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Citizen
Journalist VERONICA GUERIN: Directed by Joel Schumacher. Written by Carol Doyle and Mary Agnes Donoghue, from story by Carol Doyle. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. Executive producers Chad Oman, Mike Stenson, Ned Dowd. Cinematography, Brendan Galvin. Production design, Nathan Crowley. Editor, David Gamble. Costume design, Joan Bergin. Music composer, Harry Gregson-Williams. Starring Cate Blanchett, with Gerard McSorley, Ciaran Hinds, Brenda Fricker, Don Wycherley, Barry Barnes, Simon O'Driscoll. Touchstone Pictures, 2003. R. 98 minutes.
Veronica Guerin (Cate Blanchett) was a Dublin investigative reporter for Ireland's best-selling weekly news tabloid, the Sunday Independent. She wanted to cover stories about the community that would make a difference, so she came to write about crime and drugs. Guerin cultivated sources among the city's young adults who were strung out on heroin in increasing numbers. For fear of reprisal, her best contact, low-life criminal John Traynor (Ciaran Hinds), wouldn't give Guerin the name of the mastermind laundering tons of money and bringing H into the city. But Guerin finds him, anyway — John Gilligan (Gerard McSorley), a cruel, ruthless and bloodless enemy with everything to lose if his name came up in connection with drugs. The reporter herself becomes the target, and Gilligan plays hardball. On the saner side of her life, Guerin is married and has a child. Her husband, Graham Turley (Barry Barnes), and son, Cathal (Simon O'Driscoll), want her attention when she's home. But most nights she sits at her desk in front of her computer, studying public documents, police photos, interview notes, books, magazines and newspaper clippings, always looking for the one clue that will lead her to Dublin's drug kingpin. Her supportive mother, Bernie Guerin (Brenda Fricker), counsels Veronica to give up the hunt. "Sometimes it's braver to walk away," she says. Direct threats are made on Veronica's life and that of her family. But this plucky, determined woman believes her visibility in the press will keep her safe. Guerin's story has been told in film before: When the Sky Falls, 2000, was directed by John MacKenzie and starred Joan Allen. U.K. reviewers were underwhelmed, and the film was not theatrically released in this country. Critics mentionVeronica Guerin's intrinsic mainstream appeal, its Hollywood gloss, as if the movie would have been truer to this courageous journalist if shot by a hand-held camera on a super-low budget. Director Joel Schumaker and producer Jerry Bruckheimer make commercial films, but they took this one to the streets and shot it with two cameras in about 90 Dublin locations. I'm not complaining. The specificity of setting grounds the film in a place, which makes the story less novelistic and more realistic. Blanchett plays this upbeat, energetic woman with verve, but she also shows us the frightened woman inside the strong outer figure Guerin felt she had to be. Guerin was the real thing. She actually went into hard-core drug scenes and interviewed people. She really went to the homes of known drug lords and asked them if they were bringing heroin into the city. She attended funerals with the police, who took pictures of gangland heroes. Incidentally, I agree with critic A.O. Scott of The New York Times, who wrote that "you expect a movie like this to sacrifice a measure of nuance to be appropriately rousing and emphatic." But I disagree that the film makes Guerin's story "as phony as mediocre television." If Guerin had been a man, I doubt anyone would have dismissed his abilities by writing about him this way. We have so few women heroes; let us honor them when they come our way. Maybe I'm still stupefied by the useless trash that clogged the multiplexes from April until day-before-yesterday, but I found Veronica Guerin memorable for its hard-headed determination to show how the corruptive influence of hard drugs destroys lives, cities and civilization. Here's the bad news. Cinemark is showing Veronica Guerin only through Friday night. This serious film has to make way for Disney's Brother Bear on Saturday. That's the world we live in. VG is heartily recommended. See it in the short time you have left.
Everyday
Rhythms THE SECRET LIVES OF DENTISTS: Directed by Alan Rudolph. Written by Craig Lucas, based on the novella by Jane Smiley. Produced by Campbell Scott, George VanBuskirk. Executive producers, David Newman, Jonathan Filley. Cinematography, Florian Ballhaus. Production design, Ted Glass. Editor, Andy Keir. Costumes, Amy Wescott. Music composer, Gary Demichele. Music supervisor, Jonathan McHugh. Starring Campbell Scott, Hope Davis and Denis Leary. With Robin Tunney, Gianna Beleno, Cassidy Hinkle, Lydia Jordan, Jon Patrick Walker, Kevin Carroll and Kate Clinton. Manhattan Pictures, 2003. R. 104 minutes.
