Hoodwinked! / **½ (PG)

Featuring the voices of:
Red: Anne Hathaway
Granny: Glenn Close
The Wolf: Patrick Warburton
The Woodsman: Jim Belushi
Nicky Flippers: David Ogden Stiers
Boingo: Andy Dick

The Weinstien Co. and Kanbar Animation present a film directed by Cory and Todd Edwards. Written by Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards and Tony Leech. Running time: 80 min. Rated PG (for mild action and thematic elements).

“Hoodwinked!” is a brilliant idea, a brilliant use of the CGI animated format; and at another time, maybe more than ten years ago, may have fooled people into thinking it was pure genius. Unfortunately for it, the spectrum of what CGI animation can bring to movie going audiences has been fairly well explored by this point and the bar has been raised many times over, meaning that the fairytale genre in this format really demands a finer finished product than this “an ‘A’ for effort” homemade project provides.

The brilliant idea encased in yet another CGI animated “children’s” film is the telling of a very well-known children’s tale a la “Rashomon”, from different characters’ points of view. This is a retelling of “Little Red Riding Hood” by the four major characters involved in that story: Red, Granny, The Wolf, and The Woodsman.

The film begins in the midst of the story as we know it, with Red (Anne Hathaway , “The Princess Diaries”) coming to see her grandmother, the Wolf (Patrick Warburton, “Kronk’s New Grove”) has disguised himself as Granny (Glenn Close, “101 Dalmatians”), and upon Red’s discovery of the Wolf’s deception the Woodsman (Jim Belushi, “The Wild”) enters wielding an axe. The police are called in to sort things out. Detective Nicky Flippers (David Ogden Stiers, “Lilo & Stitch”), a frog gifted in dance, questions each of the “suspects” on what lead up these awkward events.

Each character tells a story in which they are trying to do the right thing and somehow become the victim of some mysterious grand scheme, including the Wolf who claims to be an undercover reporter. What the Wolf is trying to uncover, and what the other characters haplessly stumble into, is a plot to steal all the secret recipes from all over the Woods; apparently baked goods are the forest creatures’ primary form of commerce. Each character’s story is different and reveals details about the grand story and informs details about each story told by the other characters.

For the most part it is quite an ingenious idea. The identity of the recipe thief, which I will not reveal here, is a little too obvious to carry the mystery element over the police procedural. The characters, however, are wonderful, and all their tales are very cleverly intertwined with one another. Granny’s tale pushes the envelope a little too far in terms of good plot developments. The filmmakers seem to have run out of ideas by the time they got to her story. There are also some wonderful supporting characters, including a squirrel that is wound a little too tight and steals the show, a singing hillbilly goat, and a rabbit named Boingo, who is Andy Dick (TV’s “Less Than Perfect”) as a rabbit.

Where the film loses its power is in its finishing. While it is witty and clever, the film lacks a sort of refinement. The character rendering seem plastic and expressionless. Red carries the same disinterested look throughout the movie. While CGI animators often choose a stylistic rendering to the characters and environment that is not realistic, this world seems rendered stylistically out of lack of imagination and resources. And while the ideas behind the dialogue are clever and there are a good many chuckles throughout, the script itself seems to play more like a first draft than a finished product. Many of the jokes are good ideas that don’t seem to have been worked out as far as they should have been. Many of those chuckles could have been out right guffaws with the proper punch and delivery.

I believe the reason for this apparent disparity between the great ideas and the mediocre execution comes from the fact that this film never went through any sort of professional development stage. On the DVD the creators, Cory and Todd Edwards, claim to have made the picture for a mere $5000. The Weinstien brothers bought the film to boost their properties as they set out to launch their own studio after their departure from Disney’s Miramax division. While the Weinstiens used their considerable clout to gather a great cast of voice performers to rerecord all the dialogue and probably helped with technical finishing such as editing and color timing, they may have been better off having the Edwards brother remake the entire film with technology beyond what they could buy with their parents’ credit card.

In truth, the limitation of the animation is something that could very easily be overlooked by audiences, since the ideas behind them are so fresh and interesting. And despite the fact that the dialogue is a little flat, it is passable in today’s climate of flash over brains when it comes to acceptable execution of story. But acceptable is something a good movie should strive to rise above, and given the chance of development this idea has the potential to be great. I would like to see the Edwards brothers try it again now that they’ve got their feet in the door.

New rule in animation: It seems it is becoming a new rule in the animated film industry that the voice over artist Patrick Warburton, known in the flesh as Putty from “Seinfeld”, must be employed in every animation project. The use of his voice as one of the primary characters within an animated project automatically raises the final product to a higher level. The rising popularity of his voice is a welcome development.

Mission: Impossible III / *** (PG-13)

Ethan Hunt: Tom Cruise
Owen Davian: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Luther Strickell: Ving Rhames
Declan: Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Julia: Michelle Monaghan
Zhen: Maggie Q
Musgrave: Billy Crudup
Lindsey: Keri Russell
Brassel: Laurence Fishburne

Paramount Pictures presents a film directed by J. J. Abrams. Written by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Abrams. Based on the TV series created by Bruce Geller. Running time: 126 min. Rated PG-13 (for intense sequences of frenetic violence and menace, disturbing images, and some sensuality).

If you look at action heroes throughout the ages of film, you might notice that actors often run funny. Probably the clearest case in point is Harrison Ford, who has done his fair share of it in his films. Tom Cruise has also made much of his career out of running. Beyond the “Mission: Impossible” movies he was running early on in “All the Right Moves” right on up through “War of the Worlds”. The thing about Cruise is that he is good at it. Unlike most actors, he looks good doing it; and he does it a lot in “Mission: Impossible III”.

The good news is that like his running stance, his track record with the “Mission: Impossible” franchise is pretty good. They aren’t the in depth moral dilemma political thrillers of the seventies, but they provide pretty good popcorn crunching fare for those summer blockbuster months. In the latest Impossible Missions Force adventure we find Cruise’s Ethan Hunt once again saving the world from a terrible threat, and we also get the bonus of a look into the private life of a super spy.

The second opening of the film finds Ethan at an engagement bash to his true love Julia, played by Michelle Monaghan (“North Country”). She thinks he works for the Department of Transportation. In spy reality, however, Ethan has retired from field service to become an operative trainer. But, of course, he is willing to come out of his semi-retirement to help rescue one of his former students (Keri Russell, “The Upside of Anger”) from a sadistic arms dealer, who is brokering a deal to sell a possible global threatening virus.

Much has been made of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s turn toward this more commercial oriented film than is typical for him, especially coming off his Oscar win this past year for his performance in “Capote”. He proves he has more than what it takes to be a diabolical villain as the arms dealer Owen Davian. The MPAA claims as reason for the PG-13 rating they awarded the film “intense sequences of frenetic violence and menace.” The “menace” included in this explanation is there entirely because of Hoffman’s performance.

The adjective of “frenetic” attached to the fairly well expected violence of the film can probably be attributed to the non-stop pace of the film established by director J.J. Abrams and his editing team. Abrams, creator of the popular television series “Alias” and “Lost”, was tapped personally by Cruise for his skill at fusing conspiratorial thriller elements with more soap-operatic personal storylines. He delivers both with a raw breakneck quality to the film, which is helped by opening the film with a scene from its climax and flashbacking what lead up to that point.

After the brutal opening sequence, where Hoffman gets a chance to sink his teeth into the audience right off the back, we learn that Hunt has a life outside IMF. While still never really delving into Hunt’s psyche, Abrams does a good job dangling this “real life” of Hunt’s into the fray of the espionage life he is so good at. That real life is as much a secret in the spy world as his spy job is in the real world. Never is that subject of the other life left out of a scene, usually a scene filled with flying bullets and explosions.

Cruise is as solid as he ever is in action mode. As a bonus to being a competent action hero, Cruise always has the extra ability of conveying pain and personal stress just under the surface, as if he is in a heated drama. Even though you know he always manages to pull it off in the end, he makes it easy to imagine that maybe this will be Hunt’s last mission.

The movie does often err on the side of spectacle rather than logic. A sequence involving a death defying leap across a gaping hole in a bridge, when going around would have been both easier and faster, comes to mind. And, although Hunt is obviously a very smart man, he often refuses to think out a situation entirely in order to keep the danger level up in the story. It was easy to figure out who all the bad guys were and Hunt should have been at least 10 steps ahead of me.

Despite a few errors in logic, “M: I III” is for the most part a smartly conceived picture and just the type of summer popcorn fare that I personally am welcoming at this time after spending the winter months ruminating over the heavy volume of independent thinkers that dominated the latter part of 2005. It also is a step above the overabundance of stupidity that has plagued the first half of 2006. Navigating away from the poor quality of the films released so far this year is proving to be the truly impossible mission, but this one isn’t a terrible place to start.

Glory Road/ *** (PG)

Dan Haskins: Josh Lucas
Bobby Joe Hill: Derek Luke
Adolph Rupp: Jon Voight
Jerry Armstrong: Austin Nichols
Harry Flournoy: Mehcad Brooks
Orsten Artis: Alphonso McAuley
Willie “Scoops” Crager: Damaine Radcliff
Nevil Shed: Al Shearer
Willie Worsley: Sam Jones II

Walt Disney presents a film directed by James Gartner. Written by Christopher Cleveland and Bettina Gilois. Running time: 106 min. Rated PG (for racial issues including violence and epithets, and momentary language).

Ever since the surprise breakout success of the Jerry Bruckheimer/Disney production of “Remember the Titans” from a few years back, Disney has been in the business of producing true-life inspirational sports tales with strict formulaic structures the likes of “Miracle” and “The Rookie”. All have been generally good movies if never venturing into the territory of greatness. The latest Disney sports moment is another collaboration with Bruckheimer in the form of a basketball picture – they’re going to run out of sports soon. “Glory Road” tells the story of small time college basketball coach Dan Haskins and how he cobbled together the first ever all black starting line up to win the 1966 NCAA Championship.

