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originally printed 03.10.05 in the Eureka, California newspaper The Times-Standard.
Fat Guys pour forth:
All rise! The portly pundits are now in session with another weeks worth of gimmicks and useless opining on Hollywoods newest fancy flicks.
The Jacket
Faulk: Ditching my usual quality controls, I liked this movie. After seeing Adrian Brody in "The Pianist" - one of my favorites - I would have been pleased to see him again in any flick: Maybe some residue from that earlier film's dazzle rubbed off on this one and made me see through its striking and repeated similarities to "Jacob's Ladder." I took my mother, a consummate baby boomer, and she left the theater shaking her head. She couldn't follow the many irrational twists and turns in the movie's plot - I couldn't either, but I kind of like being made to connect the dots on my own. Still, Kris Kristofferson made a less-than-believable villain - this despite the fact that much of his music could be considered a scourge upon humanity- and Keira Knightley's character switched too quickly from lovable little girl to 20-something sex pot. It made me feel icky inside.
Rating: L/T
Durant: Is this movie supposed to be a lame remake of "Jacobs Ladder"? There are differences, but the similarities stick out too much to make you think it's a coincidence, including the ending. The movie wasn't that scary; I didn't jump once, but the scenes when Jack Starks goes into the body closets are pretty freaky. If you're claustrophobic, even slightly, you may have a hard time with this movie. Adrian Brody is good and it was nice to see Kris Kristofferson too, but he wasn't as scary as he could have been. The whole thing with Starks interacting with the little girl, and then she's older, and then little again, is kind of creepy too.
Rating: M
Be Cool
Faulk: Scientology and disco aside, John Travolta is a stud. As I watched this movie, I couldn't help but wonder who'd win a cage match - Travolta in his prime or The Rock turned gay cowboy. Judging by his break out comedic role in this movie, I'd have to say The Rock. "Be Cool" avoids the pratfalls of most sequels by just being funny, and funny in a different way than the original. A perfect satire of what today's rap music industry has become - an odd assortment of gun-toting thugs bragging about who they kilt this week - the movie gets slightly out-of-whack by using Aerosmith as the model of integrity in popular music. Am I the only one who saw the "rocumentary" where they admit to playing other people songs? You heard me right - a hard rock band playing other people's material in the tireless search for another "Janeys got a Gun." Still, the movie came in at mostly cool even to this jaded film reviewer.
Rating: L/T
Durant: I never saw "Get Shorty," so I didn't get everything, but those incidents are peripheral and don"t take away from the new story. I wasn"t leaving the theater with a huge grin on my face, but I was pleasantly entertained. Vince Vaughn and The Rock should get their own spin-off sequel with their characters - very funny - and The Rock did a great job, topping his Oscar-caliber performance in "Walking Tall." Uma Thurman and John Travolta cut up the rug for the first time since "Pulp Fiction," but no where near as entertaining. It even looked like the same house that was used in "Pulp Fiction." Everyone was solid, but I've seen it once and that's enough for me.
Rating: L/T
7:00 AM
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