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From: owner-movies-digest@lists.xmission.com (movies-digest) To: movies-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: movies-digest V2 #390 Reply-To: movies-digest Sender: owner-movies-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-movies-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk movies-digest Friday, November 8 2002 Volume 02 : Number 390 [MV] SWEET HOME ALABAMA / *** (PG-13) [MV] THE RULES OF ATTRACTION / ** (R) [MV] THE TRANSPORTER / **1/2 (PG-13) Re: [MV] THE LAST KISS (L'ULTIMO BACIO)/ ** RE: [MV] THE LAST KISS (L'ULTIMO BACIO)/ ** RE: [MV] THE LAST KISS (L'ULTIMO BACIO)/ ** [MV] 8 MILE / *** (R) [MV] TULLY / ***1/2 (Not rated) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 02 Nov 2002 07:25:05 GMT From: gregorys@xmission.com Subject: [MV] SWEET HOME ALABAMA / *** (PG-13) SWEET HOME ALABAMA / *** (PG-13) September 27, 2002 Melanie: Reese Witherspoon Jake: Josh Lucas Andrew: Patrick Dempsey Earl: Fred Ward Pearl: Mary Kay Place Stella Kay: Jean Smart Kate: Candice Bergen Touchstone Pictures presents a film directed by Andy Tennant. Written by C. Jay Cox. Running time: 102 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for some language and sexual references). BY ROGER EBERT Among the pieties that Hollywood preaches but does not believe is the notion that small towns are preferable to big cities. Film after film rehearses this belief: Big cities are repositories of greed, alienation and hypocrisy, while in a small town you will find the front doors left unlocked, peach pies cooling on the kitchen window sill, and folks down at the diner who all know your name. "Sweet Home Alabama" is the latest, admittedly charming, recycling of this ancient myth. The fact is that few people in Hollywood have voluntarily gone home again since William Faulkner fled to Mississippi. The screenwriters who retail the mirage of small towns are relieved to have escaped them. I await a movie where a New Yorker tries moving to a small town and finds that it just doesn't reflect his warm-hearted big city values. Reese Witherspoon, who is the best reason to see "Sweet Home Alabama," stars as Melanie Carmichael, a small-town girl who moves to the Big Apple and while still in her 20s becomes a famous fashion designer. She's in love with Andrew (Patrick Dempsey), a JFK Jr. lookalike whose mother (Candice Bergen) is mayor of New York. After he proposes to Melanie in Tiffany's, which he has rented for the occasion, she flies back home to Alabama to take care of unfinished business. Specifically, she doesn't want Andrew to discover that she is already married to a local boy, and that her family doesn't own a moss-dripped plantation. Her folks live in a luxury mobile home with lots of La-Z-Boys and knitted afghans (La-Z-Boy: the sign of a home where the man makes the decisions). Her husband, Jake (Josh Lucas), was her high school sweetheart, but, looking ahead at a lifetime of dirty diapers and dishes with a loser, she fled north. His plan: prove himself, to earn her respect and get her back again. That's why he's never given her the divorce. When Melanie returns home, she's greeted by the locals, who remember her high school hijinks (like tying dynamite to a stray cat, ho, ho). Her parents (Fred Ward and Mary Kay Place), who wile away their days lounging around the double-wide practicing sitcom dialogue, look on with love and sympathy, because they know that sooner or later she'll realize that home is right here. A clue comes when the mayor advises her prospective in-laws to "go back to your double-wide and fry something." The Jake character is more complex, as he needs to be, because the screenplay requires him to keep a secret that common sense insists he divulge immediately. He must meanwhile undergo a subtle transformation so that when we first meet him, we think he's a redneck hayseed, and then later he has transmogrified into a sensitive, intelligent, caring male. Oh, and his coon dog still likes her. The JFK Jr. guy, in the meantime, cannot be permitted to become a total jerk, because the movie's poignancy factor demands that he be Understanding, as indeed he would be, with a Jackie lookalike mom who is mayor of New York, a city where in this movie nothing bad has happened in recent memory. So, OK, we understand how the formula works, even without learning that C. Jay Cox, the screenwriter, is a student of writing coach Syd Field's theories (i.e., analyze successful movies and copy their structures). We know that the movie absolutely requires that Melanie reject bright lights, big city and return to the embrace of her home town. And we know the odds are low that Melanie will get the divorce, return to New York and marry the mayor's son. (Anyone who thinks I have just committed a spoiler will be unaware of all movies in this genre since "Ma and Pa Kettle.") But answer me this: What about Melanie as a person, with her own success and her own ambition? Would a woman with the talent and ambition necessary to become world-famous in the fashion industry before the age of 30 be able, I ask you, be willing, be prepared, to renounce it all to become the spouse of a man who has built a successful business as a (let's say) glass-blower? The chances of that happening are, I submit, extremely thin, and that is why "Sweet Home Alabama" works. It is a fantasy, a sweet, light-hearted fairy tale with Reese Witherspoon at its center. She is as lovable as Doris Day would have been in this role (in fact, Doris Day was in this role, in "Please Don't Eat the Daisies"). So I enjoyed Witherspoon and the local color, but I am so very tired of the underlying premise. Isn't it time for the movies to reflect reality and show the Melanies of the world fleeing to New York as fast as they can? Even if Syd Field flunks you? Copyright ⌐ Chicago Sun-Times Inc. [ To leave the movies mailing list, send the message "unsubscribe ] [ movies" (without the quotes) to majordomo@xmission.com ] ------------------------------ Date: 02 Nov 2002 07:24:52 GMT From: gregorys@xmission.com Subject: [MV] THE RULES OF ATTRACTION / ** (R) THE RULES OF ATTRACTION / ** (R) October 11, 2002 Sean: James Van Der Beek