LEE GETS TRAPPED BY HIS OWN TRICKS IN “BAMBOOZLED”
Bamboozle: 1. to trick or deceive somebody through misleading statements or falsehoods. 2. to make somebody confused. Resorting to dictionary definitions to jump-start a work is usually a desperate technique employed in freshman composition. Nevertheless, Spike Lee’s latest comedy “Bamboozled” starts off by defining the meanings of satire. That clunky…
“DRUNKEN MASTER” STOCKED WITH PLENTY OF TALENT, ACTION
Jackie Chan still has the moves. Well, at least he had the moves six years ago, when “Legend of Drunken Master” originally premiered as “Drunken Master II.” The “II” isn’t strictly a sequel, but rather pays homage to the 1979 movie that made Chan famous. The “master” refers to Wong…
ULTIMATELY, SUPERNATURAL” SOULS” LOSES ITS WAY
What do you do when Rosemary’s baby has grown up? That is the question that faces Winona Ryder and ultimately Ben Chaplin as Satan’s vessel in the supernatural thriller “Lost Souls.” Ryder plays Maya Larkin, whose own possession and resulting Catholic faith has landed her a job as a Catholic…
MOVIE THEATER OUTRAGES AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH, ER, LOW
CELL PHONES RINGING. Running commentary or full-on social discourse totally irrelevant to what’s on the screen. Exit doors opening and staying open way before the credits. And this is just during the 9:15 p.m. showing. Truly, though, one of the signs of the Apocalypse must be when a mother brings…
MONSTER MOVIE HAS LOTS OF OLD-FASHIONED HORROR
“Jeepers, creepers, where’d ya get them peepers? Jeepers, creepers, where’d ya get those eyes?” In our slasher-saturated age of moviemaking, “Jeepers Creepers” seems like the corniest title that ever cried out box-office suicide. Bopping little ditty as it may have been in its 33 rpm days, the song wouldn’t spur…
SO MANY FEMALE VICTIMS, BUT WHY SO FEW HEROINES?
IT’S A STRANGE QUESTION to ponder while standing in front of a movie theater on a Friday night: If a movie shows violence against a woman, is it good violence? “Good,” of course, isn’t quite the right word. Neither is “necessary,” or “justifiable.” The question comes up because one of…
DON’T BE SCARED: “COYOTE” IS “TOP GUN” WITH CHICKS
MISS KITTY AND her bar-gal posse have finally taken over the saloon. Now, the critics have dismissed “Coyote Ugly” as a 101-minute Miller Lite commercial. They mutter something about idiot plots, marshmallow dialogue and inane predictability. Well, of course. Yet in its defense, the movie simply follows in the Jerry…
BATHROOM TISSUE MAY BE KEY TO HIGHER TV RATINGS
If you want to make “Big Brother” interesting, ration the toilet paper. The public verdict on CBS’ latest laboratory experiment is that it’s tedious. The reasoning, popular punditry goes, is that reality is boring. I disagree. The flaw was thinking that cramming 10 people into a two-bedroom apartment would inevitably…
ALL’S FAIR WITH CLAY FOWL FLICK
For old-fashioned lovers of claymation, “Chicken Run” is 85 minutes of exquisite artistry. The visual effects are both breathtakingly beautiful and hysterically comical. While computer animation is gradually approaching reality’s textured nuances, claymation still has that rough, reach-out-and-touch naturalism. The movie, which is about a henhouse in revolt, is really…
IT’S “NOON”: COME AND GET IT!; CHAN’S LATEST FITS RIGHT INTO HIS REPERTOIRE OF FUN, ACTION-FILLED FLICKS
I was so afraid. I sat cowering in front of the screen, dreading what would come. After all, I have watched Jackie Chan on screen for more than 20 years, and I have regarded with dismay his Hollywood assimilation process, from the poor marketing of his better rereleases to –…