18 JULY 24, 2003
Bijou Art Cinemas (686-2458)
Cinema World 8 (342-6536)
Cinemark 17 (746-5202)c
Movies 12 (741-1231)
BY LOIS WADSWORTH
Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp)
and Will Turner (Orlando Bloom)
team up to evade the British.
Vanity, Betrayal
and Jealousy
Pirate’s treasure.
New Releases on Video
Releases subject to change. Available the
Tuesday following date of EW publication,
sometimes sooner. See archived movie
reviews at www.eugeneweekly.com
Daredevil: Marvel Comic’s Man Without
Fear is directed by Mark Steven Johnson.
Stars Ben Affleck as the masked vigilante,
Jennifer Graner, Michael Clarke Duncan,
Colin Farrell, Joe Pantolliano, Jon Favreau
and David Keith. PG-13.
I Love You to Death (1990): Lawrence
Kasdan directs all-star cast of Kevin Kline,
Tracey Ullman, Keanu Reeves, River
Phoenix, Joan Plowright, William Hurt in
this comedy of errors. Kline plays a woman-
izing pizza parlor owner, Ullman is his wife.
A tour de force for the actors who get to,
well, act. R.
Mary Cassatt: A Brush With
Independence: Jackson Frost directs this
documentary on the American impression-
ist painter, Mary Cassatt. Available though
Home Vision Entertainment.
Quiet American, The: Directed by Phillip
Noyce, this adaptation of Graham Greene’s
novel is set in 1952 Saigon during the
French Indochina War. Michael Caine plays
an English journalist; also stars Brendan
Fraser. 2002 Academy Award nomination
for Caine. Highly recommended. Includes
anatomy of a scene, director’s commentary
and making-of featurette. R. Online
archives.
Solaris (2002): George Clooney stars in
Steven Soderbergh’s underrated remake of
1972 sci-fi movie by Russian master, Andrei
Tarkovsky, about scientists who fall under
the spell of a strange planet their craft is
orbiting. Costars Natascha McElhone and
Jeremy Davies. Highest recommendations.
Includes commentary by producer James
Cameron and director Steven Soderbergh.
Also HBO’s “Solaris: Behind the Planet.” PG-
13. Online archives.
Spider: David Cronenberg’s underrated por-
trait of a schizophrenic man, played by
Ralph Fiennes, who cannot tell apart reality,
memory and fantasy. Neither can the view-
ers, and it makes for a compelling film expe-
rience. Great multi-role performance by
Miranda Richardson. With Gabriel Byrnes
and Lynn Redgrave. Highest recommenda-
tion. Includes director’s commentary, many
featurettes. R. Online archives.
Till Human Voices Wake Us: Psych profes-
sor played by Guy Pearce freaks out on
Helen Bonham Carter in Michael Petroni’s
ponderous film. Manohla Dargis (LA Times)
writes, “memories and metaphors jostle
against each other with …escalating force.”
Hmm. R.
Whole Wide World, The (1996):
Marvelous film directed by Dan Ireland stars
the versatile and underrated Vincent
D’Onofrio, and Renee Zellweger before she
made Jerry Maguire. Picture never opened
in Eugene. Set in 1930s West Texas, it’s
based on the memoirs of Novalyne Price
about her relationship with the king of pulp
fiction, Robert E. Howard (Conan the
Barbarian). DVD includes cast and crew
commentary and conversation between
director and Zellweger. PG.
Next week: Agent Cody Banks; Bright
Lights, Big City; Bringing Down the
House; Caught; Johnny Be Good; Of
Unknown Origins; Omega Man; Soylent
Green; The Sure Thing; The Thing from
Another World; and What a Girl Wants.
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN:
THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL:
Directed by Gore Verbinski. Written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio,
Stuart Beattie, Jay Wolpert. Story by Elliot and Rossio, based on
Walt Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean. Produced by Jerry
Bruckheimer. Executive producers, Mike Stenson, Chad Oman,
Bruce Hendricks, Paul Deason. Cinematography, Dariusz Wolski.
