OCTOBER 6. 2006 JU
film
Boynton Beach Club
This romantic comedy by director Susan
Seidelman (Desperately Seeking Susan) about a
group of seniors living at a retirement community
in Florida (sensibly portrayed by a great cast includ
ing Dyan Cannon, Sally Kellerman, Joseph
Bologna and Len Cariou) shows us that falling in
love can happen at any age and that life doesn’t
end at retirement. 1 am glad that there are some
movies being produced with seasoned actors in
them instead of more generic-looking teenagers! B
—Yvonne R Behrens
The Departed
Martin Scorsese’s remake of the 2002 Hong
Kong thriller Infernal Affairs takes a while to get
cooking, and the ending is gimmicky. But for the
most part this is an electrifying tale of cops, spies
and gangsters, with all the stylized violence and
visual pizzazz we've come to expect from the direc
tor of Gixulfellas and Paging Bull. Leonardo
DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson are
fine in the leading roles, but Vera Farmiga (Down
to the Bone) steals the show as a psychiatrist who
juggles relationships with Leo and Matt. B +
—Stephen Blair
Flyboys
1 am always skeptical when 1 see another war
movie. Fortunately, they are getting better. Tony Bill
(Must Love Dogs) directed this film inspired by the
real Lafayette Escadrille squadron—38 Americans
who went to France during World War I to volun
teer in the fight against Germany. These young men,
who came from all over the United States with
different upbringings and different motives to join,
were idealistic and naive but were later credited with
stopping the Germans’ advance into France early in
the war. The brilliant cast includes James Franco and
Jean Reno, and the flight and combat scenes are very
believable. B
—YPB
Gabrielle
This French drama by director Patrice Chereau
(Queen Margot) is a beautiful adaptation of Robert
Conrad’s dark short story “The Return.” Even if
you've never read it, you will enjoy this movie about
a bourgeois couple (brilliantly portrayed by Isabelle
Huppert and Pascal Greggory) who seem to have
everything until it all falls apart when the husband
comes home one night to find his wife plans to
leave him. When she changes her mind, the devas
tating psychological and emotional pain of the
characters unfolds. Great cinematography by Eric
Gautier (The Motorcycle Diaries). Opens Oct. 13 at
Hollywood Theatre. A
—YPB
The Guardian
If you are a fan of good action movies, this new
drama by director Andrew Davis (The Fugitive) will
not disappoint. The action scenes and special
effects are great, and the chemistry between Kevin
Costner and Ashton Kutcher interestingly enough
works. They portray members of a Coast Guard
team, each with his own agenda in dealing with
personal issues while deciding who to save on res
cue missions and how to live with it. The Guardian
also pays respect to the Coast Guard and its work,
so be sure to stay for the closing credits B +
—YPB Johnny Knoxville cranks up the homoeroticism in Jackass: Number Two.
An Inconvenient Truth
If you weren’t on the Al Gore bandwagon
already, you will be after seeing this important
documentary about global warming. The Man
Who Should Be President makes an airtight case
for climate change at a time when the White
House still has its head buried in the sands of the
Middle East instead of confronting this looming
crisis. The film ends on a hopeful note, however,
with Gore laying out a simple strategy to reverse
the trend within our lifetime. Can’t wait to hear his
Oscar acceptance speech. A-
—Jim Radzista
Jackass: Number Two
Are Johnny Knoxville and his band of merry
pranksters complete idiots or sicko geniuses? You be
the judge as you watch them ride on rockets, make a
beard out of pubic hair, probe their penises into
snake cages and funnel beer up their assholes. A few
stunts are so disgusting they’re almost unwatchable.
Otherwise, this carnival freak show is a real hoot,
and the gang’s boundless, demented glee is conta
gious. John Waters—the ultimate arbiter of bad
taste—officiates a magic act involving a midget
named Wee Man and a really, really fat woman. A-
—SB
The Last King of Scotland
Forest Whitaker hands in a brilliantly terrifying
performance as charming, monstrous dictator Idi
Amin in this fictionalized history of his reign of
terror in 1970s Uganda. As Nicolas Carrigan,
egon Camera
Amin’s young Scottish doctor and adviser, James
McAvoy’s adorable naivete rapidly becomes infuri
ating, but the consequences of his rose-colored
view of Amin and the beauty of Uganda are still
excessive and shocking. Director Kevin Macdonald
(One Day in September) dispenses with subtlety,
seducing the viewer with the beauty of the country
and its people through Carrigan’s eyes, then
slamming down a shockingly gory display of the
destruction of innocence. Not for the timid. B +
—Jemiah Jefferson
The Marine
Words can barely describe how awful this film
is, so let’s just say there’s a special room tn hell
reserved for the idiots who spent more money
making this “film”—about a disgraced Marine
who returns home to save his kidnapped wife from
diamond thieves—than most people will make in
a lifetime of hard work. Between “acting” by
steroid-ugly wrestlers that could be rivaled by a
3-year-old, and an unbelievable explosion every
12 minutes, this is an abomination in every way.
Opens Oct. 13. F-
—Andy Mangels
My Life with Dracula
The Saturn Awards—which are given out by
the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and
Horror Films—was the life’s dream of Donald A.
Reed, who was considered the world’s authority on
Count Dracula. While today only genre fans keep
up with the Satums, they were televised in the '70s
Veterinary Hospital
SERVING THE GREATER NORTH PORTLAND
—YPB
Open Season
The latest “funky CGI animals voiced by
famous actors” film is this creation about a trained
bear who is set free in the wild and has to return to
his trainer with the help of an outcast one-homed
deer. Intermittently amusing—mostly with the
Scottish squirrels and a scene where the bear learns
that there are no toilets in the woods—this still felt
too long at 99 minutes. Wait for the DVD. C
—AM
The U.S. vs. John Lennon
David Leaf and John Scheinfeld directed this
absorbing documentary about the U.S. govern
ment’s sleazy attempts to deport John Lennon in
the early 1970s because he charismatically rallied
peaceniks against the Vietnam War. The film’s
insistence on sanctifying the egomaniacal Beatle is
annoying, but there’s no denying his epic role in
the protest movement. Featuring interviews with
Yoko Ono, Noam Chomsky, Angela Davis, Gore
Vidal, Walter Cronkite and G. Gordon Liddy. B +
-SB ©
On a first name basis
with you and your car.
Everything Photographic
North Portland
and everybody from Fritz Lang (M) to Elsa
Lancaster (Frankenstein’s Bride) to Ray Bradbury
showed up. This interesting, entertaining docu
mentary about Reed’s last days includes film clips
from black-and-white horror movies like Bela
Lugosi’s Dracula. You might feel like watching
those classics afterward—they are timeless! Opens
Oct. 9 at HollywLXxl Theatre B
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