EYES WIDE SHUT

Tom Cruise

EYES WIDE SHUT (1999). Produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick.

Alice (Nicole Kidman of Birth) and Dr. William Harford (Tom Cruise of Jack Reacher) are a moderately wealthy couple living in Manhattan (or what barely passes for same). After an argument, a high-on-grass Alice confesses to Bill that she saw a military man while they were on vacation and had such intense sexual fantasies about him  that she felt she could have walked away from Bill, their young daughter, and her whole life to be with this man. Bill can't get this out of his mind, and the next night he has a series of misadventures: Marion (Marie Richardson), the daughter of a dead elderly patient, tells him she's in love with him despite barely knowing him; some morons who think he's gay taunt him with homophobic slurs in Greenwich Village; he nearly sleeps with a hooker named Domino (Vinessa [sic] Shaw); and he re-encounters an old college friend who has become a musician. This friend, Nick (Todd Field), tells him of a mysterious series of parties he goes to where he plays the piano but isn't allowed to take off his mask. Intrigued, Bill rents a costume and goes off by taxi to an isolated estate where he discovers an elegant orgy where (generally) the women are naked, the men are clothed, and everyone wears a mask. Paranoia sets in when his deception is discovered and he is warned that powerful people will enact vengeance if he dares utter a word about what he's seen ...

Stanley Kubrick's final film, Eyes Wide Shut got a very mixed reception when it was released. I can't argue with all of the criticisms about it -- that it's slow at times, that it seems a bit stodgy for the nineties, that the orgy scenes are almost silly, and that it hardly develops into an intense thriller (which may not have been what Kubrick was after in the first place) -- and there has been pretentious overpraise for a picture that would hardly classify as a masterpiece. It also pretty much pushes aside any moral complexities for a one word quick-joke finale. However, I have seen Eves Wide Shut three or four times by now, and each time I find the nearly three-hour film completely absorbing and suspenseful. Admittedly, the sequence when Bill goes to buy a costume from a creepy man with a nubile daughter goes on too long, and there are others. One critic declared the picture an "old man's movie," probably because the orgies aren't that energetic and have no pounding rock soundtrack -- and Kubrick may have missed a lot of things he could have done with this film --  but this criticism misses the point that these parties are meant to be "classy" and ritualistic. Whether even the rich and famous would be bothered with secret sex societies is besides the point -- no married Senator, for instance, would want it getting out that he belonged to one.

The direction and the performances help a lot, with Cruise being more than adequate, and his then-wife Kidman out-acting him most of the time. Sydney Pollack, who directed Cruise in the mediocre The Firm,  perhaps proves a better actor [Husbands and Wives] than director in his role of Victor Ziegler, a wealthy man who gets help from Bill and provides counsel in return. The other roles are well cast, including Alan Cumming as a helpful hotel clerk who is obviously smitten with Bill. Although this scene got some criticism when the film first came out, Cumming at least makes the character likably goofy. The score consists of classical music along with some really cheap if sinister piano riffs. Filmed on sets, you never get a sense that this is taking place in New York City. The film is based on a novel that took place in Vienna.

Verdict: There are many, many things wrong with this movie, but I still find it visually and dramatically compelling. ***.

THE THREE STOOGES

THE THREE STOOGES: From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons. Michael Fleming. Foreword by Mel Gibson. Official and Authorized. Doubleday; 1999.

This illustrated coffee table book takes an exhaustive look at the careers and lives of the Three Stooges, which actually consisted of several men over the years. Originally they were three brothers, but Larry Fine was not related, and took over for Shemp Howard (who later came back into the fold). The trio started out as stooges for comic Ted Healy and there are chapters detailing Healy's career both before and after his association with the Stooges, who outgrew him. The Stooges originally made comedy shorts that played in theaters, many of which were quite funny (while others were stinkers). When these played on television, there was a literal and figurative Stooge revival -- the fellows wound up being put in big-screen movies such as Snow White and the Three Stooges and Have Rocket, Will Travel, with mixed results. In any case they had a whole new audience of kids of all ages. The author argues that the Stooges are almost exclusively a male phenomenon, that women just don't dig the Stooges, but I think that's a generalization that might not hold water (no matter what Mel Gibson, who wrote the introduction, may think). Fully half the book is devoted to synopses of all of the Stooges shorts -- and there were many -- but it's more fun to watch (some of) them than to read about them. Still, this is a must-have for serious Stooge fans.

