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***************************************** TOM'S REVIEWS ******** 07/30/04 *****************************

FILMS VIEWED OVER THE LAST FEW WEEKS:

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Ratings

* * * * * * Must See, An Artistic Great Film. Most Highly Recommended

* * * * * Well Worth Seeing, Good Film. Highly Recommended

* * * * Worth the Effort, Good Film. Recommended

* * * Entertaining, Recommended Rental

* * For Personal Tastes Only

* Not Worth You Time

0 Run!

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AT THE MOVIES NOW

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THE CLEARING (2004) * * * * *

Directed by Pieter Jan Brugge; written by Justin Haythe, based on a story by Mr. Brugge and Mr. Haythe; director of photography, Denis Lenoir; edited by Kevin Tent; music by Craig Armstrong; production designer, Chris Gorak; produced by Mr. Brugge, Palmer West and Jonah Smith; released by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Running time: 91 minutes. This film is rated R.

WITH: Robert Redford (Wayne Hayes), Helen Mirren (Eileen Hayes), Willem Dafoe (Arnold Mack), Alessandro Nivola (Tim Hayes), Matt Craven (Agent Fuller), Melissa Sagemiller (Jill Hayes) and Wendy Crewson (Louise Miller).

Other films by Pieter Jan Brugge: Clearing, The (2004)

From CINEBOOKS DB: Cool, restrained and steeped in tight-lipped WASP repression, producer Pieter Jan Brugge's directing debut tells two intimately connected stories simultaneously and unites them in a chilly fog of sadness. Having made a fortune in the car-rental business and cashed out, businessman Wayne Hayes (Robert Redford) is restless and unfulfilled. Their children grown, he and his wife, Eileen (Helen Mirren), build their dream home in Pittsburgh, but Wayne can't bring himself to stop working and Eileen submerges her restlessness in petty, make-work pastimes. Still, their relationship appears familiar and loving, if a little cool, and their lives ordinary, if more than usually privileged. Ordinary, at least, until the morning Wayne is efficiently abducted from the foot of his driveway. Eileen doesn't know he's gone until that evening, and assumes he's just late. But after an awkward evening of entertaining dinner guests around Wayne's absence, Eileen files a missing-person report. When Wayne's car turns up in an unfamiliar parking lot, the case is classified as a kidnapping. The story splits into two separate but parallel narratives, one following Wayne's efforts to negotiate with sad-sack abductor Arnold Mack (Willem Dafoe), and the other chronicling Eileen's crash course in doing nothing, buffeted by the dictates of FBI agents and the whims of her husband's captor or captors. Arnold confesses that he's not the mastermind behind Wayne's abduction; he's an errand boy who was hired to bring Wayne to the mountaintop cabin where the real kidnappers await. Eileen admits to Agent Fuller (Matt Craven) that Wayne once cheated on her; Fuller reveals that he kept in touch with his mistress (Wendy Crewson). Wayne draws out the admission that he and the disappointed, underemployed Arnold once crossed paths. The Hayes children, Tim (Alessandro Nivola) and Jill (Melissa Sagemiller), move back in and though they're ostensibly there to give their mother moral support, Eileen spends more time comforting them than the reverse. Although Brugge crosscuts between the two stories at roughly equal intervals, it gradually becomes clear that they're not unfolding in parallel time, and a frosty suspicion gathers around the edges of the story like cold around the heart. Like Mike Hodges' equally icy I'LL SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD (2004), this anti-thriller radiates dread rather than suspense; it delivers creeping apprehension rather than adrenaline-pumping kicks, and the uniformly strong and finely calibrated performances more than compensate for the absence of technical razzle-dazzle. — Maitland McDonagh

TOM'S VIEW: Give me Robert Redford AND Helen Mirren and even I could direct a good film! While most reviews of THE CLEARING are luke warm, I found the film very good with good performances from Helen Mirren and Robert Redford. Maybe its the ease with which both Mirren and Redford appear to play their characters that critics find "cool" or "remote". Myself, I find that same ease amazing. Rarely, if ever, can you detect that Redford is acting - rather he always seems to be his character

and his character seems to be him. Fine work by the ever under-appreciated Willem Dafoe also. Highly recommended.

I, ROBOT (2004) * * * *

Directed by Alex Proyas; written by Jeff Vintar and Akiva Goldsman, based on a screen story by Mr. Vintar and suggested by the book by Isaac Asimov; director of photography, Simon Duggan; edited by Richard Learoyd, Armen Minasian and William Hoy; music by Marco Beltrami; production designer, Patrick Tatopoulos; produced by Laurence Mark, John Davis, Topher Dow and Wyck Godfrey; released by 20th Century Fox. Running time: 110 minutes. This film is rated PG-13.

WITH: Will Smith (Del Spooner), Bridget Moynahan (Susan Calvin), Bruce Greenwood (Lawrence Robertson), James Cromwell (Dr. Alfred Lanning), Chi McBride (Lt. John Bergin), Shia LaBeouf (Farber), Adrian L. Ricard (Granny) and Alan Tudyk (Sonny).

