Newspapers / North Carolina Wesleyan University … / Nov. 27, 2002, edition 1 / Page 7
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27 November 2002 Movie Reviews 7 Movie Reviews By Matthew Esterline New Movies 8 Mile A young white rapper from Detroit (Eminem) channels his rage into angry lyrics and hit songs, paving a way out of his tough hometown and giving him a shot at stardom. This movie made around fifty-four million dollars on opening weekend, so it’s obvious that the movie is bankable. Is the movie good? No. It’s terrible. This movie is as bad as Glitter, Cool as Ice, and every other movie that tries to turn musicians into movie stars. 8 Mile could have been entertaining, but the movie ends up being a bunch of scenes cut together to show Eminem’s new socially acceptable image. Since Eminem can’t act and Kim Basinger overacts too much, the movie never really gets off its feet. You should only watch 8 Mile if you want to see the softer side of Eminem. He attacks bad guys who really aren’t that bad. After he gets beat up a bunch of times and overcomes his stage fright, he achieves his dream by staying true to himself. Wow, what an original idea! That’s only been done in a few thousand movies! 8 Mile is the male version of Glitter, and, like Glitter, is one of the worst movies of the year. 8 Mile: 2 out of 10 - This movie may be the cure for insomnia. Frida I was hoping this movie would be worth seeing, especially since I had to go all the way to Raleigh to watch it, and I was not disappointed. This biopic of artist Frida Kahlo (Salma Hayek) follows her various relationships with her husband, the painter Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina) and with various men and women while fracing her rise to fame in the art world and her tragic personal life. Frida is directed by Julie Taymor, a talented stage director, who uses every second of this film to show Frida Kahlo as an icon at her best and her worst. The best part of the movie is Salma Hayek, who gives the best performance of her career. There are many other notable actors in this film. Ashley Judd gives a great performance as Italian photographer Tina Modotti, one of Frida’s many lovers. Also notable is Edward Norton’s toned down performance as Nelson Rockefeller. Frida’s husband, Diego Rivera, is portrayed perfectly by Alfred Molina, who is one of the best character actors of the last twenty years. The movie’s only problem is that it’s too stylized. If the movie had dropped the gloss and just told the story, it would have been perfect. Frida: 7 out of 10 - A solid movie. The Ring In this remake of the 1998 Japanese thriller Ringu, Naomi Watts plays a Seattle newspaper reporter who leams that her niece died exactly one week after she and three friends — who also die — watch a mysterious videotape at a motel cabin in the woods. Watts’ becomes obsessed with the deaths and watches the tape. Fearfiil of the possibility of her own death, she hopes to discover who or what is behind the tape before her seven days are up. She enlists the help of her former lover, with whom she has a son, a precocious kid who appears to be psychic. This movie follows Watts over the seven day period as she investigates the mystery behind the tape, which is not scary or suspensefril. When the secret of the tape is “revealed,” it is not scary or suspensefril. When a supporting character dies, it is not scary or suspensefril. What kind of thriller movie is this? Why does movie with such a simple plot need so many special effects? Why is director Gore Verbinski (The Mexican) wasting what little talent he has on this movie? Because this is one of the worst movies of the year. That statement answers any and all questions that can be brought up about this movie. The audience was laughing rather than being scared. When the characters on the screen are more scared than the audience, there’s a problem. I think the characters on screen were more interested in the plot as well. In the end, this movie is tied with Episode II as the worst movie so far this year. The Ring: 2 out of 10 - An abomination of human endeavor Heaven Never underestimate the power of the bootleg. The only way to watch this movie is to go to New York or get an illegal copy. For legal reasons, I will say that I went to New York and saw it. Heaven deals with a British teacher (Cate Blanchett) living in Turin, Italy, who has lost her husband and several of her close friends to drug overdoses. She discovers that a local drug kingpin is responsible for the deaths, but is unable to get the police to show any interest. She decides to take matters into her own hands and attempts to kill him with a bomb, but ends up killing several innocents instead. With the help of a young and idealistic police officer (Giovanni Ribisi) she hopes to escape the country and find some sense in the world. The acting is great. The directing is great. The script is great. This movie is great. Heaven: 9 out of 10 - One of the best movies of the year. The Truth About Charlie After her husband mysteriously turns up dead, a widow named Regina (Thandie Newton) leams that he actually had assumed multiple identities and stashed away 6 million dollars. Soon there’s a crew of thugs claiming that the loot is theirs, and a neighbor named Joshua (Mark Walhberg) who wants to help her. Regina soon discovers that Joshua may not be helpfril as he seems. This film is set in Paris, which for some reason is important because director Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs) feels compelled to show the Eiffel Tower every five minutes even though it has nothing to do with the plot. This movie is a remake of the 1963 film Charade starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. Charade is a great film. The Truth About Charlie is nowhere near as good, but not for lack of effort. The number of cameos and the fact that Thandie Newton did such a good job make this movie a worthy rental. The Truth About Charlie: 6 out of 10 - A decent rental. The Grey Zone The Grey Zone is director Tim Blake Nelson’s film version of his play about Auschwitz’s 12th Sonderkommando, one of the 13 “special squads” of Jewish prisoners placed by the Nazis in the excruciating moral dilemma of helping to exterminate fellow Jews in exchange for a few more months of life. For those keeping score, Tim Blake Nelson is best known as Delmar O’Donnell from O Brother, Where Art Thou? Besides being an actor. Nelson is also an accomplished director, and this movie is no different. The Grey Zone is a horrific and unemotional look at the Holocaust. This movie is near-perfect, but only through bootleg or travel can this movie be seen. This movie is held together perfectly through the power of Steve Buscemi’s acting. This movie is worth your time. The Grey Zone: 8 out of 10 - Amazing. Femme Fatale It’s getting easier to find my way to Raleigh. Going to Raleigh to see Femme Fatale would have been frin if the movie hadn’t sucked so much. Rebecca Romijn-Stamos plays Laure Ash, who is hired to rob $10 million in diamonds right off a model’s back at a fashion show. She pulls off the heist but then takes the loot for herself, hoping to leave her life of crime behind. She reinvents herself as a married woman, but when a photographer (Antonio Banderas) takes a snapshot, her cover is blown. This movie is pointless. Rebecca Romijn- Stamos must love being in bad movies. Rollerball, X-Men and this movie make three, though there’s probably more. The TV commercials mention that Brian De Palma (Carrie, The Untouchables) directed Femme Fatale. I thought it was a public service so people who wanted their money back would know who to go to, but sadly, it was not. This is a terrible movie that tries to sell itself with action and nudity.. .wait, maybe it’s not that bad. Femme Fatale: 3 out of 10 -1 want my money back. White Oleander In this movie, mother Ingrid Magnussen (Michelle Pfeiffer) is sentenced to life in prison for poisoning her ex boyfriend. This leaves her daughter, Asfrid (Alison Lohman) in a series of homes with various foster mothers (Robin Wright Penn, Renee Zellweger, and others). Asfrid has to leam to balance her relationship with her jailed mother and her reltionships with the new parental figures in her life. I wanted to like this movie, but I can’t. This movie sucks. The marketing people at Warner Bros, pulled a fast one on the people by making Alison Lohman the star and giving the real celebrities about ten minutes of screen time each. Warners ros hates us all. Don’t watch this movie. White Oleander: 3 out of 10 - When the moral was finally told, I think some people still awake to hear it.
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