Production design, Brian Morris. Editors Craig Wood, Stephen
Rivkin, Arthur Schmidt. Costumes, Penny Rose. Visual Effects
Supervisor, John Knoll. Music by Klaus Badelt. Starring Johnny
Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, with
Jack Davenport, Jonathan Pryce. Walt Disney Pictures. Buena
Vista, 2003. PG-13. 133 minutes.
I
f you’ve ever wanted to watch Johnny
Depp sashay around the deck of a ship in
a great pirate’s hat, dangling earrings
and 12-league boots, here’s your chance, or at
least your first chance. (If the film’s title
means what it says, other episodes are
planned.) As Captain Jack Sparrow, Depp
makes the role of wily pirate his own, with
unmistakable tongue-in-cheek impertinences
toward authority figures and a compulsive
focus on regaining his ship, the Black Pearl.
Seems Sparrow’s former first mate, now
Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), led a
mutiny; marooned Sparrow on a deserted is-
land; and took off in his ship. Barbossa and
the crew are cursed because of Cortez’ gold,
turned into skeletons until it’s all returned.
Because they can’t be killed, they’ve become
very bad dudes.
The other running plot involves Elizabeth
Swann (Keira Knightley); her friend since
childhood, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom); her
father, the Governor (Jonathan Pryce); and
Commodore Norrington (Jack Davenport),
who hopes to make her his bride; and a mys-
terious gold pirate’s medallion.
The myriad characters from the two sto-
ries are shuffled like a deck of playing cards
in the madcap, action adventure that ensues
when Sparrow comes to commandeer the
fastest ship in the British fleet, the HMS
Interceptor, to pursue the Black Pearl. That
he ends up stealing the ship right under the
noses of the Brits, with Will Turner as his co-
conspirator, is way too complicated to de-
scribe here. But you get the idea.
This outlandish movie comes closer than
many similarly ambitious movies have to
being almost as daffy as The Princess Bride,
to which most such efforts cannot hold a can-
dle. I say closer, because at least some of the
elements for success are present in Pirates —
the kidnapped princess, the humble
lad who loves her, the over-the-top
sidekicks who make sure the tension
keeps building, and the increasingly
difficult obstacles thrown in the
hero’s path. But here the violence is
overdone a tad. The rule of success
for wide-appeal violence is to make
it look like it hurts a lot at first, but to
not actually murder anyone.
Also, I’m not sure the ghost story
aspect serves the loose-cannon feel
Depp and Rush impart to their char-
acters. Do cursed souls really have
this much fun? Posing the question
seems to require the answer: OK,
only in Hollywood. But because
these two accomplished scene-steal-
ers look like they’re having a grand
old time, their shameless enthusiasm
spills off the screen into the audi-
ence, and hey, we’re having fun, too.
In keeping with the welcome
trend of giving pretty girls some-
thing to do besides stand around and
bat their eyelashes at the hero,
Pirates gets out of Knightley’s way
and lets her rip into plucky girl-pi-
rate mode, where she crosses swords
with the best among the walking
dead and swashbuckles herself into a
veritable frenzy of activity.
If anyone is underused and
abused here, it’s Bloom in the thank-
less role of hero. In the early part of
the film, he establishes himself as a
master swordsman and the maker of
fine blades as well as a canny lad
with a generous spirit. However, he
rarely holds his own when Depp is
chewing up the scenery, but then,
who could? Bloom is clearly leading
man material, but this isn’t his finest
hour. In some of the movie stills with
Depp, he’s only perfunctorily hold-
ing his sword aloft, and as we all
know, a halfhearted sword is worse
than no sword at all.
Now playing at Cinema World
and Cinemark, Pirates of the
Caribbean is the summer’s great es-
cape. Recommended for all the good
reasons, it’s a cut above.
ew
Do cursed souls really have this much fun?
CONTINUING:
Anger Management: Adam Sandler plays a
man who must undergo anger management.
His shrink, played by Jack Nicholson, moves in
with him. Also stars Marisa Tomei. PG-13.
Movies 12.