Other films by Alex Proyas: I, Robot (2004), Garage Days (2002), Dark City (1998), Book of Dreams: 'Welcome to Crateland' (1994), Crow, The (1994), Songlines (1989) (V) (video "Mysteries of Love"), Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Clouds (1989), Spineless (1987), Strange Residues (1981), Groping (1980)

From CINEBOOKS DB: When is I, ROBOT not I, Robot? When it's a script called Hardwired conflated with elements of Isaac Asimov's seminal robot tales, including bits of the nine loosely connected short stories collected in 1950's I, Robot and snippets of the later robot novels, massaged to suit Will Smith's action-guy persona. There's so little Asimov in the mix that his contribution is relegated to a "suggested by" credit, and sci-fi savvy moviegoers will recognize the movie's debt to BLADE RUNNER (1982), ROBOCOP (1987) and 2001 (1968). The surprise: Derivativeness aside, it's an unexpectedly engaging futuristic mystery that hinges on the confounding possibility that a mechanical being may have murdered cutting-edge roboticist Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell), even though standard robot programming should make such a crime impossible. All robots are hardwired with three laws: Harming a human being or letting one be hurt is forbidden; human orders must be obeyed, except when they contradict the first law; and self-preservation is required unless it conflicts with either of the first two directives. Chicago, 2035: Robots are everywhere, not just toiling in factories and low-level service jobs, but in people's homes, running errands, cooking, walking dogs and cleaning. US Robotics, the world's largest manufacturer of humanoid automata, is about to launch the new NS5 model, which CEO Lawrence Robertson (Bruce Greenwood) hopes will bring the corporate dream of a robot in every home one step closer to reality. Consumers, lulled by USR's assertion that their products are "three laws safe," seem ready to embrace the future. But robophobic police detective Del Spooner (Smith) is convinced that a machine will one day defy its allegedly foolproof programming and commit a heinous crime, and when he's called upon to investigate Dr. Lanning's apparent suicide, he immediately suspects the superadvanced robot Lanning called Sonny (Alan Tudyk). Sonny looks alike any other NS5, but is capable of disobedience, abstract thought and perhaps even emotions. Why would Lanning build such an abomination, and why is USR determined to thwart Spooner's investigation? The mystery is rudimentary, there's a numbing sameness to the inevitable high-stakes action sequences and transforming Asimov's Dr. Susan Carter (Bridget Moynahan) from an older woman to a buttoned-up babe is a blatant sop to the 18-to-24-year-old males who comprise a hefty slice of the sci-fi demographic. But some provocative ideas slip through the mayhem, and Tudyk's performance — although Sonny is computer generated, Tudyk supplied his voice and body language — provides the story's emotional core, an irony Asimov would surely have appreciated. — Maitland McDonagh

TOM'S VIEW: Yes, Sci-Fi purists will be outraged that Asimov's I, Robot has been hijacked. Get over it, it's only a movie. It certainly is a passable summer action flick. Like Minority Report, most of the interesting science fiction takes place alongside the story line: automated hiways, buildings with "brains" that run the building, a wide variety of personal computer enhancements, automated clean-up of wrecks on the automated hiways, etc. Will, still sporting his enhanced physique developed for Ali, goes head to artifical head with the robots - thanks largely to some bionic enhancements of his own. The most interesting characters are not human but artificial - Sonny, the robot not bound by Asimov's robotic laws, and Viki, representing an evolutionary robotic advance. I liked it.

THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (2004) * * * * * *

Directed by Paul Greengrass; written by Tony Gilroy, based on the novel by Robert Ludlum; director of photography, Oliver Wood; edited by Christopher Rouse and Richard Pearson; music by John Powell; production designer, Dominic Watkins; produced by Frank Marshall, Patrick Crowley and Paul L. Sandberg; executive producers, Doug Liman, Jeffrey M. Weiner and Henry Morrison; released by Universal Pictures. Running time: 120 minutes. This film is rated PG-13.

WITH: Matt Damon (Jason Bourne), Franka Potente (Marie), Brian Cox (Ward Abbott), Julia Stiles (Nicky), Karl Urban (Kirill), Karel Roden (Gretkov), Gabriel Mann (Danny Zorn) and Joan Allen (Pamela Landy).

Other films by Paul Greengrass: Bourne Supremacy, The (2004), Bloody Sunday (2002), Murder of Stephen Lawrence, The (1999) (TV), Theory of Flight, The (1998),

Fix, The (1997) (TV), One That Got Away, The (1996) (TV), "Kavanagh QC" (1994) (TV Series), Open Fire (1994) (TV), Resurrected (1989)

From CINEBOOKS DB: A refreshing alternative to the hypertrophied spy thrillers in which exaggerated action sequences, over-the-top super-villainy and high-tech gadgetry trump character and plot. Amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) and his girlfriend, Marie (Franka Potente), have been in hiding since Bourne press-ganged her into helping him piece together a series of fragmentary clues about his very scary past. Still uncertain who he really is — he's got half a dozen passports, each more convincing than the one before — and tormented by nightmares, Bourne has used his covert skills to keep them off the radar just in case his former colleagues decide to come calling. But their current idyll in Goa comes to a violent end when Bourne spots a stranger (Karl Urban) whose demeanor fairly screams "contract killer," at least to someone like Bourne. In the ensuing melee, Bourne loses Marie and resolves to find out who ordered the hit and make them pay. Meanwhile, in Berlin, a covert operation managed by veteran CIA agent Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) goes very wrong, leaving two agents dead and several million in U.S. government funds missing. A single fingerprint found at the scene leads to a CIA database attached to a project called Treadstone. Landy's security clearance doesn't begin to warrant access to the Treadstone files, but she won't rest until she finds out what's in them. Landy's investigation involves the theft of some $20 million in CIA funds, and her team was pursuing a rumor that the culprit was a CIA insider and that Russian oil tycoon Gretkov (Karel Roden) was somehow involved. Treadstone, she learns, was a super-secret black op shut down after rogue Jason Bourne stopped following orders and started thinking for himself. The fingerprint is Bourne's, and soon an international game of cat and mouse is on. Landy recruits Bourne's old contact, Nicolette (Julia Stiles), and former Treadstone bigwig Ward Abbott (Brian Cox) to help her trap Bourne, who's after both the mysterious assassin and whoever's responsible for framing him. All roads eventually converge in Berlin. Tony Gilroy's screenplay bears scant resemblance to Robert Ludlum's 1986 novel, the second installment in his Bourne trilogy, which involves a plot to plunge China into calamitous civil war. Paul Greenglass, taking over for BOURNE IDENTITY (2002) director Doug Liman, keeps the action believable and the tone briskly paranoid — the Cold War may be over, but espionage is still a chilly business. — Maitland McDonagh

