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Following are capsules and ratings for past movies starting with the letters M-Z. You can also post your own movie reviews for other Sussex Countians to read on our Movies Forum or view movie review archives for letters A-L or see reviews for the latest releases.
Ratings System:
The Mexican As Jerry, Brad Pitt is a goof-up sent by his criminal boss (Bob Balaban) to Mexico to get a priceless pistol - "The Mexican." He arrives in a torpid Mexican town populated by the usual cliches. Meanwhile, angry Samantha (Julia Roberts), upset by Jerry's work and his inability to serve her inner empowerment, lams off to Vegas to become a waitress and croupier. They stay in touch, though, as a hit man nabs her in order to get to Jerry and the pistol. James Gandolfini is a lonely but tough, shyly gay killer who can talk about searching and love with Samantha. This is too corny to be romantic, and the attempt at weight is a burden for a story that just needs to ramble and rollick. "The Mexican" is diverting but tiresome, an entertainment that doesn't seem to quite know its mind. Cast: Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini, Bob Balaban, J.K. Simmons. Running time: Two hours. (Elliott) Rated R. 2 stars. MonkeyboneNice start, then a flat fall into budget baloney and nonsense. Kaja Blackley's 'toon novel has been filmed in free style by Henry Selick, but without the sustaining, velvety charm of his (and Tim Burton's) "Nightmare Before Christmas." Brendan Fraser is the amiable cartoonist tossed into a cute purgatory, then back to Earth for revival as a loud jerk. The crotch humor and organ-donor material are rather crude, but kids 8 and above may enjoy the crazed energy. Bridget Fonda has the grace to look dazed. 1 hr., 27 mins. (Elliott). Rated PG-13. 2 stars. Moulin RougeDirector Baz Luhrmann must have had about 12 minutes of script for a 126-minute movie. He joined a feeble reduction of the Orpheus myth to his fetid memory of "Camille," then hurled in overworked devices of Ken Russell, Leos Carax, Busby Berkeley, Michael Powell, Terry Gilliam, Tim Burton, Vincente Minnelli, Jean-Jacques Beneix and countless MTV "edge" hacks. The plot is paltry. The writer Christian (Ewan McGregor) comes to Paris in 1899. Though unknown, he soon devises a spectacle about love and destiny for the jaded Moulin Rouge and its star "courtesan," Satine (Nicole Kidman). His rival is the prissy Duke of Worcester (Richard Roxburgh). There is nothing powering this corny machine but the fevered desire to put on a show. The only way to be romantic in the Luhrmann way, to get buzzed like Baz, is to get a lobotomy. His movie provides one. Cast: Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo, Jim Broadbent, Richard Roxburgh. Running time: 2 hrs., 6 mins. (Elliott) Rated PG-13. 1 star. The Mummy ReturnsBrendan Fraser is back in action as adventurer Rick O'Connell. "Fearless Egyptologist" Evelyn would be saucy-lipped Rachel Weisz. An incestuous and immortal Egyptian princess is dagger-eyed Patricia Velazquez, and Arnold Vosloo is again her lover, the bald creep with the big heart. We have frenzied beetles and hissing, skeletal bush pygmies ravenous for blood. We have a whole happy hour for grisly arm-chewing and decapitations, digital floods and frenzied chases on horse, bus and balloon. "The Mummy Returns" is too intense for kids under 8 or 9. In a world of more taste - remember adulthood? -- it would be too intense for us all. Cast: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Freddie Boath, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, The Rock. Running time: 1 hr. 54 min. (Elliott) Rated PG-13. 2 stars. O Brother, Where Art Thou?Contrived and filmed with their familiar snappy impudence and "insider" twitchiness by the Coen brothers (Joel, Ethan), this tale of '30s Dixie chain gang escapees and an Al Capp-y cast of rubes is supposedly based on Homer ("The Odyssey"), but the spirit is all Homer and Jethro plus nibbles of "Blaze," "Sullivan's Travels," "Wild River," "Baby Doll," Ma and Pa Kettle, WPA Depression photos, etc. George Clooney over-greases his pomaded sportin' life, yet often amusingly, with Tim Blake Nelson and unfailing John Turturro more spiffily incised in their yawps, japes, gulps and hollers. There is heavy stuff with weighty John Goodman and Charles Durning, and an elaborate Klux rally that is Busby Berkeley meets Leni Riefenstahl at Aryan Power World. The soundtrack of old country faves and yearning gospel tunes is the key performer and mood-sustainer. 104 minutes. (Elliott). Rated PG-13. 