Oscar-winning turn on screens here<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Naughty angels, newborn psychics and gender
\nconfusion fills up our movie theaters. The following reviews and
\ngrades are by Rayya Makarim (RM), Oren Murphy (OM) and Tam
\nNotosusanto (TN).<\/p>\n
American Beauty. Dark comedy, 120 minutes; starring Kevin
\nSpacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Chris Cooper and Peter
\nGallagher. Directed by Sam Mendes.<\/p>\n
Forty-two-year-old Lester Burnham is having a mid-life crisis.
\nHe hates his job, his wife can't stand him and his teenage
\ndaughter Janey thinks he is a loser. Feeling comatose for years,
\nLester undergoes a radical life change when he meets Janey's
\ncheerleader friend Angela. This story about dysfunctional
\nfamilies in demented suburbia is a perfect blend of powerful
\ndrama and black comedy. The characters are expertly developed,
\nand the acting is superb. Graded A (RM)<\/p>\n
Boys Don't Cry. Drama, 118 minutes; starring Hilary Swank,
\nChloe Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard and Jeanetta Arnette. Directed by
\nKimberly Peirce.<\/p>\n
It is a misguided assumption that Swank easily won an Oscar
\nthanks to her gender-bending role. She practically slips under
\nthe skin of Brandon Teena, the real-life Nebraskan youngster who
\nsuccessfully convinces everybody, including herself, that she is
\na man. When her object of desire (Sevigny) falls for her, Teena
\nbecomes even more steadfast in denying her actual identity and
\nfollows her impulses instead, all the way to her tragic end.
\nDirector\/cowriter Peirce manages to mold this fact-based story
\ninto a powerful human drama, even though we wish she had gone
\ndeeper into Teena's soul. Graded B+ (TN)<\/p>\n
The Beach. Drama, 119 minutes; starring Leonardo DiCaprio,
\nVirginie Ledoyen, Tilda Swinton and Robert Carlyle. Directed by
\nDanny Boyle.<\/p>\n
A young American backpacker, Richard (DiCaprio), heads to
\nThailand and hears of a mysterious beach undiscovered by the
\nparasitic hoards of other tourists. He finds it and also
\ndiscovers the cost of the pursuit of unadulterated pleasure.
\nBoyle frequently diverges from Alex Garland's original storyline,
\nbut remains true to many of its themes. The film lacks the book's
\nwit and freshness, but is worth a watch anyway. Graded B (OM)<\/p>\n
The Green Mile. Supernatural fable\/ Prison drama, 185 minutes;
\nstarring Tom Hanks, David Morse, James Cromwell, Michael Clarke
\nDuncan and Bonnie Hunt. Written and directed by Frank Darabont.<\/p>\n
Darabont's Oscar-nominated second attempt to adapt a Stephen
\nKing prison story has Hanks leading a group of Depression-era
\ndeath row prison guards whose new inmate is a retarded, towering
\nblack man (Duncan). It turns out this gentle giant has miraculous
\nhealing powers which some of them get a chance to benefit from.
\nBut nobody can seem to help him avoid the electric chair. Aside
\nfrom some ghastly execution scenes, this is a poignant story with
\nsome biblical resonance which is bolstered by a first-rate cast
\nthat includes a lovable, scene-stealing mouse. Graded B (TN)<\/p>\n
The Insider. Drama, 160 minutes; starring Al Pacino, Russell
\nCrowe, Diane Venora and Christopher Plummer. Directed by Michael
\nMann.<\/p>\n
Tobacco company whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand (Crowe) teams up
\nwith CBS newsman Lowell Bergman (Pacino) to uncover the dishonest
\nschemes of the tobacco industry. Not only are they hurdled by the
\nbig, bad conglomerates, but also by the 60 Minutes news show
\nproducers who suddenly freak out and refuse to air Wigand's
\ninterview. Miami Vice's Mann presents a riveting retelling of
\nthis true account, while Wigand's descent into near madness as
\nhis life unravels is beautifully evoked by Crowe's subtle, Oscar-
\nnominated performance. Graded B+ (TN)<\/p>\n
The Prophecy II. Action-fantasy, 85 minutes; starring
\nChristopher Walken, Russell Wong, Jennifer Beals and Eric
\nRoberts. Directed by Greg Spence.<\/p>\n
Imagine angels going really, really bad. This silly movie has
\nWalken playing archangel Gabriel, who is overcome with worldly
\ndesires and has formed a band of renegade angels to battle the
\nones loyal to their Creator.<\/p>\n
Now one of the good angels has impregnated a female human
\nbeing (Beals) because their baby is believed to be the one who
\nwill put an end to the war. And Gabriel is out looking for this
\nwoman. All heaven breaks loose. Graded C- (TN)<\/p>\n
Stir of Echoes. Supernatural thriller, 99 minutes; starring
\nKevin Bacon, Kathryn Erbe, Kevin Dunn and Illeana Douglas.
\nWritten and directed by David Koepp.<\/p>\n
Completing Hollywood's 1999 trilogy of supernatural flicks,
\nthis movie is clearly riding on The Sixth Sense's coattails with
\nits wide-eyed tyke who communicates with dead people. Only here
\nthe boy's father (Bacon), who recently acquires the gift himself
\nthanks to a hypnosis session joins in the effort to decipher the
\nmessages of a teenage girl's ghost. Koepp's haunting visuals keep
\nus thrilled throughout the film. But it all eventually leads to
\nthe unearthing of a predictable, unexciting murder secret.
\nGraded C+ (TN)<\/p>\n
Very Bad Things. Comedy\/thriller,100 min; starring Christian
\nSlater, Cameron Diaz, Jon Favreau, Daniel Stern and Jeanne
\nTripplehorn. Directed by Peter Berg.<\/p>\n
A bachelor party in a Vegas hotel, complete with drugs,
\nalcohol, gambling and sex, goes terribly wrong when a prostitute
\nis accidentally killed while having wild sex. The cover-up,
\nplanned by the five friends, gets increasingly complicated as the
\nbodies start piling up. This nonsensical film with over-the-edge
\ncharacters has some good film editing with some great music-video
\nmoments, but that's not enough to make us feel for any of the
\ncharacters. They are created merely as devices to further the
\nwarped plot. Graded B- (RM)<\/p>",
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