Lauren: Shannyn Sossamon Paul: Ian Somerhalder Lara: Jessica Biel Victor: Kip Pardue Kelly: Kate Bosworth Lions Gate Films presents a film written and directed by Roger Avary. Based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis. Running time: 104 minutes. Rated R (for strong sexual content, drug use, language and violent images). Opening today at local theaters. BY ROGER EBERT I did not like any of the characters in "The Rules of Attraction." I cringe to write those words, because they imply a superficial approach to the film. Surely there are films where I hated the characters and admired the work? "In the Company of Men"? No, that gave me a victim to sympathize with. There is no entry portal in "The Rules of Attraction," and I spent most of the movie feeling depressed by the shallow, selfish, greedy characters. I wanted to be at another party. Leaving the movie, I reflected that my reaction was probably unfair. "The Rules of Attraction" was based on a novel by Bret Easton Ellis, and while life is too short to read one of his books while a single work of Conrad, Faulkner or Bellow eludes me, I am familiar enough with his world (through the movies) to know that he agrees his characters are shallow, selfish and greedy, although perhaps he bears them a certain affection, not least because they populate his books. So I went to see the movie a second time, and emerged with a more evolved opinion: "The Rules of Attraction" is a skillfully made movie about reprehensible people. The writer-director is Roger Avary, who directed "Killing Zoe" and co-authored Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction." (Whether he cast James Van Der Beek as his lead because he looks more like Tarantino than any other working actor, I cannot guess.) In all of his work, Avary is fond of free movement up and down the timeline, and here he uses an ingenious approach to tell the stories of three main characters who are involved in, I dunno, five or six pairings. He begins with an "End of the World" party at Camden College, the ultimate party school, follows a story thread, then rewinds and follows another. He also uses fast-forward brilliantly to summarize a European vacation in a few hilarious minutes. The yo-yo timeline works because we know, or quickly learn, who the characters are, but sometimes it's annoying, as when we follow one sex romp up to a certain point and then return to it later for the denouement. This style may at times reflect the confused state of mind of the characters, who attend a college where no studying of any kind is ever glimpsed, where the only faculty member in the movie is having an affair with an undergraduate, and where the improbable weekend parties would put the orgies at Hef's pad to shame. The parties are a lapse of credibility. I cannot believe, for example, that large numbers of co-eds would engage in topless lesbian breastplay at a campus event, except in the inflamed imaginations of horny undergraduates. But assuming that they would: Is it plausible that the horny undergraduates wouldn't even look at them? Are today's undergraduate men so (choose one) blase, Politically Correct or emasculated that, surrounded by the enthusiastic foreplay of countless half-naked women, they would blandly carry on their conversations? This is not to imply that "The Rules of Attraction" is in any sense a campus sex-romp comedy. There is comedy in it, but so burdened are the students by their heavy loads of alcoholism, depression, drug addiction and bisexual promiscuity that one yearns for them to be given respite by that cliche of the 1960s, the gratuitous run through meadows and woods. These kids need fresh air. In the movie, James Van Der Beek plays drug dealer Sean Bateman, who desperately wants to sleep with with chic, elusive Lauren (Shannyn Sossamon). She once dated Paul (Ian Somerhalder), who is bisexual and who wants to sleep with Sean, who is straight, but right now if Lauren had her druthers she would bed Victor (Kip Pardue), who stars in the speed-up European trip and once dated Paul. (The sexual orientations of most of the major characters come down to: When they're not with the sex they love, they love the sex they're with.) Many but not not all of these desired couplings take place, there are distractions from still other willing characters, and a sad suicide involving a character I will not divulge, except to say that when we see how miserable she was in flashbacks to various earlier events, we wonder why, on a campus where promiscuity is epidemic, she had the misfortune to be a one-guy woman. Avary weaves his stories with zest and wicked energy, and finds a visual style that matches the emotional fragmentation. I have no complaints about the acting, and especially liked the way Sossamon kept a kind of impertinent distance from some of the excesses. But by the end, I felt a sad indifference. These characters are not from life and do not form into a useful fiction. Their excesses of sex and substance abuse are physically unwise, financially unlikely and emotionally impossible. I do not censor their behavior but lament the movie's fascination with it. They do not say and perhaps do not think anything interesting. The two other Bret Easton Ellis movies ("Less than Zero" and "American Psycho") offered characters who were considerably more intriguing. We had questions about them; they aroused our curiosity. The inhabitants of "The Rules of Attraction" are superficial and transparent. We know people like that, and hope they will get better. Copyright ⌐ Chicago Sun-Times Inc. [ To leave the movies mailing list, send the message "unsubscribe ] [ movies" (without the quotes) to majordomo@xmission.com ] ------------------------------ Date: 02 Nov 2002 07:24:54 GMT From: gregorys@xmission.com Subject: [MV] THE TRANSPORTER / **1/2 (PG-13) THE TRANSPORTER / **1/2 (PG-13) October 11, 2002 Frank Martin: Jason Statham Lai: Qi Shu Tarconi: Francois Berleand Wall Street: Matt Schulze Mr. Kwai: Ric Young Twentieth Century Fox presents a film directed by Corey Yuen. Written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. Running time: 92 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for violent sequences