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Film Clips
FEBRUARY 23, 1999:
 BLAST FROM THE PAST. It's October 1962, and the
Webbers (Christopher Walken and Sissy Spacek) think a nuclear
war has started. Just as they enter their bomb shelter, Mrs. Webber
gives birth to a boy. Oddly enough, 35 years later that boy has
become Brendan Fraser, who really doesn't even look old
enough to be Brendan Fraser's age (30). So he rises to
the surface world where he is mistaken for the son of God. Now,
Fraser is cute, really cute, but not quite Jesus cute, so at this
point the movie starts to strain its credibility. Nonetheless,
he bumbles about with the help of Alicia Silverstone (remember
her from those Aerosmith videos?), learning about all the zany
stuff that's happened since the Kennedy administration,
like cheap sex and Internet porn. Then more craziness ensues.
Because it's a comedy. --DiGiovanna
CENTRAL STATION. Rarely will you see an actress in her
late 60s star opposite a young boy, but that's exactly
the odd couple that drives this thought-provoking Brazilian film.
Dora, a retired schoolteacher, teams up with JosuÈ, a recent
orphan, to try to find the boy's natural father. Their
journey takes place largely on a bus ride, where they lose all
of their money chasing after JosuÈ's ideal of his
parent. The ordinariness of these characters and how they handle
their crises is compelling and well told through visual details
such as drab clothing and bleak surroundings, and narratively
via slow pacing and an overall lack of drama. If you're
up for a chuckle, save Central Station for another day;
it's a slice-of-life tale that's best enjoyed when
you have the patience and energy to sympathize with imperfect
yet resonant characters who struggle within modest destinies.--Higgins
HILARY AND JACKIE. The true story (well, this is widely
disputed, but at least the putatively true story) of Hilary and
Jackie Du PrÈ, two sisters whose lives seem like a PBS
docudrama. Both were promising musicians, but Hilary decided to
settle down and raise a family while Jackie went off on a globe-hopping
tour of classical music superstardom. Of course, the family-oriented
sister has a quiet, happy and fulfilling life, while the famous
sister is incessantly unsatisfied and must come to a tragic end.
Still, a very original directorial style saves this from being
a simple cautionary tale, and makes for some aesthetically appealing,
if downbeat, cinema.
--DiGiovanna
PAYBACK. Mel Gibson plays a man who's so bad he
actually rips the nose ring out of a tatooed, dreadlocked hipster's
nostril. That's the kind of thing that's so evil
that even people who are just appalled by the tag-along conformism
of nose rings would never have recurring fantasies about doing
it to the next mindless alterna-pop fan they see, so there's
no satisfaction in watching it. Then Mel beats up and/or kills
lots of other people, all for a measly $70,000 (US dollars, not
that worthless Canadian crap). I mean, sure, maybe you'd
want to shoot William Devane and James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson
for $130,000, but $70,000? You'd have to be really bad
to do that. Then there's more killings and beatings and
sadistic torture, broken up by Mel's mushy protestations
of love for Maria Bello, who's so darn pretty I guess she's
worth killing for. Okay, I have to admit I enjoyed this movie,
and I don't feel bad about it, but I do feel bad about
not feeling bad about it. (I told a friend that this film features
Ally McBeal star Lucy Liu in a leather bikini, and he said,
"Oh, you mean it's a good movie.") --DiGiovanna
RUSHMORE. A very sophisticated comedy with the trappings
of a teen film, Rushmore is the strange story of a love
triangle involving Max, a 15-year-old boy (newcomer Jason Schwartzman),
Rosemary, a 30-year-old woman (Olivia Williams) and Herman, a
50-year-old man (Bill Murray). Murray is fabulous as the sleazy,
irritable and pathetic millionaire Herman Blume, but Schwartzman's
performance as Max is every bit as good, producing the best comic
pairing since Meryl Streep and Al Pacino teamed up in the remake
of Breakfast at Tiffany's. Max is editor of the
school newspaper and yearbook; president of the French club, German
club, chess club, and astronomy club; captain of the fencing and
debate teams; founder of the Double-Team Dodgeball Society; and
director of the Max Fischer Players, and Schwartzman gives him
the compelling air of an immature underachiever. Rushmore
is easily the best comedy of the last year, so show your disdain
for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (who failed
to give Rushmore even a single Oscar nomination) by going
to see it three or four times, and then write them a letter reminding
them that they've given the best picture Oscar to Platoon,
Forrest Gump, Braveheart and Titanic, so where do they
get off? --DiGiovanna
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