or mind.
Keanu Reeves might be the one who can penetrate the secret of the Matrix, and Lawrence Fishburne
is sort of his zen master there in one of five new movies we'll be reviewing this week.
I'm Roger Ebert, film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times, and across the aisle from me is
this week's guest critic.
I'm Joel Siegel, film critic on ABC's Good Morning America.
Thanks, Roger, for inviting me.
And welcome to the balcony. We always see each other on Oscar Day standing out there
in our tuxedos at two in the afternoon.
And we've never won. I always have my speech, but never called on it.
I've never even been nominated. All right.
Our first movie is a flat-out roller coaster ride with special effects known as The Matrix.
The storyline is murky. The characters are basically cartoons, but visually, this movie
is state-of-the-art. The movie stars Keanu Reeves as a computer hacker named Neo, who
is recruited by agents of an underground rebellion against The Matrix, which is an intelligent
computer program that has enslaved mankind. Lawrence Fishburne and Carrie Anne Moss are
Morpheus and Trinity, the leaders of the rebels.
Tank, we're going to need a signal soon.
I've got a fibrillation.
APOC, location. Targeting almost there.
The martial arts scenes in the movie were choreographed by the famous Hong Kong action
director, Wo Ping.
Hugo Weaving creates a sinister presence as one of the agents of The Matrix.
Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You are a plague, and we are the cure.
The directors, Larry and Andy Wachowski, use every trick in the book.
Animation, models, optical process shots, all blended together seamlessly.
Trinity! Help!
If the special effects in The Matrix are sensationally good, the story is kind of a letdown.
That's surprising for the Wachowski brothers, whose first film, Bound, had an ingenious
and airtight script that was on my best 10 list. Still, as pure action and visual extravaganza,
it's pretty amazing. I liked it, and I give it a thumbs up.
I almost agree. I was surprised at what they were trying to do.
We have a character called The Chosen One, you have a character called Trinity,
you have an idea that reality may exist only in our minds, kind of a solipsistic idea.
And although I didn't like the way the story paid off, I appreciate the fact that they
were trying to be intelligent.
So you think it has more of a screenplay than I do?
Well, I think they were trying to get at the fact that they didn't succeed.
Is it fair for us? We spent years and years fetching, oh, these movies are just ridiculous,
there's no thought behind it. Here they're trying to say something.
If they don't succeed, should we get them for that?
I can see your point. I really loved Dark City so much last year, which really did deal
with the implications of that strange world that the aliens had created.
And here we have the same kind of thing where a fictional world has been brought out of
nowhere and people believe it's real. And I felt it didn't bring me enough about it,
but on the other hand, I like The Matrix just to look at it, just to sit there and look at it.
That was okay with me.
The cast spent four months learning how to do martial arts stuff.
All that stuff, yeah. Of course, they didn't really learn to fly.
That was done with animation. That would have taken more than four months.
Ten Things I Hate About You, not you, it's the title of the movie, is Shakespeare's
taming of the shrew set in a Seattle, Washington high school. Not a bad idea.
The premise, beautiful Bianca can't marry until her older sister, Kate the Shrew,
who nobody can spend ten minutes with, marries first, has been making people laugh for 400 years.
Tough to screw up? All Hollywood needs is the chance.
Here Larry Miller is an obstetrician who thinks he can keep his daughters from getting pregnant
if he keeps them home. So right off you know he's an idiot.
New rule, Bianca can date when she does.
But she's a mutant. What if she never dates?
Then you'll never date. Oh, I like that.
Shakespeare's Patrucio has become Patrick, played by Heath Ledger.
Not bad. There is no shortage of competent young actors.
He's come to Padua High School. That's clever.
Julia Stiles is very good as Cat, though she doesn't look shrewish.
Come to Bogey's party with me. You never give up, do you?
Was that a yes? No.
Well then was that a no? No.
Patrick's being paid to date Cat by the high school hunk who's made a bet he can bed Bianca.
I think I like the white shirt better.
Yeah, it's more... Pensive?
Damn, I'm going for thoughtful.
And right about now you can almost hear the studio executive saying,
okay, enough Shakespeare, here's a better idea.
Let's turn it from Taming of the Shrew into one more stupid high school movie.
And that's just what they did.
How did Shakespeare manage to write 39 plays and never use the phrase, you suck?
You suck. You suck.
This is the fifth movie I've seen in a month with the same basic plot.
A high school hunk is either bet or dared or paid to win over an inappropriate young woman.
