SYNOPSIS: A sightless samurai (writer-director Takeshi Kitano) protects a single mother from marauders.
WHAT WE SAID: Times reviewer Philip Booth gave the film an A-. "The wandering masseur is old and blind, and he carries an object resembling a cane. He's a warm fellow, and quick with a laugh. But the guy is death on two legs when it comes to brandishing razor-sharp cold steel against villains, in the name of truth, justice and the samurai way, circa the 19th century," he wrote. "Despite the graphic violence, the movie isn't at all grim. Offbeat touches - a cross-dressing geisha "girl," a neurotic gambler, a village idiot with a penchant for dressing like a warrior and running in circles - litter the screen."
MPAA RATING: R; graphic violence
RUNNING TIME: 116 min.
Before Sunset
DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater
CAST: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy
SYNOPSIS: Nine years after Before Sunrise, the same couple reunites in Paris.
WHAT WE SAID: Times film critic Steve Persall, who gave Before Sunrise a D- in 1995, gave the sequel an A-. "I like these people now, stripped of their youthful sense of moral superiority, saddled with responsibilities they dismissed in the original film," he wrote. "Now they have a right to philosophize. Now they are simply more interesting."
MPAA RATING: R; profanity, sexual references
RUNNING TIME: 80 min.
The Clearing
DIRECTOR: Pieter Jan Brugge
CAST: Robert Redford, Helen Mirren, Willem Dafoe, Alessandro Nivola, Matt Craven, Melissa Sagemiller, Wendy Crewson
SYNOPSIS: A rich businessman (Redford) is kidnapped by a desperate man (Dafoe), sparking his wife's (Mirren) realization of how troubled their marriage is.
WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave the film a B, writing that the acting and directing camouflage a skimpy script. "Redford still works effortlessly, using his ability to convey deep thinking with the slightest facial expression. It's shocking to see him manhandled, a Hollywood icon vandalized. Mirren is marvelous, also avoiding histrionics to portray a deceived woman coming to grips with her marriage. There's a steely resolve beneath the somber expressions. . . . Even Dafoe plays a more subdued villain than usual, almost sympathetically."
MPAA RATING: R; profanity, brief violence
RUNNING TIME: 91 min.
The Stepford Wives
DIRECTOR: Frank Oz
CAST: Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Glenn Close, Christopher Walken, Bette Midler, Roger Bart, Faith Hill, Jon Lovitz
SYNOPSIS: Comic remake of the suspenseful 1975 film about a community where women are programmed to obey and worship their husbands.
WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave this movie a C-. "The allegedly updated version of The Stepford Wives would be a better movie if it were truly updated, if director Frank Oz and screenwriter Paul Rudnick paid attention to how gender differences have changed since 1975," he wrote. "The movie looks good, with exaggerated feminine touches and colorful costuming inspired by those perfect housewife images from 1950s kitchen appliance ads. Yet the visual time warp the movie immerses itself in makes the Stepford scheme's success even more unbelievable. . . . That constant conflict between plausibility and the fantasy the filmmakers are pushing makes this a step backward from the original."
