- Yesterday, today, tomorrow. Past, present, future. Through time and space, one man embarks on a bold 1000-year odyssey to defeat humankind's most indomitable foe: Death.Hugh Jackman plays that man, devoted to one woman (Rachel Weisz) and determined to protect her from forces that threaten her existence. His quest leads him to a Tree of Life.and to an adventure into eternity. Darren Aronofsky (Pi,
Set in ancient Egypt under Roman rule, AGORA follows the brilliant and beautiful astronomer Hypatia (Weisz) who leads a group of disciples fighting to save the wisdom of the Ancient World, as violent religious upheaval spills into the streets of Alexandria. Among these disciples are two men competing for her heart: the witty, privileged Orestes (Isaac) and Davus (Minghella), Hypatia’s young slave, who is torn between his secret love for her and the freedom he knows can be his if he chooses to join ! the unstoppable surge of the Christians.Alternating between cosmic splendor and human squalor,
Agora is a movie of unusual ambition. In the last days of the Roman Empire, the Egyptian city of Alexandria is torn between the aristocratic pagan society and the emerging, rough-and-tumble Christians. As this broad cultural conflict teeters violently back and forth, the scientist-philosopher Hypatia (Rachel Weisz,
The Brothers Bloom,
The Fountain) struggles to resolve the motion of the planets with her belief in celestial perfection. Tangled in her life are three men: a Roman prefect (Oscar Isaac,
Body of Lies), a Christian bishop (Rupert Evans,
Hellboy), and a slave (Max Minghella,
The Social Network) who turns to Christianity to escape his unrequited love for Hypatia. Some viewers will be uncomfortable with
Agora's depiction of early Christianity and others will quibble about the movie's historical accuracy, but the movie's theme! s--of faith vs. zealotry, of religion vs. the spirituality of ! science- -and its vivid depiction of one culture being brutally supplanted by another demonstrate a scope seldom found in contemporary film. Writer-director Alejandro Amenábar previously made popular ghost story
The Others, mind-bender
Open Your Eyes, and heartbreaker
The Sea Inside; clearly, this is a career to watch. Don't overlook the deleted scenes--the gorgeous original opening shot accentuates the twin pulls of science and spirituality.
--Bret FetzerA young woman believed to be a simpleton or worse a witch enrages the townsfolk when she falls in love with the mysterious survivor of a shipwreck. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 12/21/2004 Starring: Vincent Perez Kathy Bates Run time: 114 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Beeban KidronBased on the Joseph Conrad story "Amy Foster," this swirlingly romantic melodrama tells the story of a Polish sailor (Vincent Perez) shipwrecked and washed ashore on the English coast in the 19th century. ! Found by a servant girl, Amy (Rachel Weisz), who is a village outcast, he is considered retarded because no one can understand what he says. But slowly, through Amy's love and the doctor's tutelage, the sailor learns enough English to decide he wants to make an honest woman out of Amy. Which doesn't sit well with the disapproving villagers, who don't like Amy. Even the doctor, who has a fondness for the sailor, has a blind spot when it comes to the servant girl. Strong performances and gritty period settings lift this film above bodice-ripper status to something richer.
--Marshall FineTwo girls thrown together by their boyfriends violence accidentally kill one of them. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 12/28/2004 Starring: Iain Glen Alex Norton Run time: 89 minutes Rating: RPetula (Rachel Weisz) meets Dorothy (Susan Lynch) when Dorothy smacks a lead pipe into the head of Petula's boyfriend, who was strangling Petula at the time. Thus begins the darkly c! omic thriller
Beautiful Creatures--a little bit
Thel! ma & Lou ise, a little bit Alfred Hitchcock at his most sardonic. When Petula's boyfriend dies, she and Dorothy cook up a scheme to extort money out of the boyfriend's rich and vicious older brother--a scheme that would probably have fallen to pieces until an investigating police detective named George starts to help it along for devious reasons of his own. Soon Dorothy and Petula are coping with a bitten-off finger, Dorothy's own nasty boyfriend, a salesclerk with a bondage fetish, and more. Fans of movies with a similarly deadpan tone (like
Bound,
Fargo, and
Pulp Fiction) will love the film's caustic humor, and both Weisz and Lynch are delightful. Fast-paced and unpredictable,
Beautiful Creatures is a witty thriller that deserves attention.
