Now Playing
November 27, 2006

NEW THIS WEEK:

Babel

The accidental shooting of an American tourist (Cate Blanchett) in Morocco sets off an international string of events - from her husband's (Brad Pitt) frustration and paranoia, to their maid (Adriana Barrazza) taking their children to Mexico so she can attend her son's wedding, to an investigation into the shooting itself. But how does a deaf Japanese girl (Rinko Kikuchi) fit into it? All will be revealed in this latest from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu; and if the results aren't up to the standards of his breakout debut, Amores Perros, this new movie is at least leaps and bounds above his last dreary-fest, 21 Grams. Much of Babel clobbers you over the head with its seriousness, but the performances - especially Kikuchi's - will keep you engaged.

Grade: B-
Kinsey Scale: 1 (Gael Garcia Bernal, who plays the maid's brother, kissed another guy in Y tu mama tambien and did even more in out director Pedro Almodovar's Bad Education. Pitt starred in the flagrantly homoerotic Fight Club and Troy, and played a character who was at least bisexual in Interview with the Vampire. Blanchett appeared in the gay-themed The Talented Mr. Ripley.)

Casino Royale

In this rebooting of the series, British military intelligence agent James Bond (Daniel Craig) no sooner earns his double-0 status than he's in hot pursuit of Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), an accountant to terrorists worldwide. Le Chiffre has lost his investors' money, but he plans to win it back in a high-stakes poker game - unless Bond can beat him, of course. Craig proves himself to be just about perfect as the latest 007, a cold-blooded tough guy who's both brutish and sexy. Eva Green makes for one of the more three-dimensional Bond girls - she's actually disturbed after watching him kill an assailant - and the film is smart enough to fool you into expecting one resolution and then spring another. Bond - and Bond movies - haven't been this exciting in ages.

Grade: A-
Kinsey Scale: 1 (Craig kissed Toby Stephens in Infamous, the second of the Truman Capote biopics, while Green was the female corner of a pansexual love triangle in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers. Jeffrey Wright, seen here as one of the poker players, won Tony and Emmy awards for his portrayal of no-nonsense gay nurse Belize in Tony Kushner's Angels in America.)

Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus

When Lionel Sweeney (Robert Downey Jr.), a fur-covered former sideshow attraction, moves in upstairs, he fascinates repressed, '50s-era housewife Diane Arbus (Nicole Kidman). His charm and warmth soon capture her heart, but more importantly, he introduces her to an underground world of "freaks," which inspires her to start taking pictures. This dull, wholly fictional biography of the celebrated photographer is clearly meant as a tribute. Instead, it comes across as an insult, thanks to the way it takes this extraordinarily talented woman and reduces her to a trembling mouse in need of a man's intervention to find herself and unlock her gift. Downey is excellent as the empathetic, confident Lionel, but Kidman is beyond grating in her fluttery, wispy-voiced portrait of the artist as infantile child-woman.

Grade: C-
Kinsey Scale: 1 (Transsexuals figure in the demimonde that Lionel introduces to Diane. Kidman won an Oscar for playing Virginia Woolf in The Hours and collaborated with queer director Gus Van Sant on To Die For. Downey has several queer credits, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Wonder Boys among them.)

Happy Feet

Emperor penguins employ their own unique sound - their heartsong - to attract mates, but young Mumbles (Elijah Wood) was born to dance, not sing, and the other birds ostracize him. But when a fish shortage leads to famine, this spurned outsider holds the key to the colony's survival. Peppered throughout with bad cover versions of old pop hits, this animated musical fable occasionally plays like an extra-special episode of American Idol with penguins. More damaging is the quality of the computer animation, which lends the flightless birds a lifeless appearance. Emphasis on predators will frighten young children, while the icky sentimentality may put off grownups. Only when Mumbles cuts loose with his energetic tap routines (courtesy of motion-captured dance great Savion Glover) does this bird-brained saga soar.

Grade: C+
Kinsey Scale: 1 (No queer content, but several of the vocal talents involved have gay and lesbian projects on their resumes, including Robin Williams, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, and Hugo Weaving.)

ALSO IN THEATERS:

A Good Year

Learning that he has inherited his Uncle Henry's (Albert Finney) Provence estate, ruthless bond trader Max Skinner (Russell Crowe) immediately puts it up for sale. On a visit to the place, he never wavers, even as he grows nostalgic for the boyhood summers he spent there. It is only when he meets beautiful local restaurateur Fanny (Marion Cotillard) that he has second thoughts. The best that can be said about this dull, nearly laugh-free comedy, based on a Peter Mayle novel, is that the French countryside is gorgeous. As a travelogue, cinematographer Philippe Le Sourd's images are first rate. But the only things more shallow than the tissue-thin story are the characters, particularly odious Max, a stereotypical yuppie completely lacking in warmth or charm.

