The story of how Jackie Kallen made it as a manager in the testosterone-driven boxing game is a saga worthy of the sort of treatment accorded NORMA RAE or even Erin Brockovitch. Alas, AGAINST THE ROPES does not measure up to either of those films, though leading lady Meg Ryan as Kallen does turn in… Read More »
WIN A DATE WITH TAD HAMILTON
There is just something about WIN A DATE WITH TAD HAMILTON thats completely adorable. Its not that it strays far from the usual LA meets the real world stereotypes, because it doesnt. Nor does it posit that the sex symbols of the silver screen have an inner life much deeper than their Jacuzzis. No, the… Read More »
THE BIG BOUNCE
Like a cut-rate package tour that promises much but delivers little, THE BIG BOUNCE, sucks the joy right out of you while offering little glimpses of the paradise that is forever beyond your reach. Based on the Elmore Leonard novel of the same name, its filled with the robustly eccentric characters that he dreams up… Read More »
CATCH THAT KID
When feeding very small children, its important to keep the fare bland so as not to upset the little ones tummies. And thus is it with CATCH THAT KID, a trite and uninspired remake of a Danish blockbuster that features parents in trouble and kids saving the day. The parents are Molly (Jennifer Beals), a… Read More »
MIRACLE
The makers of MIRACLE certainly had their work cut out for them. How to maintain a sense of suspense when the whole reason for making the film was to celebrate how the US Olympic hockey team trounced the unbeatable Soviets at the 1980 Winter Games? With the outcome a foregone conclusion, they decided to drive… Read More »
50 FIRST DATES
With 50 FIRST DATES it seems as though Adam Sandler is going through an identity crisis of some sort. The film itself is an ill-conceived amalgam of sentiment played sweet not sappy, mixed uncertainly with the usual lower-than-low-brown humor with which Sandler’s films, PUNCH DRUNK LOVE excepted, are saturated. Hence the walrus spew scene less… Read More »
WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT
The best moment in WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT comes when former president Monroe Eagle Cole (Gene Hackman) comes to visit his rival in the mayoral race in Mooseport, Maine, Handy Harrison (Ray Romano) at the latters hardware store. As he prepares to step into Harrisons ramshackle office for a private chat, the secret service agent doing… Read More »
EUROTRIP
It’s not like we go to a film like EUROTRIP expecting a considered examination of the human condition. We don’t go for a dazzling display of verbal acuity and trenchant wit. We don’t even go for the lovely scenery, though Czech Republic, which stands in for all of Europe except The Louvre and Amsterdam, does… Read More »
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
There is a reason that the early church did not make the cross its primary symbol. Early tombs display the friendlier, more positive images of the fish, as in, to quote Jesus, “go forth and be fishers of men”, and the good shepherd, as in, again quoting “I am the good shepherd.” People in that… Read More »
HIDALGO
At way over two hours in length, HIDALGO is overlong, no doubt about it. Still, this rip-snorting answer to the old-time Saturday morning serials has two things going for it that save it from its stock characters and cliché situations. One is Viggo Mortensen, a rugged sort of eye candy who brings a soulful yet… Read More »
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