Verdict: Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk -- For all things Stooge. ***.

FROM MOTHER AND DAUGHTER TO FRIENDS

FROM MOTHER AND DAUGHTER TO FRIENDS. Nancy Aniston. Prometheus; 1999.

As I have little interest in the TV show Friends and its star, Jennifer Aniston, it may seem odd that I chose this tome to read. I think I have always been curious about how it really feels for someone in show biz to essentially have a non-career while their child goes on to great success and fame. From Mother to Daughter does not really explore that, as Nancy Aniston -- if we're to believe her -- seemed more interested in her actor husband's success than her own, and encouraged her daughter in her acting pursuits. She doesn't come off like a stereotypical "stage mom," either. Nancy did her best to get husband John Aniston on his feet and make a living when his acting career stalled for years. He later became a successful soap opera actor and, typically, discarded the wife who'd been there for him, although Nancy is charitable and suggests that what she saw as encouragement he only interpreted as nagging. All Nancy could get her husband to say was "I am not committed to this marriage" -- she subsequently learned he had a girlfriend (one of his co-stars). After daughter Jennifer's success on Friends, Nancy made the innocent mistake of talking to a tabloid show (ostensibly about a special school she felt was doing good work) and an over-reacting Jennifer stopped speaking to her mother. (This book did little to close the gap but after a few years -- when Jennifer broke up with Brad Pitt -- she reached out to her mother once again.) But forget about Jennifer, Friends, and Brat Pitt, From Mother and Daughter works because it is a very well-written memoir that frankly explores painful moments such as the death of Nancy's baby sister; her mother walking out on the family (and the mother's subsequent death); the rejection from her husband and their divorce, and watching as her children grew up to lead their own lives in which she may not necessarily have played as large a part. Some of this must be taken with a grain of salt, as the book presents only one side of the story, and there are hints that Nancy could be a mite priggish, but her writing about how women -- especially cast-off wives -- need to empower themselves is admirable. If her account is accurate, however, Jennifer should probably have stopped talking to her father, not her mother. In any case, Nancy Aniston passed away a few weeks ago, and one hopes that she and her daughter reconciled long before then.

Verdict: Affecting and often moving memoir. ***1/2.

AFTER STONEWALL

AFTER STONEWALL (1999). Director: John Scagliotti.

This documentary looks at all the developments, both positive and negative, that overtook the gay community and gay rights advocacy after the Stonewall riots of 1969. After Stonewall traces the formation of the Gay Liberation Front, which fell apart from too much divisiveness; the Gay Activists Alliance, which brought a new (non-violent) militancy to the fight for acceptance and gay rights; the scourge of AIDS, unfairly deemed a "gay" disease and which almost took the gay male community back into a figurative stone age; the rise of groups such as the National Gay Task Force, Queer Nation and Act Up (an AIDS Rights group); and the emergence of Anita Bryant and her anti-gay hate group, Save the Children, which served to galvanize many members of both the gay and straight community to organize and fight back. Along the way we meet Out politician Barney Frank; lesbian congresswoman Sheila James Kuehl (who played Zelda on Dobie Gillis); writers Armistad Maupin, Larry Kramer and Craig Lucas; black historian Barbara Smith; and many others. You'll also learn that Betty Friedan wanted lesbians out of the National organization of Women because she saw them as the "lavender menace" that would topple women's rights; watch Out Army officer Sgt. Malkovich get on the cover of Time; revisit the tragic death of young Matthew Shephard; and listen to some activists deplore the media exploitation of gay rights and its increasing commercialization.

Verdict: Excellent documentary which explores the very wide diversity of the gay and lesbian community. ***1/2.

THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH

Bond (Pierce Brosnan) and Elektra (Sophie Marceau)

THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH (1999). Director: Michael Apted.

"There's no point in living if you can't feel alive."

Bond (Pierce Brosnan) is assigned as bodyguard to oil heiress Elektra King (Sophie Marceau), who has just gotten out of the clutches of kidnapper, Renard (Robert Carlyle). But is something else going on here? Bond tries to figure out who's the real villain as he stops a plutonium meltdown, battles bad guys near an exploding pipeline, tries to rescue a kidnapped "M" (Judi Dench), and faces torture at the hands of the series' most fascinating -- and perhaps only? -- major villainess. In addition to Brosnan and Marceau, there are good performances from Robbie Coltrane as Zukofsky and Carlyle as Renard, and an acceptable one from Denise Richards as Dr. Christmas Jones. The title is the Bond family's personal motto. Apparently this made more money than any other Bond film released in the 20th century. Brosnan first appeared as Bond in Goldeneye.

