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Film Clips
APRIL 12, 1999:
 THE MATRIX. While watching this I turned to my pal and
fellow ex-childhood comic geek Petix and said, "This is the
movie we dreamed of when we were young." He nodded rabidly
before returning his rapt and drooling visage to the screen. Remember
when the original Superman movie came out, and the tag
line was You'll Believe a Man Can Fly!? That was a load
of crap...anyone could see Superman was supported by strings,
and the rest of his superpowers were equally fakey. Well, not
here: Keanu Reeves, Lawrence Fishburne and some B-listers discover
that the world is a computer simulation and that they can reprogram
themselves with abilities beyond the ken of normal folk. They
dodge bullets, leap across tall buildings and fly through the
air and the whole thing looks so cool you'll forget about the
plot holes and story-flow problems and just have an eye-candy
good time. --DiGiovanna
THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS. In the half-full auditorium where I
watched this dismal comedy, only one viewer really seemed to be
enjoying herself. If you're undaunted by those odds, read on.
Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn play the Clarks, a middle-aged couple
from Ohio who travel to New York City for a job interview. They
encounter one problem after another during the course of the wackiest
24 hours of their poorly sketched-out lives; they get mugged on
the mean streets, unintentionally solicit an audience while having
sex in Central Park (yuck, Steve, close your mouth!) and
accidentally take hallucinogenic drugs. Both roles are thinly
written, yet narrative interest relies upon spectators actually
caring about what happens to them. Like I said, one was the lucky
number at my screening. I myself had better things to think about,
like how far the walk is to the bathroom at those darn monster-plexes.
--Higgins
SIX WAYS TO SUNDAY. As an Italian, I'm always glad to see
a gangster movie where the mobsters don't hail from my homeland.
Thus, I was doubly pleased with 6 Ways To Sunday, the tale
of a brutal momma's boy who rises to the top of the Youngstown,
Ohio, Mafia, where gefilte fish substitutes for lasagna and the
thugs say things like "having money and not flashing it is
for gentiles." Norman Reedus turns in a truly weird and yet
very natural performance as Harry Odum, who comes of age through
killings and shakedowns. Deborah Harry is also boffo as his mom,
who bathes him, cooks for him and controls the night light in
his bedroom. Some chillingly sexual mother-son sequences reminiscent
of Todd Solondz's Happiness make this not your average
gangster film. Also featuring scene-stealing performances by Elina
Lowensöhn (best known for her work in Hal Hartley's films)
and Isaac Hayes (who, beyond all reason, is now best known as
the voice of "Chef" on South Park). --DiGiovanna
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