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movies-digest         Friday, October 9 1998         Volume 02 : Number 112



Re: [MV] Chloe Sevigny
RE: [MV] Mercury Rising Also Wild Things, and a comment on the Ra ting system.
[MV] Coming Monday, 10.12, to The Flick Filosopher
Re: [MV] Coming Monday, 10.12, to The Flick Filosopher
[MV] Movie News - 10/09/98
[MV] Blacknight's Famous Line List
RE: [MV] Mercury Rising Also Wild Things, and a comment on the Ra ting system.
[MV] REVIEW: THE MIGHTY

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri,  9 Oct 98 08:18:25 PDT
From: Wade Snider  <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: [MV] Chloe Sevigny

She is a kook! I saw her on David Letterman a few months ago.....
very out of it and flighty acting. I am a little harsh; she may have been
strange there, but she may be a nice person..... I've seen her in Palmetto, and she was in
Last Days of Disco. She is dating this very  strange character
named Harmony something... an odd character who wrote and directed
Kids and gummo.

I imagine there's a website somewhere about her, but I wouldn't know one.


Wade


- --- On Fri, 09 Oct 1998 11:00:27 +0800  Blacknight <[e-mail]> wrote:

>Can anyone please tell me more about the actress Chloe Sevigny? A friend
>keeps asking me about her.
>.
>blacknight



- --------------------------------------------------------
W. Snider

Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.
- -Kierkegaard

- --------------------------------------------------------


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[ movies (without the quotes) to [e-mail]           ]

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1998 07:28:29 -0600
From: jkrudy <[e-mail]>
Subject: RE: [MV] Mercury Rising Also Wild Things, and a comment on the Ra ting system.

I believe that we as a society have made great strives in the right
direction.  Racism, although it still exist is nothing compared to that of
the past.  Women's rights, child labor laws, etc, have all been to the
benefit of society.  My fear is that we've learned from our mistakes of the
past only to turn around and make a another pile of them.  Out of 6 billion
people how many of us are going to be doctors, firemen, police officers and
other professions that must be desensitized to gore?  Doesn't the
desensitizing for that come during medical school, cutting up cadavers?  I
just don't believe that movies have to keep getting more violent or
pornographic, etc.  There's no benefit to it that I can see.  Now we could
go back and forth on this but we'll end up being like a Mormon Missionary
and a Jehovah Witness and a Born Again Christian on a street corner,
thumping bibles for hours and at the end of it, the three will walk away
more resolute in their position, with absolutely nothing beneficial being
accomplished.  So carry on if you all wish, but on this topic I'm finished.
(more resolute in my position).

JAMES K. RUDY


- -----Original Message-----
From:    Gerry Taylor [SMTP:[e-mail]]
Sent:    Thursday, October 08, 1998 11:39 PM
To:    [e-mail]
Subject:    Re: [MV] Mercury Rising Also Wild Things, and a comment on
the Rating system.