Bad Boys II: Martin Lawrence and Will Smith
reunite with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and
director Michael Bay for another in this sum-
mer of sequels. Smith plays Mike Lowrey and
Lawrence plays Marcus Burnett, two Miami
narcotics detectives assigned to stem the
flood of designer ecstasy into Miami. R.
Cinemark. Cinema World.
Bruce Almighty: Jim Carrey, Morgan
Freeman and Jennifer Aniston star in this tale
of a at TV reporter, who has a really bad day,
rages against God and receives more than he
expected. PG-13. Movies 12.
Charlie’s Angels Full Throttle: McG again
directs the angels — Cameron Diaz, Drew
Barrymore, Lucy Liu, and ex-angel Demi
Moore — to save the government’s witness
protection program, from which classified info
has been stolen. Written by John August. PG-
13. Cinemark. Online archives.
Chicago: Broadway spectacular directed by
Rob Marshall stars Renee Zellweger and
Catherine Zeta-Jones as killer dames behind
bars who compete for tabloid coverage. With
Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly and Richard
Gere. 2002 Academy Awards for best picture,
supporting actress Zeta-Jones, art direction,
sound, editing and costumes. PG 13. Movies 12.
Online archives.
Dumb & Dumberer: Prequel is subtitled
world from annihilation once again. John
Connor (Nick Stahl), is 18 now, and he’s fight-
ing off a female killer cyborg from the future,
(Kristanna Loken). R. Cinemark. Online
archives..
Twenty-eight Days Later: Danny Boyle
(Trainspotting) directs this really scary horror
film set in a post-cataclysmic future, where a
deadly virus sweeps through earth’s popula-
tion in a few weeks, and leaves people in a
chronic state of killer rage. Stars Christopher
Eccleston, Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris,
Megan Burns and Brendan Gleeson. Beginning
this week, another possible ending. R.
Cinemark.
Two Fast Two Furious: John Singleton
directs this sequel action adventure about
street racing. Stars Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson,
Cole Hauser, Eva Mendes. PG-13. Movies 12.
Whale Rider: Winner of the World Cinema
award at Sundance 2003, Niki Caro’s Maori
drama about a spunky girl, played by Keisha
Castle-Hughes), who decides to show her
beloved but authoritarian grandfather that
she is able to lead the tribe, despite being a
girl. A wonderful, inspiring drama that fea-
tures the exquisite New Zealand coast. A
don’t-miss movie. PG-13. Bijou. Online
archives.
X-Men 2: The next link in the evolutionary
chain? Directed by Bryan Singer, stars Patrick
Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle
Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden and
more, lots more. PG-13. Movies 12.
Elliott Marks. Disney Pictures, Buena Vista, 2003
OPENING OR RETURNING:
Alex & Emma: Rob Reiner directs Kate
Hudson and Luke Wilson in a comedy romance
based on a short story by Dostoyevsky. Wilson
plays a writer who has to finish a book on
deadline or deal with gambling debts to the
mob. Hudson is a secretary with ideas about
his book. Also stars, Sophie Marceau, Cloris
Leachman and David Paymer. PG-13. Movies 12.
Archaeology Channel International Film &
Video Festival, The: Discover lost civiliza-
tions, sunken galleons, buried treasure — even
a cave of glowing skulls — and the true tales of
modern African bushmen, all here in Eugene
as part of the first international archaeological
film and video festival to be held in North
America. www.archaeologychannel.org for
schedule and information. July 17-19,
McDonald Theatre. Online archives.
Bruce Almighty: Jim Carrey, Morgan
Freeman and Jennifer Aniston star in this tale
of a at TV reporter, who has a really bad day,
rages against God and receives more than he
expected. PG-13. Movies 12.
Daddy Day Care: Eddie Murphy and Jeff
Garlin lose their jobs and can’t afford day care
for their sons, so they open their own facility.
Comedy directed by Steve Carr also stars
Anjelica Huston, Steve Zahn and Regina King.
PG. Movies 12.
