MOVIES
After the monthlong production
wrapped, Rodriguez then faced a final
challenge: playing artiste at the 2000
Sundance Film Festival. Having never
done the “scene” before, she conducted
advance research on the Internet, look
ing for advice. “It was talking about
how [Sundance] is all about the art of
making films, unlike Hollywood. It isn’t
just about making money and fashion
and all this,
Rodriguez says.
“But...when I
got there, it was
like middle-class
Hollywood.” The
attitude of a lot
of festivalgoers
underimpressed
Rodriguez. “I
was literally sitting down watching a
movie, and... someone’s cell phone
would ring and they’d get up and say,
‘Oh, well this movie’s not good anyway,’
and just walk out. Total disrespect.”
Not, however, for Girlfight. The
film netted the Directing Award and
shared the Grand Jury Prize (with
You Can Count on Me) and was
snapped up by Sony Pictures’ Screen
Gems banner, which will release it
Sept. 29. Rodriguez’s performance
jump-started critical buzz—and land
ed her a role in the Spike Lee-pro
duced Showtime flick, 3 AM. After
that, audiences can catch her burning
rubber with Paul Walker {The Skulls)
in Universal’s Street Wars, about ille
gal New York City drag races.
Ultimately, she says, she’d like to
write and direct also: “Movies that can
be adventurous, suspenseful, comedic,
and dramatic at the same time, with
different ethnicities, backgrounds, life
styles. It can all be mixed into the ult
imate film, and that’s my goal,” she
says. “That’s a big goal, isn’t it?” Seems
like she has a fighting chance. • • •
SEPTEMBER
Black and White
(Columbia TriStar. R]
Nothing screams
"poser" like Anglo
dreads, which fall all
over James Toback's
largely improvised,
overly theatrical
study of hip-hop's ap
peal to white wanna
bes. But a distracting
mishmash of celebs
(including Ben Stiller,
Brooke Shields, and
Claudia Schiffer)
dulls Toback's satiri
cal point. B
Final Destination
(New Line. R] If you
equate listening to
John Denver with a
fate worse than
death, your fears will
be realized in this
thought-provoking
[much talk about the
nature of mortality]
but often cheesily ex
ecuted teen thriller
about seven pawns
struqqling to cheat a
determined prim
reaper with a thing
for "Rocky Mountain
Hfgh." C+
Hi^h Fidelity
(Touchstone. R] In
1989's Say Any
thing.... Everyhunk
John Cusack wrote
the book on modern
teen heartbreak.
Here, aided by his
Grosse Pointe Blank
writing team, a rock
ing soundtrack, and
irrepressible costar
Jack Black, he revis
its that achinp realm
as a thirtysomethinp
record store owner
with an inability to
commit. A
OCTOBER
American Pimp
[MGM. R] Directors
Allen and Albert
Hughes [Menace 11
Society] fix their
cameras on the put
ter aristocrats who
thrive off the profits
of prostitution. Opu
lently adorned with
a funky soundtrack
and clips from '70s
mack-daddy cinema,
this compelling
documentary turns
all the more unset
tling when it lets the
ladies tell their war
stories. B +
The Filth and the Fury
[New Line. R] "The
punks ruined it,"
claims Sex Pistol
provocateur Johnny
Rotten of his copycat
fans in Julien Tem
ple's riveting if band
sided doc about the
incendiary rise and
fall of the group that
launched a music
revolution. Confes
sional interviews, vin
tage concert clips,
and seldom-heard
from manager Mal
colm McLaren in a
bondage mask—God
save the anarchists! A
Pitch Black
[Universal. R] Ma
rooned on an arid
distant planet, weath
ered crash survivors
[led by Vin Diesel's
captivating psycho
murderer-prisoner]
face off against noc
turnal alien raptors
in the middle of an
eclipse. This is not
your father's Alien.
but it comes impres
sively close. A
NOVEMBER
Chuck & Buck
[Artisan. R] Dawson's
Creek writing alum
nus Mike White and
American Pie pro
ducer Chris Weitz
deftly star in this
touching but often
creepy Sundance fa
vorite about a wide
eyed man-child
named Buck [White]
and his attempt to
recapture the ' spe
cial'' friendship he
once shared with
boyhood pal Charlie
[Weitz], B+
Mission: Impossible 2
[Paramount, PG-13]
Who cares if director
John Woo surrenders
to balletic overindul
Bence while he tests
the limits of Tom
Cruise's spy fox with
plenty of martial
arts, shoot-outs, and
motorcycle gymnas
tics? It's not Mission:
Oscar Nomination.
Mr. Hunt. It's Mission:
Impossible. A
X-Men
[Fox. PG-13) Armed
with a well-developed
back story—courtesy
of the wildly popular
Marvel comic—direc
tor Bryan Sinper ca
pably translates the
onpoinp strupples of
two ed^y mutant fac
tions to the screen.
Considering Holly
wood's generally mis
guided comic-book
adaptations, capable
is hi^h praise indeed.
B+ —Erin Pichter
MELISSA MOSELEY
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY"
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