Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 2005)
_______ ______ January 21. 2005» just out 35 ♦ leading role as a police officer, however, Ethan Hawke embodies the insufferably cocky teen-age boy persona that he never seems to outgrow. C- —Stephen Blair The Aviator Martin Scorseses biopic about Howard Hughes has all the right stuff to make it Oscar’s frontrunner for Best Picture: epic scale (incredi ble flight sequences), mental illness (obsessive- compulsive disorder) and old Hollywixxl (Jude Law as Errol Hynn, Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner, Cate Blanchett stealing scenes as Katharine Hepburn). It’s a grand story about a visionary man; my only quibble is that Leonardo DiCaprio still looks tcx> boyish to be taken seriously as a grown-up. A —Jim Radosta The Daredevil spinoff Elektra pits the assassin (Jennifer Garner) against the poisonous Typhoid (Natassia Malthe) Assault on Precinct 13 A couple of bitchin’ action sequences can’t redeem this loud, mind-numbing remake of John Carpenter’s 1976 cult classic about a besieged police precinct. Though the original was made (^n a shoestring budget with no big stars, it is 10 times smarter and scarier than this slick and stupid new offering from director Jean- François Richet. The strong supporting cast includes John Leguizamo as a wisecracking crim inal and Drea de Matteo (The Sopranos) as the brassy, sex-obsessed precinct secretary. In his Elektra • Spun away from her origins m the Daredevil movie (and comic books), Elektra is a morally elusive character: An assassin for hire, she sometimes bumps up against her own ethical center while on the hunt. Jennifer Gamer is in fine fighting form in the lead role, and has a believably sweet relationship with a preteen girl who is caught between opposing martial arts clans. Elektra is a pleasant two-hour diver sion with some wonderful effects and fights, plus Gamer locking lips with a femme adver sary, and a hunky tathxied villain unleashing his inner animal. B —Andy Mangels A Love Song for Bobby Long “exciting” ending; let’s cross our fingers that Stripes wins the mane event! A+ —Austin Ault More than a quarter-century has passed since John Travolta scored the double-hitter of Saturday Night Fever and Grease. Well, the devout Scientologist has officially struck out with the double-misser of Battlefield Earth and this indie mess. Revolta pulls a full Brando as the title character, a News Orleans hickster drunk ex-college professor who only reminds us of the ex-movie star’s long-absent strengths: He limps onto the screen for the opening sequence, he blubbers in a bathroom wearing black briefs, he shuffles his feet in sandals and s<x:ks, and he warbles songs by the campfire. At least Scarlett Johansson lights up every scene that’s graced by her warm glow. D+ —JR Racing Stripes According to Austin Ault, the 8-year-old son of Just Out Advertising Representative Kari Tate, this film about a talking zebra is “really funny." Stripes (voiced by Frankie Muniz of Malcolm in the Middle) thinks he’s a horse, so when the circus accidentally leaves him behind, he decides to compete in a race, with a little help from his farm friends (including Oscar winners Dustin Hoffman and Whoopi Goldberg). Austin especially liked the part when a fly went up a horse’s nose, only to be sneezed back out again. Our young reviewer promises an Sex Is Comedy Director Catherine Breillat (Romance), usually a dead-serious practitioner of sexually blunt postfeminist cinema, displays a remark ably self-deprecating sense of humor with this autobiographical, fictionalized depiction of the making of a film strongly resembling her celebrated Fat Girl. Anne Parillaud plays the Breillat character, an insecure yet egotistical director struggling to bring oft the provocative, disturbing sex scene she’s written. (Its eventual success is depicted as a literally orgasmic epiphany between the director and her star let.) Breillat’s incisive sendup of her own artistic need to provoke clashing with actorly egos and anatomical props provokes, in its turn, some hearty laughs. A- —Christopher McQuain The Woodsman Real-life husband and wife Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick: an indie Tracy and Hep- bum? This difficult story casts the couple as a paroled pedophile who finds redemption in the arms of a co-worker who’s rough yet sympathetic (and possibly bi—when Bacon assumes she’s a dyke, she coyly replies, “Not tonight!”). Director Nicole Kassell makes a strong first feature by opting for complex characters instead of easy answers. A- jr jm - Home Theatre • Home Audio • Sound Advice NADL73, 999.00 2627 NE BROADWAY 503-280-0910 Join three 19th ceptury women it witty traipse through Time to ."Terra Incognita" ...where anything is possible. featuring: Julianna |ati< I iixls.n Lucas and Wade I (»Hum, with Andv Lindberg WWW.STEREOTYPESAUDIO.COM ▼ ▼ /▼▼▼ Chs Cha Rumbs Country Swiny Woltz Foxtrot Dance 503-236-5129 www.outddnciny.info Big City Produce 2004 BEST Award winner - Little Store Big on Diversity. Best Sustainable Food System 722 N. Sumner (at N. Albina), Portland 503-460-3830