Aisle Seat Fall Preview: The Revenge

by Andy Dursin

Some corrections on last week's column are included as an appetizer before a brief look at the December movies on the release schedule. Due to space and author time constraints I couldn't cover EVERY film coming out, but a couple of other noteworthy movies that loom in the near future include JOHN CARPENTER'S VAMPIRES (Oct.30 from Columbia, scored by the director), the Robin Williams December comedy PATCH ADAMS (Universal, music by Marc Shaiman), and the Oprah Winfrey-Danny Glover slave pic BELOVED from director Jonathan Demme (Touchstone, October, Rachel Portman score). Next week we'll be back on-track with a look at RONIN plus DVD reviews among other tidbits. Enjoy! Discuss! Rant!

Fall Preview Fall-Out

Eeeek, factual errors! Magazine staffs have fact-checkers, yet we keep it real at FSM with self-writing and correcting columnists. Unfortunately, I slipped a few times in our mammoth Preview last week, so here come some corrections before we move ahead:

-Regarding BRIDE OF CHUCKY, Ronny Yu most likely wouldn't mind that I overlooked his first American feature, last year's merchandizing turkey WARRIORS OF VIRTUE. Nevertheless, he made an inauspicious American directorial debut on that film. Also, editor David Wu has been in the U.S. editing on John Woo's "Once a Thief" TV series for over a year now, so I'm wrong on both counts. On the bright side, this does give me the chance to recommend Tai Seng's BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR and BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR 2 DVDs, which were directed by Yu and Wu, respectively. Terrific entertainment and a great introduction to Hong Kong fantasy cinema for the unitiated (which I was until recently). Thanks to Saul Pincus and Yu Lui for the corrections.

-Dan Goldwasser tells me that John Ottman *and* Harry Gregson-Williams are scoring ANTZ, while director Bryan Singer made his directorial debut with the little-seen 1993 film PUBLIC ACCESS, which I completely forgot about. Hans Zimmer is also off ENEMY OF THE STATE, with Trevor Rabin taking over (though few would probably notice if seeing the movie without this knowledge, given the formulaic blaring anthems and bombastic sound effects found in most every Jerry Bruckheimer soundtrack).

Lukas mentioned this briefly in Friday's column, but "Larrydrum" sent me this email about PRACTICAL MAGIC:

Hey there. Just thought you'd like to know the latest inside scoop. Michael Nyman's score has just been dumped. I'm not sure who the new score will come from, or if Nyman will still retain title credit, but I can assure you that the picture won't use his music. It was just recorded two weeks ago in NYC, and someone involved with the film didn't like it, so it's history!!

(Late news: Alan Silvestri is rescoring the film.)

"David" had this to say about the reworked WHAT DREAMS MAY COME, featuring Michael Kamen's new score and a re-edited ending as well (don't worry, this is 100% spoiler-free):

I caught a screening of the finished WHAT DREAMS MAY COME yesterday morning. I think Andy Dursin's hopes for the Kamen score have been realized. It's perfect for the film, and matches the visual beauty of this movie. As music by itself, I don't know how "listenable" it may be. It might be one of those scores you sleep to (but when you wake up a little to roll over or re-adjust, you'll smile before falling back asleep). There's a theme for the couple in the film that is based on a piece of music Kamen and another (credits rolled too fast for me to memorize) wrote previously, but I think the key here is the orchestration. This music is lush when it needs to be, and gentle and tender when that is called for. It was well enough designed to serve the film that I lost track of it a few times, which is to its merit, as this is a movie you're supposed to feel as much as watch.

As to the film itself, I would score it a 7 on a 1-10 scale (Andy's Must See Index rating, by the way). Much of that is due to my appreciation of the feel and look of it, rather than to story, but don't get me wrong, it's not a bad picture at all. You've got some new age "heavens" here, and for those who've seen the preview, you know they've gone all out on the look of these places.

The story unravels at a mild pace. Perhaps it has undergone some re-editing as well as re-shooting since Andy saw it, as its flaws now appear to be only that it is ocasionally only int'resting, rather than riveting or moving. The plot seems pretty complete. It is at times touching. All of the performances are good. The kids manage in very few shots early in the film to convey who they are in a way that carries through the movie quite well. Robin Williams and Cuba Gooding Jr. are being the kinds of people I most enjoy seeing them be on film. It's not perfect, and maybe it'll be topped in its form someday, but it's well worth a gander.

Finally, here's a reaction to last week's column from Kyle Shold:

Your reviews don't do it for me. (Sorry to be blunt.) But a movie reviewer should try to be as un-biased and subjective as possible. At the outset of your column today (9-16-98) you said " the bottom line is that there are few instantly exciting films to get juiced about right now." Then in your list of upcoming movies you give the majority 7's and 8's in your "Andy's Must See Index." Now to me on a scale of one to ten, a seven and eight are pretty high marks are something to look foreword to. But I question your motives and objectiveness when I read that you're looking foreword to seeing I Still Know What You Did Last Summer because Jennifer Love-Hewitt is "always easy on the eyes." If your going to review an actual movie you've seen I don't mind a few of these kinds of remarks. But when discussing a film that you probably haven't seen yet and none of your readers have seen, try to just stick to what it's about and maybe some behind the scenes info. Then let us (the readers) decide whether or not a movie sounds good because of some nice tits. I for one can't imagine spending seven bucks on a flick just because the female lead has a nice ass. Take it easy.

