Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Laura Dern
It's the late 1950s, and Evelyn Ryan (Moore) is an Ohio housewife tending to 10 children and a husband (Harrelson) who drinks up most of his factory-job earnings. To keep her offspring fed and pay the milkman in this prefeminist era, she enthusiastically enters—and frequently wins—jingle-writing contests sponsored by makers of chewing gum, washing machines, shampoo and more. "These contests were a lucrative way for overworked housewives to employ their underused wits," Ryan cheerily explains in a voice-over. And, as it turns out, keep a roof over her family's head. This slight, sprightly film, based on a real-life story (see p. 93) and written and directed by Jane Anderson (the HBO movie Normal), gives its admirable heroine her due without overdramatizing her story or its meaning. The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio makes its points and then moves on. Take, for example, a brief, telling scene in which Ryan consults her priest about her husband's nightly boozing. The priest patronizingly lectures her that her spouse is under a lot of pressure, that she shouldn't nag him. After the priest leaves, one of Ryan's youngsters pipes up, "His breath smells like Dad's."
Moore is radiant as a woman determined to see the bright side of life but capable of dealing with its darker moments. She helps Prize Winner live up to its title. (PG-13)
BIO
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins Jr.
CRITIC'S CHOICE
By shrewdly focusing on a few crucial years in the life of writer Truman Capote (1924-84), this mesmerizing movie manages to give a complete, multidimensional portrait of the author while avoiding the pit-falls of overblown cradle-to-grave biopics. And it's blessed by a masterful performance from Hoffman, who not only captures perfectly the way the diminutive writer—dubbed the Tiny Terror—looked and squeaked, but also nails Capote's contradictory mix of charm, cunning, selfishness, ambition and self destructiveness.
Capote, sensitively directed by Bennett Miller (The Cruise), concentrates on the period between 1959, when Capote first traveled to Kansas to report on the bloody murder of a family of four at a farmhouse, and 1966, when In Cold Blood, his true-crime account of the case, was published to critical acclaim and huge commercial success. The cost was steep. Capote is about how a writer, single-mindedly pursuing his literary goal, betrays and manipulates friends, lovers, sources and even himself. It's telling that after Blood, Capote turned increasingly to pills, alcohol and propping up his celebrity on the chat-show circuit. He never completed another full-length work. (R)
ADVENTURE
Paul Walker, Jessica Alba
Alba and Walker make for one golden couple. Golden as in thoroughly, deeply, totally tanned, so much so that you can only assume the duo's dermatologists will shake their heads in dismay should they ever be unfortunate enough to sit through Into the Blue. Not that a thorough slathering of SPF 50 would improve this derivative scrap of swimsuited nonsense. That would require a better plot, original dialogue and characters worth caring about, none of which make an appearance in Blue.
The movie, a lumpish stew of Jaws, National Treasure and The Deep, is about sweethearts (Alba and Walker) who discover more than they bargain for in the Bahamas when they dive for sunken treasure. What can one say that's nice? Alba and Walker are both lovely to look at, though their acting skills rival those of inferior soap opera actors. And director John Stockwell (Blue Crush) spectacularly serves up the marine life of the Atlantic; sharks, stingrays, angelfish and schools of other splendid, exotic creatures swim by. Also, Scott Caan brings energy and a vivid crudeness to his scenes as Walker's obnoxious buddy. (PG-13)
FAMILY
Alexander Michaletos, Campbell Scott, Hope Davis, Eamonn Walker
Duma is the Swahili word for cheetah, and it's the name Xan (Michaletos) gives to the orphaned cheetah cub that he and his father (Scott) find wandering near their South African farm. When his dad dies, Xan, 12, decides to return the cheetah to its real home far to the north and embarks on the journey without telling his mom (Davis).
Warm, wise and packed with adventure, the tale of the boy's arduous trip will please both children and their parents. The lessons it imparts—about being resourceful, valuing friendship, keeping love alive through memory—are well worth learning. Inspired by a true story, Duma is directed with a sure hand by Caroll Ballard (The Black Stallion) and affectingly acted by Michaletos and its adult stars. Shot on location in South Africa and Botswana, the movie offers stunning landscapes and a Noah's ark of African wildlife. (PG)
Flightplan
What's a widowed mom (Jodie Foster, below, right) to do when her child (Marlene Lawston) disappears midway through a transatlantic flight? Not take it sitting down, that's for sure. Foster does her heroic best to keep this so-so thriller set on a jumbo jet aloft, but even an actress of her estimable skill can't overcome a mediocre script that goes laughably limp near the finish. Peter Sarsgaard costars. (PG-13)
Oliver Twist
It's obvious why director Roman Polanski (The Pianist), who spent his childhood living by his wits in World War II-torn Poland, was attracted to Charles Dickens's classic tale about a hungry orphan (Barney Clark, above) wandering the streets of 19th-century London. The disappointing surprise is that Polanski brings so little of a personal touch to this straightforward, almost prettified version of the story. Ben Kingsley, Jamie Foreman and Leanne Rowe costar. (PG-13)
Serenity
This sci-fi adventure flick is based on Firefly, a failed 2002 TV series created by Joss Whedon (TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer) that later flew out of stores on DVD. Though fans of Firefly may be thrilled, it's unlikely this stolid film will win over new ones. The characters sometimes get off a world-weary wisecrack, but neither the plot nor the action scenes come across as fresh or different from countless other space-set TV shows and movies. Nathan Fillion (below, left) and Adam Baldwin (right) star. (PG-13)
Viggo Mortensen He didn't get much bedroom action in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but Mortensen, 46, more than makes up for it with steamy scenes opposite Maria Bello in the acclaimed thriller A History of Violence. He shared his screen seduction secrets.
PREPARE FOR PAIN I had a bunch of bumps and bruises. But [Bello] had more, definitely. We were on wooden stairs. There was no rug, and we're not wearing football pads.
GO WITH THE FLOW As an actor you're expecting [director David Cronenberg] to say, "Cut!" That's your safety net. But we didn't hear "cut"... and we didn't hear "cut." Then it gets uncomfortable. Odd things are happening. It's scary. It's just you and this person you're with.
AWKWARD IS GOOD [In Violence] it felt like what you would see from a husband and wife that have been together for a while and care about each other and are trying to work on their relationship. It is what it is: a little bit awkward and affectionate.
JUST DO IT Let's put it this way: I won't do a movie that doesn't have some sex in it. No--I'm joking! That's what humans do sometimes. So [as an actor] you're going to do it sometimes, unless you make a conscious effort to avoid it.
- Contributors:
- Leah Rozen,
- Nicholas White.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
