Movies
The
Avengers
(Warner Bros.). Warner Bros. refused to have an advance
critics screening for this update of the beloved 1960s British TV show, and the
reason is now obvious: The movie is "an unqualified disaster" (Dave Kehr,
Daily News ). Ralph Fiennes' painfully awkward John Steed and Uma
Thurman's beautiful but empty Emma Peel are said to have none of the charm and
sexual tension that graced their TV counterparts. Gene Seymour, in the Los
Angeles Times , writes the closest thing to a positive review the movie is
likely to get, calling Thurman's Peel "agreeably droll" and praising the
"suitably preposterous plot." (Visit the official Web site.)
Return to Paradise
(Polygram Filmed Entertainment). Outstanding
performances from Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, and Joaquin Phoenix are thwarted by
a so-so story line. The plot is a Manichaean moral dilemma: three traveling
buddies buy a brick of hash while on vacation in Malaysia. One gets in trouble
for it, and if the other two don't admit their complicity (and do time in a
dangerous prison system), the one who was caught will be executed. Some critics
praise it as having "the moody, disquieting undertow of a true moral thriller"
(Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly ), while others call it "too
implausible for anyone to rescue" (Kenneth Turan, the Los Angeles
Times ).
Slate
's David Edelstein is basically pro: "The upshot
might be melodrama, but it's melodrama with heart, bones, sinews, and tear
ducts." (Click here to read his review.)
The
Slums of Beverly Hills
(20 th Century Fox/Fox Searchlight
Pictures). Critics say Tamara Jenkins' writing and directing debut is as
refreshingly awkward and original as the film's teen-age heroine, Vivian
Abramowitz (Natasha Lyonne). The 15-year-old Vivian struggles with her
developing sexuality and the crazy dynamics of her less than affluent family,
which includes Alan Arkin as her baffled father and Marisa Tomei as her
drug-addled cousin. Critics are slightly irritated by the film's tendency
toward sitcom jokes and timing but nevertheless embrace the "affectionate
humor" (Janet Maslin, the New York Times ) Jenkins shows toward her
characters. (Visit the official Web site.)
Music
Whitechocolatespaceegg
by Liz Phair (Matador/Capitol). Reviewers
had speculated for four years about the effect of marriage and motherhood on
the queen of sexual bravado and confessional songwriting. The consensus:
Phair's long-awaited offering lacks the gritty low-fi feel and raunchy lyrics
that characterized Exile in Guyville , her 1993 album, which won the
Village Voice Pazz & Jop Album of the Year Award, but the new album
is more diverse musically. Newsweek 's Veronica Chambers claims the more
grown-up Phair is "far more interesting than the bad girl she used to be."
(Read more about Phair in Rolling Stone.)
Books
The
Father of Spin: Edward L. Bernays and the Birth of Public Relations
by
Larry Tye (Crown). Critics marvel at the life and accomplishments of this
public relations pioneer. Bernays was best known for his inventive publicity
stunts and manipulation of the public's buying patterns through now commonplace
tricks such as celebrity endorsement. Boston Globe writer Larry Tye is
praised for thorough research and the ability to see through his subject's
inflation of his accomplishments. The critics are not impressed with the book's
confusing nonchronological structure. The New Yorker 's Malcolm Gladwell
argues that Bernays is not the father of public relations; that honor
should go to Lester Wunderman. Others wonder at the brief treatment given to
Bernays' relationship with his famous uncle, Sigmund Freud, "which should have
formed the intellectual heart of Tye's book" (Ron Chernow, the New York
Times ). (Read the first chapter.)
Philistines at the Hedgerow: Passion and Property in the Hamptons
by Steven S. Gaines (Little, Brown & Co.). This "satisfyingly insiderish"
(Alexandra Jacobs, Entertainment Weekly ) history of life in the Hamptons
is being compared to John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and
Evil . Some critics relish the combination of eccentric real-life characters
and celebrity dirty laundry. Others dismiss the book for its dearth of sources
and persistent focus on malicious gossip. M.G. Lord of the Washington
Post calls the book "a smarmy, distasteful document in which Gaines fawns
over the rich and powerful and attacks the weak and the dead." Jay McInerney,
however, finds the book "eminently beachworthy" ( The New Yorker ).
(Buy this book from Amazon.com.)
Recent
"Summary Judgment" columns
Aug.
12:
Movie--
Snake
Eyes ;
Movie--
Halloween:
H20 ;
Movie -- How Stella
Got Her Groove Back ;
Book -- Rainbow
Six , by Tom Clancy ;
Television
--Jerry
Seinfeld: I'm Telling You for the Last Time--Live on Broadway (HBO);
Television
-- The Upright Citizens Brigade (Comedy Central).
Aug.
5:
Art --"The Art of the
Motorcycle";
Television -- Lolita (Showtime);
Television -- Maximum
Bob (ABC);
Movies -- Ever After:
A Cinderella Story ;
Movies -- The
Negotiator ;
Book -- Burn
Rate , by Michael Wolff;
Death --Jerome Robins.
July
29:
Book-- The Modern
Library's 100 Best English-Language Novels Since 1900;
Book--
Point of
Origin , by Patricia Cornwell;
Movie--
Disturbing
Behavior ;
Movie--
Pi ;
Movie--
The Thief .
July
22:
Movie -- The Mask of
Zorro ;
Movie -- Saving
Private Ryan ;
Movie -- There's
Something About Mary ;
Music -- Hello
Nasty , by the Beastie Boys;
Book -- Lucky
Bastard , by Charles McCarry;
Theater -- Twelfth
Night ;
Television -- Drudge (Fox).
--Eliza
Truitt
