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Compelling Sea
Story MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD: Directed by Peter Weir. Written by Weir and John Collee, based on the novels by Patrick O'Brian. Produced by Samuel Goldwyn Jr. Produced by Peter Weir, Duncan Henderson, Alan B. Curtiss. Cinematography, Russell Boyd. Production design, William Sandell. Editor, Lee Smith. Costumes, Wendy Stites. Visual effects supervisor, Stefen Fangmeier, Nathan McGuinness. Music, Iva Davies, Christopher Gordon, Richard Tognetti. Starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany, with James D'Arcy, Edward Woodall, Chris Larkin, Max Pirkis, George Innes, Robert Pugh. Universal Pictures. Miramax Films. Twentieth Century Fox, 2003. PG-13. 140 minutes.
Patrick O'Brian's 20-volume seafaring sagas of the Napoleonic War era debut on the screen in a splendid recreation of the first and 10th in the series, aided by Peter Weir's rich ability to visualize the intricate social life aboard a tall ship sailing the oceans of the world. It's a stable place where class, rank and honor matter. The adventures of Lucky Jack Aubrey and his friend, naturalist and ship surgeon Stephen Maturin — their conflicts, friendship and daily interactions — give depth and cogency to the unfolding stories. Encouraged in by a 1991 review of O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels, in which The New York Times Book Review reviewer called them "the best historical novels ever written," I read them and became a fervent reader, part of a small, worldwide literary circle. Now Weir has translated O'Brian's lyrical language, historical accuracy and indelible characterizations into image, action and character true to the original in every sense that matters, except one. Russell Crowe is both masterful and commanding as Lucky Jack, but Paul Bettany is less persuasive as Maturin. In the novels, Maturin is a more perfect match for the brash captain, while he is strictly second banana here. The problem is not new, and Crowe's larger-than-life portrait of Aubrey is not to blame. Remember the thankless role of hero that fell to Orlando Bloom in Pirates of the Caribbean. Bloom's character, a master swordsman, fades away when pirate Johnny Depp is around. Likewise, sparks should fly between Maturin and Aubrey, because neither is complete without the other, but Bettany cannot hold his own with Crowe. He is too well mannered, too civilized. If future films ensue, Maturin's scenes should be beefed up, so that we see how these dedicated men draw on each other's strengths to survive. Weir's film shows how the men aboard HMS Surprise , a British frigate, experience the great natural wonder of winds, seas and storms. But an unexpected attack by a far superior enemy vessel off the coast of Brazil in 1805 leads to an adventure that puts them in the path of a monster typhoon as they round the dangerous waters of Cape Horn. On a mission to intercept the French Privateer that attacked them, the Archeron, both captain and surgeon of the Surprise must redefine the nature of their friendship. Visual effects blend seamlessly with conventional cinematography of an actual storm. These "invisible" effects lend a documentary feel to the great typhoon that catches the men aboard a 120-foot square-rigger as it rounds Cape Horn. While the physicality of shooting the film makes a fascinating story in itself, the results are terrific onscreen. Every visible object is correct for the period, and its use has been carefully researched and learned by the actors. In an age when special effects such as those in The Matrix series draw millions of viewers, the real-life solutions that make Master and Commander stand out should not be ignored. Futuristic but emotionally empty special-effects movies can't hold a candle to the 200-year-old reality depicted here. Foreign and exotic to our contemporary eyes, these elegant sailing ships are a marvel of human ingenuity and craftsmanship. "Human" is the operative word here. The youth of some of the actors deserves a word or two here. Often young boys of noble birth, such as Lord Blakeney (Max Pirkis), were injured or killed in the line of duty. According to the press notes, Weir "built up" their parts so it would be clear they were treated on board as equals. "They had to take the injuries, sail the ship, go into battle and fight alongside the men," Weir said. If you love the movie, read the books. Master and Commander is now playing at Cinemark and Cinema World. Highest recommendations.
Telling
the Truth SHATTERED GLASS: Written and directed by Billy Ray, based on an article by Buzz Bissinger. Producers, Craig Baumgarten, Adam Merims, Gaye Hirsch, Tove Christensen. Executive producers, Tom Cruise, Paula Wagner, Michael Paseornek, Tom Ortenberg. Music, Mychael Danna. cinematography, Mandy Walker. Editor, Jeffrey Ford. Production design, François Séguin. Costumes, Renée April. Starring Hayden Christensen and Peter Sarsgaard. With Chloë Sevigny, Rosario Dawson, Melanie Lynskey, Hank Azaria and Steve Zahn. Lions Gate Films, 2003. PG-13. 103 minutes.
