Movies
Ronin
(United Artists). The only thing critics can agree on about
John ( The Manchurian Candidate ) Frankenheimer's supposed "comeback" film
is that the car chases are so phenomenal that they redefine the form. As for
whether the rest of the film (in which a group of post-Cold War international
mercenaries led by Robert De Niro pursues a mysterious suitcase around France)
succeeds, that depends on the critic. Some call the film "empty--a joyless
thrill ride" (Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly ). Others find the
MacGuffin-ish plot "rife with delicious ambiguity" (Michael O'Sullivan, the
Washington Post ). (Visit the official site.)
Urban Legend
(Sony Pictures Entertainment/TriStar Pictures). A
clever idea--incorporating common urban myths into a traditional horror
movie--paired with so-so execution results in a lukewarm set of reviews.
Despite the shock-film novelty of poodles in microwaves, critics dismiss
Urban Legend as yet another Scream wannabe--long on fresh-from-TV
teen cuties and short on substance or craft. In other words, "a teen-age
moviegoer's dream" (Anita Gates, the New York Times ) but "utterly
uninspired" (Ty Burr, Entertainment Weekly ). (Join an online chat about
Urban Legend .)
Book
Two
Cities
, by John Edgar Wideman (Houghton-Mifflin). Michelle Cliff calls
the latest novel from the much-lauded author of The
Cattle
Killing "a stunning portrait of three lives ... in the gang-colored
landscape of the present" ( Village Voice ). Mixing intimate life stories
with larger elements of Philadelphia's urban landscape such as Move, the
radical back-to-Africa group that was firebombed by police in the '80s, the
novel shifts seamlessly among viewpoints and time frames. Most reviewers concur
with Cliff's assessment, but Richard Bernstein writes in the New York Times
Book Review that the book is "so focused on darkness and degradation as to
be demagogic in its effect" and calls Wideman's version of history "distorted"
and "troubling." (Click here for Walter Kirn and Brent Staples' discussion of Two
Cities in
Slate
's "The Book Club.")
Opera
A
Streetcar Named Desire
(performed by the San Francisco Opera). Flawed
but not without merit, classical phenomenon André Previn's operatic adaptation
of the Tennessee Williams play is called "an unexpected letdown" (Terry
Teachout, Time ). Noting that the "formidable reputation" of the play is
"itself an obstacle" (Alex Ross, The New Yorker ), critics seem
apologetic for their negative reviews. After describing the production as
heavy-handed in its use of melodrama, or the music clichéd, each reviewer makes
a point of singling out a few elements of the show for praise.
Newsweek 's Katrine Ames is the opera's most passionate advocate, calling
the score "rich with color, by turns lush, frantic, heartbreaking, even funny."
(Here is a calendar of performance dates.)
Music
Painted From Memory
, by Elvis Costello with Burt Bacharach
(Mercury). Expecting kitschy nouveau-lounge, critics are pleased to find a
"sublime and subtle beauty" in the heartfelt, rich album from this unlikely
pair (David Browne, Entertainment Weekly ). Costello's lyrics are
pared-down and unusually taut, and "Bacharach's arrangements for a 24-piece
orchestra should make Babyface weep in envy" (Greg Kot, the Chicago
Tribune ). Several critics point out that Costello's voice is not quite up
to the task presented by Bacharach's complex melodies, but this is deemed only
a minor irritation. (Listen to a clip from the album.)
Television
Felicity
(The WB; Tuesdays, 9 p.m. ET/PT). Early reviews for this
sensitive, intelligent, girl-goes-to-college drama--by far the most "hotly
anticipated new show" of the season (Bruce Newman, the Los Angeles
Times )--are mildly approving, but the show doesn't come close to meeting
the high expectations created by the pre-season buzz. Time 's James
Collins calls it "pretty good, gooey, yearning, adolescent fun," and
Entertainment Weekly 's Ken Tucker calls it "a solid weekly soap opera."
Slate
's Sarah Kerr is more positive than most, placing it far
above Ally McBeal (a common comparison) for the way it "adores its
confused characters and burrows inside their heads to find a deeper humor,
warmer but also more raw." (Read the rest of Kerr's review.)
Art
"From
Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art" (New York). Critics gush over the Met's exhibit of Renaissance
paintings from the Netherlands. (The paintings are from the Met's collection
but are ordinarily scattered around the museum.) The straightforward
chronological order and detailed explanations of the workshop system of the
time, coupled with the high caliber of the art, makes for a show that is "both
intellectually stimulating and unexpectedly poignant" (Mark Stevens, New
York ). This "dazzling show of strength" is a testament to the "unrivalled
genius of the Netherlandish artists who invented the oil paint medium" (Holland
Cotter, the New York Times ). (Find out more
about the exhibition.)
Recent
"Summary Judgment" columns
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.
Sept.
10:
Movie -- Without
Limits ;
Movie -- Knock
Off ;
Movie -- Next Stop
Wonderland ;
Death --Akira
Kurosawa;
Book -- The
Professor and the Madman , by Simon Winchester;
Book -- At Home in the World , by Joyce Maynard.
Sept.
2:
Movie -- Blade ;
Movie -- Why Do
Fools Fall in Love ;
Movie -- 54 ;
Book -- The Farming
of Bones , by Edwidge Danticat;
Music -- The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill , by Lauryn Hill.
--Eliza
Truitt