and some sensuality). BY ROGER EBERT The marriage of James Bond and Hong Kong continues in "The Transporter," a movie that combines Bond's luxurious European locations and love of deadly toys with all the tricks of martial arts movies. The movie stars Jason Statham (who has pumped a lot of iron since "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels") as Frank Martin, a k a the Transporter, who will transport anything at a price. His three unbreakable rules: never change the deal, no names, and never look in the package. Unlike Bond, Martin is amoral and works only for the money. We gather he lost any shreds of patriotism while serving in the British Special Forces, and now hires out his skills to support a lifestyle that includes an oceanside villa on the French Riviera that would retail at $30 million, minimum. In an opening sequence that promises more than the movie is able to deliver, Martin pilots his BMW for the getaway of a gang of bank robbers. Four of them pile into the car. The deal said there would be three. "The deal never changes," Martin says, as alarms ring and police sirens grow nearer. The robbers scream for him to drive away. He shoots the fourth man. Now the deal can proceed. And it does, in a chase sequence that is sensationally good, but then aren't all movie chase scenes sensationally good these days? There have been so many virtuoso chase sequences lately that we grow jaded, but this one, with the car bouncing down steps, squeezing through narrow lanes and speeding backward on expressways, is up there with recent French chases like "Ronin" and "The Bourne Identity." The movie combines the skills and trademarks of its director, Corey Yuen, and its writer-producer, Luc Besson. The Hong Kong-based specialist in martial arts movies has 43 titles to his credit, many of them starring Jet Li and Qi Shu. This is his English-language debut. Besson, now one of the world's top action producers (he has announced nine films for 2003 and also has "Wasabi" in current release), likes partnerships between action heroes and younger, apparently more vulnerable women. Those elements were central in his direction of "La Femme Nikita," "The Professional" and "The Fifth Element." Now he provides Frank Martin with a young woman through the violation of Rule No. 3: Martin looks in the bag. He has been given a large duffel bag to transport. It squirms. It contains a beautiful young Chinese woman named Lai (Qi Shu, who at age 26 has appeared in 41 movies, mostly erotic or martial arts). He cuts a little hole in the bag so she can sip an orange juice, and before he remembers to consult his rules again he has brought her home to his villa and is embroiled in a plot involving gangsters from Nice and human slave cargoes from China. The movie is by this point, alas, on autopilot. Statham's character, who had a grim fascination when he was enforcing the rules, turns into just another action hero when he starts breaking them. I actually thought, during the opening scenes, that "The Transporter" was going to rise above the genre, was going to be a study of violent psychology, like "La Femme Nikita." No luck. Too much action brings the movie to a dead standstill. Why don't directors understand that? Why don't they know that wall-to-wall action makes a movie less interesting--less like drama, more like a repetitive video game? Stunt action sequences are difficult, but apparently not as difficult as good dialogue. Unless you're an early teens special effects zombie, movies get more interesting when the characters are given humanity and dimension. Frank Martin is an intriguing man in the opening scenes, and we think maybe we'll learn something about his harsh code and lonely profession. But no: We get car leaps from bridges onto auto transporters. Parachute drops onto the tops of moving trucks. Grenades, rocket launchers, machine guns (at one point a friendly inspector asks Martin to explain 50,000 spent rounds of ammo). There is of course an underwater adventure, tribute to Besson's early life as the child of scuba-diving instructors. At one point, Martin tells Lai, "It's quiet. Too quiet." It wasn't nearly quiet enough. Copyright ⌐ Chicago Sun-Times Inc. [ To leave the movies mailing list, send the message "unsubscribe ] [ movies" (without the quotes) to majordomo@xmission.com ] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Nov 2002 22:27:58 +0000 (GMT) From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Julie=20Ogwayo?= <jogwayo@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [MV] THE LAST KISS (L'ULTIMO BACIO)/ ** - --0-1829573990-1036276078=:81616 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit PLEASE STOP SENDING ME THESE REVIEWS! THEY ARE ANNOYING! gregorys@xmission.com wrote:THE LAST KISS (L'ULTIMO BACIO)/ ** August 30, 2002 Carlo: Stefano Accorsi Giulia: Giovanna Mezzogiorno Anna: Stefania Sandrelli Francesca: Martina Stella Alberto: Marco Cocci Marco: Pierfrancesco Favino Paolo: Claudio Santamaria Think Films presents a film written and directed by Gabriele Muccino. Running time: 114 minutes. In Italian with English subtitles. Rated R (for language, sexuality and some drug use). Opening today at Landmark Century. BY ROGER EBERT "The Last Kiss" is a comedy, I guess, about male panic at the spectre of adult responsibility. If you're a guy and want to figure out what side of the question you're on, take this test. You're a young single man. Your girlfriend announces at a family dinner that she is pregnant. You (a) accept the joys and responsibilities of fatherhood; (b) climb up into a treehouse at a wedding to begin a passionate affair with an 18-year-old; (c) join three buddies in discussing their plan to buy a van and trek across Africa. Carlo (Stefano Accorsi), the hero of the film, is torn between (b) and (c). Marriage looms like a trap to him, and he complains to Francesca (Martina Stella), the 18-year-old, that he fears "the passion is going" from his life. When his girlfriend Giulia (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) takes him along to look at a house they could buy, he complains that buying a house seems so "final." Not encouraging words for a pregnant fiancee to hear. "If