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Terror
Attacks WAR OF THE WORLDS: Directed by Steven Spielberg. Written by Josh Friedman and David Koepp, based on H.G. Welles' novel. Produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Colin Wilson. Executive producer, Paula Wagner. Cinematography, Janusz Kaminski. Production design, Rick Carter. Editor, Michael Kahn. Costume design, Joanna Johnston. Composer, John Williams. Visual Effects Supervisor, Dennis Muren. Starring Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin, Tim Robbins and Miranda Otto. Paramount Pictures, 2005. PG-13. 117 minutes.
I've come to expect memorable science fiction films from Steven Spielberg, and in E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Minority Report A.I. Artificial Intelligence he did not let me down. With War of the Worlds, Spielberg again pairs his keen intelligence and inventive filmmaking skills and sensibilities with his special gift for imagining alien others. Curiosity is his major characters' most interesting trait. Whether trying to look at the aliens invading Earth or trying to keep a child from viewing their unsettling visages, inquisitiveness often trumps the flight urge. Spielberg bestows his own desire to know whole-heartedly on his characters, and War of the Worlds delivers. In the science fiction I read when I was a kid, I was interested in how it would feel to be human on a strange planet, in a spaceship, or living in the future with good or evil aliens around. How would I feel about an almost human robot? Hardware interests me only as it affects the characters, which is why I'm not losing sleep over exactly how the aliens in War of the Worlds get to their underground, destructo-Tripods, which were planted "millions" of years ago. I appreciate many of the terrific images: the great electrical storm; the pavement-buckling eruption of the Tripods; the ferry boat disaster; the wreck of a plane scattered around a bunker; a runaway train speeding through a station, flames licking out the windows; a burning tree near where a child stands, silhouetted by battle. I love the scene of the aliens looking through a family's scrapbook and taking away a glossy, 8" X 10" photograph they are quite interested in, but who or what the photo portrays remains a mystery to be solved on second viewing. While we are assailed by cosmic themes such as interplanetary invasion, worldwide annihilation and the alien takeover of Earth, the human drama plays out within a fairly typical American family. Ray (Tom Cruise) is a New Jersey crane operator who's not a very responsible weekend parent. Mary Ann (Miranda Otto), re-married and pregnant, enjoys her new life with a sweet man but worries when the kids are with Ray. Teenage son Robbie (Justin Chatwin) fights with dad a lot, but 11-year-old Rachel (Dakota Fanning) is true to her feelings and quite aware of his faults. Rachel is the emotional center of the film. In a nod to Spielberg's prescient film children, Rachel asks the question everyone is thinking: "Is it the terrorists?" Ogilvy (Tom Robbins), a survivalist type planning to use his firearms against the enemy, is a menacing, passionately patriotic crank. Ray needs to show Rachel he can take care of her, since he can't stop the aliens' scary game of hide-and-seek against the human race just outside Ogilvy's basement hideout. But Ray can prevent Ogilvy, metaphorically his own shadow-side, from getting them killed. Unlike other critics I've read, notably Roger Ebert (who got this one all wrong), I find War of the Worlds more thrilling than most thrillers and more disturbing. Images of panicked people fleeing from attack are nothing new, but the fear of being hunted down by an alien predator is palpable. It evokes the terror Spielberg captured in Jaws of being eaten by a shark turned killer. We somewhat self-directed individuals living now also fear being reduced to a blur by a mindless mob. The dark side of human nature on display in War of the Worlds may not be pretty, but it is psychologically sound, and we might learn something we need to know by getting acquainted with it. Grouse all you want about summer blockbusters, but I'm glad to have Spielberg's classy new film to make up for the truly insignificant movies of summer. Now playing at Cinemark and Cinema World, War of the World gets my very highest recommendations.
Three
Women SAVING FACE: Written and directed by Alice Wu. Produced by Teddy Zee, James Lassiter, Will Smith. Executive producers, John Penotti, Robin O'Hara, Scott Macauley. Cinematograhy, Harlan Bosmajian. Editors, Susan Graef, Sabine Hoffman. Costume Design, Jill Newell. Production design, Dan Ouellette. Composer, Anton Sanko. Starring Michelle Krusiec, Joan Chen, Lynn Chen, with Jim Wang, Guang Lan Koh, Ato Essandoh, David Shih, Brian Yang, Mao Zhao. Sony Pictures Classics, 2005. R. 98 minutes. Wilhelmina Pang (Michelle Krusjiec) is a busy Manhattan surgeon. But she is also a dutiful Chinese daughter and granddaughter. Vivian Shing (Lynn Chen) has been a dancer with the New York Ballet, which she recently left to pursue Modern Dance. She is the child of divorced parents, and her father is Pang's immediate boss at the hospital where both work. Wil and Vivian are accomplished, contemporary women, attracted to each other, but hemmed in by tradition and immigrant culture, which seems to work extra hard to keep daughters within the family clan, while also encouraging their ambitions in the wider world.
