Wednesday, December 19, 2001
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Wednesday, December 19, 2001 |
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Movies By MICHAEL
BOYLAN Opening Today Lord of the Rings An epic fantasy comes to the screen with a solid cast and amazing special effects. This film, directed by Peter Jackson (The Frighteners) should draw big crowds. Rated PG-13. Opening Friday A Beautiful Mind Russell Crowe stars as a brilliant but troubled mathematician in this film by Ron Howard. This one is pushing for Oscar. Rated PG-13. How High Two stoners, played by Method Man and Redman, get into Harvard University and cause hilarious mayhem. This movie is not for everybody and most likely will not last long. Rated R. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius A kid who is an inventor must save the world and his parents from aliens. Rated G. Joe Somebody Tim Allen gets beat up in front of his kid and decides he is going to take a stand and be somebody. He will probably learn that violence solves nothing. Rated PG. Kate and Leopold Meg Ryan is back in a romantic comedy about a man from 1876 coming to modern New York and sweeping her off her feet. Rated PG-13. The Majestic Jim Carrey is a blacklisted writer who crashes his car, gets amnesia and washes up in a town where they think he is somebody else. He becomes somebody else until his memory returns. This is another one that will be around at the awards shows. Rated PG. Now Playing Behind Enemy Lines Owen Wilson, growing more visible and popular by the day, stars in this film about a pilot who is shot down over some eastern European nation. Wilson has been in some great movies of late (Meet the Parents, Shanghai Noon) and could use this film to vault him to more leading roles. Gene Hackman stars as the captain who breaks protocol to go rescue Wilson. A nice, patriotic film for the family. Rated PG-13. Black Knight Martin Lawrence travels back to medieval times, leads a revolt, falls in love with a damsel in distress and defeats the evil in this comedy. It seems like people are always going back in time to medieval times. Why doesn't anybody go back in time to Revolutionary War America or B.C. China? Rated PG-13. Domestic Disturbance John Travolta must save his son from the boy's stepfather. Vince Vaughn stars as the evil step dad. I guess this will be better than "Look Who's Talking, Too." At least, Travolta better hope so. Rated R. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone This was excellent. As a fan of the books, I was very happy that the film stayed true to the tone and story. The characters looked great and I had Alan Rickman cast as Snape in my head a long time ago. This is fun for the whole family, though it is a little too long for really young kids. Rated PG. Monsters, Inc. The latest computer generated film from Pixar, the people who brought you the Toy Story films. This film focuses on monsters that live in closets and are afraid of children. This is an awfully cute, and entertaining family film. Rated G. Not Another Teen Movie Think "Scary Movie" but instead of spoofing horror films, they are spoofing teen comedies like The Breakfast Club, She's All That, and Bring It On. This should be really funny and really raunchy. Rated R. Ocean's Eleven Steven Soderbergh directs one of the greatest casts ever assembled in this remake. The story revolves around Danny Ocean and ten of his friends robbing three casinos on the night of a heavyweight prizefight. This was like a Tarantino film without the profanity and violence. It was a very entertaining film. Rated PG-13. Out Cold This looks like the stupidest movie ever and they are constantly showing the commercial for it which means it probably is. A group of "gnarly" snow-boarders do a bunch of "rad" things while they compete against snobby snow-boarders in a big "competition." No thank you. PG-13. Shallow Hal A man sees women only for their inner beauty after being hypnotized. This comedy stars Jack Black (kind of my hero) and Gwyneth Paltrow and is directed by The Farrelly Brothers. It is not laugh a minute like the other Farrelly Brothers films, but it is entertaining. It has a good message. Rated PG-13. Spy Game Robert Redford stars as a former spy that must go back under to save his protege, played by Brad Pitt. This is a nice cast and should be a solid drama. Rated R. Vanilla Sky A remake of a Spanish thriller about a man whose jilted ex-lover tries to kill him after he leaves her for another woman. Tom Cruise is the man, Cameron Diaz is the jilted lover and Penelope Cruz is the other woman. Cameron Crowe directed this film, which some are saying is this decade's Fatal Attraction. Rated R. Also Playing From Hell The story of a detective in London trying to solve the Jack the Ripper murders. This is based on a popular graphic novel and directed by the Hughes brothers (Menace II Society and Dead Presidents). Johnny Depp and Heather Graham star in this very dark film. Rated R. Hardball Keanu Reeves stars as a down on his luck guy who loses a bet and is forced to coach an inner city baseball team. This film is about the rise of both the team and the man. This got decent reviews and should be very uplifting. Rated R. Iron Monkey A legendary crime fighter in China fights evil under the cover of darkness. His name: Iron Monkey. If you like martial arts films, then you will like this. If you like films like Glitter, you will not like this. Rated PG-13. K-Pax Kevin Spacey plays a man who claims to be an alien. Jeff Bridges plays a psychiatrist trying to determine if the man is telling the truth. A banana gets eaten with the peel still on. Heartwarming hilarity ensues. I'm sure this film is entertaining, but I'll probably wait until I'm bedridden with the flu and it is on DVD. Rated PG-13. Rat Race A bunch of people race around looking for millions of dollars, while people in Las Vegas bet on which group will win. The cast is impressive (Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding Jr. Mr. Bean) but the reviews were not. Still, it's only a dollar. Rated PG-13. Rush Hour 2 Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan team up once again to save the day with their deft police work and their Kung Fu. This time the film is set in Hong Kong. Rated PG-13. The Last Castle Robert Redford is put in a military prison. He ends up leading a revolt against the warden, played by The Sopranos' James Gandolfini. There will definitely be some good acting here.
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