by Inlander Staff
The Aviator -- Scorsese, DiCaprio, Hughes -- as in Howard -- are director, star and subject of this splendid mainstream look at three busy decades in the life of the industrialist, filmmaker and airplane nut. The script focuses on some of Hughes' quirks, but gives plenty of leeway for DiCaprio to show his acting chops. The power-packed cast includes Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn, Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner and Alan Alda as a nasty senator. (ES) Rated PG-13
Beyond the Sea -- Kevin Spacey gets into Bobby Darin mode in this biography of the chameleon-like '60s and '70s singer. It's a look at how Darin wanted to make it in show business from a very young age, how he did it and how he met and married film star Sandra Dee (Kate Bosworth). Spacey does all his own singing -- and does it well. Spacey also directed. (ES) Rated PG-13
Blade: Trinity -- Wesley Snipes still hunts vampires, but now he's joined by two compadres. Their mission is to help create a virus that will wipe out vampires. The film is violent and action-packed, but also very funny in both dialogue and offbeat plot devices. (ES) Rated R
Christmas with the Kranks -- The John Grisham novel Skipping Christmas transfers sloppily to the screen, spreading its holiday "joy" with a story of recent empty-nesters (Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis) who decide to forget about Christmas for one year to go on a cruise. (ES) Rated PG
Closer -- All the things you've thought and felt but never put into precise and profane language at the moment you're most wounded: That's the black heart of the scarring, scarily funny language of Patrick Marber's play. Earning their acting chops in a game of sexual musical chairs are brash dermatologist Clive Owen, self-pitying obits writer Jude Law, photographer Julia Roberts and unformed life force Natalie Portman. (RP) Rated: R
Fat Albert -- Bill Cosby, who created and did all the voices in the beloved 1970s animated TV series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, is largely responsible for Hollywood's latest assault on our beloved childhood memories. Here the big guy and his goofy friends literally step out of the animated past. Rated: PG-13
Finding Neverland -- A dramatic, yet kind of whimsical look at how J.M. Barrie (Johnny Depp) was inspired to write the play Peter Pan -- by meeting a widow (Kate Winslet) with four young boys who definitely could use a father figure. (ES) Rated PG
Flight of the Phoenix -- A remake of director Robert Aldrich's 1965 original, Flight of the Phoenix would be better if not for its abysmal use of pop music. The expertly filmed crash sequence is a high point that the movie never again achieves as a group of survivors attempt to escape from the desert. (Cole Smithey) Rated PG-13
The Grudge -- A ghost or a curse or some such does bad things to anyone who enters a serene house in Tokyo, where Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) has taken a job caring for a dementia-riddled woman. Things go wrong and then get worse for our heroine and everyone around her. But in the end, even with all kinds of explanations, nothing much makes sense. (ES) Rated PG-13
The Incredibles -- This is a major departure from Finding Nemo and Toy Story in that all of the characters are humans. One of them, Mr. Incredible is a former superhero who was forced to retire and is now in insurance, but misses his old life. (ES) Rated PG
Kinsey -- Liam Neeson has the title role in this examination of the formative years and the specialized career of the researcher who checked out the sex lives of Americans in the 1950s. Kinsey, according to the script, along with his wife (Laura Linney) and associates, also did a little, you know, experimenting. But the film doesn't try to be titillating, it's just telling a story, and the story turns out to be kind of mundane. (ES) Rated R
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events -- At once bleak, sinister, comic and, above all, weirdly beautiful, imaginary author Lemony Snicket's tale of three resourceful orphans pitted against their evil distant relative, Count Olaf, resonates with real peril. While the plot does sometimes get lost, the three children playing the young Baudelaires inhabit their parts with a genuine, unaffected charm. Not for younger kids. (Sheri Boggs) Rated: PG
