Clive Owen, Keira Knightley, loan Gruffudd, Stellan Skarsgård
If Camelot existed, like the song says, for one brief shining moment, that moment isn't here. This sword-swinging tale of King Arthur concentrates on his pre-Camelot days, when he was already a battle-tested knight and leader of men but not yet Britain's monarch. It fills in the missing years, if you will, between the stripling Arthur of Disney's animated The Sword in the Stone (1963) and the knee-creaking royals of Camelot (1967) and First Knight (1995).
Arthur (Owen) is an action figure, but one who desperately wants to believe he is fighting for a noble cause. This being 467 A.D., he finds it battling bloodthirsty Saxon invaders. He also finds love in the lithesome person of Guinevere (Knightley) after rescuing her from a dungeon. (How she managed to keep her eyebrows so impeccably groomed while imprisoned is never explained.) No pouting princess, she's as much a warrior as he, especially when she's wearing blue war paint all over her body—and little else.
Arthur occasionally verges on being stirring, but mostly it feels like a skillfully recycled version of Gladiator (which screenwriter David Franzoni also wrote) and Braveheart. Director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) stages several rip-roaring battle scenes, including a corker on a frozen lake, but the overall story lacks momentum. Owen, whose eyes smolder even when he's supposed to be happy, projects a rugged masculinity that's attractive and fitting for the role. Knightley's Guinevere gets shortchanged on character development, though her archery skills are given a thorough workout. (PG-13)
ITALIC
Ethan Hawke. Julie Delpy
CRITIC'S CHOICE
Intelligent conversation and lovely scenery go a long way in a movie. There are generous helpings of both in this terrific drama, as former lovers Jesse (Hawke) and Celine (Delpy) stroll through a sunny Paris while catching up and reflecting on where their lives have taken them in the nine years since they parted.
Before Sunset is a savory sequel to 1995's Before Sunrise. In the earlier film Jesse, a young American bumming through Europe, shared a single, long night of conversation and passion in Vienna with Celine, a French student. In Sunset, the two reunite nine years later when Celine shows up at a Paris bookstore where Jesse, now a successful novelist, is doing a book signing. He has a wife and child back in New York City and Celine has a steady boyfriend, but as they walk and talk, it's clear an old flame still burns.
What strikes one most about Sunset, cowritten by director Richard Linklater, Hawke and Delpy (see p. 130), is how natural--and incisive--the dialogue sounds. "As you get older, you realize that there are fewer people you actually connect with," Jesse says. He also confesses that the passion has gone out of his marriage, leaving him sometimes feeling as if he and his spouse simply run a daycare center together. Hawke, his face considerably more gaunt and lined than in Sunrise, is playful, soulful, and hints at being a bit of a bounder. It's a high-wire act, but one he pulls off with style. Delpy, in a less complicated role, proves a charming foil.
ROMANCE
Hawke and Delpy (see p. 130), is how natural—and incisive—the dialogue sounds. "As you get older, you realize that there are fewer people you actually connect with," Jesse says. He also confesses that the passion has gone out of his marriage, leaving him sometimes feeling as if he and his spouse simply run a daycare center together. Hawke, his face considerably more gaunt and lined than in Sunrise, is playful, soulful, and hints at being a bit of a bounder. It's a high-wire act, but one he pulls off with style. Delpy, in a less complicated role, proves a charming foil. (R)
BIO
Kevin Kline, Ashley Judd
Cole Porter's best songs are full of glittering wit and joie de vivre, two elements sadly lacking in this ambitious but plodding effort to tell the story of the man behind the music.
The biographical facts on Porter (1891-1964) are juicy enough: Born to wealth, he was a jet-setter before there were jets. Though gay, he was wed for 34 years to socialite Linda Thomas (a wan Judd), who was devoted to him. And he suffered a debilitating accident at the height of his career. It's all up there on the screen, but, despite a committed performance by Kline as Porter, De-Lovely springs to life only during the scenes in which a stellar roster of contemporary singers—look for Sheryl Crow, Diana Krall, Natalie Cole, Elvis Costello and Alanis Morissette—pop up individually to croon Porter's ditties. And what songs they are, including "Anything Goes," "Let's Misbehave," "Just One of Those Things" and dozens of other sparklers that deservedly have become standards.
Hollywood already took a whack at Porter in 1946's Night and Day, starring Cary Grant. That sanitized, fictionalized version ignored Porter's true sexuality. This new take, directed by Irwin Winkler (Life as a House), may get closer to the truth, but it never answers the big question posed in one of Porter's best songs, "What is This Thing Called Love?" (PG-13)
BIO
America's Heart & Soul A string of schmaltzy Kodak moments extolling the diversity and pluck of America's citizens, this feel-good documentary belongs on TV. Some may find it pleasant, but they probably hum along to Muzak too. (PG)
Facing Windows In this captivating Italian drama, a woman (sloe-eyed Giovanna Mezzogiorno) questions her career and marriage after befriending an elderly man and a handsome neighbor. A bittersweet treasure. (R)
The Clearing Robert Redford plays a rich L.A. businessman who, upon being kidnapped, attempts to outwit his nervous abductor (Willem Dafoe). Though intelligently made and capably acted, it never quite grabs you. Helen Mirren costars as Redford's wife. (R)
London-born character actor Alfred Molina, 51, is a triple threat this summer, playing the baddie in Spidey 2, himself in the Indle Coffee and Cigarettes and the Tony-nominated lead of Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway.
ON BECOMING DOCTOR OCTOPUS I used to collect Spider-Man comics when I was a kid. When I got the job, I started looking at old comics to see how the character develops. I did a lot of standing in front of a green screen talking to myself, but we have three massive fight sequences, all worked out to the nth degree. It's like putting together a big mosaic with little pieces of tile, one by one.
ON HIS OTHER BLOCKBUSTER The first time I worked in America was Raiders of the Lost Ark. [Molina had a small role as Indiana Jones's treacherous guide.] In 1981 that movie was state of the art. But when you compare it to Spider-Man 2, it seems almost crude.
ON MISSING ENGLAND There's a scene in Coffee and Cigarettes about how you can't get a decent cup of tea in America. It's true! Boil the water and just let it steep for ages and ages. My wife, Jill [a writer and actress], and I are British. And, yeah, we have Marmite [a popular British spread] in the fridge.
ON BROADWAY AUDIENCES People in the front row put their feet up and chew on a quesadilla. It's really distracting. I was in the middle of a big scene and a cell phone went off. I stopped and said, "Please answer that." And I think they did. That's just so rude.
- Contributors:
- Leah Rozen,
- Sona Charaipotra.
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!