--Bret Fetzer When professional grifter Jake Vig (Edward Burns) chooses the wrong mark in The King (Dustin Hoffman), he is given two choices: pull off a near impossible heist or lose his life. Needing all t! he help he can get, Jake brings in beautiful con artist Lily (Rachel We isz) and a mixed group of "professionals." Nonetheless, with The King riding him and a pesky Special Agent (Andy Garcia) on his tai l, Jake and his team look to have the odds stacked against them.Bathed in self-conscious cool,
Confidence is a heist caper in which the heist is unimportant. As you might expect from
Glengarry Glen Ross director James Foley, this pulpy concoction is more interested in giving good actors a lot of hip, salty dialogue as they scheme their way to the royal scam. It's a poor man's
Ocean's Eleven, just as enjoyable in its own way, beginning when con artist Jake (Edward Burns) discovers he's accidentally stolen from an eccentric crime boss (Dustin Hoffman, oozing threat in a fine character turn). Promising to make amends by pulling the biggest con of his career, Jake adds a feisty pickpocket (Rachel Weisz) to his crew, which includes scene-stealer Paul Giammat! ti and Andy Garcia as a disheveled FBI agent (or is he?). With! a cast like this you can't go wrong, but
Confidence cons itself into thinking it's original, while Burns's abundant voice-overs state the obvious and plot twists unfold with minimal surprise. It hardly matters;
Confidence may be derivative, but it's still recommendable.
--Jeff ShannonNo Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 6-JAN-2004
Media Type: DVDControversial director Neil LaBute tweaks our culture's moral compass in his dark comedy
The Shape of Things. Dorky museum guard Adam (indie heartthrob Paul Rudd, made to look as dweebish as possible) meets student Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) as she's preparing to deface a classical statue; instead of stopping her, he musters up the courage to ask her out. But soon he finds himself so completely in her thrall that he willingly succumbs to her every want--and she wants him to change his hair, his clothes, his face, even his friends (Frederick! Weller and Gretchen Mol). In
In the Company of Men, LaBute presented two men cruelly experimenting with a deaf woman's affections;
The Shape of Things proposes that women can be just as monstrous. Though LaBute could stand to delve more deeply, this well-acted and cunningly written film will provoke conversation afterwards--and not many movies nowadays can do that.
--Bret FetzerYesterday, today, tomorrow. Past, present, future. Through time and space, one man embarks on a bold 1000-year odyssey to defeat humankind's most indomitable foe: Death. Hugh Jackman plays that man, devoted to one woman (Rachel Weisz) and determined to protect her from forces that threaten her existence. His quest leads him to a Tree of Life...and to an adventure into eternity. Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream) directs, continuing his string of imaginative, involving filmmaking with a tale alive with ideas and filled with astonishing vistas. "Not many films can blow you! r mind and break your heart at the same time, but this one wil! l" (Drew McWeeny, Ain't It Cool News).Science fiction and romance collide in
The Fountain, the ambitious third feature from director Darren Aronofsky (
Pi, Requiem for a Dream), who labored for four years to complete this epic-sized love story that stretches across centuries and galaxies. Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz (Aronofsky's real-life companion) play lovers in each of the film's three settings--16th century Europe and America (Jackman is a Spanish explorer searching for Incan magic), the present day (Jackman is a doctor attempting to cure his dying wife), and the 26th century (Jackman is a space traveler seeking a gateway to the afterlife)-â€"who struggle mightily to stay united, only to lose each other time and again. Aronofsky may not have chosen the easiest presentation for audiences to absorb his theories on the lasting qualities of life and the transformative powers of death-â€"the final sequence, in particular, with a bald Jackman floating through space in a! bubble, harks back uncomfortably to "head movies" of the late '60s-â€"but his leads have considerable chemistry (and look terrific to boot), which goes a long way towards securing viewers' hopes for a happy ending. Critical reception for
The Fountain has been nothing short of bloodthirsty, with Cannes audiences booing, but there are elements to enjoy here, even if the premise throws one for a loop. Ellen Burstyn (who earned an Oscar nomination for
Requiem) delivers a typically solid performance as Jackman's boss in the present day sequence, and special effects (most done without the benefit of CGI) are also impressive given the film's low budget (spurred by a mid-production shutdown after original stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett ankled the picture). And science-fiction fans whose tastes run towards the metaphysical (Asimov, Le Guin) will appreciate the attempt to present the genre in a serious light.
--Paul Gaita
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