Mini Movie Reviews

OLYMPIAN STAFF, NEWS SERVICES

Originally published Friday, March 8, 2002

A BEAUTIFUL MIND

* * * * (PG-13)

- Stars: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly and Ed Harris.

- Playing: Lacey 8 Cinemas.

- Synopsis: Russell Crowe delivers a virtuoso performance as the tormented, brilliant mathematician John Forbes Nash. Directed by Ron Howard. Universal Pictures, 129 minutes.

BIG FAT LIAR

* 1/2 (PG)

- Stars: Frankie Muniz, Paul Giamatti and Amanda Bynes.

- Playing: Capital Mall Cinemas and Yelm Cinemas.

- Synopsis: A small, thin comedy about a high-school student who gets revenge when his homework is stolen by a movie producer and transformed into a movie. Universal Pictures, 88 minutes.

BLACK HAWK DOWN

* * (R)

- Stars: Tom Sizemore, Sam Shepard, Josh Hartnett and Eric Bana.

- Playing: Capital Mall Cinemas.

- Synopsis: A gritty, tough re-enactment of a U.S. mission in Somalia in 1993 that went drastically wrong -- and the heroism of the men involved. But its racial politics are muddled and unsettling. Directed by Ridley Scott. Columbia Pictures, 143 minutes.

THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO

* * * (PG-13)

- Stars: Jim Caviezel, Guy Pearce, Richard Harris.

- Playing: Capital Mall Cinemas.

- Synopsis: Alexandre Dumas' swashbuckling tale of betrayal and revenge looks great in this new version, but suffers from a lack of depth once it gets past the production design. Still, it could be just the movie to interest that pre-teen boy of yours in reading the book. Directed by Kevin Reynolds. Touchstone Pictures, 110 minutes.

CROSSROADS

* * (PG-13)

- Stars: Britney Spears and Dan Aykroyd.

- Playing: Lacey 8 Cinemas.

- Synopsis: Three teen-age girls drive cross-country after high school graduation. One of them is Britney Spears. Does the rest really matter? Directed by Tamra Davis. Paramount Pictures, 90 minutes.

THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE

* * * (R)

- Stars: Fernando Tielve, Eduardo Noriega and Marisa Paredes.

- Playing: March 11-14 at Capitol Theater with Olympia Film Society.

- Synopsis: Gothic horror and humor blend in this story about a bookish lad sent to an isolated desert orphanage where he encounters a lonely, ravaged ghost. In Spanish with English subtitles. Directed by Guillermo Del Toro.

DRAGONFLY

* * (PG-13)

- Stars: Kevin Costner, Kathy Bates, Ron Rifkin and Susanna Thompson.

- Playing: Capital Mall Cinemas and Yelm Cinemas.

- Synopsis: Part "Sixth Sense," part haunted-house thriller and, in the biggest chunk of all, part new-age inspirational, "Dragonfly" takes about 85 minutes to get to a satisfying punch line but without coherence or momentum. Directed by Tom Shadyac. Universal, 85 minutes.

40 DAYS AND 40 NIGHTS

* 1/2 (R)

- Stars: Josh Hartnett and Shannyn Sossamon.

- Playing: Lacey 8 Cinemas and Yelm Cinemas.

- Synopsis: A young man gives up sex for Lent -- and then meets the woman of his dreams. Great setup, but weak writing keeps it from being nearly as funny as it should be. Directed by Michael Lehmann. Miramax Pictures, 93 minutes.

HART'S WAR

* * * 1/2 (R)

- Stars: Bruce Willis, Colin Farrell and Terrence Howard.

- Playing: Yelm Cinemas.

- Synopsis: A callow young officer, caught by the Nazis and sent to a prison camp, must contend with a flinty commanding officer who has a secret agenda of his own. It works, mostly, thanks to the performance of Bruce Willis and in spite of Colin Farrell. Directed by Gregory Hoblit. MGM, 124 minutes.

