Short Subjectives February 19 2004

Opening Friday
AGAINST THE ROPES (PG-13) Meg Ryan swaps her trademark irksome cuteness for hard-to-swallow toughness as Jackie Kallen, boxing's first prominent female promoter. In this semi-biographical account, Kallen contends with the sport's misogyny and her compulsion for self-promotion as she manages Luther Shaw (Omar Epps), the talented newcomer in the cutthroat world of Ohio pugilism. The film undermines the groundbreaking aspect of its heroine's career by using every cinematic boxing cliché of the past 50 years — from the cranky but lovable trainer (Charles S. Dutton) to the loathsome rival promoter (Tony Shalhoub). — Karen Kalb

CLIFFORD'S REALLY BIG MOVIE (G) The famed big red dog joins a carnival for his first animated feature film adventure. Voiced by John Goodman, Wayne Brady, Jenna Elfman, and John Ritter as the title pooch.

CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE DRAMA QUEEN (PG) Freaky Friday's Lindsay Lohan plays a Manhattan high-schooler who craves attention after her family moves to New Jersey.

THE DREAMERS (NC-17) See review

EUROTRIP (R) American college students wreak havoc in the European Union. The cast includes "Buffy's" Michelle Trachtenberg and "Xena's" Lucy Lawless.

TOUCHING THE VOID (NR) A bigger miracle than any Olympic victory, this true tale of survival after a 1985 climbing accident in the Andes combines a re-enactment of the event with an excellently written account by the climbers themselves. Knowing the outcome doesn't spoil the suspense. At Landmark Midtown Art Cinema. -- Steve Warren

WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT (PG-13) TV stars Ray Romano, Maura Tierney, Christine Baranski and Fred Savage back up Gene Hackman in an election-year comedy about an election. Hackman plays a U.S. president who retires (love that premise!) to his vacation home in Maine, where he competes with Romano, a hardware store owner, for the post of mayor and the hand of Tierney. After an efficient setup, the story finds nowhere special to go. — SW

YOSSI & JAGGER (NR) See review

br>?Duly Noted
APRIL CHILDREN (1998) (NR) One Kurdish brother drifts into a life of crime while another falls in love with a German prostitute instead of submitting to an arranged marriage. Young Turkish-German Cinema. Feb. 25, 7 p.m. Goethe Institut Inter Nationes, 1197 Peachtree St., Colony Square. $4. 404-892-2388.

ARYA (NR) An Indian television producer undergoes inexplicable transformations the day before his engagement in this psychological thriller. Feb. 21, 1 p.m. Madstone Theaters, 5920 Roswell Road. $9. 404-252-2000. www.sulekha.com.

BATMAN (1989) (R) Tim Burton reinvented the superhero movie with this darkly stylish take on the Caped Crusader (Michael Keaton). A sluggish pace weighs things down, but Danny Elfman's bombastic soundtrack and the grandiose, gothic design of Gotham City inspired countless imitations in the 1990s. Feb. 25, 7 p.m., Mick's Bennett Street, 2110 Peachtree Road. Free with dinner. 404-355-7163. -- Curt Holman

GIRLHOOD (NR) This documentary from Oscar nominee Liz Garbus contrasts two young girls as they struggle to grow up in Baltimore. Feb. 26, 6:30 p.m. Auburn Avenue Research Library, 101 Auburn Ave. Free. 404-730-4001.

HIP HOP FILM FEST (NR) This weeklong festival features 50 screenings of independent films energized by the sounds and sensibility of hip-hop, including Road Dogs, a road movie inspired by Easy Rider; the documentary Straight Outta Hunters Point; and Jails, Hospitals & Hip Hop, which features Danny Hoch portraying 10 disparate characters. Feb. 20-26. Cinefest, GSU University Center, Suite 211, 66 Courtland St. $5 ($3 until 5 p.m.). 404-651-3565. www.hiphopfilmfest.com.