Josh Lucas (“Stealth”) portrays Haskins, who comes from humble beginnings. Playing with the audience’s perceptions, first time director James Gartner first shows Haskins courtside badgering his players throughout a game. His chides of how they are all “playing like girls” become more comedic when it is revealed that they are girls. A small southern university, Texas Western, takes a chance hiring Haskins, whose only successes have come coaching high school women’s basketball, to turn around their struggling NCAA men’s basketball program.

When Haskins takes the coaching job he is faced with the task of putting together a winning team without the financial resources or the name recognition to do so. “Texas who?” During scouting sessions where the top white athletes laugh at Haskins presence, he notices that each team seems to have one or two black players that play very well, which no one seems to notice. Soon Haskins has taken to the streets, chasing down young black men that think he’s some crazy white man on a black bashing spree.

There are some very funny scenarios here that probably did not hold the same amount of levity in their reality. One involves Haskins chasing one player home where he finds the opportunity to have the fellow’s mother hear him out for the price of partaking in some of her wonderful apple pie. The mother returns later in the film for some more humor when the player finds himself struggling to keep his grade point average up.

The racial civil rights issues of the story are impossible for the filmmakers to avoid since the whole point of such as story is to honor the civil right achievements of Haskins and his team’s accomplishments under the diverse racial tension of the time. However, as in “Remember the Titans”, the filmmakers have managed to keep the Spike Lee scream down to a dull grumble here that consists primarily of older stuffy white folk holding up a stiff chin at the sight of seven black men standing in the same place together. There is a scene of racial violence that even gets some of the Texas Western white teammates ready to rumble with the locals, but like the filmmakers, coach Haskins steps in before anything really nasty breaks out.

The final passages focus on the team’s extraordinary fight through the playoffs to finally face powerhouse champs Kentucky for the championship. Jon Voight (“National Treasure”) plays the crotchety veteran coach of Kentucky Adolph Rupp. The last couple of games presented in the film are typical sports film fare, but done well enough to keep the audience engaged in the games. I think perhaps Rupp’s seeming acceptance that he is going to lose the title to this black team after they have made a couple of key plays to turn the tide is a little too prophetic for a man in his position with his beliefs at the time, but the players never seem aware of the game’s outcome before the end.

While the racial issues in this film are unavoidable and add a resonant significance to the proceedings, there is really no new territory mined here. “Glory Road” is the solid formula Disney has molded into a profitable movie experience from the inspirational sports story. It will please. It will amuse. It will provide a couple of exciting games that people are or are not aware actually happened.

8th Annual Overlooked Film Festival

Bad Santa (2003) ***
Millions (2005) ****
Junebug (2005) ****
Claire Dolan (1998) **½
Spartan (2004) ****
My Fair Lady (1964) ****
Duane Hopwood (2005) ****
Ripley’s Game (2002) ***½
The Eagle (1929) ***½

Man Push Cart (2006) N/A
Somebodies (2006) N/A
U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha (2005) N/A

For the second year in a row I have missed out on one of my favorite events in the world, Roger Ebert’s Overlooked Film Festival. 2006 marks the 8th year of this delectable film festival. After my first, I promised myself I would never miss another. Well, now I’ve missed two, but thanks to the miracle of Netflix I’ve been able to witness at least the most important part of this year’s festival – the films themselves.

I, of course, have yet to be able to experience those films featured in the festival that have yet to find distribution in US theatrical or DVD releases. This year that includes the minimal budget film “Man Push Cart”, written and directed by an Iranian-American, starring a Pakistani-American about a former Pakistani rock star who now operates a vending cart on the streets of Manhattan. Another Sundance film “Somebodies” is a celebration of African-Americans in Georgia with an unconventional approach that eschews the typical signatures of ethnic films in America and the tendency to try to show black people as role models and simply shows people as people, black or white. Also featured was a new South African adaptation of the Bizet opera “Carmen” in the film “U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha”. It has been my experience with this film festival that these totally under the radar films tend to be the best of the bunch. I managed to see all the films I missed from last year’s festival; I can only hope I get the chance to catch these gems before the year is up.

Of the films I did get to see in the room my wife has come to refer to as my “dungeon getaway” I can only say this year’s seems to have been a truly exceptional festival. While the quality of these overlooked films are always very high, this year’s collection was the best consistency of high quality films I’ve seen yet. They are also all fairly recent films, save the festival opener “My Fair Lady” and the silent feature “The Eagle”, there is no film here older than ten years and most are from just the last couple of years. I present them here in the order I viewed them.

Bad Santa. Truthfully, this film should also go down as one of the ones I missed at this festival. Director Terry Zwigoff returned for his second festival in a row (and I missed ‘em both) to present his unreleased “director’s cut” of this very unconventional Christmas film. I did not see the theatrical cut of this film but did see the “Badder Santa” DVD version, which while longer still did not contain all the material in Zwigoff’s director’s cut. Billy Bob Thornton plays a low level thief who, along with his little person cohort, uses the holidays as an opportunity to bilk shopping malls for money and merchandise posing as a Santa and Elf for the children.

This is a truly black comedy, strictly for adults, where Thornton’s miserable thief is truly the poorest excuse for a human being, and few other characters in the film are any better. When Thornton’s character comes to the rescue of a fat kid who is tormented by peers, it looks as if the film may turn into some redemptive power of children movie, but Thornton’s thief isn’t any better at handling children than he is his own life. The audience is left wondering just how many lives this man can possibly destroy. While I loved this film’s devilishly subversive attitude toward life and the conventions of holiday movies, its released ending betrays the black nature of the comedy by providing a little more happiness than any of these characters deserve. I hope the director’s cut corrects this small misstep.

Millions. So many of today’s “family” films coming out of Hollywood tend to be targeted to the youngest and lowest mindsets. A case in point is Disney’s recent revamping of “The Shaggy Dog”, which does a good job of imagining the easiest way to make a kid laugh by having Tim Allen run around on all fours chasing after cats. “Millions”, on the other hand, is a family film like no other. It tells the story of what happens when two kids discover a bag full of money (stolen money, unbeknownst to them). It imagines the very meticulously thought out process these brothers use to decide just what to do with the money.

Set in Britain on the eve of the national change over to the Euro, there are very little impurities to the characters of these two brothers. The youngest brother consults the saints he has come to learn of in school in his imagination, which provides some comical fantasy segments and explanations to the adults when they discover what the children are up to; and the entire film is a visual cinematic feast compared to your average film, let alone family film.

Even more surprising is the directorial mind this wonderment of cinema comes from. Director Danny Boyle draws from his own cinematic oeuvre of very adult oriented films like “Trainspotting”, “The Beach”, and “28 Days Later” to create this family friendly, yet adult literate tale about the morality of children. “Millions” was Ebert’s choice for this year’s free family matinee, and is perhaps the best choice he’s ever made for this spotlight.

Junebug made a bit of a splash this past awards season because of the wonderfully nuanced and comic characterization created here by actress Amy Adams as a compulsively positive yet not very worldly pregnant sister-in-law. Although Adams deserved all the praise she got and more for her performance, there are many other reasons the film itself can be held on equal grounds with her input. Director Phil Morrison and writer Angus MacLachlan have made “Junebug” very much in the spirit of independent film, with a stronger emphasis on slice-of-life presentation than on plot, but they have filled it with more than the average amount of warmth and humor for a film that also deals with the drama of life.

Embeth Davidtz is a Chicago art dealer who returns with her new husband to his very rural home in North Carolina to meet his family and woo a potential artist for her gallery. While the story of a city dweller displaced into country bumpkin culture is certainly no new territory for a film, “Junebug” is a breath of fresh air in the unpretentious characterizations it provides for its cast. It is unusual that a film can do such a good job making its audience feel good while still providing a serious story that avoids any expectations one can place on it. In fact the most interesting element of this film to me was the way in which as it came too a close I realized I had read too far into where it was going, as so often happens with most people dealing with relatives in life, when it was all much simpler than I had at first assumed.

Claire Dolan, on the other hand, was the disappointment of this year’s collection for me. It seems every festival must have one that just doesn’t live up to the rest, although it is fairly easy to see what Ebert found to appreciate about this unusual thriller. I label the movie a thriller, however many may fail to see what is so thrilling about this story of a call girl who struggles to build a new life for herself. In a more typical treatment of this same tale it would be presented as a thriller as the titular character tries to hide from her business minded pimp after she has stashed away enough money to make her run to another city.

Katrine Cartlidge and Colm Meaney provide wonderful performances in the almost daughter/father relationship they share as prostitute and high class pimp. They have reasonable conversations about their business partnership, but he sees her as a business investment and she knows he’ll never allow her to leave willingly. Vincent D’Onofrio also appears as a potential love interest for Claire, which would also be far more exploited for tension and conflict in a production less interested in character.

While I felt this could have been a highly compelling drama with its focus on character above suspense, the film, unfortunately, moves at far too laconic a pace. Too many passages lingered too long on what choices could lead to, and not enough on what they do. While I admire the fact that the filmmakers chose not to go down the typical path of melodrama, they could have used to pump up the tension level a bit more often to keep the story moving along.

Spartan. Ironic that a potential thriller squandered might be included in the same collection of films as this espionage thriller so expertly executed by such an unlikely director as David Mamet. Mamet has built his career known as a great dialogist and although he has dabbled in the thriller genre a couple of times before, even his works like “The Spanish Prisoner” and “Heist” have been mostly supported by Mamet’s amazing skill at wielding the American language (because his English is so uniquely American). While his skill at the art of speech is still on its strongest display in this picture, “Spartan” is the first film of Mamet’s I’ve seen where his plotting and direction of action exists on just as high a level as his words.

Val Kilmer plays a covert expert brought in by the CIA to find the kidnapped daughter of the President. When he uncovers a white slavery ring involved in the kidnapping the twists and turns start coming and don’t stop until the film’s bloody end. Understanding that this is a film by David Mamet, and therefore does not draw studio heads’ attention as a potential box office smash, I was shocked after seeing it that someone with some sort of studio control at Warner Bros. didn’t see a screening of this and recommend a heavy media push to turn it into a sleeper hit, because there is nothing about this film that wouldn’t please a mainstream audience and draw crowds to the theaters. “Spartan” is a wicked thriller and it would be nice to know a large audience could be exposed to such intelligent dialogue for once, but alas they don’t call it the “Overlooked” for nothing, and most people haven’t been so lucky to see this one.

