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moviereview
MASTER AND COMMANDER ★★★★ BY MATT PAIS | LEAD REVIEWER
W
ith his powerful masculinity that can shift smoothly into impassioned sensitivity, Russell Crowe has established himself as the new face of Oscar. His last three major roles (Proof of Life excluded) garnered him consecutive Oscar nominations and a Best Actor prize for Gladiator, arguably the least respected among his performances in The Insider and A Beautiful Mind. Unlike Tom Hanks, whose affectionate affability found him a host of praiseworthy roles as unlikely heroes, Crowe’s gruff bravado places him in burlier, majestic films with a more inyour-face dramatic punch. In Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Peter Weir’s booming account of early 19th-century ocean warfare, Crowe balances his insuppressible machismo with the proud dignity of a fearless leader. He plays Captain
moviereview
LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION ★★
BY ANDREW VECELAS | STAFF WRITER
F
ew things in Hollywood have been as consistent as Looney Tunes; the animated crew has appeared in so many classic animated shorts that it’s hard to recall a time when Bugs, Daffy and the rest have disappointed. Looney Tunes: Back in Action, the latest mix of animation and live action from Warner Brothers, comes across as one of the biggest missteps of the Looney Tunes brand to date. It’s a stunningly bland film that proves that even the most talented people in Hollywood can make mistakes. In the film, Daffy Duck is fired from the latest Warner Brothers movie after he balks about playing second fiddle to Bugs his whole career. He then ends up in the company of DJ Drake (Brendan Fraser), a security guard also fired from the studio lot. The two search for DJ’s lost father (Timothy Dalton), who turns out to be a secret agent. Meanwhile, Bugs and the studio V.P. (Jenna Elfman) realize losing Daffy will be a disaster and set out to bring him back. The expectedly off-the-wall plot sends the characters trotting to a number of famous locations on (and off) the globe.
BUGS BUNNY, DAFFY DUCK AND STEVE MARTIN! OH MY! | NOVEMBER 20-NOVEMBER 26, 2003 buzz
“Lucky” Jack Aubrey of the HMS Surprise, an English ship sent to intercept the Acheron, a much larger and stronger French boat. Clad in a flowing ponytail and Seinfeld-reminiscent puffy shirt, Crowe is far from his muscular, attention-grabbing turn in L.A. Confidential, but the Australian actor appears no less domineering. His restrained, regal performance meshes perfectly with the film—a striking mix of looming battle sequences and early-modern ideas of global and scientific exploration. Working from Patrick O’Brian’s novels, Weir directs with the placid grace and strapping ambition of the vessel itself. As meticulously crafted as any ship in a bottle, the Surprise has a distinguished, creaking beauty that refuses to wither, even as its wood splinters and men perish from the impact of 18pound cannonballs. “This ship is England!” Captain Jack declares in his climactic, Knute Rockne-esque speech to rouse the men for their final battle. And he’s right. The year is 1805, and Britain represents the lone rebel to Napoleon’s oppressive hold on Europe. The importance of their mission lends a pressing urgency to the vulnerability of the boat and its crew, who begin to doubt they can defeat the heavier, better-armed Acheron. But despite its historical theatrics, the film packs a genuine wallop of intense, significant entertainment for even those completely apathetic toward the chronology of European power. It examines several complex dynamics of the relationships between seamen of differThe cast serves as a good indicator of where the film goes wrong. Fraser and Elfman give it a good shot but seem bored in most of their scenes. On the other end of the spectrum, Steve Martin parades around with all his comic might as the primary villain, but he still comes across as merely amusing. To have such able comic actors as Fraser, Elfman and especially Martin fall flat repeatedly really shows how poorly the movie is scripted. Even Bugs and Daffy produce only a handful of laughs. With so many gags thrown out at breakneck pace, it’s remarkable that the film produces only the occasional isolated laughs. The movie manages one truly inspired sequence where Elmer Fudd gives chase to Daffy and Bugs through the Louvre. The characters jump into and out of famous paintings and discover what dangers lurk in the surrealism of Dali and the pointillism of Seurat. Unfortunately, it’s the only scene that shows a good deal of creativity. The filmmakers clearly want to show off expensive effects, but they haven’t given any thought as to what to do with them. There’s nothing here to compare to the genius in the climax of Who Framed Roger Rabbit; the action scenes in Looney Tunes: Back in Action are boring even by cartoon standards. By all means, Joe Dante should have been the right director for the film. With his chapter of Twilight Zone: The Movie and especially Gremlins and its sequel, it’s clear that he has a talent for balancing surreal effects with oddball comedy. But his fascination with throwing in cameos and references to dozens of classic movies
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MASTER AND COMMANDER | RUSSELL CROWE familiarity. This is big, boisterous filmmaking that still manages to glide gently over the ups and downs of the water. Tackling his most sweeping, extravagant production yet, Weir reveals an added flair for broad, eye-popping cinematic exhibition to his already ripe directorial repertoire. Weir buffs will get a kick out of watching the Surprise and remembering the fate that befell Jim Carrey’s ship in The Truman Show. While Truman’s aquatic-oriented scenes introduced the director’s ability to craft stimulating scenes of sea-swept peril, Master and Commander achieves a far higher degree of oceanic fanfare. It’s a glorious tale of adventure on the high seas sure to put wind in any landlubber’s sails.