INNER SENSES (2002) (NR) The Sixth Sense inspired this thriller, in which Hong Kong superstar Leslie Cheung plays a workaholic psychiatrist with a patient (Karena Lam) who sees dead people. Films at the High: Hong Kong Panorama. Feb. 20, 8 p.m., Woodruff Arts Center, Rich Auditorium. $5. 404-733-4570. www.high.org.

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) (R) The cult classic of cult classics, the musical horror spoof follows an all-American couple (Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick) to the castle of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), a drag-queen/mad scientist from another galaxy. It's all fun and games until Meat Loaf gets killed. Dress as your favorite character and participate in this musical on acid. Midnight Fri. at Lefont Plaza Theatre, and Sat. at Marietta Star Cinema.

br>?Continuing
THE ADVENTURES OF OCIEE NASH (G) Not to be confused with Eddie Murphy's The Adventures of Pluto Nash, this locally-filmed family picture follows the tomboyish title role (Skylar Day) from her father's Mississippi farm to her stuffy aunt's Asheville home in 1898. The novelty of seeing numerous Atlanta stage actors in extensive big-screen parts keeps you awake through this wholesome yet dull tale.--CH

ALONG CAME POLLY (PG-13) What might have been a funny movie relies on body emissions for nearly all its laughs. Ben Stiller pees, pukes and poops his way through the role of Reuben, a conservative insurance risk assessor whose wife, Lisa (Debra Messing) runs off with a scuba instructor on their honeymoon. Reuben hooks up with Polly (Jennifer Aniston), his total opposite, but then along comes Lisa again. Stiller is Stiller, Aniston is very good and Philip Seymour Hoffman steals the picture, but it's petty theft.--SW

BARBERSHOP 2: BACK IN BUSINESS (PG-13) Business as Usual is more like it. It may be slicker than the original by a hair but the series hasn't lost its funky charm. Ice Cube fights gentrification-minded developers and Cedric the Entertainer rants hilariously about celebrities instead of beloved historical figures. Our familiarity with the characters makes as enjoyable as an old sitcom, and the presence of Queen Latifah, setting up her Beautyshop spinoff, makes this a "very special episode."--SW

THE BIG BOUNCE (PG-13) Although adapted from an Elmore Leonard novel, this amateurish, numbingly uneventful caper comedy might as well have been based on a Hawaii Board of Tourism video and the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Gorgeous but grating newcomer Sara Foster tries to convince Owen Wilson's thieving surfer to rip off evil businessman Gary Sinise. The sex, skin and profanity seem to have been edited down like a hotel room porno flick, so you might want to wait for a dirtier cut on DVD.--CH

BIG FISH (PG-13) On his deathbed, a colorful Southerner (Albert Finney) tells his fanciful life story to his skeptical son (Billy Crudup) in Tim Burton's latest tribute to the imagination. With Ewan McGregor radiantly playing Finney's younger self, the tall tales that dominate the film are comic, magical and appropriately "Southern." Only the present-day scenes with the humorless son drag on the film's otherwise delightful pageant of witches, giants and misguided poets.--CH

THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT (R) "Punk'd" star Ashton Kutcher plays a scruffy college student who tries to save the life of his long-time sweetheart (Amy Smart) by traveling in time to change their childhood and alter the future — for the worse. The film's thoroughly unpleasant first hour puts children, babies and dogs in violent jeopardy to serve its vague theme about repressed memories, but some cleverness emerges in its time-travel twists and special effects.--CH

CATCH THAT KID (PG) Another imPerfect Score, this one by three 12-year-olds who rob a bank to pay for a girl's father's operation. Not recommended for anyone older than the protagonists. At the rate the criminal age is dropping, this year's big Christmas movie should be a remake of Bonnie and Clyde with a cast of fetuses.--SW