There is nothing worse than someone imagining the past to be "Rosier " than
nowadays.  Usually if you look deeper you find that the past had probably
the same amount of violence and social problems if not more!  As for the
moral value of the 30's.......just because films were more tame does not
mean society in general was.  Just because teenagers respected their parents
more ( and this was only probably down to the fact that at 14 upwards they
were expected to have a job thus did not really have a full
childhood)........so technically the teenagers we know did not exist then!
Child prostitiution was more previllant then and for all your wonderful talk
on society, racism was still firmly entrenched in american way of life....so
was that a good thing?
Moving onto desensitisation, I love it that all people regard this as a bad
thing.......if people never became desensitised to blood and gore we
probably would not have any surgeons or the like!  As for it's link to
films.......I think how violence is handled in films is more important.
Surely your average action movie with Bruce Willis or Stallone is more
offensive than most things as it deals with violence so off handedly.  In
these type of films villains get blown away cleanly and with minimum
gore.......and the only good villain is a dead one.  Surely this moral
message is more abhorrent than the average horror movie and basically when
you boil it down fake gore for all it's gruesomeness bears no reality to the
real violence.  As for protecting our children.......yes I agree with that
up to a point.........when someone reaches 17 (or 18 as the rating is here)
they should be allowed to see any film without cuts (providing that the film
acts within the law) I find the censor system ridiculous as how can one or a
small group of people have the right to judge other people's moral
standards.  I also think these people are slightly corrupt as both "Jaws",
"The lost world" and "Jurrassic park" got through in the U.K as a "U" rating
i.e anyone can go and see it.  These films imho are quite violent and call
me a cynic but the more people allowed to see a film the more money it will
make........there are far more less violent movies that get higher
ratings.....why is this?  Maybe because ~
Gerry T
~~~~~
I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self
contained,
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake and weep for their sins,
they do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
not one is dissatisfied, not one demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another nor to his own kind that lived thousands of years
ago,
not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.
                                                               Walt Whitman.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~the studio that released these had a
way of greasing a few palms!
- -----Original Message-----
From: jkrudy < [e-mail] <mailto:[e-mail]>>
To: '[e-mail]' <mailto:'[e-mail]'> <
[e-mail] <mailto:[e-mail]>>
Date: 08 October 1998 23:14
Subject: RE: [MV] Mercury Rising Also Wild Things, and a comment on the
Rating system.


>I can't recall my source on the "pee drinking" scene so we can throw it out
>if you prefer, but in what ways has society benefited from moving on as you
>put it?  It seems to me that people are becoming more and more desensitized
>to Sex and Violence and in large part that is the fault of our
entertainment
>both the Cinema and TV  There are those that will argue that art is
>imitating life, but I strongly believe it is the opposite or better yet the
>two are feeding of each other.  If Art (movies/TV) were to slowing revert
>back to the 1931 era, I believe morality in our nation would also.  I think
>that would be just wonderful.  There would still be crime, violence,
>prostitution and all the rest of it, but Damnit, things would be better.
>Children might just respect their parents more, teenage pregnancy might
>decrease, teen/child suicide would go down, there would be less 14 years
old
>gunning down their classmates, etc, etc, etc.  A good movie is an escape
>from reality, or in say the case of "Saving Private Ryan" a reminder of the
>horror that can be caused by evil.  Violence and gore can be educational
and
>beneficial in those cases, but the way things are going 15 years from now
>"Saving Private Ryan" could be an after school special with no editing
>needed.  And most of the kids would comment on how tame it is as far as the
>violence.  Is that what we want for our children?  Is it?
>
>JAMES K. RUDY
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Gerry Taylor [ SMTP:[e-mail]
<mailto:SMTP:[e-mail]>]
>Sent: Thursday, October 08, 1998 3:35 PM
>To: [e-mail] <mailto:[e-mail]>
>Subject: Re: [MV] Mercury Rising Also Wild Things, and a comment on
>the Rating system.
>
>I watched a documentary on "The excorcist" recently and they talked about
>the excluded scenes......there was absolutely no mention of a "Pee
drinking"
>scene, so I presume this is a rumour.  As for the lax in morals, what the
