“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”
Directed by Michel Gondry Focus Features
To say that Charlie Kaufman (“Being John Malkovich,”
“Adaptation”) is the most inventive screenwriter in
Hollywood right now doesn’t do him nearly enough justice. Not
only has he consistently been the most creative since the release
of “Being John Malkovich” in 1999, but in every one of
his movies actors treat his words with a conscious sincerity; they
know how lucky they are to be working with such material. In
“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” Jim Carrey
takes such a turn, showing off his ability to, well, act.
Carrey’s Joel Barish, a man who chooses to have his memory of
an ex-girlfriend erased only to change his mind mid-procedure, is
at once all-powerful and extremely vulnerable. Because most of the
movie takes place in Barish’s memory, he has the ability to
change the scene just by thinking about something else, but with
people trying to erase his memories, there’s always the
chance that the next time Barish remembers something will be the
last. Carrey’s performance smoothly transitions from one raw
emotion to the next, as emotions are always heightened by memory
anyway. He’s not an over-the-top comedian (“Ace
Ventura: Pet Detective”) or, thankfully, a sentimental
tearjerker (“The Majestic”). It’s a performance
that Carrey himself should remember. -Jake Tracer
“The Ladykillers” Directed by Ethan and Joel
Coen Touchstone Pictures
After seeing “The Ladykillers,” it’s difficult
to imagine why the Coen brothers decided to make it. The brothers
had never made a remake (this one is based on a 1955 movie of the
same name), and in the process had become known for their inventive
stories, dialogue and style. Watching “Fargo” or
“The Big Lebowski,” you know that what you’re
watching couldn’t have come from the minds of anyone else. At
no point in “The Ladykillers” does that feeling come
across. And for a heist movie, the story is rather simple:
Professor G.H. Dorr (Tom Hanks) and his crew of specialists try to
rob a riverboat casino, but run into problems when the woman in
whose house Dorr lives proves to be a bigger nuisance than the
crooks had planned for. Dorr’s landlady, Marva Munson (Irma
P. Hall) is an elderly widow who loves three things: God, her dead
husband and her cat ““ probably in that order. She attends
church, well, religiously every Sunday, and regularly makes
contributions to Bob Jones University. Much of the film’s
humor derives from her devoted, yet stereotyped antics. It’s
not only disappointing, coming from the Coens; it’s also not
very funny. -Jake Tracer
“Hellboy” Directed by Guillermo Del Toro
Columbia Pictures
Following the recent craze of comic book heroes turned motion
picture stars, “Hellboy” brings to life the classic
series about the red-skinned good guy who protects the human race
with his iron fist and biting wit. Hellboy (Ron Pearlman), a demon
summoned from another dimension by Nazis during World War II, winds
up in the hands of American soldiers, who raise him to work for the
government under the elusive Bureau for Paranormal Research and
Defense. Along with sidekicks John Myers (Rupert Evans),
Hellboy’s innocent-yet-good-hearted human friend and Abe
Sapien (Doug Jones), his intelligent, “Finding
Nemo”-meets-C-3PO aquatic pal, Hellboy fights various
CGI-created villains. But he still has the time to fall in love.
Hellboy’s love interest, Liz (Selma Blair), is a quiet lady
who sometimes goes up in flames. Literally. Like many other comic
book stories, the unrealistic aspects of the plot often border on
being insensible. Hellboy’s struggle for freedom from the
shroud of secrecy the government keeps him in seems like nothing a
tall hat and a little foundation couldn’t fix. All this
aside, Pearlman’s performance is what really drives the film.
With his dry humor and series of one-liners, Hellboy is as cuddly
as the Charmin bear. But the movie isn’t. Unless your bank
account’s as big as your comic book collection, save your
money for “Spider-Man 2.” – Justin Scott