TOM'S VIEW: Be sure to get some deep breaths before the movie starts, there are only a couple of other places to breathe during the movie. The director is especially gifted at placing you in amidst the action whether it is a fight or a chase or car chase. One sequence serves as an excellent "offensive driving" course! Highly recommended!

ZHOU YU'S TRAIN (2003) * * * * *

Directed by Sun Zhou; written (in Mandarin, with English subtitles) by Mr. Sun, Bei Cun and Zhang Mei; director of photography, Wang Yu; edited by William Chang; music by Shigeru Umebayashi; production designer, Sun Li; produced by Huang Jianxin, Mr. Sun and Bill Kong; released by Sony Pictures Classics. Running time: 97 minutes. This film is rated PG-13.

WITH: Gong Li (Zhou Yu/Xiu), Tony Leung Ka Fai (Chen Qing) and Honglei Sun (Zhang Qiang).

Other films by Sun Zhou: Zhou Yu's Train (Zhou Yu de huo che) (2002), Breaking the Silence (Piao liang ma ma) (1999), True-Hearted, The (Xin xiang) (1993), Di xue huang hun (1989)

From CINEBOOKS DB: Based on an acclaimed Chinese novel and starring two of China's biggest movie stars, director Sun Zhou's curious love story is nevertheless more confounding than romantic. Painter Zhou Yu (Gong Li) uses her extraordinary talent to decorate vases and bowls for a ceramics factory in Sanming, a town in northwestern China. One afternoon while riding a train, Zhang Jiang (Sun Hong Lei), handsome young veterinarian, offers to buy the lovely vase Zhou Yu is bringing to her lover, Chen Ching (Tony Leung Ka-fai) as a gift. Zhou Yu refuses to sell, and when Zhang Jiang flirtatiously refuses to take no for an answer, she deliberately drops the delicate object onto the floor of the train, smashing it to pieces. This sudden, inexplicable act triggers a lengthy flashback to Zhou Yu's first meeting with the shy poet Chen Ching at a dance where he wrote her a short poem before disappearing. Luckily he accidentally left his bag behind, so Zhou Yu is later able to track him to the city of Chongyang where Chen Ching lives in an old library. Despite the considerable distance between their homes, they embark on a torrid affair. Each weekend, Zhou Yu takes the train from Sanming to Chongyang; between bouts of lovemaking, Chen Ching writes love poems to his newfound love. But even though Zhou Yu is devoted to seeing his work one day in print — she organizes a public reading and later uses her savings to help him self-publish his first collection, "Zhou Yu's Train" — she senses that she's become little more than an irritating distraction. When Chen Ching finally confronts her with his plans to take a teaching post in Tibet, Zhou Yu storms out. On the train back to Sanming, she meets Zhang Jiang, the veterinarian, who tends to farm animals far out in the countryside. But Zhou Yu resists his romantic overtures; though Chen Ching has given her the brush off and soon leaves for Tibet, Zhou Yu is still in love with his poems. Writer-director Sun Zhou (who previously directed Gong Li in the 1999 drama Breaking the Silence) toys with reality, diving deep into the romantic fantasy that what's real in the human heart trumps reality every time. But like Zhou Yu's shattered vases and chipped bowls, the film's fractured chronology resists efforts to reassemble it. And while the film's erotic symbolism is surprisingly obvious — all those trains and tunnels! — it's otherwise bafflingly vague. — Ken Fox

TOM'S VIEW: I actually saw this on DVD after having discovered an Asian DVD outlet that sells all region DVDs. We usually have to wait a couple of years to get newer releases from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Japan. Starring the beautiful Gong Li, this is an interesting story of yearning that investigates the nature of love and desire. Highly recommended.

YOUNG ADAM (2004) * * * * *

Directed by David Mackenzie; written by Mr. Mackenzie, based on the novel by Alexander Trocchi; director of photography, Giles Nuttgens; edited by Colin Monie; music by David Byrne; production designer, Laurence Dorman; produced by Jeremy Thomas; released by Sony Pictures Classics. Running time: 93 minutes. This film is not rated.

WITH: Ewan McGregor (Joe), Tilda Swinton (Ella), Peter Mullan (Les), Emily Mortimer (Cathie), Jack McElhone (Jim), Therese Bradley (Gwen), Ewan Stewart (Daniel Gordon), Stuart McQuarrie (Bill), Pauline Turner (Connie), Alan Cooke (Bob M'bussi) and Rory McCann (Sam).