Hulk, The: Director Ang Lee’s action-adven-
ture adaptation of the Marvel Comics series
hits darker notes than the usual superhero
comics. Scientist’s (Eric Bana) inner demons
change him after a catastrophic experiment.
Written by James Schamus, it also stars
Jennifer Connelly, Nick Nolte, Josh Lucas and
Sam Elliott. PG-13. Movies 12.
Ice Age: Chris Wedge directs the voices of
Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary,
and Goran Vizjnic in this digitally animated
story about a Three-Toed Sloth and a Woolly
Mammoth who try to save a human child at
the beginning of an Ice Age. Has its moments
of humor adults may like, but it’s not all that
funny. 2002 Academy Award nomination for
animated feature. G. At 10 am on 7/29 only.
Movies 12.
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of
Life: Second in the franchise again stars
Angelina Jolie as action heroine Lara Croft
who saves the world, again, from unspeakable
evil. Directed by Jan De Bont, also stars
Gerard Butler and Noah Taylor. PG-13. Cinema
World. Cinemark.
Nowhere in Africa: Caroline Link’s film fol-
lows a family through the transition from
Hitler’s Germany in 1938 to colonial Kenya.
Based on a best selling autobiographical novel
by Stefanie Zweig, it is a tender look at a mar-
riage under stress, a child who embraces
Africa, and a Kenyan man who looks after
them all. Winner of the 2002 Academy Award
winner Best Foreign Film. R. Bijou.
Seabiscuit: Tobey Maguire plays a talented
but not superhuman jockey in the story of the
racehorse who became America’s Depression-
era success story. Seabiscuit was the original
down-and-outer who makes it big. Chris
Cooper plays his trainer, Jeff Bridges the busi-
nessman-owner. Written and directed by Gary
Ross, it’s based on Laura Hillenbrand’s best-
selling non-fiction book. Also stars Elizabeth
Banks, William H. Macy. Has all the marks of a
winning film. PG-13. Cinemark.
Spy Kids 3D: Game Over: Alexa Vega and
Daryl Sabara continue to embrace the family
business — spying — but this time the
Toymaker (Sylvester Stallone) may be their
nemesis. Also stars Antonio Banderas and
Carla Gugino. Special 3-D viewing glasses
required. Written and directed by Robert
Rodriguez, who’s on a roll. PG. Cinemark.
Cinema World.
Films open the Friday following date of E W
publication unless otherwise noted. See
archived reviews at
www.eugeneweekly.com.
When Harry Met Lloyd and stars Derek
Richardson and Eric Christian Olsen as the
1994 Dumb and Dumber duo in high school.
Directed by Troy Miller, with Eugene Levy,
Cheri Oteri and Luis Guzmán. PG-13. Movies 12.
Finding Nemo: Pixar (Toy Story) presents this
computer-animated fantasy of two Clownfish,
Marlin and his son Nemo, who get separated
in the Great Barrier Reef. Written and directed
by Andrew Stanton (A Bug’s Life), with voices
by Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Willem
Dafoe, Geoffrey Rush, Allison Janney. Very
highly recommended. G. Cinema World.
Cinemark. Online archives.
Holes: Adventures digging holes at Camp
Green Lake for Stanley, who comes from a
strange family that’s been cursed for genera-
tions. Embarrassingly, Jon Voight, Sigourney
Weaver and Tim Blake Nelson co-star. PG.
Movies 12. Online archives.
How to Deal: Directed by Clare Kilner. Stars
pop singer turned actress Mandy Moore.
Laura Sinagra of The Village Voice writes,
“Moore’s whinier here than in churchy weepie
A Walk to Remember, but playing opposite
Trent Ford, who, as her rakish beau, affects a
chin-down, three-quarter boffo stare in every
shot regardless of circumstance, her spunky
resolve still brands like honesty.” PG-13.
Cinemark. Cinema World.
Hulk, The: Director Ang Lee’s action-adven-
ture adaptation of the Marvel Comics series
hits darker notes than the usual superhero
comics. Scientist’s (Eric Bana) inner demons
change him after a catastrophic experiment.
