hursday. september 4. 2003
NOW PLAYING
reviews in brief.
Jonathan Breck, as the Creeper, is hungry for more teenage flesh,and a box office success, in Jeepers Creepers 2.
JEEPERS CREEPERS 2
R, 106 minutes. South Wind 12
"Beware, beware, beaware the big green dragon that sits on your doorstep. He eats little boys, puppy-dog tails and big fat snails. Beware, take care, beware."
You can imagine filmmaker Victor Salva drawing inspiration from this speech, which Bela Lugosi so memorably delivered in Glen or Glenda, made by a writer-director crowned Hollywood's worst in history, Ed Wood. A monster bearing the likeness of a dragon plays the bogeyman role of Salva's Jeepers Creepers and its new sequel. But the inspiration is two-fold, for Salva shares some of Wood's
Jeepers Creepers 2 opens in a red-orange cornfield, where a boy busies himself hanging up macabre-looking scarecrows. Then one of the scarecrows comes to life. It's the Creeper, the voraciously hungry, winged demon that terrorized Darry and Trish Jenner in the original film. Soon, the Creeper and the boy float off into the horizon, leaving the child's farmer father, Taggart (Ray Wise), obsessed with revenge.
Cut to a day later, when a busload of high school kids journey home after a basketball game. The Creeper swoops down upon the bus, blowing out a tire with
spectacularly bad taste, though more as a writer than a director.
what looks like a Chinese star made out of horns. As night falls, the demon quickly dispatches the adults — Salva has never had much use for them in his films — and begins picking off the kids, who contact Taggart through a radio message.
Will Taggart save the day? Does anyone give a damn if he does?
The sequel is burdened too many characters to stop, so he settles on development one of them. The dialogue is fully functional, almost filler in between the horror scenes. On the bus, a cheerleader discusses how one of the basketball players only likes to have sex after the team loses. Later, a guy's sexuality is said to be in question. And that's about all the movie gives us to figure out who these kids are. They're basically walking edibles, and so we can't help cheering on their demise, which kills any chances of genuine fright.
Not only are these kids one-dimensional, they seem to be from another dimension. None of the girls on the bus brought a cell phone, while the guys enjoy peeing in groups with their pants down around their ankles. All of this is about as likely as students at the University of Kansas banning sandals for the year.
Salva has a lush visual style, and, in a B-movie sort of way, it's great to see Wise, the murderous father from David Lynch's Twin Peaks series, play the avenging angel. But we learn nothing new about the Creeper itself here. He might not be the first, but Salva forgets that sequels need ideas of their own.
—Stephen Shupe Grade: C-
DICKIE ROBERTS: FORMER CHILD STAR
PG-13, 99 minutes, South Wind 12
Dickie Roberts is an aged 70s child-star desperately looking for work. When it comes to playing the part of his dreams in a movie, the producer tells him he lacks the right stuff because of his
unrealized normal childhood. Determined to win the-part, Dickie hires a family to try and help him relive his childhood and give him the experiences he never had. The trailer looks surprisingly funny. With some early buzz and former child-stars, such as Corey Feldman, showing up to join in, the movie has a shred of a chance to have success. The cast also includes Alyssa Milano and Jon Lovitz.
Lindsey Ramsey Not reviewed
DIRTY PRETTY THINGS R.107 minutes. Liberty Hall
The dark mystery'Dirty Pretty Things tells the story of Okwe (Chiwetel Ejifor), a stoic illegal immigrant, who seems too smart to be doubling as a cab driver and hotel clerk. Okwe leads a simple life in London with a Turkish refugee, Senay(Audrey Tatou Amelie). He works his jobs and turns a blind eye to the dirty things that happen in his hotel. One evening he pulls a human heart out of a toilet, and Okwe must face an insidious plot that exploits illegal immigrants like him. The warm companionship Okwe and Senay find in each other makes for the perfect contrast to the harsh lives they lead and an experience that is not to be missed by the audience.
be missed by the audience Director Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liaisons) leads this great cast through a Roman Polanski-esque mystery that not only unravels truths about the underworld of London, but truths about the lives of the characters, Senay and Okwe.
Cal Creek Grade: A-
THE ORDER R.102 minutes, South Wind 12
Hollywood once again tries to recreate The Exorcist's spellbinding mix of the occult and Catholicism in The Order, starring Heath Ledger and written
and directed by Brian Helgeland.
Ledger plays Father Alex Bernier, an outcast priest who investigates a series of bizarre murders that implicate a centuries-old, secret order within the church. The film slips into the supernatural as Bernier confronts The Sin Eater, an immortal god on earth who can absolve sins.
Also starring Shannyn Sossamon, the film reunites much of the cast and crew from 2001's A Knight's Tale — not exactly the best omen. But even at its worst — see Stigmata — this genre serves up compelling, moody cinema at its most explicit.
—Stephen Shupe Not Reviewed
THE HOURS
PG-13, 114 minutes, SUA
Three women, all connected, all desperate to find peace, but unable to do so. This is the story of Stephen Daldry's The Hours. Based on Michael Cunningham's novel, the film's struggle for love and happiness is the focus of three different stories about three similar women.
We meet the first, Virginia Woolf (Oscar winner Nicole Kidman), as she begins to write her famous novel Mrs. Dalloway. In Mrs. Dalloway, a woman projects a strong face to the world but is miserable on the inside. This sentiment is shared by all three women. Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) is a 1950s house wife reading Mrs. Dalloway and Clarissa Vaughn (Meryl Streep) is a modern day Dalloway preparing to throw a party for her ex-lover (Ed Harris).
Kidman is the star but all three women are outstanding. The film does lag in some parts but redeems itself at the film's conclusion when two characters meet. The Hours is a haunting and riveting portrayal of three women who in their pursuit of happiness only find madness and despair.
Lindsey Ramsey Grade: B