IDENTITY As a longtime fan of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians, this new thriller, which works from the same template, completely had me in its grip for the first hour. Eleven people, including a former cop (John Cusack), an active cop (Ray Liotta), a hooker (Amanda Peet) and a has-been actress (Rebecca DeMornay), all find themselves stranded at a desolate hotel during a massive rain storm, where they start getting murdered one by one. With this cast lending prestige and a competent director (James Mangold of Girl, Interrupted) emphasizing mounting suspense over cheap scares, Identity works like gangbusters until it reveals Major Plot Twist #1 with about 20 minutes to go (Major Plot Twist #2 concerns the killer's identity during the final minutes, but this one's easy to figure out for those familiar with the ground rules of the genre). Without giving too much away, this sudden reversal of circumstances might catch most audiences off guard and certainly takes the film into a new direction, but that's not necessarily a plus, as this shift largely negates everything that preceded it and ends up reducing its intriguing characters to nothing more than paper dolls. It's a real shame: Perhaps the Director's Cut on DVD will shuck the entire final third and add a better resolution, but let's not hold our breath.
IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY The Douglas clan's answer to the Fondas' On Golden Pond might easily have been called On Golden Turkey, as a wretched beginning hints that this might end up as one of the year's worst films. Fortunately for all involved (and none more so than the audience), this schizophrenic, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink-and-we're-even-considering-that melodrama rights itself enough to ascend to the level of a rampaging mediocrity. Kirk Douglas, a welcome presence who nevertheless is only onscreen to toss off one-liners, plays Mitchell Gromberg, the crusty patriarch of a New York family, with real-life family members cast as his wife (Diana Douglas, in reality his former spouse), his son (Michael Douglas), and his grandson (Cameron Douglas). Along with the other members of the Gromberg household (Bernadette Peters as Michael's wife and Rory Culkin as their youngest son), they must cope with petty squabbles, potential affairs, underachieving offspring, flatulent relatives, and other factors that prevent them from becoming as cozy a clan as the Waltons. This overreaching Family affair, numbly directed by Fred Schepisi (Six Degrees of Separation), was a labor of love for Kirk and Michael, who had never appeared together on screen before this -- it's a lovely sentiment, but hardly worth the price of admission.
CURRENT RELEASES
ANGER MANAGEMENT After delivering subtle, shaded performances in The Pledge and About Schmidt, Jack Nicholson reverts back to his familiar "wild and crazy guy" persona in Anger Management -- and that's actually not a bad thing. Nicholson gamely gets into the swing of the satire as Buddy Rydell, an unorthodox therapist whose methods threaten to completely unnerve his latest patient, a meek businessman (Adam Sandler) railroaded into subjecting himself to the good doctor's anger management program. It's doubtful we'll ever see Sandler tackling Hamlet or Willy Loman, but both last fall's Punch-Drunk Love and now Anger Management demonstrate that he can be an engaging presence when he drags himself away from projects aimed at mentally deficient frat boys. Even if some of the situations seem overly familiar (the Yankee Stadium climax) or needlessly protracted (ditto), the movie zips by on the strength of some big laughs, sharply cast supporting roles (notably John Turturro and an unbilled Heather Graham) and the two well-matched stars at its core.
BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM You don't need a whole hand to count the number of American movies that have centered on women's soccer -- a single cuticle will do just fine (that would be 1992's Ladybugs, a dismal Rodney Dangerfield comedy). But now, our mates on the other side of the pond have come through with this charming British film that's been rocking the rest of the world and deserves to become a sleeper hit stateside. Our heroine is teenage Jess Bhamra (newcomer Parminder Nagra), a member of an Indian family living in London. Jess loves nothing so much as the game of soccer, but her parents (Anupam Kher and Shaheen Khan) don't approve, preferring that she pursue a more traditional life (i.e., learn to cook and marry a nice Indian boy). Her new friend Jules (Keira Knightley) invites her to join the local girls' team, but Jess' newfound happiness hits a brick wall in the form of her parents, who soon forbid her from playing soccer at all. "Feel-good" movies often get denigrated because they sometimes force audiences to leave their brains in the lobby in order to enjoy the merriment. This sharp culture-clash/coming-of-age tale doesn't share that problem: It's "feel-good" without being "feel-stupid."
BETTER LUCK TOMORROW Just as the recent City of God seemed to transfer the GoodFellas formula to the Brazilian slums, here's a strong effort from writer-director Justin Lin that places Asian-American high school students in a similar scenario. Lin starts with the stereotype of the Asian-American kid as clean-cut, hard-working and industrious and turns it on its head. At their California school, Ben (Parry Shen) and his three buddies are straight-A students with a laundry list of extra-curricular activities (sports, school newspaper, charity events, you name it) and their pick of Ivy League universities to attend after their impending graduation. But perhaps precisely because they're pegged as harmless, these teens decide that breaking the law should be their next extra-curricular assignment -- they start off small, by selling cheat sheets to other kids, but eventually find themselves trafficking in drugs and even packing pistols. Apparently aiming for the histrionic heights of GoodFellas and Boogie Nights, Lin and his co-scripters carry their story too far -- I didn't believe the reasons and circumstances surrounding a third-act murder for one second -- but they capture teen anxiety beautifully, with a strong cast of unknowns aiding them in their effort.