>hell.........the 1931 version of Dracula was the equivalent of an
>"X"......are you trying to say we should not have moved on from that?
>-----Original Message-----
>From: jkrudy < [e-mail] <mailto:[e-mail]> <
<mailto:[e-mail]>>>
>To: '[e-mail]' <mailto:'[e-mail]'> <
<mailto:'[e-mail]'>> <
> [e-mail] <mailto:[e-mail]> <
<mailto:[e-mail]>>>
>Date: 08 October 1998 20:25
>Subject: RE: [MV] Mercury Rising Also Wild Things, and a comment on the
>Rating system.
>
>
>>Also with Wild Things, I would have thought the 3-way sex scene would have
>>merited a NC-17 rating.  What is this world coming too?  I mean I'm not
>>saying I didn't enjoy it.  In fact I enjoyed it all 4 times I watched that
>>particular scene (LOL), I'm just commenting on the rapid decline of sexual
>>morality in films, and how something that is rated R today would have been
>>rated X tens years ago.  Another example is I read where they are
>>re-releasing "The Exorcist" in theaters with originally edited out scenes
>>that made the movie rated X at first but which once removed they rated it
>R,
>>now years later the scenes are put back in and it's still R.  One of the
>>scenes apparently has Linda Blair peeing in her own face and drinking it.
>>That still sounds X to me, how 'bout you?
>>










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------------------------------

Date: 9 Oct 1998 16:38:22 -0000
From: The Flick Filosopher's Coming Attractions <[e-mail]>
Subject: [MV] Coming Monday, 10.12, to The Flick Filosopher

The Flick Filosopher's Coming Attractions - http://www.flickfilosopher.com/flickfilos

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of three Ships of Fools.
Two from the world of video.
One on the big screen will unspool.

The silver screen promised to amuse.
The videos were sure to bore.
With mixed feelings she steeled herself,
For a three-movie tour,
A three-movie tour.

Stanley and Oliver (Tucci and Platt, that is)
Walk in the steps of the brothers Marx.
If it's as good as *Big Night,*
*The Imposters* could be a lark.
*The Imposters* could be a lark.

"Do it for your art," she thought
As she prepared to settle in,
With Sandra
And Jason too,
In *Speed 2:
Crusie Control.*
And *Sphere* she'll watch.
With Sharon
and Dustin too.
Here at The Flick Filosopher.


==============================
Subscribe to *Entertainment Weekly* and *Premiere* -- and support The
Flick Filosopher. Details at:
http://www.flickfilosopher.com/flickfilos/index.html
==============================


MaryAnn


______________________________________________________________________
To unsubscribe, write to [e-mail]
Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/


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------------------------------

Date: Fri,  9 Oct 98 11:57:39 PDT
From: Wade Snider  <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: [MV] Coming Monday, 10.12, to The Flick Filosopher

What the hell?



- --- On 9 Oct 1998 16:38:22 -0000  The Flick Filosopher's Coming Attractions <[e-mail]> wrote:
The Flick Filosopher's Coming Attractions - http://www.flickfilosopher.com/flickfilos

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of three Ships of Fools.
Two from the world of video.
One on the big screen will unspool.

The silver screen promised to amuse.
The videos were sure to bore.
With mixed feelings she steeled herself,
For a three-movie tour,
A three-movie tour.

Stanley and Oliver (Tucci and Platt, that is)
Walk in the steps of the brothers Marx.
If it's as good as *Big Night,*
*The Imposters* could be a lark.
*The Imposters* could be a lark.

"Do it for your art," she thought
As she prepared to settle in,
With Sandra
And Jason too,
In *Speed 2:
Crusie Control.*
And *Sphere* she'll watch.
With Sharon
and Dustin too.
Here at The Flick Filosopher.


==============================
Subscribe to *Entertainment Weekly* and *Premiere* -- and support The
Flick Filosopher. Details at:
http://www.flickfilosopher.com/flickfilos/index.html
==============================


MaryAnn


______________________________________________________________________
To unsubscribe, write to [e-mail]
Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/


[ To leave the movies mailing list, send the message "unsubscribe ]
[ movies (without the quotes) to [e-mail]           ]


- ---------------End of Original Message-----------------

- --------------------------------------------------------
W. Snider

Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.
- -Kierkegaard

- --------------------------------------------------------


[ To leave the movies mailing list, send the message "unsubscribe ]
[ movies (without the quotes) to [e-mail]           ]

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1998 13:01:18 -0600 (MDT)
From: The Reporter <[e-mail]>
Subject: [MV] Movie News - 10/09/98

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - As "Saving Private Ryan" invades box offices
around the world, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg are teaming up on
