Longview News-Journal from Longview, Texas • Page 15

iyr yp-t gp. 9 9 rr pr INSIDE: a COMICS zc TV LISTINGS 3C ADVICE 3C Longview News-Journal Thursday, February 7, 2002 nn SECTION 3UU Quick Hits Brief reviews of films now showing SNEAK PREVIEW: 'Collateral Damage'; OPENS: Friday VYT1irlHFT yiypy1 wyrvyryn9rvv tYf "A Beautiful is likely the most successfully serious film direc-ir A tor Ron Howard has ever done. Rus- sell Crowe stars as mathematician John Forbes Nash who battled schizophrenia and later won a Nobel Prize, with Jennifer Connelly in a career-best performance as his "Black Hawk Down" Director Ridley 'Hi Scott's ultra-intense look at modern I 4 warfare hits the screen with shatter- ing force. Basing on the book, Scott takes an unrelenting look at the 1993 battle for Mogadishu. The characters don't stand out, but the movie convincingly honors the courage of fighting men.

(R) "The Count of Monte Crlsto" A well-appointed drama that tends to sag when it strays from Alexandre Dumas' classic tale of revenge and Courtesy photo (F3 It might evoke redemption. The locations are consistently great, the acting isn't. James Caviezel makes a slightly bland Edmund Dantes, and Guy Pearce goes too far over the top as the story's principal villain. (PG-13) "Gosford Park" Robert Altaian returns to form with a movie that ira takes him to England during the 1930s. There, a brilliant cast tries its hand at social satire mixed with a murder mystery.

As usual, it's not plot that makes Alt-man's movie work but his ability to make us feel as if we're living inside the story. (R) "I Am Sam" Sean Penn takes I another acting leap, this time play- vJJ I ing a man with the mental ability of 'J a 7-year-old. Penn's performance can't salvage a movie that pushes too many manipulative buttons and too often hedges on the truth. (PG-13) -f- .1: 1 A UUZ3 Sept. 11 images, but 'Damage' isn't anything special By BOB STRAUSS Los Angeles Daily News tRNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER'S delayed terrorist-fighting movie "Collateral Damage" is -finally here.

Worth the wait? It's neither his best nor his worst action programmer, the plot is relatively coherent and has a smattering of interesting notions to its credit But the movie also has its share of pointless scenes and is too generic to care much about "Kung Por. Enter the FTst" This reworking of an old Chinese martial i arts flick is hopelessly inane, 1 The most interesting thing about the picture is how it inadvertently included elements building blasts, firefighters, thoughts about the conditions that create terrorists and how to respond to their attacks without becoming just like them that engaged the national consciousness well after the movie was made. That and the way Arnold's character, Los Angeles Fire Department stalwart Gordy Brewer, fashions on-the-spot weaponry the way a fire "Collateral Damage" Grade: Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Elias Koteas, John Leguizamo and John Turturro. Directed by Andrew Davis. Rated R.

One hour, 50 minutes. The verdict: A mostly by-the-book Ah-nuld flick that manages to usually make sense. humorless and under-inspired. Small children might be amused by some of the kung foolishness, but the martial arts genre violence that goes with it is wholly inappropriate for youngsters. It tries too hard, and fails, to be funny.

(PG-13) "The Mothman Prophecies" This would-t be thriller casts Richard Gere as a VJJ 7 no-nonsense Washington Post reporter whose world shatters when his wife dies. Gere's John Klein eventually finds himself drawn to a small West Virginia town where he receives an education in the paranormal. The director works every gimmick at drawing an emotional response from the audience, but mostly falls flat. (PG-13) "The Royal Tenenbaums" Awell-l scripted, well-directed, well-acted JTu mix of comedy and drama that stud- ies how families fall apart then come back together. Gene Hackman is the estranged father of three geniuses who makes one final attempt at making up for lost time.