I have a problem with film reviewers who dismiss movies about home and family as if domestic life were extraneous to the "real" life of the characters. For example, Peter Keogh of the Boston Phoenix writes, "Such banalities as the flu and infidelity assail them," of the characters in Alan Rudolph's wonderful film, The Secret Lives of Dentists. These particular "banalities" create the tension that fuels this slight, comic vehicle about family life and marriage. Here's how it works. David Hurst (Campbell Scott) and Dana Hurst (Hope Davis) are dentists who share a practice. They have been married for 10 years and have three daughters. The eldest, Lizzie (Gianna Beleno), is the good girl. Stephanie (Lydia Jordan), the middle child, needs more attention than she gets. Leah (Cassidy Hinkle) is the toddler, who demands total attention from her dad and slaps at her mother. When things are not great between Dana and Dave, Leah embodies the needs of every other member of the family to be carried around by a strong, loving and protective figure. Hinkle, this very young child actor, has the best and funniest role in the film as the kid who endlessly calls from her crib: "Dad. Dad. Dave." Engaged in a relentless battle of will Dave can only lose, Leah resolutely clings to dad for all she's worth, refusing to be put down to play or to sleep. During the flu that strikes all five family members in five successive days, Dave mentions casually to Dana that Leah has become part of his body. With a little humming, sighing sound, limp Leah laces her arms around Daddy's neck and nuzzles into his body, looking like a plump, warm appendage of sorts. The sight gags are great, and Scott consistently underplays the scenes with the children, creating a seamless, loving presence. However, Dave becomes testy after seeing evidence of what he imagines to be Dana's infidelity. Then, like the Tom Cruise character in Eyes Wide Shut who fantasizes Nicole Kidman's character having sex with the naval officer, Dave becomes possessed by his thoughts and projects images of Dana having wild sex with various men and women. A surly, unsatisfied patient called Slater (Denis Leary) provides comic relief as Dave's imaginary alter ego, who says what Dave is really thinking. Leary plays this comic character for laughs, but in a serious moment Slater asks Dave why he is so committed to this whole wife and kids thing. Marriage can't work, he says. You know that, Dave. But Slater has churned up something more important now, and Dave thinks about his question and gives the perfect answer, which I will not reveal. I know how much parents sacrifice to raise children, and this surprisingly sweet movie honors intangible but real dreams that don't get lived out. Dana and David hack their way through the tangled undergrowth that represents10 years of lapsed pruning and daily maintenance. The Secret Lives of Dentists is a delicious human story to which Hope Davis and Campbell Scott bring their best, most unsentimental work. I loved the musical score as well as the pop selections. The film opens at the Bijou on Friday, Oct. 31 with my very highest recommendations. Catch it this weekend, so maybe you will get a second chance to see it on the big screen.
You
Don't Need a Weatherman THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND (U.S., 2003): Documentary directed by Sam Green and Bill Siegel. Produced by Green, Carrie Lozano, Siegel and Marc Smolowitz. Executive producers, Christian Ettinger, Mary Harron, Sue Ellen McCann. Cinematography, Andy Black, Federico Salsano. Editors, Sam Green, Dawn Logsdon. Narrated by Lili Taylor. Appearing as themselves: Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, Mark Rudd, Brian Flanagan, Todd Gitlin, Kathleen Cleaver, Naomi Jaffe and David Gilbert. Upstate Films. Shadow Distribution, 2003.