If I say this is a more "straight" film than ordinarily plays at the Bijou, I hope you will not think I mean "straight" as opposed to "gay" but rather "straight" as opposed to "hip." Shattered Glass tells its story in a straightforward narrative manner, with nary an ironic nod. It is the formal exposé of journalist Stephen Glass, a liar of the first magnitude, who believed his own bullshit so deeply that he wrote it as truth and persuaded his editors at The New Republic magazine to treat it as such. Glass (Hayden Christensen) cleverly bypassed the BS detectors of at least two righteous editors, Michael Kelly (Hank Azaria) and Chuck Lane (Peter Sarsgaard). He short-circuited the magazine's fact-checking apparatus by making up his reporter's notes, for one. Exactly how this troubled young man found his calling as a rogue reporter for an influential national magazine is disturbing, because the only safeguard most publications have that they are not being lied to by their reporters is what used to be called "good faith." Sure, there have always been hucksters and flim-flam men, but lately it seems the pressure of deadline-driven, highly competitive, big city news machines has produced a bumper crop of lying reporters. Glass is one of the most egregious. Over the course of his several years at the magazine, he made up a number of stories. The best thing about the way the actual editor of the real magazine handled the 1998 scandal was to deeply investigate every story Glass had written and then reveal in the next issue that Glass had partially or wholly made up more than two-thirds of his stories the magazine had published — 27 of the 41. Would-be journalists as well as editors, publishers and writers working in the field should see this cautionary tale, but the issues it raises are too important to leave to industry oversight alone. Hollywood has long cast its glamorous sheen on print, radio and television reporting, but with 1976's All the President's Men about the Nixon-era Watergate scandal uncovered by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, such films became more relevant to contemporary issues. Good films such as Broadcast News, The China Syndrome, The Insider, Medium Cool, Network, Primary Colors, Quiz Show, The Truman Show, Welcome to Sarajevo and Veronica Guerin rightly depict the best and worst of mass media. Undoubtedly you can add another 10 or 20 films to this list. We live in a mediated world. Increas-ingly, mass media determines what news we will learn about, while "reality" television has hopelessly blurred the lines between news and entertainment. Glass operated right in that no man's land. He juiced up his stories so they would have more reader appeal. He invented colorful characters to add human interest. He imagined behaviors and events that did not happen. He wanted to entertain readers and please the publisher and editors he worked for. He was riding high. Sarsgaard does a terrific job of playing the tough guy who finally heeds his inner warning systems and begins looking at this 25-year old wonderkind. Christensen is notably weasly as a superficial hot shot who eludes every effort to pin him down. The excellent Steve Zahn plays the tenacious writer for Forbes Digital online magazine who first smells something rotten at TNR. The question the film leaves with me is: Does anyone care? When the country elects liars and rewards them, who draws the lines? So far the 21st century looks just as greedy, hypocritical and self-serving as the latter part of the 20th. There's scant pleasure to be had from learning that some of Glass's imaginary stories played into editor Michael Kelly's Clinton-loathing. Shattered Glass opens Friday, Nov. 21 at the Bijou. Highest recommendations.
Cat in the Hat, The: Mike Meyers stars as the outrageous feline who visits a couple of kids and wreaks havoc in the house while mom's away. Live-action comedy based on beloved Dr. Seuss book. Most parents and many kids can recite it by heart. With Alec Baldwin, Kelly Preston. PG-13. Cinemark. Cinema World. Color of Paradise: Iranian drama about a sightless boy who is more insightful about what is important in this life that his sighted father. Good reviews. PG. At 7 pm on 11/21 in International Resource Center, EMU, UO campus. Free. Deserter, The (1933, USSR): Directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin. Communist leader sends disillusioned German worker to the USSR as an international delegate. NR. At 9:15 pm on 11/24 in 115 Pacific, UO campus. Russian, with English subtitles. Free. Dildo Diaries: Queer Film Festival (Feb. 20 -22 '04) fundraiser, this acclaimed documentary about Texas obscenity and sodomy laws features Molly Ivins, Carol Queen, Anton Michael, Annie Sprinkle and Texas legislators. At 6 pm on 11/22 in 180 PLC, UO campus. $3 students/$5 general. Fighting Temptations, The: Cuba Gooding Jr. plays an ad exec who inherits money only if he conducts a rural gospel choir. Co-stars Beyoncé Knowles. Musical comedy directed by Jonathan Lynn. PG-13. Movies 12. Gothika: Halle Berry plays a criminal psychologist who blacks out and comes to accused of murdering her husband (Charles Dutton). Now she's a patient in his hospital. Directorial debut of Mathieu Kassovitz. Also stars Penélope Cruz, Robert Downey Jr., Bernard Hill. R. Cinema World. Cinemark. Haunted Mansion: Eddie Murphy stars in Rob Minkoff's (Stuart Little) ghost comedy, with Jennifer Tilly, Don Knotts, Terence Stamp PG. Opens Wed. 11/26. Cinemark, Cinema World. Missing, The: Ron Howard directs Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones as an estranged daughter and father in this Western set in 1885 New Mexico. Blanchett, seeking to avenge her daughter's (Evan Rachel Wood) kidnapping, reluctantly joins forces with her despised old man. Hopefully, one of the season's better films. R. Opens Wed. 11/26. Cinemark. Shattered Glass: Hayden Christensen plays The New Republic staff writer Stephen Glass who wrote heavily fictionalized stories and then lied about it. Peter Sarsgaard plays his editor, Chloe Sevigny a duped co-worker. Highest recommendations. PG-13. Bijou. See review this issue. Station Agent, The: Tom McCarthy's film about three people with nothing in common except their solitude was a surprise hit at Sundance 2003. Stars Peter Dinklage, who takes up residence in a rural town's old train depot and gets to know neighbors Patricia Clarkson, Bobby Cannavale. Acclaimed performances by Dinklage and Clarkson. Great advance press. Opens Wed. 11/26. Bijou. Timeline: Richard Donner directs screen adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel about archaeologists on a dig who time travel back 600 years to rescue their teacher, trapped in 14th century France. Stars Paul Walker, Frances O'Connor, Billy Connolly, David Thewlis. PG-13. Opens Wed. 11/26. Cinemark.
