because you can't have too much entertainment...
May 2003

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Short Notes On: Bend It Like Beckham, Better Luck Tomorrow, Laurel Canyon,
Phone Booth, Spider, X-2: X-Men United

Bend It Like Beckham
What hath Monsoon Wedding / My Big Fat Greek Wedding wrought? It feels churlish to knock a film this sweet and likeable but did it have to be so cliché ridden? This film tells the feel good tale of an Indian girl's sports enthusiasm and attempts to escape the controlling hand of her traditionalist parents. This film never met a predictable plot element that it didn't like. In fact, I suppose the highest compliment I could pay this rather amateurish romantic/sports comedy of sorts is that it thoroughly enjoy its cliches; The most annoying of which is the musical montage which seems to happen every 20 minutes or so -not that I was looking at my watch.

In the end, I teared up against my better judgement. So as amateur manipulative feel-good comedies go, I concede that it does the trick. Ta-da! C-

Better Luck Tomorrow
Have you ever gone into a movie wanting to love it... and found yourself unable to? That was me with this film. It seems tricked up from the start with hyperactive editing, MTV style constructed energy, and that old worn-from-over-use device "the end is the beginning -watch how we came to this" Worse yet is the overall arc of the plot. Be warned: An ever escalating suspension of disbelief is required.

The cast is very likeable throughout the film but Better Luck Tomorrow could have used the juice it would have gotten with a truly stellar "this is a movie star waiting to happen" breakthrough performance somewhere in the batch. The lead performance by Parry Shen is understandably the most problematic. He is so amiable and likeable that his amoral slide didn't feel particularly motivated or believable. Consequently his final actions seem less disturbing. The fault hardly rests entirely with the actor here. The screenplay seems to dodge the motivational aspects late in the film. Better Luck Tomorrow, as a whole (and especially with its halfhearted closing sequence) trips up whatever message may be lurking in his character arc as well. C-

Laurel Canyon
I was a great fan of Lisa Cholodenko's debut film High Art and I went into this with unhealthy expectations. The tone of the film is much different. Cholodenko's refreshingly adult "voice" is still intact. The interest in bohemian lifestyles is still very much in play. But where the first film had seemed searing in its psychological digging, this film's hedonistic flair is something far lighter. The sadness in Art ran impressively deep. But here, everyone gets out alive, as it were. That's not a spoiler or a criticism. It's just an obversation about what Cholodenko was after this time around.

The performances are mostly successfully, with top honors going to Allesandro Nivola and, of course, the great Frances McDormand as the rock and roll lovers. But then, they have the showiest characters. Christian Bale's character is so square that you can see him working extra hard to round an edge, or two and add interesting grooves. He's an excellent dependable actor hampered by playing the "straight" character. The weak spot here is Kate Beckinsale and her obvious performance does nothing to alleviate the problems inherent in the character as written. Her role is too predictable, the uptight girl who goes a little wild to find herself. The character's color by numbers nature, points to a larger problem with the film. It's in great conflict with the messy emotional lives that you sense we're supposed to be exploring. Laurel Canyon, though interesting and distinctive, is held back from any greatness by forcing the complex characters through neat and tidy character arcs. B-

 

Phone Booth
I almost began to write a complete review of this movie immediately after seeing it...but then I suddenly didn't want to waste one more second of my life thinking about it. Colin Farrell can certainly carry a film. But, as Spider-Man reminded us last year "with great power comes great responsibility" and stars of excessive charisma ought to use their powers to prop up films with more to offer.This is a sloppy film filled with cheap moralizing. The plot holes are so large it's a good thing the streets were shut off from traffic. The screenplay would have swallowed the cop cars whole had they attempted to drive by. This tricky premise, that could have thrilled with the right director, is lifeless aside from the so-bad-they're-great hookers (performances pitched to the rafters -yeehaw!) and Mr. Farrell himself. He's sweaty, cocky, and crumbling apart onscreen. He tries his damndest to keep the film's 80+ minutes from feeling like a 180. But star magnetism only goes so far.

In my effort to be polite and try to find something nice to say about the direction, I think we can thank Joel Schumacher for discovering Farrell (in Tigerland, the most watchable of Schumacher's many "films") and call it a day. Perhaps this film is the star paying the director who gave him a chance a return favor? Consider the debt paid, Colin. Now, back away slowly and run... D

Spider
I'm coming to this film far too late to add much to the discussion. But while I found the praise understandable David Cronenberg's film is so relentless in its pursuit of the interior space of "Spider"'s head, that I got a little lost in the cobwebs myself. Ralph Fiennes is a fine actor but the acting choice heres, though completely justifiable in this context keep the audiences closed off to a certain degree from any connection. Mostly, though, I will remember one element of this cinematic trip. Miranda Richardson would jolt me back to full attention whenever I was slipping away. Her triple role (of sorts) is unusually difficult and she fills it with true inspiration and the creepiest laugh I think I've ever heard onscreen. Damn, that woman is a great actress. Remind me again why she wasn't nominated for Best Supporting Actress last year? Oh, yeah Sony Pictures Classics did a half hearted one week run in Los Angeles last year and then largely abandoned the film until its real release this February. What a shame. What was the rush exactly? B-

X2: X-Men United
They're baa-aaack. Only this time they're better. Or at least they've upped the ante. The special effects have the added benefit of a higher budget polish. The editing is swift and merciless (So merciless it jettisons a small subplot and pretends not to notice -what exactly did happen to Iceman, Rogue, and Pyro during the climactic finale?) to presumably keep the film racing and maintain Wolverine's berserker rages.

Aside from the aforementioned and perhaps overly thrilling* spectacle of Hugh Jackman's claws (*Hey, I cheered too but then I'm like--- hey, wait a minute. He's killing largely innocent soldiers who were instructed to break into the house and are following government orders. Er, should I be cheering?) the lions share of the excitement this time out comes from the introduction of Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler and the returning villians. Both Ian McKellen as Magneto and, perhaps more impressively, Rebecca Romijn Stamos are top notch here. Each of them uses every second of screentime they've got wisely. In a crowded film like this, you've simply got to have your game on to keep up. I'm talking to you Halle Berry. She's still absolutely a non-entity as Storm. And as I griped in my look at the first film, Storm has been the least successful crossover element. A grade A comic book character who's just not registering onscreen at all.

Finally for die hard X-Men fans, the film plays almost like a hidden coming attraction reel for future X-Men drama. Dark Phoenix, anyone? Now the question is: Can Famke Jansen and James Marsden really pull off that particularly operatic storyline. Cross your fingers. B+

* Have now seen X2 a second time and it holds up. Seems even stronger and the juggling of characters more impressive on a second visit.

-Nathaniel

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