They see each other first at a Friday night Chinese social, where Wil's mother, Ma (Joan Chen), tries to set her up with a nice Chinese man. But Vivian and Wil catch each other's attention before the night is over. Fortunately, the gossips don't see their mutual interest. Youthful and gorgeous at age 48, Ma has lived with her father, Wai Gung (Jim Wang), and her mother, Wai Po (Guang Lan Koh), since her husband died. Now Ma has become pregnant and won't say who the father is. Wai Gung sends her away from the Flushing, Queens society where he is known and revered, and the larger Chinese community rejects her as well. Ma moves into the city, right at the time Wil and Vivian are getting to know each other. Vivian thinks Wil should come out to her mother, but Wil is reluctant. Wil is not as socially daring as Vivian, and her relationship with Ma is complicated by Ma's pregnancy. Director, writer Alice Wu has fashioned a sweet, comic story out of these situations, and while the resolution is a bit too tidy, getting there is a lot of fun. Wu is generous with her characters, loving and respecting each for her or his unique viewpoint. In her debut feature film, she chose to work with three exceptional actors in the role of the movie's main characters who learn to step out and claim their happiness. Joan Chen anchors the film with Ma's delightful evolution, even though her story takes a back seat to Vivian and Wil's. It's been too long since I've seen her on the screen, and she gives a thoroughly believable performance as Ma, a mature woman who transforms herself. Having come from being a well-regarded actress to that of director, writer and producer of Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (EW, 9/16/99), Chen knows transformation first-hand. Her debut film, Xiu Xiu was banned in China for its searing portrait of a city-educated girl sent by the government to the remote high plains near the Tibet border during the Cultural Youth Revolution of 1967-1976. Played by actress Lu Lu, Xiu Xiu was one story of the 7.5 million Chinese youth "sent down" from the cities to learn agricultural skills from peasants. Chen was fearless in getting this film out of the country every day of shooting, and the film won many awards. Krusiec shows how Wil sidesteps challenges and avoids confrontation. As an actor, she has played in a number of U.S. films and television programs, including HBO's "The Mind of the Married Man." Krusiec is also a critically acclaimed stage writer and actress, whose autobiographical, one-woman show, Made in Taiwan, was a hit at HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. Although relatively new to feature films, Lynn Chen gives Vivian an easy self-confidence. She has appeared on NBC's "Law & Order" and "L&O SVU" series. She's also a musician, writing and recording for both solo projects and with her band, YPOK2. Saving Face opens at the Bijou July 8 with high recommendations. It's an empowering film for women of all ages.
OPENING
OR RETURNING: Dark Water: Psychological thriller directed by Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) stars Jennifer Connelly as a young mother starting a new life with her daughter in an apartment that takes on a sinister life of its own, including persistent leaks of dark water. PG-13. Cinema World. Cinemark. Fantastic Four: Marvel Comic's superheroes, transformed by cosmic rays while on an outer space mission, battle the evil powers of Doctor Doom. Directed by Tim Story, movie stars Jessica Alba, Ioan Gruffudd, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Julian McMahon. PG_13. Cinemark. Cinema World. Fire Next Time, The: The Flathead Valley of Montana is the site of a running battle between the forces of economic development, environmental activism, and anti-government extremism. Patrice O'Neill directs this documentary, which captures green swastikas burned to protest environmental laws, a loose-tongued, racist radio talk show host and the reaction to a shadowy terror group called Project 7 uncovered there. Plays on P.O.V. series at 11 pm on 7/12 on OPB, cable channel 10. Hilgendorfs' Videos: Travel and documentary filmmaker Jim Hilgendorf will screen a selection of works he and his brother, John, have produced from around the world. He will talk about filmmaking. At 8 pm on 7/8 at DIVA. $2-$5. Saving Face: Alice Wu's love story between two accomplished, contemporary women hemmed in by tradition and immigrant Chinese culture is an empowering, humorous film for women of all ages, gender and ethnic heritage. Highly recommended. R. Bijou. See review this issue. Tromeo and Juliet: About Troma director Lloyd Kaufman's 1996 sendup of Shakespeare's classic, The Austin Chronicle review notes the movie "is replete with gratuitous everything" including "an actual plot, amazingly good actors, and a surprising amount of substance." Not to worry, it still has "plenty for the sleaze lover in us all, including dead urban critters, a three-foot penis monster, a decapitation, and a 'real-time' nipple piercing." NR. LateNite Bijou. Very British Coup, A (1988): Made for British television, this fictional tale of dirty politics follows a radical British steelworker (Ray Mcnally) elected Prime Minister, which sets a coup in motion. At 6:30 pm on 7/10 at World Café. Free.
