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INDIELONDON'S
MOVIE OF THE WEEK
- Rules
of Attraction (18)
FROM its poster featuring cuddly toys in various sexual positions to
its boast that it comes from ‘the corrupt minds that brought you
American Psycho and Pulp Fiction’, audiences should be aware that
this is no ordinary slice of gross-out college campus fare. Rather,
it is the flip side of American Pie, a sordid, drug-fuelled rampage
through rites-of-passage teenage angst that sets out to stick two fingers
up to the sweet-natured innocence of recent coming-of-age tales.
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Personal Velocity
(15)
Personal Velocity, a former Sundance Film Festival favourite, may be
too arty and pretentious for mainstream audiences, but for anyone seeking
a break from the usual glut of soapy chick flicks, this offers an interesting
alternative - and one which refuses to pull any of its punches.
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The Core (12A)
HAVING threatened the Earth with everything from nuclear meltdown and
asteroids to alien invasion, Hollywood now turns to, well, the planet
itself to pose the latest risk to mankind... Yet, no matter how ridiculous,
cliched and obvious proceedings become, there is a certain enjoyment
to be found in the OTT performances and the crass special effects.
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Cradle 2 The Grave
(15)
Cradle 2 The Grave takes the brainless action franchise to new extremes,
delivering some genuinely thrilling fight sequences and wrapping them
up in a needlessly complex, yet equally nonsensical plot, involving
a cache of black diamonds that are not all they seem.
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The Recruit (12A)
The Recruit falls some way short of classic status and is nowhere near
as clever as it thinks it is, despite offering viewers a fascinating
and timely insight into the inner workings of the CIA. Where the film
really scores, however, is in its central pairing. Farrell and Pacino
are great.
Click here for a special
feature on Colin Farrell...
Click here for a Q&A
with Colin Farrell...
Click here for a Q&A
with Roger Donaldson...
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Evelyn (PG)
ALTHOUGH called Evelyn, this film really centres around her father,
Desmond Doyle. Based on the 1953 groundbreaking court case, Evelyn tells
the true story of Desmond Doyle's struggle to raise his three children
alone. The result is a sweet testament to a life changing event that
has since changed many lives.
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Just Married (12A)
YOUNG love takes a turn for the worst in Just Married, the type of slapstick
romantic comedy that audiences are likely to want to divorce themselves
from at the earliest opportunity. Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy
star as the opposites who attract when the former misplaces a football
throw and hits her on the head...
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National Security
(12A)
MARTIN Lawrence is an actor in need of a good sequel - perhaps Bad Boys
2 will do the trick. Ever since appearing alongside Will Smith in the
1995 original, Lawrence has been churning out pale, unfunny comedies
that strive to recapture the winning persona he displayed in that double
act.
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Confessions
of a Dangerous Mind (15)
This is very much a film buffs’ treat, containing many a nod to
Clooney’s influences, as well as some sly cameos from previous
acting partners... It is a fascinating, hip and ultra-enjoyable journey
through celebrity excess, which marks an extremely promising directorial
debut.
Click here for a
special feature on the making of the movie...
Click here for
a Q&A with George Clooney...
Click here for
a Q&A with Sam Rockwell...
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The Life of David Gale
(15)
Parker’s film, while certainly watchable, eventually buckles under
the weight of its own intelligence. It thrives on its ability to throw
red herrings but thinks it is more clever than it actually is, and is
nothing like the message movie it so clearly wants to be.
Click here for a special
feature on the death penalty...
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Equilibrium (15)
IMAGINE a world without emotion, a place in which war has been eradicated,
but in which happiness, sadness, love and hate are punishable by death.
This is the world depicted in Equilibrium, an intriguing, yet completely
stupid, sci-fi fantasy, that combines the classic ‘what if’
scenario with the brash pyrotechnics of movies such as The Matrix.
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Far From Heaven
(12A)
SEXUAL and racial prejudices in post-war America form the backdrop of
Todd Haynes’ inspired Far From Heaven, a glorious throwback to
1950s filmmaking, which dares to tread where movies of that genre simply
couldn’t.
Click here to discover
the Far From Heaven effect...
Click here to read the
US reaction to the movie...
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The Good Thief (15)
Rather like Steven Soderbergh’s Rat Pack remake, The Good Thief
thrives on its ability to play with viewers’ perceptions, throwing
in bluff after bluff, before delivering its winning hand. It is a slick
exercise in quality filmmaking, expertly placing viewers into its world
of smoky backroom card games and dark alleys, while offsetting it against
the glitz and glamour of the Cote D’Azur.
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Auto Focus (18)
Needless to say, the movie makes for difficult viewing, both in its
depiction of the seedy world in which Crane hung out, and for the way
in which it exposes a life wasted. Kinnear, in the title role, expertly
depicts the star’s fall from grace, from honest family man with
the world at his feet, to sad loner, shunned by the industry and desperate
to escape from the mire he has dug for himself.
Click here for an interview
with director, Paul Schrader...
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Maid In Manhattan
(PG)
Played correctly, such mainstream romantic fare can sweep audiences
along like a Prince Charming whisking Cinderella off to the ball, yet
Maid in Manhattan possesses neither the panache nor the pairing to seduce
its viewers. The movie certainly follows the correct formula, but feels
staged and too false to carry it off throughout.
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Solaris (12A)
A supremely entertaining slice of psychological science fiction, Solaris
is the type of film that audiences will either buy into completely,
or depart thinking it a complete waste of time; a movie which owes a
lot to the Stanley Kubrick school of filmmaking, with its measured,
deliberate style and ability to provoke intelligent debate...
What is Solaris? Click here
for some answers...
Click here for an interview
with Natascha McElhone...