CITY OF GOD (R) This gritty crime drama from Brazil uses the flashy, pulp-fiction techniques of Tarantino and Scorsese to draw attention to the violence and crushing poverty in Rio's sprawling slums. Tracking a bloodthirsty drug dealer and a meek photographer from the '60s to the '80s, the filmmakers make the most of every cinematic trick at their disposal, although their greatest resource is a sense of social outrage that mourns how penniless orphans become larcenous killers.--CH

COLD MOUNTAIN (R) The English Patient's writer-director Anthony Minghella loses his way trying to bring Charles Frazier's civil war odyssey to life. Jude Law and Nicole Kidman never strike sparks as would-be-lovers separated by the War Between the States, and Minghella stoops to crude means to manipulate his audience, rather than find a consistent tone. On the plus side, the film features a truly Homeric opening battle, a wrenching, well-crafted episode with Natalie Portman and a broad but amusing Renee Zellweger angling for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.--CH

THE COOLER (R) Director Wayne Kramer takes a humorous premise — a man so unlucky that a Vegas casino pays him to jinx (or "cool") more fortunate gamblers — and inexplicably treats it as the stuff of serious drama. The film features tender, insightful bedroom scenes and substantial acting from Maria Bello, Alec Baldwin and William H. Macy in the title role, but its morality tale of honor in Vegas gambling dens never convinces. If The Cooler were a bet, you wouldn't take it.--CH

50 FIRST DATES (PG-13) See review on page 59.

THE FOG OF WAR (PG-13) Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of Defense under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, emerges as commanding yet enigmatic in Errol Morris' urgent, intricate documentary. The title evokes the gray areas of military decisions as well as the contradictions in McNamara's own character. At times evasive about his legacy of Vietnamese military escalation, McNamara offers keen insights into the Cuban Missile Crisis and a harsh assessment about the firebombing of Japan. It's essential viewing, particularly when America flexes its military muscles abroad.--CH

GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING (PG-13) Exquisitely photographed by cinematographer Eduardo Serra in beautiful homage to 17th century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer, this captivating film is also true to the covert personal and political issues that backstoried classical oil painting. Director Peter Webber's calm, subtle, but fascinating adaptation of Tracy Chevalier's best-selling work of historical fiction, speculates on the class and sexual issues that might have informed Vermeer's (Colin Firth) creation of one of his greatest works, "The Girl with a Pearl Earring," using a humble, virginal housemaid (Scarlett Johansson) as his muse.--Felicia Feaster

HARD GOODBYES: MY FATHER (NR) A 10-year-old Greek boy (Yorgos Karayannis) deals with a traumatic blow as America prepares to land a man on the moon in the summer of 1969. This Greek drama from first-time director Penny Panayotopoulou is not without its charms, most prominently the appealing Yorgos Karayannis. But despite biting off some heavy material, the film comes across as rather slight, and never achieves much emotional depth. Lefont Garden Hill Cinema. — FF

HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG (R) Its melodramatic, grandiose conclusion is an odd match with its previous flat-line rhythm, but the grim House of Sand and Fog is greatly enhanced by Ben Kingsley's memorable performance as an Iranian immigrant who battles with a depressed woman (Jennifer Connelly) over her former house by the sea. Connelly's zombie-like, unengaging performance, as well as the film's emotionally mismatched first and second half, account for its shortcomings, despite some interesting content.--FF

IMAX THEATER: Roar: Lions of the Kalahari (NR) The "circle of life" plays out in the Botswana desert in an unusually focused IMAX documentary, as two male lions fight for domination over a water hole. Kudos to Tim Liversedge, a rare filmmaker with the balls to set his camera in the middle of a pride of lions. Don't always believe what the narrator tells you and juxtaposed shots appear to show. Just be amazed by what you actually see. Through Apr. 30 Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees (NR) As much about the lady as the animals she's studied for more than 40 years, this pleasant but unexciting film features more observation than information about an extended family of Tanzanian chimps and their baboon buddies. Johnny Clegg's music is a plus. Opens Feb. 7. Fernbank Museum of Natural History IMAX Theater, 767 Clifton Road. 404-929-6300. www.fernbank.edu.--SW

