Friday, 9 June 2000

WEEKEND PREVIEW

Gone In 60 Seconds is not only the title of this weekend's big new release, but it also describes how long the details of the film will last in your mind…even if you like the movie. But more on that below.

Outside of Gone, the market this weekend will have week old Big Momma and a 2 week old selection of Tom Cruise or Shanghai Noon. Dinosaur is a blue light special as the bloom falls off the lemur. And anyone spending money on Road Trip at this late date had better have enough left over to see Me, Myself & Irene in a couple of weeks or you're really going to be mad at yourself.

At the art houses, the Sundance rave comedy Groove opens, Ralph meets Istvan in Sunshine, The Hughes Bros'. American Pimp has a long delayed release, a powerful personal Holocaust documentary called The Children of Charbonnes arrives and The Lifestyle goes to San Francisco. Also, the Ugliest Shakespeare movie in weeks arrives. But more on that below.

Box Office Extra is here after noon, e.s.t.

THE GOOD: Take heart, Roger Ebert. Though visions of MaxiVision still dance in Roger's head, action is being taken on other fronts to make more interesting screen experiences take hold than just the make-it-cheaper digital cinema. DreamWorks is teaming with IMAX to turn the animated film Shrek, due out next summer, into a 3-D IMAX experience that will premiere 7 or 8 months after the traditional release. According to reports, IMAX will foot the bill for the work necessary to transform the movie. And of course, they will be praying to everything holy that Shrek is a hit on regular screens, driving the interest in seeing it in 80 foot high 3-D projection. IMAX seems to be quite gung ho these days. This announcement follows their announcement that they were teaming with Texas Instruments to create an IMAX digital projector. And after I ran that story, I got a lot of mail from folks who have already seen traditional movies on the giant IMAX screens. They aren't just for science museums anymore. Or at least, they hope not and are willing to put their money where their hopes are.

THE BAD: Did you ever play with an Easy Bake oven? You just kind of poured goop into these molds and let a dim bulb bake you a cake? Well, welcome to the production of Gone in 60 Seconds. Take some great actors, a screenwriter who soothes himself to the sound of his own attempts at cleverness and a once-promising director who has given up hope but can really use the smoke machine, pour them into the Jerry Bruckheimer mold and out comes Gone in 60 Seconds.

You probably won't see a more cynical film all year.

The funny thing is, I think that a lot of the abuse heaped upon this movie is overstated. It's hardly the worst movie of the year. Or even the month, I'm guessing. But it is everything that grates on the souls of critics everywhere. It is boilerplate. It is nonsensical at times. It is vacuous air best. But then there is the stunning stuff. For instance, this is a true clock movie…we see the clock at the top of virtually every new scene. Yet, the filmmakers essentially removed any of the clock tension by pushing the theft of all the cars into one night. What the thieves keep telling us is the hard part--finding the cars, making sure you can get them, etc.--happens in a leisurely pace and seems pretty easy. By the time there is a car chase or two at the end, so what? Also, the film's villain turns up only in the first 10 minutes or so and the last 10 minutes or so. He never pushes the tension. And the film wastes a great actor in Chris Eccleston, who fails miserably in his role. Also disappearing from anything interesting are Timothy Olyphant as Delroy Lindo's sidekick and Will Patton, whose role in the whole story seems unclear…though he does get a Duvall speech at the end. What a waste. And Angelina Jolie is nothing but "the girl" in this one, albeit a tough girl with dreadlocks. When she shows up and simply says, "I'm doing it for Kip," you really have to wonder where the scene went where she really decided to go back into a life of crime for a night.

Still, I thought that as a bang, bang, boom, boom movie, it wasn't all that bad. 15 year olds, still waiting to get their permanent licenses will LOVE it! The cars are beautiful. It does cook along. However, you never get that feel about the joy of driving. Because the Cage character is essentially doing this with a gun to his brother's head, there is a certain loss of joy. And the decided lack of tension caused by the fact that it is easy and quick to steal a car is a problem. Stealing cars just isn't that dramatic.

The scariest part is that after talking to the cast, you know that they knew what kind of worthless ride they were taking. Nic Cage forced them to create the relationship between the brothers. And they did. But you get the sense he knew it wasn't really his kind of movie. Angelina Jolie was coming off of Girl, Interrupted and wanted a break. Robert Duvall happened to want to work last year. Giovanni Ribisi knew it wasn't brain surgery…or even a guest shot on "Friends." And Dominic Sena just happened to be "ripe" to make a movie. A little overripe after 7 years between films, I would say.

But still, for what it is, I'd give Gone in 60 Seconds a mixed review. It is meaningless, slick, greasy summer filler that Jerry Bruckheimer could have made in his sleep. It's probably the worst of his films, right up there with Days of Thunder. But that's enough to entertain some people. It wasn't like having my teeth pulled. Is that damning with faint praise?

"Excuses Are Ugly, Jonesie Scores & The ROTDs On Myers"