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou -- Wes Anderson's new film pays a visit to washed-up oceanographic filmmaker Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) as he embarks on an "Ahab-like" journey to get the shark that ate his best friend. Most of the film is set at sea, with strained relationships between Anderson's regular actors. (ES) Rated R
Meet the Fockers -- In Meet the Parents, Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) asks, "What sort of people name their son Gay M. Focker?" In this sequel, he finds out. In fact, the kind of people are Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand, and the Byrnes are off to meet the Fockers before their daughter marries Gay forever. Rated: PG-13
National Treasure -- An absurdly plotted story has a third-generation treasure hunter (Nicolas Cage) believing that he's finally closing in on some long-lost glittery spoils from thousands of years past. The only problem is the supposed final clue is on the back of the Declaration of Independence. (ES) Rated PG
Ocean's Twelve -- George Clooney, Brad Pitt and all the rest are back in a rousing follow-up to Ocean's Eleven that turns out to be a much looser romp through the now international heist scene. Told in convincing manner that they must return the $160 million they stole the first time around, they head for Europe and some bigger jobs. It's one of those rarities: a sequel better than the original. (ES) Rated PG-13
The Phantom Of The Opera -- The Andrew Lloyd Webber sensation gets a rousing cinematic treatment. It's hard to figure which will be more popular -- the usually bombastic, sometimes tender score, or the story of the masked man (Gerard Butler) who mentors, then falls for, the chorus girl (Emmy Rossum). Spectacular, lavish, well sung and more than a little campy. (ES) Rated PG-13
The Polar Express -- The popular Chris Van Allsburg book gets a dazzling animated style. Never mind that train to Hogwarts, the one that pulls up at a young boy's house on Christmas Eve is headed for the North Pole and a certain jolly fat man. Tom Hanks voices the conductor and four other parts. (ES) Rated G
Ray -- Jamie Foxx delivers a rich performance as musical legend Ray Charles. As one would expect, the music is great and the cast is exceptional. But in the end, this is Foxx's film. Far from an impersonation, his performance is a respectful and accurate tribute to the man, suffused with passion, love, and pain. (Chuck Koplinski) Rated: PG-13
Repo Man -- This cult classic stars young Emilio Estevez as L.A. punk Otto, who finds purpose as a repo man, specializing of course in cars that go really fast down abandoned waterways and defunct ditches. A trunkful of radioactive aliens can't hurt, either. (SB) Playing at the Garland at midnight on Friday and Saturday.
Sideways -- Miles (Paul Giamatti) and Jack (Thomas Haden Church) are two pals who go on a West Coast wine-tasting tour, just before Jack is to get married and Miles is to find out if his novel is being published. They both meet women on the road (Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh), and the film jumps back and forth between vibrant comedy and emotional distress. (ES) Rated R
Spanglish -- Adam Sandler plays it cool and calm as a chef and restaurateur married to a New Age, politically correct, babbling loony (Tea Leoni). Their lives take an interesting turn when they hire housekeeper and single mom Flora (Paz Vega), who has sneaked over the Mexican border with her daughter (Shelbie Bruce). The film's serious center is balanced by comic surroundings, and there's a sweetness to it all. (ES) Rated PG-13
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie -- The first 20 minutes of this movie are hilarious, but then it drags badly. SpongeBob and Patrick go on a spiritual journey to prove they are men -- and to keep Bikini Bottom provisioned with crabby patties. They're as funny as ever, but this is really Plankton's movie -- he's the Yosemite Sam of the modern cartoon era, and his plan for undersea domination is diabolica-licious. Rated: PG (Ted S. McGregor, Jr.)
