Movie Reviews

Terminator
3:Rise
of the Machines

Yes, Ah-nold is back as the Terminator. This third time around, Schwarzenegger
is a bit more willing to make fun of his character, which has become an indisputable
icon of our pop culture. The irony is aided by director Jonathan Mostow’s breezy
pacing, which plays up the laughs.

In Terminator 2, John Connor and his freedom fighters were only able
to push back Judgment Day, when all machines were programmed to take over the
world. The androids, still fuming, send a mean fighting machine back to the
year 2003 to kill young Connor (Nick Stahl) and anyone else destined to become
valuable members of his future resistance group.

The assassin is the T-X (Kristanna Loken), a leather-clad, liquid-metal construct
who identifies victims by tasting their blood–she has her own internal DNA database.
She is also, of course, nearly indestructible. Walking through fireballs and
getting hit by tractor trailers is just a day at the office for her. Another
model of the aging T-800 series of terminators (Schwarzenegger) is found by
the resistance, reprogrammed, and sent back to protect Connor. This all proves
more than a bit confusing for Ellen Brewster (Claire Danes), a young woman caught
in the crossfire with some unknown future connection to Connor.

All of the slam-bang sequences are creative and well-executed. One of them
surely qualifies as an all-time great. When Terminator 3 isn’t delivering
edge-of-your-seat thrills, it falls back on self-effacing humor. The sight of
a “Good Sam” sticker behind Schwarzenegger on a camper he commandeers is a hoot,
as are his deadpan responses to the most dire situations. Danes’ near-hysterical
response to all the chaos she stumbles into adds to the comic relief.

Though strong acting often isn’t the focus of action films, all of the performances
here are very good, with Schwarzenegger at his best when his character has a
crisis of conscience and wrestles with conflicting commands. The glimmer of
humanity he slips into this machine is poignant. Playing at Parkway Pointe,
Showplace.

(Running time 1:49, rated R)
Grade B

28 Days Later

According to the producers, director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) wanted
to “reinvent the zombie horror film.” What he really does is suck the life right
out of it (if there was any life left in it). This art film “twist” on a genre
staple takes itself far too seriously, with more than its fair share of axes
to grind about animal rights, the threat of manufactured biological contagions,
and man’s inhumanity to man.

The end of the world is brought on by a raging virus that wipes out London,
and presumably most of the world, after a group of militant animal right’s activists
free some infected chimps from a laboratory. Ingestion of one drop of infected
blood will do the trick: Twenty seconds later, you’re a flesh-eating zombie
prone to projectile vomiting. Jim (Cillian Murphy) comes out of a coma 28 days
after the chimp’s release and finds an eerie and empty London, haunted by the
undead and a few survivors. He runs into Selena (Naomie Harris), a tough-nosed
young woman who plans to survive no matter the cost. They team up with Frank
(Brendan Gleeson) and his daughter, Hannah (Megan Burns), who are heading to
the country after hearing radio messages from a military outpost that promises
shelter and a cure.

The trip proves too long. The action sequences are muddled and poorly shot.
While shooting on digital video does give the film an immediate, documentary-like
feel, Boyle simply can’t resist panning it back and forth, inducing whiplash
among the audience. His editing at a machine gun’s pace doesn’t help. As a result,
the zombie attacks are far more frustrating than horrifying. Playing at Parkway
Pointe.

(Running time 1:48, rated R)
Grade C

What
other critics are saying . . .
Edited by Imran Siddiquee

Anger Management A judge orders Adam Sandler to under go anger management
therapy led by eccentric counselor Jack Nicholson. “The concept is inspired.
The execution is lame.” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times) “You keep asking
yourself, ‘I could be laughing at this. So why aren’t I?’ ” (Stephanie Zacharek,
Salon.com) Esquire

Bruce Almighty Jim Carrey is granted sovereignty over his hometown
by God. “A smart, surprisingly thought-through blockbuster, with a decent grasp
of the theological implications of its idea. . . . It’s a subtle societal critique
that it never occurs to Bruce to think of others.” (Nev Pierce, BBCi) “A fable
overwhelmed by special effects and outsized spectacle.” (Kevin Thomas, Los
Angeles Times) Parkway Pointe

Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle The crime-fighting trio returns. “One
of the most exhausting good-time movies ever made. As insistent as it is skillful–and
it is very skillful–it does all it can to pound you into enjoying yourself.”
(Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times) “Angels is so much like a feature-length
cartoon that you may find yourself sitting through the end credits waiting to
see who provided the voices for the, if you’ll pardon the expression, characters.”
(Elvis Mitchell, New York Times) Chuck’s grade: F. White Oaks, Showplace

Creature From the Black Lagoon In this 1954 horror classic–now showing
in 3D–scientists capture a human-fish monster in the Amazon. The creature escapes,
but not without kidnapping one of the researchers it has fallen in love with.
Rt. 66 Drive-in.

Dumb and Dumberer Enough said. Chuck’s grade: D-. Esquire

Finding Nemo Animated underwater tale. “An upbeat, sentimental
fable about a fearful father fish and a rebellious son who recklessly breaks
away from the school. . . Visual imagination and sophisticated wit raise Finding
Nemo to a level just below the peaks of Pixar’s ‘Toy Story’ movies.” (Stephen
Holden, New York Times) “It’s all beautiful, all right. But before long
I began to feel beaten against the rocks of that beauty–Finding Nemo
smacks of looky-what-I-can-do virtuosity, and after the first 10 minutes or
so, it’s exhausting.” (Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com) Chuck’s grade: A. White
Oaks, Showplace

Holes Juvenile delinquents are forced to dig holes at a detention facility.
Based on Louis Sachar’s 1998 novel, a winner of the Newbery Medal and a National
Book Award. “One of the few recent movies I have seen that plunged me into that
rare, giddy state of pleasurable confusion, of not knowing what would happen
next.” (A.O. Scott, New York Times) “Brims with storytelling flourishes
and gently deployed life lessons that even accompanying adults may dig.” (Ed
Park, Village Voice) Chuck’s grade: B. Esquire

The Hulk Whenever scientist Bruce Banner gets angry, he turns into
the title’s green monster. “The most talkative and thoughtful recent comic book
adaptation. . . . The movie brings up issues about genetic experimentation,
the misuse of scientific research and our instinctive dislike of misfits, and
actually talks about them. . . . [Director] Ang Lee (The Ice Storm) has
boldly taken the broad outlines of a comic book story and transformed them to
his own purposes; this is a comic book movie for people who wouldn’t be caught
dead at a comic book movie.” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times) “Will somebody
please get Ang Lee away from popular culture. . . . He’s a pedestrian storyteller
with no feel for . . . pop entertainment. . . . At last, a comic-book movie
that National Public Radio listeners can be proud to take their kids to see.”
(Charles Taylor, Salon.com) Chuck’s grade: B+. Parkway Pointe, Showplace

The Italian Job Remake of 1969 caper movie. “This is a snazzy piece
of filmmaking: fluid but wittily syncopated; stylish without appearing to expend
undue effort.” (David Edelstein, Slate) “Don’t expect much more . . . than a
pleasant workout.” (David Denby, The New Yorker) Showplace

The Matrix: Reloaded Reality against computer simulations in a future
world. “What the film lacks, among other things, is anything truly human.
The planed, pristine features of Keanu Reeves seem as computer-generated as
the creatures he fights.” (Phillip French, The Observer) “A relentless
love of movies, junk-food mythology, and thoughtful reimagining of a future
endangered by mass consumption . . . makes for a heady and unusual mix.” (Elvis
Mitchell, New York Times) Chuck’s grade: C. Route 66 Drive-in

X2: X-MenUnited “The movie is in a different league from the
standard Hollywood comic-book blockbuster. It’s never as simple as good versus
evil: The three male titans–X, Magneto, and Stryker–are each convinced his way
is right, and Singer turns the movie into an epic chess match.” (David Edelstein,
Slate) “Stuffed with esoteric detail for the sake of pleasing fans of the Marvel
Comics series, the movie is over plotted, a soulless maze of special effects
and relentless action.” (Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle) Esquire

This article appears in Jul 3-9, 2003.