My Fair Lady. Now “overlooked” is not a word that leaps to mind with this 1964 Best Picture Oscar winning musical, but “My Fair Lady” acts as a splendid reminder of what the American movie going audience has forgotten about in its abandonment of the musical format in film. The failure of last year’s “Rent” at the box office only serves to secure the fate of the musical as a now overlooked genre; but only a musical can deliver such a deliciously abusive relationship as that of the waifish flower girl Eliza Doolittle and the arrogant Professor Henry Higgins, who on a whim wagers he can pass her off as high society with a fellow linguist, and still leave its audience smiling.

It was shocking to witness how vicious these two characters are to each other. Not only is it highly comic, but it is a level of human relationship that can only be seen in the most daring (overlooked) of today’s movies so homogenized by political correctness. The film may have also been slightly ahead of its time for the women’s rights movement which didn’t take full flight in Hollywood until the 80’s with films like “Baby Boom” and “Working Girl”. It does cave into the happy ending in the end, which marks most of its female rights activism moot, but it takes some grand digs at the male dominated society of the story’s and the film’s time periods. I only wish I could have seen it in glorious 70mm, the other overlooked aspect for which Ebert chose it.

Duane Hopwood. Next to the grandeur of a Hollywood musical made in the heyday of their dazzling production values, a digitally shot film with the simplicity of “Duane Hopwood”’s story might never seem to live up to it. Yet what this story of a man’s struggle with his alcoholism lacks in spectacle, it makes up for in emotional power. The surprising thing is not all of that emotional boiling is a downer. Like in “Junebug”, first time writer/director Matt Mulhern has the amazing ability to find the humor of life in the humility of what the titular character of this film has to go through.

Mulhern also knows how to utilize the natural comedic talents of his cast to lighten what can be a big emotional pill to swallow. David Schwimmer’s performance as Duane marks another career defining performance for a comedic actor who tackles the serious subject matter of alcoholism. Most of all, this is a film that seems to be made with love and understanding of its characters and their feelings toward one another and the difficult to control disease of alcoholism. It made for a rough ride emotionally, but was warmed with enough laughter and love to make it a better experience than can be found with most movies.

Ripley’s Game. Patricia Highsmith’s literary murderous con artist Tom Ripley is a difficult nut to crack. His strange cold outlook on life is nearly impossible for the average filmgoer to understand. Put in the hands of a performer who is just a bit off kilter himself, such as the ever engaging John Malkovich, and Ripley begins to make a little more sense.

Like “Spartan”, it is hard to believe that this adaptation of Highsmith’s novel “Ripley’s Game” was able to fly so far under the radar it never even received a U.S. theatrical release. While it is a little less traditional for a thriller than “Spartan”, it is an adaptation of an adventure of a very popular literary character and follows not to long after the higher profile Ripley adaptation “The Talented Mr. Ripley”. It contains much of the unusual plotting of that story, but this film, set in the present day rather than that of the time period of the novel, seems less interested in the setting and mood of Mr. Ripley’s unusual world, as it is in exploring the characters of it three primary players.

The performances by the principal actors elevated this movie to a level beyond what the plotting provides. Malkovich was born to play Ripley, but the performances by Ray Winstone as a former partner of Ripley’s and Dougray Scott as his latest “victim of circumstance” are as equally compelling.

Winstone has provided a great many wonderful supporting roles of late in films like “King Arthur” and “Cold Mountain”, but here he gets a chance to take a controlling interest in the endeavor. There is a scene where his character bumbles his way into a delicate venture of Ripley’s and Winstone’s execution makes it clear that while this man is a bit of a buffoon, this clumsiness is also part of his personal style that allows him to get what he wants out of others.

Scott, on the other hand, is the epitome of a desperate man in way over his head and mostly unaware of it. Watch the glee that percolates under his every action after he has performed Ripley’s initial duty. This is impressive mostly because Scott has tended to play heavies in his career, his most well-known performance being Tom Cruise’s nemesis in “Mission: Impossible II”.

The Eagle. Performances are also the shining force behind the silent classic “The Eagle”. A Rudolph Valentino starring Robin Hood story set in Russia during the rule of Catherine the Great, “The Eagle” proves that the silents weren’t just a stepping stone to the sound era for the spectrum of performance.

In most of the silent films I’ve seen the focus has been either on the technology of film itself and how it allows for illusion or on stunts. The emphasis when film was new was always on the visual, rarely did the emotional enter into what are generally known as the great silents. And when it did, it was always accompanied by a heavy helping of visual gags as well. While the visuals of “The Eagle” are not dull, they are hardly the focal point of this romance between Rudolph Valentino’s character and the daughter of his enemy. There is also a great comedic storyline with Catherine the Great who puts a warrant out for Valentino’s character when he rejects her advances toward him.

The performances are executed with the same aplomb as great dramatic and comedic performances of today, which gives the film a more immediate feel than your average (or even above average) silent. It is easy to see why Valentino was as famous in his day as Tom Cruise is today. I only wish I could have seen his passion complimented by the incredible soundtrack provided live each year at the Overlooked by The Alloy Orchestra.

Duane Hopwood / **** (R)

Duane: David Schwimmer
Linda: Janeane Garofalo
Anthony: Judah Friedlander
Gina: Susan Lynch
Fred: Dick Cavett
Steve: Steve Schirripa

IFC Films presents a film directed and written by Matt Mulhern. Running time: 84 min. Rated R (for language).

It seems the alcoholic’s story brings out the best dramatic product from the most seemingly unlikely performers. There have been several wonderful films made on the subject all revolving around stunning performances by actors who were best known for their comedic output prior to their alcoholic turns. Michael Keaton beat the horrific road to recovery in the movie “Clean and Sober”; and Meg Ryan shed her romantic image to portray a wife that can’t cope with her drinking problem and her family in “When a Man Loves a Woman.” In “Duane Hopwood” former “Friends” star David Schwimmer gets his shot at dramatic legitimacy and delivers perhaps the most satisfyingly complete portrayal of a drunk this critic has ever seen.

Duane is divorced from his wife Linda (Janeane Garofalo, “Stay”); although an opening montage that plays under the credits shows the couple sharing happy moments together and with their two daughters. But Duane’s drinking was obviously a problem and most likely the reason for their divorce. He is a bouncer at an Atlantic City casino, which seems to be the one area of his life his drinking has not severely affected. That doesn’t mean he likes his job, it just seems to be his one line.

One evening Duane is pulled over for drunk driving. The state trooper is a friend of Duane’s and is willing to let it slide if Duane cooperates. That is until he discovers that Duane was taking this 3 a.m. drunken joy ride with one of his daughters asleep in the back seat. “Duane, this changes things,” his friend says to him, and it seems never a truer statement had even been spoken to Duane in his life.

As if estrangement from his family hadn’t been much of an uprooting experience, Duane’s life is truly turned on its head as not only does his problem unexpectedly finally threaten his work situation when he finds himself without a license to drive in the middle of November (riding a bike to work on the New Jersey coast in the midst of winter is a bit conspicuous), but his wife’s lawyer urges her to have Duane’s visitation rights removed.

Now, this all sounds severely depressing, and there are moments in the film where the emotions involved become overwhelming, but the greatest element of this movie is its lighthearted approach to life in general. For every heavy heartbeat in this film there are pathetic comic figure and is wonderfully cast as this very likeable pity case. He has the ability to find the everyday comedy in moments where the character is at his most vulnerable, but he never seems to be playing for the comedy. His sad attempts to bed a bartender friend (Susan Lynch, “Casa de los babys”) who helps him home when it is raining one day are a good case in point.

It is also good to see that Duane and Linda have not forgotten how they once felt about each other. Despite their divorce and the horrific notion of taking Duane’s daughters away from him, they still seem to very much like one another. Duane’s alcoholism isn’t something that just happened to him and turned him into a villain to those who once loved him. The alcoholism is the thing that has taken hold of both (all) of their lives, and they understand it wasn’t something Duane did to them on purpose. Garofalo does a good job conveying that although Linda does not want to take his daughters away from him, it is something she feels she must do for their own and even Duane’s own good.

Writer and director Matt Mulhern is quite gifted in the way he is able to multi-layer all of his character’s actions and emotions. Drawing out the comedy in most of his slice-of-life situations is an ingenious way to make the material easily accessible and even highlights the multi-layered aspect of his characters when the audience realizes they are laughing at a man’s tragedy.

Duane does not have to carry every burden. Anthony (Judah Friedlander, “Date Movie”) is a janitor at the casino who has aspirations of becoming a stand up comedian. At first he comes across as a loser, one of those guys that every place of employment seems to have, a guy who is always spouting theories about everything and everyone just humors to his face but laughs at behind his back. But after Duane humors Anthony into his house as a “roommate” we find that he is the ever understanding friend that anyone needs in order to get through hardships. Anthony’s frankness becomes an asset Duane can count on to call him out when he is in the wrong and the next moment still be there to support him.

Duane also has two neighbors that are the dictionary definition of “characters.” Steve (Steve Schirripa, “Must Love Dogs”) never says a word, yet gives the impression that he wants smack someone out of their ignorance at any moment but is too scared of disrupting some fragile balance. Former talk show host Dick Cavett plays Steve’s roommate Fred. Fred is one of those people who always means well yet can’t help but say too much in any given situation.

“Duane Hopwood” is a tough movie in that by its end, it has put its audience through the emotional wringer, but the journey itself is a smooth ride with welcome friends and good times to be had. It certainly doesn’t present alcoholism as a walk in the park, but it present life as a challenge that can either be crashed into headlong or drunk up and cherished. It is a choice we have all made and regretted at times, but we have no choice in the matter of living itself, only how.

The Wild / ** (G)

Featuring the voices of:
Samson the Lion: Kiefer Sutherland
Benny the Squirrel: Jim Belushi
Bridget the Giraffe: Janeane Garofalo
Larry the Snake: Richard Kind
Nigel the Koala: Eddie Izzard
Ryan the Cub: Greg Cipes
Kazar the Wildebeest: William Shatner
Blag the Wildebeest: Patrick Warburton

Walt Disney Pictures presents a film directed by Steve “Spaz” Williams. Written by Ed Dector, Mark Gibson, Philip Halprin and John J. Strauss. Running time: 94 min. Rated G.

