Museum
J.
Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles). The oil magnate's museum for European art
expands its collection and moves to a new campus--"the most expensive art
complex in American history" (Robert Hughes, Time ). Modernist architect
Richard Meier's eclectic buildings, which echo Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd
Wright, receive mostly raves. "A symphonic set of variations on the classical
elements of 20 th -century structure" (Herbert Muschamp, the New
York Time s). Some detractors say the buildings simply replicate Meier's
designs for other galleries in Atlanta and Indiana. And some East Coast critics
say Los Angeles doesn't deserve such a good museum. (Richard Meier plugs his
project.)
Theater
The
Old Neighborhood
, by David Mamet (Booth Theater, New York City). The
hard-edged playwright turns introspective with three autobiographical one-acts
about his midlife crises and assimilated Judaism. "His most emotionally
accessible drama to date," says the New York Times ' Ben Brantley. As
always, most critics rave over Mamet's sardonic humor and street-smart
dialogue. Others complain the plays are pretentious and without much plot. Some
detractors ridicule Mamet's language for its "terrible syntax, clichés,
non-sequiturs, idiocies--but, man, that's how people talk!" (John Simon, New
York ).
Movies
Flubber
(Buena Vista Pictures). Disney's remake of The
Absent Minded Professor (1961), with Robin Williams in the lead role,
draws a big audience (earning $10.7 million its opening weekend) and critical
derision. "Slow, flat and dumb" says the Chicago Sun-Times ' Roger Ebert.
Critics find Williams' character surprisingly unlikable, causing some to
conclude that the comedian has hit a midcareer slump. The film's saving grace
is its special effects, particularly the green, gravity-defying slime that
Williams' scientist creates. (See Disney's site for the movie.)
Welcome to Sarajevo
(Miramax). Respectful doubts about this film
about a British war reporter who saves an orphaned Bosnian girl. Reviewers say
its conventional use of melodrama cheapens the atrocities of the Yugoslavian
war. "Some of the shocks here are too sadly predictable," says the New York
Times ' Janet Maslin. Still, critics applaud its explicit condemnation of
the United States' passive Bosnia policy, and Woody Harrelson's portrayal of a
blowhard TV reporter.
Television
Public Housing
(PBS; click here for
local listings). Veteran filmmaker Frederick Wiseman's three-hour documentary
about a Chicago public-housing project wins critical approval. Reviewers praise
Wiseman's signature minimalist style--no narrator, no music, long unedited
scenes--and his willingness to face up to the intractability of poverty. "Like
a dense poem," says the Chicago Tribune 's Steve Johnson. Wiseman reveals
"the impotence, for poverty, of the talking cure--the endless stream of
sex-education classes, group-therapy sessions, self-esteem talks ... directed
by the haves at the have-nots," says
Slate
's Walter Kirn. (PBS
plugs the show.)
Book
Release 2.0: A Design for Living in the Digital Age
, by Esther
Dyson (Broadway Books). Critics scoff at high-tech guru Esther Dyson's claims
that the Internet will expand democracy, build communities, and liberate
workers. "A cross between New Age philosophy and 1950s hyperbole," says
Slate
's Joseph Nocera. The New York Times ' Michiko Kakutani
says Dyson naively "downplays the [Web's] perils," among them new opportunities
for invasive voyeurs and shysters. Others gripe that Dyson recycles her
previously published magazine articles, writes turgid prose, and puts too much
faith in the free market. (Click here for the Release 2.0 site.)
Photography
"Weegee's
World: Life, Death, and the Human Drama" (International Center of Photography
Midtown, New York City). With this retrospective, the newspaper photographer
Arthur Fellig a k a "Weegee" (1899-1968) is judged a technical virtuoso, a
great artist, and an inspiration to his followers. Critics marvel at his knack
for arriving at murder scenes before the police. Others blame him for today's
news media's voyeurism and disapprove of his borderline ethics (he composed
scenes that he passed off as spontaneous). "His influence was like a rock
dropped in a pond: its ripples are still spreading," says the New York
Times ' Vicki Goldberg. (Click here for the museum's site and here for Weegee samples.)
Update
The
New Republic 's Stanley Kauffmann calls Francis Ford Coppola's The
Rainmaker generic. "Must we simply face the iron fact that current
filmmaking conditions have deprived still another individual director of his
individuality?"
Recent
"Summary Judgment" columns
Nov.
26:
Movie--
Midnight in
the Garden of Good and Evil ;
Movie -- John
Grisham's The Rainmaker ;
Movie -- Alien
Resurrection ;
Book -- Ronald
Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader , by Dinesh
D'Souza;
Theater -- Ivanov ;
Music -- Standing Stone , by Paul McCartney.
Nov.
19:
Movie -- The
Jackal ;
Movie -- Anastasia ;
Movie -- The Sweet
Hereafter ;
Theater -- The Lion
King ;
Book -- Another City,
Not My Own: A Novel in the Form of a Memoir , by Dominick Dunne;
Art --"Egon Schiele: The Leopold Collection, Vienna" (Museum of Modern
Art).
Nov.
12:
Movie -- Starship
Troopers ;
Movie -- The Wings of
the Dove ;
Movie -- Mad
City ;
Theater -- Proposal ;
Book -- The Dark Side
of Camelot , by Seymour M. Hersh;
Book -- Alfred C.
Kinsey: A Public/Private Life , by James H. Jones;
Book -- Joy of
Cooking: The All-Purpose Cookbook ;
Art --"The Warhol Look/Glamour Fashion Style" (Whitney Museum).
Nov.
5:
Music -- Spiceworld , by the Spice Girls;
Museum --P.S. 1
Contemporary Arts Center;
Movie -- Red
Corner ;
Book -- Violin ,
by Anne Rice;
Book -- My
Brother , by Jamaica Kincaid;
Opera -- Xerxes , New York City Opera.
--Franklin Foer
