Movies
Rounders
(Miramax Films). A cast of critics' darlings (Edward
Norton, Matt Damon, John Malkovich) fails to win this poker movie
much-hoped-for rave reviews. Individual performances are said to be inspired;
the card hall settings are said to be gritty; the dialogue is said to be
pleasingly peppered with poker jargon--but the film is deemed "unable to do
justice to its potential" (Kenneth Turan, the Los Angeles Times ).
Objections: a sluggish plot and a predictable setup. Dissenters call the film
"snappy and ingratiating" (
Slate
's David Edelstein) and
"completely enjoyable and, at its climactic moments, thrilling" ( New
York magazine's David Denby). (Read Edelstein's
review and Denby's. Or read this interview with
Norton.)
One
True Thing
(Universal Pictures). Meryl Streep and Renée Zellweger as a
mother and daughter forced to reconcile in the face of grave illness earn
praise in this "East Coast yuppie Terms of Endearment " (Stephen Holden,
the New York Times ). The film is based on a novel by Anna Quindlen and,
though small, is said to be emotionally powerful. (Watch interviews with the stars
and director of this film.)
Simon
Birch (Buena Vista Pictures). Critics agree that this
"reduction" of John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany is--in the unkind
words of Variety 's Dennis Harvey--"syrupy hash." Large parts of the
complicated plot and all Irving's dark humor have been excised, resulting in
the loss of the author's blessing and the right to use the novel's name. What's
left is a string of corny adventures shared by two young boys, one of whom
believes he is on a special mission from God. A minority of critics praise the
film, most notably Gene Siskel, who gives it four stars and calls it "one of
the year's best" ( Chicago Tribune ). (Read an interview with small star Ian Michael Smith.)
Touch of Evil
(Universal Pictures). Based on Orson Welles' 58
page memo detailing his objections to the studio's cut of his
much-tinkered-with 1958 noir classic, this re-edited version "unspools with all
the complex, unnerving menace and nihilistic subtext its writer-director had in
mind all along" (Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly ). Critics take
the occasion to rethink the movie itself: "A jammed, discordant, discomforting
experience--a nightmare, in fact, but a nightmare that leaves in the wake of
many complications a moral significance of disturbing perversity and
brilliance" (Denby). "Welles was at the peak of his talent in Touch of
Evil , but let's never forget what an abrasive, high-wire, self-destructive
talent he was" (Edelstein). (Read Edelstein's
review and Denby's. Find out more about the alternate versions of this film.)
Book
Anne
Frank
, by Melissa Müller (Metropolitan Books). In researching this
biography, Müller came across five additional pages of Anne Frank's original
diary that had been removed by her father before publication, largely because
they reveal unhappy details of his marriage. These pages overshadow the
contents of the biography in news coverage of the book, but those who do
comment call it "superb" (Laura Shapiro, Newsweek ). (This page of
Anne Frank-related links includes one to Catherine Bernard's essay "Anne
Frank: the Cultivation of the Inspirational Victim.")
Music
Mechanical
Animals, by Marilyn Manson (Nothing/Interscope).
Heretofore dismissed as "a freak show accompanied by a soundtrack" (Lorraine
Ali, the Los Angeles Times ), Manson comes out with an album that is
"wickedly engaging" (N'Gai Croal, Newsweek ). The music is said to be
rich and intense, full of pomp and '70s style high-glam à la Ziggy Stardust.
The lyrics are the usual--drugs, grim humor, self-hatred, sci-fi sex--but
Manson is "no longer instantly dismissible as scam artist or sight gag" (Jim
Farber, Daily News ). (Check out audio and video clips from the album.)
Teatro
, by Willie Nelson (Island). Nelson's 214 th
album. All his trademark "stark, heart-tugging" lyrics (Dennis Hunt, USA
Today ), plus more musical frills than expected. Producer Daniel Lanois (Bob
Dylan's Time Out of Mind ) is given credit for pushing Nelson's sound in
unfamiliar directions. Some critics call it his "best album in years" (Tony
Scherman, Entertainment Weekly ). Others are bemused by Lanois' addition
of xylophones, organ, Caribbean rhythm, and atmospheric hoopla. The New York
Times ' Ben Ratliff marks the appearance of what he calls Nelson's "first
trip-hop" song. (Listen to clips from this album.)
Recent
"Summary Judgment" columns
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.
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.
--Eliza
Truitt