Grade: C-
Kinsey Scale: 1 (Crowe played a gay man early in his career in The Sum of Us, while Finney was nearly 60 when he played a closeted bus conductor in A Man of No Importance. Co-star Valeri Bruni Tedeschi appeared in Francois Ozon's Time to Leave and the queer romantic comedy Cote d'Azur. Co-star Tom Hollander has several queer credits, Possession and Stage Beauty among them.)

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan journalist Borat Sagdiyev (Sacha Baron Cohen) - that nation's "sixth most famous man" - travels across the United States to learn about America, but his adventures mostly involve embarrassing the natives he's duped into showing him around. "Duped" because, of course, Borat is one of the characters created by comedian Baron Cohen for Da Ali G Show. While Borat is a racist, sexist, homophobic twit who hilariously mangles the English language - he describes sex as "making sexy-time" - the real joke in this satirical Candid Camera-style "documentary" is on the Yanks, who are unfailingly polite in the face of Borat's weirdness, and ignorant enough about Kazakhstan to take his blatherings at face value. Their discomfort and Baron Cohen's brilliant adherence to character result in one of the year's funniest movies.

Grade: A
Kinsey Scale: 1 (Borat is all about making sexy-time with the ladies, but he does wear one of the craziest thongs you've ever seen; he also wrestles naked with his producer. Another of Baron Cohen's Da Ali G Show creations is gay fashionista Bruno. Baron Cohen also played the gay NASCAR driver in Talladega Nights.)

The Departed

Boston gangster Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) thinks that he has outsmarted the police when he plants his protege Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) among the state troopers' mob detail. But the cops have a mole of their own in Costello associate Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio). When both sides realize they have a "rat" in their midst, Sullivan and Costigan race to cover their tracks before they face extermination. What could have been a lean, suspenseful thriller is a plodding, bloated mess, as director Martin Scorsese mistakenly equates a two-and-a-half-hour running time and flamboyantly high body count with an operatic epic. Nicholson is ludicrously over the top, while Damon and DiCaprio are blandly forgettable. Mark Wahlberg is the saving grace, excellent as Costigan's prickly police handler.

Grade: C
Kinsey Scale: 1.5 (Homophobic epithets are the insults of choice among cops and crooks. Nearly everyone in the cast has appeared in queer-themed movies, including Nicholson, Damon, DiCaprio, Wahlberg, and co-star Alec Baldwin. But the most interesting queer credit belongs to co-star Martin Sheen, who played a gay man in the landmark 1972 made-for-TV movie That Certain Summer.)

Flags of Our Fathers

Marines Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford) and Ira Hayes (Adam Beach) and Navy corpsman John "Doc" Bradley (Ryan Phillippe) are among the first soldiers to storm Iwo Jima. Photographed raising the American flag on the island, they are hailed as heroes, an image at odds with their devastating personal experiences. Clint Eastwood pays homage to World War II's battle-scarred veterans, even as he questions the definition of heroism in this epic drama. Brutally visceral combat scenes are elaborately and effectively staged, but it is not the bloodshed that provides the most haunting impression. Instead, it is the characters' quiet courage, loyalty, and decency that resonates. This is three-quarters of a brilliant film, only losing steam in the final stretch with a wholly unnecessary, modern-day postscript.

Grade: A-
Kinsey Scale: 1.5 (There is no queer content in the film at all, but many in the film's large ensemble have played roles in queer films or plays, including Bradford, Phillippe, and co-stars Joseph Cross, John Benjamin Hickey, Judith Ivey, Melanie Lynskey, Stark Sands, John Slattery, Jon Polito, Chris Bauer, Benjamin Walker, George Hearn, and George Grizzard.)

Flushed Away

Upper-crust pet mouse Roddy (Hugh Jackman) wants nothing to do with the community of sewer-dwelling rodents he encounters after he is flushed down the toilet. That begins to change when he meets lovely boat captain Rita (Kate Winslet), but with mad crime boss Toad (Ian McKellen) after them, there is little time for romance. This lively animated family film's charms begin with the cast's appealing vocal performances, cute animals that will entrance kids, and smart humor geared to amuse grownups. Furthering its appeal is witty, computer-generated imagery, particularly the rodents' underground world that re-creates London's Piccadilly Circus in trash. And while slugs may not sound as if they would make engaging cartoon animals, rendered here as a kind of absurd Greek chorus, they are irresistible.