Verdict: Not on the level of Goldfinger or some of the other classic Bonds, but entertaining enough. ***.

HOLLYWOOD SCREEN TESTS

HOLLYWOOD SCREEN TESTS: Take One (1999 TV special). Director: Edith Becker.

Narrated by Robert Culp, AMC presented this first of two specials showing and commenting on various Hollywood screen tests. The tests are interesting, even if some of them go on a little too long. We see tests for Candice Bergen, Ann-Margret, Mitzi Gaynor, Barbara Eden and Andy Williams doing a scene for State Fair, and Patty Duke in Valley of the Dolls, among others. (How anyone could have given the role in the movie to Duke after seeing how horrible she was in the screen test is beyond me!) Singer Marni Nixon, who dubbed Audrey Hepburn and many others, is tested for the lead in The Sound of Music, but wound up playing Sister Sophia. Dustin Hoffman does a "personality" test and obviously passes it, and there's also Raquel Welch, Marlon Brando, and several big names doing tests after they were already established stars.

Verdict: Fun. ***.

ANY GIVEN SUNDAY

ANY GIVEN SUNDAY (1999). Director: Oliver Stone.

This is the old chestnut in which an aging man, in this case a football player (Dennis Quaid), has to deal with the intrusion of a brash young newcomer (Jamie Foxx), both of whom interact with the coach, Tony (Al Pacino), who has to argue with the owner (Cameron Diaz) about whom to use for The Big Game. Any Given Sunday is well-done for what it is, all decked out in modern ambiance, but it's incredibly old-fashioned [and just plain creaky] at its heart. There is a very large cast in the movie -- everyone from James Woods to Ann-Margret [Bye Bye Birdie] -- but the movie is consistently stolen by a charismatic Pacino. Quaid [Legion], Diaz [The Box], and especially Foxx are also excellent, however. The frenetic editing of the movie keeps things moving briskly during its nearly three hour running time but it's the sort of thing you forget even as the closing credits are rolling.

Verdict: Even football fans may find this old hat if somewhat entertaining. **1/2.

BOWFINGER

Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy

BOWFINGER (1999). Director: Frank Oz. Screenplay by Steve Martin.

Robert Bowfinger (Steve Martin of The Pink Panther) is a bottom-of-the-barrel film producer who keeps his actors on a string by promising them that the lead in his next production will be mega-star action hero Kit Ramsay (Eddie Murphy) -- they're sure to get financing. Unfortunately Ramsay has no interest in appearing in his movie, a terrible concoction called "Chubby Rain," so Bowfinger comes up with a scheme of filming him secretly while telling his cast members that Ramsay prefers to work without meeting his fellow actors. Said actors consist of Carol (Christine Baranski), who gets more "grand" with every scene; handsome Slater (Kohl Sudduth), who is cute and clueless; Daisy (Heather Graham), who is ruthlessly ambitious and sleeps with virtually every member of the cast and crew, and winds up with a power lesbian [a la Anne Heche, whom Martin dated and who is said to be the model for Daisy]; Afrim (Adam Alexi-Molle), who also wrote the "Chubby Rain" screenplay; and Jiff (Eddie Murphy), a nerdy lookalike of Ramsay's who turns out to be his brother. Jaime Kennedy plays the jack-of-all-trades who helps in a wide variety of ways. There are some hilarious scenes in this movie, and it's so basically good-natured, loopy and amiable that you want to love it, but Martin has to overdo everything and the movie eventually becomes too silly, stupid and unfunny -- there's simply not enough plot to make a full-length picture. The cast is quite good, with an outstanding Murphy positively stealing the picture as likable Jiff, who in one very funny scene has to run across a highway full of speeding vehicles that he's been told are driven by "stunt men." Perhaps the funniest line is actually in one of the out-takes, when someone mentions Robert De Niro and Carol mutters "such a diva!"

Verdict: Very cute, often very funny, but an hour of this would have been enough. **1/2.

