From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Movie madness

The silver screen offers one thumb sucker, 12 moonwalkers, a graphic novel, a Dickens classic and more.

by Barbara Lester

September 28 2005

With several prominent movies on the big screen this weekend, now is a great time to hit the theaters. I urge you to see three of these -- A History of Violence, Everything Is Illuminated and Thumbsucker. These small films honestly and perceptively deal with family issues from wildly different viewpoints. Each of the other four movies reviewed in this article has the name Tim Burton, Jodie Foster, Tom Hanks or Roman Polanski attached, so some degree of quality in those is a given.

A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, William Hurt and Ashton Holmes
Rated: R
Web site: www.historyofviolence.com

David Cronenberg is one weird director. None of his movies -- including The Fly, Dead Ringers and Naked Lunch -- could be described as even remotely traditional. A History of Violence, based on a graphic novel (see ), won't break Cronenberg's streak of eccentricity.

The movie begins with a sickening wave of senseless violence in which two drifters indiscriminately kill, rape and rob small-town residents. They make a big mistake, though, when they enter the tiny diner operated by Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) in Millbrook, Ind. Tom, a husband and father of two, efficiently dispatches these two thugs and for his righteous self-defense, becomes a hero and media star overnight. But the publicity draws the attention of a dark-suited, scar-faced stranger (Ed Harris) who says he knows Tom.

From this point on, A History of Violence goes to many unexpected places. These surprises slightly diminish the movie, rendering it commonplace following its courageous and bizarre first half. Mortensen is good but annoying in his unusual performance. Harris proves dependably reserved, but William Hurt makes a strange appearance in one of his worst roles.

A History of Violence lives up to its title, and the sadistic Cronenberg appears to enjoy wallowing in the brutality, cutting to close-ups of mangled faces. If you can't tolerate violence, stay away.

EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED
Starring: Elijah Wood, Eugene Hutz and Boris Leskin
Rated: PG-13
Web site: www.everythingisilluminatedmovie.com

This movie has many things going for it: It stars Elijah Wood, who will forever be remembered as The Lord of the Ring's Frodo; features the acting debut of Gypsy-punk singer Eugene Hutz; is adapted from the acclaimed first novel by Jonathan Safran Foer; and marks the writing and directorial debut of actor Liev Schreiber.

Touching and warmly funny, Everything Is Illuminated tells the story of a young man also named Jonathan Safran Foer. (Neither the film nor the book is nonfiction, however.) Jonathan travels to the Ukraine to find the woman who saved his grandfather's life during the Holocaust. His only clue to her identity is a photo his late grandmother gave him.

Jonathan hires a cut-rate tour company that specializes in taking Jewish families back to their Ukrainian roots. Jonathan's tour guides include Alex, portrayed with humor and an odd complexity by newcomer Hutz (see interview), and his surly grandfather, played by the brilliant Russian actor Boris Leskin. The three men are accompanied by the grandfather's mangy, comically named dog: Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior. What transpires is an unusual road movie that becomes more intricate and emotional as the journey progresses. This exquisite work both entertains and enlightens.

THUMBSUCKER
Starring: Lou Pucci, Vincent D'Onofrio, Tilda Swinton, Chase Offerle, Keanu Reeves and Vince Vaughn
Rated: R
Web site: www.thumbsuckerthemovie.com

Avoid the temptation to lump Thumbsucker into the Hang-up of the Week category. First of all, the movie is based on a memoir by Walter Kirn, who did, in fact, suck his thumb well into his high-school years. Second, Lou Pucci has already won two major acting awards (at the Sundance and Berlin film festivals) for his incredibly vivid and angst-ridden performance as Justin Cobb, a troubled teenager who is getting his life together despite his oral fixation.

At 17, Justin knows he's an embarrassment to his family, but it's easy to understand why he still sucks his thumb. His stiff, macho father, Mike (Vincent D'Onofrio), is a failed football player who is so insecure he insists his son call him by his first name because "Dad" may actually make him feel old and responsible. Justin's mother (Tilda Swinton) is a bit schizoid herself: She's a psychiatric nurse who is obsessed with a drug-addicted TV heartthrob (Benjamin Bratt).

Diagnosed as hyperactive with an attention-deficit disorder, Justin begins taking Ritalin and suddenly becomes a debating champ. He later slides into depression and plunges into a life of carefree sex and pot-smoking.

Despite Cobb's performance, some serious miscasting mars the movie. Keanu Reeves is not the least bit convincing as a counterculture orthodontist, and Vince Vaughn certainly doesn't cut it as a high-school debate coach. Why not just cast Paris Hilton as a feminist gym teacher?

Mike Mills, a graphic artist and video and commercial director, wrote the screenplay and directed this fine look at a severely flawed family. Think of Thumbsucker as a classy version of The OC featuring characters with more-unwieldy problems.