Other films by David Mackenzie: Young Adam (2003), Last Great Wilderness, The (2002), Darcie's Dowry (1999), Somersault (1999), California Sunshine (1997)

From CINEBOOKS DB: Scottish writer-director David Mackenzie's impressive feature debut is a cool and creepy adaptation of Glaswegian Beat writer Alexander Trocchi's 1957 novel about a disaffected young man who wrestles with his conscience only to discover that he may not have one at all. A white swan paddles across the screen and the livid, bloated corpse of a dead woman, dressed only in a slip, floats into frame. It's the 1950s, somewhere on the shore of the River Clyde, where bargemen like Joe (Ewan McGregor) and his grizzled boss, Les (Peter Mullan), make their living hauling coal up and down the canals that connect the capital city with Edinburgh. Joe spots the body, but Les drags it ashore. Les captains the cramped barge on which they both live with Les's wife, Ella (Tilda Swinton), a sour woman whose deep discontent leaves her susceptible to Joe's considerable charms, and Les and Ella's son, Jim (Jack McElhone). As Joe waits for the police to arrive, his behavior towards the corpse seems disconcertingly tender — his hand lingers briefly on her back, he winces when her leg slips from the police stretcher — and the series of flashbacks that intrudes on the present action makes it clear that Joe knew the drowned woman. Her name was Cathie (Emily Mortimer) and once upon a time, before Joe abandoned his attempts to create a bold new literary form and submerged his ambitions in the gloomy canals, she and Joe were lovers. That was a lifetime ago but their final meeting was actually only a few nights earlier, after an unexpected reunion on a city street. The corpse's state of undress leads the police to treat the matter as a possible homicide, but was it really? Could Joe be guilty of an even greater crime than murder? Trocchi published two different versions of his novel, one for general consumption and a second for readers whose tastes include explicit sex. Mackenzie seems to have relied on the racier edition for his screenplay: There's plenty of flesh on display — though not enough, really, to warrant an NC-17 rating — but the coupling is oddly passionless, desperate rather than erotic. Momentarily freed from the confines of STAR WARS-sized spectacles that only dwarf his talents, McGregor demonstrates just how far he's come as an actor. Swinton, meanwhile, adds another notch to a resume already crowded with good performances; she's perfect as an exhausted wife who seems uncomfortable with all but the most fleeting happiness. — Ken Fox

TOM'S VIEW: Shades of L'Atalante (1934). Good flick!

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OUT ON DVD/VHS

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COMES A HORSEMAN (1980) * * * * * *

Director: Alan J. Pakula; Producer: Gene Kirkwood, Dan Paulson; Writer: Dennis Lynton Clark; Editor: Marion Rothman; Musical Composer: Michael Small; Production Designer: George Jenkins; Cinematographer: Gordon Willis; Country of Origin: U.S.; Color; Production Co(s).: UA; Released By: UA; MPAA Rating: PG; Running Time: 118 minutes

WITH: James Caan (Frank), Jane Fonda (Ella), Jason Robards (Ewing), George Grizzard (Neil Atkinson), Richard Farnsworth (Dodger), Jim Davis (Julie Blocker), Mark Harmon (Billy Joe Meynert), Macon McCalman (Hoverton), Basil Hoffman (George Bascomb), James Kline (Ralph Cole), James Keach (Kroegh), Cliff Pellow (Cattle Buyer)

Academy Award Nomination:

Best Supporting Actor - Richard Farnsworth</DD< DD>

Other films by Alan J. Pakula: Devil's Own, The (1997), Pelican Brief, The (1993), Consenting Adults (1992), Presumed Innocent (1990), See You in the Morning (1989), Orphans (1987), Dream Lover (1986), Sophie's Choice (1982), Rollover (1981), Starting Over (1979), Comes a Horseman (1978), All the President's Men (1976), Parallax View, The (1974), Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing (1973), Klute (1971), Sterile Cuckoo, The (1969)

FROM CINEBOOKS DB: An unusual staging of the American West. Alan J. Pakula, master of paranoia (KLUTE, THE PARALLAX VIEW, ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN), directed this offbeat film noir western set after WWII with James Caan as a cowhand, Jane Fonda as a ranch owner, and Jason Robards as the evil oil tycoon. The real star of the film is unbilled: a stretch of lush green land in Colorado known as the Wet Mountain Valley. Ace cinematographer Gordon Willis (ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, THE GODFATHER films, MANHATTAN) photographs this location with so much affection and awe that the talk by oil explorers about ripping it up for profit truly moves and horrifies the viewer.

Fonda is a rancher fighting to retain her independence from local mogul Robards, who is attempting to carve out an empire in this post-WWII world out west. Fonda and Robards slept together before she was old enough to know better, and she hates him for that and for a host of other reasons. Caan, also independent and newly returned from the service, teams with Fonda when his partner is killed (probably on Robards's mandate). While Fonda and Caan are resisting Robards, Robards is resisting the pleas of an oil company that wants to come in and drill. A throwback to the ranchers of the old days, when such landholders were almost kings, Robards yearns for those times. Fonda wishes Robards would leave her alone so that she could just run her ranch with a bit of time off to fall in love with Caan, who is trying to forget the horrors of war. Farnsworth, as Dodger, Fonda's aging hand, received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

TOM'S VIEW: This is one of my favorite films. It has underappreciated James Caan and underappreciated and not well known Richard Farnsworth. You cannot even imagine that Jane Fonda would be cast in this role much less that she would be absolutely great in it. Highly recommended!</DD< DD>

KLUTE (1971) * * * * * *

Director: Alan J. Pakula; Producer: David Lang, Alan J. Pakula; Writer: Dave Lewis, Andy Lewis; Editor: Carl Lerner; Musical Composer: Michael Small; Art Director: George Jenkins; Cinematographer: Gordon Willis; Country of Origin: U.S.; Color; Production Co(s).: Warner Bros.; Released By: Warner Bros.; MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 114 minutes

WITH: Jane Fonda (Bree Daniels), Donald Sutherland (John Klute), Charles Cioffi (Peter Cable), Roy Scheider (Frank Ligourin), Dorothy Tristan (Arlyn Page), Rita Gam (Trina), Vivian Nathan (Psychiatrist), Nathan George (Lt. Trask), Morris Strassberg (Mr. Goldfarb), Jean Stapleton (Goldfarb's Secretary), Barry Snider (Berger)

From CINEBOOKS DB: Along with BARBARELLA and THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY?, one of the best things the highly variable Jane Fonda has ever done.