Documentary filmmakers Sam Green and Bill Siegel take viewers deep into the political unrest that gripped this country from the late 1960s into the mid-'70s. They focus on one of the era's most colorful manifestations — the young political radicals who called themselves The Weather Underground, who thought the revolution was coming, and they were leading the way. You have to put this civic unrest in the context of the ongoing Vietnam War and the protests that raged on streets and campuses across the nation, and yes, here in Eugene at UO, although no one talks about it much these days. And you have to recognize that after Richard Nixon won the 1968 election, he turned the power of his administration into ridding the country of what he famously called "the same thugs and hoodlums that have always plagued good people." Context: In March of 1969, Nixon (the "I am not a thug" president) and National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger ordered the secret bombing of Cambodia. In mid-October 1969, some 250,000 peaceful protestors marched on Washington. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) started as a non-violent movement, but by the time of its 1969 national convention, a radical faction of the organization led by national secretary and lawyer Bernadine Dohrn, Bill Ayers, Mark Rudd, David Gilbert and others broke away. In effect, this handful of committed activists took over the organization and its membership. An outraged Todd Gitlin, an SDS founder with strong non-violent convictions, calls the act "institutional piracy" in the film. Gitlin looks as if he's still pissed about the splintering of the group, and no wonder. It was never possible to organize students on that massive level again. The Weathermen, as they were known, called for four "Days of Rage" in Chicago, facing the armed might of the notoriously brutal Chicago police in the streets. Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, greatly admired by the Weathers, denounced the call. About 200 people showed up, which was a hard lesson learned early on. The film alternates archival film footage with recent interviews. After a fatal explosion of a New York townhouse that killed three Weathermen, the press made a lot of noise about the "bomb factory." The remaining activists went underground, to what Dohrn called a "parallel universe," where many of them led ordinary lives, raised children and held jobs for years. But some elements of the leadership continued to bomb, always making certain that safeguards were in place so no loss of life took place. They continued bombing into the 1970s, but once the Vietnam War was over, there was less to hold them together, and individuals began surfacing. It's fascinating to see some of these people again. Dohrn is as beautiful as she ever was, and Ayers looks healthy and well. Naomi Jaffe reports how she thought doing nothing to stop the war was itself a violent act. Mark Rudd notes they wanted to bring the war to the streets of Amerika: "I would be taking an acid trip, and I would think about the Vietnam War." David Gilbert is serving a life sentence for a Brinks robbery that went wrong in 1981. With the exception of Gilbert, charges against the others were dropped by the FBI, because the agency had so blatantly violated the law itself. A major culprit was COINTELPRO, a 20-year-old secret government agency within the FBI that spied on American citizens and organizations without benefit of legal jurisdiction. CONINTELPRO targeted the Black Panthers, the civil rights movement, and the Weather Underground. (The program was discovered following the March 8, 1971 break-in of the offices of the FBI in Pennsylvania.) This worthy film opens at the Bijou on Friday, Oct. 31. See it to learn what these people discovered about the use of violence and what they have to say today. And look with awe at the freedom of expression they had then, which is simply not available to you or me today without serious consequences.
Brother Bear: Disney tale of young man who is transformed into a bear and his adventures in the great Northwest. He picks up a bear cub and runs into a pair of misguided moose, or is that meese? Six new songs from Phil Collins, including one with Tina Turner. G. Opens Sat.11/1. Cinema World. Cinemark. Cabin Fever: Four college friends vacation at a remote cabin, but one of them gets very sick, and the others struggle with life and death decisions as their terror rises. Directed by Eli Roth; stars Jordan Ladd, Rider Strong, James DeBello, Cerina Vincent, Joey Kern, Arie Verveen. R. Movies 12. Cold Creek Manor: Sharon Stone and Dennis Quaid star in Mike Figgis' horror flick about city folk who find a repossessed mansion in the country that the owner (Stephen Dorff) really wants back. Also stars Juliette Lewis and Christopher Plummer. R. Movies 12.. In the Cut: In Jane Campion's new psychological thriller, Meg Ryan plays a lonely woman who becomes involved with a tough homicide detective investigating murders in her neighborhood. Also stars Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Damici. R. Cinemark. Love Actually: Written and directed by Richard Curtis (Bridget Jones's Diary), this romantic comedy stars Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Laura Linney, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley, Martine McCuthcheon, Bill Nighy. R. Sneak at 7:30 pm on 11/1. Cinemark. Matchstick Men: Ridley Scott directs this tale of a couple of grifters working small-time cons, until personal issues arise. Stars Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell, with Alison Lohman and Bruce McGill. PG-13. Movies 12. Online archives. Matrix Revolutions: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss are back for the third (and final?) Matrix episode. Written and directed by the Wachowski Brothers. Produced by Joel Silver. Opens Wed. 11/5. Cinemark. Cinema World. Once Upon a Time in the Midlands: "Soulful domestic comedy" says The New York Times of writer, director Shane Meadows' film set in Nottingham, U.K that stars Robert Carlyle and Rhys Ifans as rivals for Shirley Henderson's love. Film's here for only one week, so catch it early. R. Bijou. Second Circle: Directed by Alexsandr Sokurov, tale of a young man who goes to Siberia to bury a parent. He experiences truths about death, faith and life. At 9:15 on 11/3 in 115 Pacific Hall, UO campus. In Russian with English subtitles. Secret Lives of Dentists: Campbell Scott, Hope Davis and Denis Leary star in Alan Rudolph's wonderful, whimsical tale of a 10-year marriage that's getting shaky, and a houseful of little girls who reflect every tremor. One of my favorite films of the year, it gets my very highest recommendations. R. Bijou. See review this issue. Underworld: Brought back for Halloween. Set in a world where vampires are a clan of aristocratic moderns, and lycans (werewolves) are a gang of street thugs, Len Wiseman's film stars Kate Beckinsale and Scott Speedman. When they fall in love, they trigger an ancient feud. R. Cinema World for 10/31 only. Cinemark through 11/1 only. Weather Underground: Documentary directed by Sam Green and Bill Siegel looks back at the 1960s and '70s when young activists such as Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, Mark Rudd and others tried to bring the Vietnam War home to the streets of this country. See it to learn what these people discovered about the use of violence and what they have to say today. Highly recommended. NR. Bijou. See review this issue.
