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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (July 20, 2007)
■IUIV 20.200? juStpUt 37 film Black Sheep Killer mutant sheep? You’d better believe it. This New Zealand horror comedy, featuring creature effects by Lord of the Rings studio Weta, combines broad cultural satire with a truckload of horror movie clichés, including dodgy acting, empty shocks, a really awful script and characters so annoying that you can’t wait for them to die. Unfortunately, the laughs are few and far between, things take forever to get going, and much of Black Sheep’s sense of humor errs on the side of subtlety and cleverness, with Kevin James (left) pretends to marry Adam Sandler in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. out enough really gtxxi jokes to keep things moving. Rent Dead Alive instead. Opens July 20 at Hollywood Theatre. C- matures, so do the films, in both tone and content. —Jemiah Jefferson Fans of the book might grumble at dropped story lines and plot tweaks, but as a film, Phoenix is intel Broken English ligent, touching and fun, and the cast is stellar. This romantic comedy finally gives Parker Posey Nonetheless, this is probably not the place to start a chance to show all her talent. She plays neurotic for Potter neophytes. A- 30-something Nora Wilder, who lives in Manhattan -JJ and is looking for Mr. Right. Her encounters with different men are funny and sometimes sad, until she I Have Never Forgotten You: finally meets a French man and follows him to Paris. The Life and Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal This story has been told more than once, but writer/director Zoe Cassavetes is able to show it in The Long Way Home director Richard Trank a different light, and she definitely displays the tal once again has made an award-worthy documentary, ent of her parents. (Her real-life mother, Gena the comprehensive story of Nazi hunter Simon Rowlands, appears briefly as Nora’s mother.) Op'ns Wiesenthal. Narrated by Nicole Kidman, the touch July 27 at Living Room Theaters. B ing film features wonderful interviews and well- —Yvonne P. Behrens chosen archival footage and strikes a good balance between Wiesenthal’s private and professional lives, from surviving the Holocaust to what his legacy is Hairspray today. A must-see for everybody interested in “If this doesn’t make you smile, your skin’s too history. Opens July 21 at Hollywood Theatre. A + tight," says a deadpan Christopher Walken to —YI’B campy and vampy Michelle Pfeiffer, an apt descrip I Now Pronounce You tion of this film adaptation of the 2002 Broadway Chuck and Larry musical hit. While not as weird as John Waters’ original 1988 classic, choreographer/director Adam I approached this movie with the same trepida Shankman’s snappy version boasts an appealing tion as many viewers, but for different reasons: they, cast of teens, lots of hoppy numbers and plenty of because it’s a gay movie; me, because it’s an Adam laughs, all presented with an ebullient good will Sandler movie. Sitting in a theater for two hours that leaps off the screen. with public morons waiting for fart jokes (one of Of course, if the rumors about the sexual' which comes in the first five minutes) is not my idea orientations of Queen Latifah and John Travolta are true, it’s odd to see them fronting a film that criticizes those who put career ambitions before the cause of civil rights. But hey, the movie’s friggin’ adorable, and watching a sour-faced Allison Janney throw holy water on Amanda Bynes and shout, “Devil child! Devil child!” is worth the price of admis sion alone. A —Floyd Sldaver Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Being a teenager sucks, even when you’re a wizard—and Harry Potter’s got it even worse than usual in this fifth installment of the popu lar series. Order of the Phoenix shifts its focus away from sports and school activities for interpersonal moments and biting social satire—as Harry John Travolta does drag with Nikki* Blonsky in Hairspray. of fun, especially for a movie that finds two New York fire fighters (Sandler and The King of Queens’ Kevin James) pretending to be gay to get domestic partner benefits. Visions of C. Thomas Howell donning blackface in Soul Man danced in my head. Thankfully, the film is often funny, even as it slams home messages of tolerance with the subtle ty of a hot pink jackhammer. Bear-ish James is cute and acts solidly; Sandler learns the proper lessons; and Ving Rhames and James’ tap-dancing son steal every scene they’re in. Although it appears that concentrated nellyness has been poured into every gay man’s shampw and that lesbians only come in the flavor of “hot,” at least the film is funnier than any 10 episodes of Will & Grace. B- Sunday September 2,2007 —Andy Mangels Lady Chatterley Going to see this film is like ordering a steak and being served a cup of tea. Then again, this is the judgment of someone who used to stay up late and watch naughty film versions of D.H. Lawrence novels on Cinemax after my aunt was asleep. To its credit, this French cinematic interpretation of an early, less sensational version of the novel that became Lady Chatterley's Lover refuses to pander to our lowbrow Americanized lusts. Unfortunately, it does so by presenting a world difficult to relate to today, filled with physically unattractive and artis tically two-dimensional people, which runs about an hour too long. Opens July 20 at Cinoma 21. B- —Tony LeTigre Oregon Convention Center ‘Portland JJallroom 777 ^Martin cLuthcr cKint* 3r. $lvd. q-or more information call •Darcelle Showplace 503 222 5338 Night of Lust A “B” grade is probably generous for this recent ly rediscovered, and delightfully campy, French noir thriller from 1962, which features a soundtrack by Chet Baker considered a rare treasure by vintage jazz fans. The film’s distributor proudly proclaims its past status as “Banned Over Half the World!”, but artis tically it wouldn’t last two rounds in the ring with Orson Welles’ equally controversial, and recently reprised, Touch of Evil, first released in truncated form in the United States in 1958. But check your critical faculties at the door and enjoy Night of Lust for what it is: the exact cinematic equivalent of those dime-store pulp novels that are such a hilari ous and indelible part of our nation’s history. Plays July 20 to 23 at Clinton Street Theater. B —TL knowing... Talk to Me After playing Clarice Starling’s FBI buddy in The Silence of the Lambs, Kasi Lemmons directed the swamp saga Eve's Bayou and the critically panned The Caveman’s Valentine. Her new film is an alternately gripping and trite docudra- ma about Petey Greene (Don Cheadle), an ex-con who became a popular and controversial radio DJ in Washington, D.C., at the height of the civil rights movement. Cheadle’s delivers a virtu oso performance, and Chiwetel Ejiofor aces the less flashy but equally complex role of Green’s mentor, Dewey Hughes. Despite great casting and a terrific R & B soundtrack, the hokey ending and lapses into sitcom schlock prove that Lemmons still has plenty of room for improvement. Opens July 27. B —Stephen Blair © Always confidential Portland • 503 988.37 75 FREE TEST with ad