Grade: A
Kinsey Scale: 1 (There's no queer content, but McKellen is openly gay and has starred in multiple gay projects; Jackman won a Tony for his role as queer singer/songwriter Peter Allen in The Boy from Oz; and Winslet's breakthrough role was in the sapphic Heavenly Creatures. Co-star Bill Nighy appeared in the homoerotic Enduring Love.)

Harsh Times

Jim Davis (Christian Bale) is an unhinged Gulf War vet who still manages to clean up well enough to get a job with Homeland Security. His pal Mike (Freddy Rodriguez), unemployed and emasculated by his upwardly mobile girlfriend (Eva Longoria), is Jim's all-too-willing accomplice to a laundry list of negative behavior. The two get high and voluntarily immerse themselves in crime and violence over the course of a few days, with predictably unpleasant consequences. The film is a gritty piece of macho urban-angst, much like Training Day, writer-director David Ayer's earlier film. But this time it just feels like thuggishness for its own sake, a ham-fisted and pointless exercise in alpha-dog posturing. And Bale's out-of-control miscreant is one of the worst examples of intense over-acting of the year.

Grade: C-
Kinsey Scale: 1 (The male characters engage in typical homophobic banter, calling each other "faggot." Bale played gay in Velvet Goldmine; Rodriguez starred in the gay-inclusive Six Feet Under; and Longoria currently stars in the gay-created Desperate Housewives.)

The Queen

Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren) has always been a very British icon of decorum, subtlety, and privacy. But when Princess Diana dies in a car accident, that royal decorum doesn't play well with a grieving British public. Writer-director Stephen Frears brilliantly captures the turmoil of the week following Diana's tragic death, and how newly elected prime minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) helped coax a reluctant monarch into publicly acknowledging a loss that was devastating not only to her grandchildren but to her people. Even if you think royalty is a useless tradition of a bygone age, Mirren's performance makes Elizabeth a three-dimensional person, beset by her lifelong duties and obligations. The Queen offers a fascinating backstage look at public figures facing a key moment in contemporary history.

Grade: A
Kinsey Scale: 1.5 (Princess Diana was beloved by many gay people for her AIDS activism. Frears directed the queer classics My Beautiful Laundrette and Prick Up Your Ears. Mirren had a lesbian affair with Kyra Sedgwick in Losing Chase and appeared in the pansexual extravaganza Caligula. Co-stars Sylvia Syms, who plays the Queen Mother, starred opposite Dirk Bogarde in Victim (1961) - one of the very first feature films to feature homosexuality in a sympathetic light - and James Cromwell (as Prince Philip) was Roy Cohn's doctor in the miniseries Angels in America.)

The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

Santa Claus - aka Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) - is expecting his first child with the new Mrs. Claus (Elizabeth Mitchell), and the whole family gathers for the blessed event, including Scott's son, his first wife, and his new in-laws (Ann-Margret, Alan Arkin). But like all holiday get-togethers, this one has its share of complications, most notably the appearance of Jack Frost (Martin Short), who wants to elbow Santa out of the way and make Christmas his own. While this holiday series has suffered from the law of diminishing comic and heart-warmth returns - David Krumholz's Head Elf from previous installments is sorely missed - The Santa Clause 3 retains enough of the first two films' charm to make it worth taking the kids when your feet need a rest after a full day of shopping.

Grade: B-
Kinsey Scale: 1 (Director Michael Lembeck was also behind the drag-queen farce Connie and Carla. Short played flamboyantly queeny characters in The Big Picture and the Father of the Bride movies. Ann-Margret played the mother of a gay man in the landmark TV movie Our Sons, while Arkin co-starred in Little Miss Sunshine and played Grace's dad on Will & Grace.)

Stranger Than Fiction

Novelist Kay Eiffel's (Emma Thompson) latest work chronicles the life of shy IRS agent Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) as he falls in love with rebellious baker Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhaal). As Kay ponders her book's ending, the very real Harold begins to hear her voice narrating his every move and determines to discover the identity of the mysterious storyteller who seems to be deciding his fate. An abundance of charm and great, good humor are this gentle, surreal comedy's chief assets. The entire cast is flat-out wonderful, particularly Ferrell. Normally so boisterous in his movies, he is sensational here, cast against type as the introverted, awkward, quiet Harold. The ending is a little weak, but until that point, this is a comedy that fires on all cylinders.

Grade: A-
Kinsey Scale: 1.5 (Ferrell starred in The Producers and the metrosexual comedy Zoolander. Among Thompson's queer credits are roles in Angels in America and Carrington. Gyllenhaal worked with John Waters in Cecil B. Demented and appeared in Don Roos' queer romantic comedy Happy Endings. Co-star Queen Latifah played a lesbian in Set It Off and received an Oscar nomination for her role in the queer-friendly Chicago. Gay actor Tom Hulce has a small role.)