OCTOBER 23
Dr. Dolittle 2
This sequel to the 1998 movie Dr. Dolittle is a comedy aimed at youngsters, and Eddie Murphy again plays the title role of the physician who can talk with animals. Joey the Raccoon (voice of Michael Rapaport) and Possum (voice of Isaac Hayes) tell Dr. Dolittle that Beaver, a Godfather-like figure, is concerned that a lumber company plans to cut down a forest, depriving many animals of their homes. Soon Dr. Dolittle discovers that living in the forest is Ava (voice of Lisa Kudrow), a female bear whose species is endangered, and he tries to prevent the deforestation on ecological grounds. When Dr. Dolittle learns that he has no case unless Ava reproduces, he recruits a reluctant circus bear named Archie (voice of Steve Zahn) to go into the forest and mate with her. But things don’t go smoothly for Archie, and at one point in the movie all the animals in the world go on strike!
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
This science-fiction movie, named after a video game, features computer-generated characters that look and behave almost, but not quite, like real live actors. Sometime in the future, strange aliens who defeat humans by absorbing their spirits have invaded Earth and taken much of it over. However, enclaves of humans remain, and they must seek a way to combat the aliens. Dr. Aki Ross (voice of Ming-Na), supported by her teacher Dr. Sid (voice of Donald Sutherland), sets out to counteract the aliens using a combination of eight spirits. Meanwhile, General Hein (voice of James Wood) wants to use an orbiting space cannon to annihilate the aliens, but this approach risks destroying all life on the planet. Other celebrity voices heard in the movie include Alec Baldwin, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, and Peri Gilpin.
Freddy Got Fingered
Tom Green of MTV fame cowrote, directed, and stars in this bizarre comedy. Green plays Gord Brody, a 28-year-old jobless man who lives with his father (Rip Torn) and his mother (Julie Hagerty). Gord has a younger brother named Freddy (Eddie Kaye Thomas), and the movie’s title comes from Gord falsely accusing his father of sexually molesting Freddy. Gord is shown as becoming involved in a series of outrageous incidents, one of which involves a horse penis and another centers around an elephant penis. Also, Gord has a romantic relationship with a paraplegic nurse who has some peculiar sexual interests. The most shocking scene is where Gord delivers a baby, then swings it around by its umbilical cord, splattering blood everywhere. Ninety percent of the critics on Rotten Tomatoes found Freddy Got Fingered to be rotten.
Songcatcher
Starring Janet McTeer and Aidan Quinn, Songcatcher is an art-house drama that is written and directed by Maggie Greenwald. In 1907, musicologist Dr. Lily Penleric (McTeer) travels to the North Carolina hill country to visit her sister, who runs a school there. When Lily hears the local folk music, she decides to document and record on Edison cylinders as much of it as possible. While in North Carolina, Lily has a sexual relationship with a mountain man (Quinn), and she has to help deliver a baby in the backwoods. Also, the locals become upset when they discover Lily’s sister’s lesbian relationship, and there’s a coal company that wants to put strip mines in the area. The modern feminist viewpoint of the movie sometimes seems inconsistent with the 1907 setting, but most critics think that the music makes this film well worth seeing.
Town & Country
Warren Beatty, Garry Shandling, Diane Keaton, and Goldie Hawn star in this comedy about affluent New Yorkers going through marital woes. Porter (Beatty) and Griffin (Shandling) are best friends, and both are cheating on their wives. Mona (Hawn) discovers her husband Griffin’s infidelity, and Ellie (Keaton) learns that her husband Porter has been having an affair with a beautiful cellist (Nastassja Kinski). The situation gets even more complicated when Porter and Mona become sexually involved and Griffin wrestles with the issue of his homosexuality. But things really get zany when Porter and Griffin repair to Sun Valley, where they run into quirky characters played by Andie MacDowell, Jenna Elfman, Charlton Heston, and Marian Seldes. While most critics didn’t like Town & Country, a few found it to be very funny.
With a Friend Like Harry
In this French-language comic thriller, Michel (Laurent Lucas) takes an automobile trip with his wife Claire (Mathilde Seigner) and their three young daughters. He pauses at a roadside rest stop, where a man (Sergi Lopez) he doesn’t recognize strikes up a conversation with him. The man says his name is Harry and that he used to be a classmate of Michel’s. Michel and Claire are on their way to their run-down country house, and they acquiesce to having Harry and his girlfriend Plum (Sophie Guillemin) join them there. Harry has lots of money, and he buys Michel a new S.U.V., but soon Harry’s strange behavior starts to alarm Michel and Claire. Eventually, Harry’s obsessiveness in helping Michel becomes frightening, and Michel must take drastic action.
OCTOBER 30
The Animal
Rob Schneider and Colleen Haskell (from Survivor) star in this silly, good-natured comedy. Alone at a police station when a 911 call comes in, file clerk Marvin Mange (Schneider) heads for the scene of the crime, but gets into a terrible automobile accident on the way. Unbeknownst to Marvin, a rogue scientist saves his life by transplanting organs from several different animals. When Marvin returns to work, his newfound abilities to sniff out drugs like a dog and swim like a sea lion bring him respect. And soon he’s dating cute nature activist and animal shelter worker Rianna (Haskell). But sometimes Marvin’s animalistic behavior makes him look ridiculous, as when he licks the upper part of his leg or engages in a mating ritual with a female goat in heat.
Swordfish
Starring John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, and Don Cheadle, Swordfish is an action thriller. Gabriel Shear (Travolta) masterminds shady operations, but he claims to do so to protect American freedoms. The beautiful Ginger (Berry), who seems to be somehow associated with Shear, approaches former computer hacker Stanley Jobson (Jackman) about doing a job for Shear. Desperate for money to fight a custody battle over his daughter, Jobson reluctantly accepts the job and finds himself caught up in a dangerous situation, where he must evade a tenacious government agent (Cheadle). While the character motivations and plot may be hard to follow in Swordfish, the film offers much to look at, including a massive explosion, a bus being carried by a helicopter, and the stunning Halle Berry’s bare breasts.
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