Friday, 2July 1999

WEEKEND PREVIEW

The weekend is finally here! I can use the break. I can use a little quiet around here. One place I won't find any quiet is in any theater playing Wild Wild West, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut or Summer of Sam. All three make a lot of noise. And, for that matter, so do holdovers Big Daddy, Tarzan, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Star Wars: Episode One -- The Phantom Menace, The Mummy and The Matrix. The truth is, the only true non-arthouse alternatives are Notting Hill and An Ideal Husband, with the brutality of The General's Daughter (which I think is an important part of the film) a bit too much to be called "quiet."

So, what would I suggest to you? If you don't blush too easily, see South Park. It is the funniest film in wide release at theaters right now by a long shot. And as stupid as it is, it's very smart as well. Tarzan is definitely worth the trip. If you are a real film connoisseur, you should see Summer of Sam. (More on the film below.) And I don't think anyone will be angry that they put down their money to see An Ideal Husband or Notting Hill. Neither is the great drawing room comedy for the millennium, but they are both nice movies. If you are near an arthouse, go see Run Lola Run. Go see Buena Vista Social Club. If you've ever liked a John Sayles movie, check out Limbo.

For my look at the financial side of things, check out Box Office Extra on Friday after noon, e.s.t.

THE GOOD: I am quite happy to hear that David Mamet is the choice to write the screenplay of Hannibal, the Silence of the Lambs sequel. As Fox has always populated the Alien series with new and artistic directors, this choice will surely mark the third Hannibal Lechter movie (don't forget Manhunter) as a very different film from the last one. And to push the analogy, I am excited to see every film that Michael Mann (who directed Manhunter), Jonathan Demme (The Silence of The Lambs) and Ridley Scott deliver. And unlike the Alien series, there hasn't been a bad one of these yet. I can't wait for "Are you gonna eat that arm? That arm...are you gonna eat it? Tell me, will you eat that arm or won't you? The arm is there, now will you tell me if you are going to eat it? The arm. The arm on your plate..."

THE BAD: Spike Lee is a skilled filmmaker. I like that Spike Lee pushes boundaries. In fact, I am continually amazed that so many people find him so irritating. I don't. That said, I am not a fan of all of his movies. But I will look past some of the stuff that drives other people crazy, like the actor on the dolly with the camera, moving without walking. Summer of Sam didn't have a whole lot of that stuff. And there was a lot of interesting stuff. And...and...and...so what? What the hell was the point of this exercise? Nothing that happened in the film really relies on the events of the Summer of Sam as motivation. It's a schizophrenic film. One movie is about a bunch of bored, intellectually-challenged friends who are enraged by their old buddy coming home with a new look and new habits that are so different that it drives them crazy. One movie is about a guy who cheats all the time and, in the process of trying to make his marriage work, takes his wife too far past the point of return. And one movie is about David Berkowitz killing people. The story of the couple is the least connected to the Summer of Sam. The guys who use the excuse of Son of Sam to act out against others are all such brain dead idiots from start to finish that they would have ended up following the same pathetic route no matter what was going on. And David Berkowitz is David Berkowitz.

Is there any connective tissue between these events? I can't see any. The Son of Sam murders were not about intolerance, or self-deception, or power, the themes of the other movies in this movie. Perhaps, had Spike Lee had a cast of characters really searching for meaning in the murders and finding none in the crime or their lives, maybe there would have been the hook that would have made the film work. But the murders are truly peripheral to the stories in the movie. And, on less serious points, the movie is easily a half hour too long, there are some really weak performances here amongst some really good ones, there seemed to be repeated instances of actors anticipating moments (including bullets in the murder scenes) and Spike's cameo does nothing but distract. There is stuff in Summer of Sam to recommend, and it is, perhaps, a good step towards his next film not specifically about the black experience in America, but, it is also probably Lee's least coherent film.

THE UGLY: There really is no ugly today. Hollywood has calmed down with everyone heading out for 4, 5 or 9 day holiday weekends. I mean, I wouldn't want to be a pair of underwear at Warner Bros., but otherwise, it should be a clean weekend. Enjoy it. Don't blow your fingers off with any firecrackers. There will be a weekend column, but none on Monday. I'll be back Tuesday.

Page Two: "Mods, Rockers, Mockers, Ads, Fads, and E.T. Lying Cads"