FLIGHTPLAN
Starring: Jodie Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Sean Bean and Marlene Lawston
Rated: PG-13
Web site: www.flightplan.movies.com

What's with Jodie Foster? She makes one movie every two years, and it has to be a claustrophobic thriller? This isn't a criticism of Flightplan, which is an effectively tense mystery for most of its running time. But Foster needs to find a new gig and stop playing panicky, vein-popping women. She's not going to top The Silence of the Lambs, so she needs to give it up.

In Flightplan, Foster plays Kyle, a jet-propulsion engineer whose husband dies in an accident while they are in Germany. On the flight back to the United States with her husband's coffin, Kyle encounters even more turbulence: While she is napping, her daughter (Marlene Lawston) disappears. Kyle goes ballistic, accusing everyone on the flight of taking the girl. She's crazy with worry, a situation that alerts the sky marshal (Peter Sarsgaard), who takes charge of the situation.

If you can't guess the villain on this flight, you don't watch many movies. Despite mounting an atmosphere of tension on a sleek jumbo jet, Flightplan can't sustain the momentum. Check out the recent Red Eye for a less-predictable airplane-set thriller.

MAGNIFICENT DESOLATION: WALKING ON THE MOON 3-D
Documentary presented and narrated by: Tom Hanks
Rated: Not rated
Web site: www.imax.com/magnificentdesolation

This IMAX documentary proves how much more adventurous space travel was during the 1960s and '70s. Narrated and produced by Tom Hanks, Magnificent Desolation convincingly re-creates the sensation of walking on the moon, especially in its effective use of 3-D. This salute to the 12 Apollo astronauts who set foot on the moon presents a fairly traditional look at space flight, though it offers some fascinating facts. For example, it took the moon walkers two hours to suit up before they could take those legendary small steps and giant leaps. But the movie's greatest assets are its visuals, particularly a shot of the Earth from the surface of the moon.

OLIVER TWIST
Starring: Ben Kingsley, Jamie Foreman, Barney Clark, Harry Eden and Leanne Rowe
Rated: PG-13
Web site: www.sony.com/olivertwist

Charles Dickens' classic tale of scrappy youth may seem like an odd adaptation for director Roman Polanski, but a glance at his personal and professional history shows that the pairing makes sense. Not only was Polanski on his own in the Polish ghettos as a child, and thus can relate to Oliver's troubles, but he's also no stranger to bringing classic literature to the screen, as he did with Macbeth and Tess.

With a screenplay by Ronald Harwood, who also adapted Polanski's Oscar-winning movie The Pianist, this umpteenth version of Oliver Twist is wonderful. Unlike the chirpy Broadway musical Oliver, Polanski's film retains the darkness of this grim story of survival.

The teary-eyed, 11-year-old Barney Clark brings great sensitivity to the title role. He's spunky when need be but not afraid to milk the story for all its emotion. As Fagin, the mangy leader of the pickpockets, Ben Kingsley gives a performance so complex he makes the urchin's role model a figure both of derision and sympathy. Jamie Foreman makes a deliciously villainous Bill Sykes, and Leanne Rowe is heartwarming as Nancy.

People who aren't fans of Harry Potter may be interested to see a young man having adventures free of special effects. Oliver Twist doesn't need F/X; this timeless story is intense, lovable and exciting.

CORPSE BRIDE
Featuring the voices of: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Joanna Lumley and Albert Finney
Rated: PG
Web site: www.corpsebridemovie.com

Tim Burton's latest foray into stop-motion animation is short and sweet. Although the filmmaker makes his typically dark nature evident, Corpse Bride is more Disney-esque than his previous efforts. Even an animated maggot, who speaks like classic scary-movie actor Peter Lorre, is so cute you'll want to buy a stuffed version of him -- though you'd have to try to forget he's a wormlike creature that lives inside the eye socket of an undead woman.

Burton favorite Johnny Depp voices Victor, a shy bridegroom who leaves the land of the living when he's literally dragged to the underworld by an anxious corpse (Helena Bonham Carter) who accidentally comes into possession of his wedding ring. As a result, Victor's real intended, Victoria (Emily Watson), must remain on Earth to pine for her lost love and be betrothed to another by her money-grubbing parents (Albert Finney and Joanna Lumley). Burton has gathered some of the most exceptional British actors, including the deep-toned Christopher Lee, to voice these clever characters.

In addition to instrumental music, frequent Burton collaborator Danny Elfman wrote four songs for the characters to sing, including a rollicking jive number performed by a skeleton band called The Bonejangles. The setting in the Land of the Dead is a jubilant Mexican celebration, where the bag o' bones inhabitants are having a grand old time.

Corpse Bride is an adorable movie with rich and comical designs by Carlos Grangel. Focus your effort on taking in the visuals rather than trying to keep up with the fast-paced story line. The puppets, in fact, are grander than the movie itself.