I AM SAM

* * * 1/2 (PG-13)

- Stars: Michelle Pfeiffer and Sean Penn.

- Playing: Yelm Cinemas.

- Synopsis: A heartfelt drama about a mentally disabled father who fights to maintain custody of his precocious little girl. Michelle Pfeiffer co-stars as his lawyer. Jessie Nelson directs. New Line Cinema, 132 minutes.

IN THE BEDROOM

* * * 1/2 (R)

- Stars: Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson.

- Playing: Yelm Cinemas.

- Synopsis: Spacek and Wilkinson shine as grief-stricken parents, and first-time director Todd Field puts himself on the map with grace and subtlety. Miramax Films, 130 minutes.

JOHN Q

* * 1/2 (PG-13)

- Stars: Denzel Washington, Robert Duvall, Ray Liotta and James Woods.

- Playing: Lacey 8 Cinemas.

- Synopsis: Denzel Washington plays a frustrated but underinsured father who takes over a hospital after they refuse to give his dying son a heart transplant. An overly obvious dispute against HMOs, the film still engages, thanks to Washington's heartfelt portrayal. Nick Cassavetes directs. New Line, 118 minutes.

LIFE AND DEBT

* * * (not rated)

- Playing: March 11-14 at Capitol Theater with Olympia Film Society.

- Synopsis: In this documentary, filmmaker Stephanie Black explores the disastrous effect that globalization has had on Jamaica's economy. Directed by Stephanie Black. Contains mature subject matter.

LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

* * * * (PG-13)

- Stars: Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen.

- Playing: Lacey 8 Cinemas.

- Synopsis: Peter Jackson's vivid and imaginative retelling of the first part of the J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy trilogy about a young Hobbit who tries to save Middle Earth by destroying an all-powerful ring of evil. New Line, 178 minutes.

QUEEN OF THE DAMNED

* * (R)

- Stars: Aaliyah.

- Playing: Lacey 8 Cinemas and Yelm Cinemas.

- Synopsis: The late, widely adored R&B star Aaliyah may have the title role in "Queen of the Damned" but the movie turns out to be a calling card for Stuart Townsend, the actor who plays the vampire Lestat. Directed by Michael Rymer, Warner Bros., 95 minutes.

RETURN TO NEVERLAND

* 1/2 (G)

- Playing: Capital Mall Cinemas and Yelm Cinemas.

- Synopsis: Uninspired sequel to Disney's 1953 classic "Peter Pan." The animation looks 50 years old, which would have been OK had a Golden Age story accompanied it. Instead, we get rehashed characters and situations that play like the direct-to-video movie this should have been. Disney, 72 minutes.

SUPER TROOPERS

* * (R)

- Stars: Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Marisa Coughlan.

- Playing: Capital Mall Cinemas.

- Synopsis: "Super Troopers" aims to be a sort of "Airplane" on the open road. And it has an authentic, low-budget look that recalls the worst '70s B-movies, even though it's set today. Jay Chandrasekhar directs. Fox Searchlight Pictures. 100 minutes.

THE TIME MACHINE

* * * (PG-13)

- Stars: Guy Pearce, Orlando Jones, Samantha Mumba, Jeremy Irons and Sienna Guillory.

- Playing: Lacey 8 Cinemas, Shelton Cinemas and Yelm Cinemas.

- Synopsis: A modestly engaging time travel adventure, with filmmaker Simon Wells substituting romance, action and stunning visual effects for the more science-oriented logic and socio-political concerns of his real-life great-grandfather, H.G. Wells. Dreamworks, 96 minutes.

WE WERE SOLDIERS

* * * (R)

- Stars: Mel Gibson and Sam Elliott

- Playing: Lacey 8 Cinemas, Shelton Cinemas and Yelm Cinemas.

- Synopsis: A bloody true-life story of Americans' first major confrontation in North Vietnam, a 1965 battle that saw 400 Americans heroically hold out against 2,000 Vietnamese for three days. Randall Wallace is the film's writer-director. Paramount, 138 minutes.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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