2D THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OFF THE HILL
MONDAY,AUGUST 16,2004
MONDAY, AUGUST 16.
MOVIES
excellent; movies this great are rare, so don't miss it
x x x = good; at least worth the price of admission
x x = okay; see it if you have nothing better to do
*x = bad; if you absolutely have to see it, wait for the DVD*
no stars = frickin' terrible; give us our two hours back, you director from hell
Collateral (x.x) 12 out of
R. 119 minutes, South Wind 12 Theatres
White Collarer may seem like a Tom Cruise vehicle, the real protagonist of the story is Max, played by James Foxx Max works as a cab driver, saving up his money so he can start his own limo company. We can't help but root for Max when an attractive prosecutor (Jada Pinkett Smith) physically argues with him about the fastest way to her destination, and gives him her number. But this charming moment dissolves fast once Vincent Tom Cruise approaches Max with six $100 bills and a proposition. The offer, take Vincent to five destinations before his early morning flight the next day. Before we can say 'five corps,' Max is at gunpoint learning that Vincent is a hit man hired to fill witnesses in the trial of a drug dealer.
Some of the best parts of Collateral happen outside of the cab. Take the scene where Max and Vincent talk to the owner of a jazz club (Barry Shabaka Henley), who describes the story of how one day Miles Davis walked ipto his club. The dialogue seems so authentic that it is hard to remember that this is scripted material and not just people talking quietly over drinks. The actors in the film is at their best, and we don't question the validity of these characters.
The film is shot mostly on digital video, giving the film trifectic tension and the feeling that anything could happen at any time. Foxx shows he has leading-man talent and works well alongside Cruise, *Collaborate* might have one too many coincidences, like when a detective (Mark Ruffalo) ends up in the same hospital elevator as Max and Vincent and any the wisfr as to who they are. But that is just a minor quibble in this tense, original and engaging thriller.
Napoleon Dynamite [ 7 X1/2 out of four]
PG, 86 minutes,
Liberty Hall
Napoleon Dynamite is charless
Not chuseless in the Alica Sil version ensue of the world, but chuseless in the air that moves.
Gries). Meanwhile, Napoleon has made his first real friends, the new kid, Pedro (Eren Ramirez), and a plucky, ambitious photographer, Deb (Tina Maiorino). As far as story, that's about it. It isn't so much a linear film as it is a series of vignettes strung together to showcase what Napoleon will do next.
This film is genuinely and originally funny. Hederus (make sure it's stays in italics) Napoleon. But since Heder, from our eyes, is Napoleon, the filmmakers shouldn't try to beat it over our heads to make us see that this guy is nerdy. It's as if they are whispering in our ear "Look at the nord get beat up." "Look at the nord dance," "Look at the nord fall on his bike." We get that this poor boy is a nerd. And yes, it is very funny to see him fall/dance/mess up, but enough already. The saving grace is Heder himself. Giving his Napoleon all he has to give, he gives us a nerd that we may have seen before but have never seen as funny and as clever as this Lindsey Ramsey
---
Before Sunset ( x out of four)
R, 80 minutes, Liberty Hall
Moves need their own interests to combat us, but this one consists mainly of a memory. Specifically the memory shared between its protagonist, who fell in love fast in Linkerite's Before Sunrise.
At the end of Sunrise, which is one of the best romance films of the '90s, American Jesse (Ethan Hawke and European Celine Jaffe Delpy) promised to meet in Vienna six months later, and the film ended up of murdering another she showed up.
Texas filmmaker Richard Linklater (Daxed and Connusd. Waking Life) makes movies that are conversation pieces. Whether his characters are cruising the streets before the big jack of school keeper or walking through life, they exhibit an insatiable curiosity, an obsession with the meaning of it all as it relates to the present.
Sunset opens 10 years later? Jesse has become a book-selling New York author, and he's come to Perth to promote his new book, a memoir of his night with Celine.
Celine shows up at school of Jessie's book signings, and the one-time lavers agree to spend time together before Jesse leaves for America.
Despite the maddening experience of watching two people response, this is still a Richard Linklater film, so we get plenty of juicy political debate. Jessie takes the Chomsky view that people's heightened awareness of world issues leaves room for optimism. While Celine complains that the States is rapidly using up the planet's resources, *Before Senget* continues a trend of timeliness that 2004 will be remembered for, following up to the minute films such as *Fahrenheit 9* and *71*. *Before Susset* picks up in the last 20 minutes, but a little too late. It's all enough to make you wish Lisa Linnette had let us sleep dogs doge and keep what habit.