PAGE 22 THE RETRIEVER WEEKLY FEATURES Aprilll, 2000

CAPSUlE RMEWS OF MOVIES IN CURRENT ALSO IN THEATERS RElEASE BY JAMIE PECK

American Beauty The Lion King's Elton John and Tim Rice) and ***1/z out of four villain (a sinister high priest voiced by Armand Deliriously funny, darkly haunting and often Assante) may border on unmemorable, but its both in the same scene, this terrific tragicomedy story about two Spanish Inquisition-era con about a nuclear family exploding in many dif­ artists (Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh) who ferent ways now has a shelf full of Oscars - stumble onto a treasure map that leads them to including Best Picture-to further prove its sta­ the titular lost city of gold should entertain kids tus as one of last year's most important works. and adults more or less equally. A mute but Kevin Spacey's knockout performance as a sar­ expressive horse named Altivo steals the show. casm-seething everyman caught in a devastating midlife crisis won him the Best Actor trophy. Romeo Must Die Annette Bening (nominated) is highly memo­ *lh rable as his frustrated wife, and Thora Birch and This load of kung-phooey, based loosely Wes Bentley (unjustly overlooked) resonate as (very loosely) on William Shakespeare's Romeo teens caught in the suburban crossfire. and Juliet, is no romantic tragedy. It is, howev­ er, a martial-arts tragedy - a US vehicle for Erin Brockovich Dream Works SKG Hong Kong martial-arts superstar Jet Li in ***lh Grifters: Two Spanish lnqusition-era cons scheme in The Road to ElDorado. which all the fight scenes fall flat because Li is Julia Roberts' star power goes supernova in so obviously aided by ropes, wires and comput­ this fact-based account of a no-experience legal realistic with a fine attention to eerie detail, the Mission to Mars er effects. Jackie Chan, where are you when we secretary who comes to the aid of a small movie grows increasingly cartoonish and tacks **lh need you? The ho-hum story updates the rivalry California town unknowingly poisoned by a on an unsatisfying ending. But lead Devon Houston, we have a few problems - name­ between the Montagues and Capulets to a war gas-and-electric giant, and Albert Finney, as her Sawa, who was slumming in the flaccid horror ly, how this Brian De Palma sci-fi thriller irre­ between contemporary Asian and African­ occasionally bullied boss, marvelously reacts to show Idle Hands a year ago, is a well-spooked deemably crashes in its final half-hour. Before American gangs. At least R&B singer Aaliyah her intimidating demeanor. Non-mainstream gore guide even when the going gets rough. then, Mission offers some taut suspense makes an impressive sceen debut in the film as director Steven Soderbergh (The Limey) seems sequences, as a NASA rescue team (including Romeo's pseudo-Juliet. like an odd choice to helm this crowd-pleasing Here on Earth Tim Robbins, Gary Sinise and comic-relief material, but he's actually perfect for it. His * Jerry O'Connell) voyages to the Red Planet in Whatever It Takes refusal to oversentimentalize the sad story or Give the movie some credit for putting at hopes of determining what happened to a crew ** lighten Roberts' hard-edged character make least a temporary kibosh on the wall-to-wall that landed a year prior. Their journey is worth­ In this teenage twist on Cyrano de Bergerac, Erin Brockovich more powerful and pleasing crudity that most teen flicks embrace as their while, but things get unfortunately laughable platonic pals Shane West and Marla Sokoloff than it has any right to be. sole reason for being. But revoke that credit when they reach their destination, complete spend most of the film's blessedly brief 92 min­ immediately, because Earth, a solemn romance with a close encounter of the third kind that utes unaware that they're absolutely perfect for Final Destination about a female high-school graduate (Leelee feels like that crying-Indian commercial of the each other, a conclusion audiences will reach as *** Sobieski) falling for a guy (Chris Klein) from early '80s. soon as their characters are introduced. Fall's Death takes a holiday to stalk a group of - say it with me - the wrong side of the tracks Melissa Joan Hart vehicle Drive Me Crazy cov­ teenagers who were supposed to die on a field­ is two miserable films for the price of one: a The Road to ElDorado ered the same turf, and who wants to see a trip flight but evacuated the plane at the last painfully melodramatic story of puppy lust and *** remake of that stinkeroo? Far better to enjoy minute. Great concept, and Final Destination a painfully melodramatic disease-movie-of-the­ Though it's not as subversive as Antz or as director David Raynr's assured staging of some more or less runs with it, providing some solid week. The warm talents of Sobieski and Klein, visually powerful as The Prince of Egypt, this of Whatever's genre-parodying moments and jolts and genuinely disturbing murder so wonderful in Election, are insultingly wast­ third animated effort from Dream Works SKG is the fun performance of Jodi Lyn O'Keefe as the sequences along the way. At first nightmarishly ed. fun, lively and colorful. El Dorado's songs (by dim Miss-Popularity object of West's affection. ········••• ' }·•••••·••••••••••••-.:;;•-~- ..: ...... triever , ..... ~f

Weekly's Plaza this · WE~aneS(Iav e~ur1n~a rr~ee hour 5 fQr ~o)~~ I~~~f a~~e scree·ning at General Cinema Towson Commons on the , evening of Tuesday, April18. Opens ,Friday, Apri I 2.1 ! Passes/prizes good while supplies last. Employees of fhe Retriever Weeklyt -UMBC and Universal Pictures not · eligible. 'Limit one per peJ:Son. No purchase necessary.