another World War II project. DreamWorks Television has optioned
Stephen E. Ambrose's World War II history "A Band of Brothers," which
Hanks, Spielberg and studio-based filmmaker Mark Johnson will likely
produce as an event miniseries. The seven-figure deal follows
DreamWorks' acquisition in July of Ambrose's "Citizen Soldiers: The
U.S. Army, June 7, 1944-May 7, 1945." While DreamWorks confirmed it
had optioned the books, executives said no decision had been reached
about their use.

                        -=> * <=-

Julianne Moore is in serious talks to star with Ralph
Fiennes and Stephen Rea in "The End of the Affair," a World
War II drama based on a Graham Greene novel. Moore would
play Rea's repressed wife, who engages in an adulterous
affair with Fiennes. Moore, nominated for a
supporting-actress Oscar for last year's porn saga "Boogie
Nights," just finished co-starring with Sigourney Weaver in
"Map of the World." She also stars in the Gus Van
Sant-directed remake of "Psycho," trailers for which have
been drawing boos in some theaters -- possibly in protest
over the very idea of remaking such a film classic.

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------------------------------

Date: Fri, 09 Oct 1998 16:12:03 -0400
From: [e-mail] (Ryan Allen)
Subject: [MV] Blacknight's Famous Line List

Blacknight,
    Last I saw your list was complete, except for about three lines.  did you
ever finish it?  I've never seen a final copy posted.

Wondering,
Ryan
## Hurricane Season (Jun. 1-Nov. 1) is Here! ##
## Please visit my Personal Page ##
## http://www.gate.net/~airwolf ##

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[ movies (without the quotes) to [e-mail]           ]

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1998 15:35:53 -0700
From: "Romero, Leticia" <[e-mail]>
Subject: RE: [MV] Mercury Rising Also Wild Things, and a comment on the Ra ting system.

jimmy is so cooll...

> -----Original Message-----
> From:    jkrudy [SMTP:[e-mail]]
> Sent:    Friday, October 09, 1998 6:28 AM
> To:    '[e-mail]'
> Subject:    RE: [MV] Mercury Rising Also Wild Things, and a comment on
> the Ra ting system.
>
> I believe that we as a society have made great strives in the right
> direction.  Racism, although it still exist is nothing compared to that of
> the past.  Women's rights, child labor laws, etc, have all been to the
> benefit of society.  My fear is that we've learned from our mistakes of
> the
> past only to turn around and make a another pile of them.  Out of 6
> billion
> people how many of us are going to be doctors, firemen, police officers
> and
> other professions that must be desensitized to gore?  Doesn't the
> desensitizing for that come during medical school, cutting up cadavers?  I
> just don't believe that movies have to keep getting more violent or
> pornographic, etc.  There's no benefit to it that I can see.  Now we could
> go back and forth on this but we'll end up being like a Mormon Missionary
> and a Jehovah Witness and a Born Again Christian on a street corner,
> thumping bibles for hours and at the end of it, the three will walk away
> more resolute in their position, with absolutely nothing beneficial being
> accomplished.  So carry on if you all wish, but on this topic I'm
> finished.
> (more resolute in my position).
>
> JAMES K. RUDY
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:    Gerry Taylor [SMTP:[e-mail]]
> Sent:    Thursday, October 08, 1998 11:39 PM
> To:    [e-mail]
> Subject:    Re: [MV] Mercury Rising Also Wild Things, and a comment on
> the Rating system.
>
> There is nothing worse than someone imagining the past to be "Rosier "
> than
> nowadays.  Usually if you look deeper you find that the past had probably
> the same amount of violence and social problems if not more!  As for the
> moral value of the 30's.......just because films were more tame does not
> mean society in general was.  Just because teenagers respected their
> parents
> more ( and this was only probably down to the fact that at 14 upwards they
> were expected to have a job thus did not really have a full
> childhood)........so technically the teenagers we know did not exist then!
> Child prostitiution was more previllant then and for all your wonderful
> talk
> on society, racism was still firmly entrenched in american way of
> life....so
> was that a good thing?
> Moving onto desensitisation, I love it that all people regard this as a
> bad
> thing.......if people never became desensitised to blood and gore we
> probably would not have any surgeons or the like!  As for it's link to
> films.......I think how violence is handled in films is more important.
> Surely your average action movie with Bruce Willis or Stallone is more
> offensive than most things as it deals with violence so off handedly.  In
> these type of films villains get blown away cleanly and with minimum
> gore.......and the only good villain is a dead one.  Surely this moral
> message is more abhorrent than the average horror movie and basically when
> you boil it down fake gore for all it's gruesomeness bears no reality to
