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CAPSULE FILM REVIEWS:
MUMFORD: a delightful new film from one of Hollywood's best, writer/director/producer, Larry Kasdan. About a psychotherapist - a likable and quite successful imposter - who straightens out the bent people of a small town, before he's caught. Among the more delicious elements, an inter-racial romance between a young Silicon Valley-type multi-billionaire and a coffee shop owner (Alfre Woodard). A light, amusing, intelligent, entertaining film. On the Franklin Scale of 1-10, 10 being best, a 9-plus.
DOUBLE JEOPARDY: Tommy Lee Jones in another one of those "Fugitive" things. This time, in keeping with the era of Strong and Vengeful Women in the Movies, the escapee is Ashley Judd who goes to the slammer for having killed her bad husband, who's not really dead. Throughout the chase, through thick and thin, Ms Judd looks beautiful. Routine film-making for undemanding audiences. A generous 7.
ELMO IN GROUCHLAND: The Henson folks are at it again. The very red Elmo has lost his blanket - and we (the audience) help him find it. Nice music. Fun stuff. Too bad there isn't more with Kermit the Frog. Great for kids under eight. Great for adults who like to watch the faces of their kids at a movie. On the Franklin Scale of 1-10, 10 being best - an 8 for the young'uns, less for their elders.
AMERICAN BEAUTY: Kevin Spacey and a terrific cast, well directed, in a very dark comedy about a dysfunctional suburban family. Excellent. A 10.
FOR LOVE OF THE GAME: Kevin Costner as an over-the-Jim-Hill pitcher for the Detroits, playing, what is probably his last painful game. As usual, Costner is very good. But film is troubled by a long, sappy love story. A 7.
6TH SENSE: about a little boy who says he can see, and talk with, the dead. Bruce Willis plays a psychologist, who has serious problems of his own. Great surprise ending. A 10.
THE MUSE: a comedy about the children who populate the offices of Hollywood's hierarchy and a writer (Albert Brooks), who seeks out a "muse", an alleged descendant of the God Zeus and who inspires creativity...so that he can recapture his "edge". Cute. Inside. An 8.
MICKEY BLUE EYES: New York art auctioneer (Hugh Grant) about to marry the daughter of a crime boss and thus move in an entirely new social stratum. Lots of fun with murderous thugs and their victims. Ugh. A 4.
THE ASTRONAUT'S WIFE: incomprehensible, sophomoric nonsense about an astronaut who impregnates his wife with the kind of fetii that are so dear to the Art Bell audiences. Stupid time at the movies. A 3.
BOWFINGER: Steve Martin as a down-on-his-luck film producer making a movie on a shoestring, with a stolen camera and a from-hunger cast. Eddie Murphy plays two roles. Has moments, but .... A generous 5.
THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR: not as good as the 1970's version with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway. They steal Renoirs and Monets instead of bank money this time. Schmucky Hollywood ending. A 6.
EYES WIDE SHUT: the late Stanley Kubrick's final joke on Hollywood. (Two top Warner executives resigned day before the pic's opening). Tom Cruise as a horny doctor at an orgy. Nicole Kidman is the wife, in one long, long, talky bedroom scene, she looking as if she's just stepped out of an LA TIMES panty ad. A 4.
RUNAWAY BRIDE: Julia Roberts as a nutcase who ruins men's lives by abandoning them at the altar. Richard Gere is a reporter. Guess what happens. A 3.
THE RED VIOLIN: about a musical instrument - and wait till you find out why it is red ! - from the time of its construction in Italy, several hundred years ago, through its life with musical geniuses and gypsies, through the Red (!) Guard revolution in China - ending with a mysterious, multi-million dollar, tension-filled auction in Manhattan. Probably best movie of the year. A 10.
TARZAN: Good Disney. Forgettable music track. A 7.
SUMMER
OF SAM: Spike
Lee. About a bunch of Italian-American street thugs in the New York of the
1970's, when a serial killer was running amok. Pointless. Badly written. More
dreck. A 2.
LIST
OF THINGS AND PEOPLE THAT ARE ANNOYING AND/OR THREATENING TO OUR MENTAL HEALTH:
The
three anchors and contributor, Kelly Lange, on KCBS-TV's new 4pm "news for
women" ... the morning talkers on KABC radio ... Don Imus ... Jerry Lewis'
Telethons ... The Kosovo "liberation" army ... the sales personnel at
Fry's ... Mark McGwire ... Boxing (pro and amateur) ...TV ads for panty liners
and jock itch cures ... Boris Yeltsin ... O.J. Simpson ... "Dr." Laura
Schlessinger ... Art Bell ... Peter Jennings ... the perpetually angry,
tennis-playing Williams sisters ... horror films ... ghetto sitcoms ... Gov.
Ventura ... China bashing ... cilantro ... Nancy and Ronald Reagan ... Princess
Di in retrospect ... athletic scholarships ... Porsches ... Newt Gingrich ...
the aggressive, ultra-orthodox of Israel ... Self-centered, spoiled, angry pro
sports figures ... gun nuts ... Rush Limburger ... violent anti-abortionists ...
Detroit, Miami, Manila, Mexico City, Pristina, Cologne and Lille ... modern
compositions forced on us by the LA Philharmonic ... people who say graffiti is
"folk art" instead of vandalism ...
More to come.
Visit
Out New Writer @
http://www.garyfranklin.com
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