not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach.
--ss
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days Grade:D
Despite a few clever insights and twists, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is neither good nor distinctive enough to rise above the level of generic romantic comedy. This, despite appealing performances by Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey.
Carrie Rickey/KRT Campus
The Life of David Gale has the courage of its own convictions. What it lacks is the grace to transmit them with subtlety.
The Life of David Gale Grade: C+
To preach his anti-death penalty sentiments, director Alan Parker has assembled an impressive cast topped by Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet and Laura Linney. But he presents each scene with flourishes usually associated with musical production numbers. It's as if Parker thought he was still directing Madonna in Evita.
The film has sharp dialogue, as when the (fictitious) Texas governor is described as "being in touch with his inner frat boy." But some plot contrivances and coincidences will 'gnaw' at the viewer. C'mon, Bitsey
wouldn't you think to trade in an overheated rental car?
Overwrought and over-directed, The Life of David Gale has ideas worth considering, but its largest group of advocates will be the already converted.
— KRT Campus
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Grade: A
The fellowship might be broken, but everything else in Peter Jackson's massive follow-up to The Fellowship of the Ring feels perfectly in place. The surprise is what an altogether different experience The Two Towers is from its predecessor. It falls more directly into the category of fantasy and its stirring climactic grandeur hasn't been matched in the last thirty years of epic Hollywood filmmaking. Much has been said of the twisted fun of Gollum, but I think more praise should be given to Elijah Wood, whose frighteningly vulnerable facial expressions obviously provided inspiration for his computer-generated companion. I'm guessing you've already seen this, so let me take this opportunity to recommend one of my favorite films, Jackson's sublime Heavenly Creatures, which was recently released on an excellent DVD.
-ss
Nicholas Nickleby Grade: B+
It sounds like a boring costume-drama for the Merchant-Ivory crowd, so don't let that title fool you: This is a major entertainment with a huge cast. Adapted from Dickens, Nickleby features more screen luminaries than a P.T. Anderson picture including Jim Broadbent, Alan Cumming.
Nathan Lane and Christopher Plummer. With a beginning like Oliver Twist and an ending that's a logical alternative to A Christmas Carol, the film remains faithful to Dickensian misery while still giving you a lift and emanating a warm tonal glow. Nickleby's one Achilles heel is the actor cast in the title role, Charlie Hunnam. He's sincere, though, and he shouldn't keep you from striking a blow for good taste by going to see this wonderfully literate film.
Old School
-ss
Grade: B+
A mile-a-minute tummy-tickler, Old School follows the travails of three 30ish friends unwilling to leave behind the glory of their collegiate yesteryear. When Mitch (Luke Wilson) breaks up with his longtime girlfriend (Juliette Lewis), he and his buddies (Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrell) move into a house near the local university, where they proceed to form their own fraternity. A movie that spoofs the greek experience has the artistic license to be rowdy, bawdy and completely lacking in moral fiber. The director, Todd Phillips, plays by those rules while also giving the film an exquisite sixth sense for the kitsch 1980s nostalgia most yuppies just can't escape. And as a newlywed streaking his way to a quick divorce, Ferrell goes Farley in a comedy that's savvy enough to give him free rein.
-SS
Grade: A-
The Pianist
Along with Tim Blake Nelson's 'The Grey Zone' and Werner Herzog's Invincible, The Pianist made 2002 a sort of banner year for wrenching Holocaust dramas. This film covers the most ground, opening when the Germans began to brick up Jews in tiny corners of the country and coming to a near-close with an unforgettable shot that reveals most of the walls have been burned to the ground. Adrien Brody, in a physically brilliant performance, stars as Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish pianist who survived virtually on his own for four years in the ghetto. If the film's isolationist storyline is a turn-off, be aware that director Roman Polanski keeps the canvas wide with multiple characters throughout. It's remarkable the way Polanski, whose other films (Chinatown, Rosemary's Baby) have his dark visionary signature all over them, seems to disappear here, treating the film almost like a historical document. The violence is appropriately rampant and shocking. But by the end you get to see the Nazis on the run, which is always a joy.
SS