They fall in love anyway. She finds out about the bet or the dare or the money.
Hilarity does not ensue. It happens here. It happens in She's All That, Carrie 2, Cruel Intentions,
even with a twist in Never Been Kissed, which we'll be reviewing next week.
And that's only five things I hate about 10 Things I Hate About You.
I guess only three things can happen to you while you're in high school
and getting at the college and learning to drive aren't interesting enough to make a movie about.
Thumbs down.
Okay, thumbs down for me too.
You know, one of the things that I liked about The Matrix is that it didn't end in a high school prom.
It seems like every movie, you're quite right, every movie I've seen this year
has been about high school kids trapped in the same plot.
In this one I really liked the chemistry between Heath Ledger as the bad boy in school
and Julia Stiles as the shrew. I liked the way they worked together.
I thought they were better than the material.
I liked one scene where he tries to win her over by singing,
can't take my eyes off of you, you're just too good to be true,
over the PA system after bribing the high school band to play the music.
That was a great scene, but the movie didn't live up to it.
But even that scene, you see the same thing in The Other Sister.
Okay. With the high school marching band.
Later in the show, Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn are out of towners.
That's not our band!
Coming up next, Glenn Close schemes to cover up a scandal
between Robert Altman's Cookies Fortune.
What are you eating?
Nothing.
Look at me, look at me!
Help, help!
I'll save you.
Wholesome, playful Teddy Grahams.
Thanks, that was close.
They're so cute, you could just eat them up.
Teddy Grahams, also a new chocolatey chip.
Michael, I say Michael, would you like to hear a bird call?
Sure, Fargoin.
With MCI, a bird can call for just five, I say five cents a minute
on Sunday, and ten cents a minute all week long.
Now that, my friend, is a beautiful bird call.
The bird, I say the bird, thinks he's a comedian.
Now stop stealin' my material.
Call, I say call, 1-800-SUNDAYS to sign up.
Don't get me riled.
When you combine Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Crispy Wafers,
the combination is irresistible.
Reese's Sticks, the crisp you can't resist.
Seven Solutions, helping working families answer the questions
of raising children, staying healthy, or just making ends meet.
Hello, I'm Anne Trujillo.
Seven Solutions is working for you.
Together with the IRS, we're providing free help
preparing your tax return.
And if you meet certain requirements, you may be eligible
for the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Here's our Seven Solutions site this week,
or call 303-830-7777 for a tax location near you.
At American, one of a kind pieces, factory closeouts,
customer returns, discontinued items, special purchases.
It's all marked down for the in-store warehouse sale
at American.
Contemporary, traditional, nostalgic, southwestern,
and transitional, it's all here.
The in-store warehouse sale at American,
think of it as a home improvement opportunity.
At American.
Juma!
Well, okay.
Whatever.
I'm taking your, I mean, mother's fruit salad bowl.
Glenn Close plays the niece of a rich widow in a small Mississippi town
in that scene from Cookie's Fortune,
a sort of gentle screwball comedy by Robert Altman.
It's one of his best films.
What she doesn't know is that her aunt, played by Patricia Neal,
is lying upstairs, dead from a gunshot wound.
Chris O'Donnell is the rookie officer who very unsuccessfully
guards the crime scene against Close and her sister,
played by Julianne Moore, who waltz right in.
Ms. Dixon, for the time being, this house is owned by nobody.
And you're possibly destroying crucial evidence.
We're holding a man down the station for questioning this murder.
You're holding somebody?
They're shocked that anyone could suspect Willis,
played by Charles S. Dutton in a wonderful performance.
He was the dead aunt's best friend.
Even though no one on the police force thinks he could possibly be guilty,
he's locked up for questioning.
And Liv Tyler plays Close's niece, who decides that if Willis is behind bars,
well, that's where she belongs, too.
I can't get me out of here, can I?
Well, um, but maybe I have to look that up.
Well, if they try, we can just remind them that I'm an actual criminal.
I've got $234 worth of outstanding parking tickets.
That's a Marshall County record.
Cookie's fortune is typical of a lot of Robert Altman films
in that there's a large cast of people who are connected in all sorts of different ways.
From Nashville to the Playroom with a lot of other titles, too,
that's his favorite method, and here it really works.
The movie captures the small town rhythms with rich human comedy,
and although a lot of Altman films have pretty hard edges
and are sometimes sort of bitter,
this one is gentle and sweet and it makes you feel good.
You said early on that this was one of Altman's best.
