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'Angel Eyes' is a movie worth seeing
By STEVE PERSALL
© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 18, 2001
Angel Eyes (PG-13)
[Photo: Warner Bros.]
Jennifer Lopez is a police officer who becomes involved with a mysterious stranger named Catch, played by Jim Caviezel.
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Jennifer Lopez plays Sharon Pogue, a Chicago police officer saved from a gunman by a mysterious stranger named Catch (Jim Caviezel). Is he a guardian angel, a stalker or a harmless psychic? Director Luis Mandoki (When a Man Loves a Woman) suppresses any supernatural instincts to focus on Lopez's character solving the mystery of herself.
First impressions: "Angel Eyes won't work as drama unless audiences believe Lopez. It's a fairly preposterous yarn that needs all the credibility that Mandoki can muster. Lopez delivers . . . tough when needed and vulnerable when essential. You believe her gaze aiming down the barrel of a gun, and you believe her tears when Sharon's defenses melt.
"Caviezel is handsomely haunting as Catch, making the role just weird enough to be vaguely menacing, but with unblinking brittleness. . . . Lopez and Caviezel nail these two tricky performances."
Second thoughts: Not the expected box office success, but a better movie than most critics thought it would be.
Rental audience: Lopez fans; Mariah Carey, for a lesson on how a diva should act on screen.
Rent it if you enjoy: Frequency, Ghost, Cagney and Lacey reruns.
Cats and Dogs (PG)
[Photo: Warner Bros.]
Diemitri Kennelkoff, a.k.a. the Russian, is among the most deadly adversaries of dog agents in Cats and Dogs.
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The endless rivalry between felines and canines turns into a silly James Bond-style adventure with computer-generated talking animals. Will and Grace co-star Sean Hayes provides the voice of evil Mr. Tinkles, leader of a cat movement to take over the world. Tobey Maguire (Wonder Boys) speaks for Lou, a puppy recruited by a crafty spy dog (Alec Baldwin).
First impressions: "Cats and Dogs is convincing but doesn't have much of a point to make. The best sight gags are exhausted after an hour, and the plot gets stuck in one spot like a mutt digging into a flower bed. . . . In its best moments, (the movie) displays the breezy audacity of the Far Side comics, with animals barely tolerating human nature. . . . Yet, compared with the recent Spy Kids, the idea behind this movie seems undeveloped."
Second thoughts: Completely forgettable except for those wacky ninja cats.
Rental audiences: Children over 3 and parents trying to entertain them.
Rent it if you enjoy: Babe; watching pet food commercials.
Rewind: Videos worth another look
A temperamental talent
Actor George C. Scott left behind plenty of career highlights -- and an Oscar he never accepted.
Few actors continually conveyed as much intensity as George C. Scott, a fellow who could make sleeping look like Shakespearean tragedy. Even when he tackled a funny role, as in Dr. Strangelove or The Flim-Flam Man, Scott handled it like serious business, yanking laughs from those momentary breaks in his steely persona.
Off-screen, Scott was just as volatile through five marriages (two to actor Colleen Dewhurst) and four Academy Award nominations griped about until his death in 1999. He branded the Oscars as a "meat parade, a public display with contrived suspense for economic reasons" after his first try. Nobody at the academy disputed him, but they didn't like hearing his opinions, either.
Scott's lone Oscar win, for his staggering portrayal of Gen. George S. Patton in Patton, may have been partly out of spite, just to call a bluff that turned out not to be one. Scott skipped the ceremony, and the statuette still resides in an academy safe, the only Oscar never accepted.
Today would have been Scott's 74th birthday. Celebrate his career with any of these video suggestions:
Patton -- Scott drew upon his Marine Corps experiences to play the flamboyant Army warrior. The last gasp of old Hollywood jingoism before Vietnam-era cynicism set in.
The Flim-Flam Man -- Con artist Mordecai Jones (Scott) takes a new grifter (Michael Sarrazin) under his wing in this Depression-era comedy-drama.
Anatomy of a Murder -- Foul-tempered prosecutor (Scott) melts the defense of a soldier (Ben Gazzara) accused of murdering his wife's rapist. Scott's first major film role secured his first Oscar nomination.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb -- Gen. Buck Turgidson (Scott) divides his time between promoting nuclear holocaust and tending to his mistress in Stanley Kubrick's dark doomsday comedy.
The Hustler -- Scott plays a milk-drinking bankroller for pool shark Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason) against Fast Eddie Felson (Paul Newman). Another best supporting actor Oscar nomination for Scott.
The Hospital -- Dr. Herbert Bock (Scott) is a suicidal surgeon railing against his impotence as a lover and a healer in Arthur Hiller's biting satire. Scott's final Oscar nomination was earned with a brilliant monologue about the inadequacies of modern medicine as only Paddy Chayefsky (Network) could write them.
Hardcore -- Midwesterner (Scott) searches for his runaway daughter in the seedy underworld of Manhattan's porn industry. Written and directed by Paul Schrader with an urgency he soon lost.
Oklahoma Crude -- Scott and Faye Dunaway are a wildcat duo battling oil barons on the frontier. Tough to find in stores or on TV, but worth the effort.
The New Centurions -- Veteran L.A. patrol officer (Scott) shows rookies the ropes in a thrilling adaptation of Joseph Wambaugh's bestseller.
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