First, the ratings did pose a problem, which I realized after having sent my article into Lukas. I tended to grade them on a "curve," resulting in higher ratings than my introduction implied. But, this is not a scientific thing, just a subjective one, and if it doesn't exactly make sense, I apologize. Think of the article as an IN SEARCH OF... episode. We have no evidence, it's all based on subjective conjecture.

However, when you say that I should "stick to what the movie is about" when previewing a movie, remember that I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER is a horror-slasher film, and when discussing the genre in general, it goes without saying that good-looking female leads are a given in this context. How many slasher films have been made without attractive women? The film's target audience will certainly be lured in--at least somewhat--by this fact, so I didn't think that comment was at all out of place given the type of film it is.

One final note--I'm currently seeking spiritual consultation in an attempt to resist all temptation from giving Jennifer Love Hewitt movies unjustly high marks simply because she's in them. Remember, though, that I did review the original I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER as one of last year's worst movies, though I didn't think HOUSE ARREST or TROJAN WAR were all that bad. Feel my pain?

DECEMBER MOVIES

STAR TREK: INSURRECTION (Paramount, Dec.11). CAST: Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Gates McFadden, F.Murray Abraham, Anthony Zerbe. MUSIC: Jerry Goldsmith. DIRECTOR: Jonathan Frakes. THE SKINNY: Third cinematic adventure for the "Next Generation" crew is said to boast a "lighter" tone, some romance for Captain Picard, and a storyline somewhat along the lines of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness." BOTTOM LINE: Screenwriters Brannon Braga and Ronald Moore have been replaced for this new sequel, which the filmmakers intend to be their "Star Trek IV," i.e. a Trek film that crosses over into the mainstream, non-fan audience. Frakes did a solid job with the unremarkable but entertaining previous installment, so this follow-up should be even more polished than its predecessors. That bland subtitle, though, has got to go. ANDY'S MUST-SEE INDEX: 8

THE FACULTY (Dimension, December 25). CAST: Elijah Wood, Piper Laurie, Christopher McDonald, Salma Hayek, Robert Patrick, Bebe Neuwirth, Jon Stewart, Clea DuVall, Josh Hartnett, Daniel von Bargen, Famke Janssen. MUSIC: Marco Beltrami. DIRECTOR: Robert Rodriguez. THE SKINNY: Kevin Williamson's script sounds a lot like this past summer's high-school horror entry "Disturbing Behavior," except here it's the teachers who start acting a bit on the strange, possibly extraterrestrial side. A group of kids--this time not just the "outsiders" but members of various cliques--get together to try to find out what's wrong at their high school. BOTTOM LINE: Rodriguez's directorial style should be the perfect compliment to this "Body Snatchers"-sounding effort, which boasts cool casting and a Williamson script that hopefully will be more "Scream" than "I Know What You Did Last Summer." Horror movies are the rage again these days, but the teaming of Rodriguez and Williamson--plus the fact that this is Dimension's big holiday release, and comic book great Berni Wrightson handled the creature design--should give "The Faculty" an edge on the competition. ANDY'S MUST-SEE INDEX: 8

THE PRINCE OF EGYPT (Dreamworks, December, PG). CAST: Voices of Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Helen Mirren, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steve Martin, Patrick Stewart, Martin Short. MUSIC: Songs by Stephen Schwartz, score by Hans Zimmer (this is the movie with a handful of soundtrack albums). THE SKINNY: The life of Moses as detailed in a massively expensive,"respectful" animated musical epic. BOTTOM LINE: A lot of Dreamworks's future may be riding on this picture, which has to be the most lavish undertaking performed outside of the Disney studios, the long-standing kings of animated theatrical features. The filmmakers here have turned down the usual merchandizing tie-ins, hoping to create a more "mature" film that will still appeal to adults and kids alike. Meanwhile, Disney plans on re-releasing "Beauty and the Beast" to counteract this film, a tactic that has paid off in the past several times. What happens this time out--with a movie that combines breathtaking animation with a story that doesn't immediately translate into instant audience interest--is anybody's guess, but it ought to look great. ANDY'S MUST-SEE INDEX: 8

PSYCHO (Universal, December 4). CAST: Vince Vaughn, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, Viggo Mortensen, Anne Heche, Rita Wilson. MUSIC: Danny Elfman, adapting Bernard Herrmann. DIRECTOR: Gus Van Sant. THE SKINNY: Previously made by Alfred Hitchcock in 1960. BOTTOM LINE: What, exactly, is the point of this? Is anyone crying out for a remake? Joseph Stefano, who wrote the original script, polished and revamped his screenplay for this color remake, which features Vaughn in the role of Norman Bates. Of course, remakes often can look at different ideas and re-focus the material on other thematic elements, yet of all the films to modernize, why this film, which hasn't dated much at all, and remains a highly visible blip on the cultural cinematic radar? Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see the debate that will undoubtedly rage about this one, and what the capable Van Sant cooks up behind the camera. ANDY'S MUST-SEE INDEX: 6

MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (Disney, December, PG). CAST: Bill Paxton, Charlize Theron. MUSIC: James Horner. DIRECTOR: Ron Underwood. THE SKINNY: Remake of the RKO classic about a big, harmless primate under Theron's care, brought to America by a zoologist (Paxton). BOTTOM LINE: The disappointing early trailers made this Disney production look a lot more like "Congo" than its predecessor, and the delay in the release date from summer to Christmas is also a bit suspect. Most importantly, though, this version will be in trouble if the filmmakers neglect to include the heartwarming qualities that made the original film the classic that it is, and the early, primarily mixed reviews have tended to confirm that. We're still hoping for the best. ANDY'S MUST-SEE INDEX: 5

THE THIN RED LINE (Fox, December). CAST: Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, George Clooney, Woody Harrelson, John Cusack, Bill Pullman, Lukas Haas, Elias Koteas, Ben Chaplin, Gary Oldman. MUSIC: Hans Zimmer. DIRECTOR: Terence Malick. THE SKINNY: A new adaptation of James Jones's WWII novel (previously filmed in 1964 with Keir Dullea and Jack Warden), with an army battalion facing the Japanese on Guadalcanal Island after being trained by a tough colonel (Nolte). BOTTOM LINE: After "Saving Private Ryan," it'll be interesting to see if this war story clicks more on an emotional level than Spielberg's technically impressive but curiously detahced box-office hit. The cast is obviously excellent, and Malick's first movie since 1978's gorgeous "Days of Heaven" ought to be one of the few star-powered "must-sees" in the month of December. ANDY'S MUST-SEE INDEX: 8

SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS (Universal, December). CAST: Ethan Hawke, Youki Kudoh, Rick Yune, James Cromwell, Max Von Sydow. MUSIC: James Newton Howard. DIRECTOR: Scott Hicks. THE SKINNY: Ô40s period love story with Hawke as a journalist recalling his Japanese ex-girlfriend (Kudoh) whose husband (Yune) is now on trial for murder. BOTTOM LINE: Coming off the acclaimed "Shine," Hicks's follow-up sounds like it could be one of the late-year critical faves, with the picture promising evocative cinematography from Robert Richardson and a haunting score by Newton Howard. ANDY'S MUST-SEE INDEX: 8

STEPMOM (Fox, December, PG-13). STARS: Julia Roberts, Susan Sarandon, Ed Harris. MUSIC: John Williams, replacing Patrick Doyle. DIRECTOR: Chris Columbus. THE SKINNY: Truth in Advertising, Part Two. The film's trailer shows the wacky comic antics of mom Sarandon trying to one-up ex-husband Harris's new wife (Roberts) in raising her kids. What's not shown is that Sarandon is suffering from a fatal illness and tutors Roberts in the right way to mother her children out of necessity. BOTTOM LINE: You can't blame Fox for not letting the entire plot of this comedy-drama out there, since the last thing anyone wants is to turn "Stepmom" into the late '90s equivalent of the Roberts flop "Dying Young." Columbus's regular mixture of laughs and sentiment has yielded inconsistent results over the years, from the mirth of "Home Alone" to the icky preachiness of "Mrs.Doubtfire," so what direction this film ultimately goes in depends on how effectively the filmmaker walks the fine line between comedy and potentially heavy-handed "disease movie of the week" melodrama. With Williams coming into handle the music, though, it's a sign that this is probably a good film (look what happened on "Home Alone"), and a possible hit if Fox handles the picture properly this Christmas. ANDY'S MUST-SEE INDEX: 7

YOU'VE GOT MAIL (Warner Bros, December). STARS: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Greg Kinnear, Parker Posey, Steve Zahn, Dave Chappelle, Michael Palin. MUSIC: George Fenton. DIRECTOR: Nora Ephron. THE SKINNY: "The Little Shop Around the Corner" updated for the internet age, with a small bookstore owner (Ryan) and her chain-owning rival (Hanks) hooking up unknowingly on email. BOTTOM LINE: Should fit the obvious billing of the seasonal "date movie," with its reunion of Hanks and Ryan in an audience-friendly romantic comedy (actually their third movie together, following "Joe Vs. The Volcano" and Ephron's "Sleepless in Seattle"). As a bonus, the refreshing supporting cast of younger, rising stars--including Kinnear and indie queen Posey--ought to help the movie from becoming overly sentimental. Pretty much as fool-proof a premise as you'll find in a film this year. ANDY'S MUST-SEE INDEX: 7

BACK with DVD reviews next week and hopefully news on the expanded TV airings of THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK. Until then, send emails to dursina@worldnet.att.net and try to be polite, please?

Dursina@worldnet.att.net