CONFIDENCE If The Good Thief represents the Old School brand of heist flicks, then Confidence serves as its New School equivalent, a picture carrying the torch for Mamet and Tarantino in its love of rapid-fire dialogue, roving camerawork and multiple plot twists. As such, it's one of the better examples of late (it easily overshadows Gene Hackman's Heist and Robert De Niro's The Score), even if it does run out of steam (and originality) before the end. The prime-cut cast is its strongest asset, with Ed Burns oozing charisma as a wily con artist, Paul Giamatti a welcome presence as a straight-talking member of his team, and, in a startling bit of casting, Dustin Hoffman as a venal small-time kingpin with a quick temper and a fondness for both the ladies and the gents. You also get Rachel Weisz as the requisite femme fatale and reliable Luis Guzman as a corrupt cop, but by the time Andy Garcia gets thrown into the mix late in the game as a shady government agent, it becomes clear that director James Foley (who orchestrated similar rat-tat-tat patter in Glengarry Glen Ross) and scripter Doug Jung have overstuffed their plates -- in this case, less probably would have been more. 1/2
THE GOOD THIEF A smart, sophisticated drama for grownups, Neil Jordan's jazzy new flick may be a remake of Jean-Pierre Melville's 1955 Bob Le Flambeur, but its central player, a boozy American expatriate who's equal parts idealist and cynic, stirs memories of Bogart's Casablanca character... provided Rick Blaine had been a heroin addict. In a staggeringly good performance, Nick Nolte plays this magnificent mess of a man, a burn-out whose rough lifestyle (heroin and gambling) never once tempers the joie de vivre spirit that informs his every move. After cleaning up his act, he decides to take part in a casino heist while also serving as a father figure to a 17-year-old prostitute (Nutsa Kukhianidze). The twist ending is nice, though I'm still not convinced that everything falls into place from a narrative standpoint; ultimately, though, this is a heist movie that's more interested in exploring its players than in impressing (or annoying) the audience with its cleverness, and therein lies its appeal. Kukhianidze brings a refreshing matter-of-fact directness to her role, while Tcheky Karyo is warm and inviting as a sympathetic cop. Yet it's Nolte who dominates the picture: Watching the actor invest himself so thoroughly in the part, it's easy to believe that this remarkable talent is purging his real-life demons through his film work.
HOLES Louis Sachar's award-winning children's book might be a "must-read" among students and teachers, but the widely circulated trailer made the new screen version look like a "must-avoid." Luckily, the finished product is far more engaging than the clumsy preview would lead anyone to believe -- in fact, it's good enough to be enjoyed equally by kids and their attendant parents. Sachar himself wrote the script, which focuses on the plight of hapless teen Stanley Yelnats (Shia LaBeouf of the Disney Channel's Even Stevens), who's wrongly convicted of robbery and sent to Camp Green Lake, a boys' correctional facility located in the middle of a desert. There, he and the other guys are subjected to the demands of the warden (Sigourney Weaver) and her two sidekicks (Tim Blake Nelson and a hilariously over-the-top Jon Voight), who order the boys to spend every day digging holes. Sachar and director Andrew Davis (The Fugitive) have crafted a fresh comedy-drama that nicely weaves the present-day story together with related flashbacks set in the Old West (Patricia Arquette stars in this section of the film); while the ending may tie everything up a bit too tidily, there's no denying that there's real imagination at work here.
Home Theater
TREASURE PLANET (2002). Despite being a resounding critical and commercial flop, this by-the-numbers Disney effort picked up a Best Animated Film Oscar nomination, though it was conceded by all that the movie was merely included to fill out the ballot. At any rate, this sci-fi twist on Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island seemed mildly enjoyable yet hardly awe-inspiring when it played theaters, but a second look on DVD accentuates the negatives, most notably the inclusion of the character of B.E.N. (voiced by Martin Short), an insufferable robot who sets a new low when it comes to unwelcome comic relief in a Disney film. DVD extras include deleted scenes, commentary by the directors and producers, and an adventure game. <
LITTLE BIG MAN (1970). Director Arthur Penn's excellent adaptation of Thomas Berger's novel is one of the great films of the early 70s, anticipating Forrest Gump in the manner in which it centers on a decent man who meets several notable figures while taking a volatile journey through a thorny chapter in American history. Dustin Hoffman delivers a towering performance as Jack Crabbe, a 121-year-old man who reflects on his experiences as a young boy raised by Indians, a naive youth educated by whites, an adult who returns to live with his Native American brothers, and, finally, a survivalist engaged in a deadly contest of wills with the demented George Custer (Richard Mulligan). The movie has a wicked sense of humor that's mixed with the drama, though it's still tough to watch the scenes in which Americans slaughter innocent non-whites (then again, it's what this nation does best). As Crabbe's adopted father, a saintly sage constantly muttering, "It's a good day to die," Chief Dan George earned an Oscar nomination. Sadly, the DVD is not only bereft of extra features but also fails to include the original 147-minute cut (this more common version runs 139 minutes).
YOUNG GUNS (1988). A decent script that positions Billy the Kid (played by Emilio Estevez) as the slightly mad member of a group of outlaws/enforcers gets seriously undermined by Christopher Cain's clumsy directorial style and too much pretty-boy posturing by several of its Brat Pack stars (besides Estevez, the cast includes Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips and Charlie Sheen). DVD extras include audio commentary by Phillips, Dermot Mulroney and Casey Siemaszko, and a documentary on Billy the Kid.
-- Matt Brunson