CONTINUING: American Splendor: Cleveland crank Harvey Pekar, writer and file clerk, is celebrated in this excellent film for his ordinary, working-class life and daily gripes, made famous in his illustrated comics. Stars Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis and a host of great supporting actors. Very highest recommendations. R. Bijou. Online archives. Beyond Borders: Angelina Jolie and Clive Owen star in this romantic adventure set in Third World hot spots. He's a doctor working behind the lines in war-torn countries; she's a socialite who loves him. Highly recommended for its unflinching look at the plight of refugees around the world, and the work of doctors to save them. Directed by Martin Campbell. R. Cinemark. Bruce Almighty: Jim Carrey, Morgan Freeman and Jennifer Aniston star in this tale of a at TV reporter, who has a really bad day, rages against God and receives more than he expected. PG-13. Movies 12. Finding Nemo: Pixar's computer-animated fantasy of two Clownfish, Marlin and his son Nemo, who get separated in the Great Barrier Reef. Written and directed by Andrew Stanton (A Bug's Life), with voices by Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Willem Dafoe, Geoffrey Rush, Allison Janney. Very highly recommended. G. Movies 12. Online archives. Good Boy: Doggie sci-fi comedy stars Liam Aiken as a dog walker who finally gets a dog of his own, Hubble (voice by Matthew Broderick), only to discover he's really an alien agent from the Dog Star Sirius. PG. Cinemark. House of the Dead: Based on a video game, horror flick's about teens who go to a deserted island to hold a rave only to learn it's inhabited by zombies. R. Movies 12. Intolerable Cruelty: The Coen brothers comedy about L.A. divorce attorney Miles Massey (George Clooney), who falls for gold-digger Marylin Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Also stars Geoffrey Rush, Cedric the Entertainer, Billy Bob Thornton, Edward Herrmann and Richard Jenkins. PG-13. Cinema World. Cinemark. Kill Bill 1: Quentin Tarantino's first of two films stars Uma Thurman as a woman with a mission: Kill Bill (David Carradine), the former boss who betrayed her. With Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, LaTanya Richardson, Vivica A. Fox, Michael Madsen and Samuel L. Jackson. R. Cinemark. Cinema World. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life: Angelina Jolie stars as action heroine Lara Croft who saves the world, again, from unspeakable evil. Directed by Jan De Bont, also stars Gerard Butler and Noah Taylor. PG-13. Movies 12. Lost in Translation: Directed by Sofia Coppola (The Virgin Suicides), this highly acclaimed film was shot entirely on location in Japan. It stars Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson as lonely Americans in a Tokyo hotel who become friends. With Giovanni Ribisi. Very highest recommendations. R. Cinema World. Online archives. Mystic River: Directed by Clint Eastwood; written by Brian Helgeland, based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, this tragic masterpiece stars Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney and Emmy Rossum. Very highest recommendations. R. Cinema World. Cinemark. Online archives. Open Range: Kevin Costner directs and stars with Robert Duvall in traditional Western about a corrupt cattle baron (Michael Gambon) who forces the cowboys to fight. Annette Bening's performance is warm and real. With Abraham Benrubi, Diego Luna. Recommended. Movies 12. Online archives. Radio: High school football coach (Ed Harris) shocks a Southern town by taking on a mentally challenged youth (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and developing a decades-long friendship with him. Also stars Alfre Woddard and Debra Winger; directed by Mike Tollin. PG. Cinema World. Cinemark Runaway Jury: Gun manufacturer's explosive trial stars John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, Rachel Weisz. PG-13. Cinemark. Cinema World. Rundown, The: Peter Berg directs Seann William Scott, The Rock, Rosario Dawson and Christopher Walken in this adventure about a kingpin's son who disappears in the