2 1/2 stars. One Night at McCool'sMcCool's is the dive bar where Randy (Matt Dillon) makes a menial living as a bartender. Randy is closing up shop when a scummy guy pushes his girlfriend out of his scummy car and drives away. The girl is Jewel (Liv Tyler), a vision. Being a red-blooded, horny guy, Randy takes her home, and before he knows it, he has had wild sex and been implicated in an unfortunate crime. On that same night at McCool's, she bewitches Randy's cousin Carl (Paul Reiser) and Detective Dehling (John Goodman), the gumshoe who comes to investigate Randy's supposed crime. Michael Douglas co-produced this thing, and he has a high old time playing a low-rent thug. But as the surprisingly violent climax unfolds before him, he has the courtesy to look at least slightly stunned. If you stick around McCool's until closing time, you'll know exactly how he feels. Cast: Liv Tyler, Matt Dillon, John Goodman, Paul Reiser, Michael Douglas. Running time: 1 hr., 33 minutes. (Peterson) Rated R. 1 1/2 stars. The Pledge"THE PLEDGE" stars Jack Nicholson as the retiring homicide detective Jerry Black, who exits his farewell party to work on the new case of a murdered girl. Black moves into a town in the mountains around Reno, having sleuthed the likely nearness of the serial killer of girls. Black takes up with a woman (Robin Wright Penn) who has been battered, and whose sunny daughter seems almost oblivious to the crisis. He and the child develop an adorable relationship, but Black is working a double game - sheltering an impromptu family in his retirement, but also using the kid as bait to catch the killer. "The Pledge" is more than a thriller. If the suspense plot is rather coy and prolonged, the film has enough brooding subtlety to compel attention. A case could be made that it is essentially an acting exhibit, from a directing actor. Cast: Jack Nicholson, Helen Mirren, Vanessa Redgrave, Sam Shepard, Aaron Eckhart, Harry Dean Stanton, Robin Wright Penn, Lois Smith. Running time: 2 hours, 4 minutes. (Elliott) Rated R. 3 stars. Recess: School's OutThe former principal of Third Street School is Benedict (voiced by James Woods), a '60s flower-power prophet, who no sooner gained real power than he became an absurdly preening tyrant. Now Benedict, his love beads long gone, has returned after decades to kidnap Principal Prickley (Dabney Coleman). Benedict's team of goons and techies, a sort of Science Fair gone berserk, houses a laser weapon in the school; they plan to knock the moon off orbit, thus eliminating summer and, ipso facto, summer vacation. Only plucky mischief maker T.J. Detweiler and his gang can observe and derail the insane enterprise. This is a cute show, no more, but we know how easy it is to get less. "Recess: School's Out" should please kidniks (up to age 10 or so). Running time: 1 hr., 24 mins. (Elliott) Rated G. 2 1/2 stars. Saving SilvermanAbout the best I can say for "Saving Silverman" is that it passes quickly - perhaps too quickly, if you're a Neil Diamond fan. Darren Silverman, a Diamond fan, is played by Jason Biggs of "American Pie." He is cute and boyishly nerdy. His best pals are Wayne (Steve Zahn, cute and goof-nerdy) and J.D. (Jack Black, cute and fat-nerdy). Into Darren's life, like a female Wehrmacht on the loose, comes lean, buff, aggressively unpleasant Judy (oops, sorry, "That's Judith"). She (Amanda Peet) is a nightmare of modern "go, girl" empowerment. To his rescue come hapless J.D. and Wayne. They kidnap Judith, creating a bondage situation that might be bold if the movie had any wit. Cast: Jason Biggs, Steve Zahn, Jack Black, Neil Diamond, Amanda Peet, R. Lee Ermey, Amanda Detmer. Running time: 93 minutes. (Elliott) Rated PG-13. 1 1/2 stars. Say It Isn't SoHeather Graham stars as Jo, a haircutter of whopping ineptitude, but she's so girlish, giddy and glowing that men line up to be scalped. Most infatuated is Gilly, a dog-pound worker. Chris Klein, who plays him, is remarkably virginal and vanilla, so callow that, by comparison, Brendan Fraser is Lee Marvin. Gilly and Jo fall in love, have sex, then discover they are apparently siblings, long separated. They, in fact, aren't related, but the belief allows Gilly to be savaged with incest guffaws by idiots, and Jo to run away and marry a rich jerk she doesn't like, to please her shrill, grotesque mother. The best way to say it isn't so is: Don't go. Cast: Heather Graham, Orlando Jones, Sally Field, Chris Klein, Richard Jenkins. Running time: 1 hr. 33 mins. (Elliott) Rated R. No stars. See Spot RunA mutt of a comedy about a kid (pudgy-nice Angus Jones) who loosens up thanks to a slobby mailman (David Arquette) and a fierce, but needy dog. The gags make the Three Stooges seem like a lost Atlantis of wit, and Arquette does a painfully obvious merger of Adam Sandler and Jeff Daniels. But young viewers may like all the physical nonsense about dumb mobsters, flatulence and gigantic Michael Clarke Duncan. 