> the
> real violence.  As for protecting our children.......yes I agree with that
> up to a point.........when someone reaches 17 (or 18 as the rating is
> here)
> they should be allowed to see any film without cuts (providing that the
> film
> acts within the law) I find the censor system ridiculous as how can one or
> a
> small group of people have the right to judge other people's moral
> standards.  I also think these people are slightly corrupt as both "Jaws",
> "The lost world" and "Jurrassic park" got through in the U.K as a "U"
> rating
> i.e anyone can go and see it.  These films imho are quite violent and call
> me a cynic but the more people allowed to see a film the more money it
> will
> make........there are far more less violent movies that get higher
> ratings.....why is this?  Maybe because ~
> Gerry T
> ~~~~~
> I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self
> contained,
> I stand and look at them long and long.
> They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
> They do not lie awake and weep for their sins,
> they do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
> not one is dissatisfied, not one demented with the mania of owning things,
> Not one kneels to another nor to his own kind that lived thousands of
> years
> ago,
> not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.
>                                                                Walt
> Whitman.
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~the studio that released these had
> a
> way of greasing a few palms!
> -----Original Message-----
> From: jkrudy < [e-mail] <mailto:[e-mail]>>
> To: '[e-mail]' <mailto:'[e-mail]'> <
> [e-mail] <mailto:[e-mail]>>
> Date: 08 October 1998 23:14
> Subject: RE: [MV] Mercury Rising Also Wild Things, and a comment on the
> Rating system.
>
>
> >I can't recall my source on the "pee drinking" scene so we can throw it
> out
> >if you prefer, but in what ways has society benefited from moving on as
> you
> >put it?  It seems to me that people are becoming more and more
> desensitized
> >to Sex and Violence and in large part that is the fault of our
> entertainment
> >both the Cinema and TV  There are those that will argue that art is
> >imitating life, but I strongly believe it is the opposite or better yet
> the
> >two are feeding of each other.  If Art (movies/TV) were to slowing revert
> >back to the 1931 era, I believe morality in our nation would also.  I
> think
> >that would be just wonderful.  There would still be crime, violence,
> >prostitution and all the rest of it, but Damnit, things would be better.
> >Children might just respect their parents more, teenage pregnancy might
> >decrease, teen/child suicide would go down, there would be less 14 years
> old
> >gunning down their classmates, etc, etc, etc.  A good movie is an escape
> >from reality, or in say the case of "Saving Private Ryan" a reminder of
> the
> >horror that can be caused by evil.  Violence and gore can be educational
> and
> >beneficial in those cases, but the way things are going 15 years from now
> >"Saving Private Ryan" could be an after school special with no editing
> >needed.  And most of the kids would comment on how tame it is as far as
> the
> >violence.  Is that what we want for our children?  Is it?
> >
> >JAMES K. RUDY
> >
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Gerry Taylor [ SMTP:[e-mail]
> <mailto:SMTP:[e-mail]>]
> >Sent: Thursday, October 08, 1998 3:35 PM
> >To: [e-mail] <mailto:[e-mail]>
> >Subject: Re: [MV] Mercury Rising Also Wild Things, and a comment on
> >the Rating system.
> >
> >I watched a documentary on "The excorcist" recently and they talked about
> >the excluded scenes......there was absolutely no mention of a "Pee
> drinking"
> >scene, so I presume this is a rumour.  As for the lax in morals, what the
> >hell.........the 1931 version of Dracula was the equivalent of an
> >"X"......are you trying to say we should not have moved on from that?
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: jkrudy < [e-mail] <mailto:[e-mail]> <
> <mailto:[e-mail]>>>
> >To: '[e-mail]' <mailto:'[e-mail]'> <
> <mailto:'[e-mail]'>> <
> > [e-mail] <mailto:[e-mail]> <
> <mailto:[e-mail]>>>
> >Date: 08 October 1998 20:25
> >Subject: RE: [MV] Mercury Rising Also Wild Things, and a comment on the
> >Rating system.
> >
> >
> >>Also with Wild Things, I would have thought the 3-way sex scene would
> have
> >>merited a NC-17 rating.  What is this world coming too?  I mean I'm not
> >>saying I didn't enjoy it.  In fact I enjoyed it all 4 times I watched
> that
> >>particular scene (LOL), I'm just commenting on the rapid decline of
> sexual
> >>morality in films, and how something that is rated R today would have
> been
> >>rated X tens years ago.  Another example is I read where they are
> >>re-releasing "The Exorcist" in theaters with originally edited out
> scenes
> >>that made the movie rated X at first but which once removed they rated
> it
> >R,
> >>now years later the scenes are put back in and it's still R.  One of the