The first comment I ever heard anyone make about this film was that it looked like they probably liked it better the first time they saw it when it was called “Madagascar”. That comment was made the first time I ever saw “The Wild” trailer back in the fall of last year. It may have been me that said it. Unfortunately, it was true.

The primary difference between “Madagascar” – which I enjoyed, but many did not – and “The Wild” is that “Madagascar” was willing to take some risks with its ideas and even designs, while “The Wild” wants to play it safe despite its rather absurd concept. Right down to the realistic rendering of its CGI created animal characters, the creators of “The Wild” don’t seem to understand that zoo animals with aspirations and behavior patterns matching those of human beings is something based more in the abstract than within the realm of reality.

The film opens with a fantasy sequence, which despite its traditional hand-drawn looking rendering turns out to be the most visually stunning sequence of the movie. It is a visualization of a story the hero, Samson (Kiefer Sutherland, TV’s “24”), is telling his son Ryan (Greg Cipes, “Club Dread”) about his life in the wild before becoming the resident lion of the New York Zoo. Samson thinks his stories will inspire Ryan to find his “roar.” The technique back fires, inspiring Ryan to stow away in a storage box headed for the wild, where he can find his voice in the same environment as his dad.

There is an incident before Ryan stows away where he is shamed that acts as a good example of how the filmmakers fail to create a fully realized universe for its characters. At night the Zoo becomes a place where the animals get to live their fun lives after their “work” days. As most of the animals are gathered in the artic environment pen to play games, Ryan and a couple friends decide to go scare the antelope as they might actually do on the African plain. I can’t help but wonder why aren’t the antelope like the rest of the animals joining in on the camaraderie of the after hours activities? Why are they the only animals that continue to act and react like animals when the zoo has closed to visitors?

The answer is… for the convenience of the plot alone. Ryan’s shame in scaring the antelope and causing a stampede within the zoo is the all too contrived catalyst which sends him packing; therefore forcing his father to head out into – first the big city, then the wild – looking for his lost son. Samson is not alone in his adventure. He brings along four friends: an awkward giraffe named Bridget (Janeane Garofalo, “Duane Hopwood”), a moronic snake named Larry (Richard Kind, “The Producers”), a wisecracking squirrel named Benny (Jim Belushi, TV’s “According to Jim”), and an even wisercracking koala named Nigel (Eddie Izzard, “Ocean’s Twelve”). Does any of that sound familiar?

During their journey this haphazard group of animals comes across some sewer crocodiles in the underworld of Manhattan. In a scene that has the potential to be both suspenseful and humorous the filmmakers turn these guido gators into a simple joke of “this way is quicker,” “No, that way is quicker.” Jokes are compromised in order to further the plot, rather than the plot supporting the jokes.

Soon the animals have somehow piloted a tugboat to the titular wild, where upon the fate of Ryan leads them into the den of a clan of wildebeests that have decided to take the throne of “kings of the jungle” by becoming carnivores. Once again the filmmakers squander some of their best resources by not offering the two primary wildebeests more screen time. William Shatner (“The Practice”) chews as much verbal scenery as he can as the insane leader of the carnivorous vegetarians, while Patrick Warburton (“Kronk’s New Groove”) provides his typical voice over gold as the clan’s choreographer. Monty Python’s Eric Idle also provides a humorous wildebeest song. It is too bad they didn’t use this trio for the lead characters.

“The Wild” plays like a string of missed opportunities. I have nothing against Sutherland or the other voice talents utilized here, but other animated features have been able to capitalize upon the comedic talents of its vocal artists in a way that this feature doesn’t (except with its villains). It is as if everyone on this ship was so worried about getting there they forgot to enjoy the journey, and isn’t the journey more important than the destination when you are just trying to be wild?

10 Best Sports Movies

What was the best sports movie ever made? This seems to be a question that has been on the minds of sports fans and film buffs lately. Listening to my XM Radio I’ve caught a promo spot for a talk show where the hosts are discussing the merits of “Rudy” versus “Raging Bull.” And to my surprise, when I went to one of the websites to which I contribute movie reviews, Midwest_Freelancer, last Monday, I was surprised to see one of my colleagues, Eric Williams, a sports writer, writing about movies in an article entitled “The Greatest: A look at the Top 10 sports movies ever.”

Having already put some thought into the subject, I quickly jotted down a list of films before reading Eric’s article with not just a little excitement. Having never met Eric, nor discussed films with him in any medium, I was fascinated to see the difference between what a sports fan felt were worthy sports movies as opposed to what a film buff thought were significant entries. I was shocked to see the similarities in our lists. Seven out of the ten films on each of our lists were the same. The order of the lists different, but the evidence seems quite clear that the films on his list and mine are quite solid candidates for the best sports flicks ever made.

When it comes to sports, I am a football fan who just looks in on other sports. Eric and I would certainly differ on football. Although I am from the East Coast, I am a Giants fan and would probably not be welcome in Eric’s Philadelphia arena. But it isn’t really the sports themselves that make a sports film great. It is usually the characters and often a story that is comprised of universal issues of acceptance and loss. Here is my list of ten favorite sports films.

Hoop Dreams (1994).
This documentary presents basketball as a way of life for two black inner-city Chicago kids who are recruited by a predominantly white private school outside the city limits. It depicts the highly competitive high school basketball program as a high stakes game where these kids find their entire futures on the line at an age where their dreams to become NBA stars are powerful tools for those who might want to exploit them and are their only hope to escape the tumultuous street life that surrounds them. Interestingly enough, the ups and downs within each of these boys’ family lives provide as much drama and suspense as the free throws on the court.

Field of Dreams (1989).
Proving you don’t have to be deeply rooted in sports to appreciate a film based around one, Ray Kinsella, portrayed by Kevin Costner in this baseball fantasy, isn’t even an athlete. He is a man whose bumpy relationship with his father ended without closure until the day his Iowa corn field spoke to him. “Build it and he will come,” became one of the most quoted prophetic lines in film history and is just a hint of the mystery and magic this enchanting film has in store for its audiences. With a sure-footed cast including Costner, James Earl Jones, Burt Lancaster, Amy Madigan and Ray Liotta as “Shoeless” Joe Jackson of the infamous “Chicago Eight” White Sox players who were banned from the game for throwing the 1919 World Series; “Field of Dreams” offers the fantastic escapism that only movies can provide and the hope that even a simple farmer can realize a dream as genuine as wanting to share one last game of catch with his dad.

Rocky (1976).
Who hasn’t run up a set of steps humming the “Rocky” theme under their breath, holding their arms in the air once they reach the top, turning to show the world they are a champion. And Rocky didn’t even actually win his championship bout with Apollo Creed. It was a draw, but no one can deny the power of this ultimate rags-to-riches story of a loser in life who climbs his way to a shot at a boxing title through perseverance and faith in himself, with only a few fellow losers backing him. Rocky’s training run through the slums of Philadelphia to the top of the steps of the Museum of Art acts as a summary of his personal journey throughout the film. It is also a well acted drama and romance. This one has it all.

Raging Bull (1980).
On the other end of the emotional spectrum is Martin Scorsese’s abject look at real-life boxer Jake LaMotta’s life. Unlike “Rocky”, LaMotta’s success in the ring is not reflected in his personal arena where the pugilist in him boils out into the living room. His wife (Cathy Moriarty) and brother (Joe Pesci) take the brunt of his self-destructive disposition. Robert De Niro provides one of his career defining performances as LaMotta, gaining 60 pounds to portray the retired champion. His sad attempt as a night club comic fulfills his failure at all but his boxing career. Not exactly an uplifting story of hope, but a masterpiece of cinema.

Brian’s Song (1971).
Sappiness and sports movies seem to go hand and hand sometimes, but I challenge any grown man not to cry at this true-life story of friendship in the National Football League. Gayle Sayers (Billy Dee Williams) was the fresh upstart to seasoned veteran Brian Piccolo (James Caan) for the running back position when he joined the Chicago Bears in 1965. Although, they played the same position they become close friends through tragedy and triumph. Piccolo even nurses Sayers through a serious injury, but the tables are turned when Piccolo is diagnosed with cancer. Made with the full co-operation of the NFL, this original version of the story is rendered more realistic with the casting of many of the Chicago Bears players as themselves.

Touching the Void (2003).
Yes, there are films made about sports other than baseball, football, basketball and boxing (and golf, that one’s coming). While mountain climbing is a sport that can only be understood by those with the thrill seeking (or is it suicidal) nature to actually participate in it, this movie proves it is fraught with the suspense and drama necessary to make for compelling filmmaking. “Touching the Void” is a documentary based on the bestselling first hand account of mountaineer Joe Simpson about his near death experience with climbing partner Simon Yates. Told in their own words, documentary filmmaker Kevin Macdonald recreates their harrowing experience on the face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes with stand-in climbers on the actual location. The story of Simpson’s survival after a fall results in a broken leg near the summit of the mountain and Yates’s unfathomable decision to cut Simpson lose when another fall threatens to take both of their lives is a visceral look into the strength of both the human will and the resilience of the human body to survive.

Caddyshack (1980).
Comedy is also something that goes along frequently with sports. I suppose the athletic crowd like their fart and boob jokes, but very rarely is the classless so pitch perfect as it is in this send up of the country club set. Giving the audience the point of view of the golf version of blue collar by focusing on a caddy who is trying to win a scholarship to pay for college helps to sell this absurd look at what is supposed to be society’s upper crust, but the true key to this movie’s success are the totally whacked out characters. The cast doesn’t so much provide great comedic characters as offer their own zany personalities to them, from Chevy Chase’s burnt out club pro to Bill Murray’s spaced out assistant grounds keeper. The gopher is the only one who isn’t out there.

Hoosiers (1986).
Gene Hackman stars as a second chance coach with an opportunity to bring a small town high school basketball team to the Indiana State Championship. Hackman is at his best as this volatile coach who faces several hurdles, including his own spotty past and a town determined to keep him an outsider. Dennis Hopper puts in another powerful performance as a drunk who signs on as the assistant. While proving one of the more archetypal pictures on this list, rarely has the second chance sports picture been presented so well.