That makes, in my mind, one of the best.
I don't think anybody mixes those kinds of segues,
weaves those kinds of stories better than Altman does,
and here he's doing it just to make you have a good time,
just to make you kick back and enjoy.
Yeah, this is a movie without villains.
Mm-hmm.
I love all the stuff that takes place in the jail,
including the flirtation between Liv Tyler and the young cop,
and Dutton, really in a way, it's his movie.
It's really Altman's movie, though.
The opening sequence with the blues singer,
wow, that's something, that kind of music is something
you just don't hear, you just don't see.
He takes his own time, there's a very southerly pace to it.
He tells you the story at his cadence,
and it wraps around you and it's just wonderful.
And it sneaks up on you.
A couple of people who I saw this with at Sundance said,
well, it begins kind of slowly.
I don't think it began slowly at all.
I think it begins by establishing the characters,
and unless you know who they are,
you can't understand all the richness that happens in the last hour.
It's a wonderful film.
Wonderful film, a thumbs-up from me.
And coming up next, Goldie Hawn and Steve Martin star
in a remake of Neil Simon's The Out of Towners.
Are you throwing us out?
Good heavens, no, no, no. Security will do that.
The Seven Everyday Hero Award,
honoring Coloradans who make a difference.
Annika Mueller loves to be around people of all ages.
That's why she enjoys tutoring and offering friendship to the Dostlos,
a family from Yugoslavia.
A participant in the season for nonviolence,
Annika believes that big changes can be made through simple acts of caring.
She is truly a seven-everyday hero.
If you know someone who stands up for what's right,
call us at this number.
Then Fridays at 10, we'll honor a new seven-everyday hero.
I don't think Larry was too comfortable with our lesson on package adjustment.
You know how those athletes are.
They're so insecure with their manhood.
You know, look a little more dramatic, you know.
They don't mind an assistant coach smacking them on the butt after a good play.
Keep in mind you're on TV.
You know, there's people watching.
You know, see how they do it. They're like digging down in there.
I mean, way down in there.
I don't get it.
You know, how big of a package could these guys have?
Yeah, and I mean, we have experience with that,
so I mean, why wouldn't he trust us with it?
They're out there, in the darkness, just waiting for you to doze off.
And then they start.
Those nighttime sounds intent on robbing you of a good night's sleep.
Let's face it, it's hard enough to sleep at night
without having to face an uncomfortable mattress, too.
That's why you need the comfort and support of Big Sur Waterbeds' latest weightless technology.
No pressure points to make you toss and turn the night away.
Just the best sleep you can get without a prescription.
Big Sur Waterbeds. Because it's a noisy world.
We'll be able to pull away from it.
Surprise!
Did you read Steve Martin's book, Pure Drivel?
So funny, I had to read it in the bathroom.
I was afraid I was going to wake up my wife and baby.
I was laughing so loud.
His play, Picasso with the Le Pen Agile, a small piece of genius.
And he's a great physical comedian, maybe because he looks so normal.
Goldie Hawn, a wonderful comic actress, one of our best and one more reason.
The Out of Towners, their new comedy, is really a mystery.
As in, why did they do it?
In this remake of a 1970 Jack Lemmon, Sandy Dennis, Neil Simon comedy,
they were supposed to land in New York where Martin has a job interview.
The plane lands in Boston.
Of course, their luggage is lost.
I laughed three times watching the Out of Towners.
This was one.
You're going to get hurt!
Six, T, dash, set, go!
That's not our bag!
They finally get to New York after a sequence that serves only to remind you
how hurt-yourself funny Martin played out the same idea in planes, trains, and automobiles,
only to discover they lost their room because the credit card was overdrawn.
Please come back when you have some money.
Can't you just trust us?
And because you don't believe the characters, not even Steve Martin or Goldie Hawn or John Cleese,
reprising his Monty Python role as the Minister of Silly Walks,
can make us believe this is anything but very silly.
Oh, they all want
Like everybody else
They want to be
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
The next morning, Goldie Hawn blackmails Cleese into giving them a room
and has her moment with the NYPD.
I just found out that my daughter is spending us into the poorhouse
and that my husband has no job.
I'm angry, I'm tired, and I'm hungry, and I'm running with the wolves.
You think she had it bad, I had to watch the rest of the movie.
It was just embarrassing. The original was no good, not funny,
and the changes in the script make this worse.
If you're going to remake a movie, why remake a bad movie?
What's next? Remake Heaven's Gate and bankrupt another studio?
