Month: December 2002

The Holocaust is no new subject for film, but its scope is so horrendous that all its stories could never be told. And even if they could — if the lives of the six million dead, of the countless millions who survived, of the countless millions who allowed such horrors to happen could be related to us — would they ever cease to inspire such dread, such numb fascination as do those we’ve already been told? If it weren’t true, if it all hadn’t really happened, the enormity and evil of something like the Holocaust would never be believed in a fictional story… nor would, I suspect, the depths of the human will to survive we now know are there to be drawn upon.

This absolutely (and unintentionally) terrifying production of the classic children’s tale will have parents and kids alike squirming in their seats. From his own unintelligible script, director Roberto Benigni has created a baroque nightmare of creepy half-humans/half-animals, disturbing imagery of hanging and torture, and a Blue Fairy (Nicolette Braschi) with more fashion sense than brains. … more…

It’s wonderful to be reminded that in a time when institutions were ruled by terror and powerful men wielded their influence like a weapon, kindness and charity could still win in the end — it gives one hope for today. Of course, Charles Dickens’ honorable and compassionate Nicholas Nickleby was fictional, but his popularity a … more…

It’s no About a Boy, but if Two Weeks Notice has one saving grace for the nonfan of romantic comedies, it’s that Hugh Grant has rarely been as offhandedly charming as he is here as George Wade, billionaire cad. But writer/director Marc Lawrence’s entirely ordinary flick is all the more depressing in the end because … more…

Martin Scorsese reminds us with *Gangs of New York* — a stunning re-creation not only of period places but also of the period mindset — how ephemeral even the biggest disasters and the most profound events are in the grand scale of history, even over the relatively short term.

Though it might not appear, at first glance, to have much in common with *Antwone Fisher,* *Evelyn* shares much. Both are based on true stories. Both are labors of love for big-name actors moving behind the camera for the first time. But most tellingly for the pop culture climate of the moment, both are warmly sentimental stories about men discovering the significance of and eventually fighting for, in one way or another, their families.

With Peter Jackson’s heart-stoppingly stirring *The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,* it occurs to me that his filmed adaptation is like a rereading on behalf of us all, that he has found the new and different meanings in a story that we all know by heart, and that he has brought them to us in as transparent a way possible, so that it’s easy to imagine that movie audiences 50 and 100 years from now will still be able to find their own new and different meanings.

If you’re a True Fan, this will not deter you one bit from reveling in the suckitude that is the latest *Trek* movie.

This Cinderella for the 21st century is every bit as predictable as you think it is — save your $10 and run the scenario through in your head, and you’ll probably come up with something more entertaining that what’s on the screen here, or least one that’s easier on your wallet.