Amazon in search of a valuable artifact. PG-13. Movies 12. S.W.A.T. Police Special Weapons and Tactics unit buddies Samuel L. Jackson and Colin Farrell star in this action-thriller based on the 1970s TV series. Also with Michelle Rodriguez, LL Cool J. PG-13. Movies 12. Scary Movie 3: Horror spoof satirizes movies such as The Ring, Signs, The Matrix Reloaded, Eight Mile. Stars Anna Faris, Charlie Sheen, Denise Richards, Eddie Griffin and Queen Latifah. Directed by David Zucker. R. Cinema World. Cinemark. School of Rock: Faking it as a substitute teacher, wild guitarist Jack Black turns elementary musical prodigies into a high-voltage rock band. Directed by Richard Linklater, it also stars Joan Cusack, Mike White and Sarah Silverman. PG-13. Cinemark. Cinema World. Seabiscuit: A has-been racehorse becomes America's Depression-era success story, along with jockey Tobey Maguire, trainer Chris Cooper, and owner Jeff Bridges. Written, directed by Gary Ross based on Laura Hillenbrand's best-selling non-fiction book, also stars Elizabeth Banks, William H. Macy. Highest recommendations. PG-13. Movies 12. Online archives. Secondhand Lions: Haley Joe Osment is sent to his great uncles' rural Texas farm, where the city boy has much to learn. Robert Duvall and Michael Caine may have been bank robbers. Written and directed by Tim McCanlies (writer, The Iron Giant). PG. Movies 12. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Remake of Tobe Hooper's1974 horror classic is directed by Marcus Nispel, music video guru. Backwoodsy killer clan runs amok. Stars Jessica Biel, Eric Balfour and Andrew Bryniarski as Leatherface. R. Cinemark. Under the Tuscan Sun: Diane Lane plays writer Frances Mayes in this screen adaptation of her best selling book about buying a run-down villa in Italy and creating a new life. Escape from real life — beautiful people, gorgeous scenery, everybody's got money. PG-13. Cinemark. Online archives. Veronica Guerin: Based on the true story of courageous Dublin journalist (Cate Blanchett), this treacherous game of can-and-mouse set in the mid-1990s is directed by Joel Schumacher. Also stars Gerard McSorley, Ciaran Hinds and Brenda Fricker. Through October 31 only. R. Cinemark. See review this issue.
MOVIE
THEATERS Bijou
Art Cinemas Regal
Cinemas Cinemark
Theaters
NEW
RELEASES ON VIDEO Eight Crazy Nights, Adam Sandler's: Animated holiday musical stars Adam Sandler as a basketball coach and a publicist for the New York Knicks, who put together a wild and crazy deal. Other voices include Jon Lovitz, Kevin Nealon, Rob Schneider and Tyra Banks. Directed by Seth Kearley. PG-13. Bogart: Collection includes To Have and Have Not ('44), They Drive by Night ('40), Dark Passage ('47), and High Sierra ('41). Gift Set includes Casablanca special edition, Treasure of Sierra Madre special edition, The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon and To Have and Have Not. Finding Nemo: Pixar's computer-animated fantasy of two Clownfish, Marlin and his son Nemo, who get separated in the Great Barrier Reef. Written and directed by Andrew Stanton (A Bug's Life), with voices by Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Willem Dafoe, Geoffrey Rush, Allison Janney. Very highly recommended. G. Movies 12.. Online archives. Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde: Reese Witherspoon is Elle Woods, Harvard Law, class of 2001, now in DC on behalf of pet animal's rights. Luke Wilson's her boyfriend, Jennifer Coolidge's her manicurist, Sally Field and Bob Newhart are new. Charles Herman-Wurmfeld directs. PG-13. Ox-Bow Incident, The (1943): Directed by William Wellman, this classic stars Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Anthony Quale. "Excellent study of mob mentality with strong individual characterizations," says Videohound. Digitally enhanced and restored. Commentary, biographies, documentary on Fonda. Highly recommended. Part of the National Registry of Films.
Next week: Chaos, Cool World, Dumb and Dumberer, JFK special edition, "King of the Hill," Money for Nothing, No Good Deed, Terminator 3. |
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