When a research scientist turns up missing, his best friend, John Klute (Sutherland), a small-town police detective, goes to New York City in search of Bree Daniels (Fonda), a prostitute to whom the missing man had written letters. Bree, who is trying to switch professions, tells Klute that she has been getting threatening phone calls from a violent former client who she also thinks has been following her. In the process of his investigation, Klute falls for Bree, though she has difficulty returning his affection. After another prostitute who had contact with the sadistic caller is murdered, Bree finds herself alone in a dark warehouse in the exciting finale.

The film's predictable plotting is not its strong point, nor is Pakula's uneven direction. The strictly thriller aspects of the film vary from the artfully constructed to the showy but shallow. It's as if Pakula feels compelled to indulge all the conventions of the genre, but without quite knowing why. On the other hand, he does ably highlight some of the more provocative and complex aspects of Andy and Dave Lewis's often fine screenplay. We see Bree calmly look at her watch while simulating passionate sex, and she develops a sentimental attachment to the lonely old man who simply likes to look at her nude. Bree can, with perfect professionalism, explain that certain sex acts will cost clients more, but she also cowers from an awareness of her own vulnerability and realizes the painful contradictions in her life.

Sutherland is either an excellent sounding board for this nuanced portrait or he's a big zero, probably both. Fonda, however, transcends her limitations, making the most of her often forced quality as an actress. Bree emerges as likably strong yet dangerously weak, refreshingly intelligent yet searching and confused.

TOM'S VIEW: Despite the review above, this film was the first of some great performances by both Sutherland and Fonda. Neither had really gave us any inkling of the depth of their talent until their collaboration yielded this fine film. The film was also the first of mant great films by Alan Pakula. Highly recomended.

RIPLEY’S GAME (IL GIOCO DI RIPLEY) (2001) * * * *

Director: Liliana Cavani; Producer: Simon Bosanquet, Ileen Maisel, Riccardo Tozzi; Writer: Liliana Cavani, Charles McKeown (based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith); Editor: Jon Harris; Musical Composer: Ennio Morricone; Production Designer: Francesco Frigeri; Cinematographer: Alfio Contini; Country of Origin: Italy; U.K.; Color; Production Co(s).: Baby Films; Cattleya; Dogstar Films; Mr. Mudd; Released By: New Line Home Entertainment; MPAA Rating: R; Running time: 110 minutes

WITH: John Malkovich (Tom Ripley), Ray Winstone (Reeves), Uwe Mansshardt (Terry), Hanns Zischler (Art Dealer), Paolo Paoloni (Franco), Maurizio Luca (Franco's Assistant), Dougray Scott (Jonathan Trevanny), Evelina Meghnagi (Maria), Chiara Caselli (Louisa Harari), Lena Heady (Sarah Trevanny)

Other films by Liliana Cavani: Ripley's Game (Gioco di Ripley, Il) (2000), Manon Lescaut (1999) (TV), Cavalleria rusticana (1996) (TV), Where Are You? I'm Here (Dove siete? Io sono qui) (1993), Traviata, La (1992/I) (TV), St. Francis of Assisi (Francesco) (1989), Berlin Affair, The (Interno berlinese) (1986), Beyond the Door (Oltre la porta) (1982), Skin, The (Pelle, La) (1981), Beyond Good and Evil (Al di là del bene e del male) (1977), Milarepa (1974), Night Porter, The (Portiere di notte, Il) (1974), Guest, The (Ospite, L') (1972), Cannibals, The (Cannibali, I) (1970), Galileo (1969), Francis of Assisi (Francesco d'Assisi) (1966), Primo Piano: Philippe Pétain processo a Vichy (1965)

From CINEBOOKS DB: Chronologically the third of Patricia Highsmith's five Ripley novels, Liliana Cavani's film transplants the novel's action from France to Italy. Now middle aged and hugely wealthy by virtue of his canny dealings in forged and stolen paintings, Tom Ripley (John Malkovich) is married to pianist Louisa (Chiara Caselli) and has nearly finished renovating a vast country mansion. Invited to a party by local frame maker Jonathan Trevanny (Dougray Scott), who's done some work for him, Ripley overhears Trevanny mocking his nouveau riche taste in interior design. Outwardly unruffled, the seething Ripley awaits a chance to make Trevanny pay, perhaps by exploiting the fact that Trevanny has incurable leukemia and has no means of providing for his widow-to-be, Sarah (Lena Heady), and their small son, Matthew (the singularly charmless Sam Blitz). Ripley's opportunity comes in the form of Reeves (Ray Winstone), an old criminal associate whom Ripley once cheated. Now a Berlin-based club owner, Reeves needs someone to kill a Russian gangster and wants Ripley to do the job; Ripley instead suggests Trevanny, telling Reeves exactly how to manipulate his knowledge of Trevanny's failing health and fear of leaving Sarah and Matthew impoverished. Once Trevanny has become a killer, Reeves bullies him into agreeing to a second murder for hire. But the mercurial Ripley is over the fit of pique that prompted to torment Trevanny, allies himself with his former victim and angles for a way to get Reeves into hot water. The whole sordid situation culminates in a STRAW DOGS (1971) style siege from which only the ever-slippery Ripley emerges unscathed. Though more faithful to the letter of Highsmith's novel than Wim Wenders' THE AMERICAN FRIEND (1977), this is a far less successful film. Highsmith's novel is set some 20 years after Talented Mr. Ripley, and while Malkovich is somewhat older than her Ripley, his silky manner, petulant voice and vaguely reptilian gaze make him ideal casting for the charming sociopath in middle age. Unfortunately, he's mired in a film whose tone is consistently off: The supporting performances are pitched all over the scale — Scott is truly terrible — the pacing is sluggish and at least one key sequence, which involves a series of murders aboard a moving train, plays like a demented comedy sketch. Made in the wake of the success of Anthony Minghella's THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (1999), Caviani's film was acquired by Fine Line Features for US theatrical distribution but eventually debuted on cable television in December 2003 and went to video a few months later. — Maitland McDonagh