I catch him cheating, I'll kill him," she says, in the ancient tradition of Italian movie comedy. But the movie isn't all comedy, and has fugitive ambitions, I fear, to say something significant about romance and even life. Consider some of Carlo's friends. Paolo (Claudio Santamaria) is expected to take over his father's clothing store, has no interest in retail, but is wracked with guilt because his father is dying and this is his last wish. Marco (Pierfrancesco Favino) is a serial lover. Adriano (Giorgio Pasotti) is depressed because his girlfriend has lost all interest in sex after giving birth. Their 30s and indeed their 40s are breathing hot on the necks of these friends, who cling to golden memories of adolescence. There is also the case of Anna (Stefania Sandrelli), Carlo's mother, who is married to a detached and indifferent psychiatrist, and seeks out a former lover with hopes of, who knows, maybe now taking the path not chosen. The lover is delighted to see her for a chat over lunch, but reveals that he has recently married and is the proud father of a one-year-old. How cruelly age discriminates against women (at least those prepared to consider it discrimination and not freedom). "The Last Kiss" specializes in dramatic exits and entrances. Anna bursts into her husband's office when he is deep in consultation with a patient, who seems alarmed that his own house is so clearly not in order. Carlo awakens with dread after a night spent imprudently, and flees. Giulia makes a dramatic appearance at a death bed after discovering Carlo lied to her. And so on. The problem is that the movie has no idea of it is serious or not. It combines heartfelt self-analysis with scenes like the one where Carlo is taken by his teenage squeeze to her friend's birthday, and tries to party with the kids. This is either funny or sad, not both, but the movie doesn't know which. The message behind all of this is difficult to nail down. Mars and Venus? Adults who haven't grown up? The last fling syndrome? Doing what you want instead of doing what you must? I have just finished Without Stopping, the autobiography of the novelist and composer Paul Bowles, who as nearly as I can tell always did exactly what he wanted, and was married to Jane Bowles, who did the same. The answer, obviously, is not to choose between marriage and the van trip through Africa, but to dump the buddies and find a wife who wants to come along. Copyright ⌐ Chicago Sun-Times Inc. [ To leave the movies mailing list, send the message "unsubscribe ] [ movies" (without the quotes) to majordomo@xmission.com ] - --------------------------------- Get a bigger mailbox -- choose a size that fits your needs. - --0-1829573990-1036276078=:81616 Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit PLEASE STOP SENDING ME THESE REVIEWS! THEY ARE ANNOYING! gregorys@xmission.com wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">THE LAST KISS (L'ULTIMO BACIO)/ ** August 30, 2002 Carlo: Stefano Accorsi Giulia: Giovanna Mezzogiorno Anna: Stefania Sandrelli Francesca: Martina Stella Alberto: Marco Cocci Marco: Pierfrancesco Favino Paolo: Claudio Santamaria Think Films presents a film written and directed by Gabriele Muccino. Running time: 114 minutes. In Italian with English subtitles. Rated R (for language, sexuality and some drug use). Opening today at Landmark Century. BY ROGER EBERT "The Last Kiss" is a comedy, I guess, about male panic at the spectre of adult responsibility. If you're a guy and want to figure out what side of the question you're on, take this test. You're a young single man. Your girlfriend announces at a family dinner that she is pregnant. You (a) accept the joys and responsibilities of fatherhood; (b) climb up into a treehouse at a wedding to begin a passionate affair with an 18-year-old; (c) join three buddies in discussing their plan to buy a van and trek across Africa. Carlo (Stefano Accorsi), the hero of the film, is torn between (b) and (c). Marriage looms like a trap to him, and he complains to Francesca (Martina Stella), the 18-year-old, that he fears "the passion is going" from his life. When his girlfriend Giulia (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) takes him along to look at a house they could buy, he complains that buying a house seems so "final." Not encouraging words for a pregnant fiancee to hear. "If I catch him cheating, I'll kill him," she says, in the ancient tradition of Italian movie comedy. But the movie isn't all comedy, and has fugitive ambitions, I fear, to say something significant about romance and even life. Consider some of Carlo's friends. Paolo (Claudio Santamaria) is expected to take over his father's clothing store, has no interest in retail, but is wracked with guilt because his father is dying and this is his last wish. Marco (Pierfrancesco Favino) is a serial lover. Adriano (Giorgio Pasotti) is depressed because his girlfriend has lost all interest in sex after giving birth. Their 30s and indeed their 40s are breathing hot on the necks of these friends, who cling to golden memories of adolescence. There is also the case of Anna (Stefania Sandrelli), Carlo's mother, who is married to a detached and indifferent psychiatrist, and seeks out a former lover with hopes of, who knows, maybe now taking the path not chosen. The lover is delighted to see her for a chat over lunch, but reveals that he has recently married and is the proud father of a one-year-old. How cruelly age discriminates against women (at least those prepared to consider it discrimination and not freedom). "The Last Kiss" specializes in dramatic exits and entrances. Anna bursts into her husband's office when he is deep in consultation with a patient, who seems alarmed that his own house is so clearly not in order. Carlo awakens with dread after a night spent imprudently, and flees. Giulia makes a dramatic appearance at a death bed after discovering Carlo lied to her. And so on. The problem is that the movie has no idea of it is serious or not. It combines heartfelt self-analysis with scenes like the one where Carlo is taken by his teenage squeeze to her friend's birthday, and tries to party with the kids. This is either funny or sad, not both, but