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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 19, 2004)
_______ november 19, 2QQ4 » REVIEWS B ridget J ones : T he E dge of R eason A re you dying to know what our plump British friend has been up to since 200l ’s Bridget Jones’s Diary? Apparently, she’s been spending a lot of time at the loboto- mist’s office, because this sequel is vv stupid. Bridget (Renée Zellweger) is six weeks into her blossoming relationship with Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) and does lots of ridicu lous, neurotic things to screw it up. By the time she starts teaching a hunch of Thai cellmates how to sing Madonna’s “Like a Virgin,” you’ll he ready to throttle director Beehan Kidron (To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar) for ruining every thing that the first film accomplished. —Jim Radosta H ard G oodbyes : M y F ather D irector Penny Panagiotopoulos’ first fea ture, set in Athens in 1969, is a remark ably assured dehut. At the center of the drama is 10-year-old Elias, an obstinate, imaginative kid working through the death of the father he worshipped. Unable to accept what’s happened, he engages in elab orate strategies to keep his dad “alive,” from impersonating his voice in dialogues to showering his classmates with candy suppos edly from his dad. A hit overlong, the film is nonetheless affecting without being senti mental, with flashes of wry humor. Yiorgos Karagiannis won the Best Actor Award at the Locarno Film Festival for his exceptional portrayal of Elias. —Gary Morris L ightning in a B ottle T alk about timely. With the recent com pletion of phase two of the Republican coup d’état, half the country is singing the blues. But to hear ir done professionally, check out this documentary—a record of 2003’s “Salute to the Blues” at Radio City Musical Hall, celebrating 100 years of this peculiarly American art form. A few historical clips offer vague context, hut most of the action is live-on-stage music by old-school legends like BB King, Buddy Guy and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, mix ing it up with younger talents of varying, well, Clean” and Buddy Guy smoking on Jimi Hendrix’s “Red House” give this film enough great moments to forget the failures. —GM eating eating eating eating G e n ie s C a f e D inner | m o n - S at W ednesday S pecial W ine N ight T he M achinist A pparently inspired by the Olsen twins, Christian Bale lost 63 pounds to head line this moody psychological thriller. Bale—so bony and gaunt that he’s painful to look at—expertly plays Trevor Reznik, a machine operator who hasn’t slept for a year. After playing hangman with an invisible opponent, and after several run-ins with a mysterious bruiser, Trevor suspects that everyone is out to get him. The Machinist is engrossing and truly unsettling for the first hour. But the picture surrenders to trite, convoluted plot twists as it fumbles toward its conclusion. —Stephen Blair Take Out Large Group Space Veggie Friendly 325 N E Russell St Plenty of Parking 503.528.8224 . «V-/« S E 5 0 3 -4 4 5 -9 7 7 7 I Outdoor Patio I ZI . _ NEW FALL M ENU T he S ponge B ob S quare P ants M ovie f you’re like me, and you have no clue who—or what—SpongeBob SquarePants is, here’s the deal. First, as the 6-year-old seated next to me pointed out, SpongeBob is a kitchen sponge, not an ocean sponge. But he does live at the bottom of the ocean. And he does wear square pants. First a Nick elodeon series, and now a hig-screen produc tion, SpongeBob gets the munchkins gig gling with his friend Patrick the starfish and their hoozy adventures inhaling bubbles and ice cream sundaes. But parents? Have a strong drink before you head into this one— SpongeBoh’s emotional IQ requires a narra tive and comedic sensibility that only a first- grader could love. —Cori Taratoot D ivision russellstreetbbq .com HINT stR eet c a fe e q u in o x RESTAURANT AND BAR Planning a holiday party? We cater anytime, any location. 830 N S h a m 503-460-3333 8338 N. LomBaRÒ Just east of the comer of Mississippi and Shaver 503-247-1066 Opmm W e d .S te v 5 p m ; Breakfevt/Uinch: S o t-S u n . 9 a m -2 p m S tander S et in the tumult of South African apartheid—starting with the Soweto massacre of 1976, when police murdered hundreds of peaceful black protesters— Stander is based on the true story of one man’s unusual rebellion against an impossi ble society. Sickened by the brutal suppres sion of 85 percent of the population and his own part in it after killing an unarmed pro tester, white police Capt. Andre Stander turns to hank robbing à la Butch Cassidy. Stander’s expert, inventive robberies make him a folk hero, and the movie gets comic mileage out of the many disguises he adopts, which include an orthodox Muslim and a hippie. Director Bronwen Hughes challenges the cliché that women can’t direct action films by setting a grit ty, fast-paced tone Christian Bale spreads himself too thin in The Machinist with a forceful docu mentary look. But most impressive is talent. Robert Cray is OK, and even Steven Thomas Jane (The Punisher), who’s riveting Tyler of Aerosmith does a credible “I’m Your as a principled hut confused man hurtling King Bee.” But what on earth are Natalie headlong toward self-destruction. This tal Cole, Macy Gray (doing a wretched “Hound ented hunk should he a major star by now, Dog”) and David Johansen doing here? and maybe Stander, which throws in several No matter. Cray and the exceptional nude scenes of his fetching flesh, will finally Shemekia Copeland’s blistering take on “I do the trick. 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