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Film Clips
NOVEMBER 2, 1998:
 APT PUPIL. If ever we needed proof that no one truly knows
how to beat an idea into the ground until it's mashed, bloody
and dead like Stephen King, proof has arrived. The master of overstatement
is back, this time with a lovable-Nazi-in-the-suburbs story. How
bad is the Nazi? He's so bad he puts kitty cats in the oven. King,
who wrote the novella on which the movie is based, should not
bear the blame for this alone; screenwriter Brandon Boyce and
director Bryan Singer (of The Usual Suspects fame) have
truly wasted their energies on this gorgeously shot, utterly boring
film. Ian McKellen makes a go of it as an aged Nazi officer living
quietly in an American suburb, but this role is simply too silly
for his talents. Teen heart throb Brad Renfro is eerily convincing
as the self-satisfied high-school senior who is at first fascinated
and ultimately corrupted by the older man, though he's so unlikable
it's hard to care. The first hour of this movie consists of Renfro
and McKellen sitting around talking about war crimes--a sort of
My Dinner With A Nazi. Then the long knives and sledgehammers
come out...but it's too late, much too late. --Richter
BELOVED. A Hollywood film with a female protagonist is
rare enough, so a thought-provoking Disney movie with a black
woman as the central character is certainly even more unexpected.
Based on the Toni Morrison novel and directed by Jonathan Demme
(The Silence of the Lambs, Something Wild), Beloved
tells the story of Sethe (Oprah Winfrey), a former slave confronted
with the ghost of her dead child. Narrative devices such as flashbacks
and dream sequences help to maintain interest during the three-hour
running time, but the film is most notable, and enjoyable, for
the use of stylistic devices to reflect the psychology of its
characters. The set of the house, where Sethe lives with her daughter
Denver (Kimberly Elise) and, at times, with Paul D (Danny Glover)
and Beloved (Thandie Newton), is claustrophobic and worn, and
provides an important touchstone for this barely functioning family.
The variety of filmstocks as well as camera and soundtrack manipulations
also help convey the disjointed and uneasy existence of the characters.
Winfrey is distracting at times because, well, she's Oprah; but
Elise gives an excellent performance as her lonely dependent.--Higgins
HOLY MAN. Eddie Murphy must be blessed, because there's
no other way to explain his recurring leading roles. This is the
Oh God sequel you never expected nor wanted, with Murphy
getting in touch with his spiritual side as G, a pilgrim who befriends
infomercial director Ricky (Jeff Goldblum) and uses his vast powers
to aid Ricky's faltering career and love life. The really tough
choices, of course, Ricky must make for himself--such as whether
to endure a relationship with fashion-challenged Kate (Kelly Preston)
or set up situations to be naked with G. I don't want to give
away the ending, so let's just say that most major religious groups
won't be offended. --Higgins
SOLDIER. Marx once said that the proletariat must "safeguard
itself against its own deputies and officials, by declaring them
all, without exception, subject to recall at any moment."
Wow, he could have written the script for Soldier, wherein
a team of super-soldiers are replaced by newer, even superer soldiers,
who go on an evil killing spree (as opposed to the good killing
sprees of the original super-soldiers). See, while the original
super-soldiers are nearly soulless automatons trained from birth
only to blow things up and destroy human life, the newer, superer-soldiers
are almost entirely soulless automatons, trained from before
birth only to blow things up and destroy human life. Kurt Russell
plays one of the original super-soldiers, who, while speaking
only 62 words during the course of the film (Entertainment
Weekly counted 69 words, but I stand by my figures), shows
himself to be nearly almost human-like in defending some poor
interstellar settlers against the superer-soldiers. The superer-soldiers,
see, are all bald, whereas the super-soldiers have some hair.
So they're, like, our friends. Caution: This film contains some
scenes of hugging. --DiGiovanna
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