the movie doesn't know which. The message behind all of this is difficult to nail down. Mars and Venus? Adults who haven't grown up? The last fling syndrome? Doing what you want instead of doing what you must? I have just finished Without Stopping, the autobiography of the novelist and composer Paul Bowles, who as nearly as I can tell always did exactly what he wanted, and was married to Jane Bowles, who did the same. The answer, obviously, is not to choose between marriage and the van trip through Africa, but to dump the buddies and find a wife who wants to come along. Copyright ⌐ Chicago Sun-Times Inc. [ To leave the movies mailing list, send the message "unsubscribe ] [ movies" (without the quotes) to majordomo@xmission.com ]</BLOCKQUOTE> <hr size=1><a href="http://uk.yahoo.com/mail/tagline_xtra/?http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/mail_storage.html">Get a bigger mailbox -- choose a size that fits your needs.</a> - --0-1829573990-1036276078=:81616-- [ To leave the movies mailing list, send the message "unsubscribe ] [ movies" (without the quotes) to majordomo@xmission.com ] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Nov 2002 07:54:41 -0600 From: "Wade Snider" <wsnider@brazoselectric.com> Subject: RE: [MV] THE LAST KISS (L'ULTIMO BACIO)/ ** This is a multi-part message in MIME format. - ------_=_NextPart_001_01C28409.B912A858 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I agree. Do we really need somebody to copy and paste Ebert's reviews = and send them in masse like that??? If we want to read those, which seem = to be sent over and over, we can go to Ebert's site. I mean some of = those are like weeks old, and then there are times when we get duplicate = or triplicate emails! I know there is not much activity on this list as = it is, but this kind of crap is obnoxious and wasted. Does anybody = really need 75 emails like this in their inbox?????=20 - -----Original Message----- From: Julie Ogwayo [mailto:jogwayo@yahoo.com] Sent: Saturday, November 02, 2002 4:28 PM To: movies@lists.xmission.com Subject: Re: [MV] THE LAST KISS (L'ULTIMO BACIO)/ ** PLEASE STOP SENDING ME THESE REVIEWS! THEY ARE ANNOYING!=20 gregorys@xmission.com wrote:=20 THE LAST KISS (L'ULTIMO BACIO)/ **=20 August 30, 2002 Carlo: Stefano Accorsi=20 Giulia: Giovanna Mezzogiorno=20 Anna: Stefania Sandrelli=20 Francesca: Martina Stella=20 Alberto: Marco Cocci=20 Marco: Pierfrancesco Favino=20 Paolo: Claudio Santamaria Think Films presents a film written and directed by Gabriele Muccino. Running time: 114 minutes. In Italian with English subtitles. Rated R = (for language, sexuality and some drug use). Opening today at Landmark = Century. BY ROGER EBERT "The Last Kiss" is a comedy, I guess, about male panic at the spectre of adult responsibility. If you're a guy and want to figure out what side = of the question you're on, take this test. You're a young single man. Your girlfriend announces at a family dinner that she is pregnant. You (a) = accept the joys and responsibilities of fatherhood; (b) climb up into a = treehouse at a wedding to begin a passionate affair with an 18-year-old; (c) join three buddies in discussing their plan to buy a van and trek across = Africa. Carlo (Stefano Accorsi), the hero of the film, is torn between (b) and = (c). Marriage looms like a trap to him, and he complains to Francesca = (Martina Stella), the 18-year-old, that he fears "the passion is going" from his life. When his girlfriend Giulia (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) takes him along = to look at a house they could buy, he complains that buying a house seems = so "final." Not encouraging words for a pregnant fiancee to hear. "If I = catch him cheating, I'll kill him," she says, in the ancient tradition of = Italian movie comedy. But the movie isn't all comedy, and has fugitive ambitions, I fear, to = say something significant about romance and even life. Consider some of = Carlo's friends. Paolo (Claudio Santamaria) is expected to take over his = father's clothing store, has no interest in retail, but is wracked with guilt = because his father is dying and this is his last wish. Marco (Pierfrancesco = Favino) is a serial lover. Adriano (Giorgio Pasotti) is depressed because his girlfriend has lost all interest in sex after giving birth. Their 30s = and indeed their 40s are breathing hot on the necks of these friends, who = cling to golden memories of adolescence. There is also the case of Anna (Stefania Sandrelli), Carlo's mother, who = is married to a detached and indifferent psychiatrist, and seeks out a = former lover with hopes of, who knows, maybe now taking the path not chosen. = The lover is delighted to see her for a chat over lunch, but reveals that he = has recently married and is the proud father of a one-year-old. How cruelly = age discriminates against women (at least those prepared to consider it discrimination and not freedom). "The Last Kiss" specializes in dramatic exits and entrances. Anna bursts into her husband's office when he is deep in consultation with a = patient, who seems alarmed that his own house is so clearly not in order. Carlo awakens with dread after a night spent imprudently, and flees. Giulia = makes a dramatic appearance at a death bed after discovering Carlo lied to = her. And so on. The problem is that the movie has no idea of it is serious or not. It combines heartfelt self-analysis with scenes like the one where Carlo is taken by his teenage squeeze to her friend's birthday, and tries to = party with the kids. This is either funny or sad, not both, but the movie = doesn't know which. The message behind all of this is difficult to nail down. Mars and = Venus? Adults who haven't grown up? The last fling syndrome? Doing what you = want instead of doing what you must? I have just finished Without Stopping, = the autobiography of the novelist and composer Paul Bowles, who as nearly as = I can tell always did exactly what he wanted, and was married to Jane = Bowles, who did the same. The answer, obviously, is not to choose between = marriage and the van trip through Africa, but to dump the buddies and find a wife = who wants to come along. Copyright =A9 Chicago Sun-Times Inc. [ To leave the movies mailing list, send the message "unsubscribe ] [ movies" (without the quotes) to majordomo@xmission.com ] _____ =20 = <http://uk.yahoo.com/mail/tagline_xtra/?http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/mail_sto= rage.html> Get a bigger mailbox -- choose a size that fits your needs. - ------_=_NextPart_001_01C28409.B912A858 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV=3D"Content-Type" CONTENT=3D"text/html; = charset=3Diso-8859-1"> <META content=3D"MSHTML 6.00.2716.2200" name=3DGENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV>I=20 agree. Do we really need somebody to copy and paste Ebert's reviews and = send=20 them in masse like that??? If we want to read those, which seem to = be sent=20 over and over, we can go to Ebert's site. I mean some of those are like = weeks=20 old, and then there are times when we get duplicate or triplicate = emails! I know=20 there is not much activity on this list as it is, but this kind of crap = is=20 obnoxious and wasted. Does anybody really need 75 emails like this = in their=20 inbox????? </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV class=3DOutlookMessageHeader dir=3Dltr align=3Dleft>-----Original Message----- From: Julie Ogwayo=20 [mailto:jogwayo@yahoo.com] Sent: Saturday, November 02, 2002 = 4:28=20 PM To: movies@lists.xmission.com Subject: Re: [MV] = THE=20 LAST KISS (L'ULTIMO BACIO)/ ** </DIV> PLEASE STOP SENDING ME THESE REVIEWS! THEY ARE ANNOYING!=20 gregorys@xmission.com wrote:=20 <BLOCKQUOTE=20 style=3D"PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px = solid">THE=20 LAST KISS (L'ULTIMO BACIO)/ ** August 30, 2002 Carlo: = Stefano=20 Accorsi Giulia: Giovanna Mezzogiorno Anna: Stefania = Sandrelli=20 Francesca: Martina Stella Alberto: Marco Cocci Marco:=20 Pierfrancesco Favino Paolo: Claudio Santamaria Think Films = presents a=20 film written and directed by Gabriele Muccino. Running time: 114 = minutes.=20 In Italian with English subtitles. Rated R (for language, = sexuality and=20 some drug use). Opening today at Landmark Century. BY ROGER=20 EBERT "The Last Kiss" is a comedy, I guess, about male panic = at the=20 spectre of adult responsibility. If you're a guy and want to = figure out=20 what side of the question you're on, take this test. You're a = young=20 single man. Your girlfriend announces at a family dinner that she = is=20 pregnant. You (a) accept the joys and responsibilities of = fatherhood; (b)=20 climb up into a treehouse at a wedding to begin a passionate = affair with=20 an 18-year-old; (c) join three buddies in discussing their plan = to buy a=20 van and trek across Africa. Carlo (Stefano Accorsi), the hero = of the=20 film, is torn between (b) and (c). Marriage looms like a trap to = him, and=20 he complains to Francesca (Martina Stella), the 18-year-old, that = he=20 fears "the passion is going" from his life. When his girlfriend = Giulia=20 (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) takes him along to look at a house they = could buy,=20 he complains that buying a house seems so "final." Not = encouraging words=20 for a pregnant fiancee to hear. "If I catch him cheating, I'll = kill him,"=20 she says, in the ancient tradition of Italian movie = comedy. But=20 the movie isn't all comedy, and has fugitive ambitions, I fear, to=20 say something significant about romance and even life. Consider = some of=20 Carlo's friends. Paolo (Claudio Santamaria) is expected to take = over his=20 father's clothing store, has no interest in retail, but is = wracked with=20 guilt because his father is dying and this is his last wish. = Marco=20 (Pierfrancesco Favino) is a serial lover. Adriano (Giorgio = Pasotti) is=20 depressed because his girlfriend has lost all interest in sex = after=20 giving birth. Their 30s and indeed their 40s are breathing hot on = the=20 necks of these friends, who cling to golden memories of=20 adolescence. There is also the case of Anna (Stefania = Sandrelli),=20 Carlo's mother, who is married to a detached and indifferent=20 psychiatrist, and seeks out a former lover with hopes of, who = knows,=20 maybe now taking the path not chosen. The lover is delighted to = see her=20 for a chat over lunch, but reveals that he has recently married = and is=20 the proud father of a one-year-old. How cruelly age discriminates = against=20 women (at least those prepared to consider it discrimination and = not=20 freedom). "The Last Kiss" specializes in dramatic exits and=20 entrances. Anna bursts into her husband's office when he is deep = in=20 consultation with a patient, who seems alarmed that his own house = is so=20 clearly not in order. Carlo awakens with dread after a night = spent=20 imprudently, and flees. Giulia makes a dramatic appearance at a = death bed=20 after discovering Carlo lied to her. And so on. The = problem is=20 that the movie has no idea of it is serious or not. It combines = heartfelt=20 self-analysis with scenes like the one where Carlo is taken by = his=20 teenage squeeze to her friend's birthday, and tries to party with = the=20 kids. This is either funny or sad, not both, but the movie = doesn't know=20 which. The message behind all of this is difficult to nail = down. Mars=20 and Venus? Adults who haven't grown up? The last fling syndrome? = Doing=20 what you want instead of doing what you must? I have just = finished=20 Without Stopping, the autobiography of the novelist and composer = Paul=20 Bowles, who as nearly as I can tell always did exactly what he = wanted,=20 and was married to Jane Bowles, who did the same. The answer, = obviously,=20 is not to choose between marriage and the van trip through = Africa, but to=20 dump the buddies and find a wife who wants to come=20 along. Copyright =A9 Chicago Sun-Times Inc. [ To leave = the=20 movies mailing list, send the message "unsubscribe ] [ movies" = (without=20 the quotes) to majordomo@xmission.com ]</BLOCKQUOTE> <HR SIZE=3D1> <A=20 = href=3D"http://uk.yahoo.com/mail/tagline_xtra/?http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/m= ail_storage.html"><FONT=20 face=3DArial size=3D2>Get a bigger mailbox -- choose a size that fits = your=20 needs.