IN AMERICA (PG-13) My Left Foot director Jim Sheridan builds his partially autobiographical tale of an Irish immigrant family on sweetness and sentiment, but without sugar-coating or safety nets. Samantha Morton and Paddy Considine give emotionally complex performances as the parents dealing with the death of their youngest child, while their two daughters find their first year in New York to be thrillingly exotic. Musical choices like "Do You Believe in Magic" overemphasize the themes of miracles, but In America feels like an honest attempt to transform painful personal experience into an accessible artistic catharsis.--CH

JAPANESE STORY (R) When Toni Colette's outdoorsy geologist unwillingly plays tour guide for a young but formal Japanese investor (Gotaro Tsunashima), the film sets up a opposites-attract romance in the splendidly photographed outback. Director Sue Brooks and scripter Alison Tilson stay deceptively close to the formula, then take the film on a head-spinning detour to become a thoughtful drama marked by the subtle delicacies of Collette's performance.--CH

THE LAST SAMURAI (R) Edward Zwick's samurai epic falls short of its potential with the miscasting of Tom Cruise as boozing, battle-weary soldier hired to help put down an insurgency (led by the charismatic Ken Watanabe) in 19th century Japan. The film's last act, with its lavish battle scene, lives up to its ambitions, but Cruise never conveys the haunted gravitas of his role, and only emphasizes the overly simplistic, romanticized screenplay.--CH

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING (PG-13) The final chapter of director Peter Jackson's sprawling adaptation of Tolkein's trilogy feels less like a self-contained film than the crescendo of a single, nine-hour fantasy epic. By alternating between the spectacular battle scenes of a war film and the terrifying suspense of a horror movie, King's intensity builds to a nearly unbearable pitch, while its close attention to character earns its profound feelings of release and closure. Admittedly exhausting, the three films join the company of The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars and other classics of imaginative cinema.--CH

LOST IN TRANSLATION (R) Director Sofia Coppola's (The Virgin Suicides) much-anticipated second film brings together Bill Murray and indie flick ingénue Scarlett Johansson as accidental tourists in Tokyo. Both insomniacs at crisis points in their marriages, the two start a unique friendship that takes through from karaoke clubs to titty bars in a soft-focus search for connection and meaning. Coppola strings together enough tiny brilliant moments to overcome the film's nearly absent plot and produces a sophomore effort almost as sparkling as her first.--Tray Butler

MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD (PG-13) Russell Crowe lightens up to play Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe), captain of the HMS Surprise as he matches wits with a bigger, faster French ship in this Napoleonic-era nautical adventure. Director Peter Weir stays faithful to the spirit of Patrick O'Brien's novel, one of a beloved series that promotes maritime procedure over swashbuckling plot. The film's impeccable approach to detail will appeal more to History Channel fans than the general movie-going audience, but it boasts exciting set-pieces and a colorful cast of character actors.--CH

MIRACLE (PG) The story of the 1980 U.S. Olympic ice hockey team and their victory over the Soviets will make audiences stand up and cheer — and will probably be co-opted by a presidential candidate as his "vision for America." With too many subplots and too little time, it's not the Seabiscuit of hockey, but at least it feeds the national pride of its target audience. Kurt Russell has one of his best roles as the late Herb Brooks, the team's driven coach.--SW

MONSTER (R) Like Boys Don't Cry, this biopic of female serial killer Aileen Wuornos will be remembered less for its script that its unforgettable central performance. Charlize Theron not only submerges her considerable beauty beneath sun-ravaged make-up, she gets beneath Wuornos' skin to find the self-loathing that erupts in violence towards men. As former hooker Wuornos murders her johns to support her manipulative girlfriend (Christina Ricci, back in form), she sees herself as akin to the heroine of a exploitation revenge movie. Theron and Ricci's acting keep Monster from sinking to that level.--CH

