25 M E T R O S P I R I T A U G 1 2 0 0 2
“Master of Disguise” Monsters, Inc. (G) — Pixar 'tooner Pete Docter, now directing, has twisted a clever story pretzel with his writers. They have fine-'tooned monstrous, but cuddly variants of the gross blob, Cyclops, Medusa, furry freaks and a Mr. Vile. They work in a huge factory under boss J.J. Waternoose. The best "scarers" collect screams as necessary fuel for their high-tech world of comfy ick and cozy schtick. This is done via doors, magic por tals that allow fast entry to sleeping kids' bedrooms. James "Sully" Sullivan is a huge shag pillow of a monster. His pal is one-eyed lit tle Mike Wazowski, a sor t of pea-pod Polish joke with borscht belt vibes. The buddies get stuck with a human, a toddler named Boo, who thinks they're just wonder ful. Her innocence, that of a cupcake Columbus, changes the world of monsterdom. Cast: John Goodman, Billy Crystal, James Coburn, Mary Gibbs, Steve Buscemi, Bob Peterson, Jennifer Tilly. Running time: 1 hr., 24 mins. (Elliot t) ★★★1/2 Mr. Deeds (PG-13) — is an update or takeof f on the 1936 Frank Capra hit "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town." In that, Gary Cooper was a gentle, gallant rube who inherits a for tune, confounds the city slickers and radiates fuzzy ideals, while Depression audiences again got to ogle the idle (but frisky) rich. Now Adam Sandler is Longfellow Deeds, who inherits $40 billion from a genial old flake (Harve Presnell). Peter Gallagher is a fairly standard corporate wheeler as the sharpie running the vast estate. But as star repor ter Babe, Winona Ryder is game and slyly charming. The real ace is John Tur turro as Deed's new manservant, Emilio. It's a fond update and funny comedy, even making good use of John McEnroe (still cocky) and the Rev. Al Sharpton (dit to). Cast: Adam Sandler, John Tur turro, Winona Ryder, Peter Gallagher, Jared Harris, Erick Avari, Harve Presnell. Running time: 1 hr., 31 mins. (Elliot t) ★★★ Reign of Fire (PG-13) — In a post-apocalyptic England, a group of fire-breathing dragons has awakened af ter centuries of hibernation. An American militia leader, played by Mat thew McConaughey, and London’s fire chief (Christian Bale) must team up to save London and slay the queen dragon. Plenty of special ef fects. Cast: Christian Bale, Mat thew McConaughey, Gerard Butler. Road to Perdition (R) — Tom Hanks plays Michael Sullivan, an Irish-American hoodlum and family man in grim 1931, in the Quad Cities on the IllinoisIowa border. He's an enforcer and ar t ful killer, almost an adoptive son of bootleg mob boss John Rooney (Paul Newman), a patriarch stricken by inner rot. Sullivan feels rot ted, too, but is an iron survivor. The movie has a solemn, dirgelike (but not dull) conviction of fated purpose. Tragedy must come, violently. It would be criminal here to spell out the exact cost to Sullivan, which spins him free of the Rooney gang, along with his now aware and endangered son Mike Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin). On the long roads, and humble towns, they enact an almost archaic Greek vengeance upon the Rooneys. There is father-son bonding (and humor), yet we never forget that every thing is at stake. This story is so mor tal. Cast: Paul Newman, Tom Hanks, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ciaran Hinds, Liam Aiken, Stanley Tucci, Jude Law. Running time: 2 hrs. (Elliot t) ★★★★ Signs (PG-13) — This highly anticipated thriller, writ ten and directed by M. Night Shyamalan of "The Six th Sense" fame, finally makes it to the big screen. Mel Gibson stars as Graham Hess, a rural Pennsylvania pastor and farmer. When 500-foot wide crop circles are carved into his fields, Hess must face the mysterious entities that lurk in the night. Cast: Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (G) — A sweetly bland DreamWorks car toon film about a bold
horse that runs across much of the Old West, his thoughts spoken by Mat t Damon, his adventures doused in Bryan Adams tunes that are like a floral tribute to Rod Stewar t. The horse action is swif t, and borrowed John Ford bits can mean nothing to modern kids. 1 hr., 25 mins. (Elliot t) ★★1/2
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (PG) — This is No. 5 in the series and is visually
spectacular (entirely filmed in digital, and projected that way in some theaters). It moves swif tly and has action payof fs, but George Lucas is still a turgid story teller, and stif f dialogue drags the actors down to mere plot function too of ten. Ewan McGregor seems to be coming into his own as wise Obi-Wan. 2 hr., 23 mins. (Elliot t) ★★1/2 Stuart Little 2 (PG) — is a sequel capsule, as smooth and shiny as a jellybean. It brings back the Manhat tan mouse (Michael J. Fox), a computerized dearie loved by the Lit tle family as equal to their son, George (Jonathan Lipnicki), and his baby sister. The slow-star ting story is Stuar t's adventure to rescue new pal, birdie Margalo (Melanie Grif fith), a flut ter-ball of gold feathers, from the raptor Falcon (James Woods). 1 hr. 18 mins. (Elliot t) ★★1/2 Undercover Brother (PG-13) — The source was a Web comedy site, and it's a derivation of old bla xploiters, "In Living Color " and the Austin Powers goofs, but this lampoon of black heroics is funny in a pumped-up way. Eddie Grif fin wears the power Afro as the main bro, and Malcolm D. Lee also got good stuf f from Chris Kat tan, Denise Richards, Dave Chappelle, Aunjanue Ellis and Billy Dee Williams as a Colin Powell-like general who wants to be the new Col. Sanders. 1 hr., 26 mins. (Elliot t) ★★★ Unfaithful (R) — Richard Gere is Ed, businessman, loyal husband, devoted father, living in a plush suburb of New York City. Wife Connie (Diane Lane) seems equally pampered and happy, but there is something nervy and urban about her and, on a visit to SoHo, a wind storm blows her right into Paul, bookseller and stud, French, with facial stubble wor thy to be a put ting green. Paul is the other man, played by Olivier Mar tinez. It's some af fair, with Lane exposing much skin but also emotions that imply the af fair is a necessary, obsessive risk. The movie has a rather complacent dependence on rote situations. The vivid sex can't disguise the petrified fossils of countless studio melodramas about love triangles and sof t-rot marriages. Cast: Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Olivier Mar tinez, Erik Per Sullivan, Kate Bur ton. Running time: 1 hr., 47 min. (Elliot t) ★★ Windtalkers (R) — The core of it is about the Navajo "code talkers," some 400 men who confounded the Japanese by speaking radio code in Navajo. Of course, in a racist era, they had to face white bigotry as well as the enemy. Adam Beach, a strong presence with a boyish grin, plays Ben Yahzee, code volunteer. Nicolas Cage is Joe Enders, patched-up war dog assigned to protect Ben and, if he faces capture, kill him — also the secret order to Ox (Christian Slater), whose code man is Charlie (Roger Willie). The rest of the Marines unit sent to murderous Saipan in 1944 is much like the old studio ethnic squads of 1944 Hollywood. "Windtalkers" depicts bravery, sacrifice, honor and horror. But the moments of uplif t are like confet ti in a morgue. Cast: Nicolas Cage, Mark Ruf falo, Adam Beach, Peter Stormare, Noah Emmerich, Christian Slater, Frances O'Connor, Roger Willie. Running time: 2 hrs., 8 mins. (Elliot t) ★★ —Capsules compiled from movie reviews written by David Elliott, film critic for The San Diego Union-Tribune and other staff writers.