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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
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