Remake Ishtar? Howard the Duck?
How about a shot-by-shot remake of Psycho?
Oops, they've done that already.
Well, if you're going to remake a movie, it's better not to remake a classic,
because then it kind of confuses people over the original film.
So remake a bad movie, make it better.
This movie is really dead in the water.
I think Cleese is the only person in the movie who really made me laugh very much,
doing kind of like his faulty towers thing with the hotel clerk.
But they don't dig, they don't try to make the funny things funnier by twisting them.
They think that the level one stuff is going to get you in a lot.
Well, one of the examples in the original, Jack Lemmon was just going for a job interview,
and they were going to have a good time in New York.
Here we find out that Steve Martin has been fired from his job in Ohio, so he needs this job.
That doesn't make things funnier, that makes things hurt.
And the ending of the movie, it's like they thought of the silliest,
most mawkish, maudlin ending possible and stuck that on.
The original ended, they get back on a plane, and the plane was hijacked to Cuba,
and for a while I was hoping that was going to happen to the theater.
Oh, I hate it when movies feel that they have to have an upbeat ending
after there's nothing to be upbeat about.
Okay, next movie. The two stars of The Dream Life of Angels shared the Best Actress Award
at the Cannes Film Festival last May, and no wonder.
There was no way to choose one of these women over the other
because their performances and their characters are so closely linked.
The film stars Elodie Boucher as Issa, a homeless backpacker who arrives in a small town
and gets a job in a garment factory and becomes friends with another worker named Marie,
played by Natasha Rignet.
Issa moves in with Marie in a flat where she's house-sitting,
and now the two new friends goof around after work flirting with strange guys.
Then Marie gets caught shoplifting and is saved from arrest by the owner of a club.
The club owner thinks he might have a favor coming, and at first she disagrees.
But eventually, almost against her own will, Marie becomes the man's lover.
And that's really all just the set-up for the emotional payoff of The Dream Life of Angels,
which is an uncommonly perceptive movie about sexuality.
Marie doesn't like this guy that she's sleeping with, but she lets him come between herself and Issa
just because she's been programmed to choose sex above friendship.
Issa may have been a homeless drifter, but Marie is an emotional drifter, and that can be even more dangerous.
It's remarkable the way the movie sees these two women so sharply and watches so closely
as Issa tries to save her friend from self-destruction.
The thing that struck me about this from the opening scene was how real it was and how real it looked.
She has a scar over her right eyebrow, and then I've seen it in publicity still.
She doesn't really have a scar. They put that in so we would say, well, this is a real person.
They don't explain it because the assumption is the audience is smart enough to understand.
And I wonder if the reason they both should have won Best Actress, you can't separate the two
because they're poles of the same person. Did you think about that? One blonde, one dark, one up, one down,
one from out of town, one from here, but both of them looking for something they don't have.
You know, as I looked at this movie, I thought it's often said European movies are about adults,
no matter what their age, and Hollywood movies are about teenagers, no matter how old they are.
And I thought, compare these two girls who are about the same age, just a little older maybe,
than some of the people in Ten Things That I Hate About You.
These are people with life experience, with love experience, with ideas, with personalities,
and the Hollywood characters just seem like fluff in comparison.
A couple of reasons. One is this script is more than a script. The film is more than a film. It's literature.
The director, it's his first film, Eric Zonko, was 43 years old when he made his first film.
In Hollywood, if you don't make your first film by the time you're 17, you're too old for the business.
The Dream Life of Angels. This one is not playing in 3,000 different theaters, but it's worth looking for.
When we come back, another movie that isn't playing in 3,000 theaters.
My video pick of the week, the best 1998 comedy that did not open anywhere near you, most likely.
I'm sure your husband would agree with me.
He's dead.
Well, I hope it's not serious.
Now on video.
Ready or not, here I come.
In the tradition of classic Disney adventure.
You wanna go and find me?
Comes one of the mightiest heroes of all time.
Nice monkey.
Disney's Mighty Joe Young. They took him from his family.
You think he's okay back there?
He's doing fine.
They took him from his home.
If he stays in here, he'll die.
Now, one friend will stop at nothing.
Joe!
To give him back his freedom.
Let's get you out of here.
Disney's Mighty Joe Young. You can own the mightiest family adventure of the year now on video.
Rated PG.
A professional doesn't depend upon the easy way out.
He depends upon his equipment.
That's why professionals have been driving GMC for nearly a century.
Like this GMC Jimmy with a full-length steel frame.