White Noise -- The spirits who communicated through hissing TV screens in Poltergeist were a lot more convincing. Then again, nothing is even of slight interest in this boring ghost movie. Michael Keaton plays the bereaved husband of a woman who now supposedly talks to him via videotapes. Unfortunately, all Keaton does in the film is watch those tapes, endlessly, as must we. He's also, we're told by a frightened medium, meddling. But with what? It's "explained" in the last few "exciting" minutes. (ES) Rated PG-13
Publication date: 1/13/04
The Aviator -- Scorsese, DiCaprio, Hughes -- as in Howard -- are director, star and subject of this splendid mainstream look at three busy decades in the life of the industrialist, filmmaker and airplane nut. The script focuses on some of Hughes' quirks, but gives plenty of leeway for DiCaprio to show his acting chops. The power-packed cast includes Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn, Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner and Alan Alda as a nasty senator. (ES) Rated PG-13
Beyond the Sea -- Kevin Spacey gets into Bobby Darin mode in this biography of the chameleon-like '60s and '70s singer. It's a look at how Darin wanted to make it in show business from a very young age, how he did it and how he met and married film star Sandra Dee (Kate Bosworth). Spacey does all his own singing -- and does it well. Spacey also directed. (ES) Rated PG-13
Blade: Trinity -- Wesley Snipes still hunts vampires, but now he's joined by two compadres. Their mission is to help create a virus that will wipe out vampires. The film is violent and action-packed, but also very funny in both dialogue and offbeat plot devices. (ES) Rated R
Christmas with the Kranks -- The John Grisham novel Skipping Christmas transfers sloppily to the screen, spreading its holiday "joy" with a story of recent empty-nesters (Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis) who decide to forget about Christmas for one year to go on a cruise. (ES) Rated PG
Closer -- All the things you've thought and felt but never put into precise and profane language at the moment you're most wounded: That's the black heart of the scarring, scarily funny language of Patrick Marber's play. Earning their acting chops in a game of sexual musical chairs are brash dermatologist Clive Owen, self-pitying obits writer Jude Law, photographer Julia Roberts and unformed life force Natalie Portman. (RP) Rated: R
Fat Albert -- Bill Cosby, who created and did all the voices in the beloved 1970s animated TV series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, is largely responsible for Hollywood's latest assault on our beloved childhood memories. Here the big guy and his goofy friends literally step out of the animated past. Rated: PG-13
Finding Neverland -- A dramatic, yet kind of whimsical look at how J.M. Barrie (Johnny Depp) was inspired to write the play Peter Pan -- by meeting a widow (Kate Winslet) with four young boys who definitely could use a father figure. (ES) Rated PG
Flight of the Phoenix -- A remake of director Robert Aldrich's 1965 original, Flight of the Phoenix would be better if not for its abysmal use of pop music. The expertly filmed crash sequence is a high point that the movie never again achieves as a group of survivors attempt to escape from the desert. (Cole Smithey) Rated PG-13
The Grudge -- A ghost or a curse or some such does bad things to anyone who enters a serene house in Tokyo, where Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) has taken a job caring for a dementia-riddled woman. Things go wrong and then get worse for our heroine and everyone around her. But in the end, even with all kinds of explanations, nothing much makes sense. (ES) Rated PG-13
The Incredibles -- This is a major departure from Finding Nemo and Toy Story in that all of the characters are humans. One of them, Mr. Incredible is a former superhero who was forced to retire and is now in insurance, but misses his old life. (ES) Rated PG
Kinsey -- Liam Neeson has the title role in this examination of the formative years and the specialized career of the researcher who checked out the sex lives of Americans in the 1950s. Kinsey, according to the script, along with his wife (Laura Linney) and associates, also did a little, you know, experimenting. But the film doesn't try to be titillating, it's just telling a story, and the story turns out to be kind of mundane. (ES) Rated R
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events -- At once bleak, sinister, comic and, above all, weirdly beautiful, imaginary author Lemony Snicket's tale of three resourceful orphans pitted against their evil distant relative, Count Olaf, resonates with real peril. While the plot does sometimes get lost, the three children playing the young Baudelaires inhabit their parts with a genuine, unaffected charm. Not for younger kids. (Sheri Boggs) Rated: PG
