31 December 2002

A kid with talent for the drum but a penchant for exceeding his responsibilities in band finds himself at a big southern university where playing above your station is not acceptable. Of course, he manages eventually to intrigue the first young woman upon whom he sets his eyes, and the little matter of lying on his scholarship application is eventually resolved, and you just gotta believe his solo performance is going to save the day in front of the ESPN cameras at the battle of the bands.

118 minutes.

30 December 2002

Natalie Baye tries out an English-language role as the mother of Frank Abagnale, Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) while Christopher Walken plays the father. Rather than endure the choice when they divorce, Frank runs off and with a facility for disarming people with chat and an intensive scrutiny of procedure and printing practices manages to keep himself going on cheek and rubber checks. Tom Hanks is the FBI agent who devotes his life to running Frank down. Pan American Airways, far from taking us to the moon as in 2001: a space odyssey, now represents a bygone era. Reasonably amusing.

140 minutes.

27 December 2002

Sandra Bullock, on the edge of plausibility as the lead in a romantic comedy, and Hugh Grant manage a reasonably diverting screenplay. The I gotta go scene is already spoiled by the production design which takes what is obviously a ramp to a bridge and makes it a two-way road.

100 minutes.

26 December 2002

Sure, the first two-thirds is amusing in its depiction of twin brothers, one (Nicolas Cage) the suddenly successful screenwriter for Being John Malkovich, the other (Nicolas Cage) a slacker with no purpose in life. Eventually both of them apply their energies to a problem script which adapts a book by a writer for The New Yorker about a man (Chris Cooper) who hunts down wild orchids in the swamps of Florida. But the failure to stick to the plan which requires no car chases or other melodramatic touches, while intended as a cute character moment, leads to a scene of a violence-minded Meryl Streep waving a handgun and other such nonsense from which recovery is impossible.

114 minutes.

22 December 2002

Salma Hayek’s bid for respectability as the title character in a biography of a Mexican artist. Mmm. Plenty of nudity to keep the men in the audience awake, and a cavalcade of star power in the form of Alfred Molina, Ashley Judd, Antonio Banderas, Edward Norton… The only time the production seems threadbare is during Kahlo’s visits to New York, as the failure to even attempt location shooting is apparent.

122 minutes.

15 December 2002

As predicted, a disaster. Dissatisfied inhabitants of the second planet in the home system of the Romulan Empire begin a campaign of terrorism in pursuit of secession. As plot events creak forward from the wedding of Riker and Troi (with Robin Lefler nowhere in sight) Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) discovers that the rebellion has as its leader of clone of himself. Yawn. A bald head and promise as a young actor does not make one a clone of Patrick Stewart. A huge spaceship with high cathedral-like ceilings does not befit a scrappy planet with no resources. You can’t yell Ramming speed! when a starship nudges forward at a toddler’s pace. At least Dina Meyer played a Romulan. The decent young woman in the movie version of Starship Troopers , she’s one of the rare times that the Star Trek crew have put a really pretty actress under makeup. Please let me be strong and refuse to buy the DVD of this.

14 December 2002

Three stories of women in flux loosely tied together by radio reports of a collision in Manhattan. Kyra Sedgwick’s segment is overloaded with stereotype in its depiction of backwoods living, while Fairuza Balk’s concluding segment isn’t compelling. Only the remaining charm of Parker Posey saves the middle segment.

86 minutes.

01 December 2002

Favorable reviews and the presence of Emily Watson misled me again. Adam Sandler plays the same angry individual he always has, only this time it’s dressed up in the misdirection of Paul Thomas Anderson. Mercifully, the film is shorter than Magnolia.

About 100 minutes.