90 minutes. (Elliott). Rated PG. 2 stars. Snatch"SNATCH" is loathsome in an unusually cheeky way. A sort of catalog of London gangsters and macho maniacs, plus some Yanks like Dennis Farina and a tossed salad of ethnic types, "Snatch" seems to be a comedy about the gratuitous delight of murder. There is a big, stolen diamond. But the plot is just an explosion of goofs, a chance for the actors to pile in for close-ups that are scissored by frantic editing, and to speak the F-word in so many varieties of accent that Henry Higgins would have despaired at sorting them out. There are many murders. I think "Snatch" is, apart from a few clever shots and cheap chuckles, worthless. The spirit of the movie is drop-dead. It's like watching Damon Runyon eviscerated by a gang of pub-crawling nihilists. Cast: Brad Pitt, Jason Flemyng, Benicio Del Toro, Robbie Gee, Alan Ford, Dennis Farina, Vinnie Jones. Running time: 106 minutes. (Elliott) Rated R. No stars. Someone Like YouAshley Judd, as New York TV-show guest recruiter Jane Goodale, works for power interviewer and gotcha-gal Diane Roberts, who dreams of getting Fidel Castro on her show. Jane's cohorts at the TV office are flip hunk Eddie (Hugh Jackman) and the new smoothie on board, Ray (Greg Kinnear). Jane soon lures Ray from a beached relationship into what seems like the Real One. But anyone who has seen Kinnear in movies knows he is the man who suddenly turns from meat to mud. Jane is wounded. And, using an assumed identity, Jane becomes a covert, but instantly renowned expert, hawking pop-psych about men as "boy cows," incapable of loyalty to a single female bovine. One moment fairly well sums up "Someone Like You." With immaculate cuteness, the heroine blows the dust off her birth-control device. It's everything Margaret Sanger dreamed that modern women could become. Cast: Ashley Judd, Greg Kinnear, Hugh Jackman, Marisa Tomei, Ellen Barkin. Running time: 1 hour, 33 minutes. (Elliott) Rated PG-13. 1 star. Spy KidsEnergized, silly, Pee-wee styled romp with a strong Hispanic spin from some of the settings, director Robert Rodriguez, star Antonio Banderas, support actors Alexa Vega, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo (using his patented ugliness amiably, rather than viciously). Carla Gugino, Teri Hatcher, Alan Cumming, Tony Shalhoub are also caught in the manic moves of espionage parents and spy kids, a goofy villain, creatures, droid kids and "inside" jokes like the name Gregorio Cortez. The lack of substance is what saves it. 1 hr., 23 mins. (Elliott). Rated PG. 2 1/2 stars. Sugar & SpiceYet another broad high-school comedy targeted at that broad high-school market. It sizzles for a few seconds here, half a scene there, but there's an amateur-night feel. Lead cheerleader Diane (Marley Shelton) finds herself pregnant and broke, so she and her gal-pals plan to knock over a supermarket bank. The idea is kind of edgy; it'd be interesting to see an early draft of the screenplay, before the truly screwy stuff was snipped out and the lowbrow gags pasted in. What's left is smothered by director Francine McDougall's stultifying non-style and the frequent (and apparently essential) moments of gross-out humor. 1 hour, 15 minutes. (Salm) Rated PG-13. 1 1/2 stars. Sweet NovemberKeanu Reeves is Nelson, a yuppie ad-biz maniac in San Francisco. Theron is the gorgeous rainbow of spirited whimsy, Sara, who is also dying. And so she offers herself to Nelson on his lousiest day of yupster power mania, after he's made one of the worst ad pitches you'll ever see. "Sweet November" becomes a feeble fable of La Nouveau San Fran. Songs trickle in, spinning the slush, rounding off performances that already have no edge. Theron is luscious and vacant, Reeves is hunky and vacant. Kurt Voelker's script is vaporously vacant, and the movie seems vacuum-packed in taffy, toffee and treacle. Cast: Keanu Reeves, Charlize Theron, Jason Issacs, Frank Langella, Greg Germann. Running time: 1 hr., 54 mins. (Salm) Rated PG-13. 1 star. The Tailor of PanamaJohn Boorman's slop-around thriller from a John Le Carre story, about a tailor with pretensions (Geoffrey Rush), a cynical Brit agent (Pierce Brosnan) pulling a ridiculous scam, and various trivialized women (Jamie Lee Curtis as Rush's wife, excited by Brosnan, might as well be lawn furniture). It tries for arch, briskly jaded humor, but the rotted tropical allure of the settings and some winks of cleverness don't save it from being a tired, flapdoodle reduction of the greater charms of the old espionage lark "Our Man in Havana." 