Million Dollar Baby (2004).
Clint Eastwood’s Oscar winner “Million Dollar Baby” is almost like two movies in one. For much of the film it is a great boxing picture about a female boxer (Hilary Swank) with more will to win the most professional boxers out there, and her determination that eventually persuades an old veteran (Eastwood) to take her on his training schedule. As always Eastwood provides insightful human observation to go along with the boxing mold of a nobody rising through the ranks. That human observation pays off when the story takes an unpredicted dramatic turn and becomes something very different than your typical sports flick. Eastwood’s years of experience as a filmmaker afford him the knowledge to make a message picture without providing the audiences opinion on the message for them. Morgan Freeman rounds out this intimate cast of compelling performances.

Jerry Maguire (1996).
While not technically a movie about sports, Cameron Crowe’s personal look at the life of a sports agent who must lose everything before he discovers how to truly attain what is good from life is so immersed in the sports industry that I can hardly overlook it as a sports film. Yes, it is about romance and discovery and determination; it is about life, which is what we are all trying experience when we partake in activities such as sports. Cuba Gooding, Jr. provides the life of the party as Rod Tidwell, the Phoenix Cardinals wide receiver who is the only client willing to stick it out with Tom Cruise’s titular character through his journey of self-discovery.

Good Night, and Good Luck / **** (PG)

Edward R. Murrow: David Strathairn
Fred Friendly: George Clooney
William Paley: Frank Langella
Don Hollenbeck: Ray Wise
Joe Werschba: Robert Downey, Jr.
Shirley Wershba: Patricia Clarkson
Sig Mickelson: Jeff Daniels

Warner Independent Pictures presents a film directed by George Clooney. Written by Grant Heslov and Clooney. Running time: 93 min. Rated PG (for mild thematic elements and brief language).

As I was compiling the cast list to director and actor George Clooney’s latest enlightenment “Good Night, and Good Luck”, I kept thinking that I was forgetting to credit one of the major roles of the film. The role was that of Senator Joseph McCarthy, who in 1954 was featured on five episodes of Edward R. Murrow’s CBS news magazine show “See It Now”. Murrow became the first broadcast journalist to criticize McCarthy’s “witch hunt” tactics in his war against the spread of communism in America.

McCarthy, in the movie, is represented only with actual footage of McCarthy himself; which explains why I did not cite him as one of the actors of the film. The amazing thing about this footage of McCarthy’s own speeches and his taped responses to Morrow’s attacks, which were aired as part of an equal air time clause agreed upon by Morrow and the producers of “See It Now”, is how wrong McCarthy comes across just by looking at his own words. It is a phenomenon that I wish I could say I did not recognize in our current political climate.

Much of the success of the film, however, lies in the fact that, like the standards Morrow himself adhered to, Clooney and co-writer Grant Heslov apply so little editorializing to the story themselves. Like Morrow and his staff’s decision to only use McCarthy’s own words to make their point, the filmmakers tell this story simply and succinctly, with very little dramatic flourish. They leave the audience with the feeling that this was what happened and that’s all they want you to know, any judgment is yours to make or not.

This is not to say the film is made without art and craft. Filmed gloriously in black and white to evoke the feel of that b&w television time period, Clooney includes music interstitials between each major development in the story that both reflect on the time period and subtly comment in a way that is not really part of the story.

Along with telling the story of the news commentary pioneering engineered by Morrow (David Strathairn, “Twisted”) and his producer Fred Friendly (Clooney, “Syriana”), the movie also goes into the political and business stances taken by CBS Chairman William Paley (Frank Langella, “The Ninth Gate”), Morrow’s favors to CBS of conducting celebrity interviews for allowing him to take on McCarthy on his show, the mental breakdown of CBS News anchor Don Hollenbeck (Ray Wise, “Twin Peaks”) sparked by personal attacks against him in the print media, and most interestingly, the secret marriage of two CBS employees Joe (Robert Downey Jr., “The Singing Detective”) and Shirley Werschba (Patricia Clarkson, “The Station Agent”) despite the CBS policy (at the time) of not allowing the employment of married couples.

The film opens with the Werschbas discussing the statements each employee being told to sign by CBS corporate that states they are not members of the Communist Party. Their relationship, like all the stories in the film, is a mirror of what McCarthy was in the midst of putting the entire country through with his commission investigating the threat of communism in the American citizenship. Joe leaves his wedding ring at home everyday even though it is obvious to everyone in the office that he and Shirley are married. The two are good employees but one must eventually be sacrificed for a rule that no one understands. Nobody wants to out the couple, but when budget cuts require staff cutbacks Head of CBS News Divisions Sig Mickelson (Jeff Daniels, “The Hours”) asks one of them to be the sacrificial lamb so another employee who is in coherence with CBS employment standards doesn’t have to lose their job.

These are good people doing their jobs, which is to do right by the American public. Freedom comes at a high cost, and it takes daring people to question the powers that be to ensure that freedom. This is what is glimpsed here in Clooney’s wonderful film. Morrow and McCarthy exchanged Shakespearean quotations during their important moment in history. Both used this line from “Julius Caesar”, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” Clooney is quickly proving himself to be a star with little fault because of his ability to look within ourselves. He may just shed that reputation of being in the worst Batman movie if he keeps master craftsman work like this up.

Ice Age: The Meltdown / **½ (PG)

Featuring the voices of:
Manny: Ray Romano
Sid: John Leguizamo
Diego: Denis Leary
Ellie: Queen Latifah
Crash: Sean William Scott
Eddie: Josh Peck
Fast Tony: Jay Leno

Twentieth Century Fox/ Blue Sky Animation presents a film directed by Carlos Saldanha. Written by Peter Gaulke, Gerry Swallow and Jim Hecht. Running time: 90 min. Rated PG (for some mild language and innuendo).

Watching my 4 year-old son Jack as he took in the most anticipated film of the year so far for him, I was struck by what we as adults have lost in those year since smaller moments could define an entire experience. During certain sequences in the digitally animated prehistoric-set sequel “Ice Age: The Meltdown” Jack seemed as if he was going to pull his seat out of the floor to which it was bolted. His face showed wonder and excitement. He spoke out loud, uncontrollably to the characters on the screen.

There were even moments were I found myself caught up in the thrill of watching well-known imaginary friends in peril. One sequence in particular involved the heroes of the original “Ice Age”; Manny the mammoth (Ray Romano, TV’s “Everybody Loves Raymond”), Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo, “Land of the Dead”), and Diego the saber tooth tiger (Denis Leary, TV’s “Rescue Me”); and their new friends Ellie (Queen Latifah, “Taxi”), Crash (Sean William Scott, “The Rundown”), and Eddie (Josh Peck, “Mean Creek”) as they make their way across a frozen lake. The Ice Age has ended and the valley in which all these animals live is beginning to melt. During their lake trek the ice begins to break up. The break up of the ice pack is tense enough, but unbeknownst to the group of animals is that there are a couple of dinofish that have also thawed out in the meltdown and are stalking the group as prey. The scene is pretty intense.

This action sequence comes fairly early in the events of the story. There isn’t really another action sequence until the very end of the film, when the ice walls of the valley the animals are trying to escape finally melts through. This flood sequence is fairly similar to the ice pack scene and is the only other time in the film when the villainous dinofish come into play.

There are a few other memorable moments, such as the opening sequence where we discover that the three heroes have come to reside in what resembles an ice age theme park, with water slides and children’s programs, and a development that finds the moronic Sid being worshiped by hundreds of mini-sloths bent on sacrificing him to save the planet. But these are merely a series of neat ideas that are strung together by a flimsy story involving the meltdown, which no one really seems all that concerned about, and Manny’s search to find another mammoth.

The Mammoth he eventually finds isn’t quite what she seems, to herself at least. Abandoned as a child, Ellie was raised by a family of possums and obliviously exists trying to be a fun loving, care free possum like her “brothers,” Crash and Eddie. Ellie tries to hang from trees with her tail, although the branches always break with her mammoth weight. Crash and Eddie are just the other side of crazy for no reason other than they have to top the zaniness of Sid.

This story of Manny bringing enlightenment to Ellie (and thus himself, of course) drags the stretches between the effective moments of the film to a snail’s pace. The characters really aren’t interesting enough to pull off these quieter moments and leave the audience longing for something to happen. There was a moment in the middle of the film where Jack just got out of his seat and started looking around the theater. I asked him if something was wrong, but I think he just didn’t understand why nothing was happening. It wasn’t just a four year-old’s impatience because nothing was happening in the movie.

A saving grace of the film was that the filmmakers realized the saber tooth squirrel Scrat was the most successful feature of the first film, and they have brought him back in force this time around. I think Scrat got to see more screen time with his relentless search for acorns in this sequel. From scaling “Mission: Impossible” type cliff edges to doing his own “Kung Fu Hustle” on a school of piranha, Scrat seems to trying to attain the same station as Kenny from “South Park.” Like Kenny, it is Scrat’s continual demise that keeps the audience coming back for more. I would have much rather watched a feature length collection of Scrat’s adventures than witness more adventures of the other characters, who are not yet old enough to feel as tired as they do in this film.

V for Vendetta / **** (R)

Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

Evey Hammond: Natalie Portman
V: Hugo Weaving
Finch: Stephen Rea
Deitrich: Stephen Fry
Creedy: Tim Pigott-Smith
Sulter: John Hurt

Warner Bros. presents a film directed by James McTeigue. Written by the Wachowski Brothers, based on the graphic novel illustrated by David Lloyd. Rated R (for strong violence and some language).

“People should not be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people.” – V

I’m thinking of a world where governments operate entirely in secret. A government that assures its citizens everything they won’t tell them about is being done purely for their safety. A government that puts covering up their business ventures and shady dealings above freedom and justice for its people. A government that takes drastic measures to counter what might become rather that was has actually happened. I’m shocked that I’m not sure whether I’m talking about the near-future fantasy world of the film adaptation of the graphic novel “V for Vendetta” or the current state of the world we live in today.