</A> </BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML> - ------_=_NextPart_001_01C28409.B912A858-- [ To leave the movies mailing list, send the message "unsubscribe ] [ movies" (without the quotes) to majordomo@xmission.com ] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 04 Nov 2002 09:12:40 -0500 From: Gene Ehrich <gehrich@tampabay.rr.com> Subject: RE: [MV] THE LAST KISS (L'ULTIMO BACIO)/ ** At 07:54 AM 11/4/2002 -0600, you wrote: >I agree. Do we really need somebody to copy and paste Ebert's reviews and >send them in masse like that??? If we want to read those, which seem to be >sent over and over, we can go to Ebert's site. I mean some of those are >like weeks old, and then there are times when we get duplicate or >triplicate emails! I know there is not much activity on this list as it >is, but this kind of crap is obnoxious and wasted. Does anybody really >need 75 emails like this in their inbox????? I agree. I always delete all of them. Total waste of band width. Maybe if we could have one e-mail with each of the links in it. http://www.voicenet.com/~generic [ To leave the movies mailing list, send the message "unsubscribe ] [ movies" (without the quotes) to majordomo@xmission.com ] ------------------------------ Date: 08 Nov 2002 16:47:16 GMT From: gregorys@xmission.com Subject: [MV] 8 MILE / *** (R) 8 MILE / *** (R) November 8, 2002 Jimmy Smith Jr.: Eminem Stephanie: Kim Basinger Alex: Brittany Murphy Future: Mekhi Phifer Wink: Eugene Byrd Sol George: Omar Benson : Miller Janeane: Taryn Manning Cheddar Bob: Evan Jones Universal Pictures presents a film directed by Curtis Hanson. Written by Scott Silver. Running time: 118 minutes. Rated R (for strong language, sexuality, some violence and drug use). BY ROGER EBERT Pale, depressed, Jimmy Smith Jr. (Eminem) skulks through a life that has been so terribly unkind to him. His girlfriend has gotten pregnant and broken up with him, and although he did the right thing by her--he gave her his old car--he now faces the prospect of moving back into his mother's trailer home, with her boyfriend who hates him. Jimmy carries his clothes around in a garbage bag. He has a job as a punch press operator. We see him, early in "8 Mile," about to do the only thing he does well and takes joy in doing. He is about to go onstage at the Shelter, a rap club that looks uncannily like a deserted building, and engage in the hip-hop version of a poetry slam. In this world, he is known as "Rabbit." He rehearses in a mirror in the men's room, fiercely scowling at his own reflection and practicing those hand gestures all the rappers use, their outboard fingers pointed down from jerking arms as they jab spastically like Joe Cocker. Then Rabbit throws up. Then he goes onstage, where he has 45 seconds to out-rap his competitor in a showdown. And then he freezes. The seconds creep by in total silence, until Rabbit flees the stage and the Shelter. We are hardly started in "8 Mile," and already we see that this movie stands aside from routine debut films by pop stars. It stands aside from Britney Spears and the Spice Girls and the other hit machines who have unwisely tried to transfer musical ability into acting careers. Like Prince's "Purple Rain," it is the real thing. Eminem insists on Rabbit's proletarian roots, on his slattern mother, on his lonely progress as a white boy in a black world. Whether "8 Mile" is close to Eminem's own autobiographical truths, I do not know. It is a faithful reflection of his myth, however, beginning with the title, which refers to the road which separates Detroit from its white suburbs. He lives on the black side of the road, where he has found acceptance and friendship from a posse of homies, and especially from Future (Mekhi Phifer), who emcees the contests at the Shelter. When Rabbit gets into fights with black rivals, and he does, they are motivated not by racism but by more wholesome feelings, like sexual jealousy and professional envy. The genius of Rabbit is to admit his own weaknesses. This is also the approach of Eminem, who acknowledges in his lyrics that he's a white man playing in a black man's field. In the climactic performance scene in "8 Mile," he not only skewers his opponent but preempts any comeback by trashing himself first, before the other guy can. At one point, devastatingly, he even calls another rapper "too generic." They must read rock critics in the inner city. The movie, directed by Curtis Hanson ("Wonder Boys") and written by Scott Silver, is a grungy version of a familiar formula, in which the would-be performer first fails at his art, then succeeds, is unhappy in romance but lucky in his friends, and comes from an unfortunate background. He even finds love, sort of, with Alex (Brittany Murphy), who is loyal if not faithful. What the movie is missing, however, is the third act in which the hero becomes a star. We know that Eminem is awesomely successful, but "8 Mile" avoids the rags-to-riches route and shows Rabbit moving from rags to slightly better rags. There has been criticism of Kim Basinger, who is said to be too attractive and even glamorous to play Rabbit's mother, but this strikes me as economic discrimination: Cannot poor people as well as rich people look like Kim Basinger? Given the numbers of ugly people who live in big houses, why can't there be beautiful people living in trailers? Her performance finds the right note somewhere between love and exasperation; it cannot be easy to live with this sullen malcontent, whose face lights up only when he sees his baby sister, Lily. As an actor, Eminem is convincing without being electric. Perhaps the Rabbit character doesn't allow for joy; he seems to go through life forever remembering why he shouldn't be happy. As it happens, on the same day that "8 Mile" was screened in Chicago, I also saw "Standing in the Shadows of Motown," a documentary about the studio musicians who created the Motown Sound. The contrast was instructive. On the one hand, a Detroit white boy embracing the emblems of poverty and performing in a musical genre that involves complaint, anger and alienation. On the other hand, black Detroit musicians making good money, performing joyously, having a good time and remembering those times with tears in their