Elf ★★★
SCREEN REVIEW GUIDE
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helps the audience realize how adaptable and relevant this work is for the modern stage. Ora Jones’ performance as narrator-stage manager justifies Brown’s bold touches with a performance that brings Grover’s Corners into the modern world with power and dignity. In ★★★ Thornton Wilder this production, the audience rediscovers what this play is all about. The Wisconsin-born, Yale-educated Wilder BY JEFF NELSON | CONTRIBUTING WRITER lived a very cosmopolitan life in such places as China, France and the University of Chicago. hornton Wilder’s Our Town is the quintesHe is not merely a product of the restricted sential American drama, and its worldwide world he writes about. popularity attests to its extraordinary ability Yet, it was a world that fascinated him. He to capture the essence of what makes us realized that most people did human. But it is very not have his experience with different to experilife, and that every day was ence it as a live play. filled with strictures that The words about define a person’s place in the how people live and world. On these strictures of die in the fictitious everyday life, he put a human town of Grover’s face and a human drama, and Corners, N.H., sudhe did it brilliantly. denly take on a draFour years after Our Town, matic life that puts he would win a second the audience right Pulitzer Prize for drama with into another world. The Skin of Our Teeth. In this In 1938, Wilder, play, everyday life is filled who had already with drama and a constant won a Pulitzer Prize struggle for survival. The for literature, won extraordinary events dominate the first of two life, yet humanity survives. In Pulitzer Prizes for Our Town, the ordinary events drama with this bareof life generate their own stage human drama. drama, and humanity perseThis seems to be the This historic play still affects audiences. veres. year of the Pulitzer The daily lives of ordinary people are a Prize play in the Chicago area, and now the American Writer’s Theatre in northern subur- parable not only for the strictures of everyday ban Glencoe has staged a fine rendition of this life, but also for its humanity and the drama classic that will remind you why you must that makes us human. Human beings are fasciexperience this play as an audience member nating simply as they are, and Our Town proves it as William Brown’s production reafand not just read it. Director William Brown has put together a firms it. fine cast of Chicago veterans and some creThe Writer’s Theatre is at 325 Tudor Court ative ideas to pull off this ensemble piece. Using the small space of Glencoe’s Women’s in Glencoe, just north of the Loop on the Lake. Library Club and such bold strokes as using a The theater can be reached at (847) 242-6000 or woman as the narrator/stage manager, Brown www.writerstheatre.org.
Our Town
C-UViews
weighs down the film. These may please older audience members, but the references will be completely lost on the film’s core audience. On paper, Looney Tunes: Back in Action has all the pieces in place to equal Who Framed Roger Rabbit. But on the screen, the film is occasionally entertaining, and, in terms of laughs, doesn’t even equal the live-action/animated effort, Space Jam. Hard to believe, but for the first time in memory, the Looney Tunes gang will likely bore adults and children alike.
arts
NOVEMBER 20-NOVEMBER 26 | NERD DREAMS ARE TAKING OVER MY SUBCONSCIOUS LIFE
playreview
ent rank, and doesn’t lose steam when the cannons are closed. The scenes on the calm, open water are as expansive and textured as anything in Titanic, and when the ocean turns harsh, Master and Commander becomes a luminous spectacle of rainy realism. Weir creates tremendously tumultuous scenes in which waves crash and thick sheets of mist practically blind the crew, transporting the audience not just to the middle of the surging sea but back in time to an era of national honor and responsibility. These men fight to save their country first and themselves last, and an overall feeling of heroic dedication sits in the hearts of the hundreds of men onboard the Surprise. Young boys are depended upon for large, commanding duties, and many lives are lost for the sake of the ship. Amidst the pervasive violence is Dr. Steven Maturin (A Beautiful Mind’s Paul Bettany), a longtime friend of the captain and the only man on the ship with legitimate medical knowledge. However, the obvious limits of 19th-century medicine result in some primitive scenes of the doctor at work that are as compelling as they are difficult to watch. Of course, there are a bevy of recognizable, seafaring moments in Master and Commander, from the rowers in the galley, to the sea chanties sung on deck, to the ship’s officials laughing over classic nautical stories at the captain’s table. Yet there remains a spirited, freshwater sparkle that overshadows any sense of salty
LOONEY TUNES | JENNA ELFMAN, BRENDAN FRASER
buzz
Lynn Albertsen Gibson City
“It was a good holiday movie.”
★★★ Heather Albertsen Gibson City
“I thought it was funny and cute.”
Sylvia ★★★★
“A very dark movie with good acting; well worth seeing.”
TURTLE ISL AND STRING QUARTET
Outside continued from page 6 Betsy Hammill, an audience member, said she enjoyed the performance. The dance reminded her of the fragility of ballet, but in grass. “Many of us have seen a performances at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, but no one had been out to that farmhouse before. The dance becomes the whole event of finding the place and standing in the cold,” said Ray. “A new dance, a new experience.”
D E C 3 , 7: 3 0 P M
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PHOTO | NADIA OUSSENKO
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film & tv
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MARY BUCK
3:22 PM
UNIVERSAL PICTURES
11/19/03
WARNER BROS. FILMS
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The final On Location performance, Nadia Oussenko’s Sonority Movement, will be at 2:35 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 21, in the Foellinger Great Hall foyer at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. Admission will be free.
Sites are transformed by the dancers movements making the rotation of this picture possible.
For tickets
217/333-6280 KrannertCenter.com
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