Gibson gets Revolutionary

By STEVE PERSALL

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 26, 2000

NEW RELEASES

Here is what reviewers thought of this week's new video releases back when they were released on the big screen. Second thoughts include hindsight about the movies, what they'll be like on video and suggestions about who might want to rent them.

The Patriot

(R) Revolutionary War adventure starring Mel Gibson as Benjamin Martin, loosely based on several guerrilla warriors. Martin is a pacifist until his family and plantation are harmed by the war, then it's Mad Mel to the rescue with his lethal weapon tomahawk. Heath Ledger co-stars as Martin's rebellious son, and Jason Isaacs is a hissable villain as a trumped-up British war criminal.

First impressions: "The Patriot is a rousing movie bathed in blood red, white and blue. It's as subtle as (a) cannonball shown zooming toward the camera during a battle, leaving no hope for ducking out of the way. Everything . . . is intended to outrage, to turn moviegoers into vicarious vigilantes. The movie could do without as many acts of arson and murders of loved ones, though admittedly those short-cuts to sympathy usually are entertaining. . . .

"This film always looks and sounds classy. John Williams' musical score is filled with fifes, drums and trumpets signaling a prestigious production. Explosions and death screams can't drown out the grandeur. Caleb Deschanel's cinematography displays admirable scope and shadings; amber tints and natural candlelight for good times and cadaver shades during battles. And plenty of red."

Second thoughts: Home video may cramp the film's epic style, but Gibson admirers need only close-ups, anyway.

Rental audiences: Mel fans, history buffs who aren't picky about facts.

Rent it if you enjoyed: Saving Private Ryan, The Last of the Mohicans.

Center Stage

(PG-13) Aspiring students at a Manhattan ballet school compete for spots in a dance company, while balancing romance, bulimia and professional egos. Director Nicholas Hytner hired a pleasing young cast, including several experienced ballet dancers used to fine effect. Peter Gallagher (While You Were Sleeping) co-stars as the dance company's inflexible director.

First impressions: "Center Stage is essentially three films, not always juggled cleanly. It is a ballet primer, with snippets of Romeo and Juliet, Stars and Stripes and Swan Lake. . . . Hytner also achieves a quasi-documentary feel with rehearsal scenes and ghastly blisters. Both ideas deserve more attention. Primarily . . . one of those "Hey, kids, let's put on a show' crusades as old as Mickey Rooney and stale as Fame. The only fresh angles are the ballet backdrop, an unusual amount of cigarette smoking and a detour to a salsa club dance floor.

"Film and dance purists will scoff at Flashdance moves and bubble-gum dramatics for the targeted youth market to enjoy. But, think of teenagers seeing this movie who never see live dance. A classical art form is modernized, made more inclusive with a fresh beat viewers seldom dance to this way. Watching these cool sprites in flight can make anyone wish they could."

Second thoughts: The movie should appeal to young dancers, but parents should be wary of the mature themes.

Rental audiences: Ballet enthusiasts, people who still idolize Irene Cara and Jennifer Beals.

Rent it if you enjoyed: The Turning Point, Flashdance, the Bolshoi.

Up at the Villa

(PG-13) Prim socialite in 1930s Italy (Kristin Scott Thomas) falls in love with a debonair American (Sean Penn) while considering the marriage proposal of a diplomat (James Fox). Yet, she has sex with a hired hand (Jeremy Davies), whose ensuing obsession leads to violence.

First impressions: "As an actor, Sean Penn can successfully convey many traits, but propriety isn't one of them. Penn is terribly miscast. . . . Thomas has an affinity with these repressed roles, so much so that it approaches type-casting. The chill of her role and Penn's inability to locate some heat under his tuxedo makes them a bland duo. Up at the Villa looks great under Philip Haas' direction but plays flat as a crumpet."

Second thoughts: Sorry, I doze off just thinking about this film.

Rental audience: Merchant-Ivory freaks.

Rent it if you enjoy: Masterpiece Theater with the sound turned down.

'American Beauty' blooms on DVD

DVD

New and noteworthy for digital players

American Beauty: Collector's Edition

(R) Hollywood and its audience grew up a little last year with the release of, and reception for, Sam Mendes' acerbic suburban tale American Beauty. Five Academy Awards and $130-million in ticket sales later, the movies stands as a crowning touch for the end of cinema's first century.

American Beauty is about midlife crisis, teen angst, conspicuous consumption, adultery and neighborhood politics, and the promise that something out there, something beautiful, can lift the malaise. Beauty is in the eyes of some oddly neurotic beholders.

For Lester Burnham (best actor winner Kevin Spacey), it's a foolish crush on a high school cheerleader (Mena Suvari). For his wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), it's a fling with a real estate king (Peter Gallagher).

Daughter Jane (Thora Birch) simply wants out, and for the creepy new neighbor, Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley), to stop videotaping her. Ricky is a oddly appealing person whose calm demeanor belies the tension at home with his abusive father (Chris Cooper).

Everybody changes in American Beauty, becoming wiser or more tragic or something other than what they appear to be. The performances are perfectly in tune with Mendes' dreamy dirge for the collapse of family values.

Conrad Hall's award-winning cinematography evokes as many of the character's moods as Alan Ball's poetic screenplay. This is one of the best films of the past decade, and the new DVD collector's edition should be fascinating.

Mendes and Ball provide an alternate audio commentary, and certainly there is plenty to discuss in terms of intent and execution. A behind-the-scenes documentary, Look Closer, is included, along with theatrical preview trailers and production notes. Storyboards feature additional commentaries by Mendes and Hall, explaining how they devised such striking images as Lester's rose-petal fantasies.

Evita, encore

REWIND

Videos worth another look

Today marks the 55th anniversary of the wedding of former Argentine president Juan Peron and Eva Duarte, an entertainer who basked at first in her husband's celebrity, then eclipsed it with her own.

It was a marriage made for the movies, and three films available on home video handled the material well.

One handled the Material Girl well. Madonna proved once and for -- well, once -- that she can act in Alan Parker's underrated Evita (1996), based on Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway hit. If anyone besides Madonna had played the title role, this film might have gotten its due as a visually impressive entertainment. Parker (Fame, Punk Floyd's The Wall) has a way with somber musical numbers.

Since all but a few lines of dialogue are sung, as in opera, Madonna looks more comfortable in the role than any other time in her spotty film career. She doesn't pass for Eva in youthful days, but vamping her way into power and prestige appears easy. Jonathan Pryce (Brazil) co-stars as Peron, stiff in posture and voice, but oily and effective.

The surprising performance comes from Antonio Banderas, who displays a fine tenor and more sexy charm than in any English-language role he's played besides Zorro. His Spanish accent doesn't lightly trip over some of the denser lyrics, but Banderas is a sensual Everyman singing out for the masses.

The third act drags as Eva grows terminally ill, but the show-stopping numbers preceding tragedy -- especially Don't Cry for Me, Argentina -- are moving spectacles. Evita deserves a second chance on home video.

If historical accuracy is your choice, Intimate Portrait: Eva Peron is a Lifetime network documentary with loads of footage of the real Evita. Jill St. John narrates the hour, bolstered by interviews with Peron-era politicians and snippets of her grandstanding speeches and charity tours.

Somewhere between the reality of that biography and the fantasy of Evita is Evita Peron, a 1981 made-for-TV movie starring Faye Dunaway in the title role. In the same year, Dunaway gave her notoriously camp performance as Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest, and sometimes that over-the-top energy sneaks into this role. The film doesn't appear to be available on VHS or DVD, but it's a recurrent offering on cable television.

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