> >>scenes apparently has Linda Blair peeing in her own face and drinking
> it.
> >>That still sounds X to me, how 'bout you?
> >>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [ To leave the movies mailing list, send the message "unsubscribe ]
> [ movies (without the quotes) to [e-mail]           ]

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------------------------------

Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1998 17:08:47 -0600 (MDT)
From: Scott Renshaw <[e-mail]>
Subject: [MV] REVIEW: THE MIGHTY

THE MIGHTY
(Miramax)
Starring:  Kieran Culkin, Elden Henson, Sharon Stone, Gena Rowlands, Harry
Dean Stanton, Gillian Anderson, James Gandolfini.
Screenplay:  Charles Leavitt, based on the novel _Freak the Mighty_ by
Rodman Philbrick.
Producers:  Jane Startz and Simon Fields.
Director:  Peter Chelsom.
MPAA Rating:  PG (mild profanity, adult themes)
Running Time:  95 minutes.
Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.

     The recent release SIMON BIRCH, based on a best-selling novel, told
the story of two boys who formed a close friendship.  Both outcasts in
their community, they shared many adventures, some humorous and some
serious.  The resulting film was mawkish and erratic, sacrificing strong
and consistent characterizations for cheap slapstick and even cheaper
melodrama.

     I love the cosmic symmetry that allows me to point out exactly what's
right about one film because of what went wrong in another.  THE MIGHTY is
also based on a best-selling novel, and also tells the story of two young
boys who form a close frienship.  Both outcasts in their community, they
share many adventures, some humorous and some serious.  Yet THE MIGHTY is
superior to SIMON BIRCH in almost every way.  It's a family film about
triumph over adversity that earns honest emotional response.

     Rodman Philbrick's popular young adult novel _Freak the Mighty_
inspired this tale of two Cincinnati middle-schoolers coping with
difficult circumstances.  Max Kane (Elden Henson) is an academically-
challenged giant of a lad, troubled by taunting classmates and a family
tragedy which has forced him to live with his grandparents (Gena Rowlands
and Harry Dean Stanton).  His new next-door neighbors are single mom
Gwendolyn Dillon (Sharon Stone) and her son Kevin (Kieran Culkin), a
sharp-witted genius afflicted with a crippling genetic disease.
Gradually, the two come to realize they have much to offer one another.
While Kevin tutors Max in reading and becomes his inspirational voice, Max
literally carries Kevin on his shoulders to become his legs.  Together,
they become a formidable force, a justice-seeking two-headed knight Kevin
dubs Freak the Mighty.

     You might expect THE MIGHTY to be just a glorified "Afterschool
Special," unless you knew the work of director Peter Chelsom.  The auteur
behind the eccentric gems HEAR MY SONG and FUNNY BONES gives the story a
fantastic flair, with images of the symbiotic duo crossing swords with
enemies in their flights of fancy.  Even the scenes clearly designed to
draw cheers, including a gym class basketball game, somehow seem too
surreal to be manipulative.  THE MIGHTY has more than its share of
messages, yet it rarely feels like a "message movie."  It has more than
its share of shifts in tone, yet it rarely feels inconsistent.

     Give credit both to Chelsom and to his two young leads, who deliver a
pair of superb performances.  Kieran Culkin (yes, _his_ younger brother)
finds the fine line between intelligent and obnoxious -- a line most young
actors trample into dust -- to make Kevin an appealing protagonist.  Elden
Henson, however, provides the film's real emotional core as the deeply
troubled Max.  There's not a false note to be found, from his early scenes
as surly introvert to his later fierce devotion to Kevin.  Culkin and
Henson share a casual chemistry even when they're exchanging deep
thoughts, preventing the flashing red "lesson" light to go on during their
scenes together.  Ably assisted by restrained, dignified supporting turns
from Stone, Rowlands and Stanton, Culkin and Henson create a solid
dramatic foundation.

     THE MIGHTY only gets clumsy when James Gandolfini shows up as Max's
bad-news father.  The sub-plot's darker tone, involving murder and
kidnapping, are challenging enough to fit into a family film without
Gandolfini playing the role as a leering monster.  That's aside from
Gillian Anderson's look-at-me-I'm-versatile turn as a good-hearted girl
from the wrong side of the tracks (or perhaps a Tennessee Williams play).
Yet even then Chelsom rallies to give us a potent climax without an ounce
of fat.  The power of the story, and its convincing bonds of friendship,
make teary-eyed actors and sweeping musical cues utterly unnecessary.
SIMON BIRCH's hystrionics bullied viewers into caring about two young
friends.  THE MIGHTY builds two characters worth caring about.

     On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 freak shows:  8.

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