MOVIE HELL: November 16, 1998
Mike Legeros
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MOVIE HELL: November 16, 1998
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MOVIE HELL
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Weekly Rants and Pants by Michael J. Legeros
"If you can't say something nice, at least have something to say."
Contents
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- Introduction
- LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL
- THE SIEGE
- THE WATERBOY
- THE WIZARD OF OZ
- Recently Reviewed
Introduction
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Reporting from the road this week, returning from Nashville by way
of Memphis... The trailer for STAR WARS I is sneaking in 26 cit-
ies tomorrow. Check www.starwars.com for more info. The report-
edly two-minute reel opens everywhere on Friday... THE WATERBOY
continues to steam up the charts, having earned another $25M over
the weekend. I don't get it, but, then again, $6.50 of that take
is mine... And, I can advise on three Triangle releases: MEET
JOE BLACK ("walked out at the 90-minute mark, tired of watching
paint dry"), the slasher sequel I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST
SUMMER ("more gore, still a bore, and lots and lots of cleavage"),
and "SouthPark" creator Trey Parker's writing/directing debut, the
superhero/porn comedy ORGAZMO ("low-rent, raunchy fun"). Reviews
forthcoming. Welcome to Hell.
Reviews
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LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL is wonderful. Italian comic/writer/director Ro-
berto Benigi (THE MONSTER) accomplishes the impossible, creating a
Holocaust comedy (!) that's fall-down funny, frequently touching,
*and* 100% politically sensitive. The first half is farce, as
manic as any Marx Brothers movie; the second hour, set in a con-
centration camp, is a deft (though initially jarring) blend of
both grave and whimsy. (One of the film's most inspired moments
has Benigi's clowning character easing the anxieties of his young
song by ad-libbing the translation of a German soldier's rules of
the camp.) There's a likeable love story in there, too, that
plays best during the film's first half. Only toward the end of
the second hour does Benigi's balancing act begins to wobble.
(The... emotional pacing of the last half-hour seems a bit off.
Kinda slow here, kinda rushed there.) However flawed, however,
this is still as endearing as any movie you're likely to see this
year. In Italian, with English subtitles. Winner of the Grand
Prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival. (Rated "PG-13"/114
min.)
Grade: B+
THE SIEGE is slow-going. Nifty premise, but it's botched by an
overcomplicated script. The result is an overload of information
that's neither affecting nor even that thought-provoking. (Mes-
sage to the filmmakers: Keep It Simple, Stupid.) Denzel Washing-
ton is his usual dramatically intense self, while Annette Bening
adds some spunk as a slutty CIA spy/agent/covert-something. As
the Army General who leads the title event, Bruce Willis is...
Bruce Willis. (His character seems to have stepped out of anoth-
er, more testosterone-rich flick.) Eh, the pyrotechnics are good,
the stock situations comfortable, and dem are real APCs rumbling
through the streets of Brooklyn. Some of the smaller details are
priceless: a city bus backfires and everybody takes cover; a ter-
rorist is interrupted at a school because "one of the moms was
carrying a gun." Too bad the script presumes familiarity with all
matters Constitutional. I was left with a million questions, the
least of which was: can't the Army do whatever the Hell it wants
while enforcing martial law? Including torturing prisoners??
With a good turn from Tony Shaloub. Edward Zwick (COURAGE UNDER
FIRE, LEGENDS OF THE FALL) directs. (Rated "R"/118 min.)
Grade: C
THE WATERBOY may not be the worst movie of the year, but it's got
my vote as most tedious. (And this coming from a PLEASANTVILLE
survivor. Ugh.) Adam Sandler stars as a mush-mouthed Cajun col-
lege football flunkie whose promotion from "water distribution
engineer" to chief tackler rescues the team, makes him famous,
outrages his momma (Kathy Bates, exceptionally eccentric), and
threatens to get him laid. (And not necessarily in that order...)
Director Frank Coraci worked with Sandler on THE WEDDING SINGER
and, impossible as it sounds, they've dumbed themselves down even
further. A packed house of teens (on a Tuesday night!) roared at
every sound-effects enhanced hit that Sandler's stunt double de-
livered. (The, er, "funnier" of which are conveniently shown in
the trailer.) There are other sources of humor, thank God, from
obvious sight gags to such surreal non sequiters as a Roy Orbison
tattoo on someone's ass or, even weirder, the flashback sight of
co-stars Henry Winkler and Jerry Reed in afros! Scary. With
Fairuza Balk, a oddly accented Rob Schneider, and Clint Howard,
whose mentally-challenged fan hollars the film's most memorable
line "let's kick some names and take some ass!" (Rated "PG-13"/90
min.)
Grade: D
THE WIZARD OF OZ is back in theaters for the first time in ages.
The print's been buffed, the soundtrack's been boosted, and the
results are a *world* more impressive than this summer's GONE WITH
THE WIND reissue. (Had Ms. Scarlet looked *this* good, I might've
stayed to see the whole thing!) Equally pleasing is how (reason-
ably) well the Yellow Brick Road holds up when viewed on the big
screen. (My main gripes: the second hour is rather draggy and
the Cowardly Lion sings like a cat in heat.) Fun, too, to catch
five decades of later references ("there's no place like home,"
"lions and tigers and bears, oh my!") in their original forms. Of
course, seeing it in a theater has *one* unintended effect-- you
can't help but notice such obvious seams as the visible wires and
painted backdrops, the Munchkins who look lost in the big scenes,
and, in the film's most precious goof, the Goody Goody Witch
mouthing the lyrics that Dorothy's singing. (Rated "G"/101 min.)
Grade: A-
Recently Reviewed
=================
APT PUPIL : B-
BELLY : C+
BELOVED : B-
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL : B+
LIVING OUT LOUD : C+
PECKER : C
THE SIEGE : C
VAMPIRES : B-
THE WATERBOY : D
THE WIZARD OF OZ : A-
Copyright 1998 Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros
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keywords: film movie review mike michael legeros raleigh carolina
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Mike Legeros - Raleigh, NC, USA, Earth
leg...@pagesz.net - http://www.pagesz.net/~legeros
Visit me in MOVIE HELL - http://www.nonvirtual.com/hell/
"Got time to breathe. Got time for music." - Briscoe Darling
brigham
> THE WIZARD OF OZ is back in theaters for the first time in ages.
> The print's been buffed, the soundtrack's been boosted, and the
> results are a *world* more impressive than this summer's GONE WITH
> THE WIND reissue.
I saw Oz at Timberlyne, and the sound there was atrocious! On "Over the
Rainbow," Garland had an actual "tinny" echo going. Yah, any number of
in-house technical troubles might have caused this, but I had to wonder
if this was the remastering - and a lame and pointless attempt to
re-make the song into stereo.
Any other reports on the sound experience at Timberlyne or other
theatres?
[And hey, WAS the flick supposed to be in stereo? Where did I pick that
up? Power of suggestion from the laughable "wide-screen stereo trailer"
Timberlyne is fond of running, or was that really part of the point of
the reissue of the movie?]
<><><><><><><><><><><><>
Bob Brigham
Carrboro, NC
rbrigham.s...@med.unc.edu
[delete spam.begone to reply]