TOM'S VIEW: Malkovich is born to play Ripley. Entertaining.

TILL HUMAN VOICES WAKE US (2002) * * * * *

Director: Michael Petroni; Producer: Dean Murphy, Mathias Emcke, Shana Levine, Nigel Odell, Thomas Augsberger, David Redman; Writer: Michael Petroni; Editor: Bill Murphy; Musical Composer: Dale Cornelius, Amotz Plessner; Production Designer: Ralph Moser; Art Director: Adele Flere; Cinematographer: Roger Lanser; Country of Origin: U.S.; Color; Production Co(s).: Australian Film Finance Corporation; Instinct Entertainment; Key Entertainment; Released By: Paramount Classics; MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 97 minutes

WITH: Guy Pearce (Dr. Sam Franks), Helena Bonham Carter (Ruby), Frank Gallacher (Maurie Lewis), Lindley Joyner (Young Sam Franks), Brooke Harman (Silvy Lewis), Peter Curtin (Dr. David Franks), Margot Knight (Dorothy Lewis), Anthony Martin (Russ), Dawn Klingberg (Mrs. Sacks), David Ravenswood (Lawyer), Stewart Faichney (Reverend Mortenbury), Diana Greentree (Mrs. Pickford)

Other films by Michael Petroni: Till Human Voices Wake Us (2002), Trespasses (1999)

From CINEBOOKS DB: Taking its title from the final haunting verse of T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," screenwriter Michael Petroni's directing debut is like a well-crafted ghost story: It's smart, subtle and deeply romantic. Successful Melbourne psychiatrist Sam Franks (Guy Pearce) makes an unexpected journey into the past when he learns that his late father's last wish was to be buried in Genoa, the sleepy, rural Australian town where Sam grew up. Dr. David Franks (Peter Curtin, in flashbacks) was a cold, distant widower who cared deeply for his late wife but little else. Sam, it seems, has grown up to be a lot like his father and only reluctantly agrees to escort his father's coffin back home. After falling asleep on the train to Genoa, Sam awakes to find himself sharing his compartment with a dark-haired stranger who introduces herself as Ruby (Helena Bonham Carter). Sam is soon after called away by the conductor, and when he returns, Ruby is gone. That night, as he's driving through Genoa's rainy back roads of Genoa, Sam sees her again; this time she's perched on the edge of a train trestle. As an oncoming train whizzes past, she plunges into the water below. Sam jumps in after her and pulls her to shore, but when she awakes the following morning safe in Dr. Frank's old house, Ruby is suffering from total amnesia: She doesn't even remember her own name. The circumstances of Ruby's sudden reappearance in Sam's life further stimulates memories already stirred by Sam's trip home, memories of someone he didn't save: Sam's childhood sweetheart, Silvy (Brooke Harmon), a young disabled woman whose tragic end has haunted Sam through adulthood. The things Ruby says, the word games she likes to play, even the snatches of verse that spring into her mind — lines from "Prufrock" — are uncannily familiar to Sam. It's almost as though Ruby's slowly returning memories once belonged to Silvy. Australian-born Petroni, whose screenplay for THE DANGEROUS LIVES OF ALTAR BOYS beautifully captured the power of adolescent love and loss, deftly balances the probability that Ruby is simply a blank slate onto which Sam is projecting long repressed feelings of guilt and regret with the growing possibility that she's something else entirely. His film obviously owes a debt to Hitchcock's VERTIGO (1958), but it's far from a slavish copy: In Genoa, Australia, Petroni has created an enchanted forest all his own, a dream world in which anything is possible. — Ken Fox

TOM'S VIEW: Strange but entertaining!

THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD (1969) * * * * *

Director: Martin Ritt; Producer: Martin Ritt; Writer: Guy Trosper (based on the novel by John Le Carre), Paul Dehn; Editor: Anthony Harvey; Musical Composer: Sol Kaplan; Production Designer: Hal Pereira, Tambi Larsen; Art Director: Edward Marshall; Cinematographer: Oswald Morris; Country of Origin: U.K.; B & W; Production Co(s).: Salem; Released By: Paramount; MPAA Rating: NR; Running Time: 112 minutes

WITH: Richard Burton (Alec Leamas), Claire Bloom (Nan Perry), Oskar Werner (Fiedler), Peter Van Eyck (Hans-Dieter Mundt), Sam Wanamaker (Peters), George Voskovec (East German Defense Attorney), Rupert Davies (Smiley), Cyril Cusack (Control), Michael Hordern (Ashe), Robert Hardy (Carlton), Bernard Lee (Patmore)

Other films by Martin Ritt: Stanley & Iris (1990), Nuts (1987), Murphy's Romance (1985), Cross Creek (1983), Back Roads (1981), Norma Rae (1979), Casey's Shadow (1978), Front, The (1976), Conrack (1974), Pete 'n' Tillie (1972), Sounder (1972), Great White Hope, The (1970), Molly Maguires, The (1970), Brotherhood, The (1969), Hombre (1967), Spy Who Came In from the Cold, The (1965), Outrage, The (1964), Hud (1963), Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962), Paris Blues (1961), 5 Branded Women (1960), Sound and the Fury, The (1959), Black Orchid, The (1958), Long, Hot Summer, The (1958), No Down Payment (1957), Edge of the City (1957),

Academy Award Nomination:

Best Actor - Richard Burton

Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (B/W) - Hal Pereira, Tambi Larsen, Edward Marshall, Josie MacAvin

From CINEBOOKS DB: Gripping grit, with a perfect performance from Burton, before Liz and alcohol robbed him of his center.

Spying is a grim, desperate business that is at once boring and exciting, with dirty work behind the scenes and hardly any derring-do. This superb adaptation of John Le Carre's novel artfully conveys that sense. Audiences must have preferred the more glamorous spies like James Bond because this film, which was one of the best ever made on the subject, failed to gather much interest at the box office. Produced and directed by Martin Ritt in Ireland and England, with some second-unit lensing in Europe, the film stars Richard Burton as a burnt-out case, a man who is looking forward to getting out of the spy game and retiring from British Intelligence. Just before he is to leave, Burton is called back to London and put on the carpet. It seems that several of his sub-agents have been caught by Van Eyck, who is Burton's counterpart on the East Berlin side. Van Eyck is a former Nazi who has taken over as chief of operations for the Communists, and his handiwork is putting a crimp in the British operations. Since it is well known that Burton is tired of what he's doing, Burton's boss, Cusack, gives him his final assignment. He is to masquerade as a drunk who wants to defect to the East Germans. If it works and Burton gets inside the Communist operations, he can find out if there is a "mole" in their own organization as well as get the goods on what's happening inside the East German operation.

There are no gimmicks, no fast cars that turn into airplanes, no weapons that fire lasers, just a tense battle of wits shot in stark black and white. The title refers to the time when an outside spy has to "come in from the cold" and take a sedentary job as another spy's control or even some menial desk assignment until the mandatory age limit forces retirement. Only Graham Greene has come close to Le Carre in detailing the emotional drudgery of the espionage world.

TOM'S VIEW: It's not Bourne in terms of action, but the atmosphere and emotional content makes up for that. Was it really such a Cold War? Entertaining!

THE LADY EVE (1941) * * * * * *

Director: Preston Sturges; Producer: Paul Jones; Writer: Preston Sturges (based on the story "The Faithful Heart" by Monckton Hoffe); Editor: Stuart Gilmore; Music Director: Sigmund Krumgold; Art Director: Ernst Fegte, Hans Dreier; Cinematographer: Victor Milner; Country of Origin: U.S.; B & W; Production Co(s).: Paramount; Released By: Paramount; MPAA Rating: NR; Running Time: 97 minutes

WITH: Barbara Stanwyck (Jean Harrington), Henry Fonda (Charles Pike), Charles Coburn ("Colonel" Harry Harrington), Eugene Pallette (Mr. Pike), William Demarest (Muggsy-Ambrose Murgatroyd), Eric Blore (Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith), Melville Cooper (Gerald), Martha O'Driscoll (Martha), Janet Beecher (Mrs. Pike), Robert Greig (Burrows), Dora Clement (Gertrude)

Other films by Preston Sturges: French, They Are a Funny Race, The (Carnets du Major Thompson, Les) (1955), Vendetta (1950), Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend, The (1949), Unfaithfully Yours (1948), Sin of Harold Diddlebock, The (1947), Great Moment, The (1944), Hail the Conquering Hero (1944), Miracle of Morgan's Creek, The (1944), Palm Beach Story, The (1942), Sullivan's Travels (1941), Lady Eve, The (1941), Christmas in July (1940), Great McGinty, The (1940)

From CINEBOOKS DB: Sturges's chic, sly little masterpiece of comic seduction. Fonda, who is the son of a wealthy brewer (Pallette, whose slogan is "Pike's Pale, the Ale That Won for Yale"), is a rather shy and backward young man whose main interest is in snakes. As the film opens, he has just spent a year with a scientific expedition on the Amazon, looking for undiscovered species of reptiles. He and his bodyguard, Demarest, board a ship in the Atlantic which will take them back to New York. Of course, Fonda, being young, handsome, and the heir to a vast fortune, attracts the attention of virtually every female on the ship, but he shows no interest in the opposite sex.

Also on board is a team of card sharps, father and daughter Stanwyck and Coburn, and Cooper, posing as their butler. They figure Fonda would make an excellent pigeon, and Stanwyck conspires to gain his trust, which she does. Fonda is quickly smitten with her, and sits down to play some cards with her and her father. He considers himself to be quite the card player, but is embarrassed when he wins $600 from these nice people. Of course, he's only being set up to lose, but before the cons can reel in their prey, they hit a snag. Stanwyck has genuinely fallen in love with the man, much to the disgust of her associates.

