BASEketball(minus 2 out of 5 stars)
Ordinarily when one refers to a tearjerker, one thinks of Ghost or Old Yeller or Terms of Endearment. But how to describe the downbeat, defeated feeling one has after an hour in the company of this film? Forget all the whining about the coarsening of society. Forget all the hype about young gents Trey Parker…
MiMi Gardens
More than 250 Vietnamese and Chinese dishes. Vegetarian dishes include appetizers, soups, rice and noodle dishes…hot and spicy to your taste. Spicy dishes include curry, sate, roti, chili, Shanghai noodle, special pepper and grilled choices.
Ever After
Of the many folk tales distilled by the Brothers Grimm into their collection of fairy tales, “Cinderella” is one that resides uncomfortably in women’s unconscious. Work hard and be subservient, it says between the lines, and one day your prince will appear to rescue you. So what function does Cinderella have today, when women not…
Fallen Angels
Hong Kong writer-director Wong Kar-Wai has perfected an approach to film making which combines wild style visuals with moody wisps of story, character studies in big city loneliness served up in languid monotone colors, varying camera speeds and a restless eye for the striking composition. The kernel of intention buried beneath his glittering surfaces can…
The Negotiator
Halfway through The Negotiator, you’re sitting in your seat mumbling to yourself, “Wow, this isn’t half bad, and to think Stallone was going to star in this thing.” It’s hard to imagine marble-mouthed Sly working his way through some of the very smart dialogue that keeps this film rolling along when the plot loses its…
Whatever
Those moments from high school, when the realization kicks in that even the closest friendships end and the best laid plans for a phenomenal future aren’t going to unfold smoothly, is what writer-director Susan Skoog captures in Whatever. Set in Skoog’s hometown of Red Bank, N.J. (although this low-budget independent was filmed in more economically…
Wild Man Blues
Who’d have thought that Woody Allen would ever become controversial? After all, he’s built a career on being the first to confess his inadequacies, his foibles and his haplessness with the opposite sex — and yet, there are people who now refuse to see one of his films because they’re under the impression that he…
Snake Eyes
Can you spell “ludicrous”? If you can’t, you’ll be able to after watching this film, along with “stinker” and “exit.” Snake Eyes is short on everything but plot. In no particular order, we are given a hurricane, a staged assassination, a casino mogul dabbling in defense contracts, a peacenik secretary of defense, a rigged prize…
Return to Paradise
The black and white photograph shown at the start of Return to Paradise captures Sheriff (Vince Vaughn), Lewis (Joaquin Phoenix) and Tony (David Conrad) in a casual, confident moment of all-American guyness. They met shortly after arriving in Malaysia, where each came to immerse himself in a guilt-free exotic paradise. Their fast friendship –a bond…
One-woman encyclomedia
Line up to beam up on Solex’s rays of sampling….
Art meets meat
Artists’ places in Eastern Market:New frontier or already fading?…
Mafia!
It’s always sad when a good actor bites the dust. Even sadder is when his swan song turns out to be a stinker. At least Lloyd Bridges didn’t live to suffer through a final indignity at the hands of Jim Abrahams, collaborator on previous cavalcades of slapstick and sight gags, Airplane! and Hot Shots! Originally…
Disturbing Behavior
Hats off to Wes Craven for warning us. His Wes Craven’s New Nightmare served as a cheeky throwing in of the towel for the gifted schlockmeister, a good-natured admission that he had done all he could do in the horror department without cracking a giggle. The mine was all played out — kill the canary.…
Pi
In one of his hallucinatory, migraine-induced visions, Maximillian Cohen (Sean Gullette) pokes a ballpoint pen into a throbbing human brain. The tension expressed in that moment — where a utilitarian utensil breaks through the protective layer and touches the infinite, mysterious expanses of the mind — ideally encapsulates the duality at work in this heady…
Saving Private Ryan
The opening half hour of the latest “important” film from director Steven Spielberg (an Amistad as opposed to a Lost World) perfectly sums up the powerful brutality and cheap sentimentality that are, equally, Saving Private Ryan. After solemn credits driven by mournful, military-style horns, Spielberg shows a translucent American flag waving in slow motion. He…
