washingtonpost.com - Desson Thomson on MoviesDesson Thomson on MoviesThese Actors Have 'Upside'- April 24, 2005 WE ARE drunk. We are treading water in a mental puddle of perfect oblivion. We are having fun. Or are we In "The Upside of Anger," an edgy, tragi-farce from Mike Binder, "we" are suburban wife Terry Wolfmeyer (Joan Allen), whose husband has suddenly left her for his Swedish secretary.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43664-2005Mar17.html?nav=rss_style/movies/d... Rambling 'Rose' Loses Its Way- April 24, 2005 "THE BALLAD of Jack and Rose" is an engaging battle between terrific acting and a flawed script. Unfortunately, the actors -- including Daniel Day-Lewis, Catherine Keener and extraordinary newcomer Camilla Belle -- lose. Writer-director Rebecca Miller's screenplay is provocative and original enough to hold its ground for a long time. But when the big picture becomes clear, our belief and trust ebb away.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15794-2005Mar31.html?nav=rss_style/movies/d... Go Figure: It's Cool As 'Ice'- April 24, 2005 "ICE PRINCESS" is a feel-good infusion for your precious little darling (or pack of darlings) who could use an uplifting fantasy about a sweet-natured teenager (Michelle Trachtenberg) who braves the intimidating odds and gets her glory moment as a figure skater.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43667-2005Mar17.html?nav=rss_style/movies/d... 'Beauty Shop': Cut and Dried- April 24, 2005 IN "BEAUTY Shop," a spinoff from Ice Cube's "Barbershop," Queen Latifah holds court over a dish-talking circle of female hairdressers for whom no subject is taboo. There isn't an original moment in the movie, but the attitude is loose. No fan of salty-tongued banter, head to-and-fro'ing encounters or Queen Latifah should be disappointed.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15796-2005Mar31.html?nav=rss_style/movies/d... 'Melinda': Double Trouble- April 24, 2005 SO THESE two middle-aged men (I think I just lost some readers already) are sitting around a table talking. Sy (Wallace Shawn) is a playwright of comedies. Max (Larry Pine) -- and there's always a Max in a Woody Allen movie -- writes tragedies. They're having the kind of pretentious chat that could only happen in Allen's mind, using words like "profundity" and "soul." The subject of discussion is the intersection andor the difference between comedy and tragedy. (Readers are now paring down..http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62989-2005Mar24.html?nav=rss_style/movies/d... 'Sahara': From Dust Till Yawn- April 24, 2005 HOLLYWOOD should have officially retired the desert -- like the sand-duned equivalent of a Michael Jordan jersey -- after the 1962 "Lawrence of Arabia." David Lean's epic made such a gorgeous symphony out of that arid wilderness, no other movies could ever hope to reprise its magic. Although the desert has a certain power in such films as "The English Patient" and "Three Kings," it's never been the same since Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif hut-hutted their camels across the Nefu.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34096-2005Apr7.html?nav=rss_style/movies/de... 'In My Country': Unjustifiable- April 24, 2005 WHAT DO YOU say about a dramatically woeful movie whose heart and politics are in the right place Well, you sigh as you turn your thumb downward.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15797-2005Mar31.html?nav=rss_style/movies/d... Also Opening- April 24, 2005 DUST TO GLORY (PG, 95 minutes) Dana Brown, who made the engaging surfing documentary "Step Into Liquid" gets back on dry land for this loose, freewheeling documentary. Make that real dry land: This doc is about the drivers of the Baja 1000, an annual nonstop off-road race (the world's longest) that has been going since 1967. It's a wonderfully democratic event. Anyone with any set of wheels can enter, whether it's dirt bike, dune buggy, monster truck or old-time VW Beetle. The only criteria:.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34095-2005Apr7.html?nav=rss_style/movies/de... It's Quite a Kick To Do the 'Hustle'- April 24, 2005 IT ISN'T every day you meet a landlady like, well, her name is Landlady. A chain-smoking harridan (played by Yuen Qiu) in nightie and curlers, she can crack glasses with her screeching harangues and can knock guys out cold with her aerial kicks. At one point, frustrated with her shiftless husband (Yuen Wah), she cold-cocks him -- sending him bouncing off a canopy below and face first on to the ground. Before Landlord can recover, she tosses a clay flower pot onto his head. It breaks, and the.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6934-2005Apr21.html?nav=rss_style/movies/de... 'Oldboy's' Powerful Hold- April 24, 2005 CALL ME a wimp but I wince at involuntary tooth extraction with a hammer. And although I can slurp sushi with the best of them, I tend to cringe when someone gnaws a live octopus while the poor creature writhes and flails away.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34094-2005Apr7.html?nav=rss_style/movies/de... |