Holiday movies: which should we see or avoid?

By NATHAN LERNER

With a deluge of holiday movies being released after Thanksgiving, itís tough for the consumer to keep track of them all. Which ones are appropriate for family viewing, and even more importantly, which ones are worth spending time with? Here are my capsule reviews of several recent releases, which I hope will steer you in the right direction:

THE LAST SAMURAI

Set in the late 1870ís, The Last Samurai has the territorial expansion of the United States and the modernization of Japan as historical backdrops. Former Army cavalry captain, Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) is a decorated veteran of the Civil War and the Indian campaigns. He is haunted by memories of his participation at Washita in 1868, a battle that presaged the My Lai massacre. There, General Custer and the U.S. Seventh Cavalry had brutally slaughtered a village of defenseless Cheyenne women and children.

An influential Japanese businessman, Omura (Masato Harada) seeks to exploit the new commercial possibilities provided by modernization. To this end, Omuru hires Algren to train the new imperial army and crush the Samurai rebels.

I have previously derided Tom Cruise as being unduly smurf-like to play an action adventure hero. Here, having honed his fighting skills, he provides an entirely creditable performance. Although Cruise is the nominal protagonist, it is Ken Watanabe who provides the dramatic anchor for the film. His charismatic portrayal evokes memories of Toshiro Mifune in various Kurosowa vehicles.

Director, Ed Zwick, does a masterful job of bringing this original screenplay, which he co-wrote, to the screen. As he demonstrated in Glory and Courage Under Fire, Zwickís forte is the thinking manís war film. He combines expertly mounted battle scenes with moments of quiet contemplation by the characters.

***  R (for strong violence and battle sequences) 163 minutes

HUMAN STAIN

As the Human Stain opens, we are transported to an idyllic New England campus of Athena College.

Students are debating the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky affair. The vignette adroitly portends the moral conundrums and carefully guarded secrets that underlie the ensuing film.

Coleman Silk (Anthony Hopkins) is a distinguished Professor of Classics and Dean of Faculty. The Jewish scholar has single-handedly transformed the college. While conducting a class, Coleman authors a seemingly innocuous remark. Itís mid-semester and two of the enrolled students have never appeared. He offhandedly wonders aloud whether the two no-shows are ìspooks.î It turns out that the two absent students are African-American. One of them files a formal complaint, alleging that Coleman had used a disparaging racist term. Outraged by political correctness run amok and the disloyalty of his colleagues, Coleman resigns from the college.

Coleman later meets Faunia Farley (Nicole Kidman), a cleaning lady/postal clerk with a dysfunctional lifestyle. Despite class and age barriers, Coleman and Faunia immediately commence a series of torrid, Viagra-fueled sexual liaisons. Many will take exception to the casting of Hopkins as the protagonist. On the surface, he may be ill-suited to the role. However, Hopkins masterfully captures the nuances of his characterís inner turmoil as he confronts the consequences of a decision, made in his youth. Nicole Kidman is superb as a woman whose life is haunted by an incident in her past.

The Human Stain is a work of art that resonates with many rich ironies. They will be most fully appreciated long after the film has ended.

*** › R (for language and sexuality/nudity) 106 minutes

ELEPHANT

Letís say youíve just enrolled in Filmmaking 101. Your first assignment is to take an emotionally charged event in modern American history, then strip it of all sociocultural significance and render it dramatically inert. Oh yes, you also have to conjure up a title that makes no sense whatsoever relative to the subject matter.

If you chose the Columbine massacre as your topic and delivered Gus van Santís latest work, you would rate an A. If you used van Santís obscure title, Elephant, for the project, then youíd no doubt rate an A+.  

Van Santís latest work is an exercise in self-indulgence. In 1999, two boys, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, opened fire and killed a dozen fellow students at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Van Sant offers here a fictionalized version of the events of the day. It seems that van Sant has made a conscious effort to demonstrate how mundane and inconsequential the events of the day were. However technically successful van Sant might be here, his objective is inherently offensive.

Van Sant has achieved the dubious distinction of taking compelling subject matter and turning it into a meandering monotonous mess. An aphorism suggests that an elephant never forgets.  However, viewers should forget about seeing this Elephant.

* R (for disturbing violent content, language, brief sexuality and drug use, all involving teens), 81 minutes

CAT IN THE HAT

Whenever I review a kidís film, I make a point of advising parents whether it will be inappropriate for their youngíuns. The Cat in the Hat is a kidís film, yet I feel obliged to issue a caveat to adults. Any grown up who harbors cherished memories of the classic book will risk destroying them by seeing this atrocious cinematic adaptation.

