Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishbume, John Leguizamo, Maria Bello
Having played a rookie cop in Training Day (2001), Hawke has moved up to sergeant in this scorching police drama, a well-deserved promotion. Hawke gives an edgy, nuanced performance as emotionally fragile Jake Roenick, whose perilous task is to hold down the Action fort, literally, when his isolated police precinct building in Detroit is attacked by masked gunmen one snowy New Year's Eve.
Assault on Precinct 13 is an astute updating of a 1976 cult film by director-writer John Carpenter, who in turn was inspired by Howard Hawks's western Rio Bravo (1959). This new Assault, by French director Jean-Francois Ríchet, genuflects in passing to both earlier films but plays like a slam-bang contemporary thriller. It's fast-paced and bullets-through-foreheads violent, but allows enough byplay between characters so that when one of them bites the dust (or survives), viewers care. Having a strong cast helps, including Brian Dennehy as a veteran cop, Fishburne as a crime kingpin temporarily helping Sgt. Roenick, and Bello as a police psychologist. This is a B movie—you'd really have to work to find greater meaning to it—but for what it is and what it's trying to do, it scores a bull's-eye.(R)
ACTION
Jennifer Garner; Goran Visnjic; Will Yun Lee; Terence Stamp
What a little Paxil wouldn't do for Elektra. Sure, her job is to kill people, but does she have to be so morose all the time? Elektra is a paid assassin, if you missed Daredevil (2003), the mediocre comic-book film from which this equally lackluster entry is a spinoff. (Though dead at the end of Daredevil, she has since been miraculously resurrected.) She has no actual superpowers, but can run, jump and stick a three-pronged knife into flesh with the best of them and, by meditating really hard, see into the future. She also, in the person of Garner, has a lovely taut midriff, which is displayed at every opportunity, and long straight hair that, when she runs, billows like curtains in the wind.
Elektra is a dark, scantily plotted bit of fluff in which our heroine gets over herself long enough to take on supernatural baddies bent on capturing a young girl. Garner, who showed a promising comic touch last year in 13 Going On 30, does her movie career no favors here. (PG-13)
FAMILY
Ice Cube; Nia Long; Jay Mohr
Hollywood's idea of what constitutes wholesome family fun is a lot cruder than it once was. This kiddie comedy includes separate gags involving vomit, urine and crushed testicles. And may I say I didn't really mind a bit. At its heart, Are We There Yet? is a sweet, softhearted film about how Nick (Cube), a self-described "player" who loathes kids, learns to change his ways upon taking a 300-mile road trip through the Pacific Northwest with two of the little darlings (Philip Daniel Bolden and Aleisha Allen). The misbehaving duo belong to a divorcée (Long) Nick is trying to impress.
There Yet? offers no surprises and goes on a few scenes too long, but much of it is relatively amusing, and the kids, particularly Bolden, are cute in a precocious, sitcom way. While much of his comic playing is broad and prone to double takes, Cube brings a sincere warmth to his later scenes with the children. (PG)
Million Dollar Baby
Clint Eastwood directs and stars in a rich, complex film about a grizzled boxing coach who reluctantly agrees to train a female pugilist (Hilary Swank). And then something tragic happens that tests them both. Great acting, great movie. (PG-13)
A Love Song for Bobby Long
First-time directors such as Shainee Gabel should be prohibited from making movies set in New Orleans' underbelly. Everyone's trying hard in this painfully atmospheric drama about two alcohol-soaked ex-academics (John Travolta and Gabriel Macht) who form an alternative family with an orphaned teen (Scarlett Johansson), but we're not buying it. (R)
Coach Carter
Samuel L. Jackson is aces as a no-nonsense high school basketball coach. (PG-13)
Ken Carter, 45, who benched his undefeated '99 Richmond (Calif.) High School team for having poor grades, gets big-screen treatment in Coach Carter, starring Samuel L. Jackson.
CALLING A TIME-OUT Carter's squad was headed toward a state championship when he padlocked the gym—and forfeited two games—because seven of his players were failing classes. The team was forced to hit the books. "Everybody won," says Carter. The sweetest victory: The team's seniors all scored college acceptance letters.
HALL OF FAME When Carter found out Jackson would play him in Coach, it was "an out-of-body experience," Carter says. "I had to pinch myself."
COACHING 101 Carter spent four months with Jackson attending high school games and offering tips. His advice? "You have to scream," he says. "[And] be respectful of the other team. I'm not saying you have to hug, but always remain composed."
SLAM DUNK Carter retired two years ago and is now a motivational speaker. He also coaches adults in the new extreme sport SlamBall. "It's a human video game," he says. "It combines football, hockey and wrestling. You have to be fearless."
- Contributors:
- Leah Rozen,
- Vicki Sheff-Cahan.
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!
