Ticket Box

You want capsule reviews? I have your capsule reviews right here, buddy! These are some opinions on movies I've seen in the last three weeks.

About Schmidt
Not exactly a feel-good movie but a hoot anyway. Everyone in the movie except Jack is portrayed as a schmuck (something which has turned some critics off, dismissing it as condescending); but then again, Jack plays a man living what Thoreau described as a life of "quiet desperation," a man whose existence lacked any purpose, while all the buffoons around him at least seem to know what they're doing with theirs. Who is being condescended to now? Warning: If sometimes you feel like your own life is lacking direction, watching this movie might confirm it.

Gangs of New York
A glorious mess of a picture; Martin Scorcese struggles to bring together the operatic story of a young man looking to avenge his father's murder and a history lesson about the Draft Riots of 1863. In the end, the history lesson overcomes the opera and the final product topples down, unbalanced. And yet, these are perhaps the best 3 hours you can spend at the movies right now. This being a long movie, I suggest going to the earliest show, wide awake.

Chicago
A musical comedy; songs, dance and jokes. It is great fun! What else do you need to know? Watch out for John C. Reilly's musical number, "Mr. Cellophane." Stirring.

Adaptation
Avoid at all costs it you don't have a sense of humor or high tolerance for self-pitying characters. All else probably have the stomach to ride this rollercoaster of a movie. No, it is not a true adaptation of Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief, but if you want to be taken through unpaved back-roads of creativity, here's your ticket. Maybe the final destination will dissapoint you, but the ride sure won't.

Catch Me if You Can
Steven Spielberg has praised Chuck Jones as the master when it comes to comic timing and nuance, and his influence shows in this movie. (Specially revealing shot: A double take Tom Hanks' G-man does when he recognizes the kid he's chasing in an old yearbook.) Without any pretension of making an "important" film, Spielberg lets the antic going-ons flow. Is it a piece of fluff? Perhaps, but at least it's a movie you can take your mother to.

The 25th Hour
Another Spike Lee joint focusing or whte folks. And a 9-11 eulogy at the same time. It doesn't really come together as a coherent whole, but the little postmodern touches Lee spreads around make if difficult to take your eyes off the screen. Edward Norton delivers a rant against everyone connected in some way to NYC (his reflection in a mirror starts talking back to him!) which jumps all over the place yet feels right. Just like the whole movie.

Narc
For this cop drama, director Joe Carnahan wrote a story about two narcotics cops digging up the dirt under the violent death of a third comrade. The story feels conventional. The way it is told, doesn't. In a way similar to Steven Soderbergh's The Limey, Carnahan enhances the tale by telling it in a non-linear way. (There's even frequent Soderbergh collaborator Cliff Martinez in the soundtrack.) Gritty and naturalistic, this movie rewards paying close attention to the proceedings.

Maid in Manhattan
If there's a Pretty Woman subgenre of romantic comedy, this J. Lo vehicle adds one more entry. Inoffensive and inconsequential, Maid is exclusively a time-waster. At least Ralph Fiennes gets to play something else than a basket case, though he could go head to head against My Big Fat Greek Wedding's John Corbett in the race for the "Blandest Romantic Lead" award.

The Hours
Overkill; this movie has a big dose of it that it can't overcome. Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep have to perform with red, swollen eyes that cry pain at every single moment and weigh their roles down. Only Nicole Kidman manages to scape the "I'm dying in life" shine of her co-stars; she seems more willing to discover where her pain comes from and do something about it before it does her in. Hmm... I think I've said all this before. OK, let's add something else: after reading Andrew O'Hehir's comment that The Hours brings queer theory to the multiplex, I couldn't avoid reading the film as a story about the struggle to come out of the closet, at least in the segments with Nicole Kidman and Juliane Moore. But what about the one with Meryl Streep? Isn't she already living outside the closet? Maybe the issue in her tale is she doesn't feel fulfilled with an openly queer life? Oy! This "queer theory" stuff is harder to interpret than l thought.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Another "sense of humor" warning on this one: if you refuse to entertain morbid jokes spiked with bitter pathos, run from this movie like the plague. But if a long flashback telling the story of how TV producer Chuck Barris searched for pussy and found it as he performed some free-lance hit-jobs for the CIA sounds like it's up your alley... Then why are you still reading this? Go!