CONTINUING: Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girls in 3D, The: Cayden Boyd stars as a boy whose imaginary superhero friends come to life and join him on a series of adventures. Directed by Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Spy Kids). PG. Cinemark. Batman Begins: Christopher Nolan (Insomnia, Memento) directs an all star cast to bring you the story of how young Bruce Wayne (Christopher Hale) becomes the Dark Knight. Also stars Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman and Katie Holmes. PG13. Cinema World. Cinemark. Online archives. Bewitched: Nora Ephron (You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle) directs this story about the remaking of the classic 1960s sitcom "Bewitched" starring Will Ferrell as Darrin and Nicole Kidman as Samantha. Best when it's a sweet love story but always watchable. PG-13. Cinemark. Cinema World. Online archives. Cinderella Man: Russell Crowe stars as real-life, Depression Era boxer Jim Braddock; Renee Zellwegger plays his supportive wife, Mae. Directed by Ron Howard, picture also stars the great Paul Giamatti. A complicated, focused and courageous fighter, Braddock not only spars in the ring but also struggles to keep his family together despite the country's widespread, crippling poverty and record unemployment. Very highest recommendations. PG-13. Cinemark. Online Archives. Guess Who: Bernie Mac stars as the father of Zoe Saldana, who brings her boyfriend, Ashton Kutcher, home, and he's white! Comic retake on the 1967 Sidney Poitier movie. PG-13. Movies 12. Herbie, Fully Loaded: More hijinx and shennanigans from that animated, but so unlike Christine, VW bug, Herbie as he heads to NASCAR. Starring Linsay Lohan and Justin Long. G. Cinemark. Cinema World. Hitch: Will Smith stars in this romantic comedy as a New York "date doctor" who helps hapless men woo the women of their dreams. Costars Kevin James, Amber Valletta, Eva Mendes, Michael Rappaport and Adam Arkin. Directed by Andy Tennant. PG-13. Movies 12. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Irreverent sci-fi comedy based on the late Douglas Adams' cult novel follows the adventures in space of the most ordinary man in the world, Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman). Dent and his best friend (Mos Def) barely make it off the planet before it is demolished to make way for a hyperspace freeway. Directed by Garth Jennings, film also stars Sam Rockwell, Zooey Deschanel, John Malkovich, Warwick Davis, Helen Mirren, Thomas Lennon, Anna Chancellor, Alan Rickman and Bill Nighy; with Stephen Fry as the narrator. Great fun! PG. Movies 12. Online archives. House of Wax: "Prey. Slay. Display." Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray star, Jaume Serra directs, and Paris Hilton's in it. R. Movies 12. Howl's Moving Castle: Another phenomenon by Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke) at the top of the charts in Japan, finally makes its way to Eugene. This time he brings us a love story about a young woman cursed into an old woman's body who must, of course, make her way in the world and find a cure. Beautiful animation and powerful stories characterize his films. Don't miss this one. PG. Bijou. Online archives. Kicking and Screaming: Will Ferrell and Robert Duvall as rival youth soccer team coaches. Directed by Jesse Dylan, it also stars Mike Ditka and Kate Walsh. PG. Movies 12. Kingdom of Heaven: Set in the 12th Century, this epic Crusades film is directed by Ridley Scott (Gladiator). It stars Orlando Bloom, Liam Neeson, Jeremy Irons and Eva Green. Highly recommended. R. Movies 12. Online archives. Kung-Fu Hustle: In pre-revolutionary China, a small-time thief aspires to belong to an underworld gang. Stephen Chow's satiric send-up of kung-fu movies is one of the best films of 2005 so far. Highly recommended. LA Weekly calls it a "slapstick martial-arts masterpiece." R. Movies 12. Online archives. Land of the Dead: The master of zombie movies, George Romero, brings us another wacky gore-fest in which the undead have taken over the world, closing in on the living holed up in a walled city. Stars Simon Baker, John Leguizamo and Dennis Hopper. R. Cinemark. Longest Yard, The: Lots of world-class athletes from NFL players to kick-boxers and wrestlers star along with Adam Sandler, Burt Reynolds and Chris Rock