“V for Vendetta” is an angry movie, for a time that could possibly use more anger. I am reminded of the films that came out in the late sixties that openly criticized the policies and practices of the governments of the time. Haskell Wexler captured the Chicago riots as they happened in his anti-authoritarian movie “Medium Cool”, and first-time director James McTeigue comes dangerously close here to the same type of anti-authoritarian finger pointing, but with a much more aggressive nature. It is certainly no mistake that in the futuristic dystopia presented here that this world’s downfall began with an unending war started by the United States and involving Iraq.

It isn’t really surprising that, despite the fact that “V for Vendetta” appeared in its original comic book form in 1983 as a reaction to the Thatcherite period in England, it themes of terrorism and fear could be so easily translated into terms that fit our current world order. The Wachowski Brothers, creators of “The Matrix” universe, have always shown an adept ability to translate the attitude of the comic book format to the screen. Despite a large amount of changes to the storyline, including the deletion of major characters and the addition of a more complete world view that places most of the blame for this bleak future on American foreign policy, this screenwriting team has done a wonderful job preserving the ideology and unique mood of the original story by Alan Moore (who refused source material credit for the film) and artist David Lloyd.

Set in London, in 2020 (the original story was set in the year before the millennium), “V for Vendetta” shows us an England that has become something resembling a Nazi state, where a mysterious man in a mask known only as V has begun a series of terrorist bombings in celebration of former British revolutionary Guy Fawkes. Fawkes was hanged for trying to blow up the Parliament building in 1605. V saves a seemingly random victim from brutalization from the government’s strong-arm division The Finger. Her name is Evey, and she finds herself at first an unwilling accomplice to V’s devious schemes until she discovers how deeply rooted the government’s tactics of submission through fear are throughout British society.

Evey is sort of a blank slate for V to mold toward his point of view, although she is a little more strong-willed here than in the graphic novel. She works a fairly innocuous job as a gofer at a government TV news station, which acts as a stage for V to publicly voice his intentions to the country early in the story. Natalie Portman (“Closer”), with her large expressive eyes and dollish beauty, is a good choice to play Evey, who goes through the greatest transformation in the story. That beauty is shattered along with her emotions in a sequence where government captors try to break her down by shaving her head and torturing her in various ways to gather information on the mysterious V.

Although V is portrayed by Hugo Weaving (“The Lord of the Rings” trilogy), his face is never seen. The Guy Fawkes mask he wears as his vigilante garb has the effect first of dehumanizing him, but as more is filled in about his history and the atrocious acts inflicted upon him by his government in an affront against humanity as a whole, the mask’s effect is changed into lessening his iconic nature while simultaneously clarifying his message. There is a wonderful scene where V takes revenge on a scientist who is probably the most humane of his former torturers. The scene begins with V as a menacing figure with only his mask appearing out of the shadows of the dark corner of her bedroom, but ends with V at her bedside allowing the audience to sense the pain his mission of revenge causes him.

Stephen Rea (“Breakfast on Pluto”) is another good choice to play Finch, the puppy-like watchdog head detective of the government’s police division The Nose. Not only do his puppy dog looks personify his function in the film they also lend him to be the character naturally to start to sympathize with V and Evey’s purpose. As his loyalties begin to sway, he is replaced on the case by The Finger head Creedy. Creedy (Tim Pigott-Smith, “Alexander”) is aptly described by a friend who attended the screening with me as looking like a vampire. And the filmmakers have fun with their casting of John Hurt as their Big Brother-ish dictator Adam Sulter, turning the tables on Hurt’s role as Winston Smith in the film adaptation of George Orwell’s “1984”.

“V for Vendetta” is a surprisingly complex story that the filmmakers tell as if emerging from a bank of fog, it starts out very murky but by the end it is all almost horrifically clear. Some die hard fans of the comic book may be disappointed with the many changes that have been made from its original incarnation, but most of those changes are necessary to preserve the topical nature a story with such political ramifications must contain. In making these changes McTeigue and the Wachowskis have turned a cautionary tale that many may no longer understand into the most aggressive artistic condemnation on film against the status quo since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Jarhead / ***½ (R)

Tony Swofford: Jake Gyllenhaal
Troy: Peter Sarsgaard
Staff Sgt. Sykes: Jamie Foxx
Kruger: Lucas Black
Lt. Col. Kazinski: Chris Cooper
Maj. Lincoln: Dennis Haysbert

Universal presents a film directed by Sam Mendes. Written by William Broyles, Jr. Based on the novel by Anthony Swofford. Running time 122 min. Rated R (for pervasive language, some violent images and strong sexual content).

“Jarhead,” the film based on the memoir of service in a U.S. Marines sniper division during the Gulf War by Anthony Swofford, had an unusual effect on me. Watching it, I took it in as I do just about any movie. With a hero who is reluctant to be in the position he finds himself, Tony Swofford’s story engaged me, but didn’t strike me as something I had never seen before. There were ups and downs for the characters and a slow build to a climax of all their efforts. It was only at the end of the movie did I realize that climax would never come. This previous sentence sums up Swofford’s experience in the Marine Corps during that war.

There is a great ritual witnessed here in this film, that I am sure is the norm in the U.S. military. As part of the soldiers’ R & R, they watch war movies. There is a scene where the company has gathered to watch a big screen presentation of Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now.” The scene we witness the soldiers watching is the one where Robert Duvall’s Col. Kilgore is leading his helicopter cavalry charge on a costal village with Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” pumped through loud speakers for the assault. The soldiers are all screaming and cheering at the screen, letting out woops and hollers even when women and children are being blown to smithereens on the screen. These men are pumped for war. This is what they’ve been trained for and it has been glorified in their minds. This early scene of the Coppola film is the only we see the soldiers’ reaction to, but I couldn’t help wondering what their responses were to the rest of that movie’s journey into the darkness of men’s souls.

The soldiers in this film are in for a big disappointment with the Gulf War, which was fought mostly with missiles sent into the city of Baghdad hundreds of miles away from where these foot soldiers were encamped. For Swofford the moot nature of his presence in Iraq is made more pointless by the fact that he realizes long before the war that he made the wrong decision by joining up.

Jake Gyllenhaal (“Donnie Darko”) has made a career of playing characters that are just a little skewed off center. His Swofford isn’t typical because he is not the gung ho Marine that the U.S. military likes to spew out as fighting machines with flesh, but he wishes he were. The rare educated foot soldier, Swofford strikes up a friendship with Troy (Peter Sarsgaard, “Garden State”), a man not as privileged as Tony, who only has The Corps to live for. Troy lets Tony in on a joke the other soldiers pulled on him when he first reported to barracks. This joke is only the first of Tony’s troubles in basic training.

Tony’s primary source of adversity comes in the form of Staff Sgt. Sykes (Jamie Foxx, “Ray”), a Corps man to the bone who seems to notice both the potential in Tony and the failing desire. While Sykes is the typical Hollywood drill instructor, picking on the hero and driving his men harder than it seems humans should be, there is a hint that he shares some of their frustrations during the endless waiting for the war to begin. It is only a hint that is never commented on because Foxx never lets his military veneer down for a second. Finally, the war begins and Sykes gives Swofford a speech that could have come from Kilgore himself if he had existed in any of “Apocalypse Now”’s quieter moments. “I love this job. I thank God for every f***ing day he gives me in the Corps. Hooah!”

Director Sam Mendes (“American Beauty”) does a magical job balancing the standard operating procedures of military dramas with the unusually long staging period taken by the U.S. forces during the Golf War. He and screenwriter William Broyles, Jr. (“Cast Away”) even include an intense scene of conflict as the climax of the film, but it is not between our heroes and enemy soldiers; rather they are finally getting a chance to do their job when they are suddenly interrupted by other U.S. soldiers trying to prevent them from doing so.

In the end “Jarhead” is a war film with no war. No shooting or up-close death anyway. “Four days, four hours, one minute. That was my war.” Swofford tells us, “I never shot my rifle.” These soldiers never did what they had prepped for, and some would say neither did the U.S. military. That was the Gulf War. As I watched “Jarhead” it was a military drama, afterwards it was an odd little comedy. But not funny, “Ha, ha.” Perhaps that is what war has become.

The Shaggy Dog / ** (PG)

Dave Douglas: Tim Allen
Rebecca Douglas: Kristin Davis
Carly Douglas: Zena Grey
Josh Douglas: Spencer Breslin
Dr. Kozaks: Robert Downey, Jr.
District Attorney Hollister: Danny Glover
Judge Whittaker: Jane Curtin
Lance Strictland: Philip Baker Hall

Walt Disney Pictures presents a film directed by Brian Robbins. Written by Cormac Wibberley, Marianne Wibberley, Geoff Rodkey, Jack Amiel and Michael Begler. Running time: 98 min. Rated PG (for some mild rude humor).

Disney’s latest remake of one of their own classic titles “The Shaggy Dog” isn’t really a bad movie. That doesn’t make it a good one. It could be a good example of how complicated things have become in our modern society. As I recall the original 1959 film was simply about a lawyer/family man who is bit by a dog and magically starts to turn into one himself, although my memory of it has faded in the almost thirty years since I originally saw the colorized version of it on ABC’s “Wonderful World of Disney.” The plot was simply that and the comedy came from a man behaving like a dog and vice versa and the fact that none of his family or coworkers knew that this amazing transformation had occurred.

This new version, starring Tim Allen (“The Santa Clause” series) as Junior District Attorney Dave Douglas, complicates the story with far more plot. Perhaps the producers feel a modern audience is far too sophisticated for such a silly premise without some sort of compelling storyline to cover it up. Unfortunately the plot, which involves a pharmaceutical company running experiments on a 300 year-old sheepdog to develop a life prolonging drug for human application and the trial of a animal rights activist who is accused of torching the testing facilities of said pharmaceutical company, does little to add to the legitimacy of such a silly premise, nor does it provide any distraction from that silliness. Interesting, and not necessarily unwise, that despite the overly complicated setup, little explanation is offered as to what this magical 300 year-old dog is all about. It is also a smart choice not to turn this comedy into an indictment of the pharmaceutical community as a whole, a crusade better left to more serious endeavors.

