Movies
Holy Man
(Buena Vista Pictures). Critics are disappointed by
Eddie Murphy's turn as a spiritual guru who is discovered by a TV executive and
ends up hawking gadgets on a 24 hour cable shopping channel. The film "wants to
say something about the commodification of spirituality, but has no idea what"
(Rod Dreher, the New York Post ). Treading ground previously trod by
Being There , Network , and Forrest Gump , the screenplay
doesn't give Murphy a chance to flex his comedic muscles, and the result is
weak satire. (Visit the official site.)
The
Mighty
(Miramax Films). The second handicapped-kid friendship story of
the season (after Simon Birch ) hits the mark. Kieran Culkin and Elden
Henson star as 14-year-old outcasts--the former a whip-smart bookworm with a
degenerative bone disease, the latter a hulking giant who has been held back in
school two years running. With Culkin on Henson's shoulders, the pair is able
to outwit neighborhood bullies and to overcome personal obstacles. Although a
few critics find it too heavy with "only-in-the-movies claptrap" (Owen
Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly ), most praise the film because "it
never slides down that slippery slope of sap that you keep expecting" (Jami
Bernard, New York Daily News ). (Find out about the young-adult novel that is the basis for
this film.)
Slam
(Trimark Pictures). After snagging the grand prize at
Sundance and the best first film prize at Cannes, this fable of the redemptive
power of poetry wins more praise in its general release. Although critics
detect shaky spots, they find the film "stirring, powerful, and thrilling," and
call veteran poetry-slam champion Saul Williams' performance as a drug
dealer/poet "eerily beautiful" (Joe Morgenstern, the Wall Street
Journal ). USA Today 's Andy Seiler disagrees: "The movie drowns in
self-indulgence and earnest speechifying." (Here is a page of links to slam
poetry sites.)
A
Night at the Roxbury
(Paramount Pictures). As Saturday Night
Live skits-turned-movies go, this one "makes The
Blues
Brothers look like Kurosawa" (Susan Wlosczyna, USA Today ). A three
minute skit about two pathetically eager "delusional poseurs" (Tamara Ikenberg,
the Baltimore Sun ) who'll do anything to get into the Roxbury nightclub,
is now an hour and a half of the same, which wears thin by the end. Funny
cameos, though, by Loni Anderson and Richard Grieco (who plays himself). (Read
a parody of the movie's script here.)
Dance
Swan
Lake
(Neil Simon Theatre, New York City). Choreographer Matthew
Bourne's re-engineered "gay Swan Lake " played for six months in London
(the longest continuous run of any ballet there) and eight weeks in Los Angeles
and is now basking in critical acclaim on Broadway. Gripping storytelling and
an ingenious use of men in feathers are the most praised elements of the
production. Despite radical changes to the story line, critics note that both
the score and the ballet's sense of magical fantasy remain virtually unchanged.
John Simon ( New York ), dissenting, calls the production
"choreographically impoverished" and advises Bourne to "[g]o jump in a lake."
(Visit the ballet's Web
site.)
Books
Work in Progress
, by Michael Eisner with Tony Schwartz (Random
House). One word crops up in almost every review of the Disney CEO's
"riches-to-riches autobiography" (Ty Burr, Entertainment Weekly ):
"bland." Even the swipes Eisner takes at archenemies Jeffrey Katzenberg and
Michael Ovitz are mild. The one shocker in the book is the revelation of
Eisner's heart-and-soul belief that those who criticize Disney simply don't
understand it and that "the company's good is unquestionably,
inextricably intertwined with the larger social good" (Richard Schickel, the
Los Angeles Times ). (For the biography of another "awkward, toothy,
curious, and good-spirited Everyman" at Disney, read Goofy's official bio. And Mark Crispin Miller and Tim Ferguson
discuss the book in
Slate
's "Book Club.")
Pure Drivel
, by Steve Martin (Hyperion). This "spankingly
inventive" (Brett Kelly, New York ) collection of humorous essays (most
of which originally appeared in The New Yorker ) puts Martin back in the
comic pantheon after a recent series of disappointing films. The titles
alone--"Mars Probe Finds Kittens" and "Schrödinger's Cat" (which covers
"Sacajawea's Rain Bonnet" and "Wittgenstein's Banana")--display Martin's knack
for goofy parody. Critics call the slim volume lighter than air but "giddy with
imagination, exuberance, and originality" (Maureen Corrigan, Newsday ).
(Find out more about the book on Amazon.com.)
Recent
"Summary Judgment" columns
Oct.
7:
Movie -- Antz ;
Movie -- What Dreams
May Come ;
Movie -- Happiness ;
Book -- I Married a
Communist , by Philip Roth;
Television -- The
Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer ;
Art --"Van Gogh's Van Goghs: Masterpieces From the Van Gogh Museum,
Amsterdam."
Sept.
30:
Movie -- Ronin ;
Movie -- Urban
Legend ;
Book -- Two
Cities , by John Edgar Wideman;
Opera--
A Streetcar
Named Desire ;
Music--
Painted From
Memory , by Elvis Costello with Burt Bacharach;
Television -- Felicity ;
Art --"From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art."
Sept.
23:
Report -- The Starr
Report ;
Book -- Bag of
Bones , by Stephen King;
Book -- Model
Behavior , by Jay McInerney;
Book -- Birds of
America , by Lorrie Moore;
Movie -- Rush
Hour ;
Movie -- Permanent
Midnight ;
Movie -- A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries .
Sept.
16:
Movie -- Rounders ;
Movie -- One True
Thing ;
Movie -- Simon
Birch ;
Movie -- Touch of
Evil ;
Book -- Anne
Frank , by Melissa Müller;
Music -- Mechanical
Animals , by Marilyn Manson;
Music -- Teatro , by Willie Nelson.
--Eliza
Truitt
