By Times Staff Writer
Published September 30, 2004
The Alamo
DIRECTOR: John Lee Hancock
CAST: Billy Bob Thornton, Dennis Quaid, Jason Patric, Patrick Wilson, Emilio Echevarria
SYNOPSIS: This third film version of the battle for Texas independence stars Thornton as Davy Crockett, who faces off against Mexican dictator Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (Echevarria). Also defending the Alamo are St. Petersburg native Wilson as Lt. Col. William Travis, Patric as Col. Jim Bowie and Quaid as Gen. Sam Houston.
WHAT WE SAID: St. Petersburg Times film critic Steve Persall gave it a B-, writing, "The Alamo will satisfy viewers according to their personal connections to the drama. Texans, warfare buffs and, locally speaking, Wilson's family and friends will overestimate it. People tired of Lone Star State chest-swelling will dismiss it entirely. Those of us somewhere in the middle can only echo Crockett's assessment of Santa Anna: "Fairly impressive, but I thought it would be taller.' "
CAST: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood, David Cross, Jane Adams
SYNOPSIS: Carrey plays Joel Barish, an obviously troubled man who has just been dumped by a lover. Joel sees an attractive woman named Clementine (Winslet) on a train, but he can't bring himself to speak to her. We eventually learn that Joel and Clementine had a nice romance that soured. Clementine was so fed up that she paid an agency to erase Joel from her mind. When Joel learns what Clementine did, he asks to have her erased from his memory. The process becomes the movie, turning an already challenging time-shuffle into a phantasmagorical journey through Joel's consciousness.
WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave Eternal Sunshine an A but noted that the film is not for everyone. "The movie can be vexing, yet the lasting effect is rewarding, a sense that we've accomplished something by understanding it and, for some, enduring it."
MPAA RATING: R; profanity, sexual situations, mature themes
RUNNING TIME: 108 min.
Super Size Me
DIRECTOR: Morgan Spurlock
CAST: Morgan Spurlock
SYNOPSIS: For 30 days in 2003, Spurlock ate only at McDonald's restaurants nationwide: three meals a day, trying everything on the menu and supersizing his order only when the server asked if he wanted to. "Every 8-year-old's dream," he calls the project on Day 1. By Day 30, it's his nightmare.
WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave this documentary an A. "Like Michael Moore, Spurlock is better at raising questions than answering them. But in a world where answers are constantly changing, making the public seriously consider those questions may be the best we can expect from muckrakers today."
MPAA RATING: Not rated; some profanity, gross-out images
RUNNING TIME: 98 min.
Walking Tall
DIRECTOR: Kevin Bray
CAST: The Rock, Johnny Knoxville, Neal McDonough, John Beasley, Barbara Tarbuck, Ashley Scott, Michael Bowen
SYNOPSIS: The Rock plays Chris Vaughn, a former Special Ops fighter coming home. But rather than Buford Pusser's Tennessee in the original Walking Tall, Vaughn's home is a small town in Washington's lumber country that somehow holds a glitzy casino/cathouse, an open drug trade and a crystal meth lab. Chris tears up the casino and a few employees, Pusser-style, and the villains beat him up. Yes, he goes back for more destruction, gets arrested, is acquitted and then is elected sheriff, but the similarities to the original end there.
WHAT WE SAID: "As someone who grew up in the South and experienced the original film's impact, the new Walking Tall is an insult," wrote Persall, who gave it a C-. "I imagine if Pusser were alive today, that big stick he toted would be denting a few projectors."
MPAA RATING: PG-13; pervasive violence, sexuality, drug content, profanity
RUNNING TIME: 81 min.
Broken Lizard's Club Dread
DIRECTOR: Jay Chandrasekhar
CAST: Elena Lyons, Dan Montgomery Jr.
SYNOPSIS: The creators of Super Troopers return with a spoof of slasher flicks set at a swingers resort.
WHAT WE SAID: The Times didn't review this movie.
MPAA RATING: R; harsh profanity, sexual situations, gory violence, drug content.
RUNNING TIME: 90 min.
DIRECTOR: Barry Levinson
CAST: Jack Black, Ben Stiller
SYNOPSIS: Stiller plays Tim Dingman, an uptight suburbanite whose next-door neighbor Nick Vanderpark (Black) calls himself an inventor. One of his ideas is an aerosol that will make dog excrement disappear. Tim turns down a chance to invest in a project he's certain will fail. Of course, the spray becomes a phenomenal success, making Nick even more insufferable and Tim exceedingly jealous.
WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave this one an F, writing, "Never, ever make a movie about feces unless you're absolutely certain that the movie's quality won't be equated with its subject matter."
