Rating: NNNNN
New releasesNew releases
blood: the last vampire (2000, Sony), dir. Hiroyuki Kitakubo. This digitally created anime finds Japanese adolescent Saya stalking vampire-like creatures on a U.S. Army base during the 60s. Blood, unlike most animes that fetishize girls and flaunt brutal violence, has a more sombre tone running throughout its 48 minutes. Saya is the Clint Eastwood of schoolgirl vampire slayers — she rarely speaks and a has a killer stare. And director Kitakubo brings more suspense than outright gore to the screen. NNN
Big-screen rating: N/A
the king is dancing (2000, Remstar), dir. Gérard Corbiau w/ Benoît Magimel, Boris Terral. Corbiau creates an extravagant-looking but surprisingly tepid period film about the relationship between Louis XIV (Magimel) and his court composer, Jean-Baptiste Lully (Terral). What we’ve got here is a platonic love story between Lully, an arrogant artist, and Louis XIV, a self-absorbed artist wannabe. As everyone knows, two self-involved people make a pretty poor couple and even less interesting entertainment. NN
Big-screen rating: NN (IR)
memento (2000, Alliance Atlantis), dir. Christopher Nolan w/ Guy Pearce, Carrie-Ann Moss. Memento remains the most talked-about film of the last year — a cinematic puzzle with pieces that fleetingly dance in front of our eyes and then disappear. Pearce stars as a man looking for his wife’s killer. The problem is, he’s lost his short-term memory and is forced to tattoo clues to his investigation all over his body. First-time director Nolan exacerbates the confusing tale by telling the story backwards, so we feel just as disoriented as Pearce in his efforts to unravel the mystery. It’s an astounding cinematic feat that demands we never, for a moment, stop thinking. Consider it an exhilarating chore, and one that you can repeat over and over again. NNNNN
Big-screen rating: A wicked mindfuck that sounds gimmicky, but it’s actually metaphysical. NNNNN (JH)
Also this weekAlso this week
The Lord Of The Rings (re-release)
Seven Days To Live
When Good Ghouls Go Bad
UpcomingUpcoming
September 11
Blow, Just Visiting, The Tailor Of Panama, Wit
September 18
Driven, Someone Like You, Spy Kids, Startup.com, The Widow Of St. Pierre
