Hoolywood's 'Afterglow', locally made 'Sri' worth a look

Hoolywood's 'Afterglow', locally made 'Sri' worth a look

JAKARTA (JP): What makes a good film? We wish not to answer
this age-old question. Rather, we would like to use our very
subjective evaluations of the films that are running at the local
cinemas to help our readers make that difficult decision at the
ticket box. Each week, we will briefly describe the films, and,
in lieu of the universally-overused star system, we will grade
them, to indicate those movies we like and others we simply can't
stand. From A to D (we hope no movie should ever force us to
dispense an F), the grades for this week's edition are given by
screenwriter Rayya Makarim (RK) and film reviewer Tam Notosusanto
(TN). The films, in alphabetical order, are:

Afterglow. Adult drama; starring Nick Nolte, Julie Christie,
Jonny Lee Miller and Lara Flynn Boyle. Written and directed by
Alan Rudolph.

Rudolph's tragicomic cross-generational romance follows a
young, lonely housewife (Boyle) who has an affair with a middle-
aged repairman (Nolte) while her indifferent, yuppie husband
(Miller) unknowingly begins a fling with the handyman's elegiac
wife (Christie). The film is bolstered by a marvelous cast,
particularly Christie, in her Academy Award-nominated
performance. (Graded B+ by TN.)

Entrapment. Action; starring Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta-
Jones, Ving Rhames and Will Patton. Directed by Jon Amiel.

Aging master thief Connery goes on a series of heists
accompanied by beautiful insurance investigator Zeta-Jones, who
goes undercover to entrap him. From New York to London to Kuala
Lumpur, this movie is a spectacle of breathtaking stunts, exotic
locations and the May-December romance between the two leads.
It's glamorous and sometimes thrilling, but not much else.
(Graded B- by TN.)

Forces of Nature. Romantic comedy; starring Sandra Bullock,
Ben Affleck, Maura Tierney, Blythe Danner, Ronny Cox. Directed by
Bronwen Hughes.

New Yorker Affleck has to go to Savannah, Georgia, to get
married, but a lot of things stand in the way: a canceled flight,
doomed car trips, very bad weather, and a wildly eccentric,
attractive woman (Bullock). It's only a matter of time before the
two go from being an odd couple to inseparable traveling
companions. (Graded B- by TN.)

Idle Hands. Horror-comedy; starring Devon Sawa, Seth Green,
Elden Henson, Jessica Alba and Vivica A. Fox. Directed by Rodman
Flender.

A dopey, pot-smoking teenager (Sawa) gets into a Jekyll-and-
Hyde situation when his right hand, possessed by evil spirits,
goes on a murder spree. Oliver Stone did something similar called
The Hand a couple of decades back, but at least that one does not
show people getting dismembered, decapitated and mutilated in
more ways than you can imagine, and then manipulate the audience
into laughing at it all. (Graded D by TN).

King Cobra. Sci-fi horror; starring Pat Morita, Scott Brandon,
Kasey Fallo, Hoyt Axton and Erik Estrada. Directed by David
Hillenbrand and Scott Hillenbrand.

We've probably had enough of snake movies already. But this
old-fashioned movie about a giant mutant snake terrorizing Small
town, USA, is quite scary and suspenseful, and never schlocky.
Between scenes of humans falling prey to the humongous reptile,
snake expert Morita gives worldly wise lectures on cobras, rat
tlers and all creeping animals alike. (Graded B- by TN.)

The Mummy. Adventure; starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz,
John Hannah and Arnold Vosloo. Directed by Stephen Sommers.

Don't expect to be frightened by the state-of-the-art com
puter-generated mummy, because this glossier, noisier redoing of
the 1932 horror classic never has the intention to go there.
This movie is more a Raiders of the Lost Ark wannabe, but without
the wit, the thrill and the classy style that have engaged
Indiana Jones fans around the world. (Graded C by TN.)

Never Been Kissed. Comedy; starring Drew Barrymore, David
Arquette, Michael Vartan and Leelee Sobieski. Directed by Raja
Gosnell.

Lovable, plump-faced Barrymore had a horrendous time in high
school. And she goes through that whole experience again when the
newspaper she works for assigns her to blend in with teenagers to
do a story on high school life. Perfect, now she can realize her
dream of being a reporter, and at the same time get another shot
at becoming a hip high school student. As if the plot is not
shallow and brainless enough, her loser brother Arquette joins
her, passing himself off as a student so he can work his way to
becoming the school's star quarterback. (Graded C by TN).

Sri. Drama; starring Rina Ariyanti, Sardono W. Kusumo and
Niniek L. Karim. Written and directed by Marselli Sumarno.

A slow-paced drama about a woman who bargains for her
husband's time on Earth through pliant negotiations with the god
of death. The strong storyline helps prop up the film as a whole.
However, details are sometimes unmotivated and ineffective.
Overall, a decent film worth seeing. (Graded B by RM).

Thick As Thieves. Caper movie; starring Alec Baldwin, Andre
Braugher and Michael Jai White. Directed by Scott Sanders.

A caper comedy much in the style of Pulp Fiction or Lock,
Stock and Two Smoking Barrels without the wit, humor and unpre
dictability. Baldwin as The Thief is more noticeable for his
pursed lips than his inconsequential role. Boring. (Graded C by
RM).