Movies
Without Limits
(Warner Bros.). The second biopic about
record-breaking superstar runner Steve Prefontaine is deemed worthier than its
1997 predecessor, Prefontaine . "[A] richly intimate sports fable," says
Entertainment Weekly 's Owen Gleiberman. Billy Crudup (as Prefontaine)
and Donald Sutherland (as coach Bill Bowerman) are said to be at the top of
their game. So is director and co-writer Robert Towne ( Personal Best,
Chinatown ), who "holds the enigma of Prefontaine's self-propulsion up to
the light, turns it this way and that, and then wisely leaves us more or less
in the dark" (Daphne Merkin, The New Yorker ). (Explore this collection of photos of the
real Prefontaine.)
Knock Off
(Sony Pictures Entertainment/TriStar Pictures). The
only film released on Labor Day weekend, the latest Jean-Claude Van Damme
vehicle is trashed for its preposterous plot: The Russian mafia has put
miniature bombs in the buttons of jeans in order to blackmail the world. "Pay
up, or your pants explode," as the Daily News ' Dave Kehr puts it.
Directing (by Hark Tsui) and cinematography are said to be imaginative and the
Hong Kong scenery interesting, but the performance of "the Belgian blowhard"
(Rod Dreher, the New York Post ) is dismal. Only the Los Angeles
Times ' Kevin Thomas disagrees, calling it "one of Van Damme's best movies
ever." (Visit the official site .)
Next Stop Wonderland
(Miramax Films). Mixed reviews for
co-writer-director Brad Anderson's "beguiling, if slight" film (Leah Rozen,
People ). It follows two interesting but lonely singles (Hope Davis and
Alan Gelfant) who keep almost meeting each other around Boston. Some critics
admire the witty "amused sense of yuppie tragicomedy" (Lisa Schwarzbaum,
Entertainment Weekly ), others say the film "isn't really much more than
a beautifully acted, finely edited sitcom" (Stephen Holden, the New York
Times ). Everyone loves the Brazilian bossa nova soundtrack. (Read more
about the film on the Sundance Web site.)
Death
Akira Kurosawa
(1910-1998). The legendary Japanese director of such films as Rashomon ,
The Seven Samurai , and Ran is canonized: "one of the handful of
truly important directors that the cinema has produced" (Rick Lyman, the New
York Times ). Steven Spielberg calls him "the pictorial Shakespeare of our
time." A perfectionist and demanding taskmaster--he was often referred to as
"the emperor"--he was more popular abroad than at home and late in his career
had to ask foreign countries and American directors for financial backing. Also
noted are hints of nationalism in his last few films, which were not as well
received as his early masterpieces. (Here is a complete listing of his filmography.)
Books
The
Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the
Oxford English Dictionary , by Simon Winchester (HarperCollins). A dual
biography of James Murray, the primary editor of the Oxford English
Dictionary , and his most prolific contributor, W.C. Minor, a convicted
murderer who spent most of his life in institutions for the criminally insane.
"[T]he linguistic detective story of the decade," says William Safire in the
New York Times Magazine . Most reviewers concur. Quibbles: Doubts are
raised about explanations offered for Minor's sexual mania, which tormented him
so severely that he amputated his penis. Also considered a stretch is the
suggestion of romance between Minor and the widow of his victim. (You can
buy this book at Amazon.com.)
At
Home in the World: A Memoir
, by Joyce Maynard (Picador). First reaction
to Maynard's memoir, based mainly on a pre-publication excerpt in Vanity
Fair : instant dismissal. The crimes against taste of which Maynard is
accused include 1) cashing in on her former paramour J.D. Salinger's fame (she
held out for years before dishing dirt on him); 2) not respecting Salinger's
fanatically guarded privacy; 3) bad writing; and 4) self-importance. The second
wave of reviews amount to a backlash against the backlash. Daily New York
Times critic Michiko Kakutani says the book "is not a sleazy tell-all
memoir" and is a "leap forward in maturity and emotional candor." In the New
York Times Book Review , Katha Pollitt calls the book "riveting and
disturbing," though she adds, "I often found myself wondering how much of her
own story Maynard understands." (Read more about Maynard's life on her
photo-filled Web
page.)
Recent
"Summary Judgment" columns
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.
Aug.
26:
Movie--
Dance With
Me ;
Movie -- Your
Friends & Neighbors ;
Movie -- Unmade
Beds ;
Television -- The
Rat Pack (HBO);
Book -- The First
Eagle , by Tony Hillerman;
Book -- Summer of
Deliverance: A Memoir of Father and Son , by Christopher Dickey;
Book -- Kaaterskill Falls , by Allegra Goodman.
Aug.
19:
Movie--
The
Avengers ;
Movie--
Return to
Paradise ;
Movie--
The Slums
of Beverly Hills ;
Music--
Whitechocolatespaceegg , by Liz Phair;
Book--
The Father
of Spin: Edward L. Bernays and the Birth of Public Relations , by Larry
Tye;
Book--
Philistines at the Hedgerow: Passion and Property in the
Hamptons , by Steven S. Gaines.
Aug.
12:
Movie--
Snake
Eyes ;
Movie--
Halloween:
H20 ;
Movie -- How Stella
Got Her Groove Back ;
Book -- Rainbow
Six , by Tom Clancy;
Television --J erry
Seinfeld: I'm Telling You for the Last Time--Live on Broadway (HBO);
Television -- The Upright Citizens Brigade (Comedy Central).
--Eliza
Truitt