It is in the situations of the former version of this film where this one finds the charm it does. Dave has a nice if typical family. He has a perfect wife, who puts up with her husband’s poor behavior, in Kristin Davis (HBO’s “Sex and the City”). His oldest child, Carly (Zena Grey, “In Good Company”), is the rebellious teen. His son, Josh (Spencer Breslin, “The Cat in the Hat”), is the awkward kid who would rather have the lead in the school musical than play football. Of course, Dave’s major flaw before his transformation is that he spends more time at work than paying attention to his family. Much of the typical set up extends in to the comedy of Dave’s K-9 activities; never being able to resist the urge to catch a stick when someone throws it, chasing the neighbor’s pet while in human form, etc. But there are some fresh and sweet moments to be found in the domestic comedy, such as when Dave wakes the first morning after his transformation able to smell every little detail of the kitchen right down to the lemon finish of the cupboards. He approaches every smell and taste with the enthusiasm of a dog even though he now finds little enthusiasm for the taste of coffee. “Bitter. That tastes terrible!” he says happily after lapping it from his cup.

While the filmmakers feel the audience may be too sophisticated to accept a simple plot, they have no problem with insulting the audience’s intelligence when it comes to dealing with Dave’s attempts to communicate in dog form. Allen provides a voice-over performance of the dialog he intends to speak to people while he is a dog, but he can only bark. Now, you’d think it might sink in after a while that everything he says will only come out as a bark to all the humans; but God love him, he can’t help from trying to talk. In fact the voice-over of Dave’s thoughts and dialog while he is the dog is so non-stop it gets to the point where he is simply narrating the dog’s actions to the audience. “I’m chasing a stick now. How silly of me.”

To sell the overdeveloped plot to the audience, director Brian Robbins (“The Perfect Score”) assembles a talented supporting cast. Robert Downey, Jr. (“Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”) adds life to the nefarious experimentations of Dr. Kozaks. And when Downey gets his own chance at acting like a dog, he shows up Allen by giving the audience a glimpse of what they could have seen with an actor that offered a little more variance in his behavior as an animal.

It is a shame that Hollywood refuses to trust even the material that they have tested on audiences in the past. As I said, “The Shaggy Dog” isn’t really bad, but I don’t understand why Disney would produce a story they didn’t think an audience could get into without some prodding by a contrived plot. “The Shaggy Dog” is silly fun that is never truly allowed to be fun because it makers never believe the audience will stay with them. Maybe the idea of a man turning into a dog isn’t something that would fly with today’s audiences. So why try it?

Cinderella Man / **** (PG-13)

James J. Braddock: Russell Crowe
Mae Braddock: Renee Zellwerger
Joe Gould: Paul Giamatti
Max Baer: Craig Bierko
Mike Wilson: Paddy Considine
Jimmy Johnson: Bruce McGill
Universal Pictures and Miramax Films present a film directed by Ron Howard. Written by Cliff Hollingsworth and Akiva Goldsman. Running time: 144 min. Rated PG-13 (for intense boxing violence and some language).

The opening moments of “Cinderella Man”, a chronicle of the fall and resurrection of the depression era prizefighter James J. “Bulldog” Braddock, are quiet -- especially when juxtaposed with the roar of the crowd from the boxing ring sequences later in the film. It is as if the characters are afraid to disturb their own fragile existence. In the scenes before the depression when Braddock first tasted success it seems as if he and his family are flying below the radar, trying not to squander their success. But the stock market crash dropped almost everything in the sky, brokers and prizefighters alike; and as the Braddocks struggle through their poverty just to keep the lights and heat on in their miserable New Jersey basement apartment, they remain quiet, as if the slightest pin drop might shatter what little they have left.

Russell Crowe (“Master & Commander”) plays Braddock as one of the most honorable men who ever breathed American air. His goodness makes his fall from grace all that more painful. Braddock was on his way to the big time when the film opens, then director Ron Howard (“A Beautiful Mind”) skips ahead four years later in Braddock’s story, in the midst of The Great Depression. Like many others, Braddock has had a rough time of it due to injuries, investments that went south in the stock market crash and just plain bad luck.

Braddock has one thing that many people at the time struggled much harder to keep, a happy family. Renee Zellwerger (“Cold Mountain”) plays Mae, Braddock’s faithful wife. Living in squalor, wondering if they would even have milk the next day, Mae keeps a positive outlook on their lives despite her misgivings about the physical risk involved in her husband’s boxing career. When Mae’s worst fears are realized by what looks to be a career ending injury to Braddock’s strong hand, their hard times become all that much harder.

Howard and screenwriters Cliff Hollingsworth and Akiva Goldsman (“I, Robot”) do a superb job evoking the desperation of the Depression; a job made more difficult by the fact that their hero is so good that even when one of his three children steals meat when the family has nothing left to eat, he still makes the boy take the meat back to uphold his good values when most people in their situation would not. The fact that this family is so good helps to drive home the blind nature of poverty and highlights the reality that no one is willing to help these people because no one can afford to give up anything. This presents a heart-wrenching scene when Braddock returns to a social club for boxing officials to beg for just $19 to turn his heat back on so he won’t have to break his family up.

One of the men who does help his ruined former associate is the man who was a good manager for Braddock, Joe Gould. Played by Paul Giamatti (“Sideways”), Gould is the other side of the coin of the depression, a man who survives through keeping up appearances. Gould never loses his faith in Braddock and when an opportunity presents itself to gain Braddock another fight despite the Boxing Commission’s view that Braddock is washed up, Gould doesn’t skip a beat getting his old friend back in the ring. The rub, revealed in a scene where Mae goes to Gould’s home to beg him not to risk her husband’s physical health again, is that Gould is in just as big a need for a turn around as Braddock.

Back in the ring again, Braddock is now fueled by all the desperation he felt in his years of poverty, and soon finds himself in the Heavyweight Championship match against the ferocious Max Baer (Craig Bierko, “The Thirteenth Floor”). Much is made of the fact that Max Baer killed two men in the ring, which is an interesting choice to build tension in a true story where it is easy enough to find out how the match between Baer and Braddock turned out, but the drama of the situation still works because of Braddock’s zeal for his pursuit and his wife’s dread from the poor luck which has befallen their family.

Howard’s approach to the material is straightforward, yet crafty in its manipulation of the story for the greatest emotional effect. He merely shows us that Braddock has tasted success in the first few minutes of the movie, but never allows us to see or feel Braddock journey to that point. Instead Howard throws his audience into the midst of the Depression and Braddock’s lowest point after only five minutes have passed. Braddock can only climb from that point. It is a slow ascent, in which Howard seduces his audience with the Braddock’s dire circumstances and converse good nature that the feel-good nature of the film is never overbearing and even the most morbid of viewers can find themselves cheering this greatest of underdogs on by the end of the film.

Howard’s fight sequences reflect the underlying style of the film, seeming simpler than they are. While never pretending to be as simple as Clint Eastwood’s matter of fact direction in last year’s boxing picture “Million Dollar Baby”, many of the film techniques Howard uses, like showing the confusion of a fighter by blurring focus and overexposing the film, are nothing new to the genre. There are other shots, like the almost subliminal x-ray of the ribs as they are pummeled by a blow to the side, inspire a cringe that can no longer be experienced by simply watching yet another boxer get punched in the side.

It is such a unique balance Howard discovers here between the biting realities of a typical biopic and the happy clichés of the Hollywood comeback performance, that this film feels like neither. It is almost as if it exists in it own genre, almost a fantasy piece that somehow is not a fantasy. This is perhaps what the experience of returning to the grandest heights after a career burnout may have felt like to Braddock himself.

Brokeback Mountain / ***½ (R)

Ennis Del Mar: Heath Ledger
Jack Twist: Jake Gyllenhaal
Alma Del Mar: Michelle Williams
Lureen Twist: Anne Hathaway
Cassie: Linda Cardellini
Joe Aguirre: Randy Quaid

Focus Features presents a film directed by Ang Lee. Written by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana. Based on the short story by E. Annie Proulx. Running time: 134 min. Rated R (for sexuality, language, nudity and some violence).

Director Ang Lee has long since been a master of subtlety. In Sense and Sensibility he presented the subtleties of British manners. In The Ice Storm he presented the subtle differences between the children of the 60’s and their own children who desperately needed them to be adults during a New England ice storm in the late 70’s. Ride with the Devil depicted the fine line between the civil rights that were being fought for in the Civil War and the rights that were infringed upon against Missouri landowners by the Union Army in the name of western progress. In Hulk… well, there really shouldn’t have been anything subtle about The Hulk, so Lee should have stayed away. Brokeback Mountain presents subtle moments of joy from a secret that has a profound effect on the lives of two men stuck in a world of intolerance and misunderstanding. Of course, if Brokeback focused primarily upon the joy shared between these two men, it would not have the effectiveness that it carries by showing the sacrifice involved in both exploring their joy and, more importantly, by denying it.

Heath Ledger (The Brothers Grimm) plays Ennis Del Mar, a cowboy eking out an existence by hopping from one ranching job to another. During a job watching over open range sheep he meets another cowboy of a more outgoing nature, Jack Twist, portrayed by Jake Gyllenhaal (The Day After Tomorrow). Despite Ennis’s introverted nature, “That’s the most I’ve said in about the past three years,” the two men form a bond that encompassed both the emotional and the physical.

With this initial relationship developing in the 60’s, and the rest of their story spanning over the next twenty years, the men realize that when this job has passed so will their liaison. While parting is difficult for them, their world outside the mountain herding is one of intolerance for such behavior between men, and when they part it is to move onto a more “normal” life. Ennis marries only months later to Alma (Michelle Williams, Imaginary Heroes), who desires to rise above the uprooted ranching life that Ennis insists upon. Jack, after a tougher struggle with his unaccepted physical yearnings, marries Lureen (Anne Hathaway, The Princess Diaries), the daughter of a successful Texas farm implement dealer.

After the initial romance between the men, screenwriters Larry McMurtry (Terms of Endearment) and Diana Ossana (Johnson County War TV mini-series), concentrate primarily upon the lives these men lead outside of their forbidden love for each other. Even after they decide to reunite on a regular basis to continue to express their love for each other, the filmmakers focus on the sacrifices they make to keep the true nature of their relationship a secret to their own families, families they were expected to have in the environment in which they lived.