MYSTIC RIVER (R) A continuation of the fixations with masculine strength, vengeance and the violent extremes that have defined Clint Eastwood's directorial and acting career. Sean Penn, a vast improvement on Eastwood's typically wooden action heroes, is a grieving father determined to punish whoever murdered his 19-year-old daughter. Eastwood's emotionally fraught film is hardly the masterpiece it's been made out to be, often weighed down by a ponderous, conventional police investigation plot and a tendency to spell out his aims in canned dialogue and elementary exposition.--FF

THE PERFECT SCORE (PG-13) MTV takes a break from reality-based idiocy to dive into the fictional world of teensploitation melodrama. When low SAT scores separate six high schoolers from their dreams, they band together to steal the answers to the test. The dumb caper comedy elements don't play nearly as poorly as the script's anti-drug, anti-conformity, anti-lax parenting public service announcements. Sure, it has Scarlett Johansson. But so did Home Alone 3.--KK

TAKING SIDES (NR) Esteemed Hungarian director Istvan Szabo's historical drama turns out to be a disappointingly didactic, black and white portrait of European relativism confronting American moral absolutism. Harvey Keitel, in hysteria-mode, plays an American major trying to prove the Nazi affiliations of the revered Berlin Philharmonic conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler (Stellan Skarsgård) in the immediate post-WWII de-Nazification era. Keitel's character emerges as the ultimate pugnacious ugly American, a man so crude and dimwitted that we embrace Furtwängler as a heroic victim by comparison.--Felicia Feaster

TOKYO GODFATHERS (PG-13) Anime director Satoshi Kon adapts the premise of the John Wayne western 3 Godfathers for this sentimental but lovely film about three homeless people who resolve to return an abandoned infant to its mother. At times the film lives up to clichés about drag queens and "Christmas miracles," but Tokyo Godfathers cleverly applies live-action cinema techniques to the simplicity of Japanese animation for a frequently surprising story in which serendipity overcomes cynicism.--CH

THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE (PG-13) An elderly Frenchwoman and her obese dog face harrowing yet ridiculous obstacles to rescue her bicyclist grandson from French mobsters. Like a Gallic "Wallace & Gromit," this French cartoon feature superbly embraces silent movie-style slapstick and deadpan character animation. The film's bouncy, haunting music have justly earned it a Best Song Oscar nomination. Playing with the Oscar-nominated short "Destino," a posthumously-completed collaboration between Walt Disney and Salvador Dali. At Landmark Midtown Art Cinema--CH

21 GRAMS (R) Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's (Amores Perros) drama is an anguished meditation on the mess and guilt left behind when a tragedy unites three disparate strangers. A grieving drug addict (Naomi Watts), an ex-con turned Jesus freak (Benicio Del Toro) and a gravely ill man (Sean Penn) waiting for a heart transplant find their lives intersecting in a film that recalls the tapestried existential angst of Magnolia. The film features a genuinely tortured, magnetic turn by Del Toro, whose fascinating character should have had his own movie. 21 Grams is overburdened by its melodramatic meltdowns and actorly moments that spell out the traumas in far too broad gestures.--FF

WIN A DATE WITH TAD HAMILTON! (PG-13) If you want to pretend the last 50 years never happened, you'll enjoy this retro comedy about a wise but not worldly gal (Kate Bosworth) from an idealized Middle America who finds herself torn between a city feller (Josh Duhamel) and the sweet homeboy (Topher Grace) who secretly loves her. Robert Luketic's tribute to naiveté is better than the average January release, but proves a disappointing follow-up to Legally Blonde.--SW

YOU GOT SERVED (PG-13) Omarion of B2K and Marques Houston play best friends who have a falling out on the way to the big dance competition in a clichéd drama that makes all the wrong moves when it leaves the dance floor. Some of the dancing is off the chain but the production values would keep a music video off the air.--SW