THE LADY EVE is one of Sturges' best romantic comedies, with just the right blend of satire and slapstick, the laughs coming mostly from his clever, often inspired comedic lines. His direction is flawless, and the cast, from stars to stock players, performs beautifully. Stanwyck, is particular, is an effortless comedienne. She pitches much of her performance into a kind of hushed, urgent, intimate whisper. When she talks to Fonda, she's constantly toying with him, touching him like a fetish, and she's always in his face, often looking at his lips. Then out snakes a sexy leg--a very sexy leg--and over he topples. There's an unparalleled moment early on, when she narrates his movements, taking his part and every woman's who attempts to trap him in conversation, while watching the action backwards in her compact mirror. It's a daring, roguish display of her talent; one can't imagine any comedienne--even Colbert or Russell--bringing it off as she does. Sturges, who began as a contract scriptwriter for Paramount, promised Stanwyck that he would write a great comedy for her some day, and she got it.

TOM'S VIEW: Henry Fonda as straight man for Barbara Stanwyck - two very much under-rated actors! Highly recommended

RUSHMORE (1998) * * * * *

Director: Wes Anderson; Producer: Paul Schiff, Barry Mendel; Writer: Owen Wilson, Wes Anderson; Editor: David Moritz; Musical Composer: Mark Mothersbaugh; Production Designer: David Wasco; Art Director: Andrew Laws; Cinematographer: Robert Yeoman; Country of Origin: U.S.; Color; Production Co(s).: American Empirical; Touchstone Pictures; Released By: Buena Vista; MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 95 minutes

WITH: Bill Murray (Mr. Blume), Olivia Williams (Miss Cross), Jason Schwartzman (Max Fischer), Brian Cox (Dr. Guggenheim), Seymour Cassel (Bert Fischer), Mason Gamble (Dirk Calloway), Sara Tanaka (Margaret Yang), Stephen McCole (Magnus Buchan), Luke Wilson (Dr. Peter Flynn), Deepak Pallana (Mr. Adams), Andrew Wilson (Coach Beck), Marietta Marich (Mrs. Guggenheim), Ronnie McCawley (Ronny Blume), Keith McCawley (Donny Blume)

Other films by Wes Anderson: Royal Tenenbaums, The (2001), Rushmore (1998), Bottle Rocket (1996), Bottle Rocket (1994)

From CINEBOOKS DB: Another quirky, hard-to-put-your-finger-on delight from the boys who brought us BOTTLE ROCKET. Geeky 15-year-old Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) has cornered the market on extracurricular activities at snooty Rushmore Academy, though he's flunking out academically. And he's got a crush on first-grade teacher Miss Cross (Olivia Williams), whom he pursues with predictable relentlessness. The consummate multi-tasker, Max embraces, ingests, condescends, comprehends and fails to comprehend with incredible ardor. Yet despite the scattered, frantic quality to Max's pursuit of everything -- courting Miss Cross; writing plays based on seminal '70s films like SERPICO, THE DEERHUNTER and APOCALYPSE NOW; engaging in endless activities, from kite-flying to chess club -- he's irresistible. He hasn't lived through his first heartbreak, hasn't suffered adult disappointment and doesn't know the meaning of passivity: He's bursting with a deep enthusiasm for life. Max schemes to impress Miss Cross by building her an elaborate aquarium, but he needs steel tycoon/school patron Mr. Blume (Bill Murray) to pay for it. Blume, tired of his family, his job and life itself, needs someone like Max around and lets the youngster go to town. And Max happily plans activities that bring together his two favorite people, never dreaming that Cross and Blume will begin a relationship. Without being slavish, Owen Wilson and director Wes Anderson's subtle and witty script echoes the themes (and sometimes the look) of Hal Ashby's best films, including HAROLD AND MAUDE and BEING THERE. And Anderson's mise en scene -- heavy on the '70s influences and bolstered by the combination of Mark Mothersbaugh's excellent score and the British Invasion soundtrack -- captures the wistful nature of Max's teenage tumult and outsider's ebullience. A rare comedy that keeps you thinking long after its plot machinations have played themselves out, this film is the product of artists working at the peak of their powers: Let's hope they keep it up. — Sandra Contreras

TOM'S VIEW: Wes Anderson may be an acquired taste. If you liked Bottle Rocket or The Royal Tenebaums then you'll like this.

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS (1999) * * * * * *

Director: Anthony Harvey; Producer: John Foreman, Paul Newman (uncredited); Writer: James Goldman (based on his play); Editor: Jerry Greenberg; Musical Composer: John Barry; Production Designer: John Robert Lloyd; Cinematographer: Victor J. Kemper; Country of Origin: U.S.; Color; Production Co(s).: Universal; Released By: Universal; MPAA Rating: G; Running Time: 91 minutes

WITH: George C. Scott (Justin Playfair/Sherlock Holmes), Jack Gilford (Wilbur Peabody), Lester Rawlins (Blevins Playfair), Rue McClanahan (Daisy), Ron Weyand (Dr. Strauss), Kitty Winn (Grace), Peter Fredericks(Her Boy Friend), Sudie Bond (Maud), Jenny Egan (Miss Finch), Theresa Merritt (Peggy)

Other films by Anthony Harvey: This Can't Be Love (1994) (TV), Grace Quigley (1984), Svengali (1983) (TV), Patricia Neal Story, The (1981) (TV), Richard's Things (1980), Eagle's Wing (1979), Players (1979), Disappearance of Aimee, The (1976) (TV), Abdication, The (1974), Glass Menagerie, The (1973) (TV), They Might Be Giants (1971), Lion in Winter, The (1968), Dutchman (1966)