Rating: NNNNN
New releases
blow (2001, Alliance Atlantis), dir. Ted Demme w/ Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz. Depp stars as real-life drug dealer George Jung, who started out selling pot in Venice Beach, California, in the late 60s and rose to become the leading coke dealer in the mid-80s. The film has a smooth, sexy look — love the quick montages of Nan Goldin-type photos — but there’s a breathless quality that treats Jung as a sort of hero and his journey as a lark. It’s easy to like a movie that has 70s hair, tunes, polyester suits and and a star that gets to strut around like a coked-up rooster. A fun film that could have been great. NNN
Big-screen rating: Knowing how the movie’s going to end drains whatever little drama is left in this very familiar story. NN (JH)
just visiting (2001, Hollywood), dir. Jean-Marie Poiré w/ Jean Reno, Christian Clavier. A 13th-century knight (Reno) and his sidekick (Clavier) are transported from the Dark Ages to the 21st century by a misguided wizard. This remake of the French film, starring the same two actors, indulges in obvious fish-out-water gags penned by Home Alone auteur John Hughes. Any ribald or jocular humour is lost in Hughes’s underwhelming script. NN
Big-screen rating: NN (IR)
the tailor of panama (2001, Columbia Tri-Star), dir. John Boorman w/ Geoffrey Rush, Pierce Brosnan. A seedy British spy (Brosnan), with the help of an English tailor (Rush) living in Panama, assists a U.S. takeover attempt of the strategically important Central American state. The film, based on John Le Carré’s novel, would work as a sophisticated political satire except for the fact that Brosnan’s nasty character is too easily manipulated and surprisingly stupid. Brosnan has the time of his life playing James Bond’s evil twin, and the film’s almost worth renting to see his sleazy/suave turn. Almost. NN
Big-screen rating: Less than sum of its parts. NN (JH)
wit (2001, HBO), dir. Mike Nichols w/ Emma Thompson, Jonathan M. Woodward. Thompson and Nichols adapt Margaret Edson’s play about an English professor (Thompson) who suffers painful chemotherapy treatment after being diagnosed with stage-IV ovarian cancer. Thompson breaks our hearts as the strong-willed woman who deeply regrets the fact that she chose to love words more than people. Keep the Kleenex handy. NNNN
Big-screen rating: N/A
Also this weekAlso this week
The Invisible Circus
Traffik (BBC series)
Yi Yi
UpcomingUpcoming
September 18
Driven, Someone Like You, Spy Kids, Startup.com, The Widow Of St. Pierre
September 25
Along Came A Spider, Amores Perros, A Knight’s Tale, Nora