eyes. What has happened to our hopes, that young audiences now embrace such cheerless material, avoiding melody like the plague? At least in their puritanism they still permit rhymes. Eminem survives the X-ray truth-telling of the movie camera, which is so good at spotting phonies. He is on the level. Here he plays, if not himself, a version of himself, and we understand why he has been accepted as a star in a genre mostly owned by blacks. Whether he has a future as a movie actor is open to question: At this point in his career, there is no reason for him to play anyone other than himself, and it might even be professionally dangerous for him to try. He can of course play versions of Rabbit in other movies, and would probably play them well, but Rabbit, let it be said, is a downer. I would love to see a sequel (maybe "81/2 Mile") in which Rabbit makes millions and becomes world famous, and we learn at last if it is possible for him to be happy. Copyright ⌐ Chicago Sun-Times Inc. [ To leave the movies mailing list, send the message "unsubscribe ] [ movies" (without the quotes) to majordomo@xmission.com ] ------------------------------ Date: 08 Nov 2002 16:47:19 GMT From: gregorys@xmission.com Subject: [MV] TULLY / ***1/2 (Not rated) TULLY / ***1/2 (Not rated) November 8, 2002 Tully Coates Jr.: Anson Mount Ella Smalley: Julianne Nicholson Earl Coates: Glenn Fitzgerald April Reece: Catherine Kellner Tully Coates Sr.: Bob Burrus Telltale Films and Small Planet Pictures present a film directed by Hilary Birmingham. Written by Birmingham and Matt Drake. Based on the short story "What Happened to Tully," by Tom McNeal. Running time: 107 minutes. No MPAA rating. BY ROGER EBERT "Tully" is set on a Nebraska dairy farm, one without a woman but where thoughts about women are often in the minds of the men. Tully Coates Sr. (Bob Burrus) still loves the wife who walked away from the family years ago. Tully Jr. (Anson Mount) is a ladies' man, dating a local stripper named April (Catherine Kellner). His younger brother, Earl (Glenn Fitzgerald), is quieter and more open, with a soft spot for Ella Smalley (Julianne Nicholson), who is home for the summer from studying to be a veterinarian. In this rural community, everyone knows one another. They even think they know each other's secrets, but there are dark secrets at the heart of the Tully family which only the father knows. One, revealed fairly early, is that his wife was not killed in a crash, as he told the boys, but simply abandoned them. The other I will leave for you to discover. The mother is not only alive but dying of cancer in a hospital, where $300,000 in medical bills have caused a lien to be brought against the farm: The Coates might lose it, after their decades of hard work. Here in Nebraska, the exotic dancers are not very exotic. April is a neighbor girl who strips in a nearby town because the money is good but still has small-town notions about going steady. After she and Tully Jr. spend an enjoyable afternoon on the hood of his Cadillac, she claims territorial privilege: From now on, that hood is hers, and she doesn't want to hear about Tully inviting any other girl up there. Earl has a sort of crush on Ella, who is red-haired and freckled, open-faced and clear about her own feelings. She would like to be dating Tully, but only if he can outgrow his tomcatting and see her as worthy of his loyalty. In her own way, during this summer, she will hook Tully and reel him in, and it may be years before he figures out what really happened. Nicholson is wonderful in the role, wise about men, aware of her own power. The anchoring performance in the movie is by Burrus, as the father. Long days alone in the fields have made him taciturn. The boys notice that the lights burn late in the farm office, that he is worried about something, and then they discover their line of credit is cut off at the bank. During the course of the movie, old hurts will be remembered, old secrets revealed, and new loves will form. "Tully," directed by Hilary Birmingham, co-written by Birmingham and Matt Drake, and based on a short story by Tom McNeal, doesn't turn those developments into a rural soap opera but pays close and respectful attention to its characters, allowing them time to develop and deepen--so that, for example, we understand exactly what's happening when Earl warns his brother to be careful with Ella. In other words, don't treat her like another one of his conquests. Even Ella is bemused by Tully's reputation: "What's it like to drive women crazy?" What Tully is far from understanding is that Ella knows how to drive him crazy, and there is a lovely scene when she takes him to her favorite swimming hole and allows him to feel desire for her, and pretends that wasn't on her mind. Women know how to win the Coates men, and it's clear that the old man forgives his faithless wife and still loves her. The movie is a matter-of-fact journal of daily farm life during its opening scenes, and its dramatic secrets are revealed only slowly. At the end, when there is a tragedy, it has been hanging there, waiting to happen, for four or five scenes. Birmingham has a writer's patience and attention to detail, and doesn't hurry things along. She knows that audiences may think they like speed, but they're more deeply moved by depth. By the end of the film, both times I saw it, there were some tears in the audience. They confirm something I've suspected: Audiences are more touched by goodness than by sadness. Tears come not because something terrible has happened, but because something good has happened, which reveals the willingness of people to be brave and kind. We might quarrel with the crucial decision at the end of "Tully," but we have to honor it because we know it comes from a good place. So does the whole movie. Copyright ⌐ Chicago Sun-Times Inc. [ To leave the movies mailing list, send the message "unsubscribe ] [ movies" (without the quotes) to majordomo@xmission.com ] ------------------------------ End of movies-digest V2 #390 **************************** [ To quit the movies-digest mailing list (big mistake), send the message ] [ "unsubscribe movies-digest" (without the quotes) to majordomo@xmission.com ]