6/6/05--Movie reviews---AGAIN!

I had a full weekend of movie viewing to update you on.  Quite a good group also.

1) Meet the Fockers--I didn't think it was nearly as funny as the first one (Meet the Parents).  Some of the same old stuff tried once again...and the inclusion of a baby into the storyline just didn't work for me.  That being said, there were definitely some very funny scenes, mainly involving new characters played by Greg Focker's  (Ben Stiller) parents, played by Dusting Hoffman & Barbara Streisand.  Cute, but nothing special.  **1/2
2) Hotel Rwanda--a grim retelling of the ethnic genocide that took place in Africa in the mid-90's.  Don Cheadle, one of America's finest and most underrated actors, plays a man in charge of a hotel who gives refuge to over 1,000 people by bribing, conniving, lieing, cheating and doing anything in his power to keep the seemingly doomed political prisoners safe in a time of chaos.  This is strong, powerful moviemaking....not the kind of film that you sit down and eat a tub of popcorn watching.  Its a grim topic, but well told and excellently acted.  ****
3) Boogie Nights--I can't believe that after all these years I had never actually seen this film all the way through.  What the hell was I waiting for?  This was unquestionably one of the best movies not only of 1997, but of the entire decade of the 90's.  A stylish look back at the pornography industry in the late 70's, as it began to change to an industry driven not by film, but by video and the effects of stardom and the toll it can take through the eyes of Dirk Diggler (a remarkably effective Mark Wahlberg).  Diggler is a man of....hmmm....a rather unique talent that fits right in with the rest of the porno industry and is discovered by adult film director Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds, who hasn't been this good in maybe....forever).  Diggler is then made part of Horner's "family" of actors, who include Julianne Moore, John O'Reilly, Don Cheadle, Luis Guzman, Heather Graham & William H Macy.  All the actors are terrific, and the soundtrack is awesome.  You will laugh a little, be scared a little, be intrigued a little.  This is one hell of a great film and a MUST SEE.   *****
4) Identity--Agatha Christie's classic tale of "Ten Little Indians" is retold yet again as John Cusack (solid as always) & Ray Liotta are among the ten people with seemingly zero connection who find themselves stranded during a violent storm at a small hotel in Nevada.  One by one....people start dieing.  Its all pretty creepy, but the problem that most movies like this have is that the payoff is horrible.  This one however, has a really intriguing, almost "trippy" ending.  There's another storyline involving a prisoner on deathrow about to be executed that doesn't pay off until the very end of the movie.  I really liked this movie a lot more than I thought I would.
Good solid mystery with a real twist ending.   ****
5) The Girl Next Door--now this one....I went into with almost ZERO expectations.
It was almost my bedtime, I thought I'd watch about 1/2 hour of some stupid teenagers-trying-to-get-laid comedy and that would be the end of it.  WRONG!
This is a wonderful surprise.  One half Risky Business and one half Boogie Nights, this movie tells us about a young boy, slightly nerdy and president of the student council (Emile Hirsch) who discovers one evening that he has a new neighbor--and she is a knockout (Elisha Cuthbert from television's "24").  Only, turns out that she is a porno star (there's that word again) who has moved into her aunt's house for a brief break from her....cough, cough....career to spend a few days on vacation.
Things begin to spiral out of control, just like in Risky Business, and its load of fun---in a slightly sleazy kind of manner.  Fun stuff and terrific support work by among others,  Timothy Olyphant (from televison's "Deadwood").  He plays Kelly, the dishonorable film director who comes looking for Cuthbert---and he is hilarious, practically stealing the film dead away from the rest of the kll.  **** very funny.

Later,
Jeff