CONTINUING: Animation Show: Mike Judge and Don Hertzfeldt selected 14 hand-drawn shorts for this 94-minute collection of classics, oldies and contemporary animation. NR. Bijou. 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. Bubba Ho-Tep: Written and directed by Don Coscarelli, based on a Joe Lansdale short story, film stars Bruce Campbell as Elvis Presley and Ossie Davis as John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Elvis and JFK are residents of an East Texas nursing home who join forces to dispatch an Egyptian mummy who sucks the soul from fellow patients. NR. Bijou. Online archives. Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star: Sam Weisman directs David Spade in his role as a 35-year old out of work actor who hires a family so he can relive his childhood and finally grow up. With Mary McCormack, Jon Lovitz, Craig Berko, Rob Reiner. PG-13. Movies 12. Elf: Jon Favreau directs. Accidentally transported to the North Pole when he falls in Santa's bag, a human child grows up to be Will Ferrell, and a little disturbed that he doesn't resemble the other elves. With the help of Mr. Claus (Ed Asner) and his chief assistant (Bob Newhart), he sets out for New York in search of his biological father (James Caan). With Zooey Deschanel and Mary Steenburgen; Jon Favreau directs. PG. Cinema World. Cinemark. 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. 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. Movies 12. Online archives. 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. Looney Tunes: Mixed animation/ live action directed by Joe Dante, starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman, Steve Martin, Timothy Dalton, Joan Cusack, Heather Locklear. PG. Cinemark. Cinema World. 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. Cinema World. Cinemark. Master and Commander The Far side of the World: Peter Weir brings the late Patrick O'Brian's best-selling nautical adventures to the screen with Russell Crowe as Captain Jack Aubrey and Paul Bettany as Dr. Stephen Maturin, ship surgeon and naturalist. Set during the Napoleonic Wars. Highest recommendations. PG-13. Cinema World. Cinemark. See review this issue. 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. Called the most violent film ever made. Produced by Joel Silver. R. Cinemark. Cinema World. 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. Pirates of the Caribbean: Non-stop adventure directed by Gore Verbinski stars Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley. Depp sashays, Rush dissembles, Bloom fences and Knightley swashbuckles. Depp and Rush's over the top performances are great. Recommended. PG-13. 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. Cinemark Runaway Jury: Gun manufacturer's explosive trial stars John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, Rachel Weisz. PG-13. Cinemark. 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. 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. 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. 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.
MOVIE
THEATERS Bijou
Art Cinemas Regal
Cinemas Cinemark
Theaters
NEW
RELEASES ON VIDEO 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. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968): The tale of an oddball inventor who takes his children to a fantasy land in his old car. Written and directed by Ken Hughes, with Roald Dahl co-writing, it stars Dick Van Dike, Benny Hill, Sally Ann Howes. G. Man on the Train: Patrice Leconte's excellent character-driven film stars French icons Johnny Hallyday and Jean Rochefort as men with nothing in common, who meet in a small town and almost exchange identities. Film gives us a glimpse into that private place where our secret dreams live. Very highest recommendations. R. X-Men 2: The next link in the evolutionary chain? Directed by Bryan Singer, stars Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden and more, lots more. PG-13.
Next week: Chuck Close; Darling; Fellini: I'm a Born Liar; The Navigators; Pirates of the Caribbean; They Drew Fire; To Live and Die in LA; William S. Burroughs and Wuthering Heights. |
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