october 7.2005
FILM
’ jUSt OUt 4g
REVIEWS
Corpse Bride
image created by former Microsoft pro
grammers, it could once again find a
huge following. Opens Oct. 10 at Holly
wood Theatre. B
—YPB
On the run from an arranged marriage,
Victor accidentally weds the reanimated
corpse of a jilted bride, but he soon finds
that life with the dead might be simpler
than romance among the living. Tim Bur
ton’s stop-motion animated film is enjoy
able, and the vocals by Johnny Depp,
Helena Bonham Carter and others are per
fect. But comparisons to The Nightmare
Before Christmas are inevitable, and Corpse
Bride just isn’t as good. It is, however, a great
deal more entertaining than most live-
action films, and appropriate for all ages. B
—Andy Mangels
Oliver Twist
Elizabethtown
Just in time for Halloween, the ghost of
Ed Wood seems to have possessed Cameron
Crowe, the writer and director of this shock
ingly inept black comedy about a suicidal
cipher (bland babe Orlando Bloom) who
travels from Oregon to Kentucky after los
Jodie Foster hits long stretches of turbulence in Flightplan.
ing his job as a shoe designer and losing his
father to a heart attack, until a “vivacious”
in for this absurd but rousing thriller about a
Locke, is subtler than his prior adaptations
stewardess (Kirsten Dunst) comes along and
grieving widow’s frantic encounters with possi
(Crash, Naked Lunch) but equally skewed and
rocks his world. (Junebug and Garden State han ble terrorists and bitchy stewardesses. First-class disconcerting. Is all-around good guy Tom
dled similar subject matter much, much better.) performances by Foster and Peter Sarsgaard
Stall (Viggo Mortensen) an unimpeachable
Crowe, on a losing streak since 200l’s Vanilla
can’t quite overcome a screenplay that hits
small-business owner and family man—really
Sky, substitutes a relentless soundtrack for char long stretches of turbulence. B-
as heroic as he seems, or is there something
acter development and hopes nobody will
—SB to suspicions about what may be his pitch-
notice. Opens Oct. 14. F+
black past? And is violence really so far
—Jim Radosta
removed from even the most apparently idyl
Ganges: River to Heaven
lic human scenarios? The film is a challeng
Award-winning filmmaker Gayle Ferraro
ing and disquieting meditation on how hon
Everything Is Illuminated
(Anonymously Yours) directed this wonderful
est (or hypocritical) we are about the less
Actor Liev Schreiber (The Manchurian Cam documentary about rhe final journey of devot
pleasant, instinctually aggressive parts of
didate) wrote and directed this flawed but high
ed Hindus to the sacred river in India. After
human nature. A
ly engaging adaptation of Jonathan Safran
watching this film, one wonders if the natural
Christopher McQuain
Foer’s celebrated 2002 novel. Elijah W<xxl, for
force, polluted from years of overuse, will be
merly known as Frodo, plays a btxikish Ameri
strong enough to survive the beliefs of a
can Jew who teams up with a blind tour guide
nation and the adoration of generations to
A League of Ordinary
and a rambunctious translator to search
come. The young and the strong purify them
Gentlemen
Ukraine for the woman who saved his grand
selves in the polluted waves, and the old and
father from the Nazis. To avoid getting tangled
infirm wait for their death, too weak for that
If you are a passionate bowler or ever
up in Foer’s folk tales and historical digressions,
ritual. In time, the Ganges carries their soul,
wanted to know anything about professional
Schreiber leaves out some of the novel’s most
released from the bondage of reincarnation, to
bonding, you will love this documentary.
colorful scenes. But the onscreen footage is
heaven. Each part of this film sheds new light
Imagine this: For 35 years, pro bowling was a
handled so well that you can’t help but forgive
on India’s evolving society and its unchanging
television highlight every Saturday afternoon
the dodgy script. A-
veneration of the Ganges. Opens Oct. 10 at
on CBS. Average Americans could identify
—Stephen Blair Hollywood Theatre. A
with these sports heroes because a lot of the
—Yvonne P. Behrens viewers were bowlers themselves. But people
eventually lost interest in the sport’s middle
Flightplan
brow image, and the Professional Bowlers
A
History
of
Violence
Has lesbian icon Jodie Foster lost her
Association lost fans to the National Football
daughter at 30,000 feet, or is she totally
League and NASCAR. However, pro bowling
The latest from David Cronenberg, from a
might be ready for a comeback: With a new
honkin’ crazy? Find out when you strap yourself graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince
Director Roman Polanski and screen
writer Ronald Harwood’s follow-up to
The Pianist is a lushly photographed,
well-acted, sometimes dutiful rendition
of Charles Dickens’ famous story of the
mistreated, innocent titular orphan
searching for his place in the sinister
world of Victorian England. Polanski’s
version may be a touch too reverential—
it tiptoes to the point of enervation at
times, and it lacks the particular charm
and energy of David Lean’s fine film from
1948—but it is a faithful, thoughtful and
rather pretty adaptation of a perennially
resonant piece of literature. B
—CM
Two for the Money
Based on a true story of fame and fortune,
this entertaining film takes us into the dan
gerous world of sports betting. Former college
football player Brandon Lang (Matthew
McConaughey) has the ability to predict the
outcome of games and becomes the most suc
cessful handicapping guru in sports betting.
Al Pacino is absolutely brilliant as Walter,
who hires Lang for his huge sports consulting
company and grooms him as his frontman.
When Walter’s manipulation of his protégé
crosses the line, each one tries to win the
upper hand. B
—YPB
Waiting...
Some insight regarding the indignities of
waiting tables, a token lesbian subplot and the
re-emergence of Freaks and Geeks star John
Francis Daley cannot redeem this sophomoric
independent comedy—set at an Applebee’s-
like chain restaurant with a twentysomething
wait staff composed of horny boys and ambiva
lent girls—from its ultimate dumbness.
Waiting... does, however, raise the question of
whether straight guys are as fed up with being
depicted as moronic jerks and losers as we gay
men are with equivalently shallow cultural'
stereotypes of us. D
—CM jFI
( mise Control PDX
Special ex cuts for seasoned lesbians 36 and oxer
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