The film showcases director Wes Anderson as a major talent. (R) "A Walk to Remember" Shane West and Mandy Moore star in a sensi-s Ujj tively told story of first love that ji could have been more affecting minus a mawkish score, a LZ1 real detriment and with a higher energy fighter would, eschewing guns for axlike projectiles and exploding booby traps, give the movie a little extra texture. Otherwise, it's the usual series of chases, fights and escapes. Gordy is just about to meet his wife and son when they're killed bomb attack outside the Colombian consulate. Gordy got a glimpse of the bomber, revolutionary leader El Lobo (Cliff Curtis), seconds before the tragedy.

But when he tries to get obsessive CIA agent Brandt (Elias Koteas) in charge of the case to do something justicelike about it, Gordy's brushed off. So he does what any grieving, Austrian-born superman would do: heads down to the strife-torn, South American country to kill the evil terrorist himself. The head terrorist himself torments our guy with justifications for his outrages that Gordy can't help but relate to when, that is, the Wolf isn't cramming poisonous snakes down subordinates' throats or otherwise proving himself a power-abusing sadist Collateral circumstances remain this middling movie's best hope for making a big noise. i 31 level. Even so, those who like to go to four-hanky movies are not likely to be disappointed.

(PG) of. 'JShH" WJ imm mr New Releases Mandy iMoore and West 'fall in love in Walk to Remember." New movies available for rent or arriving soon Nothing surprising about 'Hardball' formula Video Store Home. viewers' top picks All romance, no substance. Directed by Oscar nominee John Madden in and starring Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz, this was supposed to be an Academy AwardTOntender. No way.

As the Italian Capt Corelli, Cage strums his too-sweet mandolin to charm local girfPelagia (Cruz) and leads a gaggle of wannabe opera singers during World War H. He's dumbfoundingly miscast, overplaying with sweeping gestures and an overbearing accent Their love story is like a cut-glass candy dish filled with glistening gumdrops. The awkwardly filmed war scenes near the movie's end hardly register. Ultimately, very little about "Mandolin" is not in some way disappointing. Grade: rewarding.

Throw in an inspirational ballad by Kelly, and you've got a feel-good film that pushes all the right buttons. Actually, it pounds on them. Reeves isn't exactly a font of emotion; he plays almost every role with the same detached boyishness. The spark here is supplied by the irascible kids on the team. They're cute and spunky and a little profane, underdogs who must overcome petty league officials, gang bangers, even a coach who must learn to believe in himself before he can believe in them.

If it weren't all so very familiar, you might be tempted to shed a tear. Sports, as a metaphor for life? Sure, why not. It beats watching a test pattern. Grade: FROM WIRE REPORTS "Hardball" (PG-13) "Rounders" meets "The Bad News Bears" in "Hardball," the sort of misfit-turned do-gooder yarn we've come to expect from Hollywood every few weeks. This one is even based on a true story.

When Conor O'Neill (Keanu Reeves) gets in a hole to bookies, the only way out is to coach an inner-city Chicago little league team for $500 a week. It's either that or get his legs broken when he can't pay the interest. Conor hates the idea, and the kids don't exactly trust him. Both sides see it as cruel and unusual punishment, until they begin to click. For his part, Conor discovers that caring about someone other than himself can be, well, TOP SALES ,1.

'The Princess Diaries" 2. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" 3. "Shrek" 4. "Peart Harbor" 5. "Jurassic Park III" 6.

"Rush Hour" 7. 'The Land Before Time: The Big Freeze" 8. "Bob the Builder The Big Game" 9. "Save the Last Dance" 10. 'Tupac Shakur Before I Wake" TOP RENTALS 1.

"American Pie 2 (Rated)" I "The Fast and 'the Furious" 3. "Jeepers Creepers" 4. "The Glass House" 5. "American Pie 2 Unrated)" v' 6. "What's the Worst that Could Happen?" 7, 'The Princess Diaries" 8.

"Rush Hour 2" 9. 'The Score" -W, "Moulin Rouge" a.