So it has the backbone to give you comfort and support.
Even when the pavement doesn't.
Right now, buy a 99 Jimmy and get 1.9% APR financing.
The Jimmy looks pretty good too.
But then a true professional always knows how to dress well.
Jimmy by GMC. Backbone standard.
My video pick this week is The Alarmist.
The movie that I gave thumbs up to last fall and it got some other favorable reviews.
And then somehow never really made it into wide national release.
It went right to the video stores this spring.
Well why didn't it? I don't have a clue.
The Alarmist is a real treasure.
A movie that goes from comedy to tragedy to revenge to philosophy.
And always keeps a surprise up its sleeve.
It stars David Arquette as an inexperienced salesman who gets a job at a burglar alarm company run by Stanley Tucci.
You want to live your life without all this terror.
And it doesn't seem like so precious much to ask for.
But that's exactly what it is.
Precious, precious life.
I'm sure your husband would agree with me.
If he were here today.
I'm so sorry.
No, he's not dead. He's just not here today.
No.
His first house call is to the home of a widow played by Kate Capshaw in a wonderful and warm funny performance.
Somehow an instant rapport is established and they fall in love.
But then it turns into darker areas when he wants to get serious and she thinks that wouldn't be a good idea.
What we have is fun but it's really not the kind of relationship where you need to meet the family.
The Alarmist isn't a formula film.
It's alive and inventive and it arrives somehow at a weirdly delightful ending.
It was written and directed by Evan Donsky.
And it's my video pick of the week.
When I bite into a York peppermint patty I get the sensation that I'm poised on the ice.
My back to the goal.
Facing icy butt after icy butt.
Save. Take save. Intermute.
York peppermint patty. Get the sensation.
I believe I can call.
I think I'll use the phone in the hall.
I call my friends yesterday.
Hi.
With five cents a day from MCI.
My Space Jam buddies and I stay in close touch with MCI's five cents a day.
Just five cents a minute.
Every minute.
Every Sunday.
Alone in low weights.
Low rates. All week long.
Call 1-800-SUNDAYS to become an MCI customer.
I believe I can call.
Yum. Cool. Cool-a-la. So cool. Cool-a-lunch. Refreshing. Cool-a-la. Cool.
So full of life.
Life. Save us. Yum.
My dad always told me to keep my room clean.
But now my room is over 300,000 square feet.
I have to get rid of all these factory over stocks. One only. And customer returns.
I think I'll start with the sofa.
This Bench Craft Reclaiming Sofa is $6.92 and this Old Master Sofa is $4.74.
For this Benchmade Sofa with Oak Trim is just $2.93.
The in-store warehouse sale at American Furniture Warehouse is your opportunity for savings.
American Furniture Warehouse
Well, that's a big deal we're talking about. Yeah. Yeah. Big deal. Big deal.
I only make big deals. Big deals, honey. I'm a big man.
Honey, I do nothing that's wrong.
Uh-oh. Better get Mako.
Car repairs aren't a big deal when you come to Mako.
Free body estimates and Ambassador Paint Service for $189.95 are the big reason to say,
Uh-oh. Better get Mako.
You're leaking!
Now let's take another look at the movies we reviewed this week.
We both gave thumbs up to The Matrix with its dazzling special effects and state-of-the-art action scenes.
But two thumbs down to Ten Things I Hate About You where the likeable characters deserved a more original story.
We both really liked the cheerful humor of Robert Altman's Cookie's Fortune and its fine comic performances by Charles S. Dutton, Glenn Close, and Liv Tyler.
Neither one of us liked The Out of Towners, a disappointing comedy with Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn.
And finally, we both really admired The Dream Life of Angels, an extraordinary character study from France, and so we agreed on all five movies.
I'm not supposed to do that, am I?
Especially Dream Life of Angels, a terrific film. Why wasn't it nominated for an Oscar?
Probably something to do with politics inside the French Academy, but it's in theaters and it's really worth seeing.
And we also, we loved Cookie's Fortune and, in its own way, The Matrix.
For what it is, it is.
Okay. And you're gonna be back next week to review five new movies.
Then we'll disagree with each other.
No, we'll see. Okay, remember, you can hear our reviews on the web at Cisco-Ebert.com, part of the Go Network.
Next week, reviews of more new movies, including Never Been Kissed, starring Drew Barrymore as an investigative reporter for what else? The Chicago Sun-Times.
Okay, feeling good.
That's next week, and until then, the balcony is closed.