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TUCK EVERLASTING A movie that the less charitable might describe as a castrated cross between Highlander and Lolita, this is actually based on the beloved 1975 children's book by Natalie Babbitt. In the hands of the Disney studio and director Jay Russell (who helmed the sweet family flick My Dog Skip), this sounds like it couldn't miss -- and yet it does, thanks largely to an overly reverential tone that, ironically, ends up sucking the life out of a movie that's about living forever. Set in 1914, the story centers on the encounter between 15-year-old Winnie Foster (Alexis Bledel), daughter of the richest man in town, and the Tucks, a poor family living deep in the woods on her father's property. Winnie eventually discovers that all the members of the clan -- dad Angus (William Hurt, whose peculiar accent sounds more Swedish than Scottish), mom Mae (Sissy Spacek) and sons Jesse (Jonathan Jackson) and Miles (Scott Bairstow) -- once drank from a mountain spring whose water has given them immortality. Winnie falls for Jesse, a 104-year-old man stuck in a 17-year-old body, but their May-December romance gets interrupted by the aptly credited Man in the Yellow Suit (Ben Kingsley), whose banana of an outfit makes him seem less a malevolent figure and more like an adornment on one of Carmen Miranda's old outfits. A movie as tightly drawn as the corset that Winnie must endure, Tuck Everlasting is simply too plodding and ponderous to evoke the sense of magic and wonder that this story demands. 
WHITE OLEANDER If the screen version of Janet Fitch's bestselling novel was an Olympic event, it's hard to tell which of the movie's four actresses would end up winning the gold. A powerfully performed drama that steadily works its way toward a satisfying wrap-up, this manages to offer complex roles to its quartet of leading ladies. And nobody's part is more complicated than that of Michelle Pfeiffer, who rewards the role with one of the finest performances of her career. She's cast as Ingrid, a talented artist and mother to 15-year-old Astrid (Alison Lohman). Ingrid clearly loves her daughter, but before long it becomes clear that she loves herself more -- hurt to the core by a philandering boyfriend, she kills him in a carefully plotted manner and soon finds herself behind bars, irresponsibly leaving Astrid at the mercy of a foster care system that places her in the home of a slutty born-again Christian (Robin Wright-Penn) and, later, in the care of a loving but overly sensitive actress (Renee Zellweger). Pfeiffer's physical beauty somehow seems to adapt to every role she plays, and here we see the frightening side of that allure: Ingrid is a woman who doesn't suffer fools lightly, and Pfeiffer's face, seemingly more angular and hard than in any past picture, reflects that steely detachment. It's a great performance in service of a towering character of great contradictions, yet she's nearly matched by the turns from Wright-Penn, Zellweger and especially Lohman, who handles the picture's largest role with the discipline it requires.
And In This Venue...
REEL TUESDAYS @ TONIC. This regularly scheduled event, held on the first Tuesday of each month at Tonic Lounge, began in August as an opportunity for filmmakers to screen their short films for local audiences interested in catching something off the beaten path. Typically, the screening is then followed by a reception that allows the filmmakers and viewers to get together for discussion. This month's slate alone demonstrates the incredible diversity this series offers. Among the shorts being presented are Rick Fisher's Plastic, an offbeat piece about an office wonk and his "perfect" girlfriend, a blow-up sex doll; Sheron Johnson's Strike, in which a wife locks herself in her room and won't come out until her self-centered husband agrees to her new marital conditions; Jason Todd Ipson's Peeping Tom, a likable lark about a voyeuristic little boy's ill-fated wish; and, perhaps my favorite of the bunch, Jason Fisher's Conversation for a Dollar, a series of short dialogues covering everything from the functionality of the spoken word to whether Captain Kirk or Han Solo was the bigger space pimp. Doors open at 7pm, with the films presented at 7:30pm. Admission is $8; call Dennis Darrell at 704-492-2519 for more info.
OPENS FRIDAY:
Auto Focus (Greg Kinnear, Willem Dafoe).
Bowling for Columbine (Michael Moore, Charlton Heston).
Comedian (Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Cosby).