Lee’s subtle touch is invaluable in the telling of these cowboys’ stories. He avoids most gay stereotypes and presents these two men as men. Both characters have chosen to pursue the testosterone driven lives they live. There is a telling scene of Ennis confronting two bikers who are speaking rudely, without regard for his family, who are within earshot during a Fourth of July fireworks display. The two men dwarf Ennis, but he flattens one and runs them off with frightening ferocity. Ennis strikes me as a man who might participate in a gay bashing if it weren’t for the homosexual feelings he harbors himself for Jack.

There is a tenderness to Ennis and Jack’s relationship, it seems Jack is just about the only person in the world Ennis is comfortable enough around to open up to, but the filmmakers treat them as men even when they are together. A boyish wrestling match turns into an all out brawl between the men, with one ending up with a bloody nose and the other with a black eye. When apart both men deal with the denial of their true natures in their own ways, Jack with eagerness to take any opportunity to be with Ennis and Ennis resisting with a brooding disposition.

Their relationship has a profound effect on their families, which subtly feel the tension of the men who must deny themselves what they really want. Although Alma secretly discovers the nature of Ennis’s relationship with Jack, it is his way of life as a rancher that drives a wedge between them as much as his lack of emotional investment in her. It is Jack’s free spirit that draws Lureen to him, and although she does sense something between them, Jack never loses that spirit and can even surprise her once their marriage descends into routine. Jack’s defiance against his father-in-law during a Thanksgiving dinner at their home still brings a smile to Lureen’s face.

Brokeback Mountain is not really a gay rights film. Although there are moments of passion that are bound to make a predominantly straight audience uncomfortable (but only for the same reasons a love scene between two heterosexuals should make an audience uncomfortable), Brokeback is as much about the lives these men live because of their choices (or lack thereof) as it is about their own relationship. It is a painful story, one approached and executed with tenderness rather than having tenderness placed upon it. These men have to live with their secret and Lee does a good job making the audience live with it as well. We share in these men’s sacrifice and love with their shared intimacy instead of observing it from an outsider’s point of view.

The Aristocrats / ** (UR)

Featuring:
Jason Alexander, Shelly Berman, Lewis Black, David Brenner, Drew Carey, George Carlin, Tim Conway, Andy Dick, Phyllis Diller, Joe Franklin, Judy Gold, Whoopie Goldberg, Gilbert Gottfried, Eric Idle, Eddie Izzard, Richard Lewis, Bill Maher, Howie Mandel, Merrill Markoe, Jackie “The Joke Man” Martling, Michael McKean, Larry Miller, Martin Mull, Kevin Nealon, The Onion editorial staff, Penn & Teller, Emo Phillips, Kevin Pollak, Andy Richter, Don Rickles, Chris Rock, Bob Saget, Harry Shearer, the Smothers Brothers, David Steinberg, Jon Stewart, Larry Storch, Rip Taylor, Dave Thomas, Peter Tilden, Bruce Vilanch, Fred Willard, Robin Williams, Steven Wright.

ThinkFilm presents a documentary directed by Paul Provenza. Running time: 87 min. Not rated by the MPAA (intended for adults).

Have you heard the one about the documentary director and the magician/ comedian who set out to make a documentary about the dirtiest joke in the world? They get all their friends together (and with friends like these, it would be hard not to bust a gut), including major stars and lesser-known comedians from throughout the country, and interview them about this joke that is some sort of urban legend in the comedy world. Many of them, like George Carlin and Billy Connelly, provide the history of the joke, which in most versions is known as “The Aristocrats” but is also known under other titles like “The Sophisticates,” and many, like Paul Reiser and Drew Carey, philosophize on what makes the joke so great (although it is Carlin who provides the best analysis on this matter), while others, like Richard Lewis and Eddie Izzard, argue the legitimacy of the joke’s legend and success, and still others, like Phyllis Diller and Dick Smothers, are just astounded by the vulgarity and ungainliness of it.

Here’s the catch, the joke itself isn’t funny in the slightest. Of course, this setback has a profoundly depressing effect on the film, which really depends on the success of the joke to live up to all the hype the filmmaker’s heap on to it. The joke is mostly an excuse for the teller to be as vulgar and vile as their imaginations will allow them to be and just about everyone in the film has their own crack at the joke, with a fairly consistent failure to draw laughs from it (except from the filmmakers in the background). And much of the insistence by the participants that the joke is funny is somewhat hard to swallow. There are a very few performers who are able to put enough of their own take on the joke to make it work, most notably Bob Saget, who scrapes laughs from his own ability to shock himself as to just how disgusting this former Full House TV star can be, Kevin Pollack, who tells the joke in a spot on Christopher Walken impersonation, and Gilbert Gottfried, the only person who is able to draw laugh from the joke itself simply with his delivery during a Comedy Central Friars Club Roast of Hugh Heffner. But Sarah Silverman’s “autobiographical” version is a sad reminder of just how lame the joke is, and Martin Mull, Robin Williams and Eric Idle can’t even bring themselves to attempt the shoddy joke and instead tell different jokes of a similar nature that are only marginally more successful. It is the film’s sorry subject matter that becomes its own downfall.

“Interesting. What is it called?”

The Aristocrats.

“I don’t get it.”

Neither do I.

Hustle & Flow / ***½ (R)

D Jay: Terrance HowardKey: Anthony Anderson
Nola: Taryn ManningShug: Taraji P. HensonLexus: Paula Jai ParkerYevette: Elise NealArnel: Isaac HayesShelby: DJ QuallsSkinny Black: Chris “Ludacris” Bridges
Paramount Classics and MTV Films present a film written and directed by Craig Brewer. Running time: 114 min. Rated R (for sex and drug content, pervasive language and some violence).

In the midst of watching Hustle & Flow I was brought back to the very first things seen on the screen, the opening titles. First there is the fancy Paramount Classics logo, and then the new and improved spaceman audience logo of MTV, then the actual filmed action starts and old school lettering style credits appear across the images. The first of these are yet another set of production companies; but these are the actual filming production companies from before Paramount broke a Sundance Film Festival record with the largest sum ever dished out for the distribution rights for one of that festival’s films. Those original company credits read “A New Deal Production” and “Homegrown Films.” There couldn’t be two more fitting titles flashed upon the screen at the beginning of this film. A new deal is what this whole story is about; that dream everyone has, no matter how far down the feeding chain they are, about fashioning out a new existence. And homegrown is also just what this film is, culled together and cared for with the passion of someone who has crated it all on his own. And of course a certain homegrown substance does play a pivotal part in the plot of the film.

D Jay is a small time pimp and drug dealer located in Memphis, Tennessee. He talks the talk, walks the walk. He is a hustler to the core. When a popular rap star, Skinny Black (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, 2 Fast 2 Furious) is scheduled to come home to Memphis for the first time since his star rose for a party, the owner of the local watering hole that will host the party tells D Jay that he needs to break out his good stuff, rather than the backwoods trash pot he usually pushes on his clients. This occasion is an opportunity for D Jay, but not to establish himself as a grade A pusher for a client with dough. D Jay sees this possible meeting with the local rap superstar as a way out of this life of pushing and hustling he never dreamed of for himself.

Terrance Howard (Crash) turns in a career making performance as D Jay. With a Memphis lilt to his speech, he makes it clear that the gleam of fame and fortune makes its way into everyone’s dreams; and the life of the street that embodies so much of the hip-hop culture is not just confined to the modern metropolises. Even the trailer park set has a connection with the grit of hip-hop lore at large. Howard’s performance is nothing short of a transformation into the crushed realities of a life dreamed of but always half a continent away, that is until Skinny Black comes home.

The meat of the film flowers out of D Jay’s efforts to cut a hip-hop track out of his own ramshackle house. He runs into an old high school acquaintance in a convenience store who has made a meager living as a local recording engineer. This is Key (Anthony Anderson, Kangaroo Jack), who harbors his own dreams of making it to the big time in the music industry. Key is much more straight-laced than D Jay. Although Key is aware of D Jay’s career choices the two have an understanding that they are both striving for something great with this recording that will levitate each of them from their respective positions in life. This doesn’t prevent the filmmakers from having some fun showing their respective realities clashing upon the initiation of this collaboration. When D Jay shows up at Key’s middleclass neighborhood with two of his prostitutes in tow just as Key and his career oriented wife, Yevette (Elise Neal, Mission to Mars), are settling in for dinner, writer/director Craig Brewer mines the material for all the absurdity and comedy to be found in the situation.

Perhaps the most unique point of view this film provides is D Jay’s relationship with those prostitutes. D Jay pimps three women: Nola (Taryn Manning, 8 Mile), a white girl whom he pimps exclusively from his car in the back alleyways and parks of Memphis; Shug (Taraji P. Henson, Four Brothers), pregnant from an unknown trick and D Jay’s longest running relationship; and Lexus (Paula Jai Parker, She Hate Me), his high maintenance whore who sees herself as the most important ingredient in their little stew. They all live together creating some strange family unit. D Jay alternately treats them as his possessions and loved-ones; creating a unique dynamic the like I have never seen before in a depiction of the world’s oldest profession.

The key scene in the film is when Key and his engineering partner Shelby (DJ Qualls, The New Guy) finally crack down on D Jay to get something on tape. “We need a hook.” In their search for a hook to the song “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” Key has the idea to have Shug sing the chorus. Shug is one of those people who look as if they’d sooner die than say, Boo!” D Jay pushes her to get it right, but never hints that he thinks she can’t do it. When she does finally nail it, the whole song comes together; and it is easy to see why the Academy honored it with a nomination for Best Song. But it is that hard street love D Jay gives Shug that shows where the strength of these characters comes from and proves how much they love and depend on one another.

Since viewing the film I haven’t been able to get a hook from another hip-hop song out of my head. It is actually from the musical Annie and was stolen by Jay-Z for his hit single “Hard Knock Life.” The line “It’s a hard knock life for us,” rings throughout this film, but like Annie it is a chorus sung not in despair, but with hope. It is the same hope we all have for our lives. A hope for something better.