MODE Groovy Movie Selector For December 23

MODE Groovy Movie Selector
For December 23, 1999

Updated Weekly at MODEmagazine.com/Movies

by Max Power

Anna and the King -
At best, a lavish and great looking film with great performances from worldwide action star Chow Yun Fat (Replacement Killers, The Corruptor) and Jodie Foster. At worst, it is overlong that has a tendency to crawl at a snail’s pace. It is a throwback to the grand, Hollywood epics that they don’t seem to churn out as much nowadays.

Bicentennial Man -
It’s official. With this film Robin Williams has crossed over to the dark side of schmaltz. With Patch Adams, What Dreams May Come, Jack, and Jakob the Liar just to name a few, Williams has become a soft and moist-eyed touchy guy that isn’t that funny anymore. Enough with messages and feelings Robin, time to get edgy! How about Bisexual man? Just a thought. It sure would be more entertaining then watching you learn the meaning of life, love, humor and friendship between you, a very old robot, and humans.

Stuart Little -
One film I had no desire to see actually is a pleasant surprise. The mixture of computer animation and live action is getting better as witnessed in this film. We follow the life of Stuart, a little mouse who is adopted by humans as their new son. Better for kids but still enjoyable by adults.

Duece Bigalow, Male Gigolo -
Painful attempt at something funny. Starring the not-very-funny Rob Schneider as a fish tank cleaner who becomes a gigolo to pay off the very expensive fish tank he broke. He should be paid … to go away.

Green Mile, The -
Director Frank Darabont, working again with a Stephen King story, follows up his brilliant Shawshank Redemption with another winner. While not as good and powerful as Redemption (and slower), it stands on its own as great cinema. Tom Hanks is a prison guard on death-row in the 1930s. John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), a death-row inmate living on the green mile (the tile-floor is green) seems to exhibit strange and mystical healing powers. Hanks befriends this gentle giant and now comes the struggle for Coffey to stay alive and sane in a place filled with death. The film, manageable at three hours, has fine performances by all (including Gary Sinise, Jeffrey DeMunn and David Morse). Darabont takes his time putting it all up there on the screen (including one funny mouse). It isn’t the best film of the year, but it is up there.

Liberty Heights -
Barry Levinson (Diner, Tin Men, Avalon) knows Baltimore and knows conversation. Almost a Baltimore Woody Allen-Light, Levinson creates talky character studies that normally work very well. With his new (somewhat autobiographical) film set in 1950’s Baltimore, he continues his normal style, but manages to get a little too cloying and soft with the sentimentality. We see the world through the eyes of young Ben Kurtzman (Ben Foster) and his older brother (the suddenly everywhere Adrien Brody). It’s a nice, decent film, but it feels better suited to the a home video viewing rather then the theatre.

Flawless -
Rising actor Philip Seymour Hoffman (Boogie Nights, Twister) is becoming more and more of one of our younger generations best actors. His performance in Flawless as Rusty, a drag queen living in the East Village. One of Rusty’s gruff neighbors (Robert De Niro) has a heart attack and somehow ends up living with Rusty and being taken care by him. Strange stuff (especially with De Niro in here) but it actually works in becoming a great little film that is aware of when it tugs at our heartstrings and gets a little melodramatic. As for one of our greatest national acting treasures, De Niro once again pulls off a great performance. Director Joel Schumaker has found a calmer, quieter vehicle to helm. A step up from his recent debacles (the over-the-top 8mm and the last two Batman films). Hopefully, he will continue in this direction.

Sweet and Lowdown -
Woody Allen creates another one of his lighter "filler" movies that he often makes in between his larger and more prominent features. Sean Penn does a wonderful job at playing Emmet Ray, a fictional jazz singer in the 1930’s who is one of the best in the business but not the best. Done with some documentary-style elements (including experts talking about Ray and his talents), Allen has made a strong character study of a man always in search of perfection and betterment. Mute laundry girl Hattie (nicely played by Samantha Morton) begins to fall in love with the cantankerous musician and becomes a sort of inspiration to him in his creations. Sweet and without the aggravating Woody impressions (as with Kenneth Branagh in Celebrity), the film is one of the better Allen movies of recent years.