16 Jan 2001

Enjoyable Junk Triumphs over Dull Intelligence: "Thirteen Days" and "Finding Forrester"

By Mike Schulz

Steven Culp, Kevin Costner, and Bruce Greenwood in Thirteen DaysTHIRTEEN DAYS

Just because a movie is smart doesn't mean it'll avoid dullness. Roger Donaldson's Thirteen Days, which documents the terrifying two weeks of the Cuban Missile Crisis, is evidence of this, a well-scripted, well-acted drama that might still cause you to doze off.

09 Jan 2001

Gripping "Traffic" Is One for the Ages: Also, "All the Pretty Horses" and "Miss Congeniality"

By Mike Schulz

Catherine Zeta-Jones in TrafficTRAFFIC

Sitting in the audience for Steven Soderbergh's drug drama Traffic, I heard a sound that had been sorely missing from 12-plus months of moviegoing: rapt, appreciative silence. It was the sort of silence that you only get when a director is in full control of his work, when the actors are working at peak form, and when the storyline is so gripping that you can't wait to see where it will lead you next. Based on a British mini-series, Traffic is something increasingly rare in modern films: a large-scale epic with a human pulse, in which every character and nuance is sharply defined, and in which your alliances and points of view change with each passing scene. The accolades and awards already bestowed on the film aren't simply a matter of it being the best of a bum year; it's one of the best movies released in many years.

02 Jan 2001

The Eyes Have It, and an Apology from Hollywood: "Cast Away" and "The Family Man"

By Mike Schulz

Tom Hanks in Cast AwayCAST AWAY

In Cast Away, Robert Zemeckis' most fully satisfying work in ages, Tom Hanks stars as Chuck Noland, a FedEx engineer for whom the world can't move fast enough; he's obsessed with time-saving, whether it be with associates in Moscow or friends at home. Before boarding a plane for a business conference, he even goes so far as to give his girlfriend (Helen Hunt) a wrapped engagement ring, instructing her to open it when he returns. (He saves lead-in time on its actual presentation.) But somewhere over the Pacific, the plane crashes (in one of cinema's most terrifying airplane disasters), and Chuck is washed up on a deserted island with little hope of escape or rescue; suddenly, he has all the time in the world, and the film, which had previously been lightning quick, slows down to a crawl.

19 Dec 2000

The Perils - and Pleasures - of Self-Involvement: "The Emperor's New Groove" and "What Women Want"

By Mike Schulz

The Emperor's New GrooveTHE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE

Despite being saddled with a crummy title, Disney's The Emperor's New Groove turns out to be the studio's most sheerly pleasurable animated feature in ages. It appears to have been made not only for those of us who were sick to death of the tired old Disney formula, but by people who were sick to death of the tired old Disney formula; it attacks the studio's shopworn clichés with a vengeance that is both hilarious and utterly deserved.

13 Dec 2000

No Rescue from These Flawed Films: "Proof of Life" and "Vertical Limit"

By Mike Schulz

Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe in Proof of LifePROOF OF LIFE

Proof of Life, the kidnapping drama by director Taylor Hackford, stars David Morse as Peter Bowman, an American engineer living near the Andes who gets abducted by a group of Latin American revolutionaries convinced that Bowman's dam-building project is an insidious political maneuver.

28 Nov 2000

"Unbreakable" Fails to Build on Promise -- or Premise

By Mike Schulz

Samuel L. Jackson in UnbreakableUNBREAKABLE

You gotta give M. Night Shymalan credit: The man gives great preview. Though it's impossible to determine just how much of a hand he had in creating the theatrical trailer for his new thriller Unbreakable, by the time the words "from the writer/director of The Sixth Sense" hit the screen, they're completely superfluous; a mere 30 seconds in, you know it couldn't possibly be the work of anyone else.

21 Nov 2000

Giving Romantic Comedy a "Bounce": Also, "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stone Christmas"

By Mike Schulz

Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow in BounceBOUNCE

Writer-director Don Roos might never be a great filmmaker - his staging is obvious in that Kevin Smith way (a lot of two-shots of characters talking) and there's no real visual life on display. But he's wonderful with actors, and he has a great ear for dialogue, writing realistic lines that can flip in a moment's notice to something truly comic or poignant.

14 Nov 2000

The Billy Club: "Billy Elliot" and "Men of Honor"

By Mike Schulz

Jamie Bell in Billy ElliotBILLY ELLIOT

Billy Elliot, the British coming-of-age comedy/drama that has finally opened wide after a successful art-house run, is for anyone who longs to see a strong, simple story finely detailed and exquisitely performed.

07 Nov 2000

Sleepy and Dopey: "The Legend of Bagger Vance" and "Charlie's Angels"

By Mike Schulz

Will Smith and Matt Damon in The Legend of Bagger VanceTHE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE

The Legend of Bagger Vance, Robert Redford's golfing fable, isn't a work of any depth, and there's precious little intelligence on display, but it sure looks pretty - so pretty, in fact, that audiences might not realize that the movie itself is a dud. From the golden-hued cinematography of the great Michael Ballhaus to the stunning, Depression-era costuming and production design, it's clear that the film has been made with the utmost care and a real attention to physical and aural beauty; if you didn't understand a word of English, you might find it a masterpiece.

02 Nov 2000

Dim and Dimmer: "Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2" and "Lucky Numbers"

By Mike Schulz

Kim Director and Erica Leerhsen in Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2BOOK OF SHADOWS: BLAIR WITCH 2

Let's face it: There was plenty of built-in expectation with the arrival of Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, and the expectation was that the film would suck. Those who loved The Blair Witch Project, as I did, would miss that film's cinéma vérité style and simplicity, and rail on about how Book of Shadows was exactly the kind of dumbed-down splatter flick that Blair Witch rebelled against. Those who hated the original, which seems the more common response (at least among my acquaintances), would have their beliefs confirmed that the whole Blair Witch "mythology" is lame, and that we've been hoodwinked by marketing and Internet paranoia into making these movies hits. Wouldn't it be great to report that this sequel had defied its skeptics and emerged as smashing entertainment?

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