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou -- Wes Anderson's new film pays a visit to washed-up oceanographic filmmaker Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) as he embarks on an "Ahab-like" journey to get the shark that ate his best friend. Most of the film is set at sea, with strained relationships between Anderson's regular actors. (ES) Rated R
Meet the Fockers -- In Meet the Parents, Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) asks, "What sort of people name their son Gay M. Focker?" In this sequel, he finds out. In fact, the kind of people are Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand, and the Byrnes are off to meet the Fockers before their daughter marries Gay forever. Rated: PG-13
National Treasure -- An absurdly plotted story has a third-generation treasure hunter (Nicolas Cage) believing that he's finally closing in on some long-lost glittery spoils from thousands of years past. The only problem is the supposed final clue is on the back of the Declaration of Independence. (ES) Rated PG
Ocean's Twelve -- George Clooney, Brad Pitt and all the rest are back in a rousing follow-up to Ocean's Eleven that turns out to be a much looser romp through the now international heist scene. Told in convincing manner that they must return the $160 million they stole the first time around, they head for Europe and some bigger jobs. It's one of those rarities: a sequel better than the original. (ES) Rated PG-13
The Phantom Of The Opera -- The Andrew Lloyd Webber sensation gets a rousing cinematic treatment. It's hard to figure which will be more popular -- the usually bombastic, sometimes tender score, or the story of the masked man (Gerard Butler) who mentors, then falls for, the chorus girl (Emmy Rossum). Spectacular, lavish, well sung and more than a little campy. (ES) Rated PG-13
The Polar Express -- The popular Chris Van Allsburg book gets a dazzling animated style. Never mind that train to Hogwarts, the one that pulls up at a young boy's house on Christmas Eve is headed for the North Pole and a certain jolly fat man. Tom Hanks voices the conductor and four other parts. (ES) Rated G
Ray -- Jamie Foxx delivers a rich performance as musical legend Ray Charles. As one would expect, the music is great and the cast is exceptional. But in the end, this is Foxx's film. Far from an impersonation, his performance is a respectful and accurate tribute to the man, suffused with passion, love, and pain. (Chuck Koplinski) Rated: PG-13
Repo Man -- This cult classic stars young Emilio Estevez as L.A. punk Otto, who finds purpose as a repo man, specializing of course in cars that go really fast down abandoned waterways and defunct ditches. A trunkful of radioactive aliens can't hurt, either. (SB) Playing at the Garland at midnight on Friday and Saturday.
Sideways -- Miles (Paul Giamatti) and Jack (Thomas Haden Church) are two pals who go on a West Coast wine-tasting tour, just before Jack is to get married and Miles is to find out if his novel is being published. They both meet women on the road (Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh), and the film jumps back and forth between vibrant comedy and emotional distress. (ES) Rated R
Spanglish -- Adam Sandler plays it cool and calm as a chef and restaurateur married to a New Age, politically correct, babbling loony (Tea Leoni). Their lives take an interesting turn when they hire housekeeper and single mom Flora (Paz Vega), who has sneaked over the Mexican border with her daughter (Shelbie Bruce). The film's serious center is balanced by comic surroundings, and there's a sweetness to it all. (ES) Rated PG-13
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie -- The first 20 minutes of this movie are hilarious, but then it drags badly. SpongeBob and Patrick go on a spiritual journey to prove they are men -- and to keep Bikini Bottom provisioned with crabby patties. They're as funny as ever, but this is really Plankton's movie -- he's the Yosemite Sam of the modern cartoon era, and his plan for undersea domination is diabolica-licious. Rated: PG (Ted S. McGregor, Jr.)
White Noise -- The spirits who communicated through hissing TV screens in Poltergeist were a lot more convincing. Then again, nothing is even of slight interest in this boring ghost movie. Michael Keaton plays the bereaved husband of a woman who now supposedly talks to him via videotapes. Unfortunately, all Keaton does in the film is watch those tapes, endlessly, as must we. He's also, we're told by a frightened medium, meddling. But with what? It's "explained" in the last few "exciting" minutes. (ES) Rated PG-13
Publication date: 1/13/04