Click here for a
look at the Clooney/Soderbergh relationship...
Click here for the US reaction...
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Adaptation (15)
TRYING to summarise the plot of the wickedly funny Adaptation is enough
to trigger a dose of severe writers’ block - especially since it
is a plight suffered by the main character himself. But it is that type
of film; a wildly inventive and ridiculously surreal movie about the
film industry which functions on so many levels that it is sometimes
difficult to keep up.
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Frida (15)
Yet while viewers are left with the impression that there was undoubtedly
more to Frida’s life than what appears on screen, the film does
succeed in paying a fitting tribute to the achievements of the artist
and is graced with some terrific performances, especially from Salma
Hayek.
Click here for an interview
with Salma Hayek...
Click here for an interview
with director, Julie Taymor...
Click here for Frida's life
story...
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Analyze That (15)
THE self-humiliation of Robert De Niro is all but completed in Analyze
That, the phenomenally bad sequel to the successful Mafia/shrink comedy,
co-starring Billy Crystal.
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The
Ring (15)
ALL of the essential components required to make a really great horror
film are present and correct in The Ring, a genuinely scary remake of
the cult Japanese horror film about a blank video tape that means death
within seven days for anyone who watches it.
Click here to view the US reaction
to the film...
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The Magdalene
Sisters (15)
AT the start of Peter Mullan’s controversial, but award-winning,
The Magdalene Sisters, a woman is raped at a wedding by her cousin.
But far from being supported by her family in the aftermath of the attack,
she is shunned and sent away to the ‘refuge’ of the Catholic
Church in a bid to find repentance.
Click here for our preview
of the film...
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The Hours (15)
The Hours is an intelligent, thought-provoking, beautifully-crafted
film, which leaves you feeling ready to face what life may throw at
you. It has deservedly won the best picture Golden Globe and will no
doubt inspire a new generation to read Virginia Woolf.
Click here for a Q&A with
Nicole Kidman...
Click here for a Q&A
with Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore....
Click here for a Q&A with
Stephen Daldry and co...
Click here for the US reaction
to the movie...
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Daredevil (15)
Superhero movies can stand or fall on the success of their predecessors,
so Daredevil was always going to face an uphill task, given the phenomenal
success of last year’s Spider-Man. The surprising thing, however,
is just how well it does compare; coming across as a darker, more violent
masked crusader than his web-slinging counterpart...
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Narc (15)
Narc is a heavyweight movie which leaves you feeling punch-drunk throughout,
an adrenaline ride fuelled by some incendiary performances. Patric is
superb - confused, sympathetic and struggling to do the right thing
- while Liotta delivers the type of performance he has been threatening
since Goodfellas.
Click here for a special feature
on the making of the film...
Click here for the US reaction to
the film...
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Punch-Drunk
Love (15)
For Anderson, this is a glorious sonnet to sit alongside the operatic
likes of his earlier work, while for Sandler, the movie is nothing short
of a revelation. Both emotionally engaging and genuinely funny, Punch-Drunk
Love is a romantic gem.
Click here for a Q&A
with Paul Thomas Anderson...
Click here for a
Q&A with Emily Watson...
Click here to read the
US reaction...
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The Pianist (15)
The true story of Jewish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman battling to survive
the Nazi menace in the Warsaw ghetto of World War II, Polanski here
draws on his own experience as a Holocaust survivor; one who witnessed
his parents being dragged off to concentration camps and one who himself
made a narrow escape.
Click here for a Q&A with Adrien
Brody...
Click here for a feature
on Holocaust Memorial Day...
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About Schmidt
(15)
The great thing about Warren Schmidt is his wonderful sense of the ridiculous,
which Nicholson plays perfectly. Whenever he is at his most vulnerable,
a delightful irony is delivered, making this a far more enjoyable picture
than it sounds.
Click here to view the
US reaction...
Click here for a Q&A
with co-star Dermot Mulroney...
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INDIELONDON'S ROUND-UP
OF 2002 - THE BEST AND THE WORST
Indielondon movie buffs Jack Foley and Simon Bell unveil their top 10
best and worst movies of 2002, taking in everything from James Bond
to Road To Perdition, and John Sayles to, erm, Naomi Watts. Find out
whether Black Hawk Down and Vanilla Sky rated among the year's best
or worst...
NOW UPDATED TO INCLUDE READER FEEDBACK. Click here...
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Chicago (15)
While Zellweger is superb, it’s Zeta-Jones - here sporting a sleek
bob - who sizzles as vexed vamp, Velma, showing just how far she has
come since ‘The Darling Buds of May’.... For those who love
musicals and have seen the original, Chicago won’t disappoint.
Click here for a special feature
on the making of the movie...
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The Lion King 2D
(IMAX version) (U)
THE Lion King is described as the mightiest Disney animated feature
on the screen, so having not seen it, I was expecting amazing sights
at the IMAX, in 2D large format, having heard of the breath-taking opening
sequence.
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MOVIE NEWS - Chicago
and The Pianist triumph at 75th Oscars ceremony
ROB Marshall and Catherine Zea-Jones were the toast of Hollywood today,
as Chicago took six awards at this
year's Oscars ceremony, including Best Film and Best Supporting Actress.
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INCOMING
MOVIES - Anger Management
As Indielondon's sneak preview continues to prove popular, we have
decided to divide the section between mainstream and independent/foreign
language movies. Therefore, we will now be bringing you news and advance
word on an independent and a mainstream flick each week. This week's
indie recommendation - Click here
to find out about Penelope Cruz's Fanfan Le Tulipe, which is to launch
this year's Cannes Film Festival... Going mainstream: Nicholson
and Sandler opt for some Anger Management. Click here...
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