in this comic tall tale of a group of diverse inmates who team up to play against their guards. PG-13. Cinemark. Mad Hot Ballroom: Directed by newcomer Marilyn Agrelo, this documentary follows 11-year-old public school New Yorkers as they learn the meringue, rumba, tango, foxtrot & swing, transforming from reluctant students into determined competitors. This inspirational story is told by the kids, themselves, filmed in and around their schools, neighborhoods and homes. PG. Bijou. Madagascar: Computer-animated comedy stars voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith as animals who escape from the Central Park Zoo for a big city adventure. But they are captured and put on a ship headed for Africa, where they must survive in the wild. Directed by Eric Darnell (Antz) and Tom McGrath ("The Ren and Stimpy Show"). PG. Cinemark. Monster-in-Law: Jane Fonda and Jennifer Lopez duke it out verbally in this comedy directed by Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde). Also stars Michael Vartan and Wanda Sykes. PG-13. Movies 12. Mr & Mrs Smith: An action adventure romantic comedy thriller about a bored married couple (Angelia Jolie and Brad Pitt) who is surprised to learn that they are assassins hired to kill each other. Directed by Doug Liman (Bourne Identity). PG-13. Cinemark. Online archives. Pacifier, The: Disgraced Navy SEAL Shane Wolf (Vin Diesel) is given a new assignment to protect five kids from enemies of their recently deceased father – a government scientist whose top secret experiment is still in the house. Thriller? Drama? Tear-jerker? Nope, it's a comedy. PG. Movies 12. Perfect Man, The: Mark Rosnan (A Cinderella Story) directs Heather Locklear and Hilary Duff in this romantic comedy about a teenager inventing the "perfect man" for her single mom. PG. Movies 12. Rebound: Martin Lawrence plays a jaded, benched college basketball player who takes on teaching the fundamentals of the game to the hapless players at a junior high school. Directed by Steve Carr, also stars Breckin Meyer. PG. Cinema World. Cinemark. Robots: Chris Wedge's amusing tale of a robot lad who dreams of being an inventor. This creative world of mechanical beings is never dull because these endearing, pieced-together, talking tin cans convey comfort and safety. Voices by Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Robin Williams, Mel Brooks, Amanda Bynes, Stanley Tucci, Greg Kinnear. Not preachy, but a good teaching tale about differences. Warmly recommended. PG. Movies 12. Online archives. Sahara: Penelope Cruz, Matthew McConaughey and Steve Zahn team up to look for a long-lost Civil War battleship that protects a secret cargo. PG-13. Movies 12. Sin City: Based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller and directed by Miller, Robert Rodriguez (and "special guest director" Quentin Tarantino), film stars a host of players including Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Elijah Wood, Bruce Willis, Benicio Del Toro, Clive Owen and Josh Hartnett. Highly recommended for style. R. Movies 12. Online archives. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith: The long-awaited final episode in George Lucas's series stars Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman. From Village Voice reviewer Ed Halter: "Lucas packs his latest with physics-defying deep-space dogfights and zhoozhing lightsaber battles, frequently cutting back and forth between two simultaneous melees on separate planets, deploying his signature Flash Gordon wipes." PG-13. Cinemark. Cinema World. Online archives. War of the Worlds: Directed by Steven Spielberg, this retelling of H.G. Well's seminal sci-fi adventure thriller about an invasion of Earth by Martians, as seen through the eyes of ordinary people played by Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin, Miranda Otto, and Tim Robbins. Riveting, challenging and moving; very highest recommendations. PG-13. Cinemark. Cinema World. See review this issue. XXX: State of the Union: Samuel L. Jackson takes on the role of the agent who needs a new face (Ice Cube) he calls XXX to track a military splinter group, led by Willem Dafoe, who is planning to overthrow the government. Directed by Lee Tamahori. PG-13. Movies 12.
MOVIE
THEATERS Bijou
Art Cinemas Regal
Cinemas Cinemark
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