1 hr., 47 mins. (Ellliot). Rated R. 1 1/2 stars. 3,000 Miles to GracelandFor a while, this seems like a funny, spinning guy party, an update of "Ocean's 11" jammed with Elvis impersonators and Chuck Norris wannabes. The Vegas casino heist is the payoff, but it's early. Then we get the long stretch-out, as sullen psycho Kevin Costner and past Elvis master Kurt Russell chase each other through a breathlessly fake plot that involves a gamey lady, a lippy kid, loads of cash and trigger-crazed cops and crooks. The budget preens inanely, and director Demian Lichtenstein straps on old MTV touches for dear life - deadly. 2 hrs., 5 mins. (Elliott) Rated R. 2 stars. Town & CountryAn amusing, silly-adult spin on the old screwball comedy carousel, about rich, faithless but essentially loving and even lovable New Yorkers. Warren Beatty, Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton, Garry Shandling as the fly-apart couples are all expert. Fine backing by Andie MacDowell, Jenna Elfman, Marian Seldes, Charlton Heston (gleefully spoofing his NRA gun-god image). England's Peter Chelsom directed with alert verve if too much upscale tourism, and the airblown, but witty script is by old pros Buck Henry and Michael Laughlin. This blithe goof-around is hip in a relaxed way. 1 hr. 44 min. (Elliott). Rated R. 3 stars. TrafficA road jam of jumpy ideas and plot loops, Steven Soderbergh's film about the many sides of the illicit drug "war" in its official, criminal and family dimensions is kept going by a strong cast that includes Michael Douglas, Luis Valdez, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Don Cheadle, Tomas Milian, a reptilian Miguel Ferrer and the commandingly sullen and pensive Benicio Del Toro (his best role). The abrasive lines and set-ups are often fascinating, with savvy use of San Diego, though Tijuana is patronizingly seen as a yellow, almost toxic cesspool. Despite all the scrappy moves, the final feeling is futility. 147 minutes. (Elliott). Rated R. 2 1/2 stars. ValentineSlasher flick. Five gal pals, among them Kate (Marley Shelton) and Paige (Denise Richards), are still in touch 10 years after they severely dissed a severely geeky boy at a Valentine's Day dance in junior high. Now they're being gruesomely murdered. Bet you've never seen this one: The masked homicidal maniac slams down the cover of a hot tub, trapping the beautiful bikini-clad victim, and dispatches her with a two-foot-long power drill. If anything just has to count as imaginative filmmaking here, why, that power-drill business gets the nod over the hatchet in the back and the standing shards of jagged glass across which one damsel has her head ceremoniously slammed. 90 minutes. (Salm) Rated R. 1 star. The Wedding PlannerCan supremely proficient wedding planner Mary (Jennifer Lopez) win the fetchingly hunky yet rather squirmy Steve (Matthew McConaughey), and does he deserve her? Well, do stones sink in water? This fuzzy-wuzzy contrivance is full of meet-cutes, whimsical twists, perky surprises and a naked piece of plunder (the runaway horse episode in Hitchcock's "Notorious"). Lopez is innately appealing, even stuck with some awful dialog. But McConaughey's charm seems airbrushed and smug, and director Adam Shankman shovels them both into banality. But maybe it gives good chuckle. 100 minutes. (Elliott). Rated PG-13. 2 stars. What's the Worst That Could Happen?One fine evening, genial thief Kevin Caffrey (Martin Lawrence) and his sidekick, Berger (John Leguizamo), are knocking off the plush digs of crooked, cigar-chomping media billionaire Max Fairbanks (Danny DeVito) when Max catches Kevin in the act. As the police escort him away, Max adds insult to felony by claiming that Kevin's ring - recently given to him by his new squeeze, Amber (Carmen Ejogo) - is part of the booty. After effecting a quick escape, Kevin vows to get the ring back. There follows a series of tit-for-tat encounters played out on the level of TV sketch comedy. Cast: Martin Lawrence, Danny DeVito, John Leguizamo, Carmen Ejogo, Bernie Mac, Glenne Headly, William Fichtner. Running Time: 1 hr. 35 min. (Salm) Rated PG-13. 1 1/2 stars. Capsules compiled from movie reviews written by David Elliott, film critic for The San Diego Union-Tribune, and other staff writers. |
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Movie Reviews Copyright© 2001 Copley News Service |