MARIE DRESSLER Matthew Kennedy

MARIE DRESSLER: A Biography; with a Listing of Major Stage Performances, a Filmography and a Discography. Matthew Kennedy. McFarland; 1999.

The wonderful Marie Dressler had a long stage career in everything from opera to vaudeville, and just when she felt she was unemployable and washed up, she embarked upon a Hollywood career that brought her even more fame and money, turning her in her sixties into a major box office attraction -- this despite her abject lack of youth and beauty. Along the way she had one marriage, one long relationship with a man she only thought she was married to, and a possibly romantic relationship with a younger actress with whom she broke up some years before her death. In Hollywood Dressler made a few comedy-dramas teaming her with Polly Moran, such as Reducing; won an Oscar for her work in Min and Bill; and appeared in the wonderful Dinner at Eight, wherein she has one especially classic sequence with Jean Harlow. Dressler kept working even when she was dying of cancer and other ailments [indeed she had an exhausting life]. Don't be fooled by the sub-title -- this is a major biography and not just a reference work -- although there is a ton of scrupulous research in the exhaustive tome. Not only has Kennedy managed to put together an excellent and rich biography of this very gifted and unusual lady -- despite the fact that most of her contemporaries are dead --  but his writing is never dry and academic but always lively and interesting. Highly recommended not just to Dressler fans but to anyone interested in the theater, films, moviemaking, and just good biographies. Kennedy also wrote a fine book on director Edmund Goulding.

Verdict: In a word, superb! ****.

GODZILLA 2000

GODZILLA 2000 (1999). Director: Takao Okiwara.

"Godzilla is inside each one of us." [-- well....maybe.]

In this film the world already seems to know of the big lizard's existence, and there is absolutely no suspenseful build-up to his first appearance. Shinado (Takehiro Murada) is a scientist who wants to study the creature, and has formed a group called the Godzilla Prediction Network, which can figure out whenever the big guy is going to appear. Shinado's slightly obnoxious little daughter, Io (Maya Suzuki), is the group's bookkeeper and follows her father into danger. Yuki (Naomi Yushida) is a photographer who's desperate to get a close up photograph of Godzilla. A gigantic spaceship, which first appears as a big flying rock, comes to Japan and eventually transforms into another monster called Oga that Godzilla battles ... Is anyone still awake? With its surplus of silly humor and characters, this Japanese movie seems to take its cue in large part from Hollywood's Godzilla film made the previous year, which despite its many flaws, was a lot more entertaining. Godzilla has been somewhat redesigned and looks a little better, but is still kind of silly and he's still played by a man in a suit: "suitmation." While the special effects in Godzilla 2000 are better than in the older movies in this series, they are still second-rate for the most part. All in all, this was hardly a new approach to the great Japanese monster.

Verdict: For pathetic Godzilla geeks only. *1/2.

THE PRICE OF A BROKEN HEART

THE PRICE OF A BROKEN HEART (1999 telefilm). Director: Paul Shapiro.

When Dot Hutlemeyer (Park Overall) discovers that her husband Joe (Timothy Carhart) is having an affair with his secretary, Lynn (Laura Innes), whom he's fallen in love with, she sues Lynn for alienation of affections. This is based on a real case in North Carolina. The deck seems to be a little bit stacked against the mistress, although the wife doesn't come off as completely sympathetic -- or realistic -- either. The verdict in the case is surprising to say the least. While the story is told in flashbacks, various men and women comment on the proceedings in a bar-restaurant. Interesting, thought-provoking and absorbing movie is well-acted by all.

Verdict: Some people just can't let go. ***.

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE (1999). Director: Luis Mandoki.

A reporter named Theresa (Robin Wright Penn) finds a note inside a bottle and determines to find out which man wrote this romantic missive to the woman he loved. It turns out to be fisherman Garret Blake (Kevin Costner), who penned the note to his dead wife. An awkward romance develops between the two while Garret's salty father, (Paul Newman) kibbitzes. Now and then Illeana Douglas, who also works at Theresa's office, pops her plug-ugly head in. They sure don't make romantic movies like they used to! Director Luis Mandoki moves things at a snail's pace, making the movie an effort to sit through. The acting is not bad at all, but it isn't enough to keep this from being a real snoozer.

Verdict: The kind of movie that gives "chick flick" a bad name. *1/2.