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MONKEYBONE - D Starring: Brendan Fraser, Bridget Fonda, Chris Kattan, Giancarlo Esposito, Rose McGowan, Whoopi Goldberg, Dave Foley, Megan Mullally Directed by: Henry Selick Comedy, 100 min (14A) (20th Century Fox, 2001) Most movies are faulted for not being inventive enough, but in the case of this head-trip of a movie, it is the exact opposite: there are simply too many ideas bouncing around here, with almost none of them sticking together to form an even half-coherent movie. Based on the graphic novel Dark Town by Kaja Blackley and directed by Henry Selick, Monkeybone wants to be a cross between a Dali painting, Beetlejuice, Fritz the Cat and Selick's The Nightmare Before Christmas, but this combination of hyperactive stop-motion animation and flat live action is much closer in execution to 1993's hopeless Cool World. As in Bedazzled, Brendan Fraser takes on multiple personalities here, playing a cartoonist whose animated alter ego, a raunchy monkey, comes to life to torment Fraser in purgatory following a car crash, then wreak havoc on the real-world when he escapes. All of it makes absolutely no sense, leaving one to wonder why anyone would have spent good money to make such a distasteful and shameless picture. (top) MONSTER'S BALL - B Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, Heath Ledger, Peter Boyle, Sean Combs, Mos Def, Coronji Calhoun, Dante Beze Directed by: Marc Foster Drama, 108 min (18A) (Lions Gate, 2001) Set in the clichéd Deep South of Hollywood dramas - a world brimming with sweat, many moments of quiet stares, fierce racial conflict and slowly rotating ceiling fans - the bleak and angry Monster's Ball is nonetheless a devastating and ultimately hopeful drama about two people who come together primarily out of sheer desperation for a future. Billy Bob Thornton plays Hank, a death row prison guard with a strained relationship with his son (Heath Ledger) and cruelly racist father (Peter Boyle). Oscar-winner Halle Berry is Leticia, a struggling mother and widow whose imprisoned husband (rapper Sean "P. Diddy" Combs) was recently executed on Hank's watch. These two forlorn people come together through drastic circumstances and, as directed by Marc Forster, their relationship comes to light with heart-wrenching emotion, all of it marked by many memorable and shocking scenes, characters and decisions. The typically chameleon-like Thornton plays a little too close to his Man Who Wasn't There role as Hank, but his flashes of expression speak volumes and, though slightly too inhibited to be truly Oscar-worthy, Berry's performance is brave and commendable, a blistering nerve at the core of this emotionally raw picture. (top) (back) MONSTERS, INC. - B+ Voices: Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Mary Gibbs, James Coburn, Jennifer Tilly, John Ratzenberger, Bob Peterson Directed by: Pete Docter Animated, 93 min (G) (Walt Disney, 2001) Much of the joy in Pixar's computer animated pictures is gleaned from the breathtaking amount of detail crammed into every shot and Monsters, Inc. - like A Bug's Life and the Toy Story films before it - has more delightful in-jokes and sparkling visual treats than can be believed. True, the story here seems a little more earth-bound than the adventures of Buzz and Woody and, yes, Shrek had more bursting laughs, but computer animation has never looked better than it does here, with every hair, fibre and fleshy creature realized with stunning accuracy. John Goodman and Billy Crystal make a splendid comic team as the voices of the furry Sully and one-eyed Mike, bedroom closet monsters who make a living collecting children's screams in order to power their world of Monstropolis. When a giggling, energetic little girl follows Sully out of the human world, all heck breaks loose (monsters have been told that one touch from a child can be deadly) and beneath all of the entertaining gags and amusing story surprises is a commendable message about facing your fears. Ultimately, though, what is most memorable about Monsters, Inc. is the visual artistry, so colourful, shiny and tactile you almost want to reach out and touch the screen. (top) (back) MOONLIGHT MILE - B- Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon, Holly Hunter, Ellen Pompeo, Dabney Coleman, Allan Corduner Directed by: Brad Silberling Drama, 117 min (PG) (Touchstone, 2002) In 1989, writer-director Brad Silberling (City of Angels) lost his fiancée, actress Rebecca Schaeffer (the costar of TV's My Sister Sam) when a stalker murdered her in front of her home. The resulting relationship between Silberling and Schaeffer's parents was the inspiration for Moonlight Mile, a well-meaning but poorly paced drama about family and grief. Coming across like a cinematic group hug and set, for no discernable reason, in the early '70s, Moonlight Mile stars Jake Gyllenhaal (The Good Girl) as Joe, a young man whose fiancée is murdered just two weeks before their wedding and has now assumed the role of surrogate son for her grieving parents (Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon). In turns out that Joe is hiding a secret and Silberling's screenplay reveals more depth once it is revealed, but generally Moonlight Mile is too content to sugarcoat issues of loss and sadness with sentiment about healing, despite some very good work from Sarandon (as a woman who hates fools, even those who come baring sympathy) and a trying-to-put-on-a-happy-face Hoffman. If Gyllenhaal comes across a bit lightly, it has less to do with the actor's performance than with Silberling's overly glossy take on difficult issues. (top) (back) |