Mike Myers portrays the titular feline as a bizarre amalgam of prior screen charcters, Bert Lahr (as in the cowardly lion from The Wizard of Oz), Joe E. Brown (as in Some like It Hot), and Michael Keaton (as in Beetlejuice). It is this latter component, one of leering sexual desire, that proves particularly disconcerting. In an early vignette, The Cat picks up a framed photo of Mom. A Playboy-like centerfold unfurls and The Catís hat swells into tumescence. A subsequent disco scene includes a cameo by Paris Hilton, notorious for her participation in explicit sex tapes. Excuse me, but isnít this supposed to be a kidsí film?

A caveat for children and adults alike: The Cat in the Hat isnít fit for use as kitty litter.

* PG (for mild crude humor and some double-entendres) 80 minutes

THE HAUNTED MANSION

Following up on last yearís The Country Bears and this summerís megahit, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion is the latest movie to be inspired by a ride in a Disney theme park. I use the term ìmovieî loosely. Generally, the term presupposes the existence of a coherent plot. Haunted Mansion is less a movie than an amalgam of special effects. Imagine, if you will, The Matrix for kiddies.

In Mansion, Jim (Eddie Murphy) and his wife, Sara (Marsha Thomason), run a thriving real estate company, Evers & Evers. The couple, along with daughter, Megan (Aree Davis) and son, Michael (Marc John Jeffries), are scheduled to go a vacation. However, as they are about to depart, Sara receives a call from a butler, named Ramsley (Terrence Stamp). Ramsley adises Sara that his masterís home is for sale. If Sara wants the sale listing, she must rush over immediately. When her success obsessive husband learns of the prospect, he just canít resist the opportunity to earn a lucrative commission. Hence, the family makes a detour en route to their eagerly anticipated vacation. Itís all downhill after that.

Eddie Murphy is an exceptionally talented and charismatic screen presence. This makes it all the more lamentable that, when it comes to choosing roles, he repeatedly displays egregious lapses in judgment. The Haunted Mansion joins Distinguished Gentleman, Boomerang, Beverly Hills Cop 3, I Spy and The Adventures of Pluto Nash on the stinkpile of egregious Murphy projects.

* › PG (scary images) 90 minutes

LOVE ACTUALLY

As Chrtistmas approaches, the newly elected Prime Minister of England (Grant) enters his digs at 10 Downing Street. On his first day, he is drawn to his chunky tea lady (Martine McCutcheon). Rather than focusing on the Prime Ministerís romance, Love Actually juggles eight other interrelated stories.

The Prime Minsterís sister, Karen (Emma Thompson), suspects that her husband, Harry (Alan Rickman), may be having a fling with his secretary, Mia (Heike Markatch).  One of Harryís other employees (Laura Linney) became instantaneously smitten with her colleague (Rodrigo Santoro), again on the first day that she cast her eyes upon him. However, Sarah has never acknowledged her feelings for him.

The elaborate plotting of Love Actually is nothing if not ambitious. Romantic comedy fans will no doubt revel in this frothy vehicle. Those who arenít enthusiasts of the genre will find that Love Actually is actually likable, but not lovable.

***  R (for sexuality, nudity, and language) 143 minutes

THE MISSING

Set in New Mexico, back in 1886, The Missing revolves around an estranged father and daughter, who are forced by exigent circumstances to cooperate. Living on a frontier ranch, Maggie Gilkeson (Cate Blanchett) is trying her best to survive the harsh desert environment and raise her two daughters, adolescent, Lily (Evan Rachel Wood) and young ëun, Dot (Jenna Boyd).

Although The Missing has the elements of a riveting film, it never realizes its potential.  The filmography of screenwriter, Ken Kaufman, includes such excreta as Muppets from Space and Space Cowboys. His screenplay for this film, an adaptation of Thomas Eidsonís novel, The Last Ride, is a mess. It repeatedly interjects New Agey mysticism into a seemingly straightforward Western. Itís an ill-suited marriage of the John Ford/John Wayne classic, The Searchers, with a recent Blanchett film, The Promise. There are plenty of magical amulets, evil spells, and snakes hanging from trees. However, none of this mumbo jumbo ever pays off dramatically.

Despite a beautiful backdrop and the involvement of name talent, The Missing is missing coherence and cohesiveness.

**1/2 R (for violence) 135 minutes