Rating: NNNNN
New releases
bridget jones’s diary (2001, Alliance Atlantis), dir. Sharon Maguire w/ Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant. Zellweger stars as 32-year-old, weight-obsessed “singleton” Bridget Jones, who’s smitten with her caddish boss, Daniel Cleaver (Grant), and yet drawn to snobbish barrister Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). Author Helen Fielding, who created Jones, borrowed Jane Austen’s can’t-miss formula of duelling beaux from Pride And Prejudice, gave it an “if I’m so successful why am I alone?” spin and found herself awash in royalties. The movie has a warmer tone than the book, thanks to Zellweger’s sweet-natured Jones, who’s less self-hating onscreen than in print. NNNN
Big-screen rating: NNNN (IR)
i’m the one that i want (2000, Alliance Atlantis), dir. Lionel Coleman w/ Margaret Cho. This live performance film capture’s Cho’s stand-up routine, which pays raunchy tribute to her adoring gay male fans and recounts her frightening time in Hollywood, where she almost died trying to lose weight for her short-lived TV sitcom. The film produces not only big laughs but also deep insights into the price one pays for success in Tinseltown. A compelling performer, Cho’s obviously unafraid to expose her insecurities. NNNN
Big-screen rating: NNNN (IR)
one night at mccool’s (2001, Alliance Atlantis), dir. Harald Zwart w/ Liv Tyler, Matt Dillon. Tyler stars as a con artist whose beauty mesmerizes the men around her, including bartender Dillon, kinky lawyer Paul Reiser, cop John Goodman and hit man Michael Douglas. The joke here is that men are total fuck-ups who think with their dicks and therefore should be humiliated. Actually, it’s the actors who agreed to star in this dreadful comedy who should embarrassed. N
Big-screen rating: N (IR)
Also this weekAlso this week
The Circle
Children Of The Corn: Revelation
UpcomingUpcoming
October 16
Angel Eyes, Cats & Dogs, The Crimson Rivers, Rat
October 23
Dr. Dolittle 2, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Freddy Got Fingered
DVD pick of the weekDVD pick of the week
breathless (1960, Fox Lorber), dir. Jean-Luc Godard w/ Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg. Citizen Kane trumps Breathless as the most celebrated debut in cinema, but Godard’s film has cast a longer, richer shadow — though least so over his own work. This exploded Parisian romance is the Rosetta stone of indie filmmaking, the young movie fan’s movie. Belmondo and Seberg turn in iconic performances, even as they deconstruct icons. Breathless is film criticism turned into cinema, and vice versa.
Extras: Fox Lorber releases high-end films on a dollar-store budget, so this is a bare-bones disc. Consider the movie its own director’s commentary. 90 minutes. NNNNN
CAMERON BAILEY