Written by James Schamus, it also stars
Jennifer Connelly, Nick Nolte, Josh Lucas and
Sam Elliott. PG-13. Movies 12. Online archives.
Identity: Ten travelers caught in a rip-snorter
of a storm seek refuge at a creepy motel in
the desert, and sure enough they begin to die.
Directed by James Mangold, stars John
Cusack, Ray Liotta and lots of screaming
women. R. Movies 12.
Italian Job, The: Mark Wahlberg leads a heist
that’s double-crossed by one of his crew.
Charlize Theron plays a safecracker in this
cool revenge movie. Also stars Edward Norton,
Mos Def and Donald Sutherland. Highly rec-
ommended for its pure entertainment value.
PG-13. Cinemark. Online archives.
Johnny English: When all but one of MI5’s
top agents are killed in an explosion, it is left
to the inept Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson
of Mr. Bean fame) to try and solve who has
stolen the crown jewels from the Tower of
London. Accompanied by his assistant Bough
(Ben Miller), Johnny bungles his way through
one scrape after another. Directed by Peter
Howett. PG. Cinemark. Cinema World.
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Based
on the comic book miniseries by Alan Moore.
Matthew Tobey in All Movie Guide writes
movie “takes place in an alternate universe,
where the characters of several literary clas-
sics exist in reality.” Directed by Steve
Norrington. Stars Sean Connery, Peta Wilson,
Shane West, Stuart Townsend, Naseeruddin
Shah, and Tony Curran. PG-13. Cinemark.
Cinema World.
Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde:
Reese Witherspoon is back as Elle Woods,
Harvard Law, class of 2001, now in DC on
behalf of pet animal’s rights. Luke Wilson is
still her boyfriend, as is her manicure person,
Jennifer Coolidge. Sally Field and Bob
Newhart join the cast. Charles Herman-
Wurmfeld directs. PG-13. Cinemark.
Lizzie McGuire, The Movie: Disney comedy
about a girl on a class trip to Italy who is mis-
taken for an Italian pop star. Stars Hillary Duff,
directed by Jim Fall. PG. Movies 12.
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers:
Directed and re-imagined by Peter Jackson,
part two of J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy continues.
New characters, a surprise return and great
battles. Director Peter Jackson’s second mas-
terpiece. Very highest recommendations.
2002 Academy Awards for sound editing, visu-
al effects. PG-13. Movies 12. Online archives.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Non-stop adven-
ture directed by Gore Verbinski stars Johnny
Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom and
Keira Knightley. Depp sashays, Rush dissem-
bles, Bloom fences and Knightley swashbuck-
les - mid-summer’s great escape movie.
Recommended especially for Depp and Rush’s
over the top performances and the good time
had by all. PG-13. Cinemark. Cinema World.
See review this issue.
Quiet American, The: Directed by Phillip
Noyce (Rabbit-Proof Fence), this adaptation of
Graham Greene’s novel is set in 1952 Saigon
during the French Indochina War. Michael
Caine plays an English journalist; also stars
Brendan Fraser. 2002 Academy Award nomi-
nation for Caine. Underrated, excellent movie.
Highly recommended. R. Movies 12. Online
archives.
Raising Victor Vargas: Peter Sollett’s indie
romantic comedy about wannabe players in a
Lower East Side neighborhood. Sixteen-year-
old Victor (Victor Rasuk) goes for Judy (Judy
Marte), but first he has to win her trust.
Victor’s grandmother (Altagracia Guzman)
doesn’t know what’s happening to the three
kids she’s raised. Funny, touching and terrific
performances by fresh, new faces. Highly rec-
ommended. R. Bijou. Online archives.
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas:
DreamWorks animated pirate adventure tale
stars the voice of Brad Pitt as Sinbad,
Catherine Zeta-Jones as Marina, and Michelle
Pfieffer as the goddess of chaos. Joe Fiennes
plays Proteus, a rival pirate. Directed by Tim
Johnson and Patrick Gilmore. PG. Cinemark.
Